Chương 29: Bk 1 Ch 26: Reunion

The instant the fight begins, I rip a sphere of earth twenty feet across out of the ground under Elliot's feet. Instead of flying apart into a chaotic mess like I want it to, though, the mass mostly holds together, bound by expanding roots which stubbornly refuse to break even under the extreme gravity. This time, I'm ready for that, instead flipping the solid mass upside down and forcing him to jump clear before I crush him under it.

He manages to loose an arrow at me before the mass blocks his line of sight, which I jump sideways to dodge. I throw the whole mass at him to keep him busy for a second longer, then pull more earth into the air, this time around myself. Anja plows straight through it, her shield raised in front of her to shove the debris aside as she lunges towards me. I juke to the side, but she adjusts her aim to follow me thanks to the pair of glowing blue wings emerging from her back, each one nearly ten feet long.

The debris buffets her as I begin to spin it into a vortex, but it passes straight through her wings; making them selectively intangible is a trick she figured out just last week. I block her thrust, then force her backwards with my return slash, which certainly can still cut through her wings. Her first clone, also winged, comes at me from above, slightly out of sync with her own attack.

It's not quite as nimble as she is, too slow to avoid my stab as I suddenly swerve towards it, and it fades away into motes of blue light. More roots are starting to grow around the edge of my vortex, lashing out to grab chunks of rock or uprooted tree stumps and holding them together. When the debris is loose, I can dance through the vortex almost effortlessly, but the more tangled it gets, the more restricted my movement becomes.

I pull up fresh material as I move the entire vortex in Elliot's direction, slicing through any bound chunks that get too close with my spear. Anja comes in again along with two of her clones, successfully forcing me back, although one of the clones doesn't make it out. At least the tangled vortex makes it even harder for her to maneuver as well, stopping her from just shoving her way through and forcing her to jump from chunk to chunk.

On the plus side, Elliot can't get a clear shot at me, so he's limited to just trying to tangle me up. I focus on Anja instead, dispatching another couple of clones and trying to trap her in the center of the vortex. She goes tumbling as I manage to slice through her wings, and her final clone darts in, sacrificing itself to buy her the moment she needs to resummon them. Instead of continuing to pressure her, though, I throw myself out of the vortex, slamming the entire thing together with Anja inside.

I fling the mass in the opposite direction, and Elliot goes scrambling backwards as I dart towards him, easily knocking aside the arrows he sends at me. It only takes Anja a second to burst free once I stop holding the mass together. By that time, though, I've already reached Elliot, and she's not nearly as fast as me in the air. Brambles burst up out of the ground, trying to snare me as I close with him, but I rip them out and send them flying away, slicing through the couple that come too close.

Then I'm on top of him, forcing him to constantly retreat and not giving him enough time to grow more. I pull up another vortex around us, delaying Anja just as she's about to reach me. Elliot immediately starts trying to tangle it together, but he's also not nearly as mobile as she is. It takes only a couple more seconds for me to slip around his guard and thump him in the side with my staff. Anja keeps coming in, not realizing immediately that Elliot's already out.

By the time she does, she's already firmly caught in my vortex, although there's no real point in her trying to keep her distance anyway. She puts up the best fight she can, but I cut through her clones faster than she can resummon them, and then her wings. With her mobility crippled, it doesn't take long to whack her in the back as well.

"Dammit," grumbles Anja as I let everything settle.

"I was sure we'd start winning more now that I can actually fly through your vortex."

"It's a useful trick, but you're also letting yourselves get split up too easily," I reply.

"Elliot, you can't really do much from outside my vortex right now. You should work on either getting more comfortable moving through it and fighting at close range, or else try and find a way to actually attack me properly from long range even when you don't have a clear shot."

"Sure, and by the time I've figured that out, you'll probably have figured out some new bullshit for us to deal with," he replies, but he's still grinning.

"Well, obviously," I say, grinning back.

"That's the entire point. Seriously, though, you guys have both gotten way better. I have to keep getting better too if I don't want you to start kicking my ass." They both try to hide their pleasure at the praise, but not very well.

"We should probably clean all this up," says Anja after a moment.

"Yeah, and by we, you mean me and Gabby," teases Elliot.

"Hey, I'm not the one who always tears up the entire hillside!" Laughing, I fly around the clearing, smoothing out the huge piles of debris I left and filling in all the pits. Once everything is level and packed down, Elliot grows grass and weeds over it all. It doesn't look exactly like it originally did since the treestumps are all shredded and buried at this point, but at least it doesn't look like a warzone anymore. Hopefully any loggers who come up here will just shrug and assume the records were wrong.

