Chapter 15: Monday Morning, 6:14AM

Alaina felt relaxed. She floated on an ocean of serenity, holding onto a soft, warm raft made of pure contentment. A calm smile was already on her face, and her eyes were closed for the moment.

A fluffy cloud brushed against her, and she snuggled against it, feeling even more comfortable. She sighed happily.

Then the beeping started.

She grumbled sleepily, trying to reach for the alarm clock on the nightstand next to her bed, but her hands were pressed up against a soft, warm patch of fabric that wouldn’t move out of the way. She grudgingly opened her eyes.

Alaina halted. She blinked, trying futilely to jog her brain into action. Why are there boobs here?

She tried to remember. Oh right, I was talking to Tiff before bed. She closed her eyes again and reached over Tiff to press the button which turned off the alarm, then nuzzled back into her friend’s bosom. Just another minute. She realized there was an arm under her neck and another on top of her shoulder. Mmm, I didn’t realize Tiff gave such good hugs. This is the best way to wake up.

She stretched out her legs a little, enjoying the feel of her pajamas on her legs as she moved. Her sock-covered toes pointed downwards, and they brushed against something hard. Is that a foot?

Alaina froze. I talked to Tiff on the phone. She’s not here. And she’s shorter than me, not taller.

“Tiff” stiffened, then trembled. Her arms pulled back slowly.

Alaina leaned back, scooting over the arm that had been under her with a growing sense of agitation.

Laura’s wide eyes met her own. “Um...” Her eyes widened further, her hands coming up over her mouth.

“What the fuck,” Alaina said quietly. The power of her glare blew away whatever remaining sleepiness she’d been feeling.

The tall blonde scrambled backwards and fell over the side of the bed. “I’m sorry!” she yelped as she ran out the door, clad only in a long t-shirt.

Alaina stared at the doorway.

“Stop right there, young lady,” her mom’s loud voice carried from downstairs. “Breakfast. And at least put some clothes on before we leave!”

What the fuck just happened.

By the time Alaina reached the kitchen after she was finished putting on her ensemble for the day—a long, flowing skirt paired with a blouse and one of her favorite sweaters—and applying her normal complement of light makeup, the house was devoid of other people. An empty blueberry container remained on the table, and a couple of empty bowls and spoons sat in the sink.

I can’t believe you gave her the last of the blueberries, Mom! She sighed in disgust. At least she’s gone now, though. The aspiring doctor settled for eating a blueberry-less breakfast with growing irritation. Ugh, I really don’t need more stress today.

The student council president was running late.

I can’t believe there was fucking road construction. How long does it take to get people through a single lane street, anyway? She stomped through the halls of her school towards her first period Calculus class.

A familiar, long-haired figure was leaning against the door to the classroom, staring down at a phone.

“Waiting for someone?” Alaina asked, coming to a stop.

“Huh? Oh, hey, dude,” Don said, tapping at his phone a couple more times before pocketing it. “Just wanted to say thanks.”

“Thanks?” she said skeptically. But what do you really want?

“I would’ve messaged yesterday, but you seemed kinda mad the last—”

“I thought we agreed you were going to keep my number deleted after Saturday.” Alaina glowered.

“Whoa, I totally did,” Don said, holding his hands up. “Don’t get your pocket protector in a twist.”

She snorted a laugh despite her best efforts, moving a little closer to get out of the way as a couple classmates tried to get through the doorway. “Don, nobody wears pocket protectors anymore.”

“Yeah, but what am I supposed to say if I wanna call you a nerd and be clever about it?” he said.

Alaina glared.

Don held his hands up higher. “Whoa, Greedo, I’m not doing anything threatening, no need to shoot first.”

“Han shot first,” Alaina said without thinking.

Don gave her a look.

The ever-elegant, unflappable student council president flushed with embarrassment.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone you’re an uber-nerd,” Will’s friend said, grinning. “That’ll be my thanks for hooking me up with Sandy.”

“But—but—” Alaina spluttered as her blush receded. Did I just get fucking outsmarted by Don? “And who’s Sandy?”

“Oh, that’s Alex,” Don said nonchalantly, hints of his former grin struggling to break through. “Apparently that’s what all her close friends call her, or so she told me on our second date yesterday.”

