I'm back you guys! I know I have other stories that seem to be on hold, but they're not! Promise! I'll post them as soon as I possibly can. College is stressing I tell you (not really)! Enough about my life problems though. Enjoy this chapter (despite it being a little shorter than normal)! God bless you guys!

XxxxXxxxX

How About Them Apples?

"Reanne! Is that you!?" Momoko practically screamed into the phone receiver. The timid orange Ojamajo confirmed it was her that Momoko was speaking to. Reanne quickly made her way up the flight of stairs to her room. She couldn't risk her parents or Baya listening in on her call. When she finally settled down on her bed, Reanne raised the phone back to her ear. In the right corner of her eye, she could make out her fairy peeking out of her crystal to see what the fuss was about.

"Sorry about the sudden pause in conversation Momoko. I needed to make sure no one could listen in." Reanne explained to her American friend. Reanne's fairy, Rena, came to sit on her companion's bed to listen to the conversation. It was obvious to her something was going down and it set her companion on edge.

"Don't worry about it. So, I'm assuming you saw the news?" Momoko guessed, now a little calmer than what she was before. Reanne gave a nod of her head before answering back.

"Yes. What was Mirabelle doing?"

"Well, I sure as heck don't know!"

A short beep came from both of the girls phones, indicating someone else was trying to get in on the conversation. Reanne hesitantly pressed the connect call button.

"Hello?"

"Reanne! Thank goodness I got ahold of you," Dorie sighed in relief.

"Yo Dorie! I was just about to call you next!" Momoko yelled.

"Momoko! You're here too? I got Ellie on the other line."

"Quick! Patch her in!" the hyperactive Ojamajo insisted. Two seconds later the child superstar joined in.

"What'd I miss?" the superstar questioned her friends.

"Nothing yet . . .," Reanne stated. She had been fiddling with the hem of her orange, button up skirt out of anxiousness. Rena looked at her with concern, wondering what would put her master in such a state of distress. Nevertheless, the orange fairy remained silent and would wait patiently for the phone conversation to end before voicing her concerns.

"So, what do you guys think?" Momoko asked.

"Uh . . . how about 'total screw-dom'? At least for Mirabelle anyway," Ellie concluded.

"Pretty much," Reanne agreed, albeit reluctantly. As much as she didn't want to think about it, Reanne could help but know that in some way Mirabelle was in big trouble. 'There's nothing more incriminating than evidence' she thought.

"Well, sort of," Caitlyn countered. She managed to grab the other house phone and get in the gathering. "The video footage didn't catch Mirabelle's face all that well," she pointed out, "and as far as we know, she hasn't been identified yet."

"True," Ellie hummed. Everyone else hummed silently in agreement.

"Well, whatever. Let's drop this subject for now and pick up tomorrow. I still got dinner to eat and we all have school tomorrow . . . unfortunately. We'll ask Mirabelle about it then."

With reluctance, everyone eventually agreed. As much as they wanted to indulge on the topic further, they also didn't want to talk about why their friend was wreaking havoc on an unsuspecting shopping district.

They all hung up their respective house phones after wishing each other a, somewhat, restful night's sleep. Reanne slowly placed her house phone on her night stand. She let out a deep sigh and flopped backwards to a laying position on her bed, nearly crushing her fairy in the process. Rena let out a yelp before ducking out of the way. She gave her master and companion a light glare at her very unladylike manner and for nearly flattening her. Reanne blushed in embarrassment and softly apologized at her behavior. She released another deep sigh and rolled on her side.

"Reanne, is something wrong? What has made you so upset?" Rena floated up to Reanne's face so she could look directly into her companion's eyes. From her perspective, Reanne's eyes looked sorrowful.

"It's just awful Rena. Mirabelle's run into some trouble. This could be the end of our secret as we know it. I hate to think of the consequences . . .," Reanne trailed off. Rena listened in disbelief at the sudden turn of events. She quickly flew closer to the young girl and cuddled next to her to cheer her up. Rena knew she may not be able to do much, but she would do everything in her power to see her master smile again. If she couldn't, then she would consider herself a failure as a fairy companion.

