Misfiled Dreams

a Misfile fanfiction by

ShadowDragon8685

(All characters within, including but not limited to any references to any of the major or minor characters of Misfile, by Chris Hazleton, are copyright 2004-2010 and unto perpetuity thereafter by Chris Hazleton, except as noted)

1. Rumisiel’s Dream

Part 1

What have I done?

Sitting atop a small, lonesome tombstone in a large, windswept field of the dead, a young man in a torn jean-vest and jean trousers trembled, tears spilling down his cheeks as he held his head in one hand, a bottle of some brew or another—he had long since lost track of what it was—in his other hand.

How could I have done… this? What kind of an Angel am I?

With an anguished sob, he tilted over the tombstone, tears spilling onto the dark, simple granite marker in the ground, as another strong burst of wind wracked the field, sending another wave of chills through him.

I killed them… I destroyed everything… I’m… a monster.

With a self-pitying sniffle, he closed his eyes, raised the bottle, and drank—but not even the vile, terrifyingly powerful brew in the dark brown bottle could block the memories, which came flooding back as the contents of his stomach came up. With his last ounce of strength he turned away so as not to vomit on the grave marker, before blackness overcame him.

72 Hours Earlier

January, 2008. It seemed like such a good time to check back—and of course, it had taken him a solid year of near-tireless, model behavior to earn some vacation time. He hadn’t told anyone—not even his brother. He had also timed his visit to be absolutely certain that Cassiel was not in possession of any vacation time—the last thing he needed was for her to show up and see things as they were, and then blow the lid on his past fuck-up—he’d probably get canned if she did, if not banished.

At least he had cleaned up his act. He hated to admit it, but those two years had had quite an effect on him—if not entirely willingly on his part. Enforced sobriety was a pure pain in the ass, but after all that time of not touching a single mood-altering substance—and even later, time in the filing depository, working his ass off to get the vacation time he’d need to see how things had gone—he hadn’t had time. Even his father had commented on how good his time on Earth had been for him—and his father almost never spoke to him!

“I oughta come here more often,” he chortled to himself, pacing down the side of the long road. He let out a smile as he saw the sign, in large letters graven in stone, ‘Welcome to Tempest’.

In a way, it felt like coming home. Surely, it wasn’t his home, but that didn’t stop it from feeling that way. You don’t live on a friend’s couch for two years, roof your friend’s father’s house and dig a leech field, or any of the other crazy and oftentimes arduous escapades those years had been, without developing an affinity for a place.

Only another… three miles to walk. He thought about bitching about it, but figured that and a sack was worth the sack—he also thought about just bypassing the trip entirely, but that would be lazy—and laziness is how he started the mess in the first place. Besides, taking a walk through the bad side of town would be an opportunity to score some more ‘good deed’ points—he always could use those.

Rumisiel laughed, scratching at his scruffily shaved cheek. If only Ash could see him now! Oh wait, he will. The treading angel laughed again, merrily on his way, into the worst part of Tempest—the run-down hodgepodge of old tenements and poverty. They hadn’t changed much—there were still drug dealers and old winos, but he turned down the offers. After all, that was how he got screwed up in the first place—and then compounded it by spending the night freebasing. The memories were foggy, for which he was glad, but he knew better than to be too glad—lest the urge to go back to the bottle return.

A flicker in the alleyway caught his eye, and he turned. He raised his hand just in time to block the brick from hitting his head, and the other hand caught the hobo’s other arm, which had a bottle. The scruffy man, uncleaned and unkempt, was ranting incoherently, so Rumisiel pushed him back against the wall. “Hey, hey! What’s wrong with you, man?!”

His words started to chug through the alkie’s head, and the scruffy hobo peered at him. “Youzz got change for me?”

“He’s totally off it. I better placate this guy.” Thinking quickly, Rumisiel remembered that he had had the foresight to acquire some currency before coming down.

“Yeah, I got some cash for you, pal. Just put the brick down, okay?” The hobo’s arm relaxed, and Rumisiel let him lower it—the brick fell to the ground, and Rumi took out a bill—a crisp, clean ten.

“This is for you, okay?” The hobo’s eyes lit up, and he snatched the bill.

“And hey, pal… how about I buy this off you?” He pointed to the bottle, which the Hobo snatched away, fiercely guarding it.

“Izz valuable,” he growled.

Rumisiel nodded to him. “I know it is. Um, what is that? Mad Dog 20/20?” A quick peek at the label confirmed it, and the wandering Angel smiled. “Good stuff. How about I give you… fifty for it?” The hobo’s eyes lit up like saucers, and Rumisiel took out five ten dollar bills. “Go get something to eat, man. You look like you really need it.” The hobo nodded vigorously, and bottle—full, and still sealed—and bills changed hands. A smile crossed both faces, and the old alkie ran off with a “Yahoo!” while Rumisiel strolled back to the street, pocketing the bottle and continuing on his way. One down.

He whistled a catchy tune to himself as he walked up the streets, until he turned onto a street he knew all-too-well. A little pride, and maybe some trepidation, crept up his back—would Ash remember? How would things be? Would Ash still even be here? Ash would be 20 or 21, he reminded himself. The Angel grinned softly, imagining a fantasy elsewhere, the red-headed Ash and blue-haired Emily married, or at least co-habituating, in a small house with a ridiculously large garage, filled with racing trophies. Then again, maybe they’d stayed with Doctor Upton. Either way, the good Doctor was the best place to start his search. He kind of hoped that Doc Upton would recognize him, though it was unlikely. Still, the files could do strange stuff.

His heart quickened as he walked to the door, pressing the bell. He was shaking—anticipation. He grinned as he realized now he knew what Ash was feeling for that second race with Kate. He waited—glanced at the driveway. The garage was closed, but Doctor Upton’s Audi was on the pad. Then he heard a step inside. His gut clenched.

Doctor Edward Upton opened the door on a young man who looked to be a biker. He peered warily at him. “Can I help you?”

“He doesn’t remember me… crap. But that’s not so bad, I guess. I did piss him off a lot.” Rumisiel smiled. “Hello, Doctor Upton. Um, I’m Rumisiel—I was a friend of… (Crap. Do I say daughter or son? Better not use a gender identifier until I know exactly what happened.) Ash’s a few years back. I’m from Canada,” he explained, slipping back into an old and familiar role.

Doctor Upton peered at him, again, and he continued, “We fell out of contact, but I decided to go traveling, and I was passing through Tempest—I don’t know what happened to Ash, but maybe you could point me in the right direction?”

The eyes—they bored into him. His gut felt like it was squirming—Doctor Upton was a canny character, whether or not he remembered Rumisiel. Then a sort of weary specter passed over his face, and he nodded. “My son still lives here. It’s not often he gets visitors, so I suppose I’ll let you see him.” The doctor stepped back out of the doorway. “He’s upstairs in his room. Please be quiet, but talk to his right ear—his left doesn’t work so well.”

Rumisiel blinked, as he entered the house, walking. A cold, nameless fear gripped his guts. “Why doesn’t Ash’s ear work?” He hurried—displaying a familiarity with the house’s lay-out that made Doctor Upton pause and ponder. He arrived at Ash’s door seconds before Doctor Upton, who knocked on it for him.

“Ash? You’ve got a visitor, from Canada? Says he was your Internet friend a few years ago.”

“Internet friend—good cover. Gotta remember that.” There was no answer from inside, so Doctor Upton unlocked the door, opening it.

The sight within was not quite what Rumisiel had expected; he had to work hard to maintain composure. It was so familiar, and so alien. The young man on the bed turned his head—bloodshot eyes, so familiar yet so terrifyingly alien, peered over Rumisiel, and then to Doctor Upton.

“Dad? D’ya mind if I get another bottle?”

His father shook his head. “You’ve had enough, Ash. Maybe at dinner. Go on in, Rumisiel.”

The doctor turned and walked away, leaving Rumisiel unsteadily walking into the room, closing the door behind him. The smell—well, he recognized it all right. It was the smell of the domicile of someone who’d been on a long, long bender. Empty bottles were tossed into a laundry basket in a corner of the bedroom, the cans into a different basket. There were quite a few which had missed the baskets, and three open on the desk next to Ash. Ash was wearing what Rumisiel supposed would be his racing-meditation gear: a short-sleeved Tee and boxers.

But what was so startling was the state of him. His left side, or what Rumisiel could see of it, was a network of scarred, slightly-charred flesh. The left side of his head in particular was burnt. His arm was deformed with the damage, most of the outer bicep gone. His fingers still worked, through some miracle, which was how he was sitting upright in bed, working the controller of a video game—a racing game. He was driving some fast car with reckless abandon, only half-paying attention, and clearly drunk at that. The fact that he hadn’t managed to completely wipe out was telling of Ash’s innate skill.

“Good Lord, Ash… What happened to you, man?” It took the orange-haired boy a long moment to find the pause button and swivel his head. That head… so familiar, yet so not. The face, the shape—it was eerie, he thought, seeing Ash as a man—then he realized he’d never really conceived of that before. Even when he knew that he’d personally refiled Ash in the male cabinet, he still held in his mind’s eye the image of the young woman he had left behind. His guts churned and clenched as he sat on the chair at the desk, looking at Ash, fighting not to show the trembling in his body.

“Don’ wanna talk about it,” the drunken Ash replied. “I know you? Y’look familiar…” A spark of hope—maybe he could jog Ash’s memory.

“I’m Rumisiel,” he replied. “Your friend from, ah, ‘up north’?” He hoped the euphemism would place him, but Ash shook his head.

“Don’t… I don’t remember you. I mean… I kinda… do, but I don’t know you.” He looked down. “Maybe you’ve got the wrong place?”

“(Like hell I do.) Um, maybe. But you look like you’ve been through some rough times. Maybe I could cheer you up?”

He was unprepared for the violent, bitter glance Ash threw in his direction, before looking down. “Nobody can… ’less you happen to have a bottle of the stuff Dad won’ let me have.”

“(Ugh… looks like I’ve got to.) Yeah, actually I have.” He looked around, conspiratorially. “If you’ll tell me what I want to know.” He brought out the bottle of Mad Dog, and Ash’s eyes locked onto it like an owl finding a mouse at night.

“All right.” He reached for the bottle with his left arm—it was feeble, more or less unable to move except slowly, so Rumisiel put it on his lap. Ash struggled to open it, but snarled when Rumisiel moved to do it for him, so Rumi let him do it himself. Ash took a long, long swig, and asked, “What do you want to know?”

Several hours and half a bottle of Mad Dog later, Rumisiel slowly walked out of Ash’s room. He felt like throwing up. Doctor Upton was downstairs ordering take-out when he stumbled down the stairs.

“You look white as a sheet… Rumisiel?”

Rumi nodded at the correct pronunciation of his name. “Er… Yeah.”

“You want to stay for dinner? My treat. You did keep my son company, after all.”

Rumi shook his head. “Er, no… no, thank you anyway… I, um…”

“Not what you expected? That damn crash. It changed him. I think it killed a part of him, deep inside. That could be why he stopped talking to you.”

Rumisiel nodded glumly. “Yeah… I think so. Look, I, uh… I gotta go, um… I… just gotta go.”

“As you wish. And thank you.”

Rumisiel beat a hasty retreat, but that was nothing compared to the cold uncertainty in his guts that spurred him into a dead run as soon as his feet hit concrete. Ash’s life seemed like it had been an unending series of mishaps and malice after the Misfile Day, but that was almost nothing compared to one terrifying, horrifying fact: Ash had not recognized the name of Emily McArthur—at least, no more so than he had recognized Rumisiel’s name, or Vashiel’s, or Cassiel’s.

He pounded pavement at a dead run. At least, maybe, maybe Emily was okay, just… not recognizing Ash. He pelted up the driveway, looking for Emily’s car. Nothing in the driveway, but the garage was shut. He raised his hand, knocking. And waited. And waited. And he knocked again, then rang the bell.

Finally a woman answered the door, looking somewhat haggard. “What do you want?” she snapped at him. Rumisiel started into his speech, but no sooner had he uttered the words ‘old friend of Emily’s’ than the woman in the door shouted, “Go away from here! Don’t ring the bell again or I’ll call the police!”

She slammed the door, literally on his nose, and he stumbled backwards, reeling—his whole world felt like it was falling apart. What did that mean? The response, the hostility? He searched for some meaning, but short of the unthinkable—and he was not going to think it—he simply needed more information. But it was getting dark; he couldn’t very well go check the library yet.

Blindly, he stumbled to the cheapest hotel in Tempest. He vaguely remembered getting showered, laundering his clothes, and fighting off the temptation to drink himself to sleep.

48 Hours Earlier

Rumisiel needed to make sense of what had happened. He had part of the story, but Ash was drunk, rambling, and angry at the world. As near as he could tell, things first started to go truly batshit after Kamikaze Kate had come for him. When Ash was a girl, Kate had told him to get his act together—as a boy, she had forced him off the old road, into the cliff to the left side of the downhill track. The XR4Ti had wiped out, and came to a rest almost off the cliff. So, he’d start with Kate.

“Am I going to have to exorcise Angelica again?” He didn’t know, but he knew he could do it—he remembered that first time so well. It was his own first real moment of badassery, after all. Steadfastly he closed his mind to any mention of Emily, and walked long and long, to Aries, the last place he remembered having heard of Kate. What he found was… unexpected. The garage was boarded up, the ‘s’ in the sign had fallen off and nobody had bothered to clean it up. He tried to find his way inside, and eventually flapped over the building and prised a sheet of plywood. The inside was dusty and deserted, run-down and ramshackle. He found a piece of paper taped to the inside of the window, and pried it off. Taking it outside, he read it:

To all my loyal customers,

It’s a sad, sad day that I have to say that I’ve got to go. While I’ve loved working with you all, and it’s been good times, I’ve got to go. My mum back in Wales is dying, and I have to go to her.

When I left home to come to America, my mum made me promise her that I’d find a wife and settle down before she passed on, or else I’d take over the family business, as I’m the last surviving heir of my family.

Sorry, lads and lassies—see you on the other side of the pond.

Harry Walsh, December 6, 2006.

Rumisiel let the paper drop out of his hand. That explained where Ash’s favorite mechanic had gone—but not where Kate was. She was supposed to have married Harry—that would’ve provided the family, wouldn’t it?

He had to find Kate. Maybe there would be answers there. If nothing else, he could ask her why. Why had she run Ash off the road? But where was she?

Rumisiel walked back into town, slowly. His mind was going in circles—he knew he was avoiding facing the Emily question, but he didn’t care. It took a long time to walk, as he wasn’t really interested in getting there expediently—slowly he trudged up to the Library. It was open, so he walked in. The librarian was happy to help him find old newspaper records on microfiche, from the year 2004.

It wasn’t hard to find what he was looking for: they were front-page headline articles. Ash Upton’s XR4Ti had been run off the road in an illegal street race on the old Mountain. He had refused to speak about who had done it, only to say that the other racer had pushed him into the rock face. There was no damage to the right side of his vehicle, so authorities at first were skeptical, but the headline a few weeks later said that Kate had turned herself in, giving a full confession and waiving her rights to trial by jury and to an attorney. She had officially confessed to attempted vehicular homicide, but given her remorseful and full confession to that and other acts of vehicular aggression, the presiding Judge had sentenced her to no less than ten and no more than twenty year’s imprisonment. She was currently serving time in Framingham Correctional Institution.

He checked the date—she had confessed on the day after the day when he had originally talked Angie into leaving. He suspected he already knew what the answers would be—that Kate had run Ash off the road in a fit of fury at the poor performance Ash put up the first time. When the day of Rumisiel’s exorcism of her sister had come, she would have been freed from the hate and the fury—but what would it have left? Bitter guilt over what she had done to Ash—ruined his life? That would explain the confession. But he had to know for himself.

Fortunately, the library had a copy of Google Earth installed. He quickly discovered the direction he wanted to take, and ran out of town, to the deserted stretch of highway leading to the old mountain where he could take wing, flying through the night to Framingham. He arrived around two, found a hotel to shack up in, took a shower, and indulged in a single bottle as a soporific before sleeping hard and troubled.

24 Hours Earlier

In the morning, he made his way to the prison, and managed to convince the authorities that yes, he was a visitor. They took him to a small room, subdivided into two sides with clear Lexan, a table in each half of the room, a grille to speak through, and chairs. He sat, and waited. He knew he was just confirming what he already knew, but he had to do it.

“Four years of prison,” he thought, as she walked in wearing an orange jumpsuit, “have not been kind to her.” Kate’s trademark long blond lock of hair had been shorn to a buzz-cut. She peered curiously at Rumi, as she sat down, uncomfortably. “She must not have any visitors,” he thought.

She confirmed it, quietly saying, “I don’t get visitors… So I have to know, who are you?”

“My name is Rumisiel. (Crap. Gotta… think of something.) I am a friend of Ash Upton.” He saw a tremble in her eyes at the name.

“Why are you here,” she asked him in reply.

“I have come to ask you…”

“Why I did it? Why I destroyed him?” She looked down, at the floor.

“I… can’t say,” she said—Rumi didn’t bother to interrupt. He suddenly got the impression that he was playing Confessor.

“I was so angry… so very, very angry, at him. I had only met him once before, but I was so angry… he called himself ‘King’ of that mountain, and I… I just could not tolerate that. I had to beat him, to crush him… for… for Angie.”

The woman in the orange jumpsuit slumped forward, onto the table, laying her head on her forearms. “But, when we raced… he was so weak, so pathetic… it just made me so much more angry, it wasn’t worth the doing. I was so… so full of hate. I don’t know why I did it. I stopped on the side of the road, in the shadow of a peak, let him drive by, and I came out. I… I thought I was trying to scare him into really racing, but I wasn’t. I wanted to… to hurt him. To make him suffer, I was so… I could only see hatred, and rage. I wanted to make him pay for insulting me with that joke of a race.”

“Man… Ash said something about her being really pissed off—maybe it was the fact that Ash was a girl the first time they met that prevented Kate from going crazy?”

“I pushed him. Startled him into thinking I was going to ram him from the right—he turned his wheel, just as the road narrowed…” She closed her eyes, and pantomimed the maneuver with her hands—and then the crashing of Ash’s car into the wall, using her hand against the Lexan barrier.

“So… what did you do then,” Rumisiel prompted.

Kate didn’t look up as she talked on. “I went home… I didn’t do anything, even though I’d seen the flash of yellow behind me. I didn’t care… I felt so cold, so empty, so full of hate. I read the newspapers, I knew they didn’t believe Ash’s story about another racer. I didn’t leave any rubber that night, at least, none they could link to Ash’s crash. I knew I could just… wait it out. Let them discredit Ash, get away… I even started making plans to do what I’d done to other racers. I knew I could get them the way I got Ash—get them alone, don’t leave any rubber. But then…”

She looked up, at Rumisiel’s face. “It was like waking up from a nightmare, but waking up in another one. I could feel again. Love, joy, humor. They all came back one night, while I was doing nothing. Then they went away. I remembered what I’d done. I felt so sick.

“I destroyed him. For no reason at all, I destroyed him. He didn’t know me, he didn’t even want to race me. His car was as old as he was. I had no reason to really race him, except that I was so… so bitter that I didn’t want to see any man calling himself the best racer, anywhere…”

She closed her eyes, putting her hand on the thick Lexan barrier. Rumisiel put his hand on the other side. Figuring it couldn’t hurt, not now, he let his wings unfurl from behind him. “It’s okay, Kate. You did the… the right thing, in confessing. Angelica would have been proud.”

The former Demon of Greylock opened her eyes, stared at the sight on the other side of the barrier. “Things aren’t supposed to be this way, Kate. But you still did the right thing. Please take some comfort in that.” Rumisiel stood up. “I have to go do the right thing, too. We’ll see what happens.”

He turned to leave, but the trembled, “W-wait,” behind him made him turn, looking back.

“Yes?”

Kate’s eyes were streaming lightly. “Tell… t-tell Ash that I’m sorry… please…”

Rumi nodded. “I will, when I see him again.” His wings vanished as he exited the visitation room, and he heard the guards taking Kate away behind him. His own exit from the prison was a haze, his mind working, racing hard. He had to fix things. But he was a fuck-up, he knew that. When he tried to fix things, they only got worse—he had undone the Misfile, and things got worse. Then it had taken him more than a year to even come back to see.

“I’m gonna need to tell Vashiel. There’s no helping it now—even if I get fired, maybe he can help me put things right. But first…”

Rumisiel disguised his presence with his angelic powers, winging back over the state, and landed at Tempest, on the street outside Ash’s home. He looked up at the upstairs window—the flickering of the television screen could barely be seen. He would tell Ash, but he had some more business to take care of. Even as he thought of how he was going to break the news to his brother, he trudged towards the cemetery. While he let himself hold out a glimmer of hope that Emily had simply gone on to Harvard, and had disowned her mother, he knew better.

He was just delaying for delay’s sake, and he knew it. His reverie was interrupted when his foot crunched on a glass bottle—he looked down. This was that hobo’s alley, the hobo he had given sixty dollars to the first day. But something was wrong—he smelled blood. Warily he crept into the alleyway, and then he went pale. The old hobo was laying in a pool of blood and other bodily fluids, two empty bottles next to him. His head had been bludgeoned by some form of blunt instrument—most likely the bloodied pipe discarded next to him.

“God… God, help me… he’s…” Rumisiel leaned down. The old man was dead, there was no doubting that. “He spent all the money on… on liquor. And then someone killed him for it.” Rumisiel closed his eyes, tears streaming down his face. “I fucked up again… I…” He stumbled out of the alleyway, trembling. Stumbled to a liquor store, bought a bottle of Jack and a bottle of Everclear, and used the pay phone. Called the police department, and told them about the body—he hung up when they started asking questions, and made a beeline for the outskirts of town.

Things got fuzzy after that. He knew he’d lost the bottle of Everclear before he got to the graveyard—presumably, he’d ‘lost’ it down his throat. Stumbling through the graveyard, he read every marker, starting with the big ones, and then working his way to the smaller ones, until he got to the ones that were tiny, on the ground, small plaques of granite rather than any large memorial. He stumbled through them, until he found the one he’d dreaded.

It simply read ‘Emily McArthur. Beloved Daughter, Brilliant Mind. 1986–2004.’ He’d collapsed to his knees, then sunk to sitting over the grave marker, crying heavily, as his mind, fogged as it was, muddled through things. That was a difference of 18 years—she must not have lasted very long after the Misfile’s correction. Then it hit him—the news of the car accident that her old best friend, Molly, had gotten into.

“I’m… a monster…”

Rumisiel sniffled as he realized that his fuck-up had compounded a thousand times. “I killed her.” He drank deep of the bottle of Jack, remembering Emily, remembering their times together. Even though they fought, and she’d always rightly blamed him, he’d come to think of Emily as his friend, and he’d killed her. And crippled Ash, deprived Harry of a wife, and sent Kate upstate. God alone knew what further repercussions his actions had wrought on others whose lives he had touched and witnessed—for one, Ash’s mother never knew Ash as her son, which was sad, especially as this was exactly when she would have been most helpful in Ash’s life.

The images, the faces, the places, they spun around him, ghosts in the graveyard, and next to him Emily’s ghost, staring at him, mute accusatory eyes on her intangible face. The whole world spun, and Rumisiel fell over, forcing himself away as he realized it was all about to come up. Yes, there it went—all the contents of his stomach, over the grass. At least it didn’t wind up on her grave; he couldn’t have taken that.

Then he simply blacked out.

Part 2

Elsewhere, 2:17 AM

The midnight silence was broken only by the purring sound of the engine that moved up the street, the distinctive sound of a manual transmission shifting, and then the soft screech of well-maintained brakes. This was followed by the sound of a car door opening and closing, and a pair of shod feet slapping up the drive. The door opened…

Ash looked up from holding the wet compress on the feverish forehead, as the figure in the door started, “It’s two in the morning. What’s so… important?” The blue-haired girl paused, spying the unusual sight—her red-haired friend sitting on a chair next to a couch, looking rather helpless and holding a wet compress against the forehead of the pointy-eared Angel, unconscious on the couch and wearing Ash’s father’s shirt.

“It’s Rumisiel,” Ash started. “He’s…”

“Sick?” Emily prompted.

“Yeah, I guess, I mean, I didn’t know Angels got sick, but…” Her orange hair shook, as Emily walked closer, closing the door behind her and dropping her jacket on the chair next to the door. “Okay. This is significant, but why did I have to sneak out in the middle of the night?”

Then Rumisiel started thrashing and murmuring softly, “Killed… killed them… nnnngh! Emily… E-Emily McArthur… ’m a monster… two thousand four… two thousand… nnngh…”

The angel slumped back into his troubled dream, while Emily blinked. “That was weird.”

“No kidding. It gets worse. He’s been like this all night. He’s said pretty much every name we know. He’s also said the words ‘misfile’ and ‘angel’ more than a few times, and said something about me being a boy.”

That got Emily’s attention. “Oh gods. Tell me Missi’s not here.”

Ash cocked her head, replying, “Why would Missi be here? It’s two in the morning.”

A nameless sense of relief washed through Emily. Of course, she was just happy that the cat wasn’t yet out of the bag… right? “And Vashiel is out of town searching for the missing Archon. Your dad?”

“We lucked out. He got out of here to catch a red-eye about four hours ago. Something about a lecture.”

The blue-haired teenager’s shoulders sagged in relief, as she pulled up a chair. “He really is a mess, isn’t he?”

“Yeah. I already removed one bucket of vomit; that happened a few minutes ago.” Ash made a face of considerable distaste, and Emily blinked.

“Was he drinking?”

“That’s just it—he’s stone-cold sober. He hasn’t had any alcohol at all, but he was muttering something about a whole bottle of Everclear about twenty minutes ago.”

“So, he dreams about going on a bender, and it makes him puke?”

“Yeah. As near as I can tell.”

A groan from the couch interrupted them again, and both girls turned their heads to watch Rumisiel, as he tensed, groaning again. “Wrecked… everything… prison… England… crippled…” He let out a sob in his sleep, and Ash sighed.

“It’s so strange. He’s incoherent, but his incoherency has a coherence, if that makes any sense. He’s talking about… well, about things. Things we know are real. I heard him mumbling about Framingham, isn’t that a town?”

Emily blinked. “Not just a town. He said ‘prison’, right? Framingham is the site of the state’s prison for women.”

Ash furrowed her brow, and then it clicked. “He was muttering about Kate, and prison, and Framingham? Maybe he thought she was imprisoned?”

A shrug from Emily, then a nod, made her think she might be on to something. “He was muttering something about Harry, and England, and the year two thousand six, shortly before that. Do you think it’s some kind of… I dunno, vision?”

“I wouldn’t actually discount that, but either way, we can’t let anyone hear him. Even if he is clearly sick, if Vashiel hears about this…”

“It could be bad if he started muttering something inopportune, like ‘misfile’…”

Emily opened her mouth to reply, but Rumisiel groaned another word, “Vashiel… brother…” They stared at him, and Ash said, “That’s new. He hasn’t really been talking about Vash.”

16 Hours Later

“I don’t believe you!” stormed Vashiel, literally pulling his younger brother from the drunk tank he had found him in. “Three days back on Earth, and I have to come find you in a police station?! What is wrong with you?!”

“Ugh. Bro, bro… please, let’s talk about this outside…” Rumisiel’s eyes shifted to the ceilings and the walls, and his brother seemed to get the message, for he turned and stormed back up the stairs, his alcohol-reeking brother behind him.

“At least it’ll air off the smell.”

Having already convinced the police that he was in fact Rumisiel’s brother—largely thanks to the fact that they both looked highly similar—Vashiel nigh-dragged his brother out of the station. They didn’t talk as the older Angel of Vengeance simply dragged Rumisiel to the outskirts of town. But not even he could be prepared for what was to happen next.

Rumisiel simply collapsed in front of him, grabbing his coat and crying, murmuring something that was nearly incoherent. Vashiel probably should have just kicked him away in disgust, but the genuine nature of the incoherently rambled confession made him kneel down and listen closer.

“Killed them… I killed them, bro… I did. Didn’t mean to, but they’re dead, and Ash is all… and Kate’s in prison, and Harry’s alone in England, and… and…”

“Slow down. Start over, Rumi.” A gentle slap accompanied the admonishment, and his brother’s eyes focused on his.

“It started four years ago, bro. When I got Banished.”

“Go on.”

Rumi took a deep breath. “Look, my bosses stormed in while I had two files pulled for review… Ash’s and Emily’s.”

Vashiel had only a cursory working knowledge of the Filing system, but he nodded.

“I’d had them pulled for like, eight hours, they were on the bottom of my stack, and I’d left them out when I lit up the joint. So when my bosses busted in, I panicked. I grabbed them and shoved them back in the cabinets, but I’d accidentally left two pages out of Emily’s file, all right? And I accidentally put Ash’s file in the girls cabinet.”

Vashiel blinked, contemplating the magnitude of what his brother was saying. “Ash…”

“Was born a boy, bro. Originally, anyway.”

Vashiel blushed softly as he considered the secret, deep-felt crush he had long held for Ash.

“But… see, when I got back, I fixed things. I found those two pages from Emily’s file and filed them where they were supposed to go, an’ I put Ash’s file back in the right cabinet, right?”

Vashiel nodded, slowly. “Go on.”

“Only, everything is crazy. Absolutely bonkers, we’re talking way beyond FUBAR here.”

“Specifics. What happened?”

“Well… well…” Rumisiel had to take a deep breath. “Ash is like, a boy again. Only, he’s not the Ash we knew at all. He’s crippled. The whole left side of her body is fucked up beyond all recognition, she… Damn, I still can’t think of Ash as a boy. His left arm is all fucked up, like, can’t even open a bottle without five minutes of work.” Rumisiel looked down. “He just sits on his bed more or less all day, drinkin’ more than I ever did and playing racing games.”

Vashiel took a deep breath. That revelation alone made him feel dizzy. Ash Upton, one of the brightest stars he had ever had the privilege and the pleasure of meeting and living with, a drunken cripple with no direction or life? That was almost unthinkable.

“And, well… then I went to look up Emily, but her mom just slammed the door in my face. It scared me, so I went to look up some other people we knew. I went to Harry’s shop, but it’s all boarded up.”

“But why there? You hardly knew Harry.”

“I know, but I figured Harry might know what had gone on. Ash didn’t want to tell me much, just that the Kamikaze had done it to him. But Harry was gone, in England, and Kate… well, I was able to track her down.”

“I don’t like where this is going, brother. Keep going.”

“She like… you know when Ash faced her the first time, and she went kinda psycho and hugged her, saying she wanted Ash to be her sister? Well, this time it didn’t happen that way. Ash was King of the Mountain, and she destroyed him, bro.”

“Destroyed him?”

“Yeah. I went and tracked her down in the state pen. She ran Ash into the cliff wall, didn’t leave any evidence behind. Then she went and confessed.”

“Confessed?”

“Yeah. On the day after that night I originally exorcised her sister. I think it means stuff we did remains, just not anything else. I checked her out in prison. Angie wasn’t there.”

“Okay… go on,” Vashiel said, softly.

His brother took a deep breath, “Well… I think I killed a hobo.”

A confused Vashiel tilted his head, and his brother elaborated.

“When I got here, I walked in from the highway, through the bad part of town. This hobo with a brick attacked me; boy was he drunk. But I talked him down, I gave him ten bucks, and then I saw he had a full bottle of Mad Dog. I didn’t think it’d be good for him, so I paid him fifty bucks to give me the bottle. I told him to go get a shower and a hot meal, but I guess he went and bought more booze with it. When I found him last night, somebody’d cracked his head in with a pipe and stolen his booze… You don’t have to say it. I fucked up. Again. That’s all I ever do, isn’t it bro?”

Vashiel paused. On the one hand, Rumisiel was right: he did fuck up. On the other, he was still his brother, and more he’d been trying to do the right thing. “Didn’t you see that on TV?”

“Yeah. I remembered this Law & Order episode that Doc Upton made me turn the TV to once, where the guy bought a brick off this crazy dude who was threatening to heave it at him with cash…”

Vashiel sighed, and reached up, putting his hand on his brother’s head. “You tried, Rumisiel. You may have screwed it up, but at least you’re trying. Keep going. You’re hiding something, and I know that means it’s bad.”

Rumisiel shook his head. “No, I…” He broke into tears again. “Graveyard… I…”

“Emily,” Vashiel said suddenly. “She’s dead, isn’t she? That’s what you’re hiding, isn’t it?” His brother broke down completely, whining that it was the case, holding his head against his brother’s jacket and crying on it. Vashiel could only sigh, and hold his brother’s head, canny mind whirling to accept the complete topsy-turning of the most recent and full years of their lives.

Elsewhere, 2:40 AM

“Okay, that last tirade of his was disturbingly coherent,” said Emily, as Rumisiel slumped back down, and Ash looked up at her.

“How can you tell? It seems to be random.”

“He seems to be going over old ground and muttering different parts of it.” Emily was sitting in another chair, with a notebook in her lap and a pen in her hand—she’d been writing down words that he uttered over and over, and there was a pattern. “I think he’s thinking he’s confessing to his brother about the Misfile.”

“I got that much. What did you get out of it?”

“Okay. I’ve been basically tracking what he’s muttering, and if you cross-reference the last three times he’s gone into a muttering state, it’s… well, disturbing. Like this: Kate. Ash. Crippled. Race. Ran off road.” Emily shook her head. “It’s weird; it sounds like he’s discussing a ‘what might have happened’. It sounds like he’s saying that you were crippled after the first race with Kate. And that she then confessed to it, and was thrown in prison.”

Ash gulped softly. “She’s never… I mean, she’s run people into things, but I don’t think she’s ever wrecked anybody…”

“But that race… it was different from the others. It was a turning point, Ash…” She leaned over, brushing Ash’s hair back from her ear. “When you were a girl, she hugged you, right? She said she wanted to find her sister in you, right?”

“Yeah… I guess maybe she was hoping I was like, the reincarnation of Angelica or something, right?”

“But you delivered an atrociously poor performance, because you were so scared stiff of her, that she just gave it up in the middle and told you that you had better do better next time… right?”

“Yeah. But she seemed so fixated on me being a… girl…”

Emily nodded, as it started to click into place in Ash’s head. “If you were a boy, she might have been so angry she didn’t give you a second chance. She might have just… you know, made one of those ‘turning points’. Turned into a killer.”

“But Rumisiel exorcised her sister Angelica when we faced the next time, and she turned into a nice person.”

“He mentioned that, too. He said he tracked Kate down in prison. He said something about the exorcism happening when it should have happened, and that’s when Kate turned herself in. Maybe without Angie’s hate, she got scared and guilty about crippling you?”

Ash blanched. “Yeah…” He pictured the Kamikaze in his head, Kate plus her sister’s ghost. “Yeah. I could see her killing. She was… on the edge.”

Emily nodded. “Yes, and then… he said he killed a hobo… and that I was… dead?” She went a little white about that. “Do you think he was talking about the car crash?”

“I don’t know, Em. He did say 1986–2004…”

“I was born in 1986. The first time, that is. I looked at my records post-Misfile, it’s the right date, just, in eighty-eight. I would have been eighteen.”

“Yeah, but… it’s just a fevered dream, right?”

Emily’s eyes were strangely vacant. “I never told him about the car crash, or about any of the details, or that I thought I might have been…” She cast her eyes down, and then closed them, as she felt an all-too-wonderfully-familiar arm wrap around her shoulders.

“Nnnnnngh!” Rumisiel’s groan brought her eyes up, even as blue hair leaned into orange. “Won’t… recognize… bro. Not Ash… we know…”

Emily’s head turned, her eyes looking into Ash’s. “That was disturbingly coherent. Is he talking to Vashiel about seeing you?”

“Sounds like. And he said I wouldn’t… recognize them?” Ash was somewhat pale about that. “I mean, I don’t like anything that’s happened, but… I don’t want to not remember it, or them, or…”

Ash looked down, and Emily murmured in reply, “You don’t want to forget me. I don’t want to be forgotten, Ash. I don’t want to be a corpse.”

Ash’s eyes looked up, quickly, meeting Emily’s. “Don’t talk like that! This is just some weird celestial fever talking! You can’t know that the Files would kill you like that. Besides, it doesn’t seem likely. The first time it happened, it adjusted everything possible to keep us as close to what we were as it could. It’ll do the same thing again.”

Emily met her gaze, and Ash trembled slightly, viewing a very unfamiliar and unpleasant emotion in her best friend’s eyes—fear. “You don’t believe that, do you, Ash? You’re afraid of the same thing I am, aren’t you?”

The orange-haired Misfile looked down, as Rumisiel groaned softly again.

20 Hours Later

“We’re here, bro… but you’re not going to like it.” The Brothers Angelic stood at the foot of the drive leading to the Upton Residence.

“I… have to see, Rumisiel.”

“Yeah, I figured you would. I’ve more or less resurrected our old alias—brothers from Canada. Just keep your trap shut, say you’re an old friend of Ash’s if pressed, and if asked for details, just use ‘up north’. It’s a euphemism for Heaven, so you should be able to do that much, right?” Vash looked uncomfortable. “No, of course not. Just let me do the talking. And thanks for letting me find a hotel and take a shower.”

“No problem, Rumi.”

The pair approached the door. Rumi rang.

A minute later, Doctor Edward Upton answered the door, to find not one but two strange young men on his doorstep. He glared at Rumisiel. “What are you doing back here?”

The hostile reception put Rumi on the defensive. “Uh, I wanted to see Ash again. My brother’s also an old friend of his, and we wanted, you know, to wish him well while we were still in town?”

Doctor Upton pierced Rumisiel with a gaze that could melt stone. “You gave my son an entire bottle of Mad Dog 20/20. Why?”

Rumisiel sighed softly. “He was hurting, Doctor. And… he wouldn’t talk to me otherwise.”

The steely gaze the Doctor gave him pierced Rumisiel’s eyes and made his guts feel like jelly again.

“Very well, I suppose it didn’t hurt him too much, and it’s about the only thing that makes him feel better these days. Just don’t do it again.”

Rumi nodded vigorously. “Yes sir. I mean, I won’t, sir. I mean… ugh.”

Doctor Upton shook his head. “Just go on ahead. He’s still upstairs. And I mean it—nothing that I haven’t said he can have. That said, go ahead and take him a bottle of lager.”

Doctor Upton went back to his office as Rumi and Vash shared a shrug. Retrieving the bottle was old hat; they knew where Doctor Upton kept his liquor, after all. Then they went to Ash’s room. Rumisiel knocked on the door again.

“Dad?”

The voice from inside was so feeble, even Rumi hated to hear it. The look on his brother’s face was visibly shaken, and Rumisiel took a moment to gulp for air, licking his lips.

“No, Ash. It’s me again, Rumi. I brought you some more good stuff.” A snap of the fingers turned the contents of the bottle from regular lager into the Best Damn Lager Rumisiel could imagine: smooth as cream soda, strong as 151. It couldn’t hurt, he reasoned. Not now.

“Rumisiel?” The voice from the other side of the door came. “Okay. Come in.”

Rumi opened the door, and he stepped in, followed by his older brother. They closed the door behind them, and Rumi heard a gasp from behind him. He knew it was going to be hard on Vash.

“Ash?” Vash began, incredulous. The young man on the bed bore such a strong resemblance to the girl he had secretly (and not-so-secretly) pined after for so long, and yet… It was alien, but all the more alien for the intense resemblance to the Ash Upton he had known. Ash still had the same freckled face, the same orange-as-a-fruit hair, even the same general features, despite being a fair amount broader-shouldered and, obviously, less female. But the strangest difference was not the difference, not even the hideous damage that Ash’s body had sustained, the awful scarring, the excising of most of his left arm, the burning.

It was seeing his friend, the devil-may-care racer who (it had turned out) had not only had the strength to stand up to a demon-possessed racer with many more years’ experience and a car many times faster and more expensive than hers, the absolutely fearless, indomitable Ash Upton, reduced to a quivering, alcoholic wreck. It struck him speechless—which was, altogether, a good thing in Rumisiel’s mind, as he started the conversation.

“This is my brother, Ash. His name is Vashiel. You don’t remember him either, do you?”

The orange-haired, terrified wreck put down the controller and shook his head. “’M sorry, I don’… don’t recognize you.” He peered hard, very hard, even as Rumi sat in the chair and handed him the bottle. This time he opened it before he handed it over. Ash took it, and drank a deep swig. “Goo’ stuff…” he bleared. “I feel like I should know you… like, dee-jah voo…”

“Yeah… you should know us, Ash.” Rumisiel sighed, as he watched his brother sink to the floor, looking down at the floor.

“I’m sorry, Ash,” Vashiel began. “I… I failed. I-If I had known… I might have been able to fix things.”

Ash blinked at that. “What are you talkin’ about?”

Rumisiel cut off the response, “He’s not talking about anything, Ash. He’s just feeling a lot of misplaced guilt that’s rightfully mine. He’s my big brother. I fucked up, he feels responsible.”

It was more or less the truth, so Vashiel accepted it.

“Ash… I thought you ought to know. I went to Framingham the other day. Talked to Kate. She made me swear I’d tell you she’s sorry.”

Ash’s eyes were bitter, but not cold. “Sorry? Hah… sorry. Sorry and a wrecked car are worth the parts’ value.”

Rumisiel could only let out a soft, sad snort of macabre amusement. “That’s Ash, all right. She is, Ash. She turned herself in, I don’t know if you knew it. But she did. She waived her rights to a trial by jury, to an attorney. Went up in front of a lone judge and told it all. She could’ve been sentenced to life, but she got ten to twenty. She didn’t have to. She could’ve gotten off free.”

The orange-haired wreck on the bed tugged a blanket around himself, set the bottle down on the desk next to him, and closed his eyes. “That’s… not much help to me, is it? My arm’s shot, I’ll never drive again, not even a piece of shit automatic. I can’t even get behind the wheel without panicking.” He shivered. “I can barely type on the computer, I can’t hold my arm up for more than a few minutes at a time, and I can hardly stand on my left leg. I can’t feel anything but pain in my left side, and the doctor said I suffered irreversible nerve damage. I can’t even feel my own penis, and the doctors said I was very, very lucky to not be permanently hooked up to a colostomy bag.

“And she’s sorry?”

Ash snorted, and then curled his head down, dragging a pillow in front of him with his right hand, while all Vashiel and Rumisiel could do was watch.

“Well, I guess it’s what I’m going to get, isn’t it? You’re supposta forgive, right? I don’t know if I can… but I can’t even work up a good hate anymore.”

With a worried realization, Rumisiel noticed that tears were actually streaming down Ash’s face. “I feel so cold…” No sooner had he said it than Rumisiel and Vashiel were piling blankets around him. “Like nothing in the world matters. Like I don’t matter to anybody. And the only people who can think enough of me are a crazy pair of Canucks that I don’t know who think I know them and who feel maddeningly familiar yet unfamiliar, and the Kamikaze who did this to me…”

Ash appeared about to sink into another depressive fit, but he suddenly sighed softly and slumped forward, cuddling the pillow tightly, as Vashiel leaned over.

“Brother, look Beyond. Carefully,” he whispered in Rumi’s ear. Rumisiel gulped, and let his vision expand. Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.

“About time you looked at me, Rumisiel.”

On the bed was a translucent figure, nearing transparent, but the vivid blue hair formed into a widow’s peak gave it away. And the wreck of a boy on the bed had vanished, replaced with the apparently unconscious form of another Ash Upton, the one they knew all-too-well, being held tightly by Emily’s ghost.

“I know you can’t speak to me without upsetting Ash. Meet me over my… tombstone… after he’s fallen asleep. He usually passes out around two in the morning.”

The dumbfounded angel simply stared, dumbstruck.

“Don’t look so surprised, Rumisiel. Did you really think I could pass on like this?” Her ghostly hand stroked Ash’s spiritual orange hair. “I have to protect her. It’s all I can do. I think he’s going to fall asleep, but with the two of you providing stimulus, it’s not going to happen. I’d be very grateful if you could shut off the power on your way out. Snap a line or something. Without the game, all he’ll have is your enhanced brew over there, and he’ll pass out sooner.”

Rumisiel nodded. With a flash of sight, the ‘real’ world returned. Ash did indeed look close to a passing out. “Well… we may be back, Ash. Enjoy the brew. I brought you the good stuff.”

It was perhaps the hardest thing to maintain composure while walking out, down the stairs, and being confronted by Doctor Upton about how they had known where he kept his liquor. Fortunately, Vashiel’s answer that, “Ash told us,” was true, and the elder Upton accepted it. On the way out, Rumisiel flicked his fingers, causing a short in the breaker, as the pair marched quietly, stoically to the graveyard…

Elsewhere, 3:30 AM

“I… I think Rumisiel might be having some sort of ethical crisis, Ash. An angelic nervous breakdown, if you will.”

Rumisiel stirred on the couch, again, and Ash looked up into Emily’s eyes. “How do you figure?”

“Well, it seems to me that his unconscious mind is interacting with his conscious. His subconscious mind is ‘running’ the world for his consciousness, instead of seeing the real world. It’s generating his ethical problems and ethical support in the form of people he knows and places that are real enough to be plausible.”

“Makes sense. So when he’s muttering about Vashiel…”

“His unconsciousness is using Vash as his moral compass, his responsibility, his role model.”

“An Angel’s shoulder Angel?”

“Yes, only bigger.”

“And us?”

“It sounds like he’s actually talking about two forms of ‘us’. There’s the ‘consequences us’, where I’m dead and you’re a crippled wreck, and the ‘real us’, where I’m a ghost and you’re a ‘what should be’. Er, sorry. It’s his dementia, not mine.”

“Don’t apologize, Em.” Ash looked down. “This is all he’s known us as. Maybe that’s why when he imagines me as a boy, he has to imagine something so alien, because it’s the only way he can?”

Emily shrugged, and leaned harder into Ash’s side, her eyes closed. “Possibly.”

“So, if Vashiel is his sense of responsibility, what’s my father?”

Emily shrugged again, and offered a weak smile. “Sometimes, Ash, a gynecologist is just a gynecologist.”

Ash snickered softly, and curled her arm tighter around Emily, as the Angel on the couch groaned again. They stared at him, but Rumisiel failed this time to make any significant sounds, so they continued to wait.

Although their minds burned with worry for Rumisiel’s condition blowing the lid off the Misfile—as well as some measure of worry for Rumisiel himself—there wasn’t a lot either could do about the situation directly. Rumisiel had failed to awaken even when subjected to pinching and shouting-in-the-ears, so all they could do was hold one another while maintaining a bedside vigil over their ‘friend’.

Emily’s eyes closed. “I love this feeling. Ash is holding me, and she’s probably not even aware she’s doing it… It’s such a soft, simple but comforting thing.”

Ash was smiling as well, one arm around Emily’s shoulders, the other holding her notebook for her. “This is so friggin’ girly, but I don’t care. She feels so nice…”

“The last time we were this close for this long was…” Ash murmured softly, unaware she had spoken, but Emily’s murmur finished the thought:

“Cape Cod.” The two words conjured the heady atmosphere of the wonderful summer they had spent together. Surely it wasn’t without its annoyances, or its troubles and tribulations but Ash strove hard to remember a time in his previous life that had equaled those months, or even came close.

“I’m sorry.” They both said it at once. Then Emily half-turned to look into Ash’s eyes. The pair smiled softly at the amusing nature of both of them having said the same thing at the same time, and Emily wrapped her arms around Ash’s shoulders, pressing against her, laying her head over Ash’s shoulder.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Ash. Y-You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Neither have you, Em.”

Ash squeezed Emily’s back tightly, causing the blue-hair to arch into her, but Emily disagreed. “Yes, I have…”

Emily was cut off by Rumisiel’s groaning…

Part 3

24 Hours Later

“Graveyards are spooky places, bro.”

“No kidding.”

Walking through a graveyard while looking Beyond the Physical was indeed a very spooky thing to do. There wasn’t much to see—no plethora of the dead walking about—but the entire area’s aura was eerie, creepy, and warped. The pair picked their way to the back of the expansive green lot, into the section where those who didn’t have the money for a good headstone were buried, and found what they were looking for: a blue-haired ghost, her long hair blowing in the wind. She appeared lost in thought, staring up at the moon, but as the brothers Angelic approached, she spoke without turning around.

“Four years, Rumisiel. Four years…”

Rumisiel was mute, looking down at the ground, so she continued.

“You’re probably wondering what I’m still doing here, Rumi. When you ‘fixed’ the Misfile, it created a massive sense of… discontinuity, if you will. It was like being sheared from life, watching time unwind itself, and I was dropped here.” She looked down, and then crouched over the tombstone.

“Emily McArthur. Beloved Daughter, Brilliant Mind. 1986–2004.” She stood up, turning to confront the pair. “Four damn years I’ve been waiting for you to show yourself. But I can’t even yell at you. That’s the worst part, Rumi.”

The ghost sighed and sank down to the ground. “You did what we thought we wanted you to do. You worked hard, straightened your act up, and you fixed the Misfile. And now here I am.” She sobbed, softly. “A ghost who remembers living longer than she did. I can’t ‘move on’, even if I wanted to. I’m still a Misfile, only now it’s my soul that’s lost in the system. Ash is here, too,” she sighed. “I don’t… honestly know how, but it’s our Ash, the Ash we know. When I woke up… here… she was with me, but unconscious, if a spirit can be said to be conscious. I looked and looked, but I couldn’t find her grave. That’s when it hit me—Ash wasn’t dead. But only just.

“The soul of that miserable boy we saw withered away a long time ago. Can you imagine Ash without racing, without cars? Without being able to lift an arm? I kept him going by putting her inside him. That’s why you saw our Ash when you looked Beyond. I don’t know if it’s helping or not, I just have the feeling that if I let that Ash die, my Ash would, too, and then I’d follow suit.”

Vashiel was the first to speak, after licking his lips. “Emily… maybe staying here isn’t the… right thing for you? Maybe you should go on…”

She scowled at him. “I’ve tried, Vash. I’ve really tried. I gave up about two years ago, and I just wanted to leave. But I can’t leave. I’m stuck here. The only thing really binding me to anything at all were the times after the Misfile. But this universe doesn’t recognize those times, and so I’m here… stuck in limbo.”

Rumisiel sighed, heavily. “Man. I fucked up again…”

“Yes, you did. But you couldn’t have known. You did what we were so hell-bent-for-leather on doing—reversing the Misfile. I just… want this to end. I want to go back to those times we had together. I want… I want to forget this.”

Rumisiel nodded, and fell to his knees, sobbing. “I will, Em. I’ll fix this. I don’t know how, but…” He sniffled, and looked to his side. His brother had taken his sword out. It hit him: he was vowing to bypass the system and deliberately Misfile them. Wasn’t that a punishable offense?

But then Vashiel sunk to his own knees as well, point of the sword in the ground. “And I swear, on my honor as an instrument of Heavenly Vengeance, I will not rest until my brother has repaired this gross injustice of fate, Emily.”

The ghost blinked softly, and actually cracked a weak smile. “I want my Ash back, Rumi. I want my life back. But I think you’re going to need to use our leftovers to fix the mess.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. I’m not the filing system expert, you are.”

Rumisiel nodded, and straightened up, followed by his brother. “I don’t know how we’re going to do it, Emily. But we will get it done.”

“Good. Oh?” She perked up, looking back. “Ash is waking up. I need to hold her together. Good luck. Please have good luck.” She made a motion as if to start running towards Tempest, then streaked away in a blinding blur, out of sight in a split second.

Elsewhere, 3:51 AM

“Nnngh… wow… she’s fast.”

Ash and Emily registered the groan from the couch, though both of them were drowsy from their long vigil. They were sitting across two chairs pulled up to the side of the couch, leaning on it so that one of them could change Rumisiel’s compress every half hour, with Emily leaning back into Ash. The orange-haired tuner’s arms were around her best friend’s stomach, and one of Emily’s hands was atop them. It was a decidedly eerie thing, pondering the events Rumisiel’s nightmare was bringing up.

“Do you think it could happen that way, Ash? The way he’s saying it?” Ash didn’t answer, so Emily pried the fingers of one of her hands away from the other, squeezing Ash’s hand tightly. “Ash?”

“I don’t… want to think about it, Em.” Ash squeezed back, her eyes closed. “I don’t want to think about you in the graveyard… I…”

“I don’t want to think about you as a crippled drunk. We have too much to do.”

“I still have to teach you how to race.”

“And I need to get that turbo put in my car.”

They each squeezed the other’s hands, and Emily closed her eyes, laying her head back on Ash’s shoulder.

“Ash,” she murmured softly, and Ash’s head turned to listen. “Thank you… for everything you’ve ever done for me. And I’m sorry for all the mean things I’ve done to you.”

“Em, you haven’t done anything mean to me.”

“Yes, I have. Shh…” Her hands clenched tightly, squeezing Ash’s, and Ash closed her eyes, savoring the contact.

“Ash? Do you really… want to go back? Don’t answer, just think about it. I was stewing in a pressure-cooker of a house, and getting away to Harvard probably wouldn’t have made much difference. You didn’t really have any friends, or anybody you really could be close to. Now you’ve got your mother, and your dad’s a lot closer to you.”

“And I have you,” Ash finished the thought, squeezing Emily tightly.

“Rumi said that once fixed, we wouldn’t remember any of this. Will we still know each other, Ash? Would we still be friends? We wouldn’t have met if not for the Misfile. And I’d probably be dead.”

“You can’t…”

“Know that. We’ve been over this. It just gives me a really… creepy feeling when I think about it.”

“Em…” Ash began, but Rumisiel’s groans interrupted her again.

36 Hours Later

“Okay, so… you know we’re gonna get banished for this, right?” Rumisiel commented, as he and his brother walked along the Old Road, discussing their options.

“We may,” Vashiel began. “But we took our oaths. We have to live with them.”

“Yeah. Think Ash’ll let me live on her couch again?”

“Maybe. Hope I get the basement again; it’s warm down there.”

“Heh… heheh… you liked it too, didn’t you? Living with Ash an’ rockin’ Doctor Upton?”

Vashiel took a long, deep breath. “Yes. I did…”

“Right. Now, see, here’s the rub. The files are unpredictable, within certain guidelines. I’m just trying to figure out how we can one: restore Ash and Emily and the world to the way we know it; and two: prevent my bosses from fucking it up again when and if they find out.”

“Is there any way to override the files?”

“It’s possible, but short of Himself, I don’t know what is capable of doing it. Maybe… maybe if we destroyed the files themselves—but that would just leave them the way they are now, which is not what we’re looking for…” Rumisiel sighed. “This would be so much easier with time travel. We could just go back to when I got un-banished and kick my ass and prevent me from changing the files.”

It at least elicited a chuckle from his brother. “As amusing as that would be, it’s not possible. Let’s go over this again. You put Emily’s missing two years into her file, at the end, right? And you just picked Ash’s file up from the girl cabinet and put it back in the boys, right?”

“Yeah. I guess it recalculated everything…”

“So, in theory, if we re-Misfile Ash’s folder to the female cabinet, and remove Emily’s two years…”

“It might work that way, it might not. See, the ‘history’ pages are always being written to.”

“So, remove the last four years of Ash’s life?”

“Might work. It might leave her even more fucked-up…” Rumisiel sighed. “What we need is, well, a back-up copy.”

“Back-up?”

“Yeah. You saw Ash using her computer, right? Well, you save a second copy of something, and don’t use it. Keep writing to the first file. If something fucks up the first file, you can go back to the file that you saved separately and load it again.”

“Can we find such a thing?”

“We can… but you ain’t going to like it. That’s Fourth’s job. They archive all the back-up copies.”

“Cassiel. It figures.”

“It gets worse. I don’t know if they archive Misfiled files.”

“Mmm. That would be a pickle. Wait.” Vashiel blinked. “The files are just code for a soul and its interactions on Earth, right? We have two ‘intact’ souls of them. Their ghosts.”

“Might work… actually, that might work well. Turn them from ghosts into files and remove the last four pages. But how do we turn a spirit into a file?”

“Um… I don’t know. And judging from the look on your face, neither do you.”

“I dunno. Maybe if we just take them back with us, they’ll turn into files?”

“It might work that way, but if it doesn’t, they’ll be very, very visible, and we’ll have to explain why we have a couple of ghosts of people who don’t exist.”

“Yeah… Why’d you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Take an oath like that to Emily.”

“It’s… it’s hard to explain, brother. I feel like we owe them. And more than that, like…” Vashiel sighed. “Like I feel towards you. Responsible for you, even if you are constantly making mistakes.”

“Whatever the reason, thanks.”

Vashiel nodded, and offered his hand. “We’re in ’til the end, then, brother.”

Rumisiel took the hand, and squeezed it, shaking. “Right. So…” he sighed heavily. “We need to figure out what we’re going to do.”

“I have an idea. What if we get the archive file from four years ago? The day you Misfiled Ash and Emily, and re-create their original misfile?”

“It might work, but I’ve got my doubts. It’ll pull them four years into the future. What we need is a way to make ‘fake’ years, so that the system still puts them at the correct years and all, but…” Rumisiel sighed. “Urgh. This would be so much easier with time travel.”

“Maybe. But since that’s not possible, we’re going to have to make do with what we can do. And short of His intervention…”

“Maybe we just… need to try something. Take a chance.”

“Or we could do some research. The Library?”

“What? But they don’t have any books on celestial filing depots.”

“Not the Tempest library, brother. The Final Library.”

Rumisiel’s eyes opened wide, and he nodded. “Why didn’t I think to hit the books until now?”

“Probably because neither of us ever have. It’s more Emily’s sort of thing than ours.”

That elicited a chuckle from Rumisiel, and he grinned. “It might work at that, bro. It might work…”

Elsewhere, 4:26 AM

Emily wasn’t entirely sure how they had moved from the chairs next to the couch to Ash’s bed. She was too tired, too warm, and too content to care. Ash’s smooth, bare legs ran across hers, and she smiled; the both of them were just wearing pairs of Ash’s shorts and one (each) of her T-shirts, close up under the blankets. Flat on her back, she cradled Ash atop her, lying across her body, with Ash’s head on her shoulder, her cheek to Emily’s. With a hand in Ash’s orange hair, and one of Ash’s arms under her, they each held the other’s hand. It was…

It was a perfect moment, one of contentment, of happiness. Warmth suffused her body without being unbearable or rampantly lustful, a wonderful, close feeling of intimacy.

She tilted her head and Ash’s head turned to match. Their lips met openly—not slowly, not chastely, but not with wild, ravenous hunger—with soft, unhurried need. This was what Ash needed, not that little tramp who couldn’t understand her. Emily shifted and Ash shifted in response, moving their legs and feet together, against one another. Emily’s eyes closed. This was bliss, holding her tuner-girl who used to be a boy, squeezing Ash’s hand tight. Ash squeezed back tighter. And tighter.

“Emily?” The word was soft, spoken in her ear from behind.

Emily’s eyes opened, her face burningly hot. She was staring at the ceiling (living room, not bedroom). Rumisiel’s fevered murmurs came to her from the right, Ash’s voice from behind and to the left. Ash was holding her left hand, squeezing it, as she whispered in Emily’s ear.

“Oh gods… another dream? I fell asleep?” She knew she was blushing, and hard. In the darkness, maybe Ash wouldn’t notice—never minding the fact that Ash could probably feel the heat coming off her cheeks.

“Emily? You fell asleep. You okay?”

Emily groaned softly. “Yes… I had a dream…”

“What kind?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she replied, then gasped softly as Ash turned her head.

“Good. I don’t feel like talking.” Ash squeezed her and rolled, toppling them to the floor. She was over Emily in a flash, but Emily didn’t fight; she was tearing back at Ash’s clothes, arching up into her. Emily’s eyes fell upon the VCR clock, its green numbers flowing, incomprehensible symbols. Ash slid her hand into Emily’s panties, and…

Emily awoke with another gasp, looking around.

Ash’s hand was tightly upon Emily’s, and Ash was whispering Emily’s name, while pinching her other palm. “Em? You okay?”

Emily looked around for the clock. It read 4:26. She looked away, and looked back. It read 4:26 again. “Y-Yeah,” she murmured, remembering what she had read about false awakenings. She fumbled in her pocket, pulling out a key chain with a flashlight, and shined it into her eyes. Ash let out a noise of protest, unprepared for the quick flash of light. “Okay. I’m awake, now.” She was still breathing hard, and she shifted her weight, sitting more upright, looking back at Ash. “Did I… fall asleep?”

“Yeah, you did. You, um, okay?”

Emily nodded, quickly—too quickly. Her heart was racing. “Yeah,” she said, out of breath. “I, um… I think I need to get some water. She stood up, making for the kitchen in a hurry, then paused in the doorway. “I’m, uh, hungry, too. You want me to microwave you something, too?”

Ash nodded, quietly, peering quizzically at Emily. “Um… sure. You know where the Hot Pockets are, right?”

Emily retreated into the kitchen. She dug through the freezer, taking out the box of microwave sandwiches and tearing it open. She was simply on autopilot as she put them on a plate, inside the sleeve, and set the microwave, then walked over to the sink, splashing water on her face. The whole time, her head was on repeat, saying, “I did not just have a sex dream of my best friend!” over and over. Finally, the microwave’s alarm brought her out of her reverie.

“I can’t be having sex dreams of Ash. I just… I can’t.” The word ‘denial’ was itself strictly denied, but she shivered. “Yeah. The first dream… I mean, that was just cuddling, right? Just… just cuddling.” She shook her head. “I’m a mess…” Emily retrieved the plate, discarding the cooking sleeves and walking back to the living room. She settled back onto the chair, her legs curled up and sitting between Ash’s feet, holding the plate on her lap.

“What kind are they?”

“I… I didn’t look,” she truthfully answered, as Ash picked hers up and took a bite.

“Mmmm. Four-cheese and chicken quesadilla.” She grinned at Emily, who let out a soft sigh of relief that Ash wasn’t talking about the dream, and bit into hers.

“You were mumbling pretty hard, there. You okay?”

Emily’s face burnt again. “Um, yeah. It was just a… a nightmare.” She smiled, entirely unconvincingly. “Oh crap. She knows, she knows.”

Ash took another bite, her face blissfully serene, as Rumisiel snored. “A nightmare like that one I had at Cape Cod?”

“Gah! No!” Emily blushed violently. As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew the jig was up. “You did?” Ash blushed herself, and she blinked. “Huh… so…”

Emily shook her head, vigorously. “I don’t want to talk about it, Ash.”

“Okay.”

It was the last answer Emily expected. Prying, probing, teasing, ‘giving her a hard time’, sure.

Maybe some fumbled attempt to try and make Emily feel better about it. But ‘okay’? It was so simple, so… dismissive. “Oh great. As if I don’t have enough to worry about, now I’m worried that she doesn’t care enough to pry into the sex life of my dreams.”

And she did worry. A cold, gnawing worry, for which images of the little sparkplug tramp-tagged tuner-girl with the absolutely no breasts whatsoever flashed unbidden into Emily’s mind. Why did that make her so angry? So jealous?

Fortunately, Rumisiel’s convenient, fevered groaning allowed her and Ash to focus on something else entirely.

48 Hours Later

“Now see, bro, this is why I didn’t hit the books or become a librarian. I suck at it.”

In truth, Vashiel did, too. Their family was never very strong on academic pursuits.

“We don’t have a lot of choice, brother.”

The pair were sitting at a large table in the Final Library: a vast, seemingly endless Library that contained the sum of all works, both Mortal and Celestial. If they could sift through it all to find the relevant books, and sift through those, they might find the information they’d need to restore Emily and Ash, and Harry and Kate, and anyone else whose lives had been messed up by the re-filing of the pair of Misfiles.

“Man, there’s all this stuff on souls, so much of it is pure B.S. And I can’t believe someone actually writes a webcomic, of all things, about Misfiles. They’re serious stuff.”

“As I understand it, it’s like the way the Men in Black operate. By letting small doses of fact out, but in a format that seems to be complete fiction, you help to discredit the idea.”

“The Men in Black are real? Dude, we have to go to New York now!”

“No, they’re not real. It’s the fictitious explanation of how they can operate. It’s really confusing. A fiction about a fact which pretends to be fiction.”

“Now I’m all confused.”

“Good. Stop worrying about the Men in Black and start reading up on Misfiled Souls.”

They had been at the effort tirelessly since they returned to Heaven, but even Vashiel had to be impressed by his brother’s effort. Perhaps seeing the effects of his screw-up firsthand—having them affect people he cared about—had changed him.

“I’d kill for a joint about now,” Rumisiel complained, as he set one book aside and reached for the next. “Or at least a nice, good lager.”

Maybe not that much. But then, he was still buckling down and getting it done. That was something.

“I’ve got it!” Rumisiel explained triumphantly. “On the disposition of Misfiled Souls. This is exactly what we need.” He flipped to the chapter. “Let’s see… let’s see… Okay, it says that in the event of an emergency discontinuity too strong for the system to resolve on its own, or in the event of a situation where the filing system produces a completely unacceptable outcome doing its own resolution, such that it leaves a soul or souls out of place and unable to move on, reality may be revised by… uniting the soul with its own file, which… will allow the soul’s own internal mechanism of what should and should not be to take over, rewriting the entire contents of the Misfiled folder.”

Rumisiel looked up. “Shit.”

“What’s wrong? That’s what we need, isn’t it?”

The younger angel sighed, laying his head on top of the book. “It says here that the number of times it’s been done is precisely zero. And it means we’ll have to sneak them into the Fifth Depot Repository.”

“Oh… oh… Drat.”

“Yeah. Drat is right. And if someone asks us what we’re doing and you blab…”

“We’ll just have to not be asked, then.”

“You’re seriously going to do it?”

Rumisiel peered into Vashiel’s eyes, and his brother nodded. “I absolutely am going to do it. I swore and oath to a very lonely, very hurt young girl who deserves to live the life we saw her live.”

Rumisiel held out his hand. Vashiel clasped it, and they squeezed. “Then, let’s go collect them.” They exited the library, taking a long, slow walk towards their favorite send-off point: a promontory mountain of cloud beside the depot, a place they had long enjoyed watching from. Both of them stared back, the unspoken agreement being to enjoy what may well be their last peaceable visit to their home. They then fluttered their wings out, and the pair dove from the cloudy mountainside, screaming towards Earth below.

They had no trouble finding the (currently shrouded in nighttime) North American continent, or finding the United States of America within it. It was a simple arc towards the distinctive shape of the state of Massachusetts on the coast, and from that height they could angle in, refining their flight to the county level, then to the city of Tempest, then to the poorer section, then to the graveyard, and from that height they could see Emily’s ghost standing over her tombstone, staring up at the sky.

They landed at the kind of speed only an angel or a space capsule could land at—although, unlike a spaceship, they did not hurtle through the atmosphere in a blazing fire, like a trebuchet-launched gasoline soaked cat.

Rumisiel stood up first, then Vashiel. “We have it, Emily.”

“What must be done?”

“Yeah, see, that’s the rub.”

“We have to sneak you and Ash into the filing depository, then unite the two of you with your Files.

That will make the world return to the way you hold it to be truest.”

“Wait… won’t that make Ash a man?”

“It might. We don’t know. But…”

“It’s our only shot, Emily,” Rumisiel finished.

The blue-haired specter nodded. “Wait here. I’ll collect her.” She did her light-speed-zoom trick again, and returned with Ash’s spectral form hanging limply in her arms. It took all of a minute, perhaps.

“I’m ready.” The ghost of Emily trembled. “I feel… excitement?” She smiled. “At least… it’ll be over, one way or another.”

“We’re gonna put you back right, Emily. Let’s go,” said Rumisiel.

The brothers stood on either side of her, and placed their hands on her shoulder. Then they snapped their fingers.

“Wow… this?”

“Yeah. Not what you were expecting is it?”

Emily’s ghost shook her head. She was solid again, she could see that much. And her and Ash’s outfits had returned to them. They still looked out of place, with Ash still unconscious, and the fact that their clothes were very different from the clothes the angels were wearing. Still, it was better than being naked and, fortunately, none of the angels walking or flying around paid them much attention.

It was eerie. Frankly, Rumisiel half-expected to be ambushed by his father, his bosses, Cassiel, anyone else who’d ever taken umbrage with his lackadaisical attitude, and the Lord Almighty from the moment they returned. But they weren’t. They actually made good time. Until he walked around a corner, into the very last Angel he wanted to see. Or hear. Or collide with at a brisk walk.

“Watch where you’re going, you big… Rumisiel!” The annoyance in Cassiel’s voice as she stood up from the pavement turned to true venom as she spied who had collided with her. “Humph! Shouldn’t you be heading to the Depot? You’re already late. Ho? What’s this?” She looked over at Ash and Emily, who gulped. “Brought your dyke girlfriend and her girlfriend back for a visit? Naughty, you know that’s against the Rules. Wait…”

The look of outrage on Emily’s face could probably only be matched by the look of horror on Rumisiel and Vashiel’s. “Why is she unconscious? What are you doing?”

“Ah, fuck me,” Rumisiel thought as Vashiel opened his mouth, instinctively.

“She is unconscious because her soul is lost. We are taking her to the Depot to perform an emergency re-filing as outlined in the procedures manual for dealing with Misfiles.”

“Damn it, bro!” The looks on Cassiel’s face swept through a number of shades of ‘mystified’ and ‘confused’ to ‘terrifying glee’. Rumisiel knocked her down, shouting, “Run for it!”

Though the trio (and unconscious cargo) pelted out of the intersection, Cassiel’s laugh haunted them from behind. After all, Cassiel was an expert at translocating herself. The fast strides that could only be born by the true urgency of panic ate up the pavement. Still, it was at least a block, and the blocks were long in the Eternal City.

When they arrived, Cassiel was standing outside with Rumisiel’s bosses Terrael and Fillaniel, a pair of thoroughly bureaucratic types. One looked middle-aged and paunchy, the other was thin as a reed and nerdy, even wearing a pair of nerd-glasses. All three were bearing crossed arms, and Cassiel’s look of pure, malicious glee would probably have made even the officious bureaucrats question her motives in informing them, had they seen it.

“Rumisiel!” Terrael began, “What the HELL are you doing?!”

“Standing up for myself and doing what a good Angel should do, boss.”

The suggestion that he was doing what he should be doing almost made a vein pop from the paunchy bureaucrat’s forehead. “Cassiel tells me you Misfiled a couple of souls, and now you have the gall to invoke the emergency reintegration clause?!”

“That is exactly what we are doing. We are fulfilling an oath we took to repair a pair of lives our intervention inadvertently shattered.”

The nerd-glasses wearing boss looked Vashiel up and down. “You are Vashiel, son of Gabriel, are you not?”

“I am Vashiel, of the Second Order of Holy Swords, Divine Punishment Division. We have stated our intent quite clearly. Will you not permit us to complete our work?”

“What? No! The emergency reintegration clause has never been invoked! It is unnecessary, completely so! The filing system is perfection incarnate!”

The last person Rumisiel expected to reply to that replied. “No. It isn’t. It completely tore our lives apart when Rumisiel Misfiled us. But that was nothing compared to the damage it did when your ‘perfect’ system was corrected by putting us back where we were.” All five Angels stared at Emily. “The Misfile brought us nothing but an unending stream of complications. But the times after Rumisiel upset our lives were also the happiest, fullest times we ever lived through. Then he returned, and placed our files back where they belonged. I wound up dead, trapped over a grave that did not belong to me. My friend here wound up a crippled lonely drunk with no life left and no friends. One of our other friends is also alone, and another is imprisoned. Your system’s idea of ‘perfection’ has ruined at least four lives.”

“Wow… Emily pulled that off like a total badass. Does she have no fear?”

Impressive as her speech was, Terrael and Fillaniel had no initial comment. Cassiel, on the other hand, snorted dismissively. “I don’t know what your big problem is. You never had it so good.”

Emily bared her teeth in a snarl at Cassiel, while Rumisiel addressed his boss again. “She’s had a chance to see it both ways, boss. Given the choice, she’d prefer to be Misfiled. And Ash is completely miserable with the life she has a boy. It’s not even worth living.”

“As a boy?!” Cassiel goggled, but Terrael shook his head.

“It’s too dangerous, Rumisiel. And this whole mess is of your doing anyway.”

Rumisiel’s anger flared, his wings flashing out from his back. “Yes! Yes, it is! But that doesn’t mean Ash and Emily and Kate and Harry and God knows who else should be forced to suffer because you are too proud to let us correct a mistake! Banish me if you want, but they shouldn’t have to suffer for it!”

The paunchy bureaucrat shook his head. “I can’t do that. I won’t be seen as the manager who let a couple of mortals Misfile themselves, or let a laze like you march on in here and screw everything up with your disgusting habits.”

“Then do it for them.” Vashiel stared into Terrael’s eyes. “Do it for Ash and Emily, and Kate and Harry, and God-knows who else, that’s had their life torn apart by this. Putting these two back, as they should be, will correct their lives.”

“They are as they should be, Vashiel.” Cassiel stuck her tongue out. “The little lesbian turned out to be a crippled boy, and the snotty bitch got dead. Sounds like you don’t like that, and want it changed.”

“You’re right, Cassiel. We don’t like it. And I fully intend to change that. Step. Aside.” Rumisiel clenched his fist. “I took an oath to return her world to the way it should be. To the way they were happy. I will see it through!”

Then Vashiel’s wings unfurled, too. “As did I. I must demand that you step aside. I do not wish to employ force to gain entry to this filing depot.” He waited a beat, and let his sword coalesce out of thin air. “But I will if I am left with no choice. My oath as an instrument of Heaven’s Vengeance demands no less of me.”

“Good God, he’s whacked! Run!” Terrael shouted. The two bureaucrats took wing and bolted for the sky; Cassiel simply translocated away.

As the barring Angels sped away, Rumisiel, Vashiel, and Emily made a beeline into the depository. The clerk on the desk was quite, quite startled to see the lot of them burst in, especially at the sight of Vashiel’s sword. “Which way, brother?”

“This way.” Rumisiel ran to the door, and tried it. “Why won’t it open?”

The desk clerk squeaked, “Terrael says you’re not allowed in, Rumisiel!”

“Yeah, well… let’s just add breaking and entering to the list of reasons we’re getting banished. On three, bro. Three!”

The door was strong. Pretty much everything in Heaven was. Even so, it wasn’t actually designed to hold in the face of an ordinary Angel who was, for some strange reason, hell-bent on forcing his way in. Rumisiel’s half of the door snapped open under the impact of his boot. Vashiel’s simply flew off the hinge. The desk clerk squealed and dove under the desk.

“Have both of my sons lost their minds?!”

“Gulp! Uh-oh. Dad.” Rumisiel turned around, as did Vashiel and Emily—bonking Ash’s head on the door frame in the process, which made the unconscious soul stir.

“Dad!” Rumisiel gulped. “This isn’t… okay, it’s probably exactly what it looks like, but I assure you, we have a good reason!”

Their father, the Archangel Gabriel, was in full form in the lobby, having crashed through the glass dome (and showered the—by now—witless clerk with glass), holding his sword. “I should very much like to hear it! Imagine my surprise when Cassiel translocated to me, telling me that my sons were brandishing swords and kicking open the doors to the Depot.”

“Cassiel… Dad, she’s Bad News, you know that!”

“Aye, but it’s even worse when I come and find she is telling the truth! What is going on? Explain yourselves! What are these mortal souls doing here?”

Vashiel cut Rumisiel off. “This is Emily. The one she’s holding is Ash. Rumisiel made a colossal mistake and Misfiled them four years ago, and we spent most of the time we were away living with them trying to correct that mistake. When Rumisiel returned, he corrected the original Misfile, but it tore their lives apart. Emily wound up dead, a stranded soul unable to find anywhere to go, and Ash became a crippled boy. We returned and found their world shattered. And then we swore to restore them.”

“Restore them? It sounds as if they were restored. Are you saying they would choose a Misfiled life instead?”

“Yes. I would, in a heartbeat. And I know that Ash would, except I haven’t been able to talk to her. This is the only incarnation of her I could find, and she’s trapped between lives. But this is how she sees herself. She would want this.”

“I… listen, sons, there is no need for this violence! We can hold an inquiry, go through the proper channels…”

“I cannot permit that, Father. That would bring too great a risk of a rejection, and even now Cassiel is without a doubt spinning her web of half-truths and arraying support against us. This must happen and now. I beg you, do not stop us. This will take mere minutes.”

“I cannot simply step aside, Vashiel. You know that.” Father’s gaze met son’s.

“I know, Father, I know. Rumisiel, Emily—Run!” Vashiel made the first move, his sword igniting in a blaze, leaping towards his own father with a look of tragic determination on his face.

The swords collided behind the pair of runners like a bomb going off, while Rumisiel and Emily dashed into the depot. They burst into Rumisiel’s room, and he started yanking open drawers, starting with the ‘Boys’ cabinet. “Let’s see… Abbernathy, Balen, Claude…” The clashes from behind them came more and more frequently, as did the voices, the argument, the begging for both sides to stand down. “Ugene, Upton! Upton, Edward—one too far—Upton, Ash!”

He yanked the file out as Ash groaned, the proximity to the file waking her.

“Em… Rumi? Where?”

“No time, Ash.” Emily silenced her with a touch of lips, as Rumisiel pushed the file into Ash’s hands. Ash let out a gasp, then her body became translucent, then transparent, before the file fell to the floor, alone, but glowing a bright orange. Emily yanked open the girl’s cabinet. “Do they have to be in order?”

“No, just shove her back in there and it’ll file her in order.” Emily dropped Ash’s file in, as Rumisiel filtered through the McArthurs. “Emily McArthur. There’s like, a dozen. Which one?”

“No time,” Emily muttered, simply shoving her hand into the cabinet, on top of the many files. A particular one began to glow as she lurched forward, reality itself streaming before her eyes. She lasted just long enough to see Vashiel’s form, bloody and somewhat battered, but by no means dead, flung through the door backwards, landing on the table.

Rumisiel looked at the door…

Upton Residence, 6:02 AM, September 2004

Rumisiel awoke with a heavy gasp, looking around. “Where am I? What… when am I?” No immediate answers were forthcoming. The compress fell into his lap, and he looked down, then at the DVD player. “Ash’s house,” he thought, and he slowly stood up. “It was… a dream?” He blinked, looking around, terrified heartbeat calming down, and he spied Ash and Emily asleep in the chairs next to the couch. He smiled.

“It was a dream. All just a nightmare.” With a smile, he held his hand out, levitating the pair, very careful not to disturb them, and took them to Ash’s room. He carefully put the sleeping girls to bed, using his levitation to strip them (without looking or even perving out) to their underwear, and then pulled the covers up.

Grinning like a loon he ran outside, looking around at the dawn light filtering through the gray sky. With a laugh, he sprouted wings and took flight, soaring above the landscape to the outskirts of town. He landed in the graveyard in the poorer section, but was quite pleased to see that the plot he had dreamt he had vomited next to was quite, quite empty.

His next leap of wing took him to the garage on the outskirts of the other side of town, specifically to the house nearest it. He checked the mailbox. It said Walsh, so he knew he was in the right place. The very distinctive black Jaguar parked in the driveway filled his heart with glee. Flitting around to the back and flapping up into the air next to the house, he peered in. Tucked under the covers was the bearded Welshman, curled up next to the long, blond-haired racer, her arm up over the covers, that giant ring glittering in the pale dawn’s light.

Rumi fell back to the ground. Everything… was okay. Ash was sober, healthy, vital, and female (well, three out of four ain’t bad). Emily was alive. Kate was un-imprisoned, and Harry was quite happily hitched (or engaged to be hitched).

With a shout of “Ya-hoooooo!” Rumisiel invisibly winged to the sky, more active than he’d felt in months, soaring above the town.

Upton Residence, 6:06 AM, September 2004

Emily had awakened with Rumisiel’s gasp, but had kept her head quiet. When she felt the levitation, she had remained perfectly still, though inwardly she had smiled. It had taken some nerve to not raise an objection when Rumisiel had stripped her clothes (very, very carefully). When he was gone, she smiled openly and opened her eyes.

Ash was quite asleep. She grinned softly to herself—it was the perfect crime. When Ash woke up, she could say Rumisiel put them this way. Until then, she slid her leg over Ash’s legs, linked the fingers of her hand with Ash’s, and laid her head on her orange-haired friend’s shoulder.

It was petty. She kept on even saying it wasn’t true, telling herself she didn’t care. But until the rest of the world caught up, she could indulge her silly, tormented emotions. “My Ash,” she thought, all thoughts of Missi banished from her head, as she closed her eyes, sighed softly, and drifted back towards sleep.

2. A Midwinter Night’s Dream

She was warm. And comfortable. Warm and comfortable and content. She wasn’t entirely sure where she was, but it was nice. Her eyes opened—oh, of course. The Upton house. Emily smiled softly, trying to remember details. They were hazy, but where she was was clear—she was lying on the couch (the couch that Rumisiel usually slept on, but he was nowhere in sight).

Mmm. Is that a movie?

Yes indeed; it was that ancient, stop motion animated movie about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, playing on the TV, framed by the snow gently falling outside, lit by the light from the street, in the dark of night. She reached out—ahh; there were a lot of blankets curled up tightly around her, and something very, very soft and comfortable under her. A pillow? Emily’s hand crept down. With a smile she realized she was lying on Ash, slightly lower on the couch so that her head rested between Ash’s undeniably impressive breasts, with her back on Ash’s stomach. It was warm.

With a soft, “Mmmmm,” she rolled her shoulders—ah, yes; Ash’s arms were around them, holding her warmly. She looked up—Ash was watching the movie, with half-attention paid to her. Emily clasped her orange-haired tuner’s hands, tenderly squeezing them. She was squeezed back in return, and Emily leaned up, twisting. Ash leaned down—lips met.

My Ash. Not yours, tramp. My Ash…

“Emily! Emily!”

It wasn’t Ash’s voice; Emily realized her mother was in the doorway, looking quite, quite angry. A blush, hotter than the sun, ran over Emily’s face.

“Wake up!”

McArthur Residence, December 2004, 6:40 AM

With a start, Emily shot upright. She wasn’t in the Upton house; she was in her own bed, decidedly alone, though she had somehow worked herself into more or less the same position on her bed with her back on a pillow. Pale sunlight was filtering in from the window, but just barely. It was dawn.

“Emily, it’s nearly seven! What’s gotten into you?”

Emily’s face was red-hot, looking around. She took her alarm clock from the stand—she had set it. “I heard your alarm go off, but you didn’t get up.”

“Oh, damn… I had a nightmare, mom.” Slipping out of bed, she said, “I need to get ready.”

Her mother stood with her arms crossed. “Yes, you do. The snow out there is getting bad, and you drive that rear-wheel slide-machine.”

Emily groaned—her mother loved to point out that rear wheel drive was a nightmare in the snow.

“I’ll be fine, mom. Ash is picking me up—the Monster XR has all-time four-wheel drive.”

Her mother only snorted softly, and shook her head. “Hurry up. You can’t be late you know. Tardy students do poorly and end up in the slum.”

“I know, I know!”

It might well have been one of her faster performances in getting ready for school, except for the fact that her brain wasn’t even on the tasks at hand. She was burning up about that dream. In mid-shower, neither eyes nor mind were on the task of making it a world record for fast showering.

I must be going crazy. These dreams are getting more and more frequent. And they’ve stopped being sex dreams so much as romance dreams. I’m messed-up in the head.

Lost in reverie, Emily berated herself mentally. She was a heterosexual female—right? Yes! Of course she was, she told herself. Hadn’t she lost her virginity at the age of fifteen (And she’d hated it; and was it fifteen, or was it thirteen now? Ugh—best not think about that.)? She had gone dating before (once, with a boy who was trying to sort out his own sexuality, and the kiss had felt hollow—nothing). Hadn’t she spent her adolescence fantasizing and lusting over a male teen-model (who turned out to be gay)?

“Shut up!” Emily silenced that nagging, nay-saying part of her mind with a great deal of finality by hurling the bar of soap at the forward wall of the shower. Then she blushed hotly, realizing just how tossed-for-a-loop she was that she felt the need to lash out.

Ugh… damn it Ash. Why can’t I get you out of my head? You’re my best friend, not my lover!

Emily sighed bent over to pick up the two broken halves of the soap, and put the bar’s pieces back in the holder. Then her mother’s shouting voice interrupted her again. “Emily! It’s seven twenty! What are you doing?”

She gulped. 7:20—she’d been in the shower a full forty minutes. She turned around and around, rinsed off, and darted out of the shower. This time she probably did set a world record for fastest dry-off, while her mother nagged her about her poor sleeping habits. Ten minutes later, her mother told her through the bedroom door that she was leaving, and that if Emily were late for school, she wouldn’t hear the end of it.

Just what I need in my life—another guilt trip. Thanks, mom.

With teeth set, Emily accepted that her hair would just have to be a bit damp, as she collected her things and ran downstairs, taking her dryer, so that she could continue blow-drying her hair until Ash arrived.

Upton Residence, 8:04 AM

“Yeah! Who’s the master? Who’s the master? Woot!” Rumisiel leapt from the couch, spiking the controller and doing a happy-dance jig around the couch, while Ash glared at him with the fury of a thousand Hells. Rumi had not only just beaten her at NFS: Underground 2; he demolished her so hard at the start that she came in fifth, a full fifteen seconds after his first-place victory.

“You cheated!”

It was only natural—the idea of Rumisiel beating Ash at any kind of racing? That was almost a blasphemy in and of itself, but Rumisiel shook his head. “Did not. Nyaaaaah! You just got owned.” Ash contemplated heaving a heavy glass coaster (actually an ashtray, but as nobody in the house smoked it had been bought as a coaster) at Rumisiel’s head. “Bullshit! You took me out at the start! Okay, maybe that’s possible, but there’s no way in hell you could’ve placed first!”

The angel stuck his tongue out. “Did so. I’m just good, Ash.”

Raising a fist and growling softly, Ash considered clouting the cheating stoner, but the phone rang. Reaching over, Ash picked it up. “Hello?” She sank back into the couch, as her father’s voice came over the other end.

“Ash? My flight’s been grounded. Weather reports are calling for the storm to get worse. You’ll be okay, right?”

“Yeah, I will be. The snow’s getting worse, but we’re well-stocked, dad.”

“Good. And remember, if the heat goes out, alcohol will not make you warmer, it’ll make you lose heat faster.”

“Right. Wish me luck convincing Rumisiel, but I’ll remember, dad.”

“Good luck, and remind him he’s not allowed in my liquor cabinet in any event. Love you, Ash.”

“Uh, yeah… Goodbye, Dad.”

It was still weird, Ash thought, that her father was a lot more loving towards her than he was when she was a boy. Ash was still somewhat uncomfortable with that, but she let it slide, and picked up the controller Rumisiel had thrown at the ground, putting it back. Rumi was still dancing his victory jig behind her.

The phone rang again. “Who now?” she wondered aloud, as she picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“Where the hell are you?” Emily’s voice was quite angry—perhaps a bit manic. “You were supposed to be here like, fifteen minutes ago!”

“Uhhh, Em? Have you looked out the window? It’s murder out there. They’ve got to have canceled school. I haven’t seen any buses, and anyway, Rumi said it was canceled.”

“Uh, I said I wished it was canceled. I didn’t check.”

Ash blanched. “Uh…” She gulped. “I’ll be right there!” Dropping the phone back on the receiver, Ash leapt from the couch at a dead heat, grabbing Rumisiel with one hand and her backpack with the other, making a beeline for the garage. She hit the garage door opener and yanked open her car door, fumbling with the keys as she slid into the racing drivers-side seat. “Get in the back, Rumisiel! She’ll need to jump straight in.”

Rumisiel had barely gotten in and closed the door before Ash had put the Monster in gear and backed it out of the garage, turning around in the driveway and putting the car in forward gear. The snow was coming down thick and crazy, and the ground was icy—a traction nightmare.

“I can’t believe they didn’t cancel today!” Ash growled, Rumisiel letting out a “Whoa!” as she performed the kind of crazy move that could only be done on ice pack by throwing the car into gear, cutting the wheel hard, and gunning the engine. Rear wheels gripped the drive, front wheels slipped, and the car spun hard, aligning with the road. Ash pressed the remote garage door closer and stepped on the gas.

McArthur Residence, 8:14 AM

Ash was in a hurry. Emily could tell when Ash was pushing the Monster for performance, and the sounds coming from the engine were definitely those of performance, not careful second-gear driving. That meant that Ash was both scared and determined. Which was why Emily didn’t walk to the curb, because she had a good idea exactly what Ash was going to do.

Right about… now!

Emily had the timing right in her head, as she saw Ash turn hard and gun the engine. The Monster spun out, its wheels transitioning from the frozen blacktop to the merely snow-covered concrete of Emily’s driveway, getting grip, and coming to a stop a full 440 degrees from the original direction of travel. Emily was already dashing across the snow with her backpack in her arms. Ash leaned over, shoving open the passenger-side door, as Emily leapt in, closing the door behind her.

“Go, go, go!” the tardiness-panicked Emily shouted, and her daredevil tuner best-friend responded—as did the monstrous V8 engine under the hood. Rumisiel, in the back, was making sounds indicative of being queasy, as Emily buckled up, and the car launched off the pad, skidding back to the ice-phalt and putting its all-time four-wheel-drive to work, digging in where lesser vehicles would have spun out or failed to go at all.

This is so cool.

Emily didn’t really want to think about it. She was terrified of being late, after all. Even so, it was exciting; her faith in Ash’s driving skill was nigh-absolute. She felt no fear, even though she saw Ash shift up into fourth gear, even on the ice-roads, and there was no traffic in sight. Ash didn’t speed, but she didn’t drive a mile under the limit, either. It was actually kind of exciting. They were definitely in trouble, but Ash had rode to her rescue, astride a growling V8-powered steed… Emily looked to the window, blushing softly as she squashed that train of thought.

“You know we’re dead, right? We’re going to be at least a half-hour late.”

“We’re not dead, we’ll just be slightly living-impaired. We should be there in time to run into our first period classes and get our homework.”

Emily looked back to the road, putting her arm out to rest it on the dash—ahhh, the heat from the heater was blowing up her sleeve—and her leg out, as far forward as it could go to brace it on the contour of the passenger foot-space. She had to admit, this really was exciting as the Monster barreled through the streets, straining for grip on the ice but making it. She smiled—so, she’d be late. She could always plead the snow as the reason, after all. A single late arrival wasn’t going to torpedo Harvard any more than a single B- test was going to.

Approaching Tempest High, 8:38 AM

“Okay, I’ll let you two out on the curb and park down the next street. Take down the homework,

Rumi. Got it?” Ash gunned the gas as the light turned green, the Monster XR spinning wheels before it got grip. Any car was going to spin in this weather, unless they were crawling along at half a mile per hour, but Ash needed more speed than that. Fortunately, the Monster XR was more than up to the task. They were still quite a ways away, but they could make it.

Rumisiel broke the silence, nervously asking, “Hey, isn’t that Kate’s car?”

Ash turned her head to look—a jet-black Jaguar XKR was roaring down the opposite side of the road. “It can’t be. What’s she doing in town?” A bit of a cold fear gripped Ash’s guts—there was no way anyone would want to race in this weather, not even the Kamikaze! Then Ash breathed a sigh of relief when she saw who was driving. The windows were down (crazy fools), and Kate was in the passenger seat, her head out the window (causing her long hair to flow behind the car in the wind), while Harry barreled the powerful car down the road. Emily waved next to her and Ash held up a hand, as did Harry. Then the snowball splattered over the hood.

“Bitch!” Ash laughed, breaking the tension as Kate waved at her while they sped past one another. Emily joined in with a giggle, and Rumisiel let out a relieved sigh.

“Ooh, we’re gonna have to get them back for that, Ash.”

“We will. After school?”

Emily giggled softly. “Yeah.”

“He’s fixing it for free if she dented the hood.”

“Seems only fair. That, or we get to take a hammer and bang a dent into her Jag.”

Ash couldn’t help it—the thought of Emily banging a dent into the hood of Kate’s expensive sports car was funny. She let out a giggle, and didn’t even notice until a second afterwards, whereupon she tried to turn it into a cough.

“Okay. Aaaanyway, there’s the school.” Ash guided the Monster XR up the school’s driveway. “Something’s… wrong?” There was nobody, and no lights in the classroom windows. The school’s asphalt drive was ice, so Ash had to carefully slow the car down.

“Ash, wait here. I think I see a sign in the door.” Once the car slid to a stop, Emily got out and carefully walked to the door.

Snow and wind blowing in, Rumisiel laughed. “I think we’re home free, Ash. Looks like it’s closed.”

Ash grinned. She’d love nothing more than to spend the day driving with Emily—and she owed Kate a snowball to the hood, anyway. Her smile widened when Emily walked back to the car, and settled into the passenger side with a huff and a relieved smile. “It is closed.”

“See? I was right.”

“You also didn’t check!” Ash turned back to glare at him. “You just mumbled something about school being canceled, and let me believe it was!”

“H-Hey, look. It’s almost a certified blizzard out here. It was almost a guarantee they were gonna cancel, so why did we hurry?”

Ash rolled her eyes, and settled back into the seat, while Emily let out a sigh of relief. “Oh well. At least now we have the day, right?”

“Yeah, I suppose. We were just going to play Need for Speed Underground, but he’s such a sore loser he’s gotta cheat.”

Rumisiel’s protests of not-cheatitude went unheard, as the car rolled (much more safely) back towards the residential area, and Emily wracked her brain.

Think, Emily. How can you keep her to yourself today? Ugh, why do I even care? But I do.

“Ash, I want to drive the Monster.”

It came out suddenly, genuinely, and Ash looked at her in surprise. “Wha? You want to drive… this one? On this ice?”

“Yeah! Teach me how. I don’t have a four-wheel-drive, but you do, and I’d like to try it. And I want to learn to drive on ice…”

Ash blinked, and looked down at the dash in contemplation.

Oh no—was that the wrong thing to ask her? Will she get mad I want to drive the Monster?

“Yeah… Yeah! Let’s just drop Rumisiel off at home, first.”

“Drop me off?” Rumisiel questioned, but Ash looked back with a quick and fierce glare that convinced him to keep his trap shut. Then he brightened—with Ash gone, he could drive with the whole TV to himself, and get better. Then he could really whoop her again. “Okay.”

Outside The Upton Residence, 9:09 AM

Emily glanced at her watch, twice. “Nine-ten AM. In heavy ice and snow, you got to my home, to the school, and back to your home, in an hour. Not bad, Ash. Not bad at all.” She got out, pulling the seat forward so Rumisiel could clamber out. He did, and stretched, walking up to the door.

Ash shouted at him, “No liquor, and absolutely nothing else!”

The scruffy-chinned Angel shook his head, turning around. “I already said I won’t, okay? Just go on, have fun.” The door popped open as he approached, and closed when he walked back inside, leaving Emily climbing back into the car and tossing her backpack in the back.

“Okay, where do we start?” she asked with a smile.

“Might as well start here, I guess. Hey, I’ve got a question.” She pointed at Emily’s wrist. “You’ve been wearing that digital for a couple of months now. Like, a little after that time Rumisiel came down sick. Why?”

Blink. A second blink. “Because I want to be able to tell the time?”

“Yeah, but it’s a digital. And you’ve set it for twenty-four hour. Girls don’t usually wear digitals, or use military time. And I’ve noticed that you have a weird habit of looking at it for a second, looking away for a bit, and looking back at it again. What’s up with that? It’s weird.”

May as well. She doesn’t know anyway.

“Actually, I’ve started not even taking it off. See, I’ve been having a lot of lucid dreams recently, and especially false awakenings. But because I always wear it, it’s kind of, you know, ‘part of’ me, so I’m wearing it when I wake up in a dream. It’s how I know I’m dreaming—the dreaming brain can’t handle numbers at all, let alone consistent numbers. So if you look at it, remember what time it says, and look back and it says something ridiculous—like jumping from, say, oh-seven-fifty-nine to twenty-two hundred, you know you’re in a dream. You also definitely know you’re dreaming if you see a symbol that’s not even a number—I saw an ampersand and three scientific symbols once.”

“Oh really? That’s cool.”

“Yeah. Your dreaming brain is much better at spatial stuff, so it doesn’t work with an analog clock or watch, because the position of the arms will be consistent.”

The pair got out and made a Chinese fire drill, with Emily strapping into the unfamiliar racing seat, and Ash settling in the equally unfamiliar passenger seat. “Okay, Em. Take it careful; don’t go above second gear. And remember, you’re driving a four-wheel-drive car, so it’s going to feel different.”

Emily put the car in reverse gear, slowly backing it out of the drive. She turned, and the car responded much quicker than she anticipated, cornering much more tightly. The blue-haired girl gave a grin to Ash. “Oh, this could be fun!”

“Isn’t it just? Okay, take it slow. Let’s just cruise for awhile.”

Emily replied with a smile as she shifted the Monster into first, and carefully pushed the accelerator, guiding the pair and car on a tour of Tempest’s suburbia.

Tempest, 11:14 AM

“Why did you want to do this, again?” Ash asked, as Emily and she sat in the parking lot of a burger joint, watching an intersection. The snowplows and sand trucks were out in force, and traffic was starting to return to some semblance of normal. The radio station was playing some oldies song about ‘Young hearts be free tonight’.

“I dunno, it just seemed like fun. And is it so wrong to want to spend time with your best friend?” She grinned, glancing twice at her watch. “It’s eleven fifteen. Hungry?”

“Not yet. You picked this up easily enough. It’ll be a lot harder in your car, though.”

“I know—rear wheel drive slips. My mother has only mentioned it an average of twice a day since winter started.” She rolled her eyes melodramatically, and Ash smiled. The radio announcer dramatically said something about “if the cops can’t catch you” in reference to the suggestive name of the station, and Emily snickered. “Hey Ash, have you ever run from the cops?”

“No way. I don’t want to lose my cars! Or my license.” She shook her head. “It’s all but impossible these days. Even if you outrun or dodge the cop on your tail, he’s got a radio, and he can put out an all-points, or just flag your car. Then next time they see you…” She drew a flat hand across her throat, and Emily giggled.

“Okay, okay. Shall we go?”

“Where?”

“I dunno. Let’s… follow them.” She pointed—a familiar black Jaguar had pulled up to the light, which had just turned red, and Ash grinned.

“Right. Lemme grab a handful of snow.”

Emily started the engine while Ash opened the passenger door, leaned out, and snagged a good handful of snow from the ledge, rolling it into a ball with her gloves. She shut the door just as Emily was pulling out of the parking spot, and they pulled onto the road; with the sand down, the Monster XR’s handling increased dramatically, as did its pick-up. Still not something to race in, but you could show some guts in it without being a white-knuckle stone-cold racer like Ash or Kate.

The light was turning green when Emily pulled into the traffic, and Ash rolled her window down. “Okay, let—Harry’s driving, I can see a man in the driver’s seat. Let them get ahead a bit, then go to the right hand lane and gun it. I’m gonna splatter this straight across the hood.”

“Right. I can do that, so long as we don’t spin.”

“On this much sand? You’d have to floor it to spin it. Just don’t floor it.”

With a gleeful grin, Emily pulled her hair back from her face and pressed the accelerator as she shifted up. The engine roared and the car bucked forward as she changed lanes, seemingly to pass. Then Ash leaned out as they pulled alongside. She let fly as Emily glanced to the side. The snowball gracefully splattered on the hood, and Emily grinned, as a very startled Kate turned her head to look, and laughed as the Monster XR accelerated on past. She turned to Harry and said something Emily couldn’t hear—and the Jaguar’s engine roared.

“They want to play. Ash?”

“Go for it, but only if you think you can do it safely. Don’t speed, and don’t get too close if we’re in the same lane.”

It was fun, simply put, chasing Kate’s Jag, though in a decidedly different kind of race. Harry seemed to know what he was doing, as he expertly piloted the Jaguar through the town of Tempest into parking lots and down side streets.

“Rallying… that’s what we’re doing.” Ash grinned as she figured it out. “We’re hitting landmarks and not exceeding the speed limit. Ice-road rallying!” She laughed, and Emily grinned, as the two cars pulled into the parking lot of the 24-hour diner. Instead of driving a full loop and pulling out again, the Jaguar parked. “Let’s have a chat.”

“You’re not going to throw more snowballs, are you?” Emily giggled as she slid the Monster XR in neatly beside the Jaguar.

“No promises, but I won’t throw the first one.”

Harry and Ash were the first ones out of the car, followed by Kate, and lastly Emily.

“’Ello, Ash! ’Ow are you two, then?” Harry, loud and boisterous, spoke first, letting Ash laugh. “Good, Harry. Better than in a long time!” Kate leaned on the side of her car as Emily closed her driver’s side door, watching the exchange between Harry and Ash.

“Good to ’ere! So, did they close th’ prisons and leh’ ye beasties out early, or are yeh skivin’ off?”

Ash chuckled, walking around the front of the XR and shaking her head. “She’d never let me skip.”

She nodded at Emily and grinned—then squeaked as Kate launched at her, wrapping Ash in a bear hug. “Hello, little sister! Letting your friend drive your good car?” Kate laughed, and Ash grinned back, shaking her head and (surprisingly, to Emily) returning the hug.

“Yeah. She asked me to teach her to drive on ice.”

“An’ she goh’ into it fas’ enough to catch Kate’s cat? Bloody quick learnin’, Emily. Good run.” That made Emily beam. “What are you two doing out, though? In weather like this, I’d think you’d be at the garage waiting to do business?”

“I’ve love teh’ be at me shop, beh’ those morons wi’ the plows plowed me bloody shop in las’ night. Couldnae’ even geh me own car out—s’why we’re toolin’ around in the Jag.”

“He’s been saying that it’s revenge from that inferior life-form at Auto ModerZ for being such a better mechanic.”

“Ahhh, noh, thas’ not fair, Kate. Callin’ ’im an inferior life-form is an insult to life-forms.”

“Colin, right? The slime-ball that hits on anything with breasts?” Ash asked.

Kate rolled her eyes. “God, yes. That’s the one. I can’t enter Auto ModerZ anymore.”

“Why’s that, Kate?”

“I punched him the last time he tried to hit on me.”

“I thought about doing that. He’s a slime.”

“I’m sure we could kill an hour calling Colin names, and then refuting that name-calling by saying that it’s an insult to the insult to lump him with them, but why did we stop?” Emily asked Harry. “Ah, thas’ easy. It’s breakfas’ time.”

Emily looked over at Ash, who had finally extricated herself from Kate’s hug. “Now are you hungry?”

“Sure.”

Diner, 11:37 AM

The duo of duos walked into the 24-hour Diner, Harry leading. The waitress spotted them, asking, “All together?”

Ash spoke up first. “Yep! Table for four.”

Emily raised an eyebrow.

Wow. She’s in a really good mood today. I’ve never seen her this… well, girly. Or maybe just plain happy?

“All righ’, then. Table for four, luv,” Harry said.

The radio station on seemed to be the same as the one that Ash had spun the dial to, as the singer was crooning about being as free as a bird, while the waitress led them to their table and put menus in front of them. “Coffee? Should I bring a pot?” Harry nodded, and she skipped out, leaving Emily and Ash next to one another in a booth table, facing Harry and Kate, respectively.

“So, yeh’ jus’ drivin’ around?”

“Yeah. She really gets the ice-driving stuff fast. And you used to be scared of that little 240SX of yours.”

“Well, someone taught me well.”

The pot of coffee came then, with four mugs and a stack of creamers. Emily didn’t pour any, though Ash, Harry, and Kate all filled their mugs.

“So, what are you two doing out?” Emily asked.

“Well, with no way to open the shop, short of hiring a bulldozer, I said we ought to get out of the house and just do something. Then he suggested he drive.”

“Aye, an’ why nah? She usually drives, afteh all.”

Ash chuckled softly. “Yeah. And what was up with that snowball you threw at my car?”

“Well, I scooped a hunk off the side of a semi-truck that was pulled up beside us at the light, and I figured we’d cruise around until it melted or I found someone who wouldn’t be too mad.”

Ash laughed, and stuck her tongue out. “Not mad, but if you left a dent, you’re fixing it.”

“Only if you fix the dent you may have left in my car.” Ash smirked, and crossed her arms, to which Kate chuckled, “Uh-huh. Thought so, little sister.”

“Ah, the waitress is comin’ back. Hope yeh know wha’ yeh want.”

Emily nodded as the waitress arrived. They ordered, and continued the banter and small talk, until Ash excused herself to go to the bathroom. Emily waited a minute, and then followed, slipping in and looking around. Fortunately it was a large diner, and had a room of stalls, and not a single locking room. Ash was washing her hands when Emily slipped in and looked around.

“Are you okay, Ash?”

“Uh, yeah… I’m in a good mood, why do you ask?”

“It’s just…” Emily slipped up to the long row of sinks, sliding in next to Ash. “You’re awful cheerful today, and I’m not complaining, it’s just… It’s so unlike you to be so chipper. And hugging Kate? Where does that come from?”

“Well, I’m not going to get her to drop her little sister thing, and she only has one other person in the world. And if it makes her feel better, you know, why not? She’s still weird and all, but she’s a lot nicer now. And Harry bought her that ring, even if it is crazy, so he thinks there’s good in her…”

“Why, Ash… that is so…”

Girly.

“Nice of you.”

“Well… huh. Maybe it is? Why do you keep looking at your watch? You afraid you’re sleeping again?”

Emily blushed softly, and shook her head, looking down. “No, it’s just… It’s getting to be a habit, you know? This way I know when I’m having a weird dream, because my watch is going crazy. Kind of silly, I know. Still, it is kind of weird—but nice!” she hurriedly added, “to see you and Kate, well, getting along.”

Ash looked down at the sink as she washed her hands. “You know I nearly killed her.”

“K-killed her?”

“That first race. I did so badly, she got so far ahead she stopped. She was standing in the road, and I was so… shaken, you know? I was so shaken, I barely stopped in time. If I hadn’t, I would’ve just… plowed through her.” She closed her eyes, as Emily put her hand on Ash’s shoulder. “I’ve always wondered… what would’ve happened if I did? I’ve had a few nightmares about that night…”

What a strange confession… at a strange time. Still, that’s you, Ash.

“Well, don’t worry about it—you didn’t, right? And now she’s your friend.” Her words elicited a smile, and Ash nodded.

“Yeah. Thanks.” She closed the tap and dried her hands, and the two moved back towards the door, before Ash paused all of a sudden, with an exclamation of “holy shit” that made Emily turn to look.

“Ash?”

Ash looked somewhat spooked, somewhat freaked. “We just did that… that thing.”

“What thing?”

“That thing where two girls go into the restroom together and don’t come out for awhile…” She shook her head, letting out a buzzing, nasal groan, and her reaction made Emily laugh.

With a wide grin, Emily threw her arms around Ash, squeezing. “Yeaaaah, we did. Now we’re obligated to go bra shopping later on…”

The look of abject horror on Ash’s face was priceless, and Emily vowed she would always treasure it, as she giggled. “Gotcha! Now cool down, we just had a talk, no reason to be freaked out.” Emily let go, and shook her head, grinning. “Come on.”

Outside The Diner, 12:03 PM

The bills for breakfast settled, the duo of duos stood outside the diner in the falling snow, with Kate leaning into Harry and grinning. “So then, what are yeh two doin’ now,” asked Harry, wrapping an arm around Kate’s shoulders.

“No clue, Harry. It’s… wow, only noon?”

“We’ll find something. Thanks for the drive!”

“Any time, lass. Any time…” The older pair turned and retreated to Kate’s Jaguar—which, Emily noted with a slight pang of jealousy, was already running.

“It’s actually beautiful, isn’t it? Awfully cold, but… Hey. Let’s go somewhere.”

“Okay. Where?”

“Mmmm. I dunno, let’s go somewhere else, Ash.”

Think, Emily, think… Ah!

“Ash, take me shopping.”

“B’uh?” Ash took a step backwards, into the railing of the stairs up to the Diner’s main door. “Shopping? Why?”

“Yes, shopping. In Albany! And don’t worry, I promise not to spend more than a half-hour in a clothing store, okay?”

“A-Albany? That’s an hour away in good weather and light traffic.”

“Yeah, I know—though the way you drive, it’s probably still an hour. The highways will be cleared by now, and there’ll be enough traffic to prevent a serious build-up. And we haven’t done something like a road-trip since, well, Cape Cod.”

“But, why? I mean…”

“Why not, Ash? Tomorrow is Saturday, we have a fast car, and a clear day ahead of us. Let’s have some fun, let’s do something a bit crazy.” She stuck her tongue out at her friend. “Isn’t that the kind of crazy thing that best friends are supposed to do?”

“Uhm.” Ash looked completely taken aback—and she was. On the one hand, in this weather, or even any weather, a sudden ‘take me to Albany!’ was the last thing she expected from Emily. On the other hand, it was Emily, asking to do something seriously awesome, if ill advised. It was unlike her, but it was very much agreeable. “Uh… yeah, okay. Let me call Rumisiel and tell him, then.”

Emily grinned wide—she had Ash all to herself for the whole day, and she knew it. “Yeah, let me hit the pay phone when you’re done.” They went to the pay phones, and Emily listened as Ash told Rumisiel (in no uncertain terms) that they were going to be away for the day, and that if he even so much as harbored a lustful thought about her father’s liquor cabinet, his fingers would resemble a pancake when she was done. Emily smiled. “Okay. Go get the car warmed up, I’ve got a call to make.”

Ash nodded and walked to the car. She sank into the driver’s seat with a sigh, turning the car on. Yelping softly at the cool blast of air, she turned down the blowers and watched Emily on the phone. It looked like she was taking her time. Ash leaned on the steering wheel, sighing softly. “Man, what’s gotten into her? She was all angry this morning, but it’s been like she’s been trying to keep us in the car all day…” Still, she liked driving her car, and she liked being around Emily. That was worth it, even if it did mean she’d probably be obliged to go into a lingerie store at least once. Checks and balances—yin and yang. A few minutes of time in a place she’d really rather never step in, for a whole day with her best friend?

“When the hell did I start thinking about things in terms of trade-offs?” Ash shook her head. Emily gave a little jump, and talked rapidly into the phone. “Probably asking her mom for permission. It looks like she got it.”

Emily then hung up the phone and walked down the stairs, getting into the passenger seat with a grin. “All set!”

“You sure? You got your money?” Emily nodded, and Ash chuckled. “Okay then… Why not? Let’s go.” She threw the Monster XR into reverse, four-wheeling out and onto the road. “Next stop—Albany, New York!”

“Yeah! Let’s go and have some fun.”

On The Highway Approaching Albany, 12:51 PM

This… is a cool day.

Emily laughed softly, the radio station still tuned to that oldies station it was on when she got in. She and Ash had been joking and laughing and sometimes singing along to the radio. More than anything, Emily was at ease. “Isn’t this a good day, Ash?”

She looked over at her friend, who nodded, even as the Monster XR barreled through the snow with the careful grace of a fast car in bad weather whose driver knew how to handle it. “Yeah… it, well… It feels like the summer, in Cape Cod, except you can’t possibly get sunburned.”

“Yeeaaaah, that was the most painful day ever. Still, you were there to make sure I got water. And drown pygmies for me.”

“Yeah… Just you, me, a fast car, and a bright day ahead. No angels, no ghosts of dead racers, no worries.”

And absolutely none of that Missi Fuller.

Emily laughed softly at that thought, as the radio’s DJ came on. “And here’s one that’s going out for a pair of young lovebirds inbound to Albany for a day of fun in the city from Massachusetts. I don’t know how anybody can have any fun in this East Coast weather. I miss California, so I’m going to play the songs that remind of me of it. Here’s ‘Two Tickets To Paradise’. I’ve got two tickets to paradise—in my pants.”

Emily smiled as the song came on, then she noticed Ash looking at her. “What?”

“Two lovebirds inbound to Albany?”

“Don’t look at me.” She did a good job of playing innocent, and Ash shrugged, then laughed, as the singer crooned about having two tickets to paradise, and extorted whomever he was singing about to pack their bags and leave tonight. It wasn’t long before the two were singing along to the song as the Monster XR ate up the snowy highway.

“Emily, what do you want to do once we get to Albany?”

“Well, we can go shopping… How about we find a nice, big arcade while we’re there? Play some of those big booth racing games?”

“Maybe I’ll get a fair game, then. You’re on.”

“So, shopping first?”

“Mmmm… okay.”

“Okay? You hate shopping.”

“I don’t hate-hate shopping, I just don’t like it. Besides, I still owe you for standing you up on that back-to-school shopping, don’t I?”

“You really don’t, but sure, let’s go with that.”

They laughed as the car rumbled onto the large bridge over the river.

Upscale Clothing Store, Inside A Mall, Albany, 1:10 PM

Ash held her arms crossed in front of her as she and Emily strolled through the store. Emily was quite happily entrenched in Hog Heaven. She probably could’ve killed all day in the store, but Ash was clearly a bit put-off by the sheer amount of sheer garments on display.

“What do you think?” Emily said suddenly, causing Ash to look up from her thoughts. “Hmmm? About?”

Emily held her hands up—she was holding up a sheer, lacy, somewhat see-through matching bra and panties in one hand, and a bright red winter jacket (with a faux fur collar and hood) in the other. “Um… they’re nice, I guess.” Ash did her best to not think about Emily wearing the outfit.

“Oh, sorry… It’s just…”

“I know, I know. It’s okay, I’m just not comfortable in these places.”

“We won’t be here much longer, just hang in there. Then we can do something appropriately adrenaline-pumping, like find an arcade, or maybe shoot a small, defenseless animal.”

Ash rolled her eyes, which got another giggle from Emily. “An arcade, anyway.”

Emily laughed, throwing more stuff from the racks into her arms as she moved towards the fitting rooms. Shopping on a time crunch was a new and exciting experience, although it robbed her of the chance to consider each item thoroughly before she bought. Still, she figured if she kept it small, she could handle it inside the half-hour she promised Ash. Finding a fitting room, she dumped her pile on the bench and began to try her potential purchases out.

“Hmmm… The red looks good, but wouldn’t it make my hair look silly?”

Ash looked up as she heard the question from inside. “I don’t care what you wear, as long as you’re happy,” Ash said too quietly for Emily to hear. Then Ash spoke up, saying, “It would be weird, but unique. You’d have a style all your own.”

“Weird—that’s bad.”

Ash shook her head, and blinked twice as her eyes fell across a brown leather bomber. “Uh… not necessarily, Em. Besides, our lives have been weird for months and months. If you can’t beat ’em…” Ash drifted off, picking up the jacket. She looked at the price tag—and winced. Then again, this was no cheap faux leather imitation—it was lined with fabric, but the leather was heavy and genuine, and the collar and cuffs were appropriately fur-lined. It was also covered with pockets. She tried it on.

“Wow. This fits really, really nice.” Ash zipped it up, and turned around a few times, flexing her arms, making a few imitation turns of the wheel and shifting with her right hand. Then she grinned and slid back to the dressing room. “I’ll be right back, Em. You okay?”

Emily let out a quiet cough from inside. “Uh, yeah… I just looked up and realized there’s a poster of your mom pasted to the ceiling…”

“Enjoy!”

With Emily’s protestations behind her, Ash took the jacket to the counter, and quickly exchanged money. The lady on the register looked torn between relief at getting rid of the decidedly boyish jacket, and disdain for the orange-haired tomboy who would wear it. Still, she took money. Ash walked back, clipping the tags off the jacket, and zipping up in it, holding the one she wore in under her arm.

The dressing room curtain was pulled back just as she got back, and Emily was standing inside, wearing an outfit made of the pieces she’d tossed together: red synthetic jacket, white shirt with a red logo across her right breast, and white pants. “How do I… What the heck did you buy?”

“See, that’s the difference between girls and boys buying clothes. A girl searches for ages, tries on five outfits, and can’t make a decision without independent verification that she looks damn good in it. A boy sees something they want, he tries it on, makes sure it fits and he can pay for it, he buys it.”

Emily blushed softly. “I… I look ‘damn good’?”

“Um… You look amazing, Em. Really, it looks great on you. All you need is white sneakers to complete the look.” Ash thought she must be losing her mind for saying such a thing.

Emily blushed, and sat down on the bench, holding up a pair that she had grabbed from the shoe aisle. “Like these?” Ash nodded, and Emily smiled. “Okay!”

Ash shifted uncomfortably, as Emily tugged the curtain back again and clothes rustled.

“I can’t believe I encouraged her. Then again, she is my best friend, and it’s what she wants. Ugh, I feel so damn girly. I need to do something about this,” Ash murmured quietly.

Emily emerged with what she was wearing when they walked in, and two bundles in her arms—one of them was the red and white outfit (which included those lacy red things, Ash noted with a blush) and the rest in the other arm. She re-hung the discards, and paid for the new stuff, while Ash followed, her mind churning.

When Emily had her bag of clothes, Ash dropped her old jacket in, and took the bag, carrying it for her. “So, arcade, right? I saw one in the mall directory.”

“All right. You want to hit the food court before we go?”

“Nah, not yet. Maybe when we’re done.”

“Okay. Let’s go.” As Ash walked beside her, Emily giggled softly.

“Something funny?”

“No, not at all. It’s actually kinda sweet—you just took my bag like that.” Her chuckle was accompanied by a light blush on Ash’s part.

The Action Vault Arcade, 1:32 PM

The first thing one noticed about the Action Vault was that it was loud inside. Not just the game machines; the place was rigged with a sound system from which the unmistakable voice of the Prince of Darkness himself was rocking hard about being a Hellraiser.

“This looks more your speed! Let’s have some fun.” She led the way in, while Ash laughed and smiled, looking around. The place was jumping, even with the relatively low number of shoppers out and about. It looked to be a popular hangout for the locals in their age group.

To their immediate left was the person manning the desk—not just a clerk, he seemed to also be controlling the sound system, judging by the number of monitors in front of him, the sound board on the desk, and the fact that he was wearing a microphone headset and a pair of wraparound, Windex-blue sunglasses and throwing the horns with his left hand as he worked the register with the other. A carrot-top wearing a black metal-band T-shirt and leather pants with an overabundance of chains. When he spoke, his voice seemed to boom low from speakers behind him. He couldn’t have been much older than twenty. “Welcome to the Action Vault, ladies. We exist to let you kick ass and chew bubblegum—but we’re all out of gum. Tokens are one for a quarter, and purchases of merchandise over ten dollars get a free ten percent back in tokens.” There was indeed a wall of merchandise behind him—not only branded stuff like coffee mugs and T-shirts, but console and PC versions of some of the popular games in the arcade, as well as some miscellaneous adrenaline-head stuff, like obviously-fake nun-chucks and swords.

Emily and Ash each gave him ten dollars, receiving in return a paper cup full of tokens each. As they walked away, the DJ/clerk’s voice boomed across the arcade.

“Remember, Action Fans, it’s Metal Friday here at the Action Vault. If you have a good request, I might just play it.

Ash grinned at Emily. “Got any requests?”

“No clue. I’ve never really listened to this kind of stuff at length before.”

“That’s okay. Sounds like a good learning experience. Oooh, there’s the racing games. They have a huge wall of them!”

As they walked to the racing games, they found most of the seats taken. It was a monolithic wall of the same game booth—the good kind, with adjustable seats and realistic controls. The whole wall was networked together, and two seats on the end were empty.

“Ash, shall we kick some ass?”

Ash grinned at Emily and sat in the booth to the left. Looking down, she said, “No clutch. It’s a semi-auto.”

“Be glad it has a shifter at all.”

The DJ spoke again. “We’ve just got a request for some Black Sabbath—I’m going to play ‘Paranoid’. Remember folks, we don’t censor jack squat here at the Action Vault, so if you’re easily burned by harsh language, you might just want to get the hell out of the kitchen.”

Ash grinned as the music started to blare, and they dialed in their cars. “Meh. No Merkur…” She settled on a Ford Mustang GT, while Emily selected a Nissan 350Z.

“Humph. This ain’t a girl’s game, ladies.”

Ash looked to her left—she was sitting next to a late-teen/early-twenty-something boy with dark black glasses and wearing all black with red gloves. “Did you just say I can’t race?”

“That’s what I said, little girl. Why don’t you two estrogen factories go home and make way for someone with some experience in stick control?”

Ash clenched her fists—as did Emily. “You’re gonna eat those words, buddy. You on the scoreboard?”

He laughed, and rudely grabbed his crotch—suddenly he reminded Ash an awful lot of Tom, and that just made her madder. “I am Numero Uno! And it says so.”

Ash grit her teeth. “That’s nice. I’m Ash. She’s Emily. Welcome to third place, asshole.” Emily’s eyebrows rose as the race’s lights blinked down to the green. Emily and Ash’s hands fell to their shifters.

“That’s it. I was toying with these clowns, but you two are toast. Time for my A game!”

“All right folks, we’ve had a request for a song that’s near and dear to my heart. Here’s some Maiden, and the time is now ‘Two Minutes To Midnight’!” The metal strains of Iron Maiden broke out as the starting light went green. Tires squealed. Electronic cars made a dash out of the starting line.

Ash and Emily proved to race well as a team. While most of the arcade-goers were just casuals, a few of them seemed to know what they were doing and put up a good challenge. In the first race, Ash and Em placed third and fifth respectively—but they were getting used to the game’s quirks, the quirks of their simulated cars, and how the game’s mechanics worked. By the third race they were consistently finishing together as the top two, while the local punk was getting more and more agitated. He was a good racer, but Emily and Ash had quickly figured out how to perform a PIT maneuver; he soon came to spend more time glancing at their screens to be sure they weren’t about to send him into a wipe-out than he did watching his own screen. The races went on and on, until (as their tokens were close to running out) they raced a nigh-perfect game, while the local punched his console in frustration.

It was deeply satisfying to Ash to see the names ‘XR4Ti Ash’ and ‘240SX Emily’ (Ash’s idea for their names) burning at the top of the leader board, right above ‘Numero Uno’, who was now demoted to third. Ash grinned, noting that his record had been set months ago, and he wasn’t likely to beat it any time soon. The punk scowled, stomping out of the arcade. Ash and Emily stood up and stretched—and shared a high-five.

Then the arcade clerk’s voice came over the speakers, as the music abruptly stopped and the lights came up. “Yo, Actioneers. I hate to say it, but those idiots, the retards who wear suits and run the mall and think they know jack squat, are closing the mall in twenty. National Weather Service is saying the whole of New England is in for a metric kilo-fuck-ton of the white stuff. If you’re not local, you might want to think about heading home in a hurry. The games you’re playing now will finish, but the machines won’t accept any more tokens—and yes, we’re giving full refunds.”

Ash and Em gulped and looked to one another. Ash picked up the bag, and Emily smiled. “At least we won.”

They moved to leave, but the clerk pointed at them. “Hold on, you two. Come here a minute.” The refund-receivers moved away as Ash and Emily approached the counter. “You two are…” he glanced at his computer screen, “‘XR4Ti Ash’ and ‘240SX Emily’, right?” Ash nodded, and the clerk smiled, taking down a pair of branded Action Vault T-shirts. “That punk bet me a cool Benjamin that nobody was going to unseat his ass from the pole position before the end of the New Year. He’s a good customer but an asshole, so from the Action Vault to you two, thanks. And come back whenever you feel like it.”

Outside The Mall In Albany, 3:45 PM

“The weather looks like it’s going to get bad, doesn’t it?” The snow was coming down much harder than it was before, and Ash nodded as they picked their way carefully to the Monster XR.

“Uh, yeah. It does.”

“Don’t worry, Ash. I’m sure we’ll be fine. I have complete confidence in you.” Emily smiled, pushing on Ash’s upper arm with both of hers, and Ash laughed.

“Okay, okay. I’ll get us home, Em.”

They settled into the Monster XR’s seats, and Ash turned the key as Emily stowed their bags in the back. The engine rumbled to life and Ash pulled the car out. She turned the radio far down, and Emily looked quizzically at her. “In this weather, getting as bad as it is, I’m going to need to hear the road and the car.”

Emily nodded, and settled back into her seat. “Okay, Ash. Thank you.”

“For taking you on a trip?”

“For everything. But yeah, thanks for taking me shopping, and for helping me kick that loudmouth’s name down.”

“You’re welcome, Em.”

Emily closed her eyes, listening to the sound of Ash breathing, the car’s engine, and the sound of the ground under the tires, as they drove back out of the city.

This… Wow, this feels like a date. A really, really strange date, but then, we’re both really, really strange people. We did some things we love doing, and had a lot of fun together.

Emily’s thoughts were interrupted by the radio—the song cut off, the DJ’s voice coming over again. “This isn’t a weather station, but heads-up. The National Weather Service has issued a severe winter storm warning for most of New England. This is the real deal out there, kiddos—this ain’t no pansy advisory or heads-up, this means the white crap’s hitting the fan as we speak. If you got someplace to be, my advice is that you get there now. And if you don’t, head west and hope you can outrun it.”

“Oh no. Maybe we shouldn’t have gone?”

“No way. It was fun! It was totally worth it. We’ll make it home, don’t worry.”

Emily nodded, and smiled, as the car trundled onto the interstate again, and they chugged back towards Massachusetts in relative quiet. They were a half-hour out, though only a third of the way home (as even Ash had slowed down due to the snow) when the radio station announcer broke in again.

“I ought to be paid extra for the weather-man duty. I’m holding a brand-new copy of the current weather alert, and it ain’t good. We’re having a Blizzard Warning for basically all of New England.

We’re talking Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York State, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and even parts of Pennsylvania and ’Jersey. This is officially the big time ladies and gentlemen, so get yourself somewhere warm and park your cars. I wouldn’t drive in this, and I’m a maniac.”

The roads were definitely getting awful, cars were throwing up tails of snow behind them, and snowplows and salt trucks became at least a once-in-ten-minute sighting. Emily hunkered down in the car’s seat as the wind rattled the Monster, and Ash turned the heat up to fight off the chill.

“Damn. It’s getting bad out here, Ash.”

“Yeah. Yeah, it is… Exciting, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Actually, it is.” She made a weak smile. “It’s just scary.”

“It’s almost like going down the Mountain. I’m afraid that any moment now, some idiot may lose control and carom in front of us. The only way to handle the fear is to take it head on, and know I can handle it.”

Even so, a glance at the speedometer told Emily that they were barely pushing forty—even the fearless Ash was slowing down well below main highway speeds, and wasn’t attempting any passing. A strong blast of wind rattled and shook every vehicle on the road, and Ash grit her teeth and clenched her fists to hold onto the wheel.

This is scary. I kind of wish we had Rumisiel. I don’t think even Ash would mind if he used his angelic powers to keep us alive and the car intact. Still… only Ash could do this. My mom would probably have found a hotel for the night—mom!

Emily gasped, causing Ash to look sharply her way. “You okay?”

“Yeah, but my mom’s out in this weather.”

“She have four-wheel-drive?” Emily shook her head. “Please don’t tell me she drives a rear wheel drive.”

“Front wheel drive for her. It’s cheaper.”

“She’ll be okay, if she takes it long and slow.” Emily nodded glumly. “Yeah. Thank you, Ash.”

McArthur Residence, 5:49 PM

Ash guided the Monster XR up to the curb outside Emily’s home, and looked at the drive. “No tracks. It looks like your mom’s not home yet.”

Emily nodded as she took her bag and backpack from the back of the car, and left Ash’s jacket in the car seat. “Call me when you get home safely, okay?”

“I will, don’t worry. And thanks for asking me to take you to Albany. This was a great day.”

“All right. It’s cold so, good night, Ash.” She closed the car door and picked her way to her house.

She fumbled her keys as she unlocked the door and opened it. Seeing Emily had the door open, Ash accelerated slowly away.

“Mom?” Emily called out when she went inside, just in case her mother had arrived long enough ago for the tracks to be covered up, but she heard nothing. Shrugging, Emily tossed her jacket over the coat tree and carried her things to her bedroom, putting her new purchases away.

What a day.

Emily smiled, closed her eyes, and lay on the bed. It had been an incredible day—just her and Ash, the way things ought to be. It was so good, having just taken some time off, spent a fun day away from everything with her best friend.

The bed shifted, and her eyes opened. They were staring into familiar, large green eyes. Emily smiled as Ash leaned down, kissing her lips. Emily arched into the embrace, reaching up. Fingers laced with fingers, and she squeezed. The kiss parted, and Emily grinned. “What are you doing here?”

“How could I stay away?” Emily rolled her shoulders at the soft reply, as Ash pushed on her shoulders, pushing her into the bed. Her shirt slid off, and she smiled. She reached up to cup Ash’s head with one hand as they met and kissed again. Hands on her torso, stroking her, squeezing her in places that make her tremble, Emily let out a long, deep moan. She wrapped her arms around Ash’s back, pulling Ash onto her body—the tuner girl with hair the color of a fresh orange sunk her teeth gently into the nape of Emily’s neck.

It was too good! Emily let out a cry of pleasure, her head sliding beside Ash’s. She caught sight of her watch. Given that it was reading ∑7:ΔΨ, she had a fairly good idea that she was dreaming. She let out a moan. “This is a dream,” she groaned, though it sounded more despondent this time.

It didn’t end, though. They usually ended when she said that. “You don’t want it to be,” the not-Ash pointed out, pushing her down harder into the bed, staring into her eyes. Emily blushed hotter.

“You… you’re not Ash.”

Emily gasped softly as not-Ash’s lips fell to her throat, kissing. Not-Ash’s hands reached behind Emily, undoing her bra and pulling it off. Emily offered no resistance.

“You want me to be,” the dreamscape not-Ash murmured, as her lips trailed down.

Emily gasped, tremblingly raising a hand, clenching Ash’s hair. “N-No… Stop,” she plaintively whispered, and the not-Ash’s lips popped off of her.

“You can stop me. You just have to want this to end.”

“But I do want this to end,” Emily protested, then was silenced by another kiss—one she arched her back into.

Burning with heat, Emily realized that not-Ash was naked, or more naked than she had been, for that was unmistakably flesh pressing into her body. She groaned as not-Ash groped her back, squeezing, kissing her neck, her earlobes, her shoulders, sinking her teeth gently in. “S-S-Stop it!” Emily whined, leaning up. She thought she intended to push not-Ash off, but she found herself returning the groping and squeezing with more force than she knew she’d like on herself. But the figment of her imagination didn’t mind; it pushed back, biting the nape of her neck, arching over her. Then not-Ash’s hand slid into her pants.

Emily groaned, trembling with the touch. Then she bared her teeth, rolling not-Ash hard onto the bed. She didn’t escape, though—she arched down, kissing not-Ash just as hard as she herself had been kissed, sliding her own hand down into not-Ash’s panties. She was panting, trembling. The things that the dreamscape representation of her friend was doing to her were incredible. She was lost in the bliss, in the trance, in the heat and the passion of the moment…

McArthur Residence, 6:11 PM

Emily awoke with a cry of epic proportions, finding herself entirely helpless in the middle of a mountain-moving, house-shaking orgasm. She had half-rolled off the bed, her knees on the floor, hands gripping her bed’s mattress as her body quivered like a leaf in a hurricane. It ended soon enough, leaving her panting, collapsed on the floor, an over-heated wreck.

Then the house shook again, and she weakly looked up to the window—the sky outside was truly ferocious, the snow blowing horizontally. Slowly she stood up, and shivered.

“I’ve… Mmmmf. They’ve always ended before then…” She glanced down at her waterproof digital watch, and bit her lip. “I knew it was a dream… I said, ‘this is a dream…’”

But you didn’t want to end it, stupid…

“Urrgh!” Emily punched her pillow. “Damn it, Ash! Why do you have to be so… so… Nnngh!”

Perfect?

That nagging voice in her head—her voice. Emily let out a soft sob, and fell to her knees, laying her head on the pillow. Slowly she recovered, her mind a blitz of nothing, and she stood up, discarding her clothes in her hamper, and weakly moving to get another shower.

“Damn it, Emily, why do you keep… Nnnh. Thinking about her?” Emily simply leaned on the back wall of her shower, her head braced on one forearm, letting the hot water wash over her.

Because you want her. Because you can’t stand the thought of her doing things like that with Missi. Because you want Ash, here, now, with you, holding you, keeping you company. Touching you.

She shook her head, groaning. “No, I don’t… I want Ash, but I’m a girl—a heterosexual girl! I want a boy!”

No you don’t. You never did. Ryan made you feel cold, hollow, and filthy when he was inside you. Casper was a perfect gentleman, a real prize, but you didn’t feel a damn thing when you kissed him. And when you thought of her on that date, you thought of her, not Ash the boy.

Emily realized that some of the wetness on her face wasn’t from the showerhead, and that made her sniffle, crouching down to her knees, holding her head in both hands. “Why am I such a wreck?”

Because you flat-out love her. Your lives have been entwined ever since Misfile Day, and your life has become a roller coaster. And no matter how wild it gets, Ash is there for you. You always come back to one another, no matter how much you fight. You love her emotionally. She’s always there for you, in ways even Molly isn’t. You and she can share the most secret things. You love her romantically. When you spend time with her, it feels like a date, even if you’re not doing date-things like watching romantic comedies. And you love her sexually. You just had a world-shaking orgasm while dreaming about her pouncing you—or was that you pouncing her?

Emily rolled over, sitting flat in the back of the tub, her back against the wall, gulping for breath, trying to tell the nagging voice inside her to shut up, but it wouldn’t. Finally she sobbed and closed her eyes. “No, I’m straight.”

Why does it bother me? Why does it bother you so? Emily, ugh… I’m mixing my person tense, and even thinking in the third person… Why does it bother me? Why am I so attracted to her?

“Why?” Emily shook her head. “Why?”

Why not? You can’t change the fact that just seeing her lifts your spirits, even when she’s running late and you want to kill her for making you late. Seeing her smile is the best thing in the world to see, and she’s so easy to tease, but so easy to forgive. And you keep dreaming about kissing her.

“Ugh. Only the crazy talk to themselves…” Emily shook her head. “Yeah. Okay… I love Ash. Is that what you want to hear?”

It’s not what you want to hear that matters—it’s what you want to say to her.

“I love her… I do, but… I can’t say it. I can’t tell her, she… She’s still a boy in a girl’s body. I can’t just tell her something like ‘if you were a boy, I’d love you.’” She sighed.

But I did. And that was the time she kissed you. I got so angry, because I was emotionally contorted; I was so angry, so vulnerable… But she wasn’t trying to take advantage of you. Ash is not Ryan! She was… She was trying to comfort me. She thought I was trying to tell her something… But you were, Emily. You were, and when she reacted, you got mad at her. What kind of a friend does that? What kind of a lover does that?

Emily let out a sigh of depression. “Damn it.”

She really did think it was what I wanted. She wasn’t trying to ‘sneak one in’; she was trying to be for me what she thought I wanted… Ugh. I’m such a wreck.

She stood up, trembling softly, glad for the heat of the shower, even though it didn’t help her from feeling chilled to the core.

And then Missi showed up. I told her I was happy for her—I wasn’t. I hate it!

“I hate that little tramp!” Emily thought it and said it at the same time, with a terrifying intensity. She just shows up, being about as easy as Molly, and Ash just laps it up, and that makes me so jealous. I had my chance, and I told her I wasn’t interested, so she found someone who was… But I just can’t accept it.

Emily shook her head in disgust. “Which is it, Em? Are you going to make a move on her, or let her go?” She hung her head.

If I move in on her, that means I’m saying I’m…

Gay? What’s so wrong with that? Kay Wheeler turned out to be. She grimaced at that particular pillar of her adolescence, ripped out from under her. Then again, what did you think would happen? Did you really think that in your wildest dreams you’d ever get Kay? Hell, you met him and ogled his car; that’s more than most girls ever got… She sighed. Hell, I was almost as interested in his Miata as I was in him, after I got to talk to him for a while. Would it even have been so good? Even if he was straight? Sure, you were a gooey pile when you were looking at pictures of him, but when you met the real deal?

Emily shook her head. “Okay, probably not. But…” She sighed. “But I DID go gooey over him! I’m not gay!”

Then you might be bi, but strong indications are to the other way. The only person you’ve actually kissed twice is Ash, after all. She’s the only person you groped, and…

“I didn’t… Okay, maybe I did enjoy that. And maybe I overreacted and screamed at her…”

She groaned, sitting back, afraid if her head shook any more she might shake it off. “Emily McArthur, you are so fucked-up.”

I need someone to talk to. But who? Molly? She’ll just tease me and call me names. Ash? Is the problem. Vashiel? She smiled—the straight-laced, honest Angel of Vengeance could certainly give her a good, frank, honest answer. But he’ll blab at a moment’s notice. And he’s gone. That left… Oh crap. Rumisiel? She grimaced, wracking her brains for anyone else she could try to tap for support. Harry or Kate? I don’t know them very well—that might be a plus. Harry’s known Ash a long time, but he’s mostly known Ash from before the Misfile. Kate? She thinks of Ash as her little sister, but I dunno if she could really help me… Mom?

Emily hummed softly to herself at that prospect. But wait—where was her mother, anyway? Emily sighed and turned off the water. Getting out, she pulled towels around herself, drying and wrapping a towel around her hair. She went to the stairs and called out, but her mother failed to answer. Slowly she walked down the stairs, looking around—she found her clue on the kitchen table.

It was a note.

Emily, your aunt is in the hospital. You weren’t home when I got home, so I’m presuming school was not canceled. The weather forecast is absolutely awful, so I may be snowed in upstate. Stay home! Stay safe. I’ll call you when I can.

Emily sighed. “The only time I actually want to talk to you, and you’re gone. That figures.” She went back upstairs, finished drying off, and lay back on her bed, staring at her ceiling.

To hell with it. I need to talk to someone. Someone I know can damn well keep their trap shut.

She rolled to her feet, pulling on something to wear, and sat back on her bed, picking up the telephone. She dialed and raised the phone to her ear. And blinked, as a three-tone note played, then a voice came on, “We’re sorry; the number you have dialed can not be reached. This is a recording.” She blinked and hung up the receiver, then tried again; she damn well knew the number for Ash’s house, but got the error message again.

Are the phones down?

Emily sighed, placed the receiver back, and looked at her desk. She could probably do with some studying, but found that she had absolutely no interest or energy for hitting the books.

“I hope everything’s okay…” She jumped slightly as the wind rattled the window. Placing her palms against it, Emily winced at how cold the panes of glass felt, and she looked down. Her watch was burning 19:51.

Seven fifty… How long was I in that shower?

She let out a soft sigh, and walked downstairs, to the living room, settling in a chair. “Where are you now, Ash? Your phones are down; I can’t reach you. Are you playing a video game? Laughing with Rumisiel?” Her stomach grumbled slightly, but she ignored it; she wasn’t in the mood to eat. The wind outside howled, and the house shook, but she ignored it. In fact, she almost missed the knocking, except that it was rhythmic.

Emily jumped to her feet when she finally recognized what it was, after the second set of knocks, and ran over to the door. She undid the locks, pulled the door open, and was all but bowled backwards by the gust of terrifyingly cold air rushing into the house along with snow and icy particles—and a very cold-looking Ash Upton, followed by a shivering Rumisiel, who shut the door behind them. Both of them looked frozen almost solid, and Emily blinked twice, before reaching over and turning the thermostat up to 80°. “What happened?”

Ash shivered strongly. “S-Snow. Brought down lines. We l-lost everything, power, phone, h-h-heat…” She shrugged, or did her best to shrug while clutching her arms and shivering and stuttering. “W-We came to ch-check on you when we r-r-realized the phones were out.”

“Okay. Both of you get in here.” She tugged them towards the middle of the house. “Geeze, Ash, you feel frozen solid!”

“I as-assure you, I feel m-much worse to me th-than I do to you.”

The levity made Emily laugh. “Okay. Get yourself upstairs and into my shower. Run it hot, and just let it warm you up. Rumisiel, take my mother’s shower. Toss me your clothes, I’ll go put them in the dryer.”

It was chaotic, disorderly even, having Ash and Rumisiel show up all of a sudden, half-frozen. But it was a lot better, she mused, than being alone, as she ushered both of them into hot showers (thankful her house had a very high-capacity double-water-heater that could keep the hot water pumping indefinitely), and took Ash and Rumisiel’s clothes, throwing them in the dryer.

Emily smiled, putting water on to boil. She gathered the makings, and stirred up three large mugs of tea, carrying them upstairs with a tray. One mug she left in her mother’s room, the other two she carried into her bedroom, setting them on the desk. Though the wind’s howl shook and rattled the house, the sound of the shower made her feel better for some silly reason.

“Emily, you are some kind of messed up, feeling better just because Ash is in your shower.” She shook her head, smiling at herself, but Ash apparently heard—or heard something.

“Em? Is that you out there?”

“Yeah, it is. Just talking to myself,” she called out, louder, walking to the door of the bathroom—her shower curtain was opaque, of course. “Is everything all right?”

“Y-Yeah. I’m just still cold—on the inside, you know?”

“Still? How long has the heat been out at your house, Ash?” Emily walked into the bathroom as she asked it.

“I-I dunno. An hour or two? I-It took us awhile to figure out what t-to do.”

“An hour or two? With no light and no heat? What are you, crazy? Why didn’t you come right away?” she huffed, and Ash sounded a bit sheepish inside.

“B-Because I didn’t want to bug you. I-I was just going to roll up in a blanket and go to sl-sleep.”

“Why? How could you think about doing something so stupid, Ash? You’d have frozen! You didn’t want to bug me? Don’t you think it would’ve done a bit more than bug me if I found out you’d frozen to death?”

Ash was silent, and Emily could well picture her face—chagrined, maybe a bit guilty-looking. She could have pressed the issue, but didn’t. “So, why’d you come over finally?”

Ash sighed from inside, the sound mixing with the hot sound of the water droplets hitting her and the floor. “Because Rumisiel pointed out that you might not have heat.”

That’s my Ash. Running to the rescue, as always.

“Give me your hand, Ash.”

“Uh, what? My hand?”

“Yes, Ash. Give me your hand.”

A confused sound followed her instruction from Ash, shortly followed by her hand, snaked out from the back of the shower curtain. Emily clasped it in both of her hands; although the skin was superficially warm, she could tell it was still cool inside.

Her hand… Heh… Emily smiled softly, squeezing—not tightly, but warmly. It fully hit her how silly, yet romantic, the pose must have looked—holding her friend’s hand tightly, mere inches from her heart. She smiled at the thought.

“Sit down,” she said. “It’ll help you warm up.”

“Sit down? In the shower?”

“Mmm-hmm. In the back, let the tub scoop around you.”

Ash complied, and Emily sat as well, nestled in against the wall and the outside edge of the bathtub.

Her lips formed a smile, as she slowly stroked Ash’s hand, her eyes closed.

This would be the perfect time to tell her if you’re going to tell her, Emily. Or to make your move.

She could well imagine it—Ash would be sitting in the back of the tub, water running over her. She’d probably have one or both legs bent at the knee to make herself feel more secure, and hug that knee against her with her right arm. Emily smiled, stroking Ash’s hand gently in hers, running her thumbs over Ash’s palm, as she imagined the move she could make—creep her hands up Ash’s arm, inside, stroke her shoulders, her neck. Then pull the curtain aside, and slide in atop her, leaning into Ash, letting her hot breath trace over her cold friend’s neck and shoulders, following up the unspoken promise with a kiss…

“Um, Em? Are you okay? You’re trembling…”

Emily looked down at her hands—they were shaking, clasping Ash’s hand as they were. She realized that it wasn’t even fear—it was the feeling of excited anticipation that Ash had spoken of, before her second race with Kate. She licked her lips, suddenly dry.

Can I tell her? Should I?

“Em? You okay?” Ash’s voice was more urgent, a little worried.

“Yes, Ash. I’m fine, I’m just… relieved you’re okay. You gave me a scare.” She said it even as her inner voice was groaning at her for losing her nerve. “I’m going to go check on Rumisiel, okay? You stay in that shower until you’re so done I can stick a fork in you, you understand? I don’t want you getting sick!”

Emily stood up and exited the bathroom, cursing herself mentally for not doing something. She stalked through the house to her mother’s bedroom, where Rumisiel was just drying off with a large towel. “Get dried off,” she said, disappearing down the stairs, returning in a few minutes with Rumisiel’s clothes, which she tossed into the bedroom at him.

“Uh… is everything okay? You’re not like, gonna throw me out, are you?”

“No. Just… get dressed.” She turned away, standing against the wall, waiting for Rumisiel to dress.

When he poked his head out, asking, “What’s up?” she waved for him to follow.

“Follow me.” Curiously, the angel followed the blue-haired girl.

She sat him down in a seat in the living room, leaving Rumisiel bewildered. Then she reached out,pushing him by the shoulders back into the chair’s back. “Now listen to me, and listen to me carefully, Rumisiel. If you breathe a word of what I’m about to say to y ou to anyone, to Ash, to Doctor Upton, to yourself while alone on a mountaintop, or so help me to your brother, or to anyone else, I… I will… Well, I’ll think of something, and you won’t like it. Understand? Nod your head, Rumisiel.”

Rumisiel blinked. What could he do? He nodded.

“Good,” Emily said, and then she fell to her knees beside the chair, burying her head in the cushioned arm. “I think I’m losing my mind, Rumisiel.” She sniffled.

The on-leave Angel blinked, looking down at Emily. She’d gone from aggressive to falling apart in about two seconds. Was she having mood swings? He didn’t know, but he hoped she didn’t decide to follow through on her infamous spork threat. “Emily? What’s wrong?”

The blue-haired girl sniffled, trembling. “I… I think I’m going crazy, Rumisiel. It’s Ash…”

“You mean all the shopping and fun you did and had today?”

She shook her head, then changed her mind and nodded. “Maybe. Partly. I… Ugh, I can’t get her out of my head!” Emily looked up, her eyes a bit misty. “Did she tell you why I wear this watch?” She held up her right arm, and its waterproof digital watch.

“Yeah. She said you’d been having trouble sleeping, and needed it to tell dreams from reality?”

“Yeah… I… Rumisiel, do you remember a few months ago, you fell sick and had a really long, crazy dream about what would happen if you fixed the Misfile?”

“How could I forget? That was like, the scariest nightmare ever!”

“Well, when you put us to bed, I was awake, and I… Well, you just put us in Ash’s bed, and I liked it. And ever since then, I’ve been dreaming. About Ash…”

Rumisiel’s eyes got wide as saucers. “You mean like, uhhh… sexy dreams?” He cringed as soon as he said it—he really ought to work on that ‘brain-mouth filter’ thing, almost certain he was about to receive some abuse. Instead, Emily just put her head in her arms, looking down.

“Yes, Rumisiel. Sex dreams. And… romance dreams… and just… being with her dreams…” Emily heaved, as Rumisiel listened, a bit dumbfounded. “I can’t keep her out of my head… I don’t want to… I…” She sighed. “I’ve had so many false awakenings and lucid dreams about being with her, it’s scary. Tonight, though… I fell asleep after she dropped me off. I had a very, very real sex dream about her. It scared me. It was so strong. So very, very strong. Even though I knew it was a dream as it was happening… I… I didn’t stop it.”

By now Rumisiel was worried. He had engaged his sight Beyond. It would certainly be nice if the easy solution presented itself—an outside spirit’s influence, an ass to kick, and a return to normal. But there was nothing in the room but himself and a very confused young girl. He gulped; this one was going to be the hard way.

“Look, Em… Maybe you’re so confused because Ash is a boy’s soul in a girl’s body? You’re picking up on what made the old, male Ash, and it’s attracting you, but you’re all weird because he’s in a she’s body?”

“I’ve thought of that, Rumisiel. I’ve thought it was just that, and then wished it were just that, for so long. But it’s not… I…” She looked up. “I’m going to re-iterate my policy of ‘breathe a word of this to anyone, and I will find something so horrible to do to you that you’ll wish you could just die’. Are you clear on that?”

“Um… crystal?”

“Good.” Emily sighed. “I… I’m afraid I’m gay,” she said, sounding very, very small as she did. Rumisiel opened his mouth, but Emily shushed him. “Just… let me finish, okay? I’m… not a virgin, all right? When I was fifteen—well, I guess thirteen now, although that’s really creepy to think about, thank-you-very-much—Molly was dating this boy from another town, from another high school. I was the only one in our clique who didn’t, you know, have stories like that… of sex… to share.”

Emily took a breath, deep and ragged. “She had him bring a friend to this party. His name was Ryan—he was two years older than me the first time… I guess four, now. Everyone basically expected us to get together, and, well… we did. Alcohol was passed around, I got a bit buzzed… we ended up in Molly’s bedroom…”

Emily looked up, to find a look of horror and anger on Rumisiel’s face. “Son of a bitch! He raped you? Oh, Emily, no wonder you’re—mmmmf.” She silenced him with a palm over his mouth, and then giggled, softly.

“That makes two of you who’ve leaped to that conclusion. No, he didn’t rape me. I didn’t say no. That makes it… consent, I guess.” She slid her hand off Rumisiel’s face, and sighed, slumping to the floor, sitting next to the recliner, against its side. “But I didn’t want it to happen. I just lay there, hoping, wishing he’d pick up on that, and stop. But he didn’t.” She closed her eyes. “We did… you know, the deed, and the party broke up. I never saw him or heard from him again.”

Emily looked up, or rather elevated her face. Her eyes were closed—thinking about that made her cry again. It always did.

“It was… awful. Hot, painful… empty of emotion, devoid of pleasure or enjoyment or fulfillment… And if you make a single ‘fill’ joke, you will regret it.”

Rumisiel gulped, thinking that it was quite a good thing she had cut that joke off at the ankles. “Go on,” he said.

“And then there was Cape Cod. You remember that racer, Brent? His friend, Casper?”

“Vaguely. Bookish kid, real polite, right?”

“That’s him. Anyway, he asked me on a date the night you and Vashiel and James showed up. He was perfect—really, perfect. A girl couldn’t ask for a better boy: polite, knowledgeable, he’d read all my favorite books, and we got along so very well.

“When we first got onto the date, I… I hallucinated Ash in his place when I asked what was good at the restaurant. Ash as I know her, not what I can barely, if at all, picture Ash as, as a boy.” She sighed. “The date just… fell apart. I tried… I wanted it to work, Rumisiel. I even asked him to kiss me, even though he thought I wouldn’t want him to.

“Technically, it was perfect. He wrapped his arms around me, held me close, put his lips against mine. But it was empty. I felt absolutely nothing… well, emotionally or physically as far as arousal went. I could tell it was a perfect kiss. He put so much effort into making sure it was the kind of kiss they film twenty times for the movies to get it right. But I didn’t feel anything in it besides the touch.”

She sighed softly, putting a hand over her lower face, supporting herself while giving Rumisiel time to digest it. He huffed softly, “Huh…”

“Yeah. Let’s say that while technically impressive, Casper failed to precisely move mountains for me. But Ash? I felt something. It made me angry when she first kissed me, but… there was something there. Maybe it scared me. It still scares me, but I just can’t ignore the feeling when I think about kissing her.

“I don’t even know why I’m telling you this, I just… I need to talk to someone, okay? And I can’t talk to Ash, because… Well, I know she has feelings for me. I’m afraid of what’ll happen if I tell her… I can’t get hold of my mother, and I might as well paint ‘lesbian’ on my car if I tried talking to Molly.”

She sighed and stood up. “I’m sorry, Rumisiel. I… really shouldn’t have unloaded this all on you.” She turned to leave, but Rumisiel said, “Hold on, Emily.”

“No. I appreciate you listening, but I don’t really want advice from anyone, least of all you.”

“Hold it!”

Turning around, Emily looked into Rumisiel’s face. He wasn’t exactly angry, but highly annoyed-looking.

