“So, your friend’s pretty weird.” The conversational announcement came a few seconds after Dani and Amber had been left standing by themselves in front of the school when San dragged Cassidy away after simply and unsubtly announcing that the two girls had a lot in common.

“Which friend?” Amber retorted easily while folding her arms as she regarded the new girl for a moment. “The billionaire princess skater girl who’s way nicer than you’d probably expect, or the dude named after a city who thinks he’s equal parts Casanova and Cupid?” That last bit was added with a squint toward the retreating figures in the distance.

“Yup,” came the encompassing answer as the black girl grinned. She rocked back on her heels a bit before adding, “Soooo, like he said, I’m Dani and you’re Amber. And the Frisco Kid there might’ve been super-unsubtle and all, but he did get one thing right. I mean, besides the names.”

“Wow,” Amber remarked. “That is a deep pull for a reference. What’s that, early seventies?”

Dani’s head shook. “Late. Seventy-Nine. And what can I say, my dad used to love him some Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford. Anyway, that thing he was right about is that it’s breakfast time and I am like, super-fucking hungry. So, I’m gonna see if I can find that enormous cafeteria again. You wanna help me do that a little faster? I hear I’ve got something called an expense account there and I’m pretty eager to see what kind of damage I can do to it in one day.”

Snorting despite herself, Amber turned. “Yeah, come on, it’s this way. I’ll show you. And does that mean you’re not used to having an expense account attached to your school meals?”

The response was a chuckle as the other girl moved to keep up with her. “Trust me, babe, there’s a lot about this whole situation that’s new to me. I’m not exactly what you’d call old money. Or new money, for that matter. The entire having money concept is a bit shaky.”

Something about the way the girl said that made Amber glance toward her as they walked toward the school entrance. There was a somewhat strange sense of deja vu, but it was momentary. Shaking that off, she curiously asked, “Did you win a scholarship here?”

Dani’s response to that was a laugh. She practically doubled over, head shaking. “Sorry, sorry. Just the idea of me getting a scholarship for anything is pretty fucking hilarious. Unless they’re giving out ‘mediocre achievement awards’ now.” Still chuckling, she explained that her mother had been gone since before she could remember and that her father bounced years back. Apparently she’d done the foster family circuit for awhile until the government found some rich great-aunt who lived in Europe. It was that great-aunt who put Dani in this school.

“She also put me up in an apartment in the city with–” The girl’s face twisted just a bit. “I guess you’d call her a nanny? Anyway, she basically leaves me alone for the most part. I think she’s just glad to have an easy job. Whole thing’s stable enough. And now I get to go to rich kid school. But lemme tell ya, I was not expecting the first student I met to be Sterling and Elena Evans’ little princess. Not that she’s anything… uhhh…”

“Anything like you’d expect, yeah.” With a nod, Amber gestured as they entered the cafeteria. “Anyway, here we are. If you’re really hungry, this is definitely the right place to go. Pretty sure the head chef used to work in one of those fancy hotel restaurants before this place stole him.”

“See, and here I am just trying to get my head around the idea that lunch isn’t mystery meat casserole served with an ice cream scoop,” Dani muttered while looking around the room. The two were attracting a few curious looks from people who clearly didn’t recognize the new girl.

Ignoring that, Amber was about to point out where Dani could order that food she wanted. Unfortunately, a new voice interrupted before she could speak up. “Well hey, Amber, hey Jae.”

Great. Knowing that voice, Amber turned a bit. Yeah, of course. It was Arleigh Fosters, the tall, blonde chick who had decided to make Jae her mortal enemy at the beginning of the school year just because her then-boyfriend had said something about Jae looking cute. Yeah, it was stupid, but it wasn’t like Jae asked for his opinion.

As soon as the two turned toward her, Arleigh made a show of looking surprised, hand covering her mouth and all. “Oh,” she faux-gasped, “you’re not Jae. Hah, well then! Silly me. I thought maybe she finally took that trip to the doctor to get her whole… pigment situation fixed.” Her hand waved around as though to encompass Dani’s entire body. “And, you know, they just went a little overboard.”

Sighing inwardly as she yet-again reminded herself that smacking the other girl would be very against the Minority rules of not standing out or attracting that kind of attention, Amber demanded, “Seriously, Arleigh? What’re you doing, trying to bully by proxy? You know I don’t give a shit what you think, right? Neither does Jae. And, oh, she’s not even here. Who exactly are you trying to mock? Yourself for pretending you’re too stupid to know the difference between a black girl and an albino Asian girl? No, seriously, what exactly was your plan here?”

“Wait, is that what this is about?” Dani looked back and forth between them before settling on the blonde girl. “You’re seriously like, trying to be the bitch bully of the school? Do they pay you for that? Cuz if you’re really like… targeting someone who isn’t even here, they should really dock your salary. That’s just lame.” She glanced toward Amber then with a slow head shake. “Gotta say, I’m pretty disappointed, I expected more effort from rich kid bullies.”

