A Whateley Academy Adventure

Shenanigans 3

by

Morpheus

Part One

Crystal Hall, Monday late morning, Dec 17th, 2007

“Finals SUCK,” Melissa complained, flopping her head down until her hair nearly landed in her lunch plate. She caught herself at the last moment and went intangible, just long enough to continue dropping her head without ruining her hair or food. “They really suck.”

“Tell us how you really feel?” Amy suggested, barely even looking up from her own lunch, which she continued to eat.

“At least it isn’t zombies,” Sapphire pointed out with an amused smile.

Melissa groaned. “I’d rather be facing zombies than a math test… Math…”

“Sucks,” Alyss finished for her blonde friend. “I think that’s established.”

Amy smiled in amusement while the others chuckled. She looked up, then spotted the three remaining members of their group coming towards them, each holding their own food tray.

“Hey,” Chris announced as he took a seat. “Did we miss anything?”

“I think that depends on what you aimed for,” Monkeywrench added as he took his own seat beside Chris. “Personally, I always aim to be the best.”

Darqueheart snorted as she joined them as well. “You mean the most annoying.”

Sapphire gestured to the blonde girl, who was still complaining under her breath. “Melissa was just complaining about finals.”

“So,” Chris asked as he glanced around the table. “Does anyone have anything interesting planned for the week?”

“You mean, other than finals and making plans for Christmas?” Amy asked. She shook her head. “Nope.”

“I think finals are enough,” Darqueheart added.

“And I think they’re way too much,” Melissa chimed in. “They’re cruel and unusual punishment.”

Monkeywrench held up his hand, as though waiting to be called on in class. “I’m working on a few things in the labs… After my combat final, I figured I could use more stuff.”

Alyss looked up and offered, “I’m putting the final touches on my project car. It should be ready to debut tomorrow.”

“Cool,” Chris responded, giving her a curious look. “I want to see what you made.”

“Good,” she responded with a chuckle. “Because I want to show it off.” Then she shrugged. “Whateley has the best garage facilities I’ve ever seen. Normally, it would probably take a few more months to finish.”

Monkeywrench nodded his own agreement. “When you’ve got a bunch of devisors and gadgeteers, you’d have to have the best stuff. If you didn’t, we’d just end up making our own anyway.”

Darqueheart looked up and then paused, her eyes looking past Melissa at someone who was coming up behind them. Her expression made Amy follow her gaze to the rapidly approaching teacher.

“Miss Imp,” Amy greeted the art teacher.

“Hey,” the Imp responded in a cheerful tone.

“Hey,” Melissa exclaimed, immediately brightening up. “What’s up? And what is that you’re wearing?” She pointed to the floppy maroon hat that the teacher was wearing.

“This old thing?” the Imp responded, reaching up to touch the cloth headwear. She had a mischievous look in her eye as she answered, “It’s a raspberry beret.”

Alyss immediately perked up at that, looking like she was barely holding back a laugh. “The kind you find in a secondhand store?”

The Imp grinned at that. “Indeed. Exactly that kind.”

Alyss gave a knowing nod, adding, “I thought I saw you come in through the out door.”

This time, the Imp laughed in delight. Then she told Alyss, “You have great taste in music.”

“And you have great taste in headwear,” Alyss responded with a chuckle of her own.

Amy looked around the table at her friends, then back at the teacher. “Can we help you with something?”

Melissa gasped. “I bet you have a secret mission for us…”:

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Darqueheart started to respond.

However, the Imp was already nodding. “Oh yes. Something like that.”

This immediately got everyone’s attention. “What do you mean?” Amy asked, giving her a suspicious look.

Chris looked even more suspicious. “I bet she wants to do a snack run for her.”

“Not a bad idea,” the Imp responded with a thoughtful look. “Not a bad idea at all…”

“But that isn’t why you came over to us,” Amy thought aloud. “Is it?”

“Nope,” the teacher agreed, her expression turning a little more serious, though not by much. “Actually, I’d reserved some time in the arena for a bit of training, when it dawned on me that you kids could probably use some extra practice yourselves. So, I thought, if you were interested, you could take my slot. I’ve already got a mission designed and everything.”

