Hey guys! Sorry about the wait on this one. Actually, the original draft I wrote had the tour from the previous chapter taking place on Sunday and an accidental slumber party between Gabriel and Satanichia taking place. The chapter was going to transition into the "first day of a new school" chapter (this chapter) and it would have been 12,000 - ish words long. I didn't want to overload one chapter with a third of the story's length, so I changed it up and this chapter is the "first day of a new school chapter."

Now, the warnings! This chapter is all over the place. It will move around a lot. It's like that because I wanted to present Satanichia's first day from multiple points of view. It spans most of her first day - or at least half of it - and it's a little on the longer side. There is some... slightly suggestive content near the end. It's nothing explicit, but it is there.

Please, enjoy, and thank you for reading!

The coin idly twirled between the fingers on the guild registrar's left hand. She propped her head up on the wooden desk with her right hand, a bored expression on her face. Her wings flapped absently behind her, creating a small breeze. She yawned. Her ash-colored skin was charred and scarred. Her eye's were as black as night. A scar in the shape of a twisted smile was slashed from one of her ears to the other.

"You lazybody! Why don't you sit up and do your job?" the seraphim beside her nagged from her upright position. Unlike the demon, she was prim and proper, with perfect posture and a dignified air about her. Her feathery wings were still – yet rustling with the breeze – and her halo was perfectly straight. Her bronzed skin was glowing softly, and her deep brown eyes focused coolly on the demon. With a sweeping motion, her hand knocked the demon's left arm aside and the demon faceplanted the shared desk.

"Oy! You bitch! What was that for?" the demon complained.

"Can't you see that these adventurers are interested in forming a guild?" the angel asked rhetorically.

The demon turned and stared at the ragtag group. An angel, infuriatingly pure like her counterpart, a demon, staggeringly powerful and confident, and another angel, nauseatingly weak and frail.

It was certainly true that she was ignoring the group. Their bickering was getting quite annoying, frankly. Her counterpart had an iron will to be capable of not following in her footsteps. It was probably because of her predictable angelic nature.

It was frustrating to be tethered to an angel for her assignment. She could have been sent by the forces of Hell to fight the army of traitors with her bare hands, and she would have been content, but instead she was stuck as a "diplomatic representative" with the angel beside her. It was supposedly a better show of neutrality for the guilds that were open to both angels and demons if there was a representative from both races at the registry.

"I see it. They haven't shut up in hours. The demon there purchased the form and officially formed their guild and the other two have been harassing her ever since," she retorted in a bored manner. Sure, the verbal abuse the demon was receiving had been entertaining at first, but the guild registrar had quickly become frustrated when she realized they were just going to argue in close proximity to her without any clear sign of stopping in the near future.

"Oh? Harassing her? Why is that?"

The demon registrar just giggled.

"…and that's why I chose this guild name," Satanichia finished.

Vignette had to admit, the guild name her new friend chose was… not what she would have chosen. She could personally think of a dozen cool-sounding guild names, but not once would "Bringers of Snuggles" have crossed her mind. She was fine with Satanichia being the leader of the guild. She was even okay with the girl choosing the name. She had just hoped for something that sounded more badass.

"You're such an idiot," Gabriel said with a facepalm that she had been holding for five minutes.

The guild emblem on her character – a rainbow sprouting from the background behind a fluffy teddy bear, which was surrounded by hearts – served to mock both her and Vignette as their characters donned the tabards. Vignette was embarrassed because her character, which normally wore dark, crimson robes, was an eyesore, with her bright pink and rainbow-colored tabard. Gabriel's at least looked fine, since she was in white and golden ornamental clothing, but she didn't like the childish appearance it gave her tall, curvy character. Satanichia was the only one wearing her tabard with pride, despite its contrast to her obsidian armor.

"It's… creative," Vignette commented.

"You guys told me to buy the guild registration form from the NPCs!" Satanichia countered defensively.

"You're lucky the form was so expensive and that I couldn't just buy another," Gabriel said with a low voice. She sounded so disappointed. Vignette leaned over and rubbed her friend's back comfortingly.

"It's not that bad of a name," Vignette lied, trying to make Satanichia feel a little better about what had happened.

"We farmed the gold all day," Gabriel complained flatly, "just for you to name us the Bringers of Snuggles."

"It's fine, Gab!" Vignette tried to cheer her up, "I'm sure there are worse guild names."

"Y-yeah! Remember the "Raimbow Warriors?" Satanichia argued.

