Akko couldn't bring herself to describe the feeling in her stomach as she approached the blue team's room.
It wasn't that she didn't understand the feeling - or maybe it was. Regardless, she didn't have the patience to try and process it. Her heart was picking up its rhythm with every step and her legs began to wobble, as if she momentarily forgot all the knowledge her one year-old self gathered about walking. Though she had enough self-awareness to find this behavior a tad over-dramatic. After all, Diana was a friend. A really close friend nonetheless. Akko had no discernible reason to be so worked up, right?
Sucking in a breath, she knocked on the door while Lotte and Sucy lingered behind her in the narrow hallway. After a few seconds of no response, Akko promptly shrugged and turned around in an attempt to leave only for Sucy and Lotte to block her path, simultaneously shaking their heads. Defeated, Akko faced the dreaded room again.
After another pause, Hannah opened the door. She scanned over the trio and the usual half-smile she wore dropped into a straight line. Her gaze lingered on Lotte a moment longer than the rest with a subtle narrowing of her eyes. As soon as Lotte caught this micro-movement, Hannah shot her glance back to Akko. A breeze ran through the dark hallway.
"Diana's not here. She's busy." Hannah's tone was different - frost coated the edges of her words.
Akko shivered. Flustered by the uncharacteristic bluntness, she was put on the immediate conversational defense. It wasn't a big deal since she had grown accustomed to defending herself. Even still, she couldn't help but relax her body just a little at the mention of Diana being out and about. Her legs stilled, functioning correctly again. Despite this relief, Hannah kept her on edge with the non-verbal daggers she was aiming in their direction.
"Huh? Are you assuming I'm just here to see Diana?" Akko stuttered, widening her eyes.
"Well, are you?" Hannah placed a free hand on her hip, her stare unmoving.
Akko pursed her lips. Damn, she didn't think that through! "M-maybe I just wanted to check on you all! We haven't seen any of you today."
"Akko wanted to ask Diana something," Sucy said, receiving a pointed look from Akko in response.
"Like I said," Hannah spoke curtly, as if she had more important things to attend to, "she has a lot going on: she has research to do in the library, not to mention oversee punishees, and help Professor Finnelan with some ancient rune translations."
Akko rolled her eyes so far back that her pupils almost disappeared for a moment. Diana back to her usual routine of being Luna Nova's favorite student. Prioritizing academics over friendships once more! Guess saving the entire world together wore off after a while, no big deal! Reading runes was definitely more- Akko quickly snapped her mind out of its tangent. Why was she so bothered? It was no surprise Diana had important things to do. She was an important person, after all, and if the Academy hadn't made that clear enough, it was obvious to anyone who interacted with her. It wasn't like Diana could spend time with her that much anyway… Not that it mattered! Akko had her own problems too! Asking Diana for help was just an afterthought, so it wasn't a huge issue that she wasn't around. Nope. Not at all.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to come ba-"
"Why aren't you out following her around, then? Carrying her books or something?" Sucy quipped in, cutting Akko off.
"Sucy!" Lotte said a hushed, scolding tone.
Hannah's mouth twitched in response to Sucy's bold question.
"Barbara and I are studying," she began, and then lowered her voice. "Also Diana requested that she wanted to spend some time alone."
Lotte's eyes lit up at the mention of Barbara and her entire body straightened from its usual demure posture. The light peeking through the door glimmered in the reflection of her glasses.
"Could I- uh- just say hi to Barbara; it'll be quick, I promise-" Lotte said, trying hard to ignore the iciness of Hannah's stare. A shudder creeped down her back regardless.
"I'll tell her you said hi-"
Hannah was interrupted mid-door closing by a gasp from inside the room, followed by Barbara's face squeezing next to her own to peer through the gap.
"Lotte!" Barbara exclaimed, a grin reaching eagerly across her face. "Lotte, let's hang out later!"
"Ah, that- that would be wonderful!" Lotte smiled in return. "We still have to discuss volume eighty-seven!"
"Ooh! Yes, and I wanted to know what you thought about the dynamic between Edgar and Arthur in that one! It's so complex..."
As the two of them went on, Hannah's stone cold expression melted into one of surrender, her shoulders drooping and her eyes moving down toward the floor, unfocused. Sucy, who had kept to herself following her comment, noticed this change and, being more conversationally aware than she usually let on, knew what she needed to do in order to relieve the tension. So she nudged Akko or, in actuality, jabbed her elbow hard into her side; same difference.
"Ow! Sucy! What was that f-"
"Akko, perhaps we can find Diana if we look around the places her sycophant mentioned," Sucy said, unbothered by her friend's annoyance or Hannah's raised eyebrow in response to being casually insulted again. She then gently placed a hand on Lotte's shoulder, which snapped her out of her deepening conversation about vampire-space-pirates with the equally enthused Barbara. "Right Lotte?"
"Oh! Uh-" Lotte took a moment to process what Sucy had just said. "Y-yes! That's probably a good idea. We've distracted you guys enough already!"
Hannah's face relaxed slightly and a tiny exhale of relief could be heard if one listened close enough.
Barbara's lips pushed out in a small pout. "Diana is probably in the laundry room with the green team, it's been a few hours since she left!"
Akko nodded.
"Okay!"
"Thanks for stopping by," Hannah forced herself to say.
And before Akko could say anything else, the door clicked shut. Lotte's glance lingered on her two friends before allowing a nervous laugh to escape from her mouth.
"Did anyone else get a weird vibe from Ha-"
"Yes," Akko and Sucy said in unison.
