Author: Wildbow

Gone and Done It – 17.4 | Pale

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Lucy reached for Wallace’s hand, and intertwined her fingers with his.  He shot her a smile as they walked.

“Your fingers are cold,” she remarked.

“Yeah?  Your hand feels warm.  I wonder if it’s a circulation thing.  Do me a favor and don’t tell my mom?”

“Sure.  I’m just checking- I want this to be nice.  I’m not pulling on your arm in an awkward way?”

“Nah,” Wallace said.  He reached awkwardly across and patted the brace that was wrapped around his forearm, elbow, and upper arm, beneath the sleeve of his coat.  “This helps.  Wrist angle is a little iffy though.”

She stepped closer, so his arm was against her body.  A little more awkward for her, in terms of the angle of her arm, but… “Better?”

“Yeah.”

They were closer like this, which made her face feel warmer.

She had no idea what to talk about.  They’d exhausted their small talk, he’d talked about his trip, shopped around for a coat for him and now they were walking back.

Last night, she’d finished off the council meeting, gone home, and then started on practice stuff to get ready for the founding of third Kennet.  While doing that, she’d felt wracked with anxiety over this, today, and so she’d switched to taking notes and preparing for the date and seeing Wallace again.  The stakes were higher because she’d given him a talking to the last time she’d properly seen him.

It felt like she had to get it right.  Like, yeah, he’d screwed up.  She understood how he’d been overwhelmed, even if it was annoying and if it stung.  But she still had a feeling like she had to remind him why he was dating her in the first place.  She wanted to remind herself why they were dating, because having him smile and be awkward for her was just the nicest thing.

So she’d agonized over clothes and she’d taken a lot of notes.  Things to talk about had been among them.  She’d already run through about ninety percent of the things that she’d organized to the first page, with the other ten percent of things being stuff she’d kick herself for forgetting the next time she looked at the notes.  The stuff she’d remembered included griping about parents, because she knew Wallace would want to vent about that, and she’d been right and it had been funny to hear him go off, but also he clearly loved his mom, so that was cool.  There were the common ground topics, like horror movies and horror games, and some music.  The friend group, the class.  Catching Wallace up on what he’d missed, Wallace filling her in on his time in the city.

It was a balancing act to find the points to spring off of, or pivot to, that didn’t make it so she was interrogating him or anything.  Using natural pauses in conversation, or being reminded of a topic by the conversation.

So far, so good.  Except now she was stuck.  A few things she’d put on the second page weren’t really options, and page three had the ‘let’s not because…‘ topics.  Like Verona and Jeremy.  Or the thing they’d had a fight over, with Wallace ignoring her.

“Is your hand warming up?” she asked.

Wallace nodded.  His nose and ears were red.

She reached over and put three fingers on the tip of his nose for a moment.

“Hm?” he grunted.

“Checking if it was cold.  Your nose and ears are red.”

“Because I blush weird.  I’m walking with a good looking girl, I’m- blushing.”

He looked away as he said that last word, turning his head to the right while she was to the left.  She thought about kissing that red ear, then second guessed herself.  Didn’t want to jar his arm, didn’t want to be awkward-

“It’s less obvious when I blush, huh?” she asked.

“Cheater.”

“I don’t think it’s cheating,” she told him.  “I came by it honestly.”

“Yeah,” he replied.

There was another awkward pause in the conversation.

Fuck it.  Least offensive page three ‘let’s not because…‘ topic.

“Did you end up watching Ticking All The Boxes?” she asked.

Let’s not because we don’t want to nag him.

“Oh!  Yeah.  Wait, I think I watched some?  I was taking codeine after my surgery, I put it on to watch, but I was pretty fuzzy.  Passage of time felt funny.  I stopped because I wasn’t really getting all the details.”

“Totally fair.”

“I really liked the concept.  And the monsters.”

“I thought you’d like it because it felt very gamey.  You know?  Like, if they made a game of it, it’d work really well.  I even had to check if it was originally a game, like Vultures Wild and Geistomagoria.”

“Yeahhh.  Yeah, no, that’s- you’re right.  Actually, let me check-”

Wallace leaned harder into her as he worked to get his phone out of his pocket, and didn’t seem to realize he was doing it.  Rather than pull away, Lucy gently pressed nose and mouth into the shoulder of his new coat, watching him over his shoulder.

He noticed her, and looked away, but his nose, ears, and the surrounding parts of his face got redder.  He focused on the phone.  “…Ticking All The Boxes?  Is it all the, or ticking boxes, or…?”

She straightened up.  “All the.  But I think for wooble searches it’s fine if it’s just ‘ticking boxes movie’.”

“Yeah,” Wallace said.  “There’s a game coming out in the first quarter of next year.”

“Yeah?  No kidding?”

“Almost always, if there’s something popular and it’s somehow possible to make a game, someone had the same thought and got started already.  It’s a good company making it.”

“We could play it.  You can watch the movie- or don’t, even.  It’s okay if you only remember some.  And then we get the game and play it together?  Because most of the games you’ve shown me are ones you’ve tried before and know about.  It could be nice to switch it up some.”

“Yeah,” Wallace replied.  Then the idea seemed to sink in.  “Yeah.  For sure, yeah, I really like that.  Yeah, that’d be cool.”

“Are you sure?  Because, interpreting you a certain way, you don’t sound that enthusiastic.”

“I don’t?”

“I’m joking,” she told him.  Interpreting it the wrong way, he doesn’t sound that enthusiastic.

“I’d like that.  It’d probably take a good few play sessions to sit through.  Especially if it’s an hour or two after school before my parents get home.”

“Cool,” she replied.  She thought about suggesting he come over to her place, because her mom was away some nights, but that felt loaded with implications she didn’t want to imply.  “I’ll chip in for the game?  Fifty-fifty?”

“Sure.  Ugh.  My mom keeps texting me to make sure I’m getting home on time.  U-um, crap, wait.”

He disengaged, letting go of her hand, and stepping away.  Lucy was careful not to pull on his arm as they separated.

Lucy raised her eyebrows.

“Sorry,” he said.  “I meant to be more smooth about this but then we got to talking and I missed my window.  My mom’s expecting me for some errand or something, asked me to be back by a certain time, so I can’t walk you home, like a jerk-”

“You said, it’s no big.”

He stumbled over his words, not helped by the interruption.  “-but I didn’t want to- at the end of my driveway.”

“Want to what?”

He stepped closer, put a hand on her shoulder, arm brace squeaking, and pressed his lips to hers.

“Ah ha,” she murmured.

“But I really wanted to do that all afternoon.”

“You should’ve just said so,” she said.  Her face was warm, now.

“I didn’t get many chances today.  We were talking so much.”

“Plus I’m chicken.  Wasn’t sure if you were mad, too.”