After dinner, Dorie quickly excused herself from the table and went up to her room. Dorie practically launched herself onto her bed in frustration. Her fairy, Dorieanna popped her head from out of her crystal just in time to see Dorie land face first onto one of the pillows. Dorieanna fully removed herself from her crystal and glided over to her companion. She sat crossed legged on the bed mere inches from her companion's buried face. Dorie sensed her presence when she landed on her bed and looked at her fairy from the corner of her right eye. Dorieanna cocked her head to the side with a worried expression on her face as if to say 'what's wrong'.

Dorie sighed into her pillow. She gently patted her fairy's head in response.

"Don't worry Dorieanna. What's bothering me will be sorted out by tomorrow. I hope," Dorie reassured. Dorieanna didn't respond and continued to look into her master's eyes. Dorie finally turned over to an upright position and laid there staring at her ceiling. 'How could it come to this?' the red head thought. Dorie contemplated on all the things that could have possibly went wrong. 'What could have caused Mirabelle to do what she did?' she pondered. Well whatever it was, it seemed to Dorie that her friend was in a state of extreme distress. So what was happening, from what she saw on the TV, was not of Mirabelle's own free will she guessed.

Taking another deep sigh, the red head decided to take her own advice and go to bed. She slipped under the covers and fluffed her pillows and hoped to get, at least, a decent night's rest. Before she closed her eyes, Dorie felt her fairy make a spot for herself on the pillow right next to her head. It seemed to Dorie her fairy didn't want to leave her side while she was stressing. Dorie smiled at herself at what a great friend she had.

"You know if you sleep there, there's a chance you're gonna get crushed if I turn over," Dorie mused. Dorieanna gave a huff in response and snuggled into the pillow, not giving her companion so much as a sideways glance and indicating she wasn't going anywhere for nobody. Dorie chuckled slightly and pulled up the covers so her friend wouldn't get cold during the night. "Goodnight Dorieanna, and thanks." Dorie closed her eyes and felt her mind drifting from consciousness. Though she had one more thought before her mind went blank; one that made her frown in realization. 'Queen Lumina is not going to be pleased . . .'

The sun's rays beamed through Dorie's window above her bed. They shined down on the red head, telling her it was time to rise for the new morning. Except, she didn't want to get up. She dreaded the coming morning, knowing she'd eventually have to go to school and face the accusing hordes of classmates and faculty who will, no doubt, be discussing last night's events. It also didn't help that she would also have to speak with the queen and somehow, if it comes down to it, convince her not to punish Mirabelle. The mere thought of it all made the poor girl's stomach lurch in anxiety.

She cracked her eyes open and took a glance at her clock. Seven fifteen it read. She was still early. Nevertheless, if she didn't get up now her mother would come up and get her herself. So, with great reluctance, Dorie pushed herself up from her bed into a sitting position. She rubbed her eyes and let out a long yawn, indicating her unrestful sleep. She glanced down at her pillow to see her fairy unharmed and was thankful she didn't accidently crush her during the night. Satisfied, Dorie got up from her bed and gave a stretch of her limbs giving off many relaxing cracks and pops from her tensed bones. Dorie proceeded to get dressed.

Dorieanna, who had woken up due to the shifting of Dorie moving off the bed, sat up and gave a yawn and stretch of her own. She then proceeded to watch her master carefully as she got ready for school. She was still unsure at what made her companion upset last night, but the fairy was determined to figure out the case and deal with it personally if she had to. Dorieanna very much hated seeing her friend upset. She looked on silently and eyed her friend closely as to locate any changes that might tip her off as to why Dorie was so distressed.

After putting on her clothes, brushing her teeth, and combing her hair, Dorie grabbed her backpack and headed downstairs for breakfast. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she heard the telltale sound of her mom shuffling in the kitchen. As the dining table slid into view, Dorie could see Caitlyn was already up and ready to go. Their dad was reading the newspaper like he usually does and was drinking a cup of freshly brewed coffee along with it. And plastered all over the newspaper that morning was Mirabelle's figure lifting a car larger than herself looking to get ready to throw. Dorie mentally cringed at photo before taking a seat at the table.

"Oh Dorie, you're up early," Mrs. Goodwyn noticed. She placed Dorie's breakfast in front of her and Dorie dug in after prayers.

"Yeah. Didn't sleep all that well last night," the red head admitted. Caitlyn slightly nodded in understanding. She didn't sleep so well last night either.

