Magical Girl Policy- Chapter 27

Robynne rubbed her eyes as the bell signaled the end of her Introduction to Business class. Stacy giggled, “You looked like you were ready to nod off, like, all class, Robynne. Staying up late?”

Robynne flashed a guilty smile. “Yeah. Just joined a new guild in Aspect Realms and they wanted to run a few dungeons. I may have stayed up longer than I should have.”

Stacy cocked her head to the side curiously. “Aspect Realms? Isn’t that some sort of game or something?”

Robynne noticed the guy who chatted up Stacy after class on Tuesday was looking in their direction. Robynne hurried and shoved her laptop into her new backpack and started wrapping up her power cord. She wanted to be gone before he finished deciding whether it would be safe for him to join the conversation. “Yeah. Computer game.”

“Oh!” Stacy exclaimed, “is that a new backpack? That’s, like, a different one from the one you had Tuesday, right?”

Robynne glanced down at her backpack for a second before putting it on. The sudden change in topics was quite unexpected. “Oh, yeah.” It was nice to not have the backpack’s straps dig in anymore. “Just was looking for something a little more comfortable than my old high school backpack.” Robynne made her way towards the exit.

Stacy nodded, slung her bookbag over her shoulder and followed Robynne. “I think it’s super cute too. It’s got a real urban explorer look to it. Plus the green offsets your scarlette hair really well.” Robynne cursed herself. Neither she nor Mallory had considered complementary colors with the backpack. All Robynne had been worried about was it not being pink. “You should wear green more often. It’s a good color for you.”

Robynne scratched at the base of her neck. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll consider that next time I shop.” Stacy seemed nice and all, but Robynne didn’t like all the attention walking next to a cheerleader brought. Everyone down the hallway would at least spare a glance in the pair’s direction. A girl in a cheer outfit at this school stuck out like a sore thumb.

Stacy seemed oblivious to all the attention though. While Robynne hunched over slightly and gripped the straps of her backpack Stacy happily bounced besides her like this much casual attention was normal. “Say, Robynne, are you, like, doing anything for lunch?”

Robynne glanced around nervously. “Lunch? I’ve barely had time to think about breakfast.”

Stacy giggled; it was far too similar to Robynne’s laugh. “You’re a pistol, Robynne.”

Robynne raised an eyebrow. “A pistol? You’re twenty years too young to be calling anyone a pistol.”

Stacy rolled her eyes. “As if. Lots of people say pistol.”

“Yeah, when talking about guns. I haven’t heard anyone south of 50 years old call someone a pistol.”

Stacy rolled her eyes as demonstrably as she could. “Whatever. So do you have plans for lunch or not?”

Robynne shrugged. “I mean, I was going to just eat in the cafeteria south of campus. I have the meal plan already paid for so every meal I eat there is free at this point.”

Stacy looked up at the ceiling. Robynne couldn’t be sure but she thought she looked a little nervous. “Why don’t you, like, eat lunch with me today in the student commons? The food there is waaaaaay better than the cafeterias.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Robynne admitted. “The only restaurant I tried there was that smoothie place. That was pretty good though.”

Stacy nodded with an overenthusiastic vigor. “See? Totally better! Plus you get, like, my company as a bonus.”

Robynne nodded. “Yeah, but it also costs money. Free food is a pretty good bonus too.”

Stacy bit her bottom lip. “Yeah, well, uh, what if I make it my treat?”

Robynne pursed her lips out and examined Stacy more closely. Why was Stacy so insistent upon eating lunch with her? And why was she so nervous about this? The only time Robynne had ever seen someone being nervous, while trying to act nonchalant about asking someone to eat a meal with them, was when a guy asked a girl out on a date.

Was that what this was? Was Stacy trying to ask Robynne on a date? Robynne thought about it and decided that wasn’t likely the case. Robynne had watched Stacy flirt with that guy in class the other day. That looked like genuine flirting to Robynne, though she couldn’t exactly claim to be an expert on the subject. Regardless, she felt fairly confident that Stacy wasn’t asking her out.

If that was the case though, why was Stacy acting so nervous but trying to pretend to be nonchalant about eating lunch with her? “Your treat? Well sug… well shoot. That’s awful nice. What’s the occasion that engenders this kind of generosity?”

Stacy waved Robynne’s suspicions off and opened the door for her. “Well it’s, like, a fresh start. We’re both freshman. You seem super interesting. Thought it just might be, like, a good way for us to get to know each other… outside of short chats before and after class I mean.”