“That sounds awesome,” Melissa exclaimed, looking like she was about to jump to her feet and start dancing. Then she paused and gave the Imp a suspicious look. “It’s not zombies, is it? I’ve had enough of zombies.”

“We all have,” Chris agreed while everyone else nodded in agreement.

“That sounds great?” Alyss said. “But why give it to us?”

“She has a good point,” Darqueheart added.

The Imp hesitated a moment, her eyes darting to Melissa and Chris before she answered. “Honestly, Shenanigans is officially categorized as a group of trouble magnets. You all have a tendency to get into a bit more trouble off campus than the average student and need more preparation in how to get out of it. That’s one of the reasons you’ve been accepted into Team Tactics early.”

Melissa gave her an offended look and quickly protested, “But I’m not a trouble magnet…”

The Imp gave her a flat look, then held up a single finger. “You went out searching for a known supervillain, as awesome and amazing as she is. You framed her for a crime, tagged her logo all over town, and eventually even started to hang out with her.”

“But that’s different,” Melissa grumbled.

“That definitely sounds like Melissa,” Sapphire agreed.

The Imp held up a second finger and continued. “You were kidnapped by Jack Ass…and Pair of Dimes…and what was the name of that one lady? Oh yeah, Remedy. And lets not forget about the Redcoat or Triangle incidents…”

“Oops,” Melissa squeaked out, looking chagrinned.

“I didn’t realize you’ve been kidnapped so much,” Sapphire offered.

“I guess that Triangle thing could mark us as trouble magnets,” Amy reluctantly agreed.

“Speak for yourself,” Monkeywrench said with a grin. “I prefer to think of myself as a CHICK magnet…”

The Imp gave him an amused look, then asked, “Shall we talk about the Captain Kazoo incident, from before you came to Whateley?”

Monkeywrench looked horrified for a moment, his eyes darting back and forth between his friends. “Ixnay on that, please…”

“Now THIS, I have to hear,” Darqueheart said, giving Monkeywrech a curious look. He winced at the way the others were all looking at him.

“Same here,” Alyss added with a smirk. “Captain Kazoo?”

“Nothing to worry about,” Monkeywrench quickly assured them. “Just a minor misunderstanding.”

“Anyway,” the Imp said, taking mercy on Monkeywrench. “I thought that you lot could use a little extra practice, which is why I’m offering you my slot in the arena. It’s Wednesday afternoon, after classes.”

Alyss nodded thoughtfully. “I think I speak for all of us when I say we’re in.”

“It is a good opportunity,” Amy agreed. “And it might give us a little head start for that kind of thing in Team Tactics.”

“Good,” the Imp responded with an evil grin and a swish of her tail. “Then I’ll see you all Wednesday.”

Once the teacher was gone, Darqueheart cautiously asked, “Am I the only one who thinks we might have just made a big mistake?

Monday late afternoon, Dec 17th, 2007

Traci Hoffman paused at the door to the room, straightening up and making sure to clear any emotions off her face before she stepped inside. Her group of ‘friends’ were already present and waiting for her.

“About time, Starbright,” Gravmax said.

Drama nodded. “We were just waiting on you.”

“I was unavoidably delayed,” Traci said as she took a seat and looked around at the others.

Gravmax was in a sour mood, which was no surprise considering his showing during the combat finals the previous week. He’d been completely and totally humiliated by Porcelain of all people, someone who had been considered a campus joke until then. Everyone had been mocking Gravmax since then, and it would be a long time before he lived that down.

Iron sat beside Gravmax, and he was also in a bad mood due to his combat final. Like Gravmax, he’d lost against someone he’d been expected to defeat, though his embarrassment was still far less.

Off to the side, Drama shared the same bad mood as the other two, even though she’d won her own match. Her problem was that Porcelain, the crippled GSD girl who’d humiliated Gravmax so bad…was her roommate. Drama didn’t get along with the girl at all, and then to find that the girl was not just a freak, but a dangerous one…”

Traci shuddered, sharing Drama’s concern over that revelation. After all, she herself had picked on Porcelain a time or two. It had just been a little harmless teasing, but that freak…that SCARY freak…might not see it that way.