“You just unloaded all your baggage on me, under pain of fate-worse-than-death if I uttered a word to anyone else. I think I’m entitled to some feedback at this point, Em.”

Rumisiel was standing, shaking his head, and she looked down, feeling guilty. He was right, at that. She had just unloaded on him, as if seeking advice.

“Now look, I know I’ve made a lot of jokes about how it’d be hot and all if you two kissed and stuff, but I didn’t know there was, you know, something there.” Rumisiel walked to the wall, leaning against it. “And if I had known… I probably wouldn’t have hooked her up with Missi.”

Emily’s eye twitched. “You did that? I’ve been tearing my hair out going crazy-jealous of that little tramp muscling in on my best friend!”

“Cry me a river, Em; you’d hardly be the first girl to snooze and lose. She’s ‘your’ Ash now? What’ve you done to make it so? I’m sorry I hooked her up with Missi, but it could have happened anyway. It’s not like Missi’s the only bi or lesbian girl in Tempest High, you know.”

Emily formed her hands into fists, staring at the angel. How… how dare he be so flippant.

“Look, Em. You can get angry with me all you want. Yeah, I’m an asshole at times. God knows you’ve more than enough reason to be angry with me, what with the Misfile and all, but this is your own mess. I didn’t make it. Though I may have made it slightly worse.

“Look. The only thing that really matters is—do you love her? Do you even just want to lust over her?” He pinned Emily with a look. “Which is it? I don’t care either way. It’s not like I, you know, haven’t totally perved out more than my fair share of times.”

“I love her. It feels so weird to say it, and it scares the hell out of me, but it’s true. I want to hold her tight, I want to kiss her, stroke her hair… More of those dreams are romantic than outright sexual.”

“Okay. For what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure she loves you, too. Where’s the hold-up here? Okay, yeah, all this time you thought you got all hot for boys, and now you’re confused because Ash is a girl, but you need to face up to it. You’re doing her an awful lot of hurt by stringing her along like this, and if she and Missi go, you know, the distance, you’re gonna feel cheated out.

“So. What are you going to do about it? Have you told her how you feel? Have you hugged her lately, kissed her, or just told her straight how you care for her?”

Emily looked down, and didn’t answer, which gave Rumisiel all the info he needed. “Thought so. Look, it’s on you. I ain’t gonna out you to Ash, or to your mom or anyone. I ain’t gonna snitch. But this is your mess, Em; it’s your life, and your heart. If you don’t tell Ash, and she goes on to find a lot of fun and comfort in Missi… Well, where does that leave you?”

“… Alone.”

“Right! Alone. And frankly, I think you’re a better match for Ash anyway.”

“Um… you do?”

“I do. Missi doesn’t, you know, know about the whole ‘used to be a boy’ thing. You do. You’re right for her; the two of you get along wonderfully. I’m not saying you don’t fight—a couple that doesn’t fight is boring. But you two bounce back so quickly. You easily fit together, is all I’m saying. Anyway, I’m hungry. Mind if I cook? Also, where am I gonna sleep?”

“Um, yeah. Go ahead and cook. I, um… I don’t have a couch, and my mom will kill me if I let you sleep on her bed. I’ve got a sleeping bag.”

“That’s fine.” He swept into the kitchen, as Emily sighed, looking down at her hands.

I… I have to tell her… To do something… She deserves to know…

Emily closed her eyes, sank into the chair Rumisiel abandoned, and shivered softly. Taking a deep breath, Emily calmed herself—tea. Of course, she had left that cup of tea in her bedroom. That would help settle her.

Rising from the chair, Emily crept silently up the stairs. She walked into her bedroom to find Ash was standing next to the bed, wrapping a towel around herself. Her first instinct was to turn away, but she fought that one down, smiling as Ash blushed.

“Uh, Em, sorry…” she began, but Emily walked over.

“Ash?” Ash blinked, as Emily hugged her from the side, around the shoulders.

How do I tell her? I need to tell her…

Emily began to lock up, gears in her head seizing, and her cheeks blushing as she opened her mouth. “Promise me you won’t ever do something so stupid as freezing yourself half to death again, okay?” Damn it, damn it! Tell her!

Emily couldn’t—she froze again, but covered well, as Ash smiled softly. “Uh, yeah. I promise, Em.” Emily released her and walked to the desk, picking up the mugs. “Here. They’re kind of cool now, but that just makes them easier to drink. Tea’s okay with you, right? No coffee, and no hot chocolate, I’m sorry.”

Ash chuckled behind her, her voice bright. “Yeah, that’s fine. Thanks, Em.” Emily picked up hers, taking a long, deep gulp as she turned around to hand Ash her own. The orange-haired tuner was holding her towel with one arm, reaching out to grab the cup with the other. “Thanks, Em.”

“All right. Rumisiel’s cooking dinner, it shouldn’t be too long.” She turned to leave, but Ash’s voice from behind made her turn again.

“Hey, Em,” Ash began, as Emily turned to face her. “Thanks. Thank you for being my friend. Thanks for getting me to take you to Albany today.”

Emily smiled back, even as a feeling of tightness rose in her throat. “You’re welcome, Ash.” She turned, and walked out, quickly, so her misty eyes wouldn’t be noticeable to Ash.

I need to tell her… I want to tell her… How can I tell her?

McArthur Residence, 10:41 PM

Dinner turned out to be about the only thing Rumisiel could reliably make—Ramen—and they finished the night casting about for something to do. Eventually the trio decided to take the DVD of some modern submarine movie as acceptable. It was a good movie, though Emily didn’t really pay attention to it; she was more concerned with sitting next to Ash on the loveseat—the closest to a couch they had. She was warm; when she turned the thermostat back down, they found it became chilly, so she got a blanket and put it over herself and Ash. It was almost romantic, even though they were watching a movie about the tenseness of nuclear war and submarine warfare.

Actually, this is romantic, she decided, leaning over with a yawn, leaning against Ash, snuggling into her side. It was perhaps a gamble, but the orange-haired tuner didn’t complain, simply leaning back into the chair, supporting Emily’s head with her shoulder. She smiled sleepily, curling her arm around Ash’s stomach, under the covers. It was warm, and perfect. Ash hardly objected—then again, she was somewhat stiff.

When bedtime came (namely, the movie ended with a naval court-martial of all officers involved finding that they were both right and both wrong) Emily made a makeshift bed for Rumisiel consisting of her thick, comfortable sleeping-bag atop the seat cushions from the love seat and a pillow. She and Ash walked upstairs, slowly, as Ash popped the question she’d been waiting for.

“Where am I going to sleep?”

“Where do you think? My bed, of course. You’re my guest, after all.”

“I thought you only had one sleeping bag?”

“I do.”

Ash paused as they got to the top of the stairs. “Hold on, you’re not sleeping on the floor! Especially not as cold as it is tonight!”

“No, I’m not.” She opened the door to her bedroom and walked in, while Ash followed, a bit bewildered.

“You’re sleeping in your mom’s room?”

“She’d kill me. No, I’m sleeping in my bed.” Ash’s bewildered face quickly turned to surprise, and Emily smiled. “We’ve known each other how long? Is it really so creepy?”

Ash looked away, blushing. “You know, after that night with Rumisiel, when I woke up and found we were in my bed…”

Emily rolled her eyes, and smirked. “Come on. Besides, we’re just best friends, right? You have a girlfriend now, don’t you?”

“Uh…” Ash blushed beet red.

“Unless you’re going to suggest that one of us sleeps on the floor. And before you say it, I will not have you sleeping on my floor, Ash.”

Emily grinned triumphantly as Ash sighed. “Come on, Ash. Are you really afraid of sleeping with me?” Ash looked down, and Emily rolled her eyes. “Come on. It’s,” she checked her watch, and blanched, “too damn late.”

She walked to her closet and started taking out clothes—the same pair of capri pants and matching top Ash had worn last time, and a nightie for herself. Steeling herself, she simply disrobed—albeit with her back to Ash—and slipped into it. Turning around, she found Ash had turned around at some point, and had the pants on and was slipping into the top.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Emily smiled as she said it, sliding under the covers and pulling one pillow under her head, leaving the other for Ash. It wasn’t a terribly large bed, so they wound up with their arms touching. Ash looked highly uncomfortable with the situation, so Emily took Ash’s hand, squeezing it.

“Ash, is something wrong?”

Ash shook her head, and blushed. “Em, I… Um…”

“Not this again. Yes, Ash, I know you’re a boy inside. I don’t mind.” She squeezed, tighter. “You’re still my best girlfriend, even if you don’t like to admit it.” She smiled as Ash looked at her rather upset-looking. “Missi must be lucky to have you. As far as she knows, you’re a girl, but that doesn’t stop you two. So why should it stop you from being my best friend?”

Ash grumbled softly, and Emily squeezed her hand again. “Come on. We went clothes shopping today. You even gave me advice. I know, you don’t get a wonderful estrogen rush from doing that sort of thing, but you did it, and it made me feel very happy.”

Ash sighed, softly. “I’m not going to win this, am I? I could take you yelling at me, but you’re being so… nice.”

Emily let out a soft, muted giggle, squeezing tightly again. “Mmmmnope. Best just get used to me, ’cause I’m here to stay.

“Good night, Ash. Sleep well. At least one of us might.”

She closed her eyes, smiling as Ash replied, “Good night, Em,” and squeezed her hand in return, before letting go…

McArthur Residence, 4:13 AM

Emily awoke not to buzzing alarm clock, nor to voice, nor even the taste of lips upon her own, but to ringing—the immutable sound of the telephone. Emily sat up, groaning and looking for it, as Ash stirred. She slid to the side of the bed, hesitant to get out of the warm pocket generated by the proximity of Ash, but she reached out, snagging the phone. “Hello?” she asked curiously, expecting her mother.

“Am I speaking with Miss Emily McArthur?” The voice was deep, male, and businesslike.

A nameless, cold dread gripped Emily’s guts. “This is she,” she replied, sitting up.

Emily listened to the phone call, though it started to seem like a buzzing drone in her ear. She replied mutely, trembling, as Ash sat up to look at her. When the phone call was over, she dropped the receiver; didn’t hang it up, just dropped it. Her eyes were wide.

“Em? What was that?”

Emily shivered. She gulped. “It… it was North Adams Regional Hospital.” She turned to face Ash, pale as a ghost. “My mother was in a wreck trying to leave Greylock. They said that I should hurry if I could. That she wasn’t expected to live.”

Emily was trembling, the world was a buzzing faraway, as Ash’s eyes went wide as saucers. Then she threw the covers off. Emily watched, a bit dazedly, as Ash bolted from the bed, stripping out of her sleepwear and pulling her clothes back on.

“What are you…”

“You said we should hurry. Let’s go.”

“Ash, we can’t, it’s—”

“We can make it, Em. I’m not going to not try and get you to her.”

Emily sat, coldly for a few seconds, and she gulped, then darted from the bed herself, moving with a terrified speed as she threw her nightie off and pulled on her clothes again. They dashed down the stairs, and Ash yelled ahead of them. When they got there, Rumisiel was staring, bleary-eyed, from the sleeping bag. “What’s going on?”

Ash was in full take-control mode. “Emily’s mother’s in Greylock in a hospital, and they don’t think she’ll survive very long. We have to go.”

Rumisiel gulped softly, and groaned. “Ash… I can’t heal her.”

“What, is that some kind of stupid fucking rule?”

Rumisiel held his hands up. “Whoa, no! First off, it’s not, second off, you know me and rules. I said I can’t, not that I wouldn’t! I don’t know a damn thing about keeping people alive.”

“You… you can’t do anything?”

“I can’t, Em. I’m not that kind of Angel; I don’t have that kind of power.”

Emily looked down, and Ash pulled her close. “Em… Look, she might be okay. People have survived some amazing things. But either way, we need to get you to Greylock, now. Let’s go. Rumisiel, get your stuff on, let’s go.”

Rumisiel got out of the sleeping bag and pulled his clothes on as Ash and Emily walked to the front door. Ash pulled her keys out and opened the door. They made a run for the Monster XR as Rumisiel made a dash after them. The wind howled and tore at them, but Emily hardly paid attention to it. She was numb… Her mother, dying… Ash put the keys in. Turned them.

Rrrrrr-rrrr-rrrr! Rrrrrrr-rrrrr-rrrrrrr-rrr-rrrrrr!

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Ash smacked the console, trying the keys again. The engine turned over, but didn’t start. She tried it again and again, until cursing. “Damn it. There’s no way to tell what it is, and we can’t fix it in this weather anyway!” She tugged her jacket close, shivering. “Fuck… Come on.”

Emily stared as Ash got out, walking towards the house.

“We’re just giving up?” She was incredulous, horrified.

“Like hell we’re giving up! We’re calling for reinforcements!”

Although she didn’t understand what Ash was referring to, Emily made a dash for the house as well, with Rumisiel in hot pursuit. She unlocked the door, and Ash went in, walking to the phones.

“Oh man, this is crazy. Absolutely crazy, but it’s the only chance we’ve got.”

Ash picked up the phone. Dialed. Waited as the phone rang. And rang. Eventually it was picked up.

“Do yeh know woh’ the bloody time it is?” The voice on the end of the phone was unmistakably a very sleepy Harry.

Ash licked her dry lips, steeling herself for the monumental favor she was about to ask for.

“Yes, Harry, I know what time it is. I wouldn’t call if it weren’t an emergency. I need a four wheel drive car.”

“Woh? Ye go daft on me or somethin’, luv? You’ve goh my bloody project car!”

“It won’t start. Frozen, and I need to go now. Harry, it’s Em’s mom. She’s in the hospital in Greylock. And she’s dying, Harry. I need to get Em to Greylock, now.”

Emily’s eyes went wide, listening to the conversation, then she closed them. Hearing the word ‘dying’ made it all so much worse, so very real. It was like a gut-punch.

“Em’s mum? Bloody hell, Ash… Oh, goh’ save us, the garage is still snowed in, and I drive a rear-wheeler. Wai’ a mo, hol’ the phone.” Harry’s voice disappeared from the phone for several seconds, with a whispered conversation on the other end. “We’re on our way. Wha’s’ the address?”

Ash provided the address, and hung up the phone. She looked at Em, and gulped. “Best we can do… I don’t know what they’re up to, if the garage is snowed in…”

As it turned out, it wasn’t long until they found out—maybe twenty minutes. The arrival of their rescue was heralded by an all-too-familiar roaring engine, and one Emily didn’t recognize. She ran to the window and stared—Kate’s Jaguar and a cherry-apple red XR4Ti were chugging up the road. Mutely she noted that Harry must have been a very, very good driver, to manage a rear-wheel beast like an XR4Ti on ice and snow, even at slow speeds. The cars parked, and Emily and Ash ran out. Rumisiel simply stayed behind, with a sigh—he had a feeling he knew what was going on.

Kate was already standing outside the Jaguar when Ash ran up. She tossed the keys high—Ash caught them with deftness, just as deftly as Kate caught her in a strong hug. The wind had picked up, catching her yellow hair and making it billow straight into the sky. “Be careful, little sister! She’s got more horses than anything you’ve ever driven before.”

Ash nodded, staring up at Kate’s face, her eyes slightly teary. Emily could see, with a twinge, just how affected she was; it must have been a strong feeling, she mused, that she could perceive it even with her mother on her mind.

“I will be, Kate. Thank you… big sister,” Ash murmured, extremely quiet, and slipped from the embrace, settling into the driver’s seat as Emily got into the passenger seat. She buckled in as Ash pulled the door shut, and Kate walked back to the waiting XR4Ti.

“Ash…” Emily looked up, and Ash nodded, putting the keys in.

“Her Jag. I can hardly believe it.” She turned the keys—the engine ROARED to life with a sound that shook Emily’s guts. Emily managed a weak smile, settling back into the seat, stroking the console softly.

Ash threw the car into first gear and tested the gas, lightly. The Jag spun a little as it lurched forward, the powerful engine pushing it into the street. They were underway, but the grimness of their mission meant that neither could enjoy the new and unique sensation of driving Kate’s legendary Jag.

“This thing’s hard to control,” Ash noted, as they nosed onto the highway. “It puts out so many horses… And paradoxically, it gets stronger in the cold.”

“How is that?”

“This monster’s supercharged, not turbocharged. A turbo kicks in over a certain RPM; the supercharger is manually driven from the engine. It’s just like a turbo, but always on, so you get a lot steeper power curve. And you know how an intercooler works, right?”

“Colder air is denser air, and there’s more molecules to combust… Oh! Having an intercooler on a night like tonight is feeding drastically subzero air into the engine, giving it a lot more oxygen to burn.”

“Yeah… She’s a beast, all right.” Even so, it was a struggle—in Kate’s Jag, the struggle was to stay at a ‘safe’ velocity (for certain values of safe, given the conditions), while still keeping traction. Going at full highway speed was absolutely out of the question, and Emily held tightly onto the dash, staring ahead. The banter kind of failed to materialize—the comment about the Jag being a monster had started a short conversation, but the silence was pervasive, deafening.

Emily wished she could enjoy it—driving with Ash in the fastest (and by far the most expensive and luxurious) car she knew of—but the icy chill gripping her guts was too much. She waited in silence, watching, waiting. Then disaster.

“The road’s closed?” Emily groaned, as Ash nosed the car up to barriers, and cursed. Emily closed her eyes, then licked her lips. “Route 8 goes up the windward side of Greylock. The roads will be a mess of snow. But Highway 7…”

“The other side of the mountain—the wind is blowing from the ocean. It’ll be caught on Greylock. We can go east at Williamstown.” The orange-haired tuner girl put the pedal down again, though much less thoroughly than she would have if the weather were clear. They made good time, given the prevailing weather conditions, though Emily worried.

It’s been over an hour… Please, let her be okay… Please, let me see her…

Emily wanted to cry, but didn’t have the energy. Finally she looked up, as they passed to the north of the mountain; they were so close, but the visibility was so damn awful. They started onto a causeway over a frozen river.

The big rig came out of nowhere. The visibility was so poor, it wasn’t honking its air horn until it was far too late. Ash threw the wheel, hard. Air brakes screeched. Mass impacted mass, and airbags deployed, as Emily thudded into them.

No… I don’t want to die an ironic death, she thought, as the car spun. Something heavy crunched, and she realized the car had broken partly through the bridge’s sidewall. The front was a mess in front of them.

”Ash?” Emily let out a moan, and looked. She undid her belt, trying to see Ash through the darkness. The orange-haired tuner was in worse shape—she was half-trapped, trying to free herself. Emily yanked airbag from her face, and Ash gasped.

“Ugh! Kate’s gonna fucking kill me.”

“At least you’re alive for now. Gods, we’ve got to get out of here. I think the front’s over the edge.” That galvanized Ash. Emily opened her door and got out. She went to the other side, and gasped as she saw what was wrong—the driver’s side door was flush with the broken segment of wall. Ash was trapped. She saw Ash struggle to open the window, which through some miracle still worked, and reached in. But Ash was still going to have to crawl over the railing to get out, if she could get out from under the wheel.

“Ash? Gods, Ash… Come on, we’re so close. We can walk the rest of the way.” The rig wasn’t in sight, so Emily just turned her attention double to Ash.

It was fiddly, scary work, pulling Ash half out of the car. Slowly Ash worked out from under the steering wheel, gripping the railing hard. Emily held her tightly as she crawled onto the railing. Then the wind hit.

It was like the wash of a jet engine. It picked up Ash, hurling her off the bridge, into the air. Holding onto the bridge’s railing and Emily’s hand for dear life, Ash screamed Emily’s name. Ash hit the bridge’s side with a sickening thud, legs dangling—that was a long way down. Her green eyes shimmered as she stared into Emily’s eyes, scrabbling for a purchase to climb up, while Emily held tightly. But the wind was too strong.

The next gust broke Emily’s hold on Ash as she was ripped away from the railing. Her green eyes went wide, it was surreal. First her mother, now Ash? Emily vaguely, mutedly perceived the world even as she reached out towards the falling figure, screaming out Ash’s name as the wind howled around her, then died, just in time for her to hear the flat, sickening crunch as Ash hit the ice below.

“No, no, no!” Emily ran for the embankment, leapt over the railing, and slid down the side to the frozen riverbed on her back, scrabbling over ice and frozen ground. She hit the icy riverbed and ran towards Ash. Miraculously she didn’t slip and fall, skidding to a stop on her knees next to Ash. Reaching out, she took Ash’s shoulders.

Ash stared back at her—conscious, though trembling. “E-Em? I c-can’t feel anything…”

Emily closed her eyes—she knew that could only mean a broken spinal cord. “Ash… God, Ash… I’m here…” she cried, staring down into the green-eyed tuner’s face, horrified.

“I’m… I’m going to die,” Ash murmured, with a sort of horrified finality.

“No, no you’re not! You’re going to be fine, Ash…” She knew it was stupid, it was futile, but on her knees, next to the girl she loved, she couldn’t say anything else. “Ash… Ash, I love you. You’ve got to be fine…” She wrapped one hand under Ash’s head, as Ash stared into her eyes, trembling.

Then the creak came, over the howl of the wind. Emily ignored it, but the shriek got her attention. She looked up, watching the Jaguar above, poking out over the bridge’s edge.

“Em… go,” Ash whispered, even as the car pitched over the edge.

Emily leaned down, pressing her lips to Ash’s as the sound of an object falling rapidly hit her ears.

McArthur Residence, 4:33 AM

Emily awoke with a sob, the lurching feeling in her guts wracking her body, the sound of the shrieking metal mountain falling towards her fresh in her ears, though she couldn’t remember it. She was trembling from the core of herself, eyes open, gasping Ash’s name.

“I’m here, Em.”

Emily’s eyes focused, realizing her hand was clenched tightly by Ash, whose green eyes were staring into her own magenta ones.

“Nightmare?”

Emily’s eyes were filled with tears. The horror of it had been so real, so soul-wrenching. She could hardly believe her eyes, feeling Ash’s hand reassuringly pat her shoulder.

“You okay, Em? You were saying some—mmmf!”

Emily cut Ash off by pressing into her, hard, pushing Ash down to the bed. She minced no words, she didn’t hesitate. The kiss was hot and strong, born of a deep, desperate need to assure herself that her friend—her love—was safe. Then one kiss turned into a long, long kiss, with her hand sliding under Ash’s head, fist clenching her hair. Ash didn’t resist—she let Emily kiss her, her eyes wide.

They popped away with a hard gasp on Emily’s teary-eyed part, and she wailed Ash’s name, quietly.

“I thought you were… I thought we… Oh, God, Ash…” she whimpered, as Ash wrapped her arms around her.

“Shhh, Em. Don’t talk about it… I’m here, Emily, I’m here,” she murmured, as Emily trembled at the close, warm contact, pressing herself into Ash’s soft curves, wrapping her legs around one of the tuner’s, burning with a need to be one with her, to be as close as possible.

“Ash… Ash, I… I love you, Ash… I… God, I said it. I mean it…” She trembled, as Ash’s eyes went wide. “Please… Don’t leave me,” she whispered, pressing back into Ash’s body, burying her head atop the curve of one of Ash’s breasts, nestled in under her cheek.

“Em… I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere…” Ash’s hand held Emily’s head tightly to her, and she swung her leg out, catching Emily between her legs, pulling her atop herself. They met again in a deep kiss, Emily’s body trembling, burning with the distinct feeling of a lurch. It felt like the kiss with Ash was capable of moving mountains, and she flattened herself into it, her mind foggy with the twin hazes of terror (from the dream) and abject pleasure coming from the intense kiss.

Ash slid her hands up Emily’s back, squeezing her, softly. As the kiss broke, she smiled. “I’m not going anywhere, Emily. You love me?”

Emily nodded, and let out another sniffle. “I’m sorry I’ve been stringing you along, Ash. I… I couldn’t come to grips with it… But that dream, it was so real… It convinced me you were dead… I… Oh, Ash!”

They kissed again, and Emily sobbed, nuzzling into Ash—the orange-haired tuner perceptively squeezed Emily against herself, gently rocking. “I… I love you, Em…”

Emily looked up into Ash’s green eyes, and smiled, beautifully, as she closed her eyes, murmuring Ash’s name in Ash’s ear, relaxing finally. She just wanted to be held like that… by her tuner Ash. And Ash held her, as long as she wanted, pressing her lips to Emily’s ear. The soft three words she whispered made Emily sigh, and she smiled. “I love you too, Ash. Please… Don’t let go of me.”

She didn’t.

3. After The Dream

McArthur Residence, 6:00 AM

The wind shook the house again, windowpanes clattering as the glass inside struggled against it, threatening to burst free and admit frigid, blisteringly cold air into the house. Yet, she didn’t worry. She was warm, content. Her eyes glanced at her watch, she noted the time, and looked away, then looked back. The digital read-out remained consistent, and Emily smiled. The warm body below hers shifted, a hand clasping stronger against her shoulder, another hand’s fingers laced with her own, squeezing, as she stared out at the cloudy, gray sky. Her head was lying on a shoulder, and her legs wrapped around a third, her feet gently caressing her bedmate’s.

“Ash.” She still quivered when she thought the name. She knew she was blushing, but beside all of her fright and neuroses, a new emotion blossomed and took root—determination. Determination not to slip back into denial. She raised her head, placing her lips on the tuner’s cheek. She kissed, softly, slowly, yielding, gentle, Ash’s cheek giving way under her touch.

“Ngh… E-Em?”

The blue-haired girl smiled as Ash stirred, batting her eyes open. “She’s so pretty, even when she’s not trying.” Emily leaned over and up a bit, shifting from Ash’s side to slightly atop her, their breasts pressing together. Although an alien sensation, awkward and slightly unnerving (at least in the context of ‘I love this girl’ as opposed to ‘hugging my best friend’), it was a good feeling.

“Em… was it a dream?”

“No, Ash. It wasn’t a dream. I kissed you.” She hugged Ash, tightly; Ash automatically returned the tightening of arms, holding Emily to her.

“Em?” Ash said, quietly, as the blue-haired, studious girl laid her head on Ash’s collarbone, stretching out against her.

“Yes?” Emily looked up, as Ash looked down—their eyes met.

“Did you really say…” She trailed off, blushing softly.

Emily nodded, stretching one hand under the orange-haired tuner’s body to cup the back of her head. “Yes, Ash. I do love you…” She closed her eyes, trembling once as emotions, confusing and conflicting, welled up inside of her. “I can’t… I just can’t pretend I don’t anymore, Ash. I can’t continue to be bitterly jealous of Missi, and not even tell you why.” Her hand squeezed Ash’s, their fingers still laced; she looked at their joined hands, smiling at the interlacing of her light-blue fingernails and Ash’s unpainted ones.

“Jealous? O-Of Missi?”

“Yes, Ash. Jealous of her. It made me feel so bad, and I told myself everything I could think of to ignore the fact that… that I saw her as a rival. I know what I told you, but…” Emily let out a soft, pitiful sigh. “I’m sorry, it’s still weird to talk about this, especially with you. But I need to tell you. You deserve to know.” She looked up into Ash’s expressive green eyes, filled with a tense, nervous look. Emily imagined she looked just the same, as she pulled herself slightly up, laying her head against Ash’s cheek. Ash’s hand slid up her back, over her neck, sinking into her hair. Emily arched into it, bringing her lips to Ash’s; they met, softly, hesitantly. Warmth curled out from the sensation of Ash’s lips on hers, and she trembled, her eyes tearing slightly.

“Em? Are you okay,” Ash asked, eyes focused on the tears.

“I am, Ash. I just… It’s so… I feel torn. All my life, I’ve thought I was a normal, heterosexual girl. And then you come along, and I feel so different around you… I’m sorry, this has got to be ripping you up in—mmmf?” Emily blinked, realizing that Ash had silenced her with a finger over her lips.

“Emily, those are your feelings. Do not apologize for them.”

Emily blinked. Then she burst into tears, even as she smiled, tugging Ash’s hand from her lips. She leaned in, and they met. It was sweet, and warm. Slow, too; neither she nor Ash ended it before letting the kiss end itself, as all things must. She smiled. “You remembered…”

Ash’s hands linked behind her back, in the small, and Emily leaned in, this time sliding her head next to Ash’s.

“Ash… I…” She sucked in breath, slowly letting it out. “I’m not sure I can… you know…”

“Sex?”

“Yeah. I don’t know if I can go there… yet… I just…” Emily let her lips find Ash’s earlobe, which caused Ash to let a soft, pleased sound out.

“I know, Em… I don’t think I can, either. But…” Ash’s hands unlinked, one of them laying flat against the small of Emily’s back, the other moving up, hugging her around the shoulders.

“You can’t?” Emily blinked. “But you and Missi…”

“Never went… Never went there, Em. Not that far…” Ash huffed softly in her ear, and Emily raised her head, realizing that Ash was as uncomfortable as she was. “We… well, we made out some, you know… but, ah… I just kind of… froze, when she wanted to go further.” Ash blushed, and Emily responded by sliding her hand under Ash’s head, gently supporting her again.

“Go on, Ash,” Emily softly murmured.

“It’s… Em, I’m still a boy. You remember that, right?”

“Yes, Ash. I know…” She reached up with her other hand, stroking the side of Ash’s head.

“For the last ten months, I’ve been focused on trying to get back… But now?”

Ash closed her eyes, tilting her head away. “I… The only girlfriends I’ve ever had have only known me as a girl. I never knew my mother before, but now we have a more-or-less standing invitation to drive to Cape Cod to visit her. Harry’s getting married to a girl we exorcised of the specter of her sister… And it’s all thanks to the Misfile.” She let out another sigh, rubbing her lips on Emily’s wrist; the blue-haired girl declined to interrupt.

“And now I wind up doing… Well, ‘girly’ things with you. Like that thing in the restroom at the diner, or going clothes shopping… And…”

Emily smiled, kissing Ash’s cheek. “You’re afraid you’re losing yourself, aren’t you? Ash, you’ve always been you.” She gently rubbed her nose, her lips, on Ash’s cheek. “Honestly, has anything really changed? You’re still a hell-raising, death-defying racecar driver. You’re still a wizard mechanic, you still do everything you used to, don’t you?”

Ash looked up, and their eyes met. “Well… almost everything,” she said, looking to the side. “Almost?” Emily watched Ash blush.

“Well… Y’know, uhm… I haven’t… since…”

“Haven’t what?”

“Y’know… To girly pictures… I mean, I look at them, but… I…”

Emily blinked, confused. “Oh? Oh! Oh, oh… Oh, Ash…” She smiled softly in return.

“I tried. I just…”

“Does it still make you feel the same way, even if you haven’t been able to masturbate?”

The blush on Ash’s face spread, creeping down her neck. “Uhm…”

“Well?” Emily pressed Ash’s shoulders. “Do you still get aroused for girls?”

“You know I do!” Ash blushed furiously now, staring into Emily’s eyes.

“Then the problem is your body?”

“I don’t know anymore, Em… I mean, I know I’m different. It’s just… I’ve been a girl so long…” Emily leaned in, and pressed her lips to Ash’s cheek. “You just feel, well, ‘like you’, right?”

“It scares me, Emily. I’m afraid I’m losing myself, and I know it’s stupid, but…”

“It’s not stupid, Ash.” Emily squeezed her hand again. “It’s how you feel. Don’t apologize for that, right?”

“What do you think, Emily? Really?”

She took a breath, thinking, before responding. “Well… I can’t tell you what to think, Ash.” Emily laid her head down, again, on Ash’s collarbone. “I’ve never known you as a boy. I honestly… I honestly can’t form a mental image of you as a boy. I’ve tried,” she added, as Ash went quiet. “I just can’t. You just feel… well, ‘this is Ash’, when you’re near me. I guess I kind of see you as the arch-tomboy, but not as a boy in a girl’s body. Maybe if you’d started as a girl and been switched to your old body, I’d have a hard time seeing you as a girl in a boy’s body, but as an effeminate boy. Not that you’re effeminate,” she added, hurriedly. “You’re not. Sometimes a bit of ‘girly’ pokes out, and I like that, but most of the time, you’re, well… just you. I’m not making any sense, am I? I’m sorry, I’m making things worse…”

“No, Em, you’re not. You’re just…” Ash sighed, over her ear—causing a shiver of thrill to run down Emily’s spine. “I just feel… very lost, Em. Part of me feels like something’s missing, but more and more of me doesn’t… And I feel a lot like some of that ‘missing’ was filled in when you, well, curled against me last night.”

“Do you think everything would feel right if you got your old body back, Ash?” Ash’s silence was telling. “You don’t, do you? You can’t say for sure, and that makes you worry.”

“Yeah… It’s scary, Em.” Ash curled her arms around Emily, hugging her tightly—Emily returned the gesture of comfort.

“Well… have you thought about… you know… just trying?”

“Trying to turn myself male? I’m not an Angel or anything…”

“No, I mean… just trying to forget about trying to undo the Misfile, even if just for a bit…”

Ash was silent again, and Emily kissed her throat, softly. “No matter what happens, our lives have been irrevocably altered by the Misfile, changed in ways we didn’t expect or desire. You more so than me, but…” Emily closed her eyes. “I was changed, too. I was almost out of here, away from my mother, I could taste freedom on the wind… And then it was snatched away from me, Ash. Like snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. It crushed me, a bit. But then we started to become best friends…”

Emily looked up into Ash’s eyes. “And then more… And you started teaching me about cars, and… Ash, I’ve had more fun, more enjoyment, more excitement and happiness and laughter in my life in the time since the Misfile than in all the years before then.”

Emily laced her fingers with Ash’s again, and Ash nodded, slowly leaning up, kissing Emily’s forehead.

“I would’ve been dead, Ash. I really do believe that, now. But even if not… what did I have? Just more… confusion? A life of living my mother’s dream that was interrupted because she had me? Marrying a man I might or might not have loved, wondering why I never felt happy, physically or emotionally?”

Emily buried her head in Ash’s pajama shirt, sniffling softly. “But the Misfile made me face a lot of things I didn’t want to face. Two more years of high school… Two more years of being under the yoke… Whether or not I was… whether or not I was gay.”

She sighed. “I still don’t have any answers, Ash. I can’t just say ‘I’m straight’, or ‘I’m gay’, or even ‘I’m bi’, because I don’t know. I still feel miserable about being here, with my mother being demanding and overbearing. But I feel good when you’re with me. I feel good when you’re holding me, or talking to me, or we’re playing a video game, or driving fast… I feel good being around you, Ash. And when I think about… about…”

Again, Ash supplied it for her, “About sex? W-With me?”

Emily felt her cheeks flush red, but she nodded. “Yes… It confuses me, Ash, twists my guts up. But I still like the thought. It’s two feelings at once, one half of me saying, ‘you’re not strange, you’re normal, you’re not gay’, the other half saying, ‘it’s Ash, she’s pretty and tough and you want her… you…’ Ugh, I’m rambling.”

Ash laughed softly, and squeezed her hand in return. “That’s okay. You needed to… I guess I did, too, and I needed to ramble, too.” She kissed Emily, softly, on the lips; Emily responded warmly, pressing into it.

“So, what you’re saying, Em… Is that we don’t know how things are going to turn out… But we shouldn’t wait for them to sort themselves out? We should look for answers ourselves?”

“Y-yes… exactly. It’s not going to be easy, Ash…”

“It never is, Em. To be honest, I’m terrified, but excited, too… I… I want to try.”

Ash sat up, pulling Emily into her lap; Emily wrapped her legs around Ash’s waist, and tilted the orange-haired tuner’s head against her collarbone. Ash leaned in without resistance, kissing Emily above the hem of her nightie, on the collarbone itself.

“We’re going to have to take this slow, Em.”

“I know, Ash. I won’t push you too far.”

Ash nodded, rubbing her head into Emily, taking in a deep, slow breath, and letting it out even slower. “I trust you,” she said, finally, and Emily lowered her hands, taking each of Ash’s.

Their eyes met, and for what felt like a short eternity, they stared into one another, moving together, connecting. Emily raised her hand to the back of Ash’s head, holding the orange-haired tuner’s head against hers as their lips met, parted, sinking into the warm embrace, both sets of eyes open.

They were disturbed by Emily’s alarm clock coming on—the radio, in specific. Both heads turned as the clock clicked over to 6:15, the soothing strains of a soft, slow-rock song coming on, the singer crooning, “Thank youuuuu, for loving meeeee…” and continuing on to sing about the person he was referring to picking him up when he fell down.

“Do you believe in omens, Ash?”

Ash chuckled softly. “Sure, why not. I mean, I believe in angels and spirits, don’t I?”

Emily tugged at Ash’s shoulder, hugging her quickly and warmly, as a prelude to standing up, which she did, followed by Ash.

Wordlessly, Emily crossed to her window, staring up at the gray, cloudy, but more-or-less calm skies, as she felt Ash slide in behind her, an arm around her back.

“It’s Saturday, and we’ve got no parents in the whole town…”

“Mmm, that’s right…” Emily smiled warmly. “We have all of today, and probably all of tomorrow, to ourselves. If this storm keeps up and kills school on Monday, well… that’s it for the year!”

“That’d be nice.” Ash’s hand slid up her back, squeezing Emily’s shoulder, and the blue-haired girl leaned into her friend.

“We should get showered, I suppose.”

“Yeah. It’s your house—you go first. I’ll go get breakfast made.”

Emily smiled, tittering softly, turning within Ash’s embrace and reaching up, sliding one finger along Ash’s lips.

“Did I say anything about taking turns?”

The blush that spread across Ash’s face, and the uncomfortable turning of her head made Em’s guts twist in a knot.

“T-Too fast?”

“A… a bit.” Ash closed her eyes. “It’s not that I don’t like the idea, I-I…”

Emily gently hugged her, pressing her head into Ash’s shoulder. “Do you want to try?” She almost held her breath, as she felt Ash’s head nodding against hers.

“Y-Yeah. I’ll give it a try, Em…”

Emily bit her lip. “Are you okay with it?” Her hands slid down, taking Ash’s.

“I’m… Ugh, I feel like a wimp, but I’m so nervous…”

Emily responded by looking down as well. “I’m terrified, Ash. I’m afraid I’ll panic, or I’ll make you feel awful, or I’ll do something stupid, or—” she blinked, being cut off by Ash’s finger, followed by the slightly-larger girl’s arms wrapping around her shoulders.

“You’re afraid, but you suggested it?” Emily nodded, and Ash gently kissed her cheek. “That’s…” She smiled, shook her head, and squeezed Emily (who felt like she was going to melt into Ash’s grip). “I’ll… well, if you want to try…”

Ash still sounded nervous—then again, Emily knew she herself was nervous. She nodded, and took Ash’s hand, walking into her bathroom, with Ash following. She could feel Ash’s hand trembling, and Emily realized she was, too. She turned around to face Ash. “Um…” They paused, each unsure of what to do. Hesitantly, Ash reached for the hem of her pajamas top, slowly pulling it up, looking decidedly uncomfortable.

“… I’ll turn around, Ash.” She reached out, stroking, caressing the back of Ash’s hand with her fingertips, and turned around, with an audible sigh of relief from Ash. “Are you okay with this, Ash?”

Her reply was uncertain at best. “I don’t know… But I do know I want to try, Em.” The blue-hair nodded, and pulled her nightie off, revealing her bare back to Ash. She reached into the tub, turning the water on to a nice, hot twist, and stepped in, in the middle, facing the spigot. “I won’t turn around until you ask me to. If you ask me to.”

A soft sigh came from behind her—she heard Ash’s breath go in, holding for a moment. “… Thank you, Emily.” Ash stepped into the tub, and pulled the shower curtain closed, shrouding the shower in near-total darkness. Emily pulled the plug that redirected water to the showerhead.

Both yelped, more-or-less at the same time, as they were hit by the blast of cold water, which had been sitting in the pipe, evacuating itself ahead of the hot water from the heater hitting them. Emily felt goose bumps rise all along her body. “Whew… T-that was cold,” Ash muttered, behind her. “Glad I don’t have to do this at home, with the heaters all down…”

“I thought you were an expert at taking cold showers,” Emily retorted, making Ash chuckle quietly. “Ah… Maybe a little.”

It brought a grin to Emily’s face, and she sighed happily. “This is weird… but then, we’re weird people, aren’t we?” She slid her hand back, felt Ash’s take it. “Yeah…”

Smiling at the hand clasping hers, Emily gently ran her thumb over Ash’s palm. “You holding up? Tell me if you feel overwhelmed… And don’t feel like admitting it would be sissy, because it’s not.”

Ash squeezed her hand, quick and firm. “No. It’s… I’m okay, Em. How about you?”

Her eyes looked down at the floor of the tub. “I’m terrified, Ash. I keep thinking, ‘am I going to do something wrong, or make her angry, or freak?’ But I’ll be okay…”

Ash’s hand tightened around her own, and Emily smiled softly at the feeling. She reached back, finding Ash’s other hand, drawing it around her body, pressing her friend’s hand against her stomach, holding it there. Ash leaned in, instinctively—Emily’s eyes closed, smiling happily at the feeling of her friend’s warm, wet flesh pressing into her back. Ash trembled, but didn’t pull away.

Ash’s intake of breath whispered over Emily’s ear. “W-What should I do, Em?”

The blue-haired girl leaned back, just enough to register the pressure on Ash. “Only what you’re comfortable doing, Ash.” Lips brushed her neck, but didn’t kiss—the hands on her stomach moved up, pressing into her sternum, but failed to travel all the way up to her breasts.

She waited, but Ash didn’t move further. “Are you okay?” Emily quietly asked, reaching up and laying a hand gently over Ash’s; Ash’s hands trembled.

“I… don’t know. I want to… to squeeze you, but I… Mmm.”

Emily chuckled softly. “You have me right where you wanted me, and now you’re having a hard time? I understand, Ash.”

“You do?”

“You’re working up the nerve, right?”

“Yeah, how’d you… Oh, right.”

“Why don’t you do something else for a bit… relax…”

“Something like…?”

“As cheesy as it may sound…” She pulled forward, reaching down and plucking her bottle of shampoo from the corner of the tub. “Hmm?”

It got a chuckle from Ash. “Yeah. That I can do. Bend down.” Emily handed the bottle back, closed her eyes, and got on one knee; she smiled at the feeling of the slick, cool liquid falling into her hair, then Ash’s hands digging in, fingers lathering it into her long, blue hair.

Behind her, Ash remarked, “This seems cheesy… But it feels nice.”

“Your fingers feel very good on my head. Keep doing that…”

Emily fell into almost a trance, with Ash’s fingers working through her hair—it felt so good, so intimate. Ash tilted her head into the spray, moving her head back and forth, side to side, until she was rinsed clean. “That was weird… but… you liked it?”

Ash answered with a soft ‘mm-hmm’, and leaned in, hugging Emily from behind, tugging her warmly into her own body; Emily leaned back without resistance, her hands sliding down, around Ash’s back, without looking at all.

“Want me to do yours?”

“… Uh… Okay, Em.”

Ash gently let go, and Emily did likewise. She slid around Ash without looking, taking the bottle from her friend’s hand. Once behind Ash, she opened her eyes, blinking water from her eyelashes. She reached out with one hand, placing it between Ash’s shoulder blades, with a soft tremble. “Ash… mm, thank you,” Emily murmured, hugging Ash from behind, her arms around Ash’s shoulders, pressing her cheek into her friend’s.

“For what?”

Ash’s cheeks were burning hotter, and Emily could feel it even though they were in the hot shower. It made her smile. “Being here. For trying… For staying…” She kissed Ash’s cheek, softly. “For bearing with me through all the crazy times I’ve put you through…”

Ash slowly turned in her arms, and Emily gasped as she found herself face-to-face with Ash, her breasts being pressed against Ash’s. She knew her face was red, and could see Ash’s had flushed just as red; but wordlessly, Ash wrapped her arms around her. Emily leaned up, arching her back, trembling; their lips met, softly. She closed her eyes to focus on the conflicting emotions coiling within her: affection, camaraderie, and love teamed up against self-revulsion, while naked lust coiled comfortably around her guts, its tendrils reaching throughout her body, setting her hips, her chest, her head aflame. It was heady; it was perfect. It was awkward, her hands reaching up Ash’s back, her blue fingernails digging into her friend’s flesh as her lips opened into the kiss.

It hit her with the suddenness of an oncoming freight train, as she realized Ash’s nails were sinking into her own back, the orange-haired tuner was arching, pushing her breasts into Emily’s, and her tongue slid between their joined lips, seeking into Emily’s mouth; she was standing nude, in her shower, making out with another girl—her best friend. Her love.

She tasted Ash’s tongue on hers. It sent a shock through her body; pleasure, naked and raw, pulsed through her body and seared through her mind, tugging at her in ways that made the word ‘lust’ seem inadequate to the description. Emily cried out, pulling out of the kiss, falling back, eyes closed. She was breathing hard as she half-fell, catching herself on the back corner of the tub; her eyes opened as she looked up, in time to see Ash’s face flush from ‘pleasure’ to ‘horror’, watching Emily recoil. She looked terrified.

“T-Too fast?” Ash’s voice was laced with trepidation.

“T-Too intense,” Emily replied, reaching up, trembling hands squeezing around one of Ash’s. “I-I wasn’t ready for… for how intense it was.” She realized that the shaking hands weren’t just hers—Ash was trembling. She settled down from her half-crouch, sitting into the back of the tub, reaching up for Ash. “D-Don’t apologize, Ash… You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Ash nervously leaned in, braced on the sides of the tub; Emily scooted forward. They met, Ash’s weight settling onto her thighs, the trembling, blushing tuner’s eyes closed. “Em?”

Her arms wrapped around Ash again, Emily replied, “Yes, Ash?”

“Are you… okay?”

“Y-Yes… I’m fine, Ash. Just… fine…” She laid her head on Ash’s shoulder, and Ash did likewise so that they pressed their necks together. “I’m just… Okay, I loved it, Ash. That scares me, but I can’t ignore it.” Her hand stroked Ash’s back, tracing over the indentations her fingernails left.

“I know what you mean, Em.”

“You do?”

“Yeah… I…” She hesitated, and laid her head into Emily’s hair. “It… It’s very… very scary, being this close to you, a-as a girl… It’s very scary, but I can’t ignore how I feel, h-how you… How you make me feel, Emily.” She let out a ragged, soft sigh, and Emily stroked her back, softly, supportingly.

“Like that time you had that dream, at your mother’s…”

Ash nodded, and Emily softly kissed her cheek. “It was… God, I feel so weird saying it, but it was good… intense… And when I’m not actually thinking, it feels… well…”

She trailed off, and Emily supplied the finisher, saying, “It feels right, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah…”

Emily leaned back slightly and reached out to hold Ash’s head. They stared into each other’s eyes.

They leaned in, but instead of kissing, pressed their foreheads together, nose-tips touching. Ash’s eyes closed, followed by hers, and Emily focused on the soft sound of their breathing, the muted rattle of the house as the morning sun kicked up the wind, and the sound of the hot water beating on Ash’s back.

Finally she opened her eyes again. “Ready to get out?”

“Yeah… and… thank you, Em.”

They kissed softly, gently, as Ash stood up first, helping Emily to her feet. She turned around and shut off the water as Emily pulled the curtain back, and they stepped out of the tub. Emily snagged towels—four of them—from her cabinet, wrapping one around herself and one around her hair. Ash wrapped one around herself, then looked back up at Em.

“Er… how do you do that?”

Emily laughed softly, taking the towel and wrapping it around Ash’s hair, describing what she was doing as she did it. “Think you’ve got it now?”

“Uh… yeah, I’ll manage.”

The sunlight sparkled through the clouds as Emily led the way back to her bedroom, and she smiled widely. “Wow. It looks like it might be a nice day after all.”

“Yeah… Yeah, it does!”

“You’re in a good mood. I like it.”

Emily sat on the bed, and smiled at Ash, who lay back next to her, staring at the ceiling. There was a certain, positive ‘glow’ about Ash, and Emily said, “You look happy, too. That makes me feel a lot better about everything.”

“Yeah… seeing you in a good mood makes me feel better, too.”

She reached into her nightstand, taking out a bottle of nail polish by feel, and peered at the color—a light, powdery blue (the same color, more or less, as the XR4Ti). “Hmmm,” she murmured.

“What’s up?”

Emily held up the bottle, getting an, ‘Oh’ from Ash, as she opened it. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“I’m in no hurry…”

“Hmm, no, I don’t think so. Not today.” She put the bottle back and took out another, this one bright, bright red, and began delicately applying the pigment to her fingernails. Ash, strangely enough, watched with mild interest, which eventually made Emily look over. “I thought you didn’t like this kind of thing?”

“I don’t!” Ash was quick to exclaim, blushing. “It’s just… kinda weird. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you not with painted nails.”

“Heh. Taking an interest in it, then?” She grinned, and Ash blushed, squirming slightly.

“No… And by no I mean, ‘god I hope not, but maybe sorta yes’.”

“Uh… why are you staring at me?” Ash’s cheeks started to flush again. “I find this very amusing, but I’m trying very hard not to laugh.”

“That’s not nice, Em.”

“I know; that’s why I’m not laughing.” Emily leaned down next to Ash’s head, staring at her cheek.

“Uh…”

“Nothing.” Emily straightened up, and smiled, continuing her delicate work. “Hey, didn’t you have fingernail polish on that night in Cape Cod? The one where you wore that dress and watched Cassiel get into a fist-fight and got the money to pay back Harry?”

“Yeah, I did. They were red.” She shook her head. “That was scary. I just looked away while they were doing that.”

“What, you mean like getting blood drawn?”

“Yeah… Only it was longer.”

“And how did you get rid of it?”

“Alcohol. I soaked my hands in rubbing alcohol that night… You know, I had a race the next day, I didn’t want to be seen with fingers that were cherry red.”

“Mmmmmmm. I wish I’d seen you in that dress…” Emily sighed softly.

“Uh… You can, sort-of, maybe. I got a package from my mom in the mail yesterday. I forgot about it as I was freezing to death, but it has pictures in it again. It might have some of that night.”

“Ooooh, that sounds like fun! We’ll have to go and rescue those pictures from your house today.”

She grinned, and sat up cross-legged, beginning to apply the polish to her toes, as Ash watched again. Ash blushed when Emily glanced at her. “If you keep on staring, I may have to teach you to do this yourself.”

Ash’s blush deepened. “That’s mean.”

“Yeah. Now who’s giving who a hard time?” Emily laughed, reaching out and stroking Ash’s cheek with her finger’s pads. “I think I know what your problem is, Ash. You want to be attractive to me, don’t you?” Ash blushed even deeper, and Emily laughed softly. “Oh, I’m right! This is great.”

“Okay… Um, maybe,” Ash muttered, noncommittally, “but… what, then?”

“Well, I’d suggest you let me try painting your nails, but that might be too much yet…” Emily reached into her dresser, taking out a small bag branded with the logo of the Albany mall. She dumped what looked like a cube of some sort out of it, about the size of a six-sided die. “I got this at the mall when you stopped to use the restroom. There was a stand in the hall, and the girl there showed it to me. It’s a cube of hard silk. Basically it buffs and shines nails.”

“What, like chalking a pool cue?”

“Exactly.” Ash picked up the cube. “I’d show you, but my polish is still wet, and I’d get it on you.” Ash curiously looked at the cube, and shrugged, deciding it couldn’t hurt, as Emily put her fingernails under the electric dryer. She watched Ash awkwardly rub the cube across her toenails first, to test, and then shrugged and went on to do the same with her fingernails.

“I feel like a sissy-boy,” Ash murmured when she was done.

Emily took one of Ashe’s hands, considering the nails carefully. “You look good, though. I expect this’ll last right up until the time we have to pop a hood open.”

“Eh, I dunno… I’ve seen my hands covered in grease, and they’re still all girly.” She smiled, eliciting a return smile and a kiss on the cheek from Emily.

“Fair enough. Anyway, you bought that big brown, macho fighter-pilot jacket yesterday, didn’t you? That’s got to more than balance out ten shiny fingernails.”

“Oh yeah… good point.”

Emily glanced at her watch—it read 7:40 now. She instinctively double-checked—and it was still 7:40. “We’ve been awake for an hour and a half.”

“Oh… is this why girls take so long to get in gear?”

“Well, most days there’s no make-out session in the shower…” Ash blushed, but grinned. “Then again, I’ve been a bit basket-casey in the shower recently, what with the dreaming problem, so… it balances out.” She turned around, sitting back into Ash’s side.

“You know, Em… thank you.” Ash’s arm wrapped around Emily’s shoulder.

Emily tilted her head, curiously. “Mmm?”

“I could never have done stuff like this with Missi.” Emily blinked, and Ash squeezed her, tightly.

“I mean… We tried to make out, and yeah… maybe it was, you know…”

“Lustful?” Emily’s voice was just a bit hard.

“Well, if you want to put it the way Vashiel would, yeah, lustful. But this is different… I mean, not that I didn’t get all… err…”

“Aroused?” Emily smiled at how easily the word made Ash blush.

“Yeah… But even now, with arousal gone, I still feel…”

“Like you’re in a slow, simmering heat, warm from my presence and safe and happy?”

“Yeah, exactly! How did you—oh. You feel the same way?”

“Mmm-hmm.” Emily grinned, and leaned her head back into Ash’s. “So, you ready to get dressed and go tearing around?”

“Yeah… Yeah.”

“Good.” Emily pulled the towel from around her hair, walking to the door. “Rumisiel! Rumisiel!” she yelled. “Put breakfast on!” She turned back and grinned at Ash. “If he’s going to be occupying my space and time, I’m going to put him to work.”

Ash laughed. “Now, why didn’t I think of that?”

Emily tugged the towel from around Ash’s hair. “Now, we just need to deal with our hair, and get dressed…”

“And plan a bank robbery, and learn to fly…”

Emily rolled her eyes. “It’s not that bad, is it?”

“Okay, granted, it’s not.” Ash shook her head as Emily handed her a spare comb.

Once done with their hair (Emily’s taking much longer than Ash’s), the pair sought clothes. Emily unpacked the clothes she’d bought at the Albany mall yesterday: white sneakers, shirt, and pants, and the glossy red jacket. After a moment’s consideration, she also added the lacy red bra and panties to the pile, and put them on.

Ash reclaimed her clothes from the dryer, and walked back into the bedroom in time to see Emily finish pulling the panties up.

“Uh…”

“You like it?” She turned around to face Ash, one hand on her hip, the other hanging straight down. Ash gulped and blushed brightly. “Y-yeah…”

Emily couldn’t help but laugh. “You can be strange at times, Ash… I guess that’s what I see in you.” Emily tugged on her new clothes, and walked up behind Ash, hugging her from behind, quickly and tightly. “I mean, you just saw me naked. Why does the lingerie change it?”

“Uh… it just does, okay, Em?”

Emily kissed her cheek. “Okay, okay. Anyway, let’s go. I’m hungry.”

“Yeah, about that… I didn’t exactly look for him, since I was still wearing your clothes, but I didn’t hear Rumisiel downstairs, or smell breakfast.”

Emily humphed softly. “Hope he didn’t do something stupid.”

The pair descended the stairs, looking around and calling out for Rumisiel, but he didn’t answer.

Emily ventured into the living room, and found the sleeping bag she’d loaned him: on the floor, empty, with the TV on but muted. “Here’s the sleeping bag.” She looked around, as Ash leaned out of the kitchen door with a note in her hand.

“That crazy Angel… He wrote a note.” She started reading.

“I saw Cassiel poking around the streets last night. She had to have seen the car, since she practically stumbled into it last night. Going to head her off and chase her away. Don’t know how long this will take… 4 AM.”

Emily ran to the front door, looked around. Saw nothing. “No tracks in the snow…”

“He’s got wings, remember? And anyway, it was still snowing when you woke up from that nightmare at 4:30.”

Emily groaned. “Should we go looking for him?”

“No.”

“No?”

“I’m hungry. It’s breakfast time. Besides, if he’s really heading Cassiel off, the last thing he needs is for us to blunder by and make her life a little more fun. And if he’s not, then…” She punched her palm.

Emily laughed. “Okay, okay.” She listened to her own stomach grumble, and agreed—it was breakfast time.

Outside The McArthur Residence, 8:33 AM

Emily shoved with her squeegee, pushing a huge line of snow off the Monster XR’s roof, as Ash busily worked to scrape the ice from the windshield. The car was idling, burning gasoline to heat the interior. Emily grinned, despite the air making her cheeks freeze. “So, what should we do today, Ash?”

“I dunno. The streets have probably been plowed by now. We’ll probably be able to get by.”

“It is Saturday… wanna go to the Old Road?”

“In this weather? Nobody’s going to be out there, and racing in this weather would be suicide.”

“I didn’t suggest we race… just… y’know, put some snow on the roof.”

Ash laughed, and shook her head. “She’s not set up for that, Em. We’d slide all over, and not in the controllable way, either.”

“Yeah… I figured it was a long shot. So, what should we do?”

“I dunno. We’re free of parents, devoid of Angels for the time being…”

“Just like summer, eh?”

“Hah! Almost… Hmmmmmmmmm…” They both met each other’s eyes at the same time. “It’s crazy; stupid, even. In this weather? All the way to the Cape?”

“I think we should go with the bizarre and risky. It’s worked for us so far this weekend.”

Ash stroked her chin. “It has, hasn’t it? We should probably call our parents first, though. Dad’ll want to know where I am anyway, and your mom…”

“Right. And we’ll need to pull a rescue mission in your house, get the stuff we’ll need if we wind up caught and the storm gets worse while we’re down there. And the pictures.”

“Yeah… Yeah, why not? It’s not like we’ve got anything else to do.”

“Mmm-hmm! I’ll go put a quick pack together, okay? You call your dad.”

They went back inside, and Emily ran upstairs, looking around. She threw a small pack together: enough clothes for four changes (just in case), plus what she was wearing, and a week’s worth of supplies. Fortunately it didn’t take long, and Ash was hanging up the phone as she came downstairs.

“My dad’s not happy, but he only told me to be careful.”

“All right. Here, give me the phone.”

Ash handed over the phone and took Emily’s bag, walking it out to the car. She stowed the bag in the car, and sighed softly, smiling to herself as she walked to the rear of the Monster XR, pushing snow off the back and working on the ice there. Emily came out in short order, and began working away at the ice on the windshield where Ash had left off.

“What’d she say?”

“I have no idea. I got my aunt’s answering machine, told her where we were going, and hung up.”

Emily grinned as Ash stared at her. “Well, I know she’d probably get mad, or tell me not to go, but I have no intention of letting this wonderful weekend with you go to waste, Ash. I’m all studied up, more or less, and for a change, I intend to enjoy myself.”

“Sounds like a plan. Should we leave a note for Rumisiel?”

“I already did. I know he doesn’t need keys to get in, so I just locked the door. I told him he could stay here if he got back from his lunatic mission, and not to make a mess.”

“Sounds like we’re good to go, then. We just need to grab my clothes, and that envelope. Mmm, may as well grab my Playstation, too. If nothing else, it’ll piss off Rumisiel if he tries to retrieve it himself.”

They finished getting the car cleaned off, then piled into the nice, warm interior, and Ash put the car in gear.

“Let’s go.”

Emily smiled, leaning on Ash briefly, before she turned up the radio. The DJ was the same from yesterday.

“You’re listening to the Dust. And since the producers are all in Hawaii soaking up sun while I’m stuck here in this miserable blizzard, I’m going to play what I want. Here’s something we all love—here’s some Skynyrd, Freebird. There’s a record you don’t hear every day anymore. Oh wait, yes you do.”

“Mmmm. I actually like this song, once it takes off. What about you, Ash?”

“It’s actually not bad. Not my speed for most of it, but it’s a nice, slow, love-sorta song.”

“Mmm-hmm.” Emily nestled back in her seat, watching the four-wheel-driven Monster XR negotiate its way through the snow-and-ice streets, carefully taking the suburban roads, until they wound up at Ash’s home. Emily tugged her gloves back on and got out, walking up and opening the garage door, waving Ash in.

Ash parked the car, leaving it idling with the powerful V8 rumbling, and the pair ventured into her familiar house. It was gloomy, without lights—Ash tried the light-switch as soon as they opened the door, but it didn’t work. “Figures. Okay, you want to get the game system while I pack?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll need a flashlight and a bag or something, though.”

“There’s a canvas bag under Rumisiel’s couch. Flashlights are in the kitchen—here.” She retrieved a pair of flashlights, and gave one to Emily. They turned the lights on, then grinned, clanking the metal-hafted lights together. “Feels like we’re cat-burglars, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, it does.”

Emily walked to the entertainment center, reaching behind and disconnecting Ash’s Playstation 2, as Ash disappeared up the stairs. Emily bagged Ash’s game system and her stack of games, and tried the phone as Ash came down. It took her some time to realize it was dead.

“Who’re you trying to call?”

Emily turned around, seeing Ash on the bottom stair. “Oh, you’re done? The radio station. I was trying to put in a request.” She smiled, hanging the dead handset on the cradle, and walking back to the garage door.

On The Road Heading East, 11:27 AM

“And here’s some Green Day. Not like we’re going to see that for a while—all I see is white. Still, we can wish.”

The radio started playing the slow but upbeat, warm music of Green Day, as Emily and Ash drove along the interstate highway. It had been tricky going, but once on the freeway, given the relatively light traffic, Ash managed to get the Monster XR safely up to full highway speed.

“You sure that just dropping in on your mom like this is a good idea?”

“Yeah, she said we were always welcome. What better time than now?”

“All right, that’s fair enough.” Then Emily recognized the song, and began to sing along with it, casting her eyes onto Ash as she sang, “It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right, I hope you have the time of your life…”

“Yeah, Em… I am.” She reached over with one hand, taking Emily’s. They squeezed each other’s hands as they passed under the huge green sign welcoming them to Cape Cod.

“It’s getting windier, isn’t it?” Emily curiously asked as a gust shook the car.

“Yeah, for three reasons, a triple-whammy of controllability nightmare. First, it’s getting later in the day—more direct sunlight is heating the air, causing it to move more. Second, we’re getting out of mountain country and we’re actually on the peninsula now, so there’s not much in the way of terrain to act as a windbreak, just buildings and stuff. And third, the storm looks like it’s going to pick up again in a few hours.”

“Yeah. Still, we’re going to make it before the storm really picks up. We’ll probably be trapped tonight, and maybe into Monday, but… I can think of worse things to be doing. Angel-wrangling, or homework, or studying.”

“I thought you liked studying?”

“I do. But I’m all studied up already. I brought some of my books, so if I’ve got nothing else to do for an hour or so I’ll bone up, but I’ve got the feeling I’ll be fine.”

“All right, all right. Who knows, we drop in on my mom, maybe get dinner at the Ale House if nobody feels like cooking out…”

“Was it a good place to eat?”

“Yeah. The food was actually really good. I should’ve suggested you drop by last summer.”

They rumbled down the road, as the DJ came back on. “You know, I’ve been told that what with it being the holidays time and all, I should play some Christmas music. To that I say, you want Christmas music, listen to the oldies station. I’m here to rock, so all your pansy Christmas-music singers best make way for Jimi!” The electric strains of Hendrix’ wailing-phrased version of The Star Spangled Banner began to ring through the car.

“Is this your kind of music, Em?”

“Why not? May as well let it play and see.”

Ash grinned, as the Monster XR rumbled strong through the salted freeway, towards the coast, and the song segued into the ever-classic Purple Haze.

Outside The Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 2:54 PM

Snow crunched under tire treads as Ash pulled the Monster XR into the driveway of her mother’s large beach house, parking the growling car.

Emily surveyed the drive. “Um, Ash? I don’t see your mom’s car.”

“It could be in the garage. Let’s go.”

The pair disembarked the vehicle and walked towards the front door, carefully making their ways up the steps, which were covered in snow more than ankle-deep.

“Feels like it hasn’t been walked on today, doesn’t it?”

Ash nodded to her, and stepped up, ringing the bell, while Emily gazed out at the ocean, noting it was iced over near the shore. They waited, but no answer came, and Ash rang again. “Huh…”

“It’s Saturday. Would she have gone anywhere?”

“I dunno… She did tell me where the… Oh.” Emily was already stepping down from the steps and sweeping snow from the planters at the side of the steps. “She showed you where it was, too?” Emily nodded as she fished the spare key, in its plastic bag, out from under the barren mulch.

“Mmm-hmmm. Said I might need it if I accidentally got locked out during the summer.” Emily handed the key to Ash, who opened the bag and unlocked the door as Emily walked around the rail and back up the stairs.

The door opened, and Ash yelled out, “Mom? Mom, it’s me!” The house, however, was eerily silent and dark.

“Mrs. Upton?” Emily called out.

“Mom?!”

But there was no answer.

“I have a bad feeling about this. Do you think she’s out of town?”

“I dunno. But yeah, I have that feeling, too.”

They proceeded inwards, and Ash jumped when the phone rang. Looking at one another, the pair nodded, and approached the phone. Ash picked it up, carefully answering, “Upton residence.”

“Ash?” Emily leaned in to listen—it was Dr. Upton’s voice. Ash put it on the speakerphone.

“Dad! Yeah, we just got here.”

Dr. Upton let out a relieved sigh. “I haven’t been able to reach your mother. How did you get in?”

“Emergency key.”

“Okay… I’m watching the weather reports; it’s looking too dangerous. I don’t know when I’ll be able to fly back. I may have to try and find a train, or drive.”

“Dad, you’re in Detroit.”

“I know, Ash. But I need to get back. Is there any sign of your mother?”

“No, there isn’t. It’s kind of weird. I don’t see any sign of her. She’s not out of town, is she?”

“I don’t know, Ash. I’ve been trying to reach her… Mmmh. This is bad, and it gets worse. The roads are going to be impossible in a few hours. I don’t think you have enough time to get home.”

“We can’t really go, anyway. The heat and power’s out at the house.”

“It is? Damn. I’ll call the utility companies. You take care. I don’t think your mom will mind if you stay at her house. Just be careful.”

“We will. Talk to you later, Dad.”

Ash hung up, then walked into the kitchen where Emily was investigating. “Found anything?”

“It’s all cool. I don’t think it’s been used in a day or two, if not longer.”

“Great… We need to find her, Em. I have a bad feeling about this.” Ash looked away, sheepishly.

“Yeah, I feel that way, too.”

Ash looked up at Emily’s confirmation. “Really?”

“Yes, so let’s find her!”

“Okay. I’ll get our stuff and take it into the room we stayed in over the summer. Um…”

“I actually spent a bit more time with her than you did. I’ll start looking for any notes or clues or anything in her room.”

Emily tossed her coat over the coat tree, and ventured upstairs to Mrs. Upton’s room. She felt like an intruder, grinning as she opened the door, flicking the light on. She looked around, but couldn’t find Mrs. Upton’s purse, or her PDA. Scowling, she flicked on the computer and started to look around for anything whereupon she might have written a clue to her whereabouts. She found no post-it notes of interest, no notebooks. Checking for a diary, Emily started canvassing the drawers of the nightstand.

She blushed bright red, shutting one drawer quickly, as she heard Ash behind her.

“Nothing downstairs. Anything up here?” Emily turned to face her. “Err… Why are you blushing?”

Emily could feel herself stammering, and took a deep breath. “Don’t open your mother’s bottom drawer, okay?”

“Why, what’s… Oooh.” She herself blushed, even redder than Emily. “Right, purging that line of thought from consideration. Any luck?”

Emily shook her head, walking over to the computer. “Nothing so far… Hey, a Rolodex file.” She opened the document on the desktop, bringing up a large list of numbers. “Maybe we should start asking people she knows? Huh… Hey, Kay’s on here!”

Emily grinned, and Ash rolled her eyes. “I better call him; I spent more time with him, he’ll remember me better.”

Emily rolled her eyes in return, then sighed. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.” She tore a page out of an empty notebook, wrote down the number, handed it to Ash. “You call him from the other line downstairs. I’m going to try her office.”

Ash nodded and went downstairs as Emily picked the phone up. Her first attempt (dialing Mrs. Upton’s own office extension) only reached her voice-mail, but she got more luck dialing the secretary.

The secretary sounded quite tense. “Marie, is that you? Where are you?”

“I’m looking for Mrs. Upton. I… take it she’s not in?”

“Whuh? Who is this,” the secretary queried.

“I’m a friend of Mrs. Upton’s daughter. We dropped by town to find her, but she’s not at home. I’m calling from her house.”

The secretary huffed. “She’s not here right now, which is odd, because she should’ve been here hours ago.”

“When did you last see her?”

The secretary—Emily could almost hear the scowl—replied, annoyed, “Last night, on her way out.

She had some dinner to go to, she was on her way home to change. If you hear from her, tell her to call the office, okay?”

“Yeah… okay…” Emily hung up, and sighed. She stood up and walked to the stairs as Ash came to the bottom of them. “You first, Ash.”

“Kay says she stood him and his boyfriend up for a dinner she owed him for doing an event. It was supposed to be last night.”

“During the storm?”

“Yeah. That’s why he didn’t actually call looking for her—he figured the storm had grounded her. He’s making calls too, now.”

“All right, all right. Yeah, that fits. Her secretary said she tore out of the office yesterday, saying she had a dinner to get to… That would’ve been the dinner with Kay. Okay, so… I didn’t see any stuff laid out, her clothes looked organized. So I think she didn’t get home last night. So she went missing somewhere between her work and here, and not between here and the dinner with Kay.”

“Okay, good, good… Let’s—” She was cut off by the phone in her hand ringing. She pressed the speakerphone, as Emily walked down the stairs. “Hello?”

The voice on the other end was clipped, formal, and female. “This is Sergeant Ortez of the Provincetown Police Department. Am I speaking with Mrs. Marie Upton?”

Emily gulped softly, looking at Ash, who answered, nervously, “This is her daughter, Ash Upton… What are you calling about?”

“I’m calling about a red, 2002 Porsche 996 registered to Mrs. Upton. Is she at home?”

Ash looked at Emily, her face ashen. “My mother’s not at home, Sergeant. She hasn’t been home since yesterday morning.”

The officer was silent for a moment. “If she returns within another day, tell her that her car’s in the impound lot. It was towed, after being found on the streets abandoned.”

“Um, can I come and pick up the car?”

“Unfortunately, no. The impound and towing fees will have to be paid, and we can only release the car to the owner or a repossession agent… And it can’t be driven in any event. It was found stripped. It’s not drivable.”

Ash blanched. “Where exactly was it found abandoned?” Emily snatched the pen and paper from the desk, writing it against the wall as the officer rattled off its location. “Can I at least come and look at the car? My mother’s missing, and I’d like to try and find her.”

The officer sighed. “Girl, I’m sorry to tell you this, but the car is almost bare bones. We had to run the VIN to find the owner. There’s nothing inside it.”

Ash sighed, deflating. “Thank you anyway.”

The officer hung up, and Emily blanched. “We should start calling the hospitals in the area.”

“Right.”

They both ran upstairs, Emily swinging into the computer chair, running a search on hospitals’ phone numbers.

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 4:41 PM

“We’ve called every hospital in Cape Cod.”

“Your mother hasn’t checked into any of them. Ditto for any hotels, motels, inns, or police stations.” She laid the pad down on the desk, leaning forward and groaning softly. “Maybe we should start checking chop shops for parts from your mom’s Porsche?”

“Yeah, that’s… Wait, maybe… Brent!” She snapped her fingers. “His phone number’s still on that map. Um… It’s in Tempest. Damn!”

“Do you remember his last name?” Ash shook her head, and Emily sighed. Then it hit her. “Ah! I do have my black book with me, in my stuff. Casper’s number’s in there.”

Emily tore off downstairs, found her bag, and dug out her black book. She heard the phone upstairs ring, and Ash answered it. She walked to the phone in the bedroom she and Ash had shared and sat down. “Let’s see… Casper, Casper—here we go. Listed under ‘Cas’.” She picked up the telephone, dialed. It rang. It rang some more. It rang and just as she was about to give up, the voice she vaguely remembered answered.

“Hello?”

“Casper? This is Emily. Emily MacArthur? Do you remember me?”

“How could I forget, Emily? What’s up?”

“This is going to sound really weird, um… I need to find parts for a red Porsche 996.” She could easily visualize the pause, the blank stare.

“A Porsche 996? You got one of those—and wrecked it?” He sounded… scandalized.

“No, Cas. It’s Ash’s mom’s car. She’s… she’s gone missing, Casper, and the impound lot just called her house. The car was stripped somewhere in the city, and we’re trying to find her. Any clues could help…”

Casper’s breath sucked in on the other end of the line. “Okay, give me some time. Brent knows a guy who might know a guy who might know a guy who can try and hook us up with the source of the parts, if they’ve hit the market. I’ll make some calls.”

“Thank you, Cas.”

“No problem. You’re friends, right? An’ if someone’s missing in this weather, that’s serious shit.” He hung up, and Emily went back upstairs to share news.

“Who was that?” she asked as she walked in the door—Ash was sitting at her mother’s desk, hanging up the telephone as she walked in.

“Kay. He’s been making calls around Mom’s circuit of people. So far he hasn’t found anyone who’s seen her since she left her office last night. Oh, and he gave us the address of the office.” She had the address pinpointed on MapQuest; it was quite a ways away, down the freeway. “Huh… We would’ve seen her car if it was on the freeway when we came down here… We need to get the report of when they towed her car. But the address…”

Emily leaned over Ash, entering the address where the police said they’d towed the car, and it pinpointed a downtown location.

“That’s off the freeway…” Ash hummed. “Okay. I can get us there before the weather gets too bad… I think.” She and Emily looked at one another. They nodded, and together departed to grab their coats. Ash put the spare key to her mother’s home on her key ring, and they ran out to the car. The snow was starting to fall, but it was (so far) only flurries. “We can do this.”

The Monster XR roared to life with a distinct air of determination, and the car growled as Ash backed it up, swung around to face the road, and eased it onto the street, angling into the town.

Finding the address made Ash frown—the road became less well maintained, the buildings looked run down. “This is a bad part of town.”

Emily nervously kept her eyes out, and nodded hesitantly. “Yeah… Hm…” Her eyes locked on an older, dark man in a big, heavy, ratty jacket, sitting on a stoop. He was holding a bottle in a brown paper bag, and a large red crowbar.

“Ech… This place looks like the kind of place Rumisiel would wind up freebasing in.” Ash muttered, as they parked on the side of the road.

Eyes watched the car, and Emily shivered. “This is the spot your mom abandoned her car on? This is a nightmare.”

“Yeah… Still, maybe someone saw something… It’s our only lead.”

Ash nervously got out of the car, followed by Emily. They shut the doors, looking around. “Should we try to find someone, Ash?”

Ash nodded towards an approaching figure. “Looks like someone’s found us.”

A man in a tattered gray overcoat, greasy hair but clean-shaven, was approaching them. “Hello, ladies. What are you looking for in a place like this?” he asked.

Emily eyed him warily, but Ash spoke up. “We’re looking for my mother. Her car broke down here yesterday, but the cops didn’t find her when they towed it.”

The clean-shaven man smiled. “Oh, oh! You’re hers?” He nodded. “Yeah, she’s okay. Took a tumble down the road, hit her head. Nobody could call an ambulance, but she’s sleepin’ it off in there.” He pointed to a building, and Ash’s eyes widened. “Take us to her!”

“Yeah. She’s kinda groggy, keeps muttering her name, but it’s hard to make out.”

He started to walk towards the building he had indicated, and Ash followed; Emily nervously followed Ash. Something didn’t feel right, and Ash prompted, “Is she saying Marie? Marie Upton?”

“Yeah! That’s it. It was hard to understand, but that’s what it sounds like. Ms. Marie…”

They climbed into the old, decrepit building, which was quite rickety and creaky, its walls partially falling apart. “Aw, don’t worry. This place has seen better days, but it’s not gonna fall apart. She’s back this way.” He led them up the stairs to the second floor. Emily nervously looked around; Ash fearlessly went forward, following him, her fists clenched, determined. Their guide knocked on a door, and stepped aside. “She’s in here, young lady.”

Ash opened the door and went in; Emily stood in the door and peered over her shoulder. There was a mattress in the ratty room, but no sign of Mrs. Upton.

“Where—Gah!”

Ash and Emily whirled as the now-smiling-disturbingly man shoved them into the room. “She’s not here? Oh, what a shame… Well, this room needs someone in it, maybe a two-for-one…”

Emily gulped, her heart going a mile a minute, as Ash clenched her fists. Emily slid behind Ash, hiding the hand snaking into her purse and feeling for the cylinder of pepper spray. Emily thought a sudden attack from the spray might distract him, and while Ash pummeled him down they could make a run for it…

The man in the overcoat grinned, shut the door behind him, and licked his lips. “Now, there’s no need to be afraid, ladies… I’m sure this won’t hurt me at all…”

Emily set her teeth and flicked her eyes at Ash, while pressing the cylinder into Ash’s back. Ash nodded.

Emily broke left around from behind Ash, while Ash dove right, laying her hands on a pipe that was hanging out of the wall. Emily sprayed, and the man in the overcoat let out an ‘Arrrrgh’, as Ash yanked. And yanked… and yanked again, unable to get the pipe out of the wall.

“Crap,” she muttered, and tried to pry off a board, which only came apart in her hands.

The man let out a growl of pain and anger and lurched blindly towards Emily, groping hands in front of him. She ran out of the way, looking for some kind of a weapon, but the only loose object was the mattress.

“You lil’ bitches! I’m gonna make it hurt fer that!” The man lunged at Emily, and she dodged out of the way. He was off balance, and Emily sprayed the cylinder’s last charge into his face. Ash charged him from behind, shoulder-ramming into the back of him. With a cry, he sprawled on the floor.

Emily ran to the door, wrapped her gloved hands around the knob, and yanked… But it didn’t budge. The door rattled, but did not open. Emily and Ash both yanked, but the door refused to budge. Then they heard a laugh behind them.

“Looking for something, girls?” The pair whirled. The man held up the key and grinned through bloodshot eyes pouring tears. “You’re gonna hurt for that, girl.”

“Ash?” Emily trembled as he advanced, trying to anticipate the next move; maybe if they hit him together. Ash looked decidedly nervous, though her fists were clenched. Emily nodded to the left; Ash nodded right.

Then the door crunched. They whirled—the wedge-end of the crowbar was poking through the door. With a mighty heave, it crunched, and the door popped its lock and swung open, revealing the dark-skinned, bearded man from earlier.

“Mick!” His voice was like growling gravel, and he leveled his crowbar at the man in the overcoat. “I know I told you to keep your wanderin’ hands to yourself and off of little girls, didn’t I?” Emily could see Ash bristling at the label of ‘little girl’, but she kept silent.

“I wasn’t doin’ nothin’ to ’em, Rock.”

Clearly, ‘Rock’ wasn’t buying ‘Mick’s’ story. “I told you, boy. You want to warm your hands in my area, you follow my rules. Get your ass out, and best I never see you here again.”

Mick started to whimper, when the dark skinned man turned to Ash and Emily. “And you girls, what the hell’s wrong with two well-off girls like you, parkin’ in a ghetto like this?! You lookin’ to be Mick’s girlfriends or something? You two must be crazy! Get back in that car of yours and git before someone else takes it.”

Ash and Emily probably didn’t need to be told twice, but Ash gulped. “Um… Rock? Did someone else stop here last night? In a red car, about my height, brown hair?”

“Hum… Yeah, someone did. White girl, real high-class honey slidin’ around on those heels of hers. Vultures got her car, what about it?”

“She’s my mother. She’s missing.”

“Missing? Oh, I know what happened. She tried to walk ’round the block the other night, tryin’ to get into the good part of town. She didn’t make it—silly thing, walkin’ on fancy heels like that on a day like yesterday. She took a spill and hit her head. I called nine-one-one from a pay phone and told them where to find her. If she’s ‘missin’’, then chances are someone came along and took her stuff before the ambulance got her. Try the hospitals.”

“Yeah… We only asked for her by name, not description.”

“Sounds like a plan. Thank you, Mr. Rock,” Emily said.

“Glad to help. Now get your asses back to your world and out of mine, before you get into more trouble.”

Ash and Emily beat a hasty retreat. A man was starting to poke around the Monster XR when they walked out of the building, but upon seeing Rock with them, beat a retreat. The pair hopped into the car, started it, and Ash laid into the accelerator, coaxing the car into motion and back towards her mother’s house.

Outside The Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 5:34 PM

By the time they made it back to Ash’s mother’s house, the shaking had more or less stopped for Emily. They had driven in silence, and Emily let out a sigh. “That… has got to be the most scared I’ve ever been,” she said, as the car shut off.

“Ye-yeah… When I couldn’t get that pipe out of the wall, I knew we were in trouble…”

Emily let out a short, incredulous laugh. “That’s my Ash. You only figured out we were in trouble once you couldn’t lay your hands on a weapon?”

“Well, when you put it that way…”

Emily leaned on Ash. “My Lady Galahad.” She smiled, more relieved than ever to be with Ash, and Ash squeezed her shoulders, quickly.

“We’d better get to calling hospitals.”

Emily nodded and got out of the car, followed by Ash as she crunched through the falling snow to the door. They practically ran up the stairs, where Emily grabbed the list of hospitals.

“Let’s get to work.” Emily started by calling the nearest hospital. While it was ringing, the phone downstairs rang—Ash went down to answer it.

The first hospital she called had no one matching the right description, but the second one said that they had received a patient last night matching that description. Unfortunately, the storm had had their beds full, and they’d been forced to transfer her. Emily thanked them for the location, and nervously called the third hospital.

Ring. Ring. “Cape Cod Hospital, front desk. How may I direct your call?”

Emily bit her lip. “Excuse me, but I’m looking for someone. I have reason to believe she may have been brought in unconscious, without identification.”

“Who are you looking for?”

“My friend’s mother. Her name is Marie Upton, about five feet six, long brown hair?”

She heard the sound of keyboard clacking. “We have a Jane Doe matching that description, admitted last night. You’re going to need to bring identification for her and yourselves to the front desk if you want to see her.”

Emily let out a sigh, and nodded. “Thank you. We’ll be there.”

She hung up, a sense of relief flooding through her stomach as she jumped from the chair and started digging through Mrs. Upton’s room. She found a jackpot in the desk drawer—nothing short of her Passport—and let out a triumphant shout as she ran from the room and down the stairs.

“Ash, I found her!”

“You did? I gotta go, Casper!” Ash hung up, turning around as Emily grabbed her jacket. “She’s in Cape Cod hospital, down in Hyannis.”

“Hyannis?!”

“It was the nearest hospital with open beds last night. They brought her in as a Jane Doe.”

Ash pulled the door shut behind them as they pelted out of the door for the Monster XR. Emily leaped into the passenger seat as Ash dashed around the front, settling into the front seat and firing the growling, powerful V8 up.

“It’s getting ugly, Ash. We’d better hurry.”

Ash nodded, and threw the car into reverse. The snow was coming down harder, and the roads were getting worse, but the bad traction let her perform an otherwise impossible move—setting the car into reverse, she cut her wheels and gunned the engine as the rear wheels slipped off the drive, spinning the vehicle around to face the road. She threw the car into gear, and Emily gripped the handle of the door as the wheels spun before gripping and sending the car forward.

On The Highway Approaching Hyannis, 6:21 PM

There had been simply no question of speed—even with the storm blowing in worse, Ash had quickly gotten the Monster XR up to highway speed. With the combination of light traffic and broad highway, she had even managed to push the car up to 80 once or twice, even as the sun set and she hit the lights. Emily watched on, devoid of fear, even as the car swerved to avoid a big rig that made a sudden lane change. Her confidence in Ash’s driving was nigh absolute.

“We’re making good time,” Emily commented, double-checking her watch.

“My mother’s trapped in some hospital as a ‘Jane Doe’. Damn right we’re making good time.” Emily smiled softly. “You really do love her, don’t you?”

“She’s… well, she’s my mom. I haven’t known her that long, but…”

“I understand, Ash.” She stroked Ash’s shoulder, softly. “I think the exit we need is coming up.”

“I see it, Em. Thanks.”

Ash slowed the car, angling for the off-ramp. She hit it at a fairly high clip of speed, slowing down gradually and controllably, until they got to the road heading to Hyannis and the hospital. Emily looked out the window, taking a deep breath as the monstrous engine growled again, spiking the car quickly back up to precisely the speed limit. They drove on in silence, although Emily took note of the airport on the right as they passed.

The ride to the hospital from there was short and not terribly difficult—less so than finding a parking spot, which they still managed in short order. Ash was out of the car almost faster than Emily, and they nearly sprinted up the concrete to the emergency room entrance.

Emily dug Mrs. Upton’s passport out of her purse as the pair went up to the reception desk, and Emily handed the passport over. Ash did the talking, saying, “We’re looking for my mother, Mrs. Marie Upton. Is she here?”

The receptionist looked down at the passport, opening it to the picture. “You’re her daughter? I need to see I.D.” Ash produced her driver’s license, and the receptionist nodded. “Okay. And you?” He looked at Emily, who gulped—they didn’t let non-kin in, did they?

But Ash had her covered. “This is my sister, Emily. Can we please see her now?”

Emily turned to look at Ash, as the receptionist sighed. “Fine, fine. I’ll have an orderly take you to her, she’s in Recovery.” He buzzed them through, and rolled back on his chair to the desk behind the main wall, addressing an orderly in a green smock. “Jack? These two belong to the Jane Doe we got last night, the brunette. Her name’s been established.” He put the passport and driver’s license on the counter, and Emily took both, handing the license to Ash.

“Right this way, young ladies.” The orderly led them through the hospital’s labyrinthine maze of the hospital’s corridors, and up a floor to the recovery ward. They went down halls of identical doors, but when they heard Mrs. Upton’s voice in a room up ahead, Ash broke into a sprint, followed right on her heels by Emily, with the orderly coming in third.

“For the last time, my name is Marie Upton, I live in Provincetown. I ran out of gas and…” She was in a hospital gown on a bed with a doctor in a white lab coat beside her, blinking as she saw the pair appear in the door. “Ash!? Emily?” Her head tilted to the side as the two teens ran to her side, Ash throwing a fast and hard hug around her.

“Mom! Oh, thank god, we found you.”

Mrs. Upton’s arms reflexively snapped around her daughter, and she hugged her back just as tightly. “Wh-What are you two doing here? Found me? Don’t tell me Edward put you up to this…”

“No, we came on our own, mom… We came down to visit and nobody was home. We called around, but nobody’s seen you since yesterday.” She sighed, and Emily smiled, sitting back in a guest chair, as the doctor quietly excused himself.

“But how did you find me?”

“That’s a long story, Mom. We started calling around, then the police called to inform you your car was towed. We went to where it was towed from.”

“You went down there? Ash, that’s a very dangerous place!”

Ash paled. “Uh, yeah… we figured that out the hard way. We’re fine, we’re fine. We found someone who’d seen you, had called the ambulance for you. Then we just called hospitals with your description until we found you.”

Mrs. Upton sighed, squeezing Ash tightly. “Ash, you shouldn’t have come out here in this weather, and you definitely shouldn’t have gone playing detective. Thank you, both. Um… I don’t suppose either of you have some kind of ID for me? They want to identify me before they let me go, and my purse wasn’t with me when they brought me in.”

“Will a passport do?” Emily held it up.

“Ah, yes. That’s perfect… I take it you’ve been rummaging my room? Oh well, at least I’m not going to have to fight with them now.”

Ash looked up—her eyes were actually tear-stained—and smiled. “I’m so glad we found you, mom… I was getting afraid…”

Her mother smiled, and pulled Ash’s head to her shoulder. “There, just calm down… It’s okay now, Ash, I’m safe.”

Emily smiled softly, watching the reunion. It tugged at her, and she smiled. “I’m going to have to call my mom again when we get back to Ash’s mom’s house.” She stood up, putting her hand on Ash’s shoulder. “I’m glad we found you, Mrs. Upton, but we should be going as soon as possible. The storm’s only going to get worse, and it’s a long drive back to your home.”

“Hm? Oh… Yes, we should. Good idea, Emily.”

“I need to find that doctor.” Ash went to the door and waved him in, as Mrs. Upton stood up.

“Careful, Mrs. Upton,” he cautioned. “You’ve suffered a mild concussion and hypothermia.”

She shook him off. “I feel fine. My daughter’s come to collect me, and I’d like to spend the night at home. May I leave now?”

“We can’t stop you, Mrs. Upton. We will need contact information. If you’ll wait, I’ll have a nurse bring in the forms you need to sign, and I’ll print off what you’ll need to know for a swift recovery.”

“That’s fine.”

On The Freeway Back To Provincetown, 7:21 PM

Emily watched from the back seat of the Monster XR as Ash carefully drove back towards Provincetown. Far from the determined speed of previously, she was now driving no more than forty miles an hour, which meant the trip was going to take more than an hour. Fortunately, there was plenty to catch up upon with her mother.

“So, like I said, I didn’t notice I was low on gas when I left the office, driving back home. I ran out of gas just after I got off Six, and I needed to pull over, fast. I was in the bad part of the neighborhood, but I didn’t have a choice. As soon as the engine died, everything died: lights, radio, everything. I tried using my cell phone to call for help, but it was dead, too.” She sighed. “And of course, the car-charger wouldn’t power it, because it wasn’t putting out anything.”

“Huh… talk about a string of bad luck,” Emily started.

“Yeah… out of gas, cell phone dead,” Ash continued.

“Battery dead, and it sounds like the alternator wasn’t working either,” Emily finished.

Mrs. Upton looked at them both. “You two both know more about cars than me. I guess that’s what happened?”

“It’s entirely possible. Cold weather is bad on alternators and batteries,” Emily said.

“Yeah, sounds like the cold got to them. How unlucky,” Ash commented.

Mrs. Upton sighed. “Well, then I tried to walk to somewhere I could find a taxi or a police officer. But I slipped.” She winced. “Heels on ice? That was not fun. I hit my head… and I woke up in the hospital, groggy, with a doctor grilling me about my identity.”

“And then we showed up?”

“After a while, yes. Ash, honey, why did you come out here, anyway?”

“Well, see… Dad’s caught in Detroit, and the power and heat’s out at home. So we—me and Rumisiel—went to stay at Emily’s, but her mother was out of town, too. Then Rumisiel had something come up and vanished on us in the middle of the night. So we started thinking of things to do, and we remembered you’d said we could come visit anytime.”

“Yes, I did say that… but… in the middle of a blizzard?”

“Why not? We spent yesterday in Albany at an arcade, deposing the king of the racecar game. School was out, you know—snow. But with the Monster XR, we can pretty much make it anywhere if we take it slow and steady. Besides, it wasn’t like anybody was getting home any time soon. Dad’s thinking he may have to take a train.”

“All right. Well, in a way, I’m glad you’re here; at least I can keep an eye on you.”

Emily laughed at that. “No offense, Mrs. Upton, but it looks like we need to keep our eyes on you.” That elicited a giggle from Ash’s mother. “Okay, okay. I’m glad you’re here so we can keep eyes on each other. Now, what was that about my car being towed?”

“Oh, that… Oh! Good, that reminds me. I’ve got good news, and bad news. Well, actually, good news, bad news, and ugly news. The good news is that your car is in the police impound. The bad news is that it was stripped before the cops towed it. The ugly news is that while the parts might be located, they’re likely in a chop shop and we may have to actually buy them back.”

“A chop shop?” Mrs. Upton shook her head. “Ich. Oh well, we’ll deal with that later… Let’s see, I need to… hmm, call the credit card company, have all my cards voided and new ones sent out; I need to… ugh.” She sighed. “And I’m going to have to figure out dinner.”

“We’ve got enough, Mrs. Upton. Besides, didn’t the sign at the Ale House say they were open?”

“Yeah, it said, ‘Yes, we’re open despite the weather’.”

“Oh, good…” Mrs. Upton grinned. “And there’s no way I’m letting my daughter and my daughter’s best friend buy my dinner after they’ve spent all day searching the whole county for me! Let’s go home, let me get a shower, and I can raid my emergency cash.”

“That’s a plan. Thanks, mom.”

Mrs. Upton ruffled Ash’s hair. “Well, what are moms for, Ash?”

Ash laughed softly, and smiled. Emily smiled as well, settling back in the rear seat, stroking the back of Ash’s racing seat.

“This… this feels right. I like it here, now…”

Then Emily closed her eyes, smiling.

Provincetown, 8:06 PM

“Okay, here’s what we should do,” Emily opined. “I’ll run in, get a broom, and sweep the snow off from the steps. Then you pull the car up to the steps, and let your mom off as close as we can. Ash? Mrs. Upton?”

“Sounds like a plan, Em.”

“Won’t this thing get stuck?”

“Not a chance.”

“Well, okay then. Be careful.”

Emily laughed as Ash pulled the car into the drive. Ash got out, and Emily contorted around the driver’s seat to get out, which took a bit of luck and good-natured cursing. Liberating herself from the car, Emily found that Ash had already taken the house key from her key ring, and gave it to Emily as she stood up. “Thanks.” Emily smiled, giving a thumbs-up on the way inside.

The car rumbled back to life as Emily grabbed the broom from the kitchen, ran back to the front, swept the steps and a good patch in front of them, and waved Ash over. Ash pulled the car back, with her mother’s door facing the house’s door, and Mrs. Upton got out, hurrying inside with a “Thank you!” to Emily as she passed.

Emily sighed with contentment, watching as Ash parked the car. She waved, and walked inside with Ash, grinning. “What a day, Ash… What a day.” Ash put her arm around Emily’s shoulders, and Emily slid her reciprocating arm around Ash’s back. Leaning into Ash, with Ash leaning back, left them mutually supporting one another. Emily grinned at the pose, her head slightly below Ash’s. “Feels almost like a mini-vacation, doesn’t it? No school, no nagging mom… Mom! Crap. Damn it!”

Emily sighed. “I’ve gotta call my mom, tell her what’s going on. She’s gonna be furious.” Ash squeezed her shoulder, and Emily smiled sadly, kissing her cheek before pulling away. Ash blushed very lightly as Emily walked to the kitchen. “I’ll just call collect, I suppose.”

“Don’t bother; mom won’t care. And you can just leave like five bucks if you really feel guilty about it.”

“Okay.” She picked up the kitchen phone, dialed. It rang, and rang, and rang. Then she got the answering machine, her aunt’s voice asking her to leave a message. She sighed, spoke. “It’s Emily. Mom, if you hear this, I’m fine, I’m at Ash’s mom’s house, like I said I would be when I called this morning. Everything’s fine, but the storm’s getting ugly, so we may not be able to come home for a while. Don’t worry, I brought my books.” She hung up, and walked out, shrugging at Ash. “No answer.”

Ash likewise shrugged, as she heard the sound of the shower. “Guess my mom’s gonna be a bit.”

“In that case…” She took her jacket off, set it on the back of the couch, and flopped down with a sigh of relief, lying back on the couch. Ash sat at her feet, which she wrapped around her waist, and Emily snagged the remote control, flicking through the channels.

“Hey, go back.” Emily hit the ‘last’ button on the remote, dropping to a history of automotive racing. They settled in to watch a fascinating show together, at least until Ash’s mother returned.

When Marie came downstairs again, the TV was on, flickering at the couch, the narrator talking about cars. She found Ash lying atop Emily, the former curled in the latter’s arms, head nestled on her chest; they looked picturesque together, seemingly asleep. Trying to decide whether to wake them or let them sleep, the decision was taken out of her hands—the loud revving of an engine from the television made Emily’s eyes open, and she prodded Ash awake.

“Huhn? Wha?” Ash groaned.

Emily giggled softly. “Wake up, sleeping beauty. Your mom’s ready.”

Ash blushed, scowling slightly at the moniker, which caused her mother to laugh.

“Oh, you two were perfect. I wish I’d had a camera.”

Ash jumped off the couch and rolled to her feet, now wide-awake. “Gah! Just… No.”

Emily yawned and grinned at her. “What’s wrong? It’s not like we’re not best friends and all.”

The cover worked, and Ash sighed. “… Yeah, okay. Anyway, ready?”

“Yep. I’ve got everything I’ll need.”

Emily stood up, hugging Ash from behind. “You’re too uptight sometimes, Ash. Let’s go.”

“Yeah, okay. The Ale House, right? It’d be nice to see Rose again, and maybe Tyler, too… Shall we walk, or drive?”

“Drive,” both Emily and Mrs. Upton said in unison. Emily grinned as she realized that Ash had baited them into it. “Okay, come on, smart aleck.”

It was just a simple, short drive down the street, made complicated by the ice, but Ash’s skill and the Monster’s four-wheel drive and weight easily conquered that obstacle. They parked in the parking lot, and scrambled out.

“I’m starved,” Ash griped good-naturedly as they walked to the door. “Actually, I don’t think we’ve eaten since breakfast.”

“Yeah, now that you mention it, we haven’t.”

“That won’t do at all. Let’s eat!” Marie opened the door, Ash and Emily following behind. The Ale House was mostly empty, with a few patrons left.

Ash took point. “Table for three,” she said.

The girl manning the door wasn’t Rose, and she shook her head. “Sorry. We’re closing once the current patrons are gone. The storm’s getting too bad.”

Ash, Emily, and Mrs. Upton looked at one another. Mrs. Upton shrugged, and they turned to leave, when a voice behind them called out, “Like hell! Let ’em in, Katie, they’re friends!”

“Rose!” Ash spun, grinning at the sight of her former co-worker waving her in.

“You picked a strange time for a visit! C’mon.” She led them to a high table and set out menus. “The kitchen’s still hot, so decide what you want while I run back and tell Tyler not to kill the kitchen.”

Emily’s stomach growled. “What’s fast and filling, Ash?”

“Um… best is the bacon cheeseburger, it cooks fast and is pretty big.”

“Okay, that sounds good.”

Rose returned shortly with her older brother in tow; Tyler laughed as he walked to the table. “Hell of a time for a visit, Ash. Back in town?”

“For a day or two, at least.”

“Ah, good, good. Well, we’ve got the kitchen still warm, so just tell Rose what you want and I’ll cook it up personally.” He waved, and returned to the kitchen, as Rose sidled up to the table. “Figured out what you want yet, girls?”

“Yeah. I’ll have the bacon cheeseburger.”

“Same, hold the tomato,” Emily said.

“I’ll have one too,” Marie added.

“Three bacon cheeseburgers, no tomato on one. Gotcha! And for drinks?”

Ash, Emily, and Mrs. Upton all looked at one another, and in unison pronounced the verdict—

“Coffee.”

Rose laughed. “Cold, huh? Hot chocolate’s better for that, but I’ll get you the last pot o’ coffee right away.” Rose bounced away to get the pot, and returned quickly, while Ash was sighing.

“Hell of a day.”

Emily nodded, reaching to Ash under the table; she gently slid her hand over Ash’s, squeezing. Ash squeezed back and smiled.

The other customers filtered out shortly after Rose returned with their burgers, and the trio continued making small talk. Soon enough, Tyler shut down the kitchen, and Rose slumped into the other seat on the table.

“How’ve you been, anyway?”

Ash washed down her last bite of the burger, then answered, “Good. Been good, actually. Things have been going… quite well.”

“Good! You coming back here this summer? Tyler says you’ve always got a job opening here.”

Ash hummed. “Huh… You know… maybe.” She shrugged. “I don’t know, really. But maybe…”

“All right. Well, come on back if you want to. And it’s good to see you again.”

Ash smiled in return. “Yeah. I missed this place.”

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 9:48 PM

Mrs. Upton had bid them good night once they had returned to the house, slinking upstairs to sleep off the effects of the day. Emily and Ash had likewise realized they were beaten, and were lying under the covers of the bed in the guest room. Emily’s head was laying comfortably on Ash’s breasts, laying against her at a shallow angle, with Ash’s arms over her. It was, she mused, the epitome of warmth and comfort.

“Ash?” Emily murmured softly.

The orange-haired tuner under her replied quietly, “Yes, Em?”

“Thank you.” Emily squeezed Ash’s hand, and Ash held her whole body against her own in return. Emily rolled over, and Ash rolled at the same time, leaving them on their sides, arms wrapped around one another.

“I love you, Em. I… Mmm, you’re warm.”

Emily leaned in as Ash kissed her, slid a hand up under Ash’s T-shirt’s back, and squeezed her warmly.

Ash’s hands slid behind her, fumbling, grasping. She said nothing as they found the hem of her pajamas top, pulling. Indeed, she raised her arms, rolling to her back as Ash exposed her, blushing and smiling. “Em?” Ash looked up, into her eyes. “Are you…”

Emily smiled and squeezed Ash’s hand. “I can handle it… if you can.” Emily grinned as the tables turned and Ash blushed, while she slowly removed Ash’s tee. Ash was trembling.

“Are you okay, Ash?” Emily asked, quietly.

Ash bit her lip. “I’m just…”

“You’re afraid, aren’t you?”

Ash nodded, squeezing her hand. “Please, don’t… go any further.”

Emily slid into Ash’s side, hugging her. “I won’t. Not until you’re ready, Ash.” A sigh escaped Ash’s lips in response, as Emily laid her head on Ash’s shoulder. Her eyes closed, she softly kissed Ash’s cheek.

“Emily?”

Emily murmured softly, and Ash continued, “I love you… I… I want to be everything you want me to be, but I’m afraid… I’m afraid I’m not…”

Emily silenced her with another finger on the lips. “Ash? You’re perfect. Stop doubting yourself.”

Then Emily opened her eyes and leaned up to look into Ash’s expressive green orbs. “You’re confident, but not so confident you won’t listen. You’re strong, but not so strong you scare me. And you’re warm, and soft…” She smiled and leaned back into Ash. Sliding a soft, gentle caress over Ash’s side, over her curving figure, and down her hip, Ash blushed hotly. “I enjoy this, Ash. You’re wonderful, really.”

Ash closed her eyes, lacing her fingers with Emily’s. She was silent for a long while, but as Emily was almost asleep, she spoke up. “Em? Do you really get… aroused for me?”

Emily rolled her eyes, smiling. “Ash? After you dropped me off at home yesterday, I fell asleep on my bed, and I dreamed you came to my bed and started tearing my clothes off. It was the most intense, strongest sex dream I’ve ever had.” She smirked, opening her eyes to see Ash’s blush, about as hot as the sun. “Good-night, Ash. Please, do sleep.”

Ash closed her eyes, as did Emily. The blue-haired, studious girl nestled tightly into Ash’s side, their curves matching wonderfully, and Emily slid one leg across Ash’s legs, nestling into her. One of each of their hands was interlaced on top of Ash’s stomach, and the other was around the other, holding her tightly. By the time they fell asleep, they were breathing in unison, their dreams, as their waking bodies, locked around the other.

4. Concrete Dreamscape

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 4:50 AM

Warmth. Comfort. She yawned, sitting up, the covers falling off of her chest, refreshed. Marie looked around—smiled as memories came back. Gone was the massive headache; gone was the annoying hospital staff. She was home, she was healthy, and best of all her daughter and her best friend had even come back for a surprise visit.

She clutched her pillow to her chest, smiled happily, lay back, and reached to the side of her bed. Without prompting, her hand went to the third drawer on the dresser, opening the drawer full of fun times. Her fingers brushed over them, and she grinned, imagining how to best celebrate her triumphant return home…

And then the telephone rang.

Inwardly sighing, wondering who the hell could be calling at this time, she reached up and answered it, “Hello?” She groaned at the voice on the other end.

“Hello? Marie?”

“Edward. What is it?” Well, there went her high, as her estranged husband spoke.

“You’re home okay? That’s a relief. What happened? Are Ash and Emily there?”

“I’m home. None of your business. Yes, they’re asleep.”

Edward let out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad. I couldn’t get through last night, and my plane was leaving, so I didn’t have time to leave a message.”

“Plane? You flew, in this weather?”

“Yes, I did. The storm’s lightening off. I’m in Boston trying to find a rental car agency that’ll let me rent a car and take it to Tempest.”

Marie sighed. “At five in the morning? Good luck. And good night.” She heard the ‘good night’ from the speaker as she pressed the button on the cordless telephone to terminate the call, and scowled. She was awake, and her good mood had been ruined; she might as well get ready.

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 5:43 AM

Showered and refreshed, the call by her estranged husband out of mind, Marie hummed about the lower floor of her home. It was, she mused, beautiful outside, as the saturated dawn light poured in from the clear, ice blue sky. She cooked breakfast, humming happily as she prepared a towering stack of pancakes, setting them out on the table with syrup and butter and fruit at the ready.

All that was left was the breakfast guests. She walked to the room they were occupying, pushing the door aside, intending to wake them up with a shout of, ‘surprise!’ It died in her throat, however.

Marie’s hand covered her lips, wide-eyed in surprise. The last time Ash and Emily had been over, Ash had demanded a cot for the middle of the room. Now?

The pair of teenagers were on the bed together—not so surprising. More surprising perhaps was the fact that they were curled together. But not even that could surmount the surprise that they were both (at least) topless. The blue-haired Emily was on her back, holding her daughter’s head peacefully atop her shoulder. Ash had one arm under Emily’s head, the other above her, just below her breasts, snuggling her tight. Ash was of course, on her side, nestled into Emily.

What was most striking was the peaceful, serene aura that surrounded the two, so unlike when they were awake. There was no tension, no mild rivalries, not even joking or laughter—it was pure, unadulterated comfort and affection that Marie’s eyes beheld. She instinctively knew that she could bet her entire month’s salary that the two were in love and take it all the way to the bank. Blushing, she turned, slipping out of the room.

“My goodness… my daughter… has a girlfriend.” She shook her head. “Maybe that’s why she and Kay got along so well?” Marie whistled softly, walking to the front door and opening it, staring out into the cold air. It seemed so… unlikely, especially after all the boyfriend stuff and the time she had called in the middle of a crisis about having potentially having had unprotected sex with her boyfriend’s brother while drunk.

“Then again…” Ash had gotten so perturbed when she suggested that the reason she kept Rumisiel around must have been because he was a bombshell in bed. “Maybe just cover? Eh…” She shook her head and smiled, taking a deep breath of the freezing morning air before closing the door. “Ash! Emily!” She called out loudly, walking back towards the kitchen. “Breakfast’s ready! Rise and shine!”

Warmth. Comfort. She yawned softly, nestling, nuzzling. What was that wonderful feeling? Her hands slid, squeezed: hair under her right palm; soft, yielding flesh under her left. It felt good. Ash’s eyes opened slowly, as she pressed her lips in, feeling flesh under them. Kissing instinctively, softly. Her eyes were met with a blur of peach and blue, then focused. She was next to Emily, kissing her neck. A hand in her hair squeezed, the arm it was attached to curling, pulling, then pushing, rolling her to her back. Ash rolled, staring—Emily’s eyes met hers.

“Good morning,” Ash whispered, still far too far out of it to think about anything except how happy she was to see those big, magenta eyes. She leaned in, and Emily leaned down in return. Lips met, their breasts (devoid of cloth—how did that happen?) met, their arms and stomachs meeting, legs wrapping together for mutual stability and support.

The kiss parted, and Emily’s hand caressed Ash’s side—she shivered softly, and the blue-haired bookworm smiled. “Good morning to you… This brings back memories.” She smiled, and Ash blushed, leaning up, hugging Emily tightly.

“Why do I always wind up on the bottom?”

Emily laughed. “This again?” Ash gasped as Emily’s teeth very gingerly sunk into her earlobe. “Because you wait for the other girl to roll you over, Ash.” Emily’s lips found the nape of her neck—Ash’s breath escaped, her back arching at the pleasure as her best friend sucked on the nape of her neck, before letting her slide down, pushing her against the bed with her own body.

“Do you really not like it?” Emily asked, leaning in—her nose touching Ash’s. “Or is it just some silly macho thing that you feel obligated to pay lip service to?”

Ash opened her lips, trying to answer, and found she could not. Nor could she have articulated the answer if she had wished, as Emily took the opportunity to kiss her, stronger than before—clasping around Ash with her arms, her legs, even her feet, both of them pressing Ash’s right foot tightly between them. What choice did she have? Ash hugged back, rolling again—Emily rolled without resistance, winding up below Ash, and the kiss parted, leaving a smile on her face.

“Is this better?” Emily murmured, one hand running up Ash’s spine—an act that made the tuner tremble.

Ash blushed, and leaned in, kissing Emily’s cheek, then the nape of her neck, eliciting a gasp of pleasure from her. “I… don’t know,” she said finally. “I like it… but I…”

“You liked being the ‘girl’, too?” Emily grinned, and Ash blushed beet red.

Emily leaned in and kissed Ash’s ear softly. “Don’t sweat it, Ash. Just do what feels right.” Ash sighed softly in response, clutching Emily’s sides, squeezing them. “But Em… I…” Ash sighed, insecurity curling in her guts. “How do I know if it feels right because it’s me, or because it’s not-me?”

Emily sighed softly, and replied by kissing Ash’s cheek. Emily’s lips were strangely gentle, slow into the kiss. “If it feels right, Ash… then it feels right. Now, come on. Let’s find some shirts or something, I smell breakfast.”

Ash sniffed and smiled, as her mother called, “Didn’t you two hear me the first time? I made pancakes!”

“We can talk about this later, Ash. Eat now…”

Ash started to get off of her, then paused, and leaned back in, kissing Emily, quickly. “Thanks, Em.”

“I love you, Ash. Don’t forget that, please.” Her hand came up, sliding between Ash’s breasts, pressing her palm gently over Ash’s heart.

Ash blushed lightly, clasping Emily’s hand to her chest. “I know, Em… I know.”

Breakfast was great, albeit somewhat cold by the time Emily and Ash arrived, each of them wearing their matching black Action Vault T-shirts that they’d won in Albany on Friday. Marie said nothing about what she’d seen, but smiled, asking if they’d slept well. Ash fought not to blush when Emily answered, “Best I’ve slept in a long time.”

When breakfast was over, Marie sighed softly. “I’m glad the two of you came, but now that breakfast’s done, I’m afraid there’s not much to do. The storm’s lightening up, but the roads are still pretty bad. You’re welcome to stay, of course, though don’t you have school Monday?”

“Technically yes, but the rest of the week is off anyway, so it won’t matter much if we skip off.”

Emily shot her a venomous glare, but sighed. “I… suppose that you’re right, practically. Still, I don’t like the idea. They might just have canceled, though.”

“Well, there’ll be time to figure that out later. I need to start calling credit card companies, the insurance company, and whatnot, get that sorted out. You two are perfectly welcome to do whatever you like, of course, but I’m going to be busy making calls for the next few hours.”

So the teenagers commandeered the television while Marie worked. She smiled as she saw them setting up Ash’s game system, while flitting about the house, placing calls and canceling cards.

“Let’s just start a new game. This is the new one I got—Need for Speed Underground 2,” Ash explained, as she turned on the system. “We start out with a super-car owned by the person giving us the garage space, and we can do some races with it, but we have to trade it in before too long, for a regular stock car.” Emily nodded, leaning into Ash as she skipped the starting story sequences and got into the neon green vehicle.

Ash showed Emily how to work the controls, but Rachel’s car proved to be too hot for her, and she wound up babying it, and let Ash do the races with it. Ash easily demolished the other racers with it, while Emily watched, sliding her hand onto Ash’s stomach. Although Ash was trying to set Emily up with a stock car to practice with so they’d be able to play competitively, Emily wasn’t very interested in the game. At least, she wasn’t, until…

“Go back!” Ash blinked, as Emily snatched the controller from her.

“What?”

“That’s my car!” She pushed the stick to the left, grinning as the Nissan 240SX appeared in the car dealership.

“Yeah, it is. I usually get the Focus, bu… Oh. Okay.” Emily had already driven the 240SX out of the dealership, and was grinning from ear to ear as she lay down on the virtual accelerator, up-shifting. Ash grinned, leaning in and (after a quick check to make sure they were alone) kissing Emily’s ear.

“Go at it, Em. Get out there and finish this intro section, then let’s get you doing Outruns on the freeway.”

It was not long at all before Emily was roaring her way around Bayview’s simulated streets, laughing as she dominated all the races she entered. Although Ash had set it to easy, the ease with which Emily dominated told Ash that it wasn’t just the relative handicap of the difficulty setting. Ash’s mother ran to-and-fro in the background, gathering up documents to prove who she was, though she stopped in to comment as often as she could—if only to remind the pair how glad she was they were around.

10:01 AM

Marie finally got a moment to herself to sit and look at her checklist. She had called every agency she needed to call, and marked every lost or stolen card as stolen and invalid. She didn’t have her driver’s license—and would need to get it replaced—but it was hardly relevant as she had her passport (thanks to Emily’s search), and until she had a motor vehicle again, having a driver’s license would be more or less superfluous.

The phone rang. She sighed, vowing strong words if it was Edward. She answered it, saying, “Hello?” It turned out to be the one person she would honestly and truly have rather have had a deep, heart-to-heart talk with Edward than spoken to.

“So, you’re finally back.”

Marie winced, rolling her eyes. “Yes, Jenny, I’m back. Is something wrong?”

“Yes, you were supposed to be here a minute ago. We’re having that sponsor ball tonight and you said you’d be here?” Jenny’s voice was unbearably nasal, snooty, and condescending.

“There’s a blizzard outside, if you haven’t noticed, Jenny. Or maybe you didn’t notice that I was in the hospital since Friday? Or maybe that my car’s been totaled, and taxis aren’t running?”

Jenny snorted. “That’s absolutely fine. Take your time; enjoy yourself. I’ve got a promotion to win.” Marie scowled. “(Like hell.) Have fun, Jenny.” She hung up, and sighed. She wanted—honestly and deeply—to blow the whole thing off. But then, the snow had stopped coming down… But she didn’t have a car. But she’d been planning for this meeting event for months… And no doubt Jenny’s daughter, Jenny the Second, would be there…

Her daughter was with her… And Ash had a car… “I shouldn’t bother her with this; it’s not her problem or her fight…” Marie stood, shook her head, and walked downstairs. “I need coffee…”

They were talking when she got back downstairs. “So, Ash, can my car be made to perform and look like this?” Marie paused on the stairs, watching—the two were leaning on one another, on the couch, with a car on the television set performing very well at obviously illegal speeds.

Her daughter seemed perturbed by the question for a moment. “Well, um… that’s a tricky question, Em. It’s a technical yes, but only if you have a lot, and I do mean a lot, of money to spend. We’re talking ‘several times what your car actually cost’ lot of money.”

“Oh…” Emily sighed, and then leaned into Ash, laying her head on her shoulder. “Can it at least look that good?”

“Uh… yeah, that’s actually possible. It’ll take time, of course… And money, but it’s a lot more possible. Why?”

Marie slid up behind the couch. “You know if the two of you need money…” They both started, and she smiled. “Sorry to eavesdrop, but… if you need money, I can keep you on my short list for girls to call when I need something shown off. No lingerie, since I know you don’t like that kind of thing, but if and when more opportunities like that dress come up, I could give you two the first call…”

Ash blushed a light, pale rose, while Emily blushed a slightly harder shade. “Er… Um, yeah… That’s… that would be…”

Marie smiled, holding her hands up. “It was just a thought, you don’t have to consider it if you don’t want to.” She stood back. “I’m going to make coffee; do either of you want any?”

Both girls shook their heads, but Emily spoke up for orange juice, which prompted Ash to ask for the same. “All right then!” She poured three glasses of O.J. and returned, giving Ash and Emily their glasses. Then she walked to the door, looking out the window.

“Is something wrong, mom?”

“No, dear, nothing… Well, maybe something is. The company’s having this big ‘thing’ tonight, so we’re mostly coming in even though it’s Sunday. I figured it would’ve been off because of the storm, but Jenny just called.” She made a face of distaste.

“But I don’t have any way of getting there in any event… So it’s pretty much a non-issue. Can’t get to an event I don’t want to go to anyway.” She shrugged, and sighed. “Ah well. I could use a day off.”

“Marie, you’re so good… And this is so wrong.” Marie smirked to herself as she turned her back, walking out the door to the kitchen.

Ash called out behind her, “Mom? It’s okay; we can take you. I have my car.”

Marie turned back, blinking. “Ash? Honey, you don’t have to… You’d be stuck there all night with me, and the only one there your age you’ve met would be Jenny.”

“I’ll go!” Emily volunteered, getting a blink of her own. “That way I can keep her company.”

“You don’t have to, Emily,” Ash began, but Emily cut her off.

“No, really, I don’t mind.”

Marie nodded, acquiescing. “We-ell… There is a break room on my floor I can just let you two occupy. It has a large plasma TV you could hook that up to.”

“All right. We’d better go and get ready, then?” Ash said.

“Yep.”

“Looks like we’re on the clock again,” Ash said to Emily.

Emily was already Jumping to the Garage to save the game. “Yep. Rolling out, saving the day… that’s us!” She giggled, and Ash laughed softly in return, hugging her.

“Yep. A couple superheroes, us.”

“Superheroines, Ash.” Ash blushed, and Emily stuck her tongue out. “Come on, let’s go get showered.”

“Okay. You first?” Ash said it with a good suspicion of the answer.

“Taking turns?” Emily grinned, shook her head, and walked to the bedroom, with Ash following her, happily sighing.

Ash was, Emily thought, getting much, much better in a remarkably short time about being comfortable around her. She was pressed into Ash’s back, her orange-haired friend’s neck between her breasts, as she lathered thick, wonderfully scented shampoo into Ash’s hair.

For her own part, Ash was content. It was actually hard to feel embarrassed; she had, after all, seen Emily naked (though she didn’t get a good enough look to verify the Freckle), and slept snuggled up to her. It felt right. And besides, her fingers felt really good. Emily pushed Ash forward; she leaned as directed, her head falling under the brunt of the spray, shampoo washing away. She stood up, turned around, and embraced Emily, holding her close.

Emily snuggled tightly into her, and Ash smiled warmly, holding her blue-haired bookworm of a love tightly. Her lips found Em’s temple, and she kissed softly. “How are you feeling, Em?”

The murmured reply of “Good, Ash… very good,” made her guts warm comfortably, a tugging in her pelvis joined shortly after. Her hands clenched Emily’s back.

“Would you like to… um…”

“Kiss you?” Emily finished the sentence with a smile. They kissed warmly, slowly. It was bliss. “Like that dream… That… Mmmm…” Ash spread her legs slightly as she recalled that one, wondrous, potent dream. Emily pushed her body into Ash’s, breasts squishing together, stomachs flat upon one another. Her thigh slid between Ash’s. Contact. It sent a tremble through Ash’s whole body, the unique, warm pleasure, at the same time so alien and so familiar. Ash cried out, softly, gasping.

Emily danced back. “Ohmigod I’m so sorry! I forgot!”

Ash blushed hard, realizing she was shaking. “God, what a mess I am! I can’t even let my own girlfriend touch my…” She trembled as she realized she no longer knew how she even wanted to finish that sentence. Ash collapsed to her knees, catching herself on the shower’s side.

“Ash?” She looked up, into Emily’s eyes. The blue-haired girl was blushing, but very focused. “I… I moved too fast, didn’t I?”

Ash nodded, squeezing her eyes shut. She felt Emily kneeling in front of her, embracing her. The warm, comforting embrace she’d grown to love; she hugged back.

“I’m sorry. I got caught up in the feeling, and you spread your legs. I thought you wanted me to…”

It hit Ash like a semi. She blinked, there must have been a dumbfounded look on her face as she whispered, “Oh, my, god… I… I did, Em.” Her cheeks burnt bright red, leaving Emily’s face confused. “I am so sorry, Emily… I must have… Jeez, I was sending ‘signals’, wasn’t I?” Emily cautiously nodded, and Ash groaned. “I’m sorry.”

“For what? I don’t… I don’t understand, Ash. Can you explain it?”

“Yeah. Um, let me sit down…” She shifted, sat. Emily leaned into her, wrapping around her torso—Ash leaned back, and they slid down, Emily lying atop her, but to the side and on her side. She stared into Ash’s eyes, and Ash took a deep breath.

“You remember, that night during the summer, down here… when I had that dream?”

Emily blushed, nodding. “Yeah… that moan you made… I still hear it sometimes at night.” She bit her lip, which made Ash feel slightly better.

“I was thinking about it, and… Well, in that dream we were kind of doing what you just tried to do…” She knew she was blushing, and Emily nodded, pupils dilating—interested?

“Well, um… I guess I wasn’t thinking about it, was I? I just spread my legs, and you…” Ash sighed, looking up, away. “Ugh. I’m being so damn girly, aren’t I?”

“No, you’re being regular old Ash, with feelings that are finally being talked about. When you start voluntarily painting your fingernails, then we can talk about being girly.” She stuck her tongue out.

Ash laughed, kissing her cheek. “Thanks, Emily.” Emily smiled, and kissed back.

“So, about your mother’s offer…”

Ash blinked. “You mean the show-off-stuff thing? You’d be into that?”

“We-elll…” Emily cautiously began. “Do you really think I have the body for it?”

Ash looked down over Emily’s sleek lines. Ash felt Em’s breasts pressing into her own as she breathed deep. Ash grinned. “Definitely!” The answer made Emily beam, kissing her shoulder. “Mmmmmm… If they pay five thousand dollars for each event…” Emily began.

“Yeah… You know, we could do some serious mods with just one event. A couple of them…”

“Can Harry get neons and spoilers?”

Ash laughed. “Why? You want to rice out your car?”

“Mmmmmaybe…” Emily looked up and grinned. “We’d be a sight!”

Ash couldn’t disagree—she grinned, leaning up, laying her head alongside Emily’s. “Heh. A team?”

“XR4Ti Ash and 240SX Emily… We’re already a team, and a punk up in Albany has the sore ego to prove it.” Emily leaned back and kissed Ash’s cheek. “Ah… The world feels like our oyster, doesn’t it?” Ash nodded, and Emily smiled. “Teach me to race. Really race.”

“I would love to.” She reached out, wrapping her hand around Emily’s—the blue-haired girl squeezed back. “But, uh… I still can’t heel-walk… I’d have to hang onto Kay or someone all night again.”

“Between me and your mother, I’m sure we can teach you to handle it.”

“Heh. I don’t know whether to thank you or feel bad…”

“Thanking is traditional… Besides, do you really not like looking pretty?” She stroked Ash’s cheek. “If it’s for the right person?”

Ash’s protest that no, she didn’t, caught in her throat as she gazed into Emily’s eyes, then she burned hard red, looking away.

“Too much?” Emily’s voice had lost its confidence.

Ash nodded, then shook her head, then she sighed. “I don’t know, Em.”

Ash raised her head, gazing into Emily’s deep brown eyes. “I… It’s just… I feel like a sissy boy…”

Emily stroked her ear, and Ash closed her eyes. “But then… you don’t really see me as a boy, do you?”

Emily sighed softly, kissing her cheek. “I just… I don’t know how to answer that, Ash.” Her feet slowly stroked Ash’s, and Ash arched slightly. “I see you as you… But yes, I do see you as a girl. That doesn’t mean you’re not Ash!” she said, hurriedly, but Ash put a finger on her lips, then replaced it with her own.

“Then you’re just going to have to accept that… that I’m going to be weird, Em.”

Emily nodded, as the kiss parted. “Yeah. And I do… But you need to accept it.” Ash blinked, as Emily pressed the point. “How ‘masculine’ were you, really? Besides writing your name in the snow and lifting heavy objects, what, actually, did you ever do before that you can’t do now?”

Ash blushed softly. “Um… Hey, I didn’t suffer from periods before!”

“Okay, I’ll grant that. But you’ve been through what, eight, nine, now? It’s not such a big deal anymore, is it?” Ash looked away, mumbling uncomfortably. “And I don’t see you rushing out to get on the pill so you can cut it down to only three a year, either.

“So, really, Ash…What, if anything, can’t you still do? You’ve already proven that you’re a good enough racer to come closer to beating Kamikaze Kate than anyone else ever has, and in a car several times less expensive and slower than hers. You weren’t on the baseball team or anything, were you?”

“No, I… Okay, I guess I get what you’re saying, but not why you’re saying it, Em.”

Her blue-haired friend smiled, and kissed her—warmly, but Ash’s eyes widened as she felt Emily’s tongue sliding into her mouth. She opened her jaw just in time to feel Emily’s tongue slide between her teeth, probing. Finding Ash’s tongue, Emily slowly slid hers over it (hesitatingly at first, but then more confidently), teasing under it, around it. Ash moaned, deep from her chest, squeezing Emily’s shoulder blades as the kiss broke, both of them gasping for air, leaving Ash wide-eyed.

“That is why I’m saying it, Ash.” Emily crouched low, almost purring, as she rubbed her breasts into Ash’s ribs, staring into her eyes. “I love you… You’ve made me face things I never wanted to face, made me think things I never wanted to think, and I love you for it.” She smiled, leaning up, hugging her—Ash rolled, and they wound up on their sides, snuggling one another, with Emily’s head on her shoulder. Then she closed her eyes. “I just … I want you to be happy, Ash. I want to do things that make you happy.”

“You do, Em… just… like, every time I see you it brightens my day.”

“I’m so glad. But you need to… Ash, what makes you, you, isn’t the presence or lack of testicles. It’s you. It’s here.” She pressed her hand into Ash’s chest, between her breasts, eliciting a blush from her. “Right? You’ve done all the things that made you happy before, and as a girl, to boot, right?”

Emily started counting off, pressing her fingers into Ash’s hip as she did. “You’ve raced and crushed Tom. You came closer to beating Kate than anyone has, ever. You beat the guy who taught you. You took on Brent in your first race on his home turf and won. You still play video games, only now you have friends over to play them with. What else?”

“I… Um…” She bit her lip, as Emily continued.

“You’re not only doing things to your cars that absolutely terrified your parents, you’re also teaching me to do things to my car. Thank you for that, by the way—it’s given me pretty much a guaranteed easy A.” Emily grinned, and rubbed her cheek on Ash’s shoulder, softly.

“So, what you’re saying is…”

“Don’t sweat so much about being ‘girly’. It is what you make of it. Besides… You can be very attractive when you let those cracks in your mighty shell of perceived enforced masculinity show.” Emily stuck her tongue out at her, and Ash blushed. “Don’t try to be so masculine that you wind up being some kind of testosterone-laced bully. Just be yourself, Ash.” She kissed her, again, and Ash kissed back, leaning in, holding Emily tightly.

Once showered, rinsed, shampooed, lathered, and rinsed again, Ash and Emily emerged to view the bright, warm sunshine streaming in from the window. Emily checked the time—twice, of course—and smiled. “It’s eleven thirty. We’ve got plenty of time.” She sat on the bed, yawning and smiling, after dropping a towel to sit on, and reached for her bag, pulling out her bottles of nail polish. She’d only brought two—one her usual red, the other as blue as her hair.

“Didn’t you do that yesterday?”

“Yeah. I was thinking…” She looked at Ash, who blushed, shaking her head.

“No way. I don’t think I’m ready for that…”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t thinking these, anyway. Too stereotypically feminine for you, really. You’re kind of like… the arch-tomboy, you should run with it.”

Ash blinked—what was she to say to that? “Um… okay…” Slowly she sat next to Emily. “What’d you have in mind?”

“Something flashy, bright, but not fruit-colored. Something like, I dunno, silver—chrome,” she corrected. “Or maybe a muted pearl color?”

Ash stared at her. She wanted to object, but… Emily seemed to like the idea. “Mmmm. I’m not saying, you know, yes… But, maybe I’ll keep it in mind.”

It satisfied Emily, seemingly, as she leaned in, hugging her. “Good enough.”

The pair were mostly-dressed when the knock came. “Ash, honey? I so hate to impose on you, but… Is there any chance I could talk you into dolling up even just a little bit? Jenny’s going to have her bratty clone there, and I’d really like to look like my daughter’s not entirely a tomboy.”

Ash flinched. “(Not a chance in hell.) What were you thinking?” she asked, more hostilely than she intended it to come out. “It better not be heels, or anything with a skirt, or—”

“How about some nail polish? It’s not too obtrusive—lots of tomboys can get away with wearing it, you know.”

Ash rolled her eyes, while Emily shrugged helplessly, pulling a blue shirt over her bra. “Ugh… Only if you have it in chrome,” she countered, figuring that was a safe enough bet. It turns out, she probably shouldn’t ever bet on her mother not having any kind of article of cosmetic.

“Oh, I have just the thing! You’re going to love it!”

Ash looked at Emily with a look of horror on her face, as they heard Ash’s mother running off.

Approaching Mrs. Upton’s Office Building, 1:39 PM

Her hands looked pretty. She wasn’t sure why, exactly, that was supposed to be a problem—some voice inside her was yelling at it that it was supposed to be. She knew that, as a boy, she shouldn’t want pretty hands. Then again, Emily had made it clear she found them attractive. And she had specifically mentioned ‘chrome’ when she said she might consider maybe doing it.

So, it bugged her that her fingernails were bright and shiny, the color of polished chrome on a big-rig, or a motorcycle. But it bothered her more that while half of her was saying that it should bother her a lot, the rest of her could only say, “Meh, why?” That bugged her. Still, driving was what she did, so it wasn’t hard to get her mother (and Emily) to the big office building, after a nice, long drive (at regular, boring highway speeds) down the freeway.

Her mother’s office building had an attached parking garage—five stories tall. Ash whistled softly as they pulled off of the road and into it. “Wow…”

“Never thought I worked somewhere this big?” Ash shook her head, mutely, and her mother reached over, tussling her hair to the tune of a scowl from Ash. “Well, park wherever you want to.”

The garage was mostly empty, maybe a dozen cars on each floor, tops. Most of them were fairly sedate full-size sedans, though a few of them looked like they had some kind of a tiger under the hood. Ash’s eyes flicked over them as they got out, collected the bags and things, and walked towards the entrance. Mostly BMW’s and Buick’s, though she saw a few Mercedes-Benz, and one classic Crown Victoria.

“Ah, here we go.” Marie walked to the door, buzzing it.

A voice answered several seconds later, “Yes?”

“It’s Marie. My key-card was stolen, I need in.”

“All right,” the voice from the box answered, and the door buzzed. Ash pushed it open, letting her mother and Emily enter, then shut it behind them, walking into the brightly lit, white corridors.

“Hum… So, this is where you work?”

“No, I’m on the sixth floor.” She led them to an elevator, punching in the number 6 (out of 8). The elevator car trundled, and when it revealed itself, Ash goggled.

The upstairs office suite was… Well, Emily whistled softly behind her, and Ash nodded. The space was bright and shiny, with more potted (probably fake) plants than there really ought to have been, bright bay window, and powerful overhead lights. The walls were paneled with some kind of off-white tall panels, except every sixth panel was a brightly polished reflective plate. Ash caught her reflection in one, and shrugged.

“Guess it must be convenient for all the preening twits, right? Molly would be right at home here.”

Emily rolled her eyes at her. “She is still my friend, you know… But yeah, she probably would love this place.”

They emerged into what would have been ordinary, tidy cubicle space in a less-glamorous building. Only it included tables, chairs, and benches, with cubicle walls placed wherever needed. It made for a dizzying maze. A number of people bustled about; mostly these were adults in business casual (or slightly-more-casual-than-business), but a fair number of them were obviously models; Ash recognized a few from that last event, including (unfortunately) Jenny the Second.

“Oh, would you look at this mess? My office is on the other side of the floor, we’re late, and I don’t have anyone to show off my suppliers’ stuff.” She sighed. “Oh well. At least I’m here, and thank you both for coming.” She started to forge ahead through the labyrinthine maze. With a shrug, Ash and Emily tried to follow her, but soon took a wrong turn and wound up confused.

“Excuse me,” Ash started, as she found herself in a cubicle covered with posters of nude and lingerie-clad women in pin-up poses, and a single, preening peroxide-blond who was staring into a mirror intently, holding her hair, wrapped around her head in a complicated twirl. Her eyes met Ash’s through the mirror.

“Oh good, the help. Hold this for me, and you blueberry, get me a cup of coffee.”

“Uh, hold what?”

“Are you stupid? My hair, duh! God, no wonder you’re not dressed up for tonight. You’d probably say something to the President.”

Ash and Emily looked at one another—Emily scowled, and Ash nodded. They both turned and left, leaving the dumbfounded (and irate) girl yelling after them.

“That was rude…” Ash muttered. They looked through the mess of cubicles, but only found themselves where they started. “Damn it. We went the wrong way.”

“Can we go around?” Ash shrugged, and they tried following the outside wall, but ran into a terminating divider. Ash sighed, and Emily shrugged, starting in, following it back into the cubicles. Ash followed her, and let Emily try this time.

Emily led them into a cubicle, this one empty. Ash looked at the dizzying array of cosmetics, and turned around to leave—almost bumping into another girl. This one was raven-haired, wearing a robe under which lingerie could be seen—Ash’s eyes flicked down briefly, automatically, as the girl sneered.

“I think you missed your floor. ‘Ugly’ gets off in the basement.” She smirked, and moved around Ash, as Emily scowled at her. The fashionista sat on her stool, picking up a bottle of something, lifting it—and noticing Ash and Emily still in the mirror.

“Wow, ugly and stupid?” She smirked. “At least you’ve got the body for it, but when did they start letting ugly, tit-less, fat cows in here?” She sneered at Emily, who’s jaw had gone wide with shock.

Ash clenched her teeth and her fist. “Ugly fat cow?! At least she’s not a brainless bitch!”

The preener rolled her eyes. “Better beautiful than a brainy whore.”

“Ash, let’s—” she heard, but she didn’t see anything but red, and the sneering, preening girl’s face, as she threw the punch.

Her fist connected with a meaty thud, not the expected slam of knuckles into cheekbones. It was a hand—one decidedly bigger than her own. She was spun around, quickly. Someone tried to grab her; she threw a punch with her left. That one found bone—ribs, in fact—as she got tossed (relatively gently) against the dividing cubicle wall. It shook under the impact, but she managed to stop it from going down. Ash coiled her legs, launching—she was intercepted from the side, however, familiar arms wrapping tightly around her, and a loud, anxious voice—Emily—in her ear.

“Ash, chill out! It’s Kay!”

“Huh?” Ash blinked, snapping out of it, looking up—Kay Wheeler was standing in front of her, having intercepted the punch. The fashionista was cowering behind him, and he held his arms out, though he lowered them when it was obvious she wasn’t going to launch herself at him again.

“Wow… Nice punch, Ash. You hit like a boy.”

Ash blinked, watching Kay rub his side, as cries of, “What’s going on?!” came up. Kay called back, “It’s nothing! I found them!” Then he shook his head, picking up the bags Emily and Ash had dropped. “Your mom realized she’d lost you and sent me to find you. Good thing I found you in time to stop you from beating her up.”

The girl started to sneer, making accusations of crazy, but Kay cut her off. “I heard you start the fight by insulting her friend. If you’re not willing to take the risk that the next girl you insult might be a tomboy and throw a punch instead of a slap, keep your mouth shut.” She looked flabbergasted, and Kay smiled, waving Ash and Emily forward. “C’mon, this way.”

Looking guiltily at Emily—who looked quite irate at her—Ash slunk after Kay. Things seemed to quiet down, and Kay slid beside them. “Chill out, this is no big deal. You put this many girls together in these kinds of cramped quarters, we average a fight an hour. Most of them don’t go beyond scratching and shouting, though.”

Ash blushed. “So, what, are you like, here for security?”

“I’m here because: A, I have to be Jenny’s date tonight; and B, your mom asked me to come when she knew she was going to be here. I guess I’ve been drafted as security, since I’m like, the biggest person on this whole floor.”

He shrugged, and Ash laughed. “Okay, okay. We’ll try to keep out of the way. We’re here because my mom’s car got wrecked.”

“Uh, yeah. You told me that last night, remember? You also forgot to call me back.”

Ash blushed again, and Emily laughed nervously. “S-Sorry about that, Kay… We were just, well, you know…”

“I know. You were so happy to see Marie that you forgot. That’s fine. Now, here we are.”

He led them out of the maze, and into the rear of the floor where there were a large number of doors. The corner office read ‘M. Upton, Marketing’, and next to it was, ‘Break Room’. Kay knocked on the door, and ushered them (and the bags) inside. “I found these for you, Marie. Your beautiful daughter was about to re-arrange some airhead’s face the hard way.”

“Ash? Jeez. You know what, no. No harm done, right?”

“None whatsoever except maybe a bruised rib—on me. She hits like a hammer.”

Ash guiltily looked down, cheeks burning, as her mother sighed. “No harm, then. Come on, come on.” She waved them in, and Kay slid away, as calls of ‘Bitch!’ and ‘Slut!’ were going up behind them. They handed her mother the bags of her things, and Mrs. Upton put them on her desk. “I’m sorry I lost you, girls. I forgot that not everyone can navigate out there by instinct.”

“Um… you’re… not mad?”

“Heavens, no. You’d hardly be the first or the last to do some damage to someone else out there. And knowing you, you didn’t start it, did you?”

“I threw the first punch.”

“Only because she called me some vile names.”

“Ahhhh, I get it. Okay.” She slid away from her desk, and opened a side-door into the break room.

“Now, you two can stay out of sight if you want. There’s a plasma TV in there you can hook your game up to, you can use the computer on my desk, or watch TV or anything. I’ve got to go out there and—” her phone rang, and she rolled her eyes. “No, I’ve got to be in here, apparently. You two have fun, and I’m sorry, again, for dragging you through this. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

Ash and Emily shrugged, and walked into the break room.

Break Room, 2:33 PM

The break room was a bright, off-white room, though thankfully lacking the mirrored paneling of the main floor. It had a huge plasma TV and a deep, cushy couch, as well as a table, a fridge, and a number of chairs. Ash and Emily were on the couch, Ash’s Playstation on the floor, with its wires connected to the TV.

“You know, Ash, they may be snots, but we probably should try to be nice to the next one we meet.”

“Yeah, you’re right. That last one though…”

“Well, maybe not her. But if she actually tries to be nice…” Emily smirked, jerking hard on her controller. Ash’s ‘Ah-hah!’ turned into an ‘Ah-h-ah-shit!’ as Emily’s perfect PIT maneuver sent her Mustang GT spiraling. Emily was still driving the 240SX she’d started in career mode, and was lying on her back on the couch, her legs up on Ash’s lap. “Gotcha!” she smirked, as her 240SX cruised across the finish line. Ash’s came in second, and the AI drivers were all at least fifteen seconds behind.

“Yeah, well, good game.” She clenched Emily’s hand, and Emily leaned in and nuzzled her fingers. “Let’s go back to taking turns in Career, okay? I don’t like competing with you that much.”

Ash blushed softly, and nodded. “Okay.”

They exited, and Ash returned the game to Career mode, handing the controller off to Emily, who promptly drove her tricked-out, unique-parted 240SX to a Circuit race. She sat up, and Ash stood up and walked to the fridge as she heard the race start. Emily’s engine sounded small, but the car was really turning out some powerful horses as she soared through the streets. It was a good sound, Ash thought, and she grinned at Emily singing along with the music.

The door opened. She looked to the door to her mother’s office, but it was closed. Her head swiveled, and her guts sunk. Jenny, mark Two. And she’d promised to be nice, too. Swallowing a grimace, she forced herself to smile.

“Jenny. Soda?”

Jenny sneered, but took it, walking into the break room. “Oh my god. What are you playing?” She laughed at the car racing game, even as Emily expertly assassinated the racer in first, sending him spiraling back into the wall, and in turn, causing a chain-reaction with the one in third, leaving her zooming ahead of the pack. “Are you playing a boy’s game?”

“Uh… it’s a game,” Ash remarked.

Emily put on one hell of a perfectly fake smile. “You want to play?”

The kindness was probably not something Jenny expected. “Hah. Pleeze. I have a boyfriend who drives me anywhere I want to go; and in a much nicer, and faster, car than that! He’s got the fastest car here,” she smirked.

Emily stood up. “Uh… Kay Wheeler? He drives a stock Miata.”

Jenny snorted, rolling her eyes. “Kay? No, he’s just my date. I mean my boyfriend. He’s a good driver, he can out-race anyone.”

Ash felt her heat rising. That was an insult. “Oh yeah? What’s he drive?”

“Oh, how should I know? It’s fast, though. He’s taken me up over a hundred.”

“Oh yeah? He can beat anyone, huh?” Emily’s eyes were trying to meet hers, but she ignored them. “Yeah.”

Ash grinned. “Go get him. Meet me on the far corner of the parking garage’s top floor.”

“Meet… you?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Meet me, and my car, on the top of the parking garage.”

“You… drive yourself?” She looked down her nose at Ash.

“Yes, I drive myself. And I drive quite well. Or is your boyfriend so chicken he won’t race a girl?”

“You’re going to eat those words. My boy’s car is hot. And didn’t I tell you to stop dying your hair? At least it’s not as bad as hers.” She smirked and bounced out.

“Ash, what are you doing?”

“Getting into a race, apparently.”

“Hello? Snow?”

“There’s no snow in the garage. It’s enclosed.”

“In the garage?”

“Yeah. It’s pretty much empty, so…”

“You know… No. I’m not going to yell at you or anything. I know this is stupid, but… That girl’s a bitch, and I’d like to see you take her down a peg or two.”

“Come on then.”

They slipped back out to the floor, and then (after finding Kay for directions through the maze) made their way to the garage.

“Are we going to take out the seat?”

“We could… But if he knows a thing about racing, he’ll know that means I’m serious. I want this guy to underestimate me as much as possible so I don’t have to push hard.”

Ash started the engine. She babied it up to the top, not getting above first gear, and drove to the far corner.

“They’re not here. Think we’re being stood up?”

Ash laughed. “Knowing Jenny? It’s possible, but I don’t think so. He’s probably got some kind of coupe, maybe a Miata, but I doubt it.” She parked the car in the corner, leaving the lights on. She shut off the radio, and they waited.

Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait long.

A car rumbled up the ramp, and Ash turned on the engine, pulling out slightly to meet it. The other car pulled up, headlight-to-headlight facing Ash’s Monster XR, and turned off. Ash and Emily got out of the Monster, and Jenny and a boy Ash didn’t recognize got out of the other car. Ash’s eyes fell to the hood ornament, a pouncing cat—a Jaguar. The body was either an X or and S, and she found the name on the side—S-Type.

“Nice car,” Ash grinned, leaning on the side fore panel of her Monster XR.

The boy laughed, pointing at the Monster XR. “This? You think this bucket can take my baby?” He rubbed the Jaguar on the hood. “Merkur? Who the hell are they, anyway?”

He was, Ash noted, dumb, with a preppy jock’s type of voice and a thick polo shirt. Jenny clamped onto his arm, laughing. “My god, you drive a rust bucket like that? So you’re not only stupid and boyish, but you’re poor, too? Hah. I almost feel sorry for you.”

Ash smirked. Oh yes. The pain was coming. She walked over to Emily’s side of the car, putting an arm around her. “I’m Ash, and my friend here is Emily. I already know you, Jenny, but I don’t think you introduced us to your boyfriend.”

“This is Josh, and he’s going to be destroying that bucket you call a car today.”

“Oh, is he? Well then…” Feeling daring—and sure of herself—she walked around the car, noting the automatic transmission in the window. “Why don’t we put down a wager, hmm?”

“Hah.” Josh(ua?) smirked, taking out his wallet. “Let’s see… Normally, I’m opposed to taking girl’s money, but my girl tells me you’ve got a big mouth. How much you want to put down? One? Five?”

“Don’t make me laugh, I’m not racing for soda money.”

“Neither am I.” He grinned, taking out his wallet and showing off the Benjamin-faced bills that he was referring to.

Ash scowled. She knew she shouldn’t, but… “Nah. I don’t race for chump change like that. I’ve got a better idea—pink slips.”

“Uh… What?” Joshua and Jenny were both confused, as she heard Emily gasp beside her.

“Pink slips—car titles. You win, you get my car. I win, I get yours.” Her heart was racing. She knew this was stupid… But then, she also knew she could win, and she had two cars. She hadn’t specified which one she’d sign over if she lost.

“Yeah, right! Like I’m going to race for my car?” Jenny scowled up at hearing that.

“Well, if you’re afraid you’ll lose your big, expensive car to a poor, dumb girl like me…”

That did it. Emily goggled at her, and Ash knew she was going to feel really freaky about having employed ‘feminine wiles’ later on, but there was no way that a preppy jock, next to his girlfriend, would let an insult like that to his masculinity go unchallenged.

“You’re on!” he all but shouted.

Ash pulled a pen and a piece of paper out of her car, putting it on the hood.

“Er… What are you doing?”

“Drawing up a little document.”

It was a short, sweet, and probably not-at-all legal document, stating that the winner of the race would sign over their car to the loser. She signed ‘Ash Upton’, and waited for him.

“Yeah, okay. Whatever. Your loss, sweetie.” Josh slid in beside her, as Jenny grinned ferociously.

He signed ‘Joshua Almacy’ to the paper. “Done. Now, how you want to lose your ugly-ass bucket? I can probably sell it for dinner money…”

“Okay. There’s five floors, no cars. The ramp is a circular spiral on the corner of the garage, but it’s no fun to just go down it. So, you make a circle around the outside lane of the garage, and go down a ramp. Go straight instead of continuing right to the next floor down, make a full loop of the garage, and go straight onto the ramp. Keep doing this until the bottom floor, where you keep going straight until you get to the exterior access. The first car onto the street, wins.”

“Yeah, I got that. Hey babe, get in the car. I’ll have you a present in a few minutes.”

“Oh, good. I can’t wait to scrap it. I’ll send you a piece,” Jenny said to Ash, walking back to Joshua’s S-Class and getting in.

Ash took the document and got into the Monster, where Emily was waiting. “Are you crazy, Ash?”

Ash started the car, and pulled back into the parking spot. The other car did likewise, and rolled down its window.

“When do we go?”

“On three! Emily counts down.”

Emily shot a mean gaze at Ash, as Ash put her hand on the shifter, and her feet on the pedals. Emily rolled her eyes, and held her hand up. “One! Two! Three!”

Tires squealed, but Ash babied the launch. She pulled ahead briefly, but the S-Class zoomed around her, its engine roaring, as Ash grinned, pulling in behind and letting him lead.

“Are you crazy? Are we going to walk back to Tempest?”

“I’m not going to lose, Emily. I’m gonna take that expensive car of his, and give it to my mom.”

“You can’t be serious. His car is more expensive.”

“It’s an automatic. He’s got a stock muffler on it. This guy isn’t any kind of a tuner, and—whoa!”

She braked hard, pushing them into their seat belts as Josh slowed down quite hard to take the turn, then sped away. Ash shook her head, and Emily gasped as the pressure was relieved from her chest when Ash accelerated again. “As you can see, you turn a lot better than he does. I’m going to let him think he’s winning for a floor or two, then I’m going to bury him.”

Emily rolled her eyes, and Ash grinned. “This is the car I built to beat the Kamikaze. Kate out-ran me, but this guy ain’t a racer, and he ain’t in an XKR. We’re going to win, Emily.”

Emily sighed. “Do you really think he’s going to give you his car?”

“I don’t know,” she said, as she took an easy turn ’round the next bend, and the third—it wasn’t hard, she was deliberately trailing so she didn’t have to waste brakes doing his hard stops. “If nothing else, she’ll break up with him if he loses and doesn’t man up to it.”

Ash continued letting Joshua think he was easily winning; she let the car drift into the redline in second gear a few times to make him think its engine was straining. Then they hit the second floor, and Ash shifted into third. She floored it, grinning wildly, as the Monster XR’s 5-liter V8 roared, the engine’s sound reverberating through the garage.

Even Emily grinned. “If we’re going to be bitches, let’s be the best bitches we can. Bury this loser!”

Ash threw the wheel, heel-toe downshifting as she slid the Monster smoothly around the corner, sliding between the Jaguar and the wall, and zipping back in front of it, leaving a very shocked Jenny staring at her car.

Security Office, 2:49 PM

“Oh my god, who are these idiots?!”

Marie pushed her way through the gaggle of executives and reps in the security office, pushing Jenny aside slightly harder than she should. When she’d heard that some punks were racing in the garage, her heart had leapt into her throat. “Ash…” she whispered, recognizing the monstrous car her daughter drove, sliding smoothly around a corner in a move that had everyone in the security office holding their breath—but the car recovered, smoothly roaring on.

Then, on a different monitor, another car blasted into view.

“Oh my god… isn’t that the boss’s car?”

“What do you mean, my car?!” Marie’s boss, President Almacy, elbowed his way in. “What the hell is going on? Are they racing? That’s my car!” he shouted, angrily. “Someone stole my car! Where’s my son? That idiot must have dropped his keys!”

He growled, as Marie gulped. “Get to the ground floor! I want those cars prevented from leaving!” He ran out of the office, followed by two uniformed security officers. Marie also dashed after him, as did Jenny and a number of the other girls. The elevator was crammed full, and then it burst into the lobby, the clack of heels and the slap of business shoes hitting the tile echoed.

Once outside the lobby, the roar of the engines was easily audible, though it cooled down quickly, even as it got close. Brakes squealed, and they heard a skid. Marie winced, expecting to hear a colossal crash of metal on metal or concrete, but instead her daughter’s car—her daughter at the wheel, and her friend in the passenger seat—skidded around, through the entrance, smoothly coming to the shoulder of the road. She saw Ash’s face go from ‘elated’ to ‘oh shit’, as she parked the car. The roaring sound still inside turned into a loud rumble, then a hard screech, as the boss’s Jaguar rolled out, skidding wildly, and recovered (thankfully) in the proper traffic lane, and parked on the side.

“Jenny? Isn’t that your daughter?” Marie asked, pointing. Jenny gasped—it was in fact her daughter in the passenger seat, a furious look on her face, as the driver got out. It was the boss’s own son.

Marie ran around to the driver’s side door, opening it. Ash sighed, as Marie pulled her out. “Do I even want to know what you were doing racing through the parking garage, Ash?”

Her daughter sighed, shaking her head. “You probably don’t. Jenny was bragging about her boyfriend’s car, so I figured she’d back down if we challenged her to a race. He showed up.”

Marie looked over to her boss, who was giving his son a severe dressing-down. His son flatly insisted it was nothing they were doing, while Jenny the Second tried to slink away to her mother, who hissed in her ear and quietly tried to bundle her away back into the crowd and into the building. Marie rolled her eyes. “There she goes, sliding away while the attention’s off her.”

“I won’t, mom.” Marie looked to her side, seeing her daughter’s shoulders were squared. “That guy yelling at him—he’s your boss, isn’t he? I’ll take the heat. I won’t let any of it get on you. It’s my stupid, anyway.”

Emily had likewise disembarked, and was standing beside them, holding a piece of paper.

“What’s that?” Marie asked, and Emily held it up; it was the racing form, with her daughter’s signature—and Joshua’s—on it.

“So! Marie! What kind of daughter have you raised?”

Marie started, looking over. “Mr. Almacy?”

“My son says that he and his friend saw this young lady’s car racing through the garage, and they bravely gave chase, trying to stop them before they ran into something! And it turns out she’s your daughter!”

Ash stepped forward. “Sir! Mr. Almacy, I’m not going to lie. We were racing—your son and I. His girlfriend was bragging about his car, and I challenged him.”

“Whoa, whoa, where does this crazy girl get off saying stuff like that?” Joshua came out from behind his father. “I’ve never seen this crazy chick before, Dad, honest! I told you what happened, are you going to believe some hell-raising racer dyke?”

Marie grit her teeth. “You are a liar, Joshua Almacy!” It took her a split second to realize it had been her voice, and not Ash’s, as she surged forward, holding out the paper. “Mr. Almacy, this paper was signed by both of them. It lists the terms of their little race, and your son’s signature is on it.”

Joshua’s eyes went wide; he lunged for the paper, but his father checked him aside. He took the paper, eyes flicking over it. “I see… Marie, take your daughter and her friend to the meeting room. Somebody find Jenny and drag her and that daughter of hers in, too. And you, young man… Go to the meeting room and wait.”

