Chapter 24: Tuesday Morning, 8:01AM

Alaina tapped her pencil on her notebook in her Calculus class.

I can’t believe I forgot. It’s just so easy! And it’s not like she was reacting to anything I was feeling, either. It’s her fault!

Her pencil stilled for a moment, and she began copying something off the chalkboard that she already knew.

It’s not her fault. She’s just trying to live her life with the shitty Class she got. Just like me. I’m sure it’s much worse being her and feeling all of this than it is for me to feel embarrassed that she has to feel it.

She leaned her temple on the first two fingers of her left hand. Ugh ... How am I even supposed to exist near her now? After she had to deal with me practically slobbering all over her the entire morning ... She must be so grossed out.

I wanna see her again. I need to clear this up. I like her, but not like that.

Alaina tapped her pencil on her notebook in her Economics class.

I’m an idiot.

Alaina tapped her pencil on her notebook in her Spanish class.

I can’t even explain it to her. “Sorry, Laura, I can’t help lusting after you just like every other creep you’ve ever met. It’s different with me, though! It’s just a Quirk! Mind taking off your shirt for me so I can see your tits better? That’s my Quirk asking, by the way, not me!”

She sighed, and yet another daydream flitted by. This one was of the brief moments last Friday night when she’d shared a kiss with the undeniably beautiful girl who was now living with her. And hopefully sharing her bed regularly? And giving her the best hugs of all time. And making her lunch. And eating lunch with her soon...

She sighed again.

“Hey.”

Alaina turned and spotted a glum-looking Will waiting again on the opposite side of her Spanish classroom’s doorway. She rushed over and threw her arms around him. “Hey!”

“Wow, what’d I do to deserve this?” Will asked, returning the hug.

She pulled back after a moment and started towards her English class. “You looked a little down. And I did say I missed you a little last night, didn’t I?” She grinned happily. “I still kind of do, but just a little.”

Her boyfriend fell into step with her, a piece of his usual grin returning. “Just a little? You sure?”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Alaina said, giving him a gentle nudge with her hip. “Our first date was pretty good, but I can’t believe you took me to meet your parents on the second date. Don’t you know you’re supposed to wait a while for that?”

“What does that mean for you, then?” Will retorted. “I had to meet your mom before we went on any dates.”

“That’s...” Alaina frowned and pushed through a door into a stairwell. “That doesn’t count! You did that to yourself!”

“I seem to recall it being your idea to go out with my parents last night.”

Alaina harrumphed and eyed his free hand as she started down the second flight of stairs.

“Maybe we’ll strike that one from the Official Date Record. Then we can figure out a real second date. What do you think?”

Alaina grinned, turning up to look at him. “Finally, a good idea out of you.”

“Hey, I have lots of good ideas!”

“Name one that doesn’t involve sex.”

“Wait a minute, that’s not fair.”

Alaina giggled and glanced over at him out of the corner of her eye, her grin growing wider when she saw his. “You’re cute.”

“Thanks, I’ve been working out. Vin’s got me on this new—”

“Less cute now,” Alaina said, trying and failing to stifle more giggles.

They walked for a little longer in silence, coming to a stop outside her classroom.

“Is she doing alright?” Will asked.

Alaina nodded. “She seems ... I think she’s having a tough time getting used to having people who can be there for her again.”

“And she really doesn’t want to see me?” Will said, his grin turning somewhat awkward.

“It’s not you,” Alaina said, reaching out to rest a hand against his chest. “This is going to sound unbelievably cliché, but I think she just needs some time. As hard as it is on you, it’s a million times harder on her knowing that she did something like that to someone she cares so much about.”

Will ran a hand through his hair but paused halfway through and leaned into a nearby locker. “You don’t think it’ll help if I tell her I’m okay with it?”

Alaina’s expression turned worried. “Please don’t force it, Will. She begged me not to. Don’t...”

Will sighed and nodded, banging his hand softly on the locker. “I won’t, don’t worry. I just want her to feel better, that’s all.”

Alaina reached up and caressed his chin briefly. “That’s one of the things I like about you,” she said, feeling suddenly shy. “You really care about people.”

