“…and that’s the last assignment done. Aether, this program is seriously incredible! I actually got that mountain of homework done and my last crafter to max level at the same time!”

Aether and I had switched to voice chat while I tried out HomeworkHelper.EXE. I was worried using the voice commands would annoy her, but she seemed perfectly fine with it. Just as she’d suggested, we were able to grind out a bunch of non-combat content in Raid Fantasy while I ran the program. It was a geek’s dream come true.

“I’m happy you like it. It’s sure to pay dividends for me, too…”

“Yeah, I bet you could make a bunch of money off of this... Oh, and I’ll probably be able to come online more often, too!”

“I’d like that, but there’s no need to force yourself. I know you have a life offline, too.”

This might have been the first time Aether had ever suggested I spend less time playing with her. It probably meant she was becoming more mature, but I couldn’t help but feel a little sad.

“Well, it’s getting late, but would you like to get some people together for a raid tonight to celebrate the success of your new program?”

Aether was silent for a while. When she spoke, her voice sounded conflicted.

“...actually Avera, I’m heading off for the night. Have some things to look over. Talk to you later.”

She dropped out of voice chat, and sure enough the words “Aether has gone offline” appeared shortly after.

It was the first time I’d ever seen that message.

“...huh.”

A little out of sorts, I sat in my chair wondering what to do and ended up spacing out for more than a few minutes. My mind wandered, almost inevitably, to the memories responsible for my earlier arousal, which came back to me with a vengeance. With near desperation and shuddering with anticipation, I slipped into bed to deal with it.

---

Quin had just finished establishing the connection between her computer and Norma's. The extra work to make a 'mobile version' had paid off, too, as now she had access to Norma's phone and everything it could pick up with its mic. To be honest, she wasn't sure Norma was actually going to download that version... without a nearby scanner, the mobile program wasn't all that useful. But in the end, Norma's trust in Quin had won the day. Of course it did! After all, the two of them were meant to be.

Quin was calibrating her output devices when she heard it.

From her headset came a slick, frenzied sound that repeated itself over and over. And then…

“Unh… Mm, nnn… Yesss!”

What the… I knew this was a possibility, but already!?

A sudden stab of panic ran through Quin.

Could someone be there with her?

But no, it was too soon. They’d been talking in voice chat for hours, and there was no time for someone else to have shown up. Still, she had to be certain. Quin listened intently, and the longer she did, the less she was able to focus.

Right, it had only been minutes since they were talking… could Norma be thinking about her right now?

With that thought, Quin justified the slow descent her hand had been making. At long last, she and Norma would be able to share their love for each other. 

“Unnh, god yes…”

Every one of Norma’s cries caused Quin to tremble, redoubling her own motions. She had been dreaming of these moans for years. She knew this wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew it was wrong. But now that she had finally heard them, it was all but impossible to stop.

“I’m… I’m gonna…”

Hearing Norma say this, Quin felt a wave of pleasure threaten to completely overtake her.

To know my love is on the verge of orgasm while thinking of me, it’s simply-!

“Oh, Luna...! I’m gonna cum!”

All at once, the pleasure ended. Quin quivered, yes. But with rage.

Who the FUCK is Luna?

---

I woke to the sound of a notification from my phone. Shaking away the hazy image of yet another alien civilization crumbling, I brought the screen to my eyes, squinting as I turned down the brightness. It was a text from Mae.

Good morning, Normie! Absolutely can’t wait to see you today <3

…that was unexpected. At least as weird as Aether logging off before me last night.

Mae must be taking this 'become a better friend' thing seriously.

Even though the gesture wasn't necessary, the cute text definitely put a smile on my face.

Hey good lookin'! You sure know how to make a girl’s morning ;p 

My reply was a little flirty, but hey, she started it. Moments later my alarm went off, and I went for a long overdue shower.

After changing into my last clean uniform, I headed downstairs to note that dad wasn’t around.