Marie gulped softly, looking at Ash—who had a deer-in-headlights stare in her eyes.

Meeting Room, 3:09 PM

Ash sat next to Emily, a sinking feeling in her heart. They both looked nervous, but Emily didn’t even shoot her any accusatory glances. Ash felt guilty enough for everyone involved, though. Her mother sat at the table, along with Jenny the First, while Jenny the Second and Joshua were in the president’s office with Mr. Almacy. Soon enough the door opened, and they slunk out.

The president called out, “Miss Upton and Miss… I’m sorry, young lady, I don’t know your name, but you two, come here.”

Emily and Ash stood up, as did Marie, but the boss shook his head. “Not you, Marie. They’re old enough to speak for themselves. I want to hear it from their mouths alone.”

Her mother shrugged helplessly, looking at Ash. “Just tell the truth, honey. Mr. Almacy’s tough but fair.” Ash gulped, nodding. They both walked through the door.

“Close it behind you.” The man in the business suit said, sitting at a desk. There were two pieces of lined paper on his desk, and two pens. He pushed them forward. “Sit, ladies. Sign your names to those papers.”

Ash shrugged at Emily, and sat, signing—as did Emily.

“Now, sign the name ‘Joshua Clayton Almacy Jr.”

Emily blinked at Ash, who shrugged. They each carefully signed the name.

“Hand me those pieces of paper.” The businessman took them, held them up to the light. “Mmm.”

He then set them down in drawer. “Now, young ladies, I want you to tell me everything that happened. Omit nothing, especially not if it reflects poorly on you.”

Ash took a breath, and began her narration. “My mother’s car was wrecked Friday night, Mr. Almacy sir. We came into town Saturday to stay with her. She said she needed a ride to work, so we brought her in my car.”

“The… gray ‘Merkur X–R–4–T–i,’ yes?”

“It’s not really an XR4Ti anymore. It’s got a Mustang engine and the drive-train is all custom.”

“I see… And would you describe yourself… as a car person, young lady?”

“We call ourselves ‘tuners’, Mr. President, sir.”

“Just Mr. Almacy. Now, you, young lady… Miss McArthur. You are her friend, yes?”

“Yes sir, I am.”

“Are you a ‘tuner’, too?”

Emily blushed, looking down. “I’m not… well, very good, but yes, I am.”

“I see. So… continue. You brought your mother here, Mrs. Upton…”

“She knew she would need to stay a long time, and we volunteered to remain in case she needed to leave in a hurry. So she let us stay in the break room next to her office…”

“Right… wasn’t there some kind of altercation?”

“There was. We got lost on her floor, and one of the girls we asked for directions chose to insult us instead. I threw a punch at her.”

“Well, at least you’re honest. And more direct than most of the girls we have to deal with here. I understand you knocked the wind out of Kay Wheeler?”

“Not really. Kay’s tough; I only got him with a left hook before I realized who was in front of me.”

“Good, good. Keep going.”

“Kay took us to my mom, who, as I said, put us up in the break room, where we just played a video game I’d brought. Then Jenny came in.”

“Which one? There are two.”

“Err, the younger—Mrs. Jenny’s daughter, Jenny. We offered to let her play the game, but she was snide and bragged about her boyfriend’s car. That irked me, so I told her to have him race me if she thought he was as good as she said he was.”

“Yes, and so you went to the garage…”

“We did. We met them on the top of the garage. He was driving a stock Jaguar S-Class.”

“Stock?”

“Stock—it means ‘as it came from the factory’. I noticed he had an automatic transmission in the car, and stock mufflers. Those would be the first thing any tuner would change on their car, so I knew he had nothing.”

“Right… So, knowing he had nothing, you persisted in this race… Why?”

“Because his attitude annoyed my ego. He bragged that he was fast without anything to back it up. I figured he’d back off if I added a wager, so he brought out his wallet and started flashing hundred dollar bills.”

“How much did you wager for?”

“We didn’t. I don’t have that kind of money, so I escalated the wager. I figured he’d back down if I went to pink slips.”

“Pink slips… What does that term mean, young lady?”

“It refers to the color of the titles of transfer for the automobile. The winner gets the loser’s car.”

“I see. And you did this… Why?”

Ash sucked in breath, then let it out. “I was mad at him, and at Jenny. I wanted to show them up. I believed that there was an equal possibility of him backing out—and thus, losing face with Jenny, possibly leading to her dumping him—or that he would accept, and I would win.”

“And why, pray, tell me, if you have such a fast and nimble car already, would you want another?”

“I wanted to give it to my mother, Mr. Almacy. As I said, hers was nearly totaled, and I figured it would make her happy.”

President Almacy nodded. “And the race itself; you won, according to the terms set down in this paper—the first car out of the garage, yes?”

“Yes, I did.”

“I see. Return to the meeting room. I’ll just be a minute.”

Ash nodded, and stood up. Then she paused. “Sir?”

“Yes, young lady?” the president looked up from the papers he was drawing from his desk. “Please don’t do anything to my mother over this. It was all my doing.”

Mr. Almacy gave a bark of laughter. “Young lady, I am not in the habit of punishing people for others’ poor decisions! No ill shall befall your mother, whatever else I do decide is needed. Now go.”

Jenny sneered at Ash when they returned to the meeting room. “I hope your mom gets fired,” she muttered at Ash as Ash passed her. Ash flipped her off, low and under the table, as she and Emily sat back down next to her mother.

In a few minutes, Mr. Almacy entered. “Now then. I have thought the situation through. The first thing I am going to say is that, as no damage was done to any vehicle or other property, there is no reason to involve the police. Therefore, there will be no criminal charges or complaints of any sort.”

Ash sighed, softly. “Now, young Miss Upton has been honest—in fact, I dare say, brutally honest—about the whole affair,” he began, walking around the table. “She was the challenger in this race, over a matter of pride. She instigated the situation over her bristled pride, and made no bones about that fact.”

The joy on Jenny’s face was clear, gazing at Ash, who sat, stone solid, watching Mr. Almacy.

“Pride… can be a dangerous thing. You would do well to learn that lesson, young lady,” but he addressed that one to Jenny, not Ash. “As it was your bragging over your boyfriend’s car that led her to issue the challenge—and more, your own lack of judgment which led you to, instead of declining the challenge, convince Joshua to accept it.”

Ash thought Jenny’s mother was going to have a coronary, staring at her daughter, as the President continued. “Furthermore, it was your pride, Joshua, that led you to allow Jenny to browbeat you into accepting, even when Miss Upton escalated the stakes to such a level as your own automobile!”

“But… Dad! It’s not a contract, it’s not legal!” Joshua looked outraged.

“This is true. A contract must be signed by the parties involved, and notarized by a Notary Public. However…”

He glowered at his son. “I have told you, time and again, about putting your name on things, what a signature means to a man. It is not only a way of legally binding yourself, it is a way of morally binding yourself, binding yourself by the honor of your very name. To try and weasel out of that obligation merely because you lost, when I have no doubt you would cheerfully have taken the young lady’s car had you won, is disgraceful.”

He stood up again, walking back to the head of the table. “That said, I will not be handing over the keys to the S-Type. It is my car, not my son’s, and I had no part in the signing of this contract.” Joshua let out a ‘whew’ sound. “Don’t relax yet, Joshua. All parties are certainly to blame in this little exercise of youthful exuberance, but that, in and of itself, is hardly a crime. You put your name in writing that you would render unto the young lady a car, should she prove victorious in the race. You owe the young lady a car.”

Josh blinked. Then he goggled. “Dad!”

“Do not ‘dad’ me, Joshua. You, and Jenny, have stood before me and spoon-fed me bullshit and platitudes, while Miss Upton and Miss McArthur have stood before me and voluntarily disclosed all the information regarding the incident, in no way attempting to downplay their own culpability. Indeed, Miss Upton even pled before me that I not in any way discipline her mother for her own mistake, whereas you blamed everything on her, up to and including the blatant falsehood that she forged your signature, somehow in prescient possession of the knowledge that you would give chase in my car.

“So. That’s settled. Marie, I’ll have my son’s car delivered to your home by tonight, along with the transfer of title; as your daughter is yet too young, it will be placed in your name. Jenny, you need to teach your daughter about prudence and arrogance—especially in light of the fact that all that Miss Upton and Miss McArthur did to offend her was offering to share their game. Marie, while I am impressed at the responsibility these two demonstrated in owning up to their own mistakes, I do trust you will impress upon them that they were mistakes. Our parking garage is not a car-racing venue. If it happens again, I will be forced to levy charges. Upon all involved,” he added, directing the last to his son and Jenny.

“Now then. With that settled, we have a party to throw, important people to impress! Everyone is of course still welcome. Let’s get to work, people! Dismissed.”

Mrs. Upton’s Office, 3:37 PM

Ash and Emily stood inside the door as soon as they got back, while her mother shut the door. Mrs. Upton gulped, took a deep breath, shook her head, walked to her refrigerator, took out a bottle of water, and drank deeply before she spoke again. “Whew,” she said.

She turned around, sighed, and looked at Ash and Emily. Ash gulped softly. “This is it. I got stupid, and now the heat’s going to come down.” She braced for impact… and was rocked back as her mother hugged her and Emily, tightly, squeezing them. “Erk!”

“You two,” she began, shaking her head, “are crazy. Ash, is that how you normally drive your car?”

“Uh… No? Just when I’m racing…”

“You do such terrifying things…” Her mom let go, and sighed. “You really must be your father’s daughter. This is the kind of thing he would do. Do something stupid to impress me…” She sighed, and smiled, ruffling Ash’s hair. “Don’t dare do something that stupid again, Ash, okay?”

Ash blushed, shaking her head. “Uh… we won’t? I promise.”

Her mother looked into her eyes, and sighed. “Good. Just… good!” Mrs. Upton walked back to her chair, collapsing in it. “Ash, I know I should yell at you, or… or something… I just can’t be angry with you. What you did was stupid, sure, but you know that—and more than that, you know what you’re doing behind the wheel. You drive better than I do… Please, don’t do anything like that again, baby?”

Ash gulped, and nodded. “Yeah… I won’t.”

“Good! Now, I need to get back to organizing this party… Ugh. Do you two want to come?” Emily and Ash looked at one another. “I didn’t think so. Look, here.” She reached into her desk, taking out a card. “This is my business expense card. You two, go into town, get lunch, whatever. I don’t care if you pad it a bit—that’s an old tradition. Just don’t, like, buy a car or something.” Ash blushed, as Emily took the card.

Her mother stood up, stretching. “I’m proud of you, Ash. But I also know I shouldn’t be. So please, be careful.” Her mother kissed her forehead on the way out, and Ash fidgeted uncomfortably.

“What now,” Ash asked.

Emily shrugged, holding up the card. “Lunch?”

“Eh… After we finish that race.” She tilted her head towards the door to the break room, and Emily grinned, nodding.

Race finished, Ash and Emily again left the building. Walking through the lobby, they spotted the Monster XR parked out front, and hurried to reach it. But raised, angry voices met them as soon as they opened the door to walk out.

“What the hell do you call that, idiot?!” It was angry, it was female. It was Jenny, and Ash rolled her eyes. Emily slipped out the building door, walking to the Monster’s side, but not opening the car door.

“You didn’t tell me she was like, psycho-racer dyke or something!”

Ash’s blood boiled, but she lidded it, walking out to stand next to Emily, watching the argument. Jenny and her (ex?-)boyfriend were having what could charitably be described as a ‘blazing row’ on the sidewalk, screaming at each other.

“You jackass, why did you sign the stupid paper?!”

“I figured that tub could never beat me!”

Jenny let out a monumental, “Arrrgh!” and shook her head.

“Hey, I coulda beaten the bitch if I’d had my car! I almost won, remember?”

“No, idiot, you couldn’t have! She was toying with you the whole time! She went around those curves and hardly lost any speed; you had to damn-near stop the whole car to get around them!”

Ash shrugged at Emily, who widely shrugged in return, shooting her a helpless look. The pair raged at one another some more, and then Joshua caught sight of them.

“Yeah? What are you two dykes doing, eh? Come to laugh at me?” Ash balled her fists up, while Emily scowled at him. “Now my dad’s making me give you my good car! I hope you crash it and burn and die in a fire!” He flipped them off and opened the door to the S-Type, then slammed it shut when he got in.

Jenny flipped them off as well, and tried to get in. Pulling the handle yielded her nothing, though. The engine started, and she danced back from the curb as the Jaguar’s rear wheels spun, then it took off. She stomped her feet, flipping the bird to the retreating car, stomping back towards the building.

“Jeez, she looks bad… I have an idea.” Emily nodded, and Ash spoke as Jenny drew close. “Hey, Jenny—”

She was cut off by a vicious glare and a, “What?! Not happy yet? You’re getting my ex-boyfriend’s good car, you’ve broken up a good thing with the boss’s son, who was an idiot I could make eat out of my hand if I wanted to, you’ve made me look like an ass in front of my mother! Not happy? What’s next, maybe you want to splash mud in my eyes? Maybe cut my hair off?”

Ash took a step back, recoiling from the hostility. She so wanted to retaliate, but she had to try this. “Easy, yeesh!” She held her hands up, palm-forward. “I just wanted to ask if you wanted to come get lunch with us.”

Jenny was taken aback, and she blinked. She scowled, and looked as though she was reaching through her inventory of inventive invective to throw something in Ash’s face. Then she blinked again. “Oh no. I’m not letting you do that again.”

“Do… what?”

“Play nice to get me to do something stupid so you can blow it up in my face.” She yanked the door on the Monster XR open, and got in, sneering. “Where are we going?”

Emily and Ash were left shrugging at one another, and walked to the left side. Emily crawled in behind the racing seat on the driver’s side, and Ash got into her seat, buckling in. “I dunno. We were gonna cruise the town to find a good spot.”

“Marco’s, on Fifth. Oh wait, that might be too expensive for you,” she smirked.

Ash sneered. “We’ve got the cash. You might want to buckle up.”

“Huh? Why should I?”

Ash and Emily had, of course, buckled up, and Ash reached down for the shifter, checking it was in neutral, and putting her foot over the clutch. She was sorely tempted to bounce Jenny’s forehead off the windshield. “Because this car has a massive acceleration curve and if you don’t, you’re going to hit the windshield when I put the pedal down.”

“How fast can it possibly go?” Jenny asked with a smirk.

“Buckle up, and I’ll show you.”

With a roll of her eyes, Jenny buckled in, and Ash started the car with a rumble. She grinned, worked the clutch, throwing the car into first gear, and put the pedal down.

The Monster XR tore out of the side of the road with a squeal of rubber on asphalt. Ash smoothly guided it into the driving lane and up-shifted as they cruised into the city. Jenny was screaming at the sudden acceleration, while Ash caught the unmistakable look of glee on Emily’s face in the mirror.

She let the car drift down to the legal speed, and smiled. “Now do you see why you need your seat belt on?”

Jenny scowled. “Why don’t your seats match? So poor you can’t afford matching seats?”

Ash just wanted to slap her. “This one’s a racing seat. It’s made of carbon-fiber composites and is designed to be very lightweight. It’s a lot lighter than the seat you’re sitting in.”

“Uh… why does that matter?” Jenny looked confused, which was perfect.

Emily fielded this one, leaning up. “Because she’s trying to lower the weight of the car. Less weight means more performance, especially at the start. During real races, she just takes the passenger’s seat out of the car altogether. It’s also why this doesn’t have an air conditioner, and the trunk is empty.”

Ash nodded, picking up from there. “The air conditioner wasn’t really all that heavy, but the problem with it is that the compressor on the A/C is run from the engine’s drive train. That saps a lot of horsepower, and that’s really unacceptable in a race. You ‘can’ get away with it, but then, it ‘can’ cost you the race, too. The heater doesn’t need to—it’s just an electric fan powered from the electrical circuits, and an electric coil heater, like in a hair dryer. So that’s why it has heat.”

“Um… huh. Didja take the radio out, too?”

“No.”

“She just turns it off when she’s racing.”

“I listen to the road, the car, the other guy’s car. It’s an edge, and it helps me win.” Ash reached over, turning the radio on again. It was set to the radio station it had been on the last three days. Emily smiled. “I love this song! ‘Two Tickets To Paradise’. They play it a lot.”

Jenny rolled her eyes. “What is this, oldies crap? Ugh, have you got no taste?”

“What would you rather listen to, then? Just point the radio where you want it.”

Jenny reached for the radio, and sneered. “It’s not an XM.”

“No, it’s not. But it is a CD player, if you want to play a CD.”

“I don’t have any with me.”

“Well, put on whatever you want to listen to.”

Jenny fiddled with the radio, as Ash drove through the city, looking around. “Tenth… so… Fifth should be up this way.”

The radio started blasting some somewhat hard-ish rock, and Jenny smirked. “Here we go.”

She grinned, turning it up, as the radio started blasting, “I like your pants around your feet, and I like the dirt that’s on your knees, and I like the way you still say please, while you're looking up at me, you’re like my favorite damn disease.”

Perhaps to her disappointment, Ash grinned. “Nickelback, right?” She smiled, head bobbing as the car drove through the city streets. Emily was either putting on a hell of a show, or she actually liked the song, because her eyes were closed, and she was bobbing her head. Perhaps even more to Jenny’s chagrin, Ash started singing with the song. Jenny sulked back into the seat, sighing.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but your hardly-hardcore rock is hardly going to shock us,” Emily said from behind.

“So, what do you say? Stop with this adversarial stuff and let’s enjoy lunch?”

“Whatever,” Jenny huffed, crossing her arms.

Ash shrugged, figuring that was as good as she was going to get. “Which way do I turn on Fifth?”

“Right.”

Ash nodded, driving the car through the city.

Marco’s On 5th, 4:03 PM

Marco’s turned out to be an upscale bistro. It wasn’t quite valet parking, but looked as though they could probably get valets on short notice if a special party was being hosted. Ash parked the Monster XR amidst expensive BMWs and Mercedes. She got out, as did Jenny, and Emily lowered the front passenger seat, exiting normally. Shutting the door, Ash looked up at the green-awning-rimmed red brick building.

“Let me do the talking. You two won’t get in otherwise,” Jenny sneered. Ash let the blonde take the lead, happy to follow since it let her walk next to Emily. Emily looked up at Ash with a slightly exasperated look, but went along with it. The doorman, a pencil of a man in a black suit, scoffed slightly at Emily’s and Ash’s clothes, but recognized Jenny and allowed them in. Most of the people inside were likewise in business attire, though a few also appeared to be princess-types like Jenny.

A lady showed them to a booth. Emily slid in first, followed by Ash; Jenny sat on the opposite side. “What may I get you to drink?” the waitress asked.

“Um, a soda. Diet, I guess.”

Emily ordered the same thing, followed by Jenny.

“All right, I’ll get you three some menus.”

“I won’t be needing one,” Jenny started. “I’ll have a panini, steak and mushroom.”

“And you two?”

Ash shrugged. “I dunno, I’ve never been here before. Do you have bacon cheeseburgers?”

The girl looked a bit taken aback, but nodded. “Um, yeah. We can do that.”

“All right.”

Emily smiled, “Make that two!”

“Right… I’ll be back with your drinks, then.” She scuttled away, as Jenny glared at them.

“Er… What?”

“Bacon? Cheeseburger?” She laughed. “Are you trying to wind up like that disgusting bitch at that party?”

“You mean Cassiel? Uh… no? But why should that have anything to do with what we eat?”

Jenny replied by rolling her eyes. “Whatever. I just hope it doesn’t infect me.”

“Err… what?”

“The stupid.”

Ash clenched her fist, as Emily scowled at Jenny, speaking, “You know, we’re treating you to lunch, you could be a bit nicer.”

Jenny scowled back at her. “I didn’t ask you to.”

“No, but you did accept.”

“Is that what this is about, mmm? Blackmailing me to get me to be nice to you?”

Ash rolled her eyes in disgust. “Jenny? Here’s a newsflash of the blindingly obvious. Not everyone is a shallow, self-absorbed preening prick looking out for themselves and themselves only. Sometimes an offer to play is just that—an offer to play—and sometimes an offer for lunch is just that—an offer for lunch. It doesn’t have to be some kind of battle of oneupmanship, or a constant contest for social status.”

Ash was fighting hard to keep her cool. She knew that she should get away, to the bathroom, anywhere. She held Jenny’s gaze until she looked down. Then Ash sighed, “Excuse me,” and slipped away, finding the bathroom and walking inside.

“Ugh. What am I doing?” she asked to no one in particular, addressing the mirror. “‘Do you want to get lunch?’ What next, am I going to be inviting Cassiel in to sleep over?” She slapped her forehead, shaking her head. “That girl has got to be the most self-absorbed, shallow, spoiled bitch I know, and I’m including Cassiel in that measurement!” Ranting now, she stalked up and down the bathroom, muttering. “She’s always got to be the center of fucking attention, putting everyone down at every chance to make herself seem more important. She doesn’t seem to give a damn about anyone or anything except herself.”

“Then why did you invite me?”

Heart leaping into throat, Ash spun around, spying Jenny herself standing just past the door, her arms crossed over her chest. Ash scowled. “Because… because you looked like you were having a shitty day. Because I tried to be nice earlier and I figured I’d give it another shot. Because I figured you’d lose your cool and go storming off. Because I try not to be a completely shallow, spoiled brat. Take your pick.”

“Hmmph! Who are you to judge me? I, the famous Jenny! Every big shoot I’m on Kay Wheeler’s arm. Everybody who’s anybody knows me, boys want me, and girls want to be me!” She smirked, leaning on the counter.

Ash rolled her eyes, leaning her own hip on it. “And your picture in every magazine, right?”

“Right! Unlike you.” She stuck her tongue out.

Ash smirked and drew closer. “You know what boys do with pictures of girls like you, don’t you?” A savage glee arose in Ash as she closed in on Jenny, watching a slight mask of repression go over Jenny’s face. “What are you talking about?”

Ash leaned in, whispering exactly—exactly—what boys their age did with pictures of Jenny.

“I should know, after all. I think I may have done just that with a picture of her myself,” Ash smirked, as she watched the look of naked revulsion grow on Jenny’s face. Her description had been frank and brutal.

“Ewww! That’s disgusting,” she growled at Ash, who laughed.

“But you said you wanted to be wanted, remember? Your face in every boy’s head? Only it’s the lower head, and—”

“Eeeugh, enough!” Jenny cut her off, shaking her head, getting a laugh from Ash.

“What? I thought you’d be happy, thinking of all those poor, lonely teenage boys lusting sorrowfully over your likeness in all those magazines, their hands on their—”

“Stop it!” Jenny was cracking, and Ash smirked.

“What, you’re not a lesbian, are you?” She met Jenny’s gaze, held it. Stared. Realized she had no gaydar whatsoever, as she had absolutely no reading. Then again, Jenny’s reaction had been unusually strong. She decided to run with it—and switch tracks again.

“Whoa, shit.” Ash recoiled. “Jeez, I’m sorry, Jenny. I didn’t know.” She said, quietly, watching Jenny start to crack.

Her voice got higher and more frantic as she venomously spat, “Stop it! You d-don’t know a damn thing! You’re nobody to accuse me of being a d-dyke!”

Ash shook her head, holding her hands out, palms-forward. “Easy, easy! I said I was sorry…” She mumbled, looking down and to the side—right where she could see Jenny in the reflection from the counter. “I didn’t know. I was just trying to give you a hard time, okay? I’m sorry, Jenny, I won’t tell anyone.”

She wasn’t prepared for what happened next. She could’ve handled a punch thrown, or being spit at, or some kind of an insult. Pretty much the kind of thing Cassiel would have done. Jenny gave a shiver, and then broke down, running for the rear of the restroom, sobbing.

Ash whirled after her, staring, a nagging voice inside her going, “Oh shit. What have I done?” She gulped, giving chase and catching Jenny before she could close the stall door. “Jenny? Hey, look… I didn’t mean to…”

“Go away!” she snarled at Ash, trying to push her out of the stall.

Ash grabbed her outstretched arm. “Chill out, Jenny, really. I didn’t… Shit, I didn’t think you were, I was bluffing. I’m not gonna rat you to anyone, all right? Just chill out, please…”

A part of her wanted to laugh at Jenny, to smite her some more. The rest of her—the large majority in fact—felt awful making a girl, any girl (even Jenny), cry, as she tried to pull the spoiled princess out.

They moved. Shifted. Fell. Ash’s back banged into the wall, and she winced. “Well… this is awkward,” she mused, as she realized she was leaning heavily on the marbled back wall of the restroom. Jenny leaned on her front, crying on her shoulder and clawing at her arms and sides, at once deriving comfort from and attacking Ash.

It took a while for Jenny to calm down enough to stop scratching at Ash’s sides. Jenny’s face was a mess of running make-up, and she sounded bitter. “Just… go away,” she scowled.

“Look… I’m sorry.”

“Go!” Jenny cringed as she said it, baring her teeth, and Ash took a step away.

“Yeesh… Okay, fine. We… we won’t leave without you.”

She quickly walked back out to the booth, sliding in and sighing.

Emily stared at her. “What the hell happened in there?” Ash blinked, and Emily stroked her cheek.

Ash winced softly as she found it sore.

“Oh… um…” she muttered quietly, looking down. “I kind of… made… Jenny cry… And then she attacked me, and then she cried on my shoulder for awhile…”

“That’s weird,” Emily began, staring at Ash curiously. “How did that happen?”

“She came in, and started giving me a hard time, so I gave her one back, and I guess I kinda found a sore spot or something, because I gave her a much harder time than I meant to…”

Ash sighed, and closed her eyes, as Emily listened. “I didn’t mean to. I feel weird. I just… Ugh, I acted like her, or Cassiel. I found a chink in her armor of fake perfection and pulled. I feel so…”

“Feminine?”

Ash blanched, sticking her tongue out. “Yeah, that too, but I was going to use the word ‘dirty’.” She sighed, looking up at Emily’s face. “I feel so awful. I didn’t mean to hurt her, but I just…”

“I’m impressed… Shocked, but impressed. To get through the armor of a girl like that… How’d you do it?”

“I promised her I wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“Okay. Cool. What’s she doing now?”

“I don’t honestly know. Probably washing her face off and re-applying her makeup… I feel bad about it.”

Emily smiled softly, leaning against her. “That’s how I know you’re a good person, Ash. Let’s not mention it when she comes out, okay? You wounded her pride; she’s going to want to forget that.” Ash nodded and waited. The food came first—their cheeseburgers on some kind of elaborate roll, and Jenny’s…

“Contextually,” Emily began, “I would say that ‘panini’ is Italian for ‘small grilled-cheese sandwich with a ten dollar foreign-name surcharge’.”

Jenny came out shortly, with a mask like ice on her face—immaculately applied cosmetics, a face that might as well have been a carven mask. Ash blinked at her as she sat down, starting to eat without a word.

“Listen, Jenny, I’m sorry about—”

Emily kicked her under the table, but Jenny simply pierced her with a glare. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Shriveling, Ash sighed, and closed her eyes, eating mechanically. The burger was good (not as good as one of Tyler’s from the Ale House, but not bad), but she wasn’t really interested.

Emily paid with the expense card—Ash signed for it—and they went to the car. Strapping in, they silently took to the streets, Ash having flipped the radio off.

The silence was deafening. She couldn’t take it any longer—she pulled the car down a narrow side street, pulling it to the curb and stopping. “I can’t take this silence anymore.” She turned to look at Jenny, who was sullenly scowling at her. “Look, Jenny, I’m sorry, okay? I really didn’t mean to hurt you back there.”

Jenny sneered at her. “You didn’t hurt me. You didn’t even touch me.”

“Bullshit. Just… Ugh, will you stop turning this into a fight?” She pinned Jenny with a glare, while Jenny glared back at her. “I really didn’t mean to hurt you, I definitely didn’t want to act like you back there! You just pissed me off, coming off like you think you’re God’s gift to the world. Why don’t you just chill out, relax? Have some fun for a change, and stop thinking everyone’s out to get you?”

“You are seven kinds of fucked-up, Ash Upton. You had me stone cold dead to rights back there. You could ruin me, you could have destroyed me, but instead you go hugging me and promising you won’t tell anyone? What kind of girl are you? I’d never let some bitch off so easy. I’d have twisted the knife. I would’ve destroyed me if I had me where you had me.”

“Maybe that says something about what a rotten person you are,” Emily spoke up from the back, leaning on the back of Ash’s racing seat. “I don’t know, I honestly don’t know what went on in there, but I just had to listen to my best friend confessing to me about how guilty and awful she felt about how easily she tore you up, and how it made her feel rotten inside. She’s tried to be your friend today, she’s tried to be nice to you, even though you’ve given her no reason to do so, and when she finally snaps and tears you a new one like the spoiled, rotted bitch you are, she not only stops short of finishing you, she apologizes. And you can’t even handle it, so you go attacking her again?

“You are the seven kinds of fucked-up, not her. But you assume the worst of people, because you assume they’re all like you. And it brings out the worst in them, so it’s really just a self-enforcing prophecy. Ash has never torn into someone the way she did today. Never. She’s flattened people on the mountain, she’s gotten into bare-knuckled brawls, but I have never seen her get so angry, so absolutely enraged, that she tore into someone’s emotions and inner person. You brought that out in her, and now she feels awful about it. Maybe you should think about that?”

Jenny sullenly looked down, shaking her head. “You don’t make any sense. You go around acting nice and all. What’s up with that?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Why are you so hostile all the time? Why do you assume everyone is out to get you? Do you have any friends? Any at all?” Jenny didn’t answer, so Ash pushed. “I’m not out to get you. I’m not your rival, I’m not your competition, and I don’t want to be your enemy. I don’t know why you insist on everyone being your enemy.”

Judging by the sullen way in which she found Ash’s floor-mat-less passenger’s foot space interesting, Ash decided that Jenny didn’t know, either. So she put the car back in gear, and drove back to the building, parking in the garage’s first floor. Jenny got out, looked back at Ash and Emily as Emily was crawling out over the seat, and turned away, walking quietly but swiftly away. Ash sighed, shaking her head—she watched Jenny get buzzed in at the door, and shrugged at Emily. “Well…”

“That was messed-up, wasn’t it?”

“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have lost it…”

Emily slid up behind her, pressing into from behind, hugging her softly. “Maybe. But I think your losing it may have given her more to chew over than if you hadn’t.”

“All right, all right… I guess we ought to go inside?”

Emily nodded.

The Party, 8:11 PM

“Right!” Mrs. Upton had gone into a dynamo mode after Emily and Ash had returned. The place became chaotic. It was almost worse, Ash mused, than the time she had done the whole ‘wearing the expensive dress’ thing. Women and girls and a few men were dashing to and fro, arguing, primping, preening, and generally making nuisances of themselves.

The whole exercise, she had learned (after snagging her mother’s attention in a free moment), was, as near as she could understand it, pretty much pure bullshit. It was an excuse for the corporate bigwigs to mingle and to show off girls (and dresses) in-house.

Ash was glad she and Emily had been able to easily duck out of going to it. Emily was lying across the break room couch, with her head in Ash’s lap and her legs crossed over the arm of the couch. Their hands were clasped together, and Emily was close to dozing off.

Actually, no—she was dozing, Ash realized with a smile. She herself closed her eyes, loving the feeling of Emily’s hands around her right hand. The TV was playing some movie, but she had muted it, and wasn’t watching it. Unfortunately, the downside of the situation presented itself—Ash really needed to use the restroom. She squirmed, and finally slid away from Emily without waking her.

The floor she was on, however, was still a maze. It took her awhile to find the restroom; but when she opened it, a powerful wave of fumes hit her. The cleaning crew was in, and she gagged. “Ugh!” Retreating, she tried the floor down, but it was being cleaned, too.

“Great…” she shook her head as she stepped back into the elevator; only one floor was likely to have working restrooms at this hour. She pressed the ‘8’ on the elevator, taking it up to the Party.

It was… not quite as chaotic as she’d expected, as she stepped out of the door, looking around. Girls in ridiculous dresses flitted around on the arms of token dates—she waved when she saw Kay—and older men on the arms of (mostly) older ladies. Her mother zeroed in on her like a homing missile as she slowly skirted the edge of the party.

“Ash, honey, is something wrong?”

“The cleaning crews are in all the downstairs bathrooms, is all.”

“Okay. I said you were welcome, of course. I just wish I’d known you were actually going to come, I could’ve found you something nice to wear.”

Ash looked down—she was wearing jeans, new sneakers, her Ford T-shirt, and her brown leather bomber. She shrugged at her mother, who smiled. “That’s my daughter, always the tomboy. The bathroom’s over there,” she pointed. “Feel free to get a plate or whatever if you want to.”

“I may. Thanks, mom.” Her mother kissed her forehead, and Ash blushed lightly, walking to the bathroom. It was ornate inside, but had stalls, so in any event she was safe.

Washing her hands, Ash shook her head, yawning. She turned to leave, when she realized her jacket was still on the inside of the stall door. She went back into the stall to get it, closing the door, but as she did, she heard the door to the restroom open.

“Great. Do I leave and feel awkward, or stay and feel really awkward?” She scowled, but though a stall door opened, she didn’t hear anything but a soft sob. “Oh Jeez. You’re kidding me, right?” She recognized that sound, and rolled her eyes. “Jenny? Crying again? What now?”

As if in answer, she heard the bathroom door open again. Two sets of feet clicked into the room, and she heard a voice, highly amused and predatory, say, “Are you sure she ran in here?”

“Yeah.” The second voice was somehow familiar. “I told you, I heard her in Marco’s bathroom, she and this girl got into it, and this girl tore her a new one!”

“Oh god, was she eavesdropping in the stall?” Ash felt her gorge rise.

“I dunno who the other girl was, but she even got Jenny to cry when she called her a dyke.”

“Oh my god, really?! Jenny’s a lesbo?”

“I have no idea. But she sure got to crying hard, then I saw them hugging, and Jenny was crying on her shoulder.”

“My god, really? What a wimp. Hey, Jenny, wimp, you in here?”

Ash clenched her fist. Part of her knew that Jenny almost certainly deserved this; the rest of her said it was wrong, even if deserved. She waited, and then heard a soft shriek from the stall.

“Ah-hah! Found you! Jenny, of all people, hiding in the bathroom, crying?”

That voice—it was the girl who had insulted Emily. Ash clenched her teeth, as she heard that black-haired girl tearing into Jenny, saying, “So, Jenny. Been to Marco’s today? I heard you had a bit of trouble in the bathrooms.”

Jenny’s voice was sullen. “No, I didn’t.”

“Yes you did, you bitch. I heard you, our Jenny, getting torn into by some random girl. She even caught you up and called you a dyke didn’t she? Heh. I wouldn’t have believed it—in fact, I’m not sure I do. Still… what would all those adoring fans say?”

“Go away!”

“And who’s going to make me? Your boyfriend and your date can’t come and save your ass in here. How does it feel to be on this side of the humiliation, Jenny?”

“She probably did it to her… Fuck this.” Ash opened the door, stepped out, and turned towards them. “Leave her alone!” Ash filled her voice with as much confidence and annoyance as she could.

Two girls—one with snow-white hair (giving Ash a terrifying moment thinking it was Cassiel until she turned her face) and the raven-black haired girl that had insulted Emily before—turned to face Ash.

“Hey! It’s you! Oh my god, your girlfriend came to rescue you, Jenny? That is so cute!”

Ash clenched her fists. “Just get out of here, you two. I’m trying to use the bathroom, and I don’t need to hear this.”

The black-haired one smirked. “And who’s going to make us, sweetie? You think wearing a boy’s jacket makes you tough?”

She turned back to the stall, and laughed at Jenny. “Yeah, you two must make a cute couple. In fact, you’ve gotta be the bitch.” She reached in and ripped at something. Coming away with a snap of buttons, she pulled off what Ash presumed must have been Jenny’s top, to the sound of a horrified shriek from the stall, and laughter from the white-haired, shorter friend.

Ash charged. She grabbed the black-haired girl, throwing her into the wall, making her let out a strong ‘Ooof!’ sound as she hit, the top falling into the sink’s basin—the motion-activated spigot turned on, soaking the white fabric to transparency in a second.

“You bitch!” She raised her hand and struck out, clawing lines of fire down Ash’s cheek.

It hurt, though she knew it couldn’t have been a lot of damage. Ash clenched her teeth. “You’re going to walk out that door right now, and not look back.”

“Whore!” Ash recoiled as she was spat at, her eyes closing—and someone jumped onto her back, trying to pull her down.

Ash wondered, briefly, while blinded, if it was wrong to hit a girl like a boy would hit, if limited to the strength and body of a girl. Then she felt fingernails dig into her breasts, and saw fire. She gritted her teeth, letting out a growl of exertion, and ran—backwards. She collided hard with the wall, the girl clinging to her back taking the brunt of the impact, releasing her death-grip on Ash’s chest. Ash opened her eyes and saw the raven-haired girl rushing at her with her fist cocked.

Ash didn’t give her the chance. She shot forward, ducking in and throwing her shoulder out forward. The fist flew over her shoulder, and she rose into the impact, lifting the raven-haired girl off her heeled feet and rocking her back. She scrabbled for purchase, but found none and fell to the floor, grabbing vainly at the sink as she hit with a scream. Then Ash went down atop her, as she was tackled in kind from behind, the girl with the white hair launching into her, reminding her of nothing so much as Missi, only full of hate instead of lust as she grabbed, clawed, squeezed, and attempted to subdue. It was annoyingly painful. Then her fingers found Ash’s nipples. And twisted.

With a scream of pain, Ash collapsed briefly, then swung her arm back, elbow connecting solidly with the girl’s cheekbone. She shrieked in return, flailing and giving Ash the chance. Ash pushed to her knees, then her feet, and swung her arm back again. The smaller, lighter girl flailed backwards into a stall’s door, bursting through the unlocked door and falling onto the toilet, wailing. Ash turned, ducking the first punch. She didn’t quite duck the second, which knocked the wind out of her as it hit her guts, but she slid aside, letting the third hit the mirror with a satisfying crack.

“You’re really stupid, you know that?” Ash smirked at her.

The black-haired girl held her pained hand, and then lunged at Ash with her right hand. Ash grabbed the wild hook, and replied with a right hook of her own, connecting solidly (and satisfyingly) with the cruel girl’s cheek, sending her down like a sack of bricks, sobbing. She didn’t try to get up as Ash walked past her.

Ash picked up the top from the sink, and shook her head. “Soaked through. Looks like a loss.” Her body hurt; she’d taken a fair pounding. She used the soaked cloth to dab at her face, and pulled her arms out of her jacket, holding it without looking inside the stall where Jenny had been sobbing through the whole fight, as the door opened.

Perhaps predictably, it was her mother, and Jenny’s.

“What the hell—Ash?” Ash turned to her mother, as the jacket was taken from her hands. “What the hell happened here? You’re a mess!”

Ash felt like saying something macho, like ‘you should see the other guys’, but didn’t have it in her. Instead, she said, “They were attacking Jenny. I stopped them.” She held up the torn, soaked top as proof, as Jenny’s mother pushed past her own, pushing past her, gasping.

“Jenny? What happened to you?” Ash heard her sob from inside, and she just clammed up. “Ash… at least tell me you didn’t throw the first punch.”

“No… I can honestly say I didn’t.”

“Good.” Mrs. Upton sighed. “Jenny, help me with these two. I think they’re terrified.” Jenny the First turned and scowled. “What about my daughter?”

Marie looked into the stall. “She’s fine, not a mark on her. My daughter got torn to ribbons protecting her and she’s making less noise. Ash, take Jenny and find somewhere out of the way to stick her until we can get her back into some normal clothes. Jenny, help me lift this girl, please.” Marie bent down to lift the raven-haired girl, who had broken a high-heel off one of her shoes, and was flailing like a wounded guppy on land. Ash rolled her eyes, and looked into the stall.

Jenny was sitting on the toilet, her make-up running like a waterfall, but otherwise unharmed, and wearing Ash’s jacket. Ash shrugged, reached in and took her hand. “Come on.” She pulled Jenny to her feet, and steered her out of the bathroom. Jenny resisted at first, but Ash tugged, and Jenny relented, walking mechanically.

Kay Wheeler and two other men about his age were waiting around the door to the bathroom. “Ash? Jenny? What happened in there?”

Jenny just sobbed, and Ash shook her head. “Don’t ask, I’ll fill you in later. Do me a favor and keep their dates’ mouths shut when my mom finally gets them standing again? I’ve got to go put this one in some real clothes so I can get my jacket back.” She steered Jenny to the elevator and rode it down two floors with her, exiting to the Maze.

“All right, Jenny. Where’s your lair?” she muttered, as she steered Jenny towards the cubicles. The blonde finally took over on her own, walking sullenly through the cubicles until she came to one that was apparently hers. She walked in, and Ash leaned on the side divider, sighing.

“Why did you do it?” the voice inside asked.

“Do what?”

“Stop them. You didn’t have to. You could have joined them.”

“Oh, stuff that up your ass. You may be a cold-hearted cruel bitch, but I wasn’t just going to stand there and watch anybody abuse you. I’d have done the same to you if you’d been bullying someone else. I can’t stand a bully.”

She rolled her eyes, drumming her fingers on the slate-gray cubicle wall. Waited. Finally, she asked, “Do you need some help in there?” Getting no answer, she looked into the fashion-lair of the Princess Bee. Jenny had gotten as far as her pants (presumably her panties as well) and her bra, but was just sitting, rocking back and forth on her stool, holding Ash’s big jacket tightly against her chest, making little sound but holding her head against it.

“Great.”

Ash stepped forward, taking her jacket from Jenny, who seemed quite startled as she came out of her reverie. “Get a grip,” Ash said, as she put her jacket back on. “So some girls were assholes to you. Get over it; it’s not the end of the world.”

Jenny fiercely glared back at her. “Yes, it is. I’m, I am finished, don’t you get that? I’m done with. They’re going to tell everyone what happened in there.”

“So?” Ash shrugged.

“So? So?! Don’t you get it, you stupid cow?! They’re going to tell everyone what happened there. I’ll be ridiculed. Humiliated. I won’t be able to show my face again, nobody will want to work with me ever again…”

“Uh, newsflash, Jenny. Nobody wants to work with you now. I didn’t ‘steal’ Kay from you last summer, he used me as his excuse to get out of working with you.” Jenny’s eyes flashed in anger, and Ash zeroed in. “You’re a spoiled rotten bitch. Sure, you may be a pretty face, but you don’t have any friends. The only people who like you are the people who have never met you, and probably never will. Most of them would probably hate you if they met you, too.”

Jenny’s scowl intensified, but burned itself out as she closed her eyes, her body wracked with a single shiver. Ash picked up Jenny’s shirt from the floor and dropped it over her head. “So, it’s up to you. You can keep on like this, fighting viciously over nothing with all those other glamour-obsessed twits. Or…” Ash shrugged. “I dunno. It’s on you.”

Ash turned to leave and walked slowly through the maze, but was caught quickly by Jenny’s hand on her shoulder. “Wait…” Ash turned around. Jenny had wiped the cosmetics off her face (she looked just as good without it, Ash thought), and looked… defeated; humbled, maybe. “Just… I don’t want to be here,” she said, petulantly.

Ash thought about telling her to take a hike (literally), but something in her—maybe the same spark of wisdom that had told her to try making peace—said to bite her tongue. So she did, and sighed. “Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know! I just want to get out of here.”

Ash sighed, looking in the direction of the break room. “Fine.” She quickly walked back to the elevator, rode it down to the garage, and walked out to the Monster XR. She got in, followed by Jenny, who buckled up, but didn’t say anything. So Ash started the engine, and put the car in drive, pulling out of the garage and driving aimlessly through the city. Jenny looked to be fighting back tears, but slowly calmed down. Eventually, she spoke.

“What are you doing?”

“What do you mean?”

Jenny pointed at Ash’s hand on the shifter. “Why do you keep playing with the PRNDL?”

“It’s not a PRNDL. This car has a manual transmission in it.”

“Oh… Jeez, you can’t even afford a modern car?”

Ash felt a burst of fury run through her, then cooled when she realized the sounds coming from Jenny’s voice were actually something that played an admirable second cousin to sympathy.

“I’m a racer, remember? All serious racers use manual transmissions, so we have more control over how the car performs.”

“How does that work?”

“Okay. In layman’s terms, automatic transmissions suck a lot of power out of your car, so that’s one bonus for manuals right there. With an automatic, it’s a system, either mechanical or electronic, deciding when to shift into a higher gear or a lower one. They’re not perfect, and they tend to be built with a lot of ‘granny driver’ leeway into them, so they absolutely suck for racing.”

Jenny was staring at her, so she continued; this was her element, one she could speak authoritatively on. “You know how when you stomp it in an automatic, and it feels like it stalls out as the tachometer rises, and then you feel the shift shock and you’re going faster?” Ash edged the Monster XR onto the freeway, towards Truro.

“Tachometer?”

“The one marked ‘RPM’—it means Revolutions Per Minute.”

“I just ignore that dial, since it doesn’t tell me anything.”

“Right. See, that’s why you drive an automatic and I drive a manual.”

“But… when I stomp it, my car kicks in really fast and gets a really high whine, but it sucks gas and stops dead at about seventy.”

“Is it new?” Jenny nodded. “It’s a passing gear. It’s geared for high acceleration, but it’s utter crap.”

“Oh… So… I don’t get it.”

Ash sighed. “Okay, we’re doing about sixty now. Note how the car is in second gear, and the RPMs are running at seven thousand?” Jenny leaned over, looked, and nodded. “Right. You want to shift up at about eight or nine, or down if they fall below three. Hold on.”

It was clear road as far as she could see—perfect. Ash stepped on the gas, and the tachometer went skyward, as did the MPH. When the tachometer was almost to the redline, Ash shifted to third, and the car continued to roar, accelerating. Then she dropped it into fourth as they were passing a hundred. She eased off, braking, and shifted down as the tachometer dropped, bringing them back to legal speeds.

“See?”

“What happens if you don’t do that thing with your hand and foot?”

“If you’re holding the gas down, you fuck your car up. If you’re easing off the gas, you slow down.”

“… m’kay.” Jenny looked a bit dazed. “Wait. The higher-number gears go faster, right? So why don’t you just start in the highest gear anyway?”

Ash laughed. “Acceleration. You almost won’t even move if you start in fifth gear, let alone fast. I’d need a good visual aid to explain it fully, but the lower the gear, the easier it is to get the car moving, but the slower the top speed. That’s why you start out in first, which tops out at about twenty or so, but has the power to move the car from a standing start. In lower gears, you have more power, more torque. That’s why your automatic has the ability to shift the car into first and second instead of just ‘drive’.”

“Torque?”

“Power. It’s important, though it’s not the same as speed… Okay, what do you drive?”

“A Lexus convertible.”

“An SC?”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s probably the SC. Okay, the SC is a fairly fast car, right?”

“Yeah, I can go fast.”

“Right. A bulldozer can’t go anywhere near as fast as your car, can it?”

“That’s stupid.”

“Yeah, it is. But now chain a five-ton weight to the back of your car and the bulldozer. What’s going to happen?”

Jenny blinked, and blinked again.

“Your car won’t even go, and the bulldozer will still be able to move. That’s the difference between speed and power. In lower gears, cars have more power. They need to have it, because from a standing start, the engine has to move the transmission, the drive train, and the wheels. And with the wheels, it has to push the whole car forward. Even a light car like yours would weight at least a ton. But once it gets moving, it’s easier to keep moving—you can switch to a higher gear. Less torque, but if you’re already moving from the first gear, it has less stand-still to overcome, and can accelerate the car more.”

Jenny looked like her head was spinning. The ‘Welcome To Truro’ sign was up ahead, and Ash pulled off the freeway, guiding the car into the town. Finally, Jenny groaned, “How can you know all this stuff?”

Ash shrugged. “You just do. You learn it.”

“But… how?”

“What? Don’t tell me you think it’s too hard to learn. I not only race, I did all the work on my cars myself, so I don’t want to hear any crap about it being a boys’ game.”

“Cars? You have more than one?”

“Yeah… That’s a long story.“ Ash pulled the car into the Truro track through the old parking lots.

There was no sign of any racers, so she drove the car to the parking lot closest to the beach and stopped. Jenny unbuckled her seatbelt as they stared across the snow-covered beach and icy water.

It was Jenny who broke the silence, after many minutes of watching the water. “I’ve been thinking to myself, Ash Upton. I’ve been trying to figure out why you didn’t destroy me when you had the chance, why you didn’t twist the knife. Why you’ve been trying to be nice to me.”

Ash smirked and turned her head, intending to reply; but her smirk was wiped out by a sensation of horror, like ice water cascading down her back, as Jenny leaned over and kissed her.

“Oh yeah, this is so much worse than awkward silence or barbed sniping.” Ash fought down panic. She knew what this was—hero-worship. Fucked-up hero-worship, but it was the same thing that had led Missi to come-onto her. She hoped. She pushed Jenny away, back down in her seat, shaking her head. “Argh! No!” She figured now was a bad time to panic. If she objected too strongly, Jenny might fracture, or flip out. Not strong enough, and Jenny would think she were playing hard-to-get.

“What? But… Don’t even tell me! I know you’re… like me.” Jenny glared into her eyes. “Kay said something about it one night when I got him drunk.”

Ash’s temper flared at the lie. “Bullshit. He doesn’t snitch.” The moment she said it she regretted it; Jenny had been playing a hunch, and Ash had played right into it. Jenny’s face lit up, and Ash rolled her eyes, cutting off Jenny’s next line. “Okay, fine. So what if I am? That doesn’t mean you’re automatically my type; I don’t even like you, Jenny!”

Jenny looked down, cringing. “Then why…”

“Then why try to be nice to you? Gee, I dunno, maybe because it’s the nice thing to do? Not everyone or everything has to be motivated by hate or lust. I was genuinely trying to be nice to you. Unfortunately, it seems like it took a complete gut-punch for you to even start to crack that stupid shell you put up.” She rolled her eyes, as Jenny heaved out a sigh. “Look. I can’t tell you what to do. You want to go back there, find another dress, put on another ton of cosmetics and go and try to socially destroy everyone and everything standing between you and having your image get splattered by another horny teenage boy’s load, that’s on you. I can’t and won’t try to stop you.”

“But… what else is there?”

“All kinds of things. You could start by taking Emily up on the offer she made for you to play Need For Speed with us, and work from there. Who knows, with patience and careful pummeling, we may make a respectable human being out of you yet.”

The blonde beauty queen didn’t answer, but her face was a naked mask of guilt and shame. Ash leaned over, hesitantly patted her shoulder, and wound up with the blonde’s head on her shoulder, being cried heavily upon.

“How the hell did I wind up playing Emily for Jenny?” Ash rolled her eyes but didn’t object, sliding one arm out, letting the warm air from the blower shoot up her sleeve, as Jenny sniffled softly.

The reverie was cut short, however, by Jenny’s cell phone ringing from her purse. She sat up, blinking away the tears, and fished it out of her purse. “Yes? Mom?” Ash heard the voice from the speaker mutter, then Jenny continued. “Yes, Mom, I’m with Ash… We’re in her car… We’re…”

She looked at Ash, who said, “Truro.”

“We’re in Truro, mom. Yeah, we’ll come back. The party hasn’t been canceled, has it? No? Okay.” Ash started to put the car in gear, but Jenny shook her head as she hung up the phone. “Give me your number.”

“Er… my number?”

“Your number.”

Ash wasn’t sure she wanted Jenny having her number, but gave the number for her bedroom line anyway. Jenny entered it into her address book, then fished around for the paper and pen Ash had used earlier to record the race’s details. She scrawled down her own number, and Ash pocketed the paper. “Um… Okay.”

Jenny buckled in, and Ash shifted into motion, reversing from the parking spot, then turning around and driving back to the freeway. “The party’s still going on?”

“Yeah. It’s supposed to end at twelve.”

Ash waited a beat. “Oh, right, you’re not Em.” She blushed softly, looking at the clock. “It’s nine thirty now.”

“We’re so far away.”

“Nah. I’ll have us there by ten.”

Ash grinned and shifted the car, putting the pedal down. The Monster XR’s big V8 roared, four wheels gripping and digging into the road.

“Why did you say that?”

“Oh. Emily always—always—wears this digital watch. Any time she mentions the time, she’s already checking it, to tell me what time it is now.”

The Party (Again), 9:49 PM

“You drive like a maniac,” Jenny murmured, as Ash pulled the Monster XR back into the parking garage.

“That? That was nothing, just a little performance highway driving. You should watch a race on the mountain if you think that was hot.”

Jenny muttered something noncommittal, and unbuckled, opening the door when Ash had parked and shut off the car.

They walked for the inner door, which opened just before they got there. Ash’s mother, Jenny’s mother, and Emily rushed out the door, grabbing them—Jenny and Jenny wound up squeezing one another, while Emily and her mother both tackled Ash, squeezing the life out of her. Ash gasped. Choked, even.

When they released her, she gasped. “We went to Truro, not the moon, mom!”

Her mother laughed, and Ash sighed. “Sorry, Ash,” she began. “We just got quite a fright when we couldn’t locate either of you.”

“Sorry. She said she just wanted to go, so, we went…”

“Well, that’s fine. Come along, come along.” She was tugged back into the building, along with Emily; the two Jennies had disappeared into the building ahead of them.

“So,” her mother began when she got them back into her office, “that’s two brawls and a race in one day. I should be quite angry.” Ash sighed, softly, but her mother continued, “But I’m not. The first incident was, well, the kind of thing that happens here every hour and we don’t get mad about it. The race was ill advised, but no harm was done. And the brawl in the restroom… Jenny is furious that you had to rescue her daughter. I’d hate to be Jenny’s shoes when Jenny tears into her.”

“So… Wait, her mom’s angry at her because two girls cornered her in the bathroom?”

“It seems that way. I think she’s mad because you had to rescue her, and she’s always giving me a hard time about Jenny being so much a better daughter than you are…” She shrugged and took a drink from her bottle of water. “You really do know how to liven up these stuffy events, Ash. But maybe that’s enough livening up for one night?”

“Believe me, it is… I really didn’t mean for any of this—”

“I believe you. Anyway, I think you two would be happier spending your time alone.” She stood up, rubbing Emily and Ash’s hair, which made Ash blush slightly. “I’m going to go and see if I can run some damage control. Have fun, and stay put this time, okay?”

Ash let out a sigh of relief when her mother walked out again, and she looked to Emily. “What was that ‘spending your time alone’ thing about?” Emily asked.

“I have no idea. Anyway…”

Emily smirked. “You’re going down this next race, Ash.”

Ash laughed back. “Oh, so it’s on now?”

Emily smiled broadly, stood up, and steered Ash to the break room.

The lights were off when they walked back in, although the TV was still on, with the game paused. Emily asked, “Why is the light off?”

Then Ash noticed the shape on the chair. She flicked the light on. “So, you decided to join us?” Jenny was curled up in the chair, wearing a jacket that was apparently her own over her normal clothes, her face in her hands. Ash rolled her eyes, and walked towards her. “What now?”

The blonde looked up, and then back down. “My mother told me to get out of her sight when I said I didn’t want to go back to the party…”

Ash and Emily looked at one another, and Ash sighed, nodding. “All right. All right.” She took her jacket off, throwing it over a chair’s back, then sat in the middle of the couch, with Emily sliding in on her right, leaning against her. Jenny looked up at the TV, but didn’t move.

“Well?” Ash asked. “Are you coming?” Jenny blinked twice, as Ash fiddled with the controls, taking the game back to it’s starting screen, and starting (yet another) new career.

Emily leaned around Ash, smiling, “We’re not going to bite if you don’t, you know. Come on.” Jenny took a deep breath, and nodded, walking over the couch and settling in on Ash’s left.

They played long into the night, taking turns, showing how things worked. It took Jenny a while to catch on to exactly when and how to use the clutch controls (and Ash steadfastly refused to let her use the automatic transmission option), but she proved to have a natural talent for the street racing game. Ash even saw her laugh once or twice, and she was smiling fairly consistently.

As all things must, it came to an end; and as all things must around Ash, it came to a spectacular and annoying end. It was Jenny’s turn with the controller, driving the Lexus IS300 she had bought because it was the same brand as the car she really owned.

Her racing style best approximated ‘bumper-car driving really, really fast’, but she managed to make it good. Jenny couldn’t really slide to save her life, but she took full advantage of the fact that the cars were indestructible to bounce off walls and rapidly down shift and up shift; her recovery time was quick enough that her times for the whole races were barely ten seconds slower than Ash’s, and she was certainly good enough to stomp the AI drivers. She had also picked up from Ash and Emily the habit of using PIT maneuvers, and made a point of spinning out anyone who was ahead of her off the line. She was doing just that when the door opened. Absorbed in the game, none of the girls noticed, as Ash and Emily were too busy cheering on and giving advice.

“My god, what are you doing?”

“Huh?” Ash turned to look, as Jenny’s car flew over the finish line, easily fifteen seconds ahead of the nearest AI competitor.

Jenny the First and Ash’s mother were standing in the door. The elder Jenny walked over to the couch, all but pulling her daughter out of the seat. “You have better things to do than play stupid tomboy games. What would anybody think if they saw?!”

The younger Jenny sullenly looked down as her mother dragged her out. Jenny the First stopped to give Ash’s mother an earful. “Those two are clearly a bad influence on her! She gets cornered by two piranhas in the bathroom and now this? Keep those two away from my daughter, Marie!” She tugged the quietly objecting girl out of the room—Jenny shot back a look at Ash and Emily before she was tugged fully from the break room, leaving Ash, Emily, and Marie looking quite stunned.

“Um… I… I don’t know what to say. I’ve never seen her that snippy.”

“It’s okay, mom. We oughta pack up, huh?”

“Yeah, you get your stuff together, I’ll get mine.”

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 12:56 AM

Nothing could have prepared Ash for the sight when they arrived at the house. Nestled up against the garage was a very familiar car.

“Who’s that? Kate?!” Ash and Emily burst out of the car, dashing towards the familiar black Jaguar, looking in. Then Ash blinked. “Who’s this, Em?”

Emily shrugged. “No idea. Look, the tag—it’s not hers. And the shifter’s an automatic.”

“Why is there a Jaguar XKR in the driveway?

Her mother didn’t seem to know, as she walked up to curiously examine the car. “Maybe someone just needed somewhere to park?”

They walked back to the house and opened the door. Marie walked across it, but Ash saw it and leaned down, picked up the document, and gasped.

It was a Transfer-of-Title document, already signed and filled out, and a pair of keys.

“Oh… my god, is that what I think it is,” Emily blurted from behind. Ash held it up, and Emily squealed. “Oh my god, a Jaguar XKR? He owned a Jaguar?!” She swooned slightly. “My god, are you serious? Right! I forgot, the car you won!”

Ash blinked, shaking her head. “I can’t take it.” She handed the keys to her mother. “For one, it’s in your name. For another, I only made that stupid pink slips bet because I figured I was going to get you the S-Type, since your car’s kind of, you know, wrecked.”

Her mother took the keys, looking at them. Then she smiled, squeezing Ash in a huge hug, shaking her head. “You truly are Edward’s daughter. Thank you, baby, but… I’m going to get my car fixed, remember?”

“Yeah, but…” She shrugged; part of her was telling her to lay her hands into supercharged goodness and run, but that nagging honor sensation came back. “I can’t take it. I haven’t earned the right to drive that car.”

“Oh… How…” Her mother laughed. “How responsible. I’ll keep it safe for you, then.” She smiled, dropping her bags. “You two take a load off, I’ll make dinner.”

Ash sat down on the couch, and Emily slid up next to her.

“You haven’t ‘earned’ the right to drive that car? This has nothing to do with you feeling like an irresponsible idiot, does it?”

“Nope. I can’t drive that until I beat Kate.”

Emily good-naturedly rolled her eyes, hugged Ash in a headlock and gave her a noogie. “Right. That’s my Ash.”

A wave of exhaustion passed through Ash as she yawned softly. “Let’s just go to bed… I’m tired.”

“All right. I’m not so hungry anyway.”

They called out to her mother about the decision, and went to bed.

Not that they slept; at least, not right away. Ash lay on her back, staring out at the sky, with Emily rolled over onto her.

Finally Emily asked her, quietly, “What’s on your mind?”

Ash shrugged softly, closing her eyes. “I dunno, Em…”

“You’re lying. What’s wrong?”

Ash sighed. “I… Look, I promised I wouldn’t talk about it, okay?”

“Has it got something to do with Jenny?”

“Yeah. At first I was just giving her a hard time because I figured I could kill her worse with kindness than with meanness, and she was aggravating me, but I… I dunno, now I guess I feel sorry for her. Not that she hasn’t been an absolutely awful person, but…”

Emily kissed her cheek, softly, arching—pressing, curves meeting curves. “I’m actually impressed, Ash. You’ve demonstrated quite a lot of diplomacy today.”

“Uh?” Ash said, opening her eyes.

Emily smiled warmly. “You’re getting better at dealing with people.” She reached down, squeezing Ash’s hand, and Ash squeezed back, softly.

“I…” Ash sighed. “She kissed me.”

Ash might as well have smacked Emily, whose eyes went wide.

“She—wait, what?”

“When we were in the car, I drove up to Truro to demonstrate manual driving. We were staring at the ocean, and she said she’d figured out why I’d been nice to her all day. Then she kissed me.”

“She… Wow.”

“Yeah. I guess she figured I was hitting on her or something.”

“That is seven shades of retarded.”

“Maybe, but I don’t think she really had any clue what was what. I guess she’s never known anything other than fighting or lusting?”

“How dismal…” Emily murmured, kissing Ash’s shoulder, and Ash nodded, sliding a hand up Emily’s back in return. “So, she thought the only possible reason someone would be nice to her would be because they wanted to get her naked?”

“Yeah… I guess that must be all she’s known.”

“Mmmm… So, did she move anything in you?”

Ash blinked, blushing. “What? No! I don’t even like her!”

“You don’t have to like someone to find them attractive.”

Ash rolled her eyes, and smiled, kissing Emily’s forehead, softly. “Okay, yeah, she’s pretty, sure. She’s not a good kisser, though. She was like, well, awkward.”

“You mean like us?”

“That was mean.” Ash stuck her tongue out, and Emily slid up, kissing it, causing Ash to blush.

“But, yeah… Still, my lips didn’t tingle.”

Emily grinned softy, staring into her eyes “Tingle? I make your lips tingle when I kiss you?” Ash nodded, holding her arms out—Emily slid in easily, pressing a long, slow, tender kiss into Ash’s lips.

“Yeah… Like that.” Her lips alight with sensation, Ash smiled and held Emily close. The blue-haired girl curled into her, wrapping her arms around Ash’s shoulders.

“Night, Em.”

“Good night, Ash.”

5. Electric Dreams

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, December 20, 2004, 9:00 AM

Sleep is a deep, comfortable blanket from which no person wishes to escape, but from which they must inevitably be dragged. Still, it can be pleasant to wake up, too, Ash Upton mused to herself. Emerging from the black blanket of sleep, she became aware of the warmth, first and foremost. The second thing she could feel was the heartbeat—two hearts beating as one, mere inches apart, two chests rising and falling in time.

The third thing she became cognizant of was the sleek, smooth feel of warm, feminine flesh pressed and molded to her own in a snug, warm embrace. She was lying on her back, and her blue-haired bookworm was facedown, half-atop Ash and slightly below her, such that her head was lying on Ash’s shoulder. The orange-haired tuner grinned at the warm, welcome sensation, and opened her eyes. She was lying on the edge of the bed, and her eyes stared up through the window at the blue eternity of sky visible out the frost-rimmed window.

She leaned her head down, pressing the still-tingling sensation on her lips against Emily’s forehead, gently kissing her; however, the dozing bookworm failed to awaken. Ash smiled, and reached up; searching for Emily’s right hand, she found it comfortably atop her own bare breast, and raised her friend’s arm gingerly, peering at the time on her watch—09:01. “Mmm…” Ash murmured softly, realizing she was quite hungry; after all, they had skipped dinner last night, and they’d had a long day.

Emily’s eyes fluttered open with a slow murmur, and Ash looked down. Sleepy, magenta eyes met her own, and she smiled. So did Emily, who yawned softly, and crawled up slightly, moving her head up; Ash lowered her head, and their lips met. Ahh, that tingle returned in full force, and Ash moved up, finding her back arching all on its own, pressing her chest into Emily’s.

The blue-haired girl wasted no time in capitalizing on the move. Her hand slid under Ash, holding her comfortably in the small of the back. Ash gasped softly, as Emily grinned at her. “Good morning,” Emily murmured.

“Mmmm. It is now…” Her reply got a soft, quiet laugh from Emily, who laid her head back down, kissing softly at Ash’s throat.

“When did you get to be slick, hmm?”

Ash shrugged softly in reply, and kissed Emily’s forehead. “I dunno. It just… felt right.”

Her bookworm laughed again and looked up. With her free hand she laced her fingers into Ash’s, pushing Ash’s arm back, as she leaned up, staring into Ash’s eyes from above. “Well, keep it up.” Ash leaned up, kissing the side of Emily’s neck softly, and Emily released a soft sigh of contentment, their fingers squeezing together.

Ash’s head flopped back into the pillow, and she looked to her left at their joined hands. Emily’s nails were glittering a glossy red, and hers were an almost-mirrored chrome color. Emily’s eyes followed her gaze, and she asked, “They’re not so bad, are they?”

“I dunno. On the one hand, you like it. On the other, even chrome makes me feel kinda sissy.”

Emily laughed warmly at her reply, and kissed Ash’s cheek. “Well then, let’s get showered, get dressed, and find something to do to get you back to feeling all tough and strong, hmm?”

“Mmmmm,” Ash replied, gently leaning over and laying a kiss on Emily’s knuckles. “Sounds good, but we need to get breakfast somewhere in there.” Her stomach growled dramatically, as if on cue.

“Fair enough,” Emily said, laughing.

Emily reared back hard, pulling Ash with her. Ash wound up sitting upright, holding Emily tightly with one arm, while Emily was left kneeling astride Ash’s lap. The pair kissed warmly, slowly, and Ash slid her hand down to the small of Emily’s back. Holding one another nearly-identically, they drug the kiss out, until both girlfriends slid away, inhaling deeply.

“Love you, Ash,” Emily murmured, as they slid out of bed, walking towards the door to the shower and grabbing a pair of towels.

She replied in kind, “I know, Em. I love you.”

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 9:47 AM

Freshly dried and dressed, the pair padded out to the kitchen, looking for breakfast while carrying on a quiet conversation.

“Ash,” Emily began, “um, h-how important do you think sex is?”

“I… um, well… I dunno. I mean, it’s not that I don’t… Ahhh…” A blush crept up her face.

“Y’know, not that I don’t want to…”

“Right. But you get nervous.” Ash nodded, and Emily slid in, under her shoulder; instinctively Ash wrapped her arm around Emily’s shoulder, while her bookworm wrapped her arm around her own waist. “I get nervous when I think about it, too.”

Ash paused in her step, and looked at Emily again. Em brought her hand up, and Ash took it, holding her softly. “You do?”

“You twist my guts into knots, Ash. I love you so much; and yes, you do make me, well…”

“Horny?” Ash ventured a guess, and Emily laughed a bit shyly.

“Ash, nice girls don’t use words like that. But, yes. You arouse me, Ash.” Emily hugged tightly, squeezing the tuner to her body, and Ash blushed quite brightly.

“I…”

“Yeah. You do.” Emily leaned up, just a bit, kissing Ash’s cheekbone. “I… I guess I thought it would come easily, Ash, once I told you how I felt.”

Ash squeezed Emily’s hand. “Nothing comes easy, does it? Even so, I’m glad we have each other.” She kissed Emily—she aimed for the bookworm’s cheek, but Em turned her head, turning it into a soft lip-kiss, which held slowly and loosely.

Parting the kiss, Emily said, “So… I’m asking, how important is sex, to you?”

“I… I dunno. I mean, I still dream about you… and me…”

“Sex dreams?”

“Sometimes; sometimes not. Sometimes it’s just…”

“Being close to you, holding me.”

“Yeah… I guess… what I’m saying is that I want to… well, y’know, have sex with you, but…”

“You’re happy with what we have, and pushing slowly rather than fast?” Emily ventured.

“Right.”

The pair walked into the kitchen, and found it empty. “Hmmm. Mom didn’t leave us breakfast?”

“It’s not like we can’t, you know, cook for ourselves. Hey, do you remember that time I cooked you breakfast?”

“Errr…” Ash’s memory chugged, and Emily smiled at her.

“Think waaay back. The day after Misfile day. You let me sleep on your bed…”

“Yeah, I remember. That was nice of you.”

“Welllll… Do you want me to cook breakfast again?”

Ash blushed softly at Emily’s question. “Sure. I’ll help. What do you feel like?”

“Let’s see what your mom has.”

Ransacking the kitchen, they took stock of the supplies. Ash held up a package of bacon in one hand, and a carton of eggs in the other. “Let’s see… omelet and a side of bacon?”

“Sure, that works. Here, give me the bacon.” She took three skillets down, and Ash handed her the package of bacon strips, then looked back in the fridge. Soon enough the sound of sizzling bacon met her ears, as Ash searched for cheese.

“Ah-hah!” She surfaced with a pack of pre-shredded cheddar. “Cheddar work?” Emily nodded at her, and Ash got to work. “Can you crumble some of the bacon? I’ll put it in the omelets.” Emily nodded again and started to pound the crispy bacon flat. Soon enough she delivered the uneven chunks of bacon, which Ash distributed into the egg and covered with cheese.

“I didn’t know you could cook,” Emily commented as Ash folded the egg over.

“Eh, I can’t really, but omelets are kind of hard to screw up.” She grinned as Emily brought a pair of plates over, and slid the egg, bacon, and cheese creations out onto the plates. “Here we go.”

It was a good breakfast, Ash mused, primarily on the strength of Emily’s bacon. Then Ash blinked as she felt Emily’s bare feet touch hers. Not only touch, but crawl up, sliding along them. She blushed, pausing with a bite of omelet almost at her lips.

“Um…” She smiled softly, feeling both shy and affectionate—and maybe a little aroused—as Emily worked her feet slowly up Ash’s, sliding them under the hem of her pants and resting on Ash’s lower shins. “Not that I’m complaining,” Ash said, as she leaned inwards to the table, setting her fork back, “but uh…”

Emily giggled softly, and started to flex her toes against Ash’s leg. “I dunno. I’m feeling flirtatious, I guess.”

Ash grinned softly, and slid her legs back, then forward—their feet flattened up to one another, and Ash curled her toes around Emily’s, with a grin which was answered in kind. Orange-haired tuner and blue-haired bookworm leaned forward, reaching out, over the table…

“Gah!” Ash exclaimed, as the inside of her elbow pushed her glass of orange juice, tipping it—right down the front of her shirt. She and Emily each went for the napkin holder, but Ash felt stiff paper under her fingers, even as the cold O.J. soaked her down to the skin.

“What the hell?” Ash picked up the paper; it was actually an envelope, and it felt thick. The front had ‘Ash’ on it in her mother’s writing. Forgetting the orange juice for a moment, she opened the letter, while Emily stared at her. “It’s a note.” It read, in her mother’s writing, “Ash, I’m going in to work early. It’s seven, and I’m going to take the Jaguar and have it insured and plated first. A tow company will be dropping off what’s left of my car sometime. See that it gets put in the garage, would you? The insurance company called; their inspector dropped by it at the impound and they decided it would be cheaper to total it out than to pay for new parts to fix it, so if you want anything left on it, it’s yours. There’s spending money in the envelope, and if you look in the top-right drawer of my desk, there’s a surprise for you.”

Emily had taken the envelope and pulled out the rest of the contents. She goggled, as five hundred dollars lay on the table. Ash likewise goggled. “Uh, wow…” Then it hit her that she was sitting in orange juice, and she made a face—which prompted Emily to giggle.

“Go get showered and changed, Ash.”

Ash blushed, and ran up the stairs, getting showered again in a hurry. She heard the phone ring, but didn’t run to get it, since she was still washing off the sticky feeling of the orange juice. Once dressed and out of the bedroom, she asked, “What was that about?”

“It was your mother, calling to see if you got your present, yet.” She was holding a smallish gift-wrapped box in Christmas colors with ‘To Ash, from Mom’ on a tag.

Ash took it; it was somewhat light. She sat down on the couch to open it. The box was that for an LG cell phone. “Oh, she got you a cell phone? Cool!” Ash opened it, but didn’t have to break the seals; her mother had opened it already. The phone inside was charged, and Ash flipped it open.

“Oh, that’s one of those with a camera, isn’t it? Nice!”

“I guess.”

“Don’t like it?”

“I dunno. I mean, it’s good and all, but I’ve never needed one until now.”

“Well, go ahead, have a look. See if she fiddled with the address book.”

Ash did, and found that, yes, her mother was already entered several times: her office telephone, her home telephone, and her own cell phone.

“Oh well. It was nice of her, anyway.”

“It’ll be useful,” Emily said. Ash leaned in to kiss her—and the house phone rang.

“Hm. Wonder who that is…” Ash stood up and walked over to the telephone, answering it. “Upton residence.” The deep voice on the other side was her father, and she put it on the speaker.

“Ash? Okay, so you’re still up there. You planning on staying the holidays with your mother?”

“I dunno.”

“Well, that’s fine if you want to, Ash.”

“I… It is?”

“I’ve had you for the last sixteen, remember? It’s fine. Is Emily still with you?”

“Yes, I’m here, Doctor Upton. Is my mom looking for me?”

“No, I was just wondering. However, some girl named Jenny is looking for you, Ash. She called on your room line. You weren’t here, so I answered it.”

“It’s no problem, dad. I’ll call her back. When did she call?”

“Just now.” Ash looked around for a clock, then remembered and checked the display on her cell phone—it read 10:37.

“All right, dad. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, sweetie. Talk to you later, okay?”

“Okay.” Ash hung up the phone, and walked over to her coat, searching it for the number Jenny had given her last night.

Emily chuckled softly. “This should be interesting. Think she’s going back to type?”

“I don’t know. She seemed really off-kilter last night, but…” She dialed, and the phone rang for a few moments, before it was answered.

“Hello?” It was Jenny’s voice, sounding somewhat surly.

“Ah—Jenny?”

The voice on the other end lightened immediately. “Ash! Um, hi…”

Awkwardness struck, and Ash kind of shifted, walking to the door and looking out its window.

“You were trying to call me?”

“Um, yeah. Your dad, I think, answered?”

“Yeah, that was my dad. Um, what’s up?”

“Uh, nothing. It’s crushingly boring out here right now. Um… What are you doing?”

“Not much of anything. Why?”

“I, um… I was wondering if I could join you.”

Ash looked over at Emily (who seemed to be amused by Ash’s awkward conversation), and shrugged at her. Em shrugged back, and it hit Ash like a blinding flash of the obvious that her cell phone wasn’t a speakerphone. “Hang on a second, can you?” She turned to Emily, holding a hand over the bottom of the phone, saying, “She wants to join us.”

“I don’t mind, I guess.”

“Okay.” Ash took her hand off from the microphone of her new cell. “Um, yeah, I don’t mind. Um… where should we meet?”

“I don’t know. Wherever is fine.”

“I don’t know the area that well, you could come here if you wanted, or we could—”

“No, that’s fine. My mom has your mom’s address in her files; is that where you are?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. I’ll be there. And, thanks.”

The line went dead, and Emily smiled at her, asking, “What was that all about?”

“I honestly don’t know. She just asked if she could join us. Guess we’ll find out when she gets here.

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 11:52 AM

By noon, the pair had settled in on the couch, watching a movie on DVD. Ash was lying on her side on the couch, with Emily snuggled up in front of her. The tuner was playing with her new cell phone, while Emily’s head was lying on her upper arm and her eyes watching the movie. It may have been a romantic comedy, but Ash didn’t mind; Emily had, after all, spent more or less all day yesterday playing Need for Speed with her (and at the end of the night, Jenny), so it was only fair to watch something she wanted to watch. And at least a few points had been funny enough to make her laugh.

The movie started to reach its conclusion, getting Emily’s head raised in interest when they heard the sound of a car pull into the driveway. Too light to be the truck bringing the rest of her mother’s Porsche, it had to be Jenny, and Ash said as much.

“Sounds about right,” Emily said, sliding out of the embrace and off the couch, turning off the movie and standing up. The sound of the engine died, and a car door opened and shut. “It’s her,” Emily said from the door, undoing the lock. She opened the door as Ash stood up, and waved the girl outside in. Jenny walked up the drive quickly, and into the house.

Ash thought to herself, “Mom would probably laugh if she could see this.” Jenny was wearing a pale pink shirt under a hot pink jacket, with blue jeans and tall, vivid red boots. Her hair was of course curled around the back of her head.

It struck Ash, as she opened her mouth to say hello, “What do you say to someone you don’t like, but want to try and maybe like, because she’s so pitiful that you really want to try and help her?” She wound up saying, “Hello,” as the blonde shook her hair.

“Hello,” Jenny replied, and said the same to Emily as she moved away from the door for the latter to close again. “It’s cold out there.”

“Is it?” Ash asked, moving to the window. She noticed that Jenny had parked her car, a red Lexus SC convertible, behind the Monster XR. “I haven’t even gone outside today.”

Jenny was awkwardly standing about equidistant between Ash and Emily. She hummed softly, and Emily asked, “Did they close the schools here today?”

“No, they didn’t, but it’s the day before break—nobody shows up.”

“Well, we’re not doing much,” Ash admitted. “What did you think we were doing?”

Jenny looked at her with ice-blue eyes and shrugged. “I don’t know. I tried calling everyone I knew, but… nobody wanted anything to do with me.”

“Why not?”

“Was it because of last night?” Emily asked.

Jenny’s eyes closed, and she ‘looked’ down at the ground. Ash sighed, walked over, lay a hand on her shoulder, and took her coat, which she relinquished without argument. “If they could hang you out to dry because two bitches cornered you in a bathroom and started calling you names, they’re not real friends.” Jenny looked up, as Ash took her coat and tossed it over the coat tree. “Anyway, all we’re really doing today is waiting for a delivery for my mother. Why, did you have any kind of ideas?”

“Well, no. My girls and I would normally go out to the mall on a day like today, maybe go clubbing later; we’ll never sneak in with Emily, though.”

Emily returned to the entertainment center, turned on Ash’s Playstation 2, and took the controllers back to the couch. She sat down, as Jenny shrugged and sat on the couch next to Emily, who handed Jenny the second controller. Ash grinned at the two; an unlikelier pairing she couldn’t imagine, short of Cassiel and Kate, but they both started a competitive race. Ash sat on the other side of Jenny to watch.

Emily and Jenny both went at the race with a grinning competitiveness. Each of them had flawed technique, but they could easily outrace the AI drivers. Jenny was too aggressive on the throttle and seemed to believe the brakes were a deadly sin, whereas Emily had trouble drifting, and tended to be overly cautious in the turns. Both of them lost more time than really necessary in the turns—Jenny because she tended to handle her curves by slamming at a shallow angle into the opposite wall and accelerating away, and Emily because she tended to baby her car into proper turns around the curves. They were a good match for one another in terms of ability, and although Emily had superior technique, Jenny was quickly gaining skill with the game.

Several races in, Ash was enthralled by watching her best friend and her new acquaintance (friend?) racing. Emily’s 240SX was lighter and handled better but, without the Unique parts from the career mode, had a hard time catching Jenny’s Lexus, which, while heavier and poorer at turning, had a stronger engine. She commented and offered advice at times, equally to either competitor, and hadn’t asked for a turn. Finally Emily looked up, but didn’t offer.

“Ash? Did you remember to call Casper back about the parts to your mom’s car?”

Ash’s eyes goggled, and she snapped her fingers with one hand, slapping her forehead with the other. “I completely forgot! I’ll go do that right now.” She darted up, hearing Jenny asking Emily what she was talking about behind her, and Emily’s explanation as she ran to their bedroom. She found the scrap of paper with Casper’s number on it, picked up the telephone, and dialed.

The telephone rang and rang and rang, but eventually Casper’s answering machine picked up. Ash recorded a message, “Casper, this is Ash; Ash Upton? You spoke to my friend Emily on Saturday about having Brent be on the lookout for parts to a red Porsche 996, and I was wondering if you had any leads. We’re getting what the police recovered back today. Um…” She left her cell phone number as a call back number. “Call me whenever, or give the number to Brent if you want to. Thanks, bye.”

“Ash! Get your shoes on!”

Ash blinked at the call from the other room, but didn’t argue, pulling on her socks and sneakers, as Emily ran back into the bedroom. Ash stood up again as Emily was sitting down to put her shoes on, and running out to the front, Ash could see Jenny standing at the open door, pointing.

“There’s a big truck in the driveway. There’s a red car on the back.”

“That’ll be it. C’mon.” Ash ran outside, and grimaced at the condition. Her mother’s Porsche had been really stripped, and it was in a sorry state. The fenders were missing, as was the cover to the front-trunk and the hood over the engine, and the wheels had been stripped of their rims. The man in the passenger seat of the truck got out.

“Hey! You Marie Upton?

“I’m her daughter, Ash.”

“Close enough! Where do you want this wreck?” He jerked his fingers at the Porsche.

Ash pointed to the large garage. “In there!”

“All right. You open the doors.”

“C’mon,” Ash said, waving to be followed. Both Emily and Jenny followed her out to the garage, and Ash opened it. Her mother’s garage was distressingly empty of tools, and distressingly full of normal junk. “Jenny, help me clear some space,” she said; Jenny obeyed automatically, possibly because of the unusual nature of being told what to do with neither tyrannical overtones nor pouting request. “Emily, see if you can find some tools we can use. I want to see just how bad the damage is.” Emily started her search, as she and Jenny shoved stuff to the sides of the garage, and the men in the truck backed the truck up to the garage, and began unloading the car, rolling it into the garage.

“Well, there you go,” the rough-shaven tow-truck man said. “Somebody needs to sign for it.” He held out an electronic clipboard; Ash took it, signing ‘Ash Upton’ to it. “Ah, well. Not my problem anymore. Enjoy your junk, ladies.” The man handed Ash a key on a short chain, climbed back into his truck, and the driver took off, while Ash shook her head.

Emily came back up from a pile with a dusty box of tools. “Found these.” She set them on a box, as Jenny scowled at the interior of the car.

“Looks all ripped up—ah, and I don’t see a steering wheel in here.”

Ash looked up through the rear windshield, and shook her head. “Trim and stuff isn’t the biggie; I’m checking the engine.”

The modern Porsche equipment was different entirely from her Merkur and Ford engines, but she didn’t find any holes or obvious missing pieces. “Looks like they didn’t take anything except… oh, the battery.” She unlocked the passenger side door with the key the truck-driver had given her, peering in.

“Yeah… Looks like they did bit of a number on the inside.” The console molding had been pried up and was lying on the floor of the passenger seat. The steering wheel was gone, as was the instrument cluster and (predictably) the CD player/stereo. She shook her head, and pulled back out.

“What’s the prognosis?” Emily asked.

“Well, it’s bad, but it looks a lot worse than it is. It looks like everything was pulled out cleanly, more or less. Whatever insurance agent made the call to total this out is a god damned idiot.”

Jenny peered at her, leaning on the driver’s side door. “You… you really do know what you’re talking about. You can really put this thing back together?” She seemed somewhat awed.

“If I have the parts, I can. And the tools, those are important. And I’ll need to get hold of the tech manuals for the car, to be absolutely sure I’ve done it all right…”

Jenny’s head seemed to be spinning. “Wow… that’s…”

“A lot of work, yeah. That said… I just might have an idea where to start.” She pulled out her cell phone.

“When did you get that?”

Ash blinked, and a light clicked on. “Oh! This morning. Early gift from my mother.”

“Good. A girl’s not a girl without a cell phone these days.”

Ash felt an irritable irked sensation rise at that, and she turned her back. “Yeah, well… I called you from it, so your phone should have my number in it, if you want to add me.”

Jenny pulled her own cell phone out, while Emily asked, “Who’re you calling?” as Ash was adding a number to her own phone’s address book.

“Harry,” she replied, and walked out into the air, hitting the ‘dial’ button.

The phone rang only twice, before the other end answered—the telltale reverb told her it was a speakerphone. “Aries,” answered a familiar, female voice.

“Kate! The shop’s open again?”

“Ash! Good to hear from you—and yes, we’re open again. Harry finally got tired of watching the snowdrift in front of the shop turn into an ice bunker, so he actually did hire a small front-end loader to break it up. How’re you doing?”

Ash smiled at the chipper sound in normally dour Kate’s voice. “Ah, that’s… Actually, I’m fine. Doing better than I have in awhile.”

“That’s good to hear, little sister,” Kate replied. “So, business or pleasure?”

Ash blinked at the unusual question. “Err…”

“Is this a social call, or did you get into trouble and need a tow?”

“Actually, it’s business, sort-of, but I don’t need a tow. I need to know where I can find tech manuals for a car.”

“What, don’t tell you lost the ones Harry sold you with your XR4Ti, little sister?” Kate’s voice was chiding, and Ash rolled her eyes.

“No, actually. I’ve got a very sick Porsche 996 on my hands that needs fixing.”

“Wha? Di’ I heah’ thah right? You’ve gone an’ sold me baby fer a Porsche?” Ash grinned at hearing Harry’s voice, which seemed both at once affronted and proud.

Ash looked back—Emily and Jenny were sitting in the Porsche, talking. “No, Harry, it’s my mother’s car! I’m in Cape Cod.”

“Oh really? Thah’s good to heah! Well, thah yer’ in Cape Cod, noh tha you’ve goh a sick car. Whah’s wrong wi’ ih?”

“My mom accidentally ran out of gas in a bad part of town. The crooks stripped the inside pretty thoroughly, took the hood, and the bumpers.”

A low whistle came from her cell phone. “Tha’s a rough job, thah is, girl. Still, if yeh’ gonna fix ’er up, yeh’ll need to start wi’ the manuals. They’re noh cheap themselves.”

“Errr… how much are you talking, Harry?”

Ash heard the clicking of a computer keyboard in the background, and Harry’s voice continued “I don’ honestly know, Ash. Porsche dosnoh’ like owners doin’ much o’ their own stuff—like to keep their bloody ‘authorized dealers’ in th’ repair business.”

“You sound like you don’t approve.”

“I bloody don’, thas’ why I sound like I don’. Anyway… Eh?”

“I found something, Ash,” Kate’s voice interrupted. “This looks like it’ll do you. It’s an e-book version, but it’s only twenty dollars.”

“Wow. I figured I was going to have to shell out like, two hundred dollars or something.”

“Aye, tha’ sounds about righ’ if ye were buyin’ the manuals outright,” Harry replied. “I don’ suppose yeh’ need me to have th’ beastie towed back to Tempest for some work on ’er, eh?”

“I don’t know. I’ll see how far I can get up here. The problem may be finding the parts. They might almost literally fall into my lap, they might be on the other side of the country by now.”

“Aye, that sounds like a problem. Porsche parts’d be hard tae get ’hold of. Let me know if yeh’ run inna trouble an’ I’ll see what I can do.”

“Will do. Thanks.” Kate gave her the information on where to buy the e-book, and Ash looked back after hanging up—Emily and Jenny were just getting out of the car.

“How’d it go?”

“Pretty good. Kate found a copy of the technical manuals I’ll need in an e-book format. It’s only twenty, so I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”

“Right. So the real pain will be getting the parts.”

“And putting them back on,” Ash nodded.

Jenny looked back at the car’s missing hood. “You’re… seriously going to try this yourself?”

“Yeah. Why not? The hardest part will be re-installing the console; after that, it’s just a matter of lifting and bolting.”

“Yeah… It looked like whoever stripped it knew what they were doing—all the wire harnesses are hanging free, but nothing’s been just cut,” Emily said.

“That’s a relief…” She smiled, and realized her stomach was growling softly. She checked the time on her cell phone’s face; it was reading 1:09. “What say we go get lunch somewhere?”

Emily nodded, as did Jenny. “Marco’s?” the blonde asked.

“I dunno, I was thinking the Ale House.” Ash pointed up the street.

“Well, wherever we go, it’s my treat,” Jenny answered, as she and Emily walked out of the garage, and Ash shut the door.

“You don’t have to.”

“Yes, I do. After all, you paid for mine yesterday.”

Ash found herself unable to argue with that logic. She locked the door to the house and pulled out her car keys. Emily called out “Shotgun!” with a laugh, running towards the car, leaving Jenny and Ash chasing her. She reached the door first and grinned. “Guess you’re riding in the back, Jenny.”

“Okay…” Jenny crawled over the pulled-down seat when Ash unlocked the door, then Ash and Emily got into the front seats, buckling in. Ash started the car, and they pulled out, slowly.

“Where are we going?” Emily asked.

“I dunno. I’m fine anywhere, really. I’m just hungry.”

“Well, I said I’d pay, so…” Jenny piped up from behind. “You remember how to get to Marco’s?”

“Yes, I remember. Marco’s, then?”

“It’s fine by me,” Emily said, leaning back in her seat.

Ash nudged the Monster XR out into the road, aiming for the highway, and pressed on the gas.

“So,” asked Jenny, after awhile. “Why do people call out ‘shotgun’ when they want to ride in the passenger seat?”

“I honestly do not know.”

“I do! It dates back to the Wild West, in the days when payrolls, or money, or other valuables were transported by stagecoach. They were typically guarded by several armed men riding on the coach. Traditionally, the man sitting next to the driver had a shotgun, although in practice all the guards would carry a shotgun if they could. Because the coach was bumping up and down and rocking back and forth, you see, the scattergun made them a lot more likely to hit the target.”

Both Ash and Jenny were stunned momentarily by Emily’s sudden discourse. “Oh, wow… That’s an earful, sorry I asked,” Jenny replied.

“Neat to know, though. Now you can answer that if someone asks you.”

“Yeah, I suppose. Anyway, are you really going to try and fix that car? It’s kind of… wrecked.”

“No. I’m going to fix it.” Ash grinned. “And you two are going to help me.”

“Wait, us?”

“Well, yeah. I can’t do it alone, and I don’t really know anyone else up here. Besides,” she said, with a grin, “what else have you got to do?”

Ash caught a glimpse of a half-hearted sneer in the rear-view mirror. “Well, most girls don’t like spending time doing boy-work where you get your nails broken when we could be at the mall, or…”

Ash rolled her eyes, but Emily replied first. “Are you afraid of getting a little dirty?” she said, all-too-sweetly. “Because if so, then you must be kind of a wimp. We’re not even going to have to mess with the engine; that’s where the real dirty stuff is. This would be a few hours of lifting and bolting things back on.”

Jenny scowled at her, but Ash shrugged. “Well, when we get the parts, if we get them,” she conceded, “we’re going to be putting them on. I mean, sure, you could just go home, or just play Need for Speed without us, but wouldn’t you rather just try? Who knows, it might be interesting.”

Jenny looked like she was trying to come up with an objection that wouldn’t automatically make her look like she was as shallow as a wading pool, but Emily looked into Ash’s eyes, and Ash grinned. “Tell you what. You want to go to the mall after lunch? We’ll do what you want to do, then when—or if—we get the parts, you help us with the car. Fair?”

“Well…” Jenny shrugged, and nodded, looking out the window at the sea as the car barreled down the freeway. “Okay. You did help me out and all. And you didn’t finish me when you had the chance, and… well, I owe you.” She looked down, a bit sheepishly. “So, fine. If you want me to tinker with a car with you, I guess I can try. I’ll probably break something, though.”

Ash laughed. “You’d have to try to break these things. You’re not going to try, are you?”

“Uh, no. No, I’m not.”

“Good. Marco’s is on fifth, right?”

“Right,” Jenny answered, and reclined back in her seat, sighing softly.

The Highway, 2:22 PM

They rode peacefully for a while, but out of the blue Emily squealed, “Ohmigod! Look!” She pointed towards a red car that Ash was approaching quickly, but Ash could barely make it out. “What the heck is that?”

“And you’re supposed to be the car nut, not me. Don’t you recognize it? Pull up alongside.”

The car was sleek, low to the ground, and its engine sounded like a jet more than anything. Even Jenny was looking—she’d unbuckled to pull herself up alongside Emily’s face. “It’s hot,” Jenny said. “What is it?”

“I can’t quite place it. It’s…”

“A Porsche Carrera GT! Those things are brand new!”

“Oh! Doh! Of course… Do you think it’s very fast?”

Emily scowled at her. “It’s a Porsche. And more than that, do you see the size of that engine?” The car they were overtaking at about sixty was sleek, a red rider with a spoiler that was actually inset in the molding. The engine was easily visible inside what seemed to be a grille of some sort, set just in front of the rear axle—it was a monster.

“Okay, it’s pretty, but why does the spoiler look decorative more than functional?”

“Aerodynamic efficiency. The spoiler deploys at about seventy. That’s when the drag caused by the spoiler being deployed is exactly equal to the traction lost from upforce, and it only gets worse as it climbs—hence, the spoiler only extends when it’s needed.”

“Huh, that’s cool. Should I?” she grinned.

Emily looked all around. “I don’t see cops. That thing would burn Kate, though. And a freeway is a giant straight.”

“Who’s Kate?” asked Jenny.

“Maybe. But I still want to try. And Kate’s a, well, friend. She drives a Jaguar XKR.”

Ash glanced around—saw no police or suspiciously officious-looking unmarked vehicles—and pulled alongside the sleek, torpedo-like car. She gunned the engine twice, and the heavily tinted window rolled down, revealing a black-haired man in a business suit sitting in the driver’s seat. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, and he was laughing, or looked like he was. Ash met his eyes—he grinned, gunned the engine, and held up three fingers on one hand.

“Buckle up, Jenny.” Jenny hurried to buckle up, grinning widely, as the man lowered the first finger, then the second. He dropped the third, and Ash put the pedal to the metal. The Ford 5.0 Liter V8 in her Monster XR roared as she fed it all the gas it could guzzle. The speedometer and tachometer both rose, and Ash dropped the Monster into third gear as they tore away from the Porsche.

She had a few glorifying moments of superiority as the speedometer crept towards 90, dropping the Monster into fourth, and going for a hundred. Then she started to think that maybe she’d been duped into flagrantly gunning it with no competition. That’s when the sound like a thousand banshee’s howls drowned out even the Monster XR’s engine. The Porsche behind her had launched off like a rocket and was rapidly overtaking the Monster XR. Ash knew it was essentially a futile battle, but she still wasn’t going to not try. The speedometer crept up to a hundred and ten, and she slammed the Monster home to its fifth and final gear—not a position her shifter often got to see itself in.

Though the struggle was valiant and the cause just (in Ash’s mind at least) her Monster simply had no hope of matching the Carrera GT’s horses. “Hell, Kate’s Jaguar couldn’t touch that thing’s horses,” Ash thought to herself as it pulled alongside. The driver waved at her; she waved back. He grinned before reaching down and shifting again. “That’s just showing off. He’s probably shifting into fourth,” she thought with no small measure of envy, as the driver rolled up the window. Then the Porsche resumed accelerating. Ash looked down—the Monster was struggling for each additional mph, and shaking under her; she knew she’d never control it properly at this rate. She was doing a hundred and forty and the Porsche was still accelerating. Ash waved at the retreating Porsche, its spoiler raised into the air, and uttered, “Hold on.”

She brought the Monster back down with a fast and hard brake, then gulped as she heard sirens from ahead. She saw the red and blue flash—the cop cruiser took off after the Porsche. “My god… he’s running,” Emily murmured, pointing. Ash blinked, looking twice—the red car ahead was not only running, it was succeeding! The police cruiser’s engine howled, but it just couldn’t catch the red Porsche.

“He’s got to be fucking crazy,” Ash said, feeling her heart beating fast; it could just have easily have been her. She reflected on how stupid it had been to start an impromptu drag race on the middle of the freeway.

“If he gets it covered before they can set up a roadblock and lay low, think he’ll get away?”

“I dunno. It can be done, but doing this on the freeway is a lot different from dodging cops running down Greylock, which even I haven’t done.”

Jenny laughed softly. “What, you’ve never just flirted your way out of a ticket? It’s easy, just throw your hair back and bat your eyes…”

Ash blushed heavily, looking down at her instrument cluster for a moment before locking her eyes back on the road. “Uh… no. I haven’t. And I never will.”

“Good thing I’m with you, then.”

Ash felt a boiling rise in her. That wasn’t… it… it irked her; it was really quite galling. Especially when she thought back to that time Emily had convinced her to use her ‘feminine wiles’ on Colin to get those iridium spark plugs on the quick. “Ich. Don’t even want to think about doing that.”

She slowly became cognizant of the fact that Jenny was asking if Ash was okay, and Emily was hastily trying to explain that Ash despised using charm or looks to get her anything.

“Why? I may have ragged on you because, well, that’s what I did, but you’re pretty, well, hot. I mean, obviously you’re not as hot as I am, but you definitely have the body and the eyes for it…” Ash felt a horrid feeling of dirtiness creeping over her. Whatever she might be feeling towards trying to be less stuck-up about her emotions, and even (dare she think it) looking somewhat… pretty, as evidenced by her chrome-colored fingernails, that was a line she had not, would not contemplate, and if there was a God, would never cross. Still, now was a bad time to have a freak-out session, and she did her best to squish that feeling.

“Jenny, do us all a big favor and drop this topic now, please?” Emily sounded almost panicked, as she could see the gender-identity panic, which had been mostly in remission the past few days, threatening to reassert itself in Ash with a vengeance.

“I’d appreciate that, Jenny. But to answer your question, I won’t do that sort of thing. Ever.”

Ash saw Jenny was a bit confused (or maybe ashamed) but she nodded. “Okay. Anyway, that was really, really cool, Ash.”

“Yeah. Yeah, it was.”

Ahead of them, the police cruiser had switched off its lights, apparently having given up the chase. Jenny pointed ahead of them, “Our exit’s coming up.”

“All right.” Ash put on her turn signal, and drifted into the proper lane.

Marco’s On 5th, 2:51 PM

Marco’s, unsurprisingly, hadn’t changed at all from the same time yesterday. The parking lot was more crowded, but the redbrick bistro with overhanging green awnings was more or less the same. Again, Jenny took point after Ash had parked the car, and Emily and Ash flanked her on their way to the door.

The maître d’ had them seated after seeing Jenny. He told a waitress—the same from the day before—to take them to a seat, which she promptly did. Marco’s was much busier today, and Jenny seemed to look around almost nervously. The waitress took their orders for drinks and left them to look at their menus, leaving them alone in the green bistro, full of the sounds of conversation.

Ash looked half-heartedly at the menu—it was covered with Marco’s logo and a picture of the front of the building—and decided to break the ice. “So, did you see anyone you know?”

Jenny nodded and leaned in; Ash and Emily likewise leaned in. “Yeah. I saw Clarita and Rachelle—the two from last night—in the far corner with a couple of boys. I also saw Annette in here with a girl I don’t know.”

“Annette?”

“My… well… I thought she was my friend, until I tried calling her this morning.”

“Okay, okay. She didn’t want to talk to you?”

Jenny shook her head. “She called me… well…” Jenny trailed off, looking down at her menu; Ash nodded and did the same.

Time passed in silence as Ash thought about what she wanted to eat. The waitress returned soon enough with their drinks and set them down. “Do you know what you’d like, or should I come back?”

“I’ll have the fettuccine alfredo,” Ash replied.

Emily said, “Veal parm? With the salad bar.”

“Mmm. I’ll have the same.”

“Anything else?”

“Yeah, give me the salad bar, too,” Ash added.

The waitress wrote it all down and said, “Help yourselves, girls.” She pointed to the salad bar and walked away. Ash took a deep swig of her soda, as Emily slid out from beside her. Jenny stood up from the other side, and then Ash scooted out and stood up as well.

Walking to the salad bar, Jenny cast furtive glances around. Her eyes led Ash’s to a table where two boys were boisterously laughing with two girls. They were the same girls Ash had gotten into a brawl with, both of them in more normal clothes, tittering at what the boys were saying. The titters quieted and they shot daggers at Ash. Ash stared back, and then looked forward at the salad bar. She and Emily drew up alongside Jenny, assembling their salads from a dizzying array of components.

“You okay?” Ash asked Jenny quietly.

“I-I think so… Thank you. Thank you both for letting me come with you.”

Emily shot a sidelong smile at the blonde girl, and Ash said, “Well, you know, they say if you save someone, they become your responsibility and all that. Honestly? I dunno. I can’t say why I did what I did, but I don’t regret it.”

Jenny looked up at her, blinking—crystal-ice-blue eyes meeting Ash’s green. “You don’t? I thought you two hated me?”

“Maybe that’s all the more reason to make friends?”

Jenny looked at Ash with confusion and… Submission? Affection? Some strange, close emotion evident in her eyes. “You are seven shades of retarded, Ash Upton.” She looked down at her salad plate. “Maybe that’s why you’re better than me?”

Emily blinked at Jenny’s odd statement, then blinked again when she found Jenny’s plate in her hands. “I-I need to use the bathroom,” Jenny murmured, and she scooted away, leaving Ash and Emily to walk back to their table, somewhat bewildered.

“That was strange, wasn’t it,” Ash asked.

“Yeah. I think she’s very confused, now.”

“Right….” She sighed, dramatically, resting her head on her hands, her elbows on the table. “She’s strange… but I think she feels, well… defeated?”

“That’s possible, Ash. She may, well… kind of be latching onto you as a… role model.”

Ash blanched at that thought, and took a bite of her salad. The flavors of cheese and honey-mustard blossomed satisfyingly in her mouth, and she closed her eyes, savoring for a moment. When she swallowed and opened her eyes, however, a most unfavorable sight faced her—the black-haired girl and white-haired girl from the night before, the ones who had assaulted Jenny and tore her top off, were moving to the bathroom.

“Trouble, ten o’ clock,” Ash said to Emily, who spotted them, and nodded.

“I see it. I’ll intercept this one; just stay here, okay?” Ash didn’t like it, but she nodded, and Emily moved up, angling for the bathroom.

Ash was left looking out the window of the bistro, idly poking at her salad, when something fancy caught her eyes. A metallic black European car of some obvious sleek, powerful lines that she couldn’t quite identify was seeking a parking space. It had metallic purple highlights, windows tinted a light silver, and rakish, spiral-pattern rims in deep purple. It was a beautiful, rear-engined machine, but the one behind it wasn’t entirely a slouch, either. Riding like a big, blue boat on small-diameter rimmed Goodyears, the retro lines of a first-gen Camaro were distinctive, especially since it simply said Camaro on the side. The big muscle car passed close enough to the window for Ash to read the model badging on the front: Z/28RS. With white racing stripes on the hood and chrome trim, she could feel the rumble from the powerful muscle car’s engine when she put her hand on the window.

“Wow…” Ash said, and thought it must be her day for seeing nice cars. Even if they weren’t the kind she normally thought of, they were still beautiful. The black exotic turned into the parking spot immediately across from the window, and Ash saw the logo on the back; it was a Lotus Exige.

“That might be a fun car,” she thought, looking back to her salad and lifting another large bite.

Marco’s Bathroom, 3:03 PM

Emily walked into the bathroom immediately after the two sharks. Right away, she realized why Ash had felt the need to beat them—they were no more in the door than they were jeering at Jenny, who was at a sink, looking up as the door opened.

“Jenny? Oh, Jennyyyy,” the one with white hair started, while the black-haired one jeered.

“She’s the girl from yesterday,” Emily scowled, recognizing the girl who had insulted her and goaded Ash into throwing a punch.

Jenny scowled up at them, then her eyes widened when she saw Emily.

“What’s wrong, Jenny? Looking for comfort in the arms of a pair of loser dykes now? You really have lost it,” the white haired girl continued. Emily felt her blood start to boil, and she shook her head at Jenny, hoping the blonde would take her hint and wouldn’t rise to the baiting.

Jenny’s lip trembled. She wanted to retaliate, it was clear on her face; but she turned back to her basin, muttering, “Go away.” It was weak, almost pathetically so, but it was a good start. The black-haired girl laughed, while the one with the white hair giggled.

“Ugh. She reminds me so much of Cassiel,” Emily scowled, as they launched into another round of jeers. The white-haired one seemed to be the intellectual leader, since she launched the attacks.

“So, which one’s your girlfriend, hmm? The redheaded bull-dyke, or the ugly dyke with the awful blue dye-job?”

Emily felt her heat rising. She wasn’t given to violence like Ash was—and she reminded herself of that—so she said, loud and clearly, “Excuse me!” and pushed her way through the middle of the jeering duo, walking between them and Jenny, then turning around. The surprised look of shock on their faces was satisfying, as they apparently had no clue she was there. “If you’re just going to insult and berate me and my friends, why don’t you both leave? Haven’t you got anything better to do?”

She crossed her arms, staring at them. While the white-haired girl was shorter, the raven-haired girl was taller than most of the boys at her school. She took a moment to curse the Misfile for making her shorter and more easily dismissed, as the white haired girl sneered at her.

“Mmmm, no. Dykes don’t tell me what to do, dykie-dyke.”

Jenny crept up beside Emily, saying, “You keep using that word a lot, Clarita. Projecting, much?” The white-haired girl recoiled with a snarl, and the other one smirked. “Clarita, you gonna take that from a dyke like her?”

Clarita snarled, but Emily followed up Jenny’s lead. “It’s true, you know. Statistically, the girls who feel the most need to gay-bash are doing it because deep inside, they hate boys and want a girl.” It probably wasn’t strictly true. Emily felt a pang of guilt for invoking ‘statistically’ without evidence. Still, it served its purpose in terms of the fight—Clarita went from aggressive to angry and outraged.

Clarita looked like she was about to throw a punch, and Rachelle looked ready to back her up. Emily was quickly trying to formulate a ‘make my day; I’ll have you thrown out of here and arrested for assault’ argument. She knew she couldn’t stand up to these two in a brawl, not even with Jenny’s assistance, and in a place like Marco’s, she’d get in deep trouble.

But Jenny made her move first. She stepped towards Clarita, and Emily realized (with a flush) that she’d gone into full-on seduction mode. And she was good at it, so good she probably could’ve taught Molly a thing or two.

“Aww, Clarita… I understand,” Jenny purred, her voice a perfectly modulated silk, as she sashayed slowly forward. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She grinned, eyes gleaming, as Clarita took a nervous step back. With a flash in Clarita’s eyes, Emily could tell that her jeering had been spot-on—the white-haired girl had exactly the same look Emily had many times while trying to deny her attraction to Ash.

“It’s okay…” Jenny slid close to Clarita, as both of the aggressors took nervous steps back. Jenny’s voice got low. “You can kiss me… I won’t tell…”

With a cry of “A-agh! Freak!” that warbled slightly, Clarita turned and pelted from the bathroom.

It took Rachelle only a moment to get her parting shot. “Let’s blow this loserville, Clarita!” as she followed her friend.

Marco’s Dining Room, 3:06 PM

Ash was idly poking at her salad when she heard the door to the bathroom slam open. She looked up, but it was the white-haired girl from the night before pelting out and looking like she’d just been whipped, followed by her friend. Ash had a curiosity to know just what had gone on, but Emily had said she’d handle it, and Ash would let her.

She looked back out the window as the drivers of the fancy cars were getting out. The driver of the Lotus was a tall woman who—at almost six feet tall—dwarfed her car. She wore a long gray duster and had brown hair going white at the temples. Even she was dwarfed by the giant(ess) who got out of the Camaro, though. Easily standing tall above the woman who drove the Exige, the muscle car’s driver had long black hair that fell below her waist, broad hips and shoulders, and wore a black trench coat that dusted the ground as she walked. The two spotted each other and waved. They met and started walking towards the door.

Ash’s attention drifted back to the cars themselves. Both were clearly performance vehicles, and Ash took special note of the treads—racing tires, each of them. Ash wondered if the two were racers like herself. She’d love a chance to test her Monster XR against that Lotus on the old road—both vehicles were strong in the corners.

Marco’s Bathroom, 3:07 PM

After Clarita and Rachelle ran out of the bathroom, Jenny turned to the sink, holding tight to the marble basin’s rim, and took a deep, tremulous breath. Emily leaned over to look into her eyes, which were closed.

“Jenny,” she asked, “are you okay?”

The blonde girl hugged her denim jacket tightly to herself. “N-No… I feel…”

“Guilty? About what you just did?”

“… Maybe,” Jenny answered. “I-I… I just don’t know.”

“So, why’d you do it?”

“I wanted them to leave. I knew Clarita would be freaked out by being seen as a les-lesbian.”

“So you came on strong to her.”

“She’s terrified of being seen as liking girls.”

“Does she?”

Jenny nodded, after a few seconds of looking at her hands in the basin, turning them over and over.

“Yeah. Didn’t you see it?”

“I thought so, when she backpedaled. She was over-acting and gave it away.”

“Yeah. She’s terrified of being abandoned by Rachelle. She’s her only friend, but Rachelle is always slamming dykes this and fags that…”

“I see…”

Jenny shivered. “And Rachelle isn’t really smart enough or strong enough to lead. She acts it well, but Clarita’s the brains and the willpower behind them. Once I scared off Clarita, I knew Rachelle would run.”

“Huh… Does Rachelle…”

Jenny shook her head, then seemed to reconsider, and shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. I know she’s slept with boys and Clarita hasn’t.”

“Right. You don’t sound too hurt about the trying to seduce her.”

“I’m not sorry I scared her off…”

“You’re feeling guilty because Rachelle might hang Clarita out to dry like your friends hung you out to dry.”

Jenny nodded, her face contorting with a look best approximating self-loathing and misery. She looked phenomenally guilty, and Emily reached out, slowly putting a hand on the taller blonde’s shoulder. “If she’s really her friend, she won’t desert her. And if she’s not a real friend, is she really better off with her?”

Emily’s nugget of wisdom left Jenny looking confused as she tried to sort it out, and finally said, “I… I just don’t know.” She looked back at her hands again, and started washing them, slowly.

“Please, don’t tell Ash what I did.” Emily looked back at Jenny and blinked. “Please,” the blonde repeated.

“Okay. I won’t. You want her to think well of you, don’t you?”

Jenny simply nodded, going back to washing her hands (for the third time).

Marco’s Dining Room, 3:11 PM

Clarita and Rachelle collected their dates and rushed out of the restaurant in a hurry, so Ash figured they must have gotten on the losing side of something. She didn’t see a mark on them (that she hadn’t put there, anyway), so she guessed that Emily or more likely Jenny had torn one of them down so bad they’d retreated. They’d gone in looking for trouble, so Ash figured it was fair that they bit off more than they could chew.

With a sigh, Ash looked back at the bathroom door, and realized that Emily and Jenny were still there. “I wonder if they ran into even more trouble?” she scowled softly. Then she caught a snippet of conversation in a Scottish brogue so thick you could cut it with a knife; it was distinctive because the word said had been ‘Tempest’.

Ash scooted to the edge of the booth, craning her head. The source of the voice was the smaller of the two drivers she’d seen out the door. She craned to hear, and heard the other driver—the giantess with a thick, husky voice that sounded like she was winded—saying, “I don’t know where it is. I might have passed it on the road, but I didn’t see if it was.”

“I dinnae know, either. An’ where is ’e, ’e said ’e’d be here, and I dinnae see his car.”

As they closed in on Ash’s booth, she held up her hand. “Excuse me, are you looking for Tempest, Massachusetts?”

The Scotswoman—wearing thin-rimmed glasses that made her hazel eyes seem the size of saucers—brightened immediately. “Aye, we are! D’ye know where ’tis?”

“I’m from Tempest. I can tell you how to get there.”

“That’s perfect. Here, give ’er the map!”

The other one took a map out of her trench coat pocket, putting it down on the table. “I can hardly read the writing on it.”

“An’ I cannae make heads nor tails o’ yer map lexicon.”

“No problem.” She unfolded the map, and winced—it was an especially poor map. “Here’s the problem, this is a really hard-to-read map. You want to take route six west from here until you get the chance to turn off onto I-495, which you should ride north until you get to I-90. Then just get on it and head west, you can’t miss it. There’ll be a big exit that says ‘Tempest’.” She checked her pockets. “Err, do you have a pen?”

“Aye.” The woman with the thick brogue pulled a thick, blue Sharpie marker out of her pocket.

Ash circled more-or-less where they were, then drew arrows on the turns they wanted to take. “That’ll take you right there, but if you get lost, just head west. If you hit Albany, turn around and drive back east; you can’t miss it unless you’re trying to.”

“Thank you,”

“Cheers, doll,” the pair said almost at once, smiled at her, and then headed off.

Ash scooted back over in her seat when she saw Emily and Jenny exit the restroom. Both of them looked more or less in good condition and even bright.

Outside Marco’s Bistro, 3:31 PM

Ash was laughing as the trio exited Marco’s, slapping her hands together and bent over; Emily was grinning, shaking her head and giggling with her hand covering her mouth at the joke Jenny had cracked on the way out. “Oh… Oh wow, I think I need to stop and wipe the tears from my eyes…” Ash mock-wiped tears of laughter from her face, and straightened up, leading the trio back to the Monster XR while fishing the keys from their pocket.

“Okay, so… Whoa!” Ash danced back as another car rolled into Marco’s; she had been about to carelessly walk across its path. It was another muscle car, this one a vintage green, with a deeply rumbling, growling engine, and a high hood scoop. The driver inside was a man with black hair who looked familiar, Ash mused, but she couldn’t place him. Then she noticed the decal on the sides—it was a long black stripe running up the side and down sharply against the wheel well, interrupted briefly to spell out the word ‘HEMI’ in big block letters.

“Fuck, that’s loud!” Jenny groused, holding her ears, as the growling monster muscle car rolled further into the parking lot.

“That’s weird. That’s the second muscle car in here! I can’t place it, though.”

“And you’re supposed to be the car nut! That’s a real, honest-to-god Hemicuda!”

“Hemicuda?”

“A Plymouth Barracuda with Chrysler’s legendary 426 Hemi.”

“Huh… I don’t really ‘know’ muscle cars. Is that good?”

“It’s a monster!” Emily laughed at her, shaking her head. “You really hate history, even car history, don’t you?”

“No… I just don’t like non-Ford American car history.”

“Well, it’d smoke a Mustang—any Mustang—so that should say something. Let’s go.”

Ash led them back to the Monster XR and got in. Jenny called out “Shotgun!” a second before Emily did, and Emily laughed, crawling into the back as Jenny buckled in next to Ash. Ash put the car into reverse and pulled out. As she did, the big green car’s driver—who was waiting for them to vacate the parking spot—waved. “Hey, he’s the one who had that Carrera GT! He’s got a brand-new Porsche and a muscle car? Guy must be loaded…”

“I guess he got it under cover, then,” Emily said.

“All this car talk. You two know so much, it’s freaky.”

“Eh. I can loan you some stuff to read if you want to.”

Jenny made a face, but didn’t say no. “Anyway… where to now? The mall, right?”

“Oh, right… the mall.” Ash’s promise came back to her and she sighed. “Yeah, let’s go. Which way?” Jenny pointed, and Ash set the Monster XR into motion.

Parking Lot At The Cape Cod Mall, Hyannis, 4:07 PM

The trip to the mall was uneventful, although finding parking was difficult; they had to park fairly far out. Ash finally found a spot, powering into it ahead of some old Volvo whose owner flipped her off on the way by, and she sighed as she put the car out of gear, parking it.

“There, see? Not hard to find, was it?” Ash admitted it was not, then the ringing of a cell phone split the quiet. Ash and Emily both looked at Jenny, but the blonde shook her head. “Not my ringtone; must be yours.”

Ash took her cell phone out of her pocket. Flipping it open, the phone face read ‘Mom’, as it connected. “Mom?” she asked.

“Ash, dear, is Emily with you?”

“Yeah, she’s with me. We’re at the mall.” Jenny got a nervous look on her face, and Ash nodded her head towards Emily, relieving Jenny visibly.

“Good, dear. Edward just called me; her mother called him looking for her. She’s at her aunt’s house, and is trying to get hold of Emily rather frantically, as I understand it.”

“Oh… Oh, crap.”

“Well, I don’t know how ‘oh crap’ it is, but you need to tell Emily to call her mother right away. Oh, I know it’s a long-shot, but is Jenny with you?”

“Yeah, she’s with me, too.” Jenny visibly paled, and pushed her fist into her forehead.

Ash’s mother laughed on the other end of the line. “Oh, how wonderful. Her mother’s going spare trying to find her. She’s called all her other friend’s mothers twice now. She never even thought to ask me, so I won’t tell her unless she does. Have fun, dear.”

Ash hung up the phone, and handed it to Emily, as Jenny looked like she wanted to burrow into the seat. “Em, call your mom. She’s at your aunt’s house? I guess?”

“Right, will do.” Emily took the phone. “It’s going to be a long-distance call…”

“Don’t worry about it, Em.”

The phone rang less than one full time before it was picked up, her mother breathing, “Emily? Is that you?”

“Yes, mom, it’s me.”

Her mother sounded harried, letting out a sigh. “Where in blazes are you?”

“I’m in Cape Cod, mom.” Ash and Jenny looked decidedly uncomfortable, so she waved at them to indicate they could slip out if they wanted. Jenny, cringing, took the opportunity, but Ash waited it out. The expected explosion went off, but it was a dud. “Cape Cod? Cape Cod? You’re in… No, actually, that’s good. Doctor Upton told me that most of Tempest has been without heat for the past few days. His house was one of the first to experience it, but I’ve checked the gas company, a main ruptured.”

Emily let out a quiet sigh of relief. “Mom, I’m sorry, I-”

“Don’t. At this point, I don’t have time for it. You aunt was in a car wreck, Emily.”

Emily went white. “She was?”

“Well, we both were, but she got hurt bad. I’m going to stay up here with her, probably for a while, a week or two. You’re a big enough girl, Emily, and you’ve got a place to stay. I’m sorry I won’t be able to see you over Christmas, but your aunt is badly hurt, and I have to stay with her.”

“I-It’s okay, mom.”

“Good. You just stay out east with your car-friend and stay warm.”

“Mom, I can probably get to Greylock.”

“I know, dear, but it’s across the whole state, and the weather people don’t know if there’s going to be another big blizzard, but they think it might. I’d rather you were somewhere I know you’re safe.”

“Okay, Mom… Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, dear. If you need anything, you can use the debit card I gave you, just don’t go too crazy.”

“Thanks, but Ash’s mom already gave us some spending money.”

“Nonsense, dear. We don’t need to go accepting charity just yet. Go ahead and buy yourself a Christmas gift, too. I’ll find something for you, but it’s so hectic I don’t know what I’ll find, if anything.”

“Um… thanks, mom. Is that all?”

“Yes, actually; I hear my sister calling for me anyway. Good-bye, Emily.”

“You look white as a sheet. Everything okay?”

Emily closed the phone, pressing it back into Ash’s hands, and clenched her orange-haired tuner’s hands. She looked into Ash’s eyes; Ash met her gaze, worriedly. “Em?”

“My mom and aunt were in a crash, Ash. My aunt’s hurt, bad.”

“Good god… Emily?”

Emily shivered. “It’s… Do you remember that dream I had?”

“The one that scared you into kissing me?”

Emily nodded, leaning in, pressing her cheek into Ash’s. “I… I dreamt they’d been in a car wreck…”

“Em…” Ash kissed her cheek, softly, and Emily sniffed. “It’s a coincidence, Emily. Is she… okay?”

“I don’t know. She’s… she’s alive, my mom is staying with her.”

“That’s good, Em.” Ash kissed Emily again, sliding back, kissing the corner of her mouth, staring into her eyes. “You’re not… not going to be afraid of cars, are you?”

“Always worried about me, aren’t you. No. I’m safe with you. I know you’re a good enough driver to avoid accidents.”

“What about you, though?”

“Um?”

“You’re not going to be afraid to drive, are you?”

“Um…”

Ash narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you dare. You know what? You’re driving us home.” Ash grinned, staring into Emily’s eyes. “I’m not going to let you give up on something you’re starting to get good at because something happened to your mom and aunt in a car. You’re going to learn to drive and drive well. Okay?”

Emily couldn’t help but smile back at her, and she kissed Ash softly, closing her eyes. “Thanks, Ash. You make me feel so good about myself.”

“Not half as much as you make me feel good about myself… Thank you, Emily.” Ash pulled her in, but not half as strongly as Emily pulled her. They kissed, and Emily felt like fireworks were bursting in her chest. They pulled away, and Ash grinned. “That tingle… Mmm…”

The pair climbed out of the car, and Emily immediately went red as she spied Jenny standing off to the side, her face beet red, looking down at her feet. “Oh god, Jenny! I forgot you were—”

“No… just… no. It’s okay. I… I guess I knew.”

Ash approached her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Jenny? A-Are you okay?”

The blonde looked up, and nodded. “Yeah. I’m… I’m fine. Let’s go.” She turned quickly, and Ash looked at Emily, who shrugged at her; Ash shrugged back, and they followed Jenny.

Inside The Cape Cod Mall, 4:16 PM

“Well, it’s a mall. There are many quite like it, but this mall is special. It’s mine.” Jenny smirked at Ash and Emily as she led the duo in a spearhead formation into the mall. Dead ahead, down a massive hallway, was a huge glorious fountain, with stores lining the hall on three massive, tiered floors.

Ash whistled softly in appreciation. “This place is huge.”

“It’s more impressive than the one in Albany, anyway. It may not actually be bigger.”

“Albany? Albany, New York?” Jenny asked them.

“Yeah. We went there Friday,” said Emily.

“Heh. I kind of wish I could’ve gone with you. It must be fun.”

“It was.”

“But this place looks… fun too.” Ash tried to make her voice sound enthusiastic, but both Jenny and Emily looked at her funnily.

“What? Not good enough for you?” Jenny asked.

Emily hurriedly attempted to defuse, saying, “No, no, it’s not that. It’s just that Ash doesn’t really like shopping.”

Jenny looked a bit offended, or maybe confused.

“What can I say? I’ll deal. It’s not like I can’t be dragged through a mall. Who knows, I need to buy gifts anyway.”

Emily smiled at her, and put her arm around both Jenny and Ash’s shoulders. “Right. So, let’s go? Oh, we’re going to have to go clothes shopping, I’m afraid…”

“Do we have to?”

“We have to. We’ve been here how long?”

“Uh… three days?”

“Right. And how many days’ worth of clothes did I bring? And how many did you bring?”

“F… oh. Right…” Ash sighed. “Okay. We may as well get it over with now. I see a directory, I’ll go have a look.” Ash practically dashed away, and Jenny blinked at Emily.

“She… doesn’t like buying clothes?”

“That’s my Ash. I practically have to drag her through clothes shopping. She really hates doing ‘girly’ things, because she hates being thought of as girly. She’d rather people notice her for her skill in a car than because she’s a girl.”

“That’s crazy. She’s hot. She’s got the same body her mother has, and a natural hair color so wild that it looks like an awesome dye-job.”

“That’s Ash. She’s more comfortable behind the wheel than in a dress… Dress!” Emily grinned, snapping her fingers. “You saw her at that party, right?”

“Uh, yeah. I did.”

“What did she look like? Did it make her look good? I didn’t get to see her wearing it.”

Jenny blushed, looking down. “Yeah. She looked really good in it. I had to slam her because she looked so much better than me, even.”

“Heh. What was it like?”

Jenny looked up at the ceiling. “It was white, with a black corset foundation and highlights. Her fingernails were as red as that car that outran us on the highway. She looked uncomfortable in it, though, and she could hardly walk. I thought she was drunk at first, the way she had to practically tie herself to Kay Wheeler to stay upright.”

“Sounds like Ash, all right.”

“Do you love her?”

“… Yeah. I really, really do.”

“I’m sorry… I…”

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”

“All right.”

Ash studied the directory of the mall with a soft scowl on her face. The idea of going clothes shopping annoyed her—and a part of her was worried that she ‘only’ felt merely ‘annoyed’ about the prospect—but most of her was horrified of the thought of going clothes shopping with Jenny along.

“Shopping for clothes sucks. I’m going to have to take my time, or Jenny will twig. But if I take my time, I’m more likely to screw up. This is a nightmare, how did I rope myself into this?” Ash racked her brains for an excuse, but short of feigning illness serious enough go to the hospital, she couldn’t think of one. Then the reflection in the black directory showed that Jenny and Emily were behind her.

“Come on,” Jenny said. “This is my mall, I know the way around. Don’t worry.”

“All right.” She and Emily followed Jenny, though she felt considerable dread about the prospect. The shop Jenny led them to though, was worse than anything she imagined; the interior was all pink. But not just any pink—hot pink; eye-searing hot pink walls and ceiling as far as she could see. Ash looked over at Emily, who gave her a helpless shrug and an apologetic expression. Ash gulped. “Dead man walking,” she thought as they ventured inside.

Ash did her best to block out the sorts of things they were looking at. Thankfully, Emily deflected most of the heat by keeping up a running and vociferous conversation with Jenny about the things they were exploring: racks and racks of lacy, frilly, or otherwise sexy undergarments designed to entice rather than to be functional, in colors that ranged from flesh-tones in every flavor of humanity, to fruit colors in every color of the rainbow, to colors so unnatural that only mad science could have dreamed them up in Ash’s estimation.

Ash checked her cell phone’s face for the time—4:30 already—and shook her head.

“Ash, what do you think?”

Ash was shook from her reverie to see Emily holding a lacy—no, a virtually see-through—bra in a shade that could only be described as ‘akin to a devil’s hide’. Ash felt a blush rising in her cheeks. “Uh… it’s… um, nice.”

“Idiot,” Ash thought at herself, but Emily seemed amused, grinning and dropping the bra and its matching panties into her basket. Then she dived at a rack with hair barrettes, and Ash inwardly groaned.

“Oooh! Ash, Jenny, what do you think of this?”

“This is gonna be a long trip…”

It was. Both Jenny and Emily had bought a stack of lingerie. And of course, they had to spend a small eternity trying things on and confirming with one another that they looked good. When asked, Ash could do little but say that yes, it really looked good—or hot, in a few cases, and blush, though she thought she was blushing less towards the end.

Getting to the register, Jenny took the lead. “Emily, give me your stuff. This place is owned by the company my mom works at; my card will get us a discount.”

Ash looked around with a renewed heat. “This is the kind of stuff my mom sells?”

“Yeah, it is. Not this line, but this kind of stuff. My mom works with this line, and a few others. Your mom didn’t give you a discount card?”

“Um… I don’t remember. If she did, it was ages ago.”

“I doubt she’d use it anyway, Jenny.”

Ash shook her head as Jenny used her card to check everything out at a discount and they went on their way, Emily taking the receipt and paying Jenny for her share.

“Yeah. Fortunately, there’s other places here that sell stuff more your speed.”

Ash went pale. “More clothes shopping?”

“Of course! The day is still young, and that was just lingerie.”

Emily laughed at the look of doom on Ash’s face, and called cheerfully out, “Dead man walkin’!”

A sinking feeling erupted in Ash’s heart as Jenny laughed, and the trio marched on. “This has got to be my punishment. For what, I’m not sure yet. But I must have earned it somehow…” Ash gloomed.

“Why did you say ‘dead man’, though?” Jenny asked Emily.

Ash gulped quietly. “Uh-oh.”

Emily covered smoothly, saying, “That’s just how you say it. It dates back to Attica prison guards; it’s what they’d call out when they were escorting prisoners to be executed. They didn’t change the call when they started executing women, so it’s just what you say.”

“Oh, okay.”

Ash sighed softly, shaking her head as they walked on. Something caught her eye, though, and she scooted back. “Oooh!”

Both Emily and Jenny turned around, walking back to see what she was staring at, as Ash walked into a store full of leather apparel—mainly men’s coats.

“Ash? Ash? Where are you…”

Emily was ignored as Ash arrowed in on the target in her eyes. She finally got to it, a mannequin wearing a blue jacket. The back was a gray panel with the Ford Racing logo and red stripes.

“This?” Jenny asked, a bit aghast. “The first time you get properly interested for something to wear, and it’s a Ford jacket?”

“Not just any Ford jacket—a Ford Racing jacket. My car’s built by an old marque of Ford’s, Merkur.”

Ash turned back to grin at the jacket. She quickly stripped her Bomber off, and Emily took it. She took the Ford jacket from the mannequin and put it on, looking for a mirror. Not seeing one, Jenny took a compact out of her purse and held it up for Ash, who stood to the side, looking at it.

“It, um…” Jenny shrugged. “I dunno. The colors on it don’t really do anything for your colors, and… well, it’s a car jacket. It’s a boy jacket.”

“I like it. It’s showing off my colors—my racing colors.”

“Eh… I won’t say it looks bad on you,” Emily said. “Definitely brings out your whole ‘tomboy’ thing, but… Ah well, it’s your money, how much is it?”

Ash shrugged and looked for a tag. She found one, and winced—it was a three-digit figure (in front of the decimal place), and the first digit was not a one. “Ech… I want it, but that’s too rich for my blood. I just bought a jacket Friday, anyway. I don’t need a new one so soon.” She took the jacket off and hung it back on the mannequin, taking her own back and putting it on.

Jenny rolled her eyes. “You really don’t know how to look good, do you? We can work on that.”

Ash scowled, as she led the way back out of the store, its air thick with the smell of leather. “Maybe I like the way I look?”

“I like the way you look, too. But I’m not so sure that you look good on purpose now as opposed to it being coincidence.”

Ash rolled her eyes, opening her mouth to snipe back, then held her tongue for a second. “Wait, you like the way I look?”

Jenny paused in mid-stride, and she blushed, called on what she said. Ash caught Emily’s gaze; Emily shrugged, smiling back, and Ash coughed, as Jenny started walking again, faster and forward.

The next shop they arrived at was (of course) a clothing store. This one had more outerwear. The store was a leviathan, an outlet of a larger retail chain built onto the mall, two stories tall, and so large it had its own escalators and elevators.

“Ah-hah, here we go!” Jenny jumped, and practically tugged Ash past a bewildering and frightening array of girl’s clothes that went by almost in a blur. Emily held back a giggle as Ash found herself surrounded by what she imagined was purpose-designed designer tomboy wear. She gulped softly, and Jenny grinned back, adopting Emily’s cry of, “Dead man walkin’!” The look of glee on her face had Ash spinning in a panic. When she saw it mirrored on Emily’s face, standing behind her and blocking the only straight shot out of the labyrinth of clothes, Ash felt that she really knew what being condemned to death felt like as she squished the screaming voice inside her that was telling her to panic and make a break for it. She briefly recalled the bars of the Droid March from the first Prequel movie to Star Wars, as Jenny cheerfully started yanking things off racks, shoveling them into her hands. “What size are you, anyway? You look like a solid C…”

Some eternity later, Ash futilely looked at the face of her cell phone—it was only 4:59, transitioning to 5:00 as she looked at it. There were potentially hours left in the day. She was sitting in a fitting room, staring at a stack of clothes. She was heartily glad that at least none of them were underwear, and she sighed. “I really, really hate this.” She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and took her jacket off, tossing it over the coat hook on the side of the small stall. “May as well pay the piper.” She stood up, pulled her T-shirt off, and turned around to put it somewhere she’d find it.

“Gyah! Am I cursed?!”

“What? What’s wrong? Is there a spider or something?”

Ash shivered. “Worse. Every single time I step into a fitting room, there’s a poster of my mom staring down at me!”

The curtain parted at the side so Jenny could stick her head in, causing Ash to furiously grab her T-shirt over her breasts. “Really? Where? Ah! That has got to be freaky.”

Ash turned beet red. “Out!”

“Huh?” Jenny squawked as Ash put her whole palm over her head and pushed her physically out of the dressing room. “Out!”

“Okay, okay! Prude…”

“The sooner I get this over with, the better,” Ash groused, quickly divesting herself of her shoes and pants, and pulling on the first of the ‘outfits’ Jenny had assembled. Turning to face the mirror, she had to admit it would’ve looked good on any other tomboy: a light, white denim jacket, a white denim skirt with a flame pattern at the end around her knees, and white T-shirt. “No,” she groused. “I don’t do skirts.”

Again the curtain parted, and Ash squawked, turning around; again, it was Jenny. “Why not? You’d look like a tough girl in that, but not afraid to show off.”

Ash could feel herself getting annoyed. “I don’t like to show off.”

“Fine, fine. There’s a pair of pants with the same fire pattern in there, so at least try that on before you can the whole outfit.”

The white denim jeans were light and loose, with the fabric flames crawling up to the knees. “Okay, I’ll try it.” Jenny expectantly watched, and Ash pushed her out of the fitting room again, to a muffled protest.

She hated to admit it, but some of the outfits Jenny had thrown together were actually really good-looking, and even modest enough for Ash’s taste. She was busily separating them into piles of ‘maybe’ and ‘no way’, when she heard Emily’s voice outside the fitting room. “Ash? Hey, check this.” Ash looked up in time to have a brassiere land across her face.

“God, no.” Fighting down the urge to panic or whimper, Ash took it off her face. “What the hell?”

“Isn’t that the brand we found you last time?”

Ash fumed, checking the label. “Uh, yeah.”

“Good, you’re in luck. I found a rack in your size, so I grabbed five.”

Ash sighed, closing her eyes. “That’s… wonderful. Thanks, Em.” At least that saved her the horrors of a try-on if they were identical to the one she had on now. She heard Emily and Jenny talk about some article Emily had found herself, and went back to sorting through the clothes Jenny had forced upon her. “Man, how do I end up doing this? The word ‘whipped’ comes to mind.”

An interminable time later, Ash had tried on all the clothes she was willing to try. And though she hated herself for admitting it, some of them were not actually bad. She handed the ones she was willing to buy out to Jenny, who put them in a basket, and had just finished pulling back up her pants when she heard, “Hey Ash, how does this look?” as the curtain was whisked open.

Emily was standing in front of her, one hand cocked on her hip, the other hanging loosely at her side. She was wearing an outfit of blue: new sneakers, pale blue jeans, a deep, navy blue shirt cut to reveal a fair amount of cleavage, and a rather huge, floppy pale blue hat. The centerpiece, however, was the pendant—it was a thick, bright metal neck-chain with a large Nissan badge hanging from it.

“Uh…” Ash was stunned; Emily looked great in it. “Wow. Where’d you get that?”

“The boys’ section.” She made an apologetic smile. “I looked and looked, but they didn’t have a Merkur badge; the closest I could find was this Ford one.” Emily held out a similar chain with a blue oval on it, the letters ‘FORD’ in big block letters in the middle.

“Thanks. You… you look really good in that.” Ash felt a blush creeping up her cheeks as she smiled at Emily.

“So do you.”

Ash looked down, realized that only her bra was protecting her top, and let out a cry of panic, pulling the curtain back into place. “Out!”

Ash heard Emily (and Jenny; god no, had she seen?) tittering in amusement, as she quickly pulled her shirt and jacket back on. Finally, she huffed, and opened the curtain. “Are we done yet?”

“Yeah, we’re done,” the blue-haired girl answered. “Just put the ones you’re not taking in the hamper there, and they’ll be re-hung.”

“Good.” Ash shook her head. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Okay, but one more stop in here, first. All right?”

“Fine. I hope it’s quick.”

“It is.”

Jenny led them to the gloves section—a bewildering array of gloves, from fashionable to punk rock, was available. “I need a new pair of gloves,” she explained, looking through the selection.

Ash rolled her eyes, but Emily said, “We could probably use gloves too, Ash.”

“Will I get out of here faster if I buy a pair?”

“Mmmmaybe.”

Ash sighed, and started to look. She didn’t have to look far, though, because a pair jumped out at her—a set of fingerless leather gloves, cut off just above the first knuckle. She picked them out of the pile. “Happy?”

Emily laughed, shaking her head. “They look like you,” she admitted, as Ash tried them on. “Gonna wear ’em out?”

“May as well. Let’s go.”

Cape Cod Mall, 5:29 PM

“Where to, now? And I swear, if it’s another clothing store, you’re both taking the bus home,” Ash asked (and warned) as they exited the store with bags full of clothes.

Emily laughed, and Jenny rolled her eyes. “Jeez, the way you carry on, you’d think you didn’t like shopping for clothes.”

“I don’t.”

“Just kidding. Sorry, sorry. That’s the last, I promise.”

Ash let out a sigh of relief. “Good. There wouldn’t happen to be an arcade in this mall, would there?”

“Yeah, there is. It’s this way.” Jenny led them through the mall, and around a bend where an assault of smell hit them like a wave. “It’s on the other side of the food court,” the blonde explained, leading Emily and Ash through. The smells and sights were an assault as the trio forged their way through.

“Hey, look. That place is called the Magic Wok.” Emily pointed, and Jenny looked over. “The Chinese place? I’ve never tried it.”

“Well, let’s hit it on the way out, hmm?” Emily said.

“I don’t see why not. Unless you’re afraid to try something new, Jenny?”

The blonde smirked at her. “No, it’s okay. I—hey!”

Someone had yanked on Jenny’s hair. Ash pushed past Jenny as she turned to see and grabbed the arm the hand belonged to. It was the white-haired girl from before, along with Rachelle. “Still hanging out with these losers?”

Ash squeezed her wrist, and she let go, as Jenny bared her teeth and Emily closed ranks on the other side of her.

“Clarita!” Emily scowled. “Haven’t you got anything better to do?”

“Hmmph!” Clarita took her wrist back. “Still need this butch dyke to come rescue you?”

“Seriously. What the hell is your major malfunction?” Ash said.

“You are. You and your stupid dye-job prima supremo and this stupid bitch.”

Ash clenched her fists, but Emily shook her head. “Be quiet, Ash. We don’t need to start trouble.” The aggressors smirked and crossed their arms. “That’s right. You bitches just run along now and get out of our mall. This is my mall now, Jenny! And everyone knows you’re a dyke by now, too.” Ash felt her blood boiling, and she could practically feel the heat radiating from Jenny. But Emily stepped in front of both of them, cutting her off. “This mall is a public place. It’s not yours. And if you don’t stop harassing us, I’m going to call security and have you thrown out.”

Clarita sneered. “I’d like to see that happen. You outnumber us; you started it. Come on, Rachelle.” They turned to walk away, and she called back, “I don’t want to see you here in an hour, Jenny!”

Jenny looked down as the two girls retreated, and Ash smirked. “What a couple of bitches.”

“… Am I any different?”

“Eh?” Ash looked at Jenny, as Emily picked up the bags they’d dropped when it seemed a physical fight was about to break out.

“I’ve done exactly the same thing to other girls. To her, even. Am I any different?”

“I dunno. Are you?”

Jenny looked down, not having an answer. Finally she said, dejectedly, “We should go…”

“Like hell; we just got here!”

“Right. The best way to deal with bullies is to just stand up to them,” Emily added.

“Not these bullies. Things might be different in your little Podunk town, but here, standing up to someone who can beat you just gets you torn apart.”

Emily smirked and crossed her arms. “You think we can’t hack it in a big city like this?”

“Well, I’m not leaving because two girls that I’ve already proved I can beat the tar out of want me gone. So you can either walk back to my mom’s house and get your car, or you can spine up and we can go have some fun in spite of the bitches.”

Jenny looked up, and blinked. “You’d…” Then a ding-da-dang! rang out, and she blinked. “Oh, that’s mine.” She opened it—and gasped. The image of herself in the bathroom, approaching Clarita with her arms out was there, with the words ‘Lesbo Jenny’ written across it. Emily and Rachelle were visible in the picture, too. The picture had been taken sideways, from behind, and low to the ground.

“You really need to check those stalls before you start a fight in there,” Ash commented. “Still, it looks like you’re about to grab her and throw her out.”

Jenny closed her eyes. “I…”

Ash put an arm around her shoulders, shaking her. “No you don’t. It doesn’t matter what they say. Just turn that thing off and let’s go have some fun, okay?”

“H-How can you… How can you just…” Jenny looked like she wanted to break into tears.

“You just do. You push it to the back of your mind, you forget it.” She took Jenny’s cell phone, turned it off, and put it back in Jenny’s hand. “C’mon. To hell with them.”

“She’s right, you know. What’s your favorite game?”

Jenny perked up, slightly, and smiled softly. “Uh, this way, I’ll show you.” She led them onwards to the arcade.

Jenny’s favorite game, it turned out, was Dance Dance Revolution. She was up on the pad, tearing through a song that Ash couldn’t keep up with her on, while Emily leaned on the railing watching them and grinning. The song finished, proclaiming Jenny the victor. Ash stood down, breathing a bit hard.

“Wow… I would not have guessed DDR was your game. Then again, I wouldn’t have guessed you’d come to a place like this at all…”

“Another?”

“Oooh, me!” Emily jumped up alongside Jenny, and Ash shook her head, grinning as they started another song.

“I’m gonna go see what else they have, okay?”

“See ya,” Emily called back, as she furiously stomped to the beat.

Ash chuckled, wiping her brow and meandering off through the arcade. There were the usual DDR machines and shooters and such, and she got into a game of the perennial shoot-up-the-insert-horror-here, but it wasn’t until she got to the back of the arcade that she gasped. “Wow…”

Ash laughed as she stood beholding a four-unit linked wall of Need for Speed GT. She turned around and ran back to the DDR machines, where Emily was getting down, winded but grinning, and Jenny stretching on top.

“Back for another round, Ash?”

“No way. C’mon! I found something!”

Emily grinned at the smile on Ash’s face. “She found a racing game.”

Ash nodded, picking up her bags from the pile at the base of the DDR machine. “C’mon!” She led the other two to the Need for Speed-branded arcade cabinets. “Told you.”

“Isn’t that the same game you have at home?”

“No, I have Underground Two; this is different.” She put her bags down, and slid into the booth closest to the wall. “This has much more powerful and rarer cars available.”

“Oh really?” Emily slid into the booth next to her, leaving Jenny to take the one on her other side, and the fourth one empty. “Like wha—oh my god. Is that a McLaren F1? How is that even fair?”

“They almost certainly tuned it down for the game, but yeah. It is.”

“McLaren F1?” Jenny asked.

“The McLaren F1 is the fastest street-legal car in the world.”

“Whoa. That’s…”

“Nice.”

“Well?” Ash asked.

They put in their tokens and started the game, selecting cars. Emily went straight for the McLaren F1. Not wanting to copy her, Ash spun the wheel until she found a car that made her grin—a Ford Crown Victoria police cruiser.

“Hey, this is pretty!” Jenny had found a Lotus Elise.

“One of the lightest cars in the world. Lotus goes fast by being very light, instead of really very powerful. It’s a nice car,” Ash said.

Jenny grinned, and locked in her selection. “You’re going down, Ash!”

“In your dreams, Jenny. In your dreams.”

The counter started, and the three of them put the hammer down, as Emily laughed at the others.

Three quarters of an hour later, Ash had solidly set the top record on the machine. Emily had found the McLaren to be too fast and touchy for her taste, but she’d switched to a Porsche 911 Turbo which worked very well for her; she made second place on the machines. Jenny was still struggling, though with the Lotus Elise she’d managed to claw her way up to fifth, and she’d set an additional record of 6th with the McLaren F1.

Ash laughed softly, looking alongside at Jenny and Emily, as the leader board showed their names. They had signed as ‘XR4Ti Ash’ and ‘240SX Emily’ again, and Jenny had taken the hint, signing as ‘SC Jenny’.

Emily said, “You’re getting good at this, Jenny. You might have the talent for it.” Jenny preened under the compliment, smiling. “Thanks.”

“Oh my god, what are you playing?”

Ash felt her good mood shatter and she groaned. “Clarita, right? Really, what are you doing? Haven’t you got anything better to do than mess with us?” She turned around. The white-haired girl and her raven-haired friend were flanked by a large boy with white hair who looked to be about James’ age, and the one Rachelle had been with at Marco’s.

“You’re still in my mall.” Clarita smirked. “I think that means I need to teach you a lesson.”

Ash rolled her eyes, stood up, and leaned on the seat of her machine. The two boys had moved in and were blocking the way out. A cold fear started to rise in Ash’s guts, even as she forced her face to stay level, fingering her Ford pendant with one hand and clenching the other in her pocket, over her cell phone. Irrationally, she almost wished that Rumisiel and Vashiel would choose now to put in a good appearance. Then she scowled. “To hell with that! I don’t need them to protect me! Might need them to protect Em and Jenny, though…”

“What, nothing to say, bitch? I told you to get out of my mall.”

“So what, now you’re going to get your boyfriends to beat up a couple of girls?” She smirked, stepping towards Clarita; the white-haired girl jumped back, while the white-haired boy narrowed his eyes and spoke up.

“This the dyke that beat you up, sis?”

“Y-Yeah, that’s her.”

“After you assaulted Jenny in a bathroom stall. I got you off her.”

The white-haired boy pulled Clarita away, and shoved his way in, getting in Ash’s face. “Don’t nobody lay a hand on my little sister!” He smelled like sweat, battered in sweat, and deep-fried in a layer of, for a change, sweat.

“Careful, Mark. That one hits like a boy.”

“Right.”

The four jumped in a flash, and only Emily got off a half-scream before her mouth was covered.

Both girls and the white-haired boy jumped Ash, grabbing her and covering her mouth, while the other boy grabbed Emily and Jenny by the heads. Ash struggled but couldn’t call for help, couldn’t get her teeth into his palm, nor could she get a hand free to swing. Rachelle opened a door that had been hidden in the wall, and they tugged the struggling trio through.

When they were let go—or rather, thrown against a trio of old and unpowered arcade boxes—they were in a fairly vast concrete storehouse attached to the arcade.

Rachelle gloated, “Nobody can hear you back here.” She clenched her fist. “I owe you, orange.”

“I owe her plenty, but not as much as I owe you, bitch.” Clarita leveled a finger at Jenny, who bared her teeth in response.

Ash looked aside at Emily; she was shaking, but clenched her fists. “H-How do you think this i-is going to look? Two big men and two girls grab the three of us and force us into a back room? Th-The arcade’s probably calling the cops right now.”

Rachelle laughed. “No they’re not. My uncle owns the arcade; I know where his security cameras are. Nobody saw us.”

Ash narrowed her eyes. “So, what’re you going to do, huh? You think I’m just going to let you beat the tar out of us and not report it?” Something flashed in Clarita’s eyes, and Ash pushed forward. “That’s right. You gonna kill us? If not, I’m going to call the cops when we get out of here.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Yes, we would,” Emily said. “I don’t know what kind of silly ‘fashion-code rules’ you bitches think you’re playing by, but I won’t just limp home in shame.”

It was working, and Jenny pressed home. “Yeah. How do you think this’ll look? Two big guys grabbing three young girls and tossing them in a back room that nobody can hear out of? Oooh, that could get ugly.”

Clarita looked into Jenny’s eyes. “Y-You wouldn’t!”

“I don’t have to. She will.” She nodded at Emily.

“You’re damn straight I will.”

They took another step forward. Ash could see the two men starting to get ‘oh shit’ looks in their eyes, as the magnitude of exactly how badly what they’d just done could be construed if it were reported to the cops hit them. She felt metal clank under her foot and looked down. Pay dirt! She knelt and picked up the red metal crowbar, holding it near one end with the hooked bill at the other. The hexagonal metal shaft felt surprisingly right in the hold of her gloved hand, leather against metal.

“So, what’s it going to be?” She stepped forward, and Emily fished in her purse, but came up empty. Ash narrowed her eyes, stepping in front of her friends; another step forward and the four staring at her broke ranks, sliding aside. “I thought so. Get out of our way.”

Rachelle, her boyfriend, and Clarita skittered away, but the big one, Mark, blocked their path. “What are you gonna do, dyke? Hit me?”

Ash leveled her eyes at his. “Get out of my way.”

“You gonna hit me, girl? I’ll take that thing and shove it so far up your little dyke snat-Arrrrrgh!” The sound of electrical discharge filled the air; Jenny had pulled a taser-gun from her purse. The white-haired boy thrashed and writhed from the needles stuck in his side. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!” He went down on one knee, screaming hoarsely (and high-pitchedly), “You crazy dykes!” when Jenny let up. He scrambled backwards, hiding behind a powered-down game cabinet as Emily, Ash, and Jenny broke for the door.

“Locked!” Emily cursed, as she tried the door handle. Ash whirled around with the crowbar in hand, ready to swing, but neither the fashionistas nor the boys were willing to come within taser range, let alone crowbar distance.

“You crazy bitch,” screamed Clarita from behind a cabinet, as Ash held the crowbar at the ready, and Jenny wound up her taser lines for another go. “Why’d you have to come and ruin everything?”

“I didn’t! You started this! Just give us the keys to get out of here and we can end this!” Ash screamed back. “We didn’t want any of this! Why can’t you just let us be in peace?”

“You crazy bitch! I had her—I had her dead to rights! I could be on top! It could’ve been my face on the cover of Vogue instead of Jenny! I could’ve been me! It should’ve been me!”

“Is… is that what this is about? Your crazy fashion-feud?” Ash shook her head in disgust, and spat on the floor. “This is crazy! Here we are brandishing weapons at each other, over fashion? You kidnapped us so you could get your picture splattered by the spooge of a thousand teenage boys?”

“Ew…” both Jenny and Clarita said.

“This is insanity. This is pure fucking insanity.” Ash felt Emily’s hand dig into her pocket for her cell phone. “Come on. Just throw me the keys and let’s leave. No cops. No fighting. Just put it down.” She warily eyed the four as they crept around, closer, behind cabinets. Jenny covered the big white-haired boy with her taser and he yelped, actually diving into a pile of game cabinets and clawing his way over them.

“Look, you want to humiliate me, right? How about you just give my friends the keys and I’ll…” Jenny trailed off, her lips quivering. “Come on.” She took a step forward, and dropped her taser-gun. “What do you say? Let them go. They’re not part of the scene, Clarita.”

Clarita looked across the aisle at Rachelle; they seemed to be considering it.

“Fuck that,” Ash growled, pulling Jenny back. “Like hell I’m gonna let these four do god-knows what to you and run. What kind of a pussy-girl do you think I am?” Ash knelt, picking up Jenny’s taser, and pushing it back into Jenny’s hand.

Jenny shook her head, quietly saying, “They want to hurt me, not you. Look, I did… I did the same to them when I was on top…”

“I don’t care. Fuck knows why, but you’re my friend, and I’m not gonna let that happen. One for all and all for one, right?”

“That’s the Musketeers, Ash. But it doesn’t matter. This ends now,” Emily spoke up, holding up Ash’s cell phone. “I’m getting three bars this close to the door, and I’ve already punched in nine-one-one. Give us the keys, or I press the button, and then the cops are on their way, no matter what happens.”

Ash saw the pale in the girls’ eyes, and Mark’s voice went hoarse. “Give them the keys, Clarita.”

“What?” Clarita hissed.

“God’s sake, Clarita, I’m nineteen! It’s one thing to scare your bitchy little friends a little, but I could go to prison if they call the cops! It’s over! They got us.”

“Clarita, come on.” It was Jenny, who had put her taser somewhere, and was holding her arms out.

“I’m sorry for what I did to you, okay? And I’m sorry you got beat up last night. But this is over. Just give us the keys, and we’ll leave. I’m sorry, okay? Just… let us go, all right?”

Clarita slowly walked out from behind a game cabinet, and looked at Jenny. “Take your shirt off.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Take your shirt off. And your bra.” She took out a cell phone, flipping it open, holding the front towards Jenny. “I want everyone to know what a slut you are. Then we’ll let you go.” Jenny shook. Then she sighed. “Fine.” She reached down, but Ash shook her head.

