Life for Evan had already included its fair share of awkwardness, so out of pce at Marie’s, but something about that was feeling different tely. That pestering anxiety only hung even higher on his shoulder, whispering to him. This wasn’t due to any upcoming test, mind you.

  No, the big gring issue was that there was a chance he might be crushing on a girl.

  This wouldn’t be anything all that new, of course. He’d had crushes on girls before, even if it took a bit of hindsight to realize in some of those cases.

  But in those days he was confused and lost. Not even learning about lesbians resulted in any ‘aha’ moment like it would for a lot of queer people. In some way, he’d been only half-aware of his own leanings until things finally clicked into pce for him.

  All that is to say, it’s not just that he might be crushing on a girl, but that he’s now officially doing so as a guy! That meant expectations! Pressure! The burden of being the masculine figure who had to make the move, and not come off as creepy or intimidating!

  Now, granted, Evan would love to take the masculine role in a retionship, and he wasn’t sure how intimidating he’d really be to women while still cking in the muscle department. But it was all still there.

  The irony of it all being that it all led to him being the one catching himself gncing or staring at someone else during css. He’d always been so bothered or self-conscious about it before, when his cssmates would look at him like he was the odd one out, but he was making himself a total hypocrite whenever he thought about Aria! She was all the way in the back too, which made his habit all the more awkward.

  Why even entertain this? Maybe he just needed to get his mind out of the gutter, there’s no chance anything would actually happen. Just get over his feelings like any other time he’d felt this way about someone.

  Because if he was being for real, he was still transgender. No matter what, that would be the big elephant in the room. Having short hair and being slightly taller than average might make him androgynous enough on a first gnce to people. But he didn’t want androgynous, he wanted masculine! And he knew girls typically liked masculine.

  The teacher was still talking, but the argument kept pying in Evan’s mind.

  In the end, it was pointless to think about, wasn’t it? Just focus on css and try to get over the crush, if it even was one at all.

  Yet he couldn’t help himself from stealing yet another gnce at her. At Aria Swanson. ...Great, just thinking about her name was making him feel excited.

  To his surprise, she’d already been gncing back. His eyes went wide with surprise, then he hid his face back into his book, saving himself from the embarrassment.

  This was just a self-repeating cycle, wasn’t it? This was stupid, he was stupid, the world was-!

  Something light knocked into his shoulder. When he turned, he saw a small scrunched piece of paper. It was the same yellow color of the little sticky notes he’d given to Aria.

  Stealthily, he shot another gnce at the girl. She was staring back. Then she smiled, and waved.

  Evan furled up the note. Was she trying to tell him something? Maybe something reted to css? Even still, he felt a bit nervous opening it up, and gncing at it to read…

  ‘hi’

  Evan blinked. That’s it?

  He gnced back at Aria again, who still looking back, quietly did a little wave again.

  He reinspected the note, furrowing his brows at it. What did this mean? Was it some kind of cryptic code? Did she want him to write back? Or would she be creeped out if he did? Maybe she was pying some joke on him?

  Once more, he gnced back at Aria, this time trying to be stealthy so maybe she wouldn’t notice. She still sat in her seat, eyes fixed to the teacher in front now, and absentmindedly kicking her legs under the table with a small smile on her face. As if she didn't have so much as a care in the world.

  Inscrutable, that girl.

  Eventually, as css ended, Evan made it a point to be quick in leaving the cssroom and not get in Aria’s way. Between the note and his evident feelings, there wasn’t exactly a clear way to tackle this. He was gonna see if he couldn’t just, you know, shuffle in the halls or something until his next css.

  He leaned against a wall, letting out a deep sigh. If only he-

  “Good morning, Evan.”

  Evan jumped back, ready to throw out hands but rexed seeing it was just Grace.

  “You’re awfully jumpy today.” She mused, arms crossed.

  Evan shrugged her comment off, “Oh shut up, I’m just trying to rex between csses.”

  “Not something you usually do, but okay.”

  He arched a brow, “Don’t you usually do homework between csses? That’s funny coming from you.”