In the middle of the room was Exquisite, the beautiful, haughty, and currently unhappy leader of their little group. She didn’t say a word at first, though her gaze locked on Traci, the annoyance at her being late clearly visible.

Traci gulped, hoping that Exquisite didn’t try to punish her for her tardiness. The other girl was a bit of a sadist, with a pain inducing power to match, and she was always looking for an excuse to hurt someone.

And then there was Kraken, the large and muscular boy who was the only person in the room to be in a good mood. He was playing some game on his phone, seemingly unaware of the general mood around him. Then again, he was also a masochist and enjoyed being the target of Exquisite’s attacks. His current happiness just might be because she’d taken her anger out on him.

Together, their little group was called Denouement, which was a French word that meant the final resolution of a plot, or the place in a story where everything finally came together. It had been Exquisite’s idea, which made sense because it was completely pretentious...just like the girl herself.

“Your recent failures have embarrassed us,” Exquisite stated, glaring at Iron and especially at Gravmax. Her voice dripped with scorn. “You’ve hurt our reputation as a group and made ALL of us look bad.”

“I didn’t know the doll girl could do THAT,” Gravmax protested. “Nobody did.”

Iron nodded agreement, then added, “And Aegis is a lot tougher than you’d think. He’s better at fighting than he used to be. A lot better.”

“You know,” Traci pointed out cautiously. “I heard that he’s been getting private lessons from one of the teachers.”

“Irrelevant,” Exquisite spat out. “I don’t want to hear any excuses. What’s important is that you’ve set back our goal of respect and supremacy in this school.”

Everyone was silent for several seconds before Drama suggested, “We need to do something about that… Something to make up for these recent…setbacks.”

Exquisite smiled, though it was not a friendly smile. “That is precisely what I had in mind…”

Kraken looked up and asked, “You want me to beat down that Porcelain girl?”

Gravmax straightened up at that and he grinned. “Yes. She needs to pay.”

“Indeed, she does,” Exquisite agreed. “But not quite yet. She will be one of our next targets though, but for now, we need to take care of our unfinished business.”

“Shenanigans,” Traci stated while several of the others nodded.

“One of them beat Iron,” Gravmax said. “And as a group, they keep getting in our way.” Still, from his scowl, it was clear that he would have preferred that they focus on avenging his combat final loss instead.

“We’ve already hit them a couple times,” Traci reminded them. “What do you have in mind this time?”

Exquisite’s smile darkened even further, silently promising pain and suffering. “This time,” she explained in a deceptively calm tone, “we break the group entirely. We target their weak spot and tear their group apart.”

“Their weak spot,” Drama mused aloud. “You mean, that monkey boy freak?”

Gravmax snorted as he added, “What kind of idiot throws bananas?”

“The furry one is their weakest fighter,” Exquisite continued with a smirk. “But I was considering an even deeper weakness… Roulette.”

“Roulette?” Iron asked with a frown. “She’s got a LOT of tricks up her sleeve.”

“Not easy to take down at all,” Gravmax reluctantly admitted. “I mean, you never know what the hell she’s going to pull out.”

“And I think that is the point of her name,” Iron added with a nod.

Traci hesitated a moment, then pointed out, “But she’s also got that burnout thing.”

Exquisite laughed, though it was a cold and cruel laugh. “Exactly. As we’ve seen, all it takes is enough stress…and she goes into a burnout. I myself have proven that I can trigger her with a good burst of my power…” She held up a hand and sparks shot between her fingers. “I’m certain that I can trigger one of her burnouts at a time and place that suits us.”

“And what good would that do?” Iron asked. “We already know we can take them down one at a time.”

“But this time,” Exquisite explained patiently, as though talking to children, “we take them down permanently. All it takes is one burnout, in say, a flooded tunnel…” She gave Kraken a knowing look. “And her own medical issues will do the rest.”

“Wait,” Drama gasped, her eyes going wide. “You’re talking about drowning her?”

“With one of their own dead,” Exquisite continued to explain, sounding quite proud of herself, “especially the one who seems to be their leader…the rest of the group is sure to disband.”

Gravmax stared at Exquisite, adding, “Or at least be too distracted to get in our way.”

