Author's Note: Thank you all for reviews, I read them all! Some of your notes lead me to try to clarify points from previous chapters. Tamicia02 – I hope I've addressed your comment about the motorcycle. Kyoshiob69 – I hope you get what you asked for in this chapter J

Author's Note #2: Warning: don't read right before, during, or right after eating.

When Lauren's aunt Ashley returned home that evening, the cozy townhome they rented in the suburbs was dark and quiet. She poked her head in the kitchen, unsurprised to see several more muffins missing from the serving tray since she packed Lauren's lunch in the morning, but no signs that dinner was eaten. She came up the stairs to the second floor where both bedrooms were located, separated by a small loft that served as the office for them both. She knocked softly on the door to Lauren's room before entering.

Lauren was lying in her bed, her 'Pinky and The Brain'-print comforter pulled up over her head.

"Lauren, are you awake, sweetheart?" she whispered, bending over the teen.

A few moments later the bundle shifted and a tear-stricken face poked out.

"Oh, munchkin, are they teasing you at school again?" Ashley sat on Lauren's bed and wrapped the teen in a hug. "I thought things were better this year, with this girl – Bo was it? – looking after you?"

"When she's there…" Lauren shrugged.

"What happened today?"

Lauren shifted, trying to sit up, and extricated herself from the hug, but not moving away from her aunt's comforting presence.

"Nothing unusual." She answered, and Ashley decided not to press for details.

They were quiet for a while, just sitting side by side, both lost in thought, until Lauren looked up at her aunt. "Aunt Ash, is it OK if I spend some time at the chem lab at the U this weekend? I have a project I need to work on."

"Sure, munchkin. I need to spend some time at work this weekend as well – we are starting cell division on Monday, and I need to see how many of our microscopes are still working, and if there is anything I can do to fix the rest."

"Did they approve your request for parts?" Lauren asked, knowing her aunt, who taught Chemistry and Biology at a public high school, sent monthly requisitions to the principle for various tools a science teacher would need to make an effective lesson.

Ashley laughed. "No, and I can't blame them. This is a third year in a row their budget got cut. So it's back to cannibalizing old equipment for any available parts for me. Wish me luck."

"You don't need luck. You are brilliant, aunt Ash."

"Thank you, munchkin." Ashley kissed the teen in the temple. Or, rather, temple is what she aimed for, anyway.

"Ow, ew, not the ear again, aunt Ash" Lauren wined, wiping at the imaginary moisture on her ear.

Ashley just chucked. "Sorry, kiddo." She got up to get started on dinner, but stopped at the threshold. "Are we're still on for backing cookies Sunday night?"

Lauren seemed to consider the question, even though backing on Sunday nights was a tradition in their home. "That's actually… yeah, that'll work. Can we do chocolate chip raisin?"

"Sure, honey, I'll get raisins at the store tomorrow." Her aunt agreed, predictably.

"No, it's OK, I'll pick them up myself. There are few other things I want anyway." Lauren was quick to intercede.

"OK by me. Dinner will be ready in 10." Ashley said and went back downstairs, happy that her niece seemed much happier when she left the girl's room than when she came in.

That weekend went by faster than most and provided few opportunities for rest, so by midmorning on Monday Lauren wanted more than anything to find a quiet space for a short nap. But that would need to wait until after she got home. When the bell for lunch break went off, she hurried to her locker. She opened it and extracted a hermetically sealed container with a large batch of cookies she baked with Ashley the night before.

She watched as kids darted around their lockers, some dropping off their book bags before going off to the cafeteria, others grabbing lunch bags. She spotted one of the girls from Bo's soccer team approaching just moments later and was both elated and anxious to recognize her.

She pulled the lid off the container and a sweet smell of freshly baked cookies invaded the hallway in seconds. Lauren watched as Clio made a beeline to where she stood in front of her locker.

"Ah, nerdypants, what have you got there?" Clio greeted the younger teen, grabbing the container and pulling it out of Lauren's hands with little effort. She took a long whiff of the cookies and a dissolved into a semi-orgasmic smile. "Thanks, shithead. Bring stuff like that in every day this week and maybe we'll let you sit with us again next Friday." She told Lauren and marched off to the cafeteria.

Lauren took a few deep breaths before extracting her lunch bag from the locker and following the older girl. Once inside, she quickly spotted the table where Clio, Bo and the soccer team were holding court, then found a still empty table across the room and headed there. She took a seat that afforded her a good view of Bo's table and dug into her lunch. A few minutes later, so saw a shadow looming over her and looked up to see two girls from book club she met last week flanking her from both sides.

"Mind if we join you?" one of them - a blond about Lauren's size – asked politely.

Confused, but not overly alarmed, Lauren nodded her OK at the older girls. They sat in silence for a few moments, the two newcomers sitting together and throwing furtive looks at each other, until the taller of the two – a brunette with chocolate skin and gorgeous long curly hair – cleared her throat and looked straight at Lauren.

"Sorry about the other day… you know…" She trailed off to see if Lauren would say something. Lauren remained silent, but seemed amenable to the topic, so she went on. "Bo sometimes hangs out with my cousin, Hale. You met him." Lauren nodded, having recognized the name of the boy from Chess club she was introduced to on Friday. "And she asked if we'd come sit at their table and meet a friend of hers. Bo's OK, but you know how the rest of the girls on that team are. We thought it's better to do as she asked." She stopped again, looking for some kind of reaction from Lauren.