“Like hell. You just don’t give up, do you?” She stepped in front of Jenny, crossing her arms, the crowbar pressed into her side, but ready to be swung at a moment. “I don’t care what’s gone on in the past. The past is past, and if you do that, I will call the cops.”

Emily snapped a picture of Clarita holding her cell phone with Ash’s phone. “You know what they call that, Clarita?” Emily asked. “They call it child pornography. She’s not eighteen.” Then she whispered, “You’re not eighteen, are you?” to Jenny, who shook her head. “Right! She’s not eighteen. That’s at least child pornography, not to mention extortion, kidnapping, assault and battery. It would probably even fit a technical definition of rape, too.”

“Come on. Just give us the god-damned keys.”

Clarita bared her teeth, but relented, putting her arm down. “Fine. Rachelle, give them the damn keys. You bitches win this round.”

“This isn’t a game! A game is what we were playing when your goons grabbed us! I just want to get out of here and go home.”

The keys clanked to the ground next to her, and Jenny picked them up. She tried the key in the door and it unlocked with a *snick*. She slid out the door first, followed by Emily. Ash locked the door again, while it was still open, as Clarita yelled, “Hey!” Ash shut the door, made sure it was locked from the arcade side, and dropped the keys in the seat of the Need for Speed GT game.

She was shaking as she fished her own keys out of her pocket and gave them to Emily, who put them in her pocket. “Let’s get out of here. We can eat somewhere else.” Jenny and Emily nodded; Jenny was shaking badly. Ash stashed the crowbar in her bag. The trio made a beeline for the exit.

On The Road Away From Cape Cod Mall, 6:49 PM

Emily was guiding the Monster XR on the road, as Ash sat in the front passenger seat, staring at her hand. It was shaking. None of the girls had spoken for a while, and Ash sighed. Finally, she broke the silence. “That was crazy…”

“I thought they were going to… to r-rape us for a minute or so…”

Jenny was silent for a few moments. “Me, maybe. I don’t think they’d have done anything to you, Emily. Maybe beaten Ash up.”

“Why you?”

Jenny sighed, closing her eyes. “I… I…” She looked down at the floor, as Ash craned back to look at her. “Okay, a… a while ago, I did something really mean to Clarita. Before she met Rachelle, that is. She came in, like you did that one time, looking all-exotic with her natural white hair, and she looked like she was about to take my spot as the prime girl. So I got her. Me and Annette. She goes to our high school.” She sighed and took out her cell phone. “We… well, we spied on her. I paid a sneaky boy to find the combo to her locker and looted it between classes. I found a Playboy in it. I’d heard her always slamming on the gay boys and the lesbians, so I figured she was a closet case. We caught her in the showers, and… well…”

Jenny handed her cell phone forward; it was set to a video titled ‘Bitch’. Ash had a sinking feeling as she pushed play. “We caught her in the showers, after class.” Jenny’s voice was on the video. “This yours, huh? You little dyke. You little faggy dyke!” A hand—most likely Jenny’s—reached out, grabbing Clarita’s breast, squeezing. Ash felt sick. “You like that, huh? Yeah.” She held out the magazine, still in its wrapper, and zoomed in on the address—it was clearly addressed to one ‘Clarita Redfield’ at a P.O. Box. “Yeah, you like this?” A shriek issued from the phone’s speaker, and Ash shut it, feeling ill. She handed it back to Jenny.

“We grabbed her, humiliated her. I wanted to show her who was the top bitch. I needed to make sure she was in her place.” Her words sounded hollow. “Gods… I feel so…” She sighed. “You shouldn’t have fought for me, Ash. You should’ve just let them have me. I deserved it.”

Ash was silent for a moment. She looked up at Emily, whose face was a mask of concentration on the road. Ash looked back into Jenny’s face, tilting her head up to stare into her crystal-blue eyes. “Did you… rape her?”

Jenny trembled, looking down. “We threatened to. Annette found a plunger from somewhere… We shook it in front of her, but we didn’t.”

Ash closed her eyes as Jenny continued her confession. “I never felt guilty about it before. Never even thought about it. It’s just one of any number of awful things I did to other girls to stay on top. To scare them into being just a bit clumsy in front of the cameras, or not quite dolling up perfectly.”

“Huh… You’re right. That is awful. I really shouldn’t have fought for a girl who did all that.” Ash turned back to face the road, and heard a soft sniffle from behind her. “Good thing I didn’t, then.”

“Huh?” Jenny’s voice held terrified optimism in it, and Ash looked at Em, who nodded.

“Delete that damn video. And any other blackmail stuff you have.” She heard Jenny’s fingers on the phone’s buttons, and it beeped at her, again and again. “So, Jenny. A new day, a new pair of friends, eh? I won’t be friends with a monster, but…”

Jenny unbuckled behind her, leaning up to hug Ash from behind the seat. “Ash, you could have destroyed me any number of times now. You have more axes over my head than I’ve ever had over anyone, but you’re not even grinding them.” She closed her eyes. “I hate to admit it, but you’re… Well, you’re so much stronger than I am; you’re so noble, so brave… You’re so much more of a girl than I ever was.”

“Gee, thanks,” Ash thought, but she reached up, putting a hand over Jenny’s. “Gimme your phone.” Jenny handed it over, and Ash checked it—she’d cleared the whole memory, wiped everything but her address book clean. Ash nodded, and handed it back. “Buckle up.”

Jenny buckled up, and she started typing again. Ash looked back. “What’re you doing?”

“Writing to Clarita. I’m telling her I’m sorry, I’m sorry for everything. And that I deleted it, all of it. I don’t know if she’ll believe me, but I have to say it.”

“Okay…” She settled back into her seat with a smile, and Emily grinned at her.

“In the business of dispensing absolution now, Ash? What would our angels think?”

“Angels?” Jenny asked, curiously. Emily winced, biting her cheek visibly, but Ash covered smoothly.

“Yeah. My shoulder-angel. Don’t you have one?” She put two fingers on her shoulder, dancing around. “You know, a metaphysical, quasi-imaginary figment of your own conscience?”

Jenny shook her head. “I never had one until now… Her name is Ash.”

Ash turned back to face dead ahead, blushing heavily. “Uh… *hem*… Okay.” She twiddled her hands together, beet-red, as Emily guided the car down the freeway.

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 7:39 PM

Ash called her mother and asked if she was home yet. She wasn’t, but said she would be, so Ash volunteered to get dinner. Her mother agreed, so they stopped at a pizzeria in Truro on the way back, getting a large to go and an order of wings. Emily parked the Monster in front of Jenny’s Lexus, and as they were walking up to the door, the growl of a Jaguar rolled up behind them, parking alongside the Monster. Ash’s mother got out, her long brown hair flowing behind her, and she waved at the trio. Ash waved back as her mother walked towards them.

“Whew,” Marie said as she walked up behind the girls. Emily unlocked the door with Ash’s keys, while Ash carried in the food. “You should call your mother,” Marie said sidelong to Jenny.

“Oh? Oh, right…” Jenny nodded. “I’ll do that,” she said, sheepishly, flipping open her cell phone and walking back outside.

Ash watched Jenny slip away, and sat down, sighing heavily.

“Bad day?” her mom asked.

“Yeah. Really freaking bad day.” She sighed, laying her head on her crossed arms, and her mother laid her hand on Ash’s shoulder. Ash turned to the side, sighed heavily again, and hugged her mother. “It’s okay, Ash. You want to tell me about it?”

Ash looked up, blinking blearily at her mother, and shook her head. “I really don’t,” she said, with a sigh. “Just a lot, and I mean a lot, of crazy stuff.”

Her mother reached up, ruffling her hair slightly. “Okay then. You feeling better?” Ash nodded, and her mother smiled, standing up. “Good, because I’m starved.”

Emily giggled softly from the doorway. “Me too. We should probably wait for Jenny, though.”

“I’ll go have a look.”

From the front window, Ash looked out, watching Jenny, leaning on the side of her Lexus, and talking into her cell phone. She looked like she was screaming, or nearly; Ash winced.

“Hmm,” murmured Emily, who had slipped up next to her. “Her mom must be yelling at her pretty hard.” Ash nodded, as the yelling outside wound down, and Jenny stuffed her cell phone back into her purse, walking back to the steps and into the house.

“Everything all right?” Ash asked.

“No. It’s not…” She sighed, walking to the couch and sitting, putting her head in her hands. “My mom is furious. That picture made its way to her, and now she’s pissed. Yelled at me about being careless and stupid.” She sighed, leaning back on the couch and staring at the ceiling. “I don’t even want to go home.”

“You can stay here if you want,” Ash said. “I’m pretty sure my mom will say it’s okay. (Given that she lets total strangers stay in her home at the drop of a hat…)” Ash thought back to the summer, when James and the Brothers Angelic had dropped in most uninvitedly.

“You’d… let me?”

Both Emily and Jenny looked at Ash in surprise.

“Well, where else you gonna go?”

“Thank you.”

“Anyway, dinner’s on. Let’s eat.”

The girls went to the kitchen, where Ash’s mother had already partitioned the pizza and wings out into equal measures for all, and poured soda.

“Oh! I forgot,” she said as she sat down at her seat, while Ash, Emily, and Jenny took their seats.

“You said you wanted to be kept in the loop if any events were going to happen, right?”

Ash shrugged noncommittally. “Can’t hurt to hear, right?”

Her mother laughed. “Always the tomboy.”

Emily leaned in, though, eagerly. “I’d like to know.”

“Well, we’re having a special do this Friday.”

“But… Friday is Christmas Eve,” Ash observed.

“Yep! The company is putting on one of the big events. Annnd since it is Christmas Eve, they’re offering half again the going rate for the night. Seven and a half thousand dollars for one night.” Ash hemmed, but Jenny sighed, laying her head on her fists.

That got Ash’s attention, and she raised her head, looking at Jenny. “You okay?”

“My mother makes me go to all of these events, but I never see more than a tenth of the pay anyway.”

“Ouch. Harsh.” Jenny nodded, and sighed softly.

“Can I go?” Emily asked, hopefully.

“Absolutely! I’ve got a couple of dresses lined up that I need girls to put them on.”

“That’s great!”

“Yes, it is.”

Emily turned to Ash, piercing her with a glare. “Ash, we’re going, right? You still owe me for not letting me have a chance to see the last one…”

“I… I dunno. It’s a lot of money, but I don’t really need it right now, and…”

“Oh, and the best part, Ash? You’re never going to believe who the corporate co-sponsor is.”

“Who?”

Her mother had an ear-to-ear grin on her face as she said, “Porsche AG. The venue’s a huge, marble-floored showroom next to a speedway. Porsche wants to show off their hottest cars for a huge holiday gala, and we’re providing the girls and the dresses.”

Ash blinked. Then she grinned. “Well… okay, that might not be so bad,” she said, grinning as she imagined the opportunity to get close to something nice, like an advance show model of next year’s 997, or (dare she hope) a 911-997 Turbo!

Emily laughed softly. “Yeah, well. We’ll see…” She grinned at Ash, a grin that made Ash feel nervous.

“Uhhh…”

“We’ll talk about it later.”

Dinner was good, albeit a bit spicy. They moved from the kitchen to the living room while eating and started a movie. Ash’s phone rang in the middle, however. “Whah? Oh, it’s me.” She ran and took the phone out of the pocket of her jacket, flipping it open and walking out of the house to take the call. “Hello?”

“Ash? Ash Upton?”

“Yes. Brent?”

“Yeah, it’s me. I tracked down that stuff you creatively lost.”

“You did? Where?”

“Eaaasy. See, here’s the problem. It’s fallen into the possession of one of the local race garages. I told the owner it was a racer’s mom’s car that got stripped, and he wants to offload it to you as a consequence. Bad for business to sell a racer’s folks upriver, you know? But likewise, he doesn’t want to wind up in trouble with the police, and as he spent some dime getting the stuff in the first place, he’d like to at least break even, y’know?”

“Yeah, I get you. How much?”

“A grand for it all. And another hundred if you need it towed anywhere on the cape, two hundred anywhere else in the state.”

“Eleven hundred, eh? That’s… steep, but reasonable. Can you arrange it?”

“Yeah. You want me to?”

“I’ll call you back when I have the money. Is cash all right?”

“Cash is the only way it’ll go down, since, y’know, this is all off-the-books.”

“Right. Thanks, I’ll go see what I can do.”

“Call me back before nine if you get everything sorted before then. Else it’ll have to wait until morning.”

“Right. Thanks, Brent.” Ash hung up, shivered, and walked back inside.

“You were out an awful long time. Something important?” Emily asked.

“Uh, yeah. You could say that…” She walked over, sitting on the couch between her mother and Jenny, looking up at her mom. “Uhh, mom? Can I get like, an advance on the money for the whole dress-wearing thing?” She winced inwardly at the thought, but she was kind of locked in now.

“Sure. How much do you need?”

“Eleven hundred.”

“Eleven hundred? What for?”

“Er…” That got her. “Um… I… can’t tell you,” she said, feeling extremely lame. “It’s a surprise… for you. And I need it in cash, before tomorrow morning.”

Her mother narrowed her eyes. “Um… are you okay, Ash? You’re not in any trouble, are you?”

“What? No!” Ash objected. “It’s just… please?”

“Well… all right. It’s strange, but I know you’re good for it.” She ruffled her daughter’s hair. “Just be careful, honey. If you’re in trouble, please tell me.”

“I will, mom.”

“Good.” Marie stood up and walked to the kitchen. She returned with a piece of paper. “Here you go. Go and withdraw what you need from the ATM at the bank up the street.” Ash looked at the paper; it was wrapped around her mother’s ATM/debit card, and had a PIN number on it. “I trust you.”

“Okay. I’ll go do that, then. It really is time-urgent.” Ash slipped out of the house again.

“Crap.” The monster XR was blocked in, between the garage, Jenny’s Lexus behind her, and the Jaguar she won for her mother yesterday beside it. “Fuck… Oh well.” She flipped open her new cell phone and called Brent back, arranging the delivery for ten the next morning.

Brent finished by saying, “I really hope you’re not planning to set my friend up. You’d really fuck up the whole racing scene if you did, and nobody will want to deal with you again.”

“I’m not going to call the cops. I just want to fix my mom’s car!”

“All right, all right.”

She was about to go back inside when Jenny’s car started on its own. Confused, Ash turned and watched as Jenny walked out, wearing her coat. “I just realized you were blocked in.” She walked towards her car. “For a switch, how about I drive you around?”

“Yeah, okay.”

She followed Jenny to her Lexus, and they got in. She buckled in first; watching her, Jenny got a sheepish look on her face, and buckled in as well. “You really buckle in all the time?”

“All the time.”

Jenny nodded, and closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. “So, what’s this about?”

“It was Brent calling. He found the parts to my mom’s car. They’ll be coming tomorrow at ten.”

“Oh… oh really? That’s… that’s good.” Jenny slowly backed the car out of the driveway.

“Yeah, it is. You still want to help us put it back together?”

“Yeah… I said I would. I will.”

“I figured you’d renege if I actually got the parts back.”

Jenny nodded, saying, weakly, “I probably would have, yesterday… And I only said it because I figured the parts were in Oregon or somewhere stupid by now.”

“Yeah, I thought so.”

Jenny smoothly guided her Lexus down the street. “So…” she started and trailed off.

“Why did I offer to let you stay?” Jenny nodded, silently, and Ash paused, thinking of her answer.

Finally, she said, “Well… honestly, I can’t say. What you showed me was… Awful. Criminal, in fact. But… I feel sorry for you. I feel kind-of responsible for you. Maybe I think that if I can help you be a better person then that’s better than any punishment… I just don’t know.”

“Thank you, Ash.” She was silent for a few moments before continuing, “I almost envy you. You’ve got a girlfriend you’re happy being close to, even unashamedly. You don’t care what other people think of you. You’re strong, you’re courageous, you’re your own girl…” She sighed. “My mom was mad at me. You know what she said? She said, ‘How could you let yourself get snapped in such a compromising position?’”

Ash winced, as Jenny continued. “She doesn’t care how I feel. All I’ve ever heard from her is how I have to be the most beautiful, the most attractive, the most desirable…”

“She sounds like Emily’s mom.”

“Really?”

“Yeah… Em’s mom… She got pregnant when she was young, like, in high school young. She was on her way to some high-powered college, but Emily’s pregnancy kind of derailed it. Now she pushes Emily harder than anyone should be pushed. Emily’s life has been focused on getting into college for the last… well, hell, her whole life.”

Jenny made a face, pulling into the bank’s parking lot. “Yeah… my mother’s like that. She’s always yelling at me to lose weight, to be the best I possibly could be, to be the prettiest, the most… y’know.”

“I get you. And you hate it?”

Jenny nodded, parking the car in a parking spot and sighing. “I can’t be that perfect.”

“Nobody’s perfect,” Ash retorted.

“My mother doesn’t care. I have to be perfect for her, for the cameras, for the pictures and the papers, and…” She sighed, laying her head on the steering wheel. “I started intimidating other girls when I was eight. There was a school play, and the newspapers were going to cover it; maybe even get a few seconds in the evening news. Mom was pushing me so hard, so hard to get the lead. There was another girl… I forget her name, now. How fucked up is that?

“So, it was basically a dead heat for who was going to get the lead. This girl, this other girl, she had this doll that she loved so very much. It was a rag-type doll, you know, made of cloth, button eyes? I… I kidnapped her doll. I told her that if she didn’t give up trying out for the lead, or that if she told anyone, I’d burn it. I…” Jenny snorted softly. “I sent her an eye to show her I was serious. She withdrew from the running. I got the lead…

“God… I’m fucking despicable, aren’t I?”

“Well… yeah. That was pretty awful.” Jenny didn’t say anything to that, and Ash blushed after a few moments, silently and awkwardly getting out, walking to the ATM on the side of the bank. She withdrew money—and cursed at the machine, as it spit out ten $50 dollar bills, blinking ‘$500 transaction limit per day’. The orange-haired tuner cursed, smacked the brick beside the ATM, and walked back.

After Jenny started the car, she sighed. “You love her, don’t you?”

“Emily?” At the blonde’s nodding, Ash sighed fondly, closing her eyes. “Yeah… I really do.” Jenny sighed softly, though not nearly as fondly, in response. Ash caught it, and looked over. “Are you okay?”

“No… I’m… I’m not. I’m… crying?” Jenny reached up, touching her face below her eyes.

“What’s wrong, Jenny? Jenny?”

The blonde girl sighed, and leaned back in her seat, opening her eyes. “I don’t… I don’t know.” She sighed, softly. “If you were a boy, or even any other girl I wanted as badly as I want you, I wouldn’t hesitate to tear Emily apart to get you. I got Joshua that way…” she said, trailing off briefly. “He had a girlfriend before me. I tore her down. I made her look ugly when she wasn’t; I made her chest look small when it was really quite nice. I made her look undesirable compared to me, in every way possible. I did everything I could think of, and he hardly looked back when he dumped her for me.”

Ash let out a whuff of breath, and buckled in. “So, what’s different?”

“You.” Jenny looked over at Ash, her eyes sad. “You’re… different. Special.” She slid up, leaning over; Ash felt a rising sense of uncomfortableness in her gut as Jenny put one hand around the back of her head, but she didn’t push her away. “You’re different,” Jenny whispered in her face. “You’re… you’re so noble, so strong. You wouldn’t abandon Emily like that, any more than you could abandon me back in the mall.”

“Jenny?” Ash asked, nervously, as the blonde leaned closer.

“You wouldn’t like me if I tried. You wouldn’t even tolerate me around you, let alone ask me to do things with you and Emily.”

Ash’s discomfort was joined by no small measure of sympathy. “You… you want me… to…”

“To think well of me,” Jenny answered. “I’ve never cared what anybody but my mother thought of me before. But I do care, now. You’re strong, you’re brave, you’re confident in ways I never was, and probably never will be. I want you, Ash. I want you so bad it hurts. But you don’t want me that way.”

Ash knew she was blushing. Compliments were still not something she was good at taking; even from Emily, they made her blush. Having a teen idol confessing her desire for her? That was just all kinds of awkward. But even in the desire, there was a pitiful, sad aspect to Jenny. “You measure yourself by the people around you, don’t you?”

Jenny nodded her assent, closed her eyes, and laid her head on Ash’s shoulder. “Yes. Yes, I do. It’s the only measure of myself I’ve ever had. I’m not… good at anything, really.”

Ash scowled, about to think up a biting retort, but Jenny silenced her by speaking first. “But you… You and Emily. You two tolerate me. By all the measures you seem to possess, I’m worthless, despicable…”

“Contemptible?” Ash supplied, and Jenny nodded.

“But you still keep me around. You’ve literally stood between me and physical harm, even when it meant that two very large boys might beat you or worse. I thought you were doing it because you wanted me… And I could’ve accepted that. Gladly, even.”

She opened her eyes, and used her free hand to caress Ash’s cheek. Ash thought for a moment her skin was crawling, but the sensation was altogether not unpleasant—and that worried her.

“I’ve… had boyfriends like that, ones who stole me away for my looks, for my body. I’ve let them dominate me when it was necessary or advantageous. Thinking about you possessing me in the same way… All those boys made me feel a cold disgust in my stomach; but I’d happily, gladly let you do anything you wanted to me.

“But you don’t even want it. You don’t want to… to touch me, to possess me. You don’t want me to be naked for you. You don’t want my money; you seem to have more of it than I do. You don’t want me for my other friends…” She snorted, softly. “Hell, in going with you, I’ve probably lost them all. I doubt Annette will speak to me again. So, what do you want from me?”

Ash sighed softly at her predicament; Jenny was pressing into her, and she was rather soft. She raised her hands, wrapping one around Jenny’s back, the other supporting the back of her head. “Has it occurred to you that maybe I just want to try and be your friend?”

“Yes, it has. I don’t understand it; I… I’ve got nothing to offer you that you want. You have a pretty girlfriend, one who’s tons better than me. You don’t seem to want anything from me. You just want me around. I don’t understand it, but you do, and that’s what makes you better than me.”

“Jenny, I…” Ash started, then she blinked. “Wait, you think Emily’s pretty?”

“Yes, I do; she’s really quite attractive. She may be small-chested, but she’s still really pretty, and kinda hot, too.”

“… Yeah, she is,” Ash murmured, fondly, picturing Emily. Then she blushed, hotly. “Is it just me, or is it too hot in here? I really don’t feel comfortable having this conversation.”

“Okay…” She took the car out of park, and pulled back onto the road.

“Turn left,” Ash said.

“But your mother’s is right,” Jenny said, confused.

“Yeah. The ATM only let me draw five hundred. I need to go to the other bank in town and draw another five hundred.”

“Okay… Wait, don’t you owe eleven hundred?”

“I’ll make it up out of the money my mother gave me yesterday morning. I didn’t spend much of it.”

“All right. I understand.”

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, December 21, 2004, 4:37 AM

When Ash and Jenny had returned, sleeping arrangements had been devised; Ash and her mother pulled the main couch out into a bed. Ash had donated a T-shirt and pair of her boxer-like shorts for Jenny to sleep in, while the dirty laundry had been put in the washer for the night. Though Ash, Jenny, and Emily played Ash’s Playstation for a while, the tiring day had them all retiring to sleep before 11.

Emily asked Ash when they went to bed why they had taken so long; Ash’s only answer had been ‘ask me later’. The duo had gone to sleep, but…

Emily woke up again. She looked around; something had her attention, something she couldn’t specify. She had awoken atop Ash, so slipping away from her wasn’t hard; she tucked her tuner back in as she stood up, looking around. Nothing seemed missing; all the cars were outside when she padded lithely to the window to look.

A noise disturbed her contemplations of the moon outside, and she turned back. Ash had rolled over, wrapping her arms around a pillow and half-spilling herself out of the bed. Emily smiled to herself at the sight, walking back and gingerly pushing Ash’s bare legs back into the bed—she offered a gentle caress before covering Ash back with the blanket. “I hope her dreams are more satisfying than I am at the moment.” She leaned in, kissing Ash on the forehead, but Ash refused to wake so easily. Emily slid her hand under the covers, over Ash’s, warmly squeezing it. “I’m ready for you, Ash. I’m going to be nervous, and awkward, and we’re going to make stupid mistakes, but I’m ready to give you all you’re ready to take.” She smiled softly as Ash nuzzled into the pillow, and looked back.

“Mmmm. That feeling’s not gone…” Emily frowned now; this was a puzzle, and she was going to solve it! What was it that had her attention, below the level of conscious thought? She pulled on one of Ash’s remaining tees and walked around the room, inspecting everything. “Nothing here…” Emily walked to the door. “Ah-hah. Out here?” She quietly opened the door, sliding through. Nothing in the entrance, so she moved through the archway to the living room. With a definite feel of ‘getting closer’, she looked around, eyes canvassing the walls, the couch, the bed pulled out—oh!

Part of her screamed at her to turn around, look away, close her eyes, cough, do something. But that part was paralyzed into nothingness by the rest of her. She had come across Jenny lying on the couch-bed: stark naked, back arched, legs braced, one hand moving between her thighs, the other obviously squeezing one of her breasts. A carefully quiet moan—more of a hard sigh—escaped her lips.

“God, no. I can’t be seeing this.” Emily’s mind railed at her to go away, to leave Jenny in privacy, but she stood transfixed, watching as their new acquaintance masturbated. Emily knew she was blushing, probably all the way to her toes by the feel of it. It made her acutely aware of how long it had been since she’d last pleasured herself (a small eternity), and even the last time she’d gotten off at all. She wanted to compare it to watching a train wreck, but that nagging voice in her head told her, “You could look away if you wanted to.” With a terrifying realization, Emily became conscious of the fact that watching the spectacle was actually arousing her; she bit her lip.

“No. No, no, no, I don’t want to be aroused by this,” she shouted to herself, as Jenny started to move her hips harder, gyrating them against her fingers. “She’s not… Not Ash? What does that matter; she’s there, she’s certainly pretty. You like it; admit it. It’s not like watching this means anything except that yes, you like girls.” Emily bit harder into her lip, trying to force herself to turn away. She slid one foot back, making to turn around.

Jenny’s groan caught her cold, the sound quivering through her, reverberating through her guts. Emily’s eyes focused back on the blonde girl; she arched like a bow, letting out a long, muffled groan through a bit lip of her own, squeezing her breast with her long, painted nails. She held in the position for long moments, before collapsing to the bed with a grunt of escaped air, her head falling to the side, her eyes opening.

“Oh, shit.” Vibrant magenta eyes met light, crystal blue, as horror spread across both faces.

Jenny thrashed for the blankets, whispering, “Oh, god, no… please, don’t!”

Emily had turned to flee. “Don’t what?” she whispered back, even as she scooted around behind the door’s arch, looking back out.

Jenny pulled the blankets up to her neck. “D-Don’t tell Ash… I-I’ll leave! I’ll get out of your way, I won’t ever bother you again, just don’t tell her…”

Emily blinked at that, as confusion blossomed. “What? What are you talking about?” She walked into the living room, slowly, behind the couch.

Jenny crawled up to sit against the back of the couch, still clutching the blankets up to her shoulders.

“Don’t tell… don’t tell her what I was doing. Please! I’m sorry I woke you up. I’ll leave, I won’t… Please, don’t.”

“Wait, you’re begging me not to tell Ash I saw you mas… masturbating?” Emily felt her cheeks growing even hotter.

“Please… I… I don’t want her to think I’m a creep.”

“Why would she?” Full of confusion, Emily stepped around the side of the couch, staring at Jenny, who had, if anything, started to blush harder.

“You… you didn’t hear… Ah…”

She was caught, and Emily narrowed her eyes. “What are you talking about?”

The blonde haired girl looked down at the sheets covering her legs and blushed. “I… um… please, don’t tell her.” She looked up into Emily’s face, her voice full of earnest desperation.

Emily sat on the edge of the pullout bed. “I won’t. Just tell me what you’re talking about, or I’m going to be thinking about it all night.”

Jenny paused a moment, then nodded. “I was… I had a dream about her. I woke up moaning Ash’s name… and…”

“Oh… Oh!” Emily felt her cheeks starting to burn again, and she slid further into the couch, beside the arm, sitting back against the back of the couch. “Oh, Jeez. You were thinking about her when you… No wonder…”

“Yeah, I was. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Emily rolled her eyes, pointedly. “What’s on your mind is your mind, and not my business. Or Ash’s, for that matter.”

“You’re… not angry?”

“No. I… Okay, look. Three, four months ago, before I… before I’d accepted that I wanted girls, that I wanted Ash, Ash met a girl. Her name was Missi, she was a freshman, and totally into Ash. Hero-worshiping her, totally ready to go the all for her. I… I got so jealous of her, that I… I practically did everything short of attacking her to make her look bad in Ash’s eyes. I…” Emily snorted, softly. “I called her the ‘president of the itty-bitty-titty-committee’, I disparaged her morals and her tattoo. I felt threatened by her. I wanted Ash for myself, but I didn’t want to admit, even to myself, that I wanted Ash. It… it put a lot of strain on our relationship, me and Ash, this Missi girl.”

“What happened?”

“Missi wanted Ash. She wanted her so badly, but Ash wasn’t ready to be physical with her… Hell, she’s still not ready.” Emily sighed, letting a bit of frustration sink into her voice. “Missi pushed, and pushed, and Ash wound up lying to her to get away, then she tried to dump Missi. It… Missi didn’t want to be dumped.”

Jenny winced at that.

“So, if I got nuts over any and every potential rival for my girlfriend, I’d wind up driving her off. I won’t do that to her. And I won’t—and can’t—be angry at you for wanting her, either.”

“Thank you, Emily,” Jenny said with a soft sight, releasing the blankets (which fell to her lap), and she slumped forward. “I… I feel so pathetic.”

“You’re not.” Emily looked at the blonde’s face. “Why do you like her so much?”

“I… I dunno. It’s like she’s a leader, maybe. Being around her, I want to please her so badly; I want her to be happy with me. I… I want to let her do anything, everything to me.”

“You sound like you want her to control you.”

“I… yeah, actually that sounds right.”

Emily laughed softly, sliding her legs under the covers. She wrapped an arm around Jenny’s shoulders, rocking her softly. “Trust me, Ash isn’t like that. She may seem like the take-charge kind of girl, but she’s even shyer and nervous than me once romance or sex comes up.”

“She is?”

“She is. She’s not the kind to throw a girl to a bed and ravish her. Sometimes I wish she would.”

“She… you… haven’t…”

“No, we haven’t. Look, both Ash and I have had… a lot of bad stuff happen to us in the past, okay? We’re very slow, and somewhat neurotic, about sex. Hell, I’ve seen you do something more daring than I’ve seen her doing.”

Jenny blushed at that confession. “Jeez… I’m, uh… sorry.”

“Don’t be. Anyway, it kind of helped me clear something up.”

“It… it did?”

“Yeah. I’ve been so confused, trying to figure out if I really was a lesbian, or if it was just Ash.”

“Oh… umm… which is it?”

Emily chuckled, and shook her head. “Why should I tell you?”

“Um… I’d like to know if it was any good,” she ventured, sheepishly.

“I’m going to need a cold shower before I can get back to sleep. Happy?”

“Heh… why don’t you…”

Emily felt her blush begin to creep back up. “No place to do it. I’d wake Ash up if I tried in our room, and probably even if I tried in the bath.”

“Oh… um… why not here?”

Emily blinked, and then she goggled, staring at Jenny. “Did… did you just ask me to masturbate with you?!”

Jenny blushed and looked away in response. “Sorry. That was stupid of me. I wasn’t thinking at all there.”

“No shit,” Emily huffed, sighed, and leaned back. “I… Okay, so you turned me on. I don’t know you nearly well enough to do anything that crazy, even if I didn’t love Ash.”

“Okay, okay, I know, it was stupid. I’m sorry,” Jenny cringed.

“And furthermore, I… Wait, you asked me to… I… didn’t think I was your type.”

“Um… what do you mean?”

Emily held her hands up, about an inch and a half in front of her cloth-covered breasts, then made an

exaggerated hourglass motion over her stomach. “You know… like that?”

Jenny rolled her eyes. “Do you really think I’m that shallow? Wait, never mind; you probably do.”

“Well, yeah. I kinda got that impression.”

“I’ve spent so long finding every little thing I could to make other girls look uglier than me. Yeah, I could name enough ‘flaws’ in you to make anyone who heard it without seeing you think you were some hideous beast. But I could do that about myself, too.” She looked up, and smiled weakly. “I actually think you’re pretty. And kinda hot, in a very bookwormish way. And your hair… Most girls I know wouldn’t dream of dying their hair that color, but it just looks natural on you. And this widow’s peak…” She reached over, brushing Emily’s widow’s peak. “You really shouldn’t hide it under that headband. It’s actually, you know, really pretty. You stand out, and you didn’t need implants to do it.”

Emily blushed softly, hemming slightly. “Wait, your breasts aren’t…”

“Real? Does that really surprise you?” Jenny lifted her right breast, tracing a line on the underside; Emily honestly couldn’t see anything, but supposed that Jenny was tracing a surgical scar. “Yeah. They’re implants. Mom got them for me when I was fifteen. They’d naturally be closer to the size of yours. And I’m guessing, given how much Ash tries hard not to look pretty, that hers are the genuine article?”

“Yeah.”

Jenny chuckled softly, and sighed in response. “Figures.”

“If it’s any consolation, I think she’d very much rather they were smaller.”

“Really? Jeez, she has the real deal that cost my mom four grand, and doesn’t want them?”

“That’s Ash.”

“You really do love her, don’t you?”

“I do. She… I don’t want to imagine life without her in it.”

“Are you afraid of losing her?”

“No… Maybe. I don’t think so… But I guess I’m afraid I’m not as hot as she wants me to be.”

“Has she ever given you any reason to think that way?”

“No, never. It’s just…”

“You’re afraid you’re not as attractive to her as you could be?”

“… Maybe a little.”

Jenny laughed softly. “Okay. Take your shirt off.”

“Er… What?”

“I said, ‘take your shirt off’. Let me see what you’re afraid of.”

“Are you just trying to get me naked?”

“Maybe a little. But I’m serious; I’ve spent the better part of the last decade of my life being the most attractive I can be.”

“… Fine. Why not; this has been a weird night anyway.”

Emily pulled her shirt off, sitting under Jenny’s scrutinizing gaze. Jenny scooted forward, sitting on

her knees, pulling Emily’s arms up, seeming to measure her, poking, prodding—and yes, groping. Emily blushed most at that.

“Well, what can I say? You’re certainly attractive, Emily.” Jenny folded her hands in her lap. “You want to snare your orange-haired friend? You seem like you’ve already got her head-over-heels for you. You may not have the biggest chest at the ball, but there’s nothing wrong them: normal shape, right heft, there’s nothing abnormal about your nipples. You may not have a perfect ‘10’ hourglass, but nobody does. Not even me. Your hips have a nice curve to them without being exaggerated, you’ve got a cute innie twat with a fetching freckle and no ugly thatch, your thighs are—”

“Wait, you looked at my… v-vagina?!” Emily felt a cold horror spreading across her face.

“Um, yeah?” Jenny laughed. “What’re you afraid of?”

“N-Nothing. It’s…. Jeez, this is too weird. This is like her dad remembering my name by describing my vagina.”

“Her dad’s seen your vagina?!”

“No, no, nothing like that. Her dad’s a doctor, he’s my gynecologist!”

Jenny breathed a sigh of relief. “Whew… that’s… that’s good… Wait. Upton… Ash Upton… Her father is… Doctor Edward Upton?!?!”

“Oh, god! Don’t tell me you’ve met him! Please don’t tell me he’s your gynecologist! This is too freaky.”

“Not anymore. He… Okay, a couple of years ago, when my mom was really into feuding with Ash’s mom, she got the idea to seduce her estranged husband and try to marry him. She practically danced a happy-jig when she found out he was a gynecologist.”

Emily shivered softly. “Oh god, please don’t tell me they…” Emily clutched herself. “That would be way too many shades of fucked up.”

“Nope. Thank god. He didn’t bite, and she got tired of driving us both all the way across the fucking state to get an exam… Hey, you guys live in Tempest, don’t you?”

Emily nodded, sighed with relief, and leaned back, as Jenny laughed. “How weird is that?”

“It’s… actually, about par for the course given how fucked-up the past year has been.”

Jenny laughed softly, and leaned into the couch back next to Emily, clutching a pillow under her.

“Yeah, that is weird. Hey, when did you find the time for a full waxing, anyway?”

“Uh…”

“You’re hairless. I know it wasn’t today; was it yesterday sometime?”

“I don’t… I don’t grow any hair there.”

“Oh… really? You don’t?” Emily shook her head, and Jenny laughed. “That’s really handy. I wish I was like that.”

“You do? I always felt like it was… y’know, it made me feel weird that I never got any hair on my vagina.”

Jenny shook her head, and rolled to her back, spreading her legs. “See that? I’m going to have to get it waxed off before this next ‘thing’. Every single time I need to wear a bikini or, so help me, a thong. It hurts like a bitch.”

“Yellow?”

“Yeah. Just like my head.”

“It looks so soft…”

“It’s a pain in the ass, honestly, and literally. I’d trade you in a second.”

Emily laughed softly, sighed, and looked up at the ceiling. Then it hit her. “Whoa… This is fucking weird.”

“What is?”

“This… Heh. It reminds me, after Ash and I left for home, after that party this summer. I told her about kissing her in her sleep, because I’d wanted to try and figure things out. And she told me to grab her breasts. I laughed at her, and I told her that contrary to… what some porno might have you think, girls don’t really grab their breasts and compare them. Except that’s pretty much what we’ve just done, isn’t it?”

“More or less…” Jenny shrugged, sitting up and stretching. “What time is it, anyway?”

Emily checked her watch, twice. “It’s almost quarter after five.” She yawned softly, smiled slightly. “So, was it good?”

“Er… was what good?”

“The dream?”

Jenny blushed. “Yeah… it really was.”

“What was it like?”

Jenny responded by glancing around conspiratorially. “Well, um… actually…” Her voice got tiny as she said, “You were in it, too.”

“I was?!”

“Yeah… It was… Mmm.” She blushed harder, curling up. “You and Ash… just… controlling me, sort of. Telling me what to do: give massages, get something, eat one of you out… Then Ash pushed me back on the bed, and the two of you started…” She trailed off, looking away, her cheeks bright red, even visible in the poor light. “Fucked up, I know.”

“Heh… Yeah, it is, but I’ve had fucked-up dreams, too.”

“Like what?” Jenny rolled back to look at Emily.

“Well, this one time… Before I told her about how I felt, I had a lucid dream. I knew it was a lucid dream, and I wanted to wake up from it, but I couldn’t, because I didn’t really want to wake up, you know?” Jenny nodded, and Emily continued. “In it, Ash was over me… Like she knew what I really, really wanted, in the deepest part of my heart…”

“The part that knows all the dirty, dark little secrets, and all your dark desires, right?”

“Yeah. She… she took my clothes off, but even though I kept asking her to stop, she told me that only I could stop it, and only if I wanted to. She… she pushed me down, and…” Emily realized she’d started blushing, getting heated at recollecting that dream.

“She made you get off?”

“Yeah… I… Mmm, Jeez. I’m getting hot again.”

“Mmm…” Jenny smiled, and Emily smiled back.

Suddenly it seemed like Jenny’s eyes were getting closer. “No, you are getting closer,” she thought.

She gasped softly, as she barely felt the brush of Jenny’s lips on hers. It was entirely different from kissing Ash—instead of fireworks bursting in her chest, it was akin to being tasered at the base of the spine; it electrified her. She gasped, pulling back, blushing. “Oh god, I’m sorry…”

Jenny smiled softly, holding her hand up. “I didn’t think you’d even get that far. Moment-of-weakness?”

Emily nodded, trembling. “Y-Yeah… Fuck, I’m messed up.”

“Nah, not really.” Jenny laughed. “Not nearly as much as I am.”

“Why’d you let me?”

“Well… I wanted to see if it felt the same as kissing Ash.”

“Did it?”

“No; completely different. Good, though.” Jenny looked away, blushing. “Maybe… Mmm…”

“You really are attracted to me, aren’t you?”

“Did you think I was lying?”

“Maybe a little.”

“I wasn’t. You’re both really, really attractive girls. And I’m attracted to you both.”

“What do you want in a girlfriend, then?”

“I… Mmm. Someone like you have in Ash: someone strong enough to stand me up when I’m afraid to stand on my own, who’s not afraid to fight, but who’s tender and comforting. Or maybe someone like Ash has in you: someone brilliant and intelligent, cute and soft… someone I can watch out for, protect… and make feel right. There’s something so easy about the two of you. In unguarded moments, you have the most perfect dynamic. You’ve made your lover out of your best friend, haven’t you?”

“Yes… Yes, I have.”

“I envy you. I wish I had even a friend like you two have in each other, let alone a girlfriend of her.” Emily stretched her arm out, placing her palm on Jenny’s back, between the shoulder blades.

“You’ll find someone. Just keep up how you’re doing.”

“I wish I could share your optimism.”

“Then smile and look up.” Jenny looked over at Emily, who was smiling. “It’s going to be a brand-new day tomorrow. Who knows what it holds! Cheer up.”

“I’ll… I’ll try.” She smiled, and closed her eyes, pulling the covers back over herself and cuddling into the pillow.

Emily stood up, whispering, “Good night,” as she picked up her tee. She didn’t put it on, as she turned to move away.

“Hey, Emily,” Jenny whispered out from behind her.

She turned back. “Yes?”

“You… you weren’t surprised when I said I kissed Ash, were you?”

Emily shook her head. “She told me. We trust each other.”

Jenny closed her eyes. “You’re not gonna tell her…”

“I might tell her you kissed me. But I won’t tell her what I saw you doing.” Emily leaned in, with an amused grin. “That’s between you and me, unless you want to tell her.”

Jenny grinned, and leaned up, on her knees on the side of the bed. “Thank you, Emily.”

Emily smiled and put her hand on Jenny’s shoulder. “She really does like you. For the life of me, I can’t fathom why. But I like you, too.”

“Mmm…” She smiled, and leaned in; Emily found herself drawn, leaning in as well. “Want to give it a good try?”

Emily bit her lip. A big part of her wanted to. She could feel Jenny’s breath on her lips. She shook her head, though. “I… I want to, but… I don’t feel… you know… I’m tempted, but I don’t think it’s a good idea?” Jenny looked a bit crushed, and Emily sighed softly. “Let me get to know you better, okay? Then, maybe…”

Jenny sighed and nodded, smiling softly. “Okay.”

“Good night, Jenny.”

“Night, Emily.”

Emily turned around, walking quickly away, flustered by the invitation—an invitation that she’d found hard to turn down. But then she opened the door and walked back to the bedroom she and Ash shared, and smiled at the sight of Ash, curled up under the covers, illuminated by the strong moonlight.

“There you are: my tuner, my lover, my mate.” Emily walked over, pulled the covers down, and leaned in. Ash murmured at the disturbance in her dream. Sliding onto the bed, one hand into Ash’s palm, the other around her friend’s head, she kissed Ash: strongly, passionately, needily.

It worked; Ash’s eyes flew open, and she started to kiss back as Emily gently licked her lips. With an even more surprised, wider-eyed stare, Ash parted her lips and teeth, lacing her fingers into Emily’s. Their tongues met, and Emily moaned softly at the taste of her love’s tongue on hers.

“Good morning,” Ash whispered, as they parted the kiss.

“Yes. Yes it is.” She nuzzled Ash’s cheek, savoring the lingering concussions of the firework-like sensation in her chest that Ash’s lips engendered, and she smiled. “Was that a good wake-up call?”

Ash nodded, blushing slightly. “I feel a bit like that princess who got kissed awake, but other than that… Mmmm…” She wrapped her arms around Emily, who offered no resistance at being pulled down atop Ash. “You’re in a good mood this morning, Em.”

“Yeah… yeah, I am.” She smiled, kissing Ash’s lips again. “Frisky, too.” She slid her legs under the covers, wrapping them around Ash’s thigh, snuggling close to her, although she didn’t quite go far enough to press her vagina to Ash’s skin.

“What happened?”

“Had a long talk with Jenny.”

“And that put you in the mood to kiss me awake?”

“Yep.” Emily leaned in, nibbled on Ash’s earlobe, and was rewarded with the sound of a sigh of pleasure from Ash. “Ash? Do you ever think about touching me?”

“You mean, sexually?”

“Yeah. That’s how I mean.”

“… Only every night.”

“Why haven’t you?”

“I’m afraid.”

Emily rolled over, pressing her back into Ash’s chest, and tugging Ash’s hands around her. “Touch me however you want, however you feel you can, Ash.”

“Em? Are you okay?”

“I’m better than okay.” She smiled, caressing Ash’s hips, and pressing her feet into the top of her friend’s—their toes laced together, red-painted and unpainted.

Ash hugged her, tightly, and started to kiss the nape of her neck. “Like this, Em?”

“However, Ash. I’m… I’m just glad to be held by you.”

Ash replied by kissing her again, and hesitatingly moving a hand down her stomach. Emily spread her legs, but Ash could get no further than just below her navel. “Too afraid?”

“… Yeah. I’m a puss, aren’t I?”

“No, you’re Ash.” Emily arched her back and rolled so they were lying on their sides, but still embraced. “And I love you. Hold me, Ash. Even if you can’t fiddle me, you still can’t fail to make me feel beloved.”

Ash let out a soft laugh. “What’s brought this on?”

“Like I said, a long talk with Jenny.”

“What was it about?”

“Can’t tell you that,” Emily giggled, and she clasped Ash’s free hand between her own—their fingers laced together, and she held that arm to her chest, against her breasts. “Ash… do you like my breasts?”

“Um…”

“I know they’re not as big as yours, or Jenny’s… Do you still like them?”

“Yeah, I think they’re great.”

She moved her hand up, and cupped one—Emily gasped softly with the sensation, and she smiled. “Thank you, Ash…”

“Anytime, Em…” Ash yawned, softly. “Can we go back to sleep, now?”

“Unless you’d rather do something else.”

“Mmm… Ask me when we wake up again.”

Emily laughed, and closed her eyes as well, drifting into an easy sleep in the embrace of her closest.

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 9:37 AM

“All right, girls. I’ll see you later!” Marie called on her way out.

“We’ll be fine, mom,” Ash called back, waving as her mother closed the door.

“Finally. Thought she’d never leave. I was beginning to worry she’d be here when the parts arrive.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “I’d almost think you wanted it to be a secret that we’re fixing her car.”

“Well… kinda.”

“Right. Anyway, don’t we need to get that manual printed out? Or at least the important sections?”

“Right. I’ll get right on that.”

Jenny volunteered, “I’ll clean up what’s left of breakfast.”

“Then I’ll wait for the truck.”

They split up, and Ash ran to her mother’s computer. She used her own debit card to purchase the PDF manual for the Porsche 996, and started it downloading. Fortunately, her mother had broadband, and the thousand-page manual came relatively quickly. She was only halfway through looking through the index for what she needed when Emily yelled, however, and she ran downstairs. She pulled on her jacket, and looked out the door—a pick-up truck had rolled in, with the bright red hood of her mother’s car secured in the bed.

“Showtime!”

Walking out into the crisp, cold air, the driver was already getting out of the truck, walking towards them. “You got the green?” Ash pulled it out of her pocket—a thick wad of twenty fifty-dollar bills, with a hundred on top. He nodded. “Then I got the stuff. Where you want it?”

“Back the truck up to the garage.”

“Right-o.”

It wasn’t hard with the three of them; even the hood was easy enough to manhandle into the garage.

After checking to be sure that everything was there—and it was—Ash paid the driver, who said, “I didn’t see nothin’, hear nothin’, or do nothin’, and neither did you ladies.” He left.

“And now… We’re left with a stack of car parts, a box of tools, and a car that needs fixing,” Emily observed.

“Right. We’re probably going to need more tools. Still, this shouldn’t be too hard to finish. This isn’t actually that bad; this is a day or two’s work.”

“Well… the real bitch will be re-attaching the steering wheel. We should do that last, since everything else can go in first anyway, and if we do it wrong, the airbag will fire.”

“Let’s not connect the battery, too, until we’ve finished everything.”

“All right. I’ll go print out the parts on the steering wheel. You two have fun trying to get gages back in.”

As Emily went back towards the house, Ash turned to Jenny. “Wanna learn how to put a car’s instrumentation back in?”

“Um… sure…”

Interlude

Fixing the car turned out to be surprisingly easy. The instrumentation went back in without a fuss, although there was some cursing (and Jenny cut a finger) while putting the hood back on the engine compartment and reconnecting it. Jenny had to go home Tuesday night, but she arrived promptly on Wednesday morning to help with the continuing fix and repair. By midday Wednesday the repairs were done, and Emily had volunteered to test the restored vehicle.

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, December 22, 2004, 12:13 PM

“Okay now, this thing has a Tiptronic paddle-shifter. You know how it works, right?”

“Yes, I do. Your mother left the owner’s manual in the glove box. I read it last night, remember?”

“Yeah, I do. Remember, take it easy—if something’s going to go screwy, I’d rather you were able to bring it to a stop than not.”

“I know how to drive, Ash.”

“I know. I taught you.”

Emily got into the Porsche, strapping in.

“Shotgun!” Jenny cried with a laugh, strapping in, as Ash had been about to walk to the other side. Ash laughed. “Fine, fine. You can have the first run.”

Ash smiled as she watched the Porsche pull out and take off—it had a beautiful, quiet rumble to it, as it whirred off into the road. Things had started to calm down weather-wise, and the days of sun had melted the snow off the road, although it had hardened it into bunkers on the grassy areas.

She leaned back against the hood of the Monster XR, staring out at the road, with a smile. Things were looking up. She saw Emily run around the block once, twice, at a sedate speed. Then she pulled around the corner again, and Ash heard the powerful engine on the Porsche roaring as Emily pushed it. She had to get it up to at least sixty before coming down, and turning around to come back. But what was most surprising was what pulled into the driveway after the red Porsche 996—a black Jaguar XK with her mother behind it. Ash’s jaw dropped. “Well, that’s one cat out of the bag.”

Her mother looked as shocked to see the Porsche as her daughter was to see her, and Ash walked towards the cars as they parked. Her mother got out of the Jaguar, blinking. “My… That’s my car! I didn’t think it was delivered yet…”

Ash laughed. “We put it in the garage Monday, remember?”

“Oh, right! I’d forgotten; I’ve been dealing with his party thing. It’s… you fixed it?” She sounded astonished.

“Yep!” Emily said as she got out and leaned on the side. “Runs like a dream!”

Ash’s mother laughed softly, and then she ran forward, hugging her daughter tightly. “Sweetie, I… ah, is this what you wanted the money for?”

“Yeah, mom. We put it together yesterday and this morning. The damage wasn’t bad at all.”

“Really? Huh. They told me it was totaled, and that I should probably send it straight to a junkyard. I had them send it here because I thought you might like to pick over its bones first.”

“Well, whoever told you that was full of it; must not have known what the hell they were doing. She’s absolutely fine. It looked pretty grisly, but it wasn’t.”

“That’s nice… that’s very nice.” Her mother smiled. “Why did I come back? Oh, right. Some of the girls and I were going to pre-view the venue, and since it’s next to a motorway, I thought you’d like to come, so I came back to get you.”

“That’s nice. Hey, are they doing anything on the track today?”

“I don’t think so…”

Emily had already picked up, and she laughed. “Test track!”

“What? Oh, you…” Ash’s mother grinned. “You want to take the Porsche and test it? Okay. I’ll need to call the insurance company, and the DMV. I’m going to need to get it re-insured and see if the DMV needs anything done, but since you usually have thirty days for this kind of thing…”

“What are we waiting for, then? Saddle up!”

Cape Cod Speedway, 1:19 PM

The speedway’s parking lot was more or less empty; only a few sedans in the spots closest to the adjoining showroom. By far the flashiest cars were the Monster XR, the Jaguar, and the Porsche that pulled in when Ash’s mom led the two cars there. Ash saw that Jenny’s mother was waiting outside the doors. She winced, watching as her mother got out of the Jaguar, walking over to her. “No time like the present.” Jenny and Emily were still in the Porsche, so she got out and stretched her legs and arms, then Emily and Jenny did likewise.

“What took you so long?” Jenny the Elder snarked at Marie, who smiled at her.

“You’ll never believe what these three did.” She pointed at the red car. “They fixed it!”

The elder Jenny snorted down her nose at the red Porsche. “It couldn’t have been that broke, then.”

“They totaled it out. Anyway, I thought they’d like a look at the venue, since they’re going to be attending. Let’s have a look, shall we? Come on.”

Ash shrugged, sticking her hands in her pockets and falling into step behind Emily, with Jenny behind her. They filtered into the glass-walled showroom, and Ash whistled. “This place is huge.”

“Mmmm-hmm! You three have a look around while I go and schmooze the operator. With any luck, I should be able to get them to open the gates and let you test the Porsche out.” Marie took off with that, towards a group of men, mostly in business suits.

“Well, huh… Lots of space in here, right?”

“I think, though don’t quote me, that these circles rotate,” Emily observed.

The flooring was black and white marble or marble-like tile, but it was interrupted by occasional large circles of white marbled material.

“Cars, cameras, and a sea of people. I’m surprised you agreed to this. Holiday gigs are crazy.”

“They are?”

“Why do you think they gave half again the going rate?”

“I figured it was just because it was Christmas Eve.”

“Any holiday-related gig is like that. At least this one should be mildly interesting, given that this room is going to be full of cars and not just people.”

“Yeah… Crap, am I gonna have to do that stupid ‘drape yourself like a cloth’ thing over the car?”

“Isn’t that why you volunteered? No, wait, let me guess; you’d rather be behind the wheel?”

“Well… yeah.” Ash blushed.

“Guess we’d better start practicing your ‘car-drape’, eh? Good thing we have a Porsche.”

Emily laughed. “Trust me, she knows how to drape herself over a car. Now granted, most of that is done with the hood up, but I think she needs far more help with walking in heels.”

It hit Ash like a thunderbolt. One of the few things she dreaded only slightly less than missing a period—heels. And worse, since she’d already borrowed against the winnings…

“Ash? Are you okay?”

“My god, she went pale. That is so funny!” Jenny was laughing at her while Emily was snapping her fingers in front of her face.

Ash started out of it. “Whuh? Oh… Damn it. I’d forgotten.” Ash sighed, shaking her head. “There’s no helping it. I’m in the hole for that money, so… Let’s make the most of today, then.”

“Always the optimist.”

Jenny giggled at Emily’s joke. “Let’s see how long it takes to walk this place from one end to the other.”

“Okay. But, uh… why?”

“Have you got anything better to do? There’s no cars yet, and it doesn’t look like your mom’s done convincing them to let us play on the speedway. At least this way we look like we’re accomplishing something.”

“Huh… can’t argue with that. Wonder what they’re talking about?”

“The guy looks annoyed, but like your mom has him by the short and curlies. She probably told him something he doesn’t like, but that he’s gonna swallow because he wants this deal to go down smoothly.”

They had half-traversed the huge showroom and back again, when her mother waved at them, so they walked over.

“Ash, Jenny, Emily, this is Mr. Fitzgerald. He operates the speedway, and he’s agreed to open the track for you to test my car.”

“Your mother makes some… persuading arguments, young lady. That said, if I think that something dangerous is happening or going to happen, I will shut it down at once. If you see any red flags, lights, or hear any sirens, stop your cars wherever you are and get out.” They all nodded. “And another thing; I expect safety rules to be followed. Everyone will be buckled in securely, and I’ll have Jimmy fetch helmets out of the store for you.”

“I’ll just buy those. I’d rather she had a helmet anyway.”

“No need; just consider them gratis. Go and get the cars you want to run and take them to the rear lot. Jimmy’s the race boss, so you listen to him.”

“Er… who’s Jimmy?” asked Ash.

“This one.”

A man in a tank top with a neck beard held up a hand, “Yo! That would be me. Go get your rides and take them to the back lot. I’ll get those helmets and open the gates.”

Ash turned and walked back for the parking lot, with Emily and Jenny on her heels. She heard Jenny (the first) and her mother talking, but wasn’t about to wait and hear bad news—the three practically ran for the cars, strapping in (Jenny with Ash) and driving to the back lot. They waited several minutes, and the gate opened.

“Okay, come on in, slowly! Park ’em in the pits!” Jimmy was holding a megaphone, and directing them with a glow-lamp on a stick.

Ash was grinning as she eased the car onto the track. “Ash? Are you okay?”

“Huh? Better than ever!”

“Your hands are shaking…”

“Yeah. This is almost as exciting as the time I raced Kate.”

“Kate?”

“Friend of mine. Kate the Kamikaze. She beat me, but not by much. And she was in a Jaguar XKR.”

“Oh right, you mentioned her when you raced that car on the way to Marco’s. That’s… Wait, like the car Joshua used to own before you won it for your mom?”

“Yeah, except hers is race-customized and tuned. She’d flatten Joshua’s car in any kind of race.”

“Cool…”

Ash parked the car in the first pit, and Emily parked in the pit behind her. Ash got out as Jimmy was walking towards them, carrying a stack of three boxes containing helmets. “Okay now! Here’s how this is going to work. Never thought I’d see the day we were opening the track to a bunch of teenage girls, but your old ladies have more pull with Fitz than I’ve ever seen.”

Ash scowled. “You got something against girls?”

“Nope. I got something against teenagers. Lost too many of my friends to teenage racing accidents.” He plunked the helmets down on the hood of the Monster XR. “Now, here’s how this is going to go. I’m going to need to see anybody who’s planning on driving today do some qualifying laps alone, to prove to me they can handle these cars at speed. If I see anything hinky, I’m dropping the reds right then and there. Since these are production cars, I’m not going to bother with an inspection, since I don’t think these are capable of getting much better than a hundred, hundred and twenty, tops… Wait.”

He stepped back, looking at the Monster XR. “You own this car, Red?”

“Uh, yeah.”

Jimmy looked at her with a newfound respect. “That’s Harry’s car. Harry’s baby. I never thought he would’ve sold it.”

“You know Harry?”

“Know him? I helped keep him in business. Tempest high, class of ninety-eight.”

“Tempest high, class of, assuming all goes well, oh-five. You were a racer?”

“King of the Mountain, ninety-seven and ninety-eight.”

Ash grinned and leaned on the Monster XR’s side. “King of the mountain, current.”

Ash looked sidelong—Jenny and Emily were whispering to one another. She looked back at Jimmy, who was taking the helmets out.

“That’s… real nice, then. Takes me back. But I ain’t going to give you an inch of leeway. In fact, I’m gonna hold you to a higher standard, since you’re the current principal.” He handed the helmet to Ash. “Fitz is giving you these here helmets. I wasn’t joking when I said I lost a lot of friends to the Mountain. Some of ’em nobody and nothing short of an angel or a parachute could’ve helped, but too many of ’em cracked their heads open ’cause nobody wears a damn helmet. You’ve got a racing harness in this, right?” Ash nodded. “Good. Now you’ve got the helmet to go with. If the king starts wearing these, maybe the rest of the jackasses will follow suit. And hey, you two done gabbin’? I ain’t just reminiscin’ about my glory days with the King here, I’m tryin’ to lecture you all about safety on the track!” Jenny quieted up, listening; Emily had paled a bit.

“Good. Now then, since you’ve got two fine cars here, I’m going to assume you’re going to want to race against each other at some point. I know the King here can do it—you don’t get to be King without being good at it—but are either of you two racers?”

“Uh… kind of… in-training…” Emily muttered, and Ash chuckled.

“She hasn’t actually raced yet, but I’ve seen her take the Mountain. I’m teaching her.”

“Well, that’s dandy. Maybe you’ll get some experience here. And you?”

Jenny shook her head at him. “Never.”

“All right. Well, if you want to give it a try, I’ll let you. Just don’t fuck up, or it’s my ass.”

“I… don’t know how to drive a stick.”

“The Porsche’s automatic,” Emily pointed out. “Well, semi-automatic.”

“Semi? One of those nifty Tiptronics?” Ash nodded, and Jimmy laughed. “Well, I ought to disqualify you right there. NASCAR rules, at least.”

“Why?”

“They don’t like paddles; I dunno why. Good thing we’re not racing NASCAR rules then, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, good thing.”

“Who’s up first?”

“I’ll go,” Ash said. “I want to get this over with.”

“All righty, then. Just let me put in the batteries and set up these helmets.”

Jimmy fiddled with the helmets for a while, and then handed one to each of Ash, Emily, and Jenny. “Okay now, they’re voice-sensitive; you talk, they transmit. I’ve set us all to one frequency.”

“They’re in the helmets?”

“Yep.” Jimmy held up a hand-held. “This one’s mine. Anyway, get in your car, take it to the start, and wait for my instructions.”

Ash did as she was told. It was… Exhilarating. Waiting behind the wheel of the rumbling Monster XR, with wide, smooth speedway in front of her. She gunned the engine just to hear it roar.

A voice crackled in her ear, “Okay! First lap, don’t exceed sixty, and no fancy drifting or anything. Just a smooth, easy sail.”

“Right,” Ash said. “Did you hear that?”

“Five by five. You’re good to go when the green flag is waved. It’s up on your left. Your friend volunteered to wave it.” Ash looked up—Jenny had climbed the stairs to the tower, and had taken the flag in hand. The flag waved, and Ash put the pedal down. Her tires squealed, the Monster XR did a burn-out. It was like fire racing through her veins. The only thing that was missing was the pack of competing cars and the roar of the crowd. The first lap was agonizingly slow as she hugged the inside lane. The track had more straight than twists, but it had some devilish twists at each end, the middles only broken up by gentle chicane curves.

“Three minutes forty, and smooth sailing. You know what you’re doing. Go ahead and take it up to a hundred,” Jimmy radioed in.

Emily chimed in afterwards, “You’re doing great, Ash!”

Ash smoothly accelerated, hugging the chicanes with ease, and she took the end-point twists with adroitness. Coming out of the last curve on the near twist, Jimmy radioed again.

“Okay, enough with this farce, you know what you’re doing. Give it your all. I wanna see Doctor Harrystein’s Monster in action.”

Ash grinned widely, ferociously, putting the pedal down and shifting down again. The Ford V8 under the hood shifted from a quiet roar to one to shake the stands, as Ash watched the speedometer climb. It was beyond exhilarating—it was pure speed running through her veins as she went into the second set of turns at a hundred and twenty. Turning her foot, she stepped hard on the brakes while holding the gas and pushing in the clutch, and locked the wheels—the Monster slid as the tachometer soared. She drifted around the first corner, letting off on the brakes and clutch as she downshifted two gears, the Monster recovering from the skid doing seventy and climbing.

“Ooooh, fancy,” Jimmy commented over the radio; Ash listened with one ear, the other on the sound of the engine.

She smoothly cornered the monster around the next three turns, and got to the longer turn. Stepping on the gas, she drifted around the last turn, accelerating out into the straights back to the finish line.

“Real fancy. I can’t even drift that last one half the time. You really are the King.”

“Yeah, Ash! You’re doing awesome!” Jenny said.

“I wish I could drift half as well as you can,” Emily laughed over the radio.

Ash put the hammer down, racing for the finish line. “Hey, you want another run solo? If you get a rolling start from sixty, I can officially enter it for the time trials. You could place high in our production car tables in that Monster.”

“Okay… why not?” Ash laughed, and slowed down as she approached the finish/start line. “Okay, this one’s for real. When you see green, step on it and don’t look back.”

“Right!” She hovered the car at 60 mph.

“Okay, that’s good, that’s good. I’ve got your lead-in on my radar gun, you’re golden, King.”

Jimmy was aiming a radar gun at her car, and Jenny was standing ready with the green flag. She hauled back as Ash approached the checkered line, and really threw her all into waving it.

Ash floored and the Monster roared as she soared down the speedway. She grinned, putting her all into it. She drifted the Monster through the chicanes, and the first hard turn. She kept the run up, her wheels screeching on tarmac as she roared back down the opposite line, like a blur. It was exhilarating. She was almost in a trance as she slid smoothly through the return curves, flooring it again.

“Don’t let off till you see the checkered flag, King, you’re almost home!”

Emily was waiting with the checkered flag on top of the tower, with Jimmy and Jenny. She hauled back. The Monster roared over the line, and the flag waved. Ash let off the engine, bringing the car back to a stop in her pit, with a laughing fit of adrenaline.

“Nicely done, King. You placed fifth, ever, in all non-pro car times!”

“Heh… What’s my time?”

“Two minutes twenty.”

Ash laughed. “Who’s ahead of me?”

“Just me, a couple friends of mine, and the Kamikaze. Turn your car off, kid. Let’s get you refueled.”

Ash shut off the Monster XR, laughing and getting out. She sat against the side of the car, the smell of burnt rubber thick and pleasant—to her, anyway—as Jimmy, Emily, and Jenny ran towards her. Jimmy was carrying a PDA, which he handed her.

“Here, input your name and car type.”

Ash typed in ‘XR4Ti Ash’ for the name, and ‘Merkur Custom’ for the car type.

“XR4Ti Ash, eh? Don’t want people to know your real name?”

“Nah. Plus, I always sign that way when I’m showing off my driving. Hey, Kate’s been here?”

“Yeah. She’s placed second. Use to be first, but a friend of mine with a really expensive car spent a week straight until he beat her record by a few seconds yesterday. It won’t last, though. She’ll probably show up sometime in the next month after I e-mailed her.”

“What makes you say that?”

“She set that record in only three runs.”

Ash laughed, sighing. “Sounds like Kate, all right. Emily, you up?”

“You betcha! I’m definitely not passing this one up.”

She ran to her car, and Ash stood up, stretching. “Dibs on the checkered flag this time.”

“All right,” Jenny replied, as Jimmy led them back to the tower, climbing the stairs ’round the back. Emily was directed to the starting line. She handled the car smoothly on her opening run, though she babied it around the turns for the second, slowing down to no more than the original sixty. Ash shook her head. “You’ll have to do better than that, Em! Don’t baby it!”

“I’m trying not to. It’s just…”

“No. No ‘it’s just’. There’s only ‘do’ or ‘don’t’, and I know you can do!”

Ash could hear determination in Emily’s voice as she was pulling to the second set of corners, saying, “Okay. Okay!”

Jimmy smirked, laughing at Ash. “Nice pep-talk there, Yoda. Maybe they oughta call you the Jedi Master of the mountain.” Ash laughed softly, staring out through the binoculars—Emily was racing into the turns. “She’s going eighty… Eighty-five… She’s not babying it.” Jimmy was two-handing the radar gun at the far-off red Porsche, and the tires squealed. “Not quite a drift but close enough!” Jimmy laughed, as Ash watched Emily slide the Porsche around the curve, and into the second, third, and fourth. She pulled back into the straight to head back to the starting line. “You ready for the time trial, Blues?”

“Err, yeah. No, wait, no, I’m not. Damn. She’s almost on empty.”

“No problem, pull into the pits. We’ll fill you up with high-test.”

“All right.” Emily parked the Porsche in the pits, and Jimmy ran down, filling her up.

Ash handed the green flag to Jenny as they stood atop the tower, looking about. It was a bright, dry day at a motor speedway that she had to herself and her friends.

“Life is good, today! Friday may be doom, but I’m going to enjoy this!” she thought to herself, as Jimmy climbed back to the tower.

“Okay, Blues. Turn around and go down the speedway, then get yourself a rolling start to sixty.”

“Right!”

Emily rolled down the speedway in reverse, and turned around, hard. The Porsche 996 faced the start line and accelerated toward it. Ash watched with the binoculars as Jenny waited on the green flag. “Okay, okay… yeah, you’re golden, Blues, that’s a perfect sixty! Go!”

Jenny waved the green flag, and Emily floored it. Ash spied her face through the helmet and the windshield, and grinned. “Go for it, Em.”

Emily was definitely going for it; she pushed the Porsche into a proper drift around the first turn of the first set of switchbacks, and squealed around the rest, sliding the car’s back end out. She smoothly negotiated the turns and floored it again, Ash’s eyes locked on the red Porsche 996 through the binoculars. She managed to cut the chicanes smoothly, almost as smooth as a straight line.

Jimmy whistled. “She’s going a hundred fifteen. That’s a fast car.”

Emily repeated the drift and slide-turns through the far set of twists, and accelerated hard coming out of the last turn.

Ash picked up the checkered flag, leaning over the side of the tower as Emily took the chicanes smoothly again. The red car roared down the track, and she hauled the flag back, throwing her full strength into waving the flag up and down as Emily soared across the finish line.

“Two minutes twenty-nine. That’s impressive. That car is stock, right?”

Ash answered, “Straight stock.”

“Niiice. That places you tenth in our overall non-Pro, and second in the stock car lists, Blues.” Emily sounded giddy, laughing over the radio, as Ash ran down the tower to the pit she parked in.

Emily was no sooner out than Ash was hugging her, laughing and saying, “You did great!”

Emily hugged her back, pressing their helmets together. “That felt awesome!”

They parted, and Ash laughed, pulling her helmet off, with a grin. “I knew the speed bug had you!” Emily smiled softly, shyly. “Yeah, well… thanks to you, Ash.”

Ash felt like kissing her; she probably would have, if not for Jimmy’s obnoxious voice. “Hey, do you two want to race, or are you havin’ a moment heah?!”

Ash blushed, and hid it with a scowl, turning around. “We were having a moment.”

“Yeah… Race? Don’t give me anything less than your best, Ash, or I’ll be very upset!”

“That’s my line!”

Ash made a run for the Monster XR, pulling her helmet back on, while Emily pulled open the door to the Porsche again. Ash heard the Porsche start as she was buckling in, and started the Monster as Emily was driving past her, to the starting line.

“All right, ladies, how do you wanna do this? One lap or two?”

“Two works for me. Em?”

“Two’s fine.”

“Right, then. Pull up to the starting line.”

Ash pulled the Monster XR up, on the outside lane. She looked left, and Emily looked right, giving her a thumbs-up. Ash gunned the Monster’s engine; Emily responded by gunning the Porsche.

“When you see green, go. Three. Two. One.” Jenny waved the green flag as hard as she could, while Jimmy yelled, “Go!”

Ash floored the gas and the Monster’s engine roared, pushing her forward. She shifted into second, and looked at her mirrors. Emily was falling back, but not very fast. Ash grinned, then blinked as Emily tapped the brakes, smoothly falling back. “You’re not quitting on me yet, are you?”

“Quitting? I’m drafting!”

The Porsche slid smoothly into her rear view mirror, and Ash rolled her eyes, laughing. It wasn’t a bad plan; the Monster had superior acceleration thanks to the tuned Ford V8 under the hood, but it also had a huge aerodynamic profile. Sliding into the slipstream coming from the Monster, Emily was basically stealing all of Ash’s acceleration advantage for herself.

They hit the chicanes, and Ash skirted the red-and-white striped edges of the tarmac close to the grass, straightening and smoothening the actual line, but Emily held the drift through it.

“You’re not going to be able to hold that through the curves, Em.”

“I don’t have to.”

The Porsche’s engine roared, and Emily slid smoothly to the inside, passing her as they headed into

the turns. Ash snarled, hitting the brakes as Emily pushed the Porsche into a drift. Ash couldn’t really pass—safely, anyway—and so wound up trying to pass on the shorts leading up to the curves. It didn’t work, but she blasted pass as they narrowed out to the straights, the Porsche having lost too much speed to the turns.

“Mmm. She’s got the right idea, but that engine’s too limited to accelerate fast enough,” Jimmy commented.

“I’m not out of this yet.” She flat floored the Porsche behind Ash, and the shift sounds changed. “Let’s just put this thing in override mode.”

Calling her own shift points instead of letting the automatic do it, Emily accelerated harder, and combined with Ash’s slipstream, gained on Ash as the cars barreled down the track opposite the starting line. This time Ash entered the turns first, and she drifted hard into the first turn—but so did Emily. It was really quite thrilling, watching that red Porsche drift into her line of rear-view sight and accelerate towards her as she was setting up for the next turn. Emily, however, was watching carefully; knowing Ash’s lines let her use them as a baseline for her own, and she managed to not lose any distance, at least.

“So, you wants to play, mmm?” Ash pushed down on the gas as she accelerated back into the straight, followed by Emily. The Porsche probably had a slightly higher top speed, but the straights weren’t long enough for that to really play decisively. The green flag waved as she passed over the finish line, followed by Emily.

“Lap two! The King’s in the lead by two seconds.”

Ash wasn’t about to give up the lead, but she didn’t have much of a choice. Emily blew past her going into the turns—tires squealed and wheels turned, as the Monster and the Porsche blew around the first of the switches, but Emily had her lines dialed in. Ash couldn’t pass, even though she tried on the third, but she came out of the last turn dead on Emily’s bumper.

“And in a surprise turnaround, Blues is leading coming out of the first switches!”

Ash grinned. “Two can draft, Em.” With the Porsche ahead of her disrupting the air and giving her a slipstream, the Monster’s V8 pushed it easily. She tried to pass on the inside of the chicane, driving entirely on the red and white stripes, but Emily did the same on the second, leaving them in a dead heat as they barreled towards the final turns, with Ash on the outside.

“Ho-Ho! This could be good. Better get out my camera.”

Ash grinned, licking her lips. She might need a mistake to make this one—ah! The mistake was made! Emily couldn’t get the Porsche to drift in the tight space between the side of the track and the Monster, and she had to slow down hard to make the turn. The red car fell behind the gray Monster, and Ash took the lead, accelerating away. The red car followed her through each turn, gaining because Emily somehow managed to stay in her slipstream through the rest of the turns.

“Nice!” Ash called out, stomping the gas as they hit the final straightaway.

“I’m not done yet,” Emily called back.

The red Porsche roared right in behind her, and Ash scowled. She cut close to the chicane again.

Too close! Her front-right tire ate grass, and she erked as the difference in surface caught her off-guard. She avoided a spin, but it slowed the Monster, and Emily popped off to the other side, the Porsche’s engine roaring.

“Oh no. Oh no you don’t!” Ash thought.

Ash floored it—Porsche and Merkur roared, and Jimmy laughed. “You taught her too well, King! Looks like it’s gonna be a photo finish after all!”

Ash glanced to her left—Emily was almost hunched over the steering wheel, focused dead ahead. Ash’s eyes returned to the track, and she floored it, letting the engine drift into the redline a bit before shifting down to fourth.

Then they were over the finish line, and she could almost hear the “Ca-CHICK!” of the camera, Jenny waving the checkered flag like a maniac.

“Holy hell, that was incredible,” Jenny shouted.

“Yeah, it was. The winner by a front quarter panel—The King!”

Ash and Emily slowed the cars, bringing them to a stop in the pits, with Jimmy and Jenny running towards them. She shut her car off and unbuckled, getting out. Emily came running towards her, and she caught her in a hug and a laugh, adrenaline and endorphins running through her. They hugged, tightly.

Then Jimmy belted up, laughing and holding his PDA, which had the digital image on it. Emily’s bumper was ahead of Ash’s front wheel-well, but Ash was over the finish line first. “That was an incredible run. You were ahead by about a hundredth of a second.”

Ash pulled her helmet off, laughing, the wind running over her hot head. Emily pulled hers off as well, heaving and laughing. “Well, we definitely know the Porsche is working at a hundred and ten percent!”

Ash laughed, and lay back against her car, holding a hand over her heart. “I thought for sure you had me there.”

“I thought I did, too!” Emily smirked, and closed her eyes. “Whew… I need to calm down… Heheh.”

Ash laughed softly, and smiled. “How fast were we going, anyway?”

“My radar gun had you going at about a hundred and thirty. The whole run took four minutes fifty.”

“Nice…” Ash grinned, and Emily chuckled.

“Uh-oh.” Jenny spoke up. “Your boss is headed this way, and he doesn’t look happy.”

“Fitz?”

The race coordinator was approaching them from a door next to the vehicle gate, Ash’s and Jenny’s mothers flanking him. They looked… shocked. Mr. Fitzgerald looked furious, however.

“Uh-oh. I’ve seen that look on his face before. That’s his ‘I told you to do something and then you did it and now I’m angry about it’ look. You girls go and run to your parents, I’ll deal with Fitz. Just play it cool.

“Hey, Fitz!” Jimmy yelled, walking towards the approaching trio; Ash, Emily, and Jenny followed. “You shoulda seen these girls out here, they drive better than you do! They both placed!”

Ash’s mom ran ahead of Mr. Fitzgerald and Jenny the Elder. As Mr. Fitzgerald and Jimmy started to talk, escalating into heated tones, her mother held her shoulders, staring into her eyes. “Ash, are you crazy?”

“Uh, no.”

“Is that how you normally drive?”

“No? Just when I’m racing. I told you that already, didn’t I?”

Her mother shook her head, ignoring the déjà vu. “I can’t believe you did something like that. And Emily, too. You two could’ve been hurt!”

Emily rolled her eyes. “Mrs. Upton, we were fine. Ash knows what she’s doing, and she’s the one who’s teaching me. I had the car under control every single second.”

Ash’s mom looked back and forth between them, as if she wanted to yell at them—she settled for hugging them both, tightly. “My heart was in my throat when I saw your cars going sideways.”

Ash erked at the hug, which was crushing her chest, but Emily elaborated. “That’s called drifting. We did it on purpose. It saves speed going around a corner.”

“You two do such crazy things…” She pressed her lips to Ash’s forehead. “Was it worth it?”

“Are you kidding? This is quite possibly one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.”

“No! Absolutely not! If the insurance company hears of this, it’s our heads!” Mr. Fitzgerald’s exclamation drowned out Ash’s mother’s response, and the three turned to look at them.

“Fitz, stop yellin’ at me. I did just what you said: you told me to take ’em out here, let them qualify, and then if they weren’t likely to get killed, let ’em race.”

“I had no idea they had cars that fast or could drive them the way they did!”

“Oh, so it’s okay to let unskilled girls drive unprepared vehicles around the track, but when they’re proper drivers and have good cars, it’s not?”

“Yes! I didn’t think they’d get faster than sixty!”

Ash rolled her eyes, and Jimmy shook his head—he literally put his foot down, raising it and dropping it. “Fitz, I put up with a lot of your crap around here ’cause I like the course, but I’m not gonna put up with being yelled at for doing exactly what you told me to do. You told me to qualify them and let them race, so I did.”

Mr. Fitzgerald looked quite upset at being told off. “I can find another race boss, you know!”

“No, Fitz, you can’t. We both know I’m the only schmuck around who’d take your crap for the crap you pay me. And if you fire me for doing just what you told me to do, I’ll tell everybody. Nobody’ll work for you again.”

The argument looked like it was about to escalate, and Ash nudged her mother; her mother nodded, interrupting the fight with an “A-Hem!” She stalked towards the fight—Mr. Fitzgerald turned to her, while Jimmy scooted out of the way. “Am I understand, Mr. Fitzgerald, that you are given to reneging on agreements and arrangements because they turn out to not suit you?”

“Uh… no, that’s not what I’m saying.”

“It sounds like you’re saying ‘I told you something would happen, and then it turned out somehow I didn’t expect, and I’m trying to change things in mid-flow’. That’s not the kind of thing we like to hear when we’re currently in the middle of arranging a huge media event that’s already been announced.” She waited a beat. “That’s not what you’re saying, is it, Mr. Fitzgerald?”

“No, of course.”

“Good.” Ash’s mother smiled at him. “Is there anything else?”

“No… I need to talk to the caterers. Excuse me.” Mr. Fitzgerald turned and left.

Jimmy laughed. “Hah! That was a good one, lady. I’ve never seen him backpedal so fast. Anyway, I doubt he’s gonna let us run any more today, so I’m gonna go pack everything up and open the gate. Good meetin’ y’all.”

Ash chuckled, then she frowned. “Where’s Jenny?”

“I’m behind you.” Ash looked around—Jenny was standing next to her mother, smiling at the display. “That was funny. But I think we should probably get out of here before Mr. Fitzgerald finds another excuse to get mad at us.”

“That sounds like a good idea. Come on, Jenny, we need to get this deal sorted,” Marie said. “Hmmph,” replied the elder Jenny, but she followed Ash’s mother anyway.

Jenny was the first to ask, “Well, what now?”

“I dunno. My mom’s home?”

“I’m hungry, but… hell, I don’t even feel like going to Marco’s.” Emily grinned. “Oooh, Ale House!”

Ash brightened. “Good idea.”

“All right. And what then?” Jenny asked.

Ash shrugged, which made Emily grin. “Wellll, since we have this party thing Friday, I guess we teach Ash to walk in heels now.”

Ash groaned, despair sinking in. “You’re evil. You know that?”

“Dead man walkin’!” Emily and Jenny shared a laugh as Ash sighed, hanging her head and walking back to the Monster XR.

On The Highway, Passing Truro, 2:39 PM

“Mmm… That was awesome, wasn’t it?” Jenny grinned at Emily who returned the grin, her hands firmly around the Porsche’s wheel.

“You have no idea. It was incredible.”

“Better than sex?” Jenny’s retort was meant as a tease, but Emily’s face became poker. “Er… bad topic? Something change between that night and today?”

“No… no, nothing changed. It’s… it’s different. Context.”

“Oh… Ooooh, okay, dropping that subject.”

“Thanks,” Emily murmured. She looked ahead at Ash’s orange hair visible through the rear window of the Monster XR.

“So, it was good? Driving like that?”

“Yeah. Yeah it was. It really, really was.” She grinned again, remembering. “It was incredible.”

“I wish I could’ve gotten a drive.”

“Sorry. Maybe next time?”

“Maybe… Will you two… you know… show me how to drive like you do?”

“I… Well, why not? You’d need a real car, though. Or to get that convertible claptrap of yours turned into a real car, but I wouldn’t hope for anything from it.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“The Lexus SC is a convertible. That’s a death knell right there.”

“Um…”

“You’re wondering why?” Jenny nodded. “All right. For one thing, I already explained power-to-weight to you, right?”

“Well… not so I understood it.”

“All right. Um… Okay, do you know what I mean when I say the difference between power and speed?” Jenny nodded in response. “Okay. Well, it’s simple. The less weight you have to move, the more effect power gets you. This car can drive strong with one or even two people in it. But if you chained another car to the frame, it would move a lot slower, right?”

“Yeah. Ash explained this already, with how a bulldozer can pull five tons and a car won’t.”

“Well, sort of. Anyway, cars do have weight. The less weight you have, the higher your horsepower-per-ton ratio is. The higher the ratio is, you can get the same performance with less power, or more performance with the same power.”

“Okay… yeah, I understand that. Less weight, means the car moves faster and responds better, right?”

“Yep. Well, convertibles are a lot heavier than normal hardtops. The machinery to do the conversion is really, really heavy, and your Lexus SC is a metal hardtop convertible, which means it has all the weight of a normal hardtop, plus the convertible equipment. And worse, chopping the top off of a car wrecks its rigidity.”

“Rigidity? My car doesn’t twist, you know. It’s solid.”

“You wouldn’t notice it. Look, the top of the car is part of the frame; it adds structural integrity. When you simply chop the top off, you seriously compromise that structural framework. This is bad in and of itself, since a powerful enough engine can actually make a car’s frame twist. It can even make one wheel come off if it twists the car enough. But even more, to restore rigidity, most manufacturers simply weld on long steel beams to the bottom of the frame, which, you can guess…”

“Is heavy as hell.”

“Right! Some convertibles can be okay—a Miata, for one. The ones that are designed from the ground-up as convertibles, instead of being chopped-off normal cars, can have rigid framework without chop-job steel beams, but the conversion equipment is still heavy.”

“Okay… Hm. Crap. So my car…”

“Would not be a good choice for the Mountain, or the Track.”

“Hmmm… How am I going to talk my mom into buying me another new car?”

“It doesn’t have to be new, you know. The car Ash is driving? It’s almost as old as she is. And my 240SX was built in ninety-four.

Jenny looked scandalized. “You own cars more than ten years old?”

“Well, yeah. My 240SX wasn’t the fastest car around when I got it, but Ash and I have done a lot of work on it, and I had a turbo installed. She’s pretty fast now, and handles like a dream… Not nearly as fast as this Porsche, true, but it does handle better.”

“Huh… so… if I sold my Lexus… what would you recommend?”

“Depends on how much you’re talking about, Jenny. I got my 240SX on the cheap, but I had to do a lot of work to it. Watch out, if the tuner bug bites you, you’re going to be spending a lot of money on your baby.”

“Huh… so…”

“Well, buy used, Jenny. You can get a fast car at a discount price, and stuff reputation. If you’re serious about driving, your reputation comes from your performance, not whether you bought your ride new or used.”

“Okay, okay. Say I could offload my Lexus for… I dunno, eighteen, nineteen grand. I could probably come up with another five, if I begged my mom and pointed out the fact that I make as much doing shoots for her as she makes doing corporate work.”

“About twenty five grand? You want an oh-two Nissan 350Z. Well, I would want it, I can’t tell you what to want.”

“What else could I get?”

Emily shrugged. “Depends on what you like in a car. Ash worships handling over raw horsepower, which is understandable since we race on the Old Road on the Mountain near Tempest. That kind of rubs off on me, too. I guess you could get something like a Ford Mustang GT, a Mitsubishi 3000GT—one of Ash’s friends drives one. They’re also sold as a Dodge Stealth, if you want an American name.”

Jenny hrmmmed. “Dodge… Don’t they make a car called the Viper?”

“The Dodge Viper SRT-10, yes. You’re way off on the price range, though.”

“By how much?”

“Four times what we’re talking. They sell at about a hundred grand.”

Jenny winced at that. “This is so confusing. How do you keep this all straight in your head?”

“You just… Well, you just do. Look, I got an idea. I don’t think you’d pick it up from reading a textbook like I did, but how about a magazine? We can drop by a convenience store on the way back, buy a copy of Motor Trend or something.”

“All right. Do you think that will help?”

“It will, I think.”

“Thanks. Hey, Ash is putting her helmet back on.”

Emily peered ahead and indeed, her orange-haired tuner was putting her helmet on. Emily reached into the back, but Jenny had gotten there first, and pulled their helmets out of the boxes. She helped Emily put hers on, and put her own on.

“This is convenient,” Ash’s voice came over the radio connection.

Jenny giggled. “A lot better than driving on a cell phone, for sure.”

“Okay. Anyway, what’s the plan? Ale House then home for the torture?”

“Actually, I was thinking we could stop by a convenience store first. I want to get a magazine.”

“Okay. What for?”

“It’s a surprise. Tell you when we get there, okay?”

“Okay… This should be good.”

“I think you’ll like it.”

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 4:13 PM

Click. Click. Click. Ash wobbled with each step. “I feel ridiculous,” she complained.

“Well, you look ridiculous too, wearing a pair of your mother’s heels with your normal get-up. Still, balance is important, not looking good here.”

From the table, Jenny chuckled softly. “Yep. Looking good is important on Friday, so getting your balance tonight is important. You don’t want to have to hang off your date’s arm all night like last time, do you?”

“Ugh…” Ash scowled, grabbing the refrigerator door’s handle to hold onto as she slowly turned around, glaring at Jenny. “I’d just as soon do without a date, to be honest.”

“It’s kind of a prerequisite. You get used to it.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of…”

“Why are you worried, anyway? You’re almost certain to get Kay Wheeler again. He and your mom are thick as thieves.”

Ash scowled. “I dunno. Besides, I was gonna ask my mom to send him with Emily.”

Emily’s eyes half-lit up, and she blushed slightly.

Ash grinned. “Ahh. Still crushing over him?”

“Maybe a teensy bit,” Emily admitted, holding up her thumb and finger about a millimeter apart. “He’s totally uninterested,” Jenny interjected.

“I know. It’s just…” She pulled out a seat, sighing, as Ash slowly walked towards the other side of the room. “Hell, I mean, I even have Ash and all, and I’d never want anyone else, but… but… y’know, he was like, my idol when I was an adolescent.”

“What kind of girl actually calls herself at a younger age an adolescent?” Jenny asked.

“What kind of girl reads Motor Trend?” Ash pointed at the magazine in Jenny’s hand. “And what kind of girls race cars they wrench on themselves?” She jerked a thumb at herself, with a pinkie pointing at Emily.

Jenny laughed, putting the magazine down. “Okay, okay, you’ve made your point.”

“Say,” Ash said, feeling as though a light bulb had snapped on in her head. “Why can’t we go together?” She waggled the thumb and pinkie. “Me and Emily. That would let you take Kay, right?”

Jenny smirked, shaking her head. “Doesn’t work that way. For one thing, I thought you still hadn’t come out to your mom?”

Ash blushed, as she grabbed the sink. “Oh yeah… that.”

“It’s not so bad. If you’re lucky, you’ll get someone who’s as boring and vapid as, well… me, and you can lose him pretty easily, especially if you start talking ‘car’ while popping open the hood of something nice.”

“All right. I guess I’ll try that.”

“Just put on a smile for the cameras. It can be a pain, but…” Jenny grinned. “I guess I’d better teach you two to do that, too. Need a mirror…”

“Oh Jeez,” Ash complained, realizing it was going to be a long day…

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 6:03 PM

“How come you two get to play and I’m still stuck walking around in these damn things?” Ash groused as she walked—actually walked—across the living room, behind the couch. Meanwhile Emily and Jenny, who had taken to using a Nissan 350Z and Ford Mustang GT in the game respectively, roared through another circuit of Bayview’s highway, Jenny in the lead.

“Because both of us know how to walk in heels, and if you fall, you’ll look stupid,” Emily replied with a giggle, as she slid next to Jenny’s rear quarter panel. Although Jenny let out a cry of indignation and attempted to evade, she couldn’t prevent herself from being spun out by Emily’s PIT maneuver, and T-Boned by a box van to boot. The car and van flew, and Emily soared on ahead with a laugh.

Ash shook her head, sighing and walking to the stairs, and back to the kitchen door. “I hate the weird way I have to walk in these. It makes my ass bump.”

“That’s the point, Ash. They’re supposed to make you walk sexily.”

Ash heaved out a sigh. “I know, I know. It doesn’t make it not stupid. Shove over,” she murmured, and Emily squished into Jenny, letting Ash sit where she was. “You like the Mustang, eh?”

“It’s sluggish getting up to speed, but I love the way it looks and sounds.”

“Did you fill it with sound stuff?”

“Uh, yeah?” Jenny replied.

“That could be why…” She loaded her own Mustang—carbon fiber everything, and absolutely no extraneous visual parts. “Let’s go.”

“You’re on,” Jenny smirked, as the race started again.

Engines roared as the cars burnt off the starting line, and the pair were off. Jenny was getting better, but she wasn’t good enough to seriously challenge Ash. By the time Ash’s mom got home, the scores were seven for Ash, five for Emily, and four for Jenny. Ash handed her controller off to Jenny as the door opened, getting up and letting Emily and Jenny duel as she opened the door.

Her mother huffed in, carrying a number of large, heavy bags, shaking her head. “Whew. It’s getting colder and windier out there. We might have a white Christmas after all, at this rate.”

“That’s good,” Ash smiled, shutting the door for her mother, who walked straight into the kitchen to drop her things.

“Ah… Anyway, I called the insurance company and the DMV today, and… Are you wearing my heels?”

Emily snickered from the couch as Ash answered. “Uh, yeah. I’ve been practicing in them all afternoon.”

Her mother brightened into a broad smile, and laughed. “That’s good! That’s very good.” She grinned, and sat in the recliner, with a sigh.

Ash sat back on the couch, sighing. “These things are really uncomfortable.”

“Yeah… They’re made that way. You get used to it.”

Ash scowled at that thought, which got another laugh from her mother. “Let me guess, you’d rather wear drag if given the choice?” Ash flushed furious red, and her mother grinned. “Some girls can pull off the suit and tie look really well. Still, I’ve already got some dresses on the line.”

Ash sighed, which provoked another giggle from Emily, as she soared over the finish line, with Jenny quite literally on her bumper. “Oh really? Is it red?”

“In fact it is. Hers is, anyway. Yours is blue and white.”

“Did you see what I’ve got?”

“Unfortunately, no. Your mother’s guarding it like the goose that laid the golden egg. I do have it on good authority that it is white, though.”

“Oh really? That’s good.”

“Yep. This is gonna be a lonnng couple of days,” Ash thought. “What were you saying about the DMV, mom?”

“Oh, right! Yes, I called the insurance company and told them that I need to insure a car again, and told the DMV about how you fixed a car that was totaled out and that I needed to know what would need to be done. The DMV says they’ll have an inspector look it over when I bring it in and can issue new plates, but I haven’t heard back from the insurance company. I think we might manage to squeeze that in tomorrow.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“So, anybody thought about dinner yet? Any ideas?”

“We could get a pizza somewhere.”

“That sounds good. Or I could cook.”

“Maybe not such a bad night after all…”

Marie wound up cooking, and the rest of the night was mainly spent with Ash grumbling under the tutelage of her mother and Jenny, being coached in how to walk in heels. Emily already knew, but both of them needed to be coached to put on a smile while they were feeling angry or miserable.

“I think she’s got it,” Marie had exclaimed, when she saw Ash smiling at the refrigerator while they were coaching Emily. It was exhausting, and it made her angry, but at least when it was over, sometime near nine, she had collapsed onto the couch gratefully, kicking the heels off. Emily and Jenny had packed in on either side of her, and they played Need for Speed until ten.

Jenny had asked to stay again, but was foiled when her mother called her cell phone, demanding she come home. She did, leaving Emily and Ash to go to bed, promising to return to coach them again the next day.

Ash And Emily’s Bedroom, Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 11:59 PM

“Ash?”

Ash had just finished pulling her shirt off. She looked over at Emily, who had already gotten her bra off, and was sitting on the side of the bed. “Yeah, Em?”

Emily’s cool fingers wrapped around Ash’s upper arm. “Thank you, Ash. I had fun today.”

Ash smiled in return, reaching behind herself and unclasping the bra; she dropped it, hardly bothering to disdain it even, and sat next to Emily, who leaned into her. “I’m glad,” she murmured, wrapping her hand around Emily’s shoulders. Her blue-haired friend and lover smiled, closed her eyes, and reached over to turn off the lamp, plunging the room into darkness.

“Mmmm. I’m so glad,” she repeated, leaning into Emily, inhaling with her nose buried in Emily’s blue hair, and sighing happily. “God, my feet hurt, though.”

“Lie back.”

“Hmmm?”

Emily’s hand pressed into the center of Ash’s chest, gently pushed her back, and Ash lay back on

the bed without complaint. She heard Emily stand, and the rustle of her pulling her pants off. Then Emily’s fingers found the waistband of Ash’s jeans, and pulled them off her (her panties as well) in one fell pull.

“Em?” Ash blinked, and gasped when Emily’s fingers touched her feet. She knew she was blushing, as Emily started to rub.

She murmured, “Tell me if I’m hurting you, please…”

Ash trembled, and let out a quiet moan. “A-Ah… that…”

“Does it hurt?” Emily’s voice was filled with apprehension, and Ash moaned again.

“No… it’s… good,” she murmured, and Emily giggled. The bed shifted as Emily sat on it, and Ash laid her head back into the pillow.

“Wh-Why are you?”

“Aren’t I allowed?” Emily pinched her little toe.

“I never said that…”

“Then why ask?”

“I… um…”

Emily giggled before replying, “Because I want to. Because I love you. Because you’re my best friend, and my girlfriend. Besides, isn’t this the kind of thing you always imagined the girl should do for you?”

Her face flushed as she dwelled upon that thought. “Um… Jeez, you say it that way, it makes me feel like an ass.”

Emily giggled, reached up and lightly swatted Ash’s hip. “Ash, you are an ass… when you start trying to be macho and stuff. I like it when you don’t try. When you just do, when you’re so stupidly noble without posing or posturing. Like when you picked up that crowbar, or the way you drove so fast, even when there was an inch of actual ice on the ground, when you thought we were going to be late and you wanted to get me…”

“I honestly thought you were going to yell at me about that,” Ash murmured back, as Emily laced her fingers into Ash’s toes.

“No, Ash. I thought about it, but… you know, we rub off on one another. And I like that…” She laughed, and crawled up Ash, lying atop her, one of her legs between Ash’s, her breasts pressed pleasantly into the tuner’s, their faces so close. Ash kissed her, softly, and Emily smiled back, visible in the pale moonlight.

“I’m not supposed to like that kind of thing, you know. You riding to my rescue like some kind of orange knight. But I do. It’s so…” She shook her head, and curled her arms on Ash’s chest, above her breasts, laying her chin on her forearm. Ash wrapped her arms around Emily in return, one hand in the small of her back, the other between her shoulder blades.

“What is it?”

“It’s so you, Ash. You can be annoying, when you’re trying to assert your macho-ness and masculinity, but when you don’t try…” She leaned in, kissing Ash’s cheek, softly. “You’re capable of such bizarre extremes, Ash. There have been times you’ve frustrated me, or pissed me off so much that I didn’t want to see you. And now… there’s now.”

Ash put a hand in Emily’s hair, gently cupping her head. “I… Do I make you happy, Em?”

“Yes, you do. Knowing you, being your friend, your lover… Ash, it feels like you’ve awakened something in me.”

“I have.”

“Hmm?” Emily tilted her head, and Ash smiled.

“Whenever you’re with me… Well, you’ve braver, more assertive. You’re willing to take bigger risks than I think you would have before the Misfile, Emily.”

“Like getting in your mother’s Porsche and standing next to you on the start?”

“Exactly. Your cornering’s come a long way since September, too.”

“Yeaaaah. Thanks to you, and all those nights on the Mountain.”

She leaned in, nipping at Ash’s ear, causing the tuner to sigh, happily.

“You can do this, Emily.”

“Do what?”

“Race. Tune. You’re good at it. I’ll be disappointed if you don’t take King of the Mountain.”

Emily snickered softly. “And I’ll be disappointed if you don’t beat Kate.”

“Some day I will. I just need to get more speed out of the Monster XR…”

“What about… another car, Ash?” Ash scowled, and Emily grinned. “I love the Monster XR as much as you do, Ash. But you’ve put a five-liter V8 in it and it still can’t catch her.”

Ash shrugged her shoulders, and leaned up, rubbing her cheek on Emily’s. “I think I could’ve beat her, if I could have just blocked her pass… But I don’t think I can get ahead again.”

“Why not?”

“I think her attention was… divided, that last race.”

“Hmmmph. Well, that settles it, then. We either have to do something to the Monster XR that’ll give it the power to catch Kate’s Jag, or we have to get you a faster car somehow.”

Ash snickered softly, and rolled to the side, kissing Emily’s lips, tenderly. “Heh… Listen to us; we’re naked in bed, and we’re talking about my car.”

Emily grinned, and she reached down, clasping her fingers into Ash’s. “I know. That makes me… hopeful, actually.”

“Why?”

“Because I know I love you. Because I know it’s not just another pointless teenage crush, like I had on Kay. We’re talking about the things that bring us together, and about each other, and not, you know, rushing to orgasm as fast as possible.”

Ash felt her cheeks blushing when Emily uttered the word ‘orgasm’, and she sighed, a bit unsettled. “Em… am I holding you back?”

“What? How do you mean?”

“I mean… um… are you…. you know, ‘ready’, to go further, and I’m holding you back?”

“Ash, I’m ready, but I’m not impatient.” She rolled Ash onto her back, lying on her side against her, and Ash smiled when Emily caressed her stomach. “I know you’re nervous, Ash. I know you’re nervous about sex, and sexuality. And I know it must be terrifying for you, on some level.”

“It is.”

“Mmm.” Emily laid her head on Ash’s shoulder. “I… I wish I better understood how you’re handling, Ash. I just…” She blew her breath out, and sighed. “I lost two years, maybe an inch of height and maybe just a bit of cup size, but that was all. My body is basically the same now, at sixteen again, as it was when I was nearly eighteen. You not only lost a penis and two testicles, you got a new vagina, a new pair of breasts, and a brand-new bouquet of hormones you’ve never experienced before. I… I feel like I’m fumbling about, trying to help you through something I don’t quite understand.”

Ash smiled at Emily’s confession, and reached down, taking her hand and squeezing her fingers, which made Emily smile. “Emily, you’re more of a help than you know. You’re an incredible help to me, you’re… You’re the reason I survived the Misfile sane. Goodness knows I’d have murdered Rumisiel long ago if it was just me and him.” Emily giggled softly, and kissed Ash’s shoulder. “It’s… it’s scarier than going through puberty the first time, you know? Because now I’m in mid-lurch in an unfamiliar body, and once a month I bleed from the crotch and get emotions so strong…”

“Ash, are they really stronger? Or do you just have a harder time clamping down?”

The orange-haired tuner let out a chuff of air, looking up at the ceiling, then over to the side, over Emily’s shoulder, at the darkened night sky. “Honestly, Em, I don’t know… I… Aw, fuck.”

“What’s wrong?”

Ash groaned softly. “I’m an idiot, of course. I didn’t think we’d be over a week, so I…”

“Forgot to bring your pads, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. Damn it, I’m due for that most wonderful of feminine features sometime next week, too.” Emily nuzzled her head into Ash’s neck. “If it’s any consolation, I didn’t think to bring my tampons, either… And I’m due about the same time, too.”

“Huh… I guess I feel like I’m in good company, then.”

“Yep. We’re both chowder-heads, I guess… Mmmm. Creepy though it may be to discuss menstrual flow, I’ve gotta wonder… We started off-key, didn’t we? Staggered, as it were. Now we’re both in the same week. Do you think that effect where female roomies can get their periods at the same time is happening to us?”

Ash felt cooler—she went pale. “Ugh, I hope not…”

“Why is that?” Emily raised her head, sounding a bit miffed.

“No offense, but we can both get more than a little cranky… I don’t want to get all emo and yell something I’d regret at you, you know? And it would be doubly worse if we were both getting all angry at the same time.”

Emily smiled, and leaned over, tilting Ash’s head. Ash’s heartbeat sped up as Emily kissed her, slowly; she spread her lips when she felt Emily’s tongue on them, and trembled when she tasted her girlfriend’s tongue. The kiss parted, slowly, and Ash gasped softly at the sensation. “Mmmm…. Mmmm, thank you.” She reached up, caressing Emily’s cheek, and Emily smiled back at her. Then she sighed, and rolled onto her back, laying her head on Ash’s shoulder again.

“I kind of envy you, too. I mean, I know that’s horrible to say and all… But you’ve been, well, both sides of the tracks. You can shed light on a lot of life and gender’s little mysteries, I bet.”

“Like what?”

“Well…” Emily sighed, softly, and smiled. “I dunno. I’d feel stupid asking. And it’s like… how can you answer my questions without a common frame of reference?”

“What are you trying to ask, Emily?”

Emily took in a breath. “Okay, in all seriousness, what’s different about orgasming as a girl as opposed to as a boy?”

“… Oh, Jeez… um… I dunno… The main thing that comes to my mind is that I never had a, you know, ‘wet’ dream before…” Ash felt her cheek—definitely hot. “That night, it was so… so strongly emotional. I felt so… so jealous about your date with Casper, I…” She bit her lip.

“You what, Ash?”

“I… Oh man, I’m gonna sound pathetic saying this. I cried myself to sleep.”

“You… Oh, oh Ash, why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because… because I knew you didn’t want it. Because I didn’t want to ruin our friendship. I…”

She took in a shuddering breath. “I just cried there, thinking about you. And, well… I had that dream; I told you about it.” Emily nodded, and squeezed Ash’s hand, softly.

“Mmmm…” Emily murmured softly, and closed her eyes. “I… well, before I met you, I never had a sex dream that made me orgasm, but… I had ones that made me wake up really, really badly aroused.”

Ash hemmed softly; more than a little curious, titillated, and maybe aroused. “Like what?”

“Oh… heh, no… I can’t say; I’m too embarrassed.” Emily smiled, blushing warmly, and Ash grinned, leaning over, kissing her cheek. “That is how I… well… first started… you know…”

“Yeah… How, exactly?”

“Er… Ash, did you just ask me how I started… masturbating?” Emily sounded a bit incredulous; but her voice was also tinged with anticipation.

Ash looked to the side, and blushed. “Um… yeah, I did.”

“Well…” Emily blushed, and closed her eyes. “Um… okay. Jeez, um…” She nervously chuckled, and sighed. “Well, okay. Um… I was about fourteen or so. I forget when exactly, sometime slightly before my fourteenth birthday, I think. I’d read all the books, you know, like, years before, before I started really hitting puberty, even. I, um… I got excited one day, daydreaming up at that poster.” She rolled her head to the side. “And one word of this to Kay Wheeler, and I promise, I will never, ever, speak to you again.” Ash made a ‘zipping’ motion over her lips, and Emily nodded. “Thank you. So, I just got excited, so, um… I tried reading a novel to take my mind off it, but it had some… Well, the protagonist was a policewoman named Eve Dallas, and there were some very good scenes in it between her and her husband. It seemed like everywhere I turned almost, I was finding depictions of sex, and I was… Well, to tell the truth, I was going bonkers with desire, okay?”

Ash nodded, and Emily bit her lip. “So, well… I, um… researched the topic, you could say…”

“Right. On the Internet?”

“Yeah…” Emily sighed. “The topic of masturbation, I mean.”

“Wait, you were going stir-crazy horny, you had the whole Internet at your fingertips, and you actually researched how to masturbate?”

“Yes, yes I did, okay?”

Ash turned her head, nuzzling Emily’s cheek. “That’s my Emily.”

Emily blinked, and smiled at the soft, tender touch. “Okay, yeah…” She smiled, and slid her legs to the side, rubbing her foot on Ash’s; Ash rubbed back, and Emily let out a sigh, sinking her back into the bed, her head into Ash’s shoulder.

“So I got into the shower. You know how I showed you how to sit down in the shower and just relax?” Ash nodded. “Well, you see… I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how best to masturbate in the shower. If I had the bath on, it didn’t feel right, but I couldn’t… well, keep my balance standing upright. So I eventually sat down, but with the shower on. I laid back, started rubbing myself with my fingers…” She sighed, softly, after biting her lip.

“Was it… um…”

“Good? Yes, very.” Emily let out a slow shudder, biting her lip. “I… It took me a lot longer to start… to actually try a finger in myself, but… Yes, yes, it was good.”

Emily rolled to her side, looking into Ash’s eyes. “What about you?”

“Me?” Ash gulped, audibly.

“Yeah. Will you tell me about your first time, um, self-discovering?”

“Oh god… I… I opened the door to that one, didn’t I?”

“You opened it, held it, and said ‘ma’am’ as I walked in.” Emily grinned, biting Ash’s ear, which drew a moan from Ash.

“Okay, okay… um… phew… Okay.” She took a deep breath. “I guess it started… about the same time? When I was mid-thirteen, towards fourteen? I, um… I’d gone a whole day in school, really, really horny. I kept having to carry my books in front of my crotch horny. I got home, I was going crazy, but I was in luck, dad was gone. I knew where he kept some dirty magazines, some Playboys. I, um…” Ash blushed hotly. “Well, I’d read those books too, I had a fairly good idea, you know? I found one of those girly mags, I took it to my bedroom… I…” She bit her lip, blushing hotly. “Well, you know… I started rubbing myself. It was scary at first, but got really good really quickly, and, well…”

“Wait, on your bed? No towels or…”

“Yeah, on my bed, no towels or anything. Yeah, I know, that was really shortsighted of me. I didn’t think about what was going to happen.”

“Heh… What’d you do?”

“Nothing at first, I was a bit freaked. I just… um… slept on the other side of the bed that night.”

“Ew…”

“Hey, I didn’t say anything mean about you.”

“That’s true. Sorry, Ash.” Emily smiled sheepishly. “What’d you do?”

“I waited until the next morning and washed my sheets. I lied about having a wet dream.”

“Oh…” Emily chuckled. “Wait, I thought you didn’t sleep naked?”

“I didn’t, not until these past few days. That’s why I think my dad didn’t believe me, but he didn’t say a word.”

Emily snickered softly. Then she grinned, nuzzling Ash’s cheek. “So, were you cut or uncut?” Perturbed, Ash blinked. “W-What’s it matter to you?!” Her face burned, and Emily grinned. “Heh, just wondering…”

Her blush lightening, Ash bit her lip. “Um… uncut. Why did you want to know?”

“Mmmmh. No clue… Maybe I wanted to give you a bit of a hard time…” She grinned, and Ash groaned.

“That was horrible.”

Emily grinned even wider, kissing Ash’s cheek, softly.

“So, um… If you do care, you must… um… have a preference?”

“Well, I’ve always thought uncut looked better… And I’ve read that the whole circumcision thing can bring a lot of problems.”

“Heh…”

“You’re biting your lip a lot. Are you okay?”

“I’m okay… I just…” She fidgeted, and Emily stroked her feet again, bringing a soft sigh. “You’re getting aroused from this talk?” Her tuner nodded, and Emily kissed her cheek. “You know… you could… well…”

Ash bit her lip, harder. “I tried once. Remember that time I mentioned I had a valid AdultCheck password? I tried… but I couldn’t quite bring myself to touch. I just…”

“You’re afraid it’ll cost you who you are?”

“I was… Maybe I still am.”

“I don’t think it will, Ash. At first it might have, but now… I’m certain that who you are is inside you, and I don’t mean hormonally or physiologically, either. You’re Ash, and you’re mine, and I’m yours. And I know you’re strong, and noble, and mighty inside, Ash.”

Ash smiled and turned her head. Their lips met, and Emily squeezed her hand.

“So… If you want to try, I’ll help you any way I can. If you don’t, I’ll wait, for as long as you need, and I don’t care what it costs me.”

“Costs you… Oh hell, I’m an ass.” Ash groaned, unpleasantly. “This talk has gotten you all bothered, hasn’t it?”

“I’d hardly call being aroused by talking about sexual exploration with my lover ‘bothered’, Ash… but yes, I am kind of hot,” Emily murmured.

“Yeah, you are, and beautiful, and sexy, and… Mmmm…” She closed her eyes as Emily kissed her, kissing back, warmly. “And you light my lips a-tingle…” Ash smiled, and nuzzled Emily’s cheek. “Does my kiss…”

“Yes, Ash. You feel like fireworks bursting in my chest.”

Ash closed her eyes. She bit her lip, and spread her legs, slowly sliding a hand down her stomach, laying it on her hips, above her mound. “Um…”

“Do you want me to show you what to do?”

“Wouldn’t that be creepy?”

“It would’ve been, months ago. Now?” She slid her hand down Ash’s arm, laying it over her hand.

“Do you want to try this, Ash? Are you afraid?”

“Yes… And yes,” was the answer, and Ash kissed Emily’s cheek. “I’m more terrified than any time I’ve ever gone down the Mountain, by this, by you… Afraid I’ll make you unhappy, or hurt you, or do something phenomenally, colossally stupid that nobody who grew up a girl would do and make you hate me… Afraid I’m hurting you by being so neurotic…”

Emily bared her teeth, and rolled up, over, sitting on top of Ash, her legs splayed to either side. Ash blushed harder as she realized that Emily’s vagina was pressing into the back of her hand. She froze, petrified, as Emily leaned down, staring into her eyes. The bookworm’s were not hard, but very sincere, and very strong, as she began whispering.

“Ash, you are not hurting me. You will not and cannot hurt me by making a mistake. If I don’t like something, if something pains me, or you’re doing something in a way that I think I should tell you about, I will tell you, I promise. And I expect—I demand the same from you. Do you understand? If I’m hurting you, or making you uncomfortable, I demand to know, so I can stop.” She leaned in, pressing her lips to Ash’s cheek. “I know you’re still learning a lot of things about yourself. To be honest, so am I. We both need someone we can trust, and Ash, I trust you. Do you trust me to not get angry at you?”

Ash nodded, slowly. “Um, Em… you’re… um…” She bit her lip, and flexed her hand. A wave ran over Emily’s face, replacing her sincere, almost desperate face with one of ambivalent pleasure.

“Sorry,” she murmured, slipping off of Ash. “I didn’t even think…”

“That’s okay. I guess you really do trust me, don’t you?” Emily nodded, and Ash smiled. “You can… um… put your hand back on mine… If you maybe guide me, I think I can… try…”

Emily nodded, and put her head on Ash’s shoulder. “I don’t need to see. Do you?”

“I think it would be better if I didn’t, actually.”

Emily put her hand back on Ash’s, and she smiled, slowly sliding Ash’s hand down. Her fingers traced the contours, sliding slightly to the side. She felt Ash’s mound with her fingertips, alongside Ash’s—Ash gasped, biting her lip.

“Okay?”

“Yeah… I’ll be okay… It’s just…”

“Was it good?”

“What?”

“Touching me.”

“… Yeah. Yeah, it was.” Ash blushed harder, as Emily slid her hand down. Emily’s hand was distinctly cooler than hers, and Ash felt her lips and eyes tremble. “Is this good, Ash?”

“I… Yes, but it’s… scary, too. Like, like I want to keep going, but a tiny part of my mind is throwing up a huge objection…”

“Do you want to?”

Ash nodded; Emily started to guide her hand up and down, pressing in gently. Stars blossomed behind her eyes, and Ash’s whole body trembled, arching. “A-Aaaaah!”

Emily smiled at the sound. “That was a good sound, wasn’t it?”

“Y-Yes… I… God, I haven’t felt this way in so long…”

Emily grinned, and kissed Ash’s cheek. “You know, the clitoris and the penis grow from more or less the same flesh. Does it… feel similar?”

Ash let out a soft, tense-with-pleasure laugh. “Always Emily, all the time…” She squeezed Emily’s other hand. “Something feels similar… straining… but I… I’m not sure what.”

“Is it this?” Emily’s fingertip stroked her, and Ash gasped, curling her hands and toes.

“Ah! God! That was… that was strong.”

Emily snickered softly in return, kissing her cheek. “That was just the top of the hood. You’ve got a really pronounced clitoral hood when you’re aroused.”

“Jeez, that wasn’t even…”

“Nope. It gets stronger.”

“God, I don’t think I’ll survive that…”

Emily smiled, and slid her hand down, further. Ash trembled as her lover stroked along her lips. Then it hit, as Emily’s fingertip gently tried to sink in. The Terror.

She cried out in fear, sitting up, curling. Emily’s hand was away from her before she got fully upright, and Emily was holding her from the side.

“Too far?”

“Too far!”

Ash trembled, her mind a chaotic wash of conflicting feelings: pleasure, the desire for the pleasure, her feelings for Emily, and the terrible fear, the terrible sense of alienation that had been suppressed for the most part.

“Oh… Oh, I… I feel so…” She let out a pure whine sound, and Emily squeezed her harder. “I feel like… like just after the Misfile. That… that brought it all back. The feeling of…”

“I’m sorry, Ash… God, can I help?”

Ash took a deep, shuddering breath, biting her lip, hard. Then she nodded, laying her head on Emily’s shoulder. Emily held her, tightly, kissing her cheek.

The feeling subsided after a minute or two; soon they lay back, Ash’s head on Emily’s shoulder. “Gah… That …”

“Are you okay, Ash?”

“… No, I’m not. I… I don’t like this feeling…”

“The… the arousal? The touch? Being in love?” Emily sounded afraid, but Ash shook her head.

“No, I love all of those. E-Especially being in love with you.” A hard breath escaped her lips, and she kissed Emily’s shoulder. “I don’t like the feeling of being conflicted… I don’t like feeling like an alien body-snatcher or something…”

“Why do you feel that way?”

“I don’t know… I…”

“Ash, try thinking of it this way. You are yourself.”

“… I’m… Ash?” she asked, confused.

“Ash Upton.”

“Ash… I am Ash Upton…” She smiled, as Emily kept reinforcing her.

“The hell-fire haired tuner who defies death on a weekly basis.” It cracked Ash into a grin, as she repeated it. “The child of Marie and Edward Upton, the best friend and lover of Emily McArthur,” she finished.

“You didn’t say ‘son’ or ‘daughter’…”

“That’s right, I didn’t. You’re a weird, special case. I think you, Ash, may be both.”

“Eh?”

“Ash, would you want the Misfile to be fixed, this instant?”

“Um…” A tiny voice in her was screaming ‘yes’, but the majority refused to render a verdict. “I can’t… I can’t say. Would you?”

“No, Ash. I wouldn’t.” Emily squeezed her hand. “Six months ago, I’d have said yes without a second thought. Now? I’d so much rather be here, in this bed with you, than in some dorm room in Harvard, staring out at the grounds, or studying my head off.” Ash smiled, softly, and Emily kissed her cheek. “If it helps, try thinking of the Misfile as an unintended opportunity. Okay, an opportunity that you didn’t exactly sign up for, but one nonetheless. You get to try out an entirely new body.”

“Huh… I dunno if I can think of it that way, but…” She looked at her hand. “Okay. I may not have wanted it, but it’s mine now. And damn it, I’m not going to be afraid of something that’s mine. I will not!” Ash clenched her small, girlish hand into a strong fist.

Emily giggled quietly, and kissed Ash’s cheek. “That’s my Ash. You just need to psych yourself up right, and you can turn any situation into an advantage for yourself, can’t you?”

Ash turned her head, kissing Emily’s cheek. “Couldn’t have done it without you.”

“What’s a best friend for, mmm?” Emily kissed back, and hugged Ash tightly, nestling into her neck. Ash sighed, heavily but contentedly.

“Can we try again? Another night?”

Emily nodded, and kissed her girlfriend’s cheek. “Will do.”

“… Does it hurt?”

“What?”

“Putting a finger… inside?”

“A little, if you do it wrong, and especially if it’s your first time.”

“Oh… Jeez, it’s gonna hurt, isn’t it?”

“Nope. Don’t forget, your body’s already been where you haven’t.”

“Oh… oh, shit, right…” Ash blushed, heavily. Then she shivered. “Yeeech. Now I’m all…”

“Heh… Don’t fret it, Ash. I’m sure girl-you dealt with your hymen and all long before James.”

“These things should come with instruction manuals.”

“What?”

“Vaginas.”

Emily snickered. “If it makes you feel better, since you’re driving used, it probably wouldn’t have had the manual anyway.”

Ash let out a chuckle at the comparison. “Point. Would’ve been nice if the previous owner had left some kind of documentation. I’ve spent a lot of hours looking for a diary, or a file, or anything on my computer, from before the Misfile. Not a damn thing that sheds any light on where she’s been that I haven’t, what she’s done, what she was like. I guess girl-me didn’t keep a diary, or a blog or anything, and must’ve wiped the hard drive shortly before Misfile day.”

Emily raised her head, with a bemused smile. “I guess that just means we get to work out all the kinks together, doesn’t it?” She pulled Ash in, and Ash kissed her, softly.

“Mmmmh… Em?”

“Yes?”

“Isn’t it really sissy of me to like this?”

“Like what?”

“The way you’re holding me?”

“Not. At. All.” She laid Ash’s head back on her shoulder, and ran her fingers through her hair. “And don’t start with that ‘girl of the relationship’ stuff on me, Ash. I wouldn’t take it even if you had a penis right now. Lovers are partners, just like best friends are. Got it?”

Ash smiled, and closed her eyes, relaxing, putting one hand in Emily’s. “Got it.”

“Then relax. And sleep on my shoulder, I don’t mind.”

Ash nodded, and sleep—merciful, warm, and dreamy—enveloped her, arms around Emily, Emily around her.

6. Beyond Electric Dreams

The very air itself was tense. Race day. The air was charged with the tension of an imminent contest of skill and speed. Emily stood beside a large wall. She smiled and looked at her hands—her fingernails were painted a bright crimson, and there was a gold band on the ring finger of her left hand.

“You ready?”

Emily smiled, turning her head to look. Ash was resplendent in a red and gold fire-retardant race-suit with a shield-like badge on her right breast—a suit like her own.

“Always.”

They took each other’s hands, fingers lacing. Almost in their own world—despite the loudspeaker booming in both French and English and the other drivers lined up on the wall—they leaned close. Ash’s lips met hers, briefly, but tenderly. Emily looked down at their laced hands.

Ash’s fingernails were also painted—a brilliant, mirror-reflective shade in which she could literally see her own reflection, and there was a matching gold band on her finger. Their hands parted, and they turned back. In the pits, on the other side of the raceway, sat a shining cherry-apple red car. It was waiting for them, the driver’s side door open. The hood in the rear was also open, with two figures leaning over it. The shorter one was in a red and gold suit like their own, the other in a differing suit, much more stained with grease. They stood up and closed the engine’s cover. The tall one was Harry, who gave a thumbs-up; the other was Missi, who crossed her arms and smirked before walking away.

“This is almost like a dream. There are butterflies in my stomach.”

Emily grinned, and Ash gave her hand a squeeze; she nodded, as a fanfare of trumpets blew, and the loudspeaker announced that the race began soon; and ordered drivers to their cars. The whole crowd strode towards the pits; Ash and Emily were the only two racers heading for one car. When they reached the sides, Ash asked, “Heads or tails?”

“Heads.”

Ash flipped a coin and caught it on the back of her hand. “Tails. I drive the first four.”

“Enjoy.”

Emily walked around to the passenger’s side and pulled open the door, getting in. Ash got into the driver’s side, putting a stick of plastic in the ignition harness. The instrument panel lit up, and Emily grinned. Then there was a knock on her window—she rolled it down.

Kate was standing outside. “You might want to see this.”

Kate handed in a small, portable screen, on which a broadcast was being displayed. She, too, was wearing a suit just like the racer’s. The broadcast on the screen she had handed over was in English, being spoken by a man with a British accent.

“We’re all very excited to be here at this, the eighty-eighth race here at 24 Hours of Le Mans. The field looks very competitive today; mostly cars from Mitsubishi, Mazda, and Nissan, who upset the field and took a surprise victory last year with their hydrogen-powered Skyline Z. The field has been dominated in recent years by Mazda’s electrics, but perhaps the most exciting entry on today’s field is the red car numbered 27.”

The picture on the screen zoomed in, showing a picture of the long, sleek, low-slung monster that Ash and Emily were sitting in.

“After last year’s spectacular crash, everybody figured it was curtains for Porsche’s reputation and chances of winning; including Porsche. The gasoline-sucking dinosaur’s days seemed over; until they came back for one last charge.”

The picture switched again, showing a picture of Ash, Emily, Harry, Kate, Missi, and Jenny, standing together in front of the car.

“Six racers from a small-town in Massachusetts pooled their money to buy a production Porsche 999 XT Turbo. Designed as a resurrection of the magnificent yet economically failed Carrera GT, the 999 XT Turbo featured a V-14, supercharged engine in the rear. Last year’s entry on the field suffered a fatal crash which was linked to a failure in the engine, which the electricity pundits pointed to as a clear indication that gas engines are dinosaurs, and should be extinct like them.

“Six people from Tempest with a dream of glory set out to prove them wrong. Although Porsche declined to enter their own car this year, these six, calling themselves ‘Team Tempest’, petitioned Porsche to race on their behalf. Porsche agreed, and supplied their latest and greatest motor as well—the prototype Krueger Rotary.

“A behemoth of an internal combustion engine, more powerful and reliable than the previous engine, the numbers on the Krueger are impressive; so impressive that Team Tempest has vowed not only to drive the whole race with two people in the car, but they have loudly boasted that they’ll be taking not only first place in the GT3 class their production Porsche belongs to, but will be taking the overall prize as the first-place winners.

“The debate is fierce; can a gasoline-gulping dinosaur, even one as advanced as the Porsche 999 XT, with the last and most advanced petrochemical engine ever designed, hold up in a field dominated by plug-and-go electrics and high-pressure hydrogen? One thing’s for sure; even if they don’t take the flag, they’re certainly a paragon of sticking to your guns.”

Emily smirked at the announcement, and handed the screen back out. Kate took it with a grin. “Dinosaurs, are we? If we win, they’ll be calling this the ‘day of the dinosaur’.”

Emily grinned back. “Yep…”

She leaned back, settling into the carbon-fiber racing seat; the stretching pulled the sleeve of her suit’s arm back, and she looked down at her watch, curiously, beginning to twist her arm.

Then Ash gasped, letting out a terrible scream of fear.

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, December 23, 2004, 6:21 AM

Emily’s eyes shot open, feeling the bed lurch beside her. Ash had shot straight up, waking up in a cold panic, heaving for breath. “Ash? Ash?” She sat up, putting her hand on Ash’s shoulder, getting the tuner’s attention. Ash turned her head, disoriented and confused; Emily hugged her. “Ash, are you okay? What happened?”

Her eyes, wild with panic, slowly focused on Emily. “I… I had a nightmare,” she confessed, shivering.

“Are you okay?” Emily hugged Ash a little more tightly—the tuner shivered again, but relaxed, leaning back slightly into her.

“I… um, yeah. I’m just… Yeah, I’m okay, Em.” She closed her eyes, taking a breath.

Emily brushed the orange hair from Ash’s face, wrapping her legs around Ash’s waist. “You’re upset… Ash?”

“I don’t want to talk about it. I’ll get over it.”

Emily frowned softly, and leaned up a bit, kissing her love’s cheek, softly. “What happened?”

“I said I don’t want to talk about it, Emily. Please, don’t ask me to. It’s too friggin’ creepy.” Her voice was quavering, and it tore at Emily’s heart to see Ash so torn.

Emily reached up; brushing Ash’s cheek, she was surprised to find tears on her face. “Ash?”

Ash pushed herself back to the headboard, leaving Emily in front of her. Emily found herself being pulled against Ash with the terrified strength of the tuner’s arms, crushing her into a desperate hug that hurt. Still, she grit her teeth; she pushed into Ash, hugging her just as tightly, instinctively feeling that Ash needed the closeness.

“Ash,” Emily whispered, an eternity of seconds later; the crushing hug loosened, and Ash took a deep, shuddering breath. So did Emily, and she kissed Ash’s cheek, softly, tasting the tears on her lips. “Are you okay?”

“… Don’t leave me, Emily.”

“What?”

“I… it was a stupid dream… never mind.”

“Did you dream that I’d… that I left you?”

Ash shook her head. “No… well…” She sighed. “I don’t… Look, it freaked me out, okay?”

“I can see that, Ash.” She laid her head on Ash’s shoulder. “Do you want to tell me about it?”

“I really don’t…” The orange-haired tuner let out a heavy sigh, and buried her head in Emily’s shoulder.

“Ash…” Emily began, worriedly, but thought better of it. She bit her lip, and put her head alongside

Ash’s. They held one another, closely. Emily could feel Ash’s chest rising under hers. Ash was still breathing hard, her hot breath escaping down Emily’s back. Minutes later, Ash still hadn’t relaxed, and Emily kissed her cheek. “I haven’t seen you this bad since your race with Kate, Ash. You’re terrified.” She waited a beat, then realized it might sound insulting. “You’re never scared, Ash. You’re the strongest person I know. Please, what’s got you so hurt?”

“I… I lost c-control… It hurt…”

“Of… You dreamed you had a crash?”

“No, I’ve had that dream before. This was…” She bit her lip, hard, closing her eyes; she felt wretched. “Please, I don’t want to say it. I feel too… too sissy…”

“It was sexual, wasn’t it?”

Ash opened her eyes, looking into Emily’s. She nodded. “How did you know?”

“Because I know you, Ash. Please… let me help.”

“How?”

In response, Emily hugged Ash again, and kissed her shoulder, softly. “Ash, you are not a sissy. But it will only hurt you to bottle up things that hurt you. You have feelings. Even if you’re afraid of showing them to the world, please, show them to me. Let me support you.”

Ash closed her eyes again, and took a shuddering breath. “I… I don’t want you to laugh…”

She was clearly nervous; Emily could feel her stomach knotting. She reached back, putting her hands on Ash’s shoulders, kissing her, hard and hot, albeit briefly. She pulled off, and stared into Ash’s eyes—big and green, the way she loved them.

“Ash, I love you. I know we may be young, but I know it, more surely than I’ve ever known anything. I care about you. You’re my best friend, my girlfriend, and my lover. Why in the world would I laugh at you when you’re vulnerable?”

“You’ve laughed at me before…”

“That was different. I was laughing at something that was funny, but I’d never find something that made you hurt funny, Ash. Please, trust me.”

Ash nodded, and put her head on Emily’s shoulder. “… I trust you, Em.” She pressed her lips to Emily’s shoulder, softly. “I… I had a nightmare. I dreamt I was…” She bit her lip. “I dreamed that I was over myself… I was on my back, looking up, and I was above me. Only it was, me, you know, before the Misfile.”

“You… as a boy? Over you… as a girl?”

“Yeah… I dreamed you were there, but holding onto me—him—and saying what an emotional loser I was. Then he grabbed me, and…” She choked off, but Emily didn’t need her to say more; she clutched Ash, tightly. Ash held back, her fingernails digging at Emily’s back. “It… it hurt, so badly… I… I couldn’t…” Her voice quavered.

“Ash, you’re not a sissy for feeling scared from that kind of a dream.” She kissed Ash’s cheek, very softly. “I’d feel the same way… having no control. It’s terrifying, Ash, I understand. Believe me, I understand.” Memories of Ryan’s face swam to her mind, but she forced them away, as Ash sniffled, softly, against her shoulder.

“It… I just felt so… so helpless, so powerless… All I could do was squirm. I tried to punch him—me—but it didn’t work…”

Emily nuzzled her friend’s cheek, softly, reaching up and holding her head from behind. “Ash, it was a dream, not real. Dreams, especially nightmares, make you powerless. But I know you’re strong enough to beat up a boy.

“Remember beating the stuffing out of Tom? Remember when you punched Kay Wheeler in the chest? Remember the way you handled that hobo, the one who very much did mean to rape us? And the way you picked up that crowbar and were very, very ready to attack those four when they grabbed us at the arcade?”

Ash nodded, silently, to each of the memories Emily brought up.

“Physical courage has never been your weak suit, Ash.” Emily gently pressed her lips into Ash’s; Ash returned the kiss: slowly, tenderly, long lasting, and warm. They broke away slowly, eyes closed. “You’re still afraid of it, though. Rape… is a terrifying thing, Ash. You’re not weak to be afraid of something terrifying.”

Ash gulped softly. “I… I just…”

“Shhh.” Emily kissed her orange-haired tuner’s forehead, tenderly. “You’re afraid, and I’m guessing it may have something to do with how I tried to put my finger in you, doesn’t it?”

Ash shook her head. “No! No… well… No! I liked that. It scared me, sure. It panicked me, but… it’s you. I trust you, Em. I’m just…”

“You’re afraid. You’re afraid of losing control. Of being held down, aren’t you?”

Ash nodded, and Emily sighed. Turning around, Emily pressed her back into Ash’s chest, feeling her lover’s breasts against her smooth back. Emily smiled when Ash hugged her as she sat neatly between Ash’s legs. Then Emily placed her hands atop Ash’s, squeezing them gently and lacing her fingers with Ash’s.

“It… can hurt. That’s what you were thinking, but you were afraid to ask, wasn’t it?”

Ash bit her lip. “Um… yeah. How’d you…”

“Know? I know you, Ash. Your mind’s on something, and you want to know the answer,” she softly replied. “You’re afraid; afraid because of that dream. And you’re thinking about… rape, and my first time is the closest thing you know of. You want to ask, but you’re afraid to bring it up.” She squeezed, softly. “Aren’t I right?”

“You’re right, Emily.”

Emily nodded, closed her eyes, and took a shuddering breath. “I don’t want to talk about it, but I will, for you; with you, Ash.” Laying her head back on Ash’s shoulder, she continued. “It did hurt. He… wasn’t exactly gentle with me, and he didn’t use anything to make it go in easier. He just… pushed.” She sighed, softly; she could feel Ash’s arms tightening as she triggered Ash’s protective instincts. “So, no. It didn’t feel good. I loathed the feeling of him inside me. I hated it…” She took another shuddering breath.

“God, Em… I…”

“Shhh, it’s okay.” Emily squeezed Ash’s hands, and then reached down, pulling the covers back over them, over their shoulders, handing them off to Ash, who wrapped them around them both.

“I mean… in a way, I kind of felt like I knew that something like that might be good—skin inside me—but it was too hard, too fast, too soon, and I didn’t want him to be doing what he was doing to me. I didn’t want him.” She closed her eyes.

“Wait… skin?”

Emily smiled, finding an odd sort of retrospective macabre humor in the situation. “I figured that was coming. Yes, Ash, skin. He didn’t use a condom.”

“My god…”

“Yeah, I know. That’s about what I was thinking at the time. He… well, he orgasmed, ejaculated inside me, and got off. I wanted to cry… I don’t honestly know how I held it off until he’d put his clothes back on and left.”

“Emily… I mean, what did you… do?”

“I felt violated, Ash; I wasn’t struck stupid. I knew Molly had a supply of the day-after pill she kept in her nightstand, so I took a dose, just to be sure.”

Emily closed her eyes, squeezing Ash’s hands, once again. “It stopped hurting after a few minutes… I was only ‘just sore’ by the time I’d finished crying in Molly’s bathroom, splashed my face, and got dressed. The pain itself went away, but the… the hurt inside, in my heart, in my head, in my gut… it didn’t. The feeling of violation is worse, much, much worse. It’s an emotional attack, Ash; it’s not an attack you can fight with fists or a crowbar. You can’t attack emotions; you can’t stop them so easily. And all your life, you’ve been told that emotions are stupid, right? That they make you a sissy. But that’s not true, Ash.” She squeezed Ash’s hands hard, and Ash squeezed back. “Would you honestly feel differently if, say, you’d had the same dream as a boy, being raped by a boy?”

“Um…”

Ash bit her lip, and Emily waited. “I’m not asking a rhetorical question, Ash.”

“… I’d feel… the same. Horrified, I guess. Angry at the loss of control. Ashamed.”

“Mmmm. Emotions can’t be fought, but that doesn’t mean they’re not real, it doesn’t mean they can’t hurt you. You had a nightmare; it was a bad one. It heaped some extra emotional fucked-uppage on you by making it your old self that was overpowering you. That had to hurt.”

“It did hurt. It felt like… like I was angry with myself. Like I’ve become weaker, somehow. So weak that you’d leave me for a stronger boy-me, and…”

Emily turned around in Ash’s arms, pressing against her: their breasts together, her hips between Ash’s thighs, and her lips on Ash’s throat. “I would never leave you, Ash. Not for a boy, not for a girl, and especially not over something so stupid as physical strength. And never for someone who could be so cruel as that.” She leaned up, pressing her cheek to Ash’s.

Ash hugged her, tightly, whispering, “I just… I thought… You were asking about my… penis… last night…”

Emily sighed. “I admit, I was curious, maybe a little titillated.”

“Did you… think about me as a boy?”

Emily shook her head in reply. “I couldn’t. I mean, I knew you were telling the truth; I know, logically, that you were a boy before I met you, but… I still can’t really picture it. When I think of you, Ash Upton, I see you as you are now: soft, tender, but strong; an attractive tomboy.” She smiled softly, kissing Ash’s cheek; Ash sighed, kissing back. “Does that upset you?”

“It’s… it’s more like I’m upset that it doesn’t upset me.”

“You feel like you’ve betrayed yourself, falling in love with me, like this; exploring sexuality with me, as a girl. You feel like you’ve betrayed your ‘old self’, don’t you?”

“A bit.”

“You haven’t, Ash. You are Ash Upton. The Ash Upton who existed months ago is gone; and he would be gone, even without the Misfile. People are always changing, Ash. The Emily McArthur you met on Misfile day is as gone as the Ash Upton she met. We’ve become more, Ash. We’ve grown, we’ve learned, and we’ve learned to love.” She clasped Ash’s hand, brushing her lips over the tuner’s. “You didn’t ‘betray’ yourself, Ash. You’re just… You’re just yourself. You’re Ash, and that will never be truer, no matter what happens.”

Their lips met in mutual kiss, turning, parting. Ash’s other hand clasped hers, and their fingers interlaced, even as their tongues slid out. Shamelessly, Emily enjoyed the taste of her tuner’s tongue, sliding her tongue into Ash’s mouth, as Ash slid her own tongue into her mouth. The kiss parted only after an interminable eternity of taste and pleasure, and Emily giggled at how they’d gotten saliva on one another’s lips. She rubbed her mouth into the blanket, then rubbed it over Ash’s mouth as well.

“I love you, Ash. You make my heart pound; you make me feel like fireworks are going off inside me every time you kiss me. You make me feel like a fool, and I don’t care, because I know you trust me, and you care about me.”

Ash smiled at the strong, emotional confession, and squeezed Emily’s hands again. “So, um…” Ash smiled up at her, and Emily smiled back. “Why were you asking? About…”

Emily shrugged, and smiled. “I wanted to understand you better. I guess I kind of got caught up in the juicy details. I’m just glad I didn’t ask the most puerile thing I could’ve.”

“What, you mean how long it was?”

“Yep, that’s the one. And no, I don’t particularly care. Size isn’t as important as being gentle, anyway.”

Ash sighed happily, closing her eyes in return. “Really?”

“No, not really. I know it’s puerile and stupid and immature, but I’m still thinking it. Don’t tell me. I don’t need to know, and it’s immature and silly.”

Emily smiled softly, and Ash grinned at her; it warmed Emily’s heart, having made Ash smile again. She nestled into Ash’s shoulder, closing her eyes, waiting for the inevitable question. It came, though minutes of comfortable silence later.

“Emily, um… would you have…” Ash bit her lip.

“Had sex with you as a boy?” Ash nodded, and Emily kissed her shoulder. “That is a complicated question, Ash. If you mean the person you were before the Misfile? No. If you lost your memories of the Misfile, but somehow I didn’t? No, I wouldn’t. That wouldn’t be the Ash I know, the Ash I love.” She leaned up, and kissed Ash’s cheek, softly. “But now? With you? I love you, Ash, I know you. I’m willing to have sex with you now, even if it does kind of scare me, still. It would probably be weird, but if you somehow changed back… That wouldn’t change the fact I love you.” She smirked. “Of course, if we changed back, somehow, that would mean I’d be older than you in body as well as mind. Could you handle having a girlfriend a year older than you?”

Ash chuckled softly at that, and sighed, happily. “I already have a girlfriend a year older than I am. You just have the body of a girl a year younger.” She squeezed Emily.

“Close your eyes, Ash. Just breathe. I want to hear you.”

Ash did as Emily asked, lying on the bed with Emily atop her. Emily put her head down atop Ash’s breast, with her ear over the side in her cleavage. She listened to the air whoosh softly into Ash’s chest, the beating of her heart.

“I’m a fool for you, Ash. I’m probably being braver than I should be, but I mean it. I’d let you touch me any way you wanted. I know you’re going to have trouble overcoming and exploring, and I’m here for you. If it’ll be easier for you to get over this by touching me than yourself, that’s fine… Hell, it can’t be worse than your dad touching me.” She grinned at Ash, looking up—and giggled at the expression of mixed horror and disgust on Ash’s face.

“Ugh. My dad’s such a creep. I’m amazed he hasn’t been sued yet.”

Emily smirked, but shook her head. “He’s actually not so much. He’s never been anything but strictly professional with me. Actually, he told me that I’d need to find another doctor. Offered to refer me to some of his friends in the trade, but said he couldn’t continue to be my gynecologist.”

“Why?”

Emily smiled, and kissed Ash square between the breasts, over her heart. “Same reason he can’t be yours.” She waited a moment to savor the look of abject fear on Ash’s face, before continuing. “Too close, now. I’m his daughter’s best friend, after all; I’ve slept under his roof, shared meals with him at his table, and all that—his words, verbatim. Destroys objectivity, gives rise to the potential for seeming improprieties.” She chuckled, and sighed, closing her eyes.

“But he’s still your mother’s?”

“Yeah. All he’s done is blackmail her, after all.” She snickered softly, and pulled Ash’s hand up, kissing it, softly. “Not that it matters. I wouldn’t care if she told me never to talk to you again. I care about you too much. I need your friendship, your support, and your help in my life. And I in yours.” Ash nodded, holding Emily’s head softly against her chest. “I’d defy her if I had to… Hell, it’d be the first damn time in my life.” She kissed Ash’s knuckles, and grinned when Ash pulled the covers up, over her head. “That’s right… Keep me warm, protect me, and comfort me… That’s my Ash; you think about me, even subconsciously.” She closed her eyes, sliding her own arms up, wrapping them under Ash’s shoulder blades, holding tight. “Good night, Ash. Sleep peacefully, this time.”

“I will, Em… and… thank you.”

Emily kissed the inside curve of Ash’s breast and smiled. “Thank you, Ash.”

Emily honestly didn’t know how many minutes passed. Her eyes were closed, but sleep refused to come. Finally, Ash whispered at her, “Are you awake?”

“Yes, Ash. I am.”

“Want to get up early?”

“And do what?”

“I dunno… Hell, we could just get in the cars and drive to drive. We have the helmets, after all, we can still talk.”

“Mmmmm. Maybe we could go to Truro, to the parking lot course, for an early run… Heh, why don’t we do it in the other’s car?”

Ash chuckled. “What, me in the Porsche, you in the Monster XR? That would be great. But it’s too light out; too many people. We’d have to wait until like, 3 AM or so.”

“Mmmm. Let’s try it.”

“Do you like it?”

“Racing with you? Of course.”

“The Porsche.”

“Oh… um, yeah. I admit it was kinda weird at first, not manually shifting and all, but then I overrode the automatic shifting and used the paddles, and it became kinda like Need for Speed.”

Ash grinned, and she squeezed Emily’s shoulders. “You handle it well. It’s not a car meant for drifting and all, but you did great. Hell, we could probably modify it pretty good. If Harry could change the chipping on the engine, she’ll have plenty of horsepower, and we could do some stuff with the suspension…”

Emily grinned, and took Ash’s hand, squeezing it. “Mmmm… Wanna go get our morning shower?”

“All right.”

Emily sat up, onto her knees, and tugged Ash up with her, hugging Ash’s head into her chest. Ash kissed her, tenderly, over the heart, then slid off, taking Emily off the bed with her, taking her hand. “Mmmmh. Where’s the light?”

“We don’t need it. The sun will be up soon… And it’s actually kinda nice, taking a long, relaxing, darkened shower.”

Ash laughed softly, and kissed Emily’s forehead in response. “All right.”

Emily led her to the shower, turning on the heat while Ash laid out towels: two thick towels over the radiator to get warmed up, two smaller towels above those for their hair.

Without saying anything they each stepped in, closing the glass-paneled door behind them. Ash stood in front, her head under the showerhead—as per the routine they had developed without any discussion at all, wordlessly in agreement. Emily picked up a bottle of shampoo as Ash knelt down; Ash sighed contentedly as Emily began to lather the shampoo into her hair.

“You like this, don’t you?”

“What do you mean, Em?”

“Me washing your hair. I know what your sighs sound like—that was ‘I’m happy’, not ‘I’m frustrated’. You enjoy having my fingers in your hair, don’t you?” She felt Ash’s cheek grow a little hotter.

“Um… yeah, I guess? It feels good…”

“Do you feel silly?”

“A bit… I mean—”

“Ash, you’re not being a sissy, liking this. We’re friends, we’re girlfriends… it’s a mutual trade, an affection. I enjoy doing this for you; your hair feels nice to the touch. And I like it when you do the same for me, even if you are a bit ham-handed.”

“Ham-handed?”

“Just a bit. But that’s okay, I don’t mind. Stand up.”

Ash stood, letting Emily lean her head into the spray, gently moving her with two careful hands.

Satisfied, eventually, that the shampoo had been washed out, they exchanged places and began anew, Ash washing Emily’s hair. She tried to be gentler, and Emily let out a soft murmur of appreciation.

“Your hair feels good, Em,” Ash whispered in Emily’s ear.

“I’m glad you like it.” Emily reached back behind her; her hand found Ash’s foot, and ran up it, squeezing her ankle.

“What are you doing?” Ash’s voice was amused.

“No idea. Do you mind?”

“Not at all.”

Emily started to gingerly tickle Ash’s foot, which got a chuckle out of her lover. Out of the blue, a question occurred to Emily, and she took in a breath.

“Ash, what’s important in sex?”

“What’s… What do you mean?”

Emily stood up and turned around—her head in the showerhead’s line of water, she kept her eyes closed, but asked again. “What’s important, in sex, Ash? Is it the penetration? Having a lover physically submit to you? Is it the control? The sounds? The orgasm? Ejaculating? What?”

“Um… heh…” Emily opened her eyes—in the dim light she could nevertheless clearly see Ash’s arm rubbing the back of her own head. “Um, Jeez… I… I mean, I’ve never… Y’know, I don’t know… Why do you ask?”

Emily hugged Ash softly, then turned around, turning Ash with her. With her back to the shower’s rear wall, she smiled. “I just… Trust me?”

“Of course I trust you.”

“Put your hands on me.”

“Um… what do you mean?”

“Just do it.”

“Well… where?”

Emily laughed and took Ash’s hands. Emily stepped back—almost into the wall—and put one of

Ash’s hands on her hip, the other on her shoulder. “Step close to me.” Ash did, and asked, “What are you doing, Emily?”

“I want to try something, okay? Just… I had an idea.”

“What is it?”

Emily kissed Ash, softly. “Push into me.”

“What?”

“Push yourself into me, Ash. Lead with your hips.”

Emily spread her legs slightly, as a confused Ash did as she asked, murmuring, “Okay… um… I trust you, so, okay.”

She gently pushed into Emily’s hips, pushing her body into Emily’s.

“Harder. Make me feel you’re there. Push me into the wall.” Emily knew her voice was growing thicker; she licked her lips at the feeling of Ash against her, and pushed Ash’s hips back with her own. She rose up, instinctively, on the balls of her feet, as Ash pushed, driving her back into the wall. It felt good, and she grinned, even as Ash looked a bit confused, and possibly awkward.

“What… now?”

“Pull back,” Emily quietly directed, and Ash did. “Now, again. Faster…” Ash’s eyes widened, as Emily’s hands wrapped around her shoulders, pushing into her hips, pressing their pelvises against one another. “Again, Ash…”

“My… God, you’re…” Ash blushed, hotly.

“I’m… um…” Emily smiled. “I think the term is ‘dry-humping’? Of course, we’re both very wet…”

“Em…” Ash slowed down, but Emily pressed her lips to Ash’s, kissing her, softly.

“Don’t feel silly, Ash. Are you okay with this?”

“I feel a bit… stupid, but yeah. It’s not, you know, panicking me.”

“Keep going. Do you like it?”

Ash started to push, harder, and Emily smiled, letting out a quiet moan as Ash tightened her grip on her hip and shoulder.

“That’s right, Ash. You can squeeze me; you can push me. I’m not delicate; I’m not made of porcelain; I won’t break if you handle me.” Her voice was huskier, and Emily knew she was panting softly as Ash drove into her. Ash’s fingernails dug into her skin, and she let out a moan. “In every way, this is better. She’s even being rougher than he was, now; she’s moving harder and faster, but I love this, and hated that…”

She moaned Ash’s name, as Ash started to make quiet, laughing sounds with her exhales. “Grab my thigh,” Emily whispered, and pushed her thigh up, wrapping her leg around Ash’s hip; her tuner’s hand fell from her hip to below Emily’s thigh, holding it, pushing up, into Emily’s pelvis.

“Like this?”

“Perfect, Ash… Harder…”

Ash drove into her, and Emily rode up with each thrust of her friend’s hips under her own; though she was too high, and the angle wrong, and she couldn’t feel any of Ash actually touching her vagina, she groaned with the feeling, digging her fingers into Ash’s back in return. She started to laugh quietly with each thrust of her lover’s hips, and her laughter drove Ash’s; they pushed against one another, bodies undulating while they laughed at the absurd intimacy of what they were doing.

“Emily…”

“Yes?”

“I love you,” Ash moaned.

“I love you too, Ash…”

The blue-haired bookworm smiled, even as her lover was slowing, and she pushed back, harder, using her weight to brake Ash’s thrusts, slowing them down. Finally they slid down, slowly, together, into the bottom of the tub, with the water beating down on Ash’s back. Emily giggled, and it brought out the same in Ash, with the two of them holding one another, tightly.

Finally the laughter died, and Ash smiled. “Em? Put one of your arms up, would you?”

“Up?”

“Yeah; on the bottom, but above your head, with your palm open.”

Emily did as asked, and Ash slid her arm up, lacing her fingers with Emily’s.

“You like our arms in this position.”

“I do.”

Emily kissed her, softly, and grinned. “How was that, Ash?”

“It, um… it felt…”

“Great? I hope you thought so, because I loved it.”

Ash opened her mouth, and closed it. She smiled, closing her eyes, and kissed Emily’s cheek. “It was… I can hardly describe it, Emily. It was great…”

“You liked holding me. You liked pushing me, pushing against me; moving my body with yours.”

“Yeah, I did. And…”

“Did it make you feel in control? In charge?”

Ash shrugged at that. “Maybe… I don’t know. I was following your lead, really, but I really liked the way you moved when I pushed against you; it made me feel good. And, um… you moaned. That made me feel warm and tingly all over.”

“Yeah, it was intimate, it was strong… You know, you were actually stronger and harder against me than he was?”

“I… God, I’m sorry.”

Emily gently put her fingertip over Ash’s lips. “Let me finish, Ash. I loved it. Your hands on me, driving against me… It was like giving up control completely, but to someone I trust. Like strapping into the passenger seat of the Monster while you tear off down the Mountain with me. It made my heart pound, but I wasn’t afraid. I knew if I said just one word, you’d stop in a second. But I didn’t have to, because I trusted you. Am I making sense?”

“Yeah. In a weird way, you are.” Ash kissed her cheek, softly, and squeezed their interlaced fingers. “It felt good… pushing against you. It was… I dunno, sexual, even though I didn’t get any, you know, stimulation from it.”

“It was… it very much was.”

“Did you?”

“Did I what?”

“Um… you know… get anything out of it?”

“I got everything out of it. If you’re asking if I orgasmed, no: the angle was wrong, you weren’t pressing against my clitoris. But I still loved it.”

“So, um… did we just…”

“Have sex? I dunno, I guess that depends on your definition, but I’m inclined to say no. But it was sexually intimate, and strongly so.” Emily raised her other hand, cupping Ash’s head from behind. “How do you come up with these things?”

“I have no idea. It just occurred to me. Ash, would you be comfortable if we did that again, but changing places?”

Ash blinked. “Um…”

“It’s okay if you wouldn’t—”

Ash silenced Emily the same way she silenced Ash—with a fingertip over her lips. “I’d feel really strange, Emily. It’s not something I, you know, was conditioned to do. You’d have to be patient with me, I’d probably do it wrong.”

“That’s okay. Thrusting isn’t something I was conditioned to do, either; so you’d have to be patient with me while I learned to do it.” Emily kissed Ash, who slowly kissed back.

“Em? Um… I don’t quite know how to say it, but… I think I’d be fine with that. I trust you completely. I guess I trust you enough to have me be the… No, that’s a stupid thing to say. I trust you enough to let you take control of me.”

Emily grinned. “You were gonna say ‘have you be the girl’, weren’t you?” Ash nodded, and Emily smiled back, pecking her cheek. “‘Taking control’ is a much better way to say it.”

Ash closed her eyes, and smiled. “You want to?”

“Not now. I feel so… elated. Satisfied. I mean, I’m aroused; I know I could masturbate, or… Um, I guess there isn’t actually a word for what we just did. Dry-humping involves grinding on your partner’s thighs or something.”

Ash chuckled softly. “Fake-sex? Soul-humping?”

Emily giggled at her friend’s attempts at naming, and silenced her with a kiss. “Whatever it is, in a way, I know I could get up and do the same for you, or rub myself off. But I… just want to lay here, I feel so…”

“Mmmm, I know. It feels so good…”

Emily’s eyes went wide, and she giggled. “Jeez, of course. I don’t know how, but I think we’ve triggered the afterglow without actually having sex.”

“Afterglow… You mean, the way you feel after good sex?”