“It’s okay.”

“But I thought the mailbox right there, that’s the absolute last point I can be at, have to ask you before then.”  He pointed to the battered old mail drop-off box at the corner of Wallace’s neighbor’s property.  It was the meeting point for kids who took the school bus in this neighborhood.

“Thank you, mailbox,” Lucy said.

Wallace snorted air through his nose.

She was stuck making lots of short replies.  She made herself break from that pattern.  “Why didn’t you want to do that at the end of your driveway?”

“Because my mom.  I’m betting she’s in the window watching.”

“Ahhh.”

“Come on.  We’ll see.”

She put a hand on his stomach, stopping him, then gave him another quick kiss, before they went past the hedge and tree at the corner of the property, over to the front of Wallace’s house.

His mom was on the front steps.  She’d been sick since she was Wallace’s age, was in a wheelchair a lot just because her nerves and joints were bad, and was in the hospital a good chunk of the time.  She had a look to her like the time in the hospital, around all the hospital chemicals, had bleached her out.  Lighter skin, lighter eyes, near-white hair, more tired and aged in ways that had nothing to do with skin texture.  She wore a wine red top and blue jeans that were probably intended to bring some color across but made the light colors all the more obvious.

Wallace’s mom stood and approached, calling out, “Wallace!”

“Heya, lemme just say bye,” he called out.  “Oh my god she’s waiting outside.  Hey, um, one last thing?  It’s another thing like the mailbox, I told myself I should tell you how amazing you look.”

“You did when you first saw me.  It was very nice of you.”

“That’s automatic, and it feels like I’m doing it because Mia bugged me about it the once.  You look really nice, wanted to say.”

“Thank you.  You’re not so bad yourself,” Lucy told him.

“I hope it’s not weird that I gave myself these things to do by the end of the date.”

“Nah,” she told him.  “I did my own thing, made a list of things to talk about.”

Wallace laughed.  “You’re way better at this than me.”

“What’s so funny?”  Wallace’s mom asked, as she met them.  “Hi.  Lucy?”

Is that a question?  Who else would it be?  Lucy felt very inspected as Wallace’s mom looked her over.  “Hi Mrs. Davis.  Nice to meet you.”

“Got the new coat,” Wallace told his mom.  “Just what I wanted, and it’s Lucy approved.”

“Big sleeves for the arm brace to go inside, tough material, stylish,” Lucy said, feeling awkward.

“Very nice,” Wallace’s mom said.  “Come on in.  You too, Lucy.”

“Oh, uh- I can go home, it’s no big.”

“Come inside,” Wallace’s mom said, pressing her hands together in a praying gesture.  The wrists bent far further than Lucy’s ever could.  “Just for a minute.”

“Uh, sure,” Lucy replied, double checking with Wallace, who looked bewildered.

They followed his mom into the house.

The cheer of ‘surprise’ was sudden and loud, with people from their class peering in from the office just by the hallway, jumping up from hiding places behind furniture, and looking in around doorways.

Wallace’s mom flushed in the same way Wallace did, though for different reasons.  She’d had to have known.  “I hope this is okay.”

“It’s not my birthday though?” Wallace replied.

“I knew he’d say that.”

“It’s not a birthday party it’s a welcome home party.”

“People keep leaving but you came back!”

The voices overlapped.  People pressed in.  Lucy hurried to get the door closed before there were too many people in the hallway to do it.

“Hey man, your mom said you were getting a new coat.  You didn’t cut the date short did you?”

“Hi Lucy!” Mia greeted her.

“Is it okay though?” Wallace’s mom asked.

“Yeah, for sure.  Yeah.”

What would you do if he said no?

“We queued up the games while we were waiting.  I hope that’s okay.  Didn’t touch your save files.”

“You better not have.”

The press of about twenty people in a really narrow house made for a bit of a logjam.  Wallace kicked off his boots and ventured inside, greeting people.  Lucy winced at seeing people brush up and bump against his arm.  And she could see that his mom was the same.

“I was wondering what was up,” Lucy said.

It took Wallace’s mom a second to realize Lucy was talking to her, in the chaos.  “Oh.  Jeremy organized it, he asked.  I thought it would be good.”

“You guessed?” Mia asked.

“Just weirdness.  The schedule, the errand.”

“Oh my gosh.  You look so beautiful.  You really dressed up,” Mia greeted Lucy.  She offered a hug, which Lucy accepted.

“I didn’t overdo it?” Lucy asked, quiet, aware Wallace’s mom was right there, within arm’s reach.

“You’re perfect.  Did you have a nice time?”

“Yeah, yeah.  No, it was really nice.  We ended up walking a lot.”

“Couple more years until we can drive,” Mia said.

“You look like you could drive already, you’re so tall,” Wallace’s mom said.

“Mrs. Davis was surprised when I walked in for the surprise party.  She thought Wallace and I were the ones dating.”

“My mistake,” Wallace’s mom said.

“Huh,” Lucy replied, a little put out.  “Well, hope it’s clear now.”

“It is.  No harm done, right?” Wallace’s mom asked.

“Nope!  Thanks for letting us do this, Mrs. Davis,” Mia said.

“I’m glad to.  Did you eat?” Wallace’s mom asked Lucy.

“Uh, no.  We just visited a bunch of stores.  I got some stationary and notecards, we went to the thrift store, then the nice store downtown.  One of the only ones that’s still open.”

“That is a lot of walking.”

“Yeah.”

“Wallace, one moment?” Wallace’s mom asked.

Wallace held up a finger for Jeremy and George as his mom took him aside.

“Remember when Wallace’s mom passed out during the event back in grade five?” Sharon asked, really quiet, poking her head in between Mia and Lucy.

“Don’t,” Lucy said, frowning.  “It’s probably fine, don’t worry about it.”

“It was probably a stress thing,” Mia said.

Lucy could hear Wallace’s mom.

“I wanted to be inclusive, so I did order pizza.  I’ll have that in the kitchen, but there’s low-spice chicken wings for you, along with some other things.  The deep fried pickles with the no-carb, gluten-free coating-“

“Yeah, I know what not to eat, it’s fine.  Thank you.”

“We don’t want to risk any inflammation from your food allergies, or it could interfere with the healing after the surgery.”

“I know.  I’m fine.”

“I’ll separate the food as best I can, but be really careful, especially with this many people around, transfers of allergens- I know it’s rude but serve yourself first.”

“Yeah, sure.  Can I go back to my friends?”

“If there’s even a crumb of gluten in there you could have a toilet bowl filled with frank blood again-“

Lucy removed her earring as fast as she could without being obvious about it.

“Mom, geez.  I’m-“

The enhanced sound died away.  Lucy glanced over as Wallace escaped his mom.