"We still on for your birthday party this weekend?" I ask as I land.

"Uh huh," says Elliot.

"My parents aren't getting back until Sunday, so Saturday should be fine."

"Sucks that you can't have the party on your actual birthday," says Anja. Elliot shrugs.

"Honestly, I really don't care. I mean, I'm basically just getting two parties, even if the official one isn't gonna be super fun. Besides, I'm excited to finally introduce you guys to my friends from school." My own 17th birthday was a couple of months ago, back at the end of February. I held a little party at my place for my closest friends, and then went to a rave, to absolutely no one's surprise. It'd been an amazing time, especially since it was the first one since the gang war that Alex joined me for.

I doubt that'd be Elliot's first choice, though, and he can't really host a party at his house either, for multiple reasons. But I'd insisted he do something, and thrown ideas at the wall until he found one he liked. The place we're going to is primarily a bowling alley, but it's also got some arcade games, air hockey and pool tables, and other stuff like that. It's not entirely different from X-citement, but aimed at a slightly older audience, so instead of claw machines, they've got Time Crisis and Mortal Kombat.

I'm paying for everything as my present to him. The Sun Eaters have expanded aggressively since the start of the year, more than doubling in membership. We've been careful to respect the neutral zone between us and Surf 'n Turf, but our monopoly on the drug trade in south and west Franklin is just about complete, so the cash is absolutely pouring in. Even with extra expenses like setting up some proper safehouses and additional money-laundering operations, shelling out a few hundred bucks for a party is trivial.

I head over early, a little before one, to make sure everything's all set up. I drive over in my not-so-new Honda Civic; beige and somewhat beat-up, it's not exactly my dream car, but it only cost me two grand. More importantly, it's not going to raise any eyebrows. At the counter, I set up a tab, forking over two hundred bucks in cash so everyone can get food and bowling balls as they go. Then, I settle down to wait. Elliot arrives first, also a few minutes early.

Alex is next, greeting me with a kiss, and then a couple of guys I don't know.

"Hey, Dillon, Riley, over here!" says Elliot, waving. They walk over.

"Hey man, happy birthday," says one of them.

"Thanks. These are my friends Gabby and Alex. This is Dillon and Riley."

"Nice to meetcha," I say, shaking their hands.

"Yeah, you too," says Riley.

"So, uh, where do you guys go?"

"We go to West," says Alex.

"You guys go to Saint Maria's, right?"

"Yup," says Dillon.

"It's kinda lame, but it's alright. Real strict, they'll give you detention just for saying fuck, but at least the teachers are pretty good, I guess."

"How do you guys know Elliot?" asks Riley.

"We met at the end of last summer. He seemed kinda miserable, so I decided to drag him to a couple parties," I say. They laugh.

"Nice. He's definitely been in a better mood this year, so good job. Hey, you should tell us next you get invited to a party, man!"

"Yeah, sure," says Elliot, laughing.

"Oh, hey, Anja!" We all turn as Anja and Lisa walk over, and everyone gets introduced again. Anja gives Elliot a hug, then sits down right next to him, drawing speculative looks from Dillon and Riley. It's been hard to resist asking why they haven't just started dating already, but I know they've both got plenty of issues they're still working through. Maybe if they still haven't gotten together by summer, I'll give them a little nudge. Cassie and Tyler show up next.

Cassie and Elliot aren't the closest friends, but they're friendly, and Elliot always enjoys hanging out with people who know who he is.

"Is that everyone?" I ask once introductions have once again been made.

"Should be two more," says Elliot, leaning over to look at the door.

"Oh, perfect, there they are." He waves, and I lean over to look as well. Then the world comes to a screeching halt. She cut her hair. That's the first thing I notice. It used to be long and straight like mine, but now she's got it in little blonde ringlets, only coming down to her shoulders. I don't like it. It's too controlled. She's wearing a knee-length light green skirt and white blouse, an outfit I've seen her in before, but only ever at church. Her makeup is a lot heavier than I remember, too.

It all looks so… artificial, like she's trying to turn herself into a doll. She doesn't notice me until she's already almost to the group, and then she freezes, her eyes widening. I stand and walk forwards, dreamlike, only vaguely aware of Elliot saying something. For a few seconds, we just stare at each other, ignoring everyone and everything around us.

"... Hey, Ems," I say eventually.

"Been a while."

"... Gabby. I… Yeah. I guess it has." She hesitates.

"You look good."