Exquisite didn’t say a word to that. Instead, she just sat there with a cruel smirk on her face, one that sent chills down Traci’s spine.

Crystal Hall, Monday evening, Dec 17th, 2007

Chris Matthews looked down at his now empty plate, having already finished his dinner. Then he looked around the table at his friends, being careful not to let his eyes linger too long on Darqueheart.

“I still don’t get why the Imp is paying so much attention to us,” Amy said. “Teachers don’t normally set random groups of students up for special training sessions.”

“It’s because we’re that awesome,” Melissa answered with a grin.

Darqueheart laughed at that. “I think that it has more to do with the fact that she’s already been giving you and Chris some special lessons.” She looked at Chris, who blushed but tried not to show it.

“That is true,” Sapphire agreed with a nod. “And she likes you and Monkeywrench too.”

Chris nodded at that. “Well, whatever her reason, I’m happy for the chance to train in the arena before we have to do that Team Tactics thing next month.”

“The extra practice will be good,” Alyss said. Then she looked at Amy and asked, “But are you sure you’re up for it? I mean, you just got out of the hospital the other day.”

Amy shrugged and finished the last bite of her dinner before answering. “I’m fine. You know, I always recover pretty fast from these burnouts.”

“Until the next one,” Sapphire stated, giving the purple-haired girl a look of concern.

“Hey,” Melissa abruptly asked. “Does anyone have any interesting plans for Christmas?”

Everyone looked around, shrugging as they did so. “Just spending time with the family,” Chris answered.

“Same,” Alyss responded.

Melissa nodded, practically bouncing in her seat. “I’m gonna spend Christmas with my dad, and my aunt, and…my dad’s new girlfriend.” She suddenly looked a little evasive.

“Yeah,” Amy added, suddenly looking a bit self-conscious. “Spending time with…my mom.”

Darqueheart suddenly looked at her with an almost predatory expression. “You’re looking kind of evasive there… I bet you have a boyfriend back home…”

Alyss snorted while Amy looked a little more awkward. After a moment, Amy admitted, “Girlfriend, actually.”

Chris blinked. “Really?”

Amy nodded, giving a defiant look. “Is that a problem?”

“Not at all,” Chris quickly assured her.

“Nope,” Monkeywrench added.

Melissa’s eyes widened and she leaned forward, demanding, “What’s her name?”

“Kara,” Amy answered self-consciously. “The whole long distance relationship is a bit hard, so I’m really looking forward to seeing her again.”

Meissa looked like she was about to ask more, but Alyss interjected, “I don’t think this is the place to talk about Amy’s personal life.” She gestured around the room. “A bit too many ears for that kind of private discussion.”

“Good point,” Chris agreed. “Anyone else have plans?”

“Pretty much the same as everyone else,” Monkeywrench said with a shrug. “Just going home to see the family.”

Darqueheart scowled and stared down at her empty plate. “I’ll be staying here.” When everyone looked at her, she became defensive. “I don’t have a home to go back to.”

Everyone was silent for a moment as they all knew that Darqueheart’s family situation was a sore subject. Chris winced, wishing that they’d remembered that sooner.

“If you want,” Sapphire offered. “You can come stay with my family.”

“What?” Darqueheart asked in surprise.

Sapphire shrugged. “One of my neighbors back at Home is a teleporter, and was going to bring me back for vacation. She won’t mind bringing one more, and I’m sure my mom would be happy to have you…”

“But…?” Darqueheart started, awkwardly gesturing down at herself. “I might scare…”

That just made Sapphire giggle. “My mother is a very large snake woman,” she reminded Darqueheart. “And all my sisters are snake girls…” She paused, gesturing down at herself and wryly admitting, “Honestly, you look like you’d fit in back Home a lot more than I do anymore. I think you would like Home.”

Darqueheart just stared at her for several seconds before quietly asking, “Are you sure?”

Sapphire nodded. “Absolutely.”

Chris smiled, seeing how touched Darqueheart was at the offer. She looked like she actually had tears forming in her eyes, which was something that he had never seen from her before. Then he stared back down at his plate, happy for Darqueheart, yet disappointed that what he’d had in mind would have to wait a little longer.