"Oh? Well hopefully you'll be fully awake by the time you get to school," Mrs. Goodwyn smiled. Dorie and Caitlyn briefly ceased their chewing and cringed at the thought of school. It went unnoticed by their parents and they continued eating as if they hadn't stopped in the first place.

When they two girls finished, they thanked their mother for the meal and grabbed their backpacks. They slowly slipped on their shoes, waved goodbye to their parents and left the house. It wasn't long before they found themselves in the crowd of children making their way up the hill to the school. The two sisters gave a deep sigh, dreading the coming school day. There was no doubt in their minds that everyone had watched the news last night. If they didn't well then they had to have seen this morning's paper. If there was one thing going for this school it would definitely have to be its gossip channel. With people like Josie around to talk about it all day long and people like Penny to produce the proof, this new realization would be all over the place in a matter of hours. No one was safe from it. Everyone would be calling Mirabelle a criminal before anyone realized it.

The two sisters parted ways giving each other a wary goodbye. It wasn't long before Dorie reached her classroom. She opened the door and prepared for the worst. And, to say the least, the class was in an uproar. She really couldn't say much about the other sixth grade classes but Dorie's class was all over the place. Regardless, Dorie tried to ignore it as much as possible as she made her way to her seat. She noticed that Hana had arrived earlier than she had and had already taken her seat. She had an obvious confused facial expression at the demeanor of the class and wondered what got them so riled up. They were all talking so fast and loud she couldn't make out any of it. Dorie had also noticed that Momoko hadn't made an appearance yet. She was most likely taking her sweet time getting to school today. Dorie could definitely relate.

The pink Ojamajo opted to rest her head on her desk and look out the window. She drowned out the surrounding noise and tried to get some form of sleep before class started. No more than ten minutes later, Momoko strode in. The Japanese-American girl looked like the living dead when she entered the classroom. Hana cringed at the sight. She wasn't expecting her friend to enter the school looking like road kill. Despite her looks and mental state, Momoko managed to find her seat well enough. Her head slammed on the desk with an audible thud and Hana found herself unconsciously rubbing her forehead as a reaction. Not even a few seconds later, Hana could hear soft snoring coming from the yellow Ojamajo.

Hana had no idea as to why her mama and Momoko were so tired that morning. She shrugged in confusion before turning her attention back to her rambunctious classmates.

Ellie and Reanne somehow arrive to their classroom at the same time. Their figures were tense with nervousness and they were beginning to be reluctant in entering the classroom. They were standing right outside the door and could already hear the yelling and screaming from inside. They looked at the door with skepticism, but eventually motioned to open it. The sliding door glided aside easy enough, though in return, the volume from the hall immediately increased due to the opening of the door. The two girls recoiled due to shock at the sheer force of the yelling and very loud talking, if one could even call it that.

Ellie and Reanne shuffled inside after regaining their bearings and quickly took to their assigned seats. How anyone could understand anyone else was beyond comprehension at this point. All their classmates were speaking at such a loud and fast pace, the two girls couldn't make out any of what was being said. Ellie and Reanne summed it up to being tired and exhausted from the events from last night, and that they both hadn't gotten enough sleep.

Ellie rubbed her eyes tiredly while Reanne was attempting to fall asleep and catch up on some much needed rest she didn't get. About 5 minutes before the bell rang, Mirabelle trudged in the classroom looking like she had seen a ghost. Ellie caught her entering from the corner of her eye. She nearly gasped out loud when she got a good look at her. Mirabelle looked extremely pale, like she was sick with disease. Her eyes were sort of hollow and seemingly empty. Not to mention she looked very weak and exhausted. She looked as if she was about to drop dead any second.

Ellie roughly shook Reanne awake, eyes still glued to the blue-haired girl's figure. Reanne awoke with a start, upset someone had awaken her when she had finally gotten to sleep. She gave Ellie a hard glare, which for her didn't mean much, but was soon distracted when she spotted Mirabelle. Reanne nearly shot up from her seat in surprise and worry. Mirabelle looked terrible. 'Perhaps she feels bad about the trouble she caused yesterday', Reanne deduced. Mirabelle sat heavily in her seat, placed her head on her desk, and covered her face with her arms so no one could see the pitiful expression she was sporting.