“And take off that coat.  You don’t want to overheat,” Wallace’s mom said, as he rejoined his friends.  It didn’t look like he heard.

Wallace waved her off as best as he could with braces on each arm.  George thumped him with a hand on his back as he passed.  Lucy could see the anxiety in Wallace’s mom.

Who looked at her, like Lucy was somehow the first person she wanted to check on after checking on Wallace.

Lucy smiled a bit, trying to reassure.

If stress could make Wallace’s mom pass out, this would be a hard afternoon.

The girls were clustering in separate groups from the guys, and Lucy searched the room.  Alayna Weagle looking out of place with nobody to really talk to, Caroline was watching near Jeremy’s seat as the guys played some racing game…

There weren’t a lot of girls in attendance, but that was mostly because a lot of the girls in their class had dropped away.  Alexa, Brooklynn, Kyleigh, Pamela, Emerson, and Avery had all left at the start of the semester.  The one and a half classes from last year had melded into one, so they had Savannah, Audrey, Aubrey, and Kayla in their class now, but that was a group that mostly kept to itself.

No Verona.  No Avery, obviously.

Melissa was there, though.  With Bracken.  That was cool.

“They invited Melissa?”

“I suggested it.  Olive branch.”

“But not Hailey?”

“I’m being good.”

“By… not inviting her?”

“By not telling her to stick an olive branch somewhere nasty.  I’ll leave her alone if she leaves me and George alone.”

Sharon laughed.

“C’mon,” Lucy said.  “It was months ago.  Let it go.”

“Give me a bit longer, I’ll try.”

Lucy sighed.  “And Ronnie?”

“Verona?” Mia looked over at Sharon.  “Um, you’ve talked to her since last night, right?”

“No.  Tried, but she’s busy.  Talked to Avery though, and she gave me a very brief rundown.”

“George thought it’d be best if we didn’t.”

“But you invited Caroline?”

“Because of course Jeremy’s coming, and he’d want her to come.”

“And Alayna, and Logan?” Lucy asked, quiet.  “Who barely interact with Wallace.”

“A lot of the guys like Logan,” Mia said.

Sharon added, “Alayna’s fine.  Nobody like, hates her or anything.  She’s a bit uptight religious but that’s fine for something like today.  No reason to leave her out.”

“I mean, it’s not that,” Lucy protested.  “I don’t mind Alayna getting invited, but if you’re picking and choosing just like… two people out of the entire class not to invite?  And one of them’s my best friend?  And one of them’s someone you hate?”

“You’re putting way more thought into this than we did.  It wasn’t malicious.  And there’s a few others we didn’t invite.”

Among the boys?  Noah and Ian had been invited.  Good.

Not Andre though.  Andre was of a body type with Pam, overweight, but without Pam’s usually sunny disposition.  Among the last picked for teams in gym and for group work.  He tended to walk around school looking really hangdog, the poster child for how high school wasn’t the best years of everyone’s life.

“Not Andre either?  This feels bad, Mia,” Lucy said.  “You’re usually better at this stuff.”

“It’s friends and friends of friends and anyone they invited.  You said it yourself, Verona’s busy or something.”

“But you didn’t try?”

“No.  But a breakup isn’t the sort of thing to hash out at Wallace’s welcome back party, okay?”

“It’s not a breakup, it’s a broken friendship.  I don’t know the full story-”

“But it’s not for here, right?” Mia asked, “Right?”

Lucy sighed.

“We’ll make it up to Verona later.  But don’t throw a damper on this entire thing because it was an awkward thing we awkwardly worked around when trying to put this together in a flash.”

“Make it up to Hailey too.  And Andre.”

Mia made a disgusted face at the mention of Hailey.

“C’mon,” Lucy pressed.

“Why are you getting so anal about this?” Sharon asked.

“Because I was one of the people who was left out, before this summer.  I don’t know why, but-”

“Because sometimes you’re not the most fun to be around.  Like right now,” Mia told her.

Just a little too harsh, too frustrated.

Lucy frowned.  “I could’ve been more fun if I’d been included in preparing this whole thing.”

“You’re too honest,” Sharon said.  “We thought you might give the surprise away.”

Lucy frowned more, directing most of that at Sharon, until Sharon backed off, finding somewhere else to go.

“You told me a few times now,” Lucy murmured to Mia.  “You thought I was going places, or something?  That I was more adult, and that I made you better?  I think not shutting out people like my best friend and Hailey and Andre-”

“There’s a couple more boys in the last period science class who we didn’t invite either, for good reasons.”

“Them too, then.  You can have a party that includes everyone, you can have a party that’s just friends, but this is a thing that’s specifically leaving out people, it feels targeted, and I can imagine someone feeling bad about this for years because they were specifically left out.”

“Relax, okay?  I’ll- I’ll make it up to Verona.  And Andre, and maybe the boys who snap bra straps.  I’m not sure what else I can say.”

“Maybe forget those boys, but Hailey?”

“You caught that, huh?”  Mia snorted.  “Go enjoy your boyfriend being back.  Okay?  Let’s hash this out later, before it spoils the entire mood.”

Lucy frowned at Mia, but Mia walked away.

Lucy huffed out a frustrated breath.

She texted her mom to let her know about the little party and hang-out, then texted Verona.

No response.

She got her coat and boots off, and as she walked by the kitchen, she saw Wallace’s mom there, arms braced against the counter, eyes closed.

“Mrs. Davis?”

Wallace’s mom straightened, eyes opening.  “Yes?  Hi Lucy.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Just… have a good time, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Wallace’s dad will be by with the food in ten or fifteen minutes.  There’s some soda and some water over here.”

Lucy took some water out of the sink, which had been filled with cold water and ice.

“Is he still wearing that coat?”

“Uhhh…” Lucy poked her head out of the kitchen, checking.  “Yes.  At least he likes it?”

The look on Wallace’s mom’s face made it seem like she’d been talking to herself more than she’d been asking Lucy.  She looked surprised at the response.

“He has hypohydrosis, he can’t regulate his body temperature as well as most.  I don’t want to fuss over him, but-”

“Okay,” Lucy said.  She almost said no sweat, but that would’ve been iffy, given the issue at hand.  Wallace had explained it once.  “I’ll see what I can do.”

Wallace was on the couch, guys sitting around him, or on the floor in front of him.  There were four controllers, and they were passing them around, tangling the cords.  Lucy watched things for a moment, smiling at how happy Wallace seemed.

It wasn’t like Wallace was the most popular guy.  But Jeremy had probably done the bulk of arranging this, and, Lucy guessed, with so much of Kennet disintegrating, businesses closing and people moving away, people had been needing an excuse to hang out like this.

She wondered if he was keeping the coat on because he was too caught up in things, or if he was doing it because he could wear the braces beneath the sleeve and look or feel ‘normal’ for the first time in a while.

