XVI. Appointment
"What! That's not even remotely true! Hahaha. Ha. Ha. Right Barbara?" Hannah laughed nervously eating her potatoes and looking at Barbara.
"Yeah! You know how people are around here. They like to spread rumors that aren't remotely true." Barbara said with an anxious smile on her face.
Diana eyed both of them with suspicion as she ate a polite spoonful of corn, careful not to get any of the juices on her chin. They were in the courtyard of the school during lunchtime. Seeing as there were so many students Diana had a reputation to uphold. At the same time promised herself that she would be more open and honest with her teammates.
"You two asked me what I was doing in the library and to not leave out any details." Diana stated simply.
Both girls looked at each other and decided Barbara should pop the question.
"So… does that mean that you are a… you know not a bottom?" Barbara ventured squeishly.
Diana nearly choked on a piece of chicken. She composed herself, turning red and looking off to the side blushing, she answered.
"That's not a topic that should be discussed here." Diana said simply, she was trying to evade the question. How was she supposed to know? She hadn't even had sex yet.
Hannah smirked. "Okay. But you better have an answer cause once we get back to the room you need to spill it!"
"Yeah." Barbara piped up. "Honesty is the foundation of a team. Like professor Ursula said in class today."
Diana signed and heard rapid footsteps approach her left side.
"Diana! Diana, there you are!"
Diana was bulldozed by a cheerful Akko, narrowly avoiding spilling over her tray and food. Sucy and Lotte sat down beside Hannah and Barbara as Diana tried but failed, to peal Akko off of her.
"Aww, come on, Diana! I missed you. I didn't see you in the hallway between classes or when we got to the cafeteria! I need my daily dose of my Diana!" Akko said letting Diana sit up, but refusing to take her arm away from Diana's side.
"Yeah. She wouldn't shut up about it, until we decide to try and find you." Sucy said pulling out a mushroom and Swiss sandwich and licking her lips.
Hannah gave Sucy a disgusted look as the witch devoured her sandwich with a toothy smile.
"Sucy, don't say that! Akko was just concerned as we all are. How are things, Diana?" Lotte asked taking a sip of her juice box.
Diana looked over the courtyard to where the trio of fans were sitting. The student who had challenged her was sitting over there laughing at a joke.
"Well, it seems most people know about my relationship preferences. The other day another student confronted me about it." Diana said, she was still sore over the confrontation.
"Yeah, Diana challenged her to a duel! It was so cool!" Barbara said with Hannah nodding.
"Isn't that against school policy?" Lotte asked shyly as Sucy smirked and giggled.
"Really! Are you going to fight her, Diana?" Akko asked. Before Diana could answer, Akko's eyes gleamed and she smiled at Diana.
"That's so cool! If it's a magic duel I'm sure you'll win! She'll have no idea what's coming. I'll be there to cheer you on, the whole way!" Akko said grabbing Diana's arm.
Diana blushed hard and chuckled. "I'm not sure when or what type of duel this will be. I only promised that I would win."
"A typical Diana answer." Sucy remarked.
Akko was hanging all over Diana smiling and laughing. Diana was smirking and generally downplaying all of the complements the brown haired witch showered on her. Lotte then remembered something. She hated to be the bearer of bad news but she felt like she needed to ask. Lotte sighed knowing that she would bring down the mood.
"Diana, I hate to ask this but have you had to see Doctor Klein yet?" Lotte asked.
Most of the group stopped laughing and joking and looked at Diana. Barbara kept laughing but soon stopped after reading the situation.
That was something Diana had been trying to forget about for the past few days. She had tried to push all the thoughts of people gossiping about her away, but it seemed inescapable. The secret was out and it was the popular opinion that she was in fact gay. The last thing she wanted to deal with was Daryl and Doctor Klien. Akko rubbed Diana's arm when the blonde witch didn't answer right away.
"No, I haven't, but I suspect that today will be the day. My Aunt informed me that Thursday would be the day for my weekly appointment." Diana said growing sadder as she recounted all of this.