"... You look different," I reply after a moment. She flinches minutely, invisible to most people, but not to me.

"I wanted to try something new."

"Is this a friend of yours?" interjects the guy next to her, forcing me to start paying attention to the rest of the world again. I give him a once-over. He's blonde as well, and pretty tall, around the same height as Alex. I guess he's probably fairly attractive as far as guys go, but in a boring button-up shirt kind of way. Emily paints a smile on her face.

"This is… my old friend Gabby," she says, the pause only barely noticeable.

"Gabby, this is my boyfriend Lucas." The words take a moment to register, and I only barely manage to hide any reaction. I take another look, more thorough: The tightness in her eyes, the way he stands a little too close to her, the way she angles herself slightly away from him, the way she clasps her hands in front of her so he doesn't have anything to hold. I fight down the urge to kill him on the spot. Instead, I give him a nod and a smile, just as fake as Emily's.

"Nice to meet you." There's no recognition or hostility in his eyes; he doesn't know who I am.

"This is my girlfriend Alex," I say, deliberately taking her hand.

"Alex, this is Emily."

"... I see," says Lucas, his expression darkening. He's too busy frowning at our joined hands to notice Emily flinch again beside him, harder.

"It's good to meet you," says Alex after a moment, ignoring Lucas completely.

"Gabby's told me a lot about you."

"Oh. Really?" asks Emily, genuinely surprised.

"The two of you were friends for a long time," says Alex, nodding.

"It's hard to just throw away a piece of yourself like that. Don't you think?" That hits home hard, but she's spared the need to respond by Lucas.

"Well, it was nice to meet you," he says, taking her arm and pulling her away pretty unsubtly. He can't really go far since Elliot's standing just a few feet away, but he deliberately turns away from us and puts himself between us and Emily. It's not entirely effective, and her eyes linger on us for several moments. Again, I push down the urge to crush him like an insect.

"Happy birthday, Elliot," he says.

"Thanks," says Elliot, forcing a grin. I never mentioned Emily to him by name, but he's a smart kid, I'm sure he's put the pieces together.

"Small town, huh?" I don't listen to the rest of the conversation. Instead, I turn to Alex and say, "I need to go to the bathroom." She nods, not even needing to ask if I want her to come with me. Cassie gives me a worried look as we pass, and I do my best to give her a reassuring smile. Thankfully, the bathroom is empty. The moment the door's closed, I grab Alex, bury my face in her shoulder, and stop holding back the tears. She holds me tightly as I cry myself out for several minutes, gently stroking my hair.

"I hate the way she's hurting herself," I eventually whisper.

"I know," says Alex.

"It's okay. You don't need to feel bad for still caring about her. I hate it too."

"... Thanks. I… There has to be something I can do to help, to make her stop. Shouldn't I be able to? What's even the point of being so powerful, if I can't?"

"I think the best thing you can do is just be there. Don't push. Just be yourself, unapologetically, like you always do. I only just met her, and even I can tell she knows she's trying to be someone she's not."

"Yeah. I hope so." I stay pressed against her for a little while longer. Then, I lean back just enough to pull her down and kiss her very thoroughly.

"Thanks. For being here, and for understanding. I love you."

"Always. I love you, too." We hold each other in silence for a little longer.

"You okay to go back out?" I take a deep breath, then let it out.

"Yeah," I say, stepping back.

"Yeah, I'm okay." I step over to the sink, splashing a little water on my face and cleaning myself up with a paper towel.

"Come on. Don't wanna ruin Elliot's birthday." I head for the door, still hating the fact that Emily doesn't have anyone to hold her and tell her it's okay. Cassie's loitering outside the hallway leading to the bathrooms.

"Hey. You good?" she asks as we emerge.

"Yeah. I'm alright," I say, smiling a little more genuinely. She nods.

"Y'know, part of me still wants to beat her ass for breaking your heart. But I think what she's done to herself is already worse than anything I'd do to her anyway." I laugh a little, without much humor.

"Yeah. I know."

"Well, how 'bout that douchebag hanging off her arm? Is he fair game?" I snort.

"Tempting, but let's not cause a scene quite yet. Maybe he's not as bad as he looks."

"If I hear a single slur out of him, he's gonna spend the rest of his afternoon picking up teeth," mutters Alex.

"Damn straight!" says Cassie, cackling. When we rejoin the group, most of the others are already getting bowling balls. Like Cassie, Elliot quickly checks to make sure I'm okay, and I assure him I'm fine. The group is too large for a single lane, so we claim two adjacent lanes. I'm not entirely surprised when Lucas makes sure he and Emily won't be in the same lane as me, Alex, and Cassie, although it's more petty than anything else; the two lanes are easily close enough for everyone to still talk to each other.