When he didn’t have the controller anymore, she approached.  “Can I sit?”

“Heck yeah.”

George scooted over to give her space, his attention on the game and button mashing.  She made like she couldn’t settle in, then tugged at Wallace’s sleeve.  He obliged, letting her help pull the coat off.  She put his arm around her shoulder, and the coat over her lap and legs, with the side benefit of not having the awkwardness of wearing a dress with boys sitting on the floor, at eye level with her thighs.  She settled in next to her boyfriend, had some water, and offered him some.

She glanced back and saw Wallace’s mom watching over everything.

“Did you say anything to my mom?”

“Huh?  What?” Lucy asked, bewildered.

Wallace got his locker open.  He stuck his arm out, and Lucy helped pull the coat sleeve off.  Wallace smiled like it was a joke, and smiled a bit more when Lucy hugged the coat to her chest and didn’t let him take it to put in his locker.

“You want to put it in your locker?” he asked.

“Nah,” she said.  She surrendered it.  “What’s this about your mom?”

“I dunno.  She got fussy.  You saw how she is.”

“Fussy?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Wallace said.  “It’s just how my mom is.”

“I thought I made a good impression.”

“I think she was too overwhelmed to get many impressions.  Don’t worry.”

“Okay,” Lucy replied, worrying.

They went inside for homeroom, talking about the party.  Verona came in, and Lucy had to double-check before confirming it was the Fetch.  She gave ‘Verona’ a light high-five as Verona passed Lucy to take a seat by the window, back row.

You’re supposed to be connecting to the human side of Kennet, you complete dunce.

Mr. Sitton ran through the attendance and got halfway before the morning announcements started.  He wrapped up after, let them sit and talk for the rest of the five or so minutes, then let them go on their way to gym.  He stood in the hallway as some students got their gym clothes from their lockers.  It felt dumb, doing it this way instead of just starting their day in gym, or not being allowed to just bring their gym clothes straight from their locker to homeroom to gym, but whatever.

Being at the locker with Mr. Sitton looking on reminded her of the whole thing with him being upset at her and Wallace having a moment before Wallace had left for his surgery.

“God, I hate gym,” Wallace said.  “Any bets, anyone?  If Mr. Bader will have us running laps or playing soccer so I can be included?”

“Please soccer please,” Jeremy commented.

“I’m not sure if I’d rather sit out or run laps again.”

Wallace’s mom had been ‘fussy’?  What did that mean?

What had she said or done wrong?

Mr. Bader and the senior student that was helping with the class stood in the hallway while they quickly changed to gym clothes, then ushered them into the big gym.  Mr. Bader completely ignored her, like usual.  Like he had since her mom had talked to the administration.  Not a glance her way, not a word, not a single tip on how to kick a ball, not an urging to be better, be worse.

She almost wanted to test it, to see how far she could push things before he’d say something.  But she worried about where that would go.

“Laps to start, while we wait for the stragglers!”

People groaned.

They played a dumb modified game of soccer in the main gym, boys on one side, girls on the other, with a crossover rule that the girls had to pass to the boys diagonally across from them to score and vice versa.  An hour of that, more laps to finish off.

Then showers, they changed, they waited for the bell, chattering, with Mr. Bader no longer checking their hair was wet.  He just stood there, not looking at her.

Social studies with the eternal substitute teacher who’d replaced Mr. Kelsch.

“We’ve been studying civil rights and liberties.  But what happens when those rights and liberties are denied?” Mrs. Morehouse asked.  “We’re going to be moving backwards, to the early days of Canada, and the French and British colonialist regimes, and forward, to the war, internment of Asian, gay, first nations, and black people…”

At that last bit, Lucy was aware of the glances.  It felt like half the students in the room, looking her way.  Checking.  Studying her reaction.  A few for Noah and Ian, but more for her.

“Smack it!”

Lucy beat the trash bag with a stick.  A crowd watched the futile, pointless exercise.

“Smack it harder!  Faster!”

“What’s the point of this?”

“Smack the trash!” Bubbleyum ordered.

“Is this what the entire training session is going to be?”

“Smack it good!  Why are you wasting your breath on me?”

Lucy took up all her pent up aggression on the trash bag, pummeling it with the length of wood that had come from a long, thin branch, if it wasn’t the trunk of a small tree.

That went on for about five minutes, until the bag split.

“Keep going!”

She slammed the stick down on the bits that had come free of the trash, grimacing.  Hit the containers, obliterated the food, struck the soggy paper… leaving a real mess in this Undercity alleyway.

Fucking what was she supposed to do about ‘fussy’?

“Stop.”

Lucy panted for breath.  It took her a bit to get her energy up to straighten to a full standing position again.

“Now we can start,” Bubbleyum said.  She blew a bubble, then popped it.  The pink on the lips of Toadswallow’s lady-partner had to be from the chemicals and food colorings in the bubblegum she chewed, because any real lipstick would have been stripped away.

“Getting me tired first?” Lucy asked.

“Good time to learn.”

Guilherme had taught her something similar.

“Kid,” Bubbleyum said.

“I have a name,” the ‘kid’ told her.  He was a guy about Lucy’s age, from the Undercity.

Bubbleyum took a baseball bat from one of the new goblins off on the sidelines.  She swung it and let go of it, letting it flip toward the ‘kid’.  He awkwardly caught it, grunting.

“Goblins give and get names by earning them.  You want a name from my lips?  Earn it.”

“I’m not a goblin.”

Bubbleyum blew a bubble.  “Got some extra catching up to do, then.  You said you were interested in getting trained?  I’m training you at the same time, at least right now.  And you.  Lucy.”

“I get a name?” Lucy asked.

“Toadsie respects you, so sure.  But if you crap out on me here, that’s it.  I’ll train the kid instead.”

Lucy straightened up a little more.  She shifted posture, footing, gaze.  All little things Guilherme had taught her.  About presentation being the first thing that went into a fight.  She stared down the ‘kid’.

She wondered how Bubbleyum would react to that.

“Guess I didn’t tire you out enough,” Bubbleyum said.

“Maybe not.  Maybe it doesn’t matter how tired I am.”

“The Faerie teach you that?”

Lucy nodded, not taking her eyes off the kid.

“It’s good.  Nice touch.  Intimidating as someone as skinny as you can get.  But you know what looks nicer?  What’s more intimidating?”

“Tell me,” Lucy replied.

“Kicking his scrawny patootie already.  You could have that stick halfway through his skull right now if you wanted to.  Much more intimidating to have a piece of wood sticking through your head, using the half a brain you’ve got left to realize you’re going to die.  Innit?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah,” Bubbleyum echoed her.  She blew a bubble.  “Have at it.”

Lucy didn’t waste time.