  “That’s true, I’m just curious about the current developments.” Grace smiled.

  Evan shot her a nervous gnce, “About… About what?”

  “Oh, you know…” She leaned in and gave him a knowing look, “You and the new girl.”

  “Wh-What?!” Evan almost jumped again. “The hell gave you that idea?!”

  Grace blinked, face dropping to a deadpan expression. “Evan. I have eyes. Maddie does too, under that bird’s nest of hers. We can tell what’s going on.”

  Evan gulped, and felt himself sweat. Surely he wasn’t that obvious? “I-I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Please, we’ve known each other for years at this point. We’ve had a front row seat to your entire identity crisis and all your issues that came along with it. We can tell when you’re crushing on someone.”

  Evan felt his face grow red. He really was that obvious.

  “So that’s confirmation, I take it?” She asked, crossing her arms again.

  “A-Alright fine, so maybe I think she’s cute. But that doesn’t mean I’m gonna ask her out or anything, are you crazy? You know why that’s never happening!”

  But Grace rolled her eyes, “This again?”

  “I’m not wrong! Look at me! I’m no Hugh Jackman! I’m like a… More like a 'Stick Ackman!'”

  “That’s a terrible point of comparison.”

  “You know what I mean! Just, you know, also the…” He gave her a look, the type of bit where he’d feel rude saying the word itself out loud.

  “Because you’re transgender,” She bluntly finished.

  “Yes! Aria barely knew people like me existed before a few days ago, she’s not gonna think of me that way! Her family’s probably a bunch of rich conservatives who’d smacktalk me the moment she'd even think to mention me at home!”

  Grace started nudging the temples of her head, “Oh for crying-”

  “And there’s literally more than a hundred guys in the school across the street. Even if she wanted something like that she’d just get an actual guy! I can’t match up to that! Heck, I feel like I’ve barely even gotten to know her yet anyway! What’s even the point if-?”

  But Grace had started walking away.

  “Wait, you’re just leaving?”

  She fanned her face. “You know, I think I’m starting to feel a bit ill today, must be a bug going on. I think Maddie looked a bit flush earlier too, I’ll see how she's doing.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  She turned back to look at Evan with a shrug, “I’m just saying, if Maddie and I are both sick, it’d be a real shame. Wouldn’t be able to head to the carnival with you and Aria tonight.”

  Evan flinched, catching what she was implying. “Wait, y-you can’t be serious!”

  Grace sighed. "Such a shame, but the two of you can have fun for the both of us.

  "W-Well Tori was also pnning to come, so it’s not like it’d just be the two of us…”

  “Mm, maybe she can keep us company back at the dorm. Maddie would probably love another match with her after the other day.”

  “Grace, this isn’t funny, you’re not gonna force me onto a date with-”

  “So then what are you gonna do?” She stared right back at him, arms crossed. “Because all I see is you wanting to keep putting everything off.”

  “Putting what off?”

  “Everything!” Grace answered. “You keep finding ways to compin about your ck of masculinity, your insecurities, the type of guy you wanna be, this and that. Then the moment the opportunity pops up for you to do something about it, you let your problems get to you!”

  Evan held his tongue. He wasn’t sure how to answer, since there were elements of truth to that.

  “You know what I think, Evan?” She asked. “You overthink too much, you let everything get to your head. I don’t bme you considering your identity, but you keep taking everything you’re thrown and only looking for the negative.”

  “I’m not doing this to be mean,” She continued. “I’m saying this because I’m your friend, and I’ve been listening to you mope for a long while now. It’s about time you made an actual move for yourself. You say you want to man up? Then man up.”

  Evan frowned. Damn it, he had no way to retort, especially with how long she’d gone there. “You’re… You’re good with words, huh.”

  Grace let out a small smirk. “I know. It's thanks to me the school got a better caterer st year, remember?”

  Evan rolled his eyes. “Okay, but she’d still be uncomfortable, right? Just jumping it on her like that, she’s expecting this to be a group thing. Won't she be weirded out?”