Tuesday late morning, Dec 18th, 2007

A deep rumbling sound filled the air though Chris Matthews couldn’t see the source. At least not yet, though he knew that was soon to come.

Chris stood just outside the door of a large garage where students could work on their project cars. At the moment, the garage doors were still closed.

“What kind of car do you think Alyss has?” Melissa asked curiously.

“No idea,” Chris responded with a shrug.

Monkeywrench chuckled. “I just have a hard time imagining her with any car. I mean, her feet won’t even reach the pedals.”

Amy chuckled beside them. “You know, there are ways to adjust for that…especially here at Whateley.”

“Good point,” Monkeywrench agreed.

Alyss had told them that she had finally finished her project car and that she wanted to show it off. She even asked them all to come to the unveiling, and all of Shenanigans had made it, except for Sapphire. Unfortunately, Sapphire had been caught up with something for one of her classes.

Chris looked at Darqueheart, who remained silent, though she continued watching the garage door, waiting for it to open. He quickly looked away, before she noticed him staring at her. Instead, he glanced around to see who else was ready for this unveiling.

There were a couple other students present, mostly from Poe. Breakdown, Kayda, and Alyss’ roommate Knockoff all stood together, talking amongst themselves. At the time, Mr. Donnor, the vehicle shop teacher, stood off to the side with a look of anticipation at the upcoming revelation.

“You know,” Melissa said impatiently. “If this takes much longer, I’m gonna go over and take a sneak peek.”

“We are missing our lunch for this,” Monkeywrench added, glancing at his wrist as though checking a watch.

Amy just smiled patiently. “And knowing Alyss, it will be worth it.”

Just then, the garage doors opened up and the deep rumbling noise grew even louder. That was followed by Alyss slowly driving out the entrance in her new car.

The main body of the car was an old school Volkswagen Beetle, painted black but with a symbol on the door, which looked like a ‘cute’ skull with a purple bow. This resembled one of the hair clips that Alyss sometimes wore and was something that Chris thought of as her logo.

And while the top of the car looked like a fairly normal Beetle, the bottom half looked anything but. Alyss had turned the Beetle into something of a monster truck with tires that were each around four feet tall.

The engine rumbled loudly as Alyss hit the gas and rolled out. She waved at them from the window, looking quite proud of herself. She looked like she was having a blast. In fact, Chris didn’t think that he’d ever seen her quite that happy.

“Awesome,” Chris said with a nod of approval. “Well worth the wait.”

“Think she’ll give us a ride?” Monkeywrench asked eagerly.

Chris snorted. “Forget a ride. I want to drive it.”

Alyss drove around the parking lot a few times before finally stopping and hopping out of the car. She was grinning from ear to ear.

“I love the garage at this school,” Alyss exclaimed. “They’ve got tools and resources that any mechanic would kill for. Outside Whateley, it would have taken a lot longer to finish this thing.”

Alyss proudly showed off her new car, eagerly explaining what she’d done to it. Chris zoned out a little at that point since cars and engines weren’t really his thing. He noticed that the more technical Alyss got, the more everyone else tuned out as well.

Chris took a deep breath, then stepped up beside Darqueheart. “Um… I have a question…”

Darqueheart gave him a curious look, one that was just a little suspicious. “If this is about the specks of glitter in my hair…blame Trixie.”

“No,” Chris responded with a quick shake of his head. He looked at the others, noticing that they were all distracted by Alyss’ car and other things, so he took another deep breath and quickly blurted out, “Will you go out to dinner with me?”

“What?” Darqueheart asked, staring at Chris in surprise and even a bit of disbelief.

“Would you have dinner with me tonight?” he asked more slowly, sure that his heart had never raced that fast. Then for clarification, he added, “And I don’t mean in the cafeteria…”

Darqueheart’s eyes widened. “Are you…? Are you asking me on a date?” She didn’t look like she quite believed it.

Chris nodded and gulped. “Yeah.”

Her eyes narrowed and she gave him a suspicious look. “You’re not messing with me?”

“No,” he told her, trying to look as serious and sincere as he could. Chris knew that Darqueheart had issues because of her appearance, so he didn’t take her reaction personally. “I am completely serious. I am asking you on a date.”