“I think so…”

Ash laughed softly, and kissed Emily, squeezing her hand. “Then let’s just enjoy it, then…”

She laid her head on Emily’s breast, and slid her free forearm under Emily’s head; Emily squeezed

Ash’s hand and wrapped her other arm around her friend’s back, closing her eyes. They enjoyed the sensations around them: the sound and the heat of the shower, the sound of breathing in unison. Ash’s heartbeat against Emily’s stomach, in time with her own heart’s beats, rapid but not harsh, felt like they could carry her away.

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 7:58 AM

Ash and Emily walked out of their bedroom, refreshed, dressed, and hungry. Ash’s mother wasn’t in the kitchen, though; rather, she was sprawled barefoot on the couch, talking on her headset telephone, to her secretary. She held up a finger for a moment’s pause, while telling her secretary she’d call her back, then pressed a button on the headset.

“Ah, good morning. I’m going to be busy as hell, today. I’ve got my measurer coming at about ten to take your measurements; the dresses are going to be tailored today, with any luck. It’s cutting it a bit close, but manageable.

“I’m so busy, I’m afraid I haven’t had time to cook breakfast.” She offered a sheepish smile.

“That’s no problem. I can make omelets if you’d like.”

Marie shook her head at the suggestion. “Actually, I’ve got a different idea. Emily, dear, could you go and get breakfast for us? There’s a fifty on the table by the door, go ahead and take it. Get whatever, from wherever, I’m not picky.”

Emily blinked, and shrugged. “Uh, sure, I guess.” She picked up the bill, looking at it and then back to Ash’s mother. “Why me?”

“I’d ask Ash to go, but I’m about to call the insurance company, and I’d like her to stay with me in case I get anything wrong. She knows more about cars than I do.”

“Okay. I’ll find someplace. Fast food, or do you want me to get take-out?”

“Whatever you feel like.”

Emily nodded, and went back into the bedroom she and Ash shared; while Ash blinked curiously, her mother dialed her secretary back. She was still on the phone when Emily left, but hung up a minute or two after, while Ash was in the kitchen getting a bottle of water.

“Ash? Could you come here?”

Ash blinked; the tone was more hesitant than her mother’s usually was—more in line with the first time she’d met her, at the diner. She blinked again, bit her lip, and walked out. “Is there something wrong, mom?”

“No, nothing’s wrong, Ash. It’s just… how do I put this delicately…” She was wringing her hands, and Ash had the sudden feeling of an impending conversation she really didn’t want to have.

“Is everything all right, mom?” she asked, a bit nervously herself, sitting in the recliner.

“Yes, yes, everything’s all right. It’s… um, how do I put this?”

“Put what?” Ash furrowed her brow, as a feeling of sinking manifested in her gut.

“Look, Ash, I’ve always… you know, wanted to respect your privacy, and all. But some things a mother notices. I just wanted to ask if, you know… everything was okay, if there was, um, anything you two needed?” Although she didn’t blush, Ash could tell that her mother was certainly unprepared for and awkwardly handling the conversation.

That didn’t make it any less awkward on Ash—she blushed furiously. “Mom! That’s… Gah! What are you talking about?”

Her mother shook her head; long brown hair swaying around her. “Look, Ash… I’m… I don’t care who you love, okay? I’m not crazy or anything. I know you and Emily are girlfriends, okay?”

Ash felt a pounding in her head, and she put a hand over her eyes. “We… Look, we’re friends…”

“I know that, Ash, I can see it every time the two of you talk to one another, but please. I’ve been a woman for all my life, and a mother for the last five years. Don’t give me a ‘just friends’ line, okay?”

“Who told you,” Ash asked, trying to keep the rising anger out of her voice. “Was it Jenny?” A bloom of dark red anger towards the blonde started to grow in her head.

“Jenny knows? I had no idea… No, I just accidentally walked in on you and Emily the first night after you got me back from the hospital. I saw the two of you pretty close to naked, and in a… well, a rather intimate embrace, you know? I inferred from there, and I woke up early this morning, so I’m pretty sure I heard the two of you doing more than just cleaning in the shower…”

“Oh…” Ash gulped, and a quiet “uhhhh,” escaped from her as she tried to come up with a plausible lie, but it was a hopeless cause. Then she felt her mother’s arms around her, hugging her from the side, and opened her eyes again. The hug was warm and supportive, like the first time. “Mom, I… I can explain…”

“Try the truth, Ash. I’m not upset at all. You’re my baby; I love you, Ash. I don’t care who you love, or what gender they are.”

Ash opened her mouth, and closed it again, sighing and closing her eyes shortly thereafter. “Mom, I’m… really not comfortable having this conversation.”

“Neither am I, Ash.” Ash opened her eyes to see her mother smiling, sheepishly, next to her. “But you’re still my daughter, and I want to take care of you. Does Edward know?”

“No, dad doesn’t know. Please don’t tell him!”

Her mother smiled in return, and nodded. “Okay, I won’t. I’ll leave it up to you. I’m guessing you’re not comfortable being open about it?”

Ash shook her head. “No, mom, I’m not.”

She nodded. “So, that boyfriend of yours; is he just covering for you? Or are you covering for each other?”

Ash blinked; she could probably freely slander Rumisiel right now. Tell her mother all sorts of mean and untrue things about his habits and preferences and she’d likely believe them. It occurred to her, however, that it probably would not do anything: he’d never know about it, and she was as accepting and open-minded as anything. “I’d rather not talk about that, okay?”

“Okay…”

Her mother let go, and Ash sighed, softly, blushing. “Look, mom, this is…”

“Weird? Tell me about it. But I really don’t mind. Like I said, is there anything the two of you, well, need?” she asked as she leaned back in the couch.

Ash blushed. “Um… what are you talking about?”

“You know… Toys? Love aids? Anything you can’t easily buy that I can,” she asked with a distinct pinkening of her cheeks.

Ash shook her head. “Oh, Jeez, we are totally not having this conversation!” She slapped her cheeks, exasperated and blushing.

“Too weird?” Her mother asked, uncertainly.

Ash nodded, vigorously. “Yeah…”

Marie sighed and squeezed her hands together. “I… Look, Ash, I know I’m hardly the world’s greatest mother. I just… I want you to know I’m here for you, come hell or high water, okay?”

Ash closed her eyes; her mother was trying—goodness knows she was trying—to help her. It almost choked her.

“Ash? Are you okay? Did I… offend you?”

“No! It’s just…” She swallowed bitterly, warring emotions: privacy, shame, and love. “I’m not comfortable… talking about this, okay?”

“I know, Ash. But please, trust me? You can talk to me about anything, Ash. You know that, right?” Ash took a tremulous breath. “Y-Yeah. I know. It’s just…”

“Just what, Ash?”

Ash turned sideways in the seat, curling her legs up under her. “Would you be this… this nosy, this supporting, if I was a boy? If I’d brought my girlfriend here for the summer, and now again and all?” Her mother tilted her head again. “This again? Of course I would, Ash! I probably wouldn’t ask if you needed dildos or strap-ons, but I’d definitely want to make sure you knew where to get condoms, what pharmacies around here will hand out the day-after pill if it broke, and everything…”

She closed the distance, and Ash blushed, heavily, closing her eyes. Her mother hugged her, and she leaned in, placing her head on her mother’s shoulder, eyes still closed. She felt her lips tremble; a flurry of conflicting emotions rose within Ash, and a question that—against her better judgment—she wanted to ask.

“Mom,” she tremulously started, waiting for her mother’s reply.

“Yes, Ash?”

“I…” Ash tried to word it. Tried to figure out why she wanted to say it. In the end, she licked her lips, and choked through the sentence, “Mom… if… W-What would you say if I said… if I said I didn’t know whether I was supposed to be a girl or a boy?”

“I…” For once, Ash saw her mother struck speechless, if only momentarily. She had a moment of brief, vertigo-like terror when she wondered if she might have said something very wrong. “Ash, does this have something to do with what you asked me, that night at the diner?”

Ash nodded, glumly. “Y-Yeah.” She felt small, and weak, but her mother hugged her all the tighter, then released the hug and settled back on the couch.

“Ash, I’m not sure I understand, but you’re always going to be my baby. I… Are you saying you think you’re supposed to be a boy?”

A mental scream of “Yes!” arose in Ash, but at the same time it felt hollow—like the recitation of a pledge that was chanted out of formality more than enthusiasm. Her mouth worked, but no sound came out. “Am I… am I losing myself?” She bit her lip, and her mother repeated the question, carefully. Ash’s lips worked again, and finally an answer emerged. “I don’t know.” She sounded tiny and hollow as she said it.

“Ash, come here.” Ash looked up—her mother held a hand out. Ash took the hand, and found herself pulled onto the couch, next to her mother, who hugged her tightly, setting Ash’s head upon her shoulder.

“Ash, I don’t quite understand what you’re saying, and I won’t pretend to. But you’re still my only child. I love you, and I’m here for you, no matter what. Do you understand?” Ash nodded, glumly. “Okay, Ash. Are you saying you’d like to talk to a psychologist or a doctor about this?”

“What? No!” Ash vehemently shook her head. “No, not a chance. I don’t need to talk to a shrink or a surgeon or anything! I just… Feh, this was stupid.”

“Was it the truth? That you’re not sure what you’re supposed to be?”

The voice of prudence screamed at her to lie, but Ash bit her lip. “I… I don’t know. I feel very… very confused, okay?”

Her mother sighed softly. “Ash… I know you’re into a lot of traditionally ‘boy’ things, like doing terrifying things with your car, but… that doesn’t mean you’re automatically not meant to be a girl. There’s a lot of tomboys in the world, and most of them are, I daresay, absolutely fine.”

Ash shook her head. “It’s not… it’s not just because I race cars, okay?”

“Okay, then… is it something you can explain to me?”

“(No, it isn’t. Not without telling you something that would make you think I was insane.) No, it’s… I can’t explain it, okay? I just… I don’t know.”

“It’s okay to not know, Ash.” She squeezed Ash, tightly. “Does Emily know?”

“She does. She’s… actually the reason I’ve stayed sane as long as I have.”

Marie laughed softly, and smiled. “I think she suits you, you know. The two of you practically glow when you’re together.”

“You… you do?”

Her mother nodded, and pulled her feet up, her legs tight to her chest. “Yes, I do. Emily is a remarkably mature young girl, sweet, friendly, intelligent… I can see why you fell for her, Ash.”

Ash blinked. “You… can?”

“Oh, yes. She reminds me a lot of Edward, actually, when I first met him. She’s not nearly as intense or dominating, though. The two of you are definitely rubbing off on one another. In short, she’s a good match for you, and you for her—a good fit.”

“Ah… Jeez,” Ash smiled softly, blushing. “You… you really…”

“Approve of my baby loving another girl? Why wouldn’t I?”

Ash blinked, and sighed softly, hugging her mother tightly, briefly. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, Ash. And I meant it; if you two need anything you can’t readily get your hands on, please just ask me.”

“I don’t know if I could… but I’ll remember it.”

Ash sighed softly, and slid back, sitting on the couch, dangling her feet over the side. “Um, mom… I… What if, say, I had been born a boy? And what if, say… a boy version of me got so choked up over being thought of as emo, that instead of sending that letter, he’d torn it up instead?”

Marie blinked at her, twice, and she reached for her purse, reaching inside. Brushing the letter with her hands, Ash realized. “Ash… that… that would break my heart,” she said, tugging Ash against her with one hand. Ash choked, feeling a swelling rise in her throat, as her mother continued. “I loved you, Ash, I always have. I was always afraid… afraid you hated me. When I got a letter from a scared and confused girl who wanted her flawed, broken mother back in her life, I was so happy, like the first time I held you in my arms. I can’t imagine feeling any differently if you had been a boy. The thought that I might not have known you…” She closed her eyes, and Ash choked up, bitter sadness welling up in her throat—not to mention a feeling of foolishness.

Ash realized she was crying, but fought down the urge to react negatively to that, instead burying her head in her mother’s shoulder. “T-Thank you, mom…”

Marie took a deep breath. “Why do you ask, Ash?”

“It’s… It’s just… I dunno, it’s stupid… I… Just hold me?”

Her mother nodded, and held Ash, tightly again, against her shoulder. “As long as you need me to, Ash. I’m always going to be here for you.”

Ash felt choked with the emotion of the moment. A bitter thought occurred to her—that she had never had any of this before the Misfile, primarily because of stupid pride and shyness. She clamped down on the line of thought, and closed her eyes tightly, letting her mother hold her. It did indeed, last a long time.

Something nagged at her, though, and she finally figured out what it was. “Mom?”

“Yes, Ash?”

“I thought you kept the letter laminated in your purse?”

“I do. Ash, have you ever looked in my closet? Do you know how many purses I have?” Marie laughed. “The original is safe in my desk, I keep laminated copies in my purses.”

“Oh, whew…” Ash let out a sigh of relief, and offered a smile. She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the sound of a car in the driveway, and looked towards the door, curiously.

“Em… (Crap. Crap! I have tears on my face. Ugh…)” She hurried to try and wipe them away, futilely, as the car shut off, and steps walked up the drive, to the door.

A knock came, and Ash stood up. She walked to the door, thinking that Emily must have been laden with too many things to carry them and open the door at the same time, but there was a man in a business suit at the door, visible through the window. She yanked her cell phone from her pocket, glancing at the time, which was 8:18.

“Mom?”

She looked back; her mother had stood up, walking to the door. Ash unlocked it and stood back, while her mother opened it, asking “Hello?” in the tone of voice that inevitably was accompanied with the unspoken question, “Who are you, what are you doing here, and you had better not be selling me anything at this hour of the day”.

“Ah, hello. Is Mrs. Marie Upton at home?”

“I’m her.”

Ash slunk back, grateful for the fact the person at the door was not Emily. She hurriedly wiped her face with the sleeve of her shirt, desperately trying to compose herself.

“Ma’am, I represent State Farm. I’m here about a policy you recently had paid out on a red Porsche 911?” He rattled off the policy number.

“Yes, that’s right. The car was totaled out and the policy paid in full.”

“Ah, yes, I know. I’m here for a follow-up. Our records don’t seem to show the car as having been placed in any scrap or wrecking yards?”

“It hasn’t been.”

“Are you having trouble arranging for it to be towed? I can give you the name of a scrap yard that will take it off your hands for you.”

Her mother shook her head. “No, thank you, that won’t be necessary. My daughter rebuilt the car in question.”

“Rebuilt it?” the insurance salesman started, looking defensive. “Ma’am, the car has been totaled. It has to go to a junkyard.”

Alarm bells started twigging in Ash’s head, and she frowned as her mother asked, “It does?”

“I’m afraid so, ma’am. A totaled out car—”

“Is still my mother’s car, which she can do with as she wishes. She’s under no obligation to have it scrapped, and is perfectly free to re-build a wreck.”

The insurance man sneered down his brow at Ash, who had slid up next to her mother, in the doorway, her arms crossed. “State law requires—”

“It requires no such thing. The car is my mother’s property. Her rolling property, in fact.” Ash pointed out the door.

The red Porsche pulled up into the driveway, parking behind the Monster XR, next to the salesman’s car. He turned and looked at it, blinking. “You do realize that the tags on that vehicle are no longer valid—”

“Yes, we do. We have thirty days to have it inspected and validated as street legal again, re-tagged and re-insured. It’s been less than a week.”

The insurance agent frowned, and turned again. He took a business card out of his pocket, handing it to Marie. “My card, ma’am. Please, call me or come into my office some time when we can talk uninterrupted.” He turned and huffed off, while Ash stared at him.

“Ash, that was very rude.”

“I know it was. I was trying to get rid of him.” She turned to her mother, as Emily passed the insurance agent, confusedly staring at him and his black, four-door sedan. “I know a snow-job when I hear one.”

“Ash, he’s the insurance adjuster who worked on my car. Maybe I should listen to him?”

Ash shook her head again. “He’s an adjuster, not an agent. He’s spoon-feeding you bullshit. It’s still your car, and you’re under no obligation to have it wrecked. I don’t know why it was totaled out, but that’s the way it was. You don’t have to junk it.”

Her mother frowned, looking unsurely down at the card.

“Something stinks. Why don’t you call a lawyer if you don’t believe me?”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s…” Marie bit her lip.

Ash slid aside as Emily walked in, carrying a pair of large fast-food bags. “Who was that?” she asked, as Ash closed the door behind her.

“It was the claims adjuster who totaled out my car. He said it needs to be put in a junk-yard since it was totaled.”

Ash nodded, taking the bags from Emily. “He’s full of it. I smell a rat.”

“That does sound suspicious. As far as I know, it’s your car and you can do what you want with it.” Ash’s mother pocketed the card. “Okay. Let’s eat breakfast, and get you two measured…” She puffed out her cheeks, with a heavy huff of air. “Then we’ll take the Porsche down to the insurance company after you two get measured.” She smiled, taking the breakfast Emily retrieved to the kitchen.

Emily, however, hung back. She put a hand on Ash’s back, squeezing slightly; the gesture caused Ash to pause and look back, with a “Hmm?” sound in acknowledgment.

“What’s wrong?” Emily asked.

“Nothing is wrong, Em. It’s…” Emily was frowning; Ash could imagine that a wheedling was coming, so she nodded. “Ask me later, okay?”

“Okay…”

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 9:38 AM

After Marie had slipped upstairs to her bedroom, citing a need to make some calls, Emily and Ash had been left alone downstairs. Flipping through the channels, Emily had decided that a re-run of Law & Order would be good watching. Ash watched it, although she didn’t get as much out of the tense drama as Emily did.

Then Emily came to the point Ash had put off. “Can you tell me what’s wrong, Ash?”

“How come you know this show so well?”

“Avoiding my question?” Emily teased, with a smile. “My mom wanted me to be a doctor or lawyer or something; I like this more than I like ER, so she thinks that means that I’m leaning towards lawyer.”

“Huh… Criminal defense?”

Emily grinned. “I doubt I’ll become a lawyer. But if I did, there’s no way in hell I’d do criminal defense.” She turned to the side, lying back, sprawling in Ash’s lap. “Now, can you tell me what was wrong?”

Shaking her head, Ash sighed, and took Emily’s hand; squeezing. “It’s just… my mom scooted you out of the house because she wanted to talk to me… about…” The tuner was blushing. “She asked me if we needed any—gleh—‘toys’.”

It took Emily a moment or two to process what Ash meant, then her eyes went wide, and she made a face of horror. “I wouldn’t want to talk about that with my mother. No wonder you’ve been off.” Ash nodded, noncommittally murmuring. Sensing that something was amiss, Emily squeezed her hand tight. “That’s not all, is it?”

“… No, Em, it’s not. It’s… she… something she said… I… Jeez, I told her I didn’t know if I was supposed to be a girl or a boy.”

Emily’s eyebrows rose in concern. “Ash? You’re not… You didn’t tell her about the…”

Ash shook her head. “No, no, nothing like that… I just…” She closed her eyes. “If you’d asked me a week, six days ago, I could’ve answered that question inside of a second. Now?” She opened her eyes, looking up through the window at the sky, to which Emily replied by squeezing both of her hands.

Then it hit her, and she started. “Wait, she asked you if we needed any toys?!” Panic rose in her voice.

Ash slid her hand to the side of Emily’s face as the bookworm was starting to sit up. “Yeah. She, uh… figured it out. That night after we got back, we took our shirts off under the covers, remember? She, uh… saw us lying together in that hug we woke up in.”

Emily shivered, and Ash grinned softly, squeezing her. “Relax; it’s my mom we’re talking about, not yours.”

“Yeah, but still…” She shivered, and Ash smiled; with another squeeze from the tuner, Emily turned her body into Ash’s, hugging her back. “Mmmmh. Ash?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you… you know, want to take your mom up on her offer?”

Ash, predictably, made a face, which was returned with a grin, before gunshots echoed from the screen. Emily and Ash both swiveled to face the television, on which Detective Greene was slumping against a black car, his partner firing at the fleeing shooter.

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 9:58 AM

“What’d you think?”

“Eh… Not really my speed, but it was a lot better than I thought it was going to be.”

“I love this show, to be honest.”

“So does my dad. He watches every new episode if he can, and makes Rumi watch it with him if he can’t figure out an excuse to be somewhere else when it comes on.”

“Oh, really?” Emily grinned. “I didn’t know that.”

“Probably because you’re watching the new episodes when they air at your home?”

The bookworm grinned, nodding in reply. She leaned up, and Ash leaned in; softly kissing one another, Ash’s eyes closed. Slowly, the kiss began to deepen; then the ringing of a cellular telephone’s alarm broke the contact.

“That’s yours, Ash.” Emily pointed to the bedroom.

With a sigh, Ash stood up and went into their bedroom to answer it. “Hello?”

“Ash,” began Jenny’s voice. “What are you doing?”

“Uh… nothing, really. Watching some TV with Em; waiting for the person who’s going to take the measurements to get here.”

“Ah,” the blonde replied, “I see. Hey, you said you didn’t mind if I came over again today, right?”

“Yeah, of course not. We might have a busy day, though. We’ve got to take the Porsche to the insurance company. There’s been some funny business with that.”

“Like what?”

“Some guy showed up and tried to convince mom that she had to have the Porsche junked.”

“Weird.”

“Tell me. Anyway, yeah, you can come here if you really want to.”

“I really want to. The alternative—if you can call it that—is spending the day with my mom. Ugh.”

“What, is the office building closed?”

“Actually, it’s not. But your mom and mine were tapped to play ‘field agents’ in roping this event together, which means they’re basically working with autonomy… Erk…”

Ash heard a raised voice in the background, Jenny’s muttered “Gotta go!”, and the doorbell all at once. Her phone’s line went dead; it said ‘disconnected’ while showing the duration of the call.

Ash winced; that had to be the girl who was going to do their fitting. “Might as well get this over with.” She took a deep breath, let it out, and walked out to the living room.

On The Road, 11:11 AM

Facing the music, as it turned out, wasn’t so bad. The same lady who had measured Ash the previous time showed up; she took Ash’s measurements, then Emily’s, chatting with Emily the whole time. Then they’d had to delay, as Jenny hadn’t arrived yet; she pulled in about twenty minutes after the lady who had taken their measurements pulled out.

Arrangements had been quick; Marie insisted they take enough cars to take everyone in as few as two, in the event the insurance company said they had to leave the car, or if a breakdown happened. So it was that Marie wound up driving in the Jaguar Ash had won for her on Sunday, Emily drove the Porsche, and Jenny had volunteered to ride with Ash, strapped into the passenger seat of the Monster XR. The oldies station her radio had somehow gotten set to was playing ‘Smoke on the Water’, crooning about a gambling house on fire.

Ash broke the silence. “So, you’ve been measured and all, already?”

“Yeah. You?” Ash nodded her affirmation, and Jenny smiled. “That’s good. So, uh… what’re you doing today?”

“I dunno. We’re going to straighten out the insurance company’s malfunction. I know a little bit about automotive law; a totaled-out car is still the owner’s car, and they can do whatever they want with it, including rebuilding it. It’s not our fault that the adjuster made an idiot call in totaling it out.”

“Huh… so…”

“Yeah. I don’t know why that was, but they’ve already paid out the policy. She was absolutely fully covered, too.”

Jenny grinned at that, wolfishly. “Took ’em for a ride, huh?”

“More like they took themselves for a ride and shoved a wad of cash into my mom’s arms. Either way, she’s not at all obligated to give the money back.”

“Ahhh, that’s great. But hey, what’re we gonna do after?”

“Dunno. Later on tonight me and Em were going to down to Truro, to the course the locals use to race, and do a run against one another.”

“A race?”

“Yeah, but the catch is we’re gonna do it in each other’s car; I’ll drive the Porsche, and she’ll drive my Monster XR. Advantage to her, really, since the Porsche’s rear wheel drive, and this is four.”

“Why’s that?”

“Traction. The course is a series of parking lots and connecting roads on the beach, and they’re often filled with sand. I could have used this car when I was down here in the summer, but I was lucky enough to beat a local racer—Brent.”

“Brent? Brent Westcott? That beady-eyed little creepy freak?”

“You’ve met?”

Jenny smirked at her. “The creep went to my school.”

“Why do you keep calling him that?”

“Haven’t you met him? Those beady eyes, that freaky stare, like your clothes are invisible to him… Yeesh, it gives me the creeps just thinking about those eyes.”

Ash laughed and opened her mouth, but Jenny cut her off. “Not like your eyes. They’re big, expressive, so green… You can’t hide a thing in them. They call out to me, like a siren’s sweet song.” Ash blinked, gulping and blushing; Jenny had her turn to laugh.

“You liked that?”

“Uh… yeah. Did you mean it?”

“Heh. I’m good, aren’t I?”

Ash had a moment to relax, before Jenny quickly unbuckled, leant over, and kissed her cheek. “But yeah, I did mean it.” The blonde girl giggled as she flopped back into her seat, buckling back up as Ash turned a bright, bright red.

“Oi…”

“Mmmm. So, between this race and the insurance company, there’s gonna be presumably a whole afternoon, right?”

“Yeah, so?”

“So… what d’ya wanna do? Go the mall again?”

Ash winced, inwardly and outwardly. “Why do you like it there, anyway?”

“I dunno. But didn’t you say that the best way to stand up to bullies was to not let yourself be chased away by them?”

“Yeah, I did, and I’m not disputing that. But why do you like it in the first place?”

“Yeetcha, you really are a tomboy through and through, aren’t you?” Ash nodded, and Jenny smirked at her. “Well, duh, you just do. Clothes shopping, window shopping, they have all kinds of stuff in there, and the arcade…”

Ash shrugged her shoulders. “I dunno, only one of those seems to make sense to me. I only go shopping when I need something: I go after it, I buy it, and I go home. Maybe, maybe something catches my eye on the way in or out, but I don’t always buy it, y’know?”

“You shop like a boy.” Jenny let out a giggle, and reached into the back of the Monster XR, pulling out one of the two helmets. “Isn’t that right, Emily?”

Emily was driving the Porsche ahead of them, between the Monster and the Jaguar that Marie was driving. She apparently heard, and held up her finger, indicating she needed time. Emily got the chance as they pulled off the freeway, coming to a red light. She put on her helmet, and Ash reluctantly put her own on as well, hearing Emily loud and clearly replying, “Isn’t what right, Jenny?”

“That Ash shops like a boy.”

Ash let out a sigh and shook her head as Emily laughed. “Huh… yeah, she does, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah, yeah. Can we get off the subject of how I shop?”

The cars eased back into motion, and Jenny repeated her question, “So, do you wanna go to the mall again?”

“I don’t know… Ash doesn’t like shopping very much. Why do you ask?”

“Well, I was wondering what we were going to do between now and tonight?”

“I dunno. Probably were gonna watch a movie or play some Need for Speed or something. Why? Dying to take us out somewhere?”

“Kinda… C’mon, got anything better to do?”

“Drill a hole in my head,” Ash sarcastically thought, but she bit her lip. “Okay, fine. Under the condition that we do no clothes shopping at all.”

“None at all?” both Emily and Jenny asked at once.

Ash sighed. “Fine. One store, but no ‘make Ash try on a thousand outfits’, okay?”

“Well… Deal,” Jenny concluded, and Emily laughed.

“Works for me. Oh, I think I see the insurance offices.”

Emily was right; ahead of them, on the side of the state road, was a fairly large, one-story building with a State Farm sign out front.

State Farm Offices, 11:42 AM

It was an unusual sight, Ash mused, to see three fast, powerful, expensive cars pulling into the parking lot of the insurance agency, which was otherwise occupied by a couple of SUVs, a few more mundane cars and a minivan. Ash shut off the engine in the Monster XR, and got out. Ahead of her, her mother was getting out of the Jaguar XK, and Emily finally shut the Porsche off and opened the door. All three girls had discarded their helmets.

“Well, here we are. Sorry about getting you dragged along in this, Jenny.”

Jenny held up her hands to stop further apology, dismissing the complaints with, “It’s fine, it’s better than what I was going to do, anyway. Let’s get this over with.”

The building didn’t look very much like an office, Ash thought, and she said as much.

“It’s not the corporate offices; this is the insurance office. It pretty handily serves most of the county. It’s not exactly convenient for anyone from any of the cities or townships, but everyone can get here without being too inconvenienced. You can reach it by the state roads if you’re close, or take a longer drive down the highway if you’re further away from it, like we were.”

“It looks like a house,” Emily commented.

“It used to be, before they bought it. Now, let’s get this sorted out. Don’t mind the dogs. They’re friendly.”

“Dogs?” Ash blinked as her mother opened the door, walking in. Following behind, Ash immediately conjured an image of being thrust back into the 1980s. The interior décor was primarily wood paneling, with rib-height dividers forming working spaces, brown chairs, and brown carpet. Three dogs: two large, fluffy dogs with angular, arrow-like heads and one small ball of seemingly endless fur were curled up together in the corner to the left as they entered.

Marie went to the agent on the right, who smiled as she came in, “Marie! Is everything okay? I heard your car was wrecked.”

“Yeah, there’s something about that…” She slid into the seat across from her insurance agent’s desk, then she heard a gasp and a laugh behind her. The small dog had leapt into Jenny’s arms, while the bigger, older ones were rubbing against Ash and Emily. “I know you say they’re there for security, but sometimes, Alice, I think you keep them to distract the kids. And the grown-up kids,” she added, as the lighter-colored of the larger dogs slid up next to her, and she idly stroked its coat while her agent nodded.

“They do a good job, don’t they? What can I help you with, Marie?”

“Well… See, that’s the thing. I need to insure two cars.”

“Two cars?” Alice raised an eyebrow.

“Strange story, that. See, after my car got totaled, my daughter went and did something absolutely crazy and gambled her car against someone else’s—and won. It’s a Jaguar that used to belong to my boss’s son.” She smiled. “And then my daughter, well… We got the wreck of my car back, and she put it back together, so I need to insure it again.”

Alice blinked. “Um… Your car was totaled out, Marie. It shouldn’t be possible to put it back together… Or practical, at least.”

Marie shrugged with a smile, and pointed out the window; her red Porsche was sitting on the driveway, gleaming in the winter sun. “I know, but there it is, plain as day. I obviously didn’t tow it here with a Jaguar, so… it’s working. I don’t know what to tell you, though. It’s funny, one of your men came around this morning, told me I had to have it put in a junkyard, but my daughter, Ash, was adamant that something was funny.”

Her agent blinked repeatedly, and reached down. Pulling a pair of giant eyeglasses from her desk, she put them on (magnifying her eyes to the size of saucers in the process) and blinked again, staring at Marie’s Porsche. “Um… hold on a minute, Marie. Bob?” She called into the manager’s side office. “Bob, could you come out here, please? We’ve, uh… got something strange here.”

Marie turned her head to watch as the manager, wearing a full beard and flannel shirt, came out, walking behind the three cubicle spaces to Alice’s working area. “What’s wrong, Alice?”

Alice briefly explained the situation to him, and he blinked. “That… that is unusual. Of course, you’re absolutely in your rights to rebuild a car that was totaled out and put it back on the road if you so wish, but… a totaled car would normally be more trouble than it’s worth to rebuild it. That’s why we total them out instead of paying to repair it. You say your daughter fixed it up? Alice, pull the file on that policy.”

Marie nodded, as Alice typed furiously. “Is she one of those three?” Bob pointed to the trio, who were quite buried in the dogs.

“Ash?”

The orange-haired tuner looked up, from under one of the larger dogs. “I’ll, ah, be right there.” Bob chuckled at the dogs, and barked out a quick, “Heel!” Instantly, the two larger ones jumped from atop Ash and Jenny, running to him and sitting, giving the teenagers the chance to stand up.

Ash looked up—and up, and up—at the insurance boss, with a slight gulp.

“Marie says you repaired her car.”

“I did. It wasn’t that bad.”

“It wasn’t?” He took a printout from Alice’s printer, glancing over it. Then he nodded. “Show me what was wrong with it, would you?”

Ash shrugged, and led Bob (and Marie, who got up to follow) back to the Porsche. “The hood was off; it was pulled off the hinges, and the battery was removed. The inside was pretty bad: the molding was all popped off, all the instrumentation had been pulled out, the radio of course, the glove-box was emptied, and the steering wheel had been removed. A lot of wires disconnected under the hood, but nothing big.”

“Nothing big… And it runs?”

“Runs perfectly. We took it to the motorway to test it out. She almost beat that.” She pointed at the Monster XR, and grinned.

Bob raised his eyebrows, and looked back to the report in his hands. “Let’s see… ‘Engine destroyed’, ‘interior gutted’, ‘significant trim damage’…” He shook his head. “It goes on and on, detailing how the car was more or less reduced to scrap and frame on wheels. And you fixed this in how many days?”

“Not long; a day, day and a half? Maybe two if you count the time I spent putting wires back together.”

“And who did it?”

“We did. Myself, Jenny, and Emily, there.” She pointed Jenny and Em out in turn.

“I see. Marie, what was that you said earlier, about one of our men coming to your home this morning?”

Marie explained about the insurance man who had come to her house and told her she needed to have the car placed in a junkyard, and the manager frowned again.

“That’s nonsense. There’s no way this car should have been totaled out. And even if it was a twisted wreck of scrap metal, it’s still yours; you don’t have to do anything with it.”

“I don’t know what to say, Mr. Jameson. It was totaled out, the check came in the mail yesterday.” She took it out of her purse, but he held up his hand. “Keep it. The policy was paid in full, and you clearly had no hand in whatever it is that’s gone on here. I’ll instruct Alice to issue you a new policy in full. Now, excuse me… I need to just check the VIN numbers, procedure, you know, then I need to make some calls…”

He turned back to the car, holding the piece of paper up to his face and checking the VIN in several places; eventually satisfied, he walked back into the insurance office, followed by Marie, leaving Ash, Emily, and Jenny standing around outside.

“What was that all about?” Jenny asked.

“I dunno. He totaled the car out when he definitely shouldn’t…”

“Didn’t you say he offered to give your mom the name of a junkyard that would take the car off her hands?” Ash nodded, and Emily continued, “I think I’ve got it. He’s in cahoots with the junkyard guy. He has cars totaled out that shouldn’t be totaled. They put a mostly-good car in the junkyard, where they can fix it up, launder it and sell it again. I wouldn’t think he’d try it on a car in such good condition, but it’s a Porsche 996. That might have been too tempting to pass up.”

“Yeah… yeah, that sounds possible. Plausible, even! But because we fixed it up, he’s gonna get caught.” She grinned from ear to ear, and held her hands up—Jenny and Emily gave her a high-five.

“Think we should go back in?”

“I think I saw him take the dogs into the back room, and do you really want to listen to boring insurance information?” Ash stuck her tongue out, and Emily laughed. “I thought so.” She sat on the hood of the Monster XR, leaning back; Ash followed suit, and then a third weight settled in on her other side; the three laid up, their heads on the windshields’ glass, staring at the starkly clear sky.

“Think the storm’s going to come back?”

“I dunno. It looks wintry enough with all the snow piles turned into ice on the sidewalks and stuff from where they plowed.”

“I hope it does.”

“Why’s that, Jenny?”

“More snow days!” She laughed. “Though yeah, I hope it doesn’t happen until after the New Year.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because we’re off till then anyway. Duh?”

Emily rolled her eyes, and chuckled. “You know, some of us like school…” Still, the words sounded hollow, she realized; did she really? She liked being smart, but… Was it worth it in and of itself, or was it just a means to an end—getting into Harvard? And did she really want that?

“Em? You okay? You spaced out.”

Ash was snapping her fingers—thanks to her fingerless gloves—in front of Emily’s face, and Emily started.

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine. Did I doze off?”

“No, but you did kinda zone out.”

Emily blushed. “Ech… never mind.” She lay back with a sigh and smiled. “Hey, that cloud kind of looks like the Nissan logo, doesn’t it?”

Ash and Jenny squinted. Jenny shook her head, but Ash tilted her head hard to the side. “Maybe, if you look really hard…” She chuckled, and Jenny laughed.

“Eh, I’m not really looking at the clouds. I did notice that you’re wearing those clothes we bought at the mall, though.”

Ash looked down; she was indeed wearing the white denim jeans with the red flame pattern creeping up to the knees. She nodded, and tugged the Ford badge on the chain out of her jacket’s collar. “Yeah, I am.”

“And I’m wearing this, too.” She held up her Nissan badge. “Though maybe I should’ve gotten the Porsche shield instead?”

“Get both,” Jenny teased.

“Well, we’re going back there, aren’t we?”

“Oh right,” Ash thought. As Jenny and Emily started talking ‘clothes’ again, she lay back, staring at the sky. Then again, it wasn’t so bad, she mused, with the two of them relaxed next to her, talking—it may have been a subject over her head, but it was nice. “I don’t know how we wound up with Jenny of all people as a friend, but I like it.” She slid her arms around the shoulders of both girls on either side of her, smiling and closing her eyes. For a moment, far from home, under the brilliantly clear winter sky, on the hood of her car with two friends close; things felt good, normal even.

Cape Cod Mall, Hyannis, 1:03 PM

“So, tomorrow’s the Show Day, Ash. You think you got the heel-walking down pat?”

Ash nodded at Emily, as the trio walked into the mall’s doors. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure. Good enough to manage, anyway.”

They had returned to Ash’s mother’s home and come back in one car—the Monster XR. The mall was packed, given that it was December the 23rd.

“This is fun, isn’t it? Let’s go!” Emily took the lead, walking briskly forward through the mall. “We’ve gotta buy presents too, you know.”

“Oooh, right.” Ash laughed, and Jenny smiled, as they surged in.

The shopping was frantic, all around them; Emily first insisted on visiting a Barnes & Noble, then a Waldenbooks (it turned out she had valid member cards for both competing book-stores). She took a long time poring over the books available, which gave Ash plenty of time to sneak in a fast purchase; at her prompting, Jenny bought another book which Ash recommended as something Emily would likely appreciate.

The mall tour was a whirlwind. It was far too crowded for a serious repeat of the other day’s clothes-shopping; only a half-hearted run through the clothes shop took place. As Emily and Jenny were trying on clothes, Ash slipped away to find the neck-chains. She found the very last Porsche badge, bought it for Emily, and grinned as she imagined giving it to her on Saturday morning.

They ran through a couple of video game stores. Ash saw Jenny looking over them and asked if she had any consoles, to which Jenny replied that yes, she had a Playstation 2, like Ash had. Another score, as Ash slipped a purchase of NFSU2 for Jenny while Jenny wasn’t looking.

Following those, they saw the wing of the mall they hadn’t had the opportunity to see. In an ‘Urban Esoterica’ type of store, Ash found a boxed set of three black-painted wooden swords. She grinned, saying “Vashiel” when she bought it and Emily looked at her askance.

“Crap. Angels, forgot about them,” Emily hissed, looking around; thankfully, Jenny wasn’t in sight. Ash smiled, saying “Good place to shop for them, then.”

“Right, weird esoterica, right? Like… what is that?” Ash took a potted silk plant off the shelf. “Is this what I think it is?” Emily leaned in to check it over, and rolled her eyes, giggling. “Oh god, yes, it is. That’s just twisted.”

Ash grinned like a maniac. “Oh yeah, this is definitely his.”

Emily shook her head, and held her hand up to her mouth. “You know he’s going to have a moment where his eyes light up, he looks at you like you’re his new personal savior, and then he realizes that it’s fake…”

Ash’s grin got even wider. “He can take it as a reminder to get off his ass and do something productive.” She didn’t put much heat into it.

Emily put her arms around Ash’s shoulders. “You know, you’re a lot less… intense, now. I think getting away from it all for a week has done you some good.”

Ash’s eyes got wider, staring into Emily’s. Never mind that they were in a store in a crowded mall far from home; it felt like there was a bubble of soft serenity around them.

It didn’t last; it couldn’t. But the parting was, for once, a sweet one. Ash and Emily grinned at one another, slipping away and back into the store’s guts to find Emily something to give Vashiel and Rumisiel.

In the end, they wound up giving Jenny a vague description of both Rumisiel and Vashiel after coming up mostly blank (save for mean gag-gifts). Jenny provided some tips for wardrobe enhancements for both, and Ash spied a prop-sword that looked like one of those from some of her Playstation RPG games that he liked, which Jenny helpfully purchased using her fake I.D. Still, even with Jenny’s help, both of them drew up blank for Vashiel; so they decided upon a pact to slide him fifty dollars each.

Lastly, they came to a large shop on the opposite side of the mall that they hadn’t been to last time. It was an attached Auto ModerZ, approximately the size of a warehouse.

“A car shop?” Jenny had asked as Ash started in.

“Yeah. I have an idea…” The trio walked in, and then she turned around, saying, “Split up. No peeking.”

Ash found herself stalking the warehouse, looking desperately. Then she found it: the wheels and wheel accessories. She grinned, thinking back to their many times playing Need for Speed Underground 2. “Oh yes. Oh, oh yes, yes, yes! Hahaahaa! Perfect!”

Somehow, the trio managed to shop for each other while keeping all gifts for one another separate. The packages were marked and bagged so that no objects within could be seen.

“Mmmmm. Wasn’t that fun, Ash?”

Ash rolled her eyes good-naturedly at Emily, but nodded, with a smile. “Yeah… I guess it was. It’s different when you’re buying stuff for other people. I don’t do it very often…”

She smiled, and broke into a grin when Jenny interjected, “Maybe you should, then?”

“Yeah, maybe. Anyway, you two wanna go back in and hit the arcade?”

Emily shrugged, and Jenny shrugged as well. “Nah. Let’s hit the road.”

Ash started the car, pulling it out of the parking spot (narrowly avoiding the person who took it after them by mere inches), and towards the road.

“What now? You two hungry?”

Emily shrugged, and Jenny nodded. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Marco’s?”

“Nah… I dunno, somewhere else? Hey, let’s see if there’s anywhere good in Truro, and you two can show me that race course?”

“Okay. Sounds good to me. Em?” Emily nodded, and the trio set off.

The radio DJ’s voice came in at the end of a song. “And that was some Jon Bon Jovi, as if you needed me to tell you that. I’ve got some requests here, I’ve got a play list.” The sound of something heavy and book-like being dropped came over. “But you know what? Nah. It’s around this time of year I get all in the mood to reminisce, and with the producers all in Hawaii instead of freezin’ their limbs off with the rest of us, and they don’t even pay for somebody else in the studio, I’m gonna take the next few minutes to play one for myself. See, it was around this time of year in a steamy jungle in the closest place to Hell on earth that I can imagine, in the year 1967, when me and two of my friends got into some serious sh… crap. Well, those two friends of mine are layin’ somewhere in Vietnam, since we couldn’t even recover their bodies. This one’s to you guys: Carlos, Rumisiel. You woulda liked this song. Hey, everyone out there who misses someone from their lives, go ahead and ‘Dream On’ with me and Aerosmith.”

As the slow, mournful sounds of Aerosmith filled the car, Ash and Emily paled, their faces white. Ash had bitten her tongue in surprise, and Emily looked as if she’d just swallowed something highly unpleasant.

“Did he just say ‘Rumisiel’?”

“He did.”

“I’m not hearing things?”

“Not unless I’m hearing things.”

“Isn’t that your friend’s name?” Jenny’s interjection startled the two.

“Uh, yeah, it is,” Emily said.

“He can’t be the only one in the world to have a name like that, you know.” Jenny rolled her eyes.

Ash chuckled, nervously. In the rear-view mirror, she caught Emily’s eyes—those eyes that promised she wouldn’t forget, but Emily said, “Er… yeah, I guess… not…

Truro, 4:11 PM

After lunch at a roadside diner that had a surprising selection of full meals, Ash had driven her two friends to the Truro course. “This is the start of it. It’s not the Old Road, but it’s not bad.”

“Old Road? The… Mountain?” Ash confirmed Jenny’s question with a nod, to which Jenny grinned and said, “You’ll have to show me sometime!”

Ash chuckled, nervously. “Well… yeah, sure, why not, if you’re ever in Tempest.”

“I’ll find a reason,” she replied. “Now… What, you’re gonna drive us through it?”

“Nope. We walk. It’s a good thing it’s not snowing. Snow over sand? That’s a traction nightmare.”

Snow was piled up on the sides of the parking lots, and there were a couple of large iced-over snow bunkers on the track itself, at which Emily chuckled. “Should make things interesting.”

“Interesting. Right. That’s a word for it… Oh, hey, I guess I’d better call Brent and make sure the locals aren’t using the track tonight, eh?”

“Good idea, do that.”

Emily took the lead while Ash flipped out her cell phone, taking up the rear and placing the call. The phone rang a few times before being answered, “Brent.”

“Brent, it’s Ash. Ash Upton?”

“Yeah, good to hear from you. Did everything work out with that Porsche?”

“Not only did everything work out, it put up a race fight against my Monster down the speedway.” Brent laughed. “Oh really? How’d you get in there? They don’t let people under twenty five drive, as a rule.”

“I have my ways. Anyway, question for ya—is the Truro course being used tonight?”

“Tonight? Hell no! Have you seen the course lately?”

“I’m on it.”

Brent laughed again. “Wicked snow bunkers, eh? All my good lanes are blocked; you’d need a cornering beast to bring it home.”

He was right. The bunkers were blocking all the good lanes. There was precious little room to let the Ford Windsor engine in the Monster or the 3.6-liter Porsche flat-six open up.

“Hey, are you thinkin’ of driving it tonight? Cause, you know, Casper was complaining about nobody to drive against. We could come out and play in the snow with you kids.”

Ash rolled her eyes, but grinned. “Hey, Em,” she asked. “You wanna invite Casper and Brent to show up and drive with us?” Emily shrugged back at her, pausing, as Jenny took the opportunity to lean on a snowdrift—and fell in, the thin crust of iced snow giving way to the tune of her cry of surprise.

Emily quickly pulled Jenny out of the snow; after confirming she was okay (and after Ash assured Brent that the sound was nothing important), Emily said, “I was thinking just me and you. But it’s okay with me, either way.”

“Eh… all the same, I think we’ll pass. Just have a private thing ’tween me and Emily, you know?”

“Emily? That blue-haired girl you hang around with?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, yeah, her. Cas thinks she’s cool, even if they didn’t work out. She drives?”

Ash grinned at Emily, remembering that night she’d nearly caused a head-on collision on the Mountain. “Yeah, she’s good, too.”

“Cool. Casper’d love to hear that. Mind if we come watch?”

“Rather you didn’t. Private thing, you know?”

“Awww, all right, all right. You know, I think I’ll call James and see if he wants to do a run on the mountain.”

“He’s in Tempest?”

“Yeah, he is. Didn’t you know?”

“No… I didn’t.”

“Heh, how ’bout that. Love to see you flatten his ass again sometime. Catch ya later, and have fun.” Brent terminated the call, and Ash was left blinking. “James is home. He didn’t tell me, didn’t come to talk to me?” She shook her head. “Can’t think about this right now. Throw me off my game tonight.” They finished walking the course, and Ash sat at the end of the access road to the beach. Thankfully it had been plowed, and indeed, the beach was snow-free, as were the areas closest to it, due to the harsh winter wind.

“So, this is where the course ends, at the beach—‘officially’, anyway.”

“But the road in is so small…”

“Right! Whoever gets their car into that road first wins. Well, almost always, anyway,” she said, with a grin, thinking back to her surprise victory over Brent in the summer.

“Right, about that, Ash. Remember, the Porsche’s not yours,” Emily cautioned, to which Ash stuck her tongue out.

“Yeah. Besides, there’s no ramp in place, sand or otherwise.”

“Ramp?”

“Yeah.” Ash stood up. “Let me show you.” She walked her friends back to the sidewalk access to the beach. “Right here—if the wind is blowing out to sea, instead of how it’s normally blowing in from the ocean, the sand piles up against the sidewalk, here. It forms a ramp; you hit the ramp, pop your left

tires up on the sidewalk, and floor it. If you’re not too far behind, the car in the lane can’t make the turn to the beach without causing a crash, and they back off—you win.”

“And if they don’t back off?”

“You back off.”

“And if neither of you backs off?”

Ash grimaced. “The kind of thing that’s only survivable in Need for Speed.”

“Right, gotcha.” Jenny grinned, then shivered. “Speaking of survivability…”

“Yeah. It is kind of cold out here.”

“Hey, do you two mind if I stay the night again? My mom’s pretty hot under the collar, and I’d rather not go home tonight.”

Her tone of voice told Ash that something was unsaid. “Is… something wrong?”

Jenny looked down at the ground, scuffing a foot on the pavement. “I… yeah.” She sighed, and turned, walking towards the other end of the course, with Ash and Emily following her.

Jenny didn’t speak for a while, and both Ash and Emily gave her time to compose her thoughts. She started, with seemingly no trigger. “My mom and I… had a pretty big fight this morning. Like, nuclear fight. She got flipped out at me over that picture. I told her what happened in the mall, and she flipped out even more at me for hanging with you two. Started… saying some pretty nasty things about both of you.” She closed her eyes, walking on simple instinct, one foot after the other; Ash and Emily steered her around obstacles. “She started asking me if I was going crazy, if I wanted to throw it all away for a bull dyke and a bookworm bitch…” Jenny’s voice turned bitter. “I yelled back, I told her she’d always pushed me, and I’d always done what she wanted, but it was never enough. I told her I was sick of it, sick of friends that weren’t friends. Then she… she accused me of being a dyke.” Jenny let out a depressed, slow sigh, stopping. “I just yelled at her, ‘What if I am, what do you even care, as long as I make you money?’ She really lost it after that. Accused me of being ungrateful, told me to get the hell out. So I did.”

“You ran away?”

“Yeah… I… I just did like you said, I got in my car, started the engine, drove to your mom’s place, and tried to forget it for a while. It worked,” she added, with a soft smile. Ash stared at her, askance, and Jenny sighed. “I’ll go back tomorrow, I guess. There’s the Event, and no matter how pissed she is, she wouldn’t have me miss it. After all, it’s almost seven grand for her, plus what the company pays her,” Jenny added, getting a deep scowl again. “I just… I don’t want to go back tonight, okay?”

“Okay,” Ash said. “I’ll get mom to agree. Just… you gonna be okay?”

Jenny shrugged. “I dunno. We’ve had fights before. Pretty big ones, too. You wouldn’t believe the one she pitched when I dumped Joshua.”

Emily blinked at that. “Wait, your mom pitched a fit at you for leaving a boy?”

“Well, yeah? She’s a gold-digger extraordinaire, remember? She tried to seduce her dad to get in a dig at her mom.” She jerked a thumb at Ash, who blinked.

“Wait, she what?!”

Jenny snickered at that. “Imagine that, we could’ve been sisters.”

Ash paled as Jenny continued. “Yeah. She was really glad I hooked up with the big boss’s boy. She couldn’t marry the boss, of course, but she figures being mother-in-law to his son is close enough to strike some pay dirt, and still leaves her free to find some rich doctor on the side or something.”

Emily started to ask something, but Ash cut her off, surprised (and maybe a little terrified), asking “Hold on, hold on, go back to this ‘tried to seduce my dad’ part!”

Jenny sighed. “Oookay, you know how your mom and dad are separated, but not divorced? Mom figured that out a couple of years ago, and decided to make him our gynecologist. She was going through a real feud with your mom, and thought it would be delightfully fun to turn up at your mom’s doorstep one day, serving her with divorce papers and wearing a ring your dad bought her. So she tried to seduce him.”

Ash shivered, for once not brought on by the cold. “That’s terrifying.”

“Yeah, really. Anyway, he didn’t bite, not even a nibble, and she got tired of driving across the state for the exams.”

“Thank God for that,” Ash sighed.

Emily nodded. “Yeah, really. That would’ve been too freaky.”

“Anyway, um… Mmm.”

“Your mom can be a bitch, Jenny.”

“Tell me about it. She was actually encouraging me to put out a little to Joshua. She actually told me not to go all the way, but not to frustrate him into leaving me.”

Ash and Emily shared a grimace at one another, and Jenny sighed. “My mom… She’s pretty cold. She never managed to hook a rich one when she was my age, and she’s pushing me to be the most desirable I can be, so I can get hooked as some rich kid’s trophy wife and take him for all I can before he divorces me. And of course, anything I can get out of fame and fortune before that—not to mention what she gets out of it. She likes the limelight, likes… Agh, to hell with it.” Jenny let out a deep sigh, and Ash frowned, softly. “I guess I just got… just got fed up. I’m tired of feeling like a pawn, and tired of associating with boys I hate just to milk them. So I blew up at her. I lost it, nuclear-like.”

“Come on,” Ash replied, putting her arms around Jenny’s shoulders. “Let’s just go, eh?”

“Okay.”

Emily added her own arm, to which Jenny responded by sliding her arms behind each Tempest native’s back, hugging tight. Literally arm in arm, the trio returned to the Monster XR, and returned to the highway.

“Schadenfreude,“ Emily said, as they got back on the road towards Provincetown. “Gesundheit,” Jenny replied.

Emily laughed from the back seat. “No, it’s not a sneeze. Schadenfreude, it’s German. It means ‘taking delight in the misfortune of others’.”

“Isn’t that just sadism?” Ash inquired.

“Not quite. Sadism is taking delight in outright physical or mental torture, often in the context of being the one causing it. Schadenfreude is the delight in misfortune or pain and misery, but it’s not generally the same as outright sadism.”

“Huh. So, why’d you bring it up?” Jenny looked back to Emily, confused.

“Because that’s what your whole, well, ‘world’ is based on, it looks like. What a mess.”

“Yeah. It is a mess. But what can I do? I’m trapped,” Jenny sighed.

Emily patted her shoulder. “I don’t know…” She squeezed. “But for now, don’t worry about it, since you’re with us, okay?”

“Okay.”

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 5:14 PM

“Ah, mom’s home.” Ash pointed at the Jaguar in the driveway as she drove the Monster XR up the road towards her mother’s house.

“Maybe I shouldn’t ask,” Jenny started.

“No, if you really don’t want to go home, where else are you going to go?”

“I don’t know…”

“Exactly. So, we’ll ask.”

Jenny nodded, and sighed. “Okay… okay.”

They parked the Monster and got out, carrying their bags to the house. Ash opened the door and led the trio in, setting the bags down next to the couch, upon which Marie was sprawled. Talking on her headset, she smiled, holding her hand up for a brief moment as she told her secretary she’d call back.

“Hello! Looks like you three have had a good trip… but why the long faces?”

Ash put her arm around Jenny’s shoulder, as Emily closed the door. “Mom? Uh… Jenny has a favor to ask.”

“Okay… Jenny?” Marie stared into Jenny’s ice-blue eyes, as Jenny looked down at the ground.

“Ah, I…” She sighed. “Mrs. Upton, I… I had a huge fight with my mother this morning.” Marie’s eyebrows rose, and Jenny sighed. “She… she yelled at me to get out, and… and I did. I don’t want to go home… I…”

“Ah… So that’s why she was biting people’s heads off left and right. Maybe you should call her?” Jenny shook her head, vehemently. “No! I don’t want to talk to her…”

Ash squeezed Jenny’s shoulders, and slid forward, sitting on the couch. Marie looked at her, and Ash leaned against her mother, whispering the nature of Jenny’s fight with her mother, and Marie’s face fell, then she closed her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Jenny. I had no idea. Of course you can stay here if you need to.” She smiled, sadly. Jenny looked up, a bit dumbstruck, and Ash stood up, putting her hand on her shoulder. “See?”

Jenny nodded quietly, and sighed. “I’m sorry, I really am.”

“Nonsense, Jenny.” Marie stood up, smiling. “My daughter trusts you, and you need somewhere to stay. It’s fine… Besides, we’ll need another pair of hands, make everything go faster?”

“Everything?” Ash asked.

“Well, we need to get the tree up—if I can find it—and get everything wrapped…”

“Oh, I know where it is!” Emily spoke up, with a wild smile. “I saw it in the garage when I was looking for tools.”

“Sounds like a day, then.”

Truro, December 24, 2004, 2:44 AM

Three cars sat in the Truro parking lots: Ash’s Monster XR, Marie’s Porsche 996, and Jenny’s Lexus SC (which was not on the starting line).

“Okay, so, Jenny will start the race, right?”

Ash nodded at Emily. “First one to the beach wins, and no jumping the pavement from either of us.” Emily nodded in return. “Right. I understand.”

They smiled, hugged, and kissed, softly.

“And I’ll follow after you two take off, and meet you on the beach?”

Ash nodded as they parted, and turned, taking the keys Emily pressed into her palm; Emily walked away with the keys she’d been given in return.

“Don’t hold back,” Emily said.

“I won’t.”

Emily opened the door to the Monster XR, settled into the carbon fiber racing seat, and pulled the seatbelt down over herself. She closed the door, and pulled on her racing helmet with one hand, starting the engine with the other; the Monster XR roared satisfactorily in front of her.

“Testing. Can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear,” Ash replied.

Jenny replied, “Just fine.”

Emily grinned. “This is nice. I’ve been eager for this since Friday.” She left the car out of gear, and tested the engine, revving it high, almost to the redline, then letting it come back down.

Jenny walked out between the two cars, and chuckled. “Shouldn’t I have some road flares or something?”

“Well, they’d be nice, but we can see you just fine. Good thing your jacket’s white.”

Jenny nodded at the two of them, holding her arms up. “On three. One!” She bent her arms. “Two!” Swinging her arms downwards wildly, she yelled “Three!” and the engines roared.

Ash took the lead handily in the Porsche—her own prior experience on the track and the Porsche’s rear-wheel drive lent itself well to rapid acceleration, but its lack of race-tuning and four-wheel drive quickly penalized it. Ash was still ahead going into the second corner, but the Monster’s high torque and four-wheel drive grip let Emily keep pace, waiting for the opening she needed.

Sliding around an iced snow-bunker that greatly complicated a turn, the Monster kept its grip where the Porsche lost it. The resulting slide cost Ash time and momentum, which Emily capitalized upon to take the lead.

“Gotcha!” Emily grinned as she slid into the small ‘straight’ offered by the connecting road.

“Oh, you think it’s that easy? Watch out for that turn.”

The turn’s shallowness was deceptive—it quickly turned into a near-right angle, and Emily was obliged to brake hard, cursing softly, as Ash pulled the 996 around the outside, accelerating away, with the Monster XR roaring in her wake.

“Bet it’s strange to hear your own engine behind you, mmm?” Emily teased her lover.

Ash laughed, “Yeah, it is, but I built that engine. I know what you’re up to before you do.” Ash doggedly held her lead through the next road and parking lot, even though in the poor traction and obstacle-like course she couldn’t really advance it. “Last turn, Em.” She swung the car to the left, aiming to turn around the final light pole. “Good run.”

Emily’s eyes flew about, looking for an opening. She couldn’t just drive on the right side of the pole; there was no room to turn between it and the curb, and she’d sail into the lot. Yet…

“Oh, I’d better not be wrong about this.”

Despite the snow piled upon the sides, the corner of the curb had been cleared, seemingly deliberately so; it was a straight, hard angle. If she nicked it with the front tire at the right angle…

“It’s not over ’till the fat lady sings, Ash!”

Emily put the pedal down, shifting down a gear; the move was going to cost her speed, no matter how spectacularly performed, so she needed the lower gear for acceleration. The Monster angled in as the Porsche swung wide. She clenched her teeth to keep from biting her lip. Yanking the handbrake to lock up the rear wheels momentarily…

Contact. The car spun hard as Ash’s surprised voice let out a shout of alarm (and possibly outrage), but the car came onto the perfect trajectory; Emily let off the brake and floored it.

Emily grinned, drifting to the left slightly. She could more or less see what was going through Ash’s mind: outrage that Emily had done that in her car, admiration that she’d done it, pride that she’d done it in her car, and the question nagging her mind—should she/could she pull off another sidewalk win?

The answer was no; the sidewalk was heaped with snow, but Emily knew better than to ever let Ash think there was the chance. She skirted the left side of the one-car lane, so that even if Ash did manage to somehow jump the Porsche up, she wouldn’t be able to get alongside Emily.

The actual victory was almost anticlimactic after the elegant overtake. The Monster coasted straight and easy onto the beach, and Emily slowed the car, parking it and getting out. Ash spun the Porsche around, facing the road she had just come out of, before parking the vehicle. Emily was already out of the Monster, running towards her orange-haired tuner. By the time Ash got out, Emily threw her into a hug, kissing her hard and deliberately on the lips, killing any thought of protest from Ash.

“Wow,” Ash said in a quiet murmur when Emily let off. “That…”

“Was incredible,” Emily finished for her, pressing into her. Her heart was beating at about a thousand miles an hour, buffeted by the sensation of kissing Ash in addition to the strong adrenaline cocktail rushing through her brain, and she laughed. Ash squeezed her in return, and they met for another kiss, hot and heavy; Emily moved first with her tongue, eagerly received by Ash’s lips.

Breathlessly they parted again, and Ash grinned. “How did you do that?”

“I nicked the curb with the right front tire. It kicked the car into perfect line for the finish road.”

“How’d you know it was gonna work?”

“The curb was cleared. I figured it had to be for a reason.”

“Ah, so that’s how Brent did it. He pulled that on me, too. But that time, I had the sand ramp and the sidewalk.”

“Yeah. I’m just glad it worked and didn’t fuck up the Monster.”

“She’s tough, but I’ll have a look at her when we get back.” Ash squeezed hard, and Emily giggled.

“You’re not mad?”

“Hell no. I’ve done worse to her. I wouldn’t have let you drive her if I didn’t trust you to do something like that and not hurt her.”

Ash kissed her this time, as they fell under the headlights of a third car—Jenny’s Lexus SC, pulling up to face the Porsche. She got out of the car, pulled her helmet off, and ran to the two helmet-less girls, laughing and throwing a hug around both Emily and Ash. “That was incredible. I caught some of it from behind. Who won?”

“Em did,” Ash answered, kissing Emily’s forehead as she did so.

“I’m glad it worked.”

“Me too.”

The embrace held, a long, warm time—lovers and friends—before they slid apart. “Mmm. Your first win, Em—how’s it feel?”

Emily laughed softly. “I dunno… Great. I feel giddy, excited…” She kissed Ash again, heedlessly.

Jenny chuckled. “Mmmh. Heh…” She blushed softly. “I’m glad the two of you had fun… Uh, hey, like, you want me gone now?” Emily murmured; Ash was caught in the kiss, and couldn’t reply even that much.

Awkwardly, blushing but excitedly, Jenny slunk away with a quick, parting giggle, leaving Ash and Emily in their tight embrace, kissing one another, deeply. She slunk back to her Lexus and pulled away, leaving Ash and Emily alone.

They slid around to the front of the Porsche 996, and then Emily was on her back, Ash over her. Grinning, they started to kiss again, neither one being so much dominant or submissive as both of them grasping, groping, squeezing, kissing, and licking.

Like all hot flames, the passion burnt itself out, but amicably, Emily sighing softly first, then Ash.

“Wow,” she moaned: breathlessly, tingling on the inside, and quite aroused. “First victory high. How’s it feel?”

Emily smiled in reply, closing her eyes. “Incredible. Aren’t you upset I beat you?”

“Why would I be? I’m glad it was you and not somebody else. Besides, you did it in my car, too.” Laughing, Emily hugged Ash, softly, and closed her eyes. “Mmmh…” The car shifted as Ash slid to Emily’s side, sitting beside her. Ash slid her arm under Emily’s shoulders, and Emily returned the embrace by sliding her arm under Ash’s back.

“Racing with you… that was incredible, Ash. Like…”

“Almost like what I imagine sex would be like,” Ash finished, with a smile. “I’m so happy for you, so proud… so glad. And so…”

“Hot for me,” Emily finished, with a smile. Ash nodded, and Emily sighed, closing her eyes. “You don’t usually take losing this well,” Emily teased.

“I don’t usually lose to someone I have no problem losing to.”

The pair laughed, and Emily sighed, happily. “What did you think of the Porsche?”

“It was… it was great,” Ash concluded. “Power, acceleration… She doesn’t cook in the corners as well as the Monster can, but she’s got all the horsepower you need, in a relatively light frame. With the right tuning, tires, she could be a legend.”

Emily giggled softly, and smiled, sliding her arm up Ash’s free arm; as she did, that arm went to her opposite side, leaving the two in a warm, side-by-side embrace, gazing into one another’s eyes.

“Ash… I was always—just a bit—afraid that you’d be upset if I ever won. You can be very competitive… I’m glad that was absolutely without foundation.” Emily smiled, and Ash closed her eyes, leaning in, her head gently resting on Em’s shoulder.

“I am, too. I never quite knew—would I be angry? I can’t even be angry you took such a risk with my car. The Monster may be my baby, but you’re more important than even my car. I can replace the car, if worse comes to worst. I can’t replace you.”

Emily kissed her lover’s forehead, softly. “And what if it were a car you couldn’t replace, mmm?” Ash giggled. “Like what?”

“Oh… I dunno, some kind of supercar. You’ve never told me what your dream car is.”

Giggling softly, Ash opened her eyes, briefly, then closed them again, leaning her head on Emily’s cheek. “The Ford GT. Not the 1960s GT40, though that wouldn’t be so bad, but the modern Ford GT.” She paused, just a beat, “And yes, I’d still rather lose a Ford GT than you.”

“Mmm.”

“And you?”

“Hmm?” Emily asked with a mere sound.

Ash clarified, “What’s your dream car?”

“My dream car? Gosh, I… I dunno… something in that league. Jeez, um… the Porsche Carrera GT, I guess. Of all of them, I like its looks the best, I already know I like Porsche’s handling and feel… I mean, the closest thing Nissan has to it is the Skyline GT-R, but that won’t really touch a Carrera GT.”

“Be an interesting race.”

“What would be?”

“You and me. Carrera GT and Ford GT.”

“Yeah… I guess that would be, wouldn’t it?”

“Yep. Two supercars, rear-engined machines operating at the limits of human technology…”

“And human sanity.” Emily laughed; Ash opened her eyes, quizzically. “Not that I wouldn’t love it.

Especially with you.” Ash grinned in response—their heads met, softly kissing, briefly, then pulling away. Ash’s eyes closed again.

“You know what else I like?” Emily asked.

“What?”

“You’re not even thinking about it right now, but you’re letting yourself be comforted. Your eyes are closed, your head is on my shoulder, we’re holding one another… and you’re not even thinking about it. But now you will be. But I think you’re not able to honestly say you don’t like it.”

Ash paused; she thought about the position she was in: their legs on the hood and front bumper of the Porsche, sitting mostly upright together, her eyes closed… Emily was very soft and very inviting. “No. No, I can’t. I do like this.”

Their hands slid down, meeting; despite the chill, they held tight.

“Ash? Let’s go home. I want to hold you without these jackets in the way.”

“I could go for that,” the orange-haired tuner replied, kissing Emily’s cheek. She fished the keys to the Porsche 996 out of her pocket, and they swapped sets. “I love you, Em… I… I…” She let herself be shushed.

“It’s okay, Ash. Words can’t describe it, but I know what you’re trying to say.” Their lips met again, once more, slowly, tenderly, meltingly…

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 3:23 AM

Sneaking in the front door was no problem, all things considered; Jenny had left it unlocked for them. The blonde fashion queen herself was either asleep, or determined not to show otherwise—she was curled up under the covers on the pullout bed, arms wrapped around a pillow, eyes closed. Ash had been about to ask, “Are you awake?” but Emily wrapped her hand loosely around Ash’s mouth, while taking one of the orange-haired tuner’s hands and tugging on it. Getting the message, Ash nodded, following Emily to the room they shared, and closing the door quietly behind them.

Ash found herself embraced from behind as she took her hand from the doorknob, Emily’s head laying sideways on the back of her shoulders.

“That was great, Ash.”

Emily’s fingers laced together under Ash’s breasts, squeezing her over the ribs, and Ash slid her hands up, placing them directly over her bookwormish friend’s.

“Yes… yes, it was, Emily.” She squeezed Em’s hands, and Emily responded by squeezing her tighter, then sliding her hands up. She squeezed Ash’s breasts teasingly, an act which brought a blush to Ash’s face, then her hands went up to her throat, caressing.

“Em?”

“Yes?”

“Mm… no, nothing.” Ash slid her hands down, behind herself, wrapping them around Emily’s sides as best as she was able.

Ziiiiiip! Emily tugged the zipper on Ash’s bomber jacket down in one smooth move, and then pulled its sides apart. “Arms up,” she whispered; complying, Ash was soon divested of her jacket, which was tossed carelessly over the desk’s chair’s back. Emily’s jacket followed, and Ash turned around. The two met, squeezing hard, Emily laying slow, hot kisses on Ash’s throat and neck. They made Ash tremble with each connection of Emily’s lips, and she let out a soft sound of pleasure.

“You like this, mmm?”

“Mmm… y-yes, I do.”

“Good…” Emily gently pushed Ash backwards, against the bed. Leaning up, she kissed Ash’s lips, while linking her hands in the hem of Ash’s shirt, tugging it upwards. When she came away from the kiss, Ash was shirt-less, and grinning.

“Yes, I very much do,” she murmured, pulling Emily against her for another kiss. With a deft embrace, this time Emily came away with Ash’s bra, not that the tuner minded.

“You’re in rare form tonight,” Ash remarked, her voice heavy with arousal.

“Yes, I am.” She pushed Ash backwards—Ash fell onto the bed willingly, kicking her shoes off and toeing her socks off, as Emily divested herself of her shirt with remarkable speed, followed by her bra.

Then she pounced.

“Em-mmmmph!” Ash’s words were cut off at the feeling of Emily’s breasts pressing into her own, squishing, as her blue-haired friend laid a heavy, hot kiss on her. She wrapped her arms back around Emily, and closed her eyes. “When I’m with you… it doesn’t hurt.” She soundly squashed the tiny nagging voice complaining about being a girl, to a girl, pushing her tongue up, through Emily’s lips, tasting her friend’s mouth as Emily’s fingernails sank just a little bit into her sides.

Their lips popped as they parted, and Emily grinned down at Ash, heaving for breath; Ash was heaving back against her. “Is this okay, Ash?”

Ash gulped softly; nodded, and whispered, “Yes… it’s okay, Emily.”

The bookworm slid her hands up under Ash’s shoulders to her head; squeezing her ears, she started to suck on Ash’s neck, slowly but surely moving down. Ash trembled at the sensations, but didn’t object as Emily’s lips slid down over her shoulder, up the top of her breast. She bit her lip, trembling softly; Emily had paused, and Ash could feel her love’s breath over her nipple, which was rock-hard by now. Emily looked up—Ash met her eyes, green orbs filled with both trepidation and anticipation. Ash nodded.

Emily licked her lips, and slid her mouth around the hard, pink peak. Ash let out a gasp, her fingers clenching into Emily’s back, but she whispered, “Don’t stop,” as Emily started to suck.

The sensation was electrifying: it tied her guts into knots, made all of her body clench. She let out a quiet, tiny moan, holding Emily’s back tightly as she felt the hard flesh of her nipple being pulled by the pressure into her lover’s mouth, the contact of her teeth, gently nipping. “Nnnnnnh!” Ash strained to keep quiet, and Emily pulled off with a sharp pop.

“Ash?” Worry tinged Emily’s voice, and Ash reached down, squeezing her lover’s hand.

“I’m okay, Em… it’s…” She took in a deep breath. “I’m managing. Please… it feels good.”

Emily smiled, and leaned up, kissing Ash’s lips, softly, tenderly. “Would you rather do this to me?”

Ash blushed, and smiled at her, replying, “I’d love to. But I don’t want you to stop.”

“I won’t,” Emily promised softly, and leaned back onto her knees. Heaving for breath, she gave Ash a wonderful view of her bare breasts, cradled by the moonlight. Ash reached up, hesitated; Emily smiled, and the orange-haired tuner cupped Emily’s breasts, slowly squeezing them, growing bolder and firmer, her lips turning into a grin, as Emily’s eyes half-lidded, a soft moan escaping her lips.

“Too hard?”

Emily gripped Ash’s hands, squeezing them onto her breasts. “No! Perfect…”

Ash squeezed again, and Emily smiled at her, reaching down her own body. She shimmied her pants and panties off, tossing them away behind her, while Ash kneaded and squeezed her chest. Then she reached down—sliding her hands under the waistband of Ash’s white jeans and panties, she slid to the side, and tugged Ash’s pants down over her legs, and tossed them away. Then she grinned.

“Em? Can I…”

“Mmm? Can you what?” Emily crawled up Ash’s body, slinking low, across her skin, staring with a smile at her friend’s trailed-off question.

“Nothing,” Ash mumbled, looking away, beet-red.

“Can you what?” she repeated, and kissed Ash, gingerly rolling to her side, her front pressed against the tuner’s side. “You’re embarrassed to say it? Afraid?” Ash nodded, and Emily sighed softly, grinning. “Ash, don’t be afraid.” She wrapped her feet around Ash’s ankle, and kissed her friend’s cheek. “It has to do with me, and I’m getting the feeling you want to ask to look at me?”

Ash nodded again, and Emily grinned, tilting her friend’s head and kissing her once more, softly, on the lips.

“I don’t mind.” Emily rolled onto her back, and spread her legs slightly. She rolled her head to the side, and grinned at how red Ash’s face was—she was bashfully hemming. Emily laughed, and took Ash’s hand in both of hers, squeezing it tightly. “Go on, Ash. You’re not going to upset me, and if you do something that hurts, I’ll tell you.”

Hesitantly, Ash sat up and started running her hands down Emily’s body: starting at her shoulders, over her breasts with a quick squeeze, down her stomach, over her hips, and down her thighs.

“Working up the nerve?”

“Something like that.” Ash squeezed her foot, quickly and affectionately, and Emily wriggled her toes and wrapped her arm around Ash’s waist. “Mmmmh… you know, you’re lucky, a bit.”

“How so?” her lover asked, as she leaned in, slowly, tentatively placing her hand with the barest of pressure on Emily’s mound.

Emily trembled softly, arching her back slightly at the feeling of Ash’s palm around her aching sex. “You’ve got such a big clitoris, it’s easy to find. You’ll probably get off easily in no time, if someone was sucking on it…” Emily grinned; Ash was blushing fiercely, just the effect she’d been hoping for, as it had no doubt gotten Ash to thinking about just that.

Then Ash’s face got morose, and she looked down at her own lap, drawing her hand away and hugging herself around the ribs.

“Ash? Is something wrong?” Emily sat up, concerned now.

Ash closed her eyes. “I…” She sighed. “I feel ashamed…”

“Why? Wait, don’t tell me it’s because you’ve got a bigger-than-normal clit?”

“It’s huge.” Ash turned away.

“Why do you say that?”

“I… I guess I never really got a good grasp of just how big it was compared to normal before.

Well… I just got a good look at yours, y’know? Jeez, it’s like being in the locker room at fourteen all over again.”

“What you…” Emily blinked, and then she blushed. “Oh… is…” She hugged Ash around the shoulders. “It correlates, doesn’t it?” Ash nodded glumly, and Emily squeezed her tightly. “Talk to me, Ash. Tell me what’s on your mind.”

“I just…” She sighed, and turned, hugging Emily, placing her head on the bookworm’s shoulder. “Okay, you wanted to know, right?”

“I’m guessing it was bigger than normal, from the way you’re acting?”

Ash didn’t answer for a few seconds. “Eleven and five-eighths inches, two and a half around.” Emily’s eyebrows shot up at that confession. “That’s…”

“Hard to believe? Or hard to believe that I know so precisely?”

It was Emily’s turn to blush again. “Both, I guess. But I always thought guys were… well, that you’d be thrilled to have a penis that was nearly a foot long?”

Ash snorted, softly, but not derisively. “You’d think that; I thought that, when I was younger. When I was fourteen I started to really notice it was a lot bigger than my classmates’, and that made me, well… I guess I just felt cocky, literally. Like I was destined for a lot of girlfriends and all. I never really tried, I guess, I just assumed girls would somehow know, and flock to me because of it.”

“That’s unlikely… I mean… I don’t want to rub it in, since I can tell this is… well, a sensitive issue…” Emily stroked Ash’s back, softly, before continuing, “But a penis that size would… well, hurt. A lot.”

“I know. I started to pick up on that, as I got a bit older. I started to realize it made me a freak. You’d think guys would, like, be envious of it, right? I used to get teased and jeered in the locker room. Doubly so because I’d never had sex…”

Ash sighed softly, and Emily leaned her head against Ash’s, rubbing cheek to cheek, holding her as they sat together, side-by-side. “You are full of surprises, Ash Upton. That’s part of why I’m so head-over-heels for you.” She tilted her head down, kissing Ash’s shoulder.

“You don’t think it’s freaky?”

“Mmm. Maybe a little, but it doesn’t make you a freak. So you had a huge penis, and now you have a huge clitoris. Why should that change the way I feel about you, Ash?”

“I don’t know… I just…” Ash miserably laid her face into Emily’s shoulder. “I was just afraid, when it came up… I dunno, I guess I thought it would… turn you off of me? Make you not want to touch me?”

Sighing exasperatedly, Emily reached up, took her tuner by the shoulders, and squeezed them. “Ash, it does not matter to me. I love you for who you are, not what your body is…” Ash looked into her eyes, and Emily pushed into her, until they were nose to nose. “The bond between us is a lot more than sexually-based, Ash. In fact, I’d go so far as to say most of it has no basis in sex at all. It doesn’t matter to me that your clitoris is about three times as big as mine. It doesn’t bother me at all. If anything, it’s a mild turn-on; you do not disgust me.”

Ash’s lips twitched into a soft smile. “Really?”

“Really.” Emily slid her legs out, around Ash’s waist, and pulled herself into Ash’s lap. “And even if you became a boy again, as long as you were the Ash Upton I know… Well, it would take me some time to get used to it. But I wouldn’t stop loving you, and I would still be just as willing to have sex with you.”

“But…”

“Even if it did hurt. Ash, do you understand?” Her hands grasped Ash’s head by the cheeks, and Emily stared into Ash’s eyes—Ash’s eyes showed the optimism and careful hope in her heart.

“I… I understand,” she murmured, and Emily held her head still, leaning in; joining their lips, they kissed passionately.

Unrelenting, Emily pushed, and pushed. Soon Ash was flat on her back, underneath Emily, the blue-haired budding tuner sliding out, stretching, lying atop Ash. They parted, and Emily sighed happily with the feeling, laying her head on Ash’s shoulder. “Do you still want to touch me, explore me?”

“Kinda, but… that bit of panic broke the mood up a bit, didn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Emily nipped her girlfriend’s earlobe., slurping it between her lips for a brief suck. “I’m not in a hurry. I can wait until you’re ready.”

Ash wrapped her arms around Emily’s back, and squeezed her with one hand comfortably in the hollow, the other above her spine, between her shoulder blades.

“Em?”

“Mmmm?”

“You really… don’t think it looks freaky?”

“No. I mean, it’s not usual, but… You’re a girl who was a boy until nine months ago, and I’m an eighteen-year-old that everyone in the world but you thinks is sixteen. We know of no less than three angels on a first-name basis, one of whom is hostile enough towards us that we can honestly say she’s a nemesis, and we’ve participated in the banishment of two supernatural threats.”

“When you put it that way…”

“You having a clitoris three times larger than mine hardly registers.” Emily giggled, quietly, and kissed Ash’s cheek, at the base, almost inside the hair behind her head, eliciting a sigh of pleasure.

“Em?”

“Mmm?”

“Love you,” Ash murmured, rolling to the side, taking Emily with her.

The blue-haired bookworm squeezed her in return, lightly scratching Ash’s back. “I know.”

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 11:01 AM

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound of a fist banging on the door drew Ash out of a dreamless sleep. Disoriented, she groaned, “Whozzere!?” She vaguely became aware of a heavy, comfortable, hot object atop her, which shifted—Emily. Ash forced her eyes open; Emily’s eyes were squeezed shut, and she yawned, heavily. Ash slid her head to the side of Emily’s, peering through her friend’s blue hair. “Who iz it?” she called out, louder and more clearly this time.

“It’s me!” Her mother’s voice. “Wake up! The girl gets here in a half an hour!”

“Girl? Shit! The party.” She muscled her way up, shifting Emily from atop her into her arms—the sudden movement had her blue-haired friend waking up, blearing.

“What is it?” she mumbled.

“We have to get ready.” Ash shook her, gingerly. “The party?”

“Party? Oh!” Emily rolled out of Ash’s grip, making a beeline for the shower. Ash recalled the bathroom door not having been closed when they went to sleep, as Emily pulled it open, letting the sound of the running shower out.

“Jenny’s using your shower,” her mother called in, entirely unhelpfully late, as Ash, Jenny, and Emily let out a simultaneous yelp of surprise, followed by the door slamming.

“Sorry!” The blonde from inside sounded highly embarrassed. “I’ll be out in a minute!” she promised, as Ash looked at Emily; Ash was blushing extremely heavily, though Emily seemed little effected. The two retreated to their bed, sitting and pulling the covers around their shoulder. The shower shut off in short order. “Sorry,” Jenny called out. “When I woke up, your mom was in her shower and you were asleep, so she told me to use yours.”

“Don’t worry about it, Jenny,” Emily answered for them. “You’re clear.” She closed her eyes—Ash did likewise, and waited until the sound of the door to the living room opening and closing had hit their ears. The two all but leapt into the shower, Emily pushing Ash in front and hurrying into her hair as Ash scrubbed. Even still, there was time for Ash to think.

“Hey, how come you weren’t blushing?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… okay, maybe I’m just different, you know, being… But I’d think you’d blush harder than that if you walked in on someone in the shower.”

Emily laughed softly, behind her, and tugged gently on Ash’s orange mane. “Maybe because I’ve already seen her naked?”

“Oh… What?” Ash’s eyes flew open (and she immediately regretted it, squeezing them tight at the stinging pain of the shampoo that was on her brow). “You what?”

Emily let out an exasperated sigh. “I’ve seen her naked before; so what?”

“Um…” Ash felt a dirty, terrifying, burning sensation spread through her body—she tried to crush it as best as she could. “Um… you mind explaining that to me?” She stood up, turned around, wiped the shampoo from her face, carefully opened her eyes, and stared into Emily’s magenta eyes.

“Yes, I do, ’cause I promised I wouldn’t.” Emily put her shampoo-slicked hands on Ash’s shoulders, staring her straight in the eye. “Oh my god… don’t… don’t tell me you think…”

Ash closed her eyes. “No, I… urgh, maybe a bit…” She looked down, feeling all the more the idiot as she said it.

“Just shut that down right now.” She squeezed Ash against her, tightly. “Can you really say you don’t trust me?”

“Of course I can’t say I don’t trust you.” Ash wrapped her arms around Emily, placing her forehead on the blue-haired girl’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. That was really stupid of me, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, it was.” Emily pinched her, in the small of her back—Ash arched, letting out an “eeeh!” as the sensation shot up her spine. Emily giggled. “Look, we…” She mumbled off.

Ash slid a hand up to the side of her cheek, stroking it. “It’s okay.” She stared into Emily’s eyes, her own soft. “Did you like it?” Her green eyes turned mischievous, and then Emily blushed, giggling and looking away.

“I don’t believe we’re having this conversation.” She squeezed Ash, even tighter. “Did you?”

“What if I did?”

“I’d say… lucky?”

Emily snerked and started to giggle out of control; defused, the source of tension turned into a melting point, her body limply sliding into Ash’s letting her tuner support her. “I still had my doubts, you know,” she murmured.

“About?”

“Whether I was really… well, attracted to girls, or just to you.”

“What was the verdict?”

“Tempted. She’s pretty hot. I guess. After that night, I kind of… stopped fighting the idea and just let it run its course.”

“So…?” Ash asked, and Emily shrugged; she didn’t need to hear the question.

“I have no idea. But ever since that kiss on Saturday morning, I’ve been in a whirlwind and I like it.

I can’t just say… Maybe I don’t want to say. I guess I’ve been fighting for labels like ‘normal’ and ‘smart’ for so long that I didn’t know what it was to just forget them and act on my feelings.”

Ash slid her hand up Emily’s back at the same time Emily did the same to her. They met, lips parting… and pulled away just as fast, gagging on the taste of the soap on Ash’s lips.

“Eugh!” Ash turned around, opening her mouth and gulping a mouthful of the water from the shower head, swishing it around and spitting it in the general direction of the drain. The sound of a giggle came from behind her, and Emily embraced her hard from behind, pressing into her back.

“Mmmmh… warm,” she murmured, rubbing against Ash.

“Warm?”

“Yeah. And not just from the shower.” Emily’s slick hands slid up, slowly; Ash reached back, her hands sliding over Emily’s hips, as Emily softly cupped her breasts, squeezing them tenderly. “It makes me feel warm in the middle, to be so close to you. You make me feel safe and warm.” She giggled, quietly. “And you don’t have to do anything ridiculously macho to do it, either.”

“What do you mean?”

Emily smiled warmly, almost enigmatically. “It’s hard to put it into words, Ash. But what you’ve been doing since Friday? You’re on the right track.”

She leaned into Ash’s chest, head on her shoulder, as Ash slid them around, snagged the shampoo bottle, and starting to carefully wash Emily’s hair.

“I think it’s ’cause we were best friends long before anything else,” Emily continued. “You trust me. You don’t feel a need to constantly assert your position as dominant of me, either to me, or to others.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… remember in Marco’s, the other day, when Jenny’s bitch-crowd were in with their boys-of-the-week?”

“Yeah. Oh, you mean the way the boys were hanging their arms around the girls and all?”

“Yeah. Maybe they were trying to be affectionate, but it just came off to me as marking their territory.” She snickered softly.

“But… I’ve put my arms around you.”

“Yes, you do; but when you touch me, you’re focused on me, not on other people. I’m not a trophy with legs to you, to be shown off and never at more than arm’s length. You don’t slap my ass to show the ‘guys’ what a stud you are. If you slap my ass at all, it’s because you’re feeling affection for me.”

“You…” Ash slid her hand down Emily’s back, hovering over her rear. “Heh… I always thought about it, you know? But it… always seemed just…”

“Exactly. You think of me first as someone with whom you have a deep connection, and second as someone you get aroused for.” Emily grinned, and put her head on Ash’s shoulder. “And that’s why I love you. Even when you’re leading, you’re my best friend, my partner. You don’t try to be my boss or my owner.”

Emily waited a beat, and grinned. “You can slap my ass. It’s okay.” Ash bit her lip, raising her hand. She hesitated, and Emily giggled, quietly. “I’m really not going to mind… but why don’t you?”

“Umm…” Ash thought about it; on the one hand, she wanted to; she knew there was a voice inside her, urging her to take a good swat at Emily’s rear. On the other hand, she really didn’t want to offend her friend…

Paralyzed by indecision, Ash arched as she felt Emily’s hand take a firm chunk of her own rear and squeeze, followed by a giggle from the bookworm. “Too slow, Ash.”

The tease made her grin, and the tuner squeezed Emily, tightly. “I think I get it. You’re afraid of ‘disrespecting’ me, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Did you want to?”

“Mmm… not as much as I wanted to do this.” Ash slid her hand down, returning the favor, and getting a similar arching from Emily in return, but the motion didn’t stop. Ash let Emily push her against the back, returning the wide, happy grin on Emily’s face.

“Is this… okay, Ash?”

Ash closed her eyes. “Yes. No. I don’t know. Both.” She sighed, happily, and slid her hands around Emily, squeezing her back at her shoulder blades.

Emily gave her a soft push, sliding her hips against Ash’s. Ash gasped softly at the sensation, electrifying, but scary at the same time. “Ash?” Emily’s voice filled with worry.

“I…” Ash trembled, letting out a tremulous breath, sliding her hands around Emily. “I just…”

“You want me to stop?”

The tuner shivered softly. “It was good… but scary, too?” She closed her eyes—imagining another time, another place, Emily over her, on her back. “I… Shh, go on…”

“Ash…”

“I need to know.” Ash whispered softly into Emily’s ear, and the blue-haired girl nodded to her. Then Emily pushed in against her friend.

It was good, Ash couldn’t deny. A part of her wanted to be disgusted that she liked it so much, but the sensations were electrifying. With her eyes closed, she urged Emily on with her hands, letting her friend pick up speed and force.

She was blushing, she knew that much. Then her mind drifted to the previously unthinkable—would she let Emily do that with a toy? The thought of something penetrating her, under Emily’s control… Terror and interest flooded Ash in equal measure, and she let out a strangled, quiet sound. It was enough; in a flash, Emily slid back, giving Ash room to slide to her jelly-like knees, breathing heavily.

“Ash? Ash?” Worry in her voice, Emily put her hand on Ash’s head.

Ash leaned into her. “I’m okay,” she murmured, her lips against the soft flesh of Emily’s torso, her head between the bookworm’s breasts. “I’m okay… I just…”

“Too intense?”

“Yeah… I…” Ash gulped for air, softly, as it slowly sank in what she was doing—on her knees, in front of Emily, she was hugging her tightly, resting her forehead between Emily’s breasts, clutching her friend for comfort. The nagging voice that usually berated her for ‘girly’ things was very faint indeed, however—and was silenced completely when Emily wrapped her arms behind Ash’s head. “Thank you,” she murmured quietly.

“Whenever you need it.”

Ash smiled softly, kissed Emily’s sternum, and braced her leg; with a heave, she picked Emily up (who yelped in surprise) and leaned against the back wall, while Emily giggled at her, then squirmed, sliding down to her feet, and leaned into Ash, heavily. “Mmmm. Ash—”

The sound of knocking interrupted them. “Ash, Emily! The dresses are here!”

Ash sighed, heavily, and looked into Emily’s eyes. “We’re doomed.”

“Doomed together, at least.” Emily grinned at her. “Besides, I want to see you in this.” She kissed Ash’s cheek, softly.

“I know… I… Oh! We didn’t open the pictures from last summer, did we?”

Emily’s expression went through several shades of “oh, d’oh!” and she groaned. “Forgot about those.”

Ash laughed. “We can bust ’em out when we’re drying off.”

Emily wound up “ooohing” over the pictures of Ash in the black and white dress she’d worn in the summer, as they toweled off. “Wow. You were gorgeous,” she murmured, a little breathlessly, holding up the five-inch-wide glossy print.

Ash blushed softly, shaking her head. “I was terrified.”

“Yeah, but…” Emily turned to face her. “You were really beautiful in that outfit.” She put her hand on Ash’s bicep. “Don’t be offended.”

“I… I don’t know how to take that.” Ash closed her eyes, but reached up, clasping Emily’s hand to her arm. “Thanks, I guess. You really like that?”

“Does it surprise you so much?”

“I guess not.” Ash smiled softly, encouragingly.

“Just don’t strip out of whatever you wind up wearing tonight the moment we get home, okay?” She grinned for emphasis, and Ash nodded.

“May as well face the music.”

“What’s it sound like?”

“Mmm… with me alone, it was the theme from Jaws, so with you, Jenny, and me being done up at once… The Imperial March from Star Wars, most likely.”

Emily giggled at Ash’s description, and started to hum the tune; Ash joined in, swinging her hands with her fingers out as if conducting, and they broke down giggling.

Then Emily gasped for breath, and (trying not to split her face from the grin) asked, “You sure it’s not ‘Duel of the Fates’, since it’s a terrible trio of two heroines and a lone villain?”

Ash snerked, and fell backwards on the bed, laughing. “But who’s who?”

“I’m definitely Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

“Aww, damn. That means I’m gonna get stabbed with a lightsaber, doesn’t it?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll avenge you.” Emily leaned down, kissed Ash’s forehead, and then hugged her.

“Yeah, well… you’d better.” Ash stuck her tongue out at Emily, only to widen her eyes in surprise when Emily parted her lips and slid them down over her tongue, kissing her hotly.

They parted, and Ash’s lips felt like they were on fire (not to mention her tongue), and she grinned wildly. She opened her mouth to speak, when the door was banged upon. “Ash! Emily! You two are taking forever, it’s twelve!”

Both of them blushed, and hurried to get dressed and out the door—ironically only to be mostly stripped and subjected to an intense battery of scrubbing, painting (Ash had steadfastly refused to have her nails painted any color but the mirror-chrome her mother had surprised her with), washing, and blow-drying that Emily likened to being put between the turbocharger and the intercooler. And that was just for starters; it was going to be a long day even before the party.

“I am not being left helpless in someone else’s car, this time,” Ash declared, as her mother walked in with the trio of dresses (somehow she’d gotten Jenny’s delivered) on hangers, still under wraps. “I’m driving myself.”

Her mother laughed, softly. “How’re you going to drive in heels?”

“That outfit has a purse, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll put my sneakers in it.”

Her mother blinked, and then shook her head, grinning, as the three girls’ hair was ruthlessly done (for the fifth time, it felt like). “You can’t drive that car of yours. I know how much you love it, but it would be out of place.”

“I can drive the Porsche, then.”

Her mother shook her head. “Trust me when I say you’ll change your tune once you see what your date’s ride is. Anyway…”

“Hey, who have I got?” Jenny interjected.

“Um… let’s see here…” She fished a piece of paper out of her pocket, the dresses forgotten. “Emily’s got Kay. I figured you’d appreciate that.” Emily smiled, and Marie continued, “Anyway, he’s good with handling the new girls. Jenny, Ash… Hm.” She shook her head. “To be honest, most of the boys passed up tonight’s event. They don’t get paid as much, generally, you see. We had to reach pretty far down the corporate tentacles to find you dates. Ash, you’ve got a boy we normally have modeling winter wear, his name’s Adam. Jenny, um…” She paled. “Joshua Almacy? That can’t be right!”

“Joshua? As in, my ex-boyfriend, Joshua?”

“That’s what it says. I’ll call and confirm that—it’s got to be a mistake.”

Jenny rolled her eyes, and sighed, turning her head—to the indignation of the foppish man working on her hair—to face Emily. “Well, congratulations. You’ve got the best date, and I’ve got my pissant-brained ex-boyfriend.”

“Well, I’ll trade, if you want?”

“Or you could trade with me,” Ash said, with a grin. “He’ll take one look at me and storm out in a huff and I’ll be a happy lone wolf.”

Her mother rolled her eyes and shook her head with a chuckle. “All right, fine, I won’t object. He is a spoiled brat. Just don’t blame me if he doesn’t just take off. Anyway, here are your dresses.” She pulled the cover off the first one, and Ash’s jaw almost hit the floor.

“My god. It looks like you robbed the wardrobe department of The Matrix.”

Giggling softly at her daughter’s comment, Marie held the dress up high. The centerpiece of it was a blazing red bodice, utterly strapless with a black underpinning corset and ‘laced’ across the middle with thick straps of what appeared to be fake crocodile leather (in brilliant, glossy red) and shining buckles. Hanging from above it was a short-sleeved vest-jacket in the same material that would cover up to her mid-biceps but definitely not fit around her breasts. Below the bodice was—to Ash’s amazement and relief—a pair of pants, glossy red, with long strips taken out of the sides and held together by a loose weave of red straps, with a pair of thick, (presumably) decorative belts in the red croc-skin pattern

hanging from the sides, and an impractical number of buckles on them. Backing the pants was what looked like most of a normal dress, but without any front at all—it was done in the thick croc skin, and had many, many of the thick belts crossing the front over the thighs. The whole thing was red, with strips of black at the edges, and in a bag below them was a pair of knee-high, red, one-inch-platform-heeled boots, with an absurd number of buckles and straps in lieu of shoelaces.

“You like it? Henri went kind of nuts about a month ago, and cranked this thing out inside of a week, then demanded we find a girl to showcase his masterpiece. The problem is…”

“The problem,” Jenny finished, “is that it’s the kind of thing that only a bull tomboy could or would wear and pull it off. They actually wanted me to wear it.” She smirked at the thought. “I mean, it would fit me—we’ve got the same bust and all, but… No!”

Marie snickered at Jenny’s vehement objection. “But then I saw it, and I envisioned you in it, baby, and…”

“And… you got it for me…”

“Because: (a), I didn’t think you’d want another frilly thing like last time if you could help it; and (b), you have the perfect build, hair, and attitude to wear this thing.”

“Wow… just, um… wow.” Ash blinked, staring at it. It… defied mental categorization, but it was certainly unique. “I’m going to get a lot of attention in that.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m kinda jealous.” Jenny said with a grin.

The girl (Kay’s boyfriend’s sister, actually) behind Ash clucked. “Going to have to do something with your hair to match that.”

Marie hung the dress on a wall hanger, and picked up the second. “And Emily’s…” She took the cover off, and Emily’s eyes lit up. It was almost sublimely simple: a strapless, backless dress with diamonds cut out above the cleavage and the midriff, attached to a collar choker. It came with unattached sleeves, and had a long tube-skirt at the bottom, and blue satin heels in a bag at the bottom. The whole thing was the same blue as her hair, trimmed in white along the edges and borders of everything.

“Wow,” Emily breathlessly murmured, staring at the dress, then her face turned into a grin.

“Well, it’s definitely you,” Ash commented.

Jenny added, “It totally is.”

“Mm-hmmm. Absolutely beautiful, Emily; can’t wait to see you in it,” Ash finished. Emily blushed softly, and giggled at Ash’s comment.

Marie hung the blue dress up and revealed the last one. “And thirdly…”

She pulled the cover off of the third dress—all three goggled. It was a sweeping, billowing pleated gown, in solid, shimmering opalescent white—floor-length, trailing a mountain of fabric behind, and slit in the front all the way to the hip, guaranteed to reveal more or less all of her legs when she took a step. Jenny’s eyes were alight, and Ash could only stare in awe, imagining the thing on her new somehow-friend.

“It’s…” Emily started.

“Magnificent,” Jenny finished.

Marie nodded. “Yeah. I remember this now, but I never figured out where it went. This was designed a few months ago to be a silver bullet—put this on a girl built enough to wear it, and you’re more or less going to steal the show. I thought I’d lost track of it—I was actually going to call Ash and ask her to wear it, but I’d lost it. I guess your mother squirreled it away somehow.”

“Me? Wear that?” Ash blushed heavily.

Jenny leaned forward, grinning at her. “You could wear it well, if we did something to the color of your hair—maybe bleach it white, maybe make you a blonde. You’d totally kill the show in it.”

Emily giggled at the sight of her friend’s eyes flicking back and forth between the red faux-crocodile skin outfit she’d been assigned, and the silver bullet gown. “I agree. You’d look good in it, but you’d probably rather be caught dead than wearing it.”

Ash nodded, glumly, adding, “And no way in hell I’m letting you bleach my hair!”

“Don’t sweat it. In that buckle-and-belt-fetish outfit, you’re going to be hard to beat anyway,” Jenny said, grinning.

Ash shook her head. “It’s, uh… not a competition?”

“No, but still… You’re definitely going to get the attention in that thing. It’s… so unique.”

“Unique is one way to put it,” Ash muttered; still, the red outfit was growing on her, having seen the alternative.

Marie hung the third dress up, and nodded. “I know. It’s so unlike Henri’s work, I don’t know what got into him.” She shrugged. “Still, he made it, he demanded we find a girl to put it on. I’m glad you volunteered, Ash. You’re the only one who could pull it off who’ll touch the thing.”

“It won’t be so bad, Ash,” Emily said. “Besides, you hate girly-girly stuff anyway, right? That thing looks tough, like that leather bomber you bought.”

Marie shook her head and sighed. “My daughter, always the tomboy… Oh!” She darted back into the other room, and brought in an armful of purses—three, to be exact, each one matching the dress it was assigned to. “I forgot these.”

Ash stuck her tongue out, but sighed. “I guess there’s no escaping it, is there?”

“Nope. You can just put it down in the coat-room when we get there, though.” Marie put them on the desk—the red, croc-pattern one bumped. “Oh, there’s something inside.”

Reaching into the purse, she pulled out a pair of… Well, calling them ‘sunglasses’ would be an insult. The things were very bright and near transparent, but tinted a sharp red to match the dress. They were solid material, no hinge. She handed them to Ash. “Try them.”

Ash experimentally put the red wraparounds on—they fit more or less perfectly, tinting the world a light red. “Wow.” She turned to look at Emily.

“They look good!” Emily giggled and gave Ash a thumbs-up, and Jenny nodded behind her.

“Mmm. Okay.” Ash smiled.

Outside The Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 6:42 PM

Ka-snap!

Marie’s camera flashed repeatedly as the trio emerged from her house, taking snap after snap of them in stride.

Ash assumed the lead, walking rather easily, all things considered, in the outfit she was wearing; although it looked tight, the belts holding the rear of the ‘skirt’ together were quite loose, giving her enough range of motion that she felt she could easily run (or heel-toe downshift) when combined with the much more comfortable boots. Looking at her shoulders, draped in the fake croc-leather, she had to admit she looked ‘tough’ enough that she could ignore the fact that she was wearing what amounted to a corset, thanks to the vest-jacket. Her hair had been slicked back and mostly tamed with a thin brass clip, though her bangs had been allowed to hang dramatically forward, as they always did.

“You look great, Ash!” her mother called out, as she continued to snap away.

Emily was right behind Ash, sliding to her right. The bookworm’s hair was naturally long, straight, and silky, but with the treatment the hairdresser had given her, it practically glowed, waving behind her as she walked. Unlike Ash, she carried the purse on her arm easily and gently. Beside her was Jenny, sweeping down the sidewalk in the eye-seizing white gown, her hair done (as Emily’s) in a long, yellow wave down over her back.

“Hey, aren’t these ‘dates’ supposed to be here?” Emily asked.

“Yeah,” Marie said, “they should be—ah! I hear Kay’s car.”

The little red Miata was purring as it came up the road, and Emily swayed slightly—to Ash’s lascivious grin. “You’re looking forward to this, aren’t you?”

Emily rolled her eyes good-naturedly and punched Ash’s faux-croc-covered upper arm. “Yes, I am.”

“Don’t forget, he’s—”

“I know. I know.” She smirked. “Doesn’t mean I can’t still enjoy going on a date with the guy who was the center of all my adolescent fantasies. Call it closure, if you want.”

Ash chuckled. “Alright, fine, fi—… What the hell is that?” Her tuner’s ears caught the sound long before the car it belonged to was visible. Not at all the throaty growl of the Monster XR, not the banshee scream of the Carrera GT they’d seen the other day, nor the roaring sound of the Hemicuda that she’d passed close to at Marco’s. This was high-pitched, but throaty, like the howl of a thousand wolves.

“That has to be Adam.” Marie smiled. “You’re gonna love this, Ash.” Another car rounded the corner, up the street—the sound of it accelerating was exhilaration and terrifying—it was a sleek-slung, low-to-the-ground monster, white with two blue stripes. Ash’s jaw dropped, as did Emily’s.

“My god. That’s a Dodge Viper,” Emily murmured as the car roared up the street. Ash expected the beast to dodge around Kay’s Miata, but it rather civilly braked when it caught up, following the little convertible into the driveway.

Ash goggled; Daimler-Chrysler may not have been her company of choice, but still, seeing and being in the presence of a true Supercar was awe-inspiring, the rumble of its ten cylinder engine shaking her guts. The driver gunned the engine briefly, and shut it off, as Kay got out of his Miata.

“I get to ride in that?” Jenny snickered. “You missed your chance, Ash.” She grinned at the tuner.

“Enjoy it!”

“Ho-oly wow,” Kay commented as he approached the trio with Marie hovering behind them. “You girls are incredible!” He laughed softly, coming to a stop in front of Ash, and looking side-to-side at Emily and Jenny flanking her. “So you’re the brave volunteer who got Henri’s masterpiece? You carry it well.”

Ash rolled her eyes, and shook her head. “I had no idea what I was getting into, I assure you.”

“It flatters you, Ash.” Kay made an elegant half-bow, which had Ash’s eyes rolling again. “Jenny,” he said, quietly, as he walked to stand before Emily. “Marie told me that she was sending me with someone special that I’d met before. I had no idea she was thinking of you.” He gave another bow, and offered his hand. “Shall we?”

Emily laughed at the attention and took his hand, as the driver of the Viper clambered out of the machine. Unlike Kay, who was dressed in a pale yellow shirt and brown slacks, the man in the Viper was in a full dinner jacket and black-tie suit.

“Hello, all,” he called out, as Jenny and Kay walked back towards the Miata—Kay waved to him, as did Emily, and he waved back. He was all but wearing a top hat and carrying a cane, with a mop of ‘creatively disheveled’ brown hair on his head. He arrowed in straight for Ash and smiled. “And you must be Ash. A little bird told me you were hardcore into cars, so I brought my baby.”

Ash rolled her eyes sarcastically. “First off, save it. The Viper’s a nice machine, but I don’t need to be talked down to. Second off, I’m not your date for tonight.”

Jenny stepped forward, as Marie shrugged behind the teenagers. “That will be me.” Jenny smiled.

Ash nodded, crossing her arms. “The date she had assigned was her prick of an ex-boyfriend, so I volunteered to trade. You don’t mind, I trust?”

Adam let out a laugh and smiled. “Oh good, so you’re not just a pretty face.” He nodded. “I don’t mind. Though, where is the other one?”

Ash shrugged. “I have no idea. He might be planning to stand her up, which is fine by me. I’ll catch up if he doesn’t show.”

“You know the way there?”

“Know it? I’ve raced the track there.”

“Really? You did? In what?”

Ash pointed to the Monster XR.

Jenny confirmed the story with a grin. “She’s really fast.”

“Okay, fair enough. Anyway, the event’s in like, an hour, so we’d better get a move on.” He walked back to the Viper, opening the door for Jenny—Ash and Marie had to help her get her whole dress into the tiny passenger seat, and get buckled in.

“See you there, Ash.”

“Only if I don’t pass you on the freeway.” Ash grinned, and closed the door, as Jenny’s date walked around to the other side, getting in. Ash walked away from the car as the engine jumped to life, and the powerful car pulled back out of the drive, speeding away. Ash turned back to her mother, as the wind blew across them from the ocean, and sighed. “Well, that’s that. If he’s not here by the hour, I’m going on my own.”

“Ash, it’s a couples event.”

“Maybe, but I’m not forfeiting my pay because your boss’s prick of a son never showed. I’m already in the hock.”

“In the hock? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I am, but I owe you for the money I spent that night before we fixed the Porsche, and I spent some more on Christmas gifts yesterday. So, even if it is a couple’s event, if Joshua doesn’t show, I’m going on my own, and if anyone has any complaints, I’ll direct them to him. Besides, I’d be happier on my own.”

“You would, wouldn’t you, baby?” Marie reached forward, taking Ash by the shoulders, and then hugged her softly.

Ash hugged back, and closed her eyes. “Yeah, I would.”

“You really don’t like this kind of thing, I know… but why?”

“Why? Well, I wanted the money, for one. For another, I knew Emily would jump at a chance like this… I wanted to make her happy, you know?”

Her mother nodded, and patted the back of Ash’s head. “You’re brave, doing what you don’t like for your girlfriend like that.” Ash blushed softly at her mother’s frank description, but didn’t let it show since her head was still buried in Marie’s shoulder. “Why did you volunteer to trade with Jenny, though?”

“I figured he arranged it to get her so he could make trouble for her. It’ll throw him off to get me, especially in this. And if he tries to make trouble for me, I will make him sorry he was ever born.”

Her mother sighed, exasperatedly, but didn’t comment on it, stroking her daughter’s hair. “Ash, this is going to sound stupid, and not that I’m complaining, but… why are you and Jenny so close all of a sudden?”

Ash blinked, released the hug, and looked into her mother’s eyes. “Um…”

“I mean—I’m not complaining—but I would’ve thought you two would hate each other.” Ash shrugged. “We did, on Sunday. But since then… I came to her rescue in that brawl in the bathroom. Since then, she’s just been… I dunno, she’s acting way different. I think she felt defeated, but I didn’t do any of the things she would’ve done to someone else, and she didn’t know what to make of it, so she latched onto me.”

“Oh. I thought it was because she was coming onto you.” Marie smiled.

Ash let out a “Gwack!” sound. “Where’d you get that idea?!”

“Well, there was that picture making the rounds of her about to hug Clarita, and she’s always looking at you more gooey-eyed than I’ve ever seen her gaze longingly after a boy…”

Ash screwed her eyelids shut. “Ugh. Mom, I do not want to have this conversation, okay? Jenny and me and Emily… It’s weird, but she’s not doing evil stuff anymore, and she likes us. And I guess, after we killed her old, evil bitch-self with kindness, she’s kind of a blank slate, but somewhat likable. And she kinda latched on; what was I going to do, kick her to the curb and stomp on her?”

Marie laughed softly. “Oh my, this is too rich. Jenny’s daughter has a crush on my baby?”

Ash rolled her eyes. “Mom, please, d—”

“Not a word, I swear. This is just too funny. Is she really likable?”

“Yeah. We kind of had to shut down her hostility factory and just about destroy her ego, but she’s trying, I can tell.”

“Okay. I believe you. And I guess, the way she was last night… I could tell she was really distraught. Her mother can be demanding.”

“You have no idea. Her mother’s a pure stone cold bitch. Did you know she tried to seduce dad?”

“Edward?” Marie blinked, a bit startled. “I had no idea she even knew him!”

“Neither did I, until last night. Jenny told Em and me the story—she found out you were still married, and who dad was. Then she joined his practice, dragging Jenny across the state for exams and such, tried to seduce him.”

Marie scowled. “I bet he jumped right on her. No good—”

Ash held her hands up. “Whoa, whoa! He never bit. Not even a nibble. Dad may be kind of… sleazy, but he’s not stupid, I guess.”

“Really?” Marie blinked, and shrugged. “Huh… How about that.” She sighed, and walked to the side of the Porsche, leaning on it, soon joined by Ash.

Ash took her cell phone out of her purse—it read 6:59. “He’s not coming. Good, this makes tonight infinitely easier.” She fished out her keys from the purse, approaching the Monster XR.

“Whoa, Ash. You can’t drive that thing!”

“Why not?”

“It’s… ugh, do you have any idea how ridiculous you’d look?”

“It’s my car. I know it inside and out; I’ve handled every part on it. Why shouldn’t I drive it?”

Her mother sighed, smiling sadly. “You… are such a tomboy. If you have to drive yourself, at least drive the Porsche?”

Ash chuckled, and sighed. “Mmmh. I don’t… well, okay.” She walked back to the sleek red 996, as Marie took the keys out. However, they were interrupted by the sound of a car purring up the road, and turning into the driveway. It was a black Mercedes-Benz—a CLK 500, Ash thought. “Oh, god damn it, I could’ve been out of here already,” Ash groused.

“He might still tell you to go to hell and drive out of here. You’re not exactly his favorite person in the whole wide world ever since you took his Jaguar and gave it to me.” She grinned softly, patting her daughter’s shoulder.

Ash cracked into a grin. “Good point.” She sighed. “Now, all I need is a band playing that song from The Matrix.”

“Which one?”

“Oh, any of them, they’re all good.”

The Mercedes came to a halt entirely too close to the Monster XR for Ash’s comfort, and she scowled in its direction as the preppy, cocky boy who she’d utterly destroyed in the parking garage on Sunday got out. “Oh yeah, he’s looking for trouble. You want trouble, Joshua Clayton Almacy Jr.? You found it.” Ash narrowed her eyes; she wasn’t going to let the boy who had accused her of forging his signature shove her around. Her boots crunched satisfactorily on the gravel as he looked around.

“My god, you actually live in a dump like this, Ms. Upton?” He sneered as Ash approached, then his face fell when he saw who she was. “Where’s Jenny?” he demanded, only barely restraining the third word that Ash could see almost falling off his lips.

“She didn’t want to go with you, so I offered to trade. Got a problem with that? Leave.”

He looked as if he were about to do just that, then put on a perfectly plastic smile. “Why ever would I have a problem with that?” He walked to the Benz, and opened a rear door. The engine was still running, so Ash slid around the front, while he watched, dumbfounded. “What are you doing?”

Ash pulled open the driver’s door, and got in; the skirt, she realized, gave her plenty of freedom to sit behind the wheel, though it would be a pain to buckle up around it.

“I’ve seen your driving. I don’t trust you to drive a go-kart, let alone maintain the speed we’re going to need to make it to the speedway in time.”

Joshua scowled, peeking into the car through the rear door. “Like hell I’m letting some car-dyke drive my new car,” he hissed, quietly. “Get out.”

“Sure. And I’ll get in that Porsche 911 over there, floor it, and your ‘date’ will not only arrive in a better car than you have, but about twenty minutes before you do. How will that look?”

“It won’t look like nothing but some cheap tramp in a car and a dress that’re both too good for her drifting up alone, ’cause I won’t show if you do that. Get out and get in the back.”

“I’m not riding in the back, and I don’t trust you to drive me. You get in the back, and I’ll have us there in time.” Ash scowled back at him, but her mother knocked on the window.

“Ash, please…”

Ash met her mother’s eyes, vivid green and vivid green. Ash scowled, but the only expression on her mother’s face was pleading, not demanding. She sighed, and got out of the car, as Joshua smirked. She did, however, pull open the passenger side door. “I’m not riding in the back.”

Ash got in, and the boss’s son looked about to object, but Marie leveled a look at him.

“Just go already.”

“Fine,” he replied, stepping forward from the rear. He opened her door again, held it, and shut it again, then walked around to the driver’s seat. He got in, and put the car in reverse gear, swinging it around out of the driveway entirely too fast—Ash held onto the dash, nervously—she noted he wasn’t wearing his seat belt, while she was.

“Oh-ho, scared now, bitch? I thought you were the hard-as-nails racer-dyke?”

Ash’s eyes flashed with fury as he stomped the engine, the CLK’s rather pathetic engine nevertheless accelerating hard. “I’m not afraid of anything when I’m in control. You don’t know how to drive this thing.”

“Hmmph. I could’a beat you in my Jag.”

“No, idiot, you couldn’t have. You don’t know the first thing about performance driving. You didn’t even have a manual transmission. Do you even know what a gear is?”

“I don’t need to, my car handles that for me. I have more important things to do, like pointing the car where it needs to go and pushing the pedal to the metal.”

Ash rolled her eyes. “Aren’t you going to buckle in?”

“Why the hell should I,” he snarked in response, as Ash caught sight of her mother, in the black Jaguar, pull out of the driveway.

“Gee, I don’t know, I figured you would want to protect that mush you use to keep your ears from falling in.”

“Hmmph. Only bad drivers rely on seat belts to protect them.” He looked up, into the mirror at the Jaguar. “Bitch has no right to be driving my car.”

Ash clenched her fist. “What did you just call my mother?” She glared at him, and he smirked at her.

“A bitch. She is; what’re you gonna about it?”

Ash felt her chrome-colored fingernails digging into her palm. Then she turned her face and looked ahead at the road.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. You bitches are all the same.”

“I can’t punch him; if I do, he’ll black out and we’ll wreck and get me killed. I can’t punch him; if I do, he’ll black out and we’ll wreck and get me killed. I can’t punch him; if I do, he’ll black out and we’ll wreck and get me killed…”

On The Highway, Driving To The Cape Cod Speedway, 7:39 PM

“So, Emily, how’d you get into this biz?”

“Biz?” Emily looked left at Kay, curiously.

“Yeah. The whole modeling-and-parties thing and all. Not that you’re not beautiful, especially in that magnificent dress by Henri, but the handlers don’t usually pick up girls with your figure.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Emily asked, a sudden flash of heat going into her voice.

“I mean that they usually pick girls on the basis of bust and hip size, rather than how nice or beautiful or intelligent they are.” He held a hand up. “Please, I don’t mean to offend you, you really are beautiful. I’m just wondering how you got the chance to prove it.”

“Oh.” Emily sighed, leaning back into the passenger seat of Kay’s Miata, as Adam and his Viper blew past them again—the powerful sports-car had been showing off, more or less orbiting the Miata, and Emily had wished more than a few times she’d had her racing helmet and Jenny had had hers.

“Ash and I came out east to visit her mom last Saturday, since the utilities where we live were getting all fucked up due to the storm.”

“Yeah, I remember; you called me looking for Marie.”

“Well, she mentioned that she’d keep us on her short list of girls to call, since she knew Ash liked the large paychecks, so she can work on her cars. Then she mentioned this, and, well…” She grinned. “I wanted to wear a beautiful dress, and I didn’t get to see Ash in the one she wore last time, so…”

“Ahhh.” Kay nodded, and smiled. “She’s your girlfriend, then?”

“Er… I didn’t say that!”

“Hey, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to deduce, between the way you got all flustered about what I said in the summer, and how close the two of you are… Sorry, I won’t mention it again.”

Emily sighed. “Is it that obvious?”

“Hello, gaydar? I could see Ash coming a mile away. You were putting up a good confusion last summer, but…”

Emily sighed. “Okay, it was really scary, all right? And then I kissed her in the night, and we kind of had a fight and all, but last Friday…”

“Something wrong?”

“Well… I’ve been jealous of another girl all year when the little tramp got near Ash. Sometimes I’ve treated her like dirt, all because I was so afraid of telling her how I felt. It’s not an easy thing to think about.”

“Ahhh. So, you told her Friday…”

“Not as such. She and Rumisiel were forced to stay at my house since her house’s heat went out. I couldn’t let either of them stay in my mom’s bed, so I gave him my sleeping bag, and we slept in the same bed. I had a nightmare—a very vivid nightmare—where I thought she died. I woke up crying her name, then I kissed her in the heat of the moment.”

“And the cat was out of the bag?”

“Yeah… And I liked it. A lot. We’ve been… adjusting, I guess. Coming to the Cape helped a lot, since we got away from all the troubles.”

“Mmmm-hmm. Provincetown’s one of the places I feel really comfortable, especially Marie’s home. She’s an incredible lady.”

“Yeah… Ash’s mom makes me feel so at ease, you know? It’s not like my mom. She’d probably have a coronary heart attack if she knew, but Ash’s mom picked up on it and didn’t have a problem.”

“Marie’s a beautiful woman, inside and out. She really makes you feel happy to be who you are.”

“Yeah, exactly.”

Emily sighed, and closed her eyes, letting the smooth ride and good company lull her. “Yeah, it’s… mmmh. Sometimes I’m terrified. She’s… well, Ash puts on a brave shell, and she can be retardedly brave when confronted with physical violence. I don’t think she’s afraid of anything that walks on two legs, except, well, me.”

“You?”

“She’s… really shy about some things, and very excitable. I know she wants me, and I want her, but we have a real hard time, you know?”

“Mmmmh. Yeah, I do. It was like that for me, too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You buy into the ‘Idea of Kay’ too much. It’s one thing to be confident and easy in front of the cameras, it’s quite another to do it in the dark, with someone you love.”

“How’d you get through it?”

“Time. Time and being careful.”

“Yeah. I think that’s what we’re doing, too.”

“Well, you’re smart, and she’s devoted. You’ll be fine, I’m sure.”

Emily smiled, and nodded. “Thanks.”

“So, you really did crush over me?”

“Yeah. I guess I feel like an idiot for it. When Ash told me, I about cried.”

“Told you?”

“I was giving her a hard time about it when she said the trophy-date she had was a gay guy, cause, well, that’s what I do.”

“Bash gays?”

“What? No! Give Ash a hard time.” She opened her eyes, to find that Kay was grinning; he’d baited her into that, and laughed.

“I figured. I’m playing with you.”

“Then she said your name, and… what was it I said?” Emily looked up, at the inside roof, thinking. “Oh yeah, it was, ‘I feel like a pillar of my early adolescence was just ripped out from under me…” She snorted, softly. “Hell, I still had that old poster of you over my bed until we got home from that summer.”

“Oh Jeez, you’re gonna make me feel all awkward and all.”

“Sorry… So, have you done anything to this car yet?”

“Umm, ‘done’ anything?”

“I guess not. You know, this thing would rock if you put a turbocharger in it, stiffened up the shocks, make it a real car with a manual gearshift, put some good tires on… You could dominate in the corners, might even out-corner Ash’s Monster.”

Kay groaned. “Car lingo again, you’re making my head swim. I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“Okay, well, a turbocharger is like a jet engine; it spins from the exhaust, and drives a turbofan which compresses air and injects it into the engine. The more air, the more horsepower, and the more pressure in the exhaust, which feeds the cycle. They’re really good for getting more power…”

On The Highway, Driving To The Cape Cod Speedway, 7:39 PM

“Yeah, do it again!” Jenny laughed as the man at the wheel of the incredible (and incredibly loud) car slid smoothly to the left lane of traffic, pressing the accelerator—the Viper howled, the speedometer shooting up through the roof as he passed the Miata that her friend and Kay were in, sliding around to lead again.

“Heh, you’re liking the wheels?”

“Yeah, I am,” Jenny said. “This is a Dodge Viper, right? Don’t these cost like, a hundred thousand?”

“Near to that, yeah. How’d you know?”

“Emily mentioned it to me while we were talking.”

“Heh. You three are good friends, then?”

Jenny nodded, leaning back into the body-hugging, foam-like seat, grinning. “Yeah, we are.”

“That’s nice. Most of the girls I have to deal with—when I have to deal with models your age—are image-obsessed twits. You seem to actually know what you’re talking about, though.”

Jenny shook her head, with a grin. Burying the urge to get irate, she replied, “Well, Emily knows what she’s talking about. I’m just good at remembering what she says. They’re both way, way better at talking ‘car’ than I am.”

“Are they? She said she drove the track. She drives such an old car, though. A Merkur, right?”

“Yeah, it is, but she’s put like, a super-mega engine in that thing. She raced my ex-boyfriend in a Jaguar and totally cleaned his clock, and she won against her friend in that Porsche in the driveway.”

“So… you’re all serious about racing cars, then?”

“Well, they are… I’d like to, but I really don’t know as much as I can sound like I know.”

“Well, that’s no problem. Get them to teach you.”

“I’d like that, I would. They’re just east visiting, though. I think they’re going home soon.”

“Where’s home?”

“Tempest. It’s on the far side of the state.”

“So what? That’s nothing. I drove hundreds of miles to do this gig.”

“In this?”

“Yeah, I did. This is my baby.”

“Heh. It’s such an incredible car,” Jenny said, stroking the dash. “I just have a Lexus SC, but Ash hates on it because it’s a convertible.”

“She doesn’t like convertibles?”

“No, she doesn’t. I’d like to get another car, something she’d like, like a Mustang GT.”

“Mustang fan, eh?”

“Well, I wasn’t before, but she likes Ford. And I admit, its looks grew on me after she and Emily and I played Need for Speed for a while. I think I could really love one if I got it.”

The driver chuckled. “Well, that’s true. The Mustang… It’s not a bad car, all told; too heavy for its horses, in my opinion, but that can be solved by just about gutting it and boosting the horses. But go with what you like, you know?”

“I really want to do something that would make her happy. I trust her, she’s…” Jenny sighed, softly. “She and Emily are the only people who stand by me, even when everything’s falling apart. I don’t even know if I can do tonight. I think I’ve lost my edge. They’ve been dragging me along, running interference for me, standing between me and all the enemies I’ve made.”

“What do you mean, ‘do’ tonight? You nervous? Don’t wanna go?”

Jenny shook her head. “It’s…” She sighed. “Okay, until like, last Sunday, I was exactly what you meant by ‘fashion-obsessed twit.’ I did anything and everything to be the prima donna, the showstopper, the prettiest, the most magnificent. I made a lot of enemies, including Ash, I guess, when she showed up last summer. Then she shut me down, Sunday. She totally took me down, made me a fool, made me break up with the asshole… And then she pulled me back up again.”

“Really?” Adam looked sidelong at her.

“Yeah. She and her friend… They were being nice to me, and I was doing everything I could to make them miserable for it. Then some piranhas caught me in the bathroom, attacked me, like I’ve done to them in the past. Ash jumped out and rescued me, like some kind of white knight or something. She took a real beating for me.”

Adam shrugged. “Not many people would do that for someone who pissed them off.”

“I know…”

“Sounds like she’s worth more than twice her weight in platinum. Hold onto her.”

“I wish,” Jenny said. “It’s like my life’s gone to complete shit, but when she’s there, it’s like the eye of the storm. I don’t know what I’m going to do when she goes home, to be honest. My mother and I had a huge fight; I haven’t gone home in two days. I’ve been sleeping on her mother’s couch.”

“Rough.”

“Yeah, I know…” Jenny sighed, heavily, putting her head in her hands. “Hell, I don’t know why I’m telling you, but…”

“Eh, sometimes it helps to have a stranger to unload on.”

“I guess… Thanks.”

“No problem.”

On The Highway, Driving To The Cape Cod Speedway, 7:49 PM

She could feel the vein in her forehead pulsing. The urge to kill rising. Yet, Ash was forced to restrain herself.

“If I kill him, the car will crash and I’ll die, too…”

“What’s wrong, not loud enough?!”

The CD player was playing some kind of thrash metal at the maximum volume, but the man in the driver’s seat spun the dial up, anyway. Ash grit her teeth.

“What’s wrong? Not fast enough?”

He was already driving at about eighty, the CLK’s engine straining to make more speed, and control being sacrificed. He’d weaved close to other cars a few times, and once cut off a semi-trailer which had unleashed its air horn at him. He also had the system set on full A/C—in a full suit, he was ‘okay’, but Ash was shivering in the thin dress and faux leather ensemble.

“I will not ask him to turn it down. I will not cave.” Ash was close to snapping—she knew she’d made a mistake in getting into the car, but had only herself to blame. “I should’ve insisted on driving myself.”

“Awww, looks like we’re almost there! Such a shame! The ride has been most enjoyable, hasn’t it, my dear?!”

She twitched. “I’m gonna kill him. Just as soon as the car stops, I’m going to kill him.”

He took the off-ramp from the highway at about twenty miles an hour faster than it should’ve been taken, leaving Ash’s breath caught in her throat as her door skimmed entirely too close to the barrier.

“Dead man. He’s a dead man.”

Ash could only sit, trying not to leave gouges in the dashboard, as the CLK sailed off the ramp, meeting the road and slamming the brakes on to not hit traffic in front.

“This asshole doesn’t even know how to drive.”

Finally, the ride came to an end—after several more hair-raising moments and near-collisions—the Mercedes-Benz pulling into the speedway’s parking lot and parking between the Miata and the Viper. Emily, Kay, Jenny, and that guy with the Viper—Adam, she recalled his name—were waiting around outside, talking. He shut the radio off before they pulled up.

“Thank god. My head is killing me.”

She yanked the door’s handle before the car was even off, but it didn’t open. She tried again, verified the door was unlocked, but it wouldn’t open. “What the hell,” she growled.

Joshua put on a perfect plastic smile. “I’m sorry, my dear, but I didn’t want you injuring yourself. Allow me to get the door.” He stood up, and shut the driver’s side door.

“Son of a bitch engaged the child lock? Arrrgh!” Ash snapped. She seized the steering wheel as she undid the seat belt, and pulled herself over the console, sliding out the driver’s side door.

To the tune of his put-on perturbed, “My dear, whatever is the matter?” and in full view of the observers, she slammed the door shut and stormed around the hood, clearly intent on wreaking violence.

“Whoa, whoa!” She growled as she felt arms wrap around her, and her ‘date’ backpedaled. “Lemme go! He deserves it, believe me!”

She struggled, Kay squeezed tighter. “Chill out, Ash! What’s got into you?”

Teasing the dragon’s maw, Joshua approached her close, somehow putting on a perfectly civil and confused tone. “My dear, whatever is the matter? Was my music too loud, my driving too spirited for your delicate senses?”

The world turned red.

The next thing Ash knew, she was being physically pulled from atop Joshua by Adam, Jenny, and Emily, while Kay was picking himself up from the hood of his car and rubbing his head. Joshua, at least, was squealing in terror, which was oh so satisfying, and holding his hands up to ward her off as she was pulled back to the sidewalk, and deposited on her feet.

“Ash! What the hell’s gotten into you?” Emily’s voice, from the side; the sharp sound of her voice shook Ash back to her senses, and she took a heaving breath.

“That son-of-a-bitch deserved it. I’ve spent the last hour trapped in his damn car while he blasted my ears out and drove like Kate never did.”

Joshua struggled to his feet, scrambling backwards; at least she’d punched the arrogance out of him, since his eyes were now full of fear. He turned and ran, stumbling off the van before pelting behind the line of cars, and Adam let her go.

“Jesus, Ash, you don’t punch like a boy, you punch like Mike Tyson.” Kay Wheeler winced, stood up, and rubbed his stomach. “I’m gonna be bruised all week.”

It actually made Ash blush slightly; she must have laid into Kay—her friend—to get to Joshua. “Oh, shit… I’m sorry, I—”

“Save it. You snapped, it happens. What did that loser do to you?”

Ash sighed, and then shivered. “Can we go somewhere warm? The last hour, he’s had the A/C on full, been playing some ridiculous thrash metal as loud as the car’s systems would handle it, and he’s been driving like he was out to kill us both. And berating me for ‘stealing his car and his girl’.”

“Oi. Here.” Adam flicked a key fob out of his pocket, and the Viper on the other side of the CLK roared to life. “Get in, her heater will warm up in no time.” Ash unsteadily walked to the Viper’s passenger door and got in—the car was already warm, and the monstrous V10 engine quickly got the heater core blowing gloriously hot air across her goose-bumped skin, for which Ash was magnificently grateful. Then the car shifted—she looked to the other door as Emily slid in, closing it behind her.

“Ash, are you okay?”

The question made her feel ashamed, and she sighed, looking down. “Yeah, I am. I feel like an ass, I shouldn’t have lost it like that.”

Emily laid a hand on Ash’s forearm, below the vest-jacket’s sleeve. “Ash, don’t.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t beat yourself up. Temperature extremes, noise, inducing reasonable fear of danger or death—those are classic hallmarks of torture.”

“… Torture?” Ash blinked, a bit dumbfounded.

“Yes, Ash. God, why did we let you go alone?”

“What were you gonna do? He shook mom about ten minutes in, and she’s driving a Jaguar.”

“Well… Adam knows how to drive this thing, he could’ve kept up.”

“And done what, exactly? Called the cops? I thought about it, but I didn’t want to ruin your night.”

“… Oh, Ash.” Emily frowned, leaning over the console and hugging her tightly. “You’re doing this all for me, aren’t you? You shouldn’t…”

“Save it, Em. I’m so far in the hole that if I don’t get paid for tonight, I’d have to put the Monster in the hock to dig out. Besides, I kind of wanted to do this.”

“You did?”

“Yeah—for you. I know you wanted to see me in a dress and all…”

Emily squeezed her, and Ash sighed, closing her eyes—her chin resting on Emily’s shoulder blade, her friend’s shoulder in her throat, they hugged long and tight.

“Ash, you shouldn’t have gone with Joshua.”

“I’m glad I did, actually. If not me, he’d have been tormenting Jenny, and probably worse, since she’s the one who actually dumped him.”

Emily pulled away, stared into Ash’s eyes, and rolled her own. “You are stupidly, retardedly noble at times, Ash.” She exasperatedly sunk her face into Ash’s faux-leather covered shoulder. “You walloped Kay a good one.”

“I did… I don’t even remember. The last thing I remember was he was taunting me, Kay was holding me, and then I’m being pulled off him… Oh shit, I didn’t punch him in the junk, did I?” She was suddenly mortified at the idea that, in a moment of rage, she would resort to that.

Emily snickered. “No, but you did ram your elbow into his solar plexus. And I expect that Joshua will be nursing a choice shiner before the night’s out. Was it worth it?”

Ash considered. “After what he put me through? Yes, yes it was. At least he showed his true colors when he was squealing like a pig.”

“Just hope his father doesn’t kick you out.”

“What’s he gonna do, say to daddy that he got his shit whipped by a teenage girl?”

Emily rolled her eyes, snickering. “Oookay. You stay here and get warm. You’re still shivering.” She slid out of the Viper, and walked back to the boys and Jenny. Emily talked to them, then Kay and Adam nodded. They both walked away, leaving Jenny blinking, and Emily walked back to sit in the Viper, and Jenny knelt down at the passenger side window.

Ash rolled the window down. “Where are they going?”

“They ‘said’ they were going to the bathroom. I’m pretty sure they’re going to go and track down Joshua and make it abundantly clear that he’s to tell anyone who asks that he got into a fistfight with Kay, or else stumbled into a van’s mirror or something.”

Ash bristled. “I don’t need anyone to cover up for me.”

“Come on, Ash. Kay’s your friend, when he goes out of his way to help you, be glad for it? Besides, would you be so upset about a friend covering for you getting into a fight, say, ten months ago?”

The sharp demarcation left Jenny with a “what?” look on her face, but Ash got the message. “Yeah… you’re right, sorry.” Ash sighed. “I just don’t like it.”

“Of course you don’t. But really, you’re not a sissy for having friends who’ll stick out for you.”

Emily leaned onto Ash’s shoulder. “Wouldn’t you do the same if I got into a rumble with some bitch?”

“… In a heartbeat,” Ash was forced to conclude, at which Jenny and Emily giggled softly.

“So, how’s it feel to be sitting behind the wheel of a Supercar?” Ash asked.

Emily blinked. She settled back down, and it dawned on her. The engine was running, although the keys weren’t in the ignition, and she put her hand on the wheel and the gearshift, with a grin.

“Yeah. I could like this.”

Ash grinned, as a purring sound she knew quite well rumbled up to the left side of the Viper, a black Jaguar. Her mother got out of the car, looking around; but with the heavily tinted windows in the Viper, she couldn’t see them. She started towards the show room.

“She must think we’re already inside,” Emily commented.

“Yeah. Let’s wait a bit.”

“Shy?”

“Maybe. Maybe I’m getting my nerves back. Maybe I’m still frozen from the ride here.”

Ash sighed, and closed her eyes, while Jenny and Emily talked softly, letting a few minutes pass. “I guess we might as well go. But I swear, if that bastard so much as shows his face around me…”

Ash slapped a fist into her palm.

Emily frowned. “Look… maybe you should talk to your mother about this?”

“What? Go snitch on him?”

“No, ask her about what to do. It is supposedly a couples event, after all.”

“Oh yeah… right.” Ash sighed, heavily. “Some Christmas Eve this is turning out to be.”

“Hey, don’t worry. If he gives you any more shit, I’ll mention it to Kay. He’ll beat him up for you, and you won’t get any heat.” Ash turned a fast, angry eye to Emily, who broke into laughter. “Gotcha!” Ash blanched, scrunching her head up. “You’re mean.”

“Just a bit.” Emily leaned into her, placing her head on Ash’s shoulder. “What say we go in and wait for the boys to find us?”

“Yeah, um, about that. What are we supposed to do, anyway? Sell up the Porsches? Just look good for the cameras?”

“Mostly that one,” Jenny said, from her right. “Though, you might well go and do something else.”

She grinned. “Go for it. We’ll be right behind you.”

Jenny slid behind, and Ash and Emily opened the doors, standing up out of the rumbling Viper. They shut the doors in sync, and Ash looked to Emily and Jenny. “Let’s go.”

“We’re going to look a sight when we hit the floor.”

Ash nodded. “May as well get it over with. Let’s find my mom, then.”

Even though she hated to admit it, Ash readily imagined that the three of them would be an amazing sight as they strode up the wide concrete sidewalk between the parking lot, towards the door of the show room, full of lights and glitz.

“Just a shame I’m part of the scenery, again. Oh well.” She tugged her vest-jacket’s sides forward, feeling a lot more comfortable with her shoulders covered by the faux crocodile skin, the long belt-restrained skirt behind her legs fluttering, the belts tightening around her thighs with each long stride. Emily was simply elegant at her right hand side, and she smiled at the sight—whereas Jenny, on her left, was an absolute show-stopper with her supermodel-powered gown, the long splits indeed revealing all of her legs as she moved forward to keep up with Ash. “Well… I guess it’s their night, so I’ll make the most of it…”

The Party, 8:19 PM

“Oh, they have a real, live band!” Emily pointed—at the far end of the show room, occupying one of the slowly rotating pads, was a large band, with a lot of horns and drums and a few strings, playing something upbeat but muted.

“Yeah. We’re lucky there’s no real celebrities showing up,” Jenny commented. Ash smirked at her. “In that? You’d probably blow them away anyway.”

Jenny giggled. “Thanks for saying so.”

“Hey, isn’t that Beethoven’s Fifth?”

Emily looked surprised Ash asked. “Yes, it is. It’s interesting—they’re using the drums in place of the deeper horns; that takes some guts. You’ve heard it?”

“I’m not completely out of touch,” she replied, with a grin. “So, where should we go?”

Jenny shrugged. “Well, we could always float over to the snacks table. Or push through the crowd and get close to some of the cars.”

“Cars,” Ash and Emily said at once, and Jenny snickered.

“All right, let’s go. Now, the trick to doing what you want to do, ladies, is to strut around like you own the place. If you look like you’re supposed to be doing what you’re doing, or you have a right to be doing what you’re doing, people won’t question it, since they’re afraid of being wrong and getting egg on their faces—or worse, getting punished for impudence. Observe.”

She pointed ahead, at a car—a white Porsche on a pad, with a saleswoman in a business suit standing by, talking to people with cameras. “Look, she’s giving the sales pitch to some press members. What’s that car called?”

“It’s a 911—a 997, actually. Turbo.” Ash pointed at the sign. “It’s gotta be one of the higher-ends at the show, if not the highest end.

“All right, then. Observe and learn, my friends.” Jenny walked straight over to the car, the gown sweeping around her. She was right—the saleswoman gave her an odd look, but didn’t complain, as she started to strike a variety of poses around the car. She tugged on the handle and almost got in—the camera flashed. She stood beside the window, leaning on the side—the camera flashed. Incongruously, she popped the hood to the engine compartment and leaned in, as if she were messing about in the engine compartment—the camera flashed. She rolled around to the front, laying back on the hood in much the way she, Ash, and Emily had laid on the hood of the Monster XR at the insurance agency, one leg long and low, the other propped up on the bumper, revealing more or less all of her leg through the slit of her gown—and the camera flashed.

“Wow, she is something, isn’t she?” Ash said.

“Yeah, she is. Jenny has a love affair with the lenses.”

Ash turned—Kay Wheeler had come up behind them, as had the brown-haired man in the fine suit. Joshua Almacy was nowhere to be seen.

“We took care of that punk,” the Viper’s owner began. “If he bugs you again, give one of us the message.”

Ash rolled her eyes. “I don’t need you guys to fight my fights.”

“No.” Kay put his hand on her shoulder. “You really don’t, but Mr. Almacy can’t afford to blacklist me, and he doesn’t have the authority to blacklist Adam. You, on the other hand, might never get a gig again if you deliver unto that twerp the beating he so richly deserves.”

“Wow. He must be bad to make you think he needs a whipping.”

“He does, believe me. Jenny’s the girl who put up with him for the longest, but even she dumped him in the end. If I’d have known you were going to have to drive with him, I’d have suggested you drive in with your mother instead. He can’t keep his hands to himself.”

Ash snorted. “I’d have killed him if he tried anything, believe me.”

Kay snickered. “Yeah, I suppose so.”

“She looks like she’s having fun.” Emily pointed up at Jenny, who was sitting atop the engine’s hood, her elbow on top of the Porsche’s roof, leaning across it.

Ash chuckled. “That’s not a plastic smile, is it?” Kay shook his head, and Ash let out a smile of her own. “I do believe the car bug’s bitten her.”

“She sounded like it had on the drive here. You couldn’t shut her up—she grilled me about my Viper and other cars the whole time. I’d better go help her get down without flashing the cameras.”

Ash snickered, softly. “Wardrobe malfunction?”

“Yeah. We don’t want one of those.”

Adam walked towards the Porsche with Jenny, who had since braced her heels on the wing, and was arching above it, her blonde hair falling over the windshield.

“I just thought of the perfect -gate name for this one, but I think I’ll keep it to myself,” Ash said.

“Yeaaaaah.” Emily grinned. “Hey, I’m gonna go and check out the snacks with Kay. Have fun, go find a car… never mind. I found one for you.” She took Ash’s shoulders, rotating her.

Ash’s jaw dropped. It was a glossy, bright red Carrera GT, with a number of blue velvet ropes around it forming a broken circle. Ash blinked, and Emily pushed her shoulders. “Come on, go for it. You know you wanna.”

“I do… I really do.” Ash grinned. “I’d love to sit in that thing.”

“Two supercars in one night? Go for it, Ash.” Emily pinched her arm, and then took Kay’s hand. “Shall we?”

“Of course.” Kay and Emily walked away, hand in hand, and Ash steeled herself.

“Just look like you belong.”

She took a step forward, but was grabbed from behind—soft arms wrapping her up in a strong hug. “Ash!” Marie said. Ash smiled as she was squeezed from behind, and turned around.

“Mom, there you are.” She smiled, as her mother let go, putting her hands on Ash’s shoulders.

“I heard some girl in a wild dress was all but dry-humping a car over here, so I figured it was you. I guess not.”

“It was Jenny,” Ash said, with a grin. “The bug’s bitten her.”

“Bug?”

“The car bug… ah, never mind.”

“Okay. Hey, where’s Joshua?”

Ash’s mood fell, immediately. “I don’t know, and I frankly don’t care as long as I don’t see him.”

“Ash, honey, it’s a couples event…”

“I don’t care. After what he did on the ride here, if I see him, I’ll hurt him.”

Marie’s face fell to serious and aghast, simultaneously. “Ash, honey, what’d he do?”

“He cranked the air to full, blew my ears out with thrash metal, and drove like he was trying to kill us both, all the while yelling at me about stealing his car and his girl. He also locked the child lock on my door so I couldn’t get out, and tried to shame me in front of my friends.”

“Ash…” Her mother’s face was serious and angry, and Ash held her hand up.

“Save it. I’ll deal, just as long as he doesn’t show his face around me again. But I swear, if he shows up and starts that ‘my dearest’ bullshit again, I’ll…”

Her mother squeezed her hands, tightly—they were balled into fists. “Ash, I… I’m sorry, I had no idea, I…”

“Save it, mom. If not me, he’d have gotten his hooks into Jenny.”

“Ash, I… I’m going to go and talk to Mr. Almacy.”

Ash shook her head, vehemently. “Don’t. Please, I’m not a snitch; I don’t need my mom to go running to his daddy. I can handle it.”

“All right. Why don’t you go and find Kay and Emily?”

“No way. She’s been crushing over him since she was twelve. I think she needs tonight to work it out of her system, and she’s wanted to have a night like this. I’m not going to ruin it by tagging along.” She paused a beat. “And this is Jenny’s thing, not mine. This should be her show anyway; she’s worked for it for years, not me. She and that silver bullet deserve this. I’ll just… I’ll find something to do.”

Marie smiled, softly, and hugged her. “Well, there’s some high-powered people from Porsche here. The head guy’s got kinda-reddish hair and a bit of a beard, his name’s Rainer Herrbruck. You could go and impress him, I bet.”

Ash snickered. “Thanks, but… I’ll figure it out, okay?”

“Okay. If you need something, or if you need to know something, or especially if Joshua bothers you again, come find me, okay?”

“Will do. Going to go and schmooze up the other marketing types?”

“Yeah. Jenny’s in rare form tonight—she’s schmoozing more than I’ve ever seen from her, laying it on real thick. I think she’s gunning for a promotion.”

“Jenny? Oh, the first.”

Her mother nodded, and let her go. “Try to have fun, Ash. You’re gorgeous in that outfit, and you look dangerous. You’ll go well with any of the red cars.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Her mother laughed, and then pulled out a comb to straighten her hair. “There you go.”

Sighing, Ash put up with it.

The Party, 8:49 PM

“You were really loving on that car, weren’t you?”

Jenny nodded at the question. She swept across the glitzed-up show room, the long pearly gown sweeping around her, setting her apart and clearly above of most of the girls in the low-fabric attire they had—not that hers was, generally, any less revealing, but she stood out like a beacon in the silver bullet.

“I could tell. There’s a lot of girls draping themselves over cars here, but you were the only one who looked like you respected the car as more than an accessory.”

Jenny snickered. “Wait ’till Emily or Ash get a hold of one of them.” She pointed across the floor—in the long, blue dress, Emily swept along at Kay Wheeler’s side, towards the buffet line.

“She looks like she’s entranced.”

“Yeah, yeah she does. C’mon.” Jenny started to lead, with Adam following and chuckling at her. “Where?”

“The snacks table. I’m starving.”

“Heh, all right.”

The two of them walked towards the long table full of snacks, arrowing towards Emily. “So here you are!”

Jenny scowled. Clarita. She spun, the gown whirling about her body as she did.

“Who do you think you are, Victoria Beckham?”

Jenny sneered; Clarita was standing in front of her, towing a rather helpless-looking buff man in a bright red dinner jacket and suit. She was wearing very little, though what there was of it was an eye-searing shade of orange trimmed in red—a lattice, tied together with additional latticework over her breasts, formed a halter of sorts—not that she needed much in the way of support. It was attached to a choker collar, and below it was a mid-calf length skirt—if a skirt could be said to be made of latticework. Whoever had designed it was either a genius or insane, or possibly both. Her heels were not overly large, but they did have the distinction of coming with (for a change) more latticework that went up her shins, like the sandals Jenny vaguely recalled seeing in a history book when she’d been flipping through it at random instead of paying attention.

“Better a Spice Girl than a call girl, Clarita.” The put down came easily, although she felt a wellspring of guilt within her.

Clarita’s eyes flashed with anger. “What’s your problem?”

“You, interrupting my night. What’s yours?”

“You, polluting my space and photographs like you’re the queen of the show. Putting on something like that, strutting, sweeping around like a queen or something.” Jenny felt her temper flare; she was about to retaliate (somehow), when Adam stepped between them.

“Whoa, there, ladies. Is there a problem here?”

Clarita looked up at him and smiled. “No problem.” She put on a plastic mask of pleasantness. “We’re just teasing each other.” She took his hand. “I’m Clarita. And you are?”

“Adam,” he said, curtly, taking his hand back. “Nice to meet you,” he said, and turned back to Jenny. She turned around with him, and started to walk towards the buffet.

The Party, 9:13 PM

Emily and Kay drifted through the party, showing up at cars and having their pictures taken—they’d had a few taken in the white Porsche 997 Turbo, as well as a red 997, and a concept prototype of a car Porsche was designing, the Cayman S.

“So, do you dance?” Kay asked.

“Dance?”

“Yeah, dance.”

“Um… I… can,” she said, guardedly. “Why?”

“With a live band like that, someone’s going to pay them off to play something you can dance to sooner or later.”

Emily almost felt a swoon come over her. “Are you… asking me to dance?”

“I am, when the music starts.”

Emily blushed and giggled softly. “I’d love to. I’m not very good, though.”

“That’s fine, as long as you have fun.”

“Okay.” Emily smiled, and snagged another deviled egg from the snack tray as they went by, eating it in two bites.

Kay chuckled. “Most girls won’t touch those things.”

“I’ve never had one before, they’re really good. I need to learn how to make them. I should try Ash on these; I bet she’d love ’em.”

“Yeah, these are pretty good. I don’t know who hired the caterers this time, but they need to be hired or promoted, one. Usually the food’s god-awful stuff made to look good, but these are like my mother used to make them, with paprika on top and everything.”

He took one for himself, and Emily stretched after finishing hers, then groaned. “Mmmh. It’s been a long time, believe me, since I’ve worn heels this long. Can we go find a nice car to sit in and let me rest my legs?”

“Of course. How about that?”

He pointed, and Emily made a face. “Ew! That’s a Cayenne. I am not sitting in an SUV.”

“It’s got more legroom?”

Emily shook her head. “Like hell, fat chance. I am not getting into that abomination against automotion.”

Kay tilted his head. “You really are a ‘car’ person, aren’t you?”

Emily blushed, lightly. “Is it showing?”

“Only like a neon light. And with the way you talked my ear off…” He tugged on his ear, as if to reassure himself it was still in place.

Emily giggled. “Sorry.”

“No, no, it’s okay. You have a way of explaining things that makes them almost make sense. I just don’t ‘get’ the whole obsession thing, but you made sense.”

“Sorry, I’ll stop.”

“No, no, it’s fine. So, you don’t like the big one with legroom? How about that black thing there?” He pointed, and Emily nodded. “It’s a 997, sure.” She led him to the car, getting into the driver’s seat, letting Kay open the passenger door and get in.

“You know, you do that naturally.”

“Do what?”

“Get behind the wheel. Most of the girls I have to deal with would just get into the passenger seat and let me sit in the driver’s seat.” He shrugged. “It’s kind of silly, I think, but I like the way you just take the wheel, like you were born to do it.” He closed his door, though the windows were down.

“Born to do it?”

“Sit at the driver’s seat. And the way you talk, and get all opinionated about cars. You have a focus, and it’s not being a camera-hog. Could you drive this thing?”

Emily looked down—the controls were more or less identical to the 996 that Ash’s mother had been letting her drive, and she grinned, feeling extraordinarily bold due to the praise. “I could take this thing out onto that track out there and lay rubber around the corners.”

“Yes, right before you crashed it into a wall.” The comment was followed by a derisive snort from outside the window—a man with slightly red hair and a beard was standing in a very nice suit, scowling down at her.

Emily flushed, and she saw Kay’s brow furrow to her right. “I could. I placed, you know, fifth in the overall straight-stock cars, in a 996 this week.”

The man snorted. “I find that highly unlikely.” He was urbane, but his accent was still slightly Germanic. “Little girls like you have no business behind the wheel of a fine, performance machine like this. You have no skill, no ability, no right. Get out.”

“Ex-excuse me?!” Emily bristled, angrily, full of offended pride. “You want to take that attitude out to the track and find out?”

“As if I would even think of giving you the keys to one of my precious vehicles. Get out, or I’ll have you taken out.”

Emily bared her teeth, but Kay put a hand on her forearm. “It’s not worth it, Emily. Let’s go find somewhere else to sit.”

She nodded to him, and opened her door, getting out, and shutting it. “If you’re the kind of person who works for Porsche, I should be glad I bought a Nissan.”

“Nissan? Pfah! Just like a little girl to own a car that whines like one. Go enjoy your little car, little girl.” He turned and walked off, leaving Emily with her fists clenched.

“He has no right to talk to you like that, Emily.”

“You’re damn right he doesn’t. If you’re going to say stuff like that, you shouldn’t get away with not putting your accelerator pedal where your mouth is.” Kay laughed, softly. “What’s so funny?” she demanded, and whirled to see him.

“You. You’re standing there, shaking with rage, not because of the blatant sexism, but because he insulted your pride and wouldn’t give you the chance to force-feed him his words on the track.”

“I could.”

“I believe you.” Kay smiled, and sighed. “I really do. C’mon, let’s go complain to someone in the venue. Even if he is with Porsche, he can’t just talk that way to the guests and get away with it.”

“Someone with the venue… I see Jimmy over by the buffet, killing the deviled eggs.”

“Jimmy?”

“He’s the Race Boss here. His boss doesn’t like him, but I bet he can ruin that prick’s reputation by spreading it around that he’s afraid to race a ‘little girl’.”

“See, now that’s the kind of attack I’ve gotten used to. I guess you’re flexible, then.”

“At least it’s not the kind of attack Ash would’ve retaliated with.”

Kay chuckled. “Yeah. She’s a great girl, but she’s more hotheaded than most of the boys I know. It’s actually endearing, after all the nonsense I have to put up with.”

“Yeah… yeah, it is. She has a real white-knight complex. Do you know, four punks cornered us in the back warehouse off an arcade the other day, and she grabbed a crowbar and about laid into them to protect us?”

“Us? That was you?” He blinked. “Wow. Yeah, there was a rumor that Clarita, Rachelle, and two boys got stared down by three girls, and one of the boys got the shit kicked out of him.”

“It was me, Ash, and Jenny. And he didn’t get beat—Ash was about to, but Jenny put him down with her taser.”

“Aren’t those illegal?”

“Are you gonna snitch?”

“Not a chance.”

