AN: Alright, now this is picking up speed. Still haven't gotten any suggestions or requests for something, so I came up with this. Keep in mind that Bloom's never actually lied yet to anyone - she works around that by being vague enough that people assume what they want. Loki taught her well. Enjoy! Please give a suggestion if you have one!

It's been about a week since Bloom and her new friends started classes at Alfea, and she finds she's pretty good at this 'college' stuff. It's definitely easier than trying to fight the Einherjar at age five, and not nearly as daunting either. Of course, given the fact that Techna is literally the smartest person she knows…

Bloom looks up as Flora opens the door to their shared room, saying "Bloom, you ready to go?"

"Go? Oh, right, to town. Yeah, coming!" She jumps up off the bed, grateful for the distraction from her thoughts - she could tell they were heading straight to Loki again, almost any topic eventually brings her around to the brother she lost.

In all truth, she doesn't blame anyone completely - Thor, a little, because the whole mess started out as Loki getting back at Thor for his arrogance and ego - but everything she sees or does that reminds her even a little of Asgard leads somehow straight to what Loki would think or do.

Right now, they're going out to get Bloom a phone, and then go for some kind of food called pizza - something she's never heard of before, but isn't going to say that - and that's good because there's no way that can remind her of her brother in any way. When they get down to the pizza place, Bloom's immediately hit with the most amazing smell of food.

Oh. My. Entities. This smells amazing!

They order their pizzas, and the first bite is like heaven to Bloom - why don't they have pizza on Asgard?! Bloom gets a sausage pizza with extra cheese - and is completely convinced she's never tasted something so good in her whole life.

All four other girls are staring at her after her third piece weirdly, and she hesitantly asks "What?"

Flora says "You act like you've never had pizza before!"

Bloom nervously smiles and wipes the pizza sauce off her face before saying, "Um, yeah. They don't have pizza back home. Sorry." She still hasn't told them the specifics about her childhood, both because Loki's death is still too fresh in her mind even after so many weeks and because of Daphne's warning in her head - the warning that nobody here even knows of the Realm Eternal or her people. She really doesn't want her new friends to think she's a liar or a weirdo, so she's kept quiet about the specific details of her past - where exactly she grew up and came from, the names of her brothers, etc.

Musa says "Well, we happen to love pizza here - it's practically a staple of people's diets here."

Techna automatically says "No, that's actually false. Pizza just happens to be really delicious, not a main part of a balanced diet. That would be-"

Musa interrupts, saying "Techna, I wasn't being that serious! I just meant pizza's really good so people eat a lot of it!"

"…Oh. Right. I'm not that used to expressions yet."

Techna's cheeks flush a light pink that matches her hair, and Stella jokingly says "Besides, I bet Sky likes pizza as well."

Now it's Bloom's turn to blush, she can feel her cheeks matching her hair perfectly. She takes another bite off the slice of pizza in front of her, and asks "What about Sky?"

"We can all see you blushing! Just like at the party we threw! Don't try to say you don't like him, Bloom!"

Bloom can feel her face going even redder, and says "We talked for a few minutes, Stella! That doesn't mean anything…" She takes another bite of her pizza, then tries the soda they got her and immediately starts sucking it down.

Why, oh why, don't they have this stuff on Asgard?!

She quickly realizes everyone at the table is staring at her, and Musa asks "No soda back home either, huh?"

"Yeah…"

Stella enthusiastically says "Well, we'll have to make up for that then!" She orders another pizza to go, and they head back to Alfea - with Bloom carrying the steaming pizza easily in her arms.

When they get back to Alfea, they find the boys from the party are there in the courtyard for a visit. Stella runs over to Brandon at once, Techna and Timmy start looking up games on their phones they can play together, etc. Riven is as cold as the last time he was there, and Sky is as warm and friendly as before as well. Bloom looks at the floor, at the walls, at the pizza in her arms - anywhere and at anything but the blonde boy who makes her heart nearly beat out of her chest every time she glances his way.

"Hey, you want me to hold that?"

Bloom suddenly snaps back to reality, only to find Sky's maybe a foot away and offering to hold the pizza box in her arms. Bloom immediately squeaks out, "Um, no! It's fine, really." She can feel her entire face go red with embarrassment, why did her voice have to go so high?!