"You mean the she-devil." Sucy said plainly. Lotte didn't try to correct her on that one.
"No way!" Akko said firmly. She locked her arm around Diana's and looked around suspiciously.
"Akko what are you doing?" Diana asked, she was halfway curious what Akko's reasoning would be for grabbing on to her like this.
"You shouldn't have to go! She's evil and she's trying to hurt by making you go to this phony doctor! Last time I tried to stop you, I failed and you got hurt." Akko said dismayed.
"I won't let it happen again! I… I don't want to see you hurting anymore than you already have." Akko said tears falling down her face.
Diana sadly looked away. She knew Akko worried about her, but this type of thing wasn't going to get any easier. She would have to endure a lot in order to trick Daryl into a false sense of security, then surprise her, but not a moment before. How was she going to make Akko understand this?
"Akko…" Diana started.
Akko shook her head vigorously and looked at Diana was hurt in her eyes.
Sucy jumped in. "She needs to keep the illusion up. If she defies her Aunt now, it will result in worse punishment."
The pain in Akko's eyes broke Diana's heart. She hated this.
"Diana." A voice called. The group looked behind Diana to see Professor Ursula.
Diana looked behind her to see the loveable teacher with a worried look on her face. She looked conflicted, like she was having second thoughts about doing this. Diana had a sinking feeling about this.
"Diana, your Aunt is here. You have a doctor's appointment to go to." Ursala said seeing everyone's concerned faces. Diana sighed wiping her face and placing her tray aside. Akko made a motion to stop Diana but Lotte held her back. Diana followed Professor Urusla without looking back. She didn't want to see Hannah and Barbara's concern ridden faces nor did she want to see Akko's sad eyes.
Those eyes would give Diana more pain than Aunt Daryl could ever inflict. Diana walked across the courtyard projecting her classic cool calm demeanor but it was threatening to give way to panic. Her memories of Doctor Klein were painful and full or humiliation and shame. She remembered all of it despite trying to block it out. Now she was forced to relive all of those memories. She was being forced to go through all of the contradictory brainwashing again.
The hallways felt like they were shifting around her as Diana followed Professor Urusla down the hallway toward the main office. Diana knew this wasn't magic but the result of her body having a bad reaction to what her brain knew. Diana once again felt nausea and a sense of lightheadedness. At the end of the hallway outside of the main office stood Daryl. She was looking around and glancing at her watch impatiently.
Diana felt like her eyes were swimming in her head as the lightheadedness surged on. Daryl caught sight of her and smiled.
Professor Urusla was again visibly uncomfortable around the Cavendishs and made an excuse to go into the office. In a moment of weakness Diana wanted to grab onto the Professor and beg for Ursula to take her with her. Diana dismissed these thoughts once Daryl's eyes were trained on her.
This was going to be miserable but Diana knew not to show weakness. At the same time like Sucy had mentioned she had to play along with her Aunt's wishes.
"Well, it took you long enough. Honestly, how hard is it to find one student out of a few hundred?" Daryl remarked, obviously a little miffed.
"I do hope this is important enough for me to miss the rest of the school day and not another frivolous waste of time." Diana shot back.
Daryl put her arm around Diana's shoulder and started to lead her outside to the front of the school. "Oh, Diana. I don't know when you are going to learn this but I might as well tell you again."
Daryl looked around and leaned into Diana whispering with a plastered smile on her face. "I will 'waste' as much of your time as I see fit. Haha not that there's anything you can do about it anyway." Daryl antagonized.
An expensive black car pulled up to the two women. Before Diana got in she overheard a conversation.
"Wow! Diana's leaving school early! God, she's so lucky!" One student exclaimed.
"Yeah. It must be nice to be a Cavendish. She probably gets everything. Beauty, brains and talent." Another said.
Diana looked away from the window as she got into the back seat. They were the lucky ones, they had no idea how fortunate they were. Diana thought silently.