This kid didn’t know how to fight.  But he had a baseball bat, still.  She couldn’t mess around, especially when he seemed to feed off the crowd, not wanting to hold back when his friends were in the background, watching.

She’d tired herself out and she’d had gym earlier, which made it a bit less one-sided.  She turned to other advantages, like using the garbage-caked end of the stick not to hit him, but to stick it near his face and make him pull away, disgusted.

“Good!” Bubbleyum exclaimed.

More of a coach than Mr. Bader is.

Bat hit stick, she jabbed- maneuvering him.  He was waiting for an opening- periodically swinging to make space or get her to back off.  But by moving this way and that, she could get him to where he was walking and nearly tripping over the trash bag.  Gross stuff underfoot made his footing slippery.  She jabbed at him and he nearly fell.

“Duel a lot, do you?” Bubbleyum asked.

“Kind of my thing.”

“Butty!” Bubbleyum called out.  “Get your panties in there.  Take little Lucy down.  Two on one.”

“The fuck!?” Lucy asked.  She glanced over her shoulder to see Butty emerge from the crowd, skin shiny smooth, smiling wide.

“Got to see you when you’re broken down, tired, and hurting before I can see how to build you back up, honey,” Bubbleyum said, tonguing the bubble she’d been blowing to one corner of her mouth.  “That is, if you want to get the most out of this.  Keep going.  We’ll make it a three on one or a four on one if we have to.”

The bubble popped.

Lucy sat on the sidewalk, arms draped over her knees, breathing hard and trying not to throw up.

“Some of it’s experience,” Bubbleyum said, as she walked over, leaning against the phone pole a few feet from Lucy.  “I can get you that, a few more sessions like this.  Some direction.”

Lucy gave the very pink goblin her most unimpressed look.

“Could count,” Bubbleyum said  “If you get in a nasty spot, you surrounded by five people stronger than Butty, Nat, and Doglick.”

“Yeah.  That’s why I do this, right?”

“Could teach you some stuff too.  Bit of practice.  Toadsie is the better one for those lessons, but we’ll see what we can do.”

Lucy nodded.

“What’s got you down?” Bubbleyum asked.

Lucy raised an eyebrow as she looked over.

“Something’s up.  I’ve got a good eye.”

“It’s dumb.”

“Dearie, earlier today, I saw a goblin choke down a chain and pull the end out of his backside, to see if he couldn’t floss his insides by pulling on the ends.  I can handle dumb.”

“I’m not feeling especially connected to humanity and Kennet, right now.”

“Mm.  Miss said that was important, didn’t she?”

Lucy nodded.

“I figure love for a place is like love for a person.  You’re going to have your moments you adore ’em, moments you want to pull out your hair and scream.”

“You and Toadswallow have those moments?”

“Some,” Bubbleyum said, scrunching up her face.  “Don’t go spreading that around.  I’m ga-ga over that little pile of man, enough that if I was human, they’d call me sick in the head.  But even I have my moments I wonder what the heck he’s doing.”

“Everything okay now?”

“Could be better.  He brought me along, I had to pull strings and ask for favors before coming.  I can’t stay for long, I thought we’d get more done.”

“Is this about the leadership thing?”

“Some,” Bubbleyum replied.

“I think he’s going to be way, way more effective as a merchant down here than he’d be running the council.  Give it time, I’m betting he’ll be as influential or more influential than the warlords.”

Bubbleyum considered that.  She nodded.  “Okay.”

“Does that help any?”

“Yes, dearie.  Still thought we’d get more done.  We’ll see how this big ritual goes, hmm?”

“Yep,” Lucy said.  She still felt like she could throw up, she was so tired.  She fumbled for her bag and got water.

“That’s me.  What do you need?” Bubbleyum asked.

“Well… my best friend is pulling away again.  My other best friend isn’t even in town yet.  My friend from school, she’s usually so cool, she was uncool to Verona, and a few other kids, we had a bit of a… thing.  Argument.  She said I wasn’t fun.  I’m too honest, somehow, when I’m secretly helping wage a magic war in defense of the town.  Thought I at least hit it out of the park with my boyfriend’s mom, and apparently it’s the opposite.”

“That’s a lot, honey.”

“Yeah.  For that last one, my boyfriend’s mom… I’ll say I’m twenty five percent sure it’s because he’s her little boy, she’s overprotective, I got close to him, and that rubbed her the wrong way.  Except she seemed fine with everything until we met.”

“And the other seventy-five percent?” Bubbleyum asked.

Lucy looked over at the four foot tall goblin and gave her that battle-intense gaze she’d used on the ‘kid’ earlier, and then wiped a drop of sweat off skin at the cheekbone, with a hard swipe of her thumb.  Skin.

“We don’t have that problem, so much.  We got all colors, plus the multicolor goblins, calico, forever bruised, warty, stitched, scaled, hairy…”

“Yeah.”

“Big and small, though.  They’ll always draw lines.  Toadsie is a sharp wit, damn clever, and he’s shorter and smaller than me.  Some goblins, they’ll never give him a shot unless he forces them to.”

“It’s always hanging over me.  The little things, most of the day.  Wondering.  Is it that twenty five percent, or the seventy five percent?  Am I being unkind with the number?  Because things sure do feel like it fits.  Feels a lot like things felt when I went to see my stepdad Paul’s family, now that I think about it.  It’s all so exhausting.”

“Yeah, honey.  It is.  Not much I can do to help you with that.”

“Didn’t figure there was,” Lucy said.  She sat up straighter.  “But thanks for listening.”

“Force them to give you a shot.”

“Yeah, well, not sure how well that works in the big picture.”

“Force it to work,” Bubbleyum said.

“Force… Verona to not pull away?”

“Sure!”

“I’d scare her off more.”

“Don’t let that happen.”

“That’s, uh- maybe.  If I can figure it out.”

“Force your friend to play ball.  Force the connection to humanity.  If there’s a problem you can’t solve with your foot inserted into the problem’s rear end, you need to kick harder.”

“You can say ass, by the way.  I’m a teenager, not a kid, so Toadswallow’s rules-”

“Kick the problem’s ass, honey!” Bubbleyum told her.  “Put a stick through the problem’s skull and let it be afraid of you with the half a brain it’s got left.  Make the problem pick up it’s fuckin’ teeth off the ground and then thank you for the privilege.”

Lucy sighed.  “How?”

“Not my business, honey.  I don’t know enough about what you’ve got going on, and I’m not about to insult you by pretending I do.  I’ll teach you the simple stuff, the simple violence, and I’ll teach you some goblin witchery for a fight next time.  The rest?”

Bubbleyum approached Lucy, and kicked Lucy lightly where the seat of Lucy’s jeans met the sidewalk.  “Foot to ass.  Get movin’.  Figure it out, or I’ll have to kick harder.  Got it?”

“Sure.”