Guess he must have scored. Gross. Good for him, though.

Dad had left me a $100(!!) bill for supper last night, and since I’d only ordered a sub, I had tons of change for lunch today, and took only about a quarter of it. I made a PB&J sandwich and washed it down with OJ before brushing my teeth and heading to school.

This walk… there was no longer any way I could deny the stares people gave me as I passed them by. Maybe I was just being paranoid, but I noticed a pattern. The more I encountered a person on my usual route, the more likely it was that they stared me down as I went by. I didn’t know what to make of this, but it made my blood run cold.

As usual, the sight of Mae made me feel better. The entire class stared at me even more intensely than anyone I'd passed on my way here, but I didn’t care. Her presence completely calmed me down. 

This time, before I even made it to my seat she wrapped her arms around me, holding me tight.

“Hello to you too,” I teased, but she didn’t let go. I had to admit, the way she was squishing her boobs into me felt good…way too good to be appropriate in the middle of a classroom. When the other students started whispering to each other, I forcibly removed myself from the embrace.

“Everything alright, Mae?” I asked, carefully scanning her face. She was wearing some pretty heavy eyeshadow and black lipstick, but it wasn’t enough to conceal the strange look in her eyes…

“...you just looked like you really needed that again...” she whispered.

“...I did. Thanks, Mae."

I was impressed that she was able to tell that just from the way I walked in, but I was still off balance from what I’d seen in her expression. Shrugging it off, I laughed softly.

"So uh, should we take our seats?”

Mae snapped out of her funk and obliged. Even after sitting, the rest of the class seemed unable or unwilling to forget our unusual display. They pointed and whispered until our chalk-happy English teacher appeared to overfill yet another helpless blackboard.

---

At lunch, I found myself somewhat concerned for my best friend. There was definitely something… off about her. She went from more standoffish than usual to… there’s no other way to describe it than ‘lovey-dovey’ on a dime, and switched with increasing frequency and intensity.

“So, Normie, I was thinking! This might be stupid, but let’s take our next vacation together! We’ve never done anything like that before, and I really want to make some nice memories with you at some hot springs or whatever, just the two of us… No, actually, forget it. The more I say, the dumber I sound.”

I just had no idea how to approach this. So when Luna suddenly appeared at our table, I was almost more relieved than concerned.

“Tomorrow afternoon. We’ll be finishing volume one and moving on to two, so bring both, okay?”

To my surprise, Mae joined in the conversation with a relatively pleasant tone.

“Book club, right? What are you reading?”

An expression of pure triumph appeared on Luna's face.

No... Luna wouldn’t out me like that, right?

“You mean Norma still hasn’t told you? I can’t imagine why. It's nothing to be ashamed of…”

Uh-oh.

“The series is called Object of Obsession. Have you heard of it?”

She rummaged through her backpack, producing the first volume. Despite this betrayal, she kept the book mostly in her bag, blocking it from view of anyone but Mae.

“Let me tell you, it’s just as interesting as it looks. Why don’t you summarize the plot for her, Norma? I’m sure she’d like to hear every lovely detail…”

I felt sick to my stomach. I couldn’t breathe, let alone speak... Then to my disbelief, Mae just shrugged as if Luna had shown her her stamp collection.

“Oh, that series? Bit of a weird choice for a school book club, but that’s cool.”

For the first time since I'd known her, Luna was speechless.

“H-huh?”

I was just as confused as Luna.

“How… how do you know about this series, Mae?” I managed to ask.

She scratched the back of her neck sheepishly.

“Well… I’ve been alone in your room before, you know. I always wondered why such a basic girl had such a heavy-duty safe, and when you left me alone at your place for a little too long one day, I... kinda opened it.”

I had no words. It was one thing for her to be able to pick the lock of my extremely expensive safe, though the more I thought about her juvenile record the more sense it made. But the revelation that she’d known all this time was…

Luna stumbled out of her chair, backing away from Mae.

