The Midday Duel

Tennifer and Rachel were shooed from the bar after the strange episode, "What's IFT mean?" Tennifer asked, casting a puzzled look over her shoulder.

"No idea," Rachel said lowering her voice again, "Sometimes they talk about it, but they never tell us what it is. I've looked into it and made myself a dictionary of all the possible acronyms but so far none make sense. There could be millions of combinations with those three letters, not to mention MGers have a habit of making up words,"

Tennifer nodded thoughtfully, glancing back at them huddled around the table, "Didn't Bekki tell you anything?" she asked, recalling how much she let slip back in England.

"Not a word," Rachel replied glumly.

"Oi!"

Tennifer looked up, then down when she realized the voice came from near her feet, a group of girls peered up at her and she crouched so they wouldn't have to stare into the sun.

"We need two more for water Quidditch, you guys want in?"

Tennifer shook her head, backing up, "Sorry, I can't swim,"

"What?!"

Tennifer turned to see Claridore and Helena stop dead behind her. She could see the rest of the gang leaving the bar a short distance behind them and they came to a halt behind their friends.

"I, uh, can't swim," Tennifer said awkwardly to the expectant looks and Jazz blinked. She hadn't even thought of swimming lessons.

"I can fix her!" Desi announced, bouncing forward lightly. "Look here, young Tennifer!" she instructed, pointing to the edge of the lagoon. Tennifer looked down and Desi moved quickly, shoving her into the water with a laugh, before jumping in herself to make sure their golden child didn't drown. The gang looked from on to the other, shrugging and followed the two in with delighted squees and squeals.

Tennifer found it wasn't so hard after all, taking to the water like a duck to… well, water. Speaking of which…

"Now his name is George and I want you to have him…"

"Um," Tennifer looked at the fluffy yellow duckling being held out to her, "Uh, thank you," she said, awkwardly taking 'George.'

"Kat… where did you get that duck?" Jazz asked, bringing towels over to them.

"Nowhere!" Kat exclaimed, "Keep him safe," she whispered to Tennifer before fleeing.



The others watched in bemusement before coming to pet Tennifer's new duck. Claridore called the others to attention, announcing it was time to retreat for her room. Tennifer's heart swelled with joy when they extended the invitation to her and Rachel, feeling a sense of belonging that she'd long been without.

Claridore and Helena's rooms were huge – not surprising considering they were instructing the reception staff ("We're sisters; we need the room!" "You guys always end up here anyway!"). They all flopped onto the huge bed that Claridore had claimed for her own, Tennifer watching them interact like old friends.

"So you need the bed for Clarad?" Bekki asked, "'Cause, if you do I'm so not lying on this thing after tonight,"

"No!" Claridore screeched, "Clarad doesn't exist!"

The bed cracked up at this and Claridore somehow ended up on the floor, "Wait, wait," she said, holding up her hands in protest, "I have news," she said smugly at which people scoffed. "No, really! It's hawt Tucy!"

"Oh God,"

"Ew!"

"Nooooooooo! God, haven't you scarred us enough?!"

"…I think I threw up a little…"

"Um, Tennifer, you might have to go in the other room for this, you too, Rachel," Jazz said, surprising them with her mothering when Claridore got her 'You're-gonna-hear-this-whether-you-like-it-or-not' look, very similar to her 'I-know-you're-not-gonna-like-this-but-I'll-tell-you-anyway!' look.

Tennifer nodded, trusting them to be more disturbing than she wanted to endure and dragged Rachel – who was a little more used to them – into the other room.

They explored for long moments before…"Hey, what's that?"

"What's what?" Tennifer asked.

Rachel pointed to a suitcase. "Warning: IFT. DO NOT TOUCH!!11one… SERIOUSLY!"

"The IFT?" Tennifer glanced back into the other room, "It's not very well protected,"

Rachel moved forward to unzip the suitcase but…



"I challenge you to a duel!" Tennifer whipped round to find herself staring at Helena. "Purple mafia! Attack!" she screamed and suddenly the world was filled with pillows. Tennifer fled into the hall, she and Rachel slamming into their room out of breath, curious and highly amused.