“You’ve got grit.  I saw that much.  So put that grit to work.  Now, I’ve got shit to do.”

“See you.”

“Don’t sit around too long.  You’ll look weak, and there’s some who care about that who’re looking.”

Lucy looked up more, and took in more of the downtown area.

She could see Mallory, Verona’s friend from the school, with stars tattooed on her cheek, and other tattoos on her neck and hands.

“Mal!” Lucy called out.

“What’s up?” the girl asked, turning.  “What did I do?”

Lucy suppressed a grunt as she got to her feet.  “You got a half vote in last night’s council meeting, supposedly because you’ve been helping with running errands and stuff?”

“Uhhh, yeah.  Verona usually bribes me some, though.”

“I’ll bribe you a little.  Help me brainstorm…”

“Damn it,” Lucy muttered.

“Wasn’t it around here?” Mallory asked.

Behind Mallory, Bracken was looking around.  “She folded it up.  Don’t know where, exactly.”

“It’s here,” Lucy remarked.  She looked at the cluster of trees that bordered the southwestern end of downtown, providing some stability to the ground before the slopes that led down anywhere from three to fifteen feet to the slate rock shore and the shallow river.

She reached out and knocked hard on the signpost with the street signs on it.

“Verona, Verona, Verona,” Lucy called out.

“Does that work if I do it?” Mallory asked.

“Not really, since you don’t practice.  Maybe if we were listening out.  We set something up for Melissa, in case she got stranded in Kennet below.  Louise too.  But it’s also super annoying,” Lucy replied.  “Verona, Verona, Verona.”

The trees parted.  The opening began.  Lucy could see Verona’s shape through the foliage.

“Verona, Verona, Verona,” she repeated, to be annoying.

“What!?” Verona asked, as soon as the way was clear enough.  “You’re obnoxious.”

“Hi,” Lucy greeted her friend.  Verona was wearing a tank top and jeans, which really wasn’t warm enough, considering the weather.  Her hair was scruffier than usual.  “You weren’t responding to calls.”

“I’ll work that out.  Still setting up.  Was it important?”

“Not especially.  Except what the hell are you doing, holing up inside there, cutting yourself off from everyone?”

“Getting prepped.”

“You doing okay?” Lucy asked.  “The Jeremy thing?”

“Yeah.  I’m okay,” Verona replied.  “Sucks to lose a friend, but eh.”

“Sucks to lose a friend, yeah.  Like when she goes and locks herself away in her magic space?”

Verona sighed.  “Getting prepped.”

“Well… we have a prescription from Miss to strengthen connections, right?”

“Thought I’d let you and Avery handle that.  Since you’re the ones with the connection to Kennet above.”

“I’ve got an idea.  Will you help me?”

Verona looked at Mallory, then Lucy, like she was suspicious.  “With what?”

“You’ll think it’s interesting, I think.  And it’s relevant.”

“Eyes closed, that’s rule two,” Lucy said.  She gave Sharon a sharp poke in the side.  “Hands on the shoulders of the person in front of you…”

“This is dumb,” Logan said.

“Say that when we’re done,” Lucy told him.  “Or if you want, you can back out.  You’ll never know what you missed, because rule one…”

“No questions,” Mia said.  “I hope this is just ten percent as good as it’s being built up to be.”

Lucy was at the head of the group, guiding Mia, while Melissa, Bracken, Mallory, and a few more undercity teenagers were further down the way.  The various kids from their grade were led through the wooded path.

“Branch just poked me,” Alayna protested.

“Sorry,” Lucy said.  She broke some branches that were jutting out onto the path.  “I’ll try to keep the way clear.  This way, Mia.”

“If this is because you’re mad at me or something,” Mia said, quiet, as Lucy led her.

“You’re mad at Mia?” Hailey asked, near the opposite end of the chain of students.

Sound carried, apparently.

“Rule one is no questions.  Rule two is you keep your eyes closed.  Rule three, you don’t talk about this, after,” Bracken told the group.  “It’s a secret.”

“Watch your step, bit of a drop.  Stay on the path here, if you’re walking on grass, steer back onto path,” Lucy guided them.  “Fence to your right, so don’t go too far right and scrape your knuckles.  Keep your eyes closed, Logan.  Not joking.  I’ll have Bracken take you back.”

“He can try.”

“We all know Bracken could kick your ass, Logan,” Brayden jeered.

“This is a lot of shadowy cloak and dagger stuff,” Wallace said.

Lucy pulled a torn bit of fence back.  “Duck down… come through one by one.”

Mia came through.

“Arms out for Mia, Sharon.  Stop when you get to her.”

Slowly, she got her classmates through the fence.

A teenager at the side entrance opened the way.  Metal hinges squeaked.

“What’s that?” Mia asked.

“Going inside.”

“Inside where?”

Verona was already inside, managing things.

The conga chain of classmates, hands on one another’s shoulders, made their way inside, with only a few bumps and trips along the way, mostly because Logan was goofing off, dancing as he walked, leading to Savannah right behind him banging her elbow on the frame of the door.

“Okay,” Lucy said, once she was sure she had them all sorted.

“It’s the cinema?” Logan asked.  “All that secrecy, all that wandering around, and it’s the cinema?”

“Rule one.  No questions.”

“It’s the cinema.  Statement,” Logan said.

Verona, standing on top of the concessions stand, swept her arm down.

Lights and spotlights came on, inconsistent in their pattern, a bunch on the left, then one on the right.

There were arcade cabinets taking up a good third of the ground floor.  Stairs led up to the second level, which was more like a one-and-a-half level.  The theaters were built so the aisles were really steep, the people each sitting so their feet were almost on the shoulders of the people in front of them.  It meant you had to go up to the entrance of any of the four screens and then down to your seat.

A group was gathered in the shadows at that raised level, behind the railing.

“Creepy,” Mia said.  The lights banged as they continued to turn on.

Distorted music began to play, as an arcade cabinet turned on, the case illuminating.  More lights shone down on the cabinets.  Most were white, some were yellow, others were red.

“Wait?” Wallace asked.  He approached the nearest cabinet.  “What game is this?  Why is it so screwed up?”

Lucy shrugged.

“Is this a romhacked arcane cabinet?”

“I don’t know what that is, and mind rule one.  No questions.  Go with it.”

“Just… wait, you play as the boss?”

“What the heck is this?” Jeremy asked.

“This is a secret, and if you don’t stop asking questions, you could get kicked out, even if you’re my boyfriend,” Lucy told Wallace.  She looked at Jeremy.  “Or my boyfriend’s friend.”

“Rules!” Verona called out.  “Yellow light and ribbons around a game?  Play at your own risk.  Red?  Leave it alone.”

Bracken walked over to one game, and adjusted something at the back.