With the room to themselves again, Hannah leaned against the door and closed her eyes. She blinked once - twice and noticed Barbara was staring at her with that all-too-familiar, knowing look on her face. Hannah bit her lip; guilt finally washing over her from the sharp way she had spoken to her supposed friends. And her best friend, who could read her mind faster than any book, was already shaking her head and opening her mouth to speak.
"I know, I-" She tried to defend herself, but Barbara wasn't having it this time.
"What's been with you lately?" Barbara folded her arms, keeping her distance. "Last week, you couldn't wait to spend time with the red team. But, suddenly, these last few days, every time we see them, you make up some excuse to isolate us."
"N-no, I don't," Hannah averted Barbara's gaze, pretending to find the quill at her desk more interesting. She mindlessly fiddled with the feather. "I've just been trying to make sure we're prepared for exams."
"We haven't even been studying for the last hour and I'm starting to get hungry!" Barbara's arms stiffened at her sides, her hands clenching as she spoke, trying to keep her voice level despite her growing irritation.
"Okay, fine, let's get food - I just-" Hannah drug the dry, pointed tip of the quill across the blank parchment, accidentally ripping the paper. "I dunno. Sometimes I get in a bad mood with these large groups we're forming. I don't know why." She set the pen down, feather mussed, still keeping her eyes away from Barbara's. The light from the window traced a shadow over the side of her face, shading over the growing shine in her eyes.
"Hannah?"
Barbara's fingers uncurled from their grip. Her stare, once demanding answers, softened at the sight of Hannah looking so troubled by the subject. Closing the distance between them, she took her friend's hands in her own. Hannah looked down at their clasped hands for a moment, before impulsively pulling her fellow blue team member into a hug.
"I'm sorry for making things weird." Hannah's voice was muffled by Barbara's shoulder.
"You're my best friend," Barbara tightened her hold slightly. "If you weren't weird sometimes, I would be suspicious."
Best friend.
Why did such kind words leave a cutting sting lingering inside Hannah's rib cage; a foreign itch that wouldn't fade. Was it for the same reason her stomach snarled itself in knots when she noticed how Barbara's eyes twinkled like stars when she saw Lotte? Lotte Yanson, whose only crime was having the audacity to share a common interest with her friend? The same girl who had been nothing but nice to them, despite their previous attitude.
And yet, Hannah couldn't compose herself like Diana could - keeping her expression hard and immovable, like a marble statue. Instead, every sensation inside her showed on her face; as if she were a screen and her thoughts were a reel of film meant for the world to see. It was stupid and confusing. Just like feelings were. And she couldn't stand the way her insides tensed up when she dwelled on it. So instead, she just nodded her head and labored a laugh, pulling herself away to look at Barbara once more.
This time, she met her eyes.
"I'm so glad you're my best friend, Barbara. I don't know how I would survive without you."
Amanda was glad they ended up doing laundry again, because it was easy.
This was mainly because Constanze was a technological genius and Jasminka had the combined stamina and strength of a team of horses, which worked out well for laundry. And it worked miraculously in the many instances where Amanda's unquenchable, anarchic thirst led them far, far away from the metaphorical "water" they were promised. Water meaning whatever real or made-up spoils offered to them. Far away meaning a trip to the office followed by a punishment or three.
But, Amanda didn't mind punishments; they gave her time to plan her next escapade, as well as Constanze to build and Jasminka to- well, eat. The way they all worked together so fluidly, combining their talents to move along the workload, there was something soothing about it.
Constanze gave the screw a couple turns with her wrench before giving Jasminka a thumbs up to start turning the stationary bike pedals with her feet. This, in turn, spun the wings inside the giant washing machine, nearly quadrupling the speed it took to wash each article of clothing by hand.
Amanda had the more tedious task of hanging the clothes up to dry. Although, it could be said that she had the least amount of patience out of the three of them, she also knew when to restrain herself it was necessary. But, she would be lying to herself if the thought of air rushing past her face and through her hair didn't make her fingers twitch. Definitely wouldn't mind flying at eighty miles per hour right now, she thought, or kilometers- or whatever- just fast. Zoom zoom. The excitement from imagining it caused Amanda to drop the clothespin in her hand.
Before Amanda could even look down to find the pin, she was interrupted by a familiar voice clearing their throat. Turning around, she saw Miss Cavendish, herself, checking in on them.
"It seems things are coming along just fine here," Diana said, noticing the progress the green team was making.
Amanda smirked.
"Yeah, why wouldn't it be? We always know how to get things done," Amanda replied, folding her arms, pointing her green eyes toward Diana.
"If only you applied such forethought to your more… erratic decisions."
Constanze shrugged her shoulders and Jasminka offered Diana some of her chips, to which she politely waved away.
"So, we stole a few cakes! Big deal! They always close the kitchen too early anyway!"
"You stole ten cakes if my memory serves me correctly. Anyway, rules are set in place for a reason. There is nothing wrong with enjoying things in moderation." Diana said.
"Yeah, yeah, we heard the same spiel from Finnelan!" Amanda said, turning back to her clothesline. "C'mon Diana, I thought you developed a sense of humor about these things after we helped stop that missile thing."
Diana sighed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Things are different, yes. However, not everything changes for the better when serious events like that happen."
"Huh?" Amanda was surprised by such a dark comment, coming from Diana nonetheless. "Hey, are you-"
"Like I said, everything appears to be in order here. Good work. I mustn't keep Professor Finnelan waiting much longer."
And with that, Diana Cavendish turned around and left as quietly as she entered, the air picking up slightly around her feet.
A/N: Hannah, honey, you're jealous. Everyone can tell. It's okay. And Diana, you can't go around saying things like that! People will start to worry...
I'm going to set a minimum of one chapter per week! Thank you all for the kind reception so far! Your comments make me smile and also make writing this angsty feelings fest even more enjoyable! :D