Rising Shards

Knowing I'd be going with my friends to the dance lessened the pressure a bit. I could focus for this shopping spree challenge not just on crushing Rising Shards, but on picking something nice for myself. I didn't have to worry about how sad it'd be playing music with Nikki, then not going with her to the dance part.

That pressure being lessened didn't quell my annoyance when I saw I stepped on the same bus as Zeta Faleur.

"We're going to the other one," I announced after I locked eyes with my sister, starting to turn around in the aisle. My companions were behind me, not quite registering what I'd said yet.

Junea, an awful teacher at Rising Shards, sat at the front of the bus. She held her hand out. "Uh, uh, we don't do bus swaps today. Go find a seat on this one."

I growled. "I don't want to find a seat on this one, I don't want to sit by Zeta Faleur."

I should have just kept my mouth shut. I could feel Sai's hand brush against my back, a comforting gesture but also one that told me I was about to regret talking back to a teacher.

"Well, Zeta Faleur's behaving a lot better than you, so why don't you go sit by her instead, actually?" Junea said.

"I'm not—" I started, but Junea cut me off again.

"You're not in a place to say what you're not when a teacher asks you to do something," Junea said. "You all may intimidate the other teachers, but not me. You can say yes or you can go sit in detention or get suspended if you wanna talk back."

This wretched character actually got up. I was very tempted to take that suspension, but it wasn't worth it. I sighed and sat in the seat she pointed me to, the row behind Zeta and Oka, where Lillia sat by herself. I huffed as I sat, not wanting to hear Zeta chastise me for her small victory there. I didn't want her to acknowledge me at all, but of course she turned around.

"That was rough," Zeta said. "If it's any consolation, I don't really like Junea either. She made me hand out those cards, then was grilling me about whether or not I actually handed them out."

"I dislike you more than I dislike her," I said flatly, crossing my arms.

"Wow, taking her side over mine?" Zeta asked.

"I'm not taking anyone's side, I'm just reminding you I greatly dislike you," I said.

Oka turned around next. "I know we're on a bus and all, but if you keep talking like that to Zeta, suspension will be the least of your worries."

"Hey, what does P.D. stand for?" asked Iris. I tried to stare daggers at her to get her to leave me alone. "Nobody ever told me! Is P.D. short for Anastasia somehow? Like a silent 'P' or 'D' in there somewhere?"

"You've asked that already," I said.

"Yeah, and you never tell me!" Iris said. "All you say is, 'grrr, Mother made me call myself that,' it just makes me more curious."

"Watch it, she's gonna try and kick your ass," Iris' companion Maia said.

"She wouldn't, not with Junea on her," Iris said. "And if she tried, I bet I could block her with the ol' ribbon shields."

Could I go five minutes without some annoyance at this school? My friends had spread out as well, Junea forcing them to not sit anywhere close to me. Only Sai was able to sneak past the attempted forced seating arrangement, taking a spot behind me.

"We were in the middle of something too before Junea made you sit there," Iris said. "We're trying to be wingmen for Lillia," Iris said.

"Hm?" I had barely acknowledged Lillia's presence since sitting down.

"They are trying to see if they can find someone to join me for the dance," Lillia said, pushing her glasses up. "An admirable goal, but one I'm not confident in anyone succeeding. After the dating show was such a dud, I don't have much hope in this field at the moment."

"Well, that whole thing was...wait, is that a dig at me?" I asked. At the 'dating show,' really another imp pulling us into a void event, I had been paired up with Lillia. It wasn't so much of a date as we all gave up on the premise to try and escape, but something in her tone sounded like it was blaming me.

"I'm saying it was a dud," Lillia said.

"Dang, our whole first round of the wingmen thing was all about who'd sit by Lillia," Iris said. "Now that's ruined. Unless..."

"I already am going to the dance with the other devils," I said. "As friends. So count me out of whatever you're trying here."

"Don't worry, you were already counted out," Lillia said.

The confident coldness shut me down in my tracks. I'd feel worse about it if I wasn't so impressed with how easily she said it.

"We'll have to pick this up when we get to the thing," Iris said. "Maia, you got any ideas?"

"Maybe we can do it by like, I dunno, who rams their shopping cart into Lillia's, or if she hits someone else's, I guess. The potential gladiatorial aspect of this is something we're sleeping on, I think."

"Oh, that is so true!" Iris said.

I almost cut in about how stupid this all sounded, but I had to just bite my tongue and hope this bus ride would be over soon. Zeta and Oka kept turning around to talk to Lillia as well, each time they turned I felt my annoyance get another notch higher.

"Hey, the dating show thing reminds me, was there anyone from that you would consider?" Oka asked. "As a wingman, it's my duty to ask."

"Well..." Lillia said. "In spite of the premise, it didn't really give me a chance to get to know anyone. By the time we were seated, we were all trying to leave. And my 'dinner' guest didn't want to play along at all even for the brief moments where we weren't trying to break the game."

"Because it was beyond foolish, why should I have played along?" I asked.

"I got it," Iris snapped her fingers. "Anastasia and P.D. should go to the dance together."

"Anastasia is P.D.," Maia said. "You were just asking her about the name a minute ago."

"I know, but hear me out!" Iris said. "Anastasia could make like a dummy and put her mask on that. And then it's like she has a date to the dance."

"I just told you I'm going with my friends!" I shouted, unfortunately loud enough that everyone on the bus went silent. I was surprised at how crushingly embarrassing it was to have all the eyes on the bus on me. I slumped down in my chair, debating if suspension would be better than being stuck here.

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