We had a close call in the middle of the night. I was so eager to get into bed with Kalli that I completely forgot that Mom came to check up on me on her way out to work every morning. Fortunately, without her coffee, she was still operating on autopilot and missed the lump under the covers next to me.

She whispered, “Live your best life today. I love you, Melvin.”

I yawned and mumbled, “Love you too mom. Don’t work too hard.”

This earned a small laugh as she shuffled out the door, “Fat chance of that happening.”

Kalli turned over to face me as I listened to my mother locking the front door. I became painfully aware of the fact that she was just inches from me. She whispered, “I feel sorry for your mother. She only seems to work and sleep.”

I sighed sadly, “I try to tell myself that she has at least some fun at work. She really likes some of her co-workers. We had a cat once that she liked, but he ran away. It’s always been my dream to get out of school and make it big somewhere and take care of her.”

“That’s nice”, Kalli whispered dreamily.

I turned my head to look at her. Her eyes were wide open. They sparkled in the muted light coming in through the window. It was almost like she was about to cry. I couldn’t be sure. I asked, “What about your parents? Do you miss them?”

Kalliphae rolled onto her back, breaking eye contact. She appeared to focus on the ceiling as she informed me, “I never had any parents. I grew up in an orphanage.”

“I’m sorry”, was all I could think to mutter. I put my foot in my mouth.

The tension in the air was stifling. I was debating a potty break to clear the air when she whispered, “What happened to your father?”

She had turned the tables on me. It was obvious that he wasn’t around. I blamed him for the situation my mother was in. I never said it though. Mom was oddly defensive of the loser. My old man fled the moment he knew I existed. Mom wouldn’t admit it, but it fit the timeline of what I knew about him. He was gone by the time I was born and he obviously had to be there to make me, so what else could it have been?

It was my turn to give an indignant answer, “I have no father.”

She seemed surprised by my reply and she wasn’t whispering when she said, “Oh.”

She didn’t say anything else and the silence reigned between us once more. I was still trying to think of something to say that would lighten the mood when I drifted off to sleep.

I woke in the morning with a full bladder. Unlike usual when I had full reign of the house, my salvation was barred by a closed door. I danced around for a bit, thinking about finding a lonely parched bush outside like I had recommended to Kalli. In the end, saner heads prevailed and I put up with the agonizing pressure while I headed to the kitchen.

I was running out of food to edit, so I started transforming junk mail into breakfast instead. We always had an abundance of that. I changed a credit card application into a Well-Done Sausage Link (Edited). I plopped it into my mouth and was rewarded with the delicious flavor of sausage prepared better than I could ever manage.

I was sorting the important mail from the junk when I heard the toilet flush and the door open. I rushed through the hall and nearly knocked a half-asleep Kalliphae to the ground. She squealed and yelled at me, “Watch it.”

I slammed the door and hollered back, “Sorry, gotta go”, as I proceeded to do my business.

I quickly relieved myself and washed my hands. Kalli was sitting on the couch giving the television a curious look when I made my way back to the kitchen. She turned her attention to me and asked, “How do I…?”

I cut her off, “No news for you today. We can’t go on any more quests right now. I have to go to school this time.”

She seemed to deflate a little. I noticed she had transformed her clothes back into a dress. Kalliphae seemed to like the design of that old dress she found in my mother's closet. Her disheveled hair stood out in stark contrast to the rest of her attire. She had a real case of bedhead. She gave up on the TV and turned to me, saying, “Okay, we need to start your training soon. I can’t go back home until we level you up properly.”

I thought about it and replied, “We should have plenty of time in detention today. You get to meet Mrs. Hodgins too.”

“A trouble maker huh?”, she laughed and asked, “Who is Mrs. Hodgins?”

I thought about that.

Who is she to me?

I smiled when realization dawned on me, “I guess you can say she’s my best friend. She’s also the librarian.”

“I see”, Kalli said, examining a magazine she found on the coffee table.

I went back to cooking the mail. By the time I finished, I had created a full country breakfast which included ham, sausage, bacon, hash browns, several different types of toast, and fresh-squeezed orange juice.

Kalli made her way over to the dining room table and asked, “Did you make all of this out of that stack of parchments?”

I shrugged, “We’re running out of food.”

The girl panicked and asked, “I hope I’m not too much of an inconvenience. I could eat less.”

I backpedaled, worried that I made Kalli uncomfortable, “No. Not at all. It was my fault for summoning you in the first place. Don’t forget, we got $1000. We can do some shopping on the way home from school.”

Seemingly satisfied, Kalli picked up a piece of bacon, “Is this safe to eat? Back in my world, it’s unhealthy to eat parchment.”

I shrugged, “I had some earlier and haven’t had any problems with it.”

“Do you mean before you rushed to the privy?”, she asked, eyeing the meal suspiciously.