“One, I’m not a fucking bully,” Arleigh snapped. “This isn’t some kid’s movie or an afterschool special. Her friend is a fucking freak. Worse, she’s a boyfriend stealing bitch freak. And I don’t have to explain anything to you. I’ve already heard what you really are. You’re just a broke fucking–”

And then she said it, a word that she never should’ve said. A word that no one ever should’ve said. A word that immediately made Amber’s eyes widen, breath catching as a feeling of disgust and rage filled her.

In the background, she heard Dani coldly and dangerously demanding, “What did you just–”

Without thinking, Amber lashed out. Her fist collided with Arleigh’s stomach with enough force to double the other girl over, her cry muffled by the fact that the wind had been knocked out of her.

The moment she did that, a rush of fear ran through Amber. What the hell did she just do? God, she was attracting attention. Now the school was going to get involved, and that would–

She was distracted by Dani, who stepped up closer to the doubled-over Arleigh and put an arm around her to help the girl straighten up before too many people could notice. Clearly forcing her upright, Dani leaned in closer to whisper in the girl’s ear. Amber couldn’t hear what was being said, but she could make out the dangerous, intense tone of the new girl’s voice. And she saw the way Arleigh’s eyes rapidly widened while her face grew almost pale enough to make the girl bully herself if she stuck to the same standard that she used for Jae.

Finally, the blonde managed to pull herself free, staring at Dani, then at Amber, then back again. It looked like she couldn’t decide which of them was more dangerous. Her face twisted a bit as she sputtered, “You two freaks deserve each other. Just go fuck yourselves.” Despite the harshness and certainty of her words, the girl’s voice caught a bit. She was clearly blustering. With one hand over her stomach, she staggered away, muttering curses under her breath.

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“Dude,” Dani announced with a look toward Amber. “Nice hit. Great follow-through. You take boxing lessons from your dad or something?”

The question made Amber flinch, thoughts of her father rushing through her head. “I–no. No, he…”

“Aww, shit, I stepped in it, didn’t I?” Wincing, Dani asked, “Yours run off too?”

“What? No!” Amber hurriedly blurted. “No, he didn’t–I mean–” She swallowed the thick lump in her throat. “He died, a little over a year ago. Hit and run.”

For a moment, the other girl stared at her, before closing her eyes with a heavy sigh. “And here I am, standing with both feet in the shit now.” Opening her eyes, she met Amber’s gaze. “Seriously, I–I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything until I knew what was going on. I just–sorry.”

Biting her lip, Amber shook her head. “You didn’t know. You couldn’t know. It’s–I mean, it’s okay. I miss my dad, but you don’t have to feel sorry for me or anything. I–” Cutting herself off, she gestured. “You’re still hungry, right?”

So, the two of them went through and got food. In Dani’s case, she truly did stick to her plan of seeing just how far she could stretch that expense account. Which, as it turned out, was pretty far. She had a tray laden with a truly remarkable array of meats and pastries, along with some very delicious fruit and yogurt. It was a veritable feast, and even the girl herself looked a little overwhelmed as she set the tray down. “Eesh,” she murmured, “I might’ve gone a tad overboard. But hey, waste not, want not.”

Raising an eyebrow, Amber remarked, “I’m pretty sure that’s not what that phrase means. Like, I’m fairly certain it means the exact opposite of whatever this is.”

Dani seemed to consider that for a moment before simply offering a shrug. “Eh, whatever. The point is, I’m about to dive into my first spoiled rich bitch meal. You might want to send for help if I don’t surface within ten minutes.” With a thumbs up, she found her fork and knife and set to work.

Despite her words, the other girl did keep talking while devouring her meal. The two of them chatted mostly about what Amber thought about the school and most of the people in it. It was clear that Dani didn’t exactly hold the wealthy in high esteem. Which, again, bugged Amber. Not in the way she might’ve expected, given a lot of these people were her friends and not nearly as bad as Dani seemed to think they were. But because it… it felt like she was missing something.

More to the point, talking with Dani felt far more normal than it should have. It didn’t seem like they were having their very first conversation, awkwardly feeling each other out. Instead, it felt as though they were picking up from a previous conversation that neither of them have ever had. Yeah, it was weird. It was weird because it wasn’t weird. Because they were so comfortable already. They just started talking and the words flowed easily. It was one of the most normal and casual conversations Amber could remember having in a long time with someone who wasn’t Jae, which was just… odd. Did she really like Dani that easily?

Noticing that the other girl kept taking a bit of meat and rolling them into small balls before setting them aside, Amber asked, “You got a dog at home or something?”

“Huh?” Dani blinked, then looked down and coughed. “Oh, uhh, no. I mean, it’s more like a couple rats.” She gave a short nod. “Yeah, just a couple rats. They like it when I bring extra food.”

“You keep rats? That’s cool, what’re their names?” Amber had always wanted to keep a pet rat, but her mother wouldn’t stand for it. Which was totally unfair bullshit. She was a superhero, she should be able to keep a pet rat if she wanted one.

Dani seemed a little surprised that Amber would ask that. Taking a second, she finally replied, “Oh, you know, Remy and Nicodemus.”