He grinned.

“Just give her some time—maybe like, a week or two. I’ll keep talking to her. She’s already much better than she was. You can be a little patient, can’t you?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Will said. “Alright, patience is the new keyword for me. The students will be calling me Siddhartha by the end of the week.”

Alaina frowned. Why does that sound familiar...

“The founder of Buddhism?”

“Oh. Right.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be the smart one?”

“Smart and well-read are different, Will.”

“But a smart person would at least know that, wouldn’t they?”

Alaina rolled her eyes. “While we’re on that topic, I have some bad news for you.”

Will’s brows drew down in concern.

“One of the conditions Mom had was that we can’t leave her alone anywhere, so I have to stay with her any time Mom’s not home. She’s taking off Thursday and Friday, but tomorrow...”

“I see,” said Will, nodding as his forehead creased. “Yeah, that’s a really good idea. I’ll let Tiff know about tomorrow and set something up to hang out with her on my own.”

The bell rang.

Alaina sighed with relief, inching towards her classroom. “I thought you’d be upset or something.”

Will frowned. “The only thing I’ll ever be upset with you for is if you refuse to talk to me.”

Alaina took a quick look around. Seeing that there was nobody else in the halls, she stood on her tip toes, hooked her arm around his neck, and laid a kiss on him that last only a couple seconds but left both of them dazed. “I really, really like you, Will White.”

Will blinked once, then again. “Same, Alaina Bishop,” he said with a waggle of his eyebrows. “I should get to class.”

She grinned as he left, giving a shy wave. New me is pretty awesome.

This is not a date.

Alaina finished reassembling the sandwich parts she’d retrieved from the faculty refrigerator and wrapped the sandwich in the foil she’d left at the bottom of her lunch bag.

I hope she likes it, at least. I don’t want her to starve at school ever again. And I don’t want her to have to eat alone in the library, either. And ... maybe she’ll cook for me again, too?

She put the container and the foil-wrapped sandwich into her lunch bag on top of the container with the fritata in it and next to the small, reusable bottles she’d filled with tap water that morning, then zipped up the bag. Giving a nod to Mr. Dietrichson, who was sitting with another crossword at a table, she slung the nylon strap over her shoulder and left the faculty lounge.

Just need to stay calm. Laura was pretending not to notice anything this morning, so I’ll pretend it didn’t happen. All I have to do is go a little over forty minutes without lusting after a girl I slept with the past two nights and gives me hugs that feel so good I never want her to stop.

A girl I kissed last week.

Alaina trudged through the halls. It’s like, I can’t wait to see her again, but also I don’t want to creep her out any more than I already have. Ugh, this is so hard. Fucking Quirk.

She took the stairs both eagerly and hesitantly. She’s so nice, too. Even thinking about how much I disliked her makes me feel pretty awful. She’s always trying to help out, doing her best to avoid bothering people when she can. I’d halfway expect her to—

The door at the top of the stairs opened in front of her, and Laura’s smiling face peeked around it. “Hey, Alaina!”

Alaina froze. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears as she basked in the warmth of the other girl’s radiant smile.

“Felt you coming up, so I thought I’d get the door in case you had your hands full!” Laura bounced her eyebrows as she pushed the door open the rest of the way. “I can’t wait to try this sandwich. And, um, I hope you like what I made, too.”

I’m so, so fucked.

Alaina walked forward, forcing a friendly smile onto her face and struggling to keep her eyes above the other girl’s neck. That sweater is a tease! She has such a pretty—Fuck! Stop it! “Hi, Laura,” she said, her voice suddenly too quiet. “Um, how’d your Physics class go?” she said, managing to avoid her voice cracking as she walked past the taller girl.

“Good,” Laura said. She let the door shut once they were both through and kept pace with her shorter friend, carrying a couple textbooks and a notebook. “Today feels like the first time I’ve really been able to focus in forever. I’m kind of far behind, but I’ll catch back up!”

“I hope so,” said Alaina. “Have you heard anything from the office yet about maybe being able to make up the work you missed? Mom should have stopped by...”