“Ugh, what have I done,” Alaina groaned. “That poor girl.”

“That hurts, dude.”

“And can you stop calling me dude? I have a name.”

“My dude, if Daniel gets to call you his bruh-in-law now that you and Will are together, you’re gonna have to deal—”

“He calls me what?”

Alaina walked through the halls on the way to her second period Economics course. Just another normal day. Don’t think about the FCF trip, it’ll be fine. Don’t think about dinner, that’s after the FCF trip.

She spotted Greg MacDonald walking down the other side of the hall in the opposite direction. That’s odd, I thought he was avoiding me after Will did his macho thing.

Greg gave her an embarrassed half-smile and shifted the notebooks in his hand as he approached. “Hey, Alaina, sorry to bug you again so soon after our little date—it was really cool of you to let me down so nicely after dinner, by the way; I guess that’s why you’re The President—but do you have a few minutes this week to give a blurb for a piece I’m writing about athletics?”

Alaina blinked.

He fumbled with his books, nearly dropping them as he pulled out a large black notebook from the middle of the stack and opened it. “The year’s winding down, and all the teams are having their last games soon. I know you like to do some organizing around that starting in a week or two,” he pointed to a few boxes in the large day planner he’d opened, “so I want to make sure all our messaging is all on the same page. No pun intended, of course.”

“Of course,” she echoed while her mind tried to catch up. Dinner? We definitely didn’t go out to dinner. “Theresa’s already created a design for the campaign that we’ll be running, and I’m quite satisfied with it. I’ll have Ron deliver it along with a quote you can use by the end of tomorrow.”

“Gosh, thanks, Alaina,” Greg said. He propped the stack of books on his knee against the wall, flipped the planner back a couple pages, drew a pen out from the ring binding of the planner, and scribbled something illegible into one of the boxes before reinserting the pen and closing the planner up. He looked down at her with a relieved expression. “I was a little worried it might be awkward working with you again, um... after, but that’s obviously a concern without any basis in reality.”

Alaina smiled pleasantly. “The most important thing is for the students and faculty of the school to be working together harmoniously, and it would hardly do for me not to be leading by example.” This Is weirding me the fuck out.

Greg nodded vehemently. “Of course, of course.”

I can’t take it. I have to ask. Her brow furrowed after a moment, and she affected a curious expression. “I believe I heard that you were out sick recently?”

The managing editor of the newspaper grimaced. “I think I ended up getting food poisoning from something when we were out, actually. I even stayed home the first couple periods the next morning.”

Food poisoning? “Oh no,” the student council president said, raising her eyebrows to deepen her appearance of concern.

“I’m fine now, though, don’t worry about it.”

“That’s a relief,” Alaina said, putting a look onto her face to match her words. “We need our newspaper running!”

“You can count on me!” Greg said, nodding again.

Alaina reached up and pressed upwards on the side of her glasses in a practiced motion. “I’m certain I can. Now, was there anything else? I’d hate for you to be late to your next class.”

“No, no, um, that’s it, thanks so much for your time, Miss President!” Greg said, stumbling over his words in his haste to excuse himself before he scurried off.

She resumed walking after a brief pause. It’s almost like it never even happened. Or like he doesn’t remember...

Alaina’s eyes widened.

Economics crawled by.

It must’ve been her. But when? Alaina tapped the eraser of her pencil lightly on her opened textbook. Did she go out last night and hunt him down or something?

Mr. Dietrichson droned on in the background.

Maybe it was this morning? She and Laura must have left together since there was only one car. Where did they go, anyway? Ugh, don’t think about Laura. She’s too crazy. I never did figure out what was wrong with her. Maybe Will’s sorted through all his memories and can tell me on the way to dinner.

A new idea drove a big, red fire truck through her thoughts. Was that the only thing she did?

“‘Morning.”

Alaina’s head whipped around as she exited her Spanish class.

Will waved from his spot on the opposite side of the doorway, then pushed off the wall he was leaning against and fell into step next to her. “You’re jumpy today,” he remarked.

“And you’re ... You’re waiting for me outside my classes now?” Alaina said in a voice laced with suspicion.

“Just wanted to make sure you knew I wasn’t avoiding you,” her boyfriend said, grinning.