Vignette and Gabriel shivered in unison.

"Point taken," Gabriel nodded, "Ready for some grinding?"

"Let's go," Satanichia cheerfully confirmed.

-.-

Vignette rolled over in the bed and grabbed her phone, silencing the alarm and sitting up in the bed. She fought the urge to crawl back into the warm blanket. Staying up until four in the morning had been a huge mistake, and she had known it in the moment. She had tried to interrupt Gabriel and Satanichia to go to bed, but Gabriel had just ignored her, and Satanichia had reluctantly stayed online with them. Vignette had a feeling that Satanichia was easily convinced into just about anything. She mentally prepared herself and rolled to her side, gently shaking Gabriel. She tried not to get distracted by how peaceful and beautiful the girl looked while sleeping, despite the little flaws like drool dripping from her mouth or disheveled hair.

"Gab, wake up," she said softly in a croaky morning voice. The blonde groaned and turned away from her, pulling the blanket up above her head. Vignette shook Gabriel more intensely, ignoring the cries of desperate pleading.

"Geh Weg," Gabriel grunted, shoving Vignette away.

She calmly stood from the bed, shivering from the sudden loss of the blanket, and went to the refrigerator. She grabbed a bottle of water and crept toward Gabriel. With a sigh, she upturned the bottle of water above her slumbering friend.

The result was instant. A mass of blanket and Gabriel leapt from the bed as if it was made of molten magma and both the blanket and Gabriel's t-shirt found themselves on the floor about five meters away. Vignette ignored the angry glare from her friend and tossed the uniform she had prepared for her the previous night to her. Gabriel unleashed a torrent of verbal abuse that didn't stop even as she got dressed.

Vignette sighed.

\0/

"I hate you," Gabriel commented as the two walked into the main building of the school. Vignette reached over and flicked the girl's nose with her left hand. She would have said something in response to attempt to steer Gabriel toward a path of righteousness – and neatness – but she was frankly too tired. It took all of her remaining energy to even remain standing at this point. She was currently going on three hours of sleep, and so was Gabriel. Both were bound to be cranky.

She wasn't even surprised when she arrived at Ms. Weiss's room and Gabriel split off and went the opposite direction. The girl was obviously not feeling up to keeping her little act up for the teacher, so she was probably heading for the nurse's office to sleep it off. It wasn't the first time the blonde had pulled an all-nighter. Vignette would be lying if she said she wasn't considering going to the nurse's office herself, but her innate sense of responsibility was already nagging at her for even considering such a dishonest act.

She walked into Ms. Weiss's classroom and sat at her usual desk. The desk on her left was obviously empty, but to her right, there was a surprise. The usually empty desk was not empty at all. There was a student there that she had never seen before. A student with red hair in simple twin loops, brown eyes that almost seemed red because of the bags under her eyes and the makeup used to hide them, and an extremely uncomfortable look in the school uniform. The most surprising thing of all, in Vignette's eyes, was the bat-shaped hairclip in the girl's hair. It was an extremely brave thing to wear in a Christian school, and Vignette gladly welcomed the idea of having a fellow openly non-Christian student in attendance. As she opened her mouth to greet the girl, who was looking away from everyone, in a very shy manner, she was interrupted by Ms. Weiss.

"Hello, class," she greeted with a nod, "I would like everyone to welcome our new classmate, Ms. McDowell."

All eyes turned to the other girl and Vignette didn't know what to think. The girl seemed to visibly flinch as soon as people began to look at her. She didn't even look up from her sleeves on her desk when she said, "T-thank you, Ms. Weiss."

Her shyness was overwhelming. As the rest of the class echoed in a warm, sincere, "Welcome, Ms. McDowell!" they quickly cut into silence with a discipline that only a strict religious background could drill into a child. The girl beside her shrank into herself and Vignette felt such pity for the girl.

"I trust that you'll all make her feel welcome," she said with a firm, yet loving smile. It was true that Ms. Weiss was like a strict older sister to most of her students, even Vignette. Her open Satanism – which she also rebelled against – didn't even stop the woman from being nice to her. It was kind of strange. After the teacher had found out that she was Gabriel's best friend, she had been extra assertive in associating with Vignette. It had definitely helped support the curiosity and various rumours regarding Ms. Weiss and Gabriel in Vignette's head. The two seemed to be weird about each other, in some indescribable way. Even now, she struggled to get the mental picture of a love affair between the two out of her mind. After she wrote the day's verses on the whiteboard, she walked over to Vignette, who was flipping through her school-issued Holy Bible and bookmarking the appropriate verses for study. Sure, she wasn't a Christian, but she was definitely an astute student.