I want to give Emily a little more space to process our sudden reunion anyway, so I don't make any move to talk to her again yet. I can't help but match pettiness for pettiness, though, adjusting the trajectory of Lucas's first roll just slightly and sending it into the gutter. I do quietly talk to Elliot when I have a moment.

"So, how'd you meet Emily?"

"It wasn't that different from how I met you, actually," he says.

"She saw me sitting alone at lunch one day a couple weeks after school started, thought I looked unhappy, and decided to do something about it." I can't help but laugh.

"Yeah, that sounds like her."

"She wasn't nearly as pushy about it as you, it took me a lot longer to start opening up to her even a little, but she was very persistent."

"She's always been stubborn," I agree, nodding.

"Once she decides what the right thing to do is, good luck changing her mind."

"... How did that work? With you two? Cause, you know, you're kinda the same way." I give it a little thought for a minute before answering.

"I think we both assumed we were slowly nudging each other more towards our way of thinking. We both knew we couldn't just outright change each other's mind with an argument, so instead we kind of circled around the edges of the disagreements. Like, I'd find a bunch of passages from the Bible showing that all the hateful bigotry the church spews is absolutely not what Jesus would've wanted, and she'd agree with me.

I assumed that meant she was moving away from the church, and she assumed that meant I was moving closer to Jesus." Elliot laughs.

"Honestly, that kind of explains a lot about both of you. I really never stood a chance, did I?"

"Nope," I say with a grin. Then my grin fades.

"What about that Lucas kid? How long have they been… dating?" He frowns.

"A little while, but not real long. Like two or three months, maybe. I, uh… I actually had kind of a crush on her, at first. She shot me down before I even worked up the nerve to say anything, real gently. Said I deserved better, and she didn't want to hurt me, like dating her was some kind of punishment. And then she started dating Lucus when even I could see she didn't really like him very much, and I got even more confused, but it makes a lot more sense now. He's… real traditional.

I don't think they've done more than kiss on the cheek and hold hands, that's probably part of the reason why she picked him. I asked her if, like, her parents were making her date him or something. She said no one was making her, it was just something she had to do." I snort, shaking my head.

"Stupid, stubborn idiot. She couldn't take my word for it, she just had to prove it for herself." I glance over at her and find her looking back at me. After a moment, she looks away.

"So he's not, like, hurting her or anything, then?"

"No, nothing like that. He's not a bad person, he's just, uh… Well, he's kinda got a stick up his ass, honestly. You'll probably see." He must really have a stick up his ass for Elliot to put it so bluntly. Still, things aren't nearly as bad as I was afraid of. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if just seeing me again wasn't enough to torpedo her little experiment. With my worries eased for now, I'm finally able to start enjoying myself a little.

I'm not the greatest at bowling, none of my advantages really help that much unless I want to outright cheat using gravity fields, but that's honestly kind of nice. There's not that much point to playing games I'm just gonna automatically win if I don't intentionally throw. I do alright, coming in third behind Elliot and Alex, who are both actually pretty good. After we finish bowling, we move over to the arcade section.

Elliot and Anja claim the air hockey table, which isn't quite as bad as the foam swords at X-citement were, but they still send the puck shooting back and forth at ridiculously high speeds. I roll my eyes and leave them to it, judging that it's probably not dramatic enough to draw any notice. I move over to the pool table instead, starting a game of doubles with me and Alex versus Cassie and Tyler. If I ever get myself a proper villain lair, I should definitely make sure it has a pool table.

Meanwhile, I keep an eye on Emily as she and Lucas examine the different video games. She seems to be doing a bit better as well, or at least hiding it better. The two of them watch Dillon and Riley play for a couple of minutes; Riley cheers loudly as he rips Dillon's spine out or something. She's facing away from me, but I know she's rolling her eyes, and she wanders away shortly afterwards.

"Oh, this one looks cool," she says, stopping in front of a fantasy-themed game. Lucas shrugs.

"Video games all sort of look the same to me. I'd rather do another round of bowling."

"Everyone's over here now, though," says Emily.

"Why not give it a try? Worst that can happen is it's boring, right?"

"... If you want," says Lucas, managing to pack a truly impressive amount of condescension into only three words.

"Oh, sweet, they've got Gauntlet Legends," says Lisa, walking up to join them.

"It just came out a few months ago."

"Have you played before?" asks Emily.

