A Change of Perspective

by Optimizer

Part 7

Cora walked in the front door and went straight for the kitchen. She opened a bottle of water and took a long gulp.

Erica was looking over her weekend homework. "How'd it go?"

"I need a bath. Cory got me sweaty out there."

Cora often went for a run shortly after school. At least three times a week; more if she could.

"Well, it's hot..."

Cora snarled. "I know. Before, I used to love going out at sunset, or in the early morning. Or even at night. Now I can't."

Erica couldn't think of anything to say to that. It was the plain truth. Girls had to be careful about when and where they went out alone.

But then Erica frowned, and asked, against her better judgement, "Cory got you sweaty?"

Cora's lips quirked to the side. "He likes to think on a run. It's, like, the only alone time we... I ever get." She shrugged. "Anyway, we were both kinda... upset today."

"I thought so. You were kinda quiet on the bus."

Cora chugged the rest of the bottle before she spoke again, gazing out the window. "You probably didn't hear yet. Looks like Danielle and Brandon hooked up."

"What? Shut up!"

"Nuh-uh. She was all over him before class today." Cora did 'quiet fuming' very well. She'd had a lot of practice.

"Whoa. Not cool."

Cora shook her head. "Well, I kinda see it now, looking back I mean. The way she talked to him. The way she even tried to get him to forget about Cory."

Erica couldn't help but think this was good news for the Sisterhood. Clearly Danielle had moved on. And how hard would Brandon look for his new girlfriend's old boyfriend?

'Relief' didn't seem to be high on Cora's list of reactions, though. "All that shit he was talking, about 'Cory's my bro' and stuff." She sounded nearly calm, but Erica could see that Cora was hurt. "See how much he really meant it."

"Hey, c'mon, it's been almost three months. That's a long time with no feedback or progress or anything."

"Yeah, but... Danielle? Sure didn't take her long to get over Cory. And then she goes after my best friend?"

Erica wondered what it meant that Cora said 'my best friend' and not 'his best friend'. Maybe Cory wasn't as past, or as separate, as she claimed. Still, although Cora's question had probably been rhetorical, she decided to answer it. The girl needed to face some facts. "Brandon's pretty cute, y'know. You must have heard him come up when the girls are talking about the hot boys."

Cora waved it off. "I usually tune that shit out." Erica glared, and she backed down. "Okay, yeah, I guess he's cute enough. And he's not a dick or anything." Then she scowled. "Except about his 'best friend's' girl."

Erica suppressed an unhelpful sigh. Cora had to let this go, for any number of reasons. "Danielle looks pretty good too, y'know."

Cora didn't say anything. Erica gave her a narrow glance, and said, "Oh, what, Cory thought she was fugly?"

Cora wouldn't meet her eyes, and looked at the ground, sullen. Eventually she broke. "Fine, okay, she's pretty hot."

Cora stood silently for a bit longer. Finally she made one grudging shrug. "And you've got a point. I mean, he is a boy. They have a hard time running when a girl chases 'em."

Though she wished it could have come from better circumstances, Erica thought the way she talked was promising. Using the word 'they', looking at boys as kind of an outsider.

It emboldened her a little to take a risk when she changed the subject. "You haven't, uh, mentioned 'Cory' in a while."

"We mostly leave each other alone anymore." Cora shrugged. "He doesn't like me much."

Erica warred with herself for a few moments. She wasn't supposed to feed the whole 'Cory' thing. She'd hoped 'he' had faded away, like Jacqui had said. And yet, he still seemed relevant to Cora... "What do you think of him?"

The question hung there. Finally, Cora spoke. "He's not a lot of fun to be around. He's all... uptight. I enjoy something, he figures I'm surrendering. Y'know, like, if I'm not miserable like him, I must be brainwashed or something."

Erica swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. "I thought you were doing better..."

Cora's smile was wan, but somehow genuine for all that. "I am. Less worse, anyway." Softly: "I don't think about killing myself all the time anymore."

Erica stood bolt upright. "Oh, Goddess, no!" Cora, startled, stepped forward and put her hand on Erica's shoulder. Erica grabbed her up in a fierce hug.

Cora put her arms around Erica, too. "I'm sorry! I really mean it! I wouldn't do that to you!" She gave Erica a squeeze. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Don't you fucking talk like that!" Erica said through her tears. "You promise me you won't ever do that!"

Cora was crying a little now, too. "I promise. I really am doing better," she said, reassuring her friend. She started to laugh, almost hysterically, then cut herself off.

Erica didn't come close to letting Cora go, but she pulled back enough to see Cora's face. "What?"

Cora kept herself to just a chuckle, this time. "I was just thinking, that's probably why Cory's so pissed all the time."

Erica laughed, too. "Well, fuck him, then!"

Cora's smile had a bit more life now, despite the tears. "Fuck him," she agreed.

~~~~~

"Oh, Goddess, look!" Erica exclaimed. "That one with the buttons!"

The Jardins and Cora were on a Saturday morning outing to the mall, adding some touches to everyone's wardrobe. Cora didn't fuss particularly; indeed, she seemed very subdued.

Now, thanks to Erica, they were all staring through a storefront window at a display of Gucci purses.

Miranda shook her head with finality. "No. Just, no." She marched determinedly forward, Haylie in tow. Cora stayed next to the window.

"But the tassels..." Erica whined. Miranda didn't slow down.

Erica reluctantly turned to follow, but stopped. Cora still wasn't moving. Instead she frowned at something with that abstract-yet-focused look she got when she was really pondering a topic. Erica followed her gaze, but didn't see anything beyond a woman walking the other way. She was wearing an Islamic headscarf. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing," Cora said. She stared a moment longer at the woman in the hajib, then followed Erica as the hurried to catch up to Miranda and Haylie. She seemed not just subdued but distracted for the rest of the trip.

~~~~~

Mid-afternoon, Erica was off at yet another practice. Haylie was visiting a friend, so Miranda was working on Magic lessons with Cora. They were always more involved than with her Daughter. The girl wouldn't just practice a spell, she insisted on understanding the theory behind it.

But this time, Cora went in another direction. "Can I ask you something?" She was frowning again.

Mentally bracing herself, Miranda replied. "Yes, Cora?" The girl had been far less argumentative since the big confrontation, and she'd certainly been more civil. Still, Miranda knew Cora well enough by now to recognize when she thought she'd found a problem or contradiction in Miranda's teaching.

But the witch was surprised by Cora's tone when she began to speak. Gone was the accusation, the challenge, the anger - or at least it was very well hidden. Instead, she simply sounded puzzled. "Are there Sisters in other parts of the world?"

"Yes, Cora. We're far from numerous, but there are Sisters in almost every country."

Cora paused, then asked another question. "Are all Sisters alike?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," Miranda replied, now puzzled herself. "In some ways, I suppose... but I'm sure you'd agree that we're all different people, too. You've seen Jacqui and Laurie," she chuckled. Despite having reconciled herself to - even embraced - her female condition, Jacqueline definitely had her tomboy moments. Laurel, by contrast, was unfailingly ladylike.

Cora was silent for a moment, then shifted apparent topics again. "Do Sisters always..." - she searched for words - "...like... accommodate themselves to... the culture, the local conditions?"

"Once again, I'm not sure I follow."

"I mean, if this were, like, the 1800s, would I be all in petticoats and lace and stuff? If this were, I dunno, a village in Africa, would I be learning to make baskets?"

Miranda was both exasperated and amused. "Young lady, would you please just ask me what you want to know and not make me guess?" She waggled a finger. "I'm on to you, you know. You like to try to fence people in, get them to commit to things before you spring a trap on them." Cora gulped and looked guilty. "I'm not an opponent in a debate, I'm your teacher and I'm trying to help you."

"Sorry," Cora said. She took a breath, then rushed on. "It's just, why do I have to try to act so... so stereotypically feminine? I mean, lots of real girls..."

At Miranda's frown, she corrected herself. "I mean, birth-girls..." One of the things they'd tried to hammer into history's least-willing Sister was that she ought to - needed to - think of herself as a real girl. "...well, they don't have to be all-girly, all the time. And they count as girls, right?" She kept talking, barely stopping for breath. "I mean, what it means to be a girl is different in different cultures, and it's changed over time. Why can't I just, like, count as a boyish girl and be done with this?"

Miranda sighed. This was going to be a difficult conversation.

"One reason is that you don't believe you're a boyish girl. It's not about some absolute scale of femininity. To a large extent, it's what you feel about yourself."

"It's all about what I think? I'm already a lot more, more feminine than a couple girls I've known!"

Miranda raised her eyebrows. "Can you tell me you don't find yourself 'betwixt and between'? Honestly?"

Cora couldn't meet her eyes. "No," she finally admitted.

As usual, though, she wasn't stymied long. "But why do I have to be feminine by... well... 'local standards'? I mean, different cultures, they... they understand femininity in different ways, they define womanhood differently. Why do I have to learn to act like a 21st century American teenage girl?"

"Not just 'act like', dear - you have to become one."

"Fine, become one." Cora said it in the same manner so many girls said, 'What-ever'.

Miranda stifled a sharp rebuke about tone. It would not help.

She struggled for an approach, an avenue to explain it to Cora. "It's true that every girl is different... but you need to explore who Cora is. All of this is designed to help you find out what kind of girl you are, find the girl you could have been. It's unlikely she'd have been as masculine as Cory, no?"

Cora nodded, somehow managing to make it both grudging and sheepish.

"You need to explore what it means for you to be female, and that necessarily involves what the culture and time that you grew up in thinks is feminine." Miranda smiled gently. "You may well end up 'boyish' in many respects." Though I see hints it may be fewer respects than you think, if you could just let go more, Miranda thought to herself. "But you can't know what 'girly' things you will like until you try."

Cora was still frowning - but it was a frustrated frown, worrying at the problem Miranda had placed before her, not angry at anyone specifically. Miranda probed. "Surely you admit that there must be some good things about being female? I mean, billions of women have no desire to be male, right?"

Cora nodded thoughtfully.

Miranda decided to gamble big. "It may feel like we're pushing womanhood on you, but remember two things. First, you want this finished as quickly as possible, right?" Another considering nod. "And second, how much of your resistance is you actually disliking what you're learning, and how much is you thinking you should dislike it?"

The flow of expressions on the young Sister's face was rapid, almost spasmodic. The old Cora surfaced for an instant - cold, concentrated, nearly murderous anger twisted her features. But it was almost too quick to see. Immediately she seemed to catch herself, and almost visibly try to regain her composure and think about what Miranda had just said, instead of just reacting.

And then, a half-second later, it all collapsed into despair and confusion. "I don't know," she confessed.

"We are not trying to take anything from you, to make you 'less of a man'. We're trying to help you be more of a woman."

Cora was blinking fast, apparently fighting back tears. Miranda wished she wouldn't fight so hard... but decided that pushing for a good cry might not be the best approach. Honey, not vinegar this time.

"You're right that what it means to be a woman has changed over time, though." Miranda shook her head ruefully. "Womanhood has been a very tough sell at many points in history. Even today there are Sisters almost everywhere... but they tend to concentrate in the developed world. It's much easier to be a woman here."

"There isn't a single fu... friggin' thing about this that's easy," Cora sighed.

~~~~~

Cora quit the restaurant after barely a month. Even Erica had to admit that waitressing simply wasn't for her.

She quickly found a job at the local laser tag/arcade center. There wasn't a lot of heavy lifting involved, and while there were no tips, the wage was a lot better. She wound up getting assigned mostly to little kids birthdays because of her gender and size, but she didn't seem to mind.

"You know, there's one advantage to being my size. I'm a way smaller target," Cora said with a grin as they got off the bus.

Privately, Erica noted that she'd said 'my size', not 'this size'. She took it as a hopeful sign. In fact, she decided to press on a bit. "At last, one good thing!" she quipped, smiling herself to help forestall any angry retorts.

But Cora didn't snap back. In fact, she actually seemed to be seriously thinking as they walked home. "I dunno. I guess there's a few, like, compensations."

As casually as she could possibly inflect it, Erica said, "Like what?"

Cora slyly looked aside at her friend. "Multiple orgasms, for one."

Erica chuckled. "Yeah, that's a biggie." She paused. "Anything else?"

Cora shrugged, and waved at the handbag at her side. "I don't like having to haul around makeup and pads and stuff. But a purse is kinda convenient. I mean, I always have a flash drive or a charging cable on me now. I can carry a whole tablet around all the time if I want."

"Hmmm," Erica said.

Cora frowned a little. "'Course, you sorta hafta have a purse. No pockets on skirts. Shit, even when girl's clothes have pockets, half the time they're fake anyway."

She got more thoughtful then. "But, y'know, girls touch people more. Guys can't touch girls, but they can't touch other guys either."

Erica frowned. "I didn't think you wanted to touch guys."

Cora rolled her eyes. "I'm not talking sex, okay? That's actually kinda the point. For guys, touching is, like, automatically sexual." She paused, then added, "Or a fight, I guess." She sighed. "But girls can just hug or hold hands or whatever. Just to say, like, 'I'm here for you' or 'it's good to see you' or even 'I love you', but it doesn't have to mean it's about sex. Most of the time, it isn't."

She thought for a moment. "I wonder if that's, like, some of the reason guys are such hornballs. It's almost the only way they're allowed to, y'know, get some frickin' human contact."

"Huh. Maybe." Erica said. Goddess, she'd have a lot to report to Jacqui tonight! They only did full conferences about Cora a couple times a week nowadays. But she texted Jacqui when anything notable happened. This sure qualified.

~~~~~

The post-bus conversation got started as soon as Erica's feet hit the ground. "Jacinta asked me to go to a party with Gabriela and them," Cora announced.

Erica's eyes narrowed. "Another Mary Kay party, or..."

"No, a party-party," Cora said impatiently. "One of their friends. This Saturday." Her face was pinched. "They said there'd be a lot of people."

"Well, like... that's a good thing, right?"

Cora appeared rather sour. "I'm not such a big fan of crowds these days. Or strangers."

Erica decided to punt. "We should see what my Mom says. I'm pretty sure she'll say yes."

And, indeed, that was the case, the moment they got in and Cora explained the situation. "You should go." Miranda was firm. "You need to get out and interact with others."

