Hello everyone! I have some warnings regarding the next 15 or so chapters, and for this story as a whole.

The first is that I may bump the rating on this story to T, due to some serious subject matter I want to get into during the school play arc (specifically chapters 37 and 38). After that -while I am trying to keep the story as Disney-friendly as possible- the tone of the story may change slightly as a result.

The second is that the formal will take three chapters to complete- chapter 30 in particular is going to be a very long chapter, because of how many views I want to cover. I am hoping to have the chapters under 5,000 words but raising the minimum to 2,000. This change will only be for chapters 29, 30, and 31.

Thank you for reading!

Apparently, making friends with guys was an absolute mistake. Especially when physical labor was involved. Even more especially when they knew you had an injured shoulder and probably shouldn't be doing said physical labor. Hindsight is 20/20 though- Anora wouldn't have signed up to help decorate the gym if she had known she was going to hurt herself.

Mog, Affie, and Ephemer must have really liked the way Anora would go from pouting to full out annoyance, because it was the only expressions they got from her for three days straight.

The first day of decorating was filled with "I got it, Anora!" or "Don't pick that up, I can do it myself!" and it wore thin quickly. Even when Anora thought she could get away with lugging a box of streamers to a different corner of the gym, one of the boys would stop her. If it was Ephemer, he'd wag a finger at her and say, "I've got this one" before taking the box from her. Mog would just take the box right out of Anora's hands without warning. Affie, bless him, did try to take a more gentle approach; he'd thank Anora for getting the box for him as he carefully pried it from her hands.

On the second day, Anora had decided to be more tactical. Throughout the day, in small increments, she'd move a ladder (one with wheels at the bottom) over to a wall. At the same time, she would slowly start to move a box of banners up each step of the ladder. The ladder did move a bit if Anora moved too quickly- but none of the boys were catching wind on what she was doing, so she didn't really notice at first.

When everything was in position, Anora took a quick scan around the gym to made sure none of the boys were watching her, then ascended the ladder. She gave herself a pleased smile as she started to get out the things she needed to hang up a banner. Putting up the hanger was easy- it was when she had to use both hands to actually hang the banner that things got tricky. She didn't have the ladder close enough to the wall, making her reach a bit further than she intended.

Anora tried to force herself a bit closer, but it made the ladder rock back in defiance. The sudden shift of weight surprised her and before she knew it, her balance had been completely thrown off. The girl let out an undignified shriek as she lost her footing on the ladder and started to tumble backwards.

"Anora!" the three boys exclaimed at the same time. Ephemer and Affie were quick to rush over to her- they both managed to break her fall before she could hurt herself. But in the catch, most of Anora's weight fell onto Ephemer; the both of them tumbling backwards onto the ground.

"You guys alright?" Affie quickly asked, not sure if he should pry them off each other or not. Mog only stood there, blinking in shock.

Anora only gave a few blinks as her senses came back to her. When she realized she had landed on top of Ephemer, Anora quickly scrambled to get off of him. It took Ephemer a moment after to recover as well. He sat up, dazed, before turning to look at Anora.

"I swear," Ephemer retorted, trying to catch his breath. "You're going to be the death of me. You know that? You're lucky I like you, lemme tell you. Yikes Anora..."

"Here, here!" Mog agreed with a raise of hand. Ephemer didn't seem to listen as he went on.

"You could have really hurt yourself." he kept fussing. "What were you thinking?"

Anora didn't look him -or the others- in the eye. Her hand went to absently glide over the shoulder brace as if it were hurting her. Ephemer noticed the gesture and frowned.

"Look," he then told her, putting a hand on top of hers, "I know you want to help. But we've got this. We don't want you to get any more hurt before your brace comes off next week. We're honestly just trying to help you, Anora, promise."

"Then why am I here?"

The boys all took a step back in shock. If it wasn't for their reactions, Anora would have assumed she had thought it- she hadn't meant to say her thoughts out loud. She especially didn't mean for it to come out so dark either. Ephemer put his hand back down at his side.

"I wanted to help." Anora carefully said. Her lip was quivering as she picked herself up. Ephemer opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again when he found he couldn't. Slowly, carefully, Anora started to walk away from her friends. They all watched her in silence as she left the gym, not making any effort to try and stop her.

