The door cracked open, and Erin cautiously peered into the room. The confident aura usually adorned her was absent, now Erin stood looking more timid than Alison, and the unsure expression was completely out of place on her. “Hey Ali…” she began quietly, fidgeting nervously. “Are you sure? You know I didn’t do it to hurt you or anything, right? I can’t make any excuses.”

John tensed, both from Erin’s sudden appearance as well as the odd demeanour she bore. ’How long has she been there? What did she hear?’ John pondered, internally panicking.

“I-it’s fine, seriously,” Alison reassured, hugging John tighter. “I’m already sh-sharing, just l-leave enough of hi-im for me.” She giggled.

Erin’s entire body relaxed and a second later she’d regained her confidence, strolling into the classroom, coming to a halt at the desk the couple were sitting at to pluck a strawberry, which she quickly devoured in a single bite, leaving only the leaves and stalk. “You know, if I was the one struck by lightning, by the way, I would tell every fucker who’d listen. It’s badass as fuck. You should feel honoured; Alison usually only tells people when they pry. You barely even needed to ask about my little doodles. Wouldn’t expect Alison to be a hero, right? She doesn’t seem the type.”

“I think I get what you mean. Alison is gentle and quiet. I probably wouldn’t assume she’d be the one who jumped to action, but that makes her the cutest little hero,” John gushed, hugging Alison tighter as she blushed.

Erin moved around John, pulling Alison’s head into her chest. “I’m so happy you finally have him. I am kinda surprised though; you’ve been crushing for so long.” Erin swayed a little with Alison’s face still firmly nestled in her cleavage. “Aw, it’s so cute seeing you like this, Ali. You’re practically glowing.”

Erin’s expression shifted into remorse. “I wish I’d done something sooner. You know, I had an idea for your birthday; I was going to sit with you in private and we’d come up with a plan for how you could win John and keep it from Vanessa… I chickened out though, I second guessed myself and was worried Vanessa would find out no matter how we tried to hide it…”

Releasing Alison, Erin made room on the desk before sitting down, a smile creeping back onto her face. “You know you are going to need to think of a good reason why you look so ecstatic, right? Vanessa will notice immediately.”

John smiled as an idea came to him. “Well, Alison is an amazing artist, right? And she’s genuinely passionate about it. So, just think of something related to that; it makes the most sense, don’t you think?”

“Y-yes, I like th-that,” Alison replied. “I c-could say I’m working with J-June on something. L-like, maybe she’s teaching me how to use the t-tools I have at home o-or that we’re working on a project tog-gether.”

“Oh, yeah. That’d work super easily. You always get super excited when you’re trying something new,” Erin agreed. “That would probably be her first thought anyway, I think. She’d only get suspicious if you had a bad excuse or tried to deny it. You know, I kinda expected it to take longer to think of a good reason, guess three heads are better than one.”

Satisfied any of Vanessa’s suspicions would be appeased, Erin straightened her back and looked down at the couple with a smile. “Alright, now that’s out of the way, I have something to clear up,” she began. “Alison, you are really important to me and you said you don’t mind me being with him but I want to be respectful, so I need to ask, would you prefer us to keep things private, or is it okay if we do things more openly? I mean, I’m not saying I want to **** you to watch or anything.”

Erin stood and walked to the side of the couple. She placed a hand on John’s cheek and leaned in close. “But… What about things like kissing?”

Alison’s face turned beet red, and she held her breath, watching her boyfriend and one of her best friends. Erin didn’t say anything, looking at Alison from the corner of her eye and waiting for a reply.

Suddenly, Erin lurched forward, and her lips connected with John’s. When they parted, Erin looked shocked, then she burst out laughing. “Well… that was completely unexpected. I’m not… Of everything I expected, you pushing me into a kiss with your new boyfriend was not on my bingo card.” Erin paused, letting her head catch up and try to rationalise what happened. “But why?”

“I’d pr-prefer my boyf-friend to… be with my friends rather than st-trangers,” Alison explained, her eyes widening at her own words. “W-wait, th-that doesn’t sound right. W-wha-what I meant was, uhm, I-I’d rather John be w-with someone I trust a-and know…” She paused and looked at John. “Uh, th-that doesn’t mean I’m n-not okay with you being with other people a-as well, j-just that it, I mean, I…”

John gently ran his fingers through Alison’s hair to calm her. Seeing her flustered like this made him smile. “Don’t worry, I get what you mean.”

“So what, you want John to fuck Vanessa too?” Erin teased, causing John to tense up.

Alison giggled. “As if. E-even if I w-wanted that to happen, wh-which I don’t, I don’t think there w-would be a way to convince her. N-not that I specifically want that to hap-happen or not.”

