"Ok, so that... makes marketing a problem..." the new head of PR said, tapping on her tablet.
"Well, yeah. I can't really use my power, so it's going to look like I don't have one..." I agreed.
"Mm, well, just make sure no one finds out about the power not matter what. Powers like this are usually... not used by the good guys. Did you have any ideas about alternative marketing?" She pulled her black hair out of her face as she looked back up, her no-nonsense expression somehow intimidating and comforting at the same time.
"Well... Lucy was saying I could just pretend my power is flying fast? I am pretty good at flying, and if we can install a wind tunnel in the training room I can get-"
"Too expensive." She said "But I do like the 'fast' idea. We can work with that... We'll need to fix your look though, you don't really look fast."
I glanced down at myself. "Ah, well, I look less heavy when I'm not wearing sweaters, it's-"
"The hair." she said "Your hair is too long, it's going to catch the wind and whip around, making you look slow, we need to cut it, make you look streamlined."
"Now, miss Debbie, I really don't think we can demand any of our girls cut their hair for a marketing gimmick, that's too far." Oori said, speaking up at last.
"No, I- I can do it..." I said, butterflies in my stomach. My hair was special to me, it was almost long enough to sit on, and I took very good care of it, but if it was slowing me down on my path to fame and glory, or just slowing me down in general, I'd cut it off.
"How- how short does it need to be?" I asked
"Mm, well, I'd prefer it to be a pixie cut, but a bob should do the trick." Debbie said, chewing on her stylus and flipping through photos on her screen.
"Oh... Ok, I can do a bob." I said. My stomach was tight and I felt nervous, a bob?! It'd change my whole look...
"And the color too." She said, pointing "Lucy's already a blonde human with a dark dress, and it makes the two of you look too similar at a distance."
"W-what?!" I said "What color would you want me to dye it?"
"Miss Debbie, really, I-" Oori said
"I think you should do a vivid dark red, like your outfit, it'd make you pop, which you'll need if you're not using any real powers."
"..." I ran my hands through my hair and pursed my lips. I needed to do this, I needed to be a valuable member of the team, this was my life, my career.
"Ok, yeah, red is good, we can do red."
Oori frowned and sat back, his arms folded. He looked at me sadly, and shook his head, like he was disappointed in me. I ignored him. He was a good person, and he seemed to know what he was doing when it came to tactics, but this wasn't his field, and I'd be making the calls for my own life.
"Now, I see in your post mission report that you've been wearing gloves since the whole ordeal, correct?" She asked me, pointing to my hands.
"Ah, yeah, these are opera gloves, I wear them at all times, unless I'm sleeping or showering or something." I said, nodding.
She popped her back and sat down in her chair, fixing her skirt as she crossed her legs. "So, that's going to break up costume cohesion with all the other girls, unless... Mhh..." She drew on the pictures with her stylus.
"Unless what?" I asked "I'm pretty sure Drizti can't use her power effectively if she can't connect to people's skin, so everyone else wearing gloves makes her job harder..."
"We're going to give you all accessories." She said, distracted "The gnome girl has a hat already, we just need something for the other three... maybe a kabuki mask for the oni?..."
"Well, I don't think she'd want-"
Debbie looked up and shook her head. "I have what I need from you, Candy, you can go. Send in..." She looked at a list "Uh, Galorna, next."
I stood up, pulling on my hair as I left, my heart pounding. I felt like I was making a huge mistake, but I needed to do this if I was going to be a team member, even if I didn't want to. I just had to keep telling myself that...
~~~
I carefully moved Homicide into the new refrigerator and slid him onto the top shelf. I had a small speaker in there that was set to play the radio for 12 hours a day at a low volume, and a dim LED that came on at the same time. It wasn't... perfect, but it was better than a dark box without anything to do forever. I cranked the temperature as low as it would go, just above freezing, so he wouldn't get mushy, and looked at his new home. It was a small mini fridge, it fit in the corner of my kitchenette away from my usual stuff, and most importantly, it had a lock. It was a simple combination lock, but that was all it took to make sure no one accidentally went in and... I shuddered, imagining someone accidentally eating him without realizing.
"Um, so I'm closing the door now," I announced to the pie "I'll check on you in a week or two... I have the radio set to a channel that plays the news in the mornings and evenings, and music during the day... I don't- I don't know what to do about this, so... I hope it's not too bad?..."