  But Grace shrugged, “If she’s uncomfortable, then she’s uncomfortable. She leaves and the date's over.”

  Evan flinched at the mention of calling it a ‘date.’ “You sure?”

  “I wouldn’t be suggesting this if you weren’t a good guy, Evan,” She assured. “I know you’ll watch out for how she’s feeling.”

  Evan felt himself grimace. He still wasn’t sure if he fully liked this idea. But at the same time, Grace was right about him needing to actually take a leap. And besides, if it did work out?

  …He felt his heartbeat quicken. God damn it, a part of him really wanted to go for it.

  It was Monday, Solomon’s css had ended, and so he stalked the academy floor’s basement. Luckily his Monday csses ended a bit earlier, so he could make himself ready for when someone came.

  Scott’s lead sounded helpful, but they weren’t actually able to get anywhere with it, at least back on Saturday. Adam was still missing, after all. They had kept searching, but ultimately determined another pn instead. Assuming that this Adam was showing up to css like the previous Friday, all they had to do was wait for another weekday to start, and they could better keep an eye on him.

  A voice was heard from Solomon’s walkie-talkie, “Css is over, over. Target’s gonna head down soon, over.”

  The walkie talkie was Flynn’s idea. Solomon couldn’t deny its use for these circumstances, so they’d went ahead and bought some out in town the day before.

  The basement was mostly empty ordinarily, used to house storage spaces and the occasional club room, so Solomon was tensed up and readied his guard when he heard steps from the nearby staircase.

  He kept a close eye from a hidden corner as the boy descended. He felt the same chill as he had back on Friday when he glimpsed Adam’s face. Like Flynn said, he showed up today, and wouldn’t you know it, he was heading down here after his st css just like Scott said he’d done st week.

  “I have an eye on him, I’ll let you know when you’re clear to come down.” Solomon spoke into the walkie-talkie. He had to keep a bit of a distance so as not to risk revealing himself from his hiding spot, but without anything to obstruct his view it made for a good vantage point.

  Adam was walking the other way, leaving Solomon in suspense to see which room he’d enter. He had to be coming down here for some reason.

  But eventually, a door was opened. And then, closed.

  “You’re in the clear, he’s entered one of the rooms.” Solomon spoke into it as he moved into pce.

  Right then, Flynn came rushing down the stairwell. “Dude, you know you always have to say ‘over’, right?”

  “Come on, let’s be quick.” Solomon said and hurried ahead without bothering to answer.

  “Right, right.” Flynn followed behind, “Before he makes a run for it out some window”

  “I’m not sure how many of these have windows," Solomon mused. "Besides, I’m fairly certain that…” He paused when reaching the door. He’d been fairly certain, but indeed, they were looking at the door to what should be a simple storage closet. “What on earth would he be doing in there?”

  Flynn wound up his arm, pretending like he was ready to have some fight. “So we have him cornered?”

  Solomon nodded, leaning against the door. “We’ll open and catch him off-guard in three… two… one…”

  He opened the door, upon which Flynn immediately reached in to grab the figure inside.

  “W-Woah!”

  The boy was forcefully dragged out, effectively tossed to the ground as he lost his bance.

  Under the hallway light, Solomon could clearly make the student out and… It wasn’t Adam.

  But how? He was sure he’d seen him enter, and what would a random student be doing in there anyway? Unless…

  “Wait a minute…” Flynn walked up, getting a good look at the boy himself, who was rubbing his back from the way he’d been thrown onto the ground. “Ray?!”

  Solomon perked, “You know him?”

  “Well, yeah, kinda.” Flynn expined. “I hear he has a big mouth.”

  Ray groaned, “Yeah, just like your mom- shit!” He shut his eyes when he swore, as if chastising himself.

  “I… I see.” Solomon simply responded. Come to think of it, the boy was familiar, he may have spoken to him at some point recently. “Does he know Adam?”

  “Uhh, don’t think so.”

  Ray still sat on the floor, rubbing his head, “A-Anyway, what the hell is wrong with you?! You can’t just toss a guy like that!”

  Flynn crossed his arms, “We gotta talk first. Where’s Adam?”