"Just once, but it's fun. Want me to show you?"

"Sure, thanks! Lisa, right?"

"Uh huh. So you start by picking your character, there's four to choose from. I'm gonna be the Valkyrie…" This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I snort in amusement. Five minutes later, I barely manage to stop myself from cracking up completely when Lucas gets himself killed on the very first level. I suspect it was at least somewhat intentional, and he thought he could use it to convince Emily to do something else.

She's clearly enjoying herself, though, leaving him standing there awkwardly watching. He eventually wanders off on his own, glancing over at our game of pool before turning away distastefully. Instead, he asks if he can play air hockey, and proceeds to get absolutely obliterated by both Elliot and Anja in succession. We play a few rounds of pool, then check out some of the video games ourselves. Eventually, people start getting hungry, and we wander over towards the counter.

I settle at a large table with a soda and a slice of mediocre pizza, and Alex sits next to me. A minute later, Emily sits down across from me.

"So how have you been, Gabby?" she asks without preamble, apparently completely casual except for the way she nervously fiddles with the button on the end of her sleeve.

"I've been good," I reply honestly.

"Went through a couple of rough spots, but it all ended up working out."

"Good," she says, smiling slightly.

"I was glad to hear you were still in school, even if, well…" I carefully suppress a smirk, remembering who she probably heard that from.

"Where are you staying now?"

"I've got my own place. Just a little one-bedroom apartment, but it's pretty close to West."

"You're renting it by yourself?" she asks, surprised.

"Yeah. I got legally emancipated a little before school started. Got a job, too, I work at this family fun place over at the mall."

"Wow. Congratulations." She hesitates for a second, still fidgeting with her sleeve.

"Have you… heard from your parents at all?"

"No." She nods.

"I figured probably not. They moved away a few months ago. Your dad lost his job, and they had to sell their house. I just… wondered if they'd tried to reach out at all, before they left."

"They didn't," I say, shaking my head. I feel surprisingly little, just a minor glow of satisfaction. I really don't care enough about them anymore to put any actual effort into revenge, but I still wish them the worst.

"How've things been for you?" I ask after a couple of seconds.

"They've been alright. Saint Maria's has been nice, honestly. I'm glad for the chance to make some new friends." I smother a frown; reading between the lines, I'm betting she was made into a pariah at church, at least for a while. She'll be much better off without them in the long run, but they'd better not have hurt her too badly.

"I joined the Service Club, um, the Young Christian Service Association is the official name. It's basically a student charity volunteer group, cooking free meals, collecting clothes that kids have outgrown and giving them out, that kind of thing. That's actually how I met Lucas." I glance over at him curiously.

"Helping those less fortunate than ourselves is one of our most important duties as Christians," he says. …I don't think I've ever wanted to smack someone for saying something I agree with before. A couple seats down, Cassie turns a snicker into a cough. I'm pretty sure the look he's giving me is intended to suggest that I'm one of those 'less fortunate,' but maybe that's actually just his default look. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

"Always nice to see someone who actually walks the walk," I say, smiling slightly and nodding. His expression changes slightly, looking a little nonplussed.

"So how did the two of you meet?" asks Emily after a moment. Her smile is only a little bit brittle; she really is genuinely curious about Alex.

"... Well, I overheard another girl giving Gabby some trouble in the locker room on the first day of class," says Alex.

"I went to help, but it turned out she already had it handled."

"By that, she means Theresa called me a dyke, so I chokeslammed her into a locker," I say cheerfully. Emily snorts and winces at the same time.

"Ah. I, uh, I heard about that. I wondered exactly how… embellished her story was." She doesn't sound too surprised that it was at least somewhat accurate. Alex coughs, hiding a smile behind her fist.

"Anyway, afterwards I invited her to join the GSA, since I'm the club president this year."

"Oh, really? That's… Saint Maria's doesn't have one of those."

"Why not?" asks Alex. It's one of her favorite tactics; a lot of people get uncomfortable if you ask them to explain their bigotry plainly rather than dancing around it with implications. It works especially well on Emily for obvious reasons, and she doesn't answer. Lucas answers for her, unknowingly walking straight into the pitfall Alex set up in front of him.

"Saint Maria's encourages students to act morally in all aspects of their lives, rather than… dabbling in alternate lifestyles," he says, his disapproving glare back in full force.

"Hey, if God wanted me to be straight, then why'd he make girls so hot?" I ask flippantly. It's not actually flippant; the last time I asked that, it'd instead been, "Then why'd he make you so beautiful?" I know Emily remembers from the way she flinches slightly again.