"I'll get hit on." Cora had developed an exceptional sulk over the last months.

"All women get that. They all have to learn how to manage it. This will give you more practice." Miranda spread her hands. "Don't you think it's a good sign that Gabriela and Jacinta thought of you?"

Cora shrugged infinitesimally. "I guess. They even said I could bring Erica."

Miranda's brows rose. She wondered if Cora understood how generous her new friends were being. "Then it's settled." She paused. "Although, do you know what you're going to wear?"

Cora's eyes rolled majestically. But she didn't actually protest out loud.

~~~~~

Jacinta pounced upon them almost the moment they walked in the door. "Hey, Cora, you made it! Hi Erica!" She took up Cora in a big hug - to the small girl's briefly apparent surprise - and touched Erica on the arm. "Goodies are out back. Check it, I'm gonna go find Gabriela."

She swept away, leaving Cora at something of a loss. "Erica, help!" she whispered urgently. "I don't know what to do!"

Erica was now a mistress of the suppressed sigh. "It's a party. Have fun."

Cora seemed to be on the edge of panic, looking around. Erica knew she was feeling the eyes of several boys checking them out; it was instinctive by now. "But I don't know how to hang out with the girls. And if I try to hang with the boys, they get all... you know."

Erica's mastery didn't extend that far. She sighed, and said, more than a little testily, "Chill. The. Fuck. Out. Just be you. If guys get all 'you know' then tell them to back off." She touched Cora's shoulder. "This isn't a test, okay?"

Cora stuck close to Erica for the entire event. Jacinta and Gabriela circulated, but made sure to check in from time to time, and introduce them to several of their friends. Cora talked, but shied from the boys. Occasionally she resorted to checking her phone, once quite rudely when a particular guy kept pestering her.

They all ended up joining a karaoke game on the PS3 in the basement, and Cora kicked ass. She'd surprised her choir teacher - and herself, Erica suspected - with how far her voice had developed in just a few weeks. She even had fun, and when she pulled Erica into a duet contest with Jacinta and Gabriela, she didn't mind that they lost because of Erica's meager contributions.

They couldn't avoid boys entirely, of course. Nor did Erica want to; no reason to enhance her prudish reputation, nor - Goddess forbid - support the lesbian rumors.

But the game machine offered an option. After Singstar, some guys lobbied to fire up Call of Duty. They didn't mind Cora and Erica taking turns, and in that environment trash talking couldn't get completely out of hand. Cora had re-calibrated her gaming reflexes pretty thoroughly by now, so she did quite well.

Seeing Cora actually smile at a boy after a good round, Erica remembered what had happened with Lucas at Trahn's party. It was too early for Cora to feel that way - or at least, to acknowledge such feelings - but hopefully interacting with boys outside of school might plant seeds. The sexiness of boys had certainly snuck up on her.

~~~~~

Girls generally did post-game analyses after social events. Erica and Cora did so on the drive home, of course, though the content of theirs was fairly unique.

"I wanted to go hang with the guys, but I can't anymore. Just me being there changes everything. They stop talking and start running a game."

Erica understood, of course. She'd seen it that first day with Josh and Scotty.

"Felt like..." Cora sought the words. "Like I'm electronegative. And all these guys are around, just dying to slip me their extra electrons, y'know?"

It was a very Cora metaphor, but Erica got the idea. She couldn't help teasing her a little, though. "Hey, baby, lemme tap that sweet valence you got there. I'll get you so oxidized..."

Cora flipped her hair and scoffed, but couldn't hide a wry smile. A brief one, though. "So I hafta stay with the girls all the time now."

Not all the time, Erica thought. But out loud she said, "Well, but isn't it at least kinda interesting to see girls when they're not, y'know, hiding their valences from you?"

Erica was pleased to see Cora actually evaluate that for a moment. "Sometimes, I guess. I still have a hard time caring about who's mad at who and who said something bitchy and shit."

"Well, you better pay attention to whatever Jacinta and Gabriela have to say."

"Like, duh," Cora said, shrugging.

Maybe it hadn't been a roaring success, but Erica was glad Cora's first party hadn't been a disaster.

~~~~~

Kristina: u ok? how u doin?

Erica: ok. just crampin. :(

Kristina: dat sucks. not missin those

Erica: hard way 2 take a break :)

Kristina: :p u suck

Erica: omg! jk!

Kristina: i know! ;) gotcha!!!!

Erica: omg u bitch! :) thx 4 <3 attack!

Kristina: sorry. can't joke w/my mom
Kristina: not about getting knoked up

Erica: sorry. she'll chill sumday she luvs you

Kristina: ik.
Kristina: what u wear 2moro?

Erica: blk n red skirt mayb

Kristina: kk ill wear pink :)

Erica: kk nite. got 2 sleep.

Kristina: me 2 luv u!! <3

Erica: luv u2! <3

She muted her phone, plugged it into the charger, and laid down to rest. The cramps weren't too bad. She'd be able to get to sleep pretty quick.

She didn't feel like diddling herself. Maybe in a day or two. Even if you were bleeding you could still be horny, she had discovered. Cora never seemed to feel the same, though. Until her time was over, she acted like she didn't exist from the waist down. Denial, probably.

Erica snuggled into the covers, curled up on her side. She let herself drift, mind wandering...

Then suddenly her eyes opened and she stiffened in surprise. The hardest things to notice were those that didn't happen, but she'd just realized an absence.

It wasn't that she'd gone a whole first day of her period, when her symptoms were worst, without asking for one of her Mom's potions - she'd gotten by without them the last two months. And it wasn't that she'd had a mostly normal day of activities despite her period - that, too, had been the norm since December at least. Nor were the cramps and nausea and general tiredness any easier - they were about the same as ever.

No, what she just now noticed was a different non-event. She hadn't wished today, even once in the back of her mind, to be Eric again so she wouldn't have to deal with periods.

No longer were they a horrible curse. Annoying, yes. Unpleasant, sure. But a reason to flee into a whole other gender? Not so much. At least, not anymore.

She wasn't sure what it meant. If anything. But she suspected that another bit of acclimating might have been accomplished when she wasn't looking.

~~~~~

Valentine's Day was very low-stress. Neither Cora nor Erica had boyfriends, but their girlfriends did... except for Kristina. The Jardin's invited her over, and together the ladies had a homemade dinner, then some chocolates as they all watched romance movies.

Nobody felt much like going out anyway. Erica was in the middle of her period, and Cora's was just finishing up.

Kristina's pregnancy was going well, without complications. Not that an ordinary pregnancy didn't complicate things anyway. "I almost wish I was ralphing in the morning again. Better than having to go every twenty minutes all day. And night," she grumbled as she got up to hit the bathroom yet again. Erica paused the movie.

Haylie had been staring and asking a lot of questions. She seemed fascinated by the whole process of pregnancy. Erica noticed that Cora didn't ask any questions herself, but seemed to be paying attention to the answers. How she felt about those answers was anybody's guess.

They had time for two movies - "The Notebook", and Miranda's guilty pleasure, "Mannequin". The girls kept up a running MST3K-style commentary through the latter, helping to dispel the tears the first movie had brought on in most. (Cora hadn't even sniffled, though her face had gone rather blank at the end.)

Kristina got picked up by her mother, and the girls all went up to bed. Cora sat in Erica's room for a bit, though as she'd expected, no sexual overtures were made.

"Happy Valentine's Day," Erica said.

"Same to you." Cora didn't make any move to leave, appearing thoughtful. "Weird how girls get all cray-cray over it." She shrugged. "And they expect the guy to do something super special."

Erica spread her hands. "Girls have to care about commitment more. Kristina prob'ly should've. I know I would."

"You still thinking about boys?" Cora asked pointedly.

"Someday, maybe." She shrugged. "Gotta admit, some of those college boys are pretty hot." Then she smiled. "We got enough drama in our lives for now, though."

"Tru dat," Cora said. She gave Erica a quick kiss, and said, "Love you," as she headed off toward her own room.

"Love you, too," Erica said. She wondered about that. Girls said it more than guys. Guys only said it when it was a real commitment, with family, girlfriends and wives, and maybe close friends.

Cora didn't say it to anybody but Erica, and rarely. Did she mean friendship, or romance?

Erica cared deeply for Cora - and it wasn't because of guilt, certainly not anymore - but she wasn't going for romance anytime soon.

~~~~~

Mr. Tasserant spoke up from the front of homeroom. "Attention, everyone. We have another transfer student to welcome. This is David Burke."

Erica had far too much self-possession for her smile to become anything more than politely welcoming. But she didn't have to put any labor into smiling. David wasn't hard to look at.

Five-eleven, probably, with short dark hair and a strong face that had never even heard of razor burn, let alone acne. Broad shoulders, with a toned, athletic build. He was dressed in new jeans and a casual sweater. On some guys it would have come off as lame or uptight or metrosexual; but he had such an easy, open smile - with straight white teeth, no less - that it just seemed comfortable, confident.

"You can sit right over there, David. Dave?" The boy shook his head good-naturedly. "David, then." Duties completed, Mr. Tasserant went back to his book.

Melanie leaned in. "Whoa! Dat ass!" she whispered.

Cora didn't sound nearly as impressed with the new arrival. "Another jock. Awesome," she muttered under her breath.

"Be nice, Cora," Erica whispered back. "You know how hard it is to start over at a new school."

Melanie smiled. She said to Erica, not whispering anymore, but still quietly, "Too bad he's all the way over there."

Erica nodded, then looked away quickly as he turned to survey the room.

She and Melanie and Cora talked for a while, catching up on their weekends. After a few minutes, Mel squinted and said, barely moving her lips, "Don't look now, Erica, but I think he's checking you out!"

Despite the warning, she looked over for a second, then turned away quickly. He was staring at her. She had to fight a sudden wave of nervousness, hold her hands on the desk to keep from playing with her hair.

She worked very hard not to look his way again until homeroom was over. And then again when he turned up in her math class. At least then he sat behind her.

~~~~~

Erica was on her way to her locker to get her jacket and catch the bus home. She came around the corner and found a familiar and unpleasant tableau. Alan was a halfback on the football team, tall and huge even by high-school football standards. Ilya was almost as big, but had been cut from the team due to grades. It was pretty clear they'd been carrying on their hobby of pushing around someone smaller than themselves. Paulie was a perennial victim; effeminate and out, he didn't find high school to be a nurturing environment.

But there was a new element this time. David had a hand on Alan's arm, irritation showing in his expression.

"What the hell, man? He's, like, half your size. Why bother?" David sounded exasperated and puzzled... and not even a little bit scared.

"Oh, are you a faggot too?" Alan rumbled, glaring down at David.

"Huh?" David glanced at the cowering Paulie, comprehension dawning on his face. His head snapped back to Alan. "No, but I'm flattered you'd offer."

It took Alan a second to parse that. His grades were only just good enough to stay on the team.

"Asshole!" Alan cried. He leaped forward, going for a body-check. But David, lightning-quick, escaped to the side while leaving a leg in the way. Alan tripped and fell face-first into a locker.

Ilya, surprised, swung a haymaker toward the smaller boy. Again David was too fast. He ducked his head left, out of the way. At the same time his right hand flashed up; he grabbed Ilya's sleeve and gave a sharp tug, adding even more momentum to his assailant's arm. Ilya was jerked off-balance, and before he could recover David was behind him. In a twinkling Ilya's face was pressed against the lockers on the other wall and his left arm was locked up in the middle of his back.

Erica made a sharp inhalation. David was being stupid, Ilya had at least forty pounds on him. He could just jump back and knock David over...

Ilya started to try exactly that. But David jerked on the arm he was holding, and the bigger boy let out a pained yelp and stopped struggling. The sound joined Alan's stunned groan; the behemoth was curled up on the ground, holding an obviously-bloody nose.

David leaned in and spoke directly in Ilya's ear. "I will break this if I have to, so just shut up and listen, okay?" Ilya made one more attempt to free himself; his arm got wrenched in response and he let out a full-on yell. He became very still after that.

Erica saw David make a quick glance Alan's way, making sure he wasn't getting up. "I don't need trouble on my first fucking day here, but I don't like bullies." He shook his head. "I'm gonna let go of you in a second, and this will all be over, all right? You come after me, I'm gonna break something. I will end it."

He let go and took three fast steps back, away from both boys. Ilya glared at him for a moment, then went to help Alan up. "Gonna kill you, you little fuck!" Alan burbled, blood leaking through his hands.

David shook his head. "Be glad I don't believe you."

Ilya was pulling Alan down the hall, toward the nurse's office. "Come on, man, let's go, okay?" The hulking figures moved off into the crowd.

David turned to Paulie. "You okay?"

The slight young man nodded, wide-eyed. "Man, they're gonna be pissed at you."

David looked nonplussed, then shrugged. "Well, what the hell." He started to turn away, then stopped. "Let me know if they go after you, okay? I didn't mean to get you in worse trouble..."

Paulie smiled shyly. "Thanks, man. Will do."

David turned and walked off. Erica's wide eyes followed him down the hall.

~~~~~

As David walked briskly away, he kept his eyes front. Arranging the timing had been tricky there, but it had gone as well as could be expected. Subtle emotional pushes at the boys involved to goad them along, triggering the crisis just as Erica happened on the scene.

While his training as a field operative was far from complete, self-defense and martial arts were part of the foundations. You couldn't solve all the Brotherhood's problems with Magic.

He should look a bit heroic now, and the choice of Paulie as victim was a nice touch. A Sister would probably have some sympathy for gays, right?

Besides, he really didn't have much use for bullies.

~~~~~

She told the whole amazing story to Cora as soon as they met on the bus.

"...and Ilya actually looked scared. He was, like, dragging Alan away."

Cora let out a low whistle. "He looked like a jock, but... jeez. He took out both of 'em? They're fucking huge."

"He made it look easy," Erica marveled.

"Jeez," Cora repeated. "Well, we still gotta work on the timing problem. The physics engine isn't gonna be stable unless..."

Erica suppressed her annoyance. She couldn't expect Cora to appreciate how wicked tight David had looked, taking on two bigger guys.