  The boy’s eyes grew wide, “Wh-Who?”

  “Stop bullshitting me, dude. You know who!”

  “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

  It didn’t take a detective to figure the boy was hiding something, just from his expression alone. He clearly wasn’t expecting this type of confrontation. But at this point, Solomon was ready to give it to him. “Listen, Raymond, allow me to expin-”

  “Robert.”

  “What?”

  “I-It’s Robert, actually.” Ray expined. "My full name, I mean. Not Raymond."

  Solomon shot Flynn a puzzled look, to which he expined. “His name’s Robert but his nickname’s Ray. I know, weird.”

  “Why not Rob?”

  “I dunno, because he stings or whatever!”

  “Because I motherfucking sting!” Ray pointed back at Flynn.

  “Yeah, see?”

  Solomon drew in his breath, raising his hand to Flynn to end the conversation. “This is all besides the point. Robert, approximately a minute or so ago, I witnessed Adam entering this very storage closet, yet when Flynn and I opened it, we only saw you. Care to expin?”

  Ray’s expression quickly shifted back to something more anxious, shifting his eyes to the side. “Fuck, shit, this wasn’t supposed to…!”

  Flynn lowers himself down and hunches his knees, “You better start talking, now.”

  “Wouldn’t you like that you fat fuck- Shit! God damn it, sorry!”

  Flynn stood back up with a grimace, “Woah, that did kinda sting…”

  “Apologies will come ter. What did you mean by ‘supposed to?’” Solomon questioned.

  Ray eyed the taller boy, paranoid look in him. “I-I can’t tell you.”

  Both boys furrowed their brows.

  “I-I literally can’t! Look, can’t we just forget this?! You’re never getting anything out of me either way!”

  Flynn rolled his eyes. “Okay, this is bullshit. If someone’s threatening you they won’t know, so just-!”

  “Wait.” Solomon said to Flynn, hand reaching up to his own mouth, grasping his chin in thought. Ray was ciming he literally couldn’t tell them. A story he’d heard himself not too long ago. Then there was ‘Adam’’s disappearance, swapping with Ray, almost as if…

  His blood ran cold.

  “Would this…” Solomon paused, almost finding this to be madness, but knowing what he knew already, the possibility was undeniable. “...have anything to do with… magic?”

  Ray stared straight back at Solomon with terrified, bulging eyes. “W-Would you believe me…? If I said it was?”

  Rosalynn stewed with anger as she closed the library.

  Here she’d been, delicately ying out her master pn this past week, setting pieces into motion to tailor the exact circumstances needed to achieve her goals. All only to encounter the most unfortunate, bloody accursed hiccup.

  It was frustrating because this was supposed to be the easy part. Just keep the kid occupied and busy somewhere else while she schemed and prepared her next move. It was easy, straightforward.

  But now that was being threatened. What's more, she had been completely unable to predict this element and had been operating under the assumption that this had no chance of happening. She specifically penned that contract so that the condition had an extremely close to zero chance of being triggered. There was no reason for the child to even be tempted to come back! This was exactly the type of scenario that could throw a spanner into things and dismantle her pns. Worse, it could blunder her entire operation if she didn’t py it carefully.

  She was lucky she’d noticed the problem when she did. That despite her assurances, she’d made it a point to use her crystal ball and see how the little swan had been doing in paradise.

  Rosalynn hated that she did not know this beforehand, she was endlessly frustrated with her own ck of foresight.

  But she was also frustrated that no one had informed her, despite previous instructions.

  The library fully closed, she quickly sat back at her desk to pull out her crystal ball again. She divined, tracking the person she needed to speak to. Soon enough, the girl’s figure appeared, her facial features and long dark hair clear to Rosalynn’s eyes. Ah, wonderful, she happened to be alone in one of the restrooms, too. Perfect chance to have a quick talk, unintruded.

  “Good afternoon, Ms. Belle.” She uttered.

  Immediately, the girl jolted in shock, looking around herself in fear.

  “Don’t be surprised, child. I’m merely checking in.”

