Knock, knock, knock.
"Can you get that, Hannah?"
Hannah groaned and stood up to answer the door. Behind it stood Priscila, who suddenly looked a little crestfallen.
"Oh, um…" she said in a quiet voice. "Is Diana-?"
Hannah cut her off, knowing what was next. "No, she's out right now."
"Can you, um, give her a message? My friend needs help with-"
"No, I can't give her a message. Find her yourself!" Hannah snapped. Priscila took a step back and put a hand to her face.
"I, um… I'll come back later."
She turned right around and quickly walked down the hallway. Feeling a hot wash of anger, Hannah yelled after her.
"Beat it!"
She slammed the door and sighed in frustration. Barbara, who was seated on an armchair scrolling through some social media platform on a crystal ball, turned to her.
"Who was that?" she asked, looking concerned.
"Nobody, that's who," Hannah grumbled, before falling back down onto the couch. "That's THREE people who asked us for Diana tonight. Do people think we're her personal assistants or something?"
"Hannah, take a breather! They're only coming here because it's her dorm."
"But you heard her! 'Give her a message'?! I dunno where she is!"
Barbara paused for a moment, reading a long post about witch drama on the crystal ball. Hannah turned to face her.
"Doesn't it bother you at all that both of us are basically nobody?"
Barbara looked up and thought for a moment. "What do you mean?"
"When was the last time someone needed one of us for something? It's always Diana. I'd be surprised if people even knew our names."
"Hmm… I guess it never occurred to me," Barbara mused. "Being associated with the biggest name on campus always felt good enough."
"We weren't even there to stop the missile, Babs! Or investigate that old time chamber thing! She didn't even think about us!"
Barbara looked contemplative for a moment, before her eyes widened slowly.
"Oh, my… maybe you're right. She never even hangs out with us anymore, outside of this room."
"That's what I'm saying! She spends more time with freaking Amanda than us!"
Hannah took a few sips of tea to try and calm herself down. It was true that neither the England nor Parker family lines were anywhere near as influential as the Cavendishes, and neither of them were sure why Diana still kept them around when more famous witches also attended Luna Academy.
"We're skilled witches, Babs!" Hannah exclaimed. "Don't you think we deserve more credit?"
Barbara deactivated her crystal ball and put a cloth over it. "Maybe we do…"
Hannah laughed, pleased that her friend finally saw sense.
"With that said… what's next-?" Barbara began.
"We need to humble her. Just make her look a little bad."
The speed at which Hannah let that out shocked Barbara.
"We need to somehow show her up and finally get our names out there." Hannah giggled deviously, rubbing her hands. "This might take some setting up, so let's-"
Both girls froze and looked at each other as they heard keys jingling behind the front door. As if telepathically, they both had the same idea and put it into action.
"...and that's why I think Diana and Akko make a great couple! There's no better match for someone of her status!" Hannah said loudly, and Barbara nodded with vigour.
"Uhh, d-definitely."
Diana entered the dorm as Hannah and Barbara continued their theatrics.
"Good evening, girls."
"Oh, good evening, Diana!" they said together. Diana prepared some tea, then poured some for herself and her roommates. She took one of the cups and spoke.
"I'm going to bed early, so please keep your volume to a minimum, okay?"
With her tea, Diana headed to her bedroom and shut the door. Once she was out of sight, both girls looked in her direction, Hannah scowling and Barbara looking pensive.
Amanda opened the door to her dorm, and Hannah and Barbara were on the other side. Surveying the mess, they both reflexively turned up their noses, and Amanda eyed them suspiciously.
"I didn't realise the health and safety department was already here," she commented, standing with a hand on her hip.
"Can we borrow Jasminka for a while?" Hannah asked, trying to ignore the clutter.
"We, um, need her help with something," Barbara added. Amanda raised her eyebrows.
"Shit, guys, you can keep her if you want." She turned her head to the couch. "Hey Jazz, Diana's goons need you."
Barbara put a hand on Hannah's shoulder as the latter jerked at Amanda's remark.
"Hmm?" Jasminka finished off the donut she was holding and went to meet the two girls in the doorway. She followed them out, and Hannah began the proposal.
"Will you do us a favour? We're trying to, let's say, humble Diana a little bit."
Jasminka shrugged. "I'll do whatever you want if you feed me."