And he'd looked pretty amazing to start with.

~~~~~

"You seen the new hottie?" Trahn asked breathlessly as she stretched.

"Huh?" Erica responded, coming up from her own stretch. Practice was getting ready to start and girls milled about on the grass. "You mean David?"

"So you did notice him." Trahn smiled, twisting to stretch her sides.

"He's in my homeroom," Erica replied. Even she realized she'd said it a bit too defensively.

"Uh-oh! Is there a boy who can warm the frosty maiden's... heart?"

"Tra-ahn!" Erica giggled a little, but she could feel a little color on her cheeks. David was cute. Hella cute.

"Mel says she saw him looking at you."

"What? Shut up!" She turned to look at Melanie.

"S'true," she shrugged. "Don't tell me you didn't see it. You were playing with your hair all through homeroom yesterday."

"I thought I was, like, imagining it..."

"I can picture him doing a lot more to me than just looking," Shianti breathed.

Erica caught her breath at the sudden spike of jealousy she felt. David was hot, of course girls would be into him. Had hearing that he might be interested in her suddenly turned all the other girls into rivals?

Maybe it had. She suddenly wanted to say something catty, something really mean. She only just managed to control her tongue. "I can believe it," was all she said.

The coach blew her whistle just then, and they all scrambled into formation. Erica was quiet and reflective through practice. She felt like maybe she'd just made a jump in her Transition. Up to now, she'd only witnessed the phenomenon of 'frenemies', only grasped it in the abstract. Now there was a new emotional appreciation of the idea. Like a big puzzle piece clicking into place.

~~~~~

When it was Cora's day to cook dinner, Erica usually came to the table with concealed reluctance. The girl's inexperience in the kitchen showed. Especially to the Jardins, who possessed fairly advanced culinary skills. Even Haylie was impressive for her age.

One minor issue was how meat-heavy Cora's dishes usually were. Sisters weren't necessarily vegetarian - though many were - but even the ones that ate meat tended to use it sparingly.

Tonight, however, Erica was almost salivating. She'd come home from that fraught practice to find a strange car in the driveway and the house smelling wonderful. Cora had shooed her away from the kitchen, and wouldn't let her see what she and Jacinta were up to.

Now, showered and changed, she sat at the dining room table. She glanced over the table setting - the good china, rarely used, was out. "What's going on?" she asked her Mom.

"Cora and her friend have been cooking since three!" Miranda said, grinning ear to ear. "They wouldn't let me do anything, they only let Haylie help."

"Huh," was all Erica could say.

"Come and get it!" Cora called, carrying a platter into the dining room. She and Jacinta and Haylie brought out a vegetarian tamales, rice, and salsa. Erica assembled a plate while greeting Jacinta. It all smelled heavenly, and when she took a bite she was pleasantly surprised.

"Hey, you guys, this is amazing. What'd you do?"

"You like?" Cora asked, halfway between shy and sly.

"Yeah."

"I love it, too," Miranda said. What's in it?"

The girl smiled. She tried to pass it off as a smirk... but Erica thought there was an undercurrent of genuine happiness she'd pleased them all. They'd tried to make her feel appreciated, but she was far from stupid. It was hard to miss the difference in sophistication of her meals versus the others.

"Jacinta gave me the recipe and showed me how. It's all veggies."

"She did it all herself," Jacinta declared proudly. "Haylie and I just cut things up and stirred."

Cora scoffed. "And you tasted, and kept me from burning stuff, and all the rest!"

Jacinta was shaking her head. "Nothin' much. She's a natural."

Probably everyone at the table knew that was an exaggeration. But the Sisters had been briefed on Jacinta's useful motivations, and voiced agreement.

"So what do you do when you're not singing in the choir, Jacinta?" Miranda asked.

"I help out a couple nights a week at my tia's taquería."

"Cooking?"

"Mostly waitressing. But sometimes I get to cook."

"She wants to go to culinary school," Cora piped in.

"Maybe," Jacinta said. "Either that or law school." She frowned. "My cousin Ernesto went to jail 'cause his public defender didn't do sh... um, didn't do his job." She blushed a little at her almost-slip.

Miranda nodded and smiled slightly, unperturbed. "If you do decide on the culinary arts, I could introduce you to some people."

"Well, either way I'm gonna get a couple years at the community college first."

"A good plan. And if you go the other way, I have a friend who's a lawyer."

"Well, thanks for the offer. Offers."

~~~~~

Erica shifted her book. The pen didn't fall. She moved the tome a bit more and knocked it off her desk. The excuse was ready.

As she leaned over to pick it up, she stole a glance behind her. David met her eyes for an instant, then looked sharply at the whiteboard where Mr. Stratton was going over integrals. She sat back up and put her pen away.

So. Her intuition was correct. He was watching her. It was like she could feel his eyes.

She wasn't sure how she felt about that. Actually, she'd identified about five different feelings - hope, fear, pride, curiosity, and a hint of lust. She just wasn't sure which predominated, or which she wanted to predominate. The pride was easy enough to trace - both Linda and Melanie had reported that David had been asking about her, whether she had a boyfriend. It was flattering to have someone - actually, him - interested in her. Likewise the lust was no mystery. She'd rubbed one off to his mental image last night.

The hope and curiosity she could understand, but didn't know what to do with. Fantasy was one thing, but did she want to date a boy? For real? What would that be like? She had a vision of herself on David's arm at the Prom. Going to a formal dance with a boyfriend, not just an escort. It was an intriguing notion, no denying it.

But then came the fear. There were good enough reasons for that. If she made out with him, could she keep from going all the way? Kristina helped make pregnancy a real concern. And how would Cora respond? Would she see it as a betrayal?

So, plenty of reasons to be afraid. And yet, she had a sense of some other reason to worry, something she couldn't isolate.

Trying to focus intuition, to force it to clarify itself, was futile. It wasn't a sense that there were dangers from David so much as that there was danger around him, bound up with him. She tried on different thoughts - she'd seen that he could fight. Would he hit her? Something told her no.

What was she going to do about him?

~~~~~

In terms of hands and tongues (and toes, etc.), Cora's lovemaking was playful and egalitarian. They explored each other's bodies happily, giving and receiving pleasure. Tickling, teasing, licking... the girls had few inhibitions.

But when it came to sex with a dildo or strap-on, Cora didn't seem to have a 'middle of the road' response. Introducing anything phallic induced a major shift in sexual attitudes in the girl. Paradoxically, two different shifts.

When Erica was using the tools, Cora became passive, even submissive. She even brought up the idea of restraints and seemed to come the hardest when she was tied up and Erica was pounding into her. Conversely, if Cora had a phallus in her hand or attached to her hips, she almost morphed into a dominatrix. She became quite aggressive, and seemed to particularly enjoy taking Erica doggy-style.

Tonight was one of the latter times. "Yeah, you like that, huh? You like that?" Cora thrust passionately, just shy of actual violence.

Erica panted. It sure did feel good. She arched her back into it, changing the angle.

A sudden flashing vision of her like this, on hands and knees, moaning. But it was David kneeling behind her, stroking confidently in and out, hands keeping grip on her hips. She came instantly, powerfully, in a screaming orgasm that seemed to last forever.

Cora acted very proud of herself, afterward, and Erica praised her lavishly. But inside she kept picturing David...

~~~~~

"Whatcha doin'?" Cora asked.

"Eeek!" Erica twitched and looked around. For a second, she didn't know what to say. Her first thought - 'You sound exactly like Isabella on Phineas and Ferb' - was violently suppressed as unhelpful. Cora still had, at best, mixed feelings about her high-pitched voice. Eventually, she just said, "Don't sneak up on me!"

Cora snorted. "All I did was walk in." Her eyes moved to Erica's netbook screen, as she said, "So what are you... oh." The last syllable carried a bit of contempt.

Erica felt herself start to blush. "It's not like that. I was just, y'know, curious."

David's Facebook page lay open for the girls' perusal.

"I didn't try to friend him or anything," she said quickly. "This is just his public stuff." For a moment, she wracked her brain for some kind of excuse that Jacqui would accept for breaking into his private data. It didn't take long to decide there just wasn't any.

Cora shrugged, expressing amused toleration of Erica's curiosity about boys. "Well, whatcha find out?"

Trying not to sound overly interested, she said, "Not a lot. He moved here from Virginia, near D.C. I think his dad was in the Army or something."

Cora scrolled through some pictures. "He dresses up a lot," she noted.

Erica rushed to his defense. "Not really. He mostly just wears clean clothes, and they're not saggy." After a moment's reflection, she added, "And mostly they actually match."

Cora grinned. "Maybe he's gay. Didn't you say that once, 'bout guys who know how to match clothes?"

"Cora!" she exclaimed, horrified at the thought. "He was checking me out in math!"

Cora's scowl told her she'd said too much. "Oh, reeeally?"

"Not creepster. Just, y'know, interested. Maybe."

"Don't talk to me about the 'male gaze'," Cora said. "Well, he doesn't look like a stoner, anyway."

Erica couldn't argue with that. "He even dresses up for sports, kinda. He's trying out for baseball."

Cora was apparently inclined to be philosophical. "Clothes are kinda like a language. You send messages about yourself. Guys don't pick up on most of 'em, though." She glanced aside at Erica. "So, what do his clothes say to you?"

"Um... smart. Motivated. Maybe polite? Has some money..." Hella cute, she kept to herself.

Cora shrugged, dismissing boys and their traits. "Well, you gotta drop me off for choir practice."

~~~~~

After-school cheerleading practice wasn't always fun, but it was sometimes required. Cora had taken the bus home already; Erica would get picked up after.

It had been a good day. She'd gotten scores back on a test and a quiz, and they were both over 90. Cora hadn't complained out loud about even one feminine thing all day long - not unheard of these days, but still not a treat you could count on - and Kristina had shown off some new ultrasounds of Alex at lunch.

She was bent low, stretching out her calves and thighs. She still felt a little embarrassed doing that in her uniform... but it was socially acceptable to flash your panties then. Today she was just in sweats, so it wasn't as big a deal.

"Erica. Look." Trahn suddenly whispered, quiet and intense. When she looked over at her teammate, the girl pointed with her head toward the edge of the field. So Erica straightened up and glanced that way. And there was David, standing by the chain-link fence.

He was waving. To her?

She looked around to make sure he really meant her, like some ditzy girl on a sitcom. But his eyes were actually locked on her. He was beckoning her to come over by the fence. She peeked at the captain but she was talking on her phone; there should be at least a couple more minutes before she blew the starting whistle.

So she walked over where he stood, feeling unsettlingly nervous and embarrassed. Here she was in grubby sweats, makeup worn off, hair pulled back in a messy low ponytail. So not the way she wanted anybody to see her.

Especially him?

When she got close, he spoke up. "Hey, uh, Erica? I'm David."

She nodded, not sure what to say.

"Look, uh, I know we haven't, like, talked much or anything. But, I was thinking... uh, well, hoping you and I could go out for dinner Friday night." David made the request with such directness, and yet she got the sense he was scared. That he really wanted her to say yes, that she could crush his ego with a 'no'. And yet, he had the courage to put himself out there anyway, in front of everybody. Most propositions these days were by text or Facebook.

She hadn't felt this flustered since... since Lucas. "I work Fridays," she said quietly.

"Oh," he said, some of the light going out of his face.

She couldn't be responsible for that. "But I'm off Saturday."

The light came back, just like that. "Oh. Awesome! I mean, what time... can I get your number..."

She giggled. Damn it, what was it about cute boys that made her giggle? They exchanged digits, then Erica said, "I really have to get back. Text me?"

"You bet," David said, a big grin on his face. Goddess, he was so cute...

She whirled away and walked back to the other cheerleaders. She fought with herself, denying the urge to turn and see if he looked back; she didn't want to seem too eager. It was okay, she could see Melanie and Trahn kept glancing in their direction. They'd be able to tell her.

As soon as she reached her crew, Melanie blurted, "What did he say? Dish!" Trahn and Shianti were right there backing her up.

"He asked me out," Erica said smugly.

"You said yes, right? Tell me you said yes!"

"Well duh! But I did tease him a little," she bragged. A whistle blew and they scrambled to get into formation.

All through practice, she kept catching herself smiling like a nutjob. On the way back to the lockers, she caught some of the girls frowning at her. Jealous that the new McDreamy had asked her out? That fit.

Could this day get any better?

~~~~~

As it turned out, the day could get a bit worse. And did, once she got in the car and shared the news.

"You're going out with him?" Cora said in a slow burn, hands gripping the steering wheel tighter.

"Cora, please. I kinda need to do this," Erica pleaded, keeping one cautious eye on the road.

"What's that supposed to mean?" her friend snapped.

Reluctantly: "You know people have been talking. Jokes about us being lesbians."

Cora blinked, then snarled. "Well... we pretty much are."

Erica looked away. "Even if... look, you've seen the crap Marrica goes through. We don't need that on top of all our other problems."

"Screw them. I don't care about that," Cora declared, all defiance.

"That's not all of it." Erica hesitated. "Cora, I... I think I'm bi." Then she shrugged. "Oh, fuck, I know I'm bi."

That stopped Cora cold. "What, I'm not good enough anymore? You need some dick now?"

"Cora, that's not it," she said, not sure herself if it was completely true. "You know I love you." Cora huffed. "But I... I think this is part of 'acclimating', y'know? At least, like, exploring this a little."

Cora didn't say anything. She just glared.

"Look, it's just a date. I'm not gonna fuck the guy. It'll take some heat off of both of us."

~~~~~

Miranda sensed instantly that something was up, the moment the girls came through the door. She'd come to expect some girlish chatter, but they were both silent.

Cora put down her handbag and stood with arms crossed. Erica looked... peculiar. Like she was excited, but didn't want to show it?

"How was your day, dear?" she asked neutrally.

Cora answered for her. "She's got a boyfriend now," she said... with rather more heat than most girls would have, when talking about a friend.

Miranda made sure not to sigh, grasping the difficulty immediately. Young girls often had a hard time balancing their friendships and their romances. A girl's first boyfriend frequently put a strain on her relationships with other girls.

And that held even if they weren't sleeping with those other girls. Goddess, Cora's mere existence made everything so complicated!

But still, Erica and a boy? How very interesting.