"Let's not argue, okay?" says Emily, forcing a smile.

"It's Elliot's birthday, we're here to have fun, right?" I'm fine leaving it alone for now. I think I've made my point, and I'm not actually trying to hurt her. Alex shrugs and nods as well.

"I suppose Elliot is free to invite anyone he likes to his party," says Lucas, but I let the dig pass without comment. Cassie doesn't.

"Well, feel free to uninvite yourself if you don't like the company, dickhead, cause the company sure as fuck doesn't like you. The rest of us didn't need Emily to guilt-trip Elliot into letting us come, cause we're actually his friends."

"Hey, come on, that's uncalled for," says Elliot from the other end of the table as the other conversations stop, although his wince tells me she hit pretty close to the mark.

"You don't have to talk to each other if you don't want to, but no fighting, alright?"

"Actually, I think I might agree," says Lucas.

"If these are the kinds of people you surround yourself with, Elliot, then I'm not sure if I want to be here either." Elliot sighs.

"Please apologize, Cassie." That's definitely the wrong thing to say, but I can't quite bring myself to interfere.

"Sure," says Cassie, grinning.

"Sorry you're such an unlikable dickhead, and no one wants you around." Several people snicker, but the most damning are Riley and Dillon, Lucas's alleged friends. I almost feel a little bad for him as he pushes back from the table and stands.

"Fine, then. I suggest you think about what kind of friends you want, Elliot. Shall we go, Emily?" For a couple seconds, Emily is frozen. I put my hand on Cassie's arm to stop her from saying anything else; if she pushes any harder, there's a strong chances she'll push Emily away too.

"It's okay, you don't have to leave," says Emily eventually." I want you here, Cassie's just being unpleasant as usual." That's the wrong thing to say too, though, cause she's implicitly grouping herself with us rather than with him. He hesitates for a second, then forces a smile.

"I'm sure Elliot will enjoy his birthday just fine without us. We don't have to stay when we're clearly not wanted."

"You were having a nice time earlier, weren't you?" asks Emily.

"How about if we do another round of bowling after we finish eating?" The smile melts off his face, anger leaking through.

"I know you always want to see the best in people, but not everyone is worth the effort. Honestly, you really can't expect any better from a group filled with sexual deviants."

"Jesus dude, will you just fuck off already?" snaps Tyler.

"No one here is interested in your fascist bullshit."

"Yeah, not cool, man," adds Anja. Emily sighs, then smiles sadly.

"You're wrong. Everyone is always worth the effort, no matter what."

"And how do you intend on getting home, if you really insist on staying with these people?" demands Lucas. She shrugs.

"I'm sure I'll figure something out." He glares at her for several seconds.

"Fine, then. On your head be it." Then he turns and stalks away, throwing the doors open with much more force than necessary as he leaves.

"... God dammit, Cassie, did you really have to open that can of worms?" asks Elliot, massaging his forehead.

"What?" she says without a shred of repentance.

"Was I wrong? Did anyone actually want him here? Even Goody Two-Shoes is relieved he's gone, aren't you?"" Everyone includes him!" snaps Emily.

"Do you think you're somehow going to change his mind by insulting him until he leaves? If you want people to show more kindness and understanding, then you should start by showing it to them!" She shrugs.

"I wasn't trying to change anyone's mind, I just wanted him to fuck off."

"So what makes you any better than him, then? No, he's not the easiest person to get along with, but at least he genuinely tries to do the right thing. At least he does his best to be civil with everyone no matter what he thinks of them. Have you ever heard of treating others the way you want to be treated?"

"I prefer being honest," says Cassie.

"You should try it sometime."

"Hey, that's enough," I break in. Then I turn to Emily.

"You're right, this probably isn't gonna change his mind about anything. But you don't get credit for being civil when you're outnumbered. What if it was me and Alex hanging out with a bunch of his friends? How civil do you think they'd be then?" We both know the answer to that question first hand.

"So be better than them," she replies without missing a beat.

"Someone has to offer their hand first."

"Why?" I ask.

"You can't solve the whole world's problems. You have to draw the line somewhere. Lucas was genuinely making the party less pleasant. Now he's not. Problem solved. Why should we all have to put up with him for just the chance of changing his mind? Maybe I'd give it a try in other circumstances, but we're here to have fun. I'm not gonna sacrifice the happiness of the people I care about for the sake of someone I don't."

"Then why didn't you drive him off yourself?" she challenges.

"Don't tell me you couldn't, I know how good you are at getting into people's heads."