Chris stood motionless, terrified of what she might say next. Either a yes or a no would ruin his nerves, though for completely different reasons.

After several long seconds, Darqueheart nodded and gave him an odd look. He suspected that if her skin hadn’t been pure black, he would have seen a blush. “Sure,” she finally answered, her voice shaking just a little before she quickly added, “But if you’re messing with me, you’ll regret it.”

Crystal Hall, Tuesday late afternoon, Dec 18th, 2007

Traci Hoffman glanced at Drama and Iron, who were the only other people sitting at the Denouement table for dinner. She opened her mouth to say something, then immediately changed her mind and closed it.

Ever since Exquisite had told them about her plan to get rid of that annoying Shenanigans group, Traci had been thinking about it. She’d been thinking a lot about exactly HOW Exquisite wanted to do that, and those hadn’t been pleasant thoughts. In fact, they left her with such a sour stomach that she’d barely eaten any of her dinner.

At that moment, Traci wondered if she’d made a mistake by joining up with Exquisite and the others. When they’d first come together, their alliance had seemed like a great idea. They all wanted the same thing…to be popular and influential in the school, and that would require allies and a plan. Exquisite had offered both. But now…

Traci had always known that there were three pillars which would guarantee a great life. Beauty, popularity, and wealth. That was simply how the world worked. If you had beauty, you could get popularity, and if you had both of those, then it was easy to acquire the wealth.

As an exemplar, Traci had the beauty part well in hand. The popularity, however, was more challenging than she ever would have thought. It had been easy to become popular in her old school, but Whateley was different. Now she had to start over…as a Freshman…and without any of her old connections. And to make it worse, there were a LOT of other exemplars at that school, ones who were even more attractive than she was, and were more competition than she could deal with by herself, hence her need for allies.

Traci scowled, thinking about her goals and wondering if this price was worth it. If she did this… If she crossed this line, there would be no turning back.

It was becoming increasingly obvious that Exquisite was on a dark path, and she was leading the rest of them down it as well. This was a path that could lead to greatness, to achieving everything she’d ever wanted. And all it would cost was getting her hands dirty in a way that she never would have considered.

Of course, Traci could say ‘no’ to Exquisite…in theory. In reality though, that was a lot more difficult. After all, she was part of the group and if she went against them now… Well, not only would she lose all of her allies, but there would undoubtedly be other consequences as well.

And that wasn’t even taking into account, the fact that Exquisite was downright scary. That girl was…intense. There was a reason that everyone else in Denouement was afraid of her, whether they’d admit it or not. Well, maybe not Kraken, but he actually liked pain.

“Are you both okay with this?” Traci quietly asked, glancing around to make sure nobody was close enough to easily eavesdrop. “I mean, with the plan?”

Iron merely grunted and looked at her, his expression unreadable. After a second, he looked back down at his dinner, not saying a word. Silence was unusual for the boy, so it spoke more than any words could. However, Traci couldn’t quite tell exactly what that silence was saying.

“Of course,” Drama answered in a dismissive tone.

Traci looked at Drama, careful to hide her contempt. Drama was a mousy looking brunette, who looked just like some of the girls Traci used to tease and even bully back in her old school, yet she always acted like she was queen of the school. That was the reason so many of the students mockingly called her Drama Queen.

“It’s smart,” Drama said with a smirk. “And we’ll finally get those losers out of our way.”

Those words were just a little more aggressive than Traci would normally expect of the other girl. Traci suspected that a large part of this was Drama doubling down in order to compensate for how worried she was about her roommate.

“It’s nothing to worry about,” Drama assured her.

Traci found herself nodding in agreement as her worries faded away. Drama was right. There wasn’t anything to worry about. Exquisite was smart and ambitious, and she knew what she was doing. All Traci had to do was follow her lead and she’d get what she wanted.

It wasn’t until several hours later, while she was laying in bed and drifting off to sleep, when her worries returned along with the realization that she’d been the victim of Drama’s power.

Tuesday late afternoon, Dec 18th, 2007

“About time,” Jon exclaimed proudly. “You finally got a girlfriend.”