Robynne nodded as she exited the building. It certainly seemed plausible. That sounded like something a normal, social person might do. And Stacy seemed to be a normal, if not insanely perky, social person. Not everyone was a lone wolf like Robynne. Plus, if she was honest with herself, Robynne knew she likely needed to make friends with people who didn’t know her tragic backstory. “Well, it’s hard to turn down free food. Only problem is I have classes from noon to two. Is eleven too early for lunch for you or would you prefer a late lunch?”

Stacy shrugged. “Eleven is fine. I have no class then either. Plus we can totally beat the lunch rush if we go then.”

Robynne nodded and scanned over the hustle and bustle of the student body with her extra sense. She wasn’t exactly sure how, but Robynne felt that if she honed her extra sense, it’d help her somehow when it came time to fight monsters. “Cool. Well, thanks for the offer. I got to get to class. Where should we meet?”

Stacy shrugged. “I’ll be working Clubs Week before then so why not just meet me at the Mu Nu Chi booth?”

Robynne grimaced. “Just make sure those sorority girls don’t try to bug me. There isn’t anything I’m less interested in.”

Stacy giggled. “Can’t promise that. How about I just meet you on the North entrance to the BB then?”

Robynne raised an eyebrow. “BB?”

“Oh, the uh, what’s it called? Billot Building.” Stacy giggled. “All the cheerleaders have been calling it the BB for short so I almost, like, forgot what it was actually called.”

Robynne gave an amused smirk as she scanned the crowd. In addition to looking for interesting auras, she figured Nick might be waiting for her again. “Yeah. That can happen.”

Robynne found Nick resting on the same bench where he sat on Tuesday. He saw Robynne and gave a wave to let her know he saw her. Robynne gave a quick wave back. A conspiratorial grin grew on Stacy’s face. “Who’s thaaaat? He’s cute. Your boyfriend or something?”

Robynne let an amused snort escape. “Boyfriend? No. Not so much.”

Stacy giggled and leaned in closer and winked. “You sure? I mean, like, you arrived late for the semester and you mysteriously know him somehow. Seems suspicious to me.”

Robynne rolled her eyes. “Trust me, Stacy. He’s just a friend.” Was this how it was going to be every time any guy showed any level of friendliness towards her? Would the fact that she was an attractive girl without a boyfriend seem that crazy to other women? Still, that gave Robynne an idea, “But if you think he’s cute I’m pretty sure he’d be willing to ask you on a date if he had your number.”

Stacy stood up straight and glanced in Nick’s direction. It was a quick, yet studious look. “I don’t know. I mean, he is cute. What’s he like?”

Robynne shrugged. “I haven’t known him too long but he’s an artist. Really nice.” Robynne thought about him making a big deal about opening doors for her. Robynne smirked. “He’s a real gentleman, too.”

Stacy nodded. “A gentleman artist. Sounds interesting. Sure. He might be fun to go on a date or two with. Feel free to give him my number.”

Robynne raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

Stacy raised an eyebrow in response. “Yeah. Should I not? There something about him you’re not telling me that I should be worried about?”

Robynne shook her head quickly, her ponytail jerking back and forth. “No. No. No. It’s not that it’s just… well, I mean you don’t even know him really and you’re just willing to go on a date with him just like that?”

Stacy shrugged and gave Robynne a look a mother might give a curious child. “Well yeah. Dates are fun. And if the date is a total bomb, well, like, you at least have a funny story to tell later.”

Robynne scratched the back of her neck and looked away. “I guess.”

Stacy leaned in curiously, “What’s wrong?”

Robynne shook her head. “Nothing.” She then shrugged, “I just think I may have discovered why you’re a cheerleader and I’m not.”

Stacy giggled, “Oh come on! You can’t tell me you don’t enjoy going on dates. What’s not to like?”

Robynne waved Stacy off and started to walk away. “I’ll see you at eleven, Stacy.”

Stacy smirked and gave Robynne a quick hug. Robynne tensed. “See you at eleven.” Stacy let go and wagged her finger with a mischievous grin, “But don’t think you’re escaping this conversation that easily though.” The cheerleader giggled and bounced off into the crowd leaving Robynne relatively alone with her thoughts.

She trudged her way over to Nick. He smiled and got off the bench. “Making friends with other cheerleaders already I see.”

Robynne glared, “Do not compare me to her. What I do is completely different and not my fault.”