All this flashed through her head in bare moments. Erica finished putting down her own things, and began to explain. "He's not my boyfriend. He just asked me out, that's all."

Eyebrows raised, Miranda asked, "And did you say yes?"

"Well, yeah."

A very tiny part of Miranda, one she hadn't heard from in years - a part she suspected dated all the way back to Mark - woke up and protested. After all, she knew precisely how horny teenage boys were, how little self-control they sometimes - or rather, often - displayed.

But she was Erica's Mother. She also knew how girls felt about the situation. She had no illusions she could keep her Daughter innocent of boys forever. Fathers were such sentimental and impractical creatures about those things.

"There's this new guy, David. Just moved here, like, a week ago." Only a little embarrassed: "He's really cute."

Cora let out a derisive scoff.

"No doubt," Miranda drawled. "Smart and nice too, I hope?"

"He is!" Erica said with a passion Miranda found simultaneously amusing, gratifying, and slightly unsettling.

The story of David and the goliaths came bubbling out, along with David's excellent performance in (his first week of) math class, and finally a word-for-word account of how he'd propositioned Erica. It didn't take Miranda long to grasp her Daughter's attraction. The Mother in her filed away his potential for a violent streak for later investigation.

"Do I get to meet this paragon before he whisks you away?"

"Um." Erica stopped short. "I dunno exactly what we're doing. He was gonna text me..."

"Does he have a car? Will he be picking you up?"

"Um, like, I guess. I mean, he's got a car..."

"Then please include at least a 'hello' to your sweet old Mother in your plans."

"Okay."

"Maybe we could finish our homework while you keep checking your phone for texts?" Cora muttered.

"I wanna get on the web for a bit, first," Erica said.

"Oh, come on! You already checked out his Facebook stuff!"

Erica didn't deny it. "That was just a skim. I was, like, curious. Now..."

Cora interrupted. "Now you're gonna check out every single freaking album and post, right?" She shook her head. "Well, not until after we get the sound routine done, got it?"

The two girls went into the kitchen with their laptops. Miranda, watching them, shook her head.

~~~~~

"What am I gonna wear?" Erica cried, throwing a shirt to the ground.

"Panties, I hope," Cora drawled. "Maybe even a bra." She'd calmed down somewhat about the date over the past couple days. She wasn't happy about it, but the nightly sex had maybe convinced her she wasn't losing Erica entirely.

Erica, naked, tossed her head. "I gotta know what I'm wearing over, before I can pick what goes under."

Cora's mouth twisted, half amused, half bitter. "Maybe I am turning into a girl. I actually understood that." She shook her head. "'Can't wear dark under light' and all that crap."

"Not just that," Erica said, flicking through blouses, "If I wear tights, or a clingy skirt, I don't want VPLs." She turned to examine the next row. "But I might keep it cazsh, just stick with jeans." She nibbled her lip. "But maybe... I mean, we're not going, like, black tie or anything, but..."

Cora's eyes rolled. "Jeez, chill! You know he's not stressing out like this about his clothes. He prob'ly won't even notice what pants you're wearing." Again she couldn't decide between amusement or spite. "All he'll be thinking about is getting into 'em."

"Thinking's all he gets. Totes not gonna happen," Erica said with nearly perfect confidence.

"If your Mom is right about birth control, he better not get a hold of your panties. You know how worked up you get."

"We both get," Erica riposted.

Cora squinted. "Well, you better put something on or I'm gonna get 'worked up' again. And you don't have time for another shower."

~~~~~

"All right, let's have a look, dear." Miranda waved for Erica to turn and show her outfit. All the women except Haylie were in the front room waiting for David to arrive. The youngest Jardin, not finding the event that interesting, was in the den watching TV.

Looking a trifle embarrassed, Erica submitted to inspection. She had settled on dark brown tights, which set the tone for the rest of the outfit.

On top, an off-white blouse with a tan denim vest over it. Her hair was in an up-do that both Cory and Eric would probably have assumed was simple. Earrings with about an inch of dangle. Her makeup had just a hint of glitter in it. But she wore white sneakers that echoed the blouse. So, nice enough for a good restaurant, casual enough for a movieplex.

"You look very nice," Miranda said warmly. Cora kept her own counsel beyond a sniff.

The Mother in her couldn't resist a spot of teasing, though. "I will note that in my day the tradition was to make the boy wait."

"Moooom!" Erica wailed.

"Oh, get over yourself. I'm sure you don't want to waste a minute." She glanced out the window, and added, "Apparently he doesn't want to wait either. Unless I miss my guess, that's him pulling up now."

"Ohmigod!" Erica yelped. Cora's eyes rolled.

Miranda was bubbling inside to see her Daughter getting so excited over a boy. "Would you like me to greet him at the door, or will you do the honors?"

"Um..." Erica dithered. Cora and Miranda exchanged a glance.

The bell rang and she made her decision, stepping forward. She opened the door. Miranda was pleased by how the boy's eyes widened as he caught sight of Erica.

"Won't you come in?" Erica said. Cora didn't do much of a job suppressing an amused snort at her sudden ladylike formality.

He stepped in, and Miranda was not merely pleased but impressed. He was a good-looking specimen. He wore dark sneakers and blue jeans - clean, not distressed - along with a light sweater, a short turtleneck underneath. It was an unpretentious, just-classy-enough ensemble, well-suited to the occasion.

Politely, but with seemingly genuine warmth, he said, "Hi, Mrs. Jardin. My name's David Burke. I'm pleased to meet you."

Erica, to one side, suddenly looked embarrassed about her introduction fail.

"Pleased to meet you, too, David." As she shook his hand, Miranda probed David's mind quickly, judging his intentions. They were about what she'd expected. He would by no means refuse sexual activity with Erica, but he was a nice boy - he wasn't the kind to push her too hard on that front. Whatever he might hope for, all he expected from tonight was a good time with a pretty girl. And he was fine with that.

Enjoying the chance to mother her Daughter, she said, "And what sort of evening do you have planned for my Erica?"

Erica winced, and Miranda smiled inside. Teenagers were never so embarrassed at having parents as when those parents were meeting their dates.

David didn't seem the least discomfited as he said, "Nothing too fancy. Just dinner and a movie."

"You'll be back by eleven, I believe Erica said?"

"No problem, ma'am," David replied.

"Well, then, you two had best get going. Shoo, shoo! Have fun!"

Erica gave her Mom and Cora quick hugs, and stepped out with David.

The door closed with a soft click. Cora stared at it for a while, then went up to her room. Miranda gazed after her, troubled.

~~~~~

David parked the car at the restaurant and vaulted out quickly. As he was coming around to open the door for Erica, the subconscious trigger he'd arranged was flipped, and he froze for a moment. Memories and attitudes came rushing into his mind, dispelling the masking personality he'd overlaid on himself. He turned the pause into a deliberate stumble, then made it to her door and opened it up, flashing a smile.

He'd developed a grudging respect for 'Eva Braun'. Blocking mental probes was fairly straightforward; hiding from them was vastly more difficult. It really could only be done for a superficial scan. And yet she'd managed such a disguise for more than a decade, somehow never giving the Brothers any reason to probe too deeply.

Still, if she could do it, he could do it. His disguise wouldn't need to hold up that long, either. Furthermore, Erica wouldn't be able to probe him for some time yet, so for now he only needed to maintain psychic camouflage near her house. He reminded himself to keep an eye out for possible surveillance, though.

Even as he mused, Erica was taking his hand to be helped out of the car. "Are you okay? Did you trip?" she asked, sounding concerned.

"Yeah, just bumped my foot on a stupid crack. No problem," he said, smiling. "Careful, there's a step here..."

~~~~~

Sitting next to David at the movie was distracting. She kept realizing she was on a date with a guy. And she had to be honest with herself - she was enjoying it. Dinner had been fun, and informative. She'd learned a great deal about him from their conversation over dinner. It had filled out the context of a bunch of his photos and posts on Facebook.

He didn't have an identifiable accent. "East Coast" was as close as she could place it. He was an only child. Growing up, David's dad had been in the Army and his family had moved a lot. Army life helped account for his skill in self-defense, though. Now, after an honorable discharge, his dad was in software. He'd been unexpectedly transferred out here, and along came David.

Why was he so fascinating? It wasn't like she was unfamiliar with teenage boys. She'd been one not so long ago, right? But something about the way he laughed... perspective mattered, as she'd learned the first day of school.

Having your date open doors and buy popcorn for you was oddly endearing. And when his arm settled across her shoulders, halfway through the movie... he carried it off so well. Gently enough that she could easily have shrugged it off; firmly enough to show his confidence that she wouldn't. And she did not, in fact, shrug it off. She even leaned into him a little.

Erica knew what David was thinking. Or at least, what Eric would have been contemplating, in David's position. Even if David struck her as more mature than Eric had been, boys always dwelled on certain topics, especially when next to a girl they were dating.

She was nowhere near ready to indulge David's desires in that respect. Still, snuggled in the crook of his arm, she discovered she wasn't particularly far from it, either. She was already looking forward to the good-bye kiss later. And she was even speculating about what might happen on subsequent dates...

~~~~~

As they pulled up to her house, she returned to her point. "You should've let me pay for the movie, at least."

"No way. I'm old-fashioned." He said it with that charming, cocky smile. And he proved it by jumping out of the car and coming around to open the door for her again.

It gave her time to come up with a proper reply. "Am I supposed to pay you back in the old-timey way?" Erica said, eyebrows arched as she stood up. Somehow she ended up closer to him than she'd intended. Consciously intended, at least.

David didn't move to reclaim any personal space. "It's not about paying back." He paused, and gave that knee-weakening smile again. "Although..."

He leaned forward. She could have dropped her chin, stepped away... but she didn't. Their lips met.

Better than Lucas. Definitely.

~~~~~

Miranda's Magical attention was divided. She kept tabs lightly on her daughter outside, but she also had to monitor Cora in the living room downstairs. Miranda wouldn't read her thoughts, but she could make some good guesses about the girl's frame of mind.

She hadn't been irritable, but she'd been terribly distracted through dinner, and had washed dishes afterward in silence. And when she settled down with her laptop, it hadn't been upstairs in her room. Instead, she'd set up on a couch in the living room, with a view of the driveway.

And now, just from her aura, Miranda could tell Cora was watching the couple intensely. Closely enough that she could move from the window the moment the couple broke off their kissing and moved for the house. Cora was sitting down in the kitchen before they'd made it to the front porch.

Sighing, Miranda did another quick probe of David, noting with amusement that a considerable chunk of his thoughts were devoted to not betraying his budding erection.

She shifted to her Daughter, another light surface scan. Erica, too, was concealing significant arousal, though it was naturally easier.

But both of them had more than just lustful thoughts, and it was clear that a second date was only a matter of time.

One last peek at Cora. She sympathized, of course, however much she approved of Erica dating boys. The natural solution to the problem was to find the girl her own suitable suitor. Ideally, a male one. But that wasn't going to be practical for... rather a while yet.

If ever, a part of her mind warned. A discomfitingly correct part, she feared. But it was time to head down and needle her Daughter a bit.

~~~~~

A day later, there was another visit from two of the senior Sisters, Laurie and Bronwyn. It had originally been scheduled for a week hence, but Miranda had requested it be bumped up, anticipating the need for some support. And sure enough, Cora was not in the best of moods. She had barely acknowledged when Erica had come in from her date, and gone to bed by herself. In the morning she had been almost comically sulky.

First, there was a Magic appraisal. The praise Cora received there was earned; while the amount of Power she could manifest wasn't great, she applied it very shrewdly. Her power lagged because her Transition was slow, yet her grasp of theory was far ahead of many full Sisters. The good feelings were short-lived, however. As before, Cora brought up a difficult subject. "I got a lot from Erica. But I want to hear it from you. What is the Brotherhood?"

Bronwyn covered, as dispassionately as possible, almost everything she'd explained to Erica on Cora's "birthday". Once she finished, Cora had a very sour expression on her face.

"Okay, so let me get this straight. We're up against black Magic, evil Nazi sorcerers bent on world domination, and to fight them, we've got... the power of love?" The sarcasm in the girl's tone was pure acid.

Laurie tried to reassure her. "It's not quite so bad as all that. Most members of the Brotherhood aren't evil themselves, and we aren't..."

Cora scoffed. "I'm not going up against some dark wizard straight out of Castle Wolfenstein armed with nothing but a fucking Care Bear Stare!"

"No, you're not," Bronwyn pronounced with her own corrosive tone. "We are working quite hard to avoid that. At the earliest opportunity, we will help you recover your male condition. As Cory, you will not be part of the Sisterhood and will not be involved in our struggle at all."

That gave Cora a moment's pause. But, as usual, only a moment. Her eyes flicked to her fellow Novice. "But Erica still will."

"If she chooses to remain a Sister," Laurie noted.

For various reasons, everyone chose to change the subject back to Magic then.

~~~~~

"Hey," Sunny said.

Erica looked at her quizzically. "Yeah?" They were getting ready to leave AP Programming. Almost everyone had left, in fact, on their way to last period. Cora was already out the door.

She didn't really know Sunny all that well. Eric had been too shy to talk to her, and she was in the same programming team as Mindy, who was friends with Danielle.

Sunny got right to the point. "You better tell your cousin to watch her back."

"What? Why?" Erica said with alarm.

"Well, Mindy says Danielle is pissed. Doesn't like the way Cora's been talking to Brandon."

Erica squinted, puzzled. "Brandon? You mean Metcalfe? They just have Calc together. Right next to Danielle, even!"

Sunny shook her head. "Mindy says Danielle said, 'She'd better quit pulling that shy-little-flower bullshit.'"

Erica rolled her eyes. "I promise, there is no way Cora would go after Brandon."

"Hey, I'm not the one you gotta sell that to." She shook her head. "Fair warning, is all. I'm staying out of it."