“Good. Anyway, c’mon, let’s go find Jimmy, I want you to get eye-witness proof that I placed.”

“All right.”

The Party, 9:21 PM

Ash sighed, walking towards the Carrera GT. She had made some rounds of the 911 series vehicles in attendance, and even (begrudgingly) posed on the Cayenne’s side when a photographer offered her two hundred on the spot, because he needed a picture to beef up the ‘toughness’ image of the Cayenne. But now… she was hungry. That monster machine kept calling her, though she’d never seen a girl in or on it. Like being lured by a Siren, she walked determinedly towards it. Sliding around the ropes, a photographer flashed the car. She tried the handle and it opened. She slid in, smoothly, letting the soft leather racing seat hug her body. She shut the door, and the sound from outside, the band, and the people were almost immediately drowned out.

“Whoa.” The car’s interior was… not as luxurious as she expected. It was built for performance, with luxury as an extra. Still, there was a Bose sound system and a GPS computer in it—though the front of the passenger’s compartment was metal, and there were no floor-mats. The corner of a slip of paper stuck out from the glove box, and she opened it. Inside were a number of audio CDs, some soundtracks, some burn discs, papers that looked like insurance registration, and a crumpled McDonald’s breakfast bagel wrapper.

“Heh. Someone took the company car for a joyride,” she thought, imagining the person at the McDonald’s window who must have been absolutely flabbergasted to be handing a sandwich out to a Porsche, let alone a Carrera GT, and she shut the glove box. Then she put one hand on the wheel, the other on the wooden-knobbed shifter.

The door opened, behind her head. “This car’s invite-only.” The voice was annoyed-sounding. “People who don’t ride aren’t invite—” She turned to face the speaker—and blinked. Recognition dawned on his face. “My apologies. You have every right to be in this car.”

The black-haired man shut the door behind her, and walked around the car, climbing into the passenger seat. “You’re the one from the highway. The one with the Merkur XR4Ti.”

Ash stared at him. “You’re the one. This is your Carrera.”

“That’s right.”

“It’s not an XR4Ti. I own one, but that one’s a Frankenstein’s monster. It’s the body of an XR4Ti, with the four-wheel drive system from an XR4X4.”

“And a five-liter Ford Windsor engine, if I’m not mistaken.”

Ash grinned. “You’re not. How can you tell?”

“Engine’s too deep for the stock. Sounds more like a Mustang GT than a Merkur.”

“Heh… Ford person, too?”

He shook his head. “Hell no. I’m a Porsche fan internationally, or a Daimler-Chrysler fan domestically. But Ford makes a few things I could drive, like the Mustang, or the GT.”

Ash chuckled, and leaned back in the seat. “Fair enough. How come you talk like a real person, and not the honey-coated garbage they spew at these events?”

“Because I am a real person.”

“Really? You don’t work for Porsche?”

“Nope. This car is mine, free and clear. They couldn’t arrange for a company car to be here, because there was an accident on I-95, so I volunteered to present mine, since I was in the area.”

“Wow. This…”

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” He stroked the dashboard. “So, no offense… how does a girl go from driving a dingy Frankenstein’s Merkur to wearing a dress like she’s about to kick Agent Smith’s ass at a big Christmas Eve party?”

Ash laughed, loud and earnestly, at his description of the outfit she was wearing. “My mom works with the fashion company. She likes seeing me do these things, even though I’d rather be out there on the track than in here.”

“Your mom, eh? Is she the nice brunette, or the mean blonde?”

Ash blanched. “The nice brunette. The mean one’s my friend Jenny’s mother, and she’s a real piece of work.”

“Yeah, I could tell. She heard this was my personally-owned car and suddenly she couldn’t go out of her way fast enough to get me a drink.” He blanched. “As-if. I don’t drink alcohol on the best of days, and there’s no way in hell I’m going to touch any right before I strap myself into a six-hundred horsepower lady like this.”

“Lady?”

“Yeah. You’re a racer, and from the sound of it, a tuner, too. Don’t your cars have personalities, talk to you?”

Ash winced. “Oh god, don’t tell me you’re another ‘car whisperer.’ I really can’t take another.”

“Car whisperer?” The man laughed. “Where’d you get that voodoo hoodoo from? But still, it doesn’t hurt to ascribe a personality to something you invest yourself into, to listen for the cues…”

“Cues?”

“Yeah. You know what instinct is, right?”

“It’s automatic reflexes…”

“Sort-of. A reflex is like how your knee bends when a doctor hits it with a hammer, or how you throw your hands up to ward off a punch. Instinct is what happens when your subconscious recognizes patterns and symbols you can’t consciously pick up on. It’s why you get ‘gut’ feelings, like when you’re in the woods and you realize something’s wrong, and it takes you a minute to realize the birds have all shut up. When you act on them, you’re often correct.”

“O-kay… What’s that have to do with the car whisperer stuff, though?”

“Well, I call her Lady.” He stroked the dashboard. “When I feel like she’s trying to tell me something, she is. It’s in the subtle change in the vibration of the engine, the feeling of the tires on the asphalt. It means that something is up, and I need to pay attention.”

“Oh… oh, yeah. I know the feeling you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, that’s the stuff. It doesn’t hurt to anthropomorphize your car. Your Monster, what would you characterize it as?”

“Um… I dunno. I know a guy, his name’s Aiden. He calls it a Monster, says it growls.”

“Ahhh. A beast, then, like a Mercedes-McLaren SLR.”

“You own two supercars?”

“No, but I’ve driven one. The Carrera GT is a refined and grown-up tomboy. Under all the shiny surface and sophistication, there’s a wild woman waiting to be let loose, to open her throttle up and lay rubber. You can’t fear it, because if you’re afraid of it, she’ll either buck you, or fail on you. You have to respect it, but master it. Not like the SLR.”

Ash snorted. “Sounds like woo-woo crap, but I’ll humor you. Go on.”

“Well, the McLaren SLR is like a fire-breathing dragon. It doesn’t care if you respect it; it demands your fear. You have to kind of baby it. If you don’t have fear of that car, it’ll run away from you and end you in a huge fireball. But if it senses your fear, you should be all right, because it won’t usually flip and kill you if you’re appropriately fearful.”

“That really sounds like woo-woo crap.”

“It is, basically, but it’s a useful anthropomorphization of the cars. The Carrera GT is touchy, and this one has a nasty case of oversteer. You have to stay in control all the time, and you can get it up to its full performance. But it doesn’t drive like the SLR. That thing doesn’t oversteer as much, but it’s much touchier to my mind. Mastering that beast is almost impossible; you kind of have to baby it. You can’t really take it to its full potential, or it’ll kill you, but less than its full potential is still more than enough to win most of the time.”

Ash nodded. “Ahhh… I… guess I see.”

“Yeah. So, go on, what would your characterize yours as?”

“The Monster XR? Jeez… I dunno, I’d have to think about it.”

“Go ahead and think about it, then.” He smiled. “Feel free to hang around my car. You’re a racer, you’re worthy.” He took the keys out. “Go ahead and spin up my tunes if you want, too. Or turn on the heat—it’s cold in here. Just don’t start the engine, or you’ll kill everyone’s ears.”

Ash grinned, widely, looking for the ignition on the left side. She put the key in, turning the key to the right twice—putting the car into ‘on’, but not sparking the engine. “So, what’ve you done to this?”

“Done to her? Not that much, really. I’ve got twenty-one inch nonstandard rims, and Yokohamas on her. Tweaked the suspension to give me more oversteer, upgraded the brakes to six-caliper Brembos, and I had the headlights replaced with one-off Xenon 10ks… I haven’t done anything to the engine or exhaust. I guess yours is pretty much all tuned?”

“Yeah. About the only thing it doesn’t have is a turbo.”

“Engine like that? You’d be better off with a supercharger. Still, a turbo would do you fine, too.” Ash nodded. “Yeah, that’s true. Hey, I saw you in Marco’s the other day, as I was leaving. You were driving something else, a green muscle car.”

The Carrera’s owner nodded. “Yeah. After I foolishly allowed myself to be baited into a race by a teenage girl in an overpowered car, I had to ditch the fuzz and get my baby under cover until they lost interest, and change the windows for good measure. But I had to meet some friends there, too, so I called Jimmy and he let me use his Hemicuda.”

“Jimmy? The race boss here?”

“Yeah, that’s him. You know him?”

She grinned. “Yeah. We met him when my mom was planning this gig with his boss.”

“Oh… Oh! Small world, you must be one of those girls who came here and placed. Let me guess, you’re the one he calls King?”

“Not to brag (much), but yeah. My friend Emily was driving the Porsche.”

“Sweet. He talked my ear off about that the other day, how the King of the Mountain showed up with Doctor Harrystein’s Monster. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I didn’t have the heart to interrupt the guy.”

Ash grinned. “Yeah. Doctor Harrystein is actually Harry, the mechanic where I come from. The Monster XR was his project car, but the engine he put in it failed spectacularly—as in, block cracked spectacular—and he didn’t have the time to put in a new one, since his repair shop was taking off…”

The Party, 9:53 PM

“Hey-Hey, Blues!” The heavyset race-boss with the neck beard certainly cut a distinctive figure in an eye-searingly orange and white zoot suit, complete with wide-brimmed hat.

Emily couldn’t help but giggle softly. “My god, Jimmy, what are you wearing?”

“Whaaaat?” He smirked. “Hey, a little bird tweedled in my ear that he’d paid the band off to put on a performance of ‘Hey, Pachuco’. You just can’t dance to that song properly without a zoot suit.”

“Dance? In that?”

“Well, yeah. You’re gonna make an ass out of yourself and have a good time at a party, you might as well go for the gold, right? Just a shame there’s no lampshades anywhere.” He grinned.

“What’s up? I haven’t seen The King yet. Did she bail?”

“I… don’t know.” Emily shrugged. “Last I saw her, she was over by the Carrera GT.”

“The Carrera? Oh, wow, I hope she doesn’t touch it. Nate gets pissed if someone he thinks is unworthy touches his baby. Then again, he might think she’s worthy; I saw how she drives, like the demented daughter of Evel Knievel and Mario Andretti.”

“You two are making me very confused,” Kay interjected. “Who’s the King?”

“Ash. He’s talking about Ash.”

“Er… wouldn’t she be the Queen?”

Emily winced. “Don’t call her that. It pisses her off.”

“Yeah, it’s a title of achievement—King o’ the Mountain.”

“More car stuff?”

“More car stuff,” Emily confirmed.

“Hooo. Excuse me,” Kay murmured as he turned, walking to the buffet table and getting a drink. Emily frowned at him, but he smiled, holding up the glass, explaining. “It’s cream soda, not champagne.”

“Oh, okay,” Emily replied, turned back to Jimmy.

“But yeah, I haven’t seen her yet. Oh, I did see your other friend, though, the one who looked like she was wearing a pearl like some kind of Euro-trash starlet.”

“Jenny? How was she doing?”

“I dunno, really. I haven’t been to many digs like this, so I can’t really say, but she looked like she was doing a good job of hiding an almighty case of the pissed-off.”

“Wonder what got her upset?”

“Nooo idea. Hey, what do you think of the rides here?”

“The Porsches? I love ’em, but for the red-headed man.”

“Red-head?” Jimmy rolled his eyes. “Rainer. You know, I’m of a mind to take that prick outside, mano a mano.”

“Really? What’s he done?”

“He’s an asshole, that’s what. There was this cute girl who got into one of the Turbos, lookin’ around an’ all, started asking questions about what everything was. Her date answered some of it, and I came over, started filling in the rest, then this Teutonic twat shows up and starts lambasting her, saying maybe she’d find one of the ‘milder’ vehicles like the Boxster or the Cayenne to her taste.” He snorted.

“He did the same to us, too. Said some really nasty things about Emily.”

“Did he?”

Emily nodded. “Then he wouldn’t even take his words out to the track.”

“Really? That prick.” He scowled. “I’m gonna go scare up Fitz outta his office. Even if he does belong to one of the co-sponsers, he can’t just talk to guests that way. Especially not placing champions.” Then he grinned. “Actually, I have an idea. We have a speaker system set up for the band, but there’s a microphone. I could go and scare up Nate and the King and announce our pleasure to have placing champions in attendance tonight.”

“Oh, no, please. Ash would hate that.”

“She would? What’s the point in being King if you don’t get to brag?”

“It’s not the bragging, she just hates what they’ve made her wear tonight. She’d really hate the attention.”

“All right, all right, yeah. Well, I’m still gonna go and have words with Fitz. Oh, hey, isn’t that your other friend?” He pointed across the showroom.

Jenny was with Adam, looking as if they were having a pleasant conversation with two other people. Except that one of them was Clarita, and Emily winced.

“Yeah, it is. Oi, that’s…” She turned back, but Jimmy was already gone. “Huh… for such a big guy, he moves quietly.” She turned back to Kay, who shrugged, drinking a glassful of cream soda.

“So, what’s this King of the Mountain stuff?”

“Well, there’s a mountain where we come from, near Tempest, that’s great for racing. The road’s off the beaten path, nobody ever goes up there except the ones that want to race on it, so it’s more or less our private racetrack. The racers from the school we go to race there, and the top-dog racer is crowned ‘King of the Mountain’…”

The Party, 10:00 PM

“Are you ladies quite done?” Jenny and Clarita had been passing thinly veiled barbs, insults, and threats back and forth at one another for nigh-on ten minutes now.

“What would Ash do? Just walk away? Okay.” Jenny nodded. “Yeah, I’m through. This one’s not worth my time, anyway.”

Brushing off Clarita’s indignant squawk of “I’m not done with you” with a shrug of “I’m done with you,” she turned and walked away with Adam, towards the band.

“So, you never did explain the whole deal with that guy that Ash beat the hell out of.”

“Which one?”

“The one she didn’t like.”

Jenny sighed. “Joshua Clayton Almacy Junior,” she said, pointing out Senior, who was slow dancing with his wife in front of the bandstand. “That’s his dad; he owns the company.”

Adam nodded. “I gathered that, since it’s his signature on my check.”

“You got paid already?”

“Yeah. Being in-demand means you can demand payment up-front. Anyway, what’s the deal with that boy of his?”

“Right. Well, he was my boyfriend, until Sunday last…” She sighed. “There was a minor party going on at the company building, and Ash’s mom’s car had been wrecked the Friday before—the red Porsche that me and Emily and Ash put back together during the week. Anyway, they brought Ash’s mom in Ash’s car, but they had to stick around in case she needed to be driven somewhere, so she let them set up a Playstation in the break room.” Jenny sighed. “They were… trying to be nice to me. They were playing Need for Speed Underground 2.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen it.”

“Well, they offered to let me play. I didn’t know what game they were getting at, so I started off with a put-down, and told them my boyfriend had a super-hot car that was faster than anything.”

She took a deep breath. “Ash took it personally. She challenged me to prove it, and, well… I went to Joshua, and I honey-talked him into doing the race. He didn’t have his own car, but he did have his dad’s Jaguar S-Type, which he figured was going to be more than fast enough to beat Ash. We went to the parking garage, and Ash… Well, she was trying to get him to back down, since she knew he was a punk. She upped the stakes to a wager, but he started pulling out hundred-dollar bills, which she couldn’t match. So she escalated again to the cars—the winner got the loser’s car.”

“Pink Slips, huh?”

“Yeah. You race?”

“A little. I’d never take a Pink Slip challenge, though.”

Jenny grinned. “Yeah. So, anyway, she pretty smoothly wounded his pride, and he signed on the deal. God, I was such a stupid bitch… Ash toyed with him for most of it, then she blew right past him and left us eating dust. Theeeen the boss showed up, and busted us all. He hauled us into his office first, and Joshua made up some bull about her having forged his signature, and I backed him. His old man didn’t buy it, and not only did he yell at Joshua the worst, but he made him honor his agreement—he made his son give Ash his own Jaguar, the XKR her mother’s driving now.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah, double-ouch. He blamed me, and I blamed him for being stupid and signing for it, and I told him she was toying with him when he said he could’ve won if he’d been driving his own car. He drove off, and I was pissed… Emily and Ash then offered to take me to lunch.” She sighed. “I was mad at them, so angry, but I figured if I declined, I’d be playing into their plan, so I said yes… And, well, things kind of went from there, and now Joshua thinks I’m in love with Ash, and blames her for stealing both his car and his girl.”

“Are you?” Jenny erked, and turned her head up to look at Adam’s—he grinned back at her. “She loves someone else.”

“That’s not a no.”

“I don’t want to talk about it. She’s in love with someone else, so it doesn’t matter.”

“Ahh, okay, okay.” Adam smiled, and walked to the other side of Jenny as the pair walked through the room, smiling when a camera showed up in front of them, and then he plucked a piece of celery stuffed with cheese from the tray.

“Excuse me.” Jenny said, softly, slipping off towards the restroom; Adam followed, at a distance, and waited in the general vicinity of the door.

The Party, 10:09 PM

“Emily!”

Emily turned around—it was Ash’s mother, grinning at her, standing next to Jimmy.

“Hey, Blues,” he waved. “I had a word with Fitz; he said he was gonna rein Rainer in.”

“That’s good. Hi, Mrs. Upton.”

“Hello, Marie,” Kay said. “How are things going?”

“Good. Jimmy here was kind enough to ask me to dance; he says the band’s going to start a dance number any time now.”

Emily grinned, and looked up at Kay—he smiled back, and then asked, “Do you know what kind?”

“Swing,” Jimmy answered. “Liveliest thing my friend found out the band could do.”

“Swing?”

Kay nodded at Emily. “It’s not too hard, just fast. It’s easy to improvise, though.”

Kay smiled and offered Emily his hand; Emily took it, and followed him towards the cleared area around the band; Marie and Jimmy turned to follow, but Jenny (the first’s) voice cut in.

“Marie, we need to talk.”

“What is it?”

“Urgent.”

Marie let out an exasperated sigh. “Can’t it wait?”

“No.”

As Kay led Emily away, she saw Marie making an apology to Jimmy, who seemed to take it in good stride.

The drums started to kick up as they arrived at the dance area in front of the band. Then a voice boomed out from the speakers—a man in a black dinner jacket with black hair that Emily thought was somehow vaguely familiar was standing with the band’s singer.

“It’s Christmas Eve two-thousand and four, ladies and gentlemen. Year’s almost over, and for whatever reason, we’re all here, tonight, instead of home, safe and sound. I guess that says something about what kind of people we all are—party people!” The horns kicked in. “I see some of us have been in the dancing mood all night, but with any luck my friends over here can play some Royal Crown Revue and move everybody’s feet tonight. That said: Hey, Pachuco! Hey!”

The opening line was sang by the man with the band, the whole band, and Jimmy, who had snuck up near them, and the black-haired man danced away, as Jimmy started to tear up the floor.

“Hey, look,” Emily murmured, pointing out the senior Joshua Almacy and his wife, who were looking at one another with a grin, and then started to tear the floor up, and the singer took up the rest of the song’s lyrics.

“Cool. I haven’t seen them enjoy themselves at an event this much in years. Shall we dance?”

Emily turned back, taking Kay’s hand—he nodded his head to the rhythm. Emily followed his nodding. “I’m with you,” she murmured, and he swung her around, starting them into the frantic, happy dance that more and more people were taking up.

The Bathroom At The Party, 10:14 PM

The bathroom in the venue wasn’t so much like the bathrooms in a public building as in a small office. The interior was dark, faux wood paneling above the mid-level of the room, and brown carpet-like wall below the middle. It was not entirely unpleasant, Jenny thought, introspective and quiet, though she’d never admit to liking the décor. There was a large bay-mirror and bank of sinks, which she stood at, having washed her hands twice already, staring at her reflection in the mirror.

“Clarita…” She sighed. “I know I don’t deserve it, but can’t you just leave me alone for one night? I’m probably finished after tonight, anyway. I don’t think I’d have the guts to show up without Ash and Em.” She heard music outside, and smiled. “Mmmh. Kay’s probably dancing with Emily. Maybe I can get a dance out of Adam.” She turned around, only to be interrupted by the door opening, admitting the last person she wanted to see.

“Clarita.”

“Jenny.” Clarita smirked, and turned around. The door was equipped with a lock, and she locked it, then turned back to Jenny, who was blinking and stepping back.

“What are you doing?”

Their eyes met. Neither spoke for a moment, staring. Jenny felt like she should be going for a pistol at her hip before Clarita went for one at her own.

Finally Clarita broke the silence. “I don’t believe you.” She took a step forward. “I don’t fucking believe you. What’s your angle? What’re you getting at?”

“What are you talking about?” Jenny demanded back, furrowing her brow. “What’s not to believe?”

“I don’t believe you deleted it.” She took another step forward, her fists clenched. “I don’t believe you, all of a sudden, going soft. Going off with that auto-dyke and the bookworm bitch.”

Another step, and Jenny clenched her own fists. “Don’t talk about my friends like that!”

“Hah! Friends?! You, Jenny, friends? I don’t buy it. I don’t believe you. What’s your angle, bitch?”

Jenny shook. Then she set her purse on the counter, and took out her cell phone. “Have a look for yourself. I deleted all of it. Everything.”

Clarita fiddled with the cell phone for a while, then set it back on the counter. “Why? What the hell is your angle?”

“Is it so hard to believe I don’t have one? That I just want to stop the fighting?”

“You started it!” Clarita’s eyes flared with anger, and Jenny looked down. “Yes… yes I did. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?!”

“Yes, I’m sorry, okay?! I’m sorry for everything! I’m sorry I got your locker combination, I’m sorry I stole your Playboy, and I’m sorry I grabbed you in the showers and m-molested you, okay?”

“You… you’re sorry?!” Clarita sounded enraged and incredulous, and Jenny hung her head.

“Yes, I am, it…” She sighed, and slumped on the counter. “You threatened me, Clarita. You threatened the image my mother was making me build. How the hell am I going to compete with that? Full figures were going out; tomboy-slim was getting in. It’s the same thing I’ve done all my life, and you know what?” She looked up, meeting Clarita’s eyes. “I realized just how pathetic it all was, after Ash showed me up…” She sighed, feeling incredibly guilty and pathetic. “I’m sorry, Clarita.”

“You? Threatened by me?!” Clarita looked outraged. “Do you… Argh! When I was twelve, I saw you, in all the school plays and pageants, in magazines, and I told my mother I wanted to be just like you! And I finally got my break, and you attack me and take blackmail movies of me?”

Jenny hung her head, shamefully. “Clarita… I… I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say. It was wrong of me.” She looked into the mirror. “I had no idea you even existed until that party last January. Then you walked onto the scene full of bright eyes and stole all the show. My mother yelled at me so much about being upstaged by a flat-chested twit…” She closed her eyes. “I shouldn’t have done what I did, though… I… I’m sorry.”

She knew, actually knew, it was coming, but she didn’t put a hand up to ward off the punch. Surprisingly, it hit her in the stomach instead of the face. Jenny staggered backwards, groaning and holding her guts. The second came, but this time, something sparked inside of her, sparking her into action. She jumped to the side, letting the punch sail by her, and grabbed Clarita’s arm, spinning and throwing the smaller girl against the wall. She wasn’t nearly as strong as Ash, and probably not even as strong as Emily, but Clarita was thinner and weaker than she was, so she could still manhandle the younger girl.

She pushed Clarita against the wall, staring into her eyes, holding her arms—the squirming girl bared her teeth. “I deserved that. But I’m not going to be a punching bag. I’m sorry for everything I did, but I won’t let you beat me up.”

“Let go.”

Jenny did, and Clarita lowered her hands. Then she pulled them up, pulling Jenny’s top—it was strong enough that, had she tried to rip it, it would’ve been futile, but she yanked it down instead. Jenny gasped, and Clarita’s hands found her full breasts, squeezing.

Fingernails digging into her flesh, Jenny arched, letting out a cry. She trembled at the feeling; it hurt, yet… “My turn. You like that, don’t you, bitch?”

“Y-Yes, I do.” Jenny all but whispered it, tremulously gasping, but the pressure stopped almost immediately.

“W-What?”

“I said I liked it!” Jenny trembled, and forced her eyes open, staring into Clarita’s. “Why do you think I gave you such a hard time? Why do you think I felt so threatened by you?”

“I…”

“We’re two sides of the same coin, aren’t we? B-But… I’m tired of it. I’m tired of the fighting, of the blackmail, of the hatred. I don’t care what my mother says; it’s not worth it to get ahead. To be the one in all the magazines that thousands of boys use for wank material. (Wank material? Where’d that come from? Ash, probably.) So… I’m done. Do what you have to do.” Jenny sighed, feeling lower and more vulnerable than ever.

Clarita squeezed again, then shot her hands up; she grabbed Jenny by the head, and the blonde fashion queen’s eyes shot open as she felt the hateful, angry, but passionate kiss press into her. Jenny responded, arching her back, and squeezing Clarita against her.

The kiss parted after a few seconds; Clarita’s eyes were a mix of ambivalent contradictory emotions, though Jenny felt no less confused. She yanked her abbreviated corset back into place as Clarita pelted around her, darting to the door. Clarita unlocked it and fled without another word, leaving Jenny staring after her, and sighing.

She started to walk out. But as she passed the door to the stall that she hadn’t used, she noticed it was now slightly ajar. Feeling a surge of bravery no doubt brought on by her association with Ash, Jenny rammed it with her shoulder, and was rewarded by the door slamming into something thick and meaty on the other side, a cry of pain and surprise, and a cell phone hitting the tiled floor and sliding out to her heeled foot. She picked it up; on it was a video of the whole encounter, including Clarita and her kissing with her breasts bared. It was on the ‘send multimedia’ screen, with a number of addresses listed, many of which Jenny recognized (including her mother’s), but had yet to be sent.

“Fool me once, Rachelle, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” She snapped the flip-up cell phone in half, its screen going black, and tossed it in the toilet in the stall she had used. The industrial-sized hopper had no trouble flushing the phone straight down. The raven-hair came out of her stall, fury on her face, clearly meaning to attack.

“To hell with this,” Jenny thought, scowling evilly. She intercepted the raven-haired girl, unconsciously reacting the way Ash would have. She slid to the side of the lefty’s incoming punch, and shot her hand up, wrapping it around Rachelle’s throat, squeezing the string-of-pearls choker around her neck into her. With the taller girl gasping for breath, Jenny pushed the advantage, shoving her against the wall.

“And you,” she railed, staring into Rachelle’s eyes. “Call me whatever you want, but don’t you dare call yourself her friend if you were going to do that! You don’t know what a friend is, do you?”

Rachelle bared her teeth, growling, “Dyke, let go of me.”

“So what if I am? So what if she is? Does that make her not your friend? You’re as pathetic as I am, you know that?” Disgustedly, Jenny let go, shoving the black-haired, taller girl into the wall again. “Fucking forget it. Maybe you’ll re-think it, maybe you won’t. Just remember what you did to Clarita when your next ‘best friend’ gets blackmail or ruination material on you.”

She turned to stalk away. She expected an attack from behind, but it never came, as she slipped out of the bathroom, confused, full of adrenaline, and jittery.

The Party, 10:25 PM

“This is not going too bad, actually.” Ash had to admit. With free license to hang around the Carrera GT as she wished, she’d taken full advantage of what was, essentially, a monopoly of its owner’s time and his car. Numerous photographers had shot the car while they were in it, during most of which she’d put her hand on the wheel and the shifter, while they’d talked at length about cars and racing. They had a mutual track-nemesis, even—Kate the Kamikaze.

On the subject of Kate, he’d had to say, “She’s going to come back and take the top spot again, I know it. I’m good, but she’s incredible. I only beat her time using the Carrera GT, and that was one of my best performances, ever, and it took me like twenty attempts spread over a few weeks.”

“Huh. So, why’d you do it?”

“I’m trying to provoke her. I want to race against her, even though I probably don’t have a snowball’s chance.”

Ash had thought that was just insane, and she blinked. “Provoke Kate?”

“Yeah.”

“Why don’t you just challenge her?”

“Ego. It’s one thing if I drive up to Greylock and challenge her, it’s another if I start to make enough of a name for myself that she challenges me.”

Ash shook her head. “That is nuts.”

“I know. But you’ve raced against her, right?”

“Yeah. I almost won.”

“If you’d had this, do you think you would have?”

“I honestly don’t know. Maybe, but that was an exceptional circumstance.”

“Yeah, exactly. Kamikaze Kate is more than a person; she’s a phenomenon, a reputation. Looking at the stats, you’d think there’s no way a Porsche Carrera GT could lose to a Jaguar XK-R, but I’m honestly not optimistic about my chances.”

“Why are you out to do it, then?”

He grinned at her. “Tell me something, King. If you got the invitation to take your Monster to Daytona and run a few laps against Andretti and Gordon and Earnhardt, would you?”

“I dunno. That’d be pretty one-sided.”

“Yeah, it would, even in this car. I’d still do it, though. Winning may be important, but not as important as having tried your best, against the best. And being challenged by the Demon of Greylock on her own mountain? I don’t know if I can win. But I want to meet her, to find out.”

Ash chuckled. “That’s kind of nuts. But I know her, I guess I can ask her to.”

He shook his head. “No, that’s… You know her?” He turned to face Ash. “As in, on a basis deeper than ‘you’re going down, punk’?”

Ash grinned. Though she hated to admit she had done something so girly, in the context of bragging about being close to Kate, she could take it. “Know her, hell. She asked me to be maid-of-honor at her wedding!”

“Holy wow. Wedding?!?”

“Yeah. I know; it’s not something you’d expect. Harry—Dr. Harrystein—proposed to her a few months ago.”

“Does that make your car her Monster-in-law?”

Ash broke into a snickering fit, leaning forward onto the Carrera’s wheel. “Yeah, I guess it does.” The owner of the red Carrera GT chuckled, leaning back in the passenger seat. “Wow. You know, I was hoping she was going to show up tonight.”

“Really? Why’s that?”

“Jimmy. He sent her two tickets; thought the old first-place champion would like to meet the new first-place champion before she busted him back to second. She didn’t show, though.”

“Wow… that’s… kind of a shame, actually.”

“Why?”

“I dunno… I guess I’d love to have seen her again.”

“Yeah, but, you know her, right? Can’t you just drive up to her house and knock on the door and say, ‘Hey, what’s up?’”

“I guess there’s that.”

“I wonder what could’ve made her miss this?”

Ash shrugged. “I dunno. Probably wanted to spend Christmas with Harry.”

“Ahh, true… Oh.” The soft ringing of a cell phone had Ash reaching into the purse she’d dropped on the floor, but the man who owned the Carrera GT had taken one—identical to Ash’s—out of his pocket, flipping it open. “Ahh, right. Excuse me, King, time to go pay off the band and rock the joint.” He opened his door and slipped out, and only about thirty seconds after did Ash realize she had neither asked his name, nor given her own.

She got out of the car, striking a pose with the door open, leaning on the side of the roof—yes, there was a camera to snap her picture. She turned to put her back to the hood of the Carrera, leaning back over the top of it—another camera flashed, as she looked out, over the dance floor.

“Mmmh. I wonder where Emily and Kay are, or Jenny and Adam, or mom…” The music had started—it wasn’t really to her taste, but she could see the feeling to it. She got back into the Carrera and looked through the CDs. She put one in; with the doors closed and windows up, the sound from the Bose system in the car drowned out the band with dark, low power strains. Then Ozzy began to sing; she grinned, thinking back to the arcade last Friday, in Albany. “We need to go back there.”

She started to bob her head to the music, eyes closed, letting the music pass over for a while. When the door opened, and the car shifted, her eyes opened, expecting to see the Carrera GT’s owner, but her face immediately fell to a scowl.

“Good evening, my dear. Did you miss me?”

Ash bared her teeth. “What the fuck are you doing back here, asshole?”

He had closed the door, and was smirking at her. “Such harsh language, my dear.” He turned his face to fully face her—he was, in fact, sporting a choice black eye over his right eye, which was swollen. “Should you really be in that seat? You might accidentally turn something on, you know.”

Ash twitched—her face literally twitched, and she clenched her fists. “You have two seconds to get out before I start hurting you, asshole.”

“I’d like to see you try, my dear.” Ash lunged—her right hand a fist, the left out, but he was prepared. Her fist solidly connected with his face, but he grabbed her wrists, baring his teeth.

“Nobody’s looking this way, bitch, and you’re going to pay for that,” Joshua growled.

Ash pulled, trying to free a hand. “Just wait and see, asshole. I’m gonna punch your other light out!” The two struggled back and forth. Ash was definitely not about to give in, but Joshua had superior stamina. Although she managed to yank a hand free and clock him one again, he took the opportunity to deliver a vicious backhand to the side of her head. It hurt, and boiled up a sickening feeling of vulnerability inside Ash. She grit her teeth, pulled her hand free again, and delivered another blow to his already-bruised eye.

His head reeled back, and he snarled, hauling back to throw a punch of his own. He didn’t get the chance—Ash grabbed his hand, digging her nails into the top of his fist, as the door on the passenger’s side opened. The voice of the car’s owner, thick and angry, growled, “Car’s invite-only, punk,” as he reached in, wrapping his hand around Joshua’s throat, clearly squeezing it. “Let go of her, or I’ll pop you like a zit.”

Eyes bugging out (even the one which was swollen almost shut), Joshua let go, and Ash took the opportunity to ram her knuckles into his face (again) before he was hauled bodily from the car, spun and thrown. Ash watched him hit the marble show-room floor face-first, and seethed at the indignation of being rescued by some guy she didn’t really know—or, well, being rescued by a man at all. Joshua scrambled to his feet, the crowd watching. (Un)fortunately, Joshua wasn’t streaming blood from anywhere. Balling his fists up, he screeched, “Do you know who my father is?”

The Carrera’s owner faced him down—Ash couldn’t see his face, but she got out of the car, walking around to see. “Yes. I do. Joshua Clayton Almacy Senior, as a matter of fact.”

“He’ll ruin you!”

“How? You gonna get your senior citizen old man to come and beat my ass for you, punk?”

“You… you’ll…”

“What? Not get paid? Newsflash, kid, I’m here to show my car off, I’m not being paid a dime. I’m losing money on this gig. I’m also here at Porsche’s request, with their top-of-the-line model, so I don’t think that even if he was in the mood to have me thrown out, they’d let him. Not that I think he would, since I saw you hitting a teenage girl in his employ. Last I heard, not even bastards could get away with letting their sons beat up the help, and unlike you, Almacy Senior’s not a bastard.”

“I… I’ll have you arrested!”

“Please, do. I’d love to see the police called. I’ll testify that I saw you striking the young lady who’s stalking up behind me, and I’d love to see your ass cuffed to a bench next to me while we sort it out.”

“G… Grah!” Joshua’s hands formed claws, and the car’s owner crossed his arms.

“Please. Strike me, in front of fifty people, half of whom are news media with cameras. Make my day, punk, I’ll take you for all you got.” Indeed, the photogs were all aiming their cameras, juicily waiting for a shot. Joshua looked around, paled, flipped Ash and the car’s owner both off, and stalked away, shoving his way between a rather stunned journalist and some fashionista’s date.

“Asshole!” Ash railed at him, and he turned around.

“Eh?”

“I didn’t need your help!”

“Whoa, easy, King.” He held his hands up, but she glared at him, fists clenched. “I didn’t need you getting involved.”

“Easy, easy. Hey, step back into my office if you want to chew me out. Unless you want anything you say going down in the morning’s news.”

Ash glared at the cameras, and forced her face to soften. Turning back around, she walked to the driver’s side door, got in, and shut it altogether harder than she had to. The car’s owner got in, and once the door was shut, she hissed at him, “Why the hell did you do that?”

“Call me old-fashioned, but I see a man raise his hand to a young lady, it makes me want to bestow unto him bodily harm.”

“I could’ve taken him.”

“Yeah, I saw, judging by that choice jab you gave him as I was hauling him out. You responsible for that shiner he was sporting, too?”

“Yeah, I was. What about it?” she huffed.

“Good work. That schmuck deserves it and then some.”

“Why’re you taking my side, anyway?”

“Call it a double-standard, but when I see a girl and a boy fighting, I just assume that he’s the party ultimately at fault for the battle.” She glared at him, and he shrugged. “Hey, if it’s any consolation, I didn’t want the two of you fighting in my car. The last thing I need is someone ripping my rear-view mirror out, smashing my radio, blasting the horn in a confined space, or causing some other mayhem to my baby. So, what did he do to piss you off?”

Ash scowled. “None of your goddamned business,” she venomously spat.

“Fair enough. Hey, he’s not supposed to be your ‘date’, is he? All the other girls you age have some windbag or pretty-boy hanging off their arms.”

“I said I’d hurt him if he came near me again.”

“And it looks like you carried through on that promise. Good job; you okay?”

“What?”

“He got you one good in there. Are you okay?”

Ash reached up to feel her face—it was sore, and she winced. “I’ve had worse.”

“I believe you. Want me to go dig up an ice pack for you?”

“Why’re you so helpful all of a sudden?”

He shrugged. “Have I ever been unhelpful? You’ve got a chip on your shoulder the size of Michigan, and I can respect that. You’re an angry young lady, and that’s better than the vacuousness I’ve seen from most of the twits around here, but you could really learn to more graciously accept help when it’s freely offered, ’cause it ain’t offered that much these days.”

Ash crossed her arms, scowling at him, and he put his hands up. “Easy, easy, King. No offense meant… I’m not gonna talk my way out of you being pissed at me, am I?”

“No, you’re not.”

“All right, fine, fair. I’m gonna go get you that ice-pack and see if I can scare up that punk’s dad to prevent him from spinning an entirely one-sided story of things. If he comes back, there’s a taser of abominably high power under the seat you’re sitting in. Go ahead and make him sorry he was ever born if he tries to start shit again.”

Ash blinked, reaching down—her fingers felt the grip of a something, she imagined akin to Jenny’s, and he hissed, “Don’t take it out!” She drew her hand back, confused and annoyed. “King, don’t ever draw a weapon until the very moment you’ve decided you have to use it. Don’t ever point it at anything you’re not willing to unload it at, and don’t put your finger into the trigger guard until you’re going to fire—firing’s not optional at that point.”

“It’s just a taser,” she said.

“Doesn’t matter. It could be a taser, a knife, a tire iron, a can of pepper spray, a knuckle-duster, a pistol, or a rifle; the rules are the same. Well, mostly the same, though you have to modify them a bit for something that’s muscle-powered. If you pull a weapon before you’ve decided it’s necessary to protect yourself or others, that makes you a show-offing punk, like that one you beat the tar out of.”

Ash snorted. “What are you, Mr. NRA?”

“Nope. Can’t stand the NRA’s agenda, but it’s all about responsibility, you follow? Have you ever had to grab something, even fists, to defend yourself or someone you cared about, or some random stranger you felt needed defending?”

“Well… yes, I have. More times recently than I care to think about.”

“Right. So, if you go around swinging a crowbar, or acting like you’re about to whip the tar out of someone, aren’t you an ass for doing that? It’s looking for trouble, and if you look for trouble, you’ll find it.”

“Okay, yeah… I get you, can you leave now?”

The owner chuckled. “All right, fine. Take some time and cool down.”

He slid out of the door, shut it behind him, and walked off through the crowd. Ash watched him depart, scowling at the unwanted interference in her fight, but sighed. Her face was starting to sting where Joshua had hit her, and he probably would’ve gotten her a lot worse if the owner of the Carrera GT hadn’t intervened. Still…

“I don’t want anybody’s help. Especially not some man’s that thinks I’m some weak little girl…” She smacked her fist into her palm.

The Party, 10:53 PM

“Emily? Emily, there you are!” Jenny called out, Adam in tow, clacking towards her blue-haired friend. Emily was standing by the snacks table, wrapping up a conversation with someone, who walked off. “Where’s Kay?” Jenny asked, curiously.

“Bathroom,” Emily replied, and grinned. “You missed it—wow.” She sounded breathlessly happy. Jenny blinked. “Missed what?”

“The dancing, the music.” She grinned, widely.

Jenny shook her head. “Uh… you missed it. There was a fight.”

“A fight?” Emily’s heart sank, imagining Ash’s involvement if she’d run into Joshua again.

“Yeah. I couldn’t get many details, but it sounded like Joshua got into that car that Ash has been sitting in, and they got into a fight. The word is that he hit her, then this guy came out of nowhere and totally whooped him.”

Emily winced. “Oh gods. Ash can’t be happy about that.”

Jenny shrugged. “Yeah, let’s go find her.”

Adam pointed, “Hey, isn’t that him?” Jenny and Emily both followed his pointing arm to the opposite side where the drinks table was. Joshua was standing at it gulping down glass after glass. “That doesn’t bode well,” Emily sighed, heavily. “What should we do?”

Joshua was more or less gulping the champagne down, one glass after another, and Adam shook his head. “Oh, this can’t be good. Mad, bruised, and boozed is a bad combination. Let’s get out of here.”

“Yeah,” Emily said. “Maybe we should find his father or something?”

“I dunno, but if he sees us, he’s gonna start shit,” Jenny added.

The trio turned to walk away, leaving Joshua behind them, but the din of the crowd changed. A girl nearby turned, yelling, “Hey, fight!”

Emily groaned. “Oh god, Ash.”

Emily broke into a run, followed by Jenny and Adam moving as fast as Jenny could move in the overblown gown. When they reached the area, there was definitely a disturbance in progress around the powerful red Porsche—the man with the slightly red hair was huffing and puffing, standing close to Ash and shouting down at her, while Ash was shouting back up at him.

“Who do you think you are, little girl, to talk to me?! You are nothing. Do you even know what a gearshift is? Do you know what the third pedal does?”

“I know better than you do, asshole! Anytime, any place, any car, you have no right to tell me I don’t know what I’m doing!”

“You are nothing, little girl! Little girls like you are not worthy of even sitting in a performance machine like this! Get your presence away from it!”

“Make me! Go ahead, make me!”

Emily gasped—they both looked ready to throw a punch. Adam took off at a dead run towards the car, which a number of the party-goers were gathering around, but another man—the same one who had started the band’s song, Emily noted as she dashed for the car—jumped between them, holding his hands out, shouting “Whoa, whoa, whoa there! Both of you! Calm the hell down!”

The shouting died momentarily, although the crowd was dinning among themselves.

“He has no right to say what he said!”

The car’s owner turned his head to Ash. “What did he say?”

“He came up to the car, banged on the window, and told me to get out because I had no right to be in the car!”

The Carrera’s owner turned his head, leveling a gaze. “Rainer, did you say that?”

“Look at that little girl, she cannot be old enough to drink in this country! She might not be able to vote. What right does a spoiled brat have to sit in a machine like the Carrera GT?”

“She has every right, since it’s my car and I told her she could.”

“She is a little girl, she cannot drive such a machine! She has no right to disgrace its presence.”

Ash looked ready to lose it, yelling, “Why don’t you prove it, asshole?! You and me, out there, right now! Pick whatever car you want!”

Rainer sneered, “As if I would hand a little girl the keys to one of my machines!”

“Why you—” The car’s owner turned his head to her, holding up his hand.

“Hold on there, King. You see, the thing is… Rainer’s a cock. A complete and total one, and a chicken to boot.” He turned back to Rainer. “You talk a big game, herr Herrbruck, but when it comes down to it, you’ve got nothing to back it with.”

“As if I were afraid of defeat on the motorway to a little girl! I simply will not hand her the keys to one of my performance machines so she can wreck it!”

Ash snorted. “I thought so. You’re a coward.”

“Yes, he is. And he’s not weaseling out of this one.” The Carrera’s owner took the key fob out of his pocket, and loudly announced, “She drives my car!” Ash’s eyes goggled as he handed her the keys. “Hey, Jim-bo! Open the doors to the track!” Herrbruck almost choked. “Since she’s never driven the Carrera GT before, I do presume you won’t object if I give her a few drives ’round the course to familiarize herself with it?”

Recovering, the Porsche representative snorted, “Trying to teach her to drive a manual car in the course of a few laps won’t save her, or your car, Nathan. You are a fool, and I will not replace your vehicle when she wrecks it.”

“Let me worry about that.” He turned to Ash. “Get in.”

The large glass doors to the track, the ones that could admit cars, were sliding out of the way, as the crowd murmured loudly. Ash stared at the fob in her hand. Then she grinned, clenching her hand around the fob and getting into the Carrera.

“Stop this at once!” The call rang out, and Emily winced, recognizing Mr. Almacy’s voice. The elder Almacy stood between the car and the doors to the outside, holding his hands out. “You can’t be serious about letting a teenage girl race a Porsche!”

Emily started walking towards Mr. Almacy, as the car’s owner—Nathan, Rainer had called him—asked, “Why not? I’m quite confident in her ability to handle herself.”

“I won’t allow it!”

“On what grounds, Mr. Almacy?” The car’s owner crossed his arms. “You are not the guardian of the King there. You’re not a Porsche representative to complain about the potential for damage to a Porsche show car—indeed, Rainer is the senior Porsche representative here.

“For heaven’s sake, she’s only seventeen, be reasonable!”

“I am being reasonable. I am quite confident in her ability to handle that car, and at her age, her physical reflexes are about the highest they’ll ever be. Besides, think of the publicity you’ll get from tonight.” Nathan grinned as he continued. “One of your employees, a showgirl, driving Porsche’s highest-end model off the showroom floor and directly into a race, flattening an arrogant cocksucker with a misogynism problem? Or would that be the publicity where your son assaulted the employee in question? Or maybe the publicity wherein your son physically threatened me after I pulled him off the girl in question?”

“He—he what?!” Almacy goggled.

“Go ahead and ask him. He should be fairly blue at this point, since I had to bounce his face off the floor to get him out of my car. Now, which kind of publicity do you want associated with your company tomorrow? The publicity wherein I sue you for an employee threatening me with bodily harm, or the publicity wherein one of your employees drives my car to victory?”

“That, son, constitutes blackmail.”

“Yes, but of a quite, quite legal variety, I assure you.”

While Mr. Almacy and the car’s owner were ‘debating’ the finer points of not having his company sued in exchange for not interfering, Ash rolled down the Carrera’s windows as her mother and friends had gathered around.

“Ash, I don’t like this…” Marie said.

Ash was already strapped in, and sighed. “What am I going to do? Say no? I’d never be able to race again. I’d never be able to live with myself after I issued that challenge and backed down.”

“Oh, Ash…”

Her mother looked nervous, but Emily looked furious, skidding to the side of the driver’s window. “Damn your pride, Ash Upton!” Ash blinked, and Emily leaned in, grabbing her by the faux croc-leather vest. “I challenged him first,” she said with a grin, leaning into the car, hugging Ash. Leaning close, she brushed her lips over Ash’s, and Ash pushed gently into a kiss, though she hoped it looked like a hug from a friend to anyone who might have been watching. Emily pulled away, grinning. “Win for me, Ash. Flatten that sexist bastard for me.”

Ash grinned at her blue-haired lover. “He’s road kill.”

“Pardon me, ma’am, sir.” The Carrera’s owner excused himself around Jenny and Adam at the passenger’s door, and got into the car. Emily quickly pulled herself out of the car, and Mr. Almacy was nowhere to be seen.

“Ash… be careful,” her mother said.

“I’m always careful, mom. I want to win, but not bad enough to die. Or wreck a car.”

Marie sighed, and reached in, patting her daughter’s shoulder. “Always a tomboy. Try not to drive it sideways too much.”

“The doors are open. Start her up,” the owner of the car said.

Ash turned the key to ignite the engine, and the ten-cylinder engine sitting behind her head shrieked to life as the owner buckled up.

“Take her out.”

“Enjoy your driving lessons, little girl!” Rainer called from the side.

Ash flipped him off with her left hand, putting the car in gear with her right. Ash let off the brake, and let the car idle forward. Smoothly rolling off the rotating pad, she corrected with the wheel as the car’s back end was rotated slightly out of alignment, and drove out to the track.

“Yeah! Whip his ass, King!” Jimmy was standing outside the doors, threw switches on a set of circuit breakers, and lit the track up.

“Fitz split just after I saw Jimmy talk to him,” the car owner said. “I think he figured that he either had to rein in Rainer, or excuse himself and avoid pissing off one of the guys signing his paycheck. He might’ve given you some trouble, but he left Jimmy in charge, so…”

“Why are you doing this?” Ash asked.

“Well, that’s simple. See, Rainer’s an asshole, and I want to see him get force-fed his own words.”

“But still…”

“Well, I’ve seen you drive on the highway, for one, and I listened to a solid hour of Jimmy breathlessly extolling how exciting the match between you and your friend—the one he called Blues; was that the one you were lockin’ lips with when I got in?”

Ash blushed, heavily. “Oh fuck, was it obvious?”

“Not unless you were stooping down to get into the car. Chill out.”

“Oi…”

“So, yeah, I want to see Rainer eat his own words. He’s an arrogant bastard.”

“What does he do, anyway? I didn’t, like, just challenge a test driver to a race, did I?”

“Not hardly. Rainer’s a VIP of the Cayenne project.” The reaction on Ash’s face made the car’s owner grin. “Yeah, I know; I’d love to see that thing fucking scrapped. It’s an embarrassment to my Carrera GT that they try and associate that garbage truck with it. When I need an SUV’s carriage capacity, I drive a beat-up old Dodge Durango. Line up on the starting line.” He held up a radio handset. “Jimmy gave me this. It’s like the ones in the helmets they have here, in that it has a separate receiver and transmitter, so you can talk and hear at the same time, and it’s hands-free.”

Ash lined the car up with the starting line, and turned on the lights—the powerful Xenon High-Intensity Discharge lamps lit up the night track ahead in a blindly bright shade of blue, and Nathan grinned. “Whups, I left the highs on.”

“King, Nate, can you hear me?”

“Five by five, Jimmy.”

“Your friend from before has volunteered to man the flags again.” Ash looked up—Jenny was at the top of the tower, holding the flag. “Take as long as you need to get used to the car—the photogs are watching, and even that should make them happy.”

Nathan rolled his window up—Ash did likewise, after a second. She held onto the brake.

“Get ready,” Jimmy called out.

Jenny waved the flag as hard as she could, and Ash pushed the gas. She didn’t near-floor it, like she might have with the Monster, but the Carrera GT responded, engine pitch getting higher as the car rocketed forward. She blinked, and when she looked down, the electroluminescent gauge was already at sixty.

“She’s like flying low, ain’t she? Now, remember, I’ve tuned this girl for a really nasty case of oversteer.”

Ash grinned as she approached the first turns. “It feels like a jet engine! Sounds like one, too.”

“Yep. She’s just great, ain’t she?”

Ash slowed down, braking, and cut the wheel—the car did oversteer, and she compensated, leaving the car traveling to the right for a few moments before it came back in line. “Whoa-oo-ooh!”

“Carefully, carefully, you’ll get the hang of it.”

Ash took the corners at about fifty—the Carrera GT slid more than she was used to, driving the Monster, but it wasn’t so bad she couldn’t adjust.

“Now, Rainer’s definitely going to take the 997 Turbo.”

Ash came out of the first corners, testing the car’s acceleration and performance flat-out on the straights, shifting down and letting the engine behind her shriek.

“He doesn’t think you have anything, yet. He’s probably planning on accelerating ahead off the starting line, staying in first place the whole race.”

“Accelerating ahead?”

“The 997 Turbo can actually out-accelerate the Carrera GT, but he’s probably not going to push it to its hardest. When it comes down to it, Rainer’s a pussy.”

“How do you know?”

“I keep challenging him to a race, and he keeps refusing.”

Ash snickered. “So he’s only brave enough to bring it against a ‘little girl’, eh?”

“Yep. That’s why I’m hoping you flatten him for me. Even if you don’t, you’ll still impress people, since he’s talking like you’re going to be a lap back when he finishes. But see, the thing about Rainer… he’s not a racer.”

“He’s not?”

Nathan shook his head negative. “He’s got a lot of experience on the autobahn, but when it comes down to it, he’s not a racer. He owns an old 911 for his personal vehicle, and he drives the new ones around their test tracks, but he’s never raced. He doesn’t want it the way we do. He doesn’t have the fire you need to race. And he can’t drive worth a shit.”

Ash smirked, and Nathan nodded at her. “I know, I know, but don’t underestimate him. Once he realizes he’s got a fight on his hands, he’s going to get mad, and there’s nothing more unpredictable than a mad layman. Take the lead hard, and keep it.

Ash blew past the crowd gathered on the bleachers next to the show-room for her second lap, the engine screaming like a banshee, and Jimmy’s voice came over, “Clocked you doing a hundred, easily. Don’t baby her, King, I want this Teutonic twat eating his own words for dinner.”

“One helping of crow, coming up!” Ash boasted.

“What’ll she max out at?”

“210, but that’s salt-flat speed. You can get her up into the one-nineties if you have enough normal flat road, though. On this track, I’ve gotten her up to one-sixty. Rainer’s probably not going to get near that much. Don’t be afraid to waste my rubber or brakes to win, either. I got plenty of the ready to replace ’em.”

“Right.”

“And hey, you wanna psych him out? Do some doughnuts before you pull up to the starting line. Those are always crowd pleasers.”

Ash grinned. “Well, it’s your rubber.”

“Damn straight, King. Hey, I’m Nathan, by the way.”

“Ash, in case you didn’t hear Emily say it.”

“I did, but I felt like a proper introduction. Slalom it off the outside to the inside to the outside in the turns.”

Ash slid to the outside lane, cutting her wheels hard. She drifted with her back tires almost off the course and onto the grass, definitely in the red and white painted caution zone. Sliding into the switchback’s inside lane and facing the outside lane, the wider turns let her preserve more of her speed, and she came out of the switchbacks on the end of the course at seventy, then hit the accelerator, shifting down and pushing hard onto the straight.

“This thing is twitchy.”

“Yeah, it is, it’s the way I like it. Can you handle it?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. You’ve got the touch. The best I’ve managed those corners coming out is seventy-five.”

“Really?”

“Really. And I was practicing this track for weeks.”

Ash took a couple more practice runs, until she nodded. “Now. I’m ready now.”

“Okay then. Jimmy?”

“I heard you! Slow it down and bring it into the pits for a gas-up. Herrbruck’s getting the 911 Turbo, by the by.”

“I figured he would. She’s gonna do it, Jimmy. Was he even watching?”

“Nah, he was sitting in the Turbo, talking out his ass about how this would be a smooth ride.”

Nathan snerked, and nodded at Ash. “Bet you ten bucks that idiot’s going to start in comfort mode instead of performance mode.”

“No bet.”

“Wise call.”

Ash pulled the Carrera GT into the pits, the same pit she’d parked the Monster in, and shut the engine off. Jimmy climbed down from the tower, running over, and Ash watched as the white 997 Turbo slid like a line of sleekness out of the car lot, turning neatly and settling on the starting line.

“Ready to whimper, little girl?”

“You’re the only one who’s going to be whimpering when this is over, jackass.”

“You should respect your betters, little insect.”

“I do. You’re merely older.”

“Bold words! I shall enjoy feeding them to you.”

Nathan rolled his eyes. “So, you’re bold enough to pick on a little girl, but you won’t take on me on the track? You are a jackass, Rainer, and I’m going to enjoy sending the film of your humiliating defeat back to Deutschland. I don’t think Porsche will appreciate its employees talking shit and then not having the guts to back it up, or the skill to back it up when someone else forces the issue.”

“Pfah. You overestimate your influence at my company.”

“Maybe I do. But they’re still going to have some nice hard questions to ask you.” Nathan smirked, and switched the radio off. “He’s an ass, all right.”

“Influence?”

“Not nearly as much as I’d like, to be honest, but I know enough of the right people to get them to let me represent the Carrera GT line at this event, anyways.”

“Aren’t you risking that?”

“Maybe, but what are they going to do, make me give my car back? Like I said, it’s going to be worth it to watch Rainer Herrbruck get the whoopin’ he so richly deserves. Looks like Jimmy’s done gassing her up, so, give him hell, King. Win or lose, you’re going to shake this up… But do try to win, will ya?”

“I wouldn’t get behind the wheel if I wasn’t trying.”

Ash switched the radio back on and clipped it to the dashboard-mounted GPS system. Nathan climbed out and walked quickly into the bleachers.

“Do try to keep up, little girl. It would embarrass that car if you can’t manage that much.”

“That’s my line, Rainer. You called down the thunder, now it’s time to reap the whirlwind!” She realized, when she heard her voice booming out of the loudspeakers, that Jimmy must have patched the channel to the PA system. She looked—Jimmy was giving her a thumbs-up from the tower, and Jenny and Emily were both waiting in the tower, as were a number of photographers, crouching behind the tower’s reinforced concrete struts, taking pictures.

Ash grinned, wolfishly; she imagined that the look on her face might begin to compare to the sheer badassery that Kate carried with her. She gunned the engine, but didn’t take it straight to the starting line. She cut wheel hard, deliberately spinning the car—rubber squealed and laid on the track. She held the doughnut long enough to make it quite clear it was intentional before cutting her wheels the other way, sliding the back end into line and gliding smoothly up to the start. She put the car out of gear and gunned the engine—it howled, the tachometer drifting up to the redline, then sliding back down.

“One lap. Begin on three!” Jimmy’s voice boomed out. “One!” Jenny raised the flag.

Ash gunned the engine again. She looked to her right—the crowd was watching, some of them were waving, some looked as if they were yelling.

“Two!”

Ash put the car back in gear. Her heart started to beat faster, but this was her element. She was not losing to Rainer.

“Three!”

Ash pushed the pedal almost to the metal, the massive engine behind her shrieking like a thousand banshees. To her left, Rainer Herrbruck’s 997 Turbo took off like a rocket, even as Ash pushed the pedal all the way down once she got the grip to not spin the tires out. Even so, she was angry to see Herrbruck pulling ahead of her.

“Should’ve taken that bet, King.” Nathan’s voice came into her car. “Looks like those doughnuts scared him into setting his transmission to performance mode. And no, they can’t hear me.”

Ash grinned. “This is far from over, Rainer!”

The 997 failed to pull decisively ahead enough to block her, as its acceleration band tapered off and the Carrera GT’s kept going wide. She slid smoothly around the chicane in the straight, towards the outside lane, to the sound of Rainer’s laugh. “The outside lane is longer, girl. Are you completely helpless? Would you like to stop now?”

“Oh, be quiet,” Ash groused dismissively. She applied the brake to go into the turn, but not nearly as much as Rainer did—she put the rear end out in another oversteering slalom to the outside of the switchback in the course. Then she winced.

Rainer, having been hugging the inside lane going into the turn, swung wildly to the inside lane of the next turn—the inside lane she had drifted into, leaving him right in front of her, going about thirty miles an hour slower from his hard braking.

“Idiot!” she yelled, turning the wheel hard to avoid the collision, then turning it back the other way, ignoring whatever cry of response or derisiveness he gave. The tires on the Carrera GT squealed, leaving an unbroken trail of wavy rubber as the oversteering car careened wildly into the next turn, more or less in the place it was supposed to be.

Again, she wound up behind Rainer, who was pushing the 997 Turbo harder than he had last time. This time she was ready, however—having adjusted her line, she passed Rainer to the right as he again slid to the outside.

“I. Don’t. Think! So!” Ash vowed, shifting down a gear and stomping it. Rather akin to her second race with Tom after the Misfile, she wound up facing Rainer as the Carrera GT squealed around the turn, steering with one hand and sparing the other to flip Rainer the bird. He looked quite terrified to see the Carrera GT’s front at his side, then she leveled off, accelerating again. He tried to accelerate to stop her, but she’d conserved enough velocity that she slid ahead of him on the short, and held the lead into the next turn.

“Agh! Nein! Verrucht schlampe!” Ash didn’t know what the excited, angry and (perhaps) nervous cry meant, but she imagined it couldn’t have been very polite. Still, it made her happy—Rainer was getting excited, which meant he had lost control of the situation; the impetus swung to Ash.

The Carrera GT swung around the next switchback having reversed Rainer’s lead on her, and tore off down the straightaway towards the other end of the long track. She was in the lead, her heart pumping, adrenaline surging through her body at the feel of driving a vehicle far, far more powerful than even her Monster XR. She looked to be free and clear, the banshee scream from the Carrera GT’s engine drowning out all other sound—except the high-pitched howl from the 911 Turbo behind her. It was getting louder. She glanced in the rear-view mirror; the lights from the 997 were getting closer.

“He’s gaining on me?” she said aloud, incredulously.

Rainer laughed. “Luck! It was all luck and no skill!”

“Stop babying her, Ash. Don’t worry about wasting brakes when you get to the turns, floor it!”

Ash did, flooring the Carrera GT’s accelerator, but the damage to her lead was done—he was falling behind, but not very quickly. She shifted to fourth gear as the tachometer went red, not even bothering to look at the speedometer.

“This isn’t over, Rainer. Not by a long shot!” Ash skirted elegantly around the chicanes, sliding through them without losing speed. Unfortunately, they didn’t deter Rainer much, either. She approached the other corner, glancing down at her speedometer—her heart almost skipped a beat when she saw she was doing one hundred and fifty miles an hour!

“This is fucking awesome,” she thought. She shifted down a gear and braked, the Carrera squealing as she sent it around the next turn. Rainer proved he was not unable to learn a lesson entirely—he followed her driving lines, but didn’t drift or slide. She gained in the turns leading out to the last stretch, and as soon as she was parallel to the straightaway, floored the pedal.

“Too little, too late, Rainer!” His response in German was undoubtedly even less pleasant than his previous outburst in his native language, as Ash pushed the Carrera GT up into fifth gear, roaring down the straight, sliding around the chicane. She flew over the starting line, had a bare second to watch Jenny throwing the checkered flag, and stomped on the brakes, camera flashes erupting all around her.

She locked the wheels and threw the steering wheel, the sound of screaming tires screeching along the ground, and Rainer flew past her as the Carrera GT slid sideways, to the front of the bleachers, where the crowd seemed to be going wild.

Jimmy yelled, “And the winner by ten seconds, The King!” The zoot-suited race-boss was throwing the horns up high from the tower, which Ash saw as she pushed on the gas, spinning the car in screeching doughnuts in front of the bleachers.

Ash climbed out of the Carrera GT, feeling the waves of heat coming from the vehicle in stark contrast to the frigid winter air. She laughed, exhilaration surging through her body, lightheaded and giddy with the victory high. Ash raised her fists to the sky, shouting, “Yesss!” She vaguely recalled seeing a gaggle of people rushing the track, and the flash of numerous cameras snapping pictures at her and at the car. But her eyes focused on one person in a particularly sublime blue dress.

Emily launched herself into Ash’s arms, laughing giddily; Ash caught her lover, spinning around with Emily in her arms. It was incredible; it was intense. She was about to heedlessly kiss Emily when she felt the impact from her side—her mother hit them both, hugging tightly and kissing her temple. Then Jenny hit them from the other side, hugging her just as tightly and laughing ecstatically.

“I feel dizzy,” Ash said, in a giggling punch-drunk voice, and she felt Emily sliding her arm over her shoulders, and Marie taking the other.

Ash could hear Jimmy’s triumphant shout of, “Hail to the King, baby!” from the tower behind her (and all the amplifiers around the track). Kay Wheeler, Nathan, and Adam were in front of her, clapping and moving aside as Emily and her mother all but carried her, Jenny following behind. The band had apparently carried their horns outside, and they struck up a rendition of ‘Hail to the Chief’ as she was led back inside, segueing into ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ behind her.

The Party, 11:40

“I’m fine, really!” Ash laughed, having been sat in a glossy-metal and cushion chair, even though her mother was still doting over her, dabbing at her forehead with a paper towel. Emily snickered at how the affectionate attention was embarrassing her friend.

“Ash, didn’t I ask you to not go sideways too much?”

“I didn’t. Just enough to win.” Ash smiled back, and her mother rolled her eyes, with a chuckle. Emily snickered. “And what was with those doughnuts at the end? I’ve never seen you do that.”

Ash grinned back at her. “I wouldn’t waste my brakes and rubber to show off.”

“Oh, so it’s okay to gratuitously waste my brakes and rubber to show off?” Ash paled for an instant, then Nathan (who had brought the car back into the showroom) laughed behind her, as she turned to face him. “Just kidding. It is okay to gratuitously waste my brakes and rubber to show off.”

Ash snerked, then laughed, holding her stomach. “You’re as bad as Kate!”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You didn’t pay them off to play that, did you?”

“I paid them off to play the winner’s national anthem. They must have thrown in ‘Hail to the Chief’ for free.”

“Where’s Rainer?”

“Hell if I know. He drove to the rear exit, opened the gates, and blew out in a huff. If there’s any karmic justice, he’ll get ticketed for speeding.”

Ash snickered softly. “I don’t think I’m that lucky.”

“You make your own luck, you know. Specifically, he’s driving an un-tagged, un-registered, un-inspected vehicle on the public roads, so I took the liberty of anonymously tipping off the fuzz.” Nathan pulled out his cell phone, and Ash started laughing, as Nathan glibly said, “Getting chased down while speeding would be just the icing on the cake.”

“That’s evil,” Emily commented, while trying to hide a smile with her hand.

“Yeah, it is. Did I say you were as bad as Kate? I think you might be just a little bit worse.”

“Stop, you’re gonna make me blush. Anyway, that was some great driving out there. You have the gift, that’s for sure.”

“Yeah…” Ash sighed. “Mmmh. Now if only I didn’t have to deal with Joshua, this would probably be my favorite night ever.”

“Joshua? Your erstwhile date? I’m guessing he drove you here?”

Ash scowled at the memory of that harrowing experience in the passenger’s seat. “Yeah.”

Then she blinked, as the key fob to the Carrera GT fell into her lap again. “I guess that means you’ll need a ride home, then. Take mine.”

Ash goggled at the key fob, and Nathan smirked. “Don’t worry, Jimmy’s got his ’Cuda in the back; we’re probably going to go and roll up to some club and party like it’s nineteen seventy four anyway. Just don’t drive like that on the public roads.”

Marie snorted at him, “I don’t think you were alive in nineteen seventy four.”

“No, but nothing says I can’t be nostalgic for days before my own.”

“Ash…” her mother began.

“I don’t drive like that on the roads, mom. But, uh…”

Nathan grinned. “Don’t worry, she’s got a GPS locater. I’ll roll up and get her some time in the A of M. Probably won’t even hear me.”

“Heh, sweet… Jeez, thanks.”

“Hey, you earned it. I’ve wanted to see the cocky grin get wiped off Rainer’s face for a while now.”

“Hah! That’s awesome…”

“Shotgun!” Emily called out.

“Sure, but, uh, where’s Kay? Won’t he object?”

“I doubt it. You know, I haven’t seen him since we came in. Maybe Adam knows. I’ll go find him and Jenny.”

“I’ll go with,” Ash said, and rose, following Emily.

They did, indeed, find Kay Wheeler with Adam and Jenny, talking to one another animatedly. Ash waved as they pulled close. “Hey!”

“That was incredible!” Jenny laughed at her, running up and hugging Ash again, grinning widely. “Yeah, yeah it really was, Ash,” Kay said.

“You saw it?”

“I emerged from the bathroom and the only people in the whole place were Mr. Almacy and his son by the drinks table, and some guy getting into a white car. Then I heard the sound outside; it was like a jet engine, and so I went out to see.”

“Heh. Did you like it?”

“My heart was in my throat when I saw you going sideways.”

Ash rolled her eyes. “Everybody says that, what’s the big deal? It’s just drifting.”

“I explained it to him. He still doesn’t get it.” Adam elbowed Kay in the side.

“I get it; it just makes me more scared.”

“You really aren’t a car person, are you?” Ash said.

“Nope. Just makes my head spin.”

“Lightweight.” Adam snickered at him. “Hey, speaking of that punk, where is he?”

“Good question,” Ash asked. “Hopefully we don’t have to see him again, but where is he?”

“Last I saw, his dad was taking him out to a taxi,” Kay said.

Ash sighed in relief, and grinned. “Oh, good. I think we can finally enjoy this night, then.”

“What’s left of it; isn’t this party due to end in a few minutes?” Jenny asked.

Emily pulled her digital watch out of her purse, looking at the display (twice, of course). “It is, actually. Oh, speaking of which, Kay, that guy who owns that car Ash drove is letting her drive it home. Do you mind if I drive with her?”

“That would be just fine, beautiful Emily.” Kay smiled, eliciting a gentle blush from her. “I wanted to go somewhere anyway, and I can be early this time.”

“Oh, good. And thanks for dancing with me.”

“It was my pleasure.”

The End Of The Party, December 25, 2004, 12:01 AM

“And a merry Christmas to all! And to all: good night, drive safe, get home to your loved ones in one piece!” Jimmy, being the duly-appointed representative of the venue (and seeing as how Mr. Almacy was too busy profusely apologizing to Marie for his son’s behavior, and explaining that he would fully understand if she and her daughter elected to press charges upon his son for his actions; and with Rainer having left in a phenomenal display of poor sportsmanship), finished off the night with the band, which was performing an instrumental rendition of ‘Silent Night’.

“Look, Mr. Almacy, sir,” Ash said, after enduring the third round of understanding from Mr. Almacy, “I understand that you understand. I just don’t care enough to level charges at your son for a fistfight we got into. As far as I’m concerned, if I don’t see him again, it’s settled.”

“I fully understand, young lady. I assure you, this is the first and last time I will allow my son to represent my company at these events. Marie,” he said, turning back to Ash’s mother.

Ash took the opportunity to slip away. Emily slid up next to her and—with a grin—pushed her friend gently. “How are you doing?”

“Great… You?”

“Dreamy,” she replied. “Shall we?”

Ash nodded, and pointed to the Carrera GT—as the crowd started to thin, she could spot the owner standing next to it. “Shall we?”

“I’d say ‘I’ll drive’, but I can’t in these damn heels.”

“Well, we can go home, get changed, and take you for another ride before he comes and gets it?”

“I won’t mind,” Nathan said from next to the car, “as long as you think she can handle it.”

“I’d trust her.”

“All right. Just be careful, and don’t speed on the public roads.” He opened the passenger side door, which he was leaning against. “I’ll go open the doors to the track; you can get out through one of the car gates.”

“Gotcha.”

Ash opened the driver’s door, sliding into it. Thump. Thump. Her heart was beating at the prospect of firing up the Carrera GT again, this time taking Emily for a ride. Ash was grinning like a loon, and stared ahead as the doors started to pull open. She inserted the keys into the ignition, and pulled her seatbelt on.

“Totally cool,” Emily said, grinning; it seemed to just hit her that she was inside of the car she had named the ‘car of her dreams’, and she stroked the dashboard.

Ash turned the key, and the engine turned over, lurching into activity, idling strong. Ash pushed in the clutch pedal, put the car in gear, and let off the pedal. She felt the car ‘thunk’ as it pushed into gear, wanting and demanding to go.

She let it, easing off the brake, letting the whining engine idle forward. Emily laughed at her, and rolled her window down—just before they got to the outside, she motioned for Ash to apply the brakes, and asked, “Do you mind if she takes me for a lap of the track?”

The owner of the car snickered. “Victory lap, eh? Sure, go ahead. Just don’t wreck it now.”

“I won’t,” Ash called over Emily, and let the car idle out, onto the track. She pushed the accelerator in, the car’s engine whining as she accelerated, pushing it up into second gear.

Emily laughed at her, rolling the window up, turning the heat on, and holding onto the dashboard, staring at her friend as they went down the nearside straight, then into the curves. Ash didn’t push it too hard, maintaining an easy fifty into the switchbacks.

“Hit it when we get out of here!”

“You like this?”

“Fuck yeah!”

Ash straightened out of the switchbacks onto the straight, and floored it. Emily laughed as the car took off. “Yeah, faster, yeah!” Ash shifted down again, and yet again, the Carrera GT easily reaching fourth gear with a quarter of the straight left to go. “Awwwh, it has to end,” Emily pouted, as Ash let off the speed—she had hit 135, easily—and applied the brakes gently, slowing down for the switchbacks, but Emily grinned madly at her. “I get the feeling, in the back of my mind, I should feel insecure about being so aroused by that.”

“A-Ah?” Ash blushed, and Emily giggled, as Ash slowed down to 40, easily navigating the switchbacks. She let the car idle forward.

“Surprised?”

“A bit.”

“I’m not. Why are you?”

“You’re just… I dunno, you’re always so serious and you act so mature all the time…”

Emily snickered softly, and nodded. “That doesn’t mean I don’t still, you know, want the things that other girls tend to want…”

“A girl who used to be a boy?”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.” Emily placed her hand on Ash’s right, squeezing it gently. “It excites the hell out of me when you do stupid things for me, like driving at a hundred and thirty five miles an hour, or picking a race with Rainer Herrbruck…”

“Hey, I would’ve done that anyway.”

“Maybe, but you still did it with me in mind, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Maybe, I guess, I’m just embarrassed to admit I liked it. I feel like I should be above silly things like that, but…”

“You’re not?”

“No. You have a real white knight complex, you know that?”

“I do.”

“Yeah, you do. It’s sweet.”

Ash smiled softly, her cheeks slightly reddening, and she applied the brakes, putting the Carrera GT out of gear. They unbuckled, and then leaned over the console, Emily’s hand on Ash’s cheek, pulling her into the kiss. Ash closed her eyes, tingling with the sensation. Emily broke the kiss, then slid down—she kissed the hollow of Ash’s throat, and worked her way down, causing Ash to blush and moan when she started to kiss the tops of her breasts.

“There could be people watching,” she breathlessly murmured.

“At this distance? They’ll have to rely on their imagination.” She gently tugged Ash’s corset-top down, causing Ash to blush heavily.

“Em…”

“Too forward?”

“… No, I like it.” Ash pulled Emily’s head in, and Emily laughed, nuzzling her friend’s rock-hard nipple, then kissing them each, slowly, playfully, eliciting a soft whimper of pleasure out of Ash with each kiss. Then she pulled back, and adjusted Ash’s top back to where it was, leaving Ash falling back into the seat, groaning, “Emily McArthur, I think you’re a… Damn, that metaphor shut down.”

Emily giggled at her, “What, a huge clit-tease?” Emily giggled softly, and Ash grinned, breaking into a laugh with her.

“Not the word I was going to use, but yeah… Mmmmmph, I like it.” She reached up—Emily’s hand met hers, and they squeezed, together, as Emily buckled back in. They looked to one another, eyes meeting—bright green and vibrant magenta.

“I love you so very much,” Ash murmured.

“I know.” Emily squeezed her friend’s hand. “Go.”

“Where?”

“Anywhere.” Emily turned on the GPS navigation system in the car, bringing up a map of the area and the orientation of the Carrera GT. “Take me somewhere we can be alone, Ash. Take me somewhere I can kiss you.”

“I can do that.”

She put the Carrera GT in gear, and drove towards the rear gate of the track, with a grin on her face and Emily’s hand on her shoulder. They exited onto the road, and Ash piloted the car out through the gaggle of vehicles leaving—the Carrera GT’s distinctive engine definitely getting them a lot of looks.

“Show off.”

“Well… yeah?”

“I know.” Emily giggled. “I guess I just have to live with the fact that you’re going to do bravadacious things.” She squeezed Ash’s shoulder, teasingly. “Woe is me!”

Ash laughed back, as she got a red light—the four-lane traffic ground to a halt, and Ash put the car out of gear, revving the engine—Emily laughed. “I think you scared the hell out of Granny.” She grinned, nodding her head at the four-seat, brand-new family car—a large, chunky Chrysler 300C. There was a young man at the wheel, and an elderly woman next to him. The man adjusted his own shifter, and revved the engine—it was not quiet. “Hemi,” Emily murmured, pointing at the badge. “Ash, you’re not… Ash!”

Ash was revving the engine to the redline, and let it drift back down. “Ash, he said no speeding!” Ash put the car back in gear once the engine drifted back down in the revs. The light shifted, and the Hemi howled—the Carrera GT howled too, but Ash let off when she hit the posted speed limit of 45, while the man in the 300C sped ahead of her, passing her and getting into her lane. Emily groaned, rolling her eyes and laughing, “Ash! That was very mean of you!”

“Really?”

“Yes, really! It was infantile and… and puerile… and dangerous…” The 300C had slowed down ahead, once he realized Ash wasn’t chasing him. “And, I love you.” Emily squeezed her shoulder. “Please, don’t do that again.”

“I won’t. Promise.”

“Good. Hey, where are the CDs?”

“Glove box.”

Emily opened the glove box, taking out the heavy rock CD and putting it back in its case. She snickered at the sandwich wrapper, and looked through the CDs, grinning when she found a CD-R labeled ‘Happy Riding’. She put it in, and the Bose sound system broke into a fast, light rock that seemed to mirror the sound of the engine.

“’Ey! Ho! Let’s go!” an Australian voice started to sing out, and Emily grinned as Ash turned onto the freeway, accelerating almost instantly to 60. The music came quickly, as Ash watched the road, driving northeast, back towards Truro and Provincetown.

Eventually, they turned off of Route 6, heading east, and Emily tilted her head, blinking. “What’s out here?”

“I dunno, but the GPS map looks like a winner.”

Emily grinned, as Ash drove them out along a side road. Emily leaned back in her seat, squeezing Ash’s hand, her heart fluttering softly; they drove past a parking lot, and to a paved cul-de-sac with a graveled road going down after it.

“Isn’t this private property?”

“I don’t think so—I see a few houses down the road, but I don’t see a ‘no trespass’ sign posted.” Emily looked around; she didn’t, either, and nodded to Ash, grinning. Ash let the Carrera GT idle forward, down the gravel lane—a few yards, when Ash put the brakes on. A pair of concrete posts in the middle of the gravel lane blocked their progress, illuminated starkly in the powerful, bluish light of the Carrera GT’s custom Xenon HID headlamps.

“Whoops,” Ash said, softly. “I didn’t see that on the map.”

Emily snickered at that, and sighed. “It’s fine. This is pretty remote, and I see a cool lighthouse up ahead, anyway.”

Ash put the car out of gear, and grinned at Emily; Emily grinned back as she unbuckled.

“This is beautiful, Ash.” She leaned over the console, took Ash’s cheek in her hand, and stared into her lover’s eyes. “I hope you won’t take it the wrong way, but so are you…”

“So are you…” The words echoed in Ash’s head, and she trembled softly as she unbuckled her seatbelt. Em leaned in, kissing her, and Ash moaned, trembling as she reached up, wrapping her arms around Emily’s back, holding her as her friend kissed her. “She thinks I’m… beautiful?” In a way, Ash knew she would have been upset about that, a week or more ago. Indeed, from anyone else, she still would have been; but she felt a wave of gratitude for the praise, emotional gratification welling up within her. “This is so girly,” she thought, swooning as Emily deepened the kiss, “but right here, right now… she likes it, so I don’t care.”

Ash slid her hands up Emily’s sides, tracing her bare back, her curves. She squeezed Emily’s waist as she felt Emily’s tongue testing her lips; she responded with her own, eyes closed. Emily wrapped her hands around Ash’s neck as Ash felt her up. Ash slid her hands up, more, pressing them around Emily’s breasts, eliciting a moan from deep inside her, and vibrating Ash’s tongue. She felt Emily pull off, and the blue-haired bookworm groaned.

“You took that better than I thought you were going to…”

Ash was blushing, heavily, staring up at her lover’s magenta eyes. “I… I feel so girly saying it, but I liked what you said.”

Emily hugged her friend tight, forehead-to-forehead. “Your brain’s wired to enjoy flattery, Ash. But is it really so bad?”

“No… Not when you say it, Emily. You like it when I’m girly, don’t you?”

“I like you when you’re you, Ash.” Emily murmured, as she reached behind herself. She undid the fastener at the back of the choker collar holding the front of her dress up, and let it fall off her torso, revealing her bare breasts to Ash. “Go ahead, Ash, you don’t have to ask.” Ash’s hands again cupped her friend’s breasts, squeezing softly, eliciting a soft murmuring from Emily. “When you’re not thinking ‘I shouldn’t like this, it’s too girly’, or ‘I should do this to be manly’, is when you’re best, Ash. When you do, and feel, without letting expectations color your emotions.”

Ash experimentally ran her thumbs over Emily’s nipples, eliciting a moan from her. “You like that?” Ash’s voice was a sincere question, and Emily’s eyes half-rolled up into her head.

“Oh, yes, I love it, Ash. I love it when you touch me.”

“You do?”

Emily laughed softly, and leaned in, kissing Ash’s lips, hotly. “We’ve been over this, Ash.”

“I know… I just…”

“All your life, girls were ‘the big mystery’, Ash. Even more so after you got an inside track. You’re afraid you’re going to do something ‘wrong’, make me upset at you, but you’re worrying too much.” Emily kissed Ash, hotly, pushing Ash’s head into the leather seat behind her. “You can’t upset me by being my girlfriend, Ash. If you do something that hurts, I will tell you, you trust me, right?”

“Of course.”

“And if I tell you, I trust you’ll stop doing it.”

“Of course!”

“Then why worry? Ash, you can only make a mistake, you can’t make me hate you. Didn’t you make mistakes when you were learning to drive? I know I did.”

“Well… yeah, I did.”

Emily tugged Ash’s corset top down again, and placed her hands around Ash’s breasts, eliciting a moan from Ash. “I love you, Ash; I’m a damn fool for you.” Emily kissed her cheek. “And you’re the same way, aren’t you?”

Ash squeezed Emily, tightly—pressing their breasts together, Emily pulled her hands out, letting the soft mounds of flesh on their chests flatten together, pressing their hard nipples into one another. “I am,” Ash said, her toes curled inside her boots, tightly, and she shut the engine off.

Emily snickered softly, and Ash felt her lips on her neck. “You’re going to make a mistake, sooner or later, Ash. Probably something you saw in a porno or something, and it’s going to hurt, and I’m going to yelp or something. Do not run away from me; just let go and ask what you did wrong.”

“Em…”

“Mmm?”

“You’re so forgiving…”

“Ash, I’ve been your tutor in living as a girl for the past nine months. I still am. Why wouldn’t that extend to being your tutor in love, too?”

“… No reason, I’m just being stupid.”

“Shh.” Ash squeezed her girlfriend again, and Emily leaned up, nipping Ash’s earlobe, softly. “Do you want to touch me, Ash?”

“I… you mean…”

Emily nodded, and took her girlfriend’s hand, sliding it up her stomach, down, to the hem of the

skirt hugging her waist. Ash grinned, blushing furiously and Emily grinned back at her. “So… did you like seeing it?”

“What?”

“My freckle.”

Ash snickered, and kissed Emily’s cheek, nodding. “Yes, yes I did.”

“Ash, you make me feel giddy and nervous, you know that?” She kissed Ash’s freckled face, and Ash blushed even heavier.

“You don’t act like it.”

“One of us has to be bold.”

Grinning, Ash slid her hand around, down. She squeezed Emily’s rear, and Em moaned hotly, murmuring, “Yesssss,” in her ear. “You like that, don’t you?”

“Don’t you like it when I do it to you?”

“Yeah, but… I always felt sissy for liking it.”

“I don’t, Ash. I love it when you handle me like that… And, honestly, I love handling you, too.”

“You do?”

“It feels good to be aggressive, too.”

Ash squeezed again, and slid her thumb through the hem of Emily’s thong. “Yeah… It does.”

“Touch me, Ash.”

Ash did as commanded, sliding her hand around the front. Tentatively, she slid her hand down, cupping Emily’s mound in the palm of her hand. Smooth and hairless like her own, she groaned at the feeling, as did Emily, putting her head forward, on Ash’s shoulder. Ash trembled at the heat, the soft, quivering sensation; she blushed softly when she realized that Emily’s clitoris was pressing hard into her palm. Gently, she pushed in, and her eyes opened wide when a soft wetness spread across the base of her fingers. “Oh, wow,” she murmured, quietly.

Emily groaned in Ash’s ear. “Go on, Ash…”

“It’s… okay.” Ash took a deep breath, and curled her middle finger in. “Um…”

“Too far up. Slide it back down a bit…”

Ash looked into Emily’s face; Emily was blushing just as hotly as she was, but was grinning. Her eyes closed, and Ash trembled at the feeling of quivering flesh around her fingertip.

“There, Ash. My vagina’s right above your finger. Slow,” she cautioned, and Ash bit her lower lip, hesitating. “Any time,” Emily murmured, kissing Ash’s cheek, and Ash closed her eyes, focusing on the feeling of Emily’s wet, soft flesh around her finger.

“It should say something about us,” Ash noted briefly, “that I will have put my finger in your body before in my own.”

Emily kissed her cheek, and bit her ear, softly. “Love is seldom perfect like it is in the movies, Ash. But I love you all the same.”

Softly, Ash pushed. She quivered, almost as much as Emily did, as she felt Emily’s vagina parting, wet but not terribly slick, around her finger. Emily let out a strangled cry, and Ash froze. “Em?”

“It’s fine,” she groaned. “It’s just… mmmh… how do I explain it…”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah…” Emily nodded, rubbing her cheek on Ash’s. “Ash, it’s always going to feel a little like a violation when someone who’s not you puts something into you.” She kissed Ash’s cheek, hard. “But that doesn’t mean it’s bad, Ash. Not for you. Not with you.”

“… Does it hurt?”

“Not at all… mmmf.” Emily moaned. “I wish you could feel how good I feel right now. Then you’d know for sure I’m loving this.”

“I trust you, Em.” Ash kissed her lover’s cheek, and pushed Emily forward. She licked her lips, and then wrapped them around one of Emily’s nipples. The feeling of the hard, hot flesh in her mouth and the soft, wet flesh around her finger was driving her mad. She sucked, hard, and Emily let out another groan, jerking her hips—Ash felt Emily’s body slide forward, onto her finger, up to the middle knuckle of her middle finger. She got tighter the farther in, and Ash moaned, as did Emily.

“God, we’re…”

Emily moaned, hotly. “I know… Do you like it?”

“It’s… like nothing I’ve ever felt before.”

“Good?”

“Incredible,” Ash breathlessly extolled, leaning up, kissing Emily’s throat.

“Mmmmf… Ash…”

“I know, Emily.” Ash kissed her throat again, and Emily breathlessly placed her head on the top of

Ash’s, her own merely an inch from the roof of the car. “Somehow… I knew we’d wind up doing this in a car.”

Ash snickered, “You did?”

“I’ve known it, deep in me, for a long time, since I realized I was attracted to you…”

“I bet you didn’t anticipate it would be a half-a-million dollar Porsche, though.”

“I definitely did not. Mmmh…”

“Are you… comfortable?”

“Are you kidding me? I’m on my knees on a car seat, leaning across the console with my pelvis resting on the shifter.” Emily groaned, and leaned her head down, kissing Ash’s breasts, then licking her nipples. “But I don’t care. Go on, Ash. I know what you want to do.”

Ash nodded, and slid her finger out, a bit, then pushed in. Emily moaned herself breathless, as Ash hilted her long middle finger in her friend’s wet, quivering vagina, trembling at the sensation.

“Is it… good?”

Emily moaned, hotly. “Most of the feeling’s at the lips,” she admitted, “But… Oooh, I can feel your palm pressing into my clit, and if you hook your finger up right there, you’ll—aaaah!” Emily arched her back dramatically as Ash did—she bonked her head into the roof of the car, in fact, and Ash stared, widely, freezing.

“Em!?”

“It’s fine! Fine!” Emily reached up with one hand, rubbing her head. “It’s just my g-spot, Ash… Mmmgh!” She kissed Ash’s cheek, biting it, softly, and Ash felt distinctly that her palm was getting wetter.

“It took me by surprise, is all… It was a lot stronger than I thought it would be.”

“Really?”

“I’ve never… Mmmh, your fingers are longer, and your angle’s better. I can’t reach it.”

“What should I do?”

Emily bit her friend’s earlobe again, and moaned, “Do you want to drag this out, or do you want to make me orgasm?”

“Mmmmh… W-Which do you want?”

“I hope you won’t be mad, but… orgasm. Dragging this out is going to make my back hurt like a mother, and I’d rather do that in bed, anyway.”

Ash lowered her head to Emily’s shoulder, kissing her cheek. Her heart must have been pounding.

“That sounds better to me, too… W-What should I do?”

“O-Okay… just grind your palm into me, where it is, and squeeze up on that—waagh!”

The sound of knocking on the car interrupted, and Emily banged her head on the roof, then back down, clonking foreheads with Ash. A light shone in the window, and a voice began, “Is everything oka-whoa! Shit, sorry!” The light removed itself, and outside the car, over the sound of the blower, could be heard the sound of footsteps retreating down the path.

Ash felt as if her cheeks might spontaneously ignite into a new star, and Emily looked about the same way: chagrined, pained, yet giddy.

“Mmmngh, ouch…” Emily winced, and reached down, sliding her hand into her dress, gently extracting Ash’s fingers from her. Ash felt her finger pull out with a tight squeeze on it, as if Emily’s body didn’t want to let go.

“Fuck, Em, I am so sorry…”

“Don’t be. Nnngh…” Emily waited until Ash’s hand was out of her dress, and she tugged Ash’s top back into position, then her own, snapping it behind her neck and sitting back down in the passenger seat, with a wince.

“You okay?” Ash asked.

“Yeah. Scraped myself with your fingernail when I jerked like that. It hurts a bit.”

“Sorry.”

“No more sore than any of the times I’ve done myself.” Emily reached over, with her hand, squeezing Ash’s forearm. “Sorry, Ash.”

“For what?”

“This was your first time…”

“No it wasn’t.”

“Well, yeah, but I meant the first time that you remember.”

“No, I mean, we didn’t finish, so it wasn’t my first.”

Ash closed her eyes, and laughed, softly. Emily joined her, and the two filled the car with loud, giddy, happy laughter, nearly a minute long. When they’d calmed down, Ash gulped for breath, and grinned at Emily, who grinned back.

“Ash… are you still in the mood?”

“Damn right I am.”

“Take me home. Take me to bed, Ash.” She squeezed Ash’s hand, then looked at it. “Whoa… you’re really wet… I didn’t realize I was that wet for you.”

“You didn’t?”

Emily shook her head. “Usually, I have to use hand lotion… I haven’t spontaneously gotten that wet in a long time.”

Ash grinned, and raised her hand, staring. She experimentally licked it: lightly sweet, yet somehow salty, like an apple. She blushed, and Emily giggled at her. “Like it?”

“… Yeah, I do.”

“Good. That bodes well for the future.”

Ash was glad it wasn’t possible for her to blush any hotter, as she drew the inference she was sure Emily wanted her to draw.

Emily reached into her purse, taking out a packet of tissues, but Ash was busily licking her hand off already; looking back, Emily broke into a giggle, and Ash grinned. “I always wanted to try that.”

“Like in the pornos, huh?”

“Yeah…”

“Good?”

“Mmmhmm.” Emily threw a tissue into Ash’s face, and Ash grinned, wiping her hand dry. Then she started the car, putting it back in gear, and looked over at Emily. “I am so hot for you right now.”

“Likewise.”

Emily squeezed her hand, and Ash smiled. “Um… you want to try…”

“In you, when we get home?”

“Yeah…”

“If you want to try it.”

“I do.”

“Then so do I.”

Ash put the car in motion, carefully reversing back into the parking lot, spinning the Carrera around once back on pavement, and letting it idle towards the road.

“Wow, my heart’s beating so fast…” Ash said.

“Mine too. Like racing against you in the Porsche, or the Monster.”

“Mmmhmm. God, it feels so…”

“Good.”

“Yes, yes it does.”

Emily squeezed her hand, tightly. “I love the hell out of you, Ash.”

“I know.”

“So,” Emily asked, as Ash turned the Carrera GT back onto the road, “was it good?”

“Putting my finger into you?” A nod was her answer, and Ash licked her lips. “The best thing I’ve ever felt. It’s so tight, it’s hard to imagine a…”

“A penis fitting?”

Ash blushed. “Yeah.”

“They do stretch, you know.”

“Mmm…”

Emily leaned across the console as well as she was able, putting her elbow on Ash’s shoulder. “You make me feel so warm, even when I feel stupid and giddy.”

Ash grinned. “Likewise. I’m so scared and, even, kinda mortified, but…”

Emily nodded, and the two rode in comfortable, charged silence. Emily looked at her watch when they pulled into Provincetown—it read 12:50. They pulled onto the road to Marie’s house, and Emily’s jaw hit the floor, feeling the mood shatter as if struck with a sledgehammer.

There were emergency vehicles all around the house and in the drive and on the lawn, even. Marie’s Jaguar was being hooked up to a tow-truck, the rear window smashed in.

“What the hell!” Ash demanded, angrily. She pulled up behind the Viper that was parked behind Marie’s car, and her heart skipped a beat at the sight that she saw in the driveway.

The Monster XR was being hoisted onto a flatbed tow-truck; the windows were all smashed out, the paneling was beaten to hell, glass strewn everywhere.

“Ah-aaah,” Ash gasped, an incredulous look in her eyes, her mouth open, dumbfounded, staring. “Ash?”

Ash blinked, several times; her lip quivered, her expression going slowly from ‘somebody shot my dog’ to ‘wait until I get my hands on the somebody who shot my dog!’

“Ash?”

“What the holy fuck happened!?”

“Ash!”

Ash turned to face Emily, her lover’s eyes full of fire—Emily wasn’t afraid of Ash; she was furious, too. They said at the same time, “Joshua.” They opened the doors, got out, and slammed the Carrera GT shut.

Approaching The Upton Residence, Cape Cod, 12:35 AM

“I thought Mr. Almacy was going to be apologizing to Mrs. Upton for the rest of the year.”

Adam snickered softly at Jenny’s joke, as his powerful Viper purred slowly behind Marie’s Jaguar XKR. “I know, I know. Still, I would have, in his shoes. His own son, while acting as an employee of his company, assaulted and tormented her daughter, who was also acting as an employee of his company. If Ash or Marie were the vindictive or litigious sort, they could have him by the short and curlies and he knows it.”

Jenny snickered softly, and sighed. “Mmmmm. All in all, this was not a bad night… Hey, I don’t see that red race-car they left in.” She grinned at Adam. “Hope they’re having fun somewhere.”

“I bet they are,” Adam replied, as he parked the Viper—doing so, his headlamp’s light fell across Ash’s car, and Jenny gasped. The bang rang out, without the sound of the engine in the car’s interior.

A figure in dark clothes was leaning over the Monster XR, armed with some kind of long, metal implement. The windows of the Monster were shattered out, and the panels having been beaten to hell. He raised the implement, smashing again, taking one of the headlamps. Then, walking to the other side of the car, smashing the hood in on the way, he smashed the other headlamp. Jenny opened her door, as did Adam, stepping out—Adam threw his coat back onto the seat, shouting, “You! On the ground!”

The figure turned—in the stark light of the Viper’s headlamps, it was revealed to be none other than Joshua Almacy. His eyes focused on Jenny, and then he shouted, “Whore! Bitch!” He laid another bang into Ash’s car. “Where’s your biker-dyke girlfriend now?!”

He charged. Jenny reached into her purse, fumbling with the zipper, as Joshua raised the implement—a tire iron. Jenny’s zipper stuck, and she tugged at it, fully unable to run in the massive gown. She tried to dive away, but Adam intercepted anyway—the Viper’s owner flew across the hood of his car, tackling Joshua straight to the ground. The tire iron flew out of his hand, and shattering glass was punctuated by a scream of surprise—it had flown through the rear window of Marie’s XKR. She was on her cell phone, frantically explaining that the sound was her car window shattering, and that the person was attacking them.

Adam’s head swam as he took a punch in the temple, rolling off of Joshua. The boy was up, and jumped on him, but Adam returned the favor, and with his shoe in Joshua’s gut, launched Joshua back, the drunken berserker falling heavily across the hood of the Viper with a hard ‘clank!’ to his head.

“What the hell is your problem?” Adam growled, launching himself at Joshua, trying to hold him down, but Joshua rolled aside. The two went down, hard, Joshua on top of Adam. The Viper’s owner saw stars as his head met the door of his car with a tremendous bang. Disoriented, he threw his hands up. He managed to clock Joshua in the jaw, once, and got a knee in his stomach as the younger man tried to struggle up to start whaling on his face.

He didn’t get the chance. Adam clobbered him one in the temple, then another in his already-swollen eye, sending the drunken rich kid sprawling. Adam clawed his way to his feet, heaving for breath, his ears ringing.

“Raaaaagh!” The shout came from behind him, and Adam whirled, to defend himself—but the cry of rage turned into a shriek of pain.

Joshua hit his knees, shivering and shrieking and writhing. Jenny was standing behind him, holding her taser gun strongly with both hands as Joshua jerked and shrieked in pain. She held the taze a lot longer than, strictly, one ought to, and then released it, Joshua gibbering out some kind of threat, his body twitching.

“Oh, shut it.” Adam threw a hard right hook straight into Joshua’s head, and the teenager sprawled out like a light, as the first sirens were audible from the road behind. “Perfect,” Adam lamented. “Just like the fuzz to show up after the hard work’s all done.”

“Adam, Jenny! Are you okay?!” Marie had gotten out of the Jaguar, and ran towards them. She threw a hug around Jenny, squeezing her tightly, eliciting a gawk from the teenager.

“I’m… Fine, Mrs. Upton.”

The police hit Marie’s little house like an invasion after that—the first patrol car on scene rolled straight up onto her lawn, followed by the second and third, lights and sirens blasting, lighting up the night lawn with, ironically, very Christmas-like colors.

The police cruisers parked, and cops surged out of them, yelling for everyone to stand still. They did, and an officer approached each of them, two of them picking up the dazed and confused Joshua. One asked Marie, “Did you place the 911 call?”

She replied affirmatively, “I did.”

“What happened here, ma’am?”

Marie sighed. “We were coming home from a party. My daughter aggravated this young man by besting him in a car race last week, and his girlfriend left him. They got into an altercation at the party, then he got drunk and was put in a cab by his father. Then we drove up, and found him here, at my home, smashing my daughter’s car.”

“Is this young lady your daughter?”

Marie shook her head. “No, this is Jenny.”

“I’m the one who dumped him,” she clarified.

“Okay… And you?”

“Ouh… My name’s Adam,” the date said, rubbing the back of his head.

“Are you okay, Adam?”

“He got in a few good hits,” the brown-haired winter-wear model said, wincing and rubbing the back of his head. “And he hit my head into my door.”

“I see. Son, go ahead and sit down, if you need to. And you… Er, you’ll need to hand that over, young lady.”

Jenny blanched, as the officer held out his hand for her taser. She slowly handed it over, and he shook his head. “This is police issue. You’re not allowed to have this; where’d you get it?”

“My mother got it for me from a cop.”

“Did she? Oh, this is going to be a long night straightening this out. Let’s get to the salient point—what happened here?”

Marie explained how Joshua had seen them drive up, as he was busy smashing Ash’s car (the officer took a moment to call for a flatbed unit to impound the car as evidence), and how he had charged at Jenny with the tire iron. Adam explained how he had tackled Joshua, and the tire iron went flying, through the window of Marie’s Jaguar, and asked if he could go and lie down on the couch, which the officer had no problem with; Jenny helped him inside. The officer took another moment to call for a truck to tow the Jaguar as evidence, with a sigh, and explained that, given that Joshua had sustained multiple blows to the head over the course of the evening, he was handcuffed and put in the back of a cruiser, pending an ambulance’s arrival. The trucks arrived, and began to load the Monster onto the back of a flatbed, while the Jaguar was hooked up to a normal tow truck.

“Well,” the officer said, “this is a fine mess. It seems fairly clear that the young man in the back of my car is largely at fault, however…” He sighed, and looked up—several officers were cordoning off Marie’s driveway as a crime scene, and laying a tarp over it. “Just procedure. We’ll come out again in the morning, pick up the glass, take some pictures and all, but you still might want to move that other car,” he pointed at Marie’s Porsche 996, “out of the drive, over the lawn.”

“Okay, I… Oh wait, Emily has the keys.” Marie sighed.

“Emily?”

“My daughter’s best friend. They left the party together, driving a car someone else loaned them, since her erstwhile date is the one who attacked her.”

“She went on a date with someone who hated her?”

“It was a show-party thing, she was working for my company, showing off a new dress…”

“A very long night,” the officer said with a sigh, and turned to look at the sound like a small jet engine vrrring up the road.

“Oh, that’s the car,” Marie added, pointing. “Here she comes, now.” The red Carrera GT parked behind Adam’s Viper, and Marie winced. “Oh god… She’s not going to take this well.”

“Take what well?”

“That car he wrecked, it’s her racer. She’s poured her heart and soul into that car.”

Ash and Emily had emerged from the Carrera GT, slammed the doors shut, and the officer shook his head. “Since they’re not witnesses to this event—given that they’ve just arrived—we’ll save off interviewing them until later about the earlier events, and whether or not you intend to press charges about those assaults, as well. Until then—”

Joshua’s voice rang out across the lawn, from the rear of an open patrol car, drunkenly laughing. “Not so tough now, are you, dyker-bitch?! Not so tough without your precious piss-poor car!”

“Aw, shit,” the officer said, turning and running.

Ash had sailed across the hood of the Carrera GT, shouting, “You son of a bitch!” and was charging at the patrol car.

Marie’s shout of “Ash! Don’t!” went unheeded, but Ash was taken down from an unlikely direction—Emily got her hands around Ash’s waist, and held onto her. The officer who had been interviewing Marie ran to the patrol car, and shut the door on a laughing and taunting Joshua Almacy.

“Ash! Ash…” Marie ran up next to her daughter, who was literally quaking, and put a hand on her cheek. “Ash, are you okay?”

“I… I…” Ash balled her right hand into a fist, and slammed it into her left palm. “Rrrgh! That…” Marie put her hand on Ash’s shoulder. “I know, baby. Please, just go inside?”

“… Okay,” Ash said, and Emily took her hand, tenderly, staring towards the door. The sound of a heavy gearshift operating caught their ears, and Ash turned, just in time to see the flatbed truck with the Monster XR on it lurch into action, the heavy, jarring motion causing a clank as the Cosworth spoiler, which had been hanging by one of its three attachment points, fell off, landing on the bed of the truck.

Sniff… Ash realized with a start that she had been the one who sniffled. “Oh god, no… please, no…” Emily took her inside.

“Are you okay?” The question came from the couch—Adam was sprawled out upon it, an icepack under his head, and Jenny had already changed into her normal clothes.

She winced when she saw Ash. “Damn… Ash, I’m sorry. If I didn’t break up with him…”

“Save it, Jenny… just… save it.” Ash slipped away from Emily, and slunk off to her bedroom, past the un-lit tree and the pile of wrapped gifts underneath it, Emily following with a helpless sigh, to get changed.

Emily didn’t really know what to say. What do you say when your best friend’s pride and joy has just been maliciously destroyed? And in truth, she was furious, too. She liked the Monster; her first victory over Ash had been in that car. Some of her and Ash’s best times had happened in the Monster XR… She let out a strangled cry first, and hugged Ash from behind, tightly—Ash was staring out the window, silently.

“Ash…” Emily simply felt Ash’s hands clutch her own by way of reply, and she looked over Ash’s shoulder, wincing. A Jaguar S-Type had replaced where the XKR had been parked, and Mr. Almacy was on the lawn, talking to a clearly irate Marie. Ash pulled open the window, to hear what they were saying.

An ambulance pulled up to the side of the street, as Mr. Almacy began speaking, “Marie… I am extremely angry with my son; I cannot begin to imagine the damages he has inflicted upon you and your family. I… I am at a loss, Marie, I really am, I don’t know what I can possibly offer to make whole the wrongs he has inflicted upon your family, I—”

“Save it, Joshua.” Marie was furious; Emily had never heard her best friend’s mother’s voice so angry—it sounded much like Ash’s often did. “Your son has harassed and assaulted my daughter! And then he came here, to my home, broke into and entered my garage, took my tire iron and smashed my daughter’s car, the car she’s all but literally built with her own two hands, to pieces, as well as damaging my car and Adam’s, and he assaulted Adam, while attempting to assault Jenny with a tire iron! And all of it on Christmas, too. I cannot begin to imagine the emotional trauma my daughter and her friends must be feeling right now, so with all due respect, Mr. Almacy, take yourself and your son and get the fuck off my property!”

The officer began to speak, starting, “Sir—” but Mr. Almacy cut him off.

“I understand, I understand, Marie. I’m leaving.” He turned to the officer. “Keep him. I don’t care where you take him; he’s earned this and more. I refuse to take custody of him.” Then Mr. Almacy walked back to the parked Jaguar S-Type, while Joshua was being transferred to the ambulance.

Ash closed the window, letting out another sigh, then a tremble. Emily nodded against her friend’s head, and pulled Ash back to the bed. Mechanically, she undressed Ash, and slid her friend under the covers, then did the same with herself, cradling Ash’s head against her shoulder. Ash simply stared; even when Jenny slipped into the room, asking if there was anything she could do, and Emily spoke with her briefly; even when Jenny slid onto the other side of the bed, patting Ash’s forehead and hugging her.

“Ash… I love you.” Emily whispered, tenderly kissing Ash’s temple. “Remember that. Please, remember that.”

“I’m here for you,” Jenny whispered on the other side of her, kissing Ash’s temple, softly—their hands met under the covers, Jenny’s and Emily’s, each on top of Ash’s hand, and Jenny sighed. Emily nodded at her, and Jenny closed her eyes, her head tucked into Ash’s neck, while Emily kissed her lover’s temple again.

“You that have toiled during youth to set your son upon higher ground and to enable him to begin where you left off, do not expect that son to be what you were: diligent, modest, active, simple in his tastes, fertile in resources… “Poverty educated you; wealth will educate him.”

Anna Laetitia Barbauld, 1825

7. Carbon Dreams

Manderly Residence, Massachusetts, February 22, 2020, 6:26 AM

Bzeep! Bzeep! Bzeep! Bzeep! Bzeep!

She sat up slowly, groaning; last night’s sleep had been neither pleasant nor restful. She looked down at her right wrist at a watch that had not functioned in over a decade, and cursed the instinct in her head that had never gone away. “What time is it?”

Ding! “It is six fifty-six in the morning,” the eternally cheerful, yet still soulless electronic voice reported.

Magenta eyes opened. “Seven AM?”

“You know that thing’s always fast.” A voice came from the bed next to her—deep, strong, male. She looked down at the brown hair protruding from under the covers, and sighed. “I know, Joseph.”

She should; she’d set it to always report the time a half-hour later than it really was when she asked. Sliding from the bed, she padded to the bathroom, staring at the face in the mirror. Once-proudly blue hair had been tamed with bleach and dye to brown; once lustrous, long hair had been sheared short to more easily fit within a laboratory cap. She sighed, brushed her teeth, climbed into the shower, set it to a hot temperature, and hugged herself.

Memories. Those memories. Of a time and a place long lost to her, of a person dead to all but a few, and of whom she couldn’t even confess the existence of to anyone else, lest she be thought insane. The thoughts and memories swam unbidden to her mind, and she was glad she was in the shower, for not all the wetness on her face was from the showerhead.

Hands slid around her shoulders—large, strong hands, squeezing, saying mine with their touch. “Mmmmh. You know, it’s Monday. You’re not due in until eight…”

“I’m not in the mood,” she said, quietly, tinnily, as she felt the broad, larger body pressing against her back, devoid of gentle curves or pressuring breasts.

“You’re never in the mood, Em,” the voice said, quietly, but not gently; more plaintively, or maybe even filled with mild annoyance, and she let out a sigh.

“No, I haven’t been… I’m sorry.”

“What’s wrong? Is it… is it me? What’d I do? Not manly enough?”

“(As if.) No, it’s… it’s not you, Joseph, it’s me…”

“You never call me ‘Joe’ anymore. What’s wrong, Em?”

“Don’t call me that.”

“What?”

“Don’t call me ‘Em’, please.”

“Why not?”

“(Because you don’t deserve to call me that.) I don’t like that nickname,” she lied, but he ate it up. “You used to.”

“A long time ago, maybe. Not anymore.”

“Okay, okay, Emily…” Those hands wrapped around her shoulders, hugging her. “But come on… You know, take the edge off…”

She felt a stiffening penis pressing into her lower back, and sighed. “Joseph, please… I’m really not in the mood, okay?”

“Why not? Emily, what’s wrong?”

“I… I can’t explain it,” she complained, feeling trapped. “I’m just not. Please… let me out.”

A momentary pause… Indignation? Surprise? “Sure.” He let go. “Don’t work too hard, okay?”

“I won’t,” she promised hollowly, and got out of the shower, dried off quickly, and dressed. She meant to be out of the bedroom before he got out of the shower, and she succeeded—barely walking out the door as he emerged from the bathroom.

“Hey, about tonight.”

“What about it?” she asked, without looking back.

“I’ll have something special and romantic made up, promise.”

“I’m really swamped…”

“But… it’s our anniversary.”

Emily winced, glancing down at her left hand, and the gaudily-diamond-studded, platinum band thereon. It didn’t reassure her at all. “I’m really swamped, Joseph… Maybe tomorrow?”

“You sure?”

“I’m sorry, but things are really coming down to the wire.”

“Okay.”

Emily hurried down the stairs to the kitchen. She quickly toasted two slices of bread and spread peanut butter and sliced a banana onto them, forming a sandwich which she ate on the way to the garage, heedless of the numerous and expensive high-tech gadgets and fine oaken furniture surrounding her. Her eyes finally passed, on the wall, a number of diplomas—one of which was proud to announce, in 2010, that Emily McArthur had been made a Master of Organic Chemistry, and another, four years later, in 2014, that Emily Manderly had been made a Doctor of Organic Chemistry. She passed down the hall, quickly, pausing only a moment to note the diploma declaring Joseph Manderly (in 2013) to be a Doctor of Medicine.

She passed from the house into the garage, looking around. Two vehicles sat within: a sleek, low, powerful blue Audi—he hated it when she drove his car—and a larger, sleek-ish minivan with the blue oval on the front. She sighed, opening the driver’s door and climbing into the minivan, starting it. Bleakly, she recalled the purchase of the minivan—three years ago, when she had become pregnant and they believed they were going to start a family, he had convinced her to sell her 2012 Nissan 350Z and buy the Ford minivan. She had miscarried less than a day after first driving it, she remembered with a bitter scowl—and once later, less than a year ago, their second attempt to start a family had failed.

She choked down the rising gorge in her throat, and pulled the minivan out of the garage with a sigh of disgust at the vehicle itself. She turned the corner onto the street. Caught something out of the corner of her eye; sitting in the back yard, a weathered, ancient Nissan 240SX. “I wonder if you still work,” she thought, as she pulled the van to a screeching halt next to the curb and got out. Opening the gates, she went to the back yard, fumbled for keys in her pocket, and climbed in. She had flatly refused to sell the 240SX, and Joseph hadn’t objected, primarily on the grounds that it cost very little to insure since she drove it very rarely and that it wouldn’t fetch much of anything anyway.

Her key slipped into the ignition of the beaten, musty-smelling car; turning it, the engine turned over, once, twice. Third time, it chugged to life, and a glimmer of a smile met the woman’s lips. She pulled it out onto the road, and turned to the right, driving past the parked minivan, getting on the main roads, then the freeway.

It felt good to drive the sleek little white car, especially once she hit the freeway and she could let the turbo really start to come into play. It was so hot, though—the air had long ago stopped working, and with global warming being how it was… She rolled the window down, grateful for the wind whipping across her face.

“Hey, grandma, nice car!”

Emily bristled, angrily. Looking to the left, a red and orange Ford Mustang had pulled up next to her with two teenagers in it. Her eyes scanned it: late model, no ‘GT’ emblem, no telltale features of a low-profile GT. Not gutless, but not a monster, either. The Mustang’s driver gunned it; the engine sound roared, but the sound came from behind. She realized he must have an exhaust tip to make his engine sound worse than it was. It was stupid, she knew. All of her fought against it, but something inside her shouted that if she didn’t, she’d lose something too precious to lose. She responded by gunning her own engine.

“Oh-ho, I think Granny thinks she’s shit! Gun it, Tom!”

She floored the accelerator. The Mustang to her left took an easy lead, but she held the accelerator until her tachometer was in the red zone, the turbo howling. She shifted up again, the tachometer dropped, and she accelerated. With the tachometer staying in her turbo’s ideal spool-up zone, she accelerated much more rapidly than the Mustang next to her was able to, quickly catching up and passing the automatic-equipped car.

It was a brief, puerile, immature victory, but it made her feel as if she’d managed to keep a tiny ember of something alive within her. She pulled off the road at Boston, driving into the city, to a massive, gleaming white corporate enclave.

The gate guard began to yell at her, “Hey, you can’t drive that piece of shit up in… Oh!” He saw her face, and immediately pokered up. “My apologies, Doctor. Go right in.” He lifted the gate, and she saw him shaking his head at her in her rear-view mirror as she parked, walking towards the building.

She flashed her identity card at the reader by the gate—it blinked green, admitting her, and she walked into the lobby. “Hey, Doc, I hear the Big Boss is looking for you.” She nodded briefly at the person who spoke, walked to the elevators, and rode one up to the fifteenth floor, mechanically, automatically.

“Paging Doctor Manderly, please report to Director Reyes’s offices. Doctor Manderly, to Director Reyes’s offices.” The intercom system blared, and she ignored it, walking towards an office, opening it, taking a white laboratory coat from the closet and exchanging it for the blue jacket she had been wearing. Then she sat at her desk, consulting the computer for her email—not much of it, and most of it was routine. There was nothing that urgently demanded her attention, she noted, as the page happened again. “Whoever that is, is in for it,” she thought, as she went on sorting her mail.

It took five more minutes for her to be broken from her reverie by a young man’s voice at her door, “Yo, Doc! You forget your own name? Get movin’, or Reyes will have your head!”

Emily started softly; the person who had poked his head in the door was gone, and she pulled the nametag on her breast up to her face—her own face (more or less), with the name ‘Emily Manderly, Ph.D’ on it. “Oh right… I’m Manderly.”

She pelted from the office, to the elevator, and rode it up to the top floor; the secretary was waiting. “Hey, Manderly, you okay? Reyes wants to see you.” She nodded to the office door next to her.

Emily nodded back. “Fine,” she said, opening the door and walking into the opulent office.

“Are you okay, Doctor?” The thickly accented director asked, as Emily sat in the chair in front of his desk. “I had you paged as soon as you got into the building.”

“I know, Director. I had some urgent business to deal with in my office. I am sorry, but it was quite urgent.”

“Are you sure? You look stressed, Emily. Do you need some time off?”

“I’m fine, Director. I apologize for keeping you waiting.”

“Well, no matter, you’re an hour early in any event. I’m pleased to announce, officially, that thanks

in large part to your own diligence and the brisk pace with which you kept up the work, Novagra is ready to begin clinical trials five months earlier than anticipated. As a result, the board of directors authorized a generous bonus to the department, and I think it only fitting that you receive the lion’s share, since you personally shouldered the lion’s share of the work.” He slid an envelope across the desk to her; she took it without looking at the contents.

“Thank you, sir, but I hardly deserve—”

“Nonsense, Emily! You’ve put in longer hours than anyone else in the complex, and that’s including the cleaning robots. Frankly, you’re starting to make the rest of us look a little bad,” he said, with a grin. “Go ahead, take it; you earned it. And take the day off, too; you look like hell.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” she said. “I’ve not been sleeping well.”

“You know, I’m pretty sure we make any number of fine products for that.”

“I know; I’ve been taking some.”

“Huh… Maybe you should see a doctor, then.”

“I’ll be fine, Director Reyes. Is that all?”

“Absolutely all. Get the hell out of the building, and for God’s sake, take your mind off work before you drive yourself into the ground. We need hard workers, but we need living workers even more.”

Emily nodded. “Of course, sir.” She left. Not even bothering to exchange her laboratory coat for the jacket in her office, she climbed back into the 240SX and pulled out.

“Damn…” She felt disappointed, crushed even. She had been hoping for something to lose herself in, but it hadn’t come up—and put pale to her lie earlier. She set the car west, driving, with no aim in mind. When the cell phone in her pocket rang, she declined to answer, waiting until she pulled off to the side of the road.

It was a voice mail from Joseph. “Em, are you okay? You’ve been in a bad way lately. And you took that rusty old bucket, you know it makes me worry it’s going to get you hurt. What’s wrong with the Ford? Would you rather a Chrysler or a Mitsubishi? I’ve heard good things about this year’s Town and Country, you know… Look, I’m worried about you, Emily; you know how I don’t like you driving that Nissan, and—”

She shut the telephone off, scowling. “But it’s okay for you to drive a five hundred horsepower Audi you don’t even really know how to use?” She pulled back onto the road, flagrantly ignoring the speed limit in a bitter haze, until she pulled in somewhere she hadn’t been in a long time. Somewhere she missed, she thought, as she drove down a familiar road around one in the afternoon. But even familiar surroundings held nothing but unpleasantness for her; the house she came looking for, foolishly, had a ‘For Sale: Sold’ sign on the front lawn, and the other was dusty and abandoned long ago.

“Nothing here for me, it looks like.” Her cell phone vibrated, she took it out and dropped it in the glove box, and drove again, east, only a little further, pulling off the main road onto a stretch of road going up a mountain she knew only-too-well. She drove the 240SX up, near the top, looking out over the Old Road in the light of day. She could see the curve where she’d first managed a bit of a drift. She was standing on the spot where she and Ash had nearly shared a kiss, a long time ago, once upon a time warp. She heaved out a sigh.

“Ghosts. Ghosts of my past, a past only I know exists anymore.” Emily choked herself up, sitting on the 240SX’s hood, when she heard a sound coming up—a sound she didn’t recognize. “Who’d be driving the Old Road at this time of day?” She found out when the car got to her—a gleaming, cobalt-blue Ford Mustang GT, with some years on it.

The car pulled to a stop near the 240SX, and out stepped… both the first and last person she wanted to see. Standing nearly six foot even, carrot-topped, wearing a brown leather bomber jacket, he peered at her with piercing green eyes, at once so alien and so familiar it made her want to cry.

“I didn’t think anyone but teenagers and me came out here to drive.”

Emily had to force out a reply. “Don’t you recognize me?”

Those green eyes blinked; irrationally, she wanted to throw herself into the other driver’s arms.

“No… though I feel like I should… I know the car…”

“Your memory’s failing, then.”

“… Oh, yeah! You’re that crazy girl who stalked me my senior year! God that was a long time ago. Don’t tell me you’re back to stalk me some more.”

Emily scowled. “How could you have changed so much, Ash Upton? You’re nothing like I knew.”

“Whoa, whoa, what are you talking about?” He held up his hands. “This again? You don’t know me; I thought we cleared that up like, hell, sixteen years ago! I don’t know how you know so much about me, but—”

“Did you ever write to your mother?” She cut his diatribe off in mid-stride.

He snorted. “You are some kind of crazy, you know what? No, I didn’t write to her. She left me when I was three, I barely at all remembered the woman, why would I want to write her when I was about to graduate from high school? Jeez, I don’t believe I’m even having this conversation.”

“Damn your pride, Ash Upton, are you some kind emotional mute? I know you’ve got better than this in you!” She surged to her feet, sending the man standing some yards from her stepping back.

“Jeez, I don’t know what your problem is, but I don’t want any of it. Uh, good day and all, do me a favor and stay out of my life, okay?” He got back into the car—the engine roared, and the Mustang GT spun around, peeling out back down the road, leaving Emily sighing, heavily.

“Why? Why did you let her talk you into letting her be refiled? She wasn’t even that convinced it was what she wanted… It was the first thing you could’ve easily talked her out of, but you didn’t… God, even now, you’re thinking of her as a her.”

Emily sighed and got back into the battered old 240SX. The cell phone rang again; again she ignored it, driving down the road. “What are you doing here? Chasing dreams and ghosts from your past. That man—hell, that boy—is not and never was the Ash Upton you fell in love with…” The image of the Ash she had fallen in love with came to her mind, sitting in the passenger seat of her car: short, wearing a bomber jacket and leather, fingerless gloves, with her fingernails painted a mirror shade of chrome; a distinctly female Ash Upton, and a teenage one to boot.

Emily did burst into tears, finally, as she drove her car off the Mountain and back to the main road. It proved to be a dire mistake—she heard the horn, felt the smash. Disorientation hit her, and when she could perceive again, she was on her back, half in and half outside of the twisted wreck of her 240SX, her legs sending her no sensation whatsoever. She stared up at the sky, blinking.

A face came into her view—soft, pale, framed by long blue hair. She blinked, staring into her own eyes. “Emily?” she asked, quietly, and the face nodded. “W-What’s… Oh god, I’m hallucinating, aren’t I? I’m…”

“Dying? Probably. You got twisted up really bad.”

She raised her head to look—her torso was at a right angle to her pelvis, and she winced. Yet, it didn’t hurt. She looked up again. “You’re… you’re me.”

“That’s right. I’m Emily.”

“But you’re… you’re…”

“Young?” The voice was soft, caring. “I’m you as you see yourself. As you still feel. I’m the you that you think should have been, the you that still has an Ash Upton who loves her.”

“What’s going on? What’s happening?” Panic started to creep into her voice, as the world began to get dark. “Oh no… I’m… I’m dying, aren’t I? No…”

“Shhh, it’s okay, Emily. It’s going to be okay.”

“How is it going to be okay?!”

“This isn’t real. It’s a dream, Emily. You’re not going to die.”

“I’m… I’m dreaming? I’m not going to die? I’m going to wake up?” She asked, hopefully, even as the world got darker, but the figure above shook her head.

“You’re not going to wake up, Emily. But that’s okay… You’re not dreaming. I am. This is my dream.”

The world faded completely on her to a choking, suffocating black.

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, December 25, 2004, 3:07 AM

Emily shot upright in the bed, gasping for air; hands—soft, female hands—on her shoulders, squeezing her, a voice comfortingly saying she’s fine, that she was okay, but she sobbed again.

“Oh gods… it was horrible!” She let out a whimper, turning into those arms, holding her, placing her head on the soft, cotton-covered breasts. “I… I dreamed I was like, thirty, and… and I was married and rich and hated everything, and you didn’t know me because you had the Misfile fixed and were a boy again and… and… and then I crashed my 240SX and I saw me standing over myself and…” She let out a sob, sniffling, as those arms squeezed her tightly.

“Emily? Are you okay? You’re not making any sense…”

That voice—comforting, warm, but not Ash’s. And she realized at the same time, remembering that Ash had gone to sleep naked because she’d let Emily pilot her. Her choked-upedness became straight choked as a swelling of terror overrode the nightmare’s horror. “I said that word to Jenny,” the deadly word being ‘Misfile’. She looked up; the blonde’s face was looking down into her own, and Jenny lowered her hand, stroking Emily’s blue hair. Her hand was so tender, so… warm and comforting, but she looked confused.

“Emily, are you okay? You must’ve had a nightmare, but why did you say Ash was a boy?”

She blinked, and Emily gulped, softly. “Um… just a… bad dream, you know?”

“No, a bad dream is when your fucktard ex-boyfriend is raping and branding you while your two best—only—friends look on and laugh. You sounded terrified, and that makes me worry.”

Emily blanched, not the least at Jenny’s frank description of her own nightmare.

“Come on, Emily.” Jenny tilted her head, ice-blue eyes staring into bright, vibrant magenta. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Emily said, hemming, but Jenny wormed.

“You sounded really scared, Em. Is everything okay? What did you mean, ‘Misfile’?”

“Ugh… Nothing, okay? It meant nothing; it was a stupid nightmare. Please, I don’t want to talk about it. Please, Jenny, don’t ask me to talk about it.”

The blonde-haired beauty queen looked unconvinced, but she nodded. “Okay, I won’t…”

Emily sighed, relieved, and looked around. Something was missing. “Where’s Ash?”

“Front door. I woke her up by squeezing her hand in a death-grip when I was waking up from that dream, and she held me for a while. Then she got up and looked out the window. Didn’t even say a word, but she went to the front door.”

“Mmmh. Jeez, maybe that Nathan guy’s coming back for his car?” She sighed, and reached down to the floor below her side of the bed—her hands found the dress she’d been wearing last night, and she frowned. “I need to get dressed…” She started to roll off the bed, then leaned back, squeezing Jenny’s hands, gazing into her eyes. “Not a word of what I said to Ash, okay?”

“But… you thought I was her.”

“Not a word of it, Jenny. I’ll tell her, okay? Just…”

“Okay.” Jenny smiled softly, reaching up and stroking Emily’s cheek. “Okay.”

Emily slid from the bed, quickly getting dressed—she opted for the fastest possible, which in this case meant yanking on Ash’s white T-shirt, a pair of her own panties, and Ash’s previously discarded white, flame-pattern jeans. She went to the bedroom door; Ash was standing at the front door, barefoot, wearing blue jeans and her Action Vault T-shirt, staring out the window. Jenny’s date from the previous night had apparently slipped out sometime during the interval in which they had slept, as the couch he had been sleeping on was neat and devoid of his presence.

“Ash?” Emily padded up behind her friend, her lover, putting her hand on Ash’s shoulder. “What’re you doing?”

“Staring.”

“At what? The Carrera GT?”

“The ocean,” Ash corrected, pointing out at the icy sea.

“Ash, you’re moping…” Emily injected all the worry and fear in her heart into her voice. “I know you’re upset…”

“Do you?”

“Ash, don’t even start with me; don’t even start. I’ve been with you since the start of this whole mess, and I’ve been with you for every. Single. Step. Of the way as you built the Monster XR up.” Emily hugged her lover, tightly, kissing Ash’s cheek; she slid her leg around Ash’s, putting her foot on top of her girlfriend’s, splaying her toes into Ash’s, which Ash accepted without complaint.

“Do you think I don’t know how angry you are, Ash? Do you think I don’t know how much you wanted to get your hands around his scrawny little neck?”

“You stopped me.”

“Because the place was full of cops, and the last thing I wanted was for you to be spending Christmas in the cell next to him.” Emily squeezed Ash, tightly. “I love you, you know that. Believe me, I know how much you wanted to strangle him, because I wanted to do it, too.”

“You did?”

“Are you kidding? That car’s brought us together; we’ve both worked on it, hand in hand. My first win over you was in it. Hell, it was last Friday, in that car, that made me realize how much I love you.”

Emily squeezed her orange-haired lover, and Ash sighed. “But Ash, come on… It’s Christmas day. I know you’re upset, but… we’ve got each other. Last night was incredible, even if Joshua did ruin the finale.” Her friend smiled, softly, at that. “And we’ll get the Monster back, Ash. I’m pretty sure Mr. Almacy’s going to pay to have it fixed and then some. Once we get it back from the evidence impound, we can call Harry, he can drive out in his tow truck and pick it up and take it back to Tempest with us.”

“How are we gonna get back?”

Emily snickered. “Trust me when I say, I have a feeling we’ll manage.” She kissed Ash’s cheek, and tilted Ash’s head to the Porsche—not the Carrera GT on the side of the road, but her mother’s red 996 that was in the driveway, next to Jenny’s Lexus.

“You know, I’m kind of surprised he didn’t smash up my car.”

Emily turned her head as Jenny padded up next to them, putting her hand on Ash’s shoulder, atop Emily’s hand, splaying their fingers together. “I guess we interrupted him before he got to it.”

“Yeah…” Ash reached up, squeezing both of her friend’s hands. “Thank you both, Em, Jenny.”

Emily smiled softly, and kissed Ash’s temple. “I guess even paradise has its losers and bastards, but let’s still try and have a merry Christmas, okay?”

“Paradise?”

“Heh. Just that ancient song, ‘Two Tickets to Paradise’. I guess it’s kind of one of ‘our’ songs.” Ash smiled, her eyes shimmering softly. She opened her mouth to speak, but the deep, throaty grumble of a powerful muscle car interrupted her. “That must be Jimmy and Nathan to collect the car.” Ash slipped away, running to the bedroom—Emily heard her flop upon the floor, pulling on shoes and socks, as Emily and Jenny turned—Jenny went to the couch to get on her own, while Emily ran past Ash to put on her own shoes and socks, as Ash stood up.

The three got to the door at once (mostly thanks to Emily forgoing the socks) and Ash opened the door. Nathan and Jimmy were standing on the sidewalk, looking around very confusedly, and Ash led the way out to them.

“Hey, uh…” Nathan began. “Pardon me if it’s none of my damn business, but what the heck happened here? Your driveway seems to be a crime scene, and there’s glass everywhere.”

“And where’s Harry’s Monster?” Jimmy asked, scratching the back of his head. “The garage?”

“Uh… not exactly… Oh, crap. I left the keys in that purse…” Ash blushed.

Jenny tapped Ash on the back of the arm. “I’ll get them.” The blonde ran back to the house as Emily explained.

“Joshua Almacy came here instead of going home from the party. The Monster’s at the evidence impound; he beat the holy hell out of it.”

“He what?!” Jimmy and Nathan both said at once, but Jimmy’s voice was full of fire. “He… he beat up Harrystein’s Monster? Are you kidding me? How?”

As Ash pointed at the garage, Emily followed with her gaze. In the heat of the previous night, she hadn’t noticed the large brown box on the ground in front of it and wondered what it could be.

“He broke into the garage and got a tire iron. Then he smashed the car…”

“That son of a bitch. That son of a bitch. I’ll kill ’im. I’ll fucking kill ’im.”

“Whoa, easy, Jimmy,” the race-boss’s friend put his hand on Jimmy’s shoulder. “Chill out.”

The neckbearded racer scowled. “Yeah… Well, he’d still better never come my way.”

“He’s in the impound, too,” Emily quipped. “He attacked Jenny and Adam when they came here.

He smashed out the back window of her mom’s Jaguar, and banged up Adam’s Viper pretty good while he was at it.”

“Oooh, ouch. Damn, that little punk went on a rampage, didn’t he?”

“Yeah.”

“Grinch that smashed up Christmas, I’d say. Hey, how about we go find whatever lockup they’ve got him in and throw a sackful of coal through the bars?”

Nathan snickered at Jimmy, but rolled his eyes. “Look, a best friend might be the one chained to the bench next to you laughing his ass off, but if it’s all the same, I’d rather not be locked up over Christmas, Jimmy. Anyway…”

Jenny ran back out of the house, carrying something in her hands. “Got it,” she crowed, holding out the key fob to the Carrera GT. Nathan took it, thanking her quietly.

“Mmmh. Man, that punk’s lucky he didn’t get to my car. He wouldn’t have gotten to see the inside of a jail cell. I’m surprised you didn’t kill him, Ash.”

“I wanted to. She talked me out of it.” Ash smirked and sighed, leaning on Emily’s side, which got a grin from the still-suited car’s owner. “Hey, whatever happened to Rainer, anyway?”

“No clue,” Nathan replied. “If there is any karmic justice in the world, they’re spending the night in the same lock-up, but I don’t think the lot of us combined are that lucky.” He turned around, sighing, and staring at his car. “… Ah, hell. Here.” He turned back, flipping the key fob into the air.

Ash caught it in both hands, staring down at it. “Uh…”

“I guess, since he got to two cars bad enough they were hauled off down ’the impound, your little family’s having an automotion crisis at the moment. Just keep it more or less on the Cape, and if you crash it, you’re dead meat. And please, don’t get it impounded for trying to outrun the cops in it.”

Ash blinked; then she grinned. “You did.”

“Yeah, but it’s my car, innit? Anyway, it’s the least I can do to try and mitigate what that little punk-ass bitch did to ruin your family’s Christmas.”

“How will you get it back?”

“GPS locater, remember? Just give me a call when you’ve got yours back or you’re leaving the Cape, and I’ll come pick it up.”

“Ah, Jeez… Thanks,” Ash said, with a blush and a smile.

“Don’t mention it. C’mon, Jimmy. Let’s go crash, eh? I’m driving.”

“All right. Hey, King, be seein’ ya. Man, Harry’s gonna be pissed.”

The two turned, walking back to the green Hemicuda that was rumbling in front of the Carrera GT. Ash looked down at the key fob. “What just happened here?”

Emily snickered at her. “I think it means, ‘Merry Christmas’ in the way that only a loaned-out Supercar can.” She pinched Ash’s arm, and grinned. “You’re going to let me drive it, aren’t you?”

“Of course.”

Emily giggled. “C’mon. Let’s go back inside, I’m freezing my tits off out here.”

“I can tell,” Jenny teased. “You’re not wearing a bra.”

Ash turned to look, and Emily blushed slightly, smirking and covering her rock-hard nipples with her arms. “Hah-hah. Neither are you. Or you, for that matter.”

Ash grinned, sticking her tongue out. “Yeah, but… aren’t those my pants?”

“Mmmmaybe…”

With a laugh and a grin, the trio turned and walked back inside; not to the bedroom, but to the couch. Emily paused, knelt down at the Christmas tree, and plugged it in. The tree lit up like, well, a Christmas tree, and she shut off the main room’s lights, leaving them in the multicolored glow from the many strands of lights.

“Hey, what was that box out there, by the garage? I didn’t notice it last night,” Emily said. “I dunno. Wanna go look?” Ash responded.

“… Hell, why not. Just let me get a bra on first.”

“Done.”

Properly dressed and jacketed, the trio went back out again, with a flashlight. “Oh! I’m an idiot,” Emily exclaimed, and grinned. The box was actually flanked by a number of smaller boxes. “I totally forgot I ordered these at the AutoModerz in the mall and paid to have them overnighted. They must have arrived while we were at the party. But it looks like there’s two more than I ordered?”

Ash laughed at her. “Those were me.”

“What are they, then?”

Emily grinned at Jenny’s question. “Wel-lll, if you must know…” She thumped the big one with her hand. “This one’s a spoiler for your Lexus.”

“Heh, you, too?” Ash smirked. “This one, at least I think this one, is a set of spinners.” She crouched down. “There’s also a set of straight rims in here for you, Em.”

Emily snickered, and hugged Ash. “Jeez…”

“Wow… you guys…” Jenny blinked. “You bought stuff for my car?”

“Well, yeah. You’re good at the racing, but you really seemed to love customizing your car the most, so I thought…”

“Me too,” Emily added.

Jenny let out a soft squeal, and hugged both Ash and Emily, tightly. “I don’t deserve you two, I really don’t! You’re the best.”

“Think they’ll be safe out here until morning?”

“Probably.”

Ash and Emily grinned, and squeezed Jenny in return. “Let’s go back inside, mmmh?”

“’Kay.”

Arm in arm in arm, the trio walked back to the house, slipping inside. They angled for the couch, but Jenny shook her head, with a grin. “You two go and get back to sleep in your bed.” She grinned, and kissed Emily’s cheek, then Ash’s. “And thanks for not objecting earlier.”

“You were fine,” Ash assured her. Then she sighed, and hugged Jenny, tightly. “Actually, I’m glad. It really threw me off, seeing my Monster like that, I’m glad you came to help.”

“Then I’m really glad I did, too… Now go, you two. I’ll be fine.” Jenny smiled, pushing gently at both Ash and Emily, and sitting on the couch.

With a shrug and a smile, Emily took Ash’s hand, leading her back to their bedroom, closing the door and turning off the light. “You okay?”

“I think so… Man, the last, what, eight hours have been a roller-coaster.” Ash flopped on the bed with a groan, eliciting a giggle from Emily. “And to top it off, my feet are frikken’ killing me.”

Emily sat next to her, murmuring, “Why’s that?” as she leant down, taking Ash’s shoes and socks off, then her own.

Ash sighed and slid back on the bed, putting her feet flat on the edge. “Dunno. They were like this all night last night, and the day you two had me marching up and down the kitchen in mom’s heels.”

“Oh… it’s because you’re not used to them… But…” Emily blinked; she turned on the lamp, then reached down; fishing for the heels she’d worn last night, she extracted the gel foot supporters that were in them. “Didn’t yours have a set? Mine came with them.”

“Um…” Ash blinked. “Those were supposed to stay in? I thought that thing was packing filler material; I threw mine in the kitchen drawer.”

Emily blinked at her girlfriend and snickered, then broke into a soft laugh, putting her head on Ash’s shoulder. “Oh god, I forgot to tell you. I’m sorry, Ash, I keep forgetting you were never brought up with this stuff.”

Ash sighed and leaned her head into Emily’s, inhaling softly with her nose in Emily’s hair. “Mmm.”

“Lie back, Ash. And take your shirt off.”

“Um… ’kay.” Ash did as asked, and then some: she slid off her shirt and bra, and lay with her head on the pillow.

Emily smiled at her and, hooking her hands in the band of both Ash’s pants and panties, denuded her lover in one fell pull. Then she grinned as she put her hands in a position Ash recognized. “Would it help your mood at all if I showed you my breasts?”

Ash snickered. “Only if you’re not teasing me this time.”

Emily giggled back, and pulled her shirt (Ash’s shirt) off her body in one smooth move, followed by the bra she’d put on.

Ash stared; she couldn’t be said to leer, but she definitely stared. “I hope I never get used to seeing them,” she said quietly, and grinned as Emily cupped her breasts, squeezing them softly.

“I hope you never do either.” She smiled and slid her pants off, followed by her panties, leaving her kneeling, nude, at her friend’s feet. “It was really cruel of me, what I did last time, wasn’t it?”

“The last time you said that?” Ash asked, moaning softly as Emily pulled her legs up. “Yeah.” Emily started to rub her feet again. Ash gasped and moaned at the feeling of her friend’s firm fingers rubbing into her sore, abused, tender feet, blushing softly. “It… it was. You knew how I felt.”

“Yeah, I did…” Emily closed her eyes. “I’m sorry, you know. Sorry for all the times I was mean to you, toyed with your emotions…” She squeezed harder, and Ash let out a gasp. “Oh, damn. Too hard?”

“N-No… it’s okay.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

Emily went back to rubbing, while Ash arched her back, moaning softly. “It… Why, Em?”

“Because I wanted you. I was afraid of you, but I wanted you nonetheless. I guess a tiny part of me was begging for you to just say yes. I think I might have, maybe, if you had said yes.”

Ash sighed, heavily. “I wish I’d known that… I wanted to say yes, but… I was afraid.”

“I know.” Emily shifted—she parted Ash’s legs, and Ash trembled, hoping for a moment she was going to touch her. Emily slid up, though—up Ash’s body, resting along her, between her legs, her face inches from Ash’s. “Ash? Talk to me. What’s on your mind.”

“… You’re good,” Ash murmured, hugging Emily tightly, using her legs to pull Emily’s body flush with hers. “You know when I’m off-balance.”

“Yes, I do.” Emily grinned, sliding her hand behind Ash’s head, cupping the back of it. “We’ve spent the last nine months off-balance, holding onto each other to restore balance.” They kissed, softly, slowly, by mutual instinct.

“I’m. Mmm… I’m just…”

“You’re wondering. Not about the Misfile, but…”

“About last night. What…”

“Would have happened?” Ash nodded, and Emily kissed her love’s cheek, then closed her eyes and whispered in Ash’s ear, each whisper sending a shiver down Ash’s spine. “We’d have come back here, undressed each other. We’d get into the bed, and you’d get nervous again, facing me in the light. So I’d turn it off and take your hands. You’d have fumbled for me for a bit, but I’d talk you through it again. You would’ve tried to go straight for making me orgasm, but I’d slow you down, make you take your time, build me up properly. Then I’d start to orgasm, but you wouldn’t recognize it because I’m quiet when I go over the edge. You’d keep going, thinking I was getting close, and eventually you’d ask if you were doing it right, and I’d tell you about how you made me multiple-orgasm. You’d be dumbstruck, and I’d kiss you.” Emily did so, then, squeezing Ash’s head against hers.

“Whoa,” Ash gasped, as the kiss broke, and she ran her fingernails down Emily’s back. “That’s…”

“Hot? I thought so.”

“How do you know?”

“Well, I don’t in all honesty. But it’s how I think it would go based on what I know of you.” She kissed Ash’s cheek. “And now you’re contemplating the possibility of multiple orgasms for yourself, aren’t you? Don’t worry, you’ll get them.”

Ash blushed and giggled. “You must be psychic.”

“No, I just know you. I know where your mind’s going. And I know Ash; I love you too.”

Ash snickered and rolled Emily over, kissing her throat. “No fair.”

“Answering you before you said it?”

“Yeah.” Emily giggled, and then again louder, as Ash blew a raspberry on her throat. “I love you, Emily. You’re incredible.”

“Mmm. And so are you, Ash.” She put Ash’s head down on her shoulder and sighed softly, happily.

“So, how was it?”

“What?”

“Having a finger inside me.”

“I…” Ash shrugged. “God, I… It’s hard to describe, it was incredible, Emily… I’m still a bit shocked you let me…”

“Why?” Emily pinched her ear, softly. “Please don’t tell me you’re still laboring under the delusion that girls are supposed to be chaste and naive and require their boyfriends to push them into sex.”

“I know that it’s not true. It’s just…”

“Hard to shake the way you were raised.” Emily nipped Ash’s cheek. “I’m not, Ash. You didn’t see much of it before, because, you know, most people keep their sexuality private, but I’m hardly an innocent librarian. I masturbate, I like having orgasms, and to tell you the truth, I love having your hands on me.”

“Where?”

“All over. It depends on the mood. Right now, I like them right the way they are, under me, holding me. You make me feel supported, secure, safe… I hope you’re not going to take this wrong, but sometimes, I think you combine the best traits of a boyfriend and a girlfriend into one.”

“You… you do?”

“I do.” Emily kissed Ash’s cheek, softly. “I guess maybe that’s why I can sometimes be neurotic about treating you weird ways…” She stroked Ash’s cheek with her hand, and her friend’s foot with her own. “I’m sorry.”

“… Shh. It’s okay.” Ash leaned down, nuzzling into Emily’s neck. “How do you mean?”

“Well… Ash, you’re sensitive to the way I feel, you care about me… I’m not just pretty meat to you, you’re always thinking about me. You can be amazingly sensitive sometimes, and please, that’s not a bad thing.” She squeezed one of Ash’s hands; Ash squeezed back.

“Okay…”

“But you can also do some incredibly unwise, exciting things. Like picking a race with Rainer Herrbruck, or grabbing that crowbar, or getting into a fistfight with Tom…” Emily smiled as Ash started to kiss her neck, starting with the nape. “I know those things shouldn’t excite me, but they do… That’s why I used to berate you for doing things like that. The truth is, I was insecure about my own attraction to you.”

Ash looked up, into Emily’s eyes—they stared back, vibrant, cheerful magenta at powerful, strong emerald. Then they met, not kissing, but sliding their heads along one another’s, cheek to cheek. “I know what you mean, Emily.”

“You do?”

“When you do bold things, crazy things. Like the way you did that curb trick in Truro, it really excited me.” Ash gently kissed the lobe of Emily’s ear. “I was so hot for you, watching you do that. It actually kind of scared me, but then you kissed me, and it was like, ‘to hell with it, this feels great’.”

Emily grinned at her and took a deep breath, sighing. “Yeah… I guess that’s us in a nutshell. We could keep a team of psychiatrists in mansions and Rolls Royces for life, but when it comes right down to it…” She squeezed Ash’s back, above her shoulder blades. “It just feels right. So right, to be here with you, with your soft, curvy, but strong body pressing into me.” She kissed Ash’s temple, softly, and Ash let out a sigh of soft pleasure, closing her eyes. Neither spoke, simply entwined with one another, for a time.

“Emily… do you like it when I do something girly?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… you know, when I go shopping for clothes with you, or when I wore that dress and all…”

“I… That’s a bit of a hard question to phrase the answer to. I like it when you’re yourself, Ash. When you try to do something manly, you wind up overacting, doing a ridiculous caricature of machismo, and in all honestly, that’s a huge turn-off, not to mention a headache. If you tried the other way, tried to be deliberately girly, I shudder to imagine what ridiculous stereotype you have of girls that you’d blow out of proportion. It’d probably be comical, if I didn’t suspect it would make me so embarrassed I’d rather die than continue to watch it.”

Ash burst into a spluttering snicker at that, and then laughed, placing her head on Emily’s shoulder. “Just… I guess, Ash, you just need to keep doing what you’re doing.”

“But I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“Exactly. And you’re an expert at it.” Ash laughed, and kissed Emily’s shoulder, closing her eyes. “I love you, Ash Upton. I’m a star-struck fool for you, and I have been for a while. That’s why I’ve been so afraid… I was so afraid of being labeled that I… that I ignored my feelings for you; I ignored your feelings for me, or even attacked them. And I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s in the past; what’s done, is done. And it led us here, to my mother’s house in Cape Cod on Christmas Eve, and for all the bad stuff that’s happened, the good outweighs it a hundred times.” Ash kissed Emily’s lips, softly, tenderly, and Emily seemed to melt into her.

“See, stuff like that,” Emily murmured, when they broke the kiss, and she closed her eyes. “Stuff like that is what I love about you.” They rolled to the side, eyes staring into one another’s, and Emily smiled softly, tugging the covers up over them. “By the way, it’s Christmas Day now. Hold me, Ash. Keep me warm.”

“I will.” Ash entwined her legs with Emily’s, and Emily closed her eyes, putting her head against Ash’s shoulder.

Upton Residence, 8:37 AM

“Hey. Wake up.”

The voice was soft and gentle; the hand on her shoulder gently rocked her body. “Mmmh?”

“Good morning!”

A hand stroked through her hair. Ash opened her eyes; blearily, she stared into Emily’s eyes, which were waking up as well. “Wha?”

“Morning.” It was Jenny’s soft voice. “You two really are deep sleepers, aren’t you?”

“Kind of…” Ash moaned, looking up—Jenny was already dressed and was sitting on the bed next to them, shaking their shoulders.

“Your mom asked me to wake you two up. She’s cooking breakfast now.”

“Oh… thanks.” Emily yawned, burying her face in the pillow, and sat up. “Thank you, Jenny.”

“All right.” The blonde beauty queen slipped off the bed, walking to the door. “Mmm, I think I smell pancakes. Hurry up.”

Emily smiled softly at Ash and closed her eyes. Pushing Ash onto her back, Emily lazily crawled atop her, placing her head on Ash’s shoulder. “How’re you doing?”

“I’m okay.” Ash took one of Emily’s hands—their fingers laced together, and she slid her other hand up, onto her girlfriend’s back, caressing it. “Mmmmh. I don’t know, Emily. On one hand, I feel like I should be in a raging fury over what happened last night. On the other…” Ash closed her eyes and sighed. “I feel too relaxed to work up a good piss-off… I’m worried.”

Emily snickered softly. Rolling her eyes, she kissed Ash’s throat. “That has nothing to do with being a girl now, Ash. It has everything to do with lying on a big, comfortable bed, under your best friend, surrounded by your friends and family, on Christmas Day.” She giggled softly, and turned around on Ash, crawling over her friend’s legs. Taking Ash’s feet in her hands, she started to massage them.

“You like doing that, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do, Ash.”

Ash opened her eyes, inhaling to say something—she was cut off when she realized Emily’s hips were lying above her stomach, legs straddling Ash’s body, giving Ash a perfectly bright view of Emily’s vagina.

“You tensed up. Like the view?”

Ash groaned, dropping her head back and staring at the ceiling, but taking Emily’s feet, trying (a bit clumsily) to mimic her friend’s motions, which elicited a sigh of pleasure from Emily.

“Mmm… there, keep that up… not too hard, but harder than that… Ahhh, right there.” Emily put her head on Ash’s shin, and then raised it a bit. She nipped at the tip of Ash’s big toe, and Ash eeped.

“What was that?”

“This?” Another gentle nip made Ash let out a soft moan.

“T-That.”

“Do you like it?” She nipped at the third toe down, and Ash sighed.

“It’s weird.”

“Okay, I’ll stop.”

Emily sat up on her knees; Ash raised her hands, wrapping them around Emily’s stomach. “Mmmm,

I hardly even want to get up.”

“I know what you mean, Ash.” Emily clasped her hands, and sighed. “But c’mon, I’m gonna be pissed if we don’t get any of your mother’s famous pancakes.” Ash let out a giggle and squirmed her way into a sitting position, with Emily straddling her lap, her breasts pressing into Emily’s back. Unaccountably, Emily moaned heavily, and pushed back into her—Ash blinked as she was pushed back against the headboard, Emily’s back squishing her breasts.

“Er… did I do something you like?”

“Yes, Ash, you did. Mmmm, squeeze me.” Her lover complied, happily, and Emily let out a deep sigh of contentment.

“So, what am I doing right?”

“Holding me. You make me feel safe and loved, not owned.”

“Eh?”

“Shhh.” Emily lay back, arching her head over Ash’s shoulder, whispering up, against her ear, “I’ll explain it in the shower, Ash.”

“Okay.”

Emily slid off and Ash followed her. They walked to the shower and placed towels over the radiator. Before stepping in, Emily closed the door and turned off the light, throwing the room into near pitch-black darkness.

“Em?”

“Shh. We do our best work in the dark.” Emily giggled, and Ash smiled, stepping into the shower—she held her hand out, waiting for Emily to find it. Emily’s questing hand did, and she stepped into the shower with Ash, hugging her tightly as Ash shut the door to the shower.

“Oh yeah. This is so much better.” Emily let out a sigh of pleasure as she turned around, letting Ash hold her, leaning into her.

“What is?”

“Heh. It’s a… a dream I had, y’know? I dreamt I was like, thirty-one or something, had a high-paying job with a super-pharmaceutical company, and was a Doctor of Organic Chemistry. I was married, to a husband—Doctor of Medicine—and lived in some posh suburb with a lot of stuff.”

“Huh… isn’t that…”

“Exactly what my mom had me convinced I wanted? Yeah.” She sighed. “Except… I was miserable. Expensive electronic toys didn’t buy me happiness, I lied to my husband about having a kilofuckton of work at the office to get out of a romantic anniversary dinner, hated it when he touched me in the shower and propositioned me… I just wound up feeling miserable, you know?”

“Wow… Why?”

Emily giggled softly, and sighed. “I dunno if I want to say at the moment… I don’t want to ruin your mood.”

“Say it,” Ash plaintively asked, squeezing Emily against her and tenderly kissing her cheek. “Or my brain’ll be baking all day.”

“Okay… okay.” She took a breath. “I dreamed that things were that way because I remembered the Misfile, but you… didn’t. You’d taken the re-file, and turned into an aloof jackass I hated, and who hated me because I knew too much about you and tried to become your friend. Because I love you.” She turned around in Ash’s arms, and pushed Ash into the back of the shower, kissing her with something approaching desperate need—Ash kissed back, spreading her fingers, gripping, securing, her fingernails scratching slightly on Emily’s back.

The kiss parted, and Ash let out a soft, gentle exhalation.

“Ash? Oh gods, are you…”

“I’m fine.” She kissed Emily’s cheek, and sighed. “I just… I guess that hurts a bit.”

“Hurts… I’m sorry, Ash, I—”

Ash silenced her with a soft gentle kiss. “It’s going to hurt, Emily, no matter what happens. There’s always something pulling at me, I’m torn between two lives that I don’t really own, fully, anymore. Don’t apologize for telling me how you feel. They’re your feelings.”

Emily sighed in return, and Ash felt her head weighing heavily on her shoulder. Finally, Emily murmured, “You wear them well.”

“Eh?”

“Torn between two lives… But you’re really doing a good job of being yourself, Ash.”

“I am?”

“You are.” She reached up and slid a hand along Ash’s face, the other sliding around, scratching Ash’s back as she gripped Ash just as tightly. “Ash, where would you be in, say, nine months from now, without the Misfile?”

“Nine months…? I dunno… I never really thought about it. September of oh-five…” She shrugged. “I dunno. Probably find some job? Maybe with Harry if I was lucky… Or… eugh, maybe working with that jackass Colin as my superior at AutoModerZ.”

“Yeah… I thought so.” Emily kissed her cheek. “And what about, not to put too fine a point on it… your love life?”