Nick chuckled and gestured over to the Checker Fine Arts Center. “Come on, let’s just get to class.” Robynne nodded and followed him in silence. Nick seemed uncomfortable with that silence. “Why so glum this morning. Is it because I didn’t bring coffee this time? I can’t afford Sunbanks every day I’ll have you know.”

Robynne shook her head, “Nah. Not glum. Just… introspective I guess.”

“About what?”

Robynne sighed, “As soon as you waved at me, that cheerleader assumed you were my boyfriend. I’m now worried any sort of attention from any dude, no matter how harmless, is going to result in that kind of assumption.”

Nick ran his hand through his green fauxhawk and nodded. “That does seem to be society’s general reaction to that type of thing.” Nick shrugged and chuckled, “But hey, if you ever need to get girls off your back about the boyfriend thing, I’m more than willing to fake it for you.”

Robynne rolled her eyes, “We don’t need to turn this into some stupid sitcom storyline where we start faking relationships to avoid the consequence of the week or whatever.” Robynne shook her head. “Besides, pretending a girl with my body is your girlfriend likely would ruin any chance of you getting dates with other women.”

Nick gave a dismissive wave. “I’m not worried about that.”

Robynne smirked, “You should be. That cheerleader girl I was talking to thought you were cute and said I could give you her number.”

Nick’s entire posture straightened. He turned around and looked back in the direction Stacy had walked off to. “Reeeally? What’s her name?”

“Stacy.”

“Stacy what?”

“Stacy… something. Don’t know. Never got her full name. Or, well, I probably did but forgot it. I’m bad with names sometimes.” Robynne smiled. “So glad you’re suddenly interested in what I have to offer.”

Nick scratched at his cheek, “Now, not to sound shallow, but she as cute up close as she was from far away?”

Robynne rolled her eyes, “Great job at not sounding shallow, but yeah, she’s a cheerleader. She’s really cute. Very… sunny.”

“Sunny?” Nick snorted. “Nobody who was born after the advent of the color television says, ‘sunny.'”

“Bubbly then,” Robynne grumbled.

Nick nodded, “That is the cheerleader stereotype.”

“Well, she is that.” Robynne nodded, “Also seems to have a real casual attitude towards dating.”

Nick opened the door to the building and walked in. Today, instead of making a show of it, he just left his hand behind him long enough to keep the door wedged open for Robynne to slip on by. “Casual how?”

Robynne shrugged. “She just seemed, I don’t know, like she didn’t think a date was a big deal.”

Nick squinted his eyes. “A date isn’t a big deal.”

Robynne groaned, “You too?”

“What? It’s just an opportunity for two people getting to know one another better. That’s why you go on the date.”

Robynne shook her head as she entered the labyrinth-like halls of the Fine Arts Center. Nick seemed so easy-going. “I envy you.”

“Why would you envy me?”

“You can just take that attitude with dating. It never ever felt like ‘just a date’ to me. It always felt bigger. Like a lot more was expected of me. I’d stress for a week before even asking a girl out.”

“You remind me a lot of my brother.” Nick looked at Robynne the same way a someone looked at an animal in the zoo. “He’s always super stressed out the moment a girl shows interest in him. Even if she was obviously interested it’d take months for him to ask her out.”

Robynne sighed and nodded, “Yeah. I know that feeling.”

Nick rested both his hands behind his head and kept walking. “Then I ask you the same question I ask him all the time, ‘What’s the big deal?’ I mean, it’s just a guy and a girl going to do an activity together and have a good time. What could there be to stress over?”

Robynne stopped to consider her words. It took Nick a moment to realize Robynne had stopped following him. Once she had her words formed in her mind, Robynne started walking again. “For me, and maybe for people like your brother, the reason you just stated, to have a good time, was never the purpose of a date. Your brother is the computer whiz, right?”

Nick nodded, “The best.”

“Well then if he’s anything like me, he developed mentally far quicker than he did socially. For people like us, I’ll bet, it took us a lot longer to form meaningful friendships and relationships than it did the other kids. Whereas other kids struggled with math problems we struggled with making friends. The other kids often had no interest in the topics we did, making conversations awkward at times.”

“What came easy to everyone else, the thing schools didn’t bother teaching because it comes so naturally to most, friendships and how to make them, was what we struggled with. Now we get older and suddenly we start dating. Dating is a one-on-one friendship test for us. All that stress everyone else had on test day, we have it on dates. We’re private people. A date isn’t just something to have fun at; it’s an experiment to see if the time you’ve invested in this person previously was worth your limited attention. And what’s worse, is if we do the date wrong, all that time we invested in that person, that time we invested in making a meaningful relationship, can go up in smoke.”