Erica stared, disturbed, at the back of Sunny's head as she walked out without another word.

~~~~~

"So to sum up, we're officially boyfriend and girlfriend now, and there are no signs she or her Mother or the other ones suspect anything." David finished bringing his handler up to date.

"The surveillance team agrees. Nothing they've overheard indicates you've rung any alarms," came the reply over the phone. "Good work. Continue observation, and don't risk exposure. That's all for now."

"Thank you, my Leige," he replied, and hung up.

The Sisters were good, he reflected, but they weren't perfect. They relied too much on their covers, and on their Magic.

From what he'd gathered in his briefings, the Sisterhood had become very slick at altering records and general data security. False trails, honeypots, blinds - they used all the tricks. And they'd gotten good fast. So fast, the theory was that a single Sister was responsible for the reorganization.

If Sisters were uncovered in some other way, though, they weren't especially effective at detecting surveillance. They still relied on the traditional means, the traditional spells. Those worked well against people actively watching, and against Magical eavesdropping. But you couldn't detect eyeballs, or Dark Power, if they weren't used.

Other options existed these days. Half a mile from the Jardin home, a sophisticated - and entirely non-Magical - device sat in a church tower. It bounced an infrared laser off various windows in the Jardin home, and relayed the reflections elsewhere for processing. A bit of signal analysis on the window vibrations, and they could hear a great deal of what went on inside. Except in the two older girls' rooms; some spell protected them. Even with that gap, though, they'd learned a great deal.

And how had they found the Jardins? As a field operative, subject to potential capture, he shouldn't have been told. The High Leader had made a special, personal exception, however. David supposed it had been intended to bolster his morale - and it had.

An exhaustive image search had put names to the faces sent by his father. Bronwyn Llewellyn and Laurel Donovan were authors whose photos graced a few hardcovers.

They had never been observed or directly eavesdropped on. Distant, cautious, and completely non-Magical monitoring of their movements over the last decade had identified several probable Sisters. Some of those candidates, like the Jardins, had received more direct investigation - but still without the use of Magic.

The Circle of Set had managed, for only the third time, to catch an actual Transformation almost as it happened with Eric Jardin. And then, the entirely unexpected, apparently unprecedented - but potentially invaluable - episode with Cory Ellsworth.

It created a situation that would demand regular attention from the inner circle of the Sisterhood. Nearly ideal circumstances to place an infiltrator - since the Sisters' would be focused on 'Cora', not 'Erica'. Let alone Erica's boyfriend.

The High Leader wasn't foolishly sentimental. David didn't know any details about whatever strategic purpose his presence here was intended to further... although he could make some guesses.

The required psychic discipline made this a tough assignment. David knew, with no false modesty, that he had a genuine talent for mental Magic. It was still a significant challenge. Plus he had to pretend to be attracted to someone who was only nominally a 'girl'. Like the High Leader had warned, the job had its distasteful side.

But these bitches had stolen his Father. He'd do a lot worse to balance those scales.

He'd do whatever it took.

~~~~~

Erica was dismayed when she got on the bus to head home. Cora's jaw was set, her eyes wrinkled, back stiff. She was angry - no, furious. It had been some time since Cora had gotten that pissed.

"What's wrong?" she asked as she sat down next to her.

"Later," Cora said. Then she shut up and stared out the window.

Erica worried all the way to their stop, Cora fuming beside her. The temperature actually dropped a few degrees and the wind picked up by the time they unloaded.

"So what's going on?"

"That fucking bitch Danielle." Cora seethed. "She was talking about Cory today before class."

"What'd she say?" Erica asked carefully.

"She was telling Brandon that he was weird, and maybe gay!" Cora fulminated. "That Cory never acted, y'know, interested in her."

"What the fuck?" Erica exclaimed, shocked.

"I know, right? It's fucking bullshit." Cora glowered. "She sure didn't have any goddamn complaints after Homecoming!"

"Why would she even bring it up?" Erica wondered out loud.

Cora shrugged, apparently not considering it a conundrum. "Michaela's parents know my mom and dad. She heard them say they still get notes and messages from me sometimes, so it came up."

Erica shook her head in wonder. "I still don't see why..."

Cora interrupted. "She's trying to keep Brandon from looking for Cory. He was saying yesterday he was gonna call about the postmarks on the letters. The ones Jacqui's been forwarding."

"Well, we kinda want that." At Cora's lowered brows, she tentatively added, "Right?"

Cora took a deep breath and stopped at the end of their driveway. After a second to compose herself, she bit out, "Yeah. But not like that." She took another deep breath - an angrier one - and said, "Why does she need to badmouth Cory that way?"

Erica had been considering that. "Maybe two birds with one stone. Shianti said she heard Danielle was kinda pissed Brandon didn't come watch her last game. Think maybe he's not quite as into her lately?"

"How the fuck should I know?" Cora shook her head. "You were right. I'm glad I didn't get on the soccer team. I'd prob'ly kick her ass if I had to be with her more than two classes a day. At least I can stay away from her in gym." She marched towards the house, ending the conversation firmly.

~~~~~

Mom was downstairs, Cora was studying in her room. Haylie and Erica brushed their teeth in front of the upstairs mirror. Haylie judged she probably wouldn't get time alone with her Sister for a while, so... "Hey, sis?"

"Yeah?" Erica kept watching herself in the mirror as she brushed out her hair.

"What's it like? Having a boyfriend?"

Erica's arm sagged. "Wow, that's... complicated."

Haylie just kept brushing her teeth. Erica was forced to speak.

"It's kinda neat. I have fun with him." She fell silent for a beat.

Haylie spit, and prompted, "Why do you like him?"

"I... Lots of things. He's cute. He's smart. And he's nice. He treats people well. But he's not, like, a wimp. I saw him get in a fight, with, like, two boys who were a lot bigger than him. He destroyed 'em."

"You were a boy, though. Doesn't that make it weird?"

"Jeez, don't hold back or anything." Erica frowned and shrugged. "I guess it does, a little. But... I don't really think of myself as a boy anymore. I like being a girl."

"You and Cora, though... aren't you..."

Erica blushed and looked away. "Well... yeah." After several seconds, she began again. "Cora," Erica said, but then paused.

Erica stood thinking a moment. Then she continued, slowly. "She needs me. Someone she knows, trusts."

"Do you want to, y'know, do things with her?"

Haylie thought Erica was going to cut things off, she looked so upset. But then she spoke. "Yeah. I do."

"Is that 'cause you were a boy?"

Erica frowned. "Maybe some, yes. That probably made it easier. But... it doesn't feel wrong. I think even if I'd been born Erica, I might have been bi."

Haylie didn't have any more questions after that. She left the bathroom looking pensive, almost troubled. Which didn't make Erica feel great.

~~~~~

"Catch ya later, brah," David called as they went out the front door. Brandon waved and headed for his motorcycle in the south parking lot.

David's car was parked in the west lot. He spotted Erica waiting for him by the curb, and aimed for her.

"How do you know Brandon?" she asked after some quick 'heys' and a hug. She looked somewhat nonplussed. He'd expected that; he was sure the Sisters had told Erica to avoid Brandon. But he was another avenue to information about Cory, who the Brotherhood was still catching up on.

"We got to talking about good places to run around here. Gotta get some sprints and some distance running in." They walked hand in hand.

Erica did a little lip quirk, a tiny shrug - it added up to a nonverbal 'okay, point'. She moved on quickly. "Where are they starting you at?"

"Coach says he might try me out as shortstop. He doesn't have a good one this year."

Erica bit her lip and looked away guiltily. David had to suppress a smile; he knew that Eric had been going to play shortstop, until the Transformation left a hole in the baseball team's roster. But he wasn't supposed to know that.

"Allow me, milady," he said, holding open the passenger door of his car. He'd taken to giving Erica a ride home after school.

"We're still on for Saturday right?" he asked as soon as he got in the driver's seat.

"You know it!" she said happily. She was a very open person; he seldom had to guess at her feelings. "But this time I'm paying for the movie."

"We'll see," he teased.

~~~~~

As they walked the short way to the theater, hand in hand, a large man in torn jeans and a t-shirt leered at her. Erica averted her gaze and instinctively moved a little closer to David.

It took a few seconds before she realized that her first thought had been to shy away from the confrontation, to look to David to protect her. That would not have been Eric's response.

Eric would have tried to figure out if he could take an opponent first, and resorted to running away if he had to. For Erica now it was flight, then fight as the fallback if she were cornered.

As David bought the tickets, she pondered that. It felt so natural, so obvious. Fighting in games was still fun. She even still enjoyed action movies, to David's relief. But the thought of actual violence was disquieting, upsetting.

It wasn't until the girl was tearing their tickets that she remembered her determination to pay. "Hey! No fair! I was distracted!"

"What can I say? I'm a tricksy bastard."

Damn that grin of his, Erica thought. It's not fair. "Whatever. I get the popcorn."

The grin never wavered. "If you insist, milady."

For some reason she couldn't pin down, she remembered that 'tricksy bastard' line while they were watching the movie. She was learning that there was something attractive about a boy who was a bit dangerous, a 'bad boy'.

Even if she couldn't quite pin down why she thought he was dangerous. He was always a gentleman, even when they made out. Amazingly, she sometimes wished he'd be a little more aggressive.

~~~~~

"So the doc says Alec is doing great. She said she likes his heartbeat." Kristina looked down and put her hands on her belly, smiling dreamily. "It's the most amazing sound..."

Erica tuned Kristina's gushing out for a second and glanced across the cafeteria. It was kind of bittersweet. Cora wasn't having lunch with her and Linda and Kristina anymore.

These days she sat with Jacinta and Gabriela and a few other choir girls. Overall, Erica was glad to see Cora getting acceptance from some peers. And it was major that she felt confident enough to handle regular conversation without Erica's help.

But it was partly that Cora was still a little pissed at her for being with David. Their relationship had been born in intense circumstances, and a part of her was sad they weren't as close anymore. Cora had tapered off on the sex; these days they only made love two or three times a week.

She stole a glance at David, who was talking with Paul and a couple other boys. Though they were seated in a group, the boys tended to drift off to their own topics when the girls talked about babies.

She stifled a smile. Boys - at least, high school boys - were so scared of pregnancy. They put the whole phenomenon out of their minds as much as they could.

Her attention returned to Kristina. Girls can't afford to ignore it, though, she thought. It might bite them pretty hard if they do.

"It is so totally trippy when he moves," Kristina was saying. If she was bitten, she was smitten, too.

And getting pregnant isn't supposed to be scary forever for girls. It's supposed to happen, someday. She wondered if she would ever want to get pregnant. She couldn't really picture it. But who knew? She could surely picture herself sucking David's cock, something totally inconceivable last year.

Not just picturing. Fantasizing. Maybe even this weekend. She'd been spending a lot of nights with her vibrator lately, absent Cora. It had only enhanced her fantasies about David.

~~~~~

Miranda had mixed feelings about Cora and Haylie's relationship. Cora seemed to regard Haylie as something close to a little sister, and they were getting along well. They'd been spending a little more time together now that Erica was focusing increasing attention on David.

In some ways, it was good for Cora. It encouraged her to act a little more girlish. And Haylie knew Cora's secret, Cora could be less guarded in her presence.

But Miranda wasn't sure if she was the best influence for Haylie. They did girlish things together, but Cora had gotten Haylie more interested in videogames and science fiction and other pastimes that were a little more boyish. Nothing inappropriate, Cora had good sense in that respect, but Haylie had developed some tomboy traits.

Although, given Haylie's history, was she developing them - or rediscovering them? Miranda felt the onset of Haylie's period, and the Magical awakening that would follow, racing closer every day. It wouldn't happen sooner than fall - her Healing senses told her that - but it could happen any time after that.

~~~~~

As they snuggled and caught their breath, Erica asked, softly, "Something bothering you?"

David had given her a ride home, so there had been no post-schoolbus chance to talk. But she'd sensed something off about Cora's behavior as they did homework.

So she'd maneuvered her way into Cora's bed after Haylie went to sleep, and made a good deal of love to her friend. It was very pleasant way to pump someone for information, in any case.

Cora shrugged one shoulder. "I caught Lucas checking me out on the way to English," she said.

Erica gave a little shrug herself. "So? You're hot!"

"I know," Cora half-grinned. "And, just for a second, I felt kinda good about it. But then Cory got all mad about it, and I remembered... everything. So for a second, I was pissed. And then, I remembered that I'm trying to be a girl. So I tried to feel good about it again, but it was all mixed up with guilt, and..." She sniffled. "...and fear, and..."

Erica held her tight. "Chillax. Even guys like to look good."

"Yeah, but... not to other guys." She shook her head, embarrassed. "I know it doesn't matter. Let 'em look, what the fuck. But I guess it's better than not looking good. Social buffs and all that."

Erica smiled encouragingly. "Besides, you don't have to do anything with Lucas. He's a player. A wannabe, at least."

"I can see why he gets away with it. I guess."

Erica didn't say anything. She was just glad that Cora was able to notice that some males were good-looking, even if she didn't feel any need to do anything about it.

~~~~~

Another game of Ultimate was in progress. It was a warm day, and Erica had on only shorts and a t-shirt. (And a sports bra, of course; she was too well-endowed to run around without some support.) The boys had mostly ditched their shirts.

Watching David run, clad only in sneakers and shorts, she was struck by how beautiful he was.

It wasn't all, or even primarily, a sexual thing. Needless to say, Eric had found women's bodies, the way they walked or ran or simply stood, to be sexy. In his nobler moments, though, he'd also been able to have a more abstract appreciation of them. Even when not contemplating sex with a pretty girl - even in the most chaste frame of mind possible for a teenage male - something about their shape pleased the soul, not just the senses.

But Eric had never appreciated the male form in that abstract manner. At least, not consciously. She suspected that he'd been too afraid of anything that smacked of homosexuality to even consider it. Michelangelo's "David" was just some naked guy - right?

Erica no longer feared enjoying men's bodies on a sexual level... and that freed her to appreciate them, to acknowledge that appreciation, on the level of pure form. To see them as objets d'art as well as hot and fuckable.

If she became Eric again, would he retain either capability? As she considered that, a very strange realization came to her. Eric had been snared into becoming Erica because he'd wanted to experiment with a female body. She herself, now, found the idea of occupying a male body to be strange and exotic. If she did become Eric again, the first thing she'd like to do would be to play with his anatomy - precisely because it would feel weird and alien.

So profound was her distraction that she completely missed the disc sailing past her.

"Erica, you ditz! Quit scoping your boyfriend and play!" Trahn called. Blushing, she jumped to block Aaron from passing.

