Life is strange. It throws absurdities at people without warning. Mary having a dick was one, and Dakota being gay was another, then Zoey... Now Ashley had been afflicted. The signs were clear after the first three. Rachel hadn't blinked when Dakota acted weird, she had expected the girl was gay or at least bi, but the former queen bee of Saint Puella was another matter. By how she behaved, it almost seemed like Mary hadn't been born a shemale. But it would explain why she was so eager to get implants.
Rachel tapped her foot, chewing on a mouthful of jammed toast. It was burnt from their faulty toaster, and Leah refused to buy a new one out of pocket, so she was stuck with the charred bread until their parents came home. Next month. Great.
"Got everything you need?" Leah asked as she fiddled with her uniform. She waitressed at a small café, a nice enough place with good tips for a buxom girl like her.
"Yeah," Rachel sighed and drowned the taste of cinders with her sister's milk.
"Hey! I was gonna drink that," Leah pouted.
"Yeah, sure. Not like you need any more milk," Rachel said with an unsubtle look at Leah's breasts, "Besides, I'm the runt, so I need every drop I can get."
"Don't call yourself that," Leah said, eying her sadly. Rachel bit back her response and left to stand beside her sibling's third-hand car, while Leah strolled into the driveway. They were sisters through blood alone. Few hints gave it away. The green eyes and slight crook they shared were offset by Leah's wider face, which lacked the splay of freckles Rachel sported, and her physique. Where Rachel was lithe and small, her sister towered.
"I'd kill to look like you," Leah added once in the vehicle. It smelled of her work, several discarded bags of leftovers crowded the backseat, forcing Rachel upfront. She curled her lip at the mess.
"I thought you were gonna clean up."
Leah shrugged, "I was, but..."
"Whatever. Give me five bucks and I'll do it for you," Rachel said.
"Deal! Would've paid you ten," Leah snickered under her breath.
"Then I'll take ten," Rachel smirked. Eavesdropping was a common skill, but one that she excelled at. Made speaking behind her back a dangerous affair. Or Gretchen's.
The drive wasn't long. Traffic dragged it out, as did Leah's taste in radio stations, but after fifteen minutes the ordeal was done. She waved goodbye to her slovenly sister and walked through the gates of Saint Puella, glad to have a few minutes before Gretchen arrived with the principal. People sifted through, carried by obligation alone. Another week and the year was over, then it was time for a repeat. Rachel smoothed her hair against the wind and repressed a groan. She'd be glad to leave the school next year.
Sooner if that bitch just let things go. Time heals all wounds, but grudges can last forever. In Gretchen's case, that was true, and everyone would suffer for it. She envied those who had dropped out, but if she followed them, who knew what Gretchen would do.
Unless something happened before then. Rachel sat on the steps outside the building, pondering her phone while her leg bounced. There was a pattern, she was certain of it, all centred around that honour student. Dakota encouraged them to use the library to hang out, where Carmen was before, then Mary went a step too far with her, Zoey had been made to ransack Carmen's locker, then there was Ashley's side. If she knew the truth, that Rachel was the mastermind behind her recent troubles, then she would have been targeted instead.
Carmen was responsible. It couldn't be coincidence that they messed with her in some way, acted strange, then started hanging out with her. Zoey especially wouldn't just cut ties with Rachel for a new friend. Unless there was more to it than that. She'd seen how Zoey eyed Carmen, she recognised it for her own.
"Fuck!" Rachel snapped, startling a pair of first-years into the building. She shouldn't feel this way, not about someone else. It made sense with Zoey, a girl she'd known for years and knew better than anyone, not for the other. She pushed the thoughts aside, striding from her own reverie to see Gretchen strut down the cracked path, tanned skin glimmering in the sun and plastic tits all but popping from their cage. A treat for the eyes and a curse elsewhere.
"Sup?" Gretchen said as she came to a stop. Her mother walked in ahead of her, saying nothing of her child's shirt.
"So, how'd it go last night?" Rachel asked, already ignoring the blonde as she spoke about the guy she'd fucked. A few points of interest snuck in, such as how Gretchen managed to get a threesome together. To say nothing else of the bitch, she knew how to get what she wanted. The one-sided conversation ended as Ashley walked toward them. Rachel blinked and looked to her phone, then back again, certain it was a mirage of sunlight. She glanced at Gretchen and found a snarl on her lips.
Ashley wore a typical black t-shirt despite the warmth. The neckline had torn, no doubt from the strain of its newest occupants, deforming the elegant embroidery on her chest. Rachel gulped and averted her gaze. The last thing Ashley would want is attention drawn to them, if her hunched shoulders and flushed cheeks were anything to judge.
Though Gretchen had no such morals.
"What the fuck happened to you, cow-tits?" Not a new insult, but rarely heard. It must've been a while since the last one, since Ashley jerked and tried hugging her breasts. They wouldn't be hidden, however, and bulged through her shirt like muffins. Gretchen's jaw clenched.
"N-nothing. J-j-j-just, uh... my period? Yeah, my period," Ashley explained. If only, Rachel thought with a glance to her own pitiful chest, barely enough to announce her gender. She wore her hair long for that reason, detesting how boyish her figure was.
"If you got yourself new implants, I'm gonna fuck you up," Gretchen warned. What an idiot. Anyone could tell that Ashley was natural. They jiggled and oozed around her arms, whereas Gretchen's swayed ponderously if she whipped around too fast.