After being handed their lunches, Rose and Leah gnced about for Alice. Neither especially liked her, but they were quite sure when Vanessa came back she’d be the first to know. But for some reason they couldn’t find her today. “Alice?” Leah called out in frustration. She didn’t respond, but both girls found themselves approaching a table they hadn’t noticed was there. Which was impressive because the tables were arranged in a grid.

  Alice was buzzing with energy. “Good news?” Rose asked. Alice nodded enthusiastically and pointed at… Nothing. No wait, there was something in the corner of Rose’s eye. But every time she tried to look directly at it her eyes slid right past it. “Damn! That’s trippy” chuckled Leah. Rose was less amused. “Knock it off Vanessa” she chipped. “Sorry” she replied, and suddenly they were both able to focus on her.

  “Where the fuck have you been? You know we’ve been worried sick!” Rose hissed. Vanessa was silent for a moment. “You know I was literally kidnapped by witch hunters, right?” she said hollowly. “And then you escaped and then you came back and then we don’t get so much as a ‘hey I’m alive!’ for days!” Rose snapped. “Sorry. Its been a lot” said Vanessa. “Its been a lot? ITS BEEN A LOT? How do you think we feel! We thought you were fucking dead Vanessa. And then we hear all these rumours about how you came back and you brought a bunch of dead witches back with you. And considering you’ve literally pulled a Ciapheus of the cold I couldn’t be sure it didn’t actually happen! The rumours were almost worse because until this moment I couldn’t be sure people weren’t fucking with me!” Yelled Rose.

  “Hey, y off” tempered Leah. Rose picked up a baked potato with her telekinesis and unched it at the wall so hard it exploded on impact and showered the nearest table to the wall with potato crumbs. Leah put her arms around Rose and Rose screamed into her shoulder. The bigger girl chuckled. “So where were you actually. Is it true you fought your way past an army of a million normies with guns?” asked Leah. “It was only like 1000 people with guns” Vanessa sighed. “What’s the difference?” Asked Leah. “Statistically? About a million people” Vanessa noted.

  “Is it true that you rescued Elder Sampson’s long lost sister and the victims of the tragedy that made him an Elder?” she asked. “No… Irene died protecting us. And I didn’t know Peter and Charlotte’s disappearance made him Elder but yeah, they’re both back” replied Vanessa. “Is it true you raised an army of the living dead to smite your enemies?” asked Leah.

  Vanessa took a breath and then let it out. It did not help much. “Look, this is really upsetting to keep reliving. Can we please talk about something else? Also no I didn’t raise an army of zombies. Where did you even hear that?” she said with a confused head tilt. “I dunno. Overheard it in the locker room” Leah admitted.

  Vanessa sighed. “So what have you been doing while I was by your account raising the dead and committing what I’m pretty sure would constitute crimes against humanity” she asked. “Oh the usual. Plus a lot of worrying” said Rose. Vanessa smiled. “The usual sounds lovely. Hope you don’t mind me joining you” she chuckled. Rose frowned. “We were grieving a friend! It was not lovely!” she snapped. Vanessa sighed. “Well I’m back now. And personally, the usual is all I want to do for like a month”

  Today’s sport was something akin to dodgeball, except the dodgeballs were the size of tennis balls, as soft as newborn bunnies and covered in chalk dust. Getting beaned meant a 4 minute timeout and a point for the thrower. I really wasn’t in the mood so I sat by the edge. Alice was being nice so she sat out with me. Rose was sitting out too but mostly because she didn’t want to spend a whole PE css breathing chalk dust. “It dries your throat out something nasty” she expined sourly.

  “Why do the even do it that way” I griped. “Tradition” sighed Rose. I rolled my eyes. Rose began practicing levitation with one of the “balls”. “How did you discover your powers?” I asked. “I got angry that another girl stole my carrot slice and gave her an impromptu flying lesson” Rose said with an evil grin. “I saw a pretty girl in the market square and I needed to be her so bad it hurt” said Alice.

  I burst out ughing. “What?” pouted Alice. “That’s just so… retable” I chuckled. “What about you?” asked Rose. “Oh, I didn’t notice till I was like eight. People on TV and stuff would have fights and I thought they were stupid because my whole friend group was in perfect sync and never fought about anything. Then I took a weeks vacation to West Virginia to traipse about the mountains and when I got back they’d had a huge friendship ruining argument and none of them ever wanted to speak to each other again. Apparently when you have your free will erased for years you fail to learn conflict resolution skills that most kids learn when they’re six”

  “Of course once I noticed the zombie like way most people, kids and adults alike interacted with me I couldn’t unsee it. And it really didn’t help that the only man who didn’t bow to my every whim was absolutely bug fuck nuts. Either I could do no wrong or I could do no right. I became a bit misanthropic”