“Um… gee, I dunno… Maybe Missi?”

“Maybe… I have my doubts, but for the sake of argument, let’s—”

“What doubts?”

“Well… Missi kind of worships you because you flattened her brother in the car she built, right?”

“Yeah…”

“But you didn’t flatten him, Ash.”

“What do you mean? I won, fair and square!”

“Yes, you did. But you didn’t flatten him, you let him kill himself.”

“W-What?”

“Remember, that race, you left me and Rumisiel at the top of the hill? We didn’t want to just watch the start and not see anything else. He made us invisible, and we were flying off the side of the Mountain, Ash. After you passed him, he fired his nitrous to try and take the lead back from you.”

Ash gulped, and Emily felt it, through her throat. “But… that was a turn, and the railing…”

“He sailed off the Mountain, Ash. Rumisiel pushed him back onto the track, and smashed his car’s front end to hell so he’d think he just crashed into the guardrail. Don’t you remember how I nearly choked when Jimmy said, ‘some of my friends nothing short of an angel or a parachute could have helped’? They must have done what Tom did.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“After the race was over, I was so excited… I… I was almost ready to kiss you. I’d forgotten everything, that you were a girl… Watching that race, that talk with you, I was blushing… I wanted it. Then Rumisiel mouthed up, and you started yelling at him, and it was so funny… I forgot.”

“Oh… Jeez, Em, I…”

“Shhh. Not your fault, Ash. Not your fault at all.” Emily bit Ash’s cheek, softly. “But you see why I’d have my doubts about Missi?”

“There’s a bit of a difference between ‘the racer who demolished her loudmouth brother’ and ‘the racer who got her brother to sail off the cliff’, isn’t there?”

“Yeah…”

Ash sighed, and closed her eyes. “I guess, then… that I might not have a love life at all. And I’d probably feel really shitty over Tom, too.”

Emily stretched up, kissing Ash’s forehead, softly. “Then…”

“I dunno, Em…”

“Is this so much worse?”

“… No.” Ash squeezed Emily, tightly. “It’s not perfect, but…”

“Nothing is.” Emily put her head on Ash’s shoulder again. “I don’t want to be refiled, Ash. I feel certain it would kill me—literally. I should’ve been in the car with Molly, and that side of the car was totaled beyond survivability. And… even if I was alive, I wouldn’t be happy.” She kissed Ash’s cheek. “It would be the same rat race, just with my mother nagging me over the telephone. You’ve opened something up in me. Something I never had before. You’ve given me a strength and a meaning and a pleasure I never had before. And the sex is good, too.” She snickered softly at her tiny joke, and Ash sighed, sitting down slowly, Emily coming to the top of her lap again.

“Ash, what do you want for your future?”

“Um… I… don’t know.”

“I didn’t think so.” Emily kissed Ash’s forehead. “You live for the moment, Ash.”

“This is a good one,” Ash remarked, pressing her lips to Emily’s throat, and the blue-haired girl sighed, happily.

“It is. All my life, I’ve lived for the future, and not even a future I wanted. And finally, it was within my grasp, and a dumb, pot-smoking Angel snatched it literally from my fingers. I had the acceptance letter on my desk that night I went to bed, and… it was gone when I woke up. My life since then has been a roller-coaster ride. And now, it’s brought us here.” She tilted Ash’s head up; in the brightening light from the sun shining in from the crack under the door, she could just make out the color of her lover’s eyes. “I don’t have any idea what I’m going to do going forward, Ash. Everything I think of winds up in a huge blazing row with my mother, being branded a lesbian, and I-have-no-idea-what else. But I want it.” She kissed Ash, hotly, passionately, which Ash returned.

“So, I’ll ask again, Ash…” Emily murmured, after the kiss parted, “Where do you want to go with your life? What… ambitions, desires, do you have?”

“Um… I… really have no idea, Emily.”

“That’s fine. I’m not going to yell at you like my mother did. Mmmh, Ash, what was the best moment of your life?”

“… Listening to the sounds you were making when my finger was in you. Watching your face twist in pleasure. The feeling I was getting, when I thought I was about to make someone I love very, very happy.”

Emily giggled softly in response and kissed Ash’s lips again, flicking her tongue over them as she pulled away. “The best moment not involving intimacy with me, then.”

“Jeez… um…” Ash closed her eyes, thinking. “I dunno. Either that moment I when thought I was actually going to beat Kate, or when I hit over the finish line and left Rainer in my dust.”

Emily tittered softly and smiled, wrapping her legs and arms around Ash’s back and shoulders. “So, it’s safe to say your favorite non-intimacy moments involve cars?”

“Mmmmh, you could take that to the bank.”

“Thought so.” Emily kissed Ash’s cheek. “You’ll beat Kate. I know it. I don’t know when, or what you’ll be driving when you do, but you will… I just don’t know if I ever will.”

Ash snorted, and then chuckled. “You will, Emily. I’ve seen you drive, I know you have it in you.”

“It’s nice of you to say so. But even if I have it in me, I don’t think I have it in my car.”

Ash grinned and gently bit Emily’s shoulder. “Then you’ll do it in mine.”

Emily laughed softly and leaned into Ash, sighing. “We’ll rebuild her, Ash. Together, you and me. Faster, stronger, more agile… We have the technology.”

The joke made Ash crack up, which took Emily with her—soon the two were giggling together, holding on for dear life, winding down with a sigh.

“Heh, hooo… I needed that, Emily.”

“I thought so.” Emily kissed Ash’s cheek, and Ash yawned, softly.

“Ready to go?”

“Not quite.” Emily kissed Ash, again, tenderly. “So, did you like the view?”

“Er… yeah?”

“Why didn’t you touch me?”

“I… I guess I wasn’t in the mood.”

“But not because you were afraid?”

“Maybe a little… Why?”

Emily nuzzled Ash’s cheek, softly. “I just don’t want you to be afraid of me…”

“I’ll try not to be, Em… I’ll try.”

“I know. This is still going to be slow, isn’t it?”

“Probably.”

Emily pressed her head against Ash’s. “You only have to tell me, or ask me…”

“I know, Em… I know.” She kissed Emily’s lips, softly. “Ready now?”

“Yeah.” Emily stood up, and took Ash’s hand; Ash squeezed it tightly, letting Emily help her stand.

Upton Residence, 9:19 AM

“These are really phenomenal pancakes, Mom. Yes, I’d like seconds.” Ash held her plate out as her mother dropped another stack of flapjacks on it.

“Syrup?” Marie asked.

“Nah. But I would like the butter and some of those bananas.”

“Oooh, me too—on the bananas.” Jenny took a whole banana, while Ash sliced hers onto the pancakes she had buttered up.

Emily giggled. “I told you, that’ll go straight to your hips.”

“Yeah? Worth it,” Ash said with a smirk.

Emily rolled her eyes good-naturedly at Ash. “Fine, fine—me too, then.”

Marie dropped the pancakes on Emily’s plate and sighed. “Normally I get cannolis on Christmas, but I didn’t have time, what with all the mayhem going on.”

“That’s fine, mom. Hell, we can find a bakery that’s open, can’t we?”

“On Christmas Day? Maybe in Boston,” her mother said as she sat down. So, of course, the telephone rang. “I’ll get it, don’t worry, you three.”

No sooner had she answered “Merry Christmas!” than she blinked, holding the handset away from her ear; angry shouting could be heard on the other end. “Hello?” She asked, but the shouting continued. “What? Henri? You’re not making any… Whoa!” She held the phone far away from her ear, and eventually the person on the other end hung up.

“Uh… what was that? Crank call?”

“I… It was Henri. The man who makes the dresses and such? I’ve heard him get into some moods, but that takes the cake.” She shook her head, walking back to the table. “Oh well. Not going to let it get my day down.”

“What’d he want?”

“Nothing, really. He just flew absolutely off the handle. I guess he saw a picture of you in that dress last night, honey. He said he must’ve been possessed, or taken by a fey mood, whatever the hell that means. He just demanded that he never see it again, swore he’d burn his workshop down if that dress ever returned to his possession.” She shrugged. “High-strung artists, what can you say?”

“Does that mean Ash gets to keep it?” Emily asked, grinning.

Ash recoiled, and Marie laughed. “I suppose it does, sweetie. What’s the matter, don’t like it?”

“Oh, go on, Ash. As dresses go, it’s a lot more tolerable than the others, right?”

“That’s like saying that sitting on a porcupine is a lot more tolerable than being thrown in chummed water infested by man-eating sharks, but yes…”

“Then what can it hurt? Besides, you’ll need a dress for school functions, like the prom and such…”

“Ooooh! I can get you such a lovely gown for that! In fact, I might even be able to purloin one like Jenny was wearing last night.”

Ash imagined herself in that flowing fountain of silver and laughed nervously. “On second thought, the Red Arrow’s fine.”

“Red Arrow?”

“Well, if Jenny had the Silver Bullet, then that thing’s gotta be a Red Arrow. At least it has pants.”

“My daughter, the tomboy. You’d rather wear a buckle-and-belt-fetish outfit to your prom than a proper gown.”

“Damn straight.” Ash blanched. “Can we get off the topic of squeezing me into ridiculous outfits before I go and hide?”

“Okay, okay,” Marie said. “So, want to get to the tree part of tree day, then?”

Ash, Emily, and Jenny looked at one another, and smiled. “Okay.” Ash stood up, followed by Emily and Jenny, and then Marie, walking out to the main room, with the lit Christmas tree glowing warmly. “Should we bring in the ones from outside?” Jenny asked.

“The spoiler won’t fit through the door,” Emily observed.

“Spoiler? Outside?” Marie wondered.

Ash turned to her mother, explaining, “We bought a lot of car parts for each other for Christmas. They came last night while we were at the party.”

Her mother nodded. “Oh, I see. But they didn’t wrap them?”

“It’s okay. I don’t mind,” Ash said.

Emily and Jenny both nodded, and Jenny said, “Let’s bring them in anyway.”

Marie cheerfully assented, “Okay!”

In the light of day, Ash cringed as she saw the tarp over the driveway, imagining the strewn glass below. She peeked under the tarp despite Emily’s telling her it wasn’t a good idea. The sight of all the glass was gut wrenching, and she sighed. “Man… Hey, is that ice?”

“What?”

“Look under here.”

Emily’s head joined her, near the ground. “Yeah, looks like it… I dunno what could’ve caused it.”

“You two stop worrying about it. Let’s save that for tomorrow, or at least later, okay?”

“… Yeah, okay, mom.”

Ash and Emily set the tarp back down, and went over to help carry in the boxes.

“What’s this big one?” Marie asked.

“It’s a carbon-fiber wing for the back of Jenny’s Lexus. Em got it for her,” Ash explained.

“Wow, that’s nice…”

“Yeah, I wish I’d thought of it; I got her spinners,” Ash snickered.

“Hmmm. How’re we going to install those?”

“Well, the wing we could probably install in the driveway, or in the garage. We’d need to put the Lexus up on a lift to put on the spinners, though.”

“Call Brent and ask him which shops will be open that’ll let us do our own work?”

“Yeah, sounds like a good idea. Or we could just drive her all the way to Tempest and do it at Harry’s.” Ash chuckled, then she started giggling.

“What’s so funny?”

“Just… the thought of Kate meeting Jenny. Never mind.” She balanced her load on one hand, wiping at her eyes, and walked past her very confused mother into the house.

Once inside they sat down again, and Marie said, “Well, since they’re not wrapped, you three go ahead and exchange that stuff first.”

“All right. Who’s first?” asked Ash.

“Rock, Paper, Scissors?” suggested Jenny.

“No good with three people. Same for a coin-toss,” Emily pointed out.

“How about you just go first, Jenny?”

“Okay, um…” Jenny blushed, softly. “I honestly didn’t know what I could get you; I don’t know enough about cars to risk getting you some part you can’t use, so… I just got you these, Ash, Emily. I asked the guy what was the best GPS unit I could get you two.” She pushed two identical boxes towards Ash and Emily—the box read ‘iWay 500C’, and Ash’s eyes went wide.

“These… Holy shit, Jenny, these must’ve cost a fortune.”

“Yeah, well… It was that, or spend it on myself. Go on, open them!”

Ash and Emily both opened the boxes. The GPS units came with all the extras they could possibly need, and everything they’d need to mount them in a car, and still easily remove them and take them hiking if they so desired.

“Wow… just… wow, Jenny. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Ash and Emily looked at each other; they nodded.

“Here.” Ash pushed a box across the floor to Jenny, who tore into it, and squealed when she pulled it out, flicking the spinner and showing them off—they were 18 inches, so they wouldn’t have to replace her tires, bright chrome, in the shape of stylized wings. “How cool is that?”

Marie snickered softly. “Pretty cool, I’d say.”

“I’d love to show you the wing—it’s that nifty dip-ended one you like, but you know, we’d have to assemble it first.”

“That’s fine, Emily…”

Emily turned to Ash, with a soft sigh. “I’m kind of afraid to give you these, since… Well, I got them for the Monster XR, Ash.”

“…” Ash looked like she was about to get morose, then cracked into a grin—she faked Emily out. “We’ll put them in together when we get it back, then. Let’s see.”

Emily handed her the boxes, and Ash’s eyes lit up. “Xenon HID bulbs?”

“Not just the bulbs—I checked, that would be bad. They’re the whole mounting units and the optic shields. I got as close as I could to a Merkur-design spec. It says it’ll fit an eighties Ford Sierra, so…”

“Just right, Emily. Spot-on, it’ll fit the Merkur.”

“And these are iridium spark plugs for the Ford Windsor engine you have in there.”

“Thanks, Em… just… thank you. Here.” She pushed another box over to Emily.

Emily looked at it, with a blink. “Twenty-one inch rims, Ash? But I have eighteen-inch tires.”

“There’s space for a note on it—check it.”

Emily turned the box over and laughed. It said ‘IOU—one set of 21” Yokohamas—talk to me when we get back to Harry’. Emily giggled. “Aw, Jeez, Ash.”

“What can I say?” Ash grinned at her friend. “I thought you’d like that.”

“… Yeah, I do. Thanks.” Emily opened the box, and goggled. “Chrome-red?”

“Just like the ones you put on your 240SX in Underground Two.”

Emily laughed, and launched herself to the other side of the couch, squeezing Ash tightly. “Thanks.”

“Here. They may not be car stuff, but…” Jenny pointed to the pile. “Open the matching ones from me first, please?”

“Okay.”

Ash and Emily scooted over to the tree and sat down next to it, followed by Jenny.

“Oh, this brings back memories. Let me get a trash bag.”

Riiiiip! Perhaps predictably, Ash had torn into the paper around hers, while Emily was carefully undoing her own. Emily rolled her eyes, and they extracted… a pair of matching one-inch platform boots, red for Ash, blue for Emily.

“I didn’t know that you would be keeping the ones you had, so it’s kind of redundant now, but…”

Ash blinked; then she grinned. “Actually, I think I kind of like them. They’re tough enough to satisfy me, but girly enough to satisfy everyone else. But, uh, how’d you know our size?”

“Hello? Kay Wheeler’s boyfriend’s sister is the girl who takes your measurements; I called her while you two were in the dressing room.”

“Oooooh, sneaky, sneaky.”

“I also bought this to go with yours, Emily.”

Another package landed in Emily’s lap, and she tore it open, with a vicious grin at Ash and Jenny. It was a floppy white beret, and Emily giggled as she put it on. “I love it!”

“You look good in it, too.” Ash nudged Emily.

“Thanks… Hey!” She took a large, soft, lumpy wrapped object out. “I got this for you when you weren’t looking.”

Ash blinked at it, and tore the paper off. It was a stuffed tiger, white, and fairly large. “Um… wow.” Emily squeezed her softly in the upper arm. “You gave me a bunny, remember?”

Ash blinked, thinking back. “Oh—ooooooh, yeah…” Ash smiled, and set the tiger down next to her.

“Um… Jeez, thanks…”

“You’re welcome.”

“Check this.” Ash handed Emily a hard, wrapped object that was obviously a book.

Jenny said, “Oooh, and this one, too!” and handed her one the same size, and then Emily opened them. Ash had given her a large book entitled ‘Nissan’s Greatest Cars’, and the one from Jenny was a book in the same series, only it was ‘Porsche’s Greatest Cars’.

Emily blushed and giggled. “Thank you, both…” She hugged the two to her sides.

“And this, I thought you might like it.” Ash handed Emily a somewhat hefty jewelry box, which she opened; inside was a neck-chain with a gleaming red and gold Porsche shield badge.

Emily blinked, and laughed. “Oh, god, so that’s where it went!” She laughed. “I talked to the lady at the counter who said she’d seen one left, but we couldn’t find it.”

“I got it.” Ash squeezed Emily, and smiled. “Thought you’d like that.”

“I do.”

The three continued to round robin their gifts for one another. Emily had gotten Jenny a trio of books as well: a manual on driving a manual transmission, a book entitled ‘Automotive Power Made Easy’, and one called ‘Weekend Mechanics Handbook’. Jenny had only a pair of toy cars to give out; a yellow 2005 Model Year Mustang GT for Ash, and a silver 911 Turbo for Emily. Ash had one last gift for Jenny: a copy of Need for Speed Underground 2, which the blonde squealed over. And Emily gave Ash a copy of a mecha Anime-game she’d seen at the store.

“It looked like you might like it, and I couldn’t find anything else.”

Ash grinned at her, happily. “That’s fine… I’m sure it’ll be great.”

“Oh, Ash, honey. Check the big one from me.” Ash pulled it out; it was heavy, with a feel like a cardboard box that clothes come in. She tore the paper off and opened it—and gasped when she saw that grey and blue Ford Racing jacket she’d lusted over in the mall previously. “A little blue bird told me you might like that,” Marie said, with a grin—Ash looked over at Emily, who was doing her best ‘innocent’ face, then broke into a giggle.

The merriment and gift giving continued apace, carefree, until the telephone rang again. Marie answered it, again with, “Merry Christmas! Oh, hello, Edward. Yes, they’re both right here. Okay.” She held the phone away a bit, and said, “Your father says Merry Christmas, Ash, and Emily. And your two young friends, Rumisiel and Vashiel, say the same.”

Ash held her hand out for the portable phone, and her mother tossed it to her. “Dad?”

“Ash, sweetie! How’re you doing?”

“I’m fine, Dad. Merry Christmas.”

“You too, honey.”

Ash blushed softly. “Still not used to him being warm.”

“Hey… Yes, okay. Hang on, Rumisiel wants to say hello.”

“Yo, Ash, how’s it going? It’s good to hear from you.”

“It’s going fine, Rumisiel. You’re not drunk, are you?” Venom began to creep into her voice. “What? No! Okay, your dad dug up some phenomenal egg-nog, but I’ve had one and only one glass, I swear.”

Ash waited a few beats. “Fine. And where the hell were you?!”

“What? Where was I?”

“Yeah! Last Saturday, where the hell were you?”

“Oh… look, I can explain—”

“You’d better.”

“Yeah, okay. Look, see, I ran Cassiel off like I wrote, but I couldn’t calm down, and I didn’t want togo back into Emily’s house all angry. So I went to your house and tried to sleep on the couch, but I couldn’t, so I went visiting some… old friends, okay? Doin’ some good deeds?”

“Like that time I pulled you out of the gutter?” Ash’s voice grew dangerously venomous, and Rumisiel’s voice got defensive.

“No! Nothing like that! Look, just… I’ll explain it when you come home, okay? It’s no big deal, I swear, I didn’t so much as touch a drop of beer, let alone anything harder. Okay?”

“… Rumisiel, you have one and only one thing to thank for the fact that I’m not going to drive home to Tempest and rip your head off, and that’s because it’s Christmas, and someone a lot more malevolent than you has already had his whack at wrecking my Christmas and failed. I will extract your gonads with a rusty spoon if I find out you’ve lied to me.” She put a smile on. “Merry Christmas.”

Glee burst through her heart at the thought of the look of terror that must have been on Rumisiel’s face at the threat she had just issued.

Emily said, “Can I say Merry Christmas to your dad?”

“Sure. Hey, Rumisiel, put dad back on the… Eh? Hold on.” She held the phone away from her face, “Mom it just started clicking at me.”

“That’s call waiting, Ash. Press the hang-up button and toss it to me.”

“Gotcha. I’ll call back, Rumisiel, let dad answer it. Or else, spoon, rust, gonads.”

“Gotcha”, the Angel answered.

Ash pressed the hang-up button and tossed the phone to her mother.

“Merry Christmas,” Marie answered, then her face fell. “Mr. Almacy, sir, it’s Christmas Day,

I’m…” Her eyes went wide. “Mr. Almacy, I don’t wish to be as rude as I was last night, but… Fine.” She listened for a minute, and closed her eyes. “Mr. Almacy, it’s Christmas Day, I’m trying to… Yes, I understand you’re not your son, and trying to make amends, but… Very well, I’ll ask. If any of them say no, then it’s not happening.”

She held the phone away from her face. “Ash, Emily, Jenny… My boss is on the phone. He’s quite insistent about his need to personally apologize for his son’s actions towards you all. Do you three want to go and meet him today?”

Ash looked at Emily, then Jenny. “I don’t like the idea, but… Today’s as good as any.”

Jenny scowled. “His son came at me with a tire iron… but… if you think so, I’ll go with you.” Emily shrugged. “Joshua didn’t attack me directly in any way. I don’t mind, but I really don’t want to go to his office again.”

“Right. Some kind of neutral ground, maybe?”

“Marco’s?” Jenny suggested.

“Fine by me.” She turned back to her mother, “We’ll go, but not to his office. Marco’s?”

Her mother nodded. “Yes, Mr. Almacy, they’ve agreed that they’ll meet you today, but they’re adamantly refusing to go to your office. Will you meet us at Marco’s in Falmouth? Very well, I’ll tell them.” She nodded at the girls, “Mr. Almacy will meet us there, he says.”

“All right, then.”

Ash stood up, holding a hand out for each of her friends. Jenny and Emily each took a hand and stood up. Then Ash reached down, taking her new Ford Racing jacket—she tugged off the tags, and put it on, with a grin.

Emily laughed. “Well, if we’re showing off…” She took off her shoes. “Hang on.” She ran into the bedroom and emerged with the gel inserts from the heels she’d worn the last night, putting them into her platforms before stepping into them.

“Okay, okay, I guess I ought to too, eh?”

“I’d like it,” Jenny said with a grin.

“Fine.” Ash got the gel inserts from the drawer in the kitchen, and put on the red heel-boots. “Blue and grey jacket, khaki jeans, and red boots… That’s my tomboy. They do match your hair, though.” Marie laughed. “Wait, we don’t have enough cars…”

“Yeah we do. That Nathan guy showed up last night, and let me keep the Carrera GT while we’re on the cape. And we still have Jenny’s Lexus… which is blocked in at the moment, but the 996 is fine.”

“Shotgun!” Jenny and Emily called it simultaneously, and they looked at each other, quickly working it out with rock-paper-scissors; Jenny won with rock over Scissors.

“In that case, Driver’s Seat!” Emily called out.

Marie laughed. “Chauffeured around by my daughter’s best friend in my own car. You two…”

On The Highway, 11:11 AM

“Yeah, faster!” Jenny laughed, strapped into the passenger seat of the Carrera GT.

Ash shook her head (for the third time). “Nope. I promised I wouldn’t speed in this car, and I won’t.”

“Don’t you want to?”

“Are you kidding me? Of course I want to!” Ash laughed. “This car can easily get up above a hundred and thirty miles an hour on this road without trying. But I still promised I wouldn’t.”

“Aw…”

“Yeah, I know.” Ash grinned as the CD she’d put in—labeled Trans-Siberian Orchestra—banged out an actually-ridable heavy metal version of the Nutcracker Suite called ‘A Mad Russian’s Christmas’.

“This car… is it really as great to drive as it looks?”

“Hell yes it is,” Ash responded with a grin.

“Man, I thought you were gonna kiss her when she grabbed you.”

“… I wanted to. I wanted to so bad. It’s a good thing you and mom threw me into that group hug, or I definitely would have.”

“It must be nice, to be so unafraid of being seen kissing a girl.”

“… I’m terrified of it,” Ash said. “I just didn’t care. I wasn’t thinking about anything but the rush of the win, and there she was in my arms, pressing against me…”

Jenny snickered. “Mmmh. So, was it good?”

“The win?”

“Yeah… what was it like?”

“It was… Mmmh, Jeez, I hardly know how to describe it.”

“Heh. Like sex?”

Ash blushed. “Uh… I… wouldn’t know.”

“You wouldn’t? Still a virgin?”

“Is that any of your business?!” Ash asked, shocked.

“Well, yeah?” She stuck her tongue out at Ash. “But okay, in all serious, how good was it? Like…”

“Ugh. I don’t believe you went there. Yeah, it was great. It was exciting.”

“Didja get all hot?”

“Why the sudden interest?”

“It’s not sudden. This is just one of the first times I’ve gotten to ask you something like that in private.” Ash groaned, and Jenny grinned. “C’mon. Even I was all hot watching you demolish that arrogant German cocksucker. And I’m not even your girlfriend.”

Ash sighed. “Jeez. I do not want to go there, okay?”

“You’re… really uncomfortable?” Ash nodded her head, and Jenny closed her eyes. “Okay, sorry. I just… thought we could talk about it, was all.”

“Yeesh… Look, Jenny, I’m just…”

“Really awkward about sex and stuff, right? Yeah, okay… I get it. I won’t bring it up again.”

“Thanks. And Jenny? Thanks for doing what you did last night. It felt really good.”

“It did?” Ash nodded again, and Jenny sighed in relief, leaning back in her seat.

Ash pulled the car off the highway, with Emily and her mother behind her. “I don’t know how you wound up as my friend, Jenny. Or how you wound up with such a huge crush on me. But… I’m glad you’re my friend.”

The blonde smiled softly at the comment. “I’m glad you’re my friend too, Ash.”

They drove the rest of the way to Marco’s in silence, except for the sound of the CD player. They pulled into the parking lot at Marco’s; as they were unbuckling, Ash gulped, spotting a police officer in a cruiser staring at the car. But when she got out, he did a double take, and shook his head, putting his car in reverse and leaving.

“Did you see that?”

“See what?”

“That cop who was looking at the car.”

“… Maybe he was the cop that chased this car when the guy who loaned it ran?”

“Maybe… Then he saw me get out…”

“And said ‘I know the car I’m after doesn’t have a teenage girl driving it.’” Jenny snickered. “Okay… Oh, there they are. Do you see Mr. Almacy’s car?”

“Yeah, it’s in the back.” Jenny pointed.

“All right, then.” She walked over to the parked Porsche 996, and helped Emily out of the car. “Shall we go and see what he has to say?”

Her mother nodded, as did Emily and Jenny. “Let’s go, then.”

Marco’s, 11:19 AM

The same maître d’ was on duty; he gave Ash’s Ford Racing jacket a particularly disdainful look, but upon seeing Jenny, and then Marie, he pokered straight up. “Four?”

“Actually, we’re joining the Almacy party.”

“Ah, of course. The Almacy Party is in the Green Room. Michelle!”

He snapped his fingers twice, and a girl Ash had never seen before zipped over. “Yes?”

“The Almacy party has arrived. Show them to the Green Room.”

“All right. If you’d follow me?”

The Green Room was… Well, Ash’s first immediate thought was that she had walked into ‘The Godfather’. The room was dark, paneled in wall material that seemed to absorb light. It was quite warm, enough so that she removed her jacket and put it on the coat-rack inside the door, as did everyone else. The lights were shaded by globes of green glass, resembling traditional banker’s lamps. And muted sound—as if out of an Italian opera—could be heard. Mr. Almacy was sitting at the rear of the table in the middle of the room, in the booth seat, nursing a glass of water. On the table were six plates of what looked like chicken Parmesan over linguine. Two were on Mr. Almacy’s side of the table, four on the other side.

Ash looked at Jenny, who shrugged; Emily frowned, while Marie strode forth. She took the seat directly opposite Mr. Almacy; Ash and Jenny took the seats to her right, leaving Emily the seat to her left.

“Mr. Almacy, this is not a social call.”

“I am aware of that, Marie.” Her boss held up his hand, and gave a soft smile. “But they tend to get upset if you use their back room without ordering something. If you’re hungry, of course, help yourselves. The food here is quite excellent.” His own meal seemed to have been picked at a bit.

“I think I’d rather just hear this,” Ash said, coldly.

“Of course.” He took a deep breath, and sighed. “Firstly, I would like to apologize to you, Marie, for my presence at your home last night. It was… foolish of me to appear, and I entirely understand your vehement anger in ordering me to depart your property. In your position, I would have done the same. I will not hold it against you, Marie, ever. A woman is the queen of her own castle, and has the right to order anyone she wishes to depart to do so.”

“Mr. Almacy, while I am glad for the apology, you specifically asked us here to speak to my daughter and Jenny, did you not?”

“I did.” He took another deep breath, sighing it out. “Young ladies, I… I am at a loss to express how angry I am at what my son did to victimize you both last night, especially you, Miss Upton. As I understand it, he assaulted you repeatedly over the course of the night?”

“Where did you hear that?”

“Kay Wheeler and that Adam Loaner both attested to how you attacked my son when you and he had first arrived at the motorway show. Given that you explained yourself to Kay Wheeler’s satisfaction, and that I have seen that you would not lie in an attempt to mitigate the consequences of your own actions, I fully trust the account you gave to Kay of my son’s actions on the roadway. I was also approached last night by the owner of that extremely expensive automobile, attesting to how my son entered his automobile and began assaulting you, and how he was forced to physically remove my son from your presence. I myself witnessed his subsequent drinking binge, and I feel no small measure of personal responsibility for his actions, as I trusted my son to provide the cab driver with the address to our home. He instead chose to go to your home and maliciously destroy much of your property. And he attacked young Jenny and Adam with a tire iron, as I understand it.”

“Yes. Yes, he did.”

“I understand you were forced to subdue him with the taser you keep for self-defense?”

“I was, Mr. Almacy,” Jenny replied.

“I understand. Before I go further, I want you… Ah, Ethyl.” He held his hand up; his wife had entered the room, and walked past them with a soft nod, sitting next to her husband. “My wife, Ethyl. Ethyl, these are Emily McArthur, Marie Upton, Ash Upton, and—”

“Oh, I know them, Joshua, especially young Jenny. We’ve met before, remember.” Ethyl shook her head, and nudged her husband. “Young ladies, Marie… I am so very sorry for my son’s conduct last night.” She seemed to take over, her husband sitting back and letting her speak. “I feel very personally responsible for his behavior. I raised him… and I raised him wrong.”

“Ethyl, please,” Marie began. “Ultimately, Joshua acted alone. Neither of you gave him the idea to do what he did. He did it himself.”

“I know, Marie, but…” She sighed, a bit helplessly, and her husband again took the initiative. “My son’s actions may not be my own, but I am his father. Ultimately, I am responsible for him.”

“Isn’t your son a man, Mr. Almacy?”

“He is nineteen,” her boss confirmed, “but I am still disgusted by my son’s actions. I cannot allow them to go unanswered. I cannot and will not allow my son’s actions to damage others go unrepaired.”

Ash’s eyes flashed with anger. “Mr. Almacy, sir, with all due respect, I will not be bought silent!”

“I understand that, young lady.” He nodded at them. “I expect and demand that you all prosecute my son to the fullest applicable extent of the law, as I have also demanded of Adam. Too many times have I allowed my son to go unpunished or under-punished for his deeds. Not this time. Assault, battery, assault with a deadly weapon? Gross property damage and destruction, breaking and entering? No, I will not shield my son from the consequences of his actions. And, if you should so wish to level a civil suit against my son to exact further damages from him, I will not object, and I will not admit to having made restitution on his behalf, for I will not.

“Nevertheless, I do not wish to allow damages inflicted by my son to go unrestored. I wish to make whole any damages, physical or emotional, he has caused you all over the course of his… rampage, last night. Miss Upton, as I understand it, he did the greatest damage to the automobile you drive, the one you brought to our garage Sunday. The one you defeated him in.”

“Yes, that’s true. He…” She choked off for a second, nostrils flaring as she restrained an angry exclamation. “He went to town on my Monster XR.”

“I see. How much would you need to make whole the damage?”

Ash blinked and shrugged. “I… I honestly can’t say, Mr. Almacy. I don’t know the full extent of the damage, parts for a Merkur XR4Ti are hard to get, and some of the parts on it are from a Sierra Cosworth—they’d have to be purchased from England—and a great many of them are very heavily tuned.”

“How much would it cost to replace the whole vehicle, young lady?”

“Replace… replace the whole thing?”

“Yes. How much would it cost to replace it, with either a vehicle of similar value and performance or an exact replacement, assuming the vehicle was entirely wrecked beyond any hope of salvage?”

“Oh, Jeez. Um…” Ash bit her lip, her eyes rolling up and to the right, calculating the cost: buying an XR4Ti, buying the drivetrain from an XR4X4, the Cosworth parts, the 5.0L V8 engine, all the mods to the car, and getting Harry to rebuild the Monster ground-up…

“Jeez, it’s gotta be at least forty-five, fifty thousand.”

“It doesn’t look it. You must heavily invest your money under-the-hood.”

“I do.”

“I like that. You’re results-oriented. Very well… Marie, the damages to your home and the Jaguar. Do you have any estimation how much they will cost to repair?”

Marie shook her head. “I can’t say… Maybe two thousand? Twenty-five hundred?”

“I see.” He turned to Jenny, with another sigh. “Young lady, my son has not damaged any property of yours, he had not inflicted upon you any medical bills that need payment. Nevertheless…” The old man seemed at a loss.

Jenny shook her head. “Save it, Mr. Almacy.”

“Please, Jenny; if you have to name a figure for restitution, name it.”

Jenny sighed. “Twenty-five thousand, then.”

“Very well.”

Gravely, Mr. Almacy took out his checkbook, and started writing on it. Ash considered it a minor miracle she didn’t choke when she read the words, ‘Pay to the order of Ash Upton Fifty Thousand Dollars and 00 Cents’ on the check.

“I must stress, again, that I am not attempting to buy my son’s way out of his own mess. I strongly and heartily encourage you to press criminal charges and prosecute my son to the fullest extent of the law; I will testify for the prosecution of exactly what I witnessed. Further, if you feel the need to litigate against my son for his actions, or against my company for the actions he undertook while acting in the capacity of an employee, against other employees, I will fully understand.”

“Mr. Almacy…” Marie began.

“This could potentially ruin me and the company, Marie. Nevertheless, I will not—I cannot—in good conscience, allow my son’s attacks upon you, your family, and your daughter’s friend, to go unrestored, to be made any less than whole.”

“I understand,” Marie began.

“I… have no desire to sue your company, Mr. Almacy. Your son acted alone,” Ash stated.

Jenny nodded, “Likewise.”

Mr. Almacy seemed genuinely surprised that Jenny took Ash’s stance.

Marie likewise nodded her head, “And I, Mr. Almacy. The company is not at fault, Joshua is. I’m going to press charges against him, and I will encourage my daughter and Jenny to do likewise, but I’m not interested in attempting to score a payday out of the company because of it. Is that all?”

“It is, yes. It… is quite hollow of me to say, but please, try and have a pleasant holiday.”

“We’ll try,” Ash promised, as she stood up. The waitress was coming back to ask if they needed anything, but they declined, leaving as a unit.

On The Highway, 11:39 AM

Ash sat behind the wheel of the quietly growling Carrera GT. Instead of Jenny or Emily, her mother had laid claim to riding home with her. “Ash, honey…”

“Yes, mom?”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m kind of… shocked.”

“Me too. Okay, I’m very shocked he just cut you a check for fifty grand. Did you hose him?”

“I didn’t. I figured he was gonna cut me a check for like, half the car’s value or something. I told him straight what, to the best of my knowledge, having the Monster completely re-made would cost. I feel kind of… scummy.” She stuck her tongue out, and her mother chuckled at that.

“Well, you could have your car fixed and donate the rest to charity, or give the excess back, you know.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Ash conceded, with a heavy sigh, squirming slightly in her seat. “Ash, can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“Well, this… I don’t mean to be rude, but… You and Emily and Jenny seem to be thick as thieves. How did that happen?”

“Didn’t we have this conversation already?”

“I asked you about it, yes… It still kind of boggles me, though. Especially how she wound up with such a huge crush on you.”

Ash shrugged her shoulders. “I honestly have no idea, mom. But… I don’t mind it.”

“Me neither. She’s a lot more… well… tolerable as a human being now.”

“Yeah.” Ash snickered. “Don’t I know it.”

“Ash?”

“Hmm?”

“I meant to ask you earlier, but Mr. Almacy’s call kind of derailed it a bit. Um, when you were on the phone with your cover-boyfriend, you were pretty… mean to him.”

“Yeah, I was.”

“And what’d you mean by ‘pulled him out of a gutter’?”

“Oh… that…” Ash blanched. “Uh… look, Rumisiel is, much as I…” She let out a shudder. “Hate to say it, at heart, not a bad guy. He’s just got some huge problems, like, with pot and all, and me and Emily kind of have it as our pet project to reform him.”

“And that involves him and his brother sleeping in your father’s house and him pretending to be your boyfriend?”

“Yes. Yes it does.”

“Why?”

“For one, and not a word of this to dad, you understand…”

“Of course.”

“He really has nowhere else to go.”

“What about his family? His brother?”

“Well… it’s kind of… (Crap, think, Ash.) His family got mad at him, you know, about the weed, and they kicked him out. His brother can go back, but he won’t leave Rumisiel, and Rumisiel’s not allowed back. And I can’t just kick him to the curb.”

“Why not?”

“Errr… good question. I need a good lie… Ah, hell.” She sighed. “Look, I just can’t. Much as I hate to admit it, he does serve a semi-useful function. As long as people think he’s my boyfriend, they don’t make passes at me, which is a really good thing. His brother is like, ridiculously nice, in an absolutely horrifyingly naive way—you’ve met him, you know how he is—and has a major crush on me, loathe as I am to say it. So as long as Rumisiel is there, boys won’t hit on me… Which is a good thing for everyone concerned, since I’d get pretty tired of flattening in the noses of boys who won’t take a hint.”

Her mother sighed, good-naturedly smiling and rolling her eyes. “You’re lying, Ash.”

“What!?”

“Mother, remember? I may be horrible at it, but I still am your mother…” She grinned at Ash, who gulped. “You’re just too secretly good-natured under your tough tomboy exterior to kick someone who needs your help to the curb. You did it for Jenny, and you’re doing it for Rumisiel, too.”

“Uh… okay, sure, that works.” Ash heaved a sigh of relief. “Okay, you caught me. Please don’t tell anyone, okay?”

Marie tittered at her, softly. “Okay, I won’t. So, why is he such a loser that you’ve had him in your own personal brand of rehab for… how long?”

“Too long,” Ash said. “Still… you know, I don’t know. I always figured he was just a generally useless bum.”

“Even generally useless bums aren’t often that way without a reason.”

“How do you know?”

Her mother chuckled. “Babe, do you think I went straight from leaving Edward to modeling underwear to being an executive?”

“Uh…”

“Ah, you did. Not quite. There was a stint I did in business school in there, you know. My roommate was a lot like Rumisiel, actually, right down to the white hair. She was there because her parents basically railroaded her in.”

“Huh…”

“Yeah. She liked the alcohol a little too much, and occasionally something harder.”

“Why?”

“Bad Stuff in her past,” her mother said, with enough emphasis that Ash could all but literally hear the capitalization. “She suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. The alcohol and the marijuana were her way of dealing with it.”

Ash somberly nodded. “Okay, maybe… But I really don’t think there’s anything like that in Rumisiel’s past. I think he’s just a lazy bum of a slacker.”

“Maybe. I knew someone like that, too.” Her mother chuckled, and sighed, happily. “Mmmmh. Now that we’re gone, I’m kind of sorry we didn’t stay for lunch. That chicken Parm looked pretty good. Hey, call Emily, tell her to follow us, and let’s find somewhere to eat that’s open.”

“Uh… call Emily? How am I supposed to do that?”

“On the cell phone I gave her, for…” Ash’s mother slapped her forehead, and let out a bemused, self-deprecating chuckle. “Oh, I forgot to give it to her. It’s in my desk.”

“You got Emily a cell phone, too?”

“Just like yours. I added her to the plan I’ve got us on.”

“Wow, that’s…”

“Well, you know, it’s just wrong to see a girl your age or her age without a cell phone these days. I hope her mother doesn’t object, but… well, I’m still going to give it to her.”

Ash chuckled. “She’ll like that, I think. But I can’t call anyway. This is a manual, remember?”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” She took her own cell phone out. “Jenny has hers, right?”

“Right.”

In The Porsche 996, 11:42 AM

“So, now that you scored a big payday, what’re you going to do with it?”

“What do you mean?”

Emily scowled at Jenny. “You got twenty-five grand off Mr. Almacy?”

“Oh… right.” Jenny sighed. “I didn’t want to. I said no…”

“Why did you?”

“I wanted to be like Ash. I wanted to be all noble and refuse, but he insisted, and… well, I guess my gold-digging instincts kicked in.”

“To the tune of twenty five thousand? I’ll say.”

“I’m sorry, Em… I… I just…”

Emily looked over at the blonde girl; she looked genuinely torn-up over it. “Forget it. You’re right, in a way; he insisted you name a price, and you did. I’m sorry, Jennifer.”

“Jennifer?”

“Isn’t that your full name?”

“No, it’s… Ugh, I don’t even want to say it. Just Jenny, okay?”

“Aw, c’mon.”

“No. Really, no! I’m not saying!” Jenny stuck her tongue out, and Emily was forced to giggle.

“All right, all right.”

“So… any ideas what I should do with it?”

“I couldn’t say…”

“Let’s put it another way—what would you do with it?”

Emily shrugged, and bit her lip. Her first instinct was to say ‘tuition’, despite the fact that she absolutely had the grades to get a scholarship… But then the thought of a sleek, shiny black Nissan 350Z swam into her mind. Or a phenomenal vacation in someplace like Aruba: just her, a thong, Ash, another thong, and the beach…

She was startled out of her reverie by the ringing of Jenny’s cell phone.

“Hello? Okay, I’ll ask.” She tilted the phone up, saying, “Ash’s mom just asked if we were hungry.”

“It hasn’t been that long.”

“No, but that food at Marco’s kinda made my stomach growl anyway…”

Emily laughed softly. “I suppose so. All right, sure, where are we going?”

Jenny relayed the question, and then answered, “Follow Ash.”

“Right then.”

Jenny confirmed their acknowledgment of the plan and hung up.

“So… what would you do with it?”

“I…” Emily frowned. “I want to instantly say ‘tuition’, but I just can’t say it that fast, honestly. I’d have to think about it…”

“What else comes to your mind?”

“A… a new car, or a vacation with Ash somewhere they have secluded nude beaches…”

Jenny snickered softly, and smiled. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Aren’t you kind of young to be planning for college, though?”

Emily rolled her eyes. “Not when your mother’s pressuring you like a vice to get into Harvard.”

“Harvard? Yeesh, high aim, much?”

“What about you?”

Jenny shrugged and sighed. “I don’t know. My mother’s never been too worried about my education, as long as I got grades good enough to not look stupid. I guess she’s always been banking on me marrying rich.”

“Doesn’t look like that’s likely, now…”

“I guess not. I don’t think I’d want to, either. I can’t stand Joshua, or people like him…” She let out a depressed, morose sigh. “You know, I sucked him off?”

“Er…” Emily flushed.

“I really didn’t want to, but… He was pressuring me, my mom was telling me that I had to give a little so he didn’t get frustrated and run off to some uglier girl who would put out…”

“How… was it?”

“Awful,” Jenny admitted, closing her eyes. “I hated it…” She looked up again, then down. “Have you ever done something you really didn’t want to do, but you did it because it was expected of you?”

Emily nodded. “Yeah… yeah, I did.”

“What was it?”

“I…” Images of that awful night long ago with Ryan swam to her head. “Don’t wanna talk about it?”

“No.”

“Okay. So, where do you think they’re gonna take us?”

“No clue. Maybe the Ale House, if it’s open.”

Outside The Ale House, 12:40 PM

“Mmmh. Out of luck.” Marie frowned at the door of the Ale House.

“Not open?”

“Not yet.”

Ash walked up, peering at the sign, which read, ‘We will be open from Five to Midnight on Christmas Day’. Ash shrugged. “Ah, well. Looks like we can still get dinner if we want it, though.”

“What’s that about dinner?” Emily queried as she and Jenny walked up to the door.

“The sign says they’ll be open at five until twelve today. I guess we’re out of luck for lunch.”

“Oh, nuts… Oh well.” Emily shrugged. “Can’t be helped, I guess.”

“What do we do now, though?” the blonde asked, and Ash shrugged.

“No idea?”

“Nope.”

“Well…”

“Oooh, I know!” Emily perked up, with a grin. “She could back her Lexus into the garage and we can put on that spoiler?”

“Works,” Ash said, with a grin.

“Well, let’s go, then.” Her mother smiled at her, and started to walk back to the cars.

The drive down the street was quick; Ash, Emily, and Jenny opened the garage and re-cleared the space they had used for Marie’s 996.

“You girls have fun, I’m going to get some cocoa.”

“All right, mom,” Ash had called back, then turned to Jenny. “You get ready to pull the car back into the garage, we’ll move the spoiler out of the way.”

Emily and Ash moved the box out of the way, and Jenny backed in.

“Hmmm. Going to need a knife to open this,” Ash commented.

“Not a problem. I saw a box cutter in here, somewhere,” Emily said.

“Perfect. Let’s… Hey, what’re you doing!?”

Jenny was about to close the garage door, but she’d left her car running. “It’s cold out here. If I close the door, my heater can make it warmer.”

“No!” Ash put her hand in the way of the overhead garage door, barring it from closing. “Turn the car off.”

Jenny blinked at her. “What?” Emily snaked by her, reaching into the Lexus and turning the key off.

“What’s the big deal?”

“Carbon monoxide. Heard of it?”

“Um… kinda?”

“Emily, you explain it. You’re better at chemistry than me.”

Emily let out a quick breath. “Ooookay. In short, it kills us.”

“It… what?”

“What do you think comes out the tailpipe?” Jenny shrugged. “Carbon monoxide. CO gas. It’s colorless, odorless, and tasteless, so you don’t have any idea it’s there. You just get tired, and then think taking a nap would be a good idea. And you never wake up from that nap. You’ve never heard of people committing suicide by running a pipe from their tailpipe into the inside of the car?” Jenny shook her head. “Well, it happens.”

“Why? Don’t we breath oxygen?”

“Yesss, but carbon monoxide isn’t the same. Carbon dioxide won’t bind with red blood cells, but carbon monoxide will—it binds too well, and won’t leave the blood. You die from lack of oxygen to your brain, same as drowning, except you don’t feel it. It’s called hypoxia, the lack of oxygen.”

Jenny seemed to have turned a bit pale, and Ash pushed the door back up, wincing softly at the jarring impact on her forearm. “Sorry,” Jenny muttered.

“Forget it. Just don’t do it again.”

“Why’d you get so mad?”

“I nearly made that mistake once. James caught me in time, though…” She leaned back on the frame of the door to the garage. “He really got pissed… Turns out an old friend of his died that way years ago.”

“Oh… I’m sorry…”

Ash walked forward, putting her hands on Jenny’s shoulders, smiling at her. “Don’t be. Now you know, and you’re not going to make that stupid but deadly mistake later.”

Ash was surprised at the reaction Jenny had; she slid in and hugged her, placing her head on Ash’s shoulder. “Uh…”

“Thank you. You’re right, that is the kind of stupid mistake I’d have made.”

Ash hugged her friend back, reasoning, “Why not?” and squeezing Jenny softly. “It’s fine. You’re fine, I didn’t mean to yell at you.”

“It’s probably better that you did. I might not have realized how serious it was if you didn’t react like that.”

Ash shrugged; she caught Emily, on the far side of Jenny’s Lexus, grinning at them, and she blushed, releasing the blonde girl, who released her in return.

“Now, what do we need to do?”

“First, we need to find that box-cutter, then we need to open the box…”

Jenny giggled. “Actually, I have one in the car.”

“Why?”

“Protection, believe it or not…”

“Yeesh. You’re inordinately well-armed, aren’t you?”

“Not after last night. Those cops said they weren’t going to prosecute me, but they did take my taser.”

“Jeez… that’s…”

“I know. I can’t carry a taser, or pepper spray, but I can carry a box-cutter? What’s up with that?”

“I dunno. That’s stupid.” Ash blinked. “Hang on, it’s illegal to carry pepper spray?”

She looked at Emily, who shrugged. “What?”

“I just find it amusing that you do something illegal.”

“As opposed to flagrant and active violation of traffic laws?” Emily stuck her tongue out.

Ash chuckled. “Okay, okay.”

“But I’m out, anyway. I used the whole damn can on that bum that attacked us. Jeez, that guy was tough.”

“Bum?”

“Long story, tell you while we work… We’re gonna need to get you another can, too.”

“Well, Albany?”

“I’d love to. But Nathan said I had to keep his car on the Cape, remember?”

“Well, we do still have the 996 and Jenny’s Lexus.”

“That’s true. But I still don’t feel like driving all the way to Albany today, just for a can of seasoning. I’ve got that crowbar, anyway.”

“The one you left in the back of the Monster?”

“Yeah, it’s… Oh. Right. I wonder if it’ll still be there when we get it back?”

Emily shrugged at her, as she approached the large cardboard box with the box cutter she’d found in Jenny’s car. “No idea. It might be, it might not be.”

“Ah, well. Anyway, we’re going to need to read the instructions,” Ash said, as Emily cut the box carefully open, fishing them out. “This might also require us to drill… I just don’t know. I’ve never done this before.”

“Drill?”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“Well, let’s find out.”

Upon reading the instructions, Ash frowned. “Yeah… Looks like this is a bit of a no-go. This needs some tools we don’t have here, there’s some kind of power-gun to throw the mounting bracket into the inside of the trunk.”

“Oh… Oh well. I’m not too disappointed,” Jenny said, with a grin. “I’m sure we’ll manage, somehow.”

“You’re damn right we will,” Ash confirmed with a grin. “I need some tools… Mmmh, I know Harry’d have what we’re looking for…”

“Or Aiden.”

“Yeah. But they’re both back in Tempest…”

“We could ask Brent?”

“Oh, good idea.”

Ash took her cell phone out, finding the contact in it that had Brent on it. She noted that the cell phone said it was now 1:15, and pressed the call button while walking to the outside of the garage. It rang once, twice. Three times. Four times. Five. By the ninth, she was ready to give up, when the phone was answered.

“Merry Christmas?”

“Uh, hey Brent, sorry, did I interrupt something?”

“Sort-of, but it’s not really urgent. What’s up?”

“I’m looking for some tools.”

“Tools?”

“Yeah. I have a friend with a Lexus SC and a wing for the Lexus, but I don’t have the tools you’d need to put it in. I also need a shop that’ll let me put the Lexus up on a lift for an hour or three.”

“Ah… Hmm. You’re in luck about the wing, actually. Cas put a spoiler on his MR2 the other day, and still has all the tools you’d need. You know, you don’t actually need many tools, since you can just put it on with a bolt and a washer, but if you want to do it properly, well, we’ve got what you need. As for the lift, I definitely know a guy who’ll let you put a car in the air and do whatever you want to it for fifty bucks an hour. But he’s not gonna be open until Monday. Not even for a racer’s job.”

“That’s fine. Uh, what’s Casper’s number? I don’t think I have it.”

“No need. He’s right here.”

The phone on the other end was transferred, and Casper’s voice said, “Hello! What’s this about a wing and tools?”

Ash re-iterated her conundrum, and Casper said, “That’s no problem at all. Bring the car you need winged over, I’ve got all the tools and a heated garage.”

“Oh… Sure. Um, I don’t know where you live.”

“No problem. Got a pen and a piece of paper?”

“I can… Oh, no problem.” Jenny had a pen in her cup-holder, and there was the cardboard box.

“Okay, shoot.” Casper gave her the address, and then Ash scowled. “Oh, damn. How are we gonna move the wing there?”

“It’s still in the box?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s not gonna be much of a problem. They pack those boxes with ridiculous amounts of foam. Just cut the box open, take out the wing and any hardware that came with it, it should mostly fit in the trunk, and you can bungee cord the trunk if it won’t all fit.”

“All right.”

Ash explained what was going on, and Jenny and Emily nodded. They cut out the piece of cardboard with the address on it, and then broke the box down. The whole spoiler, an unpainted, primed white stylish dragon-tail, came out of the foam, and Jenny squealed when she saw it, then kissed Emily in excitement. It held for a few moments, then she pulled away, blushing red-hot and giggling, leaving Ash smirking.

“You didn’t kiss me when you saw the spinners.”

She knew immediately it had been a tactical error; Jenny slunk close with a grin, “Would you like one?” She looped her hands around behind Ash’s neck, and the tuner felt herself blushing.

“No, that’s okay…”

“Sure?”

“Oh, go on,” Emily said, with a laugh; she may have directed it at Ash, but Jenny took it as an invitation to her, and she forced the issue, kissing Ash with surprisingly convincing false chastity. She left Ash with a strong tingle going up her spine and half the breath knocked out of her.

“Wow,” Emily said. “It’s been awhile since I’ve knocked her speechless with a kiss.”

“I can teach you.”

Emily grinned at the blonde beauty queen. “You must, you must.”

“Sure… Anyway, shall we?”

“Help me lift it.” The two of them easily moved the spoiler into the trunk. It fit. Barely, but it fit. Ash recovered enough to bring over the other hard parts, and then nodded. “Looks like that’s… it.”

“Okay. Driver’s Seat!” Emily called out, leaving both Ash and Jenny blinking at her.

“Uh… Em? You can’t really call ‘driver’s seat’…”

Giggling softly, Jenny countered, “Actually, I’ll let it slide. Shotgun!”

Ash realized this left her with the tiny rear seat, and sighed. “Fair enough. Just be careful driving it over the grass.”

“Will do.”

Approaching Casper’s House, 1:35 PM

“You know, this thing… I know you hate convertibles, Ash, but this isn’t a bad car. It could give my 240SX a hell of a time on the Mountain.”

Ash had her arms crossed in the back. “Hmmmph.”

“Hmmmph?”

“That’s probably the best we’re gonna get out of her on the subject of a convertible, Jenny.”

“It’s… tolerable,” Ash said, with a scowl on her face.

“Come on, it’s not bad, is it?”

“It’s a convertible and an automatic.”

Jenny broke in, “Okay, take the next right, it’s on that street.”

Casper’s house, it turned out, was bright blue. Brent’s BMW M3 and Casper’s Toyota MR2 (with a brand new, carbon fiber aerodynamic wing and carbon fiber hood) were parked on the side of the road, with a large, empty driveway, wide enough to fit two cars. Emily pulled the Lexus up onto the concrete driveway. Casper was waiting on the porch—he waved as they drove up, and Emily waved back, followed by Jenny and Ash.

“Niiice car! You trade up from that 240SX, Emily?”

The blue-haired bookworm laughed, and shook her head, gesturing to Jenny. “Nah, it’s hers.”

Casper walked down the stairs from his porch, approaching the trio with a smile. “How’s everything? I’m guessing the wing you need put on this car was a gift?”

“Yeah. Thanks for this; we didn’t have a tool we needed or something.”

“No problem. Tell the truth, my parents booted out of town and left me more or less alone, other than Brent. Nice to meet you,” he said, extending his hand to Jenny. “I’m Casper.”

“Jenny,” she said with a smile.

“All right. He’ll be down in a few minutes. Let’s just put this in the garage.” Casper took a remote door opener from his pocket and opened the garage door. Emily got back into the driver’s seat.

“Back in, or front in?”

“Back in would be better.”

“Right!”

The garage was neat and tidy, with tools up on racks and workbenches lining the walls. Emily turned the Lexus around smoothly and backed it into the garage, backing up and stopping, watching Casper’s hand gestures. She shut the car off, and Casper closed the garage door.

“I’m assuming it’s in the trunk?”

“Yeah, it is.” Emily hit the power locks. “It should be open.”

Casper opened the trunk, and whistled when he saw it. “Niice. Needs some good paint, but that’s beautiful. Someone really likes you, Jenny. Let’s get this on.”

Jenny giggled, as the boy hefted the spoiler out of the trunk with only minor strain, followed by Emily, Jenny, and Ash taking out the rest. They put it all on a workbench, and the door to the inside of the house opened.

“Hey, Casper.”

“Brent, c’mon down. New face here.” Brent walked down the three stairs into the garage. “Emily and Ash, you already know. This is their friend—”

“Jenny,” Brent interrupted, staring hard at Jenny, who kind of shifted.

“Yeah… Hi, Brent.”

“You’ve met?”

“You could say, Cas. I’m, uh… gonna… go do… I’m gonna go back inside, and… yeah,” he said, awkwardly, walking back into the house and shutting the door.

“Uh… what was that about?”

Ash and Emily were just as puzzled as Casper; they each looked at Jenny, who was staring at the concrete floor the garage. “We, uh… Brent was my first boyfriend, when I was a freshman and he was a junior…” She sighed. “I kind of… tortured him,” she said, with a sigh.

“You can’t pass through a place without leaving someone’s soul in tatters, can you?”

“I’m sorry, I’m trying!” Jenny objected, defensively.

Ash held her hand up. “Yeah, I know, I know, you are, now… Sorry.”

“Uh… I am very confused now…” Casper ran his hand through his hair, awkwardly shifting.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t… connect the dots. We oughta go, I didn’t mean to fuck up your Christmas…”

The door opened again, and Brent walked back down the stairs, with a sigh. “Sorry about that. I just didn’t expect to see you again, Jenny.”

“I’m sorry, Brent, I…”

“Save it. What’s history is history, and if you’re running with Ash now, that’s good enough for me to tolerate you. Besides, we already said we’d help you get this wing on, and I hate breaking promises.”

Jenny smiled, morosely. “Thank you…”

“Oooo-kay. I’m quite confused, and I hope someone will explain things to me, sooner or later, but until then… I’d love a chance to work on this car.” Casper grinned. “Can you put the top down?”

“Sure…” Emily slid back into the driver’s seat and activated the mechanism, folding the hard metal roof down into its trunk-compartment. “Why?”

“Needed to see how far back it went. Would suck for it to get caught on the spoiler.”

“Have you got the room?”

“Yeah. Barely, but it’s there. This is going to have some wicked-close clearance. It’ll be sweet.”

Casper took out a tape measure, and Ash helped him in taking the necessary measurements, while Emily reviewed the instructions and kept them on track. Brent, it turned out, had an unnaturally still hand when using the power tools, which made him the perfect driller, precisely obliterating the ink marks from Casper’s pen. It wasn’t hard to use the power-gun Casper had to seat the firm-holding brackets in the holes, and then it was a relatively simple, if long and exacting, process of assembling the spoiler, dropping the bolts through and bolting everything tight on.

They were working a little over two hours, and were almost done when Ash’s cell phone rang—while she, Casper, and Jenny were holding the spoiler in place for Brent, who was tightening down the inside bolts; Ash hissed in annoyance. “Emily—”

“Already on it.” Emily’s fingers snaked into the pocket of Ash’s jeans, taking out the cell phone and answering it, walking to the front of the garage.

“Ash, honey—” Ash’s mother began, as soon as the line connected.

“She’s busy at the moment, holding up a car part.”

“Oh, okay. Where did you all go?”

“A friend’s house; we’re putting the spoiler on Jenny’s car.”

“That’s nice. I went inside and lay down on the couch. I figured you’d be in in a minute or two; I guess I fell asleep. Look, you need to be back by eight. No rush, but the police would like to interview you and get witness statements and all.”

“Okay. It’s, um…” She looked at her watch, twice by instinct. “A little short of four, call it an hour’s drive… We’ll be back.”

“Okay, I trust you. Hey, do you girls want to get dinner at the Ale House afterwards, assuming it doesn’t take too long?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure we’re up for that.”

“All right.”

Emily heard a solid thump behind her, and turned around. The four were standing around the

Lexus’s rear end, mostly looking satisfied with themselves, except Jenny, who had a massive smile on her face. “Wow. It looks really good.”

“Yeah” Cas began. “And the best part? When you go to have it painted, it’s simple. Just unbolt it from the inside, pull it off, paint it, and let it dry, then put it back on.”

“Or you can have my friend, the garage owner, do it,” Brent interjected. “I’m guessing this is the same car as the one you want to put up on a lift?”

“Yeah,” Jenny said. “She got me this wicked set of spinners.”

“Spinners?” Brent recoiled, staring at Ash, who shrugged.

“She’s not a racer, but she really likes the rice. So why not?”

“Huh… Oookay, sure, why not. I think you guys play too much Need for Speed Underground, though.”

Ash laughed. “Actually, we do, believe it or not. Underground 2, though.”

“Oh really? I just got that,” Casper said. “I was actually about to start a game when I looked up and saw that you should be outside soon. C’mon.” He smiled, waving them in. Emily cautioned, “We can’t stay too late. We need to be home by eight.”

“All right. No problem.”

Casper led them into the living room. “The kitchen’s through there; if you get thirsty, my fridge is your fridge. Except for the alcohol, that’s my dad’s, and he’d kill me. Besides, none of us are legal.”

Ash shrugged. “We’re driving, anyway.”

Casper sat at his couch—the familiar Need for Speed career start was on the screen, with Casper having entered his name. The introduction started to play, and Emily and Jenny sat on the couch next to him, while Ash went to the kitchen for something to drink. She found a load of bottled water, and looked over them, until she saw the fruit on the label. Looking closer, she realized it was flavored, and shrugged, taking it out and trying it.

“Hey.” The voice came from the other side of her, and she turned her head to see Brent. “Jenny’s your friend, now?”

“Uh… yeah, she is.”

“Must be a good friend, if you bought her a set of spinners.”

“… Well, yeah.” Ash shrugged. “She’s… I dunno.”

“Yeah. She has that effect. Excuse me.” He opened the door to the refrigerator, taking out a bottle identical to the one Ash had, and closed it. “Hey, you’re here, right? That means your car’s here, right?”

“Er…”

“Truro, tonight or tomorrow?”

“Um… My car…”

“What? Did you bring the other car? That’s even better.” He grinned. “I got a new turbo and intercooler set-up on my M3 now. I’d love a chance to have a go at that beast of yours.”

“Um…” Ash looked down. “My car was… It’s smashed.”

“Smashed? What happened? Did you wreck it?”

“Oddly enough, no. Some rich brat I punked down in a race took a tire iron to it, all but fucking wrecked the thing. It’s in the evidence impound.”

“Oh, shit. Who the fuck did that?!”

“His name’s Joshua Almacy.”

“Joshua Almacy? I know that sonuvabitch.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. He went to my school, you know, when I was still in high school. His dad bought him a sweet, brand new Mercedes CLK-430 when he turned sixteen. I challenged him to a race because he kept going on about how cool his car was.”

“Same. What was the problem?”

“The son of a bitch lost. He lost hard, because he couldn’t drive for shit. Then he keyed my car in broad daylight, and had like, forty of his friends swear themselves blue that I did it and blamed him. There were more witnesses siding with him than with me, so…” Brent smacked his fist into his palm.

“Shit. He keyed your M3?”

“Yeah. And it was almost brand new, too.” Ash scowled, and Brent continued, “Finally, someone produced a cell phone camera image of him doing the keying. He tried to claim it was shopped, but people stopped believing him. They reprimanded him, his father got mad at him, and he got drunk and wrapped the CLK around a tree. Don’t know how he survived, but he walked out unhurt. A month later, he was bragging about how his dad was gonna buy him a Jaguar.”

“Man… I took that car from him, though.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. I was trying to get him to back down, but he wouldn’t, even when I went to pink slips. So I took his car and gave it to my mom.”

“Niiice.” Brent shook his head. “Man, that’s a huge downer. I hope he gets his. What’s he got now?”

“A Mercedes-Benz CLK 500.”

“Heh. I hope he doesn’t plan on using any of the garages the local racers use. I’m gonna spread the word that he totally fucked up a racer’s ride because he lost.”

“I don’t think that’ll be a problem for a while.”

“Why not?”

“His dad refused to bail him out. He’s in jail.”

Brent grinned, wolfishly, and took the ever-present toothpick from his mouth, opening the bottle of water and taking a gulp. “Couldn’t have happened to a better asshole. I hope it’s soap on a rope for him. Still, you have another race-proven car, right?”

“Uh…” Ash blinked.

“I won’t take no for an answer. I owe you.” He grinned. “Besides, it’ll feel good to get back on the track, eh?”

“Yeah… I guess, but, uh…”

“C’mon. What’ll it hurt?”

“I dunno, it’s just…”

“Don’t tell me you’ve lost your nerve because some waste of sperm and oxygen trashed your ride?”

Feeling at once both arrogant and guilty, Ash put on a vicious grin. “Not a fucking chance. You’re on. Three A.M., Monday morning.”

“Right. You’re not going to out-accelerate me this time.” He smirked. “See you then. Bring your absolute best, Ash. I won’t accept anything less than the best wheels and game you can bring.”

Brent turned and went back into the main room with Ash following him. They arrived to observe Jenny had commandeered Casper’s virtual ride and had taken it to the paint shop, where she and Emily and Casper were animatedly talking about the visual design on it.

Approaching The Upton Residence, 7:49 PM

“So, you got dragged into another race?”

Ash rolled her eyes at Emily, who was in the back seat—Jenny was driving, and Ash had won shotgun from Emily in a roll of rock-paper-scissors (with scissors to paper).

“It’s hardly a ‘dragged-into’ situation… I like to race my car.”

“But you’re not going to be racing your car,” Emily snarked. “You’re going to show up with Nathan’s Carrera GT and make Brent whimper, aren’t you?”

“…” Ash paused. “Well, I wasn’t… But now that you mention it, he did say he wouldn’t accept anything less than the best wheels and game I could bring.”

Jenny snickered. “I’d love to see that.”

“Yeah… Um, what’s your history with him, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Well… He was my first boyfriend, right? I, um… Well, he had a BMW, his folks seemed kinda loaded. I was really evil to him. I told you about how his beady stare makes you think he’s undressing you with his eyes? Well… He was like that anyway, but the beady stare? I gave him that.”

“What did you do to the boy?”

“Well, um… You know, I was awful to him. I led him on, I made him buy me really expensive gifts, but even though he did exactly what I wanted, I always made it out like he did something wrong. I didn’t put out at all, but I let him think it was only because I was angry at him for doing something stupid, and if he was just a little more perfect, I’d put out. Eventually I played an evil trick on him…” She sighed. “I wish I hadn’t. I really wish I hadn’t.”

“What was it?”

“I… I’d really not like to talk about it, okay?”

“… Okay.” Ash sighed softly, closing her eyes.

“We’re not late, are we?” Jenny asked.

“No, we’re not. I have it as ten minutes of eight.”

“The cops are already here.”

“Maybe they’re early?” Ash asked.

“Yeah. Probably.”

The blonde at the driver’s seat parked the SC behind the Carrera GT, sitting at the side of the road.

“Hey, the crime scene tape is gone. And the tarp.”

“Maybe the CSU have been through?” Emily asked.

“I hope so. I want to get that car off the street,” Ash commented.

“Me too… Mmmh, c’mon, let’s go,” Emily responded.

After getting out of the car, Jenny looked back at the wing on the rear, let out a squeal of pleasure, and hugged Emily once more. “So awesome.”

“Yeah, it is. Let’s go, mmmh?”

Entering the house, the trio found two people waiting inside. Ash’s mother was wearing a blue business suit with a skirt, and there was a severe-looking woman wearing a similar gray suit, with trousers instead of a skirt.

“Ash, Emily, Jenny, come in.” Ash’s mother waved them in. “This is Lieutenant Grayfield. She’s with the State Police.”

Ash blinked as Emily asked, “The State Police?”

“Yes. The incidents at the motorway and, I am given to understand, on the highway, took place across several jurisdictions and outside of the jurisdiction of the Provincetown PD. Someone’s leaning on the county prosecutor to take this series of events seriously, and Provincetown agreed to cooperate; something about not wanting to take statements on Christmas. Which one of you is Ash?”

Ash held up her hand, and the officer nodded. “Okay.” She took what looked like a digital voice recorder from her pocket, pressed a button, and set it on the arm of the chair. “I’m going to record this conversation. You have the right to request an attorney present before this interview. You have the right to not say anything. If you lie about anything now, or fail to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, it may damage your case against the defendant in court. Do you understand these rights?” Ash nodded, then sat on the couch next to her mother.

“Please let the record reflect that the minor has indicated visually she understands her rights. Will we require a sign-language interpreter?”

Ash blinked. “(Oh, right. I haven’t said anything.) No, I’m not mute.”

“Very well. Please state your name for the record.”

“Ash Upton.”

“Very well. Please start from the beginning. Why were you in the accused’s automobile?”

“He was my fake ‘date’ for the event that night,” Ash began, starting with how she had offered to trade dates with Jenny in the hope that Joshua would take one look at her and go home, and she’d be able to drive herself there in her own car—the one that was smashed—or her mother’s Porsche. She gave a frank, brutally honest account for the most part, including how she had thrown the first punch both times it had come to blows.

She had then gotten to Jenny, taking her statement of the night, then Emily, then Marie; the officer ruthlessly cross-examined their statements, switching tracks fast and hard, trying to shake them up. Finally, she nodded.

“Well, your stories mostly seem to check out. I should warn you that Mr. Almacy might retaliate by signing a complaint against you for the assault. I would think you have a strong case of provocation, borne out by weight of his subsequent vengeful actions and the fact that you have no record, while he has numerous minor complaints against him, but with lawyers these days, I wouldn’t be too surprised if he managed to get all of that excluded and raked you over the coals. You might not come out of this sparkling clean, and it’ll probably drag on past your eighteenth birthday, which means the records wouldn’t be sealed.”

“I understand. It was wrong to attack him.”

“You’re damned right it was. He’s going to use the fact you punched him—several times—to try to mitigate the damages he’s caused you, physical and financial. This is going to drag everything you’ve done squirming out into the light. Are you sure you want to go through with signing this complaint?”

Ash looked to her left, at her mother, then to her right, at Emily, and Jenny beyond her. “Yes, I am.”

“All right. I would, too, given the severity of the damage he caused to your car. And you, Mrs. Upton, I assume you’re going to want to sign complaints for criminal mischief, breaking and entering, and theft?” Marie confirmed that. “And you, Jennifer. You want to sign a complaint for assault?”

“He attacked me with a tire iron. You’re damned right I do.”

“I understand. However, that may not be possible at this time.”

“Why not?”

“Ms. Upton here isn’t your legal guardian. While you don’t have to have—indeed, don’t have the right to have a legal guardian present when being questioned as a witness, you do require one’s authority to sign a complaint.”

Jenny winced, and sighed. “Um, my birthday’s not too long from now? January 11th.”

“Then you’ll be able to sign it then, if you can’t get your mother’s cooperation in the mean-time… Is something wrong?”

Ash’s head had snapped to lock onto Jenny. “No… That’s just amazing.”

“Why, may I ask?”

“That’s my birthday, too.”

Jenny’s eyes lit up.

“Fascinating,” Lieutenant Grayfield said. “But, back to the matter at hand. Jennifer, the county prosecutor’s office is officially uninterested in prosecuting you for the possession of the police issue taser you illegally had in your possession. Again, Joshua might try to counter-sign a complaint for assault, but I don’t think the prosecutor would bother with it, given that you have a clear-cut case of self-defense.

“Now, there are just two things further I need cleared up. Firstly, why does Joshua have such animosity towards you?”

“Um… I beat him in a race for his car. His father made him honor his word and sign over the title to the car, and his girlfriend—Jenny—left him after that.”

“Is that true?” Marie, Emily, and Jenny all confirmed that it was. “A race… On the motorway?”

“No, it was in the garage of his father’s company.”

“I… see… Well, I strongly advise you not do such things again, but as it happened off the public roads, unless Mr. Almacy Senior wishes to press charges for it, there’s nothing the law can do about it. The car in question, the red Porsche?”

“No, the red Porsche is the one my mother had before; it was wrecked at the time. The one I won from him was the Jaguar XK-R that had its back window smashed in. Um, when are we going to get those cars back?”

“I honestly have no idea. They are, to the best of my knowledge, still at the Provincetown police garage, awaiting transfer to the Barnstable County evidence impound. It shouldn’t be too long, however. You’re looking at a month at the outside, probably not much more than a week or so.”

Ash goggled at the ‘a month’ bit, and sighed. “I understand…”

“Now, my other question. You two, Miss Upton, Miss McArthur, left the motorway first, in the red Porsche… err, the red Porsche Carrera GT that belongs to someone else, as opposed to the red Porsche 911, that belongs to Mrs. Upton, correct?” Ash nodded. “You were lent the car to go home in, why is it still here?”

“The owner came by last night to get it, saw the crime scene tape and asked what happened. I told him, and he told me I could keep his car as long as I needed it, as long as I kept it on the Cape.”

“Okay,” the officer said. Ash never saw the next question coming. “Why did you two arrive after the attack, then?”

Ash gulped, and flushed. “Uh, no reason.”

Emily was likewise red. “We just went driving around. That’s all!”

Lieutenant Grayfield crossed her arms, leveling a cool, steady gaze at the two. “You were just driving around. Do you expect me to believe that?”

“Um…”

“I’ve heard better falsehoods from my four-year-old. You can insist that was all you were doing, but in all fairness I have to warn you that any discrepancy or confusion in your story will probably be latched onto by the defense.”

“What do you want me to say, then?” Ash asked, a little heatedly.

“How about the truth?”

“… It was personal. And private.”

The officer sighed.

“We were making out, okay?” Emily spoke up, and the officer shrugged.

“Girl, this is Provincetown, and I’m from around here. I’m not exactly shocked or surprised, so you can save the indignation, okay? I have to ask, and I’d ask if you were a boy and a girl, a boy and a boy, or a giraffe and a frog.”

Feeling humiliated, but hiding a cracked-up smile at the joke behind the two hands on her face, Ash squeezed her eyes shut.

“I’m just giving you fair warning. You’d be surprised what kind of stuff a sleaze ball’s lawyer can pull to worm their way out of an open-and-shut case like this. Even minor omissions or falsehoods can be spin-doctored into ridiculous criminal acts that throw a shadow of a doubt, and it only takes one juror to hang.”

“All right, all right,” Ash fumed. “We parked by the lighthouse on the bluffs near Truro. We made out, and we were getting close when somebody banged on the window and shined in a flashlight, then ran away. Happy?”

“Easy, girl. I’m just gathering the facts.”

“Well, now you know.” Ash, mortifiedly red, sighed. “Am I done?”

“Yeah, I think—”

Ash stood up and was walking back to the bedroom, leaving Emily staring after her, who then sighed. “She’s really shy about her private life.” Emily stood up, following Ash, and leaving Marie shrugging and making apologies and asking for assurances that her daughter’s privacy would be protected.

“Ash.” Her orange-haired tuner was staring at the ocean night sky, as Emily shut the door behind them, and walked towards her. “Do not retreat into a shell on me.” Hardness had crept into her voice.

“I feel…”

“You’re feeling very awkward, aren’t you?” Emily grabbed Ash’s shoulders and turned her, forcing Ash’s back against the window frame. Then she pushed herself into the tuner’s body, staring directly into her eyes.

“Don’t you dare be afraid of me, Ash.”

“A-Afraid of you?” Ash blinked, confusedly, and Emily pushed harder.

“Afraid of what we share, of what we have together.” She gingerly kissed Ash’s cheeks, and Ash un-tensed somewhat.

“I… I just…”

Emily slid her hand up to Ash’s hair, sliding her fingers into it. “You what?”

“I feel… awkward… you know, saying…”

“That you’re my girlfriend? That we’re lovers? That you got caught with your finger up to the bottom knuckle in me?”

Emily’s hand took Ash’s right hand, squeezing it very hard—Ash closed her eyes. “Yeah.” Emily reached to the side and pulled the blinds down over the window. “I’m scared, too, Ash. I really am… I never thought I could be so madly, foolishly, wonderfully in love with a girl… But here you are.” She raised a hand, caressing Ash’s cheek. “And I know it’s hard for you, too, but… Mmmh, come here.”

Ash didn’t resist, listening to Emily, her chest a flurry of emotions; she clung to Emily’s hand for support, and her blue-haired tuner turned off the light, then slowly undressed her lover. Ash complied, letting her, and helping Emily to undress, wordlessly, in the darkness.

With a single finger to Ash’s chest over her heart, Emily pushed Ash back—the tuner fell backwards without resistance, landing on the springy bed. Emily crawled into the bed, half-atop, half beside Ash. Emily tugged the covers all the way up and over their heads.

“Em?”

“I’m proving something to you, Ash,” Emily murmured in response, nuzzling Ash’s cheek—Ash turned, and kissed Emily’s cheek, then her ear. “That,” Emily murmured. “You’re not hesitating now. You’re not afraid of me now.”

“I… I’m sorry, Emily, I…”

“You’re afraid. You’re afraid of being thought of as a lesbian, of being open about our connection.” Emily laced her fingers within Ash’s, as her lover sighed, confirming her statement quietly.

“It’s the same for me, you know. It’s probably even worse for me. All my life, I’ve been expected to be a perfectly ‘normal’, heterosexual girl. I was expected to like boys, but not to touch them, lest I get pregnant and torpedo my life. Well, we know that didn’t work, but I hated it anyway.” Emily bit down on Ash’s cheek, a little harder than she intended to, but it got her point across, with a soft gasp elicited from Ash. “And now here we are. I’m an eighteen-year-old girl in the body of one who’s sixteen, you’re a boy in the body of a beautiful girl, and aside from an incompetent, alcoholic slacker Angel, the only person we truly have is each other. And I love you, Ash Upton. I love you and I’m so into you.”

Ash squeezed her in her arms, and Emily smiled as Ash responded with, “And I love you, Emily, I really do.”

“Then please, don’t be afraid of me. Fucked-up as it sounds, here in Cape Cod, with you and just your mother and Jenny… I… I’d actually like to not live the lie. We have to live lies and half-truths all the time to conceal the Misfile. For once, can we just be ourselves about how we feel?”

“Yeah… I’d like that.” Ash squeezed Emily’s hand and let out a more relaxed, content sigh. “I just… she was recording it, and…”

“I know. But Ash? No regrets, okay?”

“…”

“We decided we were going to press charges against Joshua, right? I just wish he’d done something to me so I could add my voice to the prosecution against him. I’m with you through this.” Emily kissed Ash’s neck, softly. “And if it means we have to admit we’re lovers… well…” She shivered softly. “I’m scared, but I’m not going to be scared enough to let him get away with what he did to you. Are you?”

“… I’m not,” Ash said, and she squeezed Emily, tightly. “I’m terrified, but… If you’re with me, I think I can handle it.”

“Good.”

Emily pressed her lips to Ash’s and Ash kissed her back, while she was sliding her hands up Ash’s body, caressing her sides, then squeezing her breasts, tenderly. Without any objection from her orange-haired tuner, she started to massage them, squeezing harder and rolling Ash’s breasts in her hands. The soft, deliberate motion elicited a moan from her lover.

“See? When you’re alone with me, you can overcome, Ash. You’re moaning happily, and why?” Ash’s murmur was terribly quiet, and Emily giggled. “Say it again. Louder.”

“It… feels good. It feels very good, Emily.”

“Are you a sissy for enjoying my hands on you?”

“… Maybe?”

“No, Ash,” Emily kissed her lover’s lips, hotly. “You’re not a sissy. You have every right to be nervous, or skittish, or awkward. It doesn’t make you a sissy.”

“… Em?”

“Yes, Ash?”

“I really like it. I’m terrified cold, but I love this feeling.”

“I thought so.” Emily kissed Ash’s lips again, softly, steadily, and placed her head on Ash’s shoulder. “Let’s not go to dinner. Let’s just stay here, where it’s warm, and dark, and we can enjoy being close, okay?”

“Okay.”

Emily rolled over onto her side, and Ash rolled so she was pressing into Emily’s back, holding her warmly. With one hand over her ribs, her palm gently cupping Emily’s beast, sliding her thumb slowly across Emily’s nipple, while the other, the arm under Emily, slid down. Emily parted her thighs, and Ash found her way between them, resting just frustratingly below her mound, between her thighs.

After some time, Ash’s mother asked if they wanted to come to dinner, and Emily answered that they weren’t hungry. Soon after the outside door closed, Emily sighed when Ash’s hand found its way to her pubic mound, cupping it and gently squeezing, an act that made Emily sigh with soft, tender pleasure.

“Ash?”

“Yes, Emily?”

Emily squeezed her thighs tightly around Ash’s hand. “Can I… touch you?”

“… You want to?”

“I do, Ash.” Emily turned around in Ash’s arms, leaning into her. “I love you, Ash, and I want to make love to you. I want to give you pleasure, I want to make you happy and glad to be my lover.”

“I already am, Emily. We don’t need to…”

“To have sex to be happy? No…”

Emily reached out, clicking on the bedside lamp and pulling the covers down to their shoulders. She smiled warmly at Ash.

“But I, for one, want to.” She gently pushed into Ash’s body, and Ash squeezed her closer, pushing back. “Do you feel the same way?”

“Yeah… Yeah, I do. I… Mmmh, shhh.” Ash slid her hand up, giving Emily’s rear a quick squeeze on the way, then clasped her hand in her blue hair, pulling Emily in for a warm, slow kiss, which Emily eagerly participated in, and then some.

Emily slid one hand down Ash’s body between her thighs, gently caressing them, making Ash tremble. Then Ash arched her top leg up, and Emily traced her fingers up to Ash’s mound, gently stroking it, avoiding her vagina at first, but slowly caressing around it with her fingers, causing Ash’s flesh to quiver and tremble with each passing second.

“Lie back, Ash,” she whispered quietly, and Ash did so, nervously sliding her hands onto Emily’s back, squeezing her. “Are you okay, Ash?”

“I… I just… I hope I don’t panic again.” She kissed Emily’s cheek.

Emily smiled back, turning her head. “I don’t have to… put my finger in you, you know.”

“I kind of want you to… I don’t want to be… mmm…”

“Afraid to follow my lead?”

“Yeah…”

“Would you rather do something else? Do something to me?”

“… No.” Ash kissed her lips, tenderly. “I’ll never, mmm… cope, if we don’t… you know… push me into it.”

“You still feel a bit nervous.”

“I am.”

Emily smiled, and kissed Ash’s chin, softly nipping it. “Maybe you’re just not ready for that, yet? It took me awhile to get up the nerve to put my finger into myself, much less let someone put something hard into me. Maybe something… softer?”

“Uh… like?”

“Let me show you.” She leaned in, kissing Ash. Sliding her tongue forward, pressing it to Ash’s lips, Ash’s eyelids closed, contentedly, happy with the semi-familiar, quite pleasurable routine of having her lover’s tongue slide into her mouth. Then her eyes shot open, green and startlingly so, staring into her lover’s cheerfully magenta eyes. Emily pulled away, pulling her tongue from between Ash’s lips, and grinned. “Would you like that?”

“Uh… I… you would?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Emily took Ash’s hands again, fingers lacing on both. “It might make this whole thing easier for you.”

“Yeah, but… I…”

“You what?” Emily’s eyes twinkled, leaning in and nuzzling Ash’s cheek. “Wouldn’t you try if I wanted you to?”

“Of course!” Ash blushed softly. “Actually… I, uh…”

“Mmmm?”

Ash grinned a bit shyly. “I always… You know, I always hoped I’d get to try going down on a girl.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Ash bit her lip, and Emily grinned. “I see. You see it as a submissive thing, a way of ‘being the girl’ in the relationship. Even though you always professed to want to be aggressive and dominant, when it comes down to it, you respect me so much that you’re shy about the idea of having me trying to perform oral sex on you, aren’t you?”

Ash’s eyes closed, and she nodded. Then she felt Emily’s lips fall to the hollow of her throat. Working downward, pulling the covers with her as she moved down to Ash’s breasts, Emily sucked strongly on each nipple, eliciting a strong moan of pleasure with each draw into her mouth. Emily kept her lips sealed tightly against Ash’s areolae, her tongue flicking the hard tip of Ash’s nipples.

Emily’s lips finally popped off, leaving Ash breathing hard. The blue-haired girl caressed her heel to Ash’s, and grinned at her. “How did you like that?”

“Mmmh… It was… was… incredible.”

“And that’s the tip of the iceberg, Ash. So…” Emily smiled softly. “Are you going to roll me over? Push down into me, squeeze me, take me? Or will you lie back and let me please you, touch you, and make you happy?”

“I…” Ash flushed again.

“There’s no wrong answer, Ash. There’s only me here, and you, and frankly, both ideas appeal to me.” She leaned up, offering a kiss to Ash’s lips, a kiss that Ash accepted. “I want to try this, to try… going down on you. I don’t have a clue what I’m doing, but I want to try. But I wouldn’t mind if you rolled me over and touched me, ‘took’ me, either.”

“You… wouldn’t?”

“Why would I?” Emily smiled softly, and nuzzled her cheek into Ash’s.

“I dunno… I thought…”

“That relationships were cut-and-dry, take-or-give affairs? Not that simple, Ash, and I hope not that boring. You’re not a sissy if the idea of lying back and letting me touch you appeals to you. And it doesn’t make you more ‘manly’ if you want to be the one leading. And it doesn’t make you wrong if you like both ideas. Ash, until this last week, I never imagined that I could or would want to be the one on top, touching. But I want to try. I also want to lie back and let you have your way with me.” She smiled, softly. “So… it’s up to you.”

Ash closed her eyes, taking a slow, shuddering breath. Finally she nodded, and placed her head back into her pillow. “Okay.” Emily kissed her neck again, and then she worked down, slowly sliding down Ash’s body, kissing her large breasts, down her ribs, her stomach, slowly, carefully pulling the sheets down with her shoulders.

Palms on Ash’s thighs, Emily slowly parted Ash’s legs, sliding down further, lying below her. Ash stared down at her face with an expression of both trepidation and excitement, and Emily nodded softly at her. Reaching up, she affectionately squeezed Ash’s hands; in response, Ash relaxed her neck, lying back, trusting Emily.

Thoughts ran through her head—thoughts like, “You’re beautiful, Ash,” or even just a simple, “I love you,” but Emily, in silence, lowered her head. “I really don’t know what I’m doing, Ash. Please tell me if I make a mistake.” Slowly she extended her tongue, her lips trembling slightly as she touched the bottom of Ash’s slit. Above her, Ash gasped, her fingers squeezing sharply on Emily’s hands. But she didn’t say anything, and Emily squeezed back, pulling softly on Ash’s hands, slowly sliding her tongue up, touching, tasting Ash with just the tip. “She’s warm… and… wet, too. I’m glad she’s enjoying this as much as I am.”

Twisting her tongue to the side, Emily gingerly ran the tip up again, sliding it between her lover’s labia, just ever so slightly parting Ash’s outer lips. With Ash’s hands on her own, Emily felt secure in judging how Ash was taking it—she was nervous and afraid, but doggedly determined not to run again, not to be unable to participate with Emily.

“You okay?”

“I am,” Ash replied. “It’s…”

“You’re hardly making any sound.”

“I’m… not?”

“No. That’s fine. I have a pretty good feeling I know how you’re doing, anyway. You’re terrified, but you’re also excited. You’re nervous, but you genuinely want me, and badly.”

Ash blushed heavily. “Am I that easy to read?”

“No. I’ve just had practice.” Emily lowered her head while Ash was watching, and slowly pressed a warm kiss onto Ash’s labia, getting a long, quiet moan from her lover.

“Go ahead, Em.”

“Okay.” She slowly resumed her licking, only instead of the knife-blade tip of her tongue, she let her tongue flatten against Ash’s labia, drawing the wide top surface of it up Ash’s slit, pushing in gingerly. “This actually… I think I like this taste. I really love the feeling of her flesh around me… Mmmh, she’s got strong Kegel muscles,” Emily thought to herself. She felt Ash’s nerves-induced squeezing around her tongue, pulling, actually tempting her tongue in further. So she followed their advice, crooking her tongue, and slid her head forward, pushing her tongue out.

“Mmmmh… Oh god, my tongue’s really inside her!” Emily’s breathing intensified and she closed her eyes as it truly struck her that the hot, slick, tight, and muscularly squeezing channel around her tongue was her lover’s vagina. The strong taste of Ash’s lubrication surrounded her tongue: faintly salty, but also fruit-like, somewhat like a not-very-sweet apple. She squeezed Ash’s hands strongly. Emily could tell this was intense and frightening for Ash, but she was doing an incredible job of not panicking.

“E-Em?” Her friend’s voice stuttered, and Emily worried she’d gone too far, or Ash’s tolerance had worn out, but Ash squeezed back. “That’s… mmm, t-that’s… keep going.”

Emily nodded her head, complying slowly. “I don’t believe I’m actually… doing this… But god, it feels great.” She started to bob her head, and curled her tongue up, pressing it into the top of Ash’s vagina, much to the enjoyment of her tuner, who let out a quiet whimper, her body tensing and relaxing in rhythm to Emily’s licks. They worked together, Ash starting to tentatively, timidly move her hips, and Emily slowly gyrating her shoulders as well as her head. Their hands laced together, pulling and squeezing at one another. Ash’s breath started to come harder, and Emily felt extraordinarily pleased with herself.

“Here we go… I love you Ash, and I hope this is great for you.”

She slid her tongue out, longer, pulling her head back; Ash’s clitoris was straining, emerging from its hood, easily three times larger than her own. Emily smiled at it, staring for a few moments, teased and tantalized by the strangely appealing sight. She lowered her head again, sliding her tongue out, gently pressing it against her lover’s nubbin. A sharp gasp and hushed cry slipped from Ash’s lips as Emily’s lips slid down, sealing around it, drawing in with her mouth, sliding, slathering her tongue around Ash’s clit.

It had the desired effect. Ash let out a warbling, slow cry, strained but yearning to be free, to cry out loud and clear, and Emily sucked a bit harder, longer—caressing Ash’s clitoris with her tongue as she did. “I hope this is doing what I want it to. You’re not telling me it’s hurting you…” She drew it out, long and slow, eliciting moans and an arched back from Ash, who let go of one of Emily’s hands, then moved her hand to Emily’s hair, squeezing her fist in it. “You love it… Thank goodness.” Ash’s throat let out another cry, louder, clearer, her whole body freezing rigid like steel, then falling back with a deep exhalation, and Emily let her lips pop off from around her lover’s clitoris. She pushed herself up on her elbow, and Ash let go of her hair. Ash was heaving for breath hard enough her breasts were bouncing.

“Ash?” Emily asked, with some trepidation in her voice; Ash’s eyes focused on her, her face melting from a rictus of unrestrained pleasure to blown-away recognition and happiness.

“Emily…” Ash unclenched her hand, and slowly pulled Emily against her. Emily slid up, tugging the blankets with her, and they met in a slow, unhurried, warm and deep kiss, dragging the contact of their lips and tongues out for what felt like eternity.

“How was it?”

Ash closed her eyes, and let out a tiny moan. “It was… it… I…”

“Too intense?”

“It was the most… most… incredible… Mmmfh, words fail me…”

Emily closed her eyes. “How many times?”

“Times?”

“I tried to make you last as long as I could before going any more would hurt…”

“I… Em, I honestly have no idea. It… it was so scary, but good, when you put your tongue into me. But…” She sighed. “You touched my… my… c-clitoris, and… I…”

“Safe to say you’re glad you did it?”

Ash let out a quiet, soft laugh, crushing Emily against her with a bear-hug, and kissing her cheek.

“Yeah. Fuck, yeah, I am. You?”

“Loved it,” Emily said, forcing air into her lungs through the bear-hug; Ash got the message, un-clenching, and kissed her cheek. “I liked it. It… God, there was this epiphany moment when I realized, ‘Oh my god, I’m actually having sex with her’. That was great.”

“Yeah… it hit me, too, when you started to move your tongue inside me… I… I hardly know what to say.”

“You don’t need to say anything, Ash…” She smiled softly. “B-uuuut… Now that you’ve… Mmm, which would you say is better, orgasming as a boy, or as a girl?”

Ash blushed hotly, and closed her eyes. “Um, fuck… I kind of miss ejaculating, but… girl, definitely. It’s… so much more intense, and it lasted so long…” She pulled Emily’s head in, next to hers, and Emily giggled quietly, rolling to the side, letting Ash breathe more freely, and curling into her, entwining their legs together, holding her lover, tightly.

“Ash?”

“Mmmm?”

“No regrets about it?”

“No, Emily. None. It was… the most incredible thing. I’m… I’m glad I lost my virginity to you.”

“And as a girl?”

“… I am, actually.” Ash turned her head, and kissed Emily’s lips. “I can’t explain it. I’m just…”

“I know. I understand, Ash.” Emily’s breath came softly, quietly, slowing down. “Just breathe, Ash. Just hold me, and let me hold you, and—”

“I know, Emily. I know.”

Ash’s left hand met Emily’s right, and they squeezed—not strongly, not even firmly, but softly and warmly. Emily closed her eyes, followed by Ash.

The Ale House, 10:35 PM

“Merry Christmas!” Rose’s cheerful voice rang out from the podium at the door. “Just the two?”

“Just two,” Marie confirmed.

“This way.”

The Ale House was somewhat busy, even as late as it was, with a number of diners, mostly in larger groups.

“You’re Ash’s mom, right? Who’re you, cousin?”

Jenny shook her head. “Friend.”

“I promised them all dinner, but Ash and Emily got caught up in doing something and told us to go on without them.”

“Ah, okay. You know, we can make something to go, too.”

“You can?”

“Sure can.”

Marie smiled. “That’ll be great. Thank you.”

“Can I get you anything to drink?”

“Sweet iced tea.”

“Water, no ice.”

“Right-o.”

Rose bopped away to get the drinks, and Marie sighed softly, looking around. “I don’t come in here nearly enough, do I? This restaurant is actually quite pleasant.”

“It is; it’s not too bright, and it’s got a warm, inviting atmosphere.”

Rose returned with their drinks before too long, and smiled at them. “I can get you menus if you want, or… Ty’s been trying to add a couple of new recipes to the menu, and he needs guinea pigs. Meal’s on the house if you want to risk my brother’s experiments in making stuff he tried while on vacation.”

Marie looked at Jenny and shrugged. “I don’t mind.”

“Sounds good,” the blonde replied.

“Comin’ right up!”

“So, Jenny… Not that I object or anything, but… how did it turn out this way? I thought you hated all the other girls around you, and now it’s as if my daughter’s your best friend.”

Jenny shrugged, taking a sip of her water, and sighed. “She really is… Her and Emily are like, my only friends now.”

“What happened to Annette?”

Closing her eyes, Jenny brooded with her head down for a few moments.

“Jenny? Don’t want to talk about it?”

“I… It’s okay. I had a huge fight with her. She got hold of that rumor, and… she called me all sorts of vicious names, said she never wanted to see me again.”

“I’m sorry,” Marie said.

“I know… It’s just… And then Ash was there, being nice to me. I was so lonely. I realized just how hollow all my friendships had been, and then there she was. She’d gotten into a huge fight to protect me, a couple times, even though I never gave her a reason to.” Jenny let out another sigh, more wistful this time.

“And your mother—”

“Bought into the same stuff Annette did. She’s only ever taught me to be like her: a gold-digger, a con artist of the worst sort. I’ve never heard her so angry as when I dumped Joshua…” Jenny rolled her eyes, and bitterly scowled, taking a deep draught of her water.

“Why?”

“He’s a rich kid. Boss’s son. Loaded. And he’s a dumbfuck to boot. She figured that if I got him worked up enough, I could get him to marry me without signing a pre-nup, then wait a few years, divorce him and take him for half of everything if I didn’t like him.”

Marie almost recoiled, her face showing naked disgust. “That’s… that’s a horrible thing to tell your daughter to do!”

“That’s not the half of it,” Jenny bitterly replied. “All my life, I’ve been… I’ve been doing things, wrong things. She’s always demanded I be the best, the prettiest, the most attention getting. But I just can’t be. Not in the way Ash is. Not nearly the way she is.”

“What are you talking about? You’re always our star—”

“Yeah, but it’s not because I’m the prettiest, or the best…” Jenny sighed, laying her forehead down on her crossed arms on the table.

Jenny mumbled something and Marie asked her, “What did you say?”

Looking up, Jenny sighed. “Okay… Like, this one time, back in grade school? There was a school play going on, and there were going to be newspaper reporters there, and maybe even get a small spot on the nightly news. Mom was so hard on me to get the lead, get the lead, take it and hold it and shine… There was another girl who was also going for the lead, and she was good. Unlike me, she had a natural talent for that part; she pretty much was the part. So… I knew I wasn’t going to get it. But I figured out how I could. This girl, she had this ancient, stuffed, rag-doll, right? She loved that thing, took it just about everywhere with her. I kidnapped it… I kidnapped her doll.”

Jenny looked decidedly unproud of what she was saying, and Marie just listened, shocked. “I ripped one of the eyes out, sent it to her in the mail. Told her that if she wanted it back, she’d withdraw from the running.” Jenny sighed, while Marie listened, speechlessly. “That was the first time. After that… it gets easier. I’ve only gotten this high by bullying, threatening, harassing, and blackmailing other girls into being just a bit clumsy, or not being quite as good as they could be, so I could stay on top.”

Jenny let out a huff of disgust at herself and slumped in her chair. “And that’s not the half of it. I… Hell, I absolutely crushed someone who only got into the business because she idolized me. I was her hero, then she finally made a huge break onto the scene. Her newbie night, had the whole sparkling-eyed wonder going, and the cameras were paying attention to her and not me… Mmmh, I got a scolding for failing to carry that night, and I couldn’t let her do it again. I couldn’t let her take the spotlight… And then I got her, all right. Got her good; she was more than crying when me and Annette were done with her. How fucked up is that? I had no idea she existed until she stole some spotlight from me, and she only ever got into the game because she wanted to be like me, and then I attacked her.” Bitterly, Jenny choked softly, before clearing her throat with a sigh. “She got the message, all right. Now she is just like me. How fucked-up is that?”

“That’s… that’s…”

“Despicable? Criminal? Awful? Disgusting? Yeah. It is. My mother calls the other girls ‘piranhas’… She’s right. And while I could hack it, I was the Queen Piranha. And then Ash showed up, made me look like a fool, almost without trying. I broke up with Joshua because I was so angry at him that she’d so easily taken us for a ride. I thought Ash and Emily were trying to be awful to me when they offered to take me to lunch that day, but I went with them because I didn’t want to look any more like a jackass than I already was looking. And then she came up and saved me from Clarita and Rachelle in the bathroom. I didn’t know why. All I could see was how golden she looked: tough, strong. She didn’t play by the rules of the game; she ignored them completely. She didn’t scratch or try to snatch off anyone’s top, or spread rumors or lies, she just went straight in, swinging.”

Marie listened, quietly, as her daughter’s friend vented, unloaded at her, nodding softly. “That sounds like Ash,” she thought, as Jenny continued.

“And then she took me out of that bathroom like you told her. She could’ve just dumped me, but she stuck around, making sure I was okay. I told her I just wanted to leave, and she took me in her car and we just drove. We parked out by the ocean, and… I was trying so hard to figure out why she was behaving the way she was. I… I figured she… she, you know, liked me, so I kissed her…”

Marie’s eyebrow shot up. “… How’d she take that?”

“About like you’d expect. I’ve never misread someone so badly… I dunno. She didn’t hate on me, she just pushed me away, and told me it wasn’t like that. I asked what it was, and she couldn’t answer, and that was, well… It’s better than nothing. It’s better than Annette was going to give me the next day. I guess I realized… I liked her. I wanted her to think well of me, and before that, I’d never given a damn what anybody but my mother thought of me, except in the context of what I can get out of them… How horrible is that?”

“Well, Jenny, that’s…”

“Pretty damn horrible, you don’t have to sugar-coat it…” The blonde sighed. “I guess it just went from there. Ash and Emily, they became my only friends. I care what they think about me. Ash is so strong, I guess… I guess I wish I could be like her. She gets by just fine, even though she ignores the rules… So I told my mother. When she flipped at me, asked me if I wanted everyone to think I… to think I was a lesbian, though that’s not the word she used. I flipped. I yelled at her, ‘So what if I am? You don’t care about me!’… She told me to get out of her sight, so… I just, I just asked Ash if I could come stay the day with her, and she said yes, so I did.”

“And you’ve been sleeping on my couch since then.” Marie’s voice was choked with sympathy.

“Yeah… She hasn’t called me since then. Not even to wish me a ‘Merry Christmas’, or to ask me to come home. I think she’s busy trying to figure out how to turn everything into a payday for herself.”

“That’s a very harsh thing to say, Jenny.”

“Mrs. Upton, she… she actually told me that I shouldn’t string Joshua along like I’d strung along my other boyfriends. She actually told me that I’d better put out a little so he didn’t get frustrated and dump me for ‘some ugly bitch who actually will put out’.”

“That’s…” Marie blinked, twice, shocked; she’d known her subordinate was an unrepentant gold digger, but that was beyond the pale.

“… It doesn’t matter,” Jenny said bitterly.

“That’s reprehensible, Jenny. It’s despicable. It’s an atrociously awful thing to tell your daughter—”

“Maybe… but…” Jenny sighed. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Marie stared at the blonde with a newfound sympathy and nodded. “Okay, Jenny.”

Upton Residence, 11:51 PM

“Are you still awake?” Ash whispered finally. She and Emily had held one another, eyes closed, for a time she’d lost track of—it was intimate and warm, interminable, like being caught in a forever of contentment, but eventually she’d had to ask.

“Mmm… yeah, I am,” the whispered response came back, and Ash smiled, hugging her best friend tightly, kissing Emily’s cheek. In response, Emily mirrored the soft peck, and took a fistful of Ash’s orange hair, though she did nothing with it other than holding it. “Turn on the lights?”

Ash complied with her girlfriend’s request, and blinked as the light from the nightstand came on. Emily blinked too, and giggled quietly, kissing Ash’s lips softly.

“How do you feel?”

“Mmmm… good, Em.”

“Was it the sex?”

“Um… sorta. It’s…” Ash squeezed Emily closer to her, and her blue-haired friend nodded, putting her head on Ash’s shoulder.

“I think I know just what you mean, Ash.”

“Okay.”

Emily smiled and rolled over, pressing her back into Ash’s front, and turned the light off, rolling herself into Ash. “Do you feel any different?”

“Um… sort of, I think. I don’t… I don’t know how quite to explain it.”

“Is it like you thought it would be?”

“Well… no, not at all. I guess I didn’t know… anything, did I?”

Emily snickered softly and sighed. “More than I did.” She reached up, taking Ash’s hand, squeezing it, pressing Ash’s arm around her, against the underside of her breasts. “At least, this time… it was for the right reasons.”

“What were they?”

“Love… lust… companionship, camaraderie… Even if it was awkward and clumsy…”

“It was great, Em.”

“Thank you, but I still screwed up; I know I did.”

“I couldn’t tell.”

“Thanks.” Emily grinned to herself, pressing back into Ash, who squeezed her. “I’m glad, Ash. Glad I touched you. Glad we’ve done what we’ve done.”

“Me too. Did you… really like it?”

“Absolutely.” Emily giggled quietly. “It felt really good. You should try it sometime.” She imagined Ash was blushing, and her tuner squeezed her.

“I’d love to. Are you volunteering?”

“In a heartbeat.” Ash squeezed her breasts, softly, eliciting a quiet, soft moan from the flushed bookworm.

“You do of course realize I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing, right?”

“So? I’ll talk you through it, like I talked you through fingering me.”

“Man, we’re messed up, aren’t we?”

“Why? It’s a stupid cliché that you should automatically know what to do to work my body to please me. I don’t mind talking you through it. I kind of wanted more input from you, you know.”

“You did?”

“Yeah…”

Ash tightened her grip on Emily, and kissed her neck. “Mmmh… So, when…”

“Not now; I don’t know when; maybe soon, maybe not. Right now I want a shower, and I want you to join me.”

“Love to,” the tuner said releasing Emily, letting her sit up. Emily stretched her arms, yawning, and slid out of the bed, followed by Ash. They made for the bathroom door, when Emily paused them with a hand on Ash’s stomach.

“What’s wrong?”

“I dunno. But something is.” Emily started to look around the room, and Ash did likewise.

Ash pulled on a shirt and a pair of red boxers and looked out the window—everything was where they’d last seen it: the 996 and the Lexus were in the drive, and the Carrera GT was (still) on the street-side (Ash made a mental note to move it in the morning). She shrugged, walking back to Emily; she found her friend wearing one of her own shirts and a pair of panties, and she was shrugging, too.

“False alarm?”

“Maybe… Wait.” Emily crouched by the door and opened it a crack, peering out.

Ash knelt next to her, putting a hand on Emily’s back. “What is it?”

“Um… I dunno, I don’t see… Wait.”

Ash bit her lip to cut off the question of ‘What is it?’ from being repeated, and Emily frowned. “It’s Jenny. She’s pacing, and… staring at her cell phone display…”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ve no clue… Hang on.” She raised her right arm, double-checking the time—Ash peered over her

shoulder as well. “Nearly midnight. Why? Oh, oh no…” The display clicked over to ‘12:00’, and Emily sighed. “She just started crying, she’s dropped the phone.”

“Her phone… Oh shit, her mother.”

“She must not have called.”

Emily stood up, as did Ash; their eyes met one another; they nodded in agreement without having exchanged a word, and Ash opened the door. Jenny’s phone, a speck of bright illumination on the floor, starkly blue and obviously different in character from the soft glowing of the lit Christmas tree, sat on the floor. Ash and Emily crossed to the door of the sitting room, looking in. Jenny was clutching a pillow on the couch, weeping softly, her head buried in it, rocking softly back and forth.

“Jenny,” Ash began softly, sliding onto the pulled-out couch next to Jenny, and putting her hand on the blonde’s shoulder. Jenny shivered at the touch, looking up, as Emily walked around the couch, settling carefully to her knees on the other side.

“She didn’t call, did she?”

Jenny bitterly closed her eyes, shaking her head. “She didn’t call me. She… I…” Jenny sniffled softly, and Ash looked over at Emily, who looked back helplessly. Jenny continued on. “I… I didn’t think I’d be so… so upset, but… when it hit eleven thirty, it hit me that it was Christmas and I… I hadn’t talked to my own mother. I kept thinking, ‘She’ll call, she’ll call’…”

“But she didn’t. I’m so sorry, Jenny.” Emily leaned in from the side, hugging the blonde girl tightly, and Ash followed her lead.

“Jenny? Are you okay?” Jenny turned her head to look at the orange-haired tuner, and Ash sighed, awkwardly brushing at the tears on her fashion-obsessed friend’s face. “Jenny?”

“I feel… awful,” the blonde sniffled, burying her head in the pillow. Gingerly, Ash leaned her back and to the side, until she was lying mostly on Ash’s chest, with Ash against the back of the couch. Emily followed her lead, rolling over into Jenny, hugging the blonde girl tightly and taking her hand in the other, squeezing it. Ash noticed, and joined her hand with Emily’s and Jenny’s, tugging the covers up to their laps.

None of the three spoke much for a time. Eventually, some time after Jenny had stopped crying, Emily put her head on the blonde girl’s shoulder. “For what it’s worth, I didn’t talk to my mom, either… She didn’t call, and it slipped my mind that I’d forgotten to call her.”

Jenny turned her head, blinking, and then she let out a soft laugh, cracking a weak smile. “Thank you.” She squeezed the two hands on her own. “Thank you, both.”

Ash smiled weakly. “What’s a friend for?”

“More than just having someone to talk to…” Jenny squeezed their hands again and sighed. She shifted, moving the pillow between Ash and Emily, and closed her eyes. “Thank you, Ash, Em…”

“You’re welcome, Jenny.”

“Glad I can help you feel better.”

Upton Residence, Cape Cod, December 26, 2004, 9:45 AM

Warmth and contentment, lazy enjoyment, the soft, warm, supple feel of flesh under her palms. She was confused about where her right hand was, though she felt the familiar sensation of a plump breast under her left, a hard nipple resting under the thumb. She smiled in the haze of slowly waking up, squeezing gently, stroking her thumb over that nipple, when it hit her like a lightning bolt to a rod: the soft flesh in her hand was too copious to be Emily’s.

Going stiff and tense with the realization did not go unnoticed, and the voice that chest belonged to quietly, tenderly murmured, “Don’t panic. She’s still sound asleep.”

Ash pushed her eyelids open with what felt like a Herculean force of will. Blonde hair was directly in front of her eyes, and through it she could see the morning light filtering across Emily’s face. Emily was on her side in front of Jenny, with the fashionista curled mostly on Em’s side, like Ash usually was. Ash herself was spooned tightly to Jenny’s body from behind, her left arm curled under the blonde’s body, and had somehow worked its way up under her tee, groping her—the right was clenched within three hands, and pressed between Emily’s and Jenny’s thighs.

“Oh, my, god,” Ash hissed softly through clenched teeth.

“Shhh. You’ll wake her up.”

Not wanting to be caught with her hand in an easily misconstrued position, Ash assented. “How long have you been awake?” she asked.

Jenny laid her head back—her hair smelled nice. “I can’t see her watch. I don’t know.”

“I’m so sorry, Jenny.”

Ash heard a distinct tone of amusement when Jenny replied, asking her not to apologize. “You did it while you were asleep, and… I’m really glad the two of you were here for me.”

“That… that doesn’t give me the right to…”

“Shhh. Ash, I’m not angry. Really.”

“But…” Jenny took her right hand (which was atop her; her left was engaged in the holding) and gently laid it atop Ash’s hand. “What are you doing?”

“Ash, I know you don’t have a crush for me, but I have one for you. I also know this was an accident, that you did it in your sleep.”

“Y-Yeah…”

“You probably thought it was Emily, but… I’m not angry. Or upset. It just… happened, right?”

“Um… I-I guess?”

“So… save the apologies. Besides, this feels really good.” Ash gulped, and Jenny rolled her shoulders back into Ash’s. “You really are a comforting soul, Ash. The way you’re spooned against me, holding me… You manage to make a girl feel secure and safe without feeling owned and dominated…” Jenny stretched her feet out, stroking them along the top of Ash’s. “Emily’s a phenomenally lucky girl to have you, Ash.”

“You… you think so? I make her life such a headache,” Ash replied, trying for a quick change of subject to distract each of them from the fact that Jenny had prevented her from moving her hand.

“Maybe… but I do think so. And you’re lucky to have her, too. She’s comforting in the same way you are. She’s been squeezing my hand in her sleep, and she shifts to keep my head somewhere comfortable, without leaving it in the same spot too long.”

“She… she is?”

“Yeah. When you’ve slept against as many different people as I have, you get… sensitive to the way they are. The two of you are easily my favorite.”

“Isn’t that just ’cause we’re…?”

“Not just. I’ve slept against other girls, too—you know, at sleepovers? God, you’re such a tomboy.” Jenny snickered as quietly as she could, leaving Ash scowling slightly, but thankful Jenny couldn’t see the reaction. “No, it’s the way the two of you… Well, you’re careful. Considerate. Even when you squeezed, you weren’t too hard, and you rubbed, not tried to dial me like an antique radio. The two of you are so lucky to have one another.” Jenny wistfully sighed and finally slid Ash’s hand from her breast (for which Ash was greatly thankful), sliding it down to her stomach. Then she laced their fingers together, and Ash closed her eyes.

“Um…”

“Shh. You’re just comforting, you know? I like this.”

“So do I.”

Ash felt Jenny go stiff as she heard Emily’s voice, and she peered through Jenny’s hair. Emily’s eyes were open and her face had turned to face Jenny. Then she broke into a soft smile. “Relax. I’m not going to yell or anything. Do you think I’m the jealous type?”

“Uh… yes, you are,” Ash said, thinking of how Emily had gotten when Missi had dated her, briefly, and Emily giggled, quietly, rolling to the side. She pulled her hand out of the triple-embrace and wormed it under Jenny and Ash. She hugged the two tightly.

“Okay, you’ve got a point. But I don’t feel threatened by you at all, Jenny. Lift your head a bit.”

Jenny did so, with what Ash imagined was confusion, and Emily slid her head under where Jenny’s head had been. She pressed her lips softly to Ash’s through the blonde girl’s luxurious mane and then pulled her head back.

“How long have you been awake?”

“Mmmh, I don’t know. I heard the two of you start talking, but not much before that.”

“You’re, um…”

“Awfully blasé about finding my girlfriend’s hand on my friend’s breast?” Emily smiled, softly.

“Like I said…” She slid her feet down, entwining them within Ash’s and Jenny’s. “I’m not worried. I know you have a huge crush on her, and I know she has hands that wander in the night.”

“I… I do?”

“Yes, you do. I also know it happened without conscious decision.” Emily smiled, softly, squeezing both girls. Jenny squeezed her back, and Ash nuzzled her forearm, softly kissing it.

“This… this actually feels really good… Oh no, please don’t tell me this is getting me horny…” Ash bit her lip softly. “Mmm… Y-You know, Em, Jenny… maybe we oughta get up?”

“We ought to,” Emily replied, putting her head on Jenny’s shoulder. “But it’s so warm, and it’s cold out there, above the blanket…”

“We know, remember? All of our feet are below the blanket’s edge.”

Jenny giggled softly at Ash and Emily bantering over her neck, and sighed happily; she rolled to the side, leaving her on her back with Emily atop her, having direct access to Ash. Emily giggled in response, and pecked her on the cheek with a soft ‘thank you’ murmur, then turned her head. Ash met her, not lips to lips, but face to face, sliding their cheeks along one another, kissing each other’s earlobe softly. Then they broke off with a grin.

“See, it’s stuff like that. You two just did that in perfect harmony, you didn’t have to stop and think, or talk about the move. You just… did.” Jenny was blushing warmly and grinning.

“I see.” Emily smiled, and curled her arms under her chin, above Jenny’s shoulders. “You don’t just have a crush on her, and a crush on me. You have a crush on her, a crush on me, and a huge crush on what we have together, don’t you?”

“Uh…”

“Uh-huh.” Emily grinned, and gently pushed Jenny’s head back into the pillow. “You just lie back and relax. I’m going to take Ash and get a shower.” She smirked softly, then broke into a warm, soft expression. “Please, don’t agonize, Jenny.”

“I won’t,” the blonde girl breathlessly murmured, as Emily slid smoothly from the bed, helping Ash extricate herself, but before leaving, Emily paused, looking back.

“You know, I have one question.”

“Go ahead.”

“You said your name wasn’t Jennifer. But you told the policewoman it was.”

“Oh, um… I lied to you.” Jenny blushed. “I hate my name.”

“Huh… I think it’s kind of pretty.”

“Well, you can. I dunno about me, though.” She smiled, and Emily nodded, while Ash stood mostly confused until Emily took her hand, leading her away. They slipped off to the shower, stripping their shirts off almost in unison as they got into the door of the bedroom and closed it.

Then Emily turned—they met at the same time, but Ash was surprised by the intensity and desire with which Emily kissed her, letting her blue-haired friend push her back into the bathroom, against the cold tile wall, while kissing her back and squeezing her tightly. In response, Emily reached up, under Ash’s arms, and groped her—not painfully hard, but more strongly than she ever had before, squeezing Ash’s breasts and gently scratching them with her blue fingernails.

She pulled away from Ash after a long time of having her lover’s firm breasts in her hands, letting out a relieved rush of breath, her lips moist from saliva—Ash’s more than her own. “I needed that. Thank you, Ash.”

“You’re welcome,” her tuner murmured, a bit dazed, punch-drunkenly smiling from the intensity of the kiss.

Emily pushed her panties down, then Ash’s, and stepped out of her own. She opened the shower, turned it to hot, and gave out a shiver at the sound.

“Em? You okay?”

“Yes… No… I don’t know.” She let out a soft, quiet giggle. “You?”

“Yeah… um, look, I’m sorry…”

“Save it.” Emily slumped to the floor, her back resting on the shower’s side, grinning.

“Er… you’re not…”

“Angry at you? Absolutely not angry, Ash.” Emily looked up and held her hand out; Ash took it, and sat next to her, leaning her body into Emily’s, who leaned back.

“You’re not? You got so… weird about Missi.”

“I felt threatened by Missi. I felt like I was being drowned out, that you were paying attention to a little tramp instead of me.”

“What’s different?”

“… What’s different, Ash… Is that I’m attracted to Jenny, too. I like her, I’m her friend, and I think she’s beautiful, not the same way you are, but…”

“Jeez, you do?”

“Yeah. It’s… mmff. I’ve had her hands all over me.”

Ash blinked and did a double take. “I can’t have heard that right.”

“You did. Just let me explain.”

“I’m hardly in a position to complain…” A bloom of jealousy swirled in her gut, but quietly—shouted down by the rest of her.

“Remember that night I woke you up, kissing you, going mad for you? The night I asked you to touch me?”

“Yeah…”

“Well… I guess she won’t mind too much, now. Ash, that night, I woke up, feeling like ‘something’s wrong’, like I did this morning. I looked around, but I couldn’t find it, until I went out to the front. I found Jenny…”

“Naked, right?”

“Naked and masturbating, Ash.” Ash turned her head; though she was blushing, Emily wasn’t at all. “I felt like I was bolted to the floor. I knew I should turn away, but… Watching her arch, squeezing her breast, her hand between her thighs, well… I watched her get herself off, then I tried to leave, but she heard me… asked me to come back, she was so scared… I did. We got to talking… Boy, that was an awkward conversation.”

“I bet,” Ash murmured.

“Yeah… we talked… we talked about a dream she’d had… And it turned to you. And I confessed to her that I was scared I wasn’t pretty enough, not hot enough for you…”

Ash squawked with indignation, and pulled Emily into a bear-hug, kissing her cheek hotly. “Don’t ever think that, Emily. You are totally hot. And I love how pretty you are.”

“I know, Ash. But, girl here. Insecurity comes with the territory.” Emily smiled weakly, leaning her shoulders back into Ash—Ash pushed forward into her, and Emily sighed. “So, I told her. And she tried to reassure me that I was fine, but I wasn’t convinced. So she told me to take my shirt off, and, well…” Emily blushed. “She kinda measured me, you know, with her hands. Gave me the sharpest evaluation she could have, and told me in great detail how I was hot and pretty…”

Ash blushed softly, imagining Jenny’s hands all over Emily. “Uh…”

“Yes, it felt good. It felt damn good, Ash. Why do you think I came back and jumped you awake?”

“Um… you were horny?”

“Yeah… yeah, I was.”

“Ah… so, you rushed us out of there, just now…”

“Because I so wanted to grope her.” Emily snickered softly, blushing finally, and Ash squeezed her, without saying a word, closing her eyes. Emily murmured, “No quips, no jokes about ‘the ultimate male fantasy?”

“Uh… no, not really.”

“Not the ultimate fantasy?”

“No, it is, I mean, no jokes. I just feel…”

“Awkward.” Ash nodded, her head against Emily’s, and Emily murmured, “You like her, too.”

“… Yeah. It’s confusing.”

“It is. She’s enamored with us, with what we have, and she has a huge crush on both of us. I feel sorry for her.”

“Mmmh… So, what do we do?”

“I’ve no idea, Ash. No idea at all… So… how did it feel?”

“What?”

“Squeezing her breast, silly.”

“Oh… um… it… it was good,” Ash admitted.

“Well? Was it any… different from your own?”

“Uh… well, yeah. Squeezing my own feels good, I guess, but it’s way more of a thrill to squeeze yours, or hers…”

Emily giggled softly, shaking her head and letting her heels rise and fall onto the floor a few times. “No, silly, not emotionally, physically!”

“Uh…”

“She’s got implants, Ash. Her breasts are naturally the same size as mine.”

“Oh… oh, really? Wow… No, I had no idea.”

“Heh… okay.” Emily turned her head—Ash smiled and kissed her cheek tenderly. “I love you, Ash Upton. I’m a star-struck fool for you, you know that, right?”

“Yeah…” Wistfully, Ash sighed, softly, kissing Emily again, on the lips. “Yeah, I do.”

“C’mon. Let’s get that shower. And no funny business, we really do need a shower,” Emily murmured.

“Yeah.” Ash gently held Emily up, pushing her lover to her feet, then accepted the helping hand up herself, stepping into the shower after Emily.

Upton Residence, 11:21 AM

Ash, Emily, and Jenny, having no big ideas about what to do for the day after Christmas, had settled on simply staying together and enjoying each other’s company. They played Need for Speed Underground 2 for a while, then (while Emily and Jenny were competing, Nissan vs. Lexus) Ash picked up the game Emily had gotten her, reading off the title.

“Hmmm… ‘Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner’…” Ash shrugged.

“Aw, you dirty cheating…!” Emily’s exclamation came from her left, and Ash looked over. Jenny, to Emily’s left, had a huge grin on her face, having emerged victorious over Emily by performing a high-speed PIT maneuver to slide over the line just before Emily did so—sideways. Emily set her controller down, laughing and hugging Jenny, shaking her.

The blonde giggled. “Hey, you’re the one who taught me.”

“Yeah, yeah I did…” Emily started to tickle Jenny’s stomach—the fashionista started squirming on the still-pulled-out couch, giggling uncontrollably.

Ash leaned back, smiling. “Wow… this actually feels… Mmm, is this what having friends is like? I really love this.”

Once Emily was done teasing and torturing Jenny, who lay back with a sigh, Emily handed over her controller. “Your turn… or… Oh hey, you’re holding that game I got you. You wanna try it?”

Jenny peered at the cover and smiled softly. “It looks… well, Joshua probably would’ve said it was for nerds and stupid idiots. Go for it.” She patted Ash’s back, and Ash nodded, tearing the plastic shrink-wrap off the game’s box by resorting to her teeth, which got a giggle out of Jenny and a smile from Emily.

“Okay, here goes…” Ash ejected and cased her copy of Need for Speed Underground 2, and put the mecha game’s disk in. She closed the PS2, but the ringing of her cell phone interrupted her.

She pulled it out—it read ‘mom’ on the front, so she flipped it open. “Mom? Why are you calling my cell phone? Are you okay? Need breakfast in bed?”

“I’m fine. I’m not at home, sweetie. Actually, I’ll be back shortly, I’ve got food for everyone, so I hope you didn’t eat.”

“Uh, no. Why?”

“Well, let’s just say… I’ll tell you three over brunch, okay? I’m almost home, five minutes at the most. Be home soon, sweetie.”

Ash shared the news—Emily and Jenny shrugged at her, so they shut the Playstation down. “Where’d she go?” Jenny asked.

“I dunno. Work, I guess?”

“Okay. Hey, that that explains why the Porsche was missing, though.”

Ash had a brief moment of terror, imagining her mother doing one of any number of ridiculously dangerous things in the Carrera GT, such as shifting from fifth to second and launching the motor out of the vehicle in a spectacularly expensive explosion of parts, or screwing the clutch all to hell, or trying to shift into reverse and grinding down the gears somehow.

Jenny saw the look on Ash’s face and broke into a laughing fit, while Emily clarified her friend’s statement: “Hers, Ash, not the Carrera GT.”

Ash clutched her hand over her heart, and lay back, laughing. “Oh, oh Jeez, oh Jeez… that was scary.” She chuckled giddily for a few moments, and leaned forward, letting out a sigh of relief.

When Marie arrived home, it turned out that breakfast was bagels with cream cheese and four to-go omelets. “Sorry about this,” she said, sitting down at the table, sliding her bag from her arm. “I was in a bit of a hurry.”

“What’s the rush? And this is fine, Mrs. Upton.”

“The rush, Jenny?” Marie laughed, and reached into the bags. She laid a stack of large, glossy photographs, each the size of a page, on the table, and Ash’s eyes goggled.

The first one was a picture of her in the Carrera GT, sailing over the black and white checked starting line; Jenny was visible in the tower (though Jimmy had been cropped out of the image) waving the checkered flag.

The second was of her in the car, taken from a photographer who must have been crouched in a decidedly unsafe position near the side of the racetrack, with the wheel turned hard and smoke trailing up from the rear tires from when she was doing her exuberant victory dance in the Carrera GT, making the car burnout as she spun it around. Rainer in the 911 Turbo was visible in the background, just barely, as he sped on in sulking defeat.

The third was of her out of the Carrera GT, with her arms raised triumphantly, from the front, showing off her breasts quite well given the way her arms raised up the vest jacket.

Finally, the fourth was her being hugged dramatically by Emily in her blue dress, with her mother and Jenny closing in, and Kay Wheeler and Adam likewise closing in from the background. The image was taken from behind, over the front of the Carrera GT.

Ash blinked at the images, while Emily and Jenny both squealed. “You. Look. Mag!” Emily mirrored Jenny’s sentiments, laughing.

“You’re amazing, Ash. You really oughta know that.”

Mildly embarrassed, Ash blushed softly, but couldn’t help grinning.

“So, what’s the rush, Mrs. Upton?” This time, Emily asked.

“The rush is that…” She squealed, and slid out of her seat, throwing her daughter into a tight bear-hug. “The rush is that the photographers who took these normally work for Car and Driver magazine; they were doing this event freelance for our company because they didn’t have any work to do for C and D. Their magazine went crazy over the image of a stylish teenage girl in the Carrera GT flattening a middle-aged Porsche employee in whatever it was Rainer was driving, and got in touch with the company for permission to use the images. Then they heard that you still had the car, and they want to interview you for a special piece about the car, and put you on the cover!”

“They—what?! Ash spluttered. “Car and Driver magazine wants to put me on their magazine cover and interview me? I can’t have heard that right!”

“You did, Ash.” Marie grinned at her, kissing her daughter’s orange hair. “What do you say?”

“Jeez… I don’t know, I…”

“It’s another fifty-five hundred.”

Ash shook her head. “Jeez. Like I need more money?” Her head was swimming, though, and she felt feet—Jenny’s—on hers, clenching her toes.

“Then how about the fame? I don’t know much about the car scene, but I imagine that this Car and Driver, or whatever, is like hitting the cover of Vogue. Which I’ve done, and believe me, it feels good.”

“I just… I dunno… Holy shit… this is just…”

“They do want you for the cover, remember.”

“Oh god, I don’t know…” Ash shivered softly. On the one hand… Fame. All her life, before the Misfile, racing had been the life of Ash Upton. The purpose. Even after it, and now… But then…

“I’d never have this opportunity if it weren’t for the Misfile. This is a terrible double standard, but I didn’t complain—much—that time it got Tom suspended and I just got sent on to class. Is it mine, though? Do I… do I deserve this? Is this giving up myself?”

She felt the hands around her release, then a firm but smaller hand took her under the chin, tilting her head—Ash looked up into vibrant, magenta eyes, owned by her blue-haired friend. “Ash, do you honestly believe you don’t deserve the victory? Sure, the Carrera GT is a better machine than that 997 Turbo that Rainer was driving, but it’s not the ridiculous owning that, say, Kate’s Jaguar would give my 240SX. It was a fair race, and you won. Isn’t this what you wanted? To be noticed for your skill?”

“Yeah…”

“Then what does it matter if you got into the show because you’re a pretty girl? There’s no way in hell that, say, Jenny—no offense—”

“None taken.”

“Or the likes of Clarita, could have even driven that car off the lot. I don’t think I could’ve won, either—”

“Don’t say that. You would have.” Ash stood up, taking Emily’s hand. “You could’ve done it, too. I know you have it in you.” Emily blushed and smiled, the tables turned.

“Thank you for saying so, but…”

“No buts. I know you could have, if you’d gotten the chance. That Rainer guy was an asshole, and you deserved a crack at him, too.”

“Okay… yeah.” Emily smiled at her girlfriend. “So, does this mean you’ll do it?”

“I…”

“No buts, Ash. This is what you wanted, right?”

“Well… I guess it was.”

“So why are you hesitating?”

“… Because I’m being stupid again, of course. You’re right, Emily.”

“Of course.” Emily grinned and stood up, hugging her friend softly, and Ash hugged her back. “Great! Now, you’ll need to get dressed and all. You’ll want something strong, knowing you, but try and make it at least a bit playful or whimsical.”

“Uh… playful? Whimsical?”

“You know, Ash, like those flame-pattern jeans I found for you?”

“Oh, right! Okay.” Ash nodded. “Yeah. They’ll need to be washed, though.”

“I’ll get that, Ash. You three eat. What about the two of you?”

“I have a pair of white jeans, too; they’re washed, though. Any T-shirt will do since I’ll be wearing my jacket, but I’ve got a white one, too. I can wear that hat, too.”

“Um… I’ve got something from that shopping trip, don’t worry.”

“All right, then.”

Marie walked away, while Ash let out a sigh. “Jeez…” She looked down at the images, forced to admit—she did look good. And so did the car. “You gonna be okay, Ash?”

“Yeah, I will. It’s not the money, it’s just…”

“You’re kinda blown away by it all, eh?”

“Yeah.”

Upton Residence, 12:30 PM

“Okay, so… we’re going back to the speedway, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. Fitz is kind of furious, and by ‘kind of’ furious, I mean he’s spitting mad.”

“Why didn’t he stop it, then?”

“Well, see, the weird thing is… Apparently Emily, you and Kay Wheeler told Jimmy about Rainer being a blatant sexist pig, and Jimmy told Fitz. Fitz then lied—instead of telling Rainer to stop like he said he would he chose to go home so he couldn’t be found and yelled at.”

“Yeah, okay… I’ve got that… But how does that equate to him letting us use his speedway again?” Ash wondered.

“I’m getting to that. Mr. Almacy found out about it when Kay Wheeler told him, and he threatened to throw the full weight of the company’s legal department behind a lawsuit for discrimination and breach of contract at Fitz and Porsche. Fitz still refused, but it turns out that Porsche is absolutely appalled at Rainer’s behavior last night: he walked around insulting the employees of a co-sponsor for the event, he talked trash and then failed utterly to deliver when someone called him on it, and then he went and got himself arrested driving at about ninety miles an hour up the freeway, and to top it off, he’d had a drink or two at the party. Then Mr. Almacy said that he’d see no reason to get upset at Porsche if they likewise leaned on Fitz to let him use the motorway. Since it’s their flagship car that Car & Driver wants to show off, they agreed. With both of his paychecks threatening to put a hold on the payment and sue his tits off, Fitz relented. Not only that, but Mr. Almacy extracted a personal guarantee from Fitz that if you or your friends came up, he wouldn’t interfere again unless there was a legitimate safety issue.”

“Wow, um…”

“Mr. Almacy really went to bat for you on this, Ash. I believe he really is angry at what his son did to you, and he’s trying to make amends.”

“Yeah… I guess so.” Ash sighed softly. “I almost wish he wasn’t. Then it’d be a lot easier to just hate him, his company, and his son.”

“You’d rather hate someone than not?” Emily raised her eyebrow at Ash.

“Well, no… I guess I’m just pissed off that it feels like I can’t do anything to Joshua, and I can’t even have the minor satisfaction of working up a good piss-off at his dad and his company for it.”

“You’ll get your day, Ash—in court. Don’t worry.” Her mother kissed Ash’s forehead, and then started to comb her hair, briefly, to which Ash rolled her eyes.

“Can we go?”

“Yes, we really should be going.”

“Shotgun,” Emily called, and Ash laughed.

Then Jenny called “Driver’s Seat!” Marie blinked, while Jenny triumphantly held out her hands.

“Hah, beat ya!”

“Oh really?”

Ash snickered, softly. “Well, we’ve kind of been accepting that call…”

“Oh, all right.” Marie handed over the keys to the Porsche 996, and Jenny grinned.

“Yes! Let’s get a move on.”

They were out the door before Ash put the brakes on. “Hold it! We forgot something, mom.”

“We did?”

“Yeah, we did. You had another gift to give Emily, remember?”

“I did? Oh! Right! I’ve been forgetting that, haven’t I? I’ll go get it.” She turned and ran back into the house, leaving Emily confused.

“Another present for me? What?”

“You’ll see.”

Marie returned, and handed the box over to Emily—her eyes went wide when she saw it. “You got me a cell phone?!”

“The same as Ash’s.”

“Holy… Wow, just, wow. This is… I don’t know what to say!” Emily blinked, and smiled up at her friend’s mother, who smiled back.

“Go ahead, open it. I put you on the same family-plan I bought to support Ash’s phone and my own. Don’t worry—all the features are fully active, and you don’t have to worry about running up any extra charges, I paid for the full deal.”

Emily swooned slightly, and blinked. “Wow, Jeez… thanks.” She hugged Marie before turning and following Ash to the Carrera GT. Once in the car, she took the phone out, looking it over—it was fully charged and ready to go, and Mrs. Upton had already loaded it with the numbers for her cell phone, her house, and Ash’s cell phone line. “Give me a call, so I can add you.”

“All right.”

In short order, the duo was driving down the highway, talking while Emily toyed with her new phone. “You know, my mom’s gonna kinda flip out.”

“She is? Why?”

“Well, she didn’t want to give me a cell phone, you know. You know how she says that video games rot your brains? She thinks that I’ll turn into, well, Molly, if she gives me one.”

Rolling her eyes, Ash let out a huff. “That’s really stupid, isn’t it?”

“Yeah… yeah, it is.” She let out a soft sigh. “Well… here we go, right?”

“Right.”

“You know you’re going to have to give out your name at least, right?”

“… Yeah, I guess so, won’t I?”

“At least you oughta be able to prevent them from printing your hometown, maybe even the state.”

“Okay.”

Cape Cod Speedway, 1:49 PM

“Hey hey, King!” Jimmy waved as Ash got out of the Carrera GT. She foully looked over at Joshua’s CLK 500, still parked where he’d left it. Jimmy was flanked by two men, one bearing a great amount of camera-related gear, including an undeployed video camera on a tripod on his back, plus several cameras. The other was unprepossessing, wearing a nondescript jacket with an audio recorder microphone on his lapel.

“Hey, Jimmy!” Ash waved back as she climbed out of the car. She was wearing the red boots Jenny had given her, the white with red flame-pattern jeans, and her brown bomber jacket; she had originally tried to wear the Ford Racing jacket, but it was pointed out how bad that might look, and had switched to the bomber. She did, however, have her Ford pendant on between the closed bomber jacket and a white tee. Emily was wearing her own blue boots, white shirt and pants, her red winter jacket without the hood, and the white beret that Jenny had bought her. “You gonna have that towed outta here?”

“I’m thinkin’ about it, King. Problem is that the only towing services open today are emergency.” He grinned. “If he hasn’t got it moved by tomorrow, though, he’ll be getting it back from Madawaska!”

The photographer and the journalist looked puzzled as Ash approached. “Where’s that?”

“It’s only a stone’s throw from Canada, that’s where. I don’t care if it does cost me a grand to have the damn thing towed up and impounded there; it’s worth it. Besides—‘will be towed at owner’s expense’.” Ash laughed, shaking her head and grinning. “Anyway, King, these two are John and Ed; Ed’s the one with the cameras.”

Ed waved, and John held his hand out. “Hello, um… Ash? Or is it King?”

“Ah, that’s just a nickname, John.” Jimmy replied.

“Ah, I see. You don’t mind that this is being recorded, do you?”

Ash shook her head, then caught herself, “No, I don’t.”

“All right, then. And this is the car?”

“Yeah, this is it.”

“Can we bring it inside? No, no, better yet, put it on the track. This car wants to be on the track, doesn’t it?”

“I’ll say. I’ll go open the gates, then.” Jimmy turned, and Ed started to snap pictures in the cold but bright gray light, while John and Ash climbed into the car with Ash at the wheel.

“So, you got to race the car?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“How was it?”

Ash paused for a few moments, thinking. “In-fucking-credible.”

John laughed. “Hah! I can’t print that! But I happen to agree with you.”

“You do?”

“I do; I’m not just a journoh, I drive and review these cars. I got my hands on one of these about a year ago for a test-drive. Didn’t get to race it, though. So, what do you think of the Carrera GT? In a nut-shell that I can actually take to print?”

Ash thought for a moment or two, starting through the gates when Jimmy waved her through. “It’s like… once you get it onto the track intending to take victory from someone who doesn’t intend to give it up easily… you and the car become like the one.”

“The One? Er, you are making a Matrix reference there, right?”

“Yeah. Not nutshelly enough?”

“Eh… I can use it, actually, I think. Can you elaborate?”

“Well… it’s not like driving a 911 with a Tiptronic. I’ve driven one of those; it’s not the same. All four of your limbs are in use: you’ve got the wheel in your left, the gearshift in your right, and your feet are working the pedals. But this car… It’s the most responsive controls I’ve ever used.”

“You mean in terms of steering?”

“Ah, no, actually. I think the best steering car I’ve ever driven is… Well, the best steering stock car I’ve ever driven is Emily’s 240SX, though not by much.”

“Emily? The friend you drove here with, with the striking blue hair?”

“That’s her. She bought the 240SX on my recommendation.”

“Okay, so if not in terms of steering, then in what way?”

“It’s difficult to describe; you hardly ever have to focus on what your body is doing to the controls. In this car, the controls just work, almost thoughtlessly, like instinct.”

“Isn’t it the same in any car you know well?”

“Absolutely. It’s the same in my Monster, but I had to drive it a while to get to that level. In this car, it’s just engineered so it just works like that. Like this gearshift, I don’t have to reach down. It’s right here, as is the wheel, if I need to use both hands to steer. There’s absolutely no fumble at all, and even a split-second fumble can be deadly.”

“Ain’t that the truth. There was a French reviewer who got his hands on one of these and wrapped it around a roadside obstacle. And another early reviewer shifted down from fifth gear to second.”

“That’s strange. I’d have a hard time imagining making such a mistake.”

“When reviewed it, I commented that the car didn’t need electronic stability control because of its driving behavior, but because of pilot behavior. Did you notice the lack of ESC at all?”

“Yeah, actually, I did. I was glad it was gone.”

“You were?”

“I was. This car… it’s not a grocery-getter, it’s not for a casual driver. You have to want this. There’s ten cylinders of doom sitting about an inch or ten behind your head, and they won’t treat you with any kind of gentleness. You have to know what you’re doing at the wheel of this vehicle—and I don’t just mean in terms of operating a manual transmission. You… how do I put this without sounding crazy? You have to have a purpose behind the wheel of a vehicle like this.”

“So, what was your purpose?”

“Defeating Rainer Herrbruck.”

“Why?”

“Well… no, you know what? It’s not libel; I can produce witnesses to his behavior. Rainer Herrbruck is a sexist jerk.”

The journalist’s eyebrows rose. “Oh really? How so?”

“During the party—”

“Hold on, that’s the party where this car’s owner let you sit in it and use it?”

“Yes.”

“Go on.”

“During the party, Rainer was going around chasing girls away from the steering wheels of the cars, making comments to the effect that they were undeserving of sitting at the wheel. He got my friend Emily, too. She challenged him to take a car out to the track and put his money where his mouth is.”

“But you raced him?”

“He wouldn’t let her drive one of his cars. He didn’t have a choice when the owner of this car told him off, though. He tossed me the keys, said ‘she drives my car!’, and defied Rainer to find a reason to squirm out of it. He couldn’t, so he took the early-production 997 Turbo.”

“I should be upset, I was scheduled to give that car a test-drive today.”

“You were? I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. This is much more interesting. So, you took this car, gave it a few test laps… How did you adjust so fast?”

“Well, I race my own car on the weekends. I’m good at what I do, and this car’s not really stock.”

“It’s not?”

“No. There’s a set of Yokohama street-racing tires on this, he upgraded to Brembo six-pistons on all four wheels, and tuned the suspension to give even better handling.”

“Ahhh.”

“But the engine, it’s all stock. None of these modifications can make up for a lack of driving ability—I should stress that. This particular Carrera GT is actually harder to handle than a stock one if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

“So, he made it touchier?”

“If you can’t use this car with complete clarity of where you’re going and what you’re going to do when you get there, you’re in trouble. It’s like walking, or running. If you just do it, it works fine. If you can’t just do it, you have to think about each step, and that’s dangerous.”

“Show me.”

Ash grinned. “Okay, Morpheus.” She started the car and looked up. Jimmy was crossing his arms. “Hang on, Jimmy wants to say something.”

“Okay.”

She shut the car down, and climbed out. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re gonna need a radio if you’re gonna drive out here. Take this one.” Jimmy held out a radio.

“Not helmets?”

“I’ve seen you drive. I don’t like it, but that car has a full roll bar, and the helmets would make it hard. Don’t get yourself hurt, King.”

“I won’t.”

Ash climbed back in as did John, while his cameraman had set up a video camera.

“What’s with the video camera?”

“For the website.”

“Okay.” Ash clipped the radio to the dashboard-mounted GPS system as she had during the race, and started the car up again, with a growl from its engine. “Buckle up.” She did so, and so did the journalist.

“When you see the flag, King. In five…”

Jimmy didn’t count down—she didn’t need him, watching the flag-tower, where Jenny had (yet again) volunteered to man the flag. Jenny threw the flag, and Ash took off from the line, flooring it and shifting up to second, then third, as she slid smoothly around the chicane.

“You’re good. You also take risks, don’t you, cutting that chicane?”

“Not really. The red and white border of the track is pretty much the same material the track is. The paint may make it a bit slicker, but it’s not enough to notice. It was either slow down and stay in the black, or cut the red and keep your speed up. Frankly, both have their risks, and they’re about the same if you know what you’re doing, so cutting the corner’s the only choice, really.”

“That’s not a very safe thing to advise someone driving this car to do, is it?”

“Not safe at all. Like I said, you have to know what you’re doing, and you should only try stuff like this on a track. Like what I’m about to do.”

Ash slid to the outside lane, firmly goosed the brakes (locking the wheels), and threw the steering wheel. She shifted down as well, all four limbs moving at once. Rubber squealed, the engine howled, and the reporter looked slightly terrified gripping the dashboard as Ash smoothly slid the car into the corners, around them, until she came back out onto the opposite straight at sixty-five miles an hour.

“My goodness, you are a hell-raiser, aren’t you!”

“Am I?” Ash chuckled. “I just know what I’m doing. Obviously, you shouldn’t be doing this if you’re not absolutely in control of the Carrera GT. One mistake and you wrap it around a pole, or send it sailing into the railing or something.”

“How easy is it to drift?”

“Well, it’s not easy to drift anything, but this car… well, like I said, the owner modified it to make it drift according to his ideals. I can make it work quite well, though it doesn’t handle the way I’d love it to, ideally. Still, it works well enough for me. A stock one? I can’t say, since I’ve never driven one that’s absolutely stock. Still, well, it’s not tremendously difficult to drift in. It’s not going to roll, not in a hundred years, unless you do something absolutely off-the-hook. You could easily spin it, though.”

“Did you ever make it spin out?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“I see…”

Ash and the reporter continued to talk about the Carrera GT for the rest of the drive, which took four laps. She slacked off in the third and fourth, letting the Carrera GT’s more gentle driving aspects take over, without babying it ever. She denied getting tired, and did a fifth lap at her full performance to prove it, and then parked the car again.

The rest of the interview consisted mainly of asking her about the party, and her thoughts on Porsche’s other products, which she gave frankly (including getting another ‘I can’t print that!’ to her opinion of the Cayenne), and personal questions (including her mother’s opinion of her racing habits). The photographer took some more pictures of her in front of the car, and eventually they concluded with her driving off, this time with her mother in the car.

“How are you feeling, Ash?”

“I’m…” Ash laughed softly. “A bit giddy. Tired. Exhausted, even. That was draining.”

“Talking for a long time?”

“Yeah, it is. I had to do my best to answer quickly and, you know… not seem like I was searching for words? That’s kind of…”

“Draining, I understand. It is getting surprisingly late. It’ll be five when we get home, maybe you should take a nap?”

“Yeah, actually… a nap sounds good.” Ash smiled, sighing happily.

Her mother did likewise, sighing, though she sounded more perturbed to Ash’s ears. “Ash,” she began, “Ummm… you do know that no matter what, I’m going to support you, right?”

“Um… yesssss, why?” Ash blinked, already getting that ‘this is going to be one of those talks I don’t want to have’ feeling in her stomach.

“Ash, I… Oh, hell, there’s no easy way to say this. Ash, I’m not going to try to tell you what to do, just be careful, okay?”

“Um… I’m always careful, mom.”

“Well… Look, baby…” She sighed. “Just listen, okay?”

“Uh… I’m listening…”

“When I was putting myself through business school, Ash, I was involved with someone, a man.

One night, he wanted a threesome, and… well, somehow it wound up being better than normal, what with the other girl.”

“Oh. My. God…” Ash’s mind whimpered, as her mother continued.

“That wasn’t the end of it. I asked to continue the ménage à trois affair, because she and I had actually become good acquaintances—I mean, not just in bed. We actually wound up in his apartment most nights.”

“I don’t believe she’s telling me this,” Ash thought, beet red. “And I don’t know why, either. Is it some part of the parenthood code that you must mortify your child at least once a week?” Ash’s cheeks burned—in the rear-view mirror, she could see her mother’s cheeks were lightly red, and her eyes were closed.

“Eventually, it seemed that our boyfriend just wanted sex, while we were getting closer. We started doing things without him—going out on dates, cramming for tests, things like that. He found out, threw a fit. It got ugly, and in the end, he tore all of us apart, I never really saw her again.”

“Ummm… sorry?” Ash opened her mouth, trying to think of what to say.

“So, I’m just saying… be careful, Ash. I’m not going to yell at you, I don’t even necessarily disapprove of you and Emily sleeping with Jenny. I just don’t want to see, hmmm, something bad happen there. You and Emily were best friends before you were lovers, and that’s something too valuable to waste.”

Ash choked, nearly slamming on the brakes. She saw Jenny behind her have to apply the brakes on the 996 to avoid her before she got the Carrera GT back up to speed. “Oh, My, God, you can’t be thinking… me and Em and Jenny…”

“Come on, Ash, you don’t have to hide it from me. I’m not naive, and I have woken up in bed with two other girls before.”

“(Arrrgh!) Whoa there, mom! Too much goddamn info!” Ash felt like she’d probably die of mortification if she hadn’t vowed to return the Carrera GT in good condition.

Her mother snickered softly at her. “Ash, I saw where your arms were under those covers. I’m not stupid, and I’m not going to pry, either. I just want you to be careful, baby. Twice the lovers is opening yourself up for twice the avenues of potential heartache and twice the pain, and girls can be neurotic lovers at the best of times, let alone having two at once.”

“Oh, Jeez.” Ash let out a whimper, saying, quietly, “Mom? Please, you’ve got it all wrong.”

“If you say so, baby.” Marie stroked Ash’s hair, gently. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but you can tell me anything, Ash. I don’t care what or who you love, or even how many. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Good grief…” Ash sighed, shaking her head. “Are you done murdering me with embarrassing confessions and misunderstandings?”

“Mmm… I think so.”

“Thank god.”

“Unless you want to know what I was doing in a bed with two other women.”

“Nothankyouthat’stotallyallright!” Ash blurted, getting a laugh out of her mother.

Upton Residence, December 27, 2004, 2:37 AM

“What’s she doing?”

“This is her pre-race meditation, Jenny,” Emily replied, quietly.

Ash was, as usual, sitting on her bed, wearing only her boxer-like shorts and a tee-shirt, which she somehow still managed to wear half-way down one arm. She was cross-legged in a lotus position, and she spoke. “A race is decided long before it’s won on the track, Jenny. I’m running through the race in my head. By the time Brent calls, I’ll have gone through it at least twenty times in my head.”

“Wow…”

“That’s not a lot, actually. When she has all day, she goes through it more than a hundred times.”

“I’m not too worried, even though there’s no way in hell I could pull a sidewalk trick if I were so inclined.”

Jenny nodded, and climbed onto the bed behind Ash, starting to rub her shoulders. “Well, then… I wanna see you flatten him.”

Emily smiled, and climbed on beside Ash, adopting the same position.

“What’re you thinking of, Em?”

“Mmm… I’m just trying it.”

“Planning on challenging Brent after I’m done?”

“Nope. Casper.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah. Didn’t you hear? He said he’d be bringing his Toyota MR2. He knew Brent was going to challenge you again. I figure he might go a run with me, in the 996.”

“Sounds good. Go for it, Em.” Ash smiled softly; it was actually relaxing, Jenny’s hands on her shoulders, then moving away to Emily’s, with her blue-haired tuner’s thigh pressed against her own. The vision of the Truro track was running through Ash’s head from start to finish, from taking an early lead against Brent, to all the difficult speed-maintenance maneuvers she would have to undertake to get to the second to last turn far enough ahead to prevent Brent from overtaking her using the sidewalk trick.

Emily let out a sigh as Ash spoke quietly, “You’re already there. You’re at the wheel of the red 911. You gun the engine as Jenny raises her arms…”

Ash’s voice started her mind, and she could almost see it in front of her—then she could; the wheel in her hands, the paddle shifter under her fingertips. She set the car into sport-driving mode, the override allowing her to call her own shift-points as long as she didn’t drastically overdo it. Behind her, the engine purred up, ready. Jenny threw her arms down, and Emily’s foot floored the accelerator.

“Ow!”

Emily winced, broken from her reverie, with Ash rubbing her right thigh—Emily had driven her foot into Ash’s leg. Jenny was covering her mouth with her hand, giggling through her palm, and Ash grimaced at Emily, but then grinned. “And they’re off?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Work on not kicking me, eh?”

“Sorry.”

Ash’s cell phone rang. Jenny handed it to its owner; it said Brent on the top screen.

“Yes?”

“You ready for our re-match, Ash? Bring the best wheels and best deal you’ve got. Don’t even think about bringing anything less than your ‘A’ game.”

“I dunno, I could probably beat your granny-driver ass with my ‘C’ game, but I won’t disappoint.”

“Good. Come on out, then.”

“Will do.” Ash closed the phone and grinned. “Showtime.”

The Truro Track, 3:12 AM

“You don’t think they’ve stood us up, do you?”

Brent shook his head at Casper’s question, sitting in the inside of Casper’s MR2. “Nah. They’ll be here. Girls are just habitually late, you know?”

“I dunno… they don’t live far.”

“Maybe they stopped at a 24/7 to grab a snack? Hell, we should have.”

“Man, you think with your stomach sometimes.”

“What can I say? Man needs fuel to rock and roll… Mmmh, need to stretch my legs.”

“Fair ’nuff, me too.”

Brent got out of the Spyder, walked over to his BMW M3, and leaned on the side, as did Casper. “Yo, Cas.”

“What?”

“Ten bucks says I beat her off the line to the first corner.”

“Really? Shit, that ain’t fair, you supercharged this thing.”

“I’ll give you two-to-one odds.”

“Lemme check.” Casper pulled out his wallet to check to see if he could cover it. “You’re on.”

“Easy money, sucker.” Then Brent’s ears perked up. “What the hell is that?”

The approaching sound was quiet and raspy, but it sent a chill down his spine, like what he imagined it would sound like if the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse had traded up to cars. The last time an engine’s sound had engendered that kind of a reaction, it was from the Kamikaze’s BMW Z3.

“No clue. Not a turbo, not a super… engine swap, maybe?”

“Maybe. What the hell sounds like that, though?”

“Not a friggin’ clue… Holy… that’s bright.”

Brent pointed—the rear wall of the large building one had to approach to turn into the starting line was illuminated with a bright, blue spotlight, the circles of the light growing smaller and more intense before they dropped suddenly.

“Holy fucking hell,” Casper murmured, as he saw what turned the corner illuminated under the harsh incandescence of the parking lot’s lights. Gliding like a phantom barely above the road, the glossy red vehicle was like a long, sleek mile of racetrack escaped onto the street. It nearly blinded them when it turned, and Casper looked down in time to see the toothpick Brent was always chewing on hit the black tarmac at their feet.