Lauren stole a long glance to the table where Bo and her teammates were eating lunch. She saw them chatting amicably. Her container of cookies sat in the middle of the table, nearly empty. It seemed that Clio was happy to share her ill-gotten gains with her friends.

She forced herself to look away, knowing her two companions have noticed her staring. "So, Hale's your cousin?" Lauren asked, not ready to talk about Bo or her feelings on what transpired at her table last week. "How do you guys know Lochin?

"Do you mean Lachlan?" the brunet asked, smiling.

"Sorry, I'm horrible with names." Lauren admitted, embarrassed.

"It's OK, they are kind of weird names." The blond girl answered. "I'm Ciara. And this is Nadia." She pointed at herself, then at her brunette friend. "And Lachlan is Nadia's boyfriend."

"Thanks. I'm Lauren." Lauren smiled, grateful for re-introductions.

"We just wanted to let you know we are sorry about what happened, and you can always come sit with us during lunch." Ciara continued. "We are sort of like Four Musketeers."

Lauren had laughed. "Wait, I want to guess who's who." The older girls had nodded and Lauren chewed on her fork for a second before announcing. "Lachlan is Athos. He has that 'tormented soul' look about him."

"Yes!" Ciara and Nadia exclaimed in unison. "Good job, keep going."

"Hale is Porthos. I'm just going by his outfit there, he's a bit of a dandy." Hearing the girls squeal, Lauren assumed she guessed correctly yet again.

"Ciara is Aramis and Nadia is d'Artagnan." She concluded.

Both girls were astounded. "How did you do that?" Ciara asked, in awe.

"Just a guess. You are wearing a beautiful Gaelic cross," Lauren pointed at the ornament on Ciara's neck, "and I remember Aramis was very religious. And Nadia… I guess by process of elimination."

"Also, I'm the most dashing and fearless of the bunch!" Brunette announced with gusto.

"Sure, that too." Lauren found herself blushing a bit at the thought.

Nadia was so very different than Bo, both physically and even more so temperamentally, Lauren decided. Bo was outgoing and charismatic, loud and boisterous to the point when at times she seemed uncouth. She was friends with and liked by nearly everybody who met her. Nadia was refined, quiet, reserved, almost shy in comparison. That she would find them both attractive was not surprising. That she would find herself attracted to both… that Lauren didn't understand.

She realized that she spaced out on the conversation when a single word pulled her out. One of the girls had mentioned Dyson and both laughed.

"Sorry, what was it about Dyson?" She inquired from two friends, looking at each girl in turn.

"Oh, I was just making fun of Ciara. She has an itty-bitty crush on that boy." Nadia laughed, bumping shoulders with her friend.

"I do not!" Ciara huffed, folding her arms and looking slightly petulant.

"Do to! You have memorized his class scheduled and," Nadia paused for empathies, "I saw how you looked at him and Bo when he came in on Friday with those motorcycle helmets in tow. You were sooo jealous!"

"You would be too if you knew anything about motorcycles, Nadia. His father never lets him take that bike, and it's the first time in like 5 years since he left town on business. Dyson may not get another chance to sneak it out this decade!" Ciara defended herself.

"And you know all this how?" Asked Nadia.

"I hear things. I have a locker not far from his."

"Yes, your locker is so close to his because you traded with Hale for five English Lit book reports and two essays each for History and Civics. I rest my case." Nadia finished her argument by slapping her hand on the blond girl's back.

"Fine, I have a crush on Dyson AND on his father's motorcycle." Ciara grumbled.

"It doesn't bother you that Dyson is with Bo?" asked Lauren.

"'Let no one who loves be called altogether unhappy. Even love unreturned has its rainbow.'" Ciara replied.

It seemed she was quoting someone, but before Lauren could ask about it, she was distracted by a commotion coming from Bo's lunch table.

There were shrieks as first one, then two girls jumped up from their seats and proceeded to vomit noisily. Whatever befell them must have come on suddenly and urgently, because neither had time to move very far. One of the girls had a chance to turn away from the table, but another did not, and her vomit was now covering her teammate seated across from her. The other girls had started to scramble away, but one by one they each succumbed – either because of all the retching right at their elbow or due to their own affliction.

Like spit take Lauren had seen on late-night TV comedy shows, they spewed bile that varied in color and chunkiness all over the place. One unfortunate girl had expulsions coming out of her mouth and nose. No one seemed to care any longer which way they were facing, as all of them were projectile-vomiting what was today's lunch (and, based on the amount of expelled material, likely all of yesterday's meals too,) in every direction, soaking their table, each other, and a few unlucky kids from neighboring tables.

Kids from surrounding tables were clearly gaging, but few were leaving. As if unable to look away, they looked on with combination of fascination and disgust as one girl (Lauren thought she recognized her as Clio) seemed to have spewed in two directions – and from both ends – simultaneously.

"Like a quasar," Lauren thought, or might have said out loud. No one has responded, which was fine by her. It was time to leave, anyway. She stood up and gathered up the remains of her lunch to dump at the nearest trash can. "I think it's time for me to go." She addressed her two companions.

"Right behind you, Lauren. I need fresh air. Now!" Ciara chimed in and all three hastily moved towards the exit.

"Me too. Come find us next time." Nadia told Lauren as they separated in the hallway.

"Will do," Lauren confirmed happily and went in search of an empty classroom to get started on her homework.

A/N: "Let no one who loves be called altogether unhappy. Even love unreturned has its rainbow."

― J.M. Barrie, The Little Minister