Barbara reached into her satchel and took out a fast-food meal in a brown paper bag. Recoiling at it, she passed it to Jasminka, who immediately began scarfing it down.
"Mmm. What's the plan?" she asked, mouth full.
"We've stolen the battery from Diana's wand, and her spares," Hannah explained. "We want you to tumble into the trophy cabinet, then we'll call for Diana's help. She's taking a class near the cabinet right now. She'll fail to fix it, then Babs and I will fix it, instead."
Barbara stood next to Hannah, nodding but not adding any details.
"Make a lot of fuss so you draw in a crowd!" Hannah continued. "It'll be pointless if nobody sees it happen. Make sure you really smash it up and make it harder to fix."
"I thought you guys were friends," Jasminka said, balling up the bag and tossing it aside.
Hannah grimaced. "'Friends' is a strong word. More like 'we hang around her and she completely ignores us'."
"Oh, Hann…" Barbara mumbled. "Maybe this is too much. Should we just stop here?"
"What?! Don't flake out on me now!" Hannah cried, looking outraged. "Didn't you hear Amanda call us 'Diana's goons'? I'm so tired of stuff like that!"
Barbara thought for a moment before eventually agreeing. She turned to Jasminka, who looked like a soldier waiting for orders.
"Okay… let's do it. Hannah and I will go hide."
They ducked around a corner, and Jasminka walked up casually to the cabinet and pretended to trip. With a loud crash and lots of clattering, the trophy cabinet was reduced to nothing but a pile of shattered glass and splintered wood, with a pile of plaques and trophies underneath it.
"Oww… Who put that trophy cabinet there?! That's a safety hazard!"
She got off the floor and dusted herself off. From nearby rooms, students began to stop listening to their lectures and entered the hallway to see what was going on. Sure enough, among these students was Diana, and she walked to the front of the crowd as they made way for her.
"Goodness me, Jasminka. You really must be more careful…"
She pulled out her wand and prepared to cast the necessary mending spell. Amidst the hubbub, Hannah and Barbara rejoined the crowd.
"Sosomme Tidiare!" Diana called, waving her wand and pointing it at the wreckage.
Nothing happened.
Trying to save face, Diana cleared her throat and tried again.
"SOSOMME TIDIARE!"
Nothing.
The crowd of students began to murmur. What was going on? It was like watching Akko through most of her time at Luna Nova.
"Something the matter, Diana?"
Hannah shoved through the crowd to reach the action, and Barbara followed behind her. "What happened? Have you lost your touch?"
"O-Of course not," Diana scoffed. "I simply must have been too focused on class content for such a menial spell."
Hannah and Barbara took out their own wands, raised them high, and pointed them forcefully at the rubble.
"Sosomme Tidiare!"
In spirals of light and starry sparkles, the trophy cabinet seemed to move in reverse as the wood and glass all reformed themselves and the trophies rose back into their positions. Despite Diana's calm exterior, she began to frantically inspect her wand. It didn't take long to figure out that the battery indicator was completely non-functional, and she scoured her wand's holster and her pockets for wherever her batteries might have gone.
Hannah cocked her head. "What's the matter? No spare batteries? Surely a master like you would be prepared for something like this."
Barbara removed one of Diana's spare batteries from her satchel and passed it to her. With a shaking hand, Diana loaded her wand and slowly realised what was going on.
"Barbara Parker, everybody! Not only super talented, but more prepared than Diana Cavendish herself!" Hannah gestured to her friend, who blinked before realising what to say.
"And, um, Hannah England! Another super talented witch!" She gestured, albeit with less enthusiasm, back to Hannah, who curtsied. Diana's emotions began to bleed onto her face as her eyes began to shimmer.
"You two… you're a pair of snakes, you know that?"
Before any serious emotion could show, Diana swiftly headed down the hall and out of sight, heading to the one place she knew she could let things out without being judged.
Hannah and Barbara looked at the people they'd drawn in, revelling in the attention. A witch from the crowd, Carmen, stepped forward and approached the two.
"W-Wow. That was really, truly…"
Hannah and Barbara geared up to finally receive some acknowledgement.
"...juvenile."
Huh?
"What are you, in middle school?"