Never one to wait for answers, Ellie was about to rouse the down hearted girl from her depressed state and demand about what the heck she was thinking last night. Reanne luckily undermined this intention by grabbing the purple actress' shoulder. She gave a firm shake of her head that clearly said 'later'. With a huff, the child star plopped back into her seat and crossed her arms. Ellie was thoroughly aggravated.

With a sigh, Reanne sat back down in her seat and stared at Mirabelle with sorrowful eyes.

"I can't believe it! I can't believe I caught the scoop of the century!" Penny exclaimed full of excitement.

"I knew those girls were trouble! Right from the start!" Josie huffed. She had a definite scowl over her face that clearly stated that she was going to bury these mystery girls with any and all resources she had.

Hana could hear Dorie grumble something incoherent. Probably something insulting just to spite Josie, but the blonde didn't hear it. Momoko twitched uncomfortably at the statement despite the fact she was dead asleep, snoring away.

"They looked so nice and care free in the photos . . ." a student debated but trailed off at the end.

"Just goes to show you can't judge a book by its cover!" Josie challenged. The class continued to bicker back and forth about the mystery girls. Some students still on their side, saying the videos on the news were some kind of trick that the media was using, others were against them saying something should be done about them.

Dorie couldn't concentrate on blocking out the noise anymore. It hurt her to think that her own classmates would be against her and her friends. Then it also touched her to hear that some of them would still give them the benefit of the doubt and trust them. Dorie's heart was torn in two thinking about it. Luckily she didn't have to think about it much longer as the bell rang for class to begin. Everyone quickly ran to their seats and waited for Ms. Cooper to arrive. Dorie picked her head up from her desk and tried to at least look interested in the front of the classroom. She noticed from the corner of her eye that Momoko was still sound asleep. With a sigh, she snapped her fingers to get Hana's attention. Hana looked to Dorie with a questioned look. Dorie nodded her head in Momoko's direction. Hana looked over and noticed the yellow Ojamajo still sleeping. Hana guessed that her mother wanted her to wake the sleeping girl up. God knows Ms. Cooper hates it when kids sleep in her class. Hana nodded back to Dorie and swiftly kicked one of Momoko's chair legs to startle her awake.

The Japanese-American girl jolted from her sleep and frantically searched the surrounding area. She caught Hana's apologetic smile as the younger girl swiveled her eyes back up front. Momoko yawned and stretched just as Ms. Cooper walked in the room. After the class greeting, Ms. Cooper set down her papers and skimmed over everyone in the room. She sighed and opened her mouth to speak.

"I know everyone saw the news last night, but regardless of what everyone saw, from here on out no one is to speak of this incident."

A loud chorus of disbelief echoed throughout the classroom. A student spoke up in agitation.

"But why Ms. Nishizawa!?"

"I'm sorry but that's what the school decided. No more talk about what was seen on the news last night. It'll disrupt class," Ms. Nishizawa explained. To say that the students were down trotted was an understatement. Well, Ellie and Reanne were glad for one. Mirabelle on the other hand didn't even react at the news. This greatly worried her two friends. Everyone, albeit reluctantly, returned their attention to the lesson at hand. Some spare glances were thrown at the blue-haired girl from Reanne and Ellie, but they left her be until lunch.

By the time lunch hit, it was obvious that, even despite what the school ordered, everyone was still gossiping about the news. It's not like the school could stop them; there's only so many faculty and even more students. They couldn't stop them all. Also, it's not like the faculty themselves weren't interested in last night's news. And that's were Ms. Cooper found herself. Inside the nurse's office with Ms. Shannon discussing the topic, though Ms. Cooper herself didn't know how it was brought up.

"Well, what do you think? About this whole situation I mean?" the teacher inquired.

Ms. Shannon knew what her long-time friend meant when she asked that question. However, Ms. Cooper, not knowing who she really was, couldn't have asked a worse question. Despite this, Ms. Shannon tried to give an answer without really answering.

"If I were to give my opinion, this 'situation' has nothing directly to do with us. We weren't harmed and nothing too severe was done. We should leave it be and let the authorities handle it" the nurse replied. She didn't bother looking at her friend as she did, keeping her eyes focused on her work. This didn't go unnoticed by Ms. Cooper but the teacher let it go as being the case of the jitters because of the situation. She pressed a bit further anyway.