Erin laughed along with Alison. “Oh yeah, it would be like hell froze over if Vanessa looked at John in that way, right?”

Alison and Erin both giggled, while John quietly and very awkwardly laughed with them. Suddenly Erin stopped and looked at the two with a serious face. “Well, all of this relationship talk has been great, but there’s something even more important to talk about. I think a more interesting topic would be magic, don’t you think?”

The room fell silent. “What? Suddenly got nothing to say?” Erin teased. The couple failed to make even a peep while Erin stared at them.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Violet griped, apperating in front of the desk looking annoyed.

“What. The. Fuck?” Erin yelled, grabbing a pair of scissors from June’s desk and holding her arm out as if to shield John and Alison. “Alison, get behind me!”

Violet chuckled, asking, “And what do you plan to do with a pair of scissors?”

“Sh-shut up! And get back!” Erin ordered, brandishing the scissors threateningly.

John reached out and placed his hand on Erin’s arm. “Hey, Erin… Uh, you can put your weapon down. She won’t hurt you. You might want to hurt her because she teases or flirts too much, but she won’t hurt any of us.”

“What? Now isn’t the time to be joking,” Erin spat, still pointing the scissors at Violet.

“I should be offended, but I can’t actually argue with him on that. You are smoking and I can’t promise I won’t flirt, especially after what you did with John in the locker,” Violet purred, feigning a swoon as she leaned on the desk.

“Please, Violet, just let me explain everything before you start,” John stressed. He tightened his grip on Erin’s arm slightly and gently tugged her towards him. “Erin… uh, well…”

“Maybe you should have her sit down or something, John? Probably gonna be a lot to take in. Maybe Alison can come over here and sit on my knee, while Erin sits on yours?” Violet suggested, giggling.

John groaned, thinking of all the ways it wouldn’t work, but Alison stood up, prompting Erin to block her way. “Alison, no. Let me keep you safe,” she whispered.

Alison just smiled, placing her hands on Erin’s shoulders. Her hand trailed down Erin’s arm before pulling the scissors from her grasp. Twirling around, she pushed Erin into John’s lap. “Don’t w-worry. I know what I’m doing,” Alison reassured.

Erin was tense and conflicted, but allowed herself to sit in John’s lap. As she did, John wrapped an arm around her waist to steady her and placed a hand on her knee, pulling her closer to him and eliciting a surprised yelp.

Violet climbed up onto the closest table, signalling for Alison to join her. The green-haired survivalist decided to sit on the desk beside her instead of in Violet’s lap.

“Aw, I really wanted you here,” Violet lamented, patting her knee. After a moment, she smiled. Violet reached over, grabbing Alison’s arm and draping it over her shoulder. Then she lifted Alison’s legs and pulled them into her lap.

John groaned. “Alison, could you please sit in her lap? She’s persistent and won’t stop, I don’t want you to fall onto the floor.”

Alison nodded and shuffled to perch across Violet’s lap. The spirit beamed in victory before planting a kiss on Alison’s cheek.

Erin, visibly distressed, questioned, “What the fuck is going on? Why are you all so calm? A girl just appeared out of thin air, am I going crazy?”

“You wanted to know about magic, right? Well… uh, Violet has the ability to turn invisible as well as other things,” John explained. Pausing to consider the least shocking ability to show Erin. “Well, I can do things too. Don’t freak out or anything and I’ll show you.”

Her breathing was unsteady and she was visibly uncomfortable, but Erin nodded. John used Move on a grape, plucking it and guiding it over to Alison. Seeing the floating fruit, Alison opened her mouth, all while Erin held her breath watching it travel through the air. Once the grape touched Alison’s tongue, she happily chomped down on it, savouring the juicy fruit and letting out a pleased hum.

Shifting his attention to the desk, John focused on the image of the ice cream. Leaning forward, he traced the image with his finger. “This was Alison’s doing, Uh, hey Alison, want to come take this back out of the table? It should have been more than long enough to find out if it’s still frozen or not.”

John looked at Erin, stroking her leg in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture. “Alison actually just got magic today. That’s one of the reasons I came to see her. She has some survival-type powers as well as an art-based ability, which we were experimenting with.”

Alison climbed down, out of Violet’s lap, causing the spirit to groan in protest, but ultimately let her go. The green-haired pictomancer leaned over the desk, placing her hand on the image, and then focused, withdrawing the ice cream. It was surreal seeing a 2D image becoming 3D and Erin was enraptured by what Alison was doing. Once it was released from the table, Alison handed John the container and he tested it by putting pressure on the sides, finding the ice cream still solid and cold to the touch.