Carmen headed back into her classroom, and the crowd slowly dispersed, with everyone murmuring amongst themselves. Hannah and Barbara were soon standing by themselves next to the repaired trophy cabinet, with Jasminka emerging from around a corner, holding a bag of chips.
"I tried," she mumbled, shrugging. "Sorry it didn't work."
She trudged off, the rustling of the chip bag echoing through the now-empty halls. Hannah balled her hands into fists and delivered a frustrated kick to the side of the trophy cabinet.
"DAMN IT!"
Barbara put an arm around her shoulders and guided her back to their dorm. She felt like an idiot for going along with this plan, but she decided she'd tell Hannah that later.
Diana was seated on Akko's couch, head in her hands.
"How… How could they?"
Akko sat next to her, rubbing her back for comfort. Lotte was studying at the table, wondering if she should say something or just stay out of it.
"They're bad news," Akko observed, shaking her head. "They probably just wanted to make you look bad for a laugh."
"But why? They seemed enamoured with me…"
She sighed deeply, trying to figure out what the issue was. Akko said nothing, but continued to hold her.
After some time, Sucy came back from running her potion shop. She was a little taken aback when she saw Diana on their couch, but she knew why she was there.
"Diana. I don't think you need to worry," she grunted. Diana lifted her head curiously.
"Why not? I made a fool of myself."
Sucy recounted the aftermath, having heard the ruckus from her illicit shop.
"If anything, I think those two lost more respect than you," she concluded, heading to the kitchenette for some water. Diana's mood seemed to lift a bit, but she still looked sullen.
"Even then, I still have to return to my dorm knowing that my roommates hate me."
"It's alright, Diana!" Akko said. "I come back to my dorm every day knowing Sucy hates me."
From the kitchenette, Sucy sneered and stuck her tongue out at Akko, and Diana laughed a bit. Lotte adjusted her glasses and decided to chime in.
"Diana, it might be this lack of acknowledgement that made them upset."
Diana looked behind her at Lotte, who continued.
"If you didn't already know how Hannah and Barbara felt about you before, maybe you didn't spend enough time with them to find out."
"But those two losers butter Diana up all the time!" Akko remarked. "What does that mean?"
"Being associated with Diana might've won them brownie points at Luna Nova. They probably got special considerations and stuff," Lotte speculated.
Sucy scoffed. "Too bad the friendship didn't give them any popularity points."
Diana groaned, covering her face with her hands.
"Ugh… the fact that they might have been using me for their own gain sickens me."
"Well, if that's true, they sure aren't gonna get any benefits now!" Akko pointed out. Diana sighed and sank into the couch a little bit.
"I don't know where to go from here."
Lotte thought for a moment. "Out of curiosity, did you ever actually like those two? You hung out a lot at Luna Nova."
"For a while, yes," Diana mused. "Then I began a relationship with Akko, and they never saw me in the same light." Turning to look at Akko, she added, "I don't regret it, of course."
They talked idly for a while longer until Diana stood up.
"Thank you all for the support, but I do have some work to do."
"Wait!" Akko exclaimed. "What about your roommates?"
Diana just exhaled softly. "Well, I've lost all respect for them. It's a shame, they're both very capable. I'll see what happens."
Shifting into her recognisable cool exterior, she left the dorm and headed back to her own.
"I knew I shouldn't have gone through with that, Hannah!"
"Oh, shut up. You had more than enough time to jump ship."
Hannah and Barbara sat in their dorm's bedroom, figuring out their next move.
"We went from being nobodies to looking like idiots…" Barbara said pensively. "You're lucky we weren't suspended for that stunt."
"To be fair, it was Jasminka, not us. We actually repaired the damage," Hannah observed.
"Not that part, the part where we disrupted several classes and basically put on a show!"
"Whatever." Hannah rolled her eyes dismissively. "Let's plan how to save face."
Barbara sat upright, looking annoyed. "No! Let's not plan anything! You've done enough damage."
"Excuse me? You're the one who-"
Their argument was cut off by Diana's return.
"Good evening, Diana!" Hannah and Barbara said in unison. Diana did not acknowledge them, instead preparing some tea. Of the three cups sitting on the table, Diana filled one with tea and left the other two empty.
Hesitantly, Hannah joined her and filled the other two cups. Diana looked down into her cup, avoiding Hannah's gaze. Barbara stayed in the bedroom, scrolling on her crystal ball. All three of them sat in uncomfortably dead air, sipping tea and breathing quietly.