“She isn’t my girlfriend…yet,” Chris responded with an exasperated sigh. “We’re just going on one date.”

Chris Matthews looked at his friend Jon, better known by some around the school by his codename of Voodude. Jon was smirking, looking quite pleased by the situation.

“Well,” Jon said, “It’s about time you finally got a date then.” Then he leaned forward and asked, “Hey, do you think you could set me up with Monkeywrench? I be his fur would be really soft to pet.”

“I don’t think Monkeywrench swings that way,” Chris responded with a roll of his eyes. “Besides, I think he has a thing for Sapphire.”

Jon merely nodded at that. “She’s hot too. Do you think they’d be interested in a threesome?”

Chris chuckled at that and shook his head. “I don’t know how you can be so interested in damn near everyone. It’s got to be exhausting.”

His friend smirked in response. “You’re just jealous since I never hit on you.”

There was a moment of hesitation before Chris awkwardly admitted, “Well, I’m not sure whether I should be relieved at that or insulted.”

“Definitely insulted,” Jon assured him with a grin. “You have no idea what you’re missing out on.”

With another shake of his head, Chris just looked at his friend and wondered about him. The two of them were almost exact opposites, so it sometimes confused him about how they had become friends at all. Still, he was glad that they were.

Jon was an odd one, openly flirting with and even hitting on nearly everyone on campus, regardless of gender or GSD severity. In spite of that, Chris suspected a part of that was just for show since there was no way that Jon was as experienced as he claimed. In fact, Chris suspected that Jon had a lot more experience with fantasies and wishful thinking than with the real thing.

“You know,” Jon told him with a slightly more serious expression. “You do have some interesting friends.”

“You can say that again,” Chris replied, giving Jon a flat look. When Jon didn’t say anything more, he added, “They’re all crazy.” Then he chuckled. “Well, maybe not Amy. She’s pretty normal.”

Jon burst out laughing at that. “Dude, you haven’t heard her talking about how she grew up…”

Chris blinked at that. “What do you mean?”

“Her mom is a high level devisor,” Jon explained slowly. “With Diedricks. I’ve heard Amy tell some wild stories about things that happened around her house when she was a kid.”

Chris paused for a moment to consider that, then nodded along. “I remember that a couple weeks ago, some devisor accidentally dropped a disintegration ray in class, and it went off…burning a hole through the wall. Amy didn’t even blink.”

“Yeah,” Jon agreed. “Pretty normal stuff for her.” Then he puffed up a little and added, “You know, she’s a Poesie in exile. Once she gets tired of that whole Hawthorne thing, she’ll be back to the best cottage.”

“Great,” Chris joked. “I have two Poesies on my team then… And all you Poesies are crazy, which means that I’m really the only normal one on my team.”

Jon gave him a sympathetic look. “You have my pity, man.” Then he added, “Because being ‘normal’ is totally boring.”

Chris rolled his eyes at that. “Well, I’d love to keep chatting…but I have much nicer company to spend dinner with.” He grinned at his friend before turning to walk off, adding, “And much cuter.”

“I can’t argue with that,” Jon agreed. “And don’t do anything that I wouldn’t.”

Whitman Cottage, Tuesday late afternoon, Dec 18th, 2007

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Darqueheart nervously exclaimed. “It’s going to be a disaster.”

“No way,” her roommate, Mina, said. “It’s just a date. It’s going to be fun…”

“Something will go wrong,” Darqueheart protested. “I know it will. Something ALWAYS goes wrong…”

Darqueheart sat on her bed, firmly clutching the stuffed rabbit named Missus Flop. She was so nervous about her upcoming date that she was on the verge of hyperventilating.

“Why did Chris ask ME out?” Darqueheart asked her roommate.

Mina just grinned and suggested, “Maybe it’s a plot to make you drop your guard so he can embarrass you…”

“What?” Darquehart gasped, glaring at Mina. “Chris wouldn’t do that… He’s too much of a goody two-shoes…”

“And there you go,” Mina added smugly. “He must really like you then.”

Darqueheart snorted. “He’s not very bright then.”