"Vignette," Ms. Weiss used her first name – she was the only student whom the teacher greeted with their first name, "Where's Ms. White?"

Vignette noticed the girl in the seat next to her, who had previously been frantically searching through her own bible, clearly unfamiliar with the book, perk up at the question. She was trying to overhead the conversation, and she wasn't being so subtle about it, despite her clear efforts to do so. If Ms. Weiss noticed, she didn't make any indication.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Weiss. I think she wasn't feeling well, so she went to the nurse," Vignette lied for her friend smoothly. Ms. Weiss nodded and smiled at Vignette.

"Thank you very much. I'll have to go check on her after class. It's important to ensure she's resting."

\0/

Satanichia was panicking. She was running on no sleep, which was fine for her, but the uniform she had received had been a little off in size. The shirt and blazer had fit well, sure, but the skirt was way too short. The waist was a fine fit, but she couldn't crouch or bend too much without revealing more of her legs than she had ever been comfortable revealing. She had gone to the uniform man's room – his name was Paul, apparently – [TQ1] but he had told her – while looking everywhere but at her - that they would have to special order the new skirts and it would take about three days to get them in.

She was extremely nervous as it was because of her first actual day at a new school, but the uniform problem made it all the worse for her. She felt eyes on her legs that weren't actually on her legs. Looking around, she realized that no one was actually staring at her, and it was a good feeling. She had already resolved to avoid standing out as much as possible in the new school, after all. She sighed in relief when she arrived to Ms. Weiss's classroom and no one else was in there. She didn't want any eyes on her as she walked in. She sat at a desk in the very back of the room and pulled out the copy of the Bible she had been given with her other textbooks. She skimmed through it to try and familiarize herself with it as much as she could before class started. She already knew she was going to be horrible at the class, so any preparation she could get would help.

After twenty minutes of losing herself in the Bible, she looked up and was surprised to see the classroom was almost full. The only empty seats left were the ones on her left and the single seat on her right. The other students occasionally glanced at her, but they left her well enough alone. Her concern, however, was the absence of a certain blonde. She was watching the doorway without realizing it, just hoping for her new – what? Friend? – to show up. Her Bible was now closed and she was sitting nervously. When Ms. Weiss had walked into the room, and Gabriel was still absent, Satanichia began to worry. She barely even heard the teacher's voice.

"…welcome our new classmate, Ms. McDowell."

"T-thank you, Ms. Weiss," she returned quietly. All eyes were on her and her fists were clenching under her desk. This was the part where the bullying began at her last school. A whispered name or a thrown wad of paper; the specifics didn't matter. Satanichia prepared for the worst and closed her eyes tightly, awaiting the first signs of mockery from the students. When none came, she opened her eyes and glanced around the room quickly. Ms. Weiss gave her a look of silent pity and nodded.

"I trust that you'll all make her feel welcome," the teacher said loudly, drawing the attention back onto herself.

She let out a sigh of relief and began flipping through the unfamiliar religious text in her hand, struggling to find the verses the teacher had written on the whiteboard. She knew how to navigate it well enough, but she often had to re-open the table of contents to find out where a specific book was within the Bible. It was a whole new world for her. She had never even touched a Bible before, and now she was expected to study it academically? It was madness.

"…where's Ms. White?"

She hadn't even noticed Ms. Weiss walk over to the girl's desk beside her. She perked up when she heard about Gabriel, though. She briefly wondered if the teacher referred to all students by their last names.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Weiss. I think she wasn't feeling well, so she went to the nurse," the student said quietly. Satanichia felt guilty for being so selfish. She vaguely remembered where the nurse's office was from her tour of the school and decided to visit Gabriel after class. She tossed the idea in her head and wondered if it would be creepy or awkward.

\0/

"Should I come with you?" Vignette asked. She didn't want the teacher – or Gabriel – to find herself in a strange situation. Being alone in a room with a sleeping student surrounded by rumours related to their relationship could further propagate said rumours.

"No, thank you. I actually have a favor to ask of you."

Ms. Weiss was smiling. It couldn't be anything major, so Vignette nodded without thinking. She almost missed the glance from the teacher to the new girl – Ms. McDowell – beside her, but she followed the glance and saw that the new girl seemed to be lost in her own head as she searched through the religious text on her desk. Ms. Weiss lowered her voice.