A wide smile erupted on her face. That’s so sweet! Now I almost feel bad that he’s the only thing I haven’t been worrying about today. “Message received,” she said, turning her smile up at him. “How’d you get here so fast after your class, anyway?”

They turned into a stairwell.

“I have my ways.” He turned his nose up.

“Uh huh.”

“I’d be willing to teach them to you if you’re interested,” he said, turning his head back to talk to her as he pushed through the door at the bottom of the stairs and held it open.

“Let me guess, I’d have to persuade you?” she trailed a hand across his stomach as she brushed past him.

“I’d settle for being asked nicely.”

She turned her best smile on him. “Will you please tell me?” She batted her eyelashes for good measure.

“Uhh...” Will stared down at her with rapt attention, nearly walking into a pair of freshmen.

Alaina pressed her free hand over her mouth to conceal her giggles. He’s so cute! She stopped to wait as Will apologized, then had a brief chat since he apparently knew the two girls. Of course he’d know them. Her hand gripped her notebook for a moment before she forcefully relaxed it. Nope, not going to get jealous.

“Sorry,” he said when he returned to her after a moment, a sheepish grin on his face. “Just some first date questions.”

She rolled her eyes as they started a slow walk towards the classroom at the end of the hallway. “Let me guess, they wanted to know whether...” She paused, taking stock of her surroundings. “I guess I shouldn’t make that joke here, actually.”

“Yeah, I’d hate for you to ruin your wholesome image for the sake of a joke.”

They stopped to the side of her classroom’s door.

“What class do you have next period?” Alaina asked, holding her books at waist height with both hands.

“Lunch with Vin and Don,” he said as he leaned onto a locker.

She frowned. I didn’t know he had lunch now. “That’s a pretty big coincidence that you all have lunch together.”

“Yeah, it’s a big coincidence indeed,” he agreed, giving her a knowing grin.

“Don?”

“I can neither confirm nor deny—”

“Ugh, how does he do all this stuff?” Alaina asked, fighting a losing battle against a smile. If Will’s an onion, his friends are like ... smaller onions. Except Daniel. I refuse to believe he’s anything but more Daniel under the surface.

“Don’s got a lot of talents,” Will said. “Don’t you need to get into your class, by the way?” He looked at the doorway behind him. “I don’t want you to be late for me.”

“You’re sweet,” Alaina said. She smiled happily at him. “Should I expect this every day now?”

Will’s face contracted as though he was thinking deeply. “Nah,” he said after a moment, giving her a lopsided grin. “Don’t want it to lose the magic when I do show up.”

“I feel underdressed if we’re eatin’ in the office today.”

Alaina pulled open the door to the student council office, then closed it behind Ayanna. “I’m more scandalized that you managed to pack a lunch on your own than by your lack of formal attire. Let me guess: peanut butter and jelly?” She turned on the large, old, noisy oscillating fan in the corner. This should give us at least a tiny bit of security based on what Mom said.

Her best friend turned to scowl in the middle of pulling a chair over to the side of the president’s desk. “C’mon, A, you gotta gimme a little credit here.”

The student council president carried her lunch bag over to her desk, sat down, and took out a plastic container and a fork. She watched as the state record-holder for the hundred meter dash pulled out a foil-wrapped rectangle and a bottle of water from her plastic shopping bag.

“Peanut butter and banana,” Alaina said after her friend had taken a bite.

“And bacon!” Ayanna said around a mouthful of sandwich.

I probably shouldn’t ask, but... “Real bacon, at least?” Alaina said with a small amount of hope. She stabbed a forkful of salad and a piece of General Tso’s chicken and brought it to her mouth.

“Bacon bits are real bacon!”

Alaina gagged, staring at her friend in horror.

Ayanna chewed with her eyes closed, seeming to be thoroughly enjoying the sandwich. Then her eyes opened and she smirked. “I’m just kidding. I made this bacon myself!” She puffed up with pride.

“I don’t remember hearing about any fires lately on the local news,” Alaina said before taking another bite.

“Aw, come on, A, gimme a break.” Ayanna took another big, crunchy bite. “First you make fun of me when I don’t cook, now you’re makin’ fun of me when I do make something. Not exactly motivating me to keep at it.”

Oops. Alaina swallowed. “Sorry, um ... I guess you’re right. I’m glad you’re trying it, at least.”