"Yes, but what if we were? I'll admit I had my good thoughts about those girls at first, but now . . . I'm not so sure."

Ms. Shannon shook her head. 'If she only knew who she was really talking about' the nurse thought. Ms. Shannon didn't reply to her friend's accusation and the air was filled with silence. That was until the sliding door opened and in walked Dorie along with her posse. Ms. Cooper looked at the group in mild surprise. They all reacted about the same. Ms. Shannon, glad for the distraction, immediately gave her attention to the girls. She was also glad for the fact that the newcomers to her office were exactly the girls she needed to see. The school nurse excused herself from the previous conversation, in which Ms. Cooper took the hint of dismissal and made her way out of the office.

Now completely alone, the tone in the atmosphere changed significantly. Ms. Shannon was obviously worried for the blue Ojamajo, but at the same time she had to ask what the heck the girl was thinking.

"Mirabelle, I hope you have a good explanation for what you've done last night" the nurse started. The girls looked at Mirabelle with questioning looks of their own. What none of them expected, though, were the rush of tears streaming down the poor girl's face as she looked up from the tiled floor. Suddenly, the once tough-as-rock girl was on her hands and knees apologizing profusely. Everyone present was thoroughly shocked. Dorie wasted no time gathering her crying friend into her arms and rubbing her back comfortingly.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen! I wish I could take it back!" the country girl sobbed. At this, the nurse didn't know what to say. Neither did the girl's friends. They were all too stunned.

"All I was tryin' to do was help! And then I get tossed into this whole fiasco! It's those monsters' fault!"

That caught everyone's attention.

"What do you mean? Explain" the nurse pressed.

"Those monsters that have been destroyin' the Lunaverse attacked me last night as I was going home. They had somehow 'took over' some people that were walkin' down the street. The next thing I knew, I saw 'em phase out of the people and they attacked me!"

The group was appalled at what they just heard. Their friend had been attacked and mercilessly beaten. This realization caused blood to boil, and none more so than the queen herself.

"So . . . they've finally made their way here. Tell me, where are they now?" the queen inquired. Mirabelle shook her head.

"I'm not sure. I defeated 'em and was jus' 'bout to check up on the people, when they disappeared in a puff of dark smoke. Once I was 'bout to get away after makin' sure the folks were alright, the police showed up. Ya'll know the rest."

The queen nodded in understanding. They were gone for now, but who knew when they were going to show up next. Mirabelle finally had the strength to return to her feet and was suddenly embraced by all her friends, sans Dorie. They gave words of encouragement and told her this wasn't her fault and they would all find a way around it. The comfort of her friends almost sent the girl into another fit of tears. Ms. Shannon herself also gave Mirabelle a hug.

"You did what anyone else would've done, including myself. I apologize for this sudden turn of events and I also apologize for unintentionally putting stress on all of you. Mirabelle, you have to be one of the bravest children I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I thank you for what you've done. I'm sorry about all of this."

Mirabelle return the gesture with a tight squeeze of her own and was grateful for the queen's understanding nature. As they parted, Ms. Shannon looked at the group before her. They were all so young yet so mature. She almost wished they weren't apart of this predicament. Alas, there was nothing she could do about it now but to press forward and hope for the better.

Hana, now knowing of the situation due to a previous explanation given by her mother, questioned, "What do we do now?"

AFTER SCHOOL

"So that's what happened" Caitlyn surmised. She and her sister were walking home after a long day at school. Dorie nodded her head in affirmance. "Poor, Mirabelle. She had to go the whole night thinking that she possibly screwed us over!"

"Yeah, I can't even imagine . . ." the elder sibling trailed off. "Well, for now we have to keep our eyes sharp. Going off what happened with Mirabelle and what she told us, those monsters are already in our world. It doesn't help that we don't know where they are."

Caitlyn nodded in agreement. "Not to mention, based off what Mirabelle said, that they can possess anyone and are crazy tough to fight. I definitely wouldn't want to cross any of them anytime soon."

Despite how much more powerful the girls have gotten, Dorie could help but agree with her sibling. It wasn't going to be an easy fight as far as any of them could tell.