Hello Darkfogfox here. Sorry for the late upload, life gets in the way sometimes. As always thank you to everyone who's been keeping up with the story. It definitely motivates me to keep writing. Here's the new chapter.

XV. Leverage

Amanda walked through the hallways toward the courtyard in a huff. This was definitely tougher than she thought. She had to hand it to Sucy, she had managed to poison everyone against Diana with a very convincing argument. How was she supposed to convince everyone that a rich girl who had an arrogant reputation deserved the scholarship more than Lotte? As much as some people admired Diana, Lotte was universally liked by everyone for her kind and caring personality. Damn, she wasn't even sure how to go about this. Honestly, she felt bad for trying to take away the scholarship from someone who really needed it.

As Amanda opened the doors to the school courtyard she spotted Diana sitting on the opposite side with her teammates, chatting. Amanda walked straight over to her and tried to figure out a way to tell Diana that this plan might not work. Diana almost met her gaze but Amanda looked away at the ground, turning over the problem in her head. Maybe it was foolish of her to assume that everyone would agree with her, in the first place. Still she couldn't help but feel responsible for Diana's situation. She had done so many things to screw Diana over that, it only felt right that she needed to help fix the situation.

As she approached Diana, a thought bubbled up into Amanda's mind. Maybe she didn't need Diana to win the scholarship, maybe they just needed to use the situation as leverage.

"Hey Diana, we need to talk." Amanda said scratching the back of her neck. It was hard to admit when her plans didn't succeed.

Diana turned away from Hannah, who was telling a joke, with a lingering smile on her face.

"Yes, Amanda, how can I help you?" Hannah rolled her eyes and continued telling the joke to Barbara who was avidly listening.

"Look, don't know if you heard this but Lotte's also in the running for the scholarship. She really could use it to pay for school next year and Sucy's pissed that I nominated you. In fact a lot of people are pissed." Amanda said, watching closely to see Diana's reaction. Her expression softened and she looked away, with sympathy in her eyes. Over Diana's shoulder, Amanda could see the red team relaxing in the grass further away. Lotte was smiling at Akko's story and a soft smirk could be seen growing on Sucy's face aimed at Lotte.

"I knew something like this might happen. We shouldn't have nominated me." Diana said with guilt in her voice. Amanda piped up, afraid that Diana might decide to abandon the plan.

"Wait a minute! We can't throw this all away yet. I was thinking before I came over here that, maybe we could use this in a different way. Like maybe you don't need to win the scholarship to solve your problems." Amanda said with a mischievous grin in her eyes. Diana on the other hand, looked torn. Then she eyed Amanda with a harsh look.

"If you're about to suggest we rig the competition then, I refuse! People will already see me in a negative light. I was also informed that my Aunt Daryl will be on the judge's panel. Even if I have noble reasons to win, it will look bad on not only me but the Cavendish family as a whole." Diana stated. Amanda rolled her eyes on that statement, family this family that. She couldn't understand Diana's obsession with her family's image.

"I'm not saying that we need to rig the competition. I'm saying that we keep our course, sort keep doing what already we're doing. The aim is to embarrassing your aunt." Amanda, said growing a smirk as she explained the plan.

Diana looked over at her nearby teammates, who were chatting away unaware of their conversation.

"I'm listening." Diana said with an expression that suggested that she was almost embarrassed to be indulging Amanda.

"Okay look. How embarrassing would it be for your Aunt if you were competing for a scholarship because she had threatened to cut you off due to you wanting to come out? Seriously, she looks like a homophobic bigot. That's the plan! Look I know it's not what you originally wanted, but maybe it could force your family to at least consider that what they are doing is wrong." Amanda tried to reason. Diana sighed.