“Tryin’ it? I made enough bacon for the whole week.” Ayanna took an even bigger bite of her sandwich. “I accept your apology, though,” she said with her mouth full. “You can make it up to me by givin’ me all the details. I barely heard from you this past weekend!”

“Hm.” Alaina took another bite and chewed. “I can’t talk about anything related to my you know what anymore. Mom’s orders. I can talk about ... Well, you can ask, but there’s some stuff that’s not school-appropriate.”

Ayanna’s eyes bugged out. “You told her? What’d she say?”

“Yup,” Alaina said. “It didn’t change anything.” She smiled. I should’ve had more faith in her. She’s Mom, after all. “And she only made a couple jokes.”

“Good ones?”

“They were Mom jokes.”

“So they were good.”

“I might have laughed if they weren’t so embarrassing.”

“Those are my favorites, though, A!” Ayanna sulked. “Damn, I gotta catch up with your mom sometime. It feels like ages since I last saw her. You doin’ anything for dinner on ... Wednesday?”

“It’s been like, two weeks. And no, so I guess you’re invited if you want.”

“Really?” The sandwich-eating girl took on a pensive look. “I guess maybe it has. Feels like a lot longer somehow. It’s still gonna be cool to catch up on Wednesday.” She finished her sandwich. “Aight, enough stallin’. You and Will showed up together on Saturday. Ken said there was another cute girl with you at the meet, too. Spill. Who was she?”

Alaina took a leisurely swig from her bottle of water. “That was Tiff,” she said, smiling as she reminisced. “The girl we talked about last week. We’re friends now.” And as a result, I know more about working at a nightclub than I ever imagined thanks to her tutorial at the track meet.

“Oh, her. And what about Will? That Tiff girl was the one sittin’ next to him at the meet, but she was gone when we got back here for football. He still boning her or you?”

Alaina chewed for longer than was necessary, then swallowed. She took another sip of water, taking extra care to ensure that the top was screwed on tightly. She gave her best friend a sly grin.

“I don’t know what that...” Ayanna trailed off.

Alaina nodded, holding a finger up in front of her lips.

Ayanna’s mouth fell open and she gawked. “You did?”

Alaina nodded again. I can almost hear the explosions in her head.

Her friend closed her mouth and took a gulp of water. She opened her mouth again, frowned, then closed it. “A, you feeling okay?” she asked at last. “I mean, this isn’t ... You know...” she tapped on her head.

Alaina snorted. “Nope, all me.”

Ayanna seemed taken aback for a moment, but she recovered quickly. “Damn,” she muttered. “I kinda figured I’d be the first one to do that.”

“Um, excuse me?” Alaina said, staring blankly at her friend. “I thought you always said you were a hundred percent straight without even the tiniest bit of doubt.”

Ayanna gave her a confused look. “I am. Wait, I was talking about maybe finding another girl for a threesome as a present for Ken sometime. What’re you talking about?”

“I’m also talking about...” Alaina trailed off. “Where did that come from?” she frowned. “I didn’t think you’d ever be interested in that.”

“I dunno, all guys want it, don’t they?” Ayanna shrugged. “I’m not that interested, but if it’s something he’d really love then I’d try it, I guess?”

“I also wouldn’t have guessed it was something Ken really wanted?” I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ken even look at another girl.

“It’s Ken,” Ayanna said with confidence, “I can tell.”

“Uh huh.”

“Anyway, stop tryin’ to sidetrack me, A,” Ayanna said, sounding slightly flustered. “What’s that got to do with me being straight?”

“Well.” Alaina cleared her empty plastic container off to the side and leaned forward over the desk a little. “Saturday morning was definitely more for him like you described. But Friday night was all for me.”

Ayanna blinked. Then she blinked again. She placed an elbow on the desk and leaned her head into her hand. “Weren’t you just layin’ on the floor last week all depressed because he got taken away from you? Now you’re hookin’ up with him and his girl friend?”

“Let’s get one thing corrected, Ay: I’m the girlfriend.”

“No, that’s not—” Ayanna pressed her face into her hand. “I just meant aren’t you moving a little fast? You had to like, bribe him to get him to go out with you instead of Laura?”