I looked at the unresponsive piece of pie and slumped. "Ok, uh... bye then."
I closed the door and latched the lock, shuffling the combination. I looked back at the pile of groceries I'd brought in with me a few minutes ago; now that I had my fridge back, I could put it all away. It'd taken a couple days for the new locking one to be delivered, and I was worried that I wouldn't get it in time for the 'party' tonight for Drizti, but it'd worked out with half a day to spare.
I slowly put away the party food and soda away into my old refrigerator and looked over at the tiny prison in the corner of my room. I couldn't hear the radio going through the door, but the light on the cord snaking out of the bottom of the fridge let me know it had power at least, hopefully Homicide didn't hate top 40 hits...
I pulled the last things out of the last bag, the things I was dreading the most, and set them on my counter. A set of hair scissors, a bottle of dye, and disposable gloves. If I was going to do it, it might as well be now. We had three days 'til Saturday, so I could touch it up over the next few days if it ended up looking bad, right? I collected the items, and slowly walked to the small bathroom to do what needed to be done.
~~~
I sat on the couch in my footie pajamas and a scarf, staring straight ahead. If I didn't move, I couldn't tell, if I didn't move, I couldn't tell, if I didn't move-
Someone knocked on my door, causing me to jump. Were they here already? I looked at my phone, it was still twenty minutes before they were supposed to arrive, but I had been sitting and staring off into space for over two hours it seemed. I sniffled, wiped my eyes again, and stood, fluffing my hair and ignoring the pit in my stomach, and went over to the door.
I swung it open with a fake smile on my face and glanced down. Drizti was standing in front of me with her mouth gaping open, her eyes wide. I pretended I didn't see her shock and waved her in.
"Hello Drizti, welcome to the party! I see you brought something?"
She blinked and looked at the basket she was holding. "U-um, yeah... These are some scones my mother used to make, I thought I'd share them..."
She looked back up at me as she walked in. "Candy, are you ok?... You've been crying, and- gods, I don't-"
"Haha, well, it needed to be done..." I said, my voice trailing off. "Does it look bad?"
She winced. "Well... The color is nice, but... Um," She looked for a nice way to say it "...if I'm very very careful not to touch your skin, can I fix a few things?"
I felt my hair and looked at Drizti, thinking. Was risking her life worth having nicer hair? Obviously not. But maybe... If she was careful, it should be fine.
"...Let's go into the bathroom, just... tell me what to fix, ok?"
We went into the bathroom and I stared in the mirror at my ugly, jagged bright red hair. It didn't do the 'bob' thing at all, it just stuck out at the bottom and looked funny. I teared up and hugged myself, if I didn't have such a stupid power I could have just gone to a fucking salon or something, I didn't know how to cut hair, what was I thinking? Drizti gently guided my gloved hands, keeping away from my face and pointing out areas that needed work, she showed me how to twist up my hair and layer it by cutting the twist. After a few minutes, my hair looked... still a mess, but at least it was pointing in the right directions. It had lost a couple more inches during the repair though, putting it in between a bob and a pixie cut. Debbie would be happy at least.
"You'll need to put something in it every day, some kind of volume or something, to give it fluff. That will hide the harder to touch up stuff and puff it out, making it look like you have more hair than you do." Drizti said as I brushed the hair off and stood up.
"Thanks... I take it you did hair cutting in the clan?" I asked as we headed into my living room.
"Ehh, sometimes, off and on. I know enough." She said.
She looked around "So what needs to be done?"
"What do you mean?" I asked "We're just going to be watching TV, I figure I'll get the snacks out, and we'll just... watch TV?"
She nodded "Oh, ok. Usually when we had get-togethers back home, we were supposed to show up early and help with getting ready. I guess that's not a thing here? Or are the others just really bad guests?"
"Oh, uhh, no that's not a thing, it sounds nice though." I said. "We can get out the snacks I bought and put them on plates though?"
"Ok, yeah, we'll need somewhere to put them though..." She said, looking at my table covered in diorama making materials
"Sorry, I was thinking just on the coffee table or the counters?" I said, pulling out a bag of chips and a bowl "I was trying to make the table my permanent workplace."
"You made this little house?..." Drizti asked, climbing up on a chair to see better "Like, with bits of wood and stuff?"