  “The internet provided some escape. I couldn’t brainwash someone I’ve never met in person. I met some people who I thought were my friends there. But um… lets just say not everyone on the internet who says they’re a child is actually a child. ?? ???? ?????· Also my father found my internet history and thought this was part of the government conspiracy to turn me gay so that was the end of unsupervised internet access for me”

  “Sorry, I’m trauma dumping, amn’t I” I sighed. “You’re good” smiled Alice. I put a finger on my face and it came back wet. “Oh hey, I’m crying again” I ughed. Rose dropped her “ball” and turned to me. “Are you like, good?” she asked. “Yeah, everything is amazing, why?” I sobbed. “Are you sure? You look like a mess” she noted. “I’m fine. Everything is going to be fine” I sighed.

  “OH! Speaking of the internet, can I have my phone back?” I asked. “I think the elders have it” replied Alice. I sighed. “Of course. Guess I better go see them” I muttered. “You LEFT the ELDERS in LIMBO about you being ALIVE?” gasped Rose. I giggled. “Well I was hardly going to go check in with my local representative when I don’t even have the energy to hang out with my friends now am I”

  “Vanessa, you need to go check in with them now! They’re going to be furious!” Rose excimed. “Eh, let them stew! I wanna go home and watch Barbie. Don’t suppose you know who has my shopping?” I said with a smile. “I think Victoria does?” said Rose. I sighed. I suppose I could do another powerpuff girls marathon instead…

  Leah was waiting by the gate when we arrived. “Good talk. See you tomorrow” I said. Alice gave me her best cute eyes. “Awww! but you just got back! Can’t I come visit” she pouted. “Sorry, I’m… not great to be around right now and I’ve got a lot of crying to get through” I smiled thinly. I took off at a brisk march. “You’re limping” noted Leah. “I’ll be fine!” I handwaved, though every step was very annoying. “She’s right (for once)” added Alice. “Really, I’m fine!” I assured.

  Leah took 5 steps and suddenly she was right behind me. She picked me up, backpack and all as if I weighed nothing whatsoever and adjusted my body into a bridal carry. “You carried us to another state to go shopping. The least we can do is carry you home” she said with a smooth smile. Over her shoulder I saw Rose and Alice staring at me in envy. Or maybe Alice was staring at Leah in envy. Hard to tell. Probably the tter.

  I sighed at my present dilemma. On the one hand I could tell Leah to put me down and let Alice carry me. I could spend more time in her softer arms and she’d feel the joy of the girl she likes choosing to rely on her. On the other hand, Leah had beautifully toned arms and could probably carry me all day and all night as well. We’d probably also get there sooner. And did I mention how buff the girl was? My poor little lesbian heart wasn’t ready for it! By the time I shook off my daze the moment was gone.

  “Why didn’t you come in the car?” Alice pouted. “I believe I’ve mentioned before that there’s nowhere to park it?” I replied. “I’m sure you could ask the principal to set aside a spot for you!” she grunted. “Eh, that guy gives me the heebee jeebies. I’d rather not interact with him if possible” I stated. “What do you mean the heebee jeebies?” asked Rose. “I dunno. Just a feeling I guess” I replied noncommittally. “Rude!” she snapped. Oh right. The principal was her father.

  It was a long walk. For a while the conversation was dominated by Rose bragging about some cool things she had heard Leah had done from the other beastshifter students, including breaking a concrete basketball in half with a single savage headbutt. It was very enrapturing. But pretty soon it turned into Leah asking for directions to my house.

  “Seriously, why is this road so weird and winding?” she compined. “I like my privacy” I stated. “How do you remember the way” she groaned. “I’m good at mazes” I responded. At st my house came into view. Leah let me walk on my own two feet again, which was a little disappointing actually. Point for Alice next time, her shorter legs meant I’d get to spend longer being carried. “Who built this pce exactly?” she asked. “Um… some of the men of the town basically” I admitted.

  “You mind controlled people to build you a house?” she gasped. “I gave them beer!” I protested weakly. Leah paused for a second. “WAIT! Were you the one who gave out the piss beer?” she yelled. “Its the best selling beer in the southern United States” I defended. “Okay but… why?” she said, fixing me with an interrogating stare.

  “I also gave them pizza” I said after an awkward pause. “The stuff we ate at the mall? Okay, if you were to give me that I’d maybe help you build a house” she deliberated. I led them inside. The pce wasn’t huge. You don’t really need much space when you don’t have much stuff. I loaded a DVD into the pystation and sat down on the couch. Either picking up on my subconscious desires or just by unspoken unanimous agreement, the other three girls sat down on the 3 person sofa with me. Alice to my left and Leah to my right, with Rose to hers. In another life and another time I vaguely remembered wishing for this.

  Maybe fate remembers how to treat a dy right afterall.