Carmen silently stared at Dakota for what could have been a minute. Students and teachers passed by, sparing only a glance at the frozen pair, but none questioned their stillness. Neither's eye disconnected, their gazes seeming both; afraid to step down and ablaze with curiosity. Dakota's lips parted and her focus, finally, shifted down to the floor.
"Please? It's... important, I think?" Dakota said, though her voice lacked any conviction and caused Carmen's eyes to narrow.
"And I bet Mary's gonna be waiting for us, insults armed and ready?" Carmen retorted with a sigh, "Thanks, but no thanks." She turned to leave. There was no doubt in her mind that Mary had put Dakota up to this. She most likely told her to act like a schoolgirl with a crush. Carmen wouldn't put it past the blonde queen bitch.
"F-fuck Mary!" Dakota spontaneously exclaimed, leading to several passers-by pausing and staring at the tanned half-German teen. She fixed her gaze on Carmen and clenched her hands into tight fists as her lips pouted and quivered. It had taken every ounce of her willpower to renounce Mary. All manner of horrors flashed before her eyes, since she knew what Mary was capable of, however this outweighed her fear. Or matched it at the very least.
Carmen twisted around and stared at her in blatant shock. No one dared say a word against Mary, not where people could hear and tattle on them. She glanced about and noticed people leaning and whispering to one another. Some nodded in agreement but quickly scampered away for fear of being noticed. One girl had her phone out, fingers furiously tapping at the screen. Carmen had little doubt that she was texting Mary or someone in her group.
"Come on," Carmen ushered Dakota to follow her, striding down the corridor and ignoring everyone's eyes. Ryuka's included. She didn't look back to check if Dakota was following, trusting her classmate not to linger. Her thoughts dwelled on the possibilities of what was to come, most prominently whether this abrupt decision of Dakota's had anything to do with the Futa Note. A cursory glance to Ryuka didn't give any hints. The Seikogami remained jubilantly stoic.
The bathroom door locked with a sharp click, echoing throughout the room. Vacant save for two people and an unseen deity. Dakota stood at the wall opposite the door, hands clasped nervously in front of her as she worried over them, while Carmen faced away from her. Silence hung in the air, broken only by the soft stream of footsteps and conversations from outside. The gentle thrum did little to alleviate Dakota's nerves, however.
Her lips parted to speak, but quickly shut themselves. Words failed to form on her tongue, as if the muscle had gone numb. Dakota tried to swallow whatever blocked her throat, yet still her breaths seemed laboured. The air felt heavy. And each passing second only added to the weight.
Carmen broke the silence first, "What do you want?" Her voice seemed strained, as if she, too, felt the density of the air or the startling sense of numbness or the obstruction in her throat. The only difference between her and Dakota was that Carmen could speak through it.
"I..." Dakota could barely choke out the syllable. Even that single utterance made her cringe in discomfort. An icy shudder ran down her spine as Carmen turned to face her, eyebrow arched expectantly and her lips set in a terse line, "It's..." Dakota clenched her hands into fists to cease their quivering. It wasn't pressure she felt, or not akin to the kind she felt when speaking against Mary, but a sense of anxiety. What if this went horribly? What if Carmen completely beat her down? Dakota felt her lower lip quiver and tightened her jaw. She had to try at least.
"I think I'm, uh," Dakota wanted to sink into her clothes and hide from Carmen's piercing blue eyes, "Gay, and um..." she trailed off once again at the spark of surprise in Carmen's gaze, feeling her stare almost peer into her soul. Dakota took a deep breath to steady herself, "And I'd like to go out with you!" She blurted abruptly. The words all jumbled together, tripping over one another and bleeding into the next.
"What?" Carmen blankly questioned.
"Um... I'd like to go out, uh, with you?" Dakota repeated, enunciating each word as best she could despite the trembling of her entire body, and looked down and away from Carmen, blushing fiercely as she awaited the honour student's response.
Carmen's lips fell apart as she took an incidental step back. She glanced about the room in search of Mary or her gang or a hidden camera. This couldn't be happening. Dakota was straight as could be, that much was obvious from the times Carmen had overheard her bragging about the men she'd slept with. Yet, for all her common sense, Carmen couldn't quell the feeling that Dakota was being truthful. And if that were true, then why? Why did she suddenly come out? To Carmen of all people?
She glanced to her side, where Ryuka hovered with a mischievous grin on her face. Carmen then peeked down at her bag and recalled the Futa Note's rules, one of which stated that the owner would become their victims' source of sexual desire. It hadn't made any mention of changing their orientation or personality. Nor that it would take effect so quickly. Ryuka chuckled as if reading Carmen's thoughts, a possibility the human couldn't outright deny. Carmen ignored the Seikogami and fixed her gaze once more on Dakota.
What should she say? What could she say? Carmen, for one of the few times in her life, couldn't think of anything.
Dakota remained silent as she awaited the response. Her hands clenched and unclenched or worriedly gripped one another, unable to stay still yet unwilling to move from where she stood. She had to hear what Carmen would say. Just the past twenty-four hours had been torment to Dakota. She had been straight for all her life, having lost her virginity years ago, but now she wasn't sure. Rather, she doubted she had ever really been interested in guys.