"Oh, well it's not done, but yeah!" I said, glancing over "I use foam board, polymer, clay, and plaster a lot for things too, but I really like using actual wood for wooden structures. I have a whole box of painting sticks and chunks of pallet wood that I stain and cut up to use!"
"I feel so big looking at it... I never feel big, it's a nice feeling!" She said, looking closer "Do you have any finished ones?"
I peeled the plastic off of a tub of dip and licked it "Mm, mm, yeah, let me show you!"
I walked to my bedroom door and swung it open, and she walked over. "I put them up in here, let me get the light." I said
I walked over to my desk and flicked on my lamp, pointing it upwards. The red walls absorbed most of the light, but it was still enough to see the rows of tiny scenes I'd displayed on the shelves over the desk. Drizti made a couple bars and sat on them, floating them up so she could see better. She made cooing noises as she tilted her head left and right, admiring my handiwork. Her favorite piece seemed to be a small koi pond I'd made, with a small boy fishing in it off of a stone bridge. She looked at the resin water and ran her finger along the flat side of the base that let you look 'into' the pond from the side.
"That was a fun one to make," I said "I was so nervous I was going to fuck up the water look after so much work, but aside from a few little bubbles, I think it turned out well!"
"I can tell you worked really hard on them, how long do they take?"
"Ah, well... Some take a week or so, but others can take up to a couple months..." I said. I pointed to a small house with cherry trees around it "This one took almost four months, it was a nightmare to get the trees right. I couldn't find cherry trees in the hobby shops, so I ended up having to buy sakura branches and making my own trees on top of them."
"Wow, you're really dedicated!" She said "I need to find something like this... back home I'd just walk around the compound, just watch nature and see people and move around, that was my hobby, but here... It's scary out there, and I'm small enough for some of the people in the city to just pick me up and take off with me."
"Is that something that happens?" I asked "Gnomes just getting kidnapped?"
"Well, I don't actually know... It might have been the elders making up stories to keep us from leaving the clan, but it's still-"
A knocking on the door made me jump. I glanced over and shouted out "It's open!"
The door opened, and Galorna and Lucy walked in each holding food in their hands. I walked out of my bedroom, and Drizti followed, closing the door behind her.
Lucy gave us a smug look "Oooh, alone in the bedroom, I see, trying to see how close you can get to playing without making physical contact?"
"No! She was showing me her tiny stuff, the stuff she makes." Drizti protested, blushing.
"Uh, Candy, your hair..." Galorna said, frowning "Are you having a crisis or something still? That's pretty drastic."
"I wasn't going to say anything, but like, you look like a fully different person, yeah." Lucy chimed in.
"It was Debbie's idea..." I muttered "It's- I'll get used to it. It makes me stand out."
"That's putting it lightly." snickered Lucy
"Well... It's going to take a while to get used to, but... I think I can see how it'd look good with your costume." Galorna said helpfully. "Here, I brought some dumplings, I steamed them downstairs a few minutes ago, they're super hot."
She set the round container on the counter next to the chips, and cracked the lid, showing me the round white shapes inside. An amazing smell wafted up out of the steamer basket and my mouth started watering. Homemade scones, fresh steamed dumplings, my storebought chips and cookies were looking pretty sad now...
"I brought something too, it's brownies." Lucy said, holding up a box of brownie mix
"Oh, thank you? I don't know if we can make those, I don't have eggs and stuff... Or a stove, just an airfryer?" I said, looking around.
"Ah well, I tried." She said, and set the box down. "So, what are we watching?"
"We're supposed to all pick something to show to Drizti, she's never seen TV before." I explained
"Yeah, I was thinking about that," Galorna said "Do we show her like, the first episode of each, or our favorite episodes or...?"
"Just whatever you think is the best introduction." Alele said. "Hi, by the way. Door was open."
I looked at Alele's empty hands. Well, at least my snacks were still in third place then. She was wearing a strange blue wrap that went around her limbs and looped loosely, with skin showing in between the fabric. Did she sleep in that?
"I like your... pajamas?" I asked, pointing.
She glanced down. "Yeah, traditional elven sleeping clothes. Loose and soft, with lots of 'access'."
I wrinkled my nose. "...There will be no 'accessing' happening at this party thank you very much."
"Whatever, I'm still dressed hotter than the rest of you. Footie pajamas? Really?"