"I'd like for you to reach out to our new student. She seems to have suffered in ways that have stunted her social growth, and I think a friend would help her tremendously. We both know how much it helped Gabriel to befriend you."

Not even noticing the slip of tongue, Vignette tilted her head and asked "W-what do you mean?"

Her lie was apparently not very convincing.

"I'm not blind, Vignette. I know that if it wasn't for you, Ms. White would never complete any of her schoolwork, nor would she attend the mandatory chapel on Sunday mornings."

"B-but I'm not even a Christian!" Vignette kept her voice to a whisper, "Why would I force her to go to chapel?"

"Because out of all my students, you have the purest heart and the most powerful sense of responsibility."

"W-what? N-no, I do not," Vignette tried to argue, but she couldn't even believe her own argument. She didn't even know why she was so defensive. Maybe she just didn't like being labelled in such a way, even though Gabriel had long ago labelled her in much the same way. Ms. Weiss was fighting back laughter, a rare sight in the classroom. Thankfully, the rest of the students seemed to be distracted with the assignment verses and their own conversations.

"Right. Well, would you be willing to help her out?"

"Sure. I'd love to, but why me? I'm not very socially outgoing, myself," Vignette asked.

"Well, I didn't realize until now, but I have a feeling she isn't… isn't a Christian. She's wearing a bat-shaped hair clip, and she seems completely unfamiliar with the Bible in her hands. I thought it would be comforting for her to meet someone of… similar religious background."

"Yeah. I can see how that would help. Of course, I'll do what I can," she said with a smile.

"Thank you," Ms. Weiss said with a wide smile.

The teacher walked up to the front of the room and began the lecture.

\0/

"…and that is the gist of the debate, as well as a few of the verses supporting and/or condemning homosexual relations from the Old and New Testaments. I leave your personal beliefs about the subject matter to you, but it's important to acknowledge the other side of the argument."

A bell chimed throughout the building.

"Next Monday, we'll be having team debates between three-person teams. I will assign each team a topic tomorrow, and you will have the rest of the week for research. Any intellectual passages may be used, but associate them with theological evidence, as well. Class dismissed."

Ms. Weiss wasn't even interrupted by students filing out of the classroom. She was apparently pretty popular, since all the students remained seated until she finished talking. Satanichia could definitely see why. Not only was the teacher beautiful, but she presented the class material in a thoughtful, neutral, and intelligent manner that was friendly even to a non-Christian such as herself. The way she commanded the classroom was absolutely amazing. She wasn't some teacher above the students. She was a respected, loved figure among the populace.

Satanichia stood from her desk and put her books neatly into her backpack, trying to remember where the nurse's office was. She was interrupted by a hand on her shoulder.

"H-hey, Ms. McDowell," a voice came from behind her. She knew what was about to happen all-too-well. She was going to be stuffed into a locker, or thrown into a trashcan, or her books were going to be taken from her. She knew well what to expect. It was a daily occurrence at her old school, and she didn't expect this school to be any different. Her muscles were tense as she turned around to face her fate. Her eyes were squeezed shut, so she hardly noticed the other student's hand leaving her shoulder. When nothing had happened after a few seconds, she opened her eyes. The other girl seemed confused. It was the girl she had been sitting next to in class.

The girl raised a hand in front of Satanichia, and she fought the urge to wince, but failed slightly. The girl just waved a hand in front of her face.

"A-are you okay?" the girl asked. Satanichia didn't know what to do. She wasn't used to someone showing concern for her, so she realized quickly what had to be going on. The girl was trying to get her to lower her defenses so that she could get her all the better when she made her move. She wasn't going to fall for that, though. She had a plan. She turned and ran away as fast as she could.

It was pure luck that Satanichia wound up right in front of the nurse's office a few minutes later. A note was on the door, which was slightly ajar. The note was a simple "gone to lunch!" note from the nurse. She figured it wouldn't be a problem if she stepped in to check on Gabriel and left quickly. Surely there was no rule about that. She stepped closer to the door to hear a familiar voice.

"…because I love you."

It was the voice of Ms. Weiss. It sounded warm, yet the sternness she had come to expect from the teacher was still there. She was thoroughly confused at this point. She didn't know for whom Ms. Weiss could be using such heavy words. Did her husband work in the school, or something? Satanichia didn't remember a wedding band on the teacher's finger, but a lot of married women opted out of wearing them, so that possibly didn't matter anyway.