"Cause I knew it'd upset you," I say, shrugging.

"Cause there wasn't any polite way to make him leave, and I know you don't like seeing anyone get hurt even to stop them from hurting you. But I'm not gonna pretend to be sad he's gone. Besides, I think we both know all Cassie did was speed things up a little."

"Is it really that simple for you? Dividing the world up into the people you care about and the people you don't?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Everyone does it, I'm just a little more honest about it. Even you do it, Ems. You could've left with him."

"... You're right. I could've. And you're right that I can't solve the whole world's problems, too. But that doesn't mean it's not worth trying. That doesn't mean it's not worth choosing kindness whenever you can. And I think you're lying about how little you care. I think you care about Lucas and what he represents a whole lot. You're not callous, you're just angry, and God knows you have the right to be after the way you were treated.

But I think you know deep down that no amount of hurting the people who hurt you will make you feel better." I can't help but grin slightly. God it feels good to finally just have it out with her, without any need for pretenses. It's almost an echo of the feeling I get when I fight another magical, a faint electric buzz running through my veins. The way she's a little flushed, her eyes focused on me like lasers, I think she feels it too no matter how angry she is.

"Alright, fair, you got me. Maybe I did want to see him in particular get knocked down a few pegs. But that's not the point. Lucas can get happily married and live to ninety, I really won't give a shit as long as he doesn't cause problems for me or mine. I don't hurt people cause I enjoy it, I do it so they'll leave me the hell alone."

"Maybe that works in the short term, but in the long term, the world will give you back whatever you gave it. Hurt people to stop them from hurting you, and you'll end up surrounded by more and more enemies. The only way to get rid of your enemies for good is to offer them forgiveness and kindness instead." I shake my head.

"I don't believe in karma anymore. Nobody gets what they deserve. The world is whatever you make of it. If you want things to be a certain way, you need to carve out your own place and make it that way. Otherwise, you're stuck in a place someone else carved out, living however they want you to live." She looks at me for a couple of seconds, then snorts slightly and smiles.

"I guess arguing that the entire world is already a place Someone carved out and made how He wanted it probably isn't gonna convince you, is it?"

"Probably not, no," I agree, smiling as well.

"Well, you can believe what you want. But I think you'll end up making your little piece of the world into a kinder place anyway. God isn't so easy to get away from."

"He's free to let me know what he thinks any time he wants. I take messages via lightning bolt." Emily giggles, the last of her anger fading away; she can never hold onto it for long. I glance around and finally notice that the entire rest of the table is staring at us. Whoops. Emily notices too, blushing.

"... Well, I guess I know what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object now," says Elliot after a moment.

"Yeah, never thought I'd see the day where someone actually argues Gabby to a draw," adds Anja.

"Sorry," I say, grinning slightly.

"Guess we got a little carried away."

"Eh," says Elliot, shrugging.

"It was kinda interesting, to be honest."

"Plus, now Goody Two-Shoes isn't pissed at me anymore," adds Cassie.

"Yes I am," says Emily without missing a beat. Cassie just grins and shrugs.

"Never realized you were so into philosophy," says Tyler, giving me a thoughtful look.

"I just like to think about things," I say, shrugging. I should probably try and watch myself a little more carefully around him, he's the only person here who's met me in both of my personas without knowing who I am, although it probably wouldn't be that big of a deal if he did figure it out. With the show over, people finish eating, then drift back towards other activities. Emily goes back to the fantasy game she was playing early, while I start another round of bowling with Alex, Anja, and Elliot.

I feel a little guilty; I think my debate with Emily might've upset Alex some. She doesn't have anything to worry about, the argument itself is proof that me and Emily aren't compatible anymore no matter how much I enjoyed it, but I still make sure to be a little extra affectionate to try and reassure her. I don't do much better than I did in the first round, but it's still fun.

I do give in and cheat once, after Anja starts teasing me for rolling two gutter balls in a row; on my next roll, I nudge the ball slightly left and turn it into a strike. She gives me a very unimpressed look, which I meet with a utterly innocent smile. I'm sitting with Alex, waiting for my last turn when the couple walks in. I notice them quickly, just because they look so out of place. The man is wearing a sharp charcoal-gray three piece suit and tie, and the woman is in a navy-blue pantsuit.

They look like they just stepped out of a boardroom, and both outfits scream money. Another man follows them, also in a suit, but with the classic sunglasses combo adored by every security guy trying to imitate the feds. They pause just inside, eyes sweeping back and forth before fixing on us, and they start stalking in our direction. I frown slightly as it becomes increasingly clear they really are headed for us; I'm sure I've never met either of them in my life.