"I guess we'll meet back up again tomorrow?" Affie asked, hoping to change the mood a little.

"I'm alright with that." Mog agreed- nodding his head a bit too quickly. "What about you Ephemer?"

But Ephemer didn't answer him. Instead, the silver haired boy only stared at where Anora had been. When Mog was about to ask again, Ephemer started to get up.

"I can do that." he replied. "Same time, right?"

And, despite the tension, Mog gave a great big smile as he affirmed, "You bet!"

. . .

All three boys held their breath in waiting for Anora the next day. Even if they hadn't let her do much, it still felt wrong to start without her. They still needed to apologize too.

When Anora finally arrived, she looked like she had just rolled out of bed. A new round of guilt hit the boys as they watched her come over to them- in her hand was a shopping bag containing four bento boxes. Once she was close enough, Anora gave each of the boys a bento, then she sat down on the floor before she started to softly fuss over hers.

Confused, the boys looked at each other before mirroring her. Mog was the only one that reacted to the bento's contents in earnest. Ephemer tilted his head before giving the heart shaped sandwich a poke. He looked up at Anora and gave an ambiguous smile.

"It's not poisoned, is it?" Ephemer teasingly mused. Mog, who had already devoured half of his sandwich, suddenly stopped and gave Anora wide, fearful eyes. To his relief, she shook her head.

The four of them laughed at Mog's expense as they started to eat. After everyone was done eating, a silence filled the air around them. No one was quite sure on what to do next. It was Affie who turned to Anora and said, "We didn't mean for you to feel left out."

"It's like a curse!" Mog quickly declared. "We know you can do stuff, but we like you so much that we're just afraid of you getting hurt! And we kinda, sorta, smothered you in the process..."

"We really didn't mean to." Affie agreed. "Honest."

"We love you." Ephemer carefully added, earning eager nods from the other two.

Anora thought this over, lulling her head from side to side. When she looked up at them, she gave them a bright, wide smile; they were forgiven. For now.

As they returned to work, the boys made extra care to include Anora. They let her carry the lighter boxes around, they rotated on who was blowing up balloons with helium, and they made sure she had an opinion on every decoration placed. It was honestly still overbearing, but it was a tolerance Anora could allow for now. The boys were trying to make it up to her, after all.

When the four of them finished decorating the gym, they all took a step back and admired their handiwork. The gym was almost unrecognizable when every inch held banners, or party streamers, or balloons to hide the wood grained walls. So proud of their work, the four of them declared their mission a success, and bid each other good bye for the night. Ephemer insisted on walking Anora back to her dorm; after such a long day, she agreed without a second thought.

"So tomorrow's the dance, right?" Ephemer mused, if only to pass the time as they walked. "Time really flies, huh? After that it'll be the play, and then after that it'll be summer, and who knows what we're going to do next school year. I feel 10 years older just thinking about it."

Anora tilted her head from side to side in thought. She hadn't considered that far out yet. Surviving today seemed to be her main focus for the time being- considering what's happened to her this past month, it seemed to be the wisest choice.

"You haven't even told me what you're wearing yet," Ephemer playfully reminded her, "How am I going to recognize you?"

Anora gave him a funny little face as she thought it over.

"I'll still be me."

Ephemer smirked. "True enough." he agreed. The two didn't say much to each other after that, a small silence entering between them that didn't feel stifling. When they were a bit closer to the Vulpes girls' dorms, Ephemer lulled his head over in thought.

"If it's alright, we might all meet up at your dorm." he mused to Anora. "Skuld might come a bit early to help get ready- but Ven and I will definitely be there a little before 7. Is that alright with you?"

Anora nodded. She didn't mind; having Skuld to help sounded pretty nice too. Ephemer noted her reaction and gave a fond smile to himself.

"Just promise not to fall in love with me when I'm all dressed up." he then proceeded to tease. "Last time I wore a suit, Skuld asked me out on a date!"

That made Anora laugh, and Ephemer didn't waste any time in joining her. Without either of them knowing, they might already had fallen in love with each other...