I crossed my arms. "They're my Yule pajamas, in my family we'd all wear them and cuddle up by the fire before the feast. I wore them so you guys would be safe around me, they cover a ton of skin."
"That's thoughtful of you, I just wore my old sleeping robes. I don't have anything else." Drizti said.
"Didn't you buy like, a billion bags of clothes a couple days ago? You should have at least one fun thing to wear to a pajama party." Lucy pointed out. She was wearing flannel pants and one of her 'dysphoria hoodies', not really one to talk...
"Those were all regular clothes, you can't sleep in regular clothes." Drizti explained.
"I mean, I do." Galorna said, pointing at her tanktop and workout shorts. "I wear these to the gym or something, and to sleep in."
"I think gym clothes and pajamas are already the same concept..." Alele said "They need to be comfortable, sexy, easy to move around in, breathable..."
"I never thought of it like that, but yeah..." Lucy said.
"I do not want to think about working out in this outfit..." I said, picking at mine "I would drown in sweat, this thing is half fuzz."
"Well, it's not universal." Alele said, rolling her eyes. "I'm just saying, I'd work out in these clothes. I mean, I have, depending on your definition of 'working out'. I've 'gotten a workout' in them at least."
"I don't want to talk about that, shouldn't we start figuring out what we're going to watch?" I said as I turned on my TV
We all settled in, I grabbed a couple dumplings and scones and sat on the far left closest to the door, making sure I had a 'pillow wall' between me and the other girls. Lucy sat next to me with Alele on her other side, and Galorna sat on the floor with Drizti leaning against her. The first show started; Lucy's pick. It was a strange animated show about a magical girl who fought off bad guys with the power of music. It was... odd, and very old, almost 40 years old, and the concept of 'magical girls' as a unique classification of chosen hadn't really taken off yet when it was made, so the dynamics of the character were unusual, but it was still a cute, fun experience.
I savored the hot dumplings and sweet, flaky scones and looked over at the other girls, thinking. Aside from the pillows blocking me from them, they seemed pretty at ease around me, Even Alele was her normal self again. If they were this relaxed, maybe I really could just be a normal member of the team? It was comforting to think that. I only had a few more hurdles to get over before I really knew how my life looked from now on; the grand opening, and the first patrol... If I could make a good impression at those two, it wouldn't matter if I had powers I could use or not.
~~~
I adjusted the skirt of my dress and tried to make sure it was staying down. Despite looking identical to my actual transformed outfit, the fake one the church had made for us just didn't fit as well. The skirt didn't want to stay put, the tights kept bunching up, the sleeves slid up my arms if I moved too much, whatever magic Lorgiaia had put into our real outfits was working hard to keep us looking good while we moved around.
"Angel Rouge, did you sign the photo release form for Magi G Hotspot yet? They're saying they're missing two release forms for their article, and they won't show up unless they can get a group photo." Debbie asked, flipping through a stack of papers.
"Ugh, damnit, let me see..." I ducked behind the desk and picked my phone out of the lockbox to look through my emails
"Language, Angel Rouge, there'll be kids here soon." She admonished me.
I found the email buried in a sea of other releases I'd already signed and signed it with my elbow, taking the gloves on and off was a pain, and the signature didn't need to be perfect or anything.
"Yeah, I got it. The kids will be told not to touch me, right?" I confirmed, putting my phone back in the box.
"Yes, you can high five and shake hands if you want with the gloves on, but I made it very clear hugs are off limits for all our magical girls, and they'll be reminded again when they come through the doors to get in line."
"Aw... I really wanted hugs..." Drizti said as she floated past us on her green bars to get to the cafe "Uh, sorry, Candy, I know why we can't, I just like hugs."
I felt bad screwing up everyone's big moment like this, and I felt even more guilty about everyone else having to wear dumb accessories to 'match' my gloves. Galorna had said hard no to the kabuki mask, as I'd assumed, but she was still wearing a white headband tied in the back, and boxing tape on her hands. Drizti had her hat of course; today she'd gone with a traditional single point gnome hat, green, and folded over back onto her back. Lucy... she'd demanded she be allowed to use a katana as her 'accessory', but had been talked down to having throwing knives strapped to her upper arms for now, until the church could train her to actually use a sword. Alele had argued hard against any accessory, she said it'd make her look too 'busy', and that she preferred the more plain, classy look her unaltered costume had. In the end, Debbie had gotten her to wear gold bracers, and while she wasn't happy about it, she was still wearing them.
