Rising Shards

Kalei tossed and turned in the middle of the night. Sometimes, Zeta would be up on a bad night's sleep and they'd chat, or Oka when they were all still roommates. But Zeta was at her sister's for the night. She hadn't had a good late night conversation with Marmalade yet. Kalei hesitated saying anything, but remembered this was Marmalade.

"You still up?" Kalei whispered.

"Yeah," Marmalade said groggily. "Can't sleep either?"

"Uh huh," Kalei said. "Think that dinner isn't agreeing with me or something." There was plenty keeping Kalei up that night, but she didn't want to just drop that on Marmalade right away. "Usually Zeta's snoring keeps me up."

"Does she snore? I haven't heard it."

"Nah, but she does talk in her sleep," Kalei said. "She'll just say weird dream stuff. Like 'make sure the plants are upside in the tomorrow house, the horse stock market,' like nonsense."

"That sounds more on brand," Marmalade said. "You wanna get some games loaded up?"

"If I had any energy, I'd say yes," Kalei said. "But we'd probably get loud, and then a prefect would be on our asses."

"True," Marmalade said. Kalei couldn't see her reaction, but she sounded a bit disappointed.

"We'll play more tomorrow," Kalei said. "I'm really digging that TFIVN."

Marmalade didn't answer.

"You still up?"

"Oh, yeah! Sorry."

It took Kalei a while to getting used to roommates, but the big benefit was when they could cut through the bad vibes of a lonely night.

"How are you settling in?" Kalei asked. "I mean, you've been at this school a bit, but you still feel new to me."

"It's been up and down." Marmalade said. "There's a lot of stupidity with how this school is run, and this Wildfire Hearts business is pretty maddening, and I still get...kinda...sorry. I'm dumping a lot on you."

"Girlie, I'm too keyed up to sleep but too tired to move," Kalei said. "Talk to me."

"I just..." Marmalade started. "It's just me being self conscious for the usual reasons. With all the newbies this semester, I'm comparing how I...like how my appearance-y junk compares to them and...yeah."

"You say stuff like that, and it makes me just wanna say like," Kalei yawned. She had been on a loop where her eyelids felt very heavy, but as soon as she shut them she felt no closer to sleep. "Like you look better than like most people at this school."

Once more, Marmalade was quiet.

"I dunno if you buy that, but it's true," Kalei said. "I hope you do that appearance-y comparing yourself to others less. And comparing about other things than appearance if you do that, too."

Kalei heard a noise from below her, and it took a few seconds to process that Marmalade was sleepily giggling.

"Thanks," Marmalade said. "I hope you don't do any of that either."

"Nah, I know how good I look," Kalei said.

"That's right," Marmalade said, hesitating before continuing. "Because you definitely...yeah."

"Heh," Kalei said. "Lotta good looking girlies in this bunk, huh?"

This time Kalei could tell Marmalade's sleepy giggles right away, leading to an elongated bit between the two that was mostly coherent about the two starting a modeling agency.

"But modeling would get in the way of beam chasers," Kalei said. "Which is finally starting real soon." Another yawn brought Kalei no closer to rest, but that was fine. "I keep forgetting to ask, but have you ever played? Did I ask that already?"

"Beam chasers? A bit in gym units." Marmalade said.

"You ever think about joining the team?" Kalei said. "I bet you'd kick ass."

"You really think so?" Marmalade said, audibly sitting up in her bed.

"It shouldn't be that surprising," Kalei said. "You're good at every sport I see you play. We could hang out even more if you joined. And honestly, I get so much like thinking time done while I'm playing. I get kinda like twisted in my head the same way you do, and it clears my head to be on the court."

That was so corny, she's gonna laugh at that.

"Huh..." Marmalade said. "But weren't tryouts over like a while ago?"

"Yeah, but I bet we have some openings, still," Kalei said. "Tryouts are more for the beam chasers obsessed like myself."

"Huh," Marmalade said. "I didn't even know it was an opportunity."

Kalei surprised herself by asking so willingly. A small part of her heartbreak over Nikki came from her crush showing interest in beam chasers, and Kalei wanting her to eventually end up on the team. But asking Marmalade came easily to her. It didn't feel like a risk asking a friend.

"I'll think about it," Marmalade said.

"Awesome," Kalei said.

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