Clicks and whirs echoed in the small room as the two sixteen year old girls stared at the screen in front of them, the shorter one's fingers a blur across the keyboard.
"I put in our basic information, appearance, age, and then I added your excellence in French and English, as well as my knack for computer systems." Becka, the shorter girl, explained excitedly.
"What did you put down in that box… um, 'interests'?" Jo asked.
"Just the basics, nothing too sensitive, mostly junk about new cultures, my grasp of Japanese, educational stuff. Things that made us look good, basically." Becka replied.
The other girl shook her head and puffed out a breath in a worried sigh. "There are a lot of other students who would jump at an opportunity like this, even if one of us got in, there's no guarantee we'd both make it."
The student exchange was an experiment by their school board's Chairman, who arranged several trips throughout the year to different schools around the world. The first one was an immensely prestigious academy in Tokyo, Japan-and that was the one that Becka was determined to get into. Once Jo heard about it and Becka explained why she wanted to go, her best friend demanded to be taken along if she could. Problem was, they were only sending two students out of the hundred or so applying for the program, as they could only afford to send one chaperon and two teenagers was almost too many already without the "special circumstances" involving kids from Fitzpatrick's School for the Specially Gifted.
Becka's grin, one that would terrify anyone who knew her-luckily there weren't many who did know her well enough to know better-made Jo shiver visibly. "That's why I'm working the keyboard." Her tone dripped with malevolent glee. "Trust me, I've got a plan to make sure we're the only choice."
"Oh. My. God. You're really serious about this!" Joanna's jaw dropped, and Becka pushed it back up with her hand. "I almost forget sometimes how conniving you can be." She smiled, and nodded approvingly.
The next day began long before the dawn, with two dark figures clad in black shuffling from hallway to hallway, avoiding all light spilling from rooms that indicated occupancy. Just before they turned the corner to the main office, Becka held out a hand to stop Jo and pressed on finger to her lips. Carefully she peeked around the corner and let her eyes adjust to the light spilling from the bottom of the closed door. "Crap. I forgot about the janitor." She thought to herself and slipped back around the corner, pressing herself tightly against the painted blue and white wall. She turned to apologize to Jo for being too cocky, but the girl was gone!
Suddenly there was a loud banging noise coming clearly from the opposite direction. Becka heard the office door open forcefully, and a rough cursing in another language. "You little shits get out of the cafeteria! Damn spoiled brats think you can break in and mess around!" the man screamed and pounded away from the still open door. As soon as he was clear, the girl ran and caught the self-closing door to the office before it locked her out.
"Yes! Thank you, Jo!" she whispered, and hoped her friend was quick enough to get out of there before actually getting caught. she slipped into the main office and headed directly for the desk of both her and Jo's worst enemy at Fitzpatrick's. Vice Principle Maslanka. Or Mrs. Monstrous, as she was often nicknamed. Out of a small satchel she carried, Becka pulled out a small removable hard-drive and a sealed thermos.
"Oops, Mrs Maslanka, you should be more careful about the help you hire, these temp secretaries have the worst tempers when you fire them right before leaving for the weekend!" Becka giggled to herself and plugged the hard drive into the tower. After the file was finished downloading and Becka had the hard drive safely in her pack, she took the thermos and poured the contents all over the keyboard, plugging it back in once she knew it would dry quickly. Gloved hands set the thermos on the floor looking like it had been dropped in a huff of resentment.
Now Becka took a deep breath, struggling as always to keep a handle on mixed emotions. She couldn't afford to lose control right now, she was so close to Tokyo.
"Are you almost done gloating to yourself?" The voice made Becka jump out of her skin, but when she saw Jo standing in the doorway, she flushed part from embarrassment and part from panicked anger, but smothered it as quickly as she could.
"Are you crazy? We're going to get caught!" She hissed, and dragged Jo out of the room, making sure the office door closed silently behind them. They left together out the front door and headed to the back woods that edged the school parking lot.
When they reached her car, Jo started laughing. "Edd is a bit preoccupied explaining to the Labs techs how their entire frog population got into the kitchen, sitting under the 'specials' sign." She clutched her sides. "Frog leg special! Heee."
Becka shook her head, but chuckled despite herself. "I was going to thank you for the distraction, but I think you would have done it for the shits. Are you sure no one saw you?"
"Nah, Not even the techs who just got here. I was already at the office when I heard them at the cafeteria, bellowing." She waved her hand and sighed. "Well, let's go home and get dressed. And you've got to tell me what you actually did in there. It looked like a mess!"