Nick shook his head. “Nonsense. You’re not some socially backwards geek, Robynne. You and I hit it off immediately. I know it’s not the most broad look at your life but you seem to be getting along with your roommates just fine. You make yourself sound like a complete moron when it comes to making friends but you clearly aren’t.”

Robynne sighed, “I said it’s difficult, not that I couldn’t do it. I made a concerted effort in my high school years to get better at this. A lot like how some kids study hard to understand a certain subject that doesn’t come naturally to them. It’s not that it ever becomes easy for them, but they do learn the subject.”

Nick paused at the door to the classroom. “Huh, never thought of it in those terms. That does explain my brother better than he’s been able to explain it.” Then Nick shook his head. “Though I think you’re still building dates to be a bit more of a minefield than they really are. I’ve never seen any relationship get completely destroyed because of a bad date. I mean, I’ve seen relationships ruin friendships, yeah, but that was never because of a date.”

Robynne sighed as she walked past Nick and into the classroom. “Trust me, one bad date can ruin everything.”

Robynne smiled as she unwrapped her burger: a quarter-pound of angus beef topped with bacon, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, ketchup, and blue cheese crumbles. It didn’t look as good as the ones her Uncle made but that wasn’t a fair comparison; his burgers were a little slice of Heaven itself. Or maybe a slice of Hell given the number of arteries such a burger could clog. Either way, Robynne’s new body could handle any kind of garbage thanks to her super-heroine metabolism. She intended to abuse the honey out of it.

However, as delicious as this burger was, Robynne enjoyed the confused look on Stacy’s face more. “So… uh, what kind of burger is that?” Stacy asked as she reluctantly stuck her fork in a chicken salad.

“Blue Bacon Burger,” Robynne said before taking an enthusiastic bite. Her smaller mouth struggled to get around the burger, however food this good was worth waiting for. She chewed a few times and swallowed down her bite. “It’s the best.”

Stacy squinted, “Blue bacon? That’s a thing?”

Robynne chuckled and took another bite. “Nah. It’s got blue cheese and bacon. Hence, blue bacon. It’s a surprisingly amazing combo. You should try it sometime.”

Stacy blushed and looked down at her salad. “Oh, it sounds good, but… well, it doesn’t fit in with my diet at all.”

Robynne rolled her eyes. Girls and their diets. “What are you on a diet for? You look great!”

Stacy blushed and shook her head. “I just want to trim myself down some.”

Robynne snorted mid-bite, nearly coughing up some food. “Trim yourself down? Stacy, you don’t even look like you weigh a hundred pounds!”

Stacy blushed more and just shook her head and took a bite of her salad. “Easy for you to say with your body. Do you weigh over a hundred pounds?”

Robynne opened her mouth to answer but paused. She realized she hadn’t ever actually weighed herself since the transformation. Still, that wouldn’t be normal to not know your weight. She didn’t think she weighed less than a hundred pounds. Robynne decided it’d be best to just make up a number, “I’ll have you know I weigh around one-fifteen… give or take a few pounds.”

Stacy shrugged and sighed. “You wear it great. I’d kill to have your body.”

Robynne nearly laughed at that line given that Robynne had killed Day LaMode for forcing her to get this body. However she knew that wasn’t what she should be focusing on, “Seriously Stacy, you have no reason to have body issues. You’re gorgeous. You can more than afford to splurge on a nice burger every once and a while.”

Stacy blushed and said nothing but, “Thanks.” After a few moments of silently picking at her salad she glanced back up and asked, “So you’ve never been on a diet?”

Robynne took a tactical, giant bite out of her burger; needing to chew gave her time to think of an answer. Would it be weird for a girl her age to have never been on a diet? Back when Robynne was a football player, she had watched what she ate but never had been on a formal diet. She decided to follow that line of logic.

Robynne swallowed down a delicious chunk of meat, vegetables, cheese, and bread and explained, “I’ve always watched what I ate for the most part. My Uncle is a dental hygienist so we always ate foods that wouldn’t rot your teeth. Avoided things like sweets and coffee and such. That also tends to include a lot of fruits and vegetables from his garden. So I’ve never been on, say, a certain number of calories a day but I’ve always eaten healthy.” Robynne smiled and held up her burger. “Though I do cheat from time to time.”

Stacy leaned forward with interest. “You had a garden?”