All of a sudden, Barbara broke the silence.
"Diana, I'm sorry! It was Hannah's idea, I didn't want to go along with it!"
Outraged, Hannah's head whipped between the bedroom door and Diana.
"Excuse me?!" she cried. "You followed every step! If anything, you should've grown a spine and stopped it!"
"I DID try to stop it! You ignored me!"
"Oh, don't act all superior when you bought the food!"
"Yeah, with the money YOU gave me!"
"That's-"
"Are you two quite finished?" Diana interjected sternly. At once, Hannah and Barbara stopped arguing and glared at her. "I don't care whose fault it was, or who bought what. The fact remains that you were both involved. As such, I will no longer be associating myself with either of you outside of this dormitory."
She took another sip of tea and stared at them, her blue eyes piercing through both of their souls.
"F-Fine! Works for me!" Hannah spat, folding her arms. "You're a stuck-up loser, anyway! Spare a thought for the little guys every now and then, why don't you?"
"Diana…" Barbara uttered, but she wasn't responding. She finished off her drink and wordlessly headed to her bedroom, shutting the door on them. They sat in silence once again, Hannah seething with anger and Barbara mulling over the day's events.
After some time, Barbara finally emerged from the bedroom and sat with Hannah.
"I think I'm on Diana's side," she said. "You're such a hateful person. I can't even express myself or hang out with certain people without you making fun of me. And now I've lost the respect of someone I actually looked up to."
"W-What? Babs…"
Barbara took a deep, shaking breath.
"From this day on, consider us acquaintances at best."
Hannah's heart dropped. Despite their arguments, Barbara was always there to support her, even once they started drifting apart from Diana.
Having spoken her mind, Barbara headed back to her crystal ball. Hannah could do nothing but sit on the couch, with the day's events rapidly gnawing away at her mind. Feeling a fresh wave of anger, she leapt off of the couch and stomped to the door, grabbing the handle and turning to face the bedrooms.
"FUCK YOU GUYS!"
She turned back to the door, yanked it open, and slammed it on her way out.
"At this hour…?"
Avery was roused from her slumber by a forceful thumping at the front door. She equipped a bathrobe and answered it.
"Who's th-"
"Avery! My old friend!" Hannah stretched her arms out, and Avery stared at her blankly.
"Oh, it's you, um…?"
Hannah's demeanour immediately soured. "Hannah! HANNAH! We hung out in Luna Nova!"
Avery's eyes darted up as she searched her memory for this Hannah character.
"Oh, yeah," she finally said. "You and that other girl ditched me to spend time with that aristocrat."
Hannah laughed nervously and rubbed her neck. "Haha, yeah… sorry about that. Listen, can I crash on your couch tonight?"
"Who's there…?" a voice queried. Avery's roommates, Mary and Blair, had emerged from the bedroom to investigate the sudden noise.
She turned to them and gestured in Hannah's direction with her eyes, grunting sleepily. Hannah peeked in at the girls and waved, and they hesitantly waved back.
"Don't be ridiculous," Avery huffed. "What's wrong with your own bed?"
"Heh, about that… I'm kind of in the middle of an argument with my roommates."
Avery scoffed. "About time. Well then, go crash with Akko next door."
She tried to shut the door, but Hannah stuck her foot in the gap to block it.
"N-No, absolutely not! Please let me sleep here, I promise I won't disturb you!"
Mary stood with her hands behind her back, and Blair yawned.
"Oh my God, Avery, just let her in. I have work tomorrow."
Avery groaned in frustration as Hannah gazed at her with big eyes.
"Geez… FINE. Shut up and sleep on the couch."
Hannah gave Avery a big hug and flopped onto the couch, grabbing a blanket and pillow to use.
"This is NOT permanent. If you're still here tomorrow, there's gonna be hell to pay." Avery's voice dripped with restrained anger.
"Thanks! Good night, everyone!"
They trudged back into their bedroom as Hannah began to settle in for the night.
"Um, Avery?" she called. She couldn't see Avery, but her voice sounded like her teeth were gritted.
"What… the HELL… is it?"
"Where's the bathroom in these poor people's dorms?"
She could almost hear Avery's blood boiling.
To be continued...