Lunch ended without much else to note. My parents made small talk with my friends while I let Aria dress up my MMO character in all the different cosmetics I had. My family left shortly after that, and now we were finally back to working on our “group project.”

I smiled, replaying that scenario in my head. “By the way Allie, that was a pretty nice save during lunch. ‘Language and Identity,’ huh?”

“Hah! Why thank you! I make up bullshit like that all the time at home.”

“It’s not like we were really lying though,” Ethan said. “We just omitted a few details, like how Hazel made a deal with the devil disguised as some tiny fairy.”

“I said I’m sorry, Ethan!” I protested. “It’s not like we’re going to die if we get the answer wrong,”

Olivia glanced up from her laptop. “Oh my gosh, could you imagine a little fairy with devil horns~!? That’d be so cute~,”

“Probably a lot less cute if said fairy is stealing some of our memories or whatever,” Allie shuddered. “Hey, how long did you say we had to find the answer again? Aren’t we gettin’ close to the deadline?”

“She said two days, but she never gave a specific time?” I explained. “If we assume that she meant the next 48 hours from when I ran into her, then she should be coming any minute now.”

“Shit!” Olvia exclaimed, to which we all looked over in surprise. Olivia was the last person on Earth you’d expect to curse.

She cleared her throat. “Sorry. But, isn’t that really bad? I mean, we’ve got nothing to show for it~,”

“I mean, a full magical transition would be great and all, but I really don’t mind doing things the slow way either,” I reassured her. “Besides, it was kinda fun hanging out and reading about this stuff with y’all. Even if we don’t get it right, thanks for helping me out. I’ll treat y’all to boba later.”

“What, just one?” Ethan jokingly complained, elbowing me. “All this work is worth at least two!”

I grinned back at him. “Fine, but only if you all help me go over everything we’ve found out one more time.”

“Sure, it’s worth a shot, right?” Allie said. “So to start, we know it’s not got anythin’ to do with slang, since me and’ Ethan use a lot of the same words.”

Olivia continued, “And it doesn’t have anything to do with creaky voice, since Ethan proved that pretty much everyone uses it to some extent~.” 

“Honestly, I don’t even think it could be pitch at this point either,” I added. “Cause I mean, my voice used to be around Ethan’s range, but my voice didn’t make me any less of a woman.”

“You know, you three are really scary when you all decide to pick on me without speaking to each other at all…” Ethan mumbled.

“Meh, you’re just an easy target,” Allie said.

“Agreed~.”

“Sorry, roomie.”

“Ha, ha. Very funny,” Ethan pouted. “Anyways, it’s probably not age related either, since Hazel’s mom and Aria don’t speak much like each other or Hazel.”

“Which leaves us with no answer, or something we missed,” I concluded. 

“Well, maybe it is a trick question like we’ve been thinking~?” Olivia suggested. “Then there would be no correct answer, which is basically the conclusion we’ve come to, right~?” 

“Sure, I’m down to go with that at this point,” I agreed. It’s probably the best answer we’ve come up with.”

A small, unmistakable voice rang out. “Oh? Did you just figure something out? I’d love to hear it, miss Hazel.” As suspected, Sylanna had appeared before me and my friends, dancing little circles in the air for them all to see.

“Woah, she’s the fairy you met, Hazel?” Allie exclaimed. “She’s so pretty!”

“Sylanna’s here~?” Olivia asked. “Where~?”

“Oh wow, you even added another fey sight user to our little bet too!” Sylanna smirked. “Well, your time’s up. Let’s hear your answer.”

Trying to appear as confident as possible, I began my impromptu speech. “We think that your question... is a trick question. There are so many different types of women out there, each with their own unique voice and identity. There’s no single thing out there that could serve as a blanket definition of speaking ‘like a girl.’ Even between me and my friends, there are quite a few differences in the way we all choose to speak. We don’t believe there’s anything we missed in our research, and all of it pointed to this conclusion. So, I guess that’s my final answer.”

The room went silent. Was that right? Or was Sylanna about to take our memories away? “Uh, look,” I sputtered. “If we got it wrong, please at least let us keep our memories about all the science stuff cause it’s actually really interesting and I need a reason to owe my friends two boba drinks on separate occasions and-”

“No, no, I just-” Sylanna said. “Just damn. You got it. You’re one of the few groups of people that’s ever gotten it right, so thanks for not being sexist assholes and stuff I guess. Again, mad respect to you, Hazel. Here,” The fey tossed me a small vial filled with liquid that changed from pastel blue to white, then pink, then back to blue again. Hah, fitting.

“These also come in button form, but I thought you’d prefer the potion.” Sylanna continued. “It’s good to know that there are people out there with their heads on straight. The fey community could really use pure-hearted people like all of you. In fact…”

Sylanna flew up to Ethan and Olivia, who were mostly watching Allie and I talk to the fairy they couldn’t see. She proceeded to tap on their eyelids with some sort of wand, to which they both recoiled from.

“Ow~! What was- Oh! The fairy!~” Olivia exclaimed.

“Think of it as a little bonus for our exchange.” Sylanna smiled at me. “Hope to see you and your friends around, Hazel. I’d love to chat with you all again sometime.” With that, Sylanna’s form faded away.

“I got it…” I whispered. Then I turned to everybody else and screamed. “I GOT IT!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!”

“Easy on the ears, girl!” Allie laughed. “It was no problem. It was a good excuse to hang out with everybody. Plus, the cutest girl we’ve ever met is gonna treat us to boba tomorrow, right?”

“I’ll treat y’all to boba for the rest of college!” I half cried, half shouted. “We got it right! We got it right!”