"I love you, too," the voice of Gabriel floated out the door. This was getting awkward. Satanichia didn't consider herself an eavesdropper, but she realized that she could be hearing something possibly career-ending. She didn't want her first day at her new school to be a day wrapped in some big controversy, but she couldn't exactly unhear it. She decided to walk away and try to come back and see Gabriel at lunch instead. She could process this information later. Before she could get more than a few meters away from the door, however, it opened.

Ms. Weiss seemed surprised to see her.

"M-Ms. Weiss! I was just, uh, checking up on Gabriel," she explained hastily. She didn't want the girl to know what she had overheard, but she knew if she insisted that she had heard nothing, it would just exacerbate the problem. She could still play the blissful ignorance part, so she decided to keep that up. Ms. Weiss's face brightened.

"Ah. It's good to see friends showing concern for one another. She seems to be feeling a little better. Go on in."

She nodded and fought the urge to watch the teacher walk away. She was already getting bullied, and she didn't want to add "pervert" to the list of names she would inevitable be called.

She stepped in the room and marveled at the sudden contrast from the outer hallway. While the outer hallway was more of a – for lack of better words – "churchy" decorative feel, the nurse's room was very much like a pediatrician's office. There were bright, colorful magazines and pictures painted everywhere. Even the screens between the few beds were painted with colorful paintings. Of course, there were normal medical posters that would normally be in a doctor's office, showing anatomy and warnings against smoking and unsafe sex. It seemed the nurse here didn't insist on abstinence only, like most religious schools would.

Only one of the beds in the room had the curtain closed, so Satanichia walked up to it, but she didn't know what to do. She couldn't really knock on a cloth curtain, could she? She looked around for some way to announce her attention without being awkward when Gabriel called out.

"Hello?"

"H-hey, just coming to check up on you."

"Annabel?" Gabriel asked.

"Y-yeah."

"Come on in," Gabriel instructed. Satanichia complied, opening the curtain. She had expected to see Gabriel in a hospital gown. She was kind of relieved to see she was wrong. The girl was just wearing the normal school uniform. She definitely looked better than Satanichia expected. Perhaps she had just needed some rest?

"H-how are you feeling?" she asked carefully. She didn't want to treat into awkward territory.

Gabriel didn't respond, though. Satanichia saw that the girl was staring at her with wide eyes. She rubbed her face, thinking maybe she had something on it. She tilted her head and followed the girl's eyes. Down. She checked her blazer, but it was perfectly straight, as was her tie. She glanced back and followed the girl's eyes further. Down. She checked her shirt and made sure it was well-tucked in. She kept following the girl's glance and finally remembered her skirt dilemma. She quickly tried to stretch the skirt as close to her knees as she could get it, despite knowing it wouldn't work.

"I'm good!" Gabriel said, a little too loud. Her face was extremely red, and Satanichia tried to chalk it up to her illness, but deep down she realized the truth. She was a distraction, with her skirt reaching less than half the distance to her knees. It was embarrassing, and Gabriel was probably judging her pretty hard for wearing something like this skirt.

"T-that's good! I h-heard you were sick and wanted to check on you," she explained lamely.

"R-right. I'm actually not sick at all," the girl laughed awkwardly, "I just wanted some sleep."

Judging by the shocked expression on Gabriel's face, she hadn't meant to say that. Satanichia felt even worse.

"G-good. Sleep is important, after all," she said while still struggling with her skirt. She tried to ignore Gabriel's eyes on her legs, but she couldn't. She shook her head and mumbled, "I'm s-sorry. I didn't know the skirt would be too short for me, and it's going to take a few days to get replacement skirts."

She stood behind the small table next to Gabriel's bed, thankful that her legs were hidden enough to stop being a distraction.

"It's fine," Gabriel reassured her, "It's not your fault."

"R-right, well. I should be going to class? I have to go to Physical Education," she said awkwardly.

"Oh. I have P.E. next too," Gabriel commented.

"Will I see you there?" Satanichia asked.

"No. I never go to that class," Gabriel explained, "The teacher doesn't really take attendance, and between you and me, she's something of a pervert."

Oh no.

"Oh, uh. Well, see you?"

"Y-yeah, see you," Gabriel said while clearly trying not to stare as Satanichia moved from behind the table.

She felt Gabriel's eyes on her as she walked away, so she walked a little faster. For some reason, it was a little exciting to be stared at in such a way by Gabriel, but it didn't mean she didn't feel embarrassed. On the way out of the room, she almost bumped into someone in the hall.