In the end, I had to eat half of my plate to demonstrate to the pyromancer that it was safe. Once she tasted the food, she grew excited and devoured everything I cooked, including all three types of toast.

Do all girls in her world have such hearty appetites?

After I cleaned up the dishes, I headed off to my room to get dressed for school. When I came out she was standing next to the door. She seemed ready to go but her hair was still all over the place. I asked, “Are you going to go out like that?”

She looked down at the dress and asked, “Is this not acceptable?”

I pointed at her hair and said, “Your hair. Would you like to comb it?”

“Comb?”, she asked, reaching up to feel her head.

Kalliphae suddenly turned bright red and asked me, “Um, Melvin, is that fire horn still disabled?”

It took me a few seconds to realize that she was referring to the fire alarm in the kitchen. I replied, “Yeah, I still haven’t plugged that back in.”

The redhead held her hands up in the air and used her signature spell.

“Pvruzth”

She ran flaming fingers through her hair, the flames taking on a life of their own. Eventually, her hair blossomed out behind her in a torrent of fire. I was surprised at how long it was. With her hair ablaze she looked sinister. Sure, she was beautiful, but at that moment she also looked terrifying.

As I watched, the hair separated itself into strands. They weaved in and out of one another, braiding themselves into the ponytail she had when I first summoned her.

After a moment she seemed satisfied and held up a hand to retract the flame. She looked at me and said, “Tadaa.”

“Wow”, was all I could think to mutter.

She rolled her eyes and pulled the door open.

We walked past the field on the way to the bus stop. I turned to Kalliphae and asked her, “Hey, do you think we can take the phoenix to school?”

She shrugged and smiled, “I don’t see why not.”

I heaved a huge sigh of relief, “Great. I don’t want to deal with Tim today.”

Kalli gave me a sidelong glance as we turned to walk to the field, “Who is Tim?”

I groaned and told my tale of woe, “He is just a bully that picks on me every time he sees me. I don’t know why he chose me, but he doesn’t torture anyone else like he does me.”

The girl stopped suddenly, causing me to trip and faceplant in the mud. I splattered around on the ground for a moment, looking up at Kalli in shock.

Kalliphae glanced down at me in the mud, "Sorry about that. I was just going to say that you shouldn't run away from this bully. If you do he will always chase you."

I grinned and pointed out my mud-smeared shirt, "Unfortunately, it looks like I won't be able to go to school today on account of the fact that I'm all muddy."

She had a twinkle in her eye as she reached out her hands toward me. She said, “At least you know what’s coming this time.”

“Pvruzth”

I walked to the bus stop in a freshly baked outfit that was completely devoid of any dirt, grime, or sweat. Kalli trotted proudly next to me. I had a sneaking suspicion that she enjoyed getting me dirty so she could devour me with her freaky fire.

I saw Tim was already on the bus which was waiting for us for once. The bus driver must have been getting soft. Either that or she enjoyed watching Tim torture me. The bully’s lips curled up into a wicked grin as he noticed me approaching. I tried to shrink back, but Kalli grabbed my arm to hold me steady. She said, “Never back down. Bullies feed on fear. Trust me, I know.”

WOULD YOU LIKE TO GROUP WITH: KALLIPHAE?

I quickly accepted the invite. Being able to feel her presence next to me was refreshing.

Is there a way to make the group permanent?

Her thoughts echoed in my brain, That's called marriage dummy. Don’t even think about it. Seriously, don't think about it. When you’re in a group, you can talk to the other people in the group by thinking like you’re talking. If you want to have an inner monologue with yourself, get out of the habit of doing it when you’re in a group.

Crap!

Exactly!

I clamped a hand over my inner mouth. The bus doors opened with a hiss. Kalli didn’t wait for me and marched up the stairs. I followed timidly behind her. She stood in front of the driver and turned to ask me, “Do you need to pay?”

I shook my head and said, “No. The school bus is free.”

Several of the students in the front rows chuckled at our exchange. Kalliphae paid them no mind and marched toward the back of the bus where Tim was sitting. She took a seat in the row directly in front of Tim and called me over, “Over here Melvin, I’ve found us a seat.”

I could already hear Tim and his cronies snickering from the seats behind us as I plopped down next to Kalli. Tim poked my shoulder hard and asked, “Hey smelly bastard, who’s your little friend?”

Kalli’s voice sang in my brain, Just go with whatever I’m about to do, okay?

I thought in the affirmative and Kalli turned and leaned over the seat, “You can address the little friend yourself you know. Melvin doesn’t speak for me.”

I was frozen. I dared not turn around or even move. I realized I was holding my breath and let it out. Tim seemed a little hesitant as he answered, “Um, fine, who are you? Sexy.”

He added the sexy as an afterthought at the end. I was pretty sure he did that to try and stay in control. His friend followed his lead, “Yeah. What's your name beautiful?”