I sat down at one of the tables in the cafe and looked at the shadows outside the paper-covered windows, kids, their guardians, creepy guys with a thing for women with powers, all in line to meet us, to get to see us for the first time. I was ready for it, I'd run through the training with Debbie and the girls every day this week, but actually being here, I couldn't help but be afraid something would go wrong.
My stomach hurt, and I couldn't tell if it was nerves, the tight dress, or just a tummyache, but whatever the cause, it was making the whole situation worse. I looked over at the menu above the cafe, looking for something to settle my stomach, but it was all sweets. The foods we'd designed were on display, with little cartoon us-es next to them to show who's treat was who's, and they'd added a series of drinks themed like us as well. Looking at the pictures, mine was a carbonated cherry slurpie with cream swirled in and a red candy straw sticking out of it. It looked way too sweet, and I would rather have had Galorna's spiced pineapple mango smoothie, but I probably needed to be seen drinking my 'signature drink' when the guests were let in.
I went up to the counter and ordered the drink, getting a small just in case it made my stomach worse. The young man behind the counter didn't ask for payment, and I wondered in the back of my head if we could just get free stuff from the cafe whenever, not that I'd take advantage of that... I sipped the sticky sweet slush up through the candy and rocked back and forth as it helped my stomach slightly. There was nothing for me to do but wait, why had they made us come down so early? I'd been waiting around for hours, and I couldn't even see the time to check how long we had left, and of course, the handy pockets my real magical girl outfit had weren't in the dummy outfit, so I didn't even have my phone on me to pass the time... Not that the screen worked with gloves on anyway.
"Ok girls, Debbie will be off to the side if you need anything, I'll be next to the photo set looking for any trouble." Oori announced. "We need all of you to make your way to your places, we're doing full group photos now, then after three o' clock, once the crowds die down, we'll let them take individual photos with you. Do not, I repeat, do not let any of the customers pressure you into one on one time past a few sentences until the designated time, we need to get them in and out; we've got a line out there."
"We have 5 minutes until the doors open, remember to direct them to the cafe, the information booth, or the merch booth after they get the photos. Smile big, remember your lines, and try to really sell it, ok?" Debbie said, leveling a look at us as we scrambled to get to the big white sheet that was hanging on the far wall.
We'd practiced our poses so, so many times. We had 5 different group poses, depending on the size of the person taking the picture, but in all of them the general order from left to right was Galorna, Lucy, me, and Drizti and Alele in front of us. We stood in loose formation as the church's workers unstuck the paper from the windows, letting in light and finally allowing the line of people to see us. I beamed and waved at them through the glass, and they cheered and clapped as they finally got a glimpse at the heroes they'd been waiting in line for. I looked in the crowd for my mom or brothers, I'd told them about the opening of course, but I didn't see them at all. I wasn't upset though, I hadn't told my mom about my hair yet, and I wasn't really prepared for her to find out about it; her tears alone would send me spiraling, even if she didn't say anything.
The doors opened, and the lobby filled with cheering kids and their parents. Most of the people here today were already a part of the church, and had been told by the leaders to 'come see their brand new heroes!' but the rest were just regular people who heard 'chosen event' and showed up to meet a chosen, any chosen. As a result, instead of a good mix of different types of kids, I was only seeing two kinds; ones who were chosen nuts with hero shirts and autograph books, and ones who were only here because they (or their parents) wanted to support the church. The second group was pretty easy to recognize, they all had the little white ribbon Lorgiaia's followers wore somewhere on their bodies, and a lot of them even had the traditional worship facepaint on too. I tugged at the ribbon around my own waist, and idly wondered if we'd need to paint the lines and flowers on our faces for events sometimes.
I set my drink on a table next to the photo set and turned my attention to the front of the line. A kid with blonde braids and grey horns was beaming at us from behind the velvet rope, her mom standing behind her with a camera. I gave her a little wave, and the attendant opened up the rope, letting her and her mom in. She dashed up to us and jumped up and down excitedly.
"Hi! I'm so glad to meet you, I heard about you during group meet and I got so excited, I've never had a chosen in my church before!" She said, looking from one of us to another. She saw Galorna and pointed to her horns. "are you an infernal mix too? My mom said most gods won't choose infernals, but they're starting to sometimes!"