“What?” Alaina wrinkled her nose. “No, it’s not like...” Ohh. Right, this makes no sense unless I tell her about Laura. But I don’t really wanna talk about Laura anymore right now. Argh! “Let’s just say that Laura was out of the picture already, and there’s definitely no need for bribes. Will likes me plenty just for being me. Did I mention he walked me to my English class today?”

“Really?”

“Yup.”

Ayanna opened up a small bag of cheese puffs. “That’s pretty incredible considering it’s you. I assume you’ve got the wedding date planned already? How many kids you gonna have?” She grabbed a few puffs from the bag and stuffed them into her mouth before turning the bag towards her friend.

Alaina reached in and carefully took a single puff. “Mom already told us she wants four, so it’s out of my hands.” She took a small bite.

Ayanna began coughing and quickly reached for her water. “Holy shit, A, you didn’t say your mom went that far.” She lapsed back into snickering.

That was far from the worst of it. “You can get all the best jokes next time you see her.”

“I’m gonna have to,” Ayanna said, taking another drink and emptying her bottle. She grabbed another few cheese puffs. “That’s kinda cool, though. So you had this Tiff girl he’s friends with more for like, a celebration type of thing. Like what I was thinking of doing.”

Alaina finished chewing and swallowed, then sipped her water. “No, maybe I’m just explaining this poorly.” She sighed. “We’re both friends with her, and she likes both of us back. It wasn’t celebrating anything in particular, we were just having fun. Lots of fun.” She smiled, staring off into nowhere. I’m not even sure which was more fun between Friday night and Saturday morning.

Ayanna gave her a cautious look after a moment. “Are you like, comin’ out now, A? Sorry, I’m tryin’ to be supportive here, it’s just kinda sudden and—”

“No, I’m not,” Alaina said. She sighed in frustration and began tapping a finger on her desk. “I only like a couple girls like that, that’s all. And there’s kind of circumstances.”

Her best friend pressed her lips together and frowned, clearly deep in thought. “I’m not like, an expert or anything—obviously—but isn’t that what it would be like? I mean, I like guys, but that doesn’t mean I like all guys, right?”

Alaina rolled her eyes. “No, it’s not...” Then she frowned. She has a point. Am I just realizing that I’m bisexual now because this Quirk is like, pointing it out to me? Is there even a way to know? Maybe Will and I just have identical taste in girls? I was kind of eyeballing Tiff’s boobs before I got the Quirk... “Let’s talk about it again at my house sometime when we can talk about other things, too.”

Ayanna nodded, still frowning. “You mean like Cl—”

“Yeah, that,” Alaina said, interrupting. “Mom said no more talking about it for any reason outside the house. Not even the slightest mention. You haven’t talked to anyone else about it, right?”

Ayanna shook her head, looking slightly offended. “‘Course not, A. C’mon.”

“I know you wouldn’t, I just...” Alaina sighed again and rested her hands on her temples. “Mom told me some really fucked up stuff, and now I’m beyond paranoid.”

“I’m always gonna be here for you, A. Or if you wanna talk at your house, lemme know and I’ll be there for you.” Ayanna stared at her.

“Thanks, Ay,” Alaina said, smiling a little.

“That’s what best friends are for!” Ayanna grinned. “Now who’re the other girls you like, and do I know any of ‘em?”

“W-what?!” Ayanna said, growing more flustered.

“Yeah, it was amazing,” Alaina said in a dreamy voice, her eyes unfocused.

“He really said he’d be cool with you having a girlfriend on the side?”

“Yup.”

“Damn, Will’s either underestimating girls or he’s insanely confident about how much you like him.”

Alaina blushed. “I’m pretty sure it’s the latter.”

“You know, I’m really glad you two found each other, A.” Ayanna said while nodding. “I think this is like, the happiest I’ve seen you in...” She hesitated. “A really long time.”

Is it? Alaina gave her friend a quizzical look.

“You just gushed about your new boyfriend and this Kay girl he introduced you to for like, half an hour straight. Bell’s gonna ring in thirty seconds.”

Alaina looked up at the wall opposite the direction she’d been facing. Huh. “Um ... Sorry, Ay, I guess I didn’t really give you much time to talk, did I?”

Ayanna snickered. “I got what I came for and then some.” Her voice turned more serious. “This is how it’s supposed to be when you start goin’ out with someone, though. You’re supposed to lose track of time thinking about them and talk your friends’ ears off about them. It’s good seein’ you like this. So much shit’s happened to you lately, you deserve to be happy.”