"Oh! Sor-" she began.

"Annabel! Salut!" the voice of Raphael filled the hallway, overpowering even the voices of the students that were still having casual conversations with their friends. Satanichia felt herself being pulled into a tight hug, relieved that even her cousin wouldn't try anything inappropriate at school.

"H-hi, Raphi," she greeted back, "I uh, I have to get to class."

"Oh! I'm just checking on little Gab," Raphael said with her warm smile. Satanichia was almost worried for Gabriel. She felt relieved when she was released from her cousin's hold.

"Right, well. See you later?" she asked.

"À bientôt!" Raphael called out to her as she left.

As she walked away, she could swear her cousin was hiding something behind her back.

\0/

Gabriel was surprised. Ms. Weiss was to be expected, but her next visitor had been a complete curveball. She had overheard a girl walking into the room and it was Annabel. After a long and awkward moment in which both girls had stumbled over their words and actions, Gabriel was completely confused. She had found herself almost swooning in Annabel's presence. She hadn't realized it before, but Annabel was hot. Her hair wasn't elegant, but it was pretty in a different way. It almost had a bad-girl style to it with the bat hairpin. Her eyes – probably because of the makeup – almost seemed to have a reddish-violet hue to them. The way she had smiled had given the appearance of a fang. All-in-all, she was gorgeous. Any self-respecting straight woman could admit that Annabel was attractive. It was an objective thing.

That argument could easily defend Gabriel's thoughts since the weekend about Annabel's looks, but it could certainly not explain what had just happened. There was no other way to describe it: she had ogled her new classmate. There was apparently a mistake in the measurement for her uniform – Gabriel's fault if so – or a mistake in the manufacturing of the uniform. In other words, Gabriel had been distracted by Annabel's thighs. They weren't thighs that most teenagers would refer to as "thicc," but they were smooth and almost whispered a silent promise of more.

Wow. Never knew I was so poetic, she thought.

That was just as unnerving. She wasn't a poetic person, so why was she inspired to be poetic for Annabel's sake? Logically, a part of her knew that she was attracted to the girl, but, emotionally, she couldn't let that be the case. The problem wasn't her school. There were plenty of openly – and closeted – gay people at her school. The problem was her family. If she was gay, there was no way her family would accept that. Best case, she would be pulled out of the school and shipped to a boarding school far away from home. Worst case, she would be punished even more severely by her father in other ways. She didn't know what he was fully capable of, but according to her older sister, it was quite a lot.

Ignoring the consequences of being gay, Gabriel honestly couldn't say that she was gay. She just didn't feel gay. She knew quite a few gay and bisexual people, and all of them had said that when they realized they were gay, that it was obvious to them. It certainly wasn't like that for Gabriel. The more she thought about women that were objectively attractive, the more she realized she wasn't attracted to them. Vignette was a wonderful example. She was obviously very pretty, and she and Gabriel had changed together several times, but her body – even mostly nude - had never distracted Gabriel like Annabel's. Annabel was probably just a fluke.

Of course, the part she wasn't admitting to herself was that she wasn't attracted to any particular men, either.

Her analysis of her totally heterosexual self was interrupted when another visitor came barging into the nurse's office and opened her curtain without a single word before it was open. Gabriel almost cursed when she saw her visitor's identity.

"Gab! Bonjour!" Raphael exclaimed, and Gabriel gasped for air as her available oxygen was cut off by Raphael's breasts. This was more proof that she wasn't gay, if anything, so she wasn't as annoyed with the girl as she would have been. She definitely wasn't aroused from being smothered in Raphael's generous breasts, so she couldn't be gay. She finally managed to get out some muffled speech.

"Get your boobs out of my face, Raphi," she said flatly.

"Oh, but I miss you so much!" Raphael whined. The whining seemed to be both genuine and fake, so Gabriel presumed that the sadist was both honest and planning something. She only hoped it wasn't at her expense.

"What do you want, Raphi?" she asked carefully. She almost believed the look of hurt on the other girl's face.

"What do you mean?" she asked with a frown, "Can't I just visit my best friend? We've hardly seen each other all year."

"You're always planning something," she said with a sigh. She would have had more patience, but she was tired. Then she noticed what was in Raphael's hand. She tilted her head and asked, with wide eyes, "Is that a-?"

"Oh, oui! That's actually what I need your help with," she said with a smile.

Knew it.