Daryl sat in the seat next to Diana. The driver shifted gears as they closed the doors and started on the route to Doctor's Klien's office. Daryl shifted comfortably in her seat with a smile on her face, blatantly looking at Diana. Diana watched the windows now, through their tinted and concealed panes. She looked at all the students they passed and grew jealous.
"So, 'beauty, brains and talent'. Hmph. You certainly have no shortage of admirers." Aunt Daryl remarked pulling out a compact and lipstick.
"It shouldn't come as a surprise. Cavendish is a prestigious name, as you take every opportunity to remind me." Diana said with little emotion in her tone.
Daryl finished touching up her lipstick and put away her makeup smirking haughtily.
"I bet you enjoy being having all of those schoolgirls fussing over you, don't you?" Daryl taunted.
Diana sighed, more of this? She was nervous about the doctor's appointment but still she was getting tired of the same boring routine with her Aunt.
"You act like I shouldn't like accepting compliments." Diana remarked breaking her gaze from the passing scenery.
"I bet you're accepting a lot more than compliments. That's the whole reason why for this appointment." Aunt Daryl said.
Diana sighed, rolling her eyes and looking back to the window. The nausea was still there but this was just exhausting. Why, was this the only topic her Aunt was interested in discussing? Diana decided to keep quiet for the rest of the drive. She was not going to give her Aunt more ammunition to use against her.
Though the passing trees and streets Diana wondered, why did Daryl care about her sexuality so much? It had to be more than just the shame of others finding out. No it was more than that. Diana searched her brain thinking hard on this, there were some things that didn't make sense. Diana snuck a glance at her Aunt. The comments that she had just made to her minutes ago, about schoolgirls and other exchanges.
Diana didn't know why but that felt personal, but it was almost like Aunt Daryl had insider knowledge about the kinds of situations that Diana would encounter. Daryl seemed to know and care an awful lot about being a lesbian, but why? Did she see someone go through the same motions as Diana or was it something else?
"Nearly there ladies." The driver said quickly.
"Good. Diana, I want you to take these sessions seriously, but it's also in your best interest to cooperate. If this turns into failure, just remember I can take more drastic measures. Got it?" Daryl said looking at Diana, who refused to say anything.
"Maybe you'll hear me if I say I'll pull you out of Luna Nova permanently."
Diana's eyes involuntarily went wide with shock. Her breathing became more shallow and Diana swallowed attempting to straighten her posture. That was a raw deal, no Luna Nova, no more magic and no more Akko. It stung and Diana evaded her Aunt's gaze submissively.
Aunt Daryl smiled as the car slowed down. The window showed that they were close to Doctor Klein's office as other buildings came into view. Daryl folded her arms and smugly leaned back in her seat, waiting for a response.
"I hear you." Diana said quickly. Daryl frowned and leaned closer.
"Hmmm. That's not very convincing Diana. You're going to have to do a lot better than that."
She was really twisting the knife in on this one. Diana knew they were close to the office but Daryl wasn't going to let her go until she was satisfied.
"I understand, I'll do my best to work through my issues." Diana said submissively, she hoped that this would be good enough but Daryl wanted more.
"There's boarding school, but I think homeschooling would be a favorable option in this case." Daryl hinted evilly.
"Fine!" Diana finally said desperately. She had to appease Daryl. She couldn't stand being torn away from Akko and the circle of support that had cropped up around her.
"Thank you for giving me the chance to be fixed. I know I disappointed you at the ball and I want to do better. I want to fight this." Diana shed a couple of tears as her eyes threatened to spill more.
"There." Diana said in defeat. "Are you satisfied now?"
Daryl smiled. "For now, yes."
The car stopped at their destination. Diana composed herself and opened the car door. Before she could get out Daryl stopped her with a change in tone.
"Remember." Daryl started. Diana turned around scared.
"If you want to keep going to Luna Nova with all of your little witch friends, you better make sure that I'm satisfied" Daryl threatened, in possibly the most terrifying tone Diana had heard.
Diana couldn't get out of the car quickly enough.