Spoilers: None, but read the days in the right order or this will make no sense at all.
Remember, anything can happen in fanfic....
Groundhog's Day: Day Two
Joey woke up, startled by her alarm clock. "Shut up you damn thing!" she screamed while slamming down the off button. Today was not going to be her day, she could feel it. She was tired and didn't want to go to school. Luckily, it was Friday. Friday the second. Friday the second? Wait a minute. Joey sat up. "No, today is Saturday," Joey said, very confused. "Then why did I set my alarm? And why am I in bed? I fell asleep on the docks."
Joey was awoken from her thoughts when she heard Bessie yell. "I hear no movement, Joey. Hurry up. You don't want to be late for school."
Was it all a dream? It couldn't have been a dream, it was too vivid. She remembered every detail. Every detail. Her eyes teared up at the thought of Dawson and Jen. Joey hated Jen's guts. It was too graphic to be a dream, Joey decided. Joey ran to the shower, turned it on, and stuck her hand in. It was icy cold. She went to the window and looked outside. Same weather. She had the same clothes laid out. She looked in her bookbag. Same homework. Her alarm had gone off at the same time. And, also the same, she was late! She grabbed her bookbag and something to eat and ran out of the house, trying to figure out what was going on.
Joey couldn't believe how fast she had run. She was ten minutes early for school. She put down her book bag and leaned against her locker to catch her breath.
"Guess who?" a familiar voice playfully said from behind her as Joey's eyes were covered.
"Dawson, did we go to a party last night?" Dawson looked confused. "Dawson, something really weird is going on," Joey said seriously, taking Dawson's hands off of her eyes and turning to face him. "You have no memory of going to a party?" Dawson shook his head no. "Or getting drunk?" Dawson looked a little surprised, but once again shook his head. "Or..." Joey bit her lip and turned to open her locker. She couldn't even say Jen's name. Then she heard Dawson laugh as she was once more attacked from behind.
"Guess who?" Dawson said again.
Pacey, Joey thought. "I do not have time for this," Joey said, starting to get a little annoyed.
"Hey, Jo, it's not me this time," Dawson said innocently. "See--"
"I know," Joey interrupted, " I think I know who it is."
"How?" Dawson asked. "You didn't even hear their voice. Maybe you should give her a hint." Joey remembered what was going to happen next. She whipped around and gave Pacey a death stare.
"Don't even think about it," Joey growled.
"What?" Pacey asked.
"Just don't touch me," Joey said. "Now if you two goofballs will excuse me, I have to get my books before I'm late." Joey got her stuff and left, marvelling at the accuracy of what must have been her dream.
"That girl makes no sense," Pacey laughed.
"None at all," Dawson smiled, shaking his head.
"How did she know I was going to pinch her?"
The day progressed as usual. It was lunchtime and Joey, Dawson, Pacey, and Jen sat down to lunch. "Happy Groundhog's Day, everyone," Pacey announced when he got to the table.
"It's too bad your shadow didn't scare you back into your hole," Joey said, rolling her eyes. She stopped when she realized that she had used that insult before. Pacey stuck his tongue out at her.
"Oh, that's mature," Jen commented. Joey silently continued to eat her food as a pointless conversation ensued.
"Jo, why so quiet?" Dawson asked.
"Don't you guys feel like you've had this conversation before? Like yesterday?" Joey questioned.
"No," they all answered.
"Don't any of you remember going to a party yesterday?" Joey tried again. "And the punch was spiked?"
"No," they all answered again. Joey sighed. If it had happened, Pacey would have remembered. He hadn't gotten drunk, so he couldn't have had a blackout and would have remembered.
"Joey, you asked me similar stuff this morning..." Dawson started.
"And you knew that I was going to pinch you this morning," Pacey interrupted. "What's going on?"
"You guys, I had the strangest but most realistic dream last night," Joey explained. "See, so far everything that's happened today happened the same way in the dream unless I've done something to change it. In my dream, Pacey did pinch me, so today I knew it was coming and stopped it. You had the same conversation at lunch and later we're going to be invited to a party by Mike the jock. Only, the punch was spiked at the party and you and Jen got wasted, and..." Joey stopped. She closed her eyes as the visual came to mind, and she fought tears.
"And what?" Dawson tried to get her to continue.
"And nothing good came out of it," Joey said quickly as she opened her eyes.
"Oh."
"That's ridiculous, Joey," Pacey laughed. "Wouldn't we have known that the punch was spiked?"
"Well, we did. You know what? Never mind," Joey got some strange looks from her friends, but the topic was dropped.
"Um, hey, Jo," Joey shut her locker and turned around to see Dawson standing there, staring at his feet.