"Do you have P.E. with Annabel, Gab?"

Oh no. Gabriel frowned. She had a bad feeling about this, but it was either her or Annabel that would incur Raphael's wrath, and she was way too tired to deal with it.

\0/

Satanichia smiled in relief. It had taken a lot longer than she was proud to admit for her to remember where the locker rooms leading to the gymnasium were. She had finally found the girl's locker room and mostly shaken off the awkwardness of her earlier conversation with Gabriel. She had received a note to excuse her tardiness since she had to settle into a locker in the room and find the room, so she wasn't in a huge hurry. She placed her new physical fitness uniform into the locker and prayed to whatever God her she believed in – she was having a crisis of faith in the situation with Dougal – that the uniform would actually fit.

She normally would have felt pretty embarrassed to be undressing so openly, but she was thankfully alone in the dressing room. She slipped her blazer off and put it on one of the hangers provided in the locker room. She hung it neatly up in her tall locker. She unbuttoned her shirt and slipped it in there on a different hanger next to the blazer. She slipped her shoes off and set her socks neatly over the shoes in the bottom of the locker. She dropped her skirt and put it in an upper compartment. She fumbled around with her bra until it finally unlatched, and she traded it for the sports bra in her locker. Before she could actually put it on, however, she heard the door to the hallway – which was right through a bottleneck hallway across from her locker – open and close. She briefly covered her chest before she remembered that most girls aren't so modest in a school locker room and she forced herself to uncover.

She immediately regretted the decision when Gabriel White walked into the locker room and stopped at the entrance. She blushed, but she knew that it would only be a big deal if she made it a big deal, so she turned away and continued getting dressed. The sports bra slipped on pretty easily and her twins were secured.

"H-hi, Annabel," Gabriel said conversationally.

"H-hey," she said back, trying to postpone changing into the briefs she had bought just for P.E. class to avoid thigh chafing if she had to run. She was surprised to see Gabriel walk up to the locker directly next to hers.

"So, this is your locker," Gabriel said, avoiding her eyes. She could understand. She was doing the same thing, looking into her locker instead of at the other girl.

"Y-yeah. I thought you don't go to gym class?" she asked.

"I, uh. Didn't want you to have to go to class alone on your first day," the other girl said, and Satanichia forgot all about her embarrassment for a moment and looked at Gabriel with admiration.

"T-thanks," she said quietly, biting the bullet and slipping her panties off. She thought she heard a squeak coming from Gabriel's locker, but she knew it had to be her imagination. She slipped into the briefs and pulled the athletic shorts on over them. The shorts were almost longer than her skirt, and that made her feel very uncomfortable.

"No problem. Stick with me out there. Coach Henderson is such a perv, but she usually leaves me alone."

The rustle of cloth told her that Gabriel seemed to be way less embarrassed about getting undressed in front of others.

"Uh, thanks."

She never would have expected to hold a conversation, no matter how strange it felt to do so, in a girl's locker room.

Wait.

Satanichia quickly realized something. Something that popped into her head against her mental consent. Something that she would have gladly forgotten completely about, but because she couldn't, it was going to eat away at her if she didn't satiate her curiosity. When her peripheral vision told her that Gabriel had removed her school-issued skirt, she chanced a brief glance in the blonde's direction. It was time to see if Raphael was telling the-

Holy fuck. It's huge!

She could feel heat rising in her face and other parts of her body that she was embarrassed to admit. Her legs were suddenly unable to support her weight and her knees buckled. Her head was feeling woozy and dizziness hit her like a truck. All she could manage was a short gasp.

By some miracle, she didn't lose consciousness, but the ground still rose to meet her. She reached out to try and catch herself on the bench in front of the lockers, or even the lockers themselves, but her hands grabbed only hair. She didn't currently have the fine motor control to grab much, in any case. She was both lucky and unlock in that moment. She felt soft arms wrap around her torso and catch her. Gabriel managed to prevent her from hitting the ground, so she was definitely thankful, but, unfortunately, the blonde had forgotten something very crucial. Satanichia was bigger than her, if only by a bit. Both girls fell to the ground, in the end, but Gabriel was the one who made contact.

Satanichia found herself instead lying on top of the flustered girl, who seemed to not be in pain, but was instead embarrassed and shy about the situation just like she was. In fact, both girls were about as red as Satanichia's hair and both laughed nervously, not having the slightest idea of what to do in that moment. It was only made worse by the close proximity of their faces. Their noses were touching, and their eyes were locked.