~~~~~

The sedan pulled up by the front door. Brandon leaned over and gave Danielle a kiss. "See you tomorrow, babe."

She snorted derisively. "I can't believe you're gonna run around all night going 'pew! pew!' playing soldier."

Brandon's smile was a little strained. "It's a guy thing. You wouldn't understand."

"Whatever."

Brandon hopped out and closed the door, vaguely relieved. He almost wished he dared leave his bike out overnight, so he could have gotten here by himself.

That familiar sweet-sour smell hit him as he walked in the door, bringing back memories. Back in junior high, he and Cory had been regulars here. This was probably where Cory had gotten the idea of going military. Guiltily, he realized he hadn't thought about his friend for over a week. Kind of easy to slip your mind when you're getting blowjobs from his girl, huh? his conscience accused.

Hey, she went after me! he told himself. And it's not like he's been in touch.

He just didn't understand it. He saw how hurt and scared Mr. & Mrs. Ellsworth were. All they knew was he was alive. Probably. If the letters and phone messsages weren't faked.

Brandon was a big boy, he'd get over Cory ditching him. Danielle sure as shit had. But he liked Cory's parents. He'd stayed over whole weekends at their house before, they were good people. How the fuck could Cory do that to them?

He shook off the negative vibes as he looked past the flashing arcade games, searching out his friends from the track team. The Fun Warehouse was having a 'lock-in'. For thirty-five bucks, you got some pizza, and unlimited laser tag all night long. He'd done them before, but not for a couple years.

There they were. As he walked over, Tyrone called out. "Hey, homie, you ready?"

They all exchanged high-fives. "You know it. Time to represent." Jake slipped him a paper wristband that marked him paid up for the lock-in.

It was only a short wait before they were admitted to the first match of the night. He stood in the little staging area with his crew, getting pumped. The girl with the referee vest was turned away, looking over the little control panel, getting ready to start the match. She was pretty small.

When she turned to check the crowd, he suddenly recognized her. He called out. "Oh, hey, I didn't know you worked here!"

Cora focused on him. For a second, she looked startled and embarassed and even a little fearful.

"Hey," she said.

"What's the word?" he pressed. "Any advice?"

She looked up at him for a second with a furrowed brow. Then, with just a ghost of a smile, she said. "Stay away from the first three red team guns. They're not working so good."

"Thanks," he said. "Can we be on the blue team?"

She was still giving him a doubtful look. "Just don't give me any shit tonight, okay?"

"We'll be good boys, I promise." He smiled innocently.

She shook her head, but had her own smile on her face as she turned away and called out. "Okay, everybody, listen up! Anybody hasn't played with us before, raise your hand!" Her voice was still high-pitched and sweet, but he'd never suspected she could project like that.

Once the game got going, he focused on the business at hand.
Yet he thought of Cory a little, again, as he played. They'd been a killer duo back in the day. Cory the berserker, Brandon the support and covering-fire specialist. Racked up some big points.

It was a long night. Four times, as the younger kids got tired and sat out, Cora joined a game he was in. Twice she was an opponent, and twice she was on the same team as him.

He definitely preferred fighting with her than against her.

Part of that was that she was good. She was fast and sneaky and small. Even with the lights on the vest she was somehow hard to spot until she was zapping you. There was a serious killer instinct lurking there. Like her voice, he'd never imagined that, the way she practically hid away in class.

Playing on the same team as Cora was even better. She showed little of Cory's recklessness and bravado. She was at least as clever, but much more strategic and practical - and way more willing to share points, work as part of the team. Crap. Got Cory on my mind tonight, I guess.

The other reason he preferred being on her side was, if you played with her, you had an excuse to look at her more. That ass! Especially in motion. She was... lithe. He'd always liked toned girls.

He was glad Danielle wasn't around. Thankfully, Cora didn't seem to notice. She even gave him that smile of hers a few times. Killer smile, that was.

~~~~~

At the very same moment Brandon was thinking about Cora's smile, Erica was reflecting David's. He looked like he'd opened a tiny Christmas present and found it was actually keys to a new car.

After getting dinner, they'd gone out dancing, until really late. Dancing with David was awesomesauce. He had a smooth grace, and even knew some old-school couples moves. She'd seen a few other girls staring enviously and it had been a guilty but delicious pleasure.

After, they'd parked somewhere out of the way again, and started making out. Whatever her intuition said about his general riskiness, she somehow trusted him in that regard. Somehow knew he'd respect her boundaries.

Then again, she was just about to move those boundaries a long distance. She looked down from his smiling face to his prick, standing proud and free. Part of her amazed that she was actually going to do this.

Only a small part, though. The majority of her was anxious to get started. So she did.

Slowly, teasingly - she hoped seductively - she took the tip of his cock into her mouth. It felt strange; the softness around a stiff center. It tasted musky. Really not unlike vulva, to be honest, before you got your tongue inside the vagina itself.

Eric had never gotten a blowjob himself, but he'd imagined - and online, watched - plenty. Erica had a pretty good idea what to do. Not sure herself how far she'd be able to go, she dipped her head forward.

She didn't think testing her gag reflex here was a great idea. Note to self: maybe try something with the strap-on later? So she got him to the back of her tongue, but not further. Moving slowly enough for control, fast enough to stimulate - she hoped. David was making some interesting sounds...

A little sooner than she'd expected, he started to come. A gush of fluid - salty, bitter - filled her mouth. Then another, and another. A split second to decide, but between the second and third pulse she started swallowing.

Once she figured she'd gotten most of his issue, she sat up and slid up against his side. She felt rather pumped, and her panties were distinctly damp.

After half a minute of silence, she quietly volunteered, "I never did that before."

David stared in her eyes for a second. "You're kidding."

She squinted. "What? Just how many guys do you think I've blown?" she snapped, frostily.

He backpedaled frantically. "I didn't mean... I mean, it was just so good. I was just, like, um, it was like getting a perfect three-pointer on your first shot when you never picked up a basketball before, y'know?"

She decided to accept his amazement as a compliment. After all, she did know a lot more about what guys liked than most teenage girls should. "Well, it's not like I never imagined it," she said, more relaxed.

"Here's to visualization, then. Shee-it." He pulled her gently into a hug. Then a kiss.

After a few more kisses he said, quietly, with a little smile, "Y'know, I've kinda pictured doing something to you..."

She bit her lip, tempted, but a girl had to be cautious. "Like what?" she asked, trying to sound coy. She wasn't ready to fuck him yet. That meant getting pregnant. Way too huge a step. But, maybe, someday...

"Here, let's see if my imagination's as good as yours." David was guiding her seat back and lifting her skirt up.

Giving a blowjob in a car was easier than licking pussy in a car. Girl parts were lower down, you needed sharper angles. She reclined in the seat and tilted her hips up.

David got his head between her legs, leaning over the center console, one hand grabbing the handle on the passenger door. A very bent 69. It looked strenuous and acrobatic, but it felt so good she was losing her concern for his well-being.

What he lacked in finesse, he made up with intensity. He was actually a bit better than Cora had been, at the start. In a gratifyingly short time, she was whimpering.

~~~~~

Tuesday night was busy at Hillman High. Cora had choir practice, and Erica had cheerleading. David didn't have to stay, though, since almost the only sport that didn't have practice was baseball. So the girls borrowed Miranda's car that morning.

Erica and her cheerleader posse were coming out of the locker room after practice. "See ya later, ho-bag!" Trahn said. Naturally, Erica had confided to her close friends her recent sexual experiences. It brought on some good-natured teasing that, oddly enough, wasn't all that different from how boys handled it.

"Ciao, bitches!" Erica called back. She was already pulling out her phone. Choir practice would be done by now.

Erica: where u @?

Cora: bleachers outside

Erica: comin

She stepped outside, smiling at the fresh air. Sweaty girls didn't smell unpleasant, exactly, but she could certainly get her fill of the odor. She walked across the parking lot to the bleachers, feeling tired but happy.

A tunnel of sorts went under the bleachers themselves. She went through and came out into the sun. The track team was practicing directly in front; several boys dashed past, following the lanes on the asphalt ring.

When she turned, it didn't take long to spot Cora off by herself, looking up from her smartphone, beckoning her up. Erica waved and headed up the stairs to join her for a moment.

"Hey," she said as she sat down.

"Hey," Cora said back. "Gimme just a minute, they're almost done." She was watching the boys intently as they approached the finish line.

Erica bit her lip, unsure. Cora was supposed to avoid reminders of her old life, so far as possible. Watching the boys track team practice wasn't really in keeping with that.

Cora seemed to sense the direction of her thoughts. "Chill. I'm not gonna run down and join in. But it was my team, y'know? I kinda want 'em to do well and all."

"Yeah, okay," Erica said. After a moment, she asked, "Who's captain now?"

"Brandon."

"Huh." Struck by a sudden suspicion... "You ever talk to him about track in class?"

Cora kept her eyes on the track, avoiding Erica's. "A little. Boys wanna talk about what they do."

Erica let it go for now. She sat and watched as the boys made it over the finish line in small groups. Maybe looking at boys'll wake something up in her, she thought. Certainly she herself hadn't realized what responses she'd been having to certain males of the species. Not for quite a while.

The stragglers finished up, and the boys gathered by the coach. Cora had a little half-smile on her face, watching him gesticulate at Brandon in particular.

Erica idly glanced around the bleachers. So she noticed Danielle and Mindy looking at them both with flat, hostile stares.

Not the time for a confrontation. "Hey, c'mon, we gotta get going."

Cora sighed and gathered her stuff. "Whatever." She gathered her things, and muttered, "I dunno why they even put pockets on girls jeans. They're so tight you can't put anything in 'em anyway."

But as they were walking down the stairs, she too saw the angry glares. She stiffened and returned them with stony contempt. Erica wanted to sigh in relief when they made it under the bleachers.

She hadn't had one of their 'on the way home from the bus' talks with Cora in a while. David drove them home most days now. So she took advantage of their time in the car to remind Cora about the warning Sunny had relayed.

Cora was unimpressed. "I stopped giving a fuck what Danielle says a long time ago. What's she gonna do, anyway?"

"Girls can be nasty," Erica noted. "We already had problems with the lesbo talk."

"What's she gonna say that hasn't already gone around?"

Erica wasn't mollified. "Just... don't try to piss her off. I think she thought you were checking out Brandon."

"Well, I was. But just as a track captain, that's it!"

"I know, but Danielle doesn't know you used to be... on the team." Erica hesitated a second, then said, "And you shouldn't be thinking about track anyway."

Cora was staring fixedly out the window. "I know. It was just one fucking time! It was nice out." She fell silent for a second. "I miss it," she said, more subdued.

Erica chewed her lip, then said, "You maybe wanna go jogging with Linda and me?"

"Nah." She shrugged. "No offense, but you kinda can't keep up with me."

Erica couldn't deny that. For Cora, four miles was a typical day. Her chief complaint was that she had to stay on main, public streets now, for safety.

Cora broke the uncomfortable silence that had fallen, moving on to schoolwork. "Whatever. Did you figure out that flickering problem yet? I didn't see it on my laptop. And neither did Scotty."

"Might just be my video driver," Erica admitted.

~~~~~

Danielle turned back toward Brandon, tipping her head toward the desk up front, where Cora was talking with the teacher. "Oh, I'm so cute and shy and helpless, you should just give me a good grade!" she said in a mocking, squeaky, singsong voice.

Brandon couldn't help but notice that Danielle's voice wasn't as melodious as Cora's. "Hey, come on. She wasn't all 'shy and helpless' at the lock-in, I'll tell you that. She's a killer shot."

Danielle stiffened. "What? She was there? All night?" She was glaring.

"Whoa, hey, she just works there." He gave her a grin, trying to reassure her. "She hooked us all up with the good vests."

"I'll just bet she hooks up. With everybody," Danielle growled.

"Jeez, take it easy, okay?"

"Don't take her side!" Danielle snapped.

"I'm not. I just... what'd she ever do to you?"

Danielle glared at him for a second. "Check me out in the shower. Fucking dyke."

"Hold up, she's..."

"You didn't hear? Everybody knows." Her gaze should have burned the back of Cora's head. Indeed, she seemed to feel something and looked back at them both. "Her and her cousin, Erica. They live together, y'know."

He wanted to protest - Erica seemed to be satisfying David, from what he'd heard - but Cora was walking toward them now. She gave Brandon a quick smile, that faded when she focused on Danielle.

Man, I wish they'd just get along, Brandon thought as Cora sat down without a word. What the fuck is their problem, anyway?

Class started at that point, though, and it was a quiz day. He couldn't spend any more time thinking on girls and their unguessable purposes.

But he still found himself wondering. Is Cora really a carpet muncher? The thought made him sad. Hope not. That'd be a waste.

~~~~~

Cora, Linda, Kristina, and Erica all sat at a table in the food court at the mall. When they went out, they usually wound up splitting some sugary treat, 'sinning' together. This time it was a large Cinnabon they devoured while talking.

Kristina sounded worried. "Tomorrow's gonna suck. I already hated Mondays, Mr. Jackson had to add a social studies test."

"It'll be okay," Erica said. "His quizzes usually ain't so bad."

"Sez you, brainiac," Kristina snorted. "It wouldn't be so bad if I could just sleep through the night."

"I'll help you study later," Erica said.

"Your makeup looks really good today," Cora said to Linda. "What'd you do, change your foundation or something?"

"Yeah," Linda said, smiling happily. "I switched to a powder instead of a liquid. And I'm trying a little primer."

"It totes suits you," Erica said. She was surprised and pleased that Cora had (a) actually paid attention to makeup, and (b) managed to successfully identify something about it. "You still using Nars?"

"Nah, that costs too much. It's just MAC!"

Kristina had swallowed her bite. "Liquid's okay. All you gotta do is use a little setting powder. Sephora has a good one, no color at all."

Erica wasn't surprised to see a glaze coming over Cora's eyes. She'd reached a detente with cosmetics, but no more. Enthusiasm wasn't in the cards.

Baby steps, Erica thought. She was just happy she'd managed to steer Cora to buying a few more feminine versions of her usual clothing types. Cora wore a lot of jeans, but now she had one in pastel yellow with some rhinestone accents. It would liven up her wardrobe considerably by itself. And her new skirt was the shortest she'd ever bought.