"You're right. I originally wanted to be independent because I know how my Aunt feels about this topic, but she's also very vain. She wants to be well liked and she's surrounded by people who are more open minded. If my situation comes out then, she'll change her opinion to chase other people's good graces, despite her true feelings on the subject." Diana explained matter-of-factly. Amanda involuntarily shuttered, it just seemed too cold, she couldn't imagine her own family members being so fake and disingueine.

"I mean… is that what you really want?" Amanda asked unsure, about Diana's true feelings. Was she just settling for something because she knew the reality of her situation?

Diana looked over at her teammates. She smiled, seemingly remembering all of the good times she had with them.

"As long as I'm able to be open and continue my education at Luna Nova. Then, I'm fine with my Aunt having whatever opinion she wants of me." Diana stated simply. Amanda followed Diana's gaze, watching Barbara reenact an experiment gone wrong in potions class with Hannah giggling along. Amanda found herself starting to realize how strong of a person Diana truly was.

Amanda rolled around that night at 2pm, in a restless sleep. She heard a knock at the door and rolled over away from the noise. Another louder knock made around roll off her bunk. Luckily, she fell a couple inches to the floor. Nevertheless it still knocked her out of sleep.

She stumbled to the door and opened it, to reveal a fully dressed Diana waiting outside. Without hesitation Diana grabbed her hand and dragged her out into the hallway.

"Sdfsa. Diana, what the hell? Hmmm. Where are we going?" Amanda grumbled, groggy from sleep.

Diana stopped in a long empty corridor and she looked around nervously. Amanda was convinced it was all a dream and turned around.

"MMMMMmmmm. Okay, I'm going back to bed."

"NO no no. You can't! Something of the utmost importance just came up! This can't wait until morning. We need to solve this right now!" Diana declared with a rinsing panic in her voice. Amanda rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"FINE. What?" Diana tried to stop herself from seemingly shaking in place with nervousness but failed.

"My Aunt called me a few hours ago and I haven't been able to sleep since. I mean, it just can't be true! She wouldn't do this. She wouldn't. She wouldn't." Diana said starting to pace frantically in a short line.

"Diana it's 2 in damn morning, just spit out already."

"You know that tomorrow's Founder's Day, right? My Aunt is attending the Founder's Day Gala tomorrow night, the one they host every year at Luna Nova. She wants me to attend with Andrew as my date. I-I just- I can't do it."

Amanda finally shook off the rest of her sleepiness. Shit she had forgotten about that. When she was writing the article it was a piece of evidence that she bypassed, referring to it in vague terms. Now it was coming back to bite her in the ass, because she'd forgotten to tell Diana that.

"Okay, don't get mad! I kinda over heard your Diana talking about that with Andrew and his dad." Amanda said, wincing as she said it. Diana groaned and rubbed her temples.

"I'm sorry! I just forgot and it didn't seem that important. Okay I'm sorry! Look, why can't you just go with him and get it over with?" Amanda asked, seriously they had enough to worry about, couldn't Diana grin and bear it?

"I just, I don't know if I can pretend to be interested in him and we already have enough to worry about with my Aunt." Diana said worriedly, Amanda softened her approach reminding herself that she was here to help Diana.

"Well, if you don't want to pretend, then you could always tell him. I thought you didn't care what people thought, you're happy being out and at Luna Nova, right? " Amanda asked

Diana's eyes widened and she started to shake a little.

"It's different with Andrew, he's one of my closest friends and he's always known me as a certain kind of person. What if-" Diana started to tear up as Amanda cut her off knowing what she was going to say.

"What if he doesn't accept you? Then that's his problem and honestly it's a pretty big loss cause you're an awesome person. Don't let other people's stupid opinons stop you from living life to the fullest. I don't." Amanda said smiling.

Diana calmed down and looked at her with wide eyes, it finally seemed to click in her head. With Diana's panic gone, Amanda slowly started walking back down the hallway to her room. She looked back to Diana one last time.

"Just keep in mind. You don't have to do this alone. I'll be at the event too. I have a little speech in the works after all." Amanda smirked and turned the corner.