John looked up with an excited grin, making eye contact with Alison. “It’s still frozen. So that means your ability either slows down the transition between states or puts it into complete stasis. You should try leaving a bitten apple merged overnight or something to see if it’s just slowed down,” John suggested, realising he’d become engrossed in the experiment.

Looking in his lap Erin stared wide-eyed at the ice cream container and she mumbled, “What the fuck?” under her breath.

Clearing his throat, John tightened his hold on Erin’s waist. “I know this seems unreal, you’re actually taking this a little worse than I expected actually, especially since you asked about magic,” he said, willing the dessert in his hand into his inventory, causing Erin to jump.

“I, uh… thought you were talking about the card game; I was just planning on teasing you!” Erin admitted, which sent the entire room into silence.

“Oh…” John broke the quiet. “I see. Well, I guess there’s no taking back what we’ve said or shown you.” Suddenly he looked over to Alison who was now sitting in Violet’s lap again, before he made eye contact with the spirit. “Violet, this is your fault. You appeared before we had any chance to act stupid about what Erin was saying, this confusion might have been sorted out without revealing anything about-” John stopped talking, his brain catching up to what Erin had said. Leaning back John looked at the purple-haired cheerleader. “Wait a minute, you play Magic?”

“What? I never said that!” Erin protested, then cleared her throat. “So, magic powers? And, uh, exactly who is this girl who just appeared?”

John hummed. “I’ll drop it for now, but don’t think I’m going to forget about you playing MTG.” He gestured at the spirit. “This is Violet, she’s kinda, uh, well, she’s, uh…” John stumbled over his words.

Violet groaned. “It would be easier to just cut to the chase. I’m past tense, a spirit, and have been haunting John for years, without his knowledge. I would describe myself as a VERY friendly ghost.”

Erin was stunned momentarily, then opened her mouth to say something when she was interrupted by the bell.

“Hey John, why don’t you leave me with Alison and Erin? I can answer her questions, and we can talk. You can text Alison when you plan to meet up,” Violet suggested.

Erin looked conflicted, but Alison spoke up, “Don’t w-worry. I’m here and if John t-trusts her, then s-so do I.”

Letting out a heavy unsure breath, Erin glanced at John then pressed her lips against his before quickly pulling back. “That was to give me a little courage. Hope you don’t mind.”

“I… uh… no, I don’t mind at all,” John admitted, feeling a little stiff from the sudden intimacy. Erin stood up, seemingly comfortable enough to wave her juicy butt in his face.

Violet’s cheeks puffed out. “I don’t suppose I’ll get a kiss, will I? Everyone else here has,” she complained.

“I thought you wanted to wait. Wasn’t the idea for me to get to know you better?” John inquired, standing and stretching.

As John looked at Violet, her dejected expression caused guilt to wash over him. “John, I really lo- uhm, I have strong feelings for you, I have for a long time. I really, really want you to like me back, but it’s hard to not feel a little neglected when you’re with other girls,” Violet confessed.

John approached the spirit, and sensing the room, Alison slid off Violet’s lap. As she passed, she rubbed John’s arm and smiled meekly, allowing him to continue to approach the spirit.

Violet parted her legs, enabling him to stand closer. He gently brushed her white hair out of her face, his thumb lingering and stroking her uncovered scar.

“I didn’t mean to make you feel that way… though I think you might’ve deserved it after what you did this morning,” John teased.

Violet placed both of her hands on the edge of the table between her legs and she leaned forward. “I don’t want to sound ****, but this morning should have given you a clear picture of how much I want you.”

John put his hands on Violet’s hips, sliding her forward on the desk until her body met his. She let out a yelp and a giggle, silenced as John pressed his lips against hers, her hands shot up to his face and she held him there, as if scared he’d end the kiss early. She whimpered and melted into him, savouring every second. Then her lips parted and her tongue brushed against his lips.

As John pulled back from the kiss, Violet moaned in disappointment. “We’ll call that me blue balling you on a kiss and call us even for this morning. Now, please behave while I’m not around, okay? And try not to be so blunt. Maybe let Alison explain stuff to ease Erin into everything first,” John advised.

Violet **** him into a brief hug. “I’ll try,” she whispered, before letting him go.

Smiling at Alison, John remarked, “I’m gonna head to class. If she causes trouble, text me and I’ll try to come to the rescue.” He chuckled, pulling the pendant off and handing it over to Alison. “As your boyfriend, there’s something I need to give you before I go.”

John leaned in and pressed his lips against Alison’s, leaving her blushing and smiling while staring at the floor as he stored the rest of lunch in his inventory.

“I’ll send you a text later, and Erin, if there’s anything you want to ask me or want me to explain, just text me, alright?” John said, making his way to the door. With a wave, the three girls bid him farewell.

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