I glance over at the others just as Elliot turns away from his last roll. As soon as he sees them, he freezes, his face going pale, and understanding clicks in my brain.

"Oh, shit," I mutter. Alex looks over at me curiously, but she doesn't have time to ask what's wrong before it becomes obvious.

"What do you think you're doing here?" snarls the man, ignoring all of except for Elliot.

"I- I was just-" he stammers, but the man rolls right over him.

"How many times have we told you have valuable your time is? How important it is that you follow your schedule exactly? Of all the irresponsible-""Excuse me, who the hell do you think you are?" breaks in Anja, putting herself between Elliot and them. Me and Alex hurry over to join her, although I'm still scrambling to figure out how to handle this situation. The man gives her a look of utter disgust.

"I am Elliot's father, girl. I don't know what association you think you have with my son, but it ends now. Leave, and don't contact him again, or I'll be involving the police."

"This is not the sort of crowd we taught you to associate yourself with," adds the woman, presumably his mother.

"I cannot express how disappointed we are in you right now, Elliot." There's a very ugly feeling in my chest. I realize I'm already considering the best way to kill them, and force myself to stop. I won't do anything to hurt them yet, not without Elliot's permission. For now, I just need to get him away from them. I take an aggressive step forwards, putting myself in easy reach.

"Yeah, I can see why you'd be uncomfortable with him hanging out with actual humans instead of lizard people like you," I snap.

"It's his birthday, you absolute miserable fucks!" I quickly see I've miscalculated slightly. He's not like my father, I can't bait him into hitting me; he's got people for that.

"Wilson, remove these delinquents from the premises," he says coldly. The security guy steps forwards, reaching for me. He's intercepted by Alex.

"I don't think she asked you to touch her," she says, grabbing his wrist. He yanks his hand back, turning to face her. He's tall, but only barely taller than her, not nearly enough to loom over her like he obviously wants to.

"You're out of your depth, girl. You and your little friends had better leave right now, or you're gonna find yourself in a whole world of hurt."

"I don't think so," Alex replies coolly.

"Yeah, we're not going fucking anywhere," agrees Anja, crossing her arms.

"You think having a little money makes you God? Elliot's worth a thousand of you. You don't even deserve to breath the same air as him."

"Enough!" snaps his father.

"Elliot, we're leaving, now." Elliot doesn't move, still frozen.

"I said NOW!"

"So fucking leave already, shithead, you don't have to announce it to the entire goddamn place!" says Cassie as she arrives, the others trailing behind her. The security guy moves closer to Elliot's parents, starting to look a little nervous as she and Tyler take aggressive stances as well. Lisa, Dillon, and Riley nervously hang further back, while Emily heads straight for Elliot. An employee is nervously approaching as well, clearly trying to figure out what he's supposed to do.

Elliot's father looks like a cockroach just started yelling at him. After a moment, he turns back to the security guy.

"Wilson, contact the police and inform them of a large group of delinquents attempting to assault us and kidnap our son."

"Are you for fucking real right now?" demands Anja.

"Yeah, you seem a little confused about what qualifies as assault. Want us to help clear that up for you?" says Cassie, grinning toothily. Tyler loudly cracks his knuckles next to her.

"Wait!" We all turn to look at Elliot as he finally speaks.

"Wait, I'll- I'll go. You don't have to call the police or anything, I'm coming."

"Elliot, you don't need to go with them," says Emily, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"This is ridiculous, we have every right to be here, the police don't answer to him!" He shrugs her hand off.

"I just- I don't want this to get out of hand. I'll be okay, I promise."

"You sure?" I ask, moving to intercept him as well.

"You know we've got your back, you don't have to do this for our sake."

"I- I can handle it," he says, doing his best to muster up a smile.

"Don't, like, do anything drastic, okay? I'll figure something out." he says, looking over at Anja as well.

"Dammit, Elliot, let us help you!" says Anja.

"You deserve better than this!" He just shakes his head.

"Sorry. I'll- I'll talk to you soon, okay? Once I've dealt with everything. Thanks for the party. I… I had a really good time." Then he brushes past us, and neither of us stop him. His father is scowling heavily, and grabs him by the arm as soon as he's close enough, dragging him off without a word. I know Elliot is easily strong enough to overpower him, but he just lets himself be pulled along. The security guy lingers behind for a few seconds, making sure none of us are going to follow before leaving as well.

There's a few seconds of silence after the door closes behind them.

"... Shit," I sigh eventually.