The bell rang.

“Happy, huh?” Alaina puzzled over the idea as she stood up. “I was happy before though?”

“If you say so, A,” Ayanna replied in a skeptical tone. “But you look different. It feels different talking to you today—and Saturday—than it used to. It’s a good change. I like the new you.”

“Really?”

“For sure.”

They exited the student council office, and Alaina locked the door again behind them. “Thanks, Ay, that actually means a lot to me.”

“See, the you from a week or two ago wouldn’t’ve said that.”

“Maybe not,” Alaina mused. “But it’s more fun this way.”

“More fun for me, too.” Ayanna grinned. “Aight, I’m not gonna be around the next couple days for lunch; team’s throwing me a couple small parties for breakin’ that record. Don’t miss me too much.”

“I’ll manage somehow,” Alaina said in a dry tone.

“You always do. I gotta get to Spanish, big test today. Later, A!”

“Oh, wait!” Alaina called out to her departing friend, who then stepped back to meet her. “Actually, I’m leaving now. I’ve got an appointment at the FCF with Mom, so I might not be back today.”

“Whoa, you gonna be okay?” Ayanna asked, her eyebrows rising on her forehead.

“Mom’s coming, so I can’t really imagine anything going wrong?”

Her best friend stared at her for a moment. “Aight, if you say so. Thanks for the heads up.”

“Um ... Would you mind letting Will know, too? I sort of forgot to tell him and I don’t know if he carries his phone around in school.”

“You want me to give him a kiss, too?”

“I guess that’d be a reasonable payment. Knock yourself out.”

“A, it’s no fun if you change that much.”

Alaina tried copying her boyfriend’s eyebrow waggle.

Ayanna guffawed. “I gotta go for real now. Later.”

“Bye, Ay.”

Alaina started off in the opposite direction from her friend, heading towards her locker with a genuine, happy smile on her face. That was fun.

She rounded a corner. The masses of students were stopped at lockers in the hallway, moving in and out of classrooms, and pressing forward at varying speeds to reach their next classes.

Through all of this, she spotted Laura Jansson. The tall, older girl was wearing the same light blue sweatshirt and jeans from the day prior. She plodded along, eyes downcast, with her books clutched to her chest.

Ugh, good riddance. I never wanted you to die, but that doesn’t mean I have to like you, either. Especially not after whatever that was this morning. Go steal someone else’s boyfriend or something, you bitch.

Laura hugged her books tighter and picked up her pace. She darted past a group congregated around a locker and into a stairwell, passing out of sight.

Not going to let her ruin my day. Alaina took a deep breath. Plenty of time for this Skill exhibition thing to do that.

She continued to her locker without encountering any more distractions. When she left it a minute later, she was carrying her school bag. Just have to go notify the office that I’m leaving and then it’s off to the FCF. Her stomach clenched. Ugh, Mom, I hope you’re right and this doesn’t end with us being taken to some underground lab.

Principal DaSilva happened to be standing near the front of the main office when she walked in, and the rest of the spacious room was empty.

“Dr. DaSilva, hi,” Alaina said, greeting the familiar woman. “I see I’ve managed to stop by just as the lunch rush hit again.”

The tall, hawk-nosed principal turned around slowly and looked up from a small stack of papers she was reading after another moment. “Oh, Alaina, good to see you as always. Can I help you with something?”

Alaina reached into the front pocket of her bag and pulled out the envelope with the CEA emblem. “I have an appointment scheduled for this afternoon.”

Dr. DaSilva set her papers down on the filing cabinet nearby and took the envelope. She pulled out the letter inside and skimmed over it. “Ah, a Skill exhibition,” she said, folding the paper up and reinserting it into the envelope. She inspected her student council president as she returned the document. “Your mother stopped by this morning and already notified us. I trust everything is going well with your Class?”

Alaina blinked. Mom came to the office this morning? So she was here. “Yes,” she said with a pleasant smile. “It took some time to adjust, but I’m feeling quite positive about it now.”

“Good, good. We’ve already marked down your absence for the afternoon and notified Dr. Sutton and Mr. Reilly.” Dr. DaSilva looked down over the rims of her glasses.