Once they were done eating they got up and moved as a group back toward the stores. Cora was carrying the tray and went to the side to dump it in the trash.

A trio of passing boys followed her with their eyes. It was perfectly clear what they were doing. Certainly Cora didn't miss it when she turned back.

Both Linda and Kristina looked nervous for a brief moment, then put on carefully neutral expressions.

Cora noticed that too as she rejoined them, and rolled her eyes. "It's okay, chill. I'm not gonna freak, I promise." Cora actually sounded just a shade amused.

At that, the other girls smiled a little. All of them clearly remembered the first time they'd gone out to the movies with Cora.

So did she, apparently. She went on to say, "Boys're gonna look, I can deal. So long as they're not total douches about it."

"Well, anyway, let's hit Madewell," Kristina said. "I saw a top I think you'd look pretty good in."

"Thanks," Cora said, sincerely so far as Erica could tell.

~~~~~

Erica was doing homework at the kitchen table. Cora stood in the doorway, taking a call from Gabriela. They'd been talking for a while, like teenage girls did. Almost unconsciously, Erica was smiling at that.

Then, in the middle of taking a derivative, she paused. Something told her something was wrong.

She looked up. Cora's eyes were very wide.

She put her hand over the phone mic. "They wanna go scrapbooking," she hissed.

Erica struggled to keep the annoyance off her face. Cora was being a drama queen again.

Cora took her hand off the mic and went back to talking with Jacinta. "Well, it's just, I don't have a lot of pictures or anything. From home, I mean."

Erica had a flash of remorse for her snap judgement. It wasn't drama - or at least, not just drama. As usual, Cora had thought a few steps ahead. 'Jewel Cora Pinto' had little history.

"OK, I'll let you know." Cora hung up and looked at Erica, pained. "I don't have anything that's older than last December."

Erica shrugged helplessly. "You, uh, might have to skip this one."

"But... Jacinta and Gabriela have really been there for me." She looked forlorn. "I don't want 'em to think I'm blowing 'em off."

They hit Jacqui up on Skype. "...so it sounded like they really wanted me to come, and I don't wanna, like, disappoint 'em, but what am I supposeta bring, y'know?"

Jacqui frowned. It would be a good experience for Cora, and Goddess knew the friendships were important. The material problem was severe, however.

"How long do we have?" Jacqui asked.

"It's not 'til Saturday..." Cora said hesitantly.

Jacqui puffed out her cheeks. Photoshop plus Magic was a potent combination, but even so... "Four days is pretty tight."

"Please?" Cora asked, eyes wide.

The fact that Cora felt the friendships were important tipped the balance. Jacinta and Gabriela were already helping; Cora needed to be friends with other girls.

"All right. I'll get started tonight. But we're gonna have to work together on this, get our stories straight."

"You got it! Whatever you need!" They set up a time to conference, said their goodbyes, and disconnected.

Jacqui felt a little silly. She was used to applying her skills to official records and government databases. New Sisters didn't need elaborate histories. The more detailed the past, the more they'd have to keep straight.

~~~~~

Gabriela spotted Cora first, and bumped Jacinta's elbow. "She actually made it."

The girl was peering around, searching. It was a bright, sunny day outside, so it took her a few seconds for her eyes to adjust and spot them. She looked so furtive, like a trespasser hoping not to be noticed.

"Over here!" Jacinta called.

Cora squinted and came to their table. She had a small bag with her. "I had to run out and buy more photo paper and ink last night," she said.

"Well, whatcha got? Let's see!" Gabriela said. Cora flipped the bag over onto the space in front of her.

Jacinta looked over the meager collection of pictures and mementos. "We can make it work," she said reassuringly, though inside she wasn't so sure. "We can just do a mini-album."

"I got some shots on my phone we could maybe use," Gabriela added.

Cora chewed her lip. "Don't they charge to print stuff out?"

Jacinta stepped in. "It's not too bad. I only think we'll need a couple."

There was a brief, slightly uncomfortable pause. Cora blurted, "So, uh... how does this work." After a second, she added, "Scrapbooking wasn't a big thing where I was."

Jacinta and Gabriela exchanged a glance. "There isn't a, whadja call it, algorithm for it," Jacinta said. "It's about telling your story. Keeping memories."

Cora absorbed that for a few moments. "I don't wanna, like, dwell on New York and stuff," she said. "I might get too homesick."

Jacinta fought hard not to roll her eyes. "Okay, so we'll tell the story of you coming to Hillman High."

At that, Cora showed the first signs of any real interest. "Huh. Yeah, let's do that."

Picking the book and some supplies was fairly trouble-free, but Cora began to flounder as soon as the the time came to start decorating. Looking up from the first blank page, she looked every bit the helpless little girl. "I don't..." She trailed off.

Even Jacinta couldn't keep from rolling her eyes."It's about how you feel about it. Why is it important to you? What does it make you feel?"

Cora looked like no one had ever asked her what she felt before.

Over time, she got more into it, but the process was exhausting. Breaking for lunch was a relief for all three.

Although there was a little stress there too. Or at least jealousy. She wondered how Cora could possibly eat that much pizza and still have a flat panza. It just wasn't fair. Even with all the jogging she did.

~~~~~

They lay on Cora's bed. Hesitantly, almost shyly, Cora pulled her album out of the backpack. "Jacinta and Gabriela helped. I kinda had to guess how to do it, though."

Erica smiled and rubbed Cora's shoulder. "I'm sure you did fine. Let's check it out."

She was fascinated as she flipped through it. She knew the Sisters would be all over the scrapbook, looking for clues to Cora's frame of mind. But she was just plain curious, too.

The first two pages were pure fantasy. A baby picture that had been conjured from nowhere. Parents that didn't exist, a younger Cora that never was, playing in a snowdrift. A real high school on the other side of the country, that had records of Cora now - though she'd never set foot in it.

A page just of the fictional parents. One picture of a woman, another of a man, and a shot of them together in a vaguely middle-Eastern locale, sunburned but smiling.

But then, reality. An image of Cora with the Jardins. Hillman High, kids out front.

Four pages devoted to choir.

A two-page spread on the AP Programming group. Scotty and Josh looked almost respectable.

A page for just Erica. In the center, a photo of her in her cheerleader uniform, smiling and posing before a game. Other pictures - the programming team, even one from the spa trip after the salon - made a border around it.

An action shot of Haylie chasing a soccer ball.

Shots of Cora with Gabriela and Jacinta. One was taken at that Mary Kay party. Cooking those tamales. Just hanging out.

All the photos were surrounded by various decorations and trim, of course. Lace, ribbons, stickers, and so forth. If they had a level of sophistication more appropriate to a seven-year-old girl than a high school senior, they nevertheless seemed earnest.

Cora was quiet, watching Erica's face until she was done. Erica looked up. "It's really good. I love it!"

Cora smiled a fraction. "I never had to be sentimental before. I mean, like, a requirement, y'know?"

"Emotional boot camp?" Erica teased.

Cora took it surprisingly well. Just a wan smile. She turned and flipped through the early pages. "It's only been a couple months, but you can see, like... progress, kinda."

"You're smiling more, toward the end," Erica said neutrally.

"Guess so." Her smile went very crooked.. "It hasn't been... as bad, I guess. Lately." She hesitated a moment, then got serious. "I think, sometimes, I might actually make it." She sighed. "Sometimes. Without going totally crazy, I mean."

Erica gave her a hug. "I know you'll make it. Look how far you came already!" And she meant it. There was so much further to go, but Cora finally seemed to be heading in the proper direction.

"I know you're gonna need to show this to your Mom," Cora said when they separated a little. Then she smiled. "I mean, if Jacqui can't just read it from her house."

"You show it to her. She'll want to see it 'cause it's really good!"

They hugged. Before long they found another thing to do on Cora's bed.

~~~~~

Erica yawned as she came into the kitchen the next morning. Everyone was already up, eating breakfast, getting ready for the day. Haylie was almost done. Erica got some yogurt out of the fridge and joined the rest at the table.

"How did you sleep, honey?" Miranda asked.

"Pretty good." Erica suddenly realized that Cora was being unusually quiet. Her friend slumped in the chair, looking more depressed than she'd seemed in a couple months. "What's wrong?" she asked. Her period's been done for over a week...

Cora looked up from her cereal, and sighed. "I dunno. It's nothing." After a moment, she went on. "Like, the second I woke up... I got a bad feeling. Like something's gonna happen."

Out of the corner of her eye, Erica saw her Mom open her mouth, then close it. "Did you have bad dreams or something?"

Cora shook her head. "Nah, not that I remember."

"You're not worried about the concert or anything, right?" Erica asked. The first choir performance since Cora had joined was next week.

"Uh-uh. I dunno what's wrong, but it's not that. It's like... I feel like a storm is coming or something, y'know?"

"I'll try to keep it sunny," Erica joked, hoping to lighten her friend's mood.

Cora managed a wan smile.

~~~~~

The voice came from behind, insistent. "Erica."

Erica turned around from her locker. To her surprise, Kristina was there. That made no sense; she had class on the other side of the building. They only had five minutes between periods.

Kristina held out her phone. "You have to see this. Now." Her face had no expression. By the rules, phones were only supposed to be turned on in emergencies, but enforcing that was difficult in a high school.

Erica took the phone, looked at the screen... and stopped breathing. It was a picture of Cora, naked in the gym changing room after a shower. It wasn't a particularly erotic pose; she was just reaching up for her clothes. But her pubic hair and one breast was clearly visible.

"What the fuck?" she finally blurted, looking up at Kristina.

"It's going around the school," Kristina said evenly. Erica had noticed she tended to go wooden when she wanted to hide strong feelings, like shame... or anger. "Word is, Danielle or one of her friends took it."

"Oh, Goddess..." Erica felt horrified and terrified and infuriated. Cora was already negotiating incredible body issues, had barely started coming to terms with being attractive to boys. Becoming stroke material for all the boys in the school... that'd be traumatic for any girl, let alone a reluctant Sister.

She gave Kristina a quick, worried hug. "Thanks. I got programming with Cora next. We gotta scoot, talk to you later."

She made it through the door just as the bell rang. Her eyes locked with Cora's as she hustled to her seat. With a corner of her mind, she noted that Josh and Scotty weren't talking to Cora.

Cora looked up with a relieved smile. "Man, I'm glad to see you. It's been totally weird all afternoon. People keep looking at me like..."

Erica interrupted. "Cora, listen. I just found out..."

But suddenly the class got quiet as the school principal walked in. She went over to Mr. Yigal and spoke to him quietly. He looked with shock at Cora, then nodded.

Cora saw all of this. "What the fuck is going on?" she whispered.

Erica tried. "There's this picture, going around. It..."

But Mrs. Schimke came over to their desks. "Cora? Could you come with me to the office, please? You're not in trouble, but... there's a... a problem."

Cora looked wildly at Erica, and seemed disheartened by the fear and anguish she saw. But she quietly followed Mrs. Schimke out the door.

Just looking around the room, Erica could see meaningful glances and knowing smirks on about half the students. They knew what was going on, sure enough.

~~~~~

"What's this about, Mrs. Schimke?" Cora asked as she sat down.

Elena Schimke steeled herself. This had been an ordinary Tuesday with ordinary problems until twenty minutes ago. A teacher had caught two boys looking at their cell phones; as soon as he saw what was on it, he'd called the office.

The boys had broken almost immediately, turning in the friend who'd texted it to them. But it was also clear that (a) they had no idea who'd taken the picture, and (b) it had already spread beyond containment.

She felt bad for the girl. A new student, quiet, didn't cause any trouble. She wasn't in the popular cliques, but she'd been making some friends, from all reports.

And now, demonstrably, at least one nasty enemy.

But this would be bad for the school. She'd had to call the police already, and keeping it out of the evening news was only a faint hope at this point.

Right now, though, she had to break the very bad news. The girl was looking around nervously. "What's going on?" she asked again.

"I'm very sorry to have to tell you this. Just a few minutes ago, we discovered that someone has..." She cleared her throat. "...violated your privacy."

Cora just looked at her, frowning slightly.

Elena coughed. "It seems someone took a picture of you in the locker room." She held out a phone. "I'm holding this for evidence. The police are on the way, but..."

Cora took the phone in hand. She froze, and her eyes and mouth got wider and wider.

"The police are coming right now," Schimke repeated earnestly. "We'll track it down. But I'm afraid it's... spread pretty far already."

Cora tore her eyes up from the phone to look at her. "How... how far?"

Elena was mildly surprised at the anger creeping into the girl's tone. She'd expected Cora to get angry eventually - and rightfully so! But only after some wailing and tears. That had been her experience with girls facing public embarrassment.

Cora seemed to skip right past that, though. "How far?" she demanded anew, more steel creeping into her voice.

"We don't know for certain, but this came in a message that was sent to eight people. And then he... the owner forwarded it to seven more."

Cora's teeth were clenched tight now. She tapped on the phone quickly. "Kyle. Fucking perfect."

Elena tried to steer the girl to the most important question. "Can you think of anyone who'd want to do this to you?"

The girl frowned, concentrating intensely. "No, I... wait a minute." She looked up, hateful certainty all over her face. "Danielle. Danielle Oprisko. That fucking cunt."

"I... understand you're upset, but please... um, language..."

Cora didn't say anything. The whithering scowl said it all, anyway.

"Why do you think she might have done this?" Schimke asked after a moment.

"I don't think, I know. She's got this stupid fu... idea that I'm after her boyfriend. Brandon Metcalfe."

"Why does she think that?"

Cora snarled, indignant, waving the phone at her. "What, are you saying this'd be, like, justified if I was?"

"No!" Elena exclaimed. "I'm just trying to understand what happened here."

"My cousin Erica told me Sunny said she heard Mindy say that Danielle was mad for me talking to Brandon. We sit right next to each other in Calc, what am I supposed to do?"

Elena, long accustomed to high-school gossip, had no trouble following the chain. However... "Did Danielle ever say anything to you?"

"No, but she's been real snippy at me." Cora looked back down at the picture. "And her locker's in my row at gym, too!"