Robynne smiled. Frankly she hated that garden. It was always way more work than she liked. Then again it was her Uncle’s way to teach Robert responsibility. And she never could argue with how good the tomatoes tasted fresh off the vine. “A small one. Just a few tomatoes, zucchini, and ears of corn. We tried strawberries for a couple of years but they never took off very well.”

Stacy grinned and plopped her elbows on the table. “Really? That is so cool! Did you grow up on, like, a farm or something?”

Robynne took another bite and quickly swallowed it down. “No. Not a farm. It was just a garden.” Robynne paused and thought about it for a moment. Most everyone in Deepwater had some form of garden. Was that odd? “Do most people here not have a garden?”

Stacy laughed, “No way. I mean maybe a few people but… no, not really. You want fresh vegetables you go to one of those organic food places like Complete Markets or something.”

Robynne was surprised to find herself thinking it was a shame people didn’t grow at least some of their own food. She immediately chastised herself for sounding exactly like she was some senior citizen in an old folks’ home. And her Uncle. “Ah, well, I guess that’s to be expected in a big city like this.”

Stacy held her hands out, obviously worried that she had somehow implied Robynne was some kind of rube. “Well I think that’s just the coolest, I mean, like, fresh food would be so cool! Plus, like, working in a garden. What a great workout!”

Robynne smiled, making sure Stacy knew she hadn’t been offended in any way. “It’s a good enough workout. And fresh off the vine is great. Just a lot of work too.” Robynne took another bite of her hamburger and nodded. “Thanks again for this. This is great.”

Stacy wiggled excitedly in her chair, “Isn’t this fun? Just taking a break from the, like, hustle and bustle and getting to know each other? I would have never guessed you were a farm girl, though I guess it really makes sense with your accent.”

Robynne groaned between chews of her burger. She didn’t bother to swallow. “Ma accent ifn’t dat fick.” Robynne swallowed and continued her point, “And, again, not a farm girl. Just had a garden.”

Stacy dismissed Robynne’s objections casually. “Details, details. My version of your life is a lot more exciting. Small town farm girl learning what life is like in the big city. Likes to wear a cute pair of cutoff overalls working the field. Really this is much better rom-com material, don’t ya think? I say we run with that!”

Robynne was immediately reminded of Vivian’s casual dismissal of actual facts for the purpose of making a better story. “You remind me a lot of a friend of mine. But, you know, you’re more cheerleader than she is.”

Stacy giggled. “Thanks.”

Robynne wasn’t sure how much of a compliment that was; she had only implied Stacy was a cheerleader and her mystery friend wasn’t. Or hadn’t Vivian mentioned something about being a cheerleader in high school? And given her status as a Spirit Guard wasn’t Vivian a super-cheerleader? Regardless of Robynne’s internal debate, Stacy had taken it in a positive light and there was really no reason to pick at that nit. “Seriously though, thanks for the meal.”

“Oh, it’s no big deal.”

“Well, it’s at least a medium deal to me,” Robynne explained. “Getting to school late has been… stressful.” Robynne left out all the details that accompanied why she was late arriving to the university and let Stacy’s imagination fill in the gaps. “It’s nice to just sit down, enjoy a meal with a new friend, and not have to worry about homework or people with ulterior agendas.”

“Y…yeah.”

Robynne didn’t want this conversation to be about herself. For one, she had a lot of secrets to keep, and she hated people prying. Also she just wanted to eat her food some. She decided she needed to turn the conversation around. Robynne grabbed a French fry, dipped it in her ketchup, and asked, “So what’s your story? You from around here like most everyone else?”

Stacy sat up excitedly. Her body language seemed to indicate she had been hoping Robynne would ask. “Pretty much,” Stacy answered. “I’m from Reinburg, just a bit south of here. Maybe an hour’s drive or so.”

Robynne kept the questions flowing. “What’s your major?”

Stacy smiled, “I’m planning on going into the Fashion Design major the Art program has here. I hope to someday get in on, like, the business side and own my own design company.” Robynne feigned interest as she enjoyed her meal and Stacy continued on. “I mean, I know it’s, like, pretty much a pipe dream but what is the purpose of dreams if they aren’t big, you know? I figure that even if I fail I can…”

Robynne’s extra sense tingled at an aura that… well it was unlike anything she had sensed before. Behind her and to the left. Like Fretribution two days before, this aura had a texture. It reminded Robynne of the sticky-but-still-liquid texture created by sticking one’s fingers in a sweet, sugary drink like soda but without the carbonation.