"Ah, sorry, I'm an oni, but I like your horns a lot! I love how they look with the ribbon going back and forth between them." Galorna said, smiling. "You know, I used to be considered a monster too, just like infernals used to be back in the pre-chosen days! But I was considered a monster back when I was just a little girl, so even if I'm not exactly the same, I think we're kinda similar."
The girl's mother, a human, stepped forward and put a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "I'm sorry, she's just excited, can we get a picture?"
"Of course, if you can stand on the dot... What's your name?"
Galorna went through the process of setting up the photo, and I watched the child with a strange feeling in my chest. She was very excited about this, we hadn't even done anything publicly yet, she'd just heard we existed, and somehow that made her happy? My church growing up did have a chosen, we worshiped a local god, with a local chosen. The god we'd followed had been in charge of the farmlands where we owned property, and his chosen was just a glorified strongman with a weak weather control power. He wasn't anything special, I saw him every week joking with the dads at our church's meetings. But to these people, the people in Lorgiaia's church, we were something new, something they'd never seen before.
Sure, there were chosen all over the city, there were thousands of gods across the world, maybe more, and many of them had multiple chosen, so seeing a chosen wasn't that big of a deal, but when it was your chosen, someone worshiping the god you followed, a god who had tens of thousands of other followers... The weight and pressure to be perfect for these kids amped up, and I forced my grin to be a hint more cheerful as the camera snapped.
"Thank you SO much for coming to visit us, and don't forget to check out the snacks!" Drizti said, making a heart with her hands the way Debbie had showed her.
"There's a snack based on each of us, I designed the big cookie! It's strawberry lemon!" Galorna offered, pointing at the sign
"Thank you so much! I'll come see you again too!" the girl said, waving as her mom led her over to the cafe
"Well that was nice..." Lucy said, nodding. "I feel good about that."
"Yeah, just keep that feeling for another 300 kids and we'll be doing ok." Said Alele, gesturing for the next one to come up.
It went smoothly, we hit our marks, we said the things Debbie asked us to say, we told the kids from the church to go to the cafe, and the hero nerds to go to the information booth, and we told the adults to go buy a shirt with our logo on it. I could see how it'd get exhausting though, I was putting on a front the whole time, and I was getting tired less than an hour into the meet and greet. I took a big sip of my drink, making sure not to mess up my lip gloss and turned to beckon the next kid. To my surprise, I recognized her; it was the dryad girl who'd taken my photo last week. I waved at her and put my drink back down.
"Oh, hi! I know you!" I said
"Oh wow, you don't even look like the same lady, does your transformation do that?" She asked, pointing to my hair.
"Ohh, no, I got a haircut to look better in the group, do you like it?" I asked, trying to engage her on a more personal level. She was one of the older kids we'd seen today, and she did have a picture of me ready to post that she could frame in a bad light if she wanted. I needed her to like me, or at least not see me as a dick.
"That's dedication..." She said, ruffling the leaves on her head "I'd never do that for a job, any job. But uh, you look good?" She sounded unsure.
"I didn't know you had a fan, Angel Rouge!" Lucy said, trying to break up the conversation and keep the line moving
"Oh, well, not yet, but if I can get traction with her, I'll be her number one, it just depends on what my followers want." The girl explained. "I'm MagicalCl0ut on CirNet, with a zero instead of an oh, I take pictures of magical girls and post them."
"Well, you're in the right place." Alele said, trying to hide her annoyance.
"Oh, yeah, sorry. Here..." she handed her phone to the attendant and posed, leaning in closer to me and giving a thumbs up.
She could be the one to help me get more famous, if her page was big enough. She could also be my first internet fan, and start a real fanpage... I wanted her on my side. I put on a more casual, friendly smile; one that said 'hey, it's just me and my friend', and gave my own thumbs up, bumping my fist to hers as the photo took. As she got her phone back, she grinned and nodded.
"Oh, perfect, thanks a ton. Hopefully the fans like you, I def wanna cover more of y'all!" She waved and jogged over to the information booth to get pamphlets to share with her followers.
I glanced at Alele, who was glaring at me. "...Sorry..." I said "She knew me, and she's got followers, I had to."
"I didn't say anything." She snipped back, and called up the next kid.