Another underling also hit on Kalli, “Are you new to our school? Do you got a boyfriend? Wanna be mine?”

Kalli’s voice sounded a bit harsh when she announced, “Nope. I don’t date clowns.”

Laughter erupted around us for a moment but was quickly muted as the other students didn’t want to get involved in bully business.

Tim tried to get control of the conversation again and said, “You didn’t answer me. Who are you?”

Kalli folded her arms over her chest defiantly and replied, “I didn’t answer you because you don’t deserve to know my name. If you want to know, why don’t you try introducing yourself first and asking politely.”

A hush fell over the bus. I looked up to see Kalli and Tim staring each other down. She had challenged his dominance and he knew it. Shockingly, Tim backed off. He wrapped his arm around my neck and said, “I think I need to spend some time with my good buddy here. Why don’t you come back here and sit with me, smelly bastard?”

Even though he posed it as a question, he wasn’t making it optional. Tim pulled on my neck and dragged me around the seat until I was crushed against him in a sleeper hold. Kalli didn’t wait long to get involved, “Hey. Hey you. Dummy. I’m speaking to you. He clearly doesn’t want to sit next to you.”

“What’s it to you?”, one of the lackeys asked.

Tim glowered up at Kalli, who was still towering over him, “Smelly bastard and I go way back. We’re pals ain’t we buddy. How ‘bout you butt out?”

Kalliphae reached down and grabbed my arm, tugging me back towards her seat, “Well, I am his girlfriend. He already told me that he doesn’t like you.”

Tim froze and suddenly let go. I toppled over into Kalli from the momentum. We struggled to disentangle ourselves from one another when Tim composed himself. He growled, “Liar.”

Kalliphae hesitated for a moment, seemingly unsure of what to do next. She looked desperately at me for a moment before mumbling a hasty thought in my mind. What did I just get myself into?

What do you mean?

She pulled me up so we were visible to everyone on the bus. Then she kissed me. It wasn’t anything special. Just a peck on the lips to prove a point to a disbelieving audience. However, the effect for me was electric. All of the blood in my body decided that it wanted to be in my face at that very moment. I am not sure I kissed her back. I might have, but I couldn’t be sure through the fog that had settled in my brain. My senses went into overload.

“Do you need any more proof?”, Kalli yelled at the bully, wiping her lips on the sleeve of her dress.

My inner replay was in overdrive as I remembered the softness of her lips, the fresh out of the dryer smell of her hair, the taste of sausage on her lips, and even the dumb look she was now giving me.

She turned redder and redder as she gaped at me in horror, Stop with the feedback. That was bad enough to experience it from my end. I don’t need to be seeing you relive it in your head.

I froze, suddenly terrified.

Can you see what’s going on in my head?

She shook her head in frustration, Only if you project it. Stop daydreaming.

Tim finally composed himself and was about to say something when one of his goons taunted him, “Dude. Melvin went and found a girlfriend before you did. You’re so lame.”

I had just lucked out. Tim turned his rage on his underling and was soon throttling him in the back of the bus. The driver mashed the brakes and the bus skidded to a halt. She climbed out of her seat and made her way back to where the fight was going on. She pointed her thumb over her shoulder toward the door, “Alright you two. Get off my bus. You know the rules. No fighting or you’re out.”

Tim stopped choking his minion and glared at the driver, “My dad will have your job for this.”

The lady took a deep breath and held her ground, “Fine. Whatever. This job doesn’t pay enough to put up with jerks like you anyway.”

Kalliphae hopped to her feet and glared at Tim, “You will leave this carriage and walk to school. You will never speak of this day. As a matter of fact, you will not remember it. You will walk to school from now on. Go now.”

“What?”, Tim asked as his he dragged his feet, marching toward the door.

Kalli’s glare followed him down the aisle, “Oh and no speaking until you get to school.”

His jaw slammed shut and he left the bus. I had to fight the urge to follow her commands. She had used words of command on Tim. It was easy enough to fight them by telling myself that it wasn’t directed at me.

Her voice entered my mind, Yes. That's how you resist commands. Even if the command is directed at you, if you can convince your mind that it wasn't, then it will hold no power over you. I shouldn’t have used that on him though. He isn’t awakened. What I just did is considered taboo. He just made me so mad when he threatened our driver.

I nodded, understanding exactly how she felt. I fantasized every day about doing far worse to the bully that tormented me in school every day.

Some of the other students had also risen to leave and Kalli had to clarify, “Those instructions were meant for Tim only. The rest of you may resume your travels.”

She gave Tim’s underlings the stink-eye and asked, “Are we going to have any more problems with you lot?”

They all shook their heads.

Great. My bullies are scared of my girlfriend.

I am not your girlfriend, she reminded me emphatically.