“No, this… this wasn’t…”

Completely distraught, Luna turned and ran. I couldn’t help but notice a small limp in her step as she went. Concerned, I went after her, but by the time I made it to the hallway she was gone.

I headed back into the cafeteria, but once again, everyone's eyes were on me. Sighing, I headed back to our table.

“Uh, so about that-”

But before I could get any further, I was interrupted by jeers as a group surrounded our table. They looked like a bad crowd…

“Wow… We heard you dykes were so gay for each other that you just had to make out right in front of the whole classroom first thing this morning… but now we see you hanging out with that albino freak, too? Just how degenerate can you get?”

I started shaking. This only tangentially resembled my mobbed-to-death nightmare, but the trauma of it came back to me all at once. Mae noticed this and immediately stood, shooting the speaker a scalding look.

“What the hell would you know about us? About her? Kindly go fuck yourselves.”

“You gonna make us, Thot Topic?”

Mae clenched her fists, ready to defend herself if necessary. One of the jumpier looking delinquents looked like he was about to lunge, and I shot up from my chair, ready to get between them-

“Stop.”

It was a simple command, but effective. A tall young woman entered the cafeteria, her red hair tied back in a ponytail, revealing the many piercings that wound their way up her ears. Her soft freckles were in stark contrast to the deep scar that ran across her cheek. Her ‘uniform’ had so many violations it hardly resembled one at all. She was stacked - both in terms of curves and muscle. A single glare from her golden eyes caused our would-be attackers to back off.

“You. Punch him,” she commanded. She was looking at me.

“What? Me? N-no, I couldn’t-”

Shrugging, she slugged the guy who had slung the insults at us across the jaw, dropping him instantly.

“You’re out,” she told him. “Only a fuckin’ loser calls someone a dyke what didn’t ask for it… We’re out of here. Peace.”

With that, the group dispersed, dragging the rabble rouser behind them as they got an earful from our rescuer. 

“Well... that was certainly-”

"Assholes being assholes, what else is new." Mae shrugged dismissively. She softened her gaze as she looked at me.

"But about breaking into your safe... I’m sorry, Norma."

Mae looked away from me, clearly not used to apologizing.

“I know I’ve been saying that a lot lately, but you need to hear it again. I should have never gone behind your back and looked at something you wanted to keep private.”

“Oh, that’s… yeah, it kind of sucks, but what I really want to know is… what did you think?”

“About your ‘treasures’, you mean? I was really confused at first, but then I just had to laugh. I realized that day that there was much more to you than I thought. I also realized that day that you were hella gay, long before you actually told me. It suddenly clicked for me all at once. No wonder you were so bored whenever I talked about guys…”

We laughed, taking a moment to process the strange turn of events.

“Umm, one last thing, Norma.”

Mae took my hand and led me out of the cafeteria and into an empty classroom. She stared into my eyes, scared and confused and hopeful.

“While we’re on the subject, I…I don’t know. I think… I think I might be bi.”

---

In the school courtyard, Raine Beau squatted in typical delinquent fashion, her gang oblivious to her purpose for loitering here. Through the window, Raine watched Norma and her friend get somewhat closer than friends typically would. 

She had been watching Norma a lot lately, she found. It was like she had a sixth sense for the girl, her head snapping in her direction whenever she was near.

Norma drew her friend closer. The two looked like they were sharing their most intimate secrets.

Good for them, Raine thought. She meant it. Though she found her heart beating faster whenever Norma was around, Raine knew that she was simply not good enough for her. To ask for her friendship was ridiculous. For more than that? Blasphemous. 

A good for nothin’ like me with a girl like that…? Nah.

And so she watched. She’d watch her as she walked by. She’d watch her one day find love. She’d watch out for her from a distance, where she belonged.

“Hey boss. What’cha looking at?”

“Everythin'."

"Huh?"

"Nah, nothin'. Come on, let's bounce.”