“Nopers, but I think they’d probably call me at the end of the day for something like that.”

Alaina came to a stop in front of the student council office and fumbled with the zipper of her lunch bag for a moment before managing to get it open. She pulled out her keys from where she’d stashed them earlier and unlocked the door.

“I’ll get that,” Laura said, pulling open the door.

“Thanks,” said Alaina. She walked inside. The door clicked shut behind her a moment later. “Grab a chair and pull it over. We can eat at my desk.” She continued forward, her thoughts moving too quickly to be processed, and set the lunch bag on her desk after flicking on the large, annoying fan.

When she sat down, she spotted Laura standing near the door with an awkward look on her face. The blonde girl unfroze after another moment and walked over. She took Ron’s chair and dragged it over to the side of the desk of the Student Council President, sitting close enough that her knees were almost touching it.

“I’m really sorry about last week,” Laura said, placing her books on the floor next to her chair. She stared at a spot on the desk.

An image rushed through Alaina’s mind. Wait, would she really be bent over the desk? She seems more like she’d want to be facing me if we were—FUCK. OFF. “Don’t worry about it,” Alaina said, trying to smile sweetly instead of lasciviously. “I hope you’re ready for this.” She focused on bringing out the sandwich without letting her hands tremble too noticeably. She drew in a breath, and it felt like she was inhaling nothing but the other girl’s perfume.

This perfume isn’t relaxing at all. It’s like pure sex. Fuck me. No, really. Please fuck me. I’m so fucking horny.

“I hope so, too, after all you told me this morning about how your dad used to make these,” Laura said. She rubbed her hands together in anticipation. “I don’t think I’ve ever had actual anchovies before.” She reached out her hand, brushing lightly against Alaina’s slightly smaller hand as she plucked the sandwich away.

Alaina stared after the other girl’s hand for a moment before she took out the bottles of water, the container with the fritata, and a plastic fork.

“It smells so vinegar-y! And garlic-y, too!” Laura exclaimed, looking at the partially-unwrapped sandwich in her hands with her pretty eyebrows raised.

“Is that bad?”

Laura shook her head, causing a few strands of silky blonde hair to come free and fall across her face. “No, just saying.” She raised the sandwich to her mouth and slowly took a dainty bite. She chewed for a moment, then moaned softly.

Alaina clenched her legs together under her desk. Fuck, I think almost came just now. This is so frustrating! I just wanna cum! ARGH! THAT’S NOT WHAT’S FRUSTRATING!

“This is really good, Alaina!” Laura said, smiling happily, her eyebrows slowly descending back to their normal position. She took another bite, and when she pulled the sandwich back there was a small piece of shredded Parmesan stuck to her upper lip.

It was all Alaina could do not to lunge across her desk and lick it off.

The blonde girl’s hand moved up a second later, covering her mouth. When she moved the same hand farther up to brush her errant hair back, her lips were clean and glistening.

Alaina licked her own lips.

“You don’t have to wait for me to finish or anything,” Laura said, looking up from her sandwich the next moment. “It was so nice of you to eat with me today,” she continued, showing a sweet smile. “I really hope you like this,” she finished, gesturing to the still-unopened container.

Alaina halted her progress of opening the container for a moment while she struggled to regain her senses. Her smiles are almost as good as her hugs.

“I’ll make something else next time we eat together, too,” Laura continued. She took another bite and hummed very softly while she chewed. She swallowed, then leaned in to take another bite and stopped herself, looking up again. “Um, that is, if you want to eat with me again sometime?” she asked, still smiling.

Alaina felt like she was on the verge of snapping her neck from how quickly she nodded. “Definitely!” She finally managed to slice off a forkful of the fritata and bring it to her mouth. In her haste to finally start eating, it was an uncharacteristically large slice. She held a hand up over her mouth as she chewed to compensate.

“Cool,” said Laura. She took another bite and bobbed her head back and forth a couple times, then reached for the bottle of water closest to her. “I like this bread. My family...” She trailed off and took a sip of her water. “Never bought whole wheat like this. Always white bread. I got a little bit sick of it.” She took another bite.