A ‘u’ shaped loop of metal with knives zip-corded to it swung from the back of the machine to where the person playing would stand.  One of the girls and one of the boys shrieked.

It had already swung around a few times, and a few blades had already made gouges in the front of the cabinet.  There were traces of blood around the gouges in the decal-imprinted wood panel.

“See?  Leave it be,” Verona said.

“Ha,” Hailey said.  “It’s like a haunted house, then.  In advance of Halloween, and we’re test running it.  Not asking questions.  I’m guessing.”

“Draw your own conclusions,” Lucy said.  She held up a hand, turning toward the raised platform.

“Pay first,” a voice said from the shadows.

Lucy went and got a duffel bag from Bracken.  “Thanks for carrying.”

“It’s what I’m best at.”

“You’re best at carrying things?” Logan jeered.

“The thing I’m second best at is beating the shit out of smartasses,” Bracken said.

Logan laughed, like he didn’t believe Bracken.

Lucy was so tempted to kick Logan out, but including everyone was a big part of why she’d wanted to do this.  To show Mia, for one thing.

Lucy carried the bag over toward the raised stage, holding up a hand for her classmates to stop and hang back.  Verona hopped down from the concession stand to the arcade cabinet, then down onto the air hockey table, and finally onto the ground.  Verona caught up with Lucy as she dropped the bag onto the carpet.

A teenager unzipped things, checking.  There were some spare clothes, cigarettes, toilet paper rolls, books and magazines, two bottles of alcohol wrapped in clothes to stop them from clinking, and some containers of Verona’s alchemy, with papers elastic-banded around them, presumably with instructions or details.

“Looks good,” the teenager said.

“I wrote the instructions for those potions best I can, but you’ll want to be careful…” Verona murmured, talking to the group.

Lucy caught a thrown canvas bag out of the air.  It was heavy, and dense.

She fished inside, walking over.

She gave a roll of tokens to each of the people she’d brought.  “We have the place for two hours, then we get kicked out.”

“Two hours!” a screechy voice called down.  It was magnified by speakers.  “Tickets won for each game, so hold onto those!  Turn them in for snacks at the concession stand, or save them.  Prizes go to the people with the most when you’re done!  Penalty to the person with the least!  You’ll have to play a red-”

“No, Tatty!” Lucy called up, interrupting.

“You’ll eat something, or something, I dunno,” Tatty said, sounding like her mouth wasn’t near the microphone anymore.  “Thousands of bonus tickets if you play the red tier games!”

“No, Tatty!” Lucy called out, at the same time Verona shouted, “No!”

“Ugh!  Fine!  You’d get bonus tickets if you played those games, but you can’t so sucks to be you!”

“Who is that?” a girl asked.  Lucy turned her head sharply, looking for the person, and held a finger to her lips.

“Sorry,” Alayna said.

“You can bet with the tickets.  Want to stake some tickets on a game, competing with a friend?  Ask the floor bosses!  They do this all the time!”

“There’s booze!  And special snacks!”

“Screw off, Biscuit!” Lucy called up.

“Is cheap!”

“Just because you’re tiny doesn’t mean I won’t kick your ass.  Be good and don’t get my friends drunk.”

“Dammit,” Biscuit could be heard.

“Could be fun,” George said.

“You don’t want to drink that stuff,” Lucy told him.  “It’s strong stuff.”

“So strong!  Literal hair on your chest and your chinny chin chin!” Biscuit called down from the darkness above and around the illuminated ground floor.

“Someone put her into a trash can or something,” Lucy said.

“On it,” Verona replied.

Some of the ‘floor bosses’ had come down.  Lucy recognized one or two of them from the group of refugees who had been down at the house.  She shot the closest one a smile.

“I know I’m not supposed to ask questions,” Wallace said.  “But those yellow games?”

“Rigged to mess you up,” Lucy told him.

“That one’s got two shafts of light,” Hailey said.

“Two player,” one of the floor bosses said.  “Loser suffers, or gets pranked, or something.”

“I’d steer clear.  There’s plenty of good stuff that’s not like that,” Lucy said.

“I’ll play you,” Mia told Hailey.  “Unless you’re afraid?”

Hailey didn’t reply, but she walked over to the game.  “Air hockey?”

“Yes,” the floor boss said.  “To play, you need to put the shackle on.”

“Guys…” Lucy said.  “…Whatever.  I warned you.”

Figured something like this might happen.  Thought Logan would be the first to go for it, honestly.  What’s that game they play?  Whack-ass?  One-upping one another in horrible pranks and self-punishment?

Mia clipped the shackle on at her wrist.  Hailey did the same.

“Hard to play like this,” Mia said.

“That’s why I cuffed my off hand,” Hailey replied.

“Ah.  Huh,” Mia replied.

Two of the boys had started to play at one cabinet, with a crowd watching, and it looked like attention was split between that and the game of air hockey Hailey and Mia were playing.

“Spin the wheel!” Tatty called out, through the speakers.

The girl Lucy had recognized hurried to the side of the table, flipped up a digital screen, and then hit a button.  A really crummy digital representation of a game show wheel started to spin.

“Ominous,” Mia said.

“And you were asking me if I was afraid?  It’s a haunted house.”

The wheel stopped on a lightning bolt.

“Taser, five seconds,” the girl said, before putting the screen down.  She made a note, then bent down to adjust the wires at the side of the table, before punching a button.

The disc landed on the table.

Mia moved the striker to her other hand, then lunged, quick.

The back and forth was only two or three exchanges, with Mia leaning over the table.

The puck disappeared into Hailey’s goal.

Hailey immediately dropped, arm bending awkwardly.  “Fffuck!”

“You actually got zapped?” Mia asked.

“Fuck me!  Ow!  The shackle!  It came through the shackle.”

Mia laughed.  She looked at Lucy.  “This is for real?”

“Yeah.  Play at your own risk.  No joke.  If you want to back out of playing, you can.  You should.”

The girl by the tableside was already spinning the ‘wheel’ again.

It stopped on a symbol that looked like a green splatter.

Lights above the table illuminated a massive bucket, suspended above the table.  It looked like it could tilt either way, onto either of the two.

“Slime?” Mia asked.

“Round two.  Taser, ten seconds, dousing from the slime bucket,” the girl said, as she put the screen away.  She checked off to the side, where apparently some teenagers were managing the bucket, then nodded, hitting a button.

The puck landed.

“Wait, why is it ten seconds of zapping, now?”

“It escalates every round.  Round seven, it will be thirty-five seconds of taser, slime bucket with five additions, five of the next thing, four of the next, and so on,” the girl explained.

“Guys-” Lucy said.

Hailey lunged.  Mia leaned hard over the table to strike at the puck.  Hailey caught it and pinned it in the corner.

