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.
"I didn't. I-I-I swear."
Placated, Gretchen turned to Rachel next, "Don't know why you don't get some work done, shrimp." So it's one of those days. Gretchen would often vent her frustrations on her or anyone else nearby. After dealing with Ashley, she was the only option left. Everyone else had hurried inside when Gretchen appeared.
"Wouldn't look good on me," Rachel said, an answer made not to offend Gretchen at all. If anything, it was a compliment. With her tan, personality and wardrobe, fake boobs suited her better than they did most. Mary was a close second, though hers looked more natural every day, and perhaps Carmen Robins could pull them off. No, hers were huge enough. Rachel caught the thought before it could run with her imagination and quashed it.
"What're we doing today?" Rachel asked, distracting herself.
"Ugh, mom's going through the classes today, something about explaining next year. We're stuck until she finishes with all of our lessons," Despite her demeanour, Gretchen wouldn't go against her mother so outright. Perhaps she had a conscious after all. Rachel doubted it. If the principal accepted the truth about her daughter, then all her freedom would vanish. Never to be found again.
"Since when do you care?" Rachel asked, "Just ditch, and tell her it was an emergency or something."
"Can't chance it. With all that shit last month, she's being a real fucking bitch. Like it's my fault Zoey's a freak. She got what she deserved." Rachel kept her silence. Why did Zoey have to get caught up in whatever Carmen was doing? The answer whispered back, contorted with jealousy, 'because Carmen likes her too'. They could already be dating. It would explain why Zoey hadn't so much as texted Rachel. Unless she didn't mean that much to her.
Rachel quelled the very idea. They belonged to different sides of the social spectrum now. Any number of people would gladly spread rumours to get into Gretchen's good graces, more so if it meant debasing someone close to her, and Rachel had no allies, but no enemies either. People feared her by association.
If Zoey spoke to her, text or otherwise, and someone got wind of it, then Gretchen would hear it too. Rachel would become another target, likely outed for a lesbian, and she didn't have Carmen to rely on like the others seemed to. Nothing could ever be easy.
"S-sorry, gotta go," Ashley said and rushed into the building. She walked differently, and her voice had a loftiness to it, like she wasn't part of the same reality anymore. Rachel watched her disappear into the halls, eyes wide as they caught the bulges on Ashley's chest. Massive tits or not, nipples of that size were abnormal. Freakish, even. What had Carmen done to her?
It hadn't stopped all night. Sleep was skittish and what little Ashley had clung to didn't amount to much. She was ready to crumble any moment. Makeup obscured the dark rims of her eyes and an anxious energy kept her moving. The culprits stirred beneath her clothes, which already strained to hide them.
Bathroom. She needed to hide before someone saw her. Perhaps they'd help her. The thought was crushed, its dying gasps silenced by realism. No one would help her. All they would do is report it to Gretchen, embellished to shame her further, and her social life would be over. It already was, part of her noted. Her parents were in talks about giving away their excess wealth; Gretchen wouldn't need her anymore.