Satanichia just stayed frozen in place, wondering if this was really happening. She may have been a socially awkward person, but even she could feel the sexual tension in the air. It had come out of nowhere, despite the crippling social anxiety that plagued her at all times. She just wasn't very good at interacting with people, and she didn't know how to fix it. Because of her inability to speak to people, this whole situation was extremely overwhelming, and she couldn't even mentally process it, much less physically. Her mind went over every movie and book she had ever seen and read with this scene written into it as she tried to formulate some kind of a plan. She knew exactly what the main character of a movie or book would do, but she also knew that it would be a stupid decision. She didn't want to make a complete idiot of herself on her first day. Well, not any more than she already had.

Her logic made sense in her head, but Gabriel on the ground below her created an inner conflict within Satanichia. She didn't look mad at all. She just looked embarrassed. She wasn't even pulling away, not even a little. Her eyes were wide, but her pupils were dilated. Satanichia caught her lick her lips a little bit, but even Gabriel seemed unaware of this. She felt the smaller arms resting on her hips, but they weren't pushing her away. The signs were all there. She knew exactly what to do.

-.-

Vignette walked to the girl's locker room with a purpose. She was tardy for class because the coach had asked her to deliver a letter to another teacher, but her goal was a more personal one. She had been tasked to befriend the new girl – whose name was Annabel, she had learned – and she was going to do it. Supposedly Gabriel had already reached out to the girl and they were becoming friends, but Vignette could not allow the irresponsible teen to rub off on the new girl. She had to step in and be the voice of reason for both of them. It was her job in her friendship with Gab, and it would be her job with Annabel as well. Although, she had to admit, Annabel seemed to be a decent student, if her performance in class that morning was anything to go by.

Who knows? Maybe she'll be a good influence on Gabriel too?

She pushed open the locker room door, stepped around the corner, and a surprised squeak popped out of her mouth. Gabriel was writhing on the floor in a clearly sexual pose, and on top of her was the new girl! Their eyes were locked and if Vignette had to guess, they were about to kiss. She had never realized Gabriel was attracted to other girls. She couldn't imagine the girl's family would approve, having met them only briefly. They didn't seem to notice her. She didn't want to watch this unnoticed, but what could one even say to interrupt this moment?

Then she noticed a suspicious bulge where it should not be and her eyes widened. Was Gabriel pretending to be a boy to seduce the new girl? That was a new low, even for Gabriel. She was normally at worst lazy, and her lies only supported that character trait, but to lie in order to defile an innocent girl? Vignette couldn't stand for that. She had to end this. She backtracked to the main door of the locker room and opened it before slamming it loudly to announce her presence. She heard a loud shuffling of limbs and clothing and smiled in victory.

She walked around the corner and saw the girls, each at their respective lockers. She was in luck. Her locker was right in the middle of theirs. Both girls were extremely flushed, but she pretended not to notice. She didn't want to embarrass them further.

"Hey, Gab," she said with a smile.

"Hey, Vigne," Gab greeted, a little too casually. She really was a decent actress.

Vignette turned to Annabel and smiled.

"Hey, Annabel," she began, but Annabel interrupted her.

"I have to go!" she exclaimed with wide eyes, looking back and forth between Vignette and Gabriel. She slipped her t-shirt from her athletic uniform on and ran to the locker room exit. Vignette wasn't sure what was going through the girl's head, but she looked like she was completely shocked. Maybe she hadn't known that Gabriel and Vignette were friends and she felt bad for avoiding her that morning? One look at Gab showed that she was just as confused as she was.

"I was just going to invite her to lunch with us," Vignette said in frustration.

"Might want to, uh, give her some time," Gabriel commented.

Vignette agreed. After all, she and Gabriel were due for a very important conversation.

\0/

Vigne! Gabriel!

Satanichia felt like a complete idiot. She knew the voices sounded familiar, so why hadn't she noticed it before? Had she just not expected someone to use their actual name in an online username? That was no excuse. Now, she didn't know what to do. The reasonable thing to do would have been to just tell them what she thought and see if she was right, but she couldn't. She had just almost kissed Gabriel, first of all, and secondly, what if she was wrong? She didn't want a reputation at her new school as a boring, antisocial gamer with no people skills. If she could just avoid bullying for long enough, she could establish herself in the school as a student.

But what if she was right? Wouldn't that mean she already had friends?

She didn't know what to do, but for the moment it didn't matter. She had class.