Em and I walked back to the gate to rendez-vous with Ria. She was already talking to Karin about something. From what I could tell from a distance, it was a new book they’d both started reading. Em gave Ria a big hug when we arrived.

“Morning, Ria.” She said.

“Good morning, Em!” Ria replied with a big smile.

“Talking about a new book?” Em released our girlfriend from her hug. She’d also caught on to their conversation.

“Mhmm!” She nodded.

“Is it that book with the huntress who has to go look for the princess on the orders of the king?”

“Yep!”

“Did you read it as well, Em?” I asked.

“Ah, no, Karin was talking to me about it yesterday. Did sound interesting, though, so I might read it after she’s done with it.”

“I’m almost done.” This time it was Karin who nodded.

“It still surprises me how fast you can read, sis.” Em patted her sister’s head. “Shall we get going?”

“Yeah, let’s.” I smiled and led the way into the school building. Miss Hill didn’t have any comments for us today, so I decided to not tease her either.

When we arrived at the classroom for our German lesson, only a couple of other girls from our class were already there. The moment we entered they fell quiet, which lasted until the four of us had gone to our places. Then one of them, I think her name was Kelly, was sent forth by the group and walked over to us.

“H-hey, Aurora.”

“Hey! It’s Kelly, right?”

“Yes…” She awkwardly put her weight from one leg to the other.

“Do you need something?”

“Well… I wanted… we wanted to ask something.” She looked back at her group. -Ah, they had clearly sent the best talker…-

“Does it have to do something with me and my girlfriends, perhaps?” I anticipated the question and by the blush that appeared on her face it looked like I was correct.

“Yeah… so it’s true?”

Em just smiled at Kelly and gave her a cheeky wave.

“Yep, pretty much.”

“Oh…”

“Does that bother you?”

“No no no no!” She quickly waved her hands. “Of course not! I-it’s really cool! Uh… not that you need my… our approval…”

“Mhmm.” I nodded.

Kelly kept nervously standing in front of me.

“Is there something else you need?”

“Uh… no… uh… maybe…” She nervously stared back at her group of friends. “Uhm… I might actually have something…”

I put my elbow on the table and put my head in my hand. “Oh?”

“You see… I kinda like this girl as well… and I wondered how I should… ask her out too…”

“Ah.” Em vocalized. “I don’t think it is Aurora you should be talking to about that.”

“That’s probably true.” I chuckled. “But maybe the two of us can help you together. Two heads are better than one and all that.”

Kelly nervously nodded and glanced back at the group.

“Is it one of your friends over there?” I asked.

“Y-yeah…”

“Do you know how she feels about LGBT people?” Emma asked, without looking over to the group to avoid suspicion.

“We sometimes watch a show together about a lesbian couple and she always says how she’d want to be like them.”

“...”

“W-what’s wrong?”

“With watching together, do you mean at someone’s place?”

“We watch at her place while we are on the sofa together.”

Em looks at me. “Okay, I didn’t know more than one Aurora’s existed.”

“I wasn’t that clueless.” I pouted.

“Oh, yes, yes you were.” Em shook her head and then smiled back at Kelly, who was clearly confused. “Go for it. That’s what I’d say. Walk up to her now and ask her to talk in the hallway for a second.”

“Wow, Em. That’s a bit too straightforward, isn’t it?”

“Rora, sometimes it’s necessary.”

“A-are you serious?” Kelly stuttered.

“Yes.” Em stated. “It’ll go fine, trust me.”

“O-okay.” Kelly pumped herself up and walked off in the direction of the group.

“Oh boi. You sure know how to throw people in front of the lions, Em.”

Kelly talked to one of the girls and not soon after they left the classroom together, while the rest of their group stayed behind, slightly confused.

“You waited a long time to confess to me too, didn’t you?”

“That’s because you already had Ria and I didn’t want to destroy that. In the end I had to, otherwise I’d have hated myself for not doing so. This situation is different.”