Elena thought quickly. None of this was proof, but clearly she needed to speak to Danielle right away. "Excuse me for a moment. I'll be right back."

She closed the door behind her. "Debra, find out where Danielle Oprisko is now and have her sent down." The secretary nodded and typed at her computer.

Elena had a fast decision to make. Interrogate Danielle alone or with Cora present? Assuming she was responsible, would being confronted by her victim increase her guilt or steel her resolve? On the other hand, Cora was clearly livid; would she be able to control herself?

Seeing a couple young men walk by the office chose for her. Cora wouldn't want to be seen by anybody in the school for a while. Having her wait in view of the hallway was out.

Danielle arrived looking nervous and confused. "What's going on, Mrs. Schimke?"

"I'll need your phone, please."

"What? Why?" Danielle said fearfully.

"Are you sure you don't know?" Sometimes that question and a stern look was all it took to prompt a confession.

Not this time, though. "No! I mean yes, I'm sure! What's going on?" The girl hesitated. "Do you really need my phone?"

"Yes. Unlock it, please." The girl handed it over.

Elena skimmed the array of icons. Android, iPhone, all the dumb phones - she wasn't a forensic technician! "Where are your IMs?" Danielle showed her, reluctantly.

A quick scan didn't turn up anything. Time for phase 2. "Come with me, please." She led Danielle to her office.

She kept an eye on Danielle as she came in and saw Cora. The young woman's eyes narrowed - yes, she didn't like Cora, that was obvious - but Elena couldn't spot any obvious gloating. Cora glared at Danielle with almost feral antipathy.

"Cora, can you hand me that phone, please?" The angry young woman handed it over with reluctance.

"Danielle, what do you know about this?" She showed her the picture.

Danielle's eyes widened a little, and Elena noted a quick flat glance at Cora. The girl said, "Whoa. What's going on?"

"That's been going around the school. I understand you have a locker in Cora's row at gym?"

"What? You think I took it?" Danielle gasped. "I don't like her, but I wouldn't do something like that!"

Elena squinted. She was half-convinced the girl was lying. But only half... and she had no solid evidence beyond the say-so of an enraged victim. Without a confession, this was going to be hard. Maybe the cops would find something on her phone.

But right now, she had to investigate herself. "Can you think of anyone else who might have done it?"

Danielle shrugged. "She doesn't exactly have a lot of friends." Then she flinched from Cora's glare as if it were causing her physical pain. Elena had seen many feuding girls, but had never felt hatred so tangibly before. It seemed to cloud the atmosphere of the room.

Just then came a knock on the door. Debra leaned in. "The police are here."

"Cora, please wait here. Danielle, you come with me." She didn't dare leave these two girls alone together.

~~~~~

Cora slipped out the back door with Erica, and the girls sprinted into Miranda's waiting car. Carefully, Erica's Mother eased away from the school - and the news vans parked out front.

As soon as she got in, Cora slumped down from the windows.

"Goddess, Cora, I'm so sorry!" Miranda said. "I can't believe anyone would do something like that!"

"Just get us home. Fast."

After they'd gone a mile or so, Cora told her story in clipped sentences. Danielle hadn't confessed, and a quick check of her phone hadn't turned up any proof. The police were taking it in to be analyzed, and contacting the cell companies for records.

"Goddess, I still can't believe it!"

"It's fucking real, all right."

Miranda didn't even consider chiding about swearing. "Well, we'll get our heads together when we get home. We'll figure this out."

"Think the Sisterhood would care about this?" Cora asked, with more cynicism than anyone her age should have been able to muster.

"Of course they care! I already contacted them. Jacqui's on the case."

"Hmph," Cora said, but let it go, and turned to a more reasonable target. "God damn that fucking cunt!"

"Good thing we believe in karma," Erica said. "She'll get hers."

"She'll 'get hers' from me. I'm gonna be the fucking karma delivery service, I swear." She looked at Erica. "Hey, I just Transitioned a bit. I am so ready to hit a girl now."

Erica didn't know how to respond to that. She recalled choosing not to attack Carrie that time, and just gave Cora's hand a squeeze.

~~~~~

The moment the Skype windows were open, Cora was talking. "We gotta get Danielle expelled for this shit," she said. Then she added, in a very dark tone, "For starters."

Jacqui shook her head sadly. "That won't be easy, not directly. Not yet."

"What do you mean, it won't be 'easy'?! You're fucking witches!"

"Please, listen." Jacqui took a deep breath. "I know who did it - Danielle, of course, and her friends Mindy and Rebecca helped. And I know exactly what they did." Her scowl rivaled Cora's. "The problem is, they were smart. They used a burner phone. Paid a homeless guy to go pay cash for it, so no video linking them to the phone. And they only ever turned it on at school, no location data to tie them to it. Even if the cops grab all the phone records, work their way back, it won't help."

Jacqui saw Cora opening her mouth, and overrode her. "Because then they actually burned it! Yanked the battery and cooked the phone in a bonfire when they were done. A big one. No fingerprints, the flash chips fried, everything."

"That sounds... rather well-thought-out for a pack of high school girls," Bronwyn mused doubtfully. Erica decided not to take offense.

"It was Mindy who came up with the plan." Jacqui frowned. "She was trying to keep her friend out of jail."

Erica clucked her tongue, then inhaled through her teeth, considering. "Mindy is pretty smart, I guess. And she knows computers."

Cora had been looking at Jacqui, appalled. "How do you know all this?"

"Magic." Her expression shifted from anger to apology. "Which isn't admissible in court. Or even to the principal."

Cora almost growled. "So use your Magic to fix this!" She waved at a startled Erica. "You changed her from boy to girl and made everybody forget. Can't you erase that fucking JPEG from, from history?"

"What happened to 'there's no excuse for messing with somebody's mind'?" Bronwyn asked pointedly. Laurie gasped and scowled at her lover. Bronwyn had the grace to look abashed. Slightly.

Cora just glared.

For her part, Jacqui sighed. "We couldn't do it anyway. Forty years ago, we could, but not today. It's on the Internet now. The story's on the five o'clock news, way beyond just one town. And it'll probably be on the late news, too. All over the place. Wiping it out would take an incredible amount of power, and we still probably couldn't pull it off." She looked at a window on her screen, presumably Bronwyn's. "And there's no chance at all our enemies could miss it. A spell like that would be like fireworks and searchlights and a marching band, singing 'here we are!'"

Cora had an inventive mind, however, undaunted by obstacles. "Conjure the phone back."

Bronwyn spoke again. "We could Magically, well, 'resurrect' the phone. Probably." Her lips pursed. "We're powerful, but as Jacqui just pointed out, there are limits."

"Conjuring DNA through time is no big deal for you!" Cora said.

"The power of the Sisters is much more oriented to life than to things and objects," Laurie interposed gently.

"And that's not even the real problem," Jacqui said quickly, before Cora could snap at her Mother. "Danielle and her friends know what happened to it." She stared out of the screen at Cora. "They'd know something was really wrong if that phone turned up again." She shook her head sadly. "And we just can not afford that, either."

Cora's face was flushed with anger. "So make 'em forget!"

Jacqui spoke. "Mindy and Rebecca, maybe. But Danielle has been planning this for a couple weeks. Obsessing over it, all day every day. It's... it's a formative memory now. Part of what makes her who she is. We can't wipe out a major chunk of it without changing her into a different person."

"Unlike me?" Cora hissed. The Sisters looked uncomfortable. She glared like a basilisk at their images, but she didn't say anything for a few seconds.

Erica had seen Cory when he was really motivated. Erica and Miranda had both seen Cora's imagination and creativity in their Magic lessons. So they weren't as surprised as the other Sisters at how quickly she invented alternatives. They were all equally dismayed at the content of the next idea, though.

"We can't get rid of that picture? Okay, fine. We give everyone something else to look at." Her eyes slewed to Jacqui's onscreen image. "How 'bout a picture of Danielle fucking a donkey or something? Or, hey, better yet - let's do three-girls-one-cup, with her and Mindy and Becca!"

Jacqui stared back, openmouthed. All the Sisters did.

Cora never stopped glaring at Jacqui. "Don't tell me you can't do it! You did all that scrapbook stuff in, like, a couple days."

Bronwyn recovered first. "We cannot afford any more attention on the students of Hillman High. Bad enough you're in the news at all. Making the situation more dramatic is much too dangerous. That's the kind of story that could go national! If it did, you'd all have to run just on general principles."

Cora's jaw was locked, her eyes pinched... but Bronwyn never wavered. Cora finally broke the silence, and spat, "She can't get away with this shit!"

"No, she can't. We will find a way to make this right." Laurie spoke with both urgency and empathy. "But our options are limited right now."

Cora sat hunched, struggling with her rage. There were a few heartbeats of anxious silence. Then she spoke, harshly. "What 'options' do you have?"

Bronwyn spoke up. "I can promise that they are going to start having nightmares. The kind that prick - no, stab - the conscience. Don't be surprised if one of them confesses, and pretty soon."

"Dreams? Fucking dreams?" Erica wanted to edge away from Cora's malevolent posture. "They send out naked pictures of me to every fuckhead pervert in the school and all you got is bad dreams?!"

Into the silence that followed, Laurie said, "You might be surprised how effective such things can be."

Cora's glare, as usual, replied for her.

Bronwyn sighed. "We can't risk security over this, or break someone's mind, even someone as loathsome as Danielle." She shook her head sadly. "I know it's no comfort right now, but ultimately this is just a vile prank. In a few months you'll graduate and never need see these people again. In fact, in a few weeks I doubt it will even be an issue."

"It's on the goddamn Internet now! It'll never go away!" She suddenly stopped. Then, slowly, she said, "Wait. If you can't erase it... what happens when I turn back to Cory?"

Jacqui answered. "Well, this incident won't have any ties to Cory. If someone investigates, the 'Jewel Cora Pinto' identity will have already been abandoned." She quirked her mouth, sheepishly. "We'll probably have to move the Jardins to new identities at that point. But there's no real connection between them and Cory, either."

Erica and Miranda traded dismayed gazes.

Cora saw them, and was quiet for a time, processing the future impact she would have on the Jardins. Then she frowned, and looked at Jacqui. "Did Brandon know about all this?"

Jacqui shook her head. "No. They kept him out of the loop."

Cora looked like she wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not.

~~~~~

After final expressions of sympathy and support - which Cora gracelessly rebuffed - the senior Sisters disconnected.

Cora just sat in her chair for half a minute before she stirred and looked at Miranda and Erica. "If we can't pin Danielle for this shit, we find some other way to get her back."

Miranda nodded, but began, "We have to be careful..."

Cora cut her off. "I don't mean with a baseball bat." Her lip curled. "Though that'd be fun." She apparently gave up the mental image and refocused on the Sisters. "The High Priestess can screw up her nights, whatever. I want her days to suck hard."

Erica touched her shoulder. "Well, Sisters try not to do harm. We believe it echoes back. Karma and all."

Miranda tried not to let show any of her joy at the fact Erica was again calling herself a 'Sister'.

Cora looked up suddenly, eyes alight. "Wait a minute. This bullshit started when she thought I was going after Brandon, right? The whole reason she pulled this shit is because she's scared of losing him! So let's fucking do it!"

"Uh... what do you mean?" Erica asked doubtfully.

"We do the same thing to her that you did to Carrie, except worse. We make Brandon fall in love with some other girl! That'd really screw her over!"

"I don't think that's quite the best way..." Miranda began.

"You did it for her!" Cora shouted, pointing at Erica. "Show me how to mix up the potion. I bet I can get him to drink it. Get him to fall for one of the other soccer girls, maybe..."

"Brandon didn't do anything to you," Miranda noted.

"He gave up on Cory! And he'd be better off without a skanky bitch like Danielle anyway!"

Miranda said, very cautiously, "It's not in keeping with the spirit of the Sisterhood."

The care was wasted; Cora exploded. "You fucking bitch! You'll use Magic to help your daughter if she gets in trouble, but for me it's 'We gotta be careful'! Fucking bullshit!"

Miranda had faced Cora's derision, her sarcasm, her sulkiness, her snarling anger - though much less over the last month. Not since that first training day had Miranda been the focus of white-hot fury. She held her hands up - wondering if she'd have to physically defend herself again - and spoke urgently. "Goddess, Cora, I don't mean we won't help, we just have to think about what's the best approach..."

"The best approach is we kill that fucking cunt bitch whore!" Cora screamed. Then she said, more quietly though with the kind of malice they hadn't seen since the day she was Transformed, "But I can't do that and change back. So I gotta stick a metaphorical knife through her fucking heart." She was practically growling now. "I am going to fuck her up."

"I think maybe we should, like, calm down, take a break for a few minutes." Erica said, interposing herself between her Mother and the novice. "Come on, let's eat something." She guided Cora toward the kitchen. "My mom said something about a way to cause major B.O., back when Carrie was after me..."

~~~~~

Jacinta debated a minute longer, then hit 'call'. Cora hadn't answered her texts. She wasn't about to leave it at that.

The phone rang four times. Just before she figured it was going to voicemail, it picked up. "Hey," Cora said quietly.

"Ohmigod, Cora, I'm so sorry!"

"I don't really want to talk about it," Cora muttered.

Jacinta pressed on. "Come on! You can't just bottle everything in all the time. I'm here for you, y'know. We all are."

"I know, but..." The girl trailed off.

"Can I come over?"

Cora was silent. Then, "I think I need to be by myself tonight."

"Come on! Please! I want to help."

"I know." Then, with more than listlessness, with a hint of real emotion, she said, "I really appreciate it."

"I'll totally bring ice cream..." Jacinta wheedled.

That got a short choked laugh. "Thanks. Honest. But I just need to be alone tonight."

"Can I see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Cora said, with another ghost of warmth.

"Promise?"

"I promise."

"Okay..."

"Bye."

"Bye. Love you."

Sounding surprised, Cora said, "Love you too."

~~~~~

They didn't have sex that night. When Cora finally stopped pacing and fuming, she sat down next to Erica on the bed. Almost the instant Erica put an arm on her shoulder, the girl burst into tears.

Cora sobbed and sobbed. Erica just held her friend and wished she knew how to make the pain go away.

Continued in Part 8