Dear Diary,

Yesterday was pretty good, and despite today being Remedial Celtic, today started off pretty good too.

I woke to Marie knocking on the door, delivering a load of clean uniforms. I thanked her, pulled one on, and headed off to breakfast.

While I won't say I ate less than I do normally, I've realized I eat at a way less frenetic pace on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Tuesday and Thursday I'm casting for all I'm worth most of the day, and Saturday and Sunday I'm working my nonexistent ass off. That's a thing I never thought I'd be upset about with a high metabolism; I don't seem to be able to pack any junk in my trunk, no matter how much I eat. How will I ever catch the attention of Sir Mixalot or one of his devotees?

Eh. If it's not pleasantly padded, it's certainly made of steel.

Anyhow, I had time to look around the Dining Hall as I packed away a few trays of spicy morning food, and I noticed all but one of the other tables seemed to be getting the new offerings as well. Out of all the other tables, the Barbie Brigade alone had stuck with pure wipipo food. Even the high table at the front had a pile of sriracha eggs, although as I watched the teachers had mixed reactions to them. DuBois took seconds. Sister Cheryl and Sister Siobhan both surprised me by savoring them. Headmaster Miles ate his mechanically, as if he didn't much like them, but wasn't about to offend the cooks. Smart man. Sister Trease took one bite and lost her shit, immediately chugging her entire stein of water, which had the predictable effect of making the whole thing worse. She half stood, as if she meant to assault the server physically, but Headmaster Miles called her to heel with a few quiet words that didn't carry back to the ROTC table. A few other profs tried them with varying degrees of appreciation, but DeLeon not only enjoyed his so much he wound up snagging more servings until he depopulated the tray, but he also convinced Doc to take a few bites. When they reached for their water, DeLeon intervened and convinced them to kill the burn with some bread instead. Not the best solution, but far from the worst.

So breakfast was pretty good, both the food and the floor show.

Remedial Celtic was... Remedial Celtic. What with Loki showing up in his 'Lyman' disguise and helping me learn to write the words for 'Hooked on Brain Brands Worked for Me!', the class only counted as boring and painful, not hellish torture. Amazing what actually seeing progress does for your outlook.

So Saffron was waiting for me when I got out of Remedial Celtic. That kind of surprised me, since most classes let out at just about the same time. "Hey Saff! Your class dismiss early or something?"

She glanced at her toes before replying, "I, uh, don't have a Friday class."

That bumped me into full-on curiosity, "Wha? Seriously? The only day I've got off is Monday, and that's not exactly 'day off'. More 'self-directed learning'. How'd you score that?"

She raised her gaze to meet mine. "Remember that medical condition I mentioned?"

"Yeah?"

She nodded, "I'm dealing with the consequences of that on Fridays."

"So you're skipping treatment to be here?"

She shook her head and smiled. "Not really. To be honest, it gets boring sometimes, but in some ways I really enjoy it. But I cut out a little early today to meet you here."

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I leaned up against the wall next to her. "So, what did you want to talk about away from the others?"

She glanced around, as if she expected to see what she wanted to talk about written on the walls or floor. Eventually she apparently found it on the ceiling, because she stared at it and said, "You know, a lot of the shit you pull could be considered flirting."

Oh, shit. I mean, not 'oh, shit, I'm in trouble', but 'oh, shit, this is way more serious and personal than I thought it would be'. Still, I rallied, "Yeah, I guess it could."

She had a little silent argument with herself after that, nodding and shaking her head while mouthing words. I just stood there, letting her work it out in her own time. Eventually, after a minute or so, she glanced at me out of the corner of her eye and said, "Are you serious about it, or just playing around?"

I couldn't help it. In my best Spanish-accented falsetto I said, "Why don't we have both?" Then I broke down giggling for a bit, one hand held up begging her for patience. She looked a little bit annoyed, but also a little amused, and whichever she felt more, I didn't take that long to get myself under control. "Sorry. One of those 'you hadda be there' jokes. Seriously, though, I'm mostly playing around, because I love your reactions; sometimes they're the only good part of my day."

If that disappointed her, she hid it well. "So you're not into girls?"

I tilted my head forward so I could roll my eyes up as if I was looking over a pair of glasses at her. "My Patron. Is Loki. Perfect. Fit."

She looked a little disappointed at that, but just nodded, firmed up her shoulders and said, "Okay, I've taken up enough time with this, let's get down to lunch."

I pulled her into a side-hug as we walked, and she didn't resist, but she didn't lean into it either, just kind of sighing when I pulled her close, then again when I let go of her. When we got down to the Dining Hall, she surprised me by jumping in front of me, hopping up to wrap her arms behind my neck and give me a quick peck on the cheek, then pull me into the Hall with her still dangling, gaze focused on her.

Which is why I totally didn't notice anything out of the ordinary until Angel, Bill, and the gobbos shouted 'Surprise!'

I don't know how they'd gotten the paper for the obviously homemade 'Happy Birthday' banner, or gotten the cooking staff to bake a cake, but they had. The cake was a triple tier thing with too-big candles stuck on it, and the banner sagged between the three gobbos holding it up, but... Cake. Banner. Surprise party.

I think I teared up a little. Really.

So Saffron towed me to my seat and sat me down in front of the cake while the gobbos folded up the banner. Angel looked me in the eye and said, "I hope you're planning on sharing that cake. Took us more than a bit to get it right. Looked up English birthday celebrations for the candles even."

I pulled the cake to me and put my arms around the base, glaring at everyone else at the table. "My cake! Mine!" then hissed like a cat until I broke down laughing. I pulled out my knife and cut the top tier and a good chunk of the second into generous helpings for the other ROTCs and the gobbos. Once I handed them out and everyone else started eating, I just went ham on the rest. I think I finished my lion's share of the cake before any of them, even Angel, who could pack away food pretty well her own self. Funny thing, when I looked around, the second fastest to down all their cake wasn't Angel, but Saffron. That surprised me, since she normally ate pretty fastidiously. Maybe she had a hitherto undiscovered sweet tooth?

"We didn't really have time to get presents or anything. Sorry about that," Bill muttered through a mouthful of cake.

I just shook my head and replied, "Seriously, guys, I hadn't even expected this much. It's all good. I love you guys."

Everybody pretty much blushed and got to the serious business of eating, although we did a lot more bantering than normal. The gobbos even joined in, albeit with more than a bit of trepidation.

After lunch, I debated going out again, but eventually decided against it. I wanted to get the girls something to show them how much I appreciated the party, but I didn't feel like dealing with Rocky today if he showed up looking for a fight. Instead I spent the afternoon in my room, door cracked open in case anyone wanted to stop by, reading my library books and practicing my Spells. I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

My cephalopod savior stuffed me into a chest, my lungs painfully full of water and what few brains I had leaking out the back of my skull. I fell into the chest screaming wordlessly, watching the tiny slit of deep blue green light get smaller and smaller. I screamed until my throat couldn't scream any more, until all I could do was curl into a fetal ball and whimper as I fell into darkness.

I woke up curled into a ball whimpering. No sleep for Tabitha tonight.

Fuck.