Great job, Bloom. Really, best way to make a fool of yourself in front of him.

"Isn't that hot though? I can see the steam coming off the box." Sky tries to take the box out of her hands, and accidentally brushes her arm - it's like he's just hit her with one of that curly-haired witch's spells, or something.

Bloom jerks back and hastily says "N-no, it's fine. Fire powers and all. I should-I should get back to the dorm. Put the pia away, meet you guys - girls! - up there. Um, bye. Nice seeing you again, Sky - guys!" Bloom practically runs into the building, hoping against hope that Sky didn't see her blush spreading down to what felt like the bottoms of her toes. She quietly mutters just loud enough for herself to hear "Stupid, stupid, I'm so stupid!" Great job, really, are you just trying to make a fool of yourself, Bloom?

In the courtyard, Sky's staring where Bloom ran in the building like he's torn between going after her or not. Stella bursts out laughing, saying "Well, that happened!"

Flora says "Stella! Could you be a little more sensitive?"

Techna says "Bloom usually isn't nearly that self-conscious - and the temperature went up about four degrees in maybe a minute, a sign of Bloom's nervousness."

Stella sings out "Someone's in loove!"

Sky sighs, and says "Look, Stella, we've known each other for years. I know you're trying to play matchmaker between Bloom and I, but-"

"But what? You said it yourself, you like Bloom - and from the twenty different shades of red her face turns every time your mentioned, she's head-over-wings for you!"

Sky hasn't told them just yet about the arranged marriage between him and Diaspro - which he's currently trying to get out of, since beforer he met Bloom - but right now he's trying to have her as a friend, liking her or not - and besides, all he told Stella was that Bloom was pretty, not that he was in love with her or anything. He asked Stella if she could introduce him to Bloom and maybe help them be friends - but Bloom seems really shy around him, and Stella's jumping to conclusions about why.

As for him, he can't stop thinking about her, he thinks she's the hottest girl he's ever met, but he's not going to cheat on Diaspro. "Stella, I just want her to be a friend at the moment. I know you think we're going to be the next rulers of Eraklyon and all, but-"

"But? But what?"

"But she can't or won't say two words to me without running off and her face going as red as a stop light!"

Flora says "Look, she lost her brother a few months ago, then she moves here, let's just give her some time. Speaking of which, I'll go after her. We might've finished up homework, but Bloom seems really interested in Scrying for some reason. Maybe to keep in touch with the rest of her family, I don't know though."

Techna says "Either way, she isn't finding whatever or whoever she's looking for - I've seen her nearly break down at points."

Stella says "Look, she saved all our lives when she came up with the idea to make the monster the Trix summoned slip on soap and knock itself out in the auditorium - and she saved my life before that by hitting it over the head with that broom. I say we-"

Musa interrupts, saying "Yeah, we remember. She's fast on her feet and knows how to fight."

"THAT'S IT!"

Musa covers her ears and glares at Stella, and everyone else is looking at her like she's just sprouted rabbit ears. Flora asks "What's it?"

"Bloom knows how to fight! Maybe we can use that to find some common ground with Sky!"

Sky asks "How? And exactly how is that going to get her any more comfortable even talking to me?"

Timmy says "Well, we could ask her to spar with us. Say it's practice for Red Fountain training."

Techna hits a few buttons on her phone, and says "Well, that has a sixty-seven percent chance of working. It increases to seventy-eight percent chance if Sky doesn't go first - give her a round or two to get into it, or more relaxed." She takes Sky's phone for a moment, and types in a new contact number - Bloom's. They already shared theirs during the party - which is when they realized B, which is when Bloom said she forgot some stuff back home and most things there weren't nearly as advanced as here.

Musa says "We'll give her all your info when we see her, along with ours, and then pass along the invitation of her sparring with you all."

Riven snorts sarcastically, and says "She hit that thing over the head, that doesn't prove anything."

Techna says "Nobody else had any luck fighting it, while she got it to let go of Stella in one blow. The chances of her being the best at hand-to-hand fighting in this school are ninety-two percent, given the fact that her adopted parents seemed to think it was important that she know how to defend herself."