Alaina finally managed to swallow, her eyes fixed on her lunch companion’s full lips. I wish I’d paid more attention when I kissed her last week. I bet it would feel so good to kiss her again... She shook herself awake after a second. “Yeah, whole wheat is all I buy,” she said, fixing her eyes back onto the older girl’s. “It’s healthier, y’know. And it tastes pretty good, too.”

“Mm-hmm,” Laura agreed while she chewed. “So what do you think?” she asked, bouncing her eyebrows and glancing down at the half-eaten fritata.

Alaina chewed, evaluating the taste for the first time. It’s... “Mmm,” she said after she swallowed, a frown appearing on her face as she looked down. “It’s ... really good?” she said in surprise. I was a little worried it would be too spicy or something, but it’s not at all. “I’ve never really been that into making breakfast-y foods, but I could see myself making something like this sometimes.” She paused for a moment. This the first time someone’s made me lunch since Dad used to.

Laura smiled widely as she chewed. She swallowed after a moment. “I’m so glad,” she said softly. Then her voice rose back to normal levels as she quickly added “Um, I could show you how to make it, if you want? Or I can just make you one any time, too!” Her cheeks reddened, and she licked off another small piece of cheese that had gotten stuck to her lip.

“I’d like that,” Alaina said, her gaze riveted to the moist lips of the girl sitting next to her.

They ate in silence for a few moments, one girl looking with interest down at her disappearing sandwich and the other eyeballing the first with intent.

“So, Alaina,” Laura said suddenly, “it seemed like you got really mad with, um ... that whole thing this morning. Was that just because it was me, or do you really hate bullying that much?” She popped the remainder of her sandwich in her mouth, chewing slowly.

Alaina’s latest fantasy, in which the blonde girl was screaming her name while her luscious thighs were squeezing tightly around—

“It’s, um...” Alaina blinked a few times as her mind tried to recover from the change in avenues of thought. “I...” She took a bite of her fritata and washed it down with some water, then took a deep breath, feeling some clarity return at last. Until she made the mistake of looking back into her blonde bedmate’s captivating eyes.

“I ... have a friend,” the redhead said when she somehow managed to look back down at her own lunch. “This friend ... She had an older brother,” she said slowly, the memories coming back and dampening her mood. “His name was Colin. He was a lot older than us.”

She smiled a little as a memory of chasing her best friend around while riding on the older boy’s shoulders surfaced. “He joined the marines. Wasn’t much for books, but he was really nice and worked hard. Played basketball in high school, too, though he wasn’t good enough to get a scholarship or anything out of it. He didn’t want to turn into some guy who graduated and sat around on his parents’ couch, though, so he joined up.”

An image of the tall [Arranger] on the day he left for bootcamp, all smiles and eagerness, came to the fore. And that was the last time we saw him. “He killed himself eight days into bootcamp,” Alaina said, staring off across the gulf of time, now seated in the bleachers next to Ayanna at a basketball game with both of them cheering on her big brother after he’d scored a three-pointer. She took a bite of her sandwich, chewed, and swallowed. “One of his drill instructors—maybe more than one, we only know of the one who got discharged—was bullying him. Hazing, they kept calling it.” She sighed. “He jumped off a stairwell outside of his barracks from the third floor.”

She felt a warm presence on her hand and saw Laura’s hand over hers. “Thanks,” she said, looking up. “I’m okay, though, it was a long time ago. Almost ten years already.” She put the last piece of sandwich into her mouth.

“That’s awful,” Laura said, her forehead wrinkling as her eyebrows moved up.

Alaina nodded and swallowed. “Yup. They sent his body back in a casket. Took my friend a long time to get over it. I tried to help. Any time I saw someone else being bullied, I’d stick up for them. And then I’d tell her about it, and it’d cheer her up. Like I was getting back at them for her. Anyway, I got to high school here and there was a lot of it going on. It was everywhere. I even got bullied a little my freshman year. “ She grinned a bit. “Just once, though.

“That was when I decided to run for president,” she continued, adjusting her glasses. “I thought maybe I could change things. Stick up for more people. And ... I did.”