“From Ratatouille and… Secret of NIMH?” Amber guessed before being rewarded with a nod. “That’s so cool. Maybe I can see them sometime. I mean–” Belatedly realizing what she had just said, Amber turned pink, waving both hands. “Never mind, I mean–never mind.”

The other girl seemed just as flummoxed, words catching in her throat a few times before she managed a quick nod. “Right, yeah, maybe sometime. That’d be… cool.”

“Yeah, cool. Sometime.” Feeling awkward, Amber thought about excusing herself. But that would’ve been running away. Instead, she sat right where she was, telling herself not do anything else as stupid as inviting herself over to the home of a girl she had barely met.

Finally, Dani brushed her hands off, picking up a napkin to wipe them while asking, “So, where does one get doggy bags? No way I’m leaving the rest of this here. Actually, do they let you put stuff in a refrigerator around here? Wait, don’t tell me, there’s coolers inside the lockers?”

Snorting despite herself, Amber shook her head. “Sorry, we’re not quite that spoiled. But we do have pretty big lockers compared to the public school. And I’m pretty sure if you ask, they’ll put whatever you want in one of the coolers at the back of the kitchen and put your name on it.”

So, the other girl did just that, taking her leftovers up to be put away. The lady behind the counter seemed a little surprised, but willingly put the food in a bag, scrawled Dani’s name on it, and sent it to be put away.

“Right,” Amber started once that was done, “come on, I’ll show you where your first class is. And we should probably talk about how we’re going to avoid Arleigh for the rest of eternity.”

Dani, however, responded with a shrug. “Meh. If she wants to start shit again, I say let her bring it. She really doesn’t know who she’s fucking with.”

Squinting toward the other girl, Amber asked, “Hey, that reminds me. What exactly did you say to her when you whispered back there? She looked pretty freaked out. Not that I feel sorry for her or anything, but seriously, how’d you do that?”

Dani, in turn, gave an almost feral smile. “Oh, you know, I just made up some shit about being connected to a street gang who would make her life a living hell if she kept pissing me off. Something about stripping her car for parts, shaving her head, sending a bunch of my older cousins to fuck with her house.”

“You said you didn’t have any cousins or anything, just a great-aunt,” Amber pointed out.

With a grin, Dani nodded. “Sure, but she doesn’t know that. Anyway, she’ll probably start shit again eventually, but I think she’ll back off for now. Hey, when she starts up again, you think she’ll go with the black thing, the poor thing, or the gay thing?”

“All of the above if she can manage it,” Amber replied. “Especially since she’ll have time to really think of something good. I mean, ‘good.’” She used her fingers to make the quotes.

“Yeah, well let’s see what she comes at me with.” Dani sounded unconcerned, shrugging both shoulders. “Maybe I’ll just hire you to be my full-time bodyguard, huh? You did a pretty good job the first time.”

Both girls smiled at each other briefly, before Amber’s blush returned. “R-right, um, speaking of the whole gay thing. I mean, what you mentioned before, and like San said about us having things in common. And like–I mean I just, I’m sort of…”

Sort of what? She wasn’t in a relationship, because she couldn’t be in one. Pack had expressed obvious interest, yes, but that couldn’t happen. Pack was a bad guy–girl. Damn it, why did bad girl have to have such a very different connotation than bad guy? She was a villain, there. She was a villain and had no interest in being anything but a villain. All she really cared about was making money. Well, okay, she did have important lines she wouldn’t cross, and she’d been really helpful before. But still, she was far from a hero, and had absolutely no interest in changing that fact. She and Amber could never actually be something, right? So why would she tell this totally normal, cool, and super-hot girl that she wasn’t interested? Especially given that would be a lie. She was absolutely interested. And the thing with Pack couldn’t go anywhere. And… and…

“Yo.” Dani was waving a hand in front of her face. “You okay in there? I think I lost you for a second.”

Realizing that she had literally spaced out like that made Amber’s eyes widen, and she shook herself quickly. “Sorry, I just–I um, I don’t think I’m ready to… um.”

“Dude, we’re just talking, chill.” With a small smile, Dani gave the other girl a thumbs up. “It’s all good. I’ve sorta got someone I’m interested in too.” For a moment, she gazed off past Amber, seeming to get lost in her own thoughts before shaking that off. “I dunno if it’s gonna be anything. It’s kinda complicated, you know?”

Oh boy, did this chick have no idea. “Trust me,” Amber assured her, “I definitely know complicated. I hope you figure it out though. And if you wanna talk about it sometime…”

“Yeah, you too. Good luck with your whole thing.” With that, Dani pivoted on one heel to start walking down the hall with her guide. “Hey, if we both figure our shit out, maybe we can all double-date or something.”

Briefly thinking about how ridiculous that would be, bringing Pack to a restaurant along with all her lizards, Amber nonetheless found herself smiling. Because the only way that would ever happen was if she was honest with Pack, and the two of them worked through their differences. And that really was something to smile about. “Yeah,” she murmured under her breath.

“It would be pretty cool to do something like that someday.”