  “Wh-What do you want now?” She spoke into what seemed to be the air, but the voice transted back to the crystal ball.

  “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about our deal, I already spoke to you st week.” Rosalynn expined, before drawing in her breath. “How is the new girl fitting in?”

  The girl shifted uncomfortably against the sink, hand on her arm. “Erm, she’s fine. She’s not getting into any trouble so far. ...Just like you asked.”

  “I see, I see.” Rosalynn nodded with an easy smile. But then, she shifted herself closer to the ball, her lips almost touching it as she spat out her next question. “Then what’s with this new friend getting close to her?”

  She blinked, “What?”

  “You know what I’m talking about,” The witch growled at her ball. “The boy.”

  “E-Evan?”

  “Yes, of course him! Do you see any other boys in that school? Any more that I should know about?!”

  “I-I’m not following.”

  “It appears as if I wasn’t clear to you when I made my directions,” Rosalynn calmed back down. “When I told you to keep her away from any trouble, naturally for a new student, that would include any… romantic escapades.”

  The girl narrowed her eyes in thought.

  “It’s surprising for me to learn that a boy is already hitting on her. I’m sure it’s quite the shock for the poor thing, it’s your responsibility as her roommate to help her get around in her first few weeks.”

  “I already told her to keep her guard up around him. I-I don’t know what else you want me to do.”

  “Evidently, it isn’t working. From what I could gather, getting a peek here and there, they’ll be having a date tonight.”

  “What?”

  “You haven’t heard?” The witch snickered. “Your new friends think they’re being awfully clever setting them up, I’m sure they’ll come over soon in an attempt to distract you and keep you from going.”

  She furrowed her brows. “Wait, so… What am I supposed to do about it? Just crash it, then? I-I’m not sure I’m understanding this right…”

  “Oh, but I think I’m making myself quite clear here. Or could it be that… you don’t want your sense of bance restored?”

  The girl stayed silent, but Rosalynn could tell the threat had gotten to her. “You’ve already regained some of it already thanks to your st favor, and I can tell. You’re not tripping quite as much as I remember you doing. Here I was considering granting you all of it back if you could accomplish this one incredibly simple assignment. You could finally look back into rejoining ballet, hip hop, or whatever it is kids do with their feet these days.”

  Then, Rosalynn leaned closer to the crystal ball again, with a stern voice. “Let me be as clear as I can possibly be. Don’t let things develop further between them.”

  Victoria remained still in the crystal ball.

  “And absolutely do not, give them an opportunity, to kiss.”

  The girl gripped her knuckles together anxiously.

  “It’s for everyone’s own good, you know.” Rosalynn expined, her voice more calm. “Trust me, she’ll only have her heart broken if you let things escate. If you really think of that girl as your ward, your friend, you’d do what makes her happy. Wouldn't you?”

  Once more she lowered her tone, leaning in. “Is that understood, Ms. Belle?”

  There’s a pause, an uncomfortable one.

  “...Y-Yes. I understand,” She finally answered.

  Rosalynn smirked, satisfied with the conversation. “Then I’ll contact you ter if the need arises. Fare thee well, and consider my advice wisely.”

  She shut the connection from the crystal ball, the light inside shifting to its usual refracted colors.

  Rosalynn was gd she’d made the point to have that conversation. Really, she expected this part to be more simple. But there just had to be a trans boy there, already putting the moves on the kid, to boot.

  The condition was so perfectly suited otherwise! Just never kiss anyone and stay a girl! She may have gambled on their preferences, that they wouldn't be tempted in a school full of women. But it’s not as if she expected them to start experimenting like that anyway, not on short notice.

  But no, it just had to turn out like this. By coincidence they encountered and befriended the exact type of person who might initiate the condition to break the spell, and in the near future too, if she wouldn't be careful. She had to assume the child themselves would try to avoid it, since they'd doubtlessly want to keep their body, but you’d never know.

  All the more reason to speed things along.

  Rosalynn couldn’t risk it. She couldn’t rely on the original timeframes she’d set.

  It was about time she put everything into motion.