Just last night she had gone online to look at porn, both because she had felt pent up and to test herself. Her body remembered how it had enjoyed her times looking at such debauched videos and grew hot in anticipation, only for her desire to run cold when she clicked on the first video. It was simple and vanilla, a guy and girl fucking roughly with a little spanking. Nothing that would turn her off. Dakota had defiantly began touching herself to the imagery, but quickly realised it was doing nothing for her. Watching a strong, muscular physique ramming against a curvy, delicate woman and hearing him grunt and groan in pleasure while she faked it... did nothing for Dakota.
She had spent the next hour looking at all her favourite genres, even branching into what she disliked. But none did anything for her. Until she came to a stop at lesbian. Dakota had only entertained the thought of being with another girl when she was drunk or high, and usually when she was being encouraged by her friends, but never when sober. And never had she wanted to watch it either.
Regardless, she was growing more and more frustrated by her lack of relief. Dakota opened the first video and settled in to watch with a keen lack of interest, ready to gain nothing from the experience and simply go to bed without cumming even once. Only after she noticed the time did she retire to her bed, her juices drooling from her pussy and remnants of her cum dripping down her shaft. An indominable sense of satisfaction pervaded her mind and body, as she had laid down. Her thoughts overflowed with the visages of nubile girls and Carmen, falling asleep to their dancing figures.
Dakota could still feel her desire even as she stood before Carmen. The honour student wasn't special in appearance, a far cry from the augmented beauty Mary possessed or Ashley's natural endowments, but something about her all but sang to Dakota. Was it her perfume? Her hair? Her face? Her body?
Dakota mentally shook her head, telling herself that it couldn't be any of those. Her friends all had Carmen soundly defeated in each aspect, save for her intellect. That couldn't be what attracted Dakota to her. Brains were nice, but they were never part of Dakota's judgements. Was that a mistake, she wondered. The nights she had spent getting railed by horny guys trailed through her mind, and she knew she had enjoyed herself, yet couldn't help but ponder if she had missed out on something.
Each of those nights had been an act of spontaneous passion. Sometimes not even that. She would just get drunk and fool around with some guy. They never paid her needs any real mind. And that had worked for her. She belonged because of it. Mary and Gretchen did it all the time, enjoying themselves as they saw fit. Dakota needed to be like them, then she could hang around the two. So why was she in the bathroom, coming out and confessing to Carmen?
"What's wrong with me?" Dakota whimpered, shattering the void of silence that had settled over the two. She slid to the floor, legs buckling under the inconsistency of her own psyche, and felt moisture brim in her eyes. Even the cold of the tiled ground couldn't distract her. Nor could the fact that she was showing such a vulnerable side of herself to someone.
Her father would be livid to hear his daughter had shown weakness. What about Mary? Dakota was already on the verge of being forgotten by the group. If someone told them what she had said earlier... a sob broke her thoughts. They would know by now. It was a miracle that she hadn't received a text or call from Mary yet. That is, if Mary would even 'honour' her with her voice.
"Everything's fucked," Dakota choked. A tear fell from her face to the floor below, where another quickly joined it. Her school life was over. She'd be lucky to avoid Mary for the day, let alone until graduation. And what would she do when they finally met again? Mary was petty and cruel. She'd return Dakota's sleight a hundred-fold and still feel dissatisfied. They'd find her cock for sure and tell the school, the city, the entire world if they could.
"Hey," Carmen's voice pierced the abyss before it could fully blanket Dakota's thoughts. The half-German looked up, seeing the honour student standing over her, worry painted across her features and a glimmer of something else in her eye. Dakota couldn't hope to discern it, however, as her own vision blurred with tears.
"It's not the end," Carmen continued, crouching down until she was only slightly above Dakota, "I know how it feels. Your friends will judge you for it, ostracise you. Maybe turn full traitor and bully you. But that's good."
"What?" Dakota sputtered. Confusion swept away her fear as she frowned up at Carmen, unable to process what she meant.
"Friends don't abandon you because you change," Carmen explained. She hadn't had many friends when it became apparent to others that she was gay, but they had all turned tail and left her. In hindsight, she could understand their decision; it was natural to protect oneself by joining the majority. But at the time it had hurt worse than any scrape or bruise. She kept to herself from then on, refusing to let people outside of her family get close.
Dakota wiped at her eyes and fixed her gaze squarely on Carmen's. There was no hint of a lie in her face, nor a glimmer of glee at seeing the state Dakota was in. Yet, Dakota lowered her head as if incapable of looking Carmen in the eye.
"It... it's not just that," Dakota said, but trailed off.
"Dakota..." Carmen interrupted, taking a deep breath, "I'm not interested in dating right now... But, um, if you need someone to talk to, then I'm here."
"Carmen," Dakota spoke up and slightly raised her head, "Can I... show you something? It's not just being... gay... I..." She felt like her heart was in her throat and her tongue felt like sand paper.
"The door's locked. You and I are the only ones in here," Carmen reminded her.
