Lindsey

A wildcat grabbed Lindsey from behind, pulling her sharply back into a group of furious girls. Several good hits were landed on the psychopath, but Lindsey was adept at fighting crowds, and so was doing far better than anyone fighting six athletes should.

Thinking felt like jogging through mud, and I felt a worrying pain in my mouth, like my jaw was loose. I blinked a few times, and then my thoughts cleared. I saw Lindsey’s face as she swung at my team. The scream that Gina let out when she saw Marcie fall rang in my ears.

I felt adrenaline surge through me like electricity. Lindsey may have been damaged by her past, sure, but she had let it turn her into something inhuman.

And it was going to stop. Today.

I pushed myself up from the ledge, got my feet under me, then slammed my shoulder, full ****, into Lindsey’s back. She went down hard, and the girls and I piled on her and pinned her down, a girl on each limb.

Lindsey writhed like a captured animal, grunting and screaming. I pushed harder on her back.

“Hey, Lindsey?” I said through panting breaths.

“What, bitch?!” Lindsey shrieked.

“I think you’re off the council.”

**********

I felt a deep pounding in my head. Damn. It was going to be a rough day at school. Maybe I could get Gina to bring me some headache meds.

I heard Gina say “Marcie?”

What was Gina doing in my bedroom? What happened last night? Did I sleep with her? Maybe I was drunk again. That would explain the head p-

It all hit me like a freight train. The roof. The fall. Gina.

I opened my eyes and my head felt like it was in a vise, and someone turned the handle. I gasped and shuddered, seeing everything in washed out, blurry vision.

“M-Mar...cie.” Gina said, her voice catching. Her hair fell over her eyes. “You fucking moron. Do you have any idea what you put me through?!”

“You...swearing...” I said. Thinking was exhausting. How was it possible? She shouldn’t be swearing. Was the curse all in her head after all?

“Oh, that. You were clinically dead for like 48 seconds.” Gina said.

“Coun...ted?” I said and grinned, the act of which made me conscious of several tubes attached to my face and head.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. After you died, they brought you back.”

“No...shit...”

“AND since then, all the orders you gave me have stopped working. Looks like I’ve gotten out of the curse.” She said. She still had tears in her eyes, but she looked almost smug.

“Show...your tits.”

“What tits?” She said with a laugh, which was muffled as she automatically pulled her shirt and bra up. “DAMNIT!”

My brain muddling was not helped by the dual shocks of Gina’s self deprecating joke and the fact that she actually did have a decent chest. When the hell did that happen?

Oh shit.

“How long...was I out?”

“Uh...yeah, about that.” Gina moved aside a bit and I saw the little corner of the hospital room. She had a backpack, dozens of snack wrappers, an open math textbook, and a pile of empty cup ramens.

My blood went cold.

“The school...” I managed, before my headaches started pounding again.

“I know, I know, but it’s fine.” Gina said quickly. “Marel, Emma, and Rina have been running things smoothly. Relatively smoothly. Marel and I also have an agreement to ensure a handoff of power back to you once you’re ready.”

I just laid there and breathed until my head calmed down. “Agreement? Like what?” I managed.

“Err...well, a few nights of...some stuff.” Gina blushed.

Of course. Still, it was crazy to me that Gina would make that sacrifice.

Another week went by, I finally convinced Gina to go home and take a shower, and they let me out of the hospital. We went up to the roof after school and talked for a long time.

Lindsey was looking at 6 or 7 years in a state pen. Rina’s team was taking on state championships next week which seemed stressful, given how exhausted Ben looked lately. Cutie had gotten a political science scholarship and had started talking about some dreams he had of going into city council. That would take learning some backbone under my hand hand, but he had shown some surprising fortitude in keeping Marel and Lauren from discrediting The Empress. Many of the school were moved by his teary-eyed rendition of “O captain, my captain!” on a lunchroom table.

The day turned to night. We rolled out the blanket and set up the pillows we’d brought. Two pairs of pants, two shirts, two bras, and two pairs of lacy panties were flung from the roof.

And the thought of the long, nude walk home was the last thing on our minds as we had the hardest, roughest, and best sex we’d ever had.

We lay panting after round six. I stared into her eyes.

“Kiss me.” I ordered.

“Yes, Master.” She said.