“If you obstruct or catch the puck with anything but the striker, you’ll lose the round,” the girl at the tableside said.

“She means your saggy tits,” Hailey said.

Hailey let the puck free, aimed, and slammed it toward Mia.  The exchange was brief, furious, and saw both girls almost knocking the puck into their own goals.

Mia was a bit better, like she’d played before, but she played awkwardly with her right wrist shackled.

Lucy didn’t even see the puck go into Mia’s goal, with how fast things moved.  She just saw Mia lean over the table, hissing, muscles tensed, turning to be on her side, looking up.

And the slime dumped down over Mia while she was still enduring the shock.  She slipped and fell to the ground, coughing, spitting, and struggling.

“I might need to trade for one of those extra sets of clothes I gave you,” Lucy said, quiet, to the undercity teenagers in the darkness.  “So she has something to change into.  Or both of them.”

“That’s fine.  Equivalent value plus interest.”

“You’ve got showers too?” Lucy asked.

“They’ve got a janky setup in the bathroom.  It’s icy cold, but it works,” Verona said, as she leaned against the railing by Lucy.

“Okay.”

Mia was panting for breath as she got to her feet.  White spit stood out against her bottom lip.  She pushed slime-slick hair out of her face.

“Sucks, doesn’t it?” Hailey asked.

“Yeah.”

The girl at the tableside finished wiping slime off the table, then gave the wheel another spin.

“Rat hat,” she declared.

“What the fuck is a rat hat?” Mia asked.

“Yus!” Tatty cried out, over the speakers.  “My suggestion!”

One of the teenagers from the back brought out what looked like a hamster ball, but with cloth at one end.

“To demonstrate,” the girl at the tableside said.  She allowed the ball to be placed over her head.  It was clear, but it still faintly distorted her face.  The drawstring of the cloth portion was cinched tight around her neck, but not so tight it choked her.

The boy who was putting the hat on opened the top, then dropped a stuffed rat inside.  It landed against the girl’s cheek.

“A stuffed rat,” Hailey said.

“In your cases, it wouldn’t be stuffed,” the girl said.  She gestured.

Already, some of the teenagers were bringing down cages.  There were rats the size of chihuahuas inside.

“Uhhh, for how many seconds?” Mia asked.  “Sorry, I know I’m not supposed to ask questions.”

“I think it’s fine like this,” Lucy said.  Mainly don’t want you guys getting the wrong answers.

“You’d wear the hat until the game’s over.  The number of rats increases every time,” the girl at the tableside said.  “Fifteen seconds of taser, slime bucket with one added ingredient, and the rat hat, one rat.”

Lucy looked up.  She could see the people in the eaves refilling the bucket, and adding…”

“Please tell me those are plastic centipedes and things in the slime,” Mia said.

“What do you think?” Lucy asked.

“Fuck me, fuck off, fuck this,” Mia muttered.  “No.  I’m done.  I’m too chicken.  I almost choked on the slime while I was getting zapped, no.  I’m not going to almost choke on centipedes too.  Or a rat.”

“Games are usually played to their conclusion,” the girl at the tableside said.  “That’s the reason for the shackle.”

Mia shook her head.

“We’ll make an exception for games tonight,” Lucy said.  “Please.”

The girl at the tableside looked over to the shadows.  She apparently got the signal, because she said, “Okay.”

“Both players have to concede!” Tatty called out, over the mic.

Lucy almost went to go find where Tatty was and give her a talking-to, but she could see Mia and Hailey, each at their own ends of the table, both a little shell-shocked by what they’d gotten into.

“Hailey?” Lucy asked.

Hailey hadn’t even been the one recently tased or slimed, but she was breathing harder.

“This feud you’ve got?” Lucy asked.  “It’s mostly hurting yourselves.  Let’s end it.  Call the game off, and you can’t be shitty to each other again, okay?”

It looked like the two were going to continue out of sheer spite.  Or that Hailey was.  She looked at the girl at the side of the air hockey rink.

“Go back to how things were?” Hailey asked, turning to Mia.  “Can we?”

Mia pushed slime away from her face.  She looked at the rat hat.  “Sharon?”

“Mm?” Sharon asked.

“I think I got it out of my system.  If you want to get back at Hailey, I think you’ll have to step in, take my place.”

“I’m good,” Sharon replied.

“Okay,” Mia replied.

“That’s a yes?” Hailey asked.

Mia nodded.

The girl at the tableside bent down, unplugged wires, then hit the button five more times in quick succession.  The shackles came undone.

“Hug it out,” Lucy said.  “You used to be close.”

“She’s slimy though,” Hailey protested.

Mia put her arms out.  “I got the longer zap and the slime-”

“Because you lost,” Hailey said, stepping back.

Lucy sighed, dropping her head.

But she lifted her head as the girls approach one another.  Mia hugged Hailey, rubbing her back, really getting the slime on there.  Hailey laughed a bit, then laughed harder when her clothes were stuck to Mia, and they had to peel apart from one another with awkward movements.

“There’s a shower in the bathroom,” Lucy told Mia.  “It’s cold, but it’ll get the slime off.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll get you a change of clothes.  No promises on the fit.”

“Thank you.”

“Who’s up for a game of extreme air hockey?” Logan asked.  “Come on, someone.  Anyone.  Come on.”

“Come on,” Mia told Hailey.  “Catch me up.”

“You’ve got more to catch me up on than I have to catch you up on,” Hailey said.  “Things’ve been pretty quiet and boring.  Shitty, quiet, and boring.”

“Alright,” Mia said.  “Sorry, I guess.”

“Yeah.  I didn’t mean to be a bitch that night, you know?”

Then they were gone.  Lucy pulled her earring off so she wouldn’t overhear, and because she was kind of done with the Mia-Hailey thing.

“So this is what I’ve been missing out on, huh?” Melissa asked.  “Arcade games that murder you if you lose-”

“But they give you lots of tickets if you don’t lose,” Verona pointed out.

“It’s the only way to get the best prizes,” Mallory said.

“-and awful air hockey, creepy people in the shadows?” Melissa went on.

“Yeah,” Lucy replied.

“Huh.  At least people are into it?”

Yeah.  Wallace was having fun.  So was Jeremy.  Caroline was there.

“This is badass!” George called over, pointing to one of the games the guys were playing.

“When can we come again?” Bryson asked.

“Limited time.  But we’ll see, I guess?” Lucy asked, looking back at the overseeing students.  “Remember the rules.”

“We’re thinking some older students tomorrow?” Verona asked Lucy.

“Yeah,” Lucy confirmed.

Establish those connections, tying the otherworldly to the real.  Let this become a bit of a local myth, something to draw people in, through rumor and word of mouth.  It would only get more extreme if anyone went looking for the cinema and found it normal.

They’d force that connection.  Hopefully in time for Kennet found.

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