“Hmm… I suppose so…”

Karin and Ria went on talking about their book, seemingly undisturbed by the situation that was unfolding in the classroom.

Em and I looked at the door in anticipation. When Kelly and the other girl came walking back in, hand in hand this time. We breathed a sigh of relief. Kelly snuck a thumbs up as a big smile on her face.

“Ah, another drama averted.”

“Did I hear Drama?” Claire slid her fencing back over the floor so it stopped right next to me.

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“Let me explain what just happened.” Em filled in Claire on the new relationship in the classroom.

“Ooooh.” Claire softly clapped her hands. “While I’m a bit confused why she didn’t come to me for advice, you did well, young grasshopper.”

“Thank you.” Em smiled.

“That’s because your gayness is too intimidating, Claire.” I chuckled.

“Hmm. You’ve got a point there.” She gave me a wink before she turned serious again. “By the way, about yesterday evening...”

“Ah yeah… is it good that we talk to you about that on Friday? We want to discuss it ahead of time…”

“Yeah, sorry about that, Claire.” Em also apologized.

“No, it’s fine. It’s me being pushy. You don’t need to apologize. I wanted to tell you to take all the time you need. Although I am really curious what all the secrecy is about.” Claire looked over to Ria and Karin, who were still busy with their books. “I assume your sister knows too?”

“She doesn’t… actually…” Em shook her head.

“Ah… so it’s really that big…” Claire lowered her voice so the others didn’t hear. “Now I feel even worse for pushing you for an answer.” She grimaced.

“Let’s not dwell on that too much right now.” I replied. “We’ll see what happens on Friday.”

“You’re right.” Claire nodded. “Let’s concentrate on our studies right now.”

And so, when everyone was finally inside, including Pres with her favourite tea, class began. First German, then Natural Sciences and Geography and to finish off the day, Philosophy.

“If anyone has any more questions about the Chinese philosophers, please feel free to stay behind for a bit or send me a mail after class. I know this is not an easy subject matter so don’t feel embarrassed to ask questions.” Miss Kant finished her lesson and it didn’t take long for at least a couple of students to head up to her desk.

“Did you get everything, Pres?” I looked at our tea drinking friend. She was already on her 8th cup of tea for the day.

“I think I do.” She nodded, looking at all the notes she took. “What about you?” She looked at me while sipping the last of her cup.

“Uh, I feel like my head’s going to explode any second now, but I think I get most of it.” I scratched the side of my head. “If philosophy is meant to make you think, then it’s definitely working.”

“At least we know your cogs aren’t completely rusted in place.”

“Wow, rude.”

Pres smirked and put her cup back down on her plate, and then took up both after putting away her notes. “I’m going back to the dorm now. Need to do something before the club starts.”

“Alright, see ya tomorrow, Pres.”

“Bye, Pres!” Ria called after, the others just waved her goodbye.

“I need to go too, I need to become the best at fencing after all.” Claire took her bag from the floor and patted me on the back. “Have fun.” She gave us a wink and then left.

Em’s phone buzzed right as Claire left the door. “Oh, Helen just texted that she’s here already. She’s waiting in front of the gate. Noone needs to ask Miss Kant any questions?”

Karin shook her head, so did Ria and I had already expressed that I didn’t need to either.

“Let’s go then.” Em led the way with me right next to her and Karin and Ria following close behind us.

Helen greeted us at the car. “How was your day, misses?”

“Very good, thank you, Helen.” Emma handed her bag to her driver, and so did Karin.

“How was your day?” I decided to ask.

“Hmm, pretty calm. It’s not too busy on the road today.” She sounded somewhat disappointed.

“Uh, isn’t that a good thing?”

Helen shrugged and held out her arms for both mine and Ria’s bags. We obliged and handed them over.

“Helen used to be a racecar driver as well, so she prefers a bit of action.” Em explained.

-A racecar driver AND some kind of mercenary/spy? What kind of driver did they hire…-

“Next you’re going to tell me she used to drive getaway cars too.”

Everyone stayed suspiciously quiet.

“Oh….”