Becka nodded, but she wasn't smiling. "I'm going to have a lot more explaining to do once my Dad finds out I'm going, I didn't exactly tell him I had applied for this, even if it was partially his idea."
Jo's arm wrapped reassuringly around her best friend. "I'm sure he'll be fine with it. I mean, you convinced him to have the first exchange be in Japan, and you helped the negotiations with the most renowned school in Japan! Why wouldn't you be allowed to go? I'm surprised he didn't insist on you going in the first place!"
Shrugging, Becka slumped into the passenger's seat and buckled up. "I was-well am-still kinda grounded. For that stuff last year, and he doesn't like to let me out of his sight, let alone the country." She turned to Jo and sighed. "If you hadn't started at Fitzpatrick's, I think I would have gone crazy. Thanks to you, and this trip, I'm one step closer to freedom. This Ouran Academy is sure to give me just what I need for my college application."
"T.I.T., you better get ready because Becka Thornwood is coming to ya!" She giggled again. "I can't believe your college of choice is called tit. just hilarious." She didn't stop laughing until they reached the Dal, when Becka shushed her.
"I'll see you at school." She whispered and watched Jo pull away from the bar quietly. Once again she felt a tiny pang of jealousy seeing her best friend with the most significant sign of freedom a teenager can get. Last year Becka had passed her Learner's exam, before the Grounding of a Lifetime, which apparently included being allowed to drive.
"I'm not even allowed a stupid scooter." The girl muttered and kicked the dirt with her black knee-length boots. Just then an approaching delivery truck reminded Becka she wasn't supposed to be outside, fully dressed in her "shadow thief" gear early in the morning before school. She ran around the truck and slipped inside the kitchen door, being careful not to be seen by either the delivery men or the kid who her dad had hired to help out at the bar. Managing to get through the kitchen, the last thing Becka expected to see was her adoptive father, standing at the bar with her school bag, cleaning glasses as Dyson always did when he was trying to stay calm.
"Do I even want to know what you were doing out this morning with that girl?" His voice held a hint of feral growl she could tell he was trying to keep under control. Becka's clothes became loose as she suddenly felt smaller.
Trying on a false bravado, the girl stood her ground. "That girl is my best friend. And you said I was allowed out as long as it was with another Fae. Jo and I were... studying." Becka took a deep breath, now or never, she thought. "We were brushing up our language skills, especially our Japanese in case we got picked for the Student Exchange." She rushed through it, hoping beyond reason he wouldn't see through the lie and that he wouldn't explode on her.
He didn't blow up. He set the glass down and his face went almost purple, but he didn't blow up. "Becka, last year when you helped set up this exchange, I-well Bo and I were both very grateful. But that was before we found out about your other extra-curricular activities, and by the time we found out why you wanted to go to Japan, it was too late to cancel the negotiations without insulting some very, very powerful Fae Elders-"
"This is about my future! Not my parents!" Becka surprised herself by being the one to explode. "I didn't find them, but I shouldn't be punished for wanting to know them!"
He reached around the bar and snatched Becka's arm, pulling her towards the restroom and put her in front of the mirror. "Look at yourself. Look at yourself and tell me you're ready to travel across the world and insinuate yourself in a human school."
Reluctantly, Becka peered at her reflection. She'd been able to tell from her clothes feeling tight again that she'd gotten bigger, but now she was almost Dyson's height. Her eyes were so dark they were almost black, and her usually shoulder-length black hair had shot down to her waist, waved and curling tighter at the edges instead of straight and blood red. It hurt a little to see how far she'd lost control, and a voice in the back of her head prayed she hadn't stretched out the boots Kenzi had given her. Again.
"I can control it. Sometimes." She muttered, then remembered. "Kenzi and Dr. Lewis helped me with a wig and contacts to match my real colors. They work, Dad, and I already have a ton of different outfits to fit my changes in height." She concentrated, and shifted her features back, down to the freckles she always hated and usually shifted away, but she knew Dyson liked them so she brought them back. The she turned away from the mirror to look him in the eyes. No longer angry, but worry still hadn't left his eyes. "Dad, please. You know that I love you and nothing is going to change that. I've never accused you of ruining my life, and I don't want to start. I would do anything to go on this trip, the Fae on the School Board at Ouran Academy have the kind of connections that could get me into any college I want, and I want to go to Tokyo Tech." Dyson scoffed but Becka grabbed his hand to stop his retort. "This isn't about my parents, that's a conversation for another time and it doesn't change the fact that T.I.T. is still the best tech school in the world. Just let me try to do this."