However, unlike Fretribution, there was so much more than a texture. The aura also had color and scent. Or was it a taste? The synesthetic nature of this extra sense sometimes made it hard to tell the difference. Though Robynne didn’t turn her head to view the person with her eyes, she could “see” that the aura had a dark purple color with hints of gold burned at the edges. It smelled fruity and cold, sort of like grape juice fresh from the fridge, though it also had hints of butter and spice. Though the more Robynne thought about it, the more that sounded like wine rather than grape juice.

That wasn’t the weirdest thing about the aura though. As it moved, the aura would linger in the area it left. It seemed to cascade against every student around the aura, sticking to them slightly as the aura moved through the crowd. The aura crashed through the student body like waves against rocky cliffs.

And those waves were making a beeline for Robynne and Stacy. Robynne wanted to turn around see with her eyes who this aura belonged to but fought the urge. She’d have no reason to turn around unless she could sense auras. If someone with an aura like this knew they had an aura like this, Robynne’s attention would be curious and draw further attention. Still, to be safe, Robynne scanned around with her extra-sense to make sure her Spirit Stick was still in her backpack.

The force of the aura finally crashed against Robynne and the urge to turn around intensified. This aura wasn’t just something that tickled at her senses but sparked her curiosity. She could feel it nearly demanding attention. But not in an unpleasant way. Robynne was surprised to feel… invigorated by the aura’s presence. She felt more alive. This was nothing like the aura of any of the other students, the Spirit Guard, or even Platicore’s monsters. This was something wholly unique.

That’s when it hit Robynne: this aura was “sticky” like the aura Angela had been talking about yesterday. And it had a texture. What else had she said about this aura? Robynne cursed her memory. She could quote movies from her childhood word for word but she couldn’t remember the details of an important conversation just a day earlier. Still it was sticky and had a texture. This could very well be the same person Angela had been talking about.

Stacy looked past Robynne and seemed glance straight where the aura was. Could Stacy sense auras? Or was the desire to glance up at look at the aura’s source affect everyone? Regardless of the reason, Stacy’s entire face brightened and she waved at the aura. “Oh hey Cammy! What are you doing here?”

Angela sighed as she walked past the food court. The delicious scents of overpriced fast food wafted through the air and made her stomach grumble. “Stop that,” she chastised her stomach. She squeezed her brown sack as if to quell her hunger. “We’ll be eating soon enough.”

If it hadn’t been for the fact that the campus wifi was better in the Billot Building than any other building, Angela would have never bothered coming here. Especially near the lunch hour, it was always so crowded. But it did have the best wifi, and there wouldn’t be a better spot to get her reading done for her Criminal Law class while eating lunch.

Angela pushed her hair back as she scanned the various tables for a place to sit, preferably near a wall with a power socket. She’d really need to find a new battery for her laptop sometime soon.

Luckily it was just 11:15 and the full lunch rush hadn’t hit. She found a small table along the wall and… and Angela caught sight of a ponytail as red as a fire hydrant. Angela blinked. What was Robynne doing sitting with a cheerleader?

And that’s when she felt Her. It had been months since she last felt that aura but she’d never forget that sticky, arrogant aura that felt like bottle of grape juice spilling over everyone. Angela instinctively slunk towards the nearest wall. She couldn’t be seen.

Cammy approached from the left, directly through the biggest crowd of people. She always did like walking wherever her aura would hit the most people. But where was she going? She couldn’t be walking straight towards Robynne and that other cheerleader, could she?

Sure enough, as Cammy glided into Angela’s field of vision, she swayed straight towards Robynne. Angela pushed down her anger and frustration and focused on the problem at hand. Cammy had set her sights on Robynne. Angela had no clue what this meant, but it couldn’t be good. Nothing with Cammy ever was.

Criminal Law reading had to wait. Actual criminality took precedence. Angela needed to keep an eye on this and stay out of Cammy’s sight. That violette biscuit couldn’t know that Angela and Robynne were friends. Whatever her plans were for Robynne, Angela had to be prepared.

Angela slid along the wall towards the stairwell. She’d get a seat up on the second floor, overlooking the eating area below. There she could keep an eye and her magical sense on the contemptible Cammy DeCroix and maybe piece together what schemes she had in mind for Robynne.

Angela only hoped that Robynne would be just as cool and collected with Cammy as she had been with Day LaMode. If there was anything Angela had learned, it was that Cammy could hurt someone in ways a monster never could.