"Hey," Joey said. Dawson continued looking down at the floor. "Dawson, what's wrong?"
"I have some interesting news for you. Mike extended an invitation to the entire student body for a party at his house," Dawson said nervously while holding the door for Joey as they left school, "just like you said. Jen and Pacey decided it might be fine, but quite frankly it freaked me out a little. You keep talking about something bad happening, and now I believe you. What happed to me and Jen?"
"Look, I don't want to talk about it," Joey said, avoiding eye contact. "Please don't ask me to tell you."
Dawson looked at her with pleading eyes, but simply said "okay," when he saw Joey wouldn't look at him. He wondered what he could have possibly done to make Joey so upset. "Um... look, Jo, why don't you crash at my place tonight? It seems we can still change the ending of your dream," Dawson grinned.
"Sounds fun," Joey smiled. She paused a minute, remembering something. "Wait, I have to work at the Ice House tonight." Joey's face brightened. "But I can still tell Bess I'm going to that party. She won't know the difference and she left me off work in my dream. Okay, I'll be there around seven and we can have an extra movie night."
"Good," Dawson said. A night alone with Dawson is just what I need anyway, even if it's just movie night, Joey thought.
"I'll see you later," Joey said, turning to go in the direction of her house.
Joey trudged home and fell back on the bed, delighted that her vision of Dawson and Jen was not to become reality. Maybe that's why she had the dream, to stop it. "Were you late to school?" she heard Bessie call into her room.
"Actually, I was early," Joey answered.
"Well, you're going to be late to work if you don't get to the Ice House pronto!"
"Bessie," Joey pleaded, not wanting to move, "I'm going to a party tonight." Bessie appeared in her doorway.
"A party? Why didn't you say so?" Bessie asked, surprised. "When exactly?"
"A few hours," Joey responded unenthusiastically.
"If that's the case, I guess you can take the night off," Bessie said, smiling, "but only if you wear what I give you."
"Fine," Joey moaned, "but I don't have to get ready for another two hours, so please let me vegetate. Being numb is probably a good idea before going to a jock's party." Bessie rolled her eyes at Joey pessimism and left her alone.
Joey happily climbed the ladder to Dawson's room. She secretly didn't mind that Bessie made her do her hair and makeup. Maybe this would be what she needed for Dawson to notice her. "Hey, Jo," Dawson said, looking up from his bed as Joey climbed in the window. "Wow, Joey. You-- you look nice. But you're making me feel really underdressed for movie night," Dawson blushed.
Joey was elated at his response. "Bessie made me dress up for the party," she shrugged. "You look fine." She sat down next to him on the bed and started to adjust his collar. "Fine," she said under her breath.
Dawson looked at her nervously as she fixed his collar. "Ahh... Jo," he said, brushing her hands away from his neck, "let's watch the movie now, okay?" Joey sighed and laid back on the pillow. She couldn't tell him. Not tonight.
They were an hour and a half into the movie. Joey was on the edge of the bed watching the television excitedly as Dawson was laid back watching Joey disgustedly.
"Joey, get real. How can you possibly like this movie?"
"Just because it isn't set up for a happy, predictable fairy-tale ending doesn't mean it's bad," Joey defended herself. Dawson sat up.
"Oh, please. Killing off one of the main characters? That's realistic. And the death scene totally left something to be desired."
"Shut up already, Dawson! I'm trying to watch the movie!" Joey pushed him back down.
"Now you're not," Dawson took the remote and shut the VCR.
"Hey, I was watching that!" Joey yelled, smiling. She attacked Dawson and tried to get the remote. She was on top of him when she finally wrestled the remote away.
"Ha," she said softly, looking into his eyes. She moved a strand of hair away from his forehead. They stared at each other for a minute when they heard Pacey scream on the ladder. He burst into the room. Joey quickly rolled off of Dawson, but Pacey hadn't even noticed them. He was hysterical.
"Pacey, what's wrong?" Dawson asked, alarmed.
"Joey, you were right about the punch," Pacey said, almost in tears. I could taste it, but Jen couldn't or didn't care. She was wasted when I got there." Dawson looked nervously at Joey. She was right. He braced himself, preparing for the worst. Pacey continued, although his sentences were often broken with violent sobs. "I lost sight of her. Next thing I heard she went off alone with some jock to his car. She asked if she could drive and I guess he said yes. She sped over a hill and would up in a tree. The car is totalled. The jock's okay, but Jen..." his voice trailed off. He took a deep breath and tried to compose himself. "Jen's dead."
How will our trio cope with the tragic news? Get ready for a major plot twist and keep on the lookout for Day Three. Please write feedback!!!