Her father shook his head, moved but still stubbornly worried about her. "Not on your own. If and only if you get chosen to go on this trip, I'm choosing your chaperon. Tokyo isn't like our colony. The fae there are still divided, and even though the school is considered neutral territory where both Light and Dark can send their youth along with humans, it doesn't mean they would take lightly to unaligned fae, even young ones."
Becka brightened. "Cool! Kenzi will love the fashion, and she'll be a blast!" she sobered quickly and pretended to be nervous. "If I get picked, that is."
Her father's faced cracked into his trademarked smirk. "Nice try. I'm thinking more like Mark. He'd be better at protecting you, and sniffing out trouble if there is any. If You get chosen. I heard there were a lot of students interested in the program."
"Mark? But he's so... strict!" Becka sighed and muttered under her breath, "He's worse than you sometimes."
But Dyson wasn't going to budge. "He's your older brother, and he remembers what it's like to be a young Fae still learning their powers. He had a pretty big rebellious streak in him once, I think bigger than yours." He chuckled and Becka wondered what the joke was. She seriously doubted Mark ever did anything their dad didn't want him to, he and his boyfriend Vex were just so... perfect. Partners in Criminal Justice and partners in love. Sometimes Becka wondered if her adoptive dad ever compared his son-who he didn't know until Mark was nearly an adult-with the child he adopted as a baby, abandoned and unknown. And very, very far from perfect.
"Oh all right." Becka said exasperatedly. "I'm going to go change clothes, I think i ripped something when I grew five inches." Then she grinned and added "A new record, I think!"
Before she could run off, Dyson grabbed hold of Becka's hand again. "You got another package." His tone was as blank as his face, impossible to read.
"From who?" The girl asked, but without any real emotion. Her hopeful mood was ruined just like that, as Dyson led her back to the bar and placed a small box on top of the wooden surface for her to open.
"Since Evony died there has been a power struggle within the Dark, and we had hoped they would give up their old feuds and finally embrace the peace, but a new Morrigan was named. He sent this with the usual letter. I imagine convincing the only unaligned-and mentally stable-changeling to choose a side-his side-would solidify his claim to power. You would be a great asset in any position." Dyson grasped his adoptive daughter's hand before she could pull it away in disgust. "Becka, you know I don't expect you to make any choice. I learned a long time ago that a person has to choose their own path, even if it might take them away from people they love. You will still be my daughter, and you will always be welcome here if you decide to ally with the Light or with the Dark."
"Mark didn't choose." Becka muttered bitterly. "But then he wasn't sent stupid bribes every month after he shifted for the first time." She flipped open the box and almost forgot to be angry when she saw the glittering set of keys in the box. "Dad, what was in that letter?" She asked and lifted the key chain in front of her face. "Where is the car that goes to these?"
Dyson's face went red again and he looked about two hairs away from going feral. "Damn it!" reaching for his pocket he produced a slim envelope that looked like it had been hurriedly opened and the contents shoved back in haphazardly. Opening it he read it carefully and sighed. "The car is in holding with the Morrigan. I'm not going to let you meet with him."
"But Dad, you just said-" Becka started.
"I said No!" Dyson went totally feral, his eyes and teeth shifting into wolf until there was almost no human left in him. Becka almost peed herself; she had never seen him so angry, at least not with her. "You are grounded, and still do not have your license! The last thing I'm going to allow is you to meet with the leader of the Dark fae, alone to get into a car which you can't even drive anyways!" He snatched the car keys from her hand and threw them into a trash bin behind the bar.
Without a word, Becka scooted away from Dyson and scampered up the stairs towards her bedroom. She threw herself onto her bed, shuddering. Will he ever give me real freedom? She wondered, trying not to cry. But then, he did agree to me going to Tokyo. Even with Mark, it's something, right? Becka bolstered herself with these thoughts, and got up to change out of clothes that now stank of fear-a scent dangerous to wear at the high school built to raise groups of teenage fae through their unique puberty.
It was only later, when she was waiting for Jo to pick her up again, that Becka wondered how safe two humans were going to be going to the Fitzpatrick's, not just to exchange cultures, but to help the fae kids learn to associate with humans, to forge a path of peace not just between Light and Dark, but between the Fae and Human worlds.