After relaxing a little, Darqueheart set down her stuffed rabbit and then got up and reached for the horn polishing kit that she’d put together. If she was going to go on a date, she wanted to look her best, and that meant cleaning and polishing her horns first.

“Just don’t let Tink know,” Mina suggested, glancing towards the door of their bedroom. “She might try to paint your horns again…to help.”

“Yeah,” Darqueheart nodded agreement. “Thankfully, I think she’s on detention…because there is NOTHING scarier than Tink trying to be helpful.”

Mina nodded emphatic agreement as she added, “And let’s get your nails done too…”

Tuesday early evening, Dec 18th, 2007

The restaurant was small and plain, one of several similar restaurants scattered across the campus, mostly run by students as a way to get away from cafeteria food on occasion.

Chris wished that he could have brought Darqueheart to someplace a little nicer, someplace that served food a bit more impressive than burgers and shakes…even if they were really good burgers and shakes. But unfortunately, that would have meant arranging a weekend trip into town, and that wasn’t feasible when everyone was about to leave campus for Christmas break.

Darqueheart sat across from Chris, looking nervous yet acting as though she wasn’t. He could relate since he was every bit as nervous, though seeing that she shared this feeling helped him to relax a little.

“You know,” Darqueheart said a little awkwardly, “A couple of my friends in Faction Three told me this was a bad idea.”

“Really?” Chris asked in surprise.

“They thought you might try to hurt me,” she explained with a wry smile. “I mean, embarrass or prank me…”

Chris gave her a look of horror. “I’d never do that.”

Darqueheart smiled, which was something that he wished he could see more from her. “I know. That’s why I said yes…”

“I’m glad you did,” Chris admitted. “I was kind of afraid you’d turn me down.”

She hesitated a moment before quietly admitting, “I almost did. Honestly, this is the first time anybody has EVER asked me out…especially since I manifested.” There was another pause before she bitterly added, “Not many people want to date an ugly freak.”

Chris winced at those words as though they’d been a physical blow. “You’re not ugly,” he snapped at her angrily. “And you’re not a freak.” He paused, suddenly feeling self-conscious about admitting how he really felt. Still, he decided that since he’d started, he should finish. If nothing else, Darqueheart deserved to hear the truth from someone. “You’re actually really cute.”

“Cute?” she gasped, looking surprised by that idea.

“A little exotic,” Chris told her with a blush, “but still very pretty.”

Darqueheart just stared at him for several long seconds as though waiting for the punchline for a joke. When none came, she gulped visibly, then self-consciously reached up. “But I have horns…”

“They look good on you,” Chris assured her. “Especially since you polished them…”

Her eyes widened even further and she whispered, “You noticed…”

Darqueheart stared down at her partially eaten burger, then quietly said, “I’m not used to people saying nice things to me. It’s…embarrassing.” Then she smiled nervously and admitted. “But nice.” She shrugged and let out a sigh. “I mean, my own parents didn’t want me anymore…”

There was anger in her voice, along with bitterness and grief. Chris clenched his hands, wanting to reach across the table and give her a hug.

“I can understand that,” he quietly told her. He took a deep breath, not used to sharing how he felt about this subject. But she’d been honest and open with him, so… “My own parents threw me away too.”

“What?” Darqueheart asked, looking confused. “But you’re going home for Christmas…”

“I’m adopted,” Chris told her. “My adopted parents are great, but… My real parents didn’t want me. I don’t even know why.” He gave a self-conscious shrug. “I don’t have any idea who they are…or even what my original last name would have been. It’s…frustrating.”

“I can imagine,” Darqueheart responded. “But at least you have parents who accept you.”

“I’m lucky that way,” he agreed with a sad smile. “I just wish you could have been too.”

Chris reached out and touched her hand, which was sitting on the table, putting his own hand on top of it. For a moment, Darqueheart looked like she was about to pull away, but she didn’t.

Neither of them said a word for nearly a minute, and when Darqueheart finally spoke, it was as if she was trying to break the awkward silence. “My real name,” she quietly told him, “is Colleen.”

“Colleen,” he tested the name out. “It’s nice…”

Darqueheart…Colleen gave a nervous smile. “This is the first time that I felt like Colleen in a long time.”

To Be Continued