“Man, this is what you get for bragging.”

Brent mutely took his wallet out, removing a twenty-dollar bill and forking it over. “Where the hell did she get it?”

“I have no clue. This is still your fault, Brent. You’re the one who bragged at her and told her you wouldn’t accept anything less than her very, very best.”

“I think I need to learn to keep my goddamn mouth shut.”

“Yes. Yes you do.”

The doom of Brent’s pride pulled up next to them on the start line. With their attention focused on it, they had both failed to notice the red Porsche 996 pulling up as well, parking next to Casper’s MR2. The engine on the red… thing… gunned slightly, and then shut off instantly as the door opened. Ash climbed out of it, wearing a brown leather bomber jacket.

“You ready?”

Brent tried to spit out his toothpick, then realized he’d already lost it. “Damn, girl, where’d you get that? What is it?!”

Ash smirked at him. “This? This is a Porsche Carrera GT.”

“Holy shit. That thing looks like a million dollars.”

“Nah. Just about half of that.”

Brent shook his head. “Goddamn, what’d you do, win a lottery?”

“Eh… something like that.” Ash grinned wolfishly—it sent a shiver down Brent’s spine, reminding him of nothing so much as the time Kate had come for him. “You still want to do this?”

“Fuck yes,” Brent said. “I wouldn’t turn down a chance like this for the world.”

Casper got up and walked towards the red 911 that had parked next to his car as Brent and Ash bantered; the other girls were getting out of it. “Hey, Casper,” Emily said, waving at him.

“Damn, what’d you two do, get Porsche to sponsor your racing?”

“Just about,” Emily replied. “Hey, when these two are done, you want a go?”

“Against that thing? Pass.”

“Nah, against this.” She patted the 996 above its engine compartment gently—and grateful for wearing gloves.

“Well, okay… I’m gonna get my ass kicked, aren’t I?”

“Maybe. I like this car, but it’s stock, and I haven’t won a race in it yet.”

“Looking to pick on a poor Toyota?”

“Mmmmaybe.”

The dark-skinned boy turned around. “I oughta go… Oh, looks like Jenny already got to it.” Jenny was standing between the two cars. Brent had actually given her a pair of road flares; they were in her hands, carefully held, as she turned around.

“Oh Jeez,” Emily laughed. “She really does love her some Need for Speed.”

“Yeah, she does. She whooped my ass enough to prove it.”

Jenny raised the flares twice, and then crouched with them, pressing them to the ground. The two cars tore off, the red Porsche easily outstripping Brent’s M3 to the first corner, and Casper laughed. “Easiest twenty I’ve ever made.”

“Easiest twenty?”

“You know how Brent was bragging about his new supercharger? He bet me ten, and gave me two-for-one odds, that he’d beat Ash to the first corner.”

Emily giggled softly, shaking her head. “Boys and their bets.”

“Yeah. When we saw that monstrosity turn the corner, he just handed me the twenty right there.” Emily giggled again, amused.

On The Track, 3:17 AM

“Not far enough ahead…” Ash was pushing the Carrera GT, but given the traction nightmare that was the Truro track, not as hard as she would have on the speedway. She needed to get more distance; there was no way she could take the Carrera through the corner the way Brent did, it had no ground clearance to speak of. Her rear was merely a few inches from the ground in the red vehicle. She was about half of a lot ahead of Brent and gaining, but she’d need to be more or less a whole lot ahead.

The Truro track was punishing after the speedway; the tight connecting roads were bad, and the small curbs up to the sidewalk might as well be solid walls ten feet tall in the Carrera GT. It was a testament to Porsche’s engineering and power that she was as far ahead as she was; she had to brake a lot more than she liked to keep from smashing the car’s side on a curb.

“Greh! Pole!” Ash slid the wheel to the left, gliding past the pole—the same one that had nearly taken off one of the XR4Ti’s mirrors last time—with only a few inches to spare. Still, it left her in good shape for the next turn, and she floored it again, zooming through the connecting road to the next lot…

Truck!

An enormous, late-model Dodge Ram was in the way—not so near that she was risking collision, but it was parked dead in her line of travel, forming a barrier that she and Brent would have to go around to get to the next lot. She might be able to use it, though—the GT had far more acceleration than Brent’s M3, even with its supercharger. She held her speed until the last possible second, drifted to the left, and put Nathan’s six-piston Brembos to hard use, braking hard and cutting right, then back left, and shifting down. She did as near to a drift around the corner as she could, lining up with the next road and flooring it, letting the engine howl behind her.

She made the turn into the next lot, as Brent’s car was finally getting onto the connecting road behind her. She might do this—Ash all but floored the accelerator, soaring towards the next road in a roar of power. Brent turned into the mirror as she was three quarters of the way across, and Ash bit her lip. “This is going to be close.” She continued onwards, cursing the next turn, which was a right angle; she had to brake hard to make the turn, which Brent smoothly slid across by virtue of having higher ground clearance and a well-practiced drift. She was half a lot ahead, and the next turn was the deciding turn, the one with the light pole and the curb trick.

“Oh hell, here goes…” Ash let the Carrera GT’s engine roar, as Brent tried furiously to catch up to her. She drifted left, cut the wheel hard to the right, sliding down on the pedals. She was going to make it, she made it ahead of Brent into the last lot…

“Dirty, cheating, clever bastard!” The sidewalk to the left of the ending road had been cleared off and a ramp had been constructed out of plywood with a mound of sand under it. He was going to try and pull the Ash maneuver on her.

“Nothing for it.” Ash floored the accelerator, and so did Brent. The Carrera’s ground clearance was far too low to try the maneuver, even if it had been her car. “Spiced up your suspension, too, I guess?” She bared her teeth. She hit the last road. Her heart was pounding—fuck this up, and she’d owe far, far more than she could ever pay back. This victory wouldn’t be won by clever skill alone, but it wasn’t going to be horsepower, either. She’d have to slam the brakes just right to make this turn. Ash licked her lip, watching as Brent’s M3 jumped up half onto the sidewalk. Do or die time. If she wasn’t far enough ahead of Brent, she’d not only crash, she’d probably be dead.

She didn’t. Had she been driving her own car, she might have, she very nearly might have. As it was, she wasn’t willing to risk death (in the low-slung Carrera GT, his bumper was about level with her head) in someone else’s car. She slammed the brakes on, letting Brent sail past to the finish line, and crept the Carrera GT barely onto the sand, leaving its rear wheels on the solid tarmac. She shut the engine off, the dark blossom of displeasure and disquiet curling in her guts.

Was it cheating? If she’d been in the Monster, she could have exploited the ramp, too. She knew the Carrera had what it would have taken—if she’d done it just right, she could’ve sailed past him to victory.

Ash crossed her arms, staring at Brent as he turned his BMW around, killing the headlamps. He got out, looking cocky, thrilled even. “Good for you,” she muttered to her windshield, as she got out, crossing her arms. “Age and treachery beats youth and skill every time, eh Brent?”

“Aw, come on, don’t be like that. You could’ve still won, why’d you puss out?”

“I’m not risking my head against your bumper to win a race where you changed the course without telling me. Congratulations on the win.”

She sat back into the Carrera GT and drove back to the starting line, still in an angry fog. She briefly toyed with the idea of simply speeding away, but Emily deserved her shot at Casper, too. And she wanted a rematch. She shut the engine off, waiting.

Emily appeared next to the window, knocking gently on it. “Ash? Are you okay? What’s wrong? You didn’t… you didn’t lose, did you?”

“You don’t win ’em all, Emily.”

“How did you lose?!”

Ash scowled. “He cleared off the sidewalk and built a ramp out of sand and plywood.”

“He… oh, I see.” Anger flashed into Emily’s eyes.

Ash reached up, taking her chin in her hand. “Don’t say a word about it. I want another shot at the asshole. I’m just pissed he didn’t tell me up front. Now that I know what’s what? He’s dog meat.”

“All right, Ash.” Emily then pulled Ash’s head to the window, and kissed her in full view of Brent, Casper, and Jenny, before turning and running back to the 996. She pulled up to the starting line, followed by Casper. Jenny went to start them, and Brent parked his car next to the Carrera. Ash watched the start—the 996 took the early lead, turning the corner ahead of Casper’s MR2.

She was hit by a gust of wind, and looked over to see Brent had opened the passenger door and sat inside. “Come to gloat? Good race, you won.”

“Will you listen?”

“To what? I don’t need your condolences. You won, congratulations.”

“Just shut up for a minute, okay, Ash?”

Ash turned her head with a dangerous look in her eyes. Brent sighed, slumping his shoulders. “I did it for you.”

“What? You cheated and changed the course without telling me… for me?”

“No. I figured you were going to have that car you drove last time, the XR4Ti. I didn’t figure it was fair at all, since I put a super in my M3. So I put in the ramp for you to use. I figured if you were good enough to get there ahead of me or just behind, you could jump up on the ramp and win. I wasn’t planning to use it.”

“Why did you?”

“Same reason you did last time. Desperation. Determination. Stubborn stupidity. Take your pick. But why’d you stop?”

“What do you mean?”

“Come on, you were half-way up the road from me when I got to the corner. You and I both know damn well you could’ve made the turn and boosted onto the sand before I got there.”

“… I dunno. I was pissed. I didn’t want to risk the car. I didn’t want to risk getting plowed into.”

“Do you seriously think I wasn’t going to stop?”

“What?”

“Do you seriously think I wouldn’t have put the brakes on if I saw the side of your car? I slowed down, even.”

“…” Ash sighed, leaning forward on the wheel of the Carrera GT.

“So… I’m sorry. You deserved that win, it really was yours.”

“No, it’s not. I decided it wasn’t worth risking my ride and my life to get a win.”

“… Sorry, Ash.”

“Yeah, well, nothing to be done about it.”

“So, uh… nice car. Real nice car. How’d you get it?”

“Well…” She remembered she had copies of the pictures in the glove compartment. “You could say

I won the right to drive it for awhile.” She opened the glove box. “Leer at me in that outfit and I punch your lights out, just so we’re perfectly clear.”

“Crystal.”

Ash took the glossies out, explaining about the party and Rainer Herrbruck and then about Joshua’s malevolent destruction of her Monster, and how the owner had extended his loan of the GT more or less indefinitely.

On The Track, 3:24 AM

“Gah! Truck!”

Emily cursed to herself; she’d already buzzed past a light pole with inches to spare, and Casper was dead on her bumper, looking for a chance to speed by, any chance. This was not going to be easy, not at all. She had to do this without giving him an opening…

She cut left, slowing down as he broke right. As agile and nimble as the 996 was, Casper’s Spyder was even lighter and more agile, not to mention smaller. He came back to her right, and they were neck and neck. The next turn was a gentle neck, not a right-angle, so they managed to stay together, Emily riding hard on the Porsche’s engine, trying to get back to the speed she’d had. She couldn’t get far enough ahead, not at speed, with Casper’s turbo running and keeping him in his boost zone, but the naturally breathing engine behind her wasn’t going to lose its momentum. She was pulling ahead, but not decisively—and Casper was in the side of the turn.

“Hellfire and blast,” Emily thought to herself, angry: angry at the locals for robbing Ash out of what should have been a victory with no question, angry for the cheating. It was almost as bad, she decided, as sabotaging someone’s car. She let off, letting the Spyder take the turn into the next lot.

She nosed in right behind Casper, pushing the Porsche’s bumper inches behind his in his slipstream. She had a feeling he was going to try the curb trick, and wasn’t disappointed. She let off barely, as they reached the end of the line, Casper cutting his wheels to the right. The car spun hard, and she followed him, spinning her wheel hard to the right.

It was a lot less pleasant in the 996 than in the Monster, and she hoped fervently she hadn’t scraped up the side, as the bone-jarring force pushed her car into line. Casper was accelerating, as was she, but he somehow wasn’t aiming for the ramp. “Oh, I hope I hope I hope this works!”

She was riding Casper’s bumper—to hit the ramp, he might have had to slow down. She only tapped the brakes long enough to swing to the left, biting her lip as she aligned. She realized only just in time to take her lip out of her teeth and clench them together.

The force of the ramp was bone jarring, to say the least, as she jumped the Porsche up onto the sidewalk. Her fingers clenched tightly into her palm around the steering wheel, as she floored the accelerator and shifted down. He wasn’t far enough ahead; it took Casper a second to realize this as she pushed down next to him. He turned his head, quite startled to see her riding next to him, and the MR2 shuddered, crouching forward like a cat about to pounce as he slammed the brakes letting Emily sail past him. She sucked in breath as she turned, the 996 falling down with yet another bone jarring, teeth-rattling slam, and she sailed onto the beach, with Casper following. They both turned around, the tracks their cars forming a sort of heart shape, leaving both Porsche and MR2 facing the road again.

“My heart…” She felt it beating like crazy, swamped in the euphoria of the victory and the rush of the race, the schadenfreudian, delightfully spiteful sensation of having prevailed over the cheater.

Exuberantly, she tore her headband off, flinging it into the passenger seat, laughing, “Yes!” She clenched her hands, laughing, and got out of the car.

Casper was staring at her, wide-eyed in awe. “How did you do that, Emily?!”

“What do you mean? The real question is, why didn’t you?” Emily rested her arms on the roof of the 996. “You guys put the ramp up.”

“Ramp? What ramp?”

“The… the ramp leading to the sidewalk?”

“There was… Shit, I didn’t even see it. He actually put it up?! No wonder Ash was pissed.”

“What do you mean?” Spite gave way to confusion, and Casper leaned on the other side of the 996. “I mean, Brent was talking about how he oughta clean off that sidewalk and put in a ramp so Ash could use it. He figured she was going to be driving that XR4Ti she brought last time, and didn’t think it’d be much of a challenge to him with his new super, so…”

“I…” Emily blinked. “He put it in for her to use? Oh Jeez.”

“She was pissed, wasn’t she?”

“She called him a cheating bastard.”

“Oh Jeez.” Casper’s face fell, and he sighed. “Man, he must’ve used it when he realized that Carrera GT was going to crush him. No wonder she’s pissed, that’s like, using her own move against her. That’s like… like cheating. He kinda meant it to be a surprise.”

“Holy shit. We’d better go and tell her, before she clocks him one.”

“She prone to violence?”

“Well, when she feels wronged… yeah.”

Casper turned, darting back towards his Spyder, as Emily climbed back into the Porsche and drove back down the course.

On The Starting Line, 3:38 AM

“So, we cool?”

“Yeah, we’re cool. I’m sorry I got steamed at you earlier.” Ash offered her partially leather clad hand, which Brent took, shaking it.

“You had every right to get pissed. Really, is there anything I can do to make us good?”

“Well, it’s late. A rematch might be nice, but…”

“Yeah. Besides, I’m gonna be up awhile tearing that ramp out, too.”

Ash looked over at Jenny and grinned. “I tell you what, there is something you can do.”

“What’s that?”

“Give me your car tomorrow.”

“Er… My Beem? Why?”

“Well, you see… I have a friend, who happens to be standing over by her Lexus because she’s all-awkward about what she did to you, and she’s getting into cars. I’d like to try to teach her to drive a stick…”

“But the only stick you have on-hand is a five-hundred thousand dollar race car that she could easily destroy by making a newbie mistake that my M3 could survive.”

“Exactly.”

Brent slouched his shoulders. “You, Ash Upton, are an evil, evil girl. You know that, don’t you?”

“So I’ve been told.”

“Done. Just try not to have the transmission blown up or something.”

“Want me to disconnect the supercharger so it’s not quite as easy for her to fuck it up?”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Okay, so, me and Cas follow you home, I leave you my keys and the BMW? Don’t wreck it, please.”

“I won’t let her wreck it.”

“Good.” Brent sighed. “I really shouldn’t let you do this, but… Well, I know you’re a good driver, and what I did was fucked up.”

“It was, yeah,” Ash smirked. “But I won’t hold it against you.”

“All right, all right. Jeez, who’da thought I’d be loaning out my M3 to let someone teach my psycho ex-girlfriend from way back to drive a manual?” He sighed. “You owe me for this, ramp or no ramp.”

“Understood, with the caveat that I can’t let you drive the Carrera GT, since it’s not mine.”

“Well, damn,” Brent said with a grin. “Oh well, I’ll figure out something else, then.”

Ash looked up at the sound of engines. The 996 emerged from the course first, driving out to the lot, parking next to them. Emily got out, running towards Ash, as she saw Ash and Brent talking. “Ash! Don’t punch him. He didn’t do what you think he did for the reason you think he did!”

Ash blinked, as Casper parked his MR2 next to the 996, and Emily ran up to her. “What did you say, Emily? In short, bite-size chunks?”

“I said, don’t punch him.”

“I haven’t.”

“He didn’t do what you think he did—”

“Yes, he did, but go on.”

“For the reason you think he did it.”

“I know.”

“You know?”

“I know. He told me.”

“Oh… Oh.” Emily blushed, softly. “Uhh… sorry.”

“No problem, I’m exacting a toll out of him for it, anyway. Who won, by the way?”

Emily’s face lit up. “I did!”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah. Casper slid by thanks to that truck on the parking lot, but the ramp was still up, so I hit it.”

Brent’s eyes lit up. “Oh, really? You pulled off the Ash Maneuver? Damn, that’s good work, Emily.” He turned to Casper, waving at him. “Sounds like she owned you hardcore, Casper!”

“Eh, it was a fair dealie, since neither of us put the ramp up. You, on the other hand…”

“I know, I know, it was stupid.”

“Damn right it was.” Casper walked up, laughing and shaking his head. “Anyway… damn, what time is it?”

Emily double-checked her watch. “Jeez, it’s less than twenty minutes ’till four.”

“Mmmh. All right then.”

“Hey, Cas, change of plans.” Brent explained what was going on to his friend, and they got back in the cars, returning to Marie’s home.

Upton Residence, 9:48 AM

“Okay, let’s see. We have the Carrera GT, my Lexus SC, and the… BMW M3,” Jenny said as the three were walking out of the house.

“Yep. You got it right!”

Jenny grinned back at Emily and giggled. “I’m not good at knowing things, but if I’ve been told something, I can remember it fairly well.”

“Okay, so… who’s driving what?”

“Well, first…” Ash winced when she saw the amount of sand crusted on the Carrera GT. “First, we need to find someplace where I can wash that off. We also need to put your Lexus up on jacks and put those spinners on.”

“And get the spoiler painted, right?” Jenny asked.

“Right…” Ash sighed. “Gonna be a busy day, then. That’s perfect, right?”

“Right! We’ll have something to do,” Emily concluded.

Ash started towards the Carrera GT when her cell phone went off. She picked it up, but didn’t recognize the number. She flipped it open, saying, “Hello?”

“Ash! Thank goh’ ye’r all righ! Wha’ the bloody ’ell ’appened?!”

“Harry? Harry, slow down. What’re you talking about?”

“We jus’ goh’ back from a wee lil’ Christmas trip, an’ I’ve goh’ an e-mail from an old customer saying that someone ripped the Monster to shreds!”

Ash sighed. “Okay, okay. I’m fine.”

“Tha’s a relief, lass. Now, wha’ went on?”

“Well, I kinda used the Monster for evil. I took some punk for a ride by challenging him to a race.”

“How’s tha’ evil? What’re you talkin’ about?”

“Okay, look. This punk was talking like he had game and he didn’t, and I challenged him. He tried to bet money, but I didn’t have hundreds to cover it, so I went to pinks, thinking he’d back down. He didn’t, so I took his car.”

“Yeah, an’?”

“Well, he came by Christmas morning, like, half past midnight, heaved a rock through the window, took a tire iron and smashed it all to hell.”

“Ah, goh’, are ye okay? He didn’t go for yeh, did he?”

“We were out at the time, at a party.”

“Oh, thank goh’ for tha’… Eh? Hang on.” She heard a rustling sound, and Kate’s voice came on. “Ash, are you okay?”

Ash rolled her eyes but smiled. “Yes, Kate, I’m fine. I’m fine. He didn’t get near me.”

“Good. I’d hate to have to kill someone. Mind explaining what happened?” Ash repeated her story.

“That’s quite a tale.”

“You don’t know the half of it, trust me.”

“Where are you, anyway?”

“Cape Cod.”

“No, I mean the address; Harry’s already fueling up the flatbed to come get the Monster. Are you stuck? I can bring the Jaguar if you need a ride home.”

Ash blinked and blushed. It made her kind of proud, in a silly way, that Kate the Kamikaze would actually run out all the way to Cape Cod on December the 27th to rescue her. “I’m fine, Kate, I’m fine. And, uh, there’s no point in coming out now. The cops have the Monster at the impound; I don’t know when we’ll get it back.”

“Oh… that’s… well, that’s not such good news.”

“Tell me about it, Kate.” Ash sighed. “Anyway, we’re fine, we’re all fine.”

“That’s a relief, then. Oh, by the way, this number is Harry’s cell phone number.”

“Ah, I figured. Thanks, though.”

“Give us a call when you need to come back. We’ll come and get the Monster.”

“Right. Will do. Until then… stuff to do, cars to wash, people to teach to drive manuals. Busy day ahead of us.”

“Really? Sounds like it. Have fun, little sister.”

“Thanks, bye.”

Ash hung up and explained what the commotion had been. Ash got the address of the garage that Brent recommended; fortuitously, it was about halfway between her mother’s home and the speedway. “Once we’re there, we can ask where the nearest car wash is and then wash these off, hmm?”

“Sounds like a plan. They’re all kinds of sandy.”

The shop Brent had recommended to Ash turned out to be owned by the same man who had dropped off the Porsche’s parts. He made an emphatic, if quiet, show of ‘meeting’ them for the first time, and said that Brent had said that he might be sending some friends his way. He had absolutely no problem with them putting the Lexus up on a lift, since it was early and he hadn’t any work yet, and agreed to paint the spoiler the same mother-of-pearl shade as the car’s body for another two hundred and fifty. Jenny paid for both with her credit card.

The job took about an hour, and the spoiler could be dried in a hurry by placing it in an oven made specifically for the job. When asked about the oven, he just shrugged. “I do a lot of spoilers.”

With directions to the nearest manual car wash that was enclosed, the three of them took the BMW and the Carrera GT through. Emily and Jenny took the M3, while Ash carefully cleaned the Carrera GT; she was only half-done by the time Emily and Jenny had finished with Brent’s car, and the two set the BMW out and came in to help. Ash was absolutely babying the car, cleaning it with a fanatic attention to detail and care for the full carbon-fiber body.

The Cape Cod Speedway, 3:31 PM

“Well, now that we’re here… what?”

“Well…” Emily looked up. “I dunno. Find Fitz or Jimmy, I guess?”

“Sounds like a plan. Lead on.”

The showroom was spotless and devoid of vehicles. Emily led the way through the showroom, followed by Ash and Jenny, towards the offices. She opened the door, and they found Mr. Fitzgerald sitting at his desk, with his back to them.

“We’re closed, but if you absolutely need the track, we can open it, for the right pri—oh, it’s you lot.” He caught sight of them in the mirror above his desk, and turned around. The goateed track owner sighed. “Jimmy said you lot might be ’round. Are you proud of yourselves?

“I’ve been threatened with a lawsuit for discrimination, harassment, and breach of contract by both of my sponsors. Mr. Almacy himself extracted a promise from me—on pain of suing my venue into oblivion—that I wouldn’t simply tell you lot to take yourselves and go away. Do you have any idea how much trouble I could be in if the insurance company learned I was letting teenage girls drive vehicles as abominably powerful as yours on my track? And you!” He pointed at Ash. “You’re not even driving that muscle car of yours, now you’re driving that jackass’s Carrera GT? Do you have any idea how high my premiums go per horsepower? If you wreck that thing and get yourself killed, your precious pet company won’t have to sue my venue into oblivion; the insurance agency will have my hide first!”

Ash looked about to respond, but Fitz cut her off. “It doesn’t honestly matter any more, does it? You win. Thanks to that idiot Rainer, I’m caught between the rock and the hard place. Go ahead, Jimmy’s in the garages off of the pits, using my machines to tune his own damn car. And I can’t do anything about it; if I fire the big lout, I’ll never find another race boss, and I’ll never get another race customer again. And if I tell you lot to piss off, I get sued into oblivion.”

Fitz reached into his desk, pulled out a shot glass and a bottle of whiskey, pouring himself some. “Sláinte, girls. You win. Now get out of my office, please.”

Bewildered and slightly guilty, Ash turned around, shrugging at Jenny and Emily, who shrugged back. They proceeded out to the back. There was a loud roar coming from the directions of the pits, and Jenny winced at the sound.

“What the hell is that?”

“If that’s Jimmy’s car… It’s his muscle car. He owns a Barracuda.”

Ash leaned her head into the pits. Jimmy was focused intently on his car, its rear tires firmly planted on a dynamo, the engine under the hood roaring with deafening sound. Ash realized, even as she covered her ears, that the green ’cuda must have been venting to straight air or nearly. Jimmy had ear protectors on, and she felt quite envious. Soon enough the noise died off, and she walked into the garage, waving.

The neckbearded race-boss got out of the car. “Jeez, I’m sorry. You okay?”

“What?!”

“I said, are you okay?!” He reached in and shut off the idling engine, and Ash took her hands from her ears.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I think. Let me hear again first.”

“Sorry, I didn’t know you were here. What’s up?”

“Uh, we just… What the hell is that?”

“That?” Jimmy laughed, and reached in, pulling the hood release. He snagged a pair of gloves and pushed the hood up. The heat in the engine bay literally shimmered the air above it. “That, my liege, is The Legend. The Chrysler 426 Hemi. There’s no replacement for displacement, and this is the engine to prove it. No turbo-super-ultra-mothercharger on this baby, just pure, pure engine.”

Ash snickered softly, as Jenny and Emily finally ventured into the bay. “Why the hell was it so damn loud, though?”

“Well, it’s a 426 Hemi. They are loud.”

“Not that loud. I’ve seen that car drive; what the hell did you do to it, take the pipes off?”

“Damn near,” he said, with a grin. “Can you keep a secret?”

“Of course.”

“Well then, let me put it up on jacks and I’ll show you. Clear the bay!”

“Wait, you have jacks here?”

“Yeah, why?”

“No reason… Damn, we could’ve saved fifty bucks.”

Jimmy laughed softly. “Clear outta here, will ya?”

The race-boss disconnected the dynamo, locked the spinners, and transferred his Hemicuda to the next bay (making not nearly as much noise as before). He put it up on jacks and took out a flashlight. He pointed up at the underside of the car. “See that bit of extra thickness on the pipes, just behind the engine?”

“Yeah, they look like extra supports, don’t they?”

“Not quite. See, I can’t get to it now, but there’s a little lever under the seat that makes those push back. Essentially, she vents to straight air after two and a half inches to pipe. It’s terribly, terribly illegal, and I strongly recommend you don’t even think about it. Mine came this way.”

Ash shook her head, chuckling softly. “Well, damn. That’s, um… certainly something.”

“I’ll say. She gulps air straight in, shoves it straight out, and takes off the line like a rocket. Which, frankly, is exactly what she’s supposed to do.”

“How fast will it do a quarter mile?” Emily asked.

“I’ve managed to get it down to eleven and a half.”

Ash whistled softly, shaking her head.

“Truth be told, it doesn’t actually need the cut-outs; those two and a quarter inch pipes came stock. I just have them there so I can abuse the ears of people who piss me off by doing a burn-out in front of their homes at three AM. Popping the cut-outs only gets me maybe two, three horses at the most, and she’s already pulling close to four-sixty.”

Ash laughed. “You’re a bastard, Jimmy.”

“Don’t I know it, King. Anyway, what are you lot here for?”

“Teaching.”

“Teaching?”

Ash nodded. “I’ve got a BMW M3 I want to teach Jenny to drive a stick on, and I want to let Emily learn to drive the Carrera, too.”

“A BMW M3? Where’d you get that?”

“Stuck it to a local racer and made him loan it out for the day.”

“Hah! Wait… Brent, right? Beady-eyed little shit with a fast car and an all-kinds-of-disturbing stare?”

“That’s him. You know him?”

“Yeah, I know the kid. He’s, eh, all right. Made the mistake of challenging me last week, then made the even worse mistake of agreeing to make it a quarter-mile drag, because he was boasting all over about how fast his new supercharger spools up. I guess he never heard of what I drive.”

Ash laughed and winced. “Damn. That must’ve been embarrassing.”

“For him, maybe. I love the opportunity to school any little punk in the art of pure MOPAR Muscle. Anyway, go get the cars, pull ’em into the pits, you know the deal.”

Jimmy inspected and fueled their cars, and was forced to charge them for a change, since Fitz had said he’d have his hide if not. It was 200 for the day, which they pooled together, and of course, Ash needed a new helmet, since hers was still (presumably) at the impound.

The day proceeded smoothly, if uneventfully. Ash first satisfied herself that Emily could handle the Carrera GT, and left Emily to her own devices on the track, then went to show Jenny how to drive the manually-operated BMW M3.

The day went great. Jenny was, well… really bad at manually shifting, but Emily had been no better when she first started. She had, at least, managed to get Brent’s BMW up to fifth gear before running out of straight, having taken the whole straight from the rear of the corner to the end of the next. Emily as well, managed to place high in the time trials; she edged out Ash and Jimmy in the modified cars section, claiming third place in Nathan’s Carrera GT, to which Ash vowed to come back and retake it.

As they were packing up, Jimmy called out to them, “Hey, just a bit of an F-Y-I the track will be busy on Wednesday.”

“What’s Wednesday?”

“The Demon of Greylock is coming down in her Jag to take her position back.”

“Holy shit… Kate?” Ash and Emily grinned at each other. “We’re definitely gonna be here.”

“Feel free. Though Nathan may be, too.”

“That’s no problem.”

Upton Residence, 9:31 PM

After leaving Brent’s M3 at Casper’s house (as Brent had requested), Ash, Emily, and Jenny returned to Ash’s mother’s home, to a surprising sight—the Jaguar XK-R was in the driveway, the rear window’s space covered with a plastic sheet.

“Mom?” Ash called out, when they walked in the door.

They could smell dinner cooking, which brought large smiles to their faces. “Ash, honey! I’m in the kitchen!”

The trio walked to the kitchen, where Marie was, indeed, cooking dinner. “The police released the Jaguar, and I had it towed back here. I’m going to take it to a garage before work, take a cab to work, and then back to the garage, where it should be good as new. And I’m sorry, they’re going to hold your car until Thursday.”

Ash let out a sigh. “Okay. What’s for dinner? It smells really good, mom.”

Marie smiled and opened her mouth to answer, when the doorbell rang. “Who could that be?”

Ash shrugged. “I dunno, but I’ll go get it.” She walked to the door and opened it without looking. It was, more or less, one of the last people she’d want to see.

Jenny (the elder) pushed her way past Ash, looking around. “So this is what your house looks like, Marie,” she muttered (more or less to herself). “Jenny!”

“Mom?” Jenny (the second’s) voice trembled, and she walked out of the kitchen, looking up at her mother, her eyes quivering.

“I thought I’d find you here. You have a lot of explaining to do, young lady.”

“W-What?”

“You ran away, and you stole my car, then you vandalized it? What were you thinking?! You ungrateful brat!” By this time, the loud accusation had drawn the attention of Emily and Marie, who were standing at the kitchen door, staring at the Jennies.

“What? Vandalized?”

“You didn’t even come home for the holiday, you… Well, it’s over. Get your things, we’re leaving.”

“What?”

Jenny’s mother crossed her arms. “Don’t play dumb with me. We’re getting out of this… place, and these obvious bad influences. Probably her fault you got confused.”

“Her… What?!” Jenny’s voice cracked, and then slipped into outrageous indignation, shouting at her mother. “You never listened to me, did you? Ash didn’t do anything to me except teach me how to be stronger in ways you never would! Ash didn’t ‘make me confused’, don’t you get it?”

Ash’s blood was boiling, clenching her fingernails into the leather covering her palms. “What kind of mother are you?!” she exploded at Jenny the First. “You’re a rotten one, that’s what! You never cared about her, did you? It was always what you could get out of her! You pushed her into doing awful things to other girls so she could get ahead, and now you’re being awful to her just because she might like other girls?!”

“Watch your tongue, girl.” Jenny (the first) leveled her cool, angry ice-blue glare on Ash. “You shouldn’t talk to your betters that way.”

“Oh yeah. My blood’s boiling now.” Anger didn’t merely flare up in her; it achieved a thermite pitch. “Better? You’re just older. You’re rotten to her! The moment she started to like something you didn’t approve of, you started being horrible to her! And you didn’t even call her on Christmas! She was crying because of it!”

“Hmmph.” Jenny leveled her evil gaze back at her daughter. “Crying? In front of other people? This little dyke’s really softened you, hasn’t she? Come on, we’re leaving.”

“(Dyke? Dyke?!) You bitch!” Ash exploded. “You’re the worst kind of parent imaginable! You’re—” Pain blossomed in her face as she realized she’d actually been slapped. Jenny the First was saying something as Ash’s fists clenched to throw a punch. Her mother, however, simply seemed to teleport from the kitchen door to in front of Jenny, she moved so quickly, interposing her body between Ash and her subordinate co-worker, her hand clenching Jenny’s in a vice grip.

“If. You. Ever. Raise a hand to my daughter again, I’ll have you dragged out in handcuffs.” Marie’s green eyes were full of a hard edge that Jenny had never gotten a chance to see before. “Have I made myself clear?”

Jenny (the grown-large one) bared her teeth, and looked as if she was about to throw a punch or a slap at Marie. Ash looked clearly about to break into violence as well. “Did I make myself clear,” Marie repeated, as Emily had taken out her cell phone, punching the numbers 911 in, though she hadn’t hit the dial button yet, while Jenny had readied her own, with the camera function. Seeing that she was outnumbered, and, possibly, the treachery of her own daughter against her, Jenny dropped her hand.

“Perfectly clear, Marie,” she said, forcing an absolutely calm voice that seemed to drip venomed honey. “Please let go of me.”

Marie dropped her coworker’s hand, and Jenny (the first) turned to leave. “Go where you want to. I don’t care anymore. No dyke is any daughter of mine.” Jenny walked down the steps and, taking a set of keys from her pocket, got into Jenny’s Lexus and left as suddenly as she had arrived.

Ash stared at the retreating car’s lights, her soul full of vitriolic anger, then turned to Jenny—the younger—who had simply dropped her cell phone, staring likewise, her face an image of a girl destroyed. Marie quietly walked to her and wrapped her arms around Jenny’s shoulders. More or less helplessly, Ash closed the distance, likewise hugging Jenny, as did Emily.

Upton Residence, December 28, 2004, 7:47 AM

Sleep had not come easily, but it had come eventually. Wakefulness was just as begrudging to come to her, but it was ushered in with the painful ache of her back and neck. “Nnngh…” Ash opened her eyes… “Oh yeah.”

She was sitting upright, a huge pillow under her head and in her lap. Jenny was beside her, more or less using Ash’s shoulder the way Ash was using the pillow, and Emily was beside Jenny, with her arm looped around both girls’ laps.

Jenny was still asleep, but unsoundly. She shivered occasionally, but Ash simply held on to her, letting time pass by, even though the ache in her back grew difficult to bear. Finally, Jenny awoke, murmuring softly, whimpering at the pain that was no doubt in her own back and neck, blearily opening her eyes. “Mmm?”

“Mmm. I’m here.” Ash squeezed Jenny’s hand softly, and Jenny closed her eyes, sighing. “Thank you, Ash,” she murmured again, quietly.

“You’re welcome, Jenny.” Ash stared at Jenny’s face, pitifully morose, and let out a quiet sigh through her nose. “Man, she’s in a bad way…” She tried—and utterly failed—to imagine either of her parents having had such a reaction, let alone telling her in as many words that she was no longer their child. “To hell with it; I’m already up to my eyeballs.”

Ash wrapped her arms around Jenny’s body, tugging her close. Ash held her tightly, tilting Jenny’s head onto her shoulder. The blonde girl let out a quiet sniffle in response, and Ash kissed her cheek, softly. “I… I don’t know how, Jenny, but you’ll get through this, okay?”

“H-How? I’m not… not strong like you are.”

“Not… Jenny, nobody’s as strong as they look like they are. Believe me, I’m not.” Jenny looked up into Ash’s bright green eyes, and Ash closed them halfway while uttering a soft sigh. “I’d really have gone stark-raving mad long ago if not for Emily.”

“You? Really? Why?” Jenny’s voice was tinged with sympathy.

Ash knew she couldn’t actually say why, but thought she could say some of it. “Just… a lot of stuff, that I’m really not over. She’s there when I’ve needed someone, even if I didn’t always appreciate it.”

Emily’s eyes opened, smiling fondly up at Ash. “You’ve always been there for me, you know.”

Emily unwrapped her arms from around Ash’s and Jenny’s waists and sat up, stretching her arms tall in a luxurious yawn. Then she smiled, slid her body to the headboard, and put a hand on the blonde’s shoulder. “How are you feeling?”

“I don’t know…” Jenny leaned back against Emily, a depressed-sounding sigh coming from her lips, as she clutched Ash tightly against her. “I guess I feel kind of… numb.”

“Numb?”

“Yeah. Like I don’t feel anything…”

“Really?” Emily’s voice sounded skeptical. She leaned in and opened her lips around Jenny’s earlobe, softly sucking it into her mouth. Ash’s eyes opened up, raising an eyebrow, as Jenny’s body trembled with pleasure.

“Ow!” Jenny winced, pulling her head away, as Emily bit her earlobe—not too hard, but certainly enough to get her attention. “What was that for?!”

“You felt that, didn’t you?”

“Well, duh. It hurt!”

“Yeah, and it also felt good before that, I bet. That’s my point. You’re not numb, physically or emotionally.” Emily tilted Jenny’s head—Jenny had a skeptically nervous look on her face, but Emily simply kissed her cheek. “It hurts, Jenny. Trust me, I know… I know what it’s like when you try your hardest to make your mother proud, and it’s not good enough for her.”

Emily thought back to her mother coming over to Ash’s house, enraged because her report card had a B on it. “I… I don’t know, I admit, what it’s like to be rejected by her for loving another girl—”

“Though you may be finding out all-too-soon,” that nagging voice in her head said.

“—but you’re not alone, are you?”

“Um…”

“You have us,” Ash picked up, staring straight into Jenny’s soft blue eyes. “You have us, and we’re not going to kick you while you’re down.”

Jenny’s eyes shimmered softly, and then she broke into tears. She pulled Ash into her lap by hugging her as tightly as she could and burrowed her head into the tuner’s shoulder. Ash gulped softly at the intense tightness of the squeeze, but didn’t ask to be let loose; she just stared into Emily’s eyes, who stared back, offering a small shrug and a smile.

Finally, she let Ash go, and the tuner took a huge breath, twice, then fell back on the bed, laughing wryly. “You’re a lot stronger than you look,” she commented, which got a small giggle from Jenny.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Ash sat up again after sliding away from Jenny, and put her hand on Emily’s shoulder. Magenta eyes met green, and Emily nodded, releasing Jenny. “What time is it, anyway,” Ash asked, and Emily checked, twice.

“It’s about eight.”

“Mmmh. Mom’s left already, hasn’t she?”

“Most likely, especially since she had to have the Jaguar put in a shop.”

“I guess we oughta get up, hmm?” Ash slid off the bed, yawning softly and stretching.

“Yeah…”

Ash held out her hand, and Emily took it, strongly. Ash pulled, and Emily slid off the bed to her feet with a soft smile, and walked towards the bathroom door, with Ash following after a few paces. “Um… c-can I come?”

The question halted Ash in her tracks. Emily froze in front of her, turning around. Their eyes met, and Ash turned, looking at Jenny. “Uh…”

The blonde was standing up, nervously looking at the two of them. The expression on their faces must have said it better than they could have, for Jenny looked down, ashamedly. “Sorry. Stupid question… I… never mind.”

“Why did you ask?” Emily quietly questioned her.

The fashionista let out a quiet, defeated sigh, sitting on the floor with her back to the bedpost. “I just… don’t want to be alone right now.”

Ash and Emily looked at one another again. Awkwardly, Ash shrugged, and Emily took a step back, opening the door behind her back and slipping through. Ash followed her, feeling somewhat like a heel as they closed the door to the bedroom again. Their eyes met, as Emily slid her hands down to the hem of her tee, but she didn’t lift it. They leaned close.

“It’s not a good idea,” Emily whispered.

“I know, but…”

“But, you don’t want to leave her alone, either.”

Ash nodded, and Emily kissed her cheek, softly. “It’s going to be ridiculously awkward…”

“My life has been the definition of ridiculous awkwardness for the last nine months.” Ash offered a wry grin, and Emily smiled softly, kissing her lips.

“So, you’re saying you can handle it?”

“Hell no. I’m saying I handle it because the alternatives aren’t any alternative at all. I’ve been paralyzed by awkwardness and indecision and feelings conflicting me for the last nine months, but… I guess there’s no perfect solution. But I like this, now. I like being able to be open with you, completely. And I like being able to help someone: you, or Jenny… And, well, somehow, she’s become one of our closest friends inside of a week. That’s… well, I guess that’s something.”

“Yes. Yes it is,” Emily murmured, and kissed Ash’s cheek, softly. “So…” Ash nodded, and Emily continued, “go get her, then.”

“You sure?”

“No. I’m not sure of anything anymore, except how much I love you. But I don’t want to leave her alone any more than you do, right now.”

Ash nodded to her friend and turned around, as Emily tugged her shirt off, opening the shower and starting the blasting water. Ash slipped out of the bathroom quietly. Jenny was sitting on the side of the bed with the huge, down-filled pillow that Ash had been sleeping with on her lap. She seemed to be staring out the window, her eyes fixed on nothing in particular as Ash approached. She either didn’t notice, or gave no indication she noticed, until Ash leaned onto the bed behind her, reaching forward and placing her hand on top of Jenny’s, causing the blonde’s head to perk up.

“Hmm?”

“This… is really, really weird, Jenny, but… And I’m not sure what you think we actually do in the shower, but… if you really don’t want to be alone, I don’t want you to have to be alone, either, and neither does Emily.” Ash knew she was blushing hard, and Jenny started to blush as well.

“U-uhm…”

“It’s okay.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.”

Ash stood back up and walked back to the bathroom door. She heard Jenny following, and paused briefly, biting her lip. “Is this nuts?”

Jenny put her hand on Ash’s shoulder. “Are you really sure about this?”

“No. I’m not. I feel all awkward and confused, and shy, too.”

“You don’t show it.”

“Yeah, well…”

“Ash… I… It’s fine, really. I can just go use your mom’s shower if you want me to.”

“No, it’s okay.” Ash blinked, and reached back up, taking Jenny’s hand. “It is weird as hell, but…”

Ash sighed, trailing off, torn. It must have showed on her face, because Jenny looked down. “Ash, I’ll just go. I don’t… I don’t want to make things complicated for you.”

Ash started to laugh, quietly, wryly, for a good half a minute before she wound down. “Jenny,

Jenny… Things are already complicated, and that’s not likely to change, ever. But, you asked, so…”

Jenny looked down, blushing softly, with a shy smile crossing her face. “Really?”

“Really.”

Jenny opened the door to the bathroom. Emily was already in the shower, the glass walls of which had become steamed up already. Three large towels and three smaller hair-towels had been thrown over the radiator. Ash let out a quiet sigh. “Go on, then.”

Averting her eyes as Jenny took her shirt off was probably a futile gesture, but Ash did. Somehow, miraculously, she wasn’t blushing, even though she felt as if she ought to be. “Jeez. This is crazy.” She took her own shirt off and pulled down her shorts. “Well, it’s not much worse than the locker room. I suppose.”

Ash turned to walk into the shower, and blinked as she found herself staring at Jenny’s back; the blonde was standing in the door of the shower, saying, “Uhhhh…”

“Oh, is she sitting down again?” Sure enough, Ash could see that the blue-haired girl was sitting in the corner of the shower, right leg stretched out along the back wall, left with the knee arched high so the water could drain.

“You should try it sometime.”

“Sitting down in the shower?”

“Yeah.”

Jenny looked around. The shower was pretty long and, without a tub, there was no spigot, the

handles being further up the wall. “Well, I could fit, but unless she was going to stand between us, there’s no room for Ash.”

“Wha? Oh, right.” Emily laughed and stood up, letting Ash and Jenny step into the shower, with Jenny between them.

Once in, Jenny shut the door, and opened her mouth as if to say something, but no words came out. Then she looked down at her feet, blushing heavily.

“Got us where you want us and now nothing to say?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

Ash turned around, staring into Jenny’s face—and deliberately not any lower.

“Oh, come on. You know you want to; hell, she wants you to,” a niggling little voice in her head said, and she rolled her eyes. “Oh no. I’m not being drawn into this ‘say something aloud’ game again.” Her shoulder-devil, long dormant, popped out from behind her. “C’mon,” it seemed to say, and Ash rolled her eyes. “Jenny,” she asked quietly, “why don’t you get on your knees? You wanted to know what we did in the shower, right? Close your eyes.”

“Uh…” Jenny’s face looked a strange rictus of hopefulness and confusion, and Ash realized just how wrongly that could’ve been taken.

“Let her take it that way… Oh, shut up.” Ash pulled the bottle of shampoo out from the small shelf behind her. “So I can wash your hair, what did you think I was saying?”

“Er…” Jenny blinked, twice, broke into a snicker, and then started laughing, shaking her head and hugging herself around the middle. Her laughter got Emily giggling, and even Ash had to chuckle, giving her head a wry shake. Ash looked up; that nagging phantom of a shoulder demon was gone, and Jenny did as asked, sliding down to her knees.

“So, what,” Jenny began, as Ash poured some shampoo on top of her head, “you really just do this for efficiency?”

“Of course not,” Emily replied, giggling and reaching forward to help. “It’s also calming: the sound of the water, the feel of it. And it’s one of the few places you can really talk without being easily overheard.”

“O-Oh… Heh,” Jenny said, quietly. “So, um…”

“Hmm?” Ash looked down, noting that Jenny’s eyes were open. Ash started to blush, hard, realizing the view Jenny had, and shifted to try and cross her legs.

“I, um… notice you don’t have any hair. What’d you do, get a full Brazilian, too?”

“A… a what?” Ash blinked, and Emily shook her head.

“You remember when she ‘disappeared’ for an hour on Friday?”

“Yeah…”

“Waxing, Ash.” Emily rolled her eyes, as Ash ‘got it’ and winced.

“Uh, yeah…” Jenny looked up, and Ash shrugged.

“She’s actually like me in that regard. Freaky, huh? It’s called being glabrous. I dunno why, but neither of us have ever grown pubic hair.”

“What, never?”

“No, never. Can we please stop focusing on my pubic region before I have a nervous breakdown?” Jenny looked up suddenly. “Jeez, sorry. You really are shy, aren’t you?”

Ash nodded, blushing and wincing. “Sorry,” she mumbled in return, looking down at the floor. Ash pressed herself against the side, and held a hand up in the stream of water, directing it down onto Jenny’s head, rinsing her hair off.

Once rinsed off, Jenny stood up, blushing heavily. “I’m sorry. This was really stupid of me.”

“What do you…”

Jenny opened the door to the shower, stepped out and smiled weakly. “I’m sorry. I really shouldn’t have… intruded.”

Jenny turned, grabbed two towels from the radiator, and left the bathroom altogether, leaving Emily to shut the door to the shower and Ash confused. “Uh…”

“I guess she didn’t like making you uncomfortable?”

“I guess.” Ash held her hand up. Emily took it and slid close into an easy, warm embrace, kissing Ash’s shoulder.

“So, what’d you think?”

“Of…”

“Jenny, naked.”

“I, uh, tried not to look.”

“Bullshit,” Emily giggled.

“I didn’t say I succeeded. Jeez, that was like, an ultimate fantasy of mine.”

“What, three girls in a shower?”

“Yeah. And even being one of the three, it was still ridiculously hot… maybe even more so.”

Emily turned and pushed Ash gently against the back wall of the shower. “Go on…”

“Well, um… yeah, she’s really, really hot.”

“I know… Mmmh, so, hypothetically… what do you think of the idea of a ménage à trois?”

Ash flushed hotly; the idea was arousing, to be certain. “Uhm…”

“Go on, she’s not here now, tell me what you think.”

“Well, um… it’s definitely fantasy-worthy material… It’s hot.”

“Isn’t it? Does it make you bothered?”

“You could say that,” Ash replied, and tilted Emily’s head back, staring into her magenta eyes.

“What do you think?”

“I think… the idea arouses the hell out of me.”

“It…” Ash blinked. “It does?”

“Why wouldn’t it?”

“I dunno, I always…” She sighed. “Okay, that’s stupid of me, isn’t it?”

“Misconceived, maybe. Still, it does arouse me, the idea of being with two lovers at once…” Emily blushed. “Actually, it always has.”

“Er… really? But, uh… wouldn’t that mean…”

“Two men at once? Yeah, that’s what I thought of when I was younger…”

“Er… how?”

Emily laughed at her lover’s question and kissed Ash’s cheek. “Ash, I hate to shatter all your lovely little preconceptions, but girls, even ones who were not formerly boys, are hardly innocent, naive little things who need someone with a penis to introduce them to all sorts of sexually exotic ideas.”

The tuner smiled in response, hugging Emily tight. Em pushed her leg gently between Ash’s, then leaned up, kissing Ash on the lips, silencing the question that had been about to be said. When she pulled away, she smiled, putting her head on Ash’s shoulder. “To answer the question you were thinking of, yes, I used to fantasize about fellatio. Or being spitted between two men. And yes, I did think about anal sex, even though the idea is kind of freaky weird to me.”

Perhaps predictably, Ash’s blush intensified, but she grinned. “Oh really?”

“Yes, really.”

“So, spit or swallow?”

Emily cracked up at that. “I have no idea; it’s not like I ever did… Though, I didn’t spit that night, did I?”

“No, I suppose not.” Smiling broadly, Ash squeezed Emily, and gently turned around, sitting down on the floor of the shower with her against her front. Then Emily giggled.

“Ash… my leg is under yours.”

“Oh, sorry. Cutting off circulation?”

“Not at all.” Emily bit her lip. “You don’t even know what you did, do you? Does the word ‘frottage’ mean anything to you?”

“Um… it rings a bell, but…”

“How about the word ‘tribadism’?”

“Isn’t that… oh.” Ash looked down, blushing; she realized that only an inch at best separated Emily’s vagina from her own.

Emily broke into another giggle, putting her head on Ash’s shoulder again. “How you get us into these positions without devious intent, I do not know.”

“Neither do I,” Ash murmured, as she leaned in to kiss Emily. Emily deepened the kiss, pressing her tongue against Ash’s lips, and Ash opened her mouth to accept it. Electrified by the taste of Emily’s tongue on her own, she slid her tongue back along Emily’s into her mouth, where they tested and teased, French kissing messily, until they parted, giggling.

“Jeez, good thing we’re already in the shower,” Emily said, then kissed Ash’s cheek again.

“Yeah, yeah it is,” Ash replied, and she closed her eyes.

“Ash? Do you want to try?”

“Er… tribbing?”

“Yeah. Do you want to?”

“I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“What makes you think I do, Ash?”

“I dunno… you just… know everything.”

Emily snickered at that and lowered her head, kissing Ash’s neck, then nipping it. “Not quite. I know the idea of how, I’ve seen some illustrations of the position, but I really don’t know what I’d be doing. Do you want to try?”

Ash shivered softly and kissed Emily’s cheek. “I’d… I’d like to, but…”

“Mmm?”

“I’m kind of afraid. Plus, you know… Jenny…”

“Right.” Emily bit Ash’s lip, softly. “We’ll have a lot more time, won’t we?” Ash nodded, and Emily pressed forward against her head. “Okay.”

Ash pushed her forehead back against Emily’s and closed her eyes. “I love you, Em. This is hard for you, isn’t it?”

“Getting aroused and not being able to do anything?”

“Yeah.”

“It can be frustrating, but not more than anything else I’ve experienced with you.” Emily lowered her head, biting into Ash’s neck, and Ash gasped, squeezing her back.

“Mmmmmmh! That’s… you really are a biter, aren’t you?”

“Maybe a bit. Don’t you like it?”

“Just not too hard, okay?”

“I promise.” Emily held up her hand with her pinkie held out—Ash laughed at the sight, and hooked her own pinkie into Emily’s, tugging gently.

“Let’s finish and get out, mmm?”

“Mmmm.”

They slowly extricated themselves, and Ash knelt in front of Emily, starting to soap herself up, while Emily worked on her hair. “So… about that ménage à trois you brought up…”

“What about it?”

“What were you thinking?”

“If you must know, I was thinking of a daisy chain, a triangle.”

“Eh?”

“Continuous oral sex, Ash. A triangle?”

“Spell it out for me?”

Emily rolled her eyes and giggled, tugging on Ash’s shorter, orange hair. “Being deliberately obtuse?”

“Yeah,” Ash giggled back.

“Youuuu…” She tugged Ash’s head back, into her stomach, and reached down, caressing her neck, softly. “You love me.”

“Yeah… yeah, I do.”

Upton Residence, 9:01 AM

“So… what should we do?” Ash asked.

“I dunno,” Emily replied.

“I’d like to… to do something, you know?” Jenny said, frustrated.

“You need to get your mind off things?” Ash commented.

“Yeah… yeah, exactly.”

“Well, we could go out, do something, get some breakfast?”

“That’d be a trick, Ash.”

Emily pointed outside—the only car they had parked was the Carrera GT, and Ash slapped her forehead. “D’oh, right. I forgot.”

“Yeah…” Jenny sighed.

“Why don’t you two go?”

Emily and Jenny both looked up at Ash, blinking. “What?” Emily asked.

“Well, I trust you with the Carrera GT… And, like it or not, you’re a lot better at handling emotions than I am.”

“Um… will you be okay here by yourself?”

“Uh, yeah? It’s not like I’ve got nothing to do. You bought me a new video game, remember?”

“Oh yeah, right. Well, if you’re sure…”

Ash stood up and crossed to her girlfriend, taking her hands in both of hers, squeezing them. “I am positive I trust you to handle that car. And I’m just as certain that I can handle being by myself.”

“Okay, Ash.” Emily kissed her cheek, and looked over at Jenny. “Unless you’d rather not?”

“No, I… I think I’d like that, Emily.” She stood up and walked to them. “Thank you, Ash.”

“Just be careful with the car, okay? I’m dead meat if you two wreck it.”

“I will be.” Emily squeezed Ash’s hand in return, then turned to get her coat. “C’mon, Jenny.”

Leaving the house, Jenny and Emily walked towards the Carrera GT, and Jenny looked over at Emily. “Em… I’m, ah… sorry about earlier.”

“Why?”

“Well, I…”

“You have nothing to be sorry about, Jenny. Believe me.”

“I intruded…”

“So?” Emily shrugged. “It’s not like either of us was upset about it. You’re fine, stop worrying.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Okay…” Jenny brightened a bit. She got into the passenger’s seat of the Carrera GT, as Emily opened the driver’s door and climbed in. “You really like driving this car, don’t you?”

“Yeah… you could say that. I see why Ash likes it, too.”

“So, is it better than sex?”

Emily blinked at the question, a blush creeping lightly across her cheeks, and then she smirked.

“Better than sex with myself, let’s say.”

Jenny choked, and then snerked, laughing as she pulled on her seat belt—a habit Ash had taught her—and Emily pulled on her own.

Emily turned the ignition with her left hand, put the car in gear, and started rolling. “Where first?”

“I dunno… breakfast?”

“Sounds good. Where?”

“Mmm… Drive-through? Marco’s? The Ale House?”

“If we’re going to the Ale House, we oughta bring Ash, since we can, you know, walk there.”

“Good point. Should I ask her?”

“Sure.”

Jenny took out her cell phone, finding ‘Ashcell’ in her list and dialing it. It rang and rang, but she got no answer. “Huh. No answer.”

“Maybe she’s busy? Oh well, let’s go somewhere else.”

“All right. Want to just ride down the freeway until we find somewhere?”

“Sounds good.”

On The Freeway, 9:49 AM

The radio was playing some System of a Down, albeit not at blasting volume, while Emily and Jenny (mostly Jenny) sang along, the sleek, low car much lower than the other vehicles around. “This thing is… really impractical, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Your back hurting?”

“Not a bit,” Jenny retorted, with a smirk. “This is nice, really. Well, except with the whole being level with a tractor trailer’s ass-bar, but…”

“Yeah, that is a bit of a drag.” Emily glanced in the mirror—the lane to her left was free. “Hold on.” She pulled the Carrera to the left, sliding into the lane next to them. There was free space ahead, so she put the gas on, the rasping, howling engine behind her head pushing them faster than the 18-wheeler could hope to accelerate, easily pulling ahead.

Emily looked down and grinned. The car hadn’t even struggled at all for the speed, but she had accelerated above ninety miles an hour, and her tachometer was high. Her right hand twitched with the desire to pull the Carrera GT’s wooden knob down into third gear, but she let off, leveling out at the speed limit.

“What’s it like to drive, Emily? I mean, in a non-sexual metaphor that I can understand?”

“It’s… it’s hard to drive this car, really.”

“You and Ash make it look easy.”

“It’s a lot harder than it looks, honest. You… you have to kind of be one with this car, I guess. If you’re in the ‘zone’, it responds almost effortlessly. If you’re not… I wouldn’t recommend driving it, even if you know how to work a manual transmission. Find us a CD, would you?”

“All right.” Jenny opened the glove box and looked through the CDs. She pulled out a burnt CD; its label said ‘Hard rock’, and she read it off. “I know some of these bands. 16Volt, System of a Down, of course… The Mars Volta?”

“Put it in.”

Jenny did so, and the music started instantly, loud and fast over the Carrera’s expensive audio system. Emily winced; Jenny turned the volume down for her. “Sorry. So… where should we eat?”

“No clue… wait.” She turned the swivel-mounted GPS navigation system to face Jenny. “You mess with it, see if you can get any recommendations or anything out of it. This looks like the kind of high-money model that does that.”

Jenny did so, as they soared down the road. “Hmmm… hey, how about an IHOP?”

“Pancakes?”

“Yeah. They’re pretty good. Maybe even better than Mrs. Upton’s.”

“I call bullshit on that. I ate her pancakes all summer. They’re the best, ever.”

“Wanna find out?”

“Sure, why not.”

“Okay.” Jenny locked in the location, and swiveled the screen back for Emily’s use.

IHOP Off The Highway, 10:14 AM

As Emily and Jenny walked into the IHOP, a cheerful tune was beginning on flutes and strings and percussion. Emily’s eyes lit up as she recognized the song, launching into it with the singers: “Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the feast of Stephen, when the snow lay ’round about, deep and crisp and even! Brightly shone the moon that night, though the frost was cruel, when a poor man came in sight, gathering winter fue-eee-eeul!”

Jenny looked askance at her. “You like this stuff?”

“Yeah, I do. It’s cheerful, happy.”

“It’s something… But then, I guess that kind of thing is your people, so…”

“Hey, what do you mean?”

“Well, your last name is Irish, isn’t it?”

Emily put her fists on her hips. “Excuse me? That’s a very rude thing to say! McArthur is a form of MacArthur, which is from Scotland! It’s rude to assume that I’m descended from Irish. It’s not like I’m green eyed and orange haired, like Ash.”

“Oi, sorry, sorry.” Jenny held her hands up, wincing. “Sorry. I didn’t know it was a touchy subject.”

“It’s not. I am from Irish blood.” Emily smirked at the blonde and giggled. “I was just giving you a hard time. Anyway, I like the Irish Rovers’ music, especially this. C’mon, let’s get something to eat.”

“Okay, okay.”

A waiter showed them to a booth and deposited menus and a carafe of steaming coffee.

“So, why do you say Ash is from Irish blood? Her name’s Upton.”

“Well I didn’t.”

“You kind of implied it?”

“Well… her name’s classic English, but, green eyes, orange hair? That’s giveaway Irish.”

“Okay, okay. So what about her name? Do you know anything about it?”

“Upton, it’s a bastardization of ‘Up Town’; it’s English, and it meant someone from money.”

“Well, that fits.”

“Eh, I suppose.”

“So, what about your name, Emily?”

“McArthur? Well, it’s an Anglicization of MacArthur. It means ‘Son of Arthur’. I know, I know, I’m not a boy, but that’s how these things go. Ever known someone named Ericson?”

“Well… yeah, actually.”

“Well, somewhere back in their family history, they’re Nordic—like you. There was a boy born, and his father’s name was Eric, so he was Eric’s Son—Ericson. That was when the general transition to fixed surnames was hitting, and that boy passed on the name Ericson, even though his name was not Eric, and he may well have been passing it on to a daughter. You’ll also rarely see something like Hildadottir, which would be ‘Daughter of Hilda’, but it does happen every now and then—the name of the father goes to the son, and of the mother, to the daughter.”

“Oi, you’ve given me a headache. But that does explain something, I guess, like how you used to hear in school of Leif Ericson, or Eric the Red?”

“Right. Eric the Red was known by that, and not as his father’s son, because he must have done something really, really important or notable.”

“Like what?”

Emily shrugged. “I don’t know, actually. Hmm… I’ll look it up when we get back, okay?”

“Okay.” Jenny giggled as she looked for the first time at her menu. “That’s funny.”

“What is?”

“You not knowing something.”

“What am I, a walking Encyclopedia Brittanica?”

“Very nearly,” Jenny retorted with a snicker. “Okay, okay… Hmmm, what looks good to you?”

“I dunno, the pancakes with sausage?”

“Looks like. Hmm… Hey, you gave Ash a new game, right? I’m gonna ask her if she’s tried it yet.”

“You’re gonna call her? From in here?”

“Well, I could, but I was just going to send her a text.”

“Text?”

“Text message, you know?”

“Oh… Oh, you can do that?”

“So can you. I got a look at those phones of yours.”

“Oh… show me?”

“Sure.”

Upton Residence, 10:48 AM

“I’m coming!” the electronic voice from the TV issued, as Ash furiously worked the controls of the game system. The flying, giant virtual blue robot under her control nimbly dodged the charging attack of the red robot, as she looked around the arena, desperate for some object to interpose between herself and the offending boss.

“No you don’t,” she growled, with a grin on her lips, pressing a button—her robot snapped out with an arm, grabbing a massive solar panel (or something) off the top of a tower, and she held in another button; blue electricity crackled along the plate until it flashed, ‘charged’ with energy from her reactor.

“Let’s see you eat this.” Ash held in another button as the TV’s speakers again issued the entirely stupid alert-your-opponent challenge of, “I’m coming!” Instead of dodging away, the giant robot on her screen held up the plate as a shield, and the enemy mecha charged into it headfirst. Stunned and floating idly in the air in the wake of the collision, Ash brutally punished it with a hail of blows from her mecha’s giant sword.

“I really need to thank Emily for this game,” she thought to herself, as the cat-and-mouse battle continued. Eventually, near victory, she paused the game and wandered into the kitchen to forage. “Mmmh. I really should’ve suggested we all get breakfast at the Ale House together before they go… Oh well, do I go alone, or…” Ash shrugged, opening the fridge to find something to eat.

On The Highway, 11:03 AM

“So, where to now, Emily?”

“I dunno… Mall? Speedway? Just cruise?”

“Mmmh. Speedway actually sounds like fun. I want to ride in this thing when it really gets going.”

“Yeah, me too… Right now—this is so phenomenally awesome—I’m actually third on the leader board.”

“You are?”

“Yeah. I actually edged out Ash. The only people above me are Kamikaze Kate and the guy who owns this car.”

“Okay. Heh, think you could take the lead?”

“I doubt it. I’m good, but I’m not that good.”

“All right. Well, up to you…”

“Eh, it’d cost two hundred for the speedway, so let’s go somewhere else. Where would you like?”

“Mmmmh. Maybe the mall? We could hit the arcade…”

“Mmh. Won’t your lovely ‘friends’ be there, though?”

“Yeah, good point. They’re the last ones I really want to see…”

“Well… Damn, no. Ash promised to keep the Carrera GT on the Cape.” Emily sighed.

“What were you thinking?”

“I dunno. Boston’s in range, if we push it.”

“Eh… Hell, let’s just go to the mall, how about it?”

“We can, but there’s not a lot of cargo space in this. Just the front compartment for the roof.”

“Huh?”

“It’s a roadster, not a coupe.”

“I… I’ve heard those words, but I don’t know what they mean.”

“Okay, well… The definitions aren’t exactly standardized, but in general, a coupe has a solid top. A has a solid top too, but the top is actually removable.”

“Like my convertible?”

“No, not at all. A roadster has a roll bar behind, and the front and rear windows are fixed, as are the support. Only the thing above us comes out.”

“Ooooh. Nifty.”

“Tell me.”

“Wanna take it off?”

“Jenny, it’s the middle of winter.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” Jenny sheepishly grinned at Emily, who smiled back.

Cape Cod Mall, 12:47 PM

“So, where do you wanna go first?”

“I dunno… clothes?”

“Maybe. But we haven’t got the room to bring much home.”

“I can—”

“Not even if you hold it in your lap.”

“Spoilsport.”

Emily stuck her tongue out at Jenny. “Damn straight. We can still look, though.”

“Good point. Lead on.”

“Where too?”

“I dunno. What do you want?”

Emily shrugged and grinned. “How about some sexy lingerie?”

“For Ash?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” Jenny led her up to the second floor to the lingerie shop, but she gulped. “Oh, shit.”

“What is—oh, shit.” A shock of white hair could be seen over the racks, and Emily flinched. Jenny muttered, “Clarita.”

“(Or worse, Cassiel.) Arcade?”

“Arcade.”

The arcade was extraordinarily packed and noisy when Emily and Jenny arrived. “Do you want to try the Need for Speed again?” Jenny yelled over the noise. Rather than strain her vocal chords, Emily shook her head and pointed to the line forming for the DDR machines; Jenny nodded her assent, giving a thumbs-up. They got in line to play, which nicely killed an hour. Jenny tore the machine up, holding her run through two cycles of opponents, until she was finally dethroned by some redheaded boy.

Walking back towards the food court, Emily laughed at Jenny, who was exhausted; she slumped in a seat at a table, and Emily grinned. “You dominated out there! That was, that was incredible!”

“Yeah… I really… really held that run, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you did. Sit down, I’ll get you something to drink.”

Emily returned shortly with a chicken sandwich and a tall water for both herself and Jenny. Jenny swigged down half the water in one go, making Emily giggle, “You’re gonna make yourself sick.”

“No I’m not. I need the water,” Jenny replied, pulling her hair from her face. Then she yawned, stretching her arms out tall, cracking her neck by rolling her head. “Tough run?”

“Yeah. I’m gonna be sore for awhile.”

“You should be sore because someone beat you, you little dyke.” Jenny’s face fell instantly, and she spun around. “Annette?”

An angry-faced, brunette girl with vaguely Asian features was standing behind Jenny, her fists on her hips. “You. Of all people, I don’t know whether I should’ve known, or suspected the most.”

“What are you talking about, Annette?” Jenny asked, standing up.

Emily sighed; she, too, stood up, trying to figure out how to defuse the situation.

“What’s your problem, Annette?”

“My problem is you, Jenny. You betrayed me?”

“Betrayed you? How the hell do you figure?”

“You. All those years. All those times we tore up another girl so you could be on top. All this time, I’ve been doing your dirty work for you, because you were the top bitch, and now you go and leave me for a couple of out-of-towner dykes?”

“Will you please stop using that word? It’s starting to get just fucking tiresome,” Jenny ranted, taking a step towards her brunette ex-friend.

Annette sneered, “Methinks the lady doth complain o’er much, Jenny.”

“Pot calling the kettle black, Annette. You were with me for all of it.” Jenny crossed her arms. “What are you saying, Jenny?”

“You know what I’m saying, Annette. What’s your problem, hmmm? I think you’re a closet-case yourself.”

Annette looked shocked at the open (and public, if private) accusation. “You…”

“Come off it, Annette, you were there with me. Hell, you’re the one who got the plunger and suggested we use it.”

“You bitch. You don’t get it, do you?”

“No, I get it, Annette… and… I’m sorry.” Emily blinked at the sudden change of tune—so did Annette. “You used to be a nice person, Annette. Then I sank my claws into you. A lot of the girls we know are like that, and… I’m sorry.” Jenny let out a sigh, turning around. “Come on, Emily. Let’s go.”

Emily shrugged, following Jenny as she turned and left. “H-Hey! I’m not done with you!”

“Unless you’re trying to say you want to be my friend again, then I’m done with you, Annette.”

Emily walked away, having to work hard to keep up with Jenny, who was powering back through the mall. She cut into the lingerie shop, with the blue-haired girl following her. Emily leaned up on the balls of her feet, looking over the shelves; she didn’t see the white hair anymore, though, so she imagined it was safe enough. She turned around—Jenny was calming herself behind the rack, letting out a huff of breath.

“Jenny? Are you okay?”

“I… I think I am. I just…” Jenny sighed, heavily. “I actually liked Annette, you know? I mean, she was… well, we did stuff together, stuff friends do. It wasn’t just us being a pair of girls against the rest. I… If anyone would’ve been accepting of me, I figured it would have been her.”

“Jenny, I…”

“I know, you’re sorry. It doesn’t do me any good to apologize for something that’s not under your control.”

“That’s not what ‘I’m sorry’ in that context means, Jenny.” Emily put her hands on Jenny’s shoulders. “It means ‘I loathe seeing you so afflicted, and I regret being unable to alleviate your pain’.”

Jenny blinked and smiled, reaching up—she put her hands over Emily’s. “But you do, Em. Every time you cheer me up, every time you make me laugh. When you stick by me when my other ‘friends’ would have long since abandoned me or torn into me, sensing weakness… Thank you.”

Emily smiled back at Jenny, and nodded. “You’re welcome. So… you still want to shop your heart out, or should we just go?”

“Do you even have to ask?” Jenny smirked.

Emily laughed softly. “All right, good point.”

An easy hour later, Emily was wearing very little indeed, examining herself in the full-length mirror in the dressing room. She was wearing a thong and a tight bra, with blue and white threads in sufficient quantity to give the illusion of being cobalt blue. “What do you think?”

Jenny poked her head into the dressing room, grinning. “Great view from back here. Turn ’round.” Emily did so, posing with her hand on her hip, her opposite arm straight down, and leaning rakishly.

Jenny grinned, licking her lips. “You’re blazing hot.”

“You sure? You don’t think she’d rather it was red?”

“You have red already, remember? Besides, this goes with your hair and your nails.”

“Yeah, that’s true…”

“Speaking of which, try something that goes with your eyes.”

“All right, if I see one.”

“I found it while you were in here.”

Jenny passed in another skimpy outfit. Emily unhooked the bra from behind and took off the thong, putting them back on the hanger. She tried on the outfit Jenny had passed in. It was more conservative than the thong (which was not saying much, admittedly), but the shade did match the color of her eyes.

“Yeah… definitely.” Emily grinned, and took the outfit off again, packing up the things she wanted—not much, a few outfits. She pulled her clothes on, and walked back out of the dressing room, dumping the ones she didn’t want in the restock bin.

“Jenny? You ready to go?”

“In… just a bit. Tell me what you think of this one?”

“All right.” Emily peeked into the dressing room next to her. Jenny was wearing nearly transparent, lacy underwear, with threads of golden-seeming silk that matched her hair. Emily grinned widely. “It’s… well, it’s you. Ruthlessly hot and attractive.”

“Really?”

“Tell you what. How about you put it on for Ash. If she blushes, it’s hot; if she gets a nosebleed, it’s really hot; if she swoons, she wants you. If she faints, we officially crown you the hottest girl on the planet Earth.”

Jenny broke into a giggle, shaking her head and stamping her foot. “Holy Jeez. That’s so funny.” She took the bra off and put it into a pile she intended to buy. The rest she handed to Emily, who dumped them in the bin as Jenny was dressing.

They approached the counter, good-naturedly arguing about who’d pay; Emily wanted to, but Jenny was insisting that since she’d gotten the bigger payday, and how good Emily had been to her, that she ought to. Finally, Emily came up with a compromise. “We’ll go shoe-shopping after this, and I’ll pay there, okay?”

“Eh. Okay.” Jenny and Emily put their things on the counter, where a girl with neon purple hair and a spike in her nose was working the register.

Emily wandered away, running through the scenario in her mind. She’d suggest that Jenny go into their bedroom and change, and tell Ash she wanted to show her something while Jenny was in earshot—and when she had Ash alone, she’d ask her to pretend to faint to buoy Jenny’s ego and bolster her spirits. She grinned at the thought.

“Okay, that’s…” The girl at the register popped a huge bubble. “A hundred fifty-eight fifty with tax. Plastic?”

“Plastic,” Jenny replied, fishing her credit card out of her purse and handing it over. The girl took it, running it through her machine. Then she did so again, and frowned, tapping on the screen.

“What’s the expiration date?”

“On the card?”

“On the card.”

“Fuck, I dunno. It’s brand-new, it’s not expired.”

“Hmm…” The girl shrugged, and started to tap on her screen.

“Can we get on with this?” She rolled her eyes at the purple-haired punker, who popped another bubble at her.

“Y-eaaah. Hang on, I can sort it out.” She started to tap on her screen as Jenny rocked back on her feet. Then the girl set the card down behind the register. “Hang on, I’ve gotta make a call. Sorry about this.” She picked up the phone, putting it to her ear. “Hey, Mike? Gotta let you know, we’ve got a sale on aisle seven.” She and whoever it was on the other end started to converse. Jenny knew the tone. Evasive. Bullshit. It reeked, and a sinking feeling started to throw her guts down. “What’s wrong? Oh no. That bitch. That utter motherfucker of a mother of mine! That bitch set me up!”

The girl and Jenny saw realization on each other’s face at the same time. The cashier saw that Jenny saw through her, and Jenny saw that she was seen. “Emily, we’re leaving.”

Shaken from her reverie, Emily looked back, “What? We’re done?”

“No, we’re leaving.”

Jenny took Emily’s hand, hauling her from the store, even as the cashier futilely protested, “Hey, if you don’t like it that bad, I can get you a twenty percent off!”

“A fifth off? What the hell?”

“There’s no discount, Emily,” Jenny growled. “We have to get out of here and go, now.”

“What’s going on?”

Jenny’s eyes were furiously looking around. She spotted, in the glass of the window at the edge of the corridor, security approaching the store they just left, so she tugged Emily right, into a J.C. Penny’s. “Come on.”

Emily, bewildered, followed, and Jenny led her to the escalator, riding it down to the first floor of the attached department store. “What the hell is going on, Jenny?”

“My mother set us up. We have to go to her office and straighten her the fuck out.”

“Set us up?”

“She reported the card stolen, Emily. The cashier was sending a ‘security come here’ code when she made that bullshit call about aisle seven.”

“What—What?!” Emily gulped. “We just…”

“Ducked the Fuzz. And unless you want to try and explain to them what we were doing with a ‘stolen’ credit card, and a five hundred thousand dollar racecar, I suggest we keep it that way.”

Emily’s guts felt like they were about to fall out of her. “Jenny, this… this is crazy!”

“Trust me, Emily, these mall pricks aren’t going to do anything. The cashier has the card, so if we get to our car and leave, we’re scot-free. Then we go and find my mom and give her the business, and tell Ash’s mom to boot.”

“Jeez, we should call someone, Jenny,” Emily said as they stepped off the escalator, the blue-haired girl panicking, following her friend.

“That’s fine. I’ll call Ash when we get to the car, since you have to drive.”

“Shit… shit, shit. Um…” Emily gulped and checked her purse, feeling around. “Okay, my can of pepper spray is gone.” She vaguely recalled tossing the empty can into the trash after they’d gotten back to Ash’s mother’s home the Saturday before last. She was certain they were going to be grabbed as they walked to the lot, but they weren’t, and they forged through the busy lot.

“Oh shit, here come the fuzz; behind us, about fifty yards. Don’t look, don’t run.”

“How can you possibly know that?”

“I saw them in the window of that van. Okay, look, there’s an empty spot in front of the car, we can pull straight out. Don’t stop; don’t give them any opening. Just get in and go.”

“This is crazy, this is crazy…”

“Yeah, it is. I don’t believe she did this to us.”

“Why are we running? Why shouldn’t we just stop and explain things?”

“She set us up, Emily, and it’s her card. What’s she going to say? ‘Oh yeah, that’s my daughter and her dumb dyke friend, I just reported the card stolen to waste your time making you fuck with her?’ No, she’ll say she never knew me, and we’ll be arrested, and it will take days to sort this out.”

“You can’t know that.”

“Do you want to take that risk? If you do, just get in the car and sit in the seat. I couldn’t drive us out of here if I wanted to.” Emily gulped, but she got into the car, as did Jenny. She looked at her blue-eyed friend; the look of nervous fear in Jenny’s eyes made her decision.

Emily turned the key and the Carrera GT’s engine roared to life behind her. She shifted into gear, and let the car idle forward, through the empty parking spot—around the Cadillac Escalade that blared its horn at her—and down the lane. There was uniformed mall security, talking on their shoulder radios, visible in her rear-view, but once mobile, they couldn’t catch the car, and didn’t try. She drove to the highway, and pulled on it, heading towards the office where Marie worked, with a sigh of relief.

Jenny was trying the cell phone, and she shook her head. “No good. Ash isn’t picking up.”

“Jeez. Try the house phone? Maybe she set her cell phone on vibrate?”

Upton Residence, 3:23 PM

The phone was ringing. This annoyed Ash, because she was in the bathroom. Cursing softly, she smacked the sink next to her. “Why do they always call when you’re on the hopper?!” With Emily, Jenny, and her mother gone, she could use words like that, and damn it, she was going to. Then she doubled up, groaning. “Damn it, that bacon was old, I knew it.” Or maybe it was the mayo… or maybe that was just cramps?

“Oh fugh, I don’t need this, too.” Ash whimpered, softly, her face a giant wince as her hand came back with blood glistening on her fingertips. “At least Emily’s not here to see this…”

On The Highway, 3:44 PM

“Mrs. Upton’s at lunch, her secretary said. And Ash didn’t pick up on the house phone.”

“Maybe she’s having lunch?”

“Maybe.” Jenny sighed. “We’ll be at the building, soon. Then we can just put the car in the garage and wait in Mrs. Upton’s office until she gets back.”

Emily nodded and made the turn to pull off the highway. She looked back at the car behind her: Ford, large-bodied, four door, darkened interior. Not a Mustang, too bulky—Crown Victoria, she realized, and gulped. Her suspicions were confirmed when the lights in the grill and on the dash burst to life, and the sirens turned on. “Oh god, no.” She whimpered, pulling over, as Jenny gulped. She hoped they went on by—but they didn’t. She put the car out of gear, her hand on the knob. The road ahead was clear.

“You could do it. Floor this pig when he gets out of his car. He’ll never catch you. You can have it in the parking garage by the time he even radios anyone who can respond.”

“You’re not…” Emily realized her hand was on the gearshift lever, and Jenny was looking at her with fear. Emily took her hand off the lever, and shut the car off, rolling the window down.

The officer walked up beside her. “Hands where I can see them.” Emily put hers on the steering wheel, and Jenny put hers on the dash. The officer didn’t look terribly thrilled at having to squat down completely, as if to use a Japanese toilet, to peer into the window. “License and registration, please.”

“Jenny, can you get the paperwork out of the glove box?” She started to dig into her purse.

“Ah-ah, slowly.”

Emily slowly pulled out her driver’s license, looking it over, then handed out the insurance information. He looked over it, and frowned.

“You know, somehow I don’t think you seem to be an, ah, Mr. Abbot. You look to be about ten years too young, and a mite more female, to say nothing of havin’ blue hair.”

Emily sighed. “It’s not my car, officer. We’re borrowing it.”

“Borrowing it. Right.”

“No, really. He’s a friend of my girlfriend’s. He let her keep this for a while since her car got banged up.”

“Riiight. How often do I hear that kind of thing?”

“It’s the truth.”

“That’s what they all say. Get out of the car, both of you. Slowly.”

Emily sighed and got out of the car, as did Jenny. “Now, here’s how this is going to happen, girlie. I do hope you know you’re in a whole heap of trouble for boosting something like this. We’re going to go through the formality of contacting the owner, and when he tells my dispatcher that you’re not supposed to have his car, we’re going to go to the barracks and call your parents. And when they get here, I’m going to read them the riot act, and they’re going to tear a strip outta your hide.”

Emily rolled her eyes at the condescending attitude, entirely unlike Lieutenant Grayfield had been. He saw that, and the officer’s face got hard. “What? You have a problem, girl?”

“Yes, I do. I have a name, it’s Emily.”

“Well, Emily, I have a problem with little girls who steal expensive cars.”

“I didn’t steal it. I’m in possession of this vehicle with the owner’s consent.”

“Sure you are, and my name’s Warren Buffet.”

Emily smiled. “Good to meet you, Officer Buffet.”

“Oh, you think this is funny girl?”

“No. It’s ridiculous. Do I look like a carjacker?”

“Girl, you know, on Christmas day itself, I heard of a punk, some rich-ass punk, who went absolutely ape on some poor bitch’s ride. More money than snot, and he goes and does something like that. You never can tell by the looks.”

Emily sighed. “That was my friend’s ride he went ape on. That’s why we have this Carrera GT.”

“Sure it is. Shut your mouth while I get this ball rolling, it’s cold out here.” Emily groused, crossing her arms at the indignity of it all, as the officer pushed in the mic button on his radio. “Dispatch, I have that reportedly stolen Porsche. Driver is minor female, name of Emily McArthur, passenger is minor female, name unknown.” He read off the number of Emily’s driver’s license. “Driver of vehicle insists she is in possession of it with owner’s consent; owner of record is confirmed from documentation as one Nathan Abbot. Contact owner and verify, please.”

“Copy that, Car forty-one.”

The officer crossed his arms; minutes, tense minutes, passed, with Jenny and Emily standing next to the Carrera GT. Finally, Dispatch came back, “The owner of the car reports that he left it lawfully in the possession of one Ash Upton, minor female, described as about five-five, one-ten, orange and green. Confirm passenger?”

“Not her, whoever she is. This one’s shorter, blonde and blue.”

Emily groaned, trying to protest, “Ash is my friend, she let me and Jenny take it alone since we only had the one car.”

“Get in the back of my car, girl.” He opened the door.

“What? You can’t be arresting us!”

“I said, get in the car.” He approached Emily, who held her hands out.

“Hey, whoa! Are you arresting us?”

“I’m not going to tell you again, get in the damn car.”

“And I’m not going anywhere until you tell me if you’re arresting me or not.”

His hand flew to his belt; panic arose in Emily, and she dove to the side in reaction. It hit her in the side like a lightning bolt; for a brief instant, her mind wailed out at having been shot over something like this, despair, longing for her lover’s arms. Then the pain hit, and she started writhing as the taser’s prongs sunk into her skin, electricity coursing through her body. Tears erupted from her eyes and her hands clawed up as the muscles were fired involuntarily.

It lasted for five agonizing seconds, then she felt leather gloves on her hands, bending them behind her, steel around her wrists. She vaguely heard, “Put that goddamned cell phone down,” as she was physically hauled to her feet and thrown bodily into the car, letting out a groan as the wind was knocked from her. She heard the sound of a scuffle outside, then Jenny let out a yelp, followed by another series of shrieks. Slowly her senses regained themselves, and Emily sat up, looking around.

“My god, I don’t believe this. I don’t fucking believe this,” she thought, as the door on the other side was opened, and Jenny was pushed through, her head down, under the roof of the car. Jenny was trembling, likewise in handcuffs, looking angry and terrified.

The officer got into the front seat, as another car pulled up. “Dispatch, have minor females in custody. They put up a fight and the blonde tried to run. Backup is on scene to take possession of the stolen vehicle, and I’m bringing them back to station.”

There was a metal grate in front of her, with a Plexiglas shield in front of it. Emily again, growlingly, demanded, “Are we under arrest?”

“Shut up.”

“Are we under arrest?”

“Yes, you’re under arrest already!”

“On what charges?”

“Let’s see, grand theft auto, resisting arrest, refusing to comply with the lawful order of a police officer, and the blonde tried to evade arrest, too.”

Emily bared her teeth. “I didn’t resist anything, you refused to say you were arresting me!”

“I don’t have to. What do you think this is, Law & Order? You’re a teenager under the age of eighteen, and your friend looks it, too. I don’t have to Mirandize you. You’re not legally capable of understanding those rights anyway.”

“Bullshit. Jenny, don’t say a word, not a fucking word, until you get a lawyer.”

“Shut up back there.”

Jenny nodded at Emily; she was clearly fighting not to cry again, and Emily leaned in to bolster her courage. “I’ll have your badge for this.”

“They all say that, girlie.”

Interview Room A, Massachusetts State Police Barracks, South Yarmouth, 6:23 PM

It had been two hours since she’d been left in the interrogation cell. Emily knew what it was—being a fan of Law & Order as she was, she knew every piece of it. From the frosted window which barely admitted light, fronted with thick wrought-iron bars and a thinner iron mesh in front of it, to the chairs and table which were nailed to the floor. The obvious one-way mirror, the light above the door, the speaker box in the wall…

It didn’t really help the feeling of helplessness, the claustrophobic feeling. It was one thing to be fully and consciously aware of the intended effect, and another to fight it.

“Strong. You’re strong, Emily. Ash thinks you’re strong. Jenny thinks you’re strong. You will be strong,” she thought to herself, attempting to bolster her spirits.

Eventually the door opened. Emily looked up; it wasn’t the officer who arrested her, but it wasn’t someone she had been hoping to see either. One look at her and Lieutenant Grayfield would probably have her released, she thought. Instead, this officer was gray-haired, with a light beard. Silently, he sat at the table, with a massive stack of paperwork. He sat down and started to fill it out.

“Oh this. I know this.” Emily was read-up on such techniques; plus, she had seen it used more than a few times on Law & Order. The idea was to unnerve her into talking. She probably shouldn’t say anything, she knew, but she was pissed, and righteously furious.

“Are you going to give me a lawyer?” The man was silent, and she scowled. Being ignored… that got her. “I said, are you going to give me a lawyer?” More silence. She huffed, stood up, and starting to pace the room; it was unnerving, the tenacity with which he was doing the paperwork. She tried to outlast him, but what felt like an hour and a half later, she looked down and it was only twenty-five minutes later.

“Oh, for pity’s sake…” She sighed. “Look, I asked before, and I’ll ask again, where is my goddamn lawyer?” She put her hands down on the table, glaring over into the officer’s eyeglasses; he kept his head down, working on the paperwork. Emily sighed. “Can we cut this immature, infantile attempt at intimidation? I know what you’re doing, and you’re filling out a requisition form, apparently for pizza and Chinese hookers.” Her eyes were sharp, sharp enough to pick out the tiny, cursive script, upside down reflected on his eyeglasses. “I’m not impressed by this Gestapo crap, and I’m not impressed by your transparent attempt to intimidate me into saying something by doing paperwork in front of me.”

He let out a sigh, looking up.

“Finally. Now, are you going to give me a damn lawyer?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Are you out of your mind?!” Emily bared her teeth. “The accused has a basic right to counsel, and I am invoking that right!”

“Look, girl. You’re sixteen. You don’t have a basic right to counsel. You don’t have any rights. The only thing the law demands is that you have a parent or guardian present during questioning; only a parent or guardian can invoke the right to counsel on your behalf.”

“Sixteen. Does that mean I’m not a person?!” Emily felt the rage building in her, as she clenched the back of the chair with her hands. “Fine. Call my mother.” She gave the number at her home. “Call my mother and she’ll tell you to get me a damn lawyer.”

“I’ve already tried. There’s no answer at the address listed on your driving record.”

Emily groaned. “She’s at my aunt’s still. She’s in Greylock with my aunt.” She gave the number, and the interrogator sighed.

“Fine. I’ll try again, if only to get you to shut up with your amateur ACLU crap.”

The interrogator departed, and Emily sat in his chair, peeking through the stack of paperwork. It was, as she had suspected, pure bullshit: requisition forms, photocopied text only menus, mundane paperwork, not a bit of which was relevant to her. Starving for something to do, she sorted the disorganized paperwork into stacks, waiting, thinking that any moment they were going to give her a lawyer whom she could convince to contact Nathan on her behalf, or Mrs. Upton, or anyone.

It took a while; the folder was easily four inches thick. She was disturbed by the voice from the speaker, saying, “What do you think you’re doing?” The door opened, and the officer from before, who had tried to intimidate her, walked in, crossing his arms.

“I organized your menus.” She stood up and squared her shoulders, belligerence and righteous indignation blossoming in her at being mistreated. “Where is my lawyer?”

“Look, for the last time, you’re not getting a lawyer until a parent invokes one for you. I can’t give you one, even if I wanted to. Which I don’t, because you’re an annoying little know-it-all.”

“Then why this Gestapo stuff? Anything I say now is inadmissible. I could confess to shooting Kennedy and it wouldn’t count.” The officer rolled his eyes, and Emily crossed her arms. “Yes, I know about interrogation techniques. Now, will you just answer a few questions civilly?”

“Fine. If you must know, since you’re not going to cooperate, even if anything you say is inadmissible, it can lead to us to information that is admissible.

“What the hell are you smoking? Fruit of a poisonous tree doctrine? I’m not an idiot.”

“Fruit of a poisonous tree is as may be, but it can speed up finding things that can be argued as inevitable discovery.”

“Ugh. This is madness. I told you people already I didn’t steal anything! The car belongs to a man named Nathan, who loaned it to my friend Ash when her car was wrecked by a boy named Joshua with a tire iron…” It hit her. “Grayfield. I want to talk to Lieutenant Grayfield.”

“Why would you want to talk to her?”

“Because she knows me; she’s met me, and she knows about the car.”

“Yeah, right. I don’t believe you.”

“Then either get me a lawyer and formally charge me with a crime, or let me the hell go.”

“I already told you, we’re not going to give you a lawyer.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “Then give me a pen and a piece of paper.”

“Why do you want it?”

“Because I want to petition a judge for a writ of habeus corpus to have your superior dragged before a court and ordered to charge me with a crime and provide me with legal counsel, or else release me.”

“Good grief, you’re annoying, girl. You have no rights don’t you understand that? You don’t have the right to an attorney!”

“And that’s why I want to petition a judge to order you to provide one. I am fully capable of under-standing my own rights, and I want this settled. It would be settled if you’d just give me a phone call.”

“We don’t have to. There’s no right to a phone call, and there’s no judges working this week anyway.”

“…” Emily let out a sound of frustration.

“Go ahead, scream yourself hoarse if you want. I don’t care.”

He turned to leave; Emily blinked. He’d baited her into an argument. “Hey! Where are you going? What’s the story with my mother?”

“Couldn’t reach her at the number you gave.”

“What do you mean, then? I’m just in limbo?”

“More or less, girl.”

“Then what the hell is going on?”

“You want to know? Fine. Here’s what’s going to happen. If she doesn’t call back by about ten, you’ll be appointed a ward of the State until your guardian can be located. Whatever caseworker you get assigned to will find a public defender for you, eventually. Until then, you’ll be chucked in juvenile detention, where a know-it-all wannabe-lawyer car thief like yourself belongs. Good night.”

He swept his papers into his folder and left, leaving Emily with the crushing realization that she was alone, at the mercy of a criminal justice system that didn’t afford her any rights, just because her birth certificate said she was sixteen years old.

Upton Residence, 6:41 PM

“Wow. A whole evil Imperial Starfleet?” Ash laughed at the TV screen as the onboard computer of her giant mecha reported the approach of the battleships that were passing the flying machine. She had to admit, the scene earlier had been poignant. The ‘enemy’ who had given her what she would need to destroy Anubis, and Ken Marinaras’ sacrifice at the hands of a madman; not many games could provoke an emotional response and Ash clenched her fist with a wolfish grin. Destroying these bastards would be a pleasure.

The admiral of the fleet contacted her to gloat, and Ash laughed as the pilot of the mecha said essentially what she was thinking—bring it on! She got control of Jehuty back. She held in two buttons, evading the incoming fire as her giant, blue mecha targeted the fleet’s incoming fighter support. She released a button, and a massive blossom of hundreds of blue streaks of light soared out from Jehuty, smashing through the formation of fighters, leaving a hailstorm of debris falling towards the Martian surface far below. One fighter had survived her initial barrage.

“Now that’s what I call a whoopin’!” Ash laughed as she moved on to the fleet, boosting past the last fighter as if it were nothing, since it essentially was nothing to the might of her giant robot.

Squad Bullpen, Massachusetts State Police Barracks, 6:45

“Mickey, Christ, Jesus H. Where in the hell did you get these two?” A uniformed officer walked out of Interview Room B, running his hand through short brown hair. “The blonde sweetie’s not talking. It’s like the only words in her vocabulary are ‘where’s my lawyer?’ Cracked the blue one yet?”

Michael ‘Mickey’ Terraciano shook his head. “It’s even worse with this one. This stupid bitch is actually read up on procedure. I’ve got Mikey in there doing his fill-out paperwork routine.

The girl’s voice came through the speaker-box, and the two officers could clearly see her hands braced. “Can we cut this immature, infantile attempt at intimidation? I know what you’re doing, and you’re filling out a requisition form, apparently for pizza and Chinese hookers.”

“Jeez, she saw through him?”

Emily went on to launch into her diatribe, and Mickey started to rub his temples. “Good grief, John. These two are enough of a headache I’m tempted to say cut ’em loose now.”

“Why? Is it that shaky?”

“Shaky like you wouldn’t believe. I went down to dispatch to make absolutely sure that the owner of the ‘stolen’ car didn’t mention these two since she’s so damn adamant she had it with owner’s consent. Turns out the exact wording the guy used was ‘I left it in the hands of a girl named Ash Upton and her two friends.’ Dispatch only relayed the bit about the first girl to Palmer, and you know Palmer. He’s got an attitude problem when it’s coming at him, so he just pulled his taser, then she made a run for it, and he tased first. And worse, the blonde bitch had a goddamned cell phone camera, and she sent the image somewhere.”

“Christ, Jesus H, Mickey.”

“Yeah, I know. Palmer’s gonna say she was combative, she’s going to say she’s not obligated to go anywhere with a law officer unless she’s informed of her rights. Even if we don’t have to tell jack to a teenager, a jury’s gonna see it her way.”

“So why don’t we just cut them loose and hold the car until the owner gets back?”

“They’re both minors. The blonde’s only like, two weeks from hitting eighteen, and her mom told us to keep her as soon as she heard the words ‘accused of stealing a car’. Then she went into full-on homophobe rant mode about this ‘Ash’ character, so I’m thinking their story’s legit.”

“Christ, Jesus H Pogo-stick. We’re fucked here, aren’t we?”

“Worse. We can’t get the blue one’s mom at all.”

“Oi vey. We can’t cut her loose if we wanted to…”

“Yep. And she’s in there with a better knowledge of the law than I have. She keeps demanding a lawyer, and she—”

“Fine. I’ll try again, if only to get you to shut up with your amateur ACLU crap.”

‘Mikey’ slammed the door to Interview A, shaking his head. “This girl is pissing me off, boss.”

“Try and find her mother again.”

Mikey let out a heavy sigh. “All right. Why don’t we just heave these two in the tanks or juvvie for a few days?”

“Because this one knows a shit. If it turns out we don’t have an airtight case against these two, she’s liable to get herself a lawyer the moment she gets out and have our asses for the high jump.”

“Why don’t we get the louie? If she wants to talk to Grayfield, I say we make ’em Grayfield’s problem.”

“Mikey, she’d have my ass in a sling if this girl is full of it. Not gonna happen. What the louie don’t get bothered with don’t hurt you or me.”

“All right. I’ll try calling Greylock.”

Mikey stalked off, and Mickey looked back to the officer who had been interrogating Jenny. “John, put a call in to child services. We might be looking at a couple of overnight wards here.”

“Great. They just love this shit.”

“You think I just yum it up?” Mickey shook his head. “Maybe we oughta just give them a damn telephone call.”

“I don’t think we even can. I’d have to check.”

“This is a mess, John.”

“Tell me about it. Hey, fifty says they’re telling the truth.”

“Fifty? You’re outta your mind.”

“Hey, I’m glad to go two for one.”

“Hell, you’re on. We’ll know soon enough. That Nathan guy said he’s coming down from Boston to recover his car. We can show him these two then.”

“All right.” John turned back to stare into Interview Room A, and shook his head. “Good grief.

She’s organizing his paperwork.”

Mickey turned to watch. “Doing a good job, too.”

“You think he was really filling it out for pizza and hookers?”

“Remember that time he filled one out for his two front teeth and a Harrier?”

“Good point.”

“Hey, boss, you need to get out here!” The shout came from the bull-pen, and Mickey leaned back to look in. “Lady here at the desk in full righteous mother mode! Claiming these two are hers and we’re full of shit!”

“Oh, god, just what I need. Tell me that’s Ms. McArthur and I’ll kiss you.”

“Her name’s Upton.”

“… Hell, I’ll meet her anyway.”

Mickey walked to the front. He heard her before he even opened the door to the front desk: angry, educated, furiously demanding to see her girls.

“Ma’am, pardon me for the wait. I’m Sergeant Terraciano. What can I do for you?”

“I’m looking for two of the girls who’re staying at my house. Emily McArthur and Jenny—”

“Yes, yes. You’re attached to them? Come on.”

Marie was led back through the bullpen to the short corridor adjoining the interview rooms. “Emily! Jenny!” She exclaimed when she saw them. “Get them out of there!”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Ms… McArthur?”

“What? No, my name’s Upton. Marie Upton.”

“… Okay, could you please explain your relationship to these two, then?”

The brunette sighed. “Emily’s my daughter’s best friend. She and my daughter are staying with me over the Christmas break. Jenny’s their other friend. Her mother essentially kicked her out a few nights ago, and last night she told her not to come home, so I’ve been letting her sleep at my house.”

“So… you’re not legally the guardian of either of these girls?”

“Um, no.”

“Well, Ms. Upton, that’s a problem. They’re both minors; I can’t release them to you, even if I wanted to. Which I don’t, since they’re both being held accused of Grand Theft Auto.”

The brunette rolled her eyes. “They didn’t steal anything. The owner of that car left it for my girls to use, since my daughter’s car was wrecked.”

“That’s what they keep saying. Frankly, until I hear that from the owner’s mouth, I can’t do anything about it. And in any event, there are additional charges in the equation. They’re both being held for resisting arrest, refusing the lawful order of a police officer, and the blonde has an additional charge of attempting to evade arrest.”

“What? My god. I’m getting them a lawyer. Get them out of there, these interrogations are over.”

Mickey sighed. Was it just his luck to have everybody who knew their rights show up today? “Miss, you can call a lawyer if you want, but it won’t do anything but rack you up a lawyer’s fee. I can’t give either of them a lawyer even if one shows up offering to do it Pro Bono. I can’t afford a minor teen counsel without the parent, guardian, or an authorized agent of one demanding one.”

“Fine. I’ll find Mrs. McArthur and get her permission.”

“What about the other?”

“What about her? She’s almost eighteen.”

“She’s not, yet.”

Marie leveled a green glare at the officer and walked out, talking on a cell phone. Mikey came back in. “Who’s that, boss?”

“Name’s Marie Upton. She just showed up, trying to claim these two.”

“Good grief. Why don’t we just cut ’em loose to her?”

“Because she’s not authorized to act as guardian for either of them.”

“Feck. All right, I… What the hell is she doing to my paperwork?” Mikey slammed the button and shouted, “What do you think you’re doing?” He opened the door to Interview Room A and stormed in, and Mickey had the feeling this was going to be a long night.

“Hey, boss, bad news.” John came walking back, shaking his head.

“What is it?”

“I just got off the horn with child services. They’ll take Bluesie in there, but they won’t touch the blonde. Told us to treat her as an adult.”

“Fuck. Now we have to get her a lawyer. Get her out of there and throw her in the cell.”

The door to room B was opened and John peeked his head in. “Hey, blondie, c’mon.”

“You’re letting me go?”

“No, we’re getting you that goddamn lawyer. Get up.”

Jenny stood up, walked out of the room, and looked around. “Hey, what about Emily?”

Jenny tried to reach for the button to speak into the room as John said, “She ain’t getting one, girlie. C’mon.”

Dragged out to the bullpen, Jenny gasped when she saw Mrs. Upton on a cell phone. Their eyes met at the same time, and she pelted towards the brunette woman, yelling, “Marie!”

“Jenny!” Marie caught her up in a tight bear-hug.

The contact with someone familiar and sympathetic was wonderfully soothing after the last harrowing hours. “You’ve got to get us out of here, they think we stole the Carrera.”

“I know, I know. Nathan’s on his way, I’m getting you a lawyer, Jenny.”

The man who had been interrogating Jenny roughly pulled her from Marie’s arms. “Come on, come on now.” He opened the door to a cell that was in the bullpen, and pushed her into it, shutting the door. “Just cool your heels in there.”

Marie scowled at him, “Is this really necessary?”

“Yes, it is. They’re still under arrest, you know.” Marie rolled her eyes and sighed. “This is ridiculous.”

“Save it for a judge.”

Marie put her cell phone back to her ear; her secretary was asking if she was still there. “Yes, I’m still here. Yes, I still need that lawyer on the double. Two of my girls have been arrested.”

“All right, Marie. This is gonna cost a bundle.”

“Just get me an attorney, now.”

“All right, I’ll find one and give him your number.”

Marie hung up and looked at her cell phone; she was going to have to do something she really didn’t want to do.

“Mrs. Upton, where’s Ash?”

Marie looked to the iron cage Jenny was languishing in. “I couldn’t reach her when I tried to call.”

“Neither could we,” Jenny replied.

“I’m going to try to find Emily’s mother. Meanwhile, my secretary’s working her ass off to find a criminal defense lawyer who can come down here in a hurry.”

“That’s good.” Jenny leaned on the bars as Marie punched in numbers.

The phone rang, and rang, and rang, and finally it picked up. “Upton.”

“Edward, it’s me.”

“Marie? Um…”

“Edward, it’s Emily.”

“What’s wrong?” Her estranged husband’s voice became hard and determined.

“She’s under arrest, Edward.”

“A-Arrested?! Emily!?”

“Yes. She’s been accused of stealing a car she didn’t steal, and they won’t give her a lawyer until they contact her mother. I think they’re going to put her in juvie unless I can contact her mother.”

“I’ll find her, Marie.”

Marie sighed and sat on the bench next to the cage. Jenny reached through the bars and Marie took her hand, squeezing it softly.

Squad Bullpen, Massachusetts State Police Barracks, 10:11 PM

“I am not leaving them here. That’s final.”

“Ma’am, listen, I can—”

“I don’t care. If you’re going to keep her overnight, I am staying right here. Now will you please let me see her?”

Mickey let out a sigh of aggravation. “Miss, I can order you to leave.”

“I want to talk to your superior officer.”

“You and everybody else, miss.”

“No, I mean it. I want to speak with Lieutenant Grayfield.”

“Again, you and everybody else.”

The suited lawyer next to her spoke up quietly, “Marie, it’s late. Maybe you should cut your losses and go home to the girl you still have?”

“My daughter will be fine without me.” She squared off with Mickey in a battle of wills to see who would wear down first.

“Hey, boss! That car’s owner’s here.”

“He is? Finally. Let’s see him.”

“Too late, he just… there he is.”

The man from the party pushed through the doors, looking around. “Who’s in charge here?”

“That would be me, sir. You’re the owner of the red Porsche Carrera GT, plate number—”

“Yes, yes I am. I saw my car sitting in your lot…” He noticed Jenny at that point. “Um… is that one of these legendary ‘car thieves’?”

Marie stood up, crossing to the officer and the owner. “Mr…. Nathan, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. You’re Ash’s mother.”

“You two know each other?”

“Yes, we’ve met. Is the other one blue haired, about five two, magenta eyes?”

“Um, yes.”

Nathan slapped his forehead. “There’s no crime here. These girls have my consent to have my Carrera GT. I told your dispatcher ‘and her two friends’ when I gave the description of this woman’s daughter.”

“Wonderful. Glad we could clear that up.”

“So you’re releasing them?”

“No.” Mickey turned back to Marie. “Even if my superior orders me to ignore any further charges resulting from the circumstances of their arrest, I can’t release the blue-haired one without her mother or father’s authorization.”

“Oh Jeez.” Nathan shook his head.

“Then I want to speak with your superior officer. Now.”

The lawyer looked about to back Marie, so Mickey held up his hands. “You want to talk to the lieutenant? Fine. Mikey! Get Grayfield in here.”

Marie sighed, turning back to her lawyer. “How are we going to get Emily out of here?”

“I can try filing some paperwork, but the gist is if they want to block us, there’s not much I can do unless her mother authorizes you to act in loco parentis.”

“Wonderful. So it’s a waiting game?”

“It seems that way, Mrs. Upton. Look, I’ll get on that paperwork, but I charge by the sixteen minutes, and—”

“Can the cash crap, Poindexter. I’m paying, and I’m paying double your going rate. You’re not going anywhere.” Marie blinked at Nathan, who shrugged. “It’s my car that got them into this mess, I’m going to get them out of it.”

Marie sighed and shook her head. “I don’t even know how this all started.”

“I do,” Jenny called from the cell, and Marie walked over to her, followed by the lawyer and the car’s owner.

“What happened, Jenny?”

“My mom. She reported my credit cards stolen. We tried to buy some lingerie with my card, and the girl started stalling me. I figured out what was going on and I took Emily and convinced her to leave. We slipped out ahead of the rent-a-goons, because I didn’t want to spend hours being hassled by them in their little security offices. We got out of the parking lot before they could get us, and—”

“And let me guess, some overzealous prick among them thought ‘card thief’ equals ‘car thief’ and reported my Carrera GT stolen?” Nathan sighed. “Wonderful. This has been a fun day.”

“Tell me about it. What happened to you?”

“Well, I was wining and dining a very beautiful young lady in Central Park, with tickets to see a show at Madison Square Garden later, after a walking tour of the Big Apple, when I got a call asking if my car had been stolen.”

“Manhatten? You were in New York City?”

“Yeah, I was.”

“And you drove all the way out here today?”

“Hey, they said my car was stolen. I figured Ash had left it somewhere unwise or something.” Marie’s cell phone rang again, and she flipped it open.

Interview Room A, 11:13 PM

It was hot. Her mouth was dry. Minutes stretched on to hours when you had nothing at all to do, and Emily’s mind felt like it was baking. She might have been drifting in and out of sleep; she honestly did not know, and whenever she checked her watch, it was only at most ten minutes later than the last time. Her stomach was growling, she wanted a shower and she wanted a bed.

The door opened again, and a spike of adrenaline rushed through her body. She surged to her feet, hands on the back of the steel chair. “Are you finally going to give me a goddamned lawyer?!”

It was the same officer who had been doing the paperwork, and he ran his hand through his hair. “Yes, you’re getting a goddamned lawyer, now will you clam up about it?!”

The last voice she expected to hear started to berate him, a strong male voice, “Watch your tongue when you’re talking to a lady, asshole.”

“Hey, you got a problem?”

“Yes, I got a problem, now get out of our way.”

“Just let us in.” The last voice was a woman’s voice, strong and authoritative, and the interviewing officer moved out of the way; Lieutenant Grayfield walked in, followed by Marie, who ran straight around the table and snatched Emily up in a huge bear-hug.

Emily’s body was wracked with trembling as she hugged Marie back. Tears flowed out as Marie tilted her head into her shoulder. “Mrs. Upton… you…”

“Shhh, it’s okay. It’s okay. I’ve got you a lawyer; we’re going to settle this mess right now.”

Emily looked up as she felt more arms on her—Jenny was next to her, hugging her from behind. The car’s owner was squaring off with the officer who had tried to intimidate her with paperwork; they were each suggesting they ‘take it out back’ and looked ready to start throwing punches until Lieutenant Grayfield threatened to have them both thrown in a cell overnight. She dismissed the belligerent officer, and told everyone to sit down, including a man Emily didn’t recognize.

“It’s okay, Emily. Sit down,” Marie said.

Emily nodded, wiping her face with the back of her hand. She slid away and sat down, noticing that a number of chairs had been brought in while she wasn’t looking. She wanted to scream to take her out of there, but the sooner she got this over with, the better. And so, she sat.

“I’m going to record this conversation. Does everyone understand?” A round of yes followed. “Grayfield, Lieutenant A, interviewing officer,” she spoke, into the recorder she had put on the middle of the table.

Then the man Emily hadn’t recognized spoke. “Jacob Poindexter, attorney, representing the accused.”

“And you, sir?”

“You’ve met me before.”

“For the record.”

“Oh, right. Nathaniel Abbot, the owner of the car in question.”

“And you are Marie Upton, acting in loco parentis for Emily McArthur, on the afore-received permission of her own mother?”

“That’s correct.”

“Okay, we’re going to need to sort out exactly who everyone is in this furball, so…” Getting everyone’s name and participation took the next several minutes.

“Okay, let’s start at the top. There was something about a shopping mall?”

“Yes,” Jenny said, taking over since Emily didn’t want to talk. Jenny explained for the record her split with her mother, and how her mother had come to Marie’s house the previous night and taken her car, as well as having struck Ash; Emily and Marie both confirmed it.

“So, you went shopping today, in the red Carrera GT?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“And you had the owner’s permission to have it?”

“They did,” Nathan said.

“But you left it in the care of one Ash Upton, not present.”

“Yes, that’s correct. I did so, with the understanding that if Ash judged Emily capable of handling the vehicle, she would be allowed to operate it.”

“Okay. So the charge of grand theft auto is right out, since she was operating the vehicle with the owner’s consent?”

“Correct.”

“Okay. So, you went to the mall.”

“Yes, we went clothes shopping. I attempted to pay for the load with my credit card, which was new as of a week and a half ago. The clerk started asking me questions—I couldn’t remember the expiration date. When she placed a call in code, I knew we were in trouble.”

“Why didn’t you wait and explain things to the mall security?”

“Rent-a-cops. I don’t trust them, and since they don’t actually have the power to arrest us, I knew that if we got out of there before they caught us and physically forced us somewhere, we were free. So we left.”

“Where were you going?”

“To my mother’s place of work. I was going to yell at her about the cards, and make her call the credit card company.”

“And… Okay, I’m confused. May I ask a question here? Why was my car reported stolen?”

“The mall security reported it as a possibly stolen vehicle when Emily and Jenny departed the premises.”

“Without any proof or reasonable suspicion?”

“You could say that.”

“So, they harassed, using the state police as their mechanism, two girls who were lawfully operating my motor vehicle?”

“Ah…”

“I’d like to state for the record my intent to file suit against the Cape Cod Mall, and the private security company operating their security if indeed there is one, for that act, and to recover the damages to my vehicle incurred when your inept towing company towed my vehicle here.”

“So noted. Now, you got onto the highway, Emily, Jennifer, and you were stopped past the off-ramp by an unmarked patrol car.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Did you attempt to run at all?”

Emily shook her head. “No. I parked the vehicle immediately, and complied with all of the officer’s orders.”

“Except when he told you to get into his vehicle.”

“He would not tell me whether he was arresting me. I don’t have to go anywhere if I’m not informed that I’m under arrest.”

“Well, you would be right on that, if you were eighteen or older. As it is, your mother, or Mrs. Upton, could well argue that on your behalf.”

Emily’s face contorted in anger, bitterly closing her eyes. “Are you okay?”

“I am fine.”

“So, you resisted following the officer’s command to get into his vehicle?”

“Don’t answer that!” the lawyer spoke up.

“Mr. Poindexter, please advise your client that if she refuses to answer, we may be forced to lock her up overnight.”

Emily blanched. “Yes, I did. I held my hands out, I told him I wasn’t going anywhere until he told me I was under arrest and read me my Miranda rights.”

“Again, rights to which you, as a minor, are not entitled to exercise on your own behalf, but I understand. At that point, Officer Palmer was forced to employ his taser to subdue you?”

“What? No!”

Emily shook her head, vehemently, over her lawyer’s objection of, “For the love of god don’t answer that!”

“He went for his belt, I thought he was reaching for his pistol. I panicked, and I tried to get away. Then he tased me. After that… it’s blurry, but I could hear him yelling at Jenny to drop her cell phone, and then he tased her. I don’t know what happened.”

“Jennifer?”

“I was recording what he did to Emily with my cell phone. I hit the send button, and he lunged for my phone. I tried to get it out of his hand, and he went for his taser again. I ran, and he shot me. Then he picked up my phone and snapped it in half.”

“He did?”

“He did. He threw it in a trash can.”

Grayfield raised her head to the window. “Sergeant, pull Palmer’s dashboard camera video, now. If it’s missing, I’ll have your ass. Emily, did you see this happen?”

“No. I was in the back of the car, trying to sit up.”

“Okay… Jennifer, who did you send the video to?”

“I don’t remember. I think it was the first person on my list… Maybe Ash?”

“If you find the cell phone with the evidence on it, you’re going to need to submit it. And then you were brought here, to this barracks?”

“Yes, that’s correct. I told Jenny to keep her mouth shut until she got a lawyer, and I kept demanding one of my own. I was never provided with a lawyer, or an opportunity to contact someone.”

“All right. All right. I don’t believe either of you are any kind of a flight risk. And given that you were behaving in the way any reasonable person would when confronted with an officer of the law demanding you enter their vehicle, I’m going to say there’s no ground for any of the official misconduct charges: resisting arrest, evading arrest, failure to comply. The charge of operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent is also obviously in error, since the owner is on record stating you have permission to operate the vehicle in question.

“You’re all free to go.”

“We’re… free to go? Just like that?”

“Just like that. Go home.”

Emily blinked at the suddenness, and heaved a sigh of relief as her lawyer spoke up. “I do trust that, since these charges were blatantly false, any personal data, fingerprints, et cetera, collected from my clients will be promptly destroyed.”

“They will be.”

“I’d like to observe personally.”

“You may. Record off.”

Emily looked unsteady, as they walked out through the bullpen.

“Hey, Poindexter, want to help me sue the pants off a shopping mall?”

“I’m not a tort lawyer, I’m a defense attorney. Here’s my card; I have a partner who can help you. Call tomorrow.” He handed Nathan a card, who took it as Marie led the girls outside.

Then Marie winced. “Oh, no…” Her Porsche 996 was sitting next to the Carrera GT in the police parking lot. “No seats. Emily, you good to drive?” Emily looked up and shook her head, grimly.

“All right.” Nathan took out a key fob, and pressed a button on it—a low rumbling emitted from the vehicle to the right of the 996. “Mrs. Upton, take my Durango and take them home. I’ll follow you with the Carrera GT, then bring you back here to pick up the 911.”

They walked through the open gates to the cars, and Emily took a breath. “I can do it.”

“Hmm?” Marie turned to look at her.

“I can… I can do it.” Emily clenched her fist, taking another deep breath. “I will not be intimidated off of driving by this.”

“You good, Blues?” Emily nodded, and Nathan took out the keys to the Carrera GT. “Show me.” Emily took the key fob, blinking. “What about the Durango?”

“I’ll drive it there,” Jenny volunteered.

“Go for it.” He handed her the key-fob. “It’s an automatic, there should be no trouble. Just don’t pull on the knob of the PRNDL; it’s broke and held on with duct tape. You have to pull it by the handle.”

“All right.”

Climbing into the Carrera GT, Emily shivered softly, running her hand over the wheel and the knob. “You okay, Blues?”

“Yeah… Why do you call me that?”

“It’s what Jimmy calls you. He was ranting at me yesterday about how you came up with my Carrera and placed third.”

“He was?”

“He was totally impressed. You didn’t even realize you edged out his own time with his Hemicuda, did you?”

“Oh… No, I didn’t. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. He ain’t pissed.”

Emily put the key in and turned the powerful Porsche engine behind her on.

“Do you know the way back to Provincetown?”

“Not from here.”

“No problem.” Nathan swung the GPS system his way, punched in directions. “That’ll take you straight back home.”

“Wait, should we even be driving this? Didn’t you say it was damaged?”

“Scratches, fucked up paint; nothing that’ll impair driving. They already took pictures of it when they got it here, I’ll subpoena them.”

“You’re really going to sue the mall?”

“You’re damn straight I am, and I’ll foot the bill if you and Jenny want to, too.”

“Er… why?”

“Because I don’t like it when people fuck with friends of mine, and any friend of the girl who whooped the ass off Rainer in my car is a friend of mine.”

Emily let out a short, derisive laugh as she swung the Carrera around, pulling out of the lot with Marie and Jenny following her. “Why do you have such a busted-up old car as your second ride?”

“Well, I already drive the best car Porsche makes as my performance vehicle. She’s my pride, my arrogance, my vanity. The Durango? She’s my utility truck; it keeps me humble.”

“Heh… that’s…”

“Weird, I know, but it can be handy at times when you need to make a discrete entrance or exit. Nobody notices a ubiquitous silver SUV.”

Emily nodded, and drove on in silence, until they were well on the way on the highway. “You have the gift.”

“What do you mean?”

“To drive. Just like your orange-haired girlfriend. The two of you have the Gift. You’re driving this car and making it look effortless.”

“You think so?”

“I know so. Jimmy says so, too, and I trust his judgment. You’re raw, but you’ve got the talent.”

“So, what’s that mean?”

“Maybe nothing, I dunno. But Jimmy said you’re pulling in just below the best time Kate placed on the track, too.”

“There’s no way I’m nearly as good as Kate.”

“Not yet, but there’s a fairly huge performance difference between Kate’s Jag and this. And it takes the gift to handle the Carrera GT.”

“What gift?”

“Why, the gift of speed, of course. The need for it; you feel it, don’t you?”

“Feel the need for speed? Is that a joke?”

“Kind of, but I’m still serious.”

Emily shrugged her shoulders. “I… I know I’m not as good as Ash, or Kate, but… I like this.”

“Do you want it?”

“Want it?”

“You have to want this. It’s not just a hobby, like putting together model aeroplanes or being a weekend card shark. You have to hunger for this.”

“What’s with the crazy stuff?”

“Crazy? Yeah, it is. Who in their right mind would attempt to pilot a vehicle like this in a straight line, let alone spin it nearly sideways around a tight corner at seventy miles an hour?”

“Well, when you put it that way…”

“But you and Ash have both done that, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess we have.”

“So, you have the gift. Do you have the hunger for it, too? Well, simple litmus test. When that officer busted you, did you just puss out and cry? Or did you think, even for a moment, ‘yeah, I can burn this pig squealin’’. Or something like that.”

“Um…”

He laughed. “You did, didn’t you! You itched to drop this bitch into second and floor it.”

“Yeah, I guess I did. That’s wrong, though!”

“Yeah, it is. And you shouldn’t do it, even if I do. Do as I say, not as I do. But still, you wanted to. You’ve got the need for excessive velocity, then.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“What do you drive?”

“Eh?”

“I mean, when you’re not driving my Carrera GT. What’s your ride?”

“Um… a ’94 Nissan 240SX.”

“Oooh, nice beginner car. Handles like a bloody dream. The power sucks, but you can do some nice shit to fix that. Turbocharge it, supercharge it, pull a Datsun engine swap… Hell, I’ve heard of people dropping absolutely ridiculous engines in them, they’ve got a nice, generous engine bay.”

“You ever drove one?”

“Nah. Wanted to. My first car is that Durango behind us. The first high-performer I got my hands on was an Alfa Romeo Spider with a turbocharged 2-liter V6.”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“Not surprising; they’re not actually sold in this country. I imported it, had to jump through a lot of hoops to be allowed to drive it on our roads. But she was more or less free for me, so…”

“Ah. How was it?”

He shrugged. “Eh. She worked well enough, I suppose. Got rid of it, traded up later.”

“I see.” Emily looked at the GPS—they were closing on Provincetown.

“Most people would be shook to hell after an encounter with the cops like that. You’re holding stone-steady.”

“I am? I don’t feel it.”

“Maybe because you’re focusing on something? I’d say keep focusing on something.”

“Okay…”

“Hey, you going to be at the speedway tomorrow? Kate’s coming to town; going to try and take the record back from me. I’ve never actually seen her race.”

“I have.”

“Have you? That’s something. Is she everything they say?”

Emily bit her lip, thinking of the times she’d seen Kamikaze Kate drive, the effect her engine had on people even when she wasn’t there for them. “She’s more.”

“Good. That’s… that’s great.”

“Why?”

“I’ve been trying to provoke a race with her. So far, no go.”

“Trying to provoke a race with Kate? Kate the Kamikaze? She usually goes to you.”

“Maybe… Anyway, I need to beat her before I can move on.”

“Move on? Where?”

“Out west. There’s a certain bastard with a Le Mans Audi TT that I owe a whole lot of payback to, and a couple of other places on the circuit I need to hit up. But first I want to prove myself against the Kamikaze.”

“You know she doesn’t lose, right?”

“I know. That’s why I want to try.”

Emily laughed. “That’s crazy.”

“I know. That’s why I’m gunning for her.”

“Your funeral.” Emily smirked.

“Eh. If I lose, I lose. It’s not the end of the world.”

“Yeah… yeah, you’re right.”

“You just have to get back up, no matter who knocks you down. You have to get back up and keep trying.”

Upton Residence, December 29, 2004, 12:13 AM

“Wooo! Yeah! Take that, Anubis!” Victory finally hers (after numerous hours of start-and-stop, and a midday nap, and a break for a movie, and some more Need for Speed) Ash threw her arms up, watching the ending cut-scenes as they started to happen. She looked up when she heard a familiar sound, though—the Carrera GT. “Finally, you show back up?”

She turned off her Playstation; she’d kick Anubis’s ass again later. Looking through the door, there was a silver SUV she didn’t recognize, but then Jenny climbed out of the driver’s seat. Emily and a man—the one who owned the Carrera, she recognized—were climbing out of the Carrera GT, and her mother had parked the 996 next to the Supercar. The Jaguar was nowhere in sight.

“What the hell is going on?” She opened the door, shivering at the gust of cold hitting her in her tee. Not wearing shoes, she winced, realizing she couldn’t just run out in the middle of December. Not that it mattered—Emily was running to her. “Em?” Instinctively, she knew something was very wrong, and caught her friend as soon as she ran into the house, hugging her tightly. Emily let out a shudder in her arms, almost collapsing. “Emily, what happened?”

“I…” Emily sniffled softly. “I… Ugh… I don’t want to talk about it now, Ash. Just hold me.”

Ash nodded, pulling Emily over to the couch-bed. Ash pulled Emily close while Emily shivered in her arms, glad for the nearness. “Ash… Just hold me.”

“I will, Emily. I will.”

Ash squeezed Emily tightly as her mother and Jenny slipped into the house. She saw Nathan get into the SUV and drive off. Ash looked to her mother and asked, “Mom, what’s going on?”

Marie placed her hand on the back of Ash’s head, hugging both girls lightly to her. “Someone thought they stole that car and they were arrested.”

Ash’s jaw dropped, and Emily burrowed into her chest, letting out a sniffle. “Just take her to bed, Ash. She needs to unwind and sleep.

Upton Residence, 10:01 AM

Hands held her: strong, firm, furiously protective, female hands. That suited Emily’s mood as she blearily clawed her way out of sleep, trying to remember the previous night. She remembered Mrs. Upton’s brief explanation to a shocked Ash of what had happened, and how she had fallen asleep where they were. Emily was on her side, face-to-face with Ash, whose arms were tight around her, fingers digging into her back. There was warmth behind her, too; Jenny was behind her she realized, her arms over her as well, holding onto Ash.

It felt good, warm, overly so, to be squished between the two girls, her head on Ash’s bicep with the arm under her. She opened her eyes; Ash was still asleep. “Yesterday… sucked,” she determined. “It totally sucked.” But, it was over; she was a free girl. Emily raised her head, blinking. She then pulled Ash’s head to hers; Ash opened her eyes in surprise, startled out of her sleep as Emily pushed a heavy, strong, desperate kiss into her.

Ash slid her hand up Emily’s back to her head, holding her in the kiss until Emily was done and she pulled off. “You okay, Emily?”

“I am now, Ash.”

“Good, because… my arm’s numb.”

“Sorry, Ash.” Emily smiled weakly, as Ash extricated her arm from under Emily’s head. “Hey, Ash… why didn’t you answer your cell phone yesterday?”

“It was, uh… out of juice. I didn’t see that it had run out of charge, until like, nine.”

“Oh… And the house phone?”

“Every single time someone called, I was in the bathroom.”

“Jeez. Talk about bad timing.”

“Yeah, really. Mmmmh. You just want to stay home, Emily?”

“I’d love to. But… Kate’s coming to town, remember? I want to see her on the track.”

“Oh yeah… I’d forgotten.”

“Where’s your mom? Home?”

“Yeah. She called in and said she wanted to stay with us today.”

Almost as if on cue, Marie walked down the stairs, huffing with annoyance. “Are you girls awake?”

“Yeah, mom. What’s wrong?”

“I have to go in for something. This could be easily handled without me, but…” She sighed, heavily, stroking Ash’s forehead, and Emily’s, then Jenny’s—the blonde was struggling to wake up. “I’ll be home when I can. Please, take your cell phones with you if you go anywhere, and if you somehow get stopped again, call me before anyone gets to you.”

“I will, mom.”

“Okay… Oh, Emily, by the way, Edward finally found your mother in Greylock Hospital. I… hate to say this—your mother’s sister was very unwell, something about an infection after a crash. She’s getting better, though.”

“Oh… thank goodness,” Emily said, with a sigh.

“I’m so sorry I have to leave you, girls. Please, be careful.”

“We always are, mom.”

“Good… Oh, and I had the Jaguar towed home early this morning, so you’ll have enough cars.”

Marie leaned down and kissed Ash’s forehead, then she did likewise to Emily and Jenny. “Please, call me and tell me where you’re going if you go anywhere, okay?”

“We will.”

“All right. See you girls soon.” Marie walked quickly out of the house, leaving them alone and looking at one another.

“What now?”

“Find something to do?”

“Sounds like a plan… Hey, why don’t we go get breakfast, and then go to the speedway?”

Ash nodded. “Sounds good.”

Ash literally rolled off the bed to the floor, crawling to her knees then to her feet. She helped Emily up, who stood and stretched. She in turn offered her hand to Jenny, who smiled and took it, letting Emily help her up, and stretched.

“Thanks.”

Emily’s and Jenny’s eyes met for a moment, and Jenny smiled. “Go ahead. I’ll be okay by myself.” Emily nodded and took Ash’s hand, leaning against her, heading to the (unused) bedroom, and laying out clothes for the day. They went to the bathroom, where Emily laid their towels over the radiator and Ash started the shower, stepping into the blue-tiled space after stripping out of her clothes.

“Em? You coming?”

“Yeah… I’m coming, give me a minute.” Emily pulled her own clothes off and closed her eyes. Holding a hand out, she stepped in by feel, in front of Ash for a change, letting Ash close the door.

“You okay?”

Emily opened her eyes and did a double take, a visible shiver running down her body.

“Emily?”

“Huh? O-Oh… Yes, I think so.”

“Think so? What’s wrong?” Ash ran her hand down Emily’s back and curled her other arm around her girlfriend’s waist. Emily leaned back, shivering again, into Ash.

“I dunno. It’s just… maybe… this reminds me of that interrogation room.”

“Are you…?”

“I’ll be fine. I think.” Emily felt her lip tremble, even as she mentally berated herself for acting stupid. She felt Ash’s arms tighten around her, then gingerly spin her around, her head getting tilted up. Looking into Ash’s bright green eyes, she could see that Ash was worried.

“Emily… Please, tell me what’s wrong.”

The blue-haired bookworm trembled softly, then pitched forward, pressing fully into her friend’s body, quivering and starting to cry softly on Ash’s shoulder. “Em?” Ash held her, tightly, while Emily’s fingers splayed out, holding tight to Ash’s body, fingertips and fingernails digging into her lover’s back.

“I’m… I’m sorry, A-Ash… You mu-must think I’m being a wuss…”

“No… No I don’t.” Ash all-but-crushed Emily against her with a squeeze, then released her. “Just… please, can you tell me what’s wrong?”

“I’ve never… I’ve never felt so helpless.” Emily took a shuddering breath. “It was… It was like I was a nobody, a non-entity. It felt like being in Guantanamo Bay, they wouldn’t tell me anything I didn’t harass them into saying to shut me up, they wouldn’t give me a lawyer, wouldn’t give me a telephone call…”

“Uh-Wha?” Emily had, after all, not spoken of it last night, and neither Jenny nor Marie had been in a talking mood. Emily was pushing forward, and Ash slowly pulled her in, sitting down with Emily leaning forward on her.

“Ash… W-We got arrested yesterday. Jenny’s bitch of a mother set us up by reporting her credit card stolen. We got out of the mall, but the rent-a-cops r-reported the Carrera GT stolen.” She sniffled.

“When they called Nathan, he gave the dispatcher your description, but the dispatcher didn’t pass on the part about ‘and her two friends’, so they…” She trembled again as Ash stared wide-eyed and shocked into Emily’s eyes.

“Em… My god, you were…”

“The officer tased us, Ash. He destroyed Jenny’s cell phone to get rid of her picture of him tasing me. He wouldn’t tell us what he was doing, wouldn’t read us our rights…”

“Jeez, Emily… I… Are you…”

“Because I’m only ‘sixteen’,” Emily plaintively said.

It hit Ash like a lightning bolt. Her friend had been fucked with and denied all the rights afforded to a murderer, simply because she was in the eyes of the law two years younger than she was. “Emily,” she murmured, strongly, pulling her friend as close as she could, and staring into the bookworm’s magenta eyes. “God, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

“I… I don’t…”

Ash nodded, tilting Emily’s head down into her shoulder. “Just breathe… just relax, I’m here, Em. They’re not touching you again…”

“I… I’m sorry, Ash… I…”

“Have nothing to be sorry for, Emily.” Ash reached a hand up her back, caressing the side of Emily’s head, then let her slide down a bit more, her body cradled on Ash’s legs and torso, placing her head softly on top of her own breasts. Emily sniffled softly, and clammed up, wrapping her arms tightly around her friend, who was reclining on the back wall of the shower, holding her tightly.

Neither spoke. Long moments stretched to minutes. Eventually Ash realized her friend’s breathing had steadied out to a soft, gentle, steady rise and fall of Emily’s chest against her stomach.

“Thank you, Ash.” Emily murmured it softly, her lips against Ash’s skin, buried in the soft flesh of her cleavage, and Ash tilted her head down; Emily was looking up, and she put her arms down, on the floor, pushing herself up—she smiled, softly. “Thank you, Ash.” This time, it was clearer, and she leaned in, pushing a soft, slow, melting kiss into Ash’s lips, which the tuner was all-too-happy to return, arching herself softly into Emily’s body. Then they broke the kiss, and Emily closed her eyes, leaning into Ash. “You don’t think I’m a wuss, do you?”

“No, Emily, I don’t.” Ash stroked her lover’s back, tenderly. “I don’t know quite what they did to you, or how it affected you, but I know it did. And it hurts to see you feeling bad.”

“… Thank you… Ash, just… Mmm.” Emily nuzzled her head back into her friend’s. “I love this feeling. Being against you, being held. You know just how to make me feel better…”

“I don’t, really. I’m guessing.”

“Then your instincts are doing their job, Ash.” Emily slid up, further, pressing her breasts into Ash’s, and kissing her, tenderly, as a prelude to standing up, slowly, and offering a hand to Ash, who took it, letting Emily help her up.

Emily pulled Ash to her again, and she kissed Ash’s cheek, softly. “Ash, you’re my strength.”

“If I’m your strength, then you’re my courage, Emily.”

“How so?”

“The courage to deal with things… Like bleeding from the crotch once a month, or the courage to deal with my emotions…”

“Ash, you’re courageous without me…”

“Not in ‘girl’ stuff. Not when it comes to feelings, or emotions… I… I guess it’s easier just to hide things and pretend you don’t have any than to… to deal with…”

“To confront them and accept them, Ash. It is. And it takes courage to do so, and you have it.”

Emily smiled, and leaned into Ash, closing her eyes. “Thank you, Ash. You’re always here for me, even if it’s hard for you.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Emily.” Ash slid her hand alongside Emily’s cheek, stroking her softly. Emily looked up, smiling warmly. “And I’m not going to leave you, Ash.”

Outside The Upton Residence, 11:44 AM

“So, where now? Ale House?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“You know, they have some new stuff there.”

Ash looked over at Jenny. “Oh really? Tyler finally implemented one of his crazy ‘copy a restaurant he ate at’ ideas?”

“The chicken Maryland was, mmm… Well, if you like chicken and crab together, it’s good. I didn’t. What your mom had looked good, though.”

“Heh. Sounds like a full dinner.”

Emily turned her magenta eyes on her lover, highlighted by her stomach growling. “I haven’t had anything to eat since lunch yesterday.”

“Okay, okay.” Ash started down the path to the sidewalk. “Let’s go, then.”

“Hey!” exclaimed Rose as she saw Ash leading the trio into the Ale House, her face lightning up with recognition and pleasantness. “How ya been? Three?”

“Three. I’ve been good. You?”

“Great! C’mon.”

Rose led the trio to the back of the restaurant, sliding them into a booth and handing them menus.

“Drinks?”

“Diet soda, no ice,” responded Jenny automatically.

Ash shrugged. “Same.”

“Make it three.”

“All right, then.” She handed out menus, and walked off to fill their orders.

Jenny leaned back in her booth side, opposite Ash and Emily, and let out a soft sigh. “So… Mmm, what’re you thinking?”

Emily shrugged. “Well, their burgers are good, but… what was Mrs. Upton having the other night?”

“Oh, that was the chicken cordon bleu,” Rose answered, returning with their drinks and putting them down. “It’s ham wrapped with chicken, stuffed with mozzarella cheese, fried, served over rice, with alfredo sauce.” Emily grimaced, and Rose laughed. “Yeah, it sounds like a heart attack in a basket, but it’s really good, which is unfortunate, because it pretty much is a heart attack in a basket.”

Emily laughed and looked over at Ash, shrugging. Ash shrugged back, then grinned. “We could split one. You don’t have a problem with that, do ya, Rose?”

“Well, Ty normally makes us charge double, but you’re family.” She grinned, and reached over Emily, ruffling Ash’s hair, as Ash laughed, trying to fend her off. “And you?”

“Mmm… Hell, give me a veal Parm mini-meal,” Jenny said. “So, after this… to the Speedway?”

Ash nodded at Jenny’s question. “I want to see Kate race.” Emily smirked at her. “Bullshit. You want to race her.”

“Welllllll, maybe.”

Emily laughed and pinched Ash’s arm, then sighed, making small talk. Ash explained the plot of the video game Emily had bought her, which made Emily’s and Jenny’s heads spin.

“I guess that must be a tomboy thing, all those giant robots and stuff.”

“You should try it, Jenny.”

“Well, okay, I will, but it doesn’t sound all that great.”

“You didn’t think that about Need for Speed, either.”

“True.”

As they were talking over their drinks, Rose came over with three tall, thick glasses stuffed to the brim with cherry-colored daiquiri.

“What’s this?” Ash asked. “Virgin daiquiri.”

“We didn’t order these.”

“No, it’s a gift.” Rose smiled. “You three have a secret admirer,” she said, with a grin. “Cute boy, too.” She winked, but Ash got a bad feeling.

“Rose, who is it?”

“Table nine.”

Ash turned her head, fixing on the table by number. Emily’s and Jenny’s heads followed hers, and

Ash’s face was decidedly unamused. “That fucker’s out of jail that fast?”

Joshua Almacy, Jr. was sitting at the table. He grinned at the trio, raising his glass to them. Ash wanted to raise her middle finger in return, but Jenny beat her to the action, scowling. “My psycho ex-boyfriend. Great.”

“Wait, what? Jail?”

“He smashed my car to hell, Rose, on Christmas Day. He also came at Jenny with a tire iron, not to mention he got into two fights with me on Christmas Eve.”

“Did he now?” Rose swept away, leaving the platter with the drinks on their table. Rose walked over to Table 9, smiling sweetly. Whatever she said to Joshua, he didn’t like it from the looks of things. Rose’s voice rose, and she pointed at the door. Then Joshua exploded at her, shouting.

“Oh, shit.” Ash scowled, sliding under the table in a move that scraped her breasts and left her annoyed.

“Ash, what are you doing?” Emily hissed, as Ash slid out from under the table. The argument had grown heated as she started to cross the room. The doors to the kitchen opened as Joshua stood up, starting to yell in Rose’s face, and Rose yelled right back.

Joshua shoved, and Ash sailed across the bar, but she didn’t get the chance to lay her hands into him first. The shove sent Rose back into the bar with an exclamation of pain, and a huge clattering heralded a platter of food smashing to the floor; Tyler had emerged from the kitchen. As Joshua moved towards Rose, Tyler grabbed the rich kid by the front of his jacket.

“I know you didn’t just shove my sister!”

Ash knew what was coming next; she’d seen it before. So she dashed for the front of the restaurant and held the door open. She barely made it before Tyler unceremoniously heaved Joshua bodily out of his establishment. Squealing, Joshua hit pavement with a sickening crunch, rolling, his jacket shredding on the rough concrete.

“And if you come back, I’ll have you hauled out in irons!”

Ash was already sliding back into the restaurant, with Emily and Jenny looking on with something akin to horror mixed with admiration. Tyler asked the remaining diners to please remain calm, just a little bit of excitement, nothing to be alarmed about. Ash walked back to Rose, who was standing up, and asked, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah… I’m okay. Who was that prick?”

“My mom’s boss’s son. He’s a real sonuvabitch, piece of work, as you saw.”

“Yeah…” Rose shook her head. “I could’ve handled him, Ash.”

“I know, but I wasn’t going to let him shove a friend around like that, anyway.”

Rose grinned at her. “Thanks.”

By then, Tyler was beside her, and likewise said, “Thanks, Ash. Sorry about smashing your meal

like that.” He indicated to the mess on the floor, and Ash winced.

“Jeez, sorry. Gimme the mop, I’ll clean it up.”

“What? I won’t hear of it.” Tyler smirked. “Don’t worry about it. Your meals’re on the house, since they got interrupted like that.”

“Aw, you don’t have to—”

“No, I really do. If nothing else than for the assistance.”

“Okay, okay. I’m still sorry about that.”

“Not your fault. Some people are just assholes.”

“Don’t I know it.”

“Why’d he blow up at you, anyway?”

“I told him to get out, that I wasn’t going to let him use me to harass people. He didn’t take kindly to that; thought I had an obligation to serve him. Then he called me a whore.”

Ash shook her head, scowling. “Shit… I’d better get back out there, I’ve got two very expensive cars in the driveway and if he’s pissed off…” Ash turned and walked back to the door, looking out in time to see Joshua pulling out of the back lot in his Mercedes-Benz, speeding away towards the highway.

“Or not.” Ash shrugged and went back to the table, where Emily let her back in.

“Jeez, Ash, why’d you do that?”

“I wasn’t gonna stand by and let him shove around a friend.”

Emily only sighed, and leaned on her. It unnerved Ash, and after a moment she asked, “Not gonna yell at me?”

“Nope. No point in yelling at you.” She smiled up at Ash. “Because I don’t blame you, even if it was ill-advised.”

Ash blinked, and smiled. Then she turned Emily’s face to hers. “Thanks, Em.”

“You’re welcome.” Emily leaned in, bypassing Ash’s lips (barely) and kissing her cheek.

Cape Cod Speedway, 1:51 PM

“So, do you think Kate’s here already?”

Emily shook her head at Ash; she’d called ‘Driver’s Seat’ first, winning the wheel of the Carrera GT to Ash’s amusement, and leaving Jenny at the wheel of the 996. “I dunno, but I don’t think so.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Just a hunch.”

They went inside again; Fitz was in his office. With a resigned sigh, he simply told them to go on back and pay Jimmy.

Rounding the back, they found Jimmy in the garages again. This time he was working on the machines, though.

“Hey, Jimmy,” Ash said, and he turned around.

“H-Hey, King, Blues! What’s up?”

“Just here, you know. Kate’s not here yet?”

“Not yet. I dunno when she’ll show up.”

“What about the guy who owns the Carrera?”

“Yeah, he won’t be here either; told me to send his regards. Something about seeing a man about suing the pants off some companies.”

“Ah. That’s a shame.”

“Yeah, it is. Lemme guess, you girls want the track while you’re waiting?”

“Would be nice.”

“Well, I’ve got no problem with it. However, Nathan said that if I saw you girls again, to tell you you needed to change out the tires and brakes on the Carrera, since you’ve been putting some hard wear on them.”

“Already?”

“Yeah, he’s a bit of a puss when it comes to his rubber and brake-pads. He already bought the stuff, though, and I’ve got ’em here. Bring the car ’round to the lift and you lot can learn how to change the tires and brake surfaces on a Carrera GT.”

Ash, Emily, and Jenny looked at one another. They shrugged, and went back out to the front, as Jimmy opened the gate, getting the cars and bringing them in. Ash parked the Carrera on the lift, with Jimmy’s hand signals, then got out, while Emily parked the 996 in the pits.

“All righty, then. Hit the lights, Blues,” Jimmy called out, pointing to a switch near the garage door. Emily hit it, bringing up the bright lights in the garage, “I’ve got the tunes.” Jimmy pressed the button on a small CD player, as one of the most recognizable classic rock riffs started to play; a song Emily and Ash recognized, which got a grin. “Let’s get to work, ladies.” Jimmy lifted the Carrera up on the hydraulic lift with a lever, as the CD player started crooning, “We all came out to Montreux, on the Lake Geneva shoreline…”

Cape Cod Speedway, 3:39 PM

“I do believe she’s going to top your last run, King!”

“No way. I’m not driving for anything less than to win.”

“Neither is she.”

Ash, Jenny, and Jimmy were on top of the race tower, with Jimmy aiming his radar gun at the speeding Carrera GT. They had taken turns: Ash and Emily with the Carrera GT, and then Jenny would take a run in the 996 with Ash or Emily in the passenger’s seat. Ash and Emily had hovered consistently around third place, each one incrementally beating the last one’s lap. Then Ash had shaved two seconds off her previous run and nestled up less than a second behind Kate’s record.

“Well, hold onto your britches, here it comes.”

Jenny stood ready with the flag as Emily soared over the starting line, automatically triggering the radar-activated lap timer.

“Holy shit,” Jimmy murmured.

“What?”

The neckbearded race-boss looked over at Ash, blinking. “She just beat Kate’s record.”

“No way.”

“Way.” Jimmy tapped on his PDA; Emily had crossed the finish line a full second ahead of Kate’s last record. “She’s two seconds from being our top non-professional.”

“Oh really?” Ash grinned as Jimmy entered Emily’s sign—240SX Emily—into the record, listing her vehicle as ‘Carrera GT’.

Emily pulled the Carrera back into the pits and shut it off. “Did I hear that right?” she said over the radio. “You’re pulling my leg, right?”

“No bullshit, Blues. You just slipped past Kate’s record.”

“That’s…”

“Yeah. You want me to delete that record? It’s kinda scary, putting on airs of being ahead of her. I dunno why my homeboy wants to provoke her so damn bad.”

“I feel giddy.” Emily laughed as Ash climbed down the ladder.

“My turn. Who knows, we might take the record here.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it, Ash. Anyway… uh…”

Ash blinked; her stomach felt a bit upset, and her hand was shaking. “What?” Nathan’s words from Christmas Eve came back to her—instinct, gut feelings, are when your subconscious mind recognizes something your conscious mind doesn’t.

“Kate,” Emily and Ash said at once, as the sound of the V8 in the Jaguar XKR became audible. They turned to the gates as the sleek, black vehicle with tinted windows pulled through.

“My heart’s pounding.”

“Mine too,” Emily replied as the Jaguar parked in the pits next to the Carrera GT. Emily and Ash took their helmets off and set them on the front hood of the Carrera as the tall blonde woman climbed out of her car, her massive mane of yellow hair flowing behind her.

“Well, well, little sister, and Emily, and…” She blinked. “Is that a… a Porsche Carrera GT?”

Ash grinned as Kate ran towards her. “Yep. You bet it is.” Kate threw her into a hug, which Ash had more or less come to accept, hugging the older racer back, tightly.

“How in the world did you get that, Ash?”

“Well… that’s a long story, Kate,” Ash replied. She opened the passenger door and took the pictures out of the glove box, relating the story of the party and her victory over Rainer, and how her car was trashed and she was subsequently allowed to keep the Carrera GT until she left the Cape.

By the time she was done, Jenny and Jimmy had also walked over to listen to the telling; Kate was grinning. “That’s my little sister.” She ruffled Ash’s hair, and turned back to Jimmy. “So! I heard tell that some punk, presumably the one who owns this Carrera GT, beat my standing record?”

“Yeah, you could say that. Nathan couldn’t make it today, but he sends his regards.”

“Really? Tell him he can keep his regards; I want a piece of him.”

“He’ll be happy to hear that, then.”

“Good. I’m ready to take back my number one slot.”

“Good luck with that, Kate; you’ve got two spaces to jump.”

Fire flashed in Kate’s eyes, and Ash edged away, nervously. “I do? Someone else slipped past me? When did that happen?”

“Ten minutes ago,” Jimmy replied with a grin.

The fire was blown out and Kate turned to Ash. “Oh, really?” She smiled, largely; Ash squirmed. “You beat my record?”

“Ah, actually… no. My last record was a few tenths of a second short.” Ash turned her head; on the other side of the Carrera GT, Emily was squirming in the attention.

“You did, Emily?” Kate tilted her head, and Emily nodded.

“Y-Yes, I did.” She expected Kate to bite her head off, but the older racer grinned.

“Good job. I guess I’ll just have to leap two spaces, then.”

“All right, then. Let’s get these kids outta the pits and into the tower, and you can go get a rolling start. And don’t forget yer helmet.”

“I won’t forget the helmet, I have it with me.” Kate turned back around, tossing a wave at Ash and Emily before climbing into her midnight-black Jaguar XKR, turning it on with a loud growl, as Jenny, Emily, Ash, and Jimmy made a beeline for the tower.

“I’ll take the flag this time,” Ash volunteered.

Kate drove to the first chicane and turned around on the track. She got a start, with Jimmy watching her with the radar gun.

“Fifty, sixty, sixty five, bring it down… sixty… Good! You’re go!”

The Jaguar cruised over the starting line, whereupon Kate floored it. The Jaguar’s engine roared, and Ash shook her head.

“She’s accelerating faster than she did the last time I raced that car. That’s incredible.”

The Jaguar accelerated very rapidly, gliding around the chicane. As usual, she lost speed in the turns to the heavy machine, but she kept her slides up and still emerged high, powering through the corner onto the straights.

“She’s fast, I’ll give her that. But I think she’s just getting warmed up…”

Kate skirted the chicanes, blew through the next set of turns, and powered towards the finish line. Ash realized she was holding her breath, and raised the flag. She threw it with all her might, as Kate sailed over the finish line, slowing down gradually, and returning to the pits.

“Good! You’re two hundredths of a second behind Blues.”

Kate’s voice finally came over the radio. “I’ll have to do better next time. Another go, then.”

“All right. Roll on back and get a running start.”

Kate’s second run blew past Emily’s score, returning her to second place, although her third and forth only inched her closer to the top goal. Ash watched keenly with each run, as, of course, did the others in the tower.

The fifth time was the winner. The Jaguar XKR, heavily modified, managed to slip past Nathan’s score by a second and a half. And she went for a sixth run, which got her another second of lead.

Finally, the blonde racer stopped, in need of fuel. “Hey Ash,” she said, as she started to fill her vehicle’s tank. “You’re good on the mountain. I want another run with you.”

Ash blinked, and took Jimmy’s hand-radio. “Um… I’d love to.” Ash grinned; her hand was shaking, and she took her button off the transmit button.

“Heh. Your ass must be crazy, King. I wouldn’t ever want to go against Kate again, and I drive a Hemicuda that can out-accelerate damn-near anything on or off the road.”

“Yeah, well, that’s me.” Ash grinned. “Plus, this time I’ve got a car that’s pretty clearly superior.”

“Good luck.”

Ash started to climb down the ladder, while Emily bit her lip. She wanted to yell out ‘be careful’, but she had no reason to believe Ash wouldn’t be, or that Kate would risk hurting Ash in any way. Yet something bugged her nonetheless. As Ash was reaching the bottom of the tower, it started to really gnaw on her, and then it hit her. She reached for the ladder, and started down herself, working furiously to get to the bottom before Ash got to the tarmac.

“Wait!”

“Huh?” Ash turned back as Emily ran over.

“Ash…” She knew that if she just told Ash not to race, it might as well be like telling her not to breathe. “Give me the keys.”

“Uh—What?”

“Give me the keys,” Emily repeated, looking into her eyes. “I want to do this.”

“Y-You want to?”

“Yes. I need to be the one who does this race, Ash.” As soon as she said it, doubt blossomed. She knew she was asking a lot, a whole lot. She could see it on Ash’s face. For a moment, she thought she’d gone too far.

“Okay.” Ash held her hand out, putting the key to the Carrera GT into Emily’s hand.

“Okay?”

“Okay.” Ash stared into Emily’s eyes—hard green into bright magenta. Emily felt her stomach lurch. “You’d better know what you’re doing, Emily.”

“I do,” Emily insisted, even though she felt queasy.

“Don’t disappoint me, Em.” Ash turned, walking back to the track. Kate was still looking away, so Emily ran for the Carrera GT. She grabbed their helmets, pulling one on and putting the other on top of the fueling machine in the pits. She slipped into the Supercar as Kate looked up.

“Uh, Blues… you ready?”

“Blues?” Kate said over her handset. “Ash?” She looked up. “What are you doing up there.”

“Emily wanted to do this race.”

“Emily did?” Emily spied Kate staring at her through the tiny rear window of the Carrera GT. “Do

you think you have what it takes, girl?”

“I know I do. (Bravado. When in doubt, put on a brave face.)” And in doubt she was; her right hand was quivering, as was her stomach. “And I need to prove it.”

“I hope you’ve come a long way from that night, Emily.”

“I know I have. Are you trying to talk me out of racing you? It’s not going to happen.” False bravado, maybe, but she knew she could do this. She had to be able to do it. And most importantly, Ash had to not do this race.

“All right, girl. Let’s see what you’ve got. No rolling start, Jimmy.”

“Roger that, no rolling start.”

Kate got into her car and pulled it to the starting line first, followed by Emily alongside her. Emily took a deep breath, then let it out. “Nervous?”

Emily closed her eyes, taking another breath. She needed to be calm, so she imagined Ash’s arms around her, lips on her cheek. Imagined the feel of the car around her when she had done that last lap.

“You can do this, Emily.” She squeezed her fists tightly around the steering wheel, relaxing. She opened her eyes.

“Yo, Blues! You okay in there? You want us to get you out of there?”

“What? No! I’m fine, Jimmy. Absolutely fine.”

“All righty then. On three.”

Emily put the car in first gear as she heard the engine in the Jaguar revving up. “She’s going to do a burnout.”

“One!”

Emily pushed the brake pedal in all the way, and pressed down on the gas; the engine behind her roared, her tires squealing.

“Two!”

The Jaguar beside her had hit a fever pitch, and she looked over at Kate, who met her eyes. Then she looked back at her tachometer—it was in the right zone, 6,000 RPM, and her heart was beating about as quickly, she imagined.

“THREE!”

She pulled her foot off the brake, as did Kate. Rubber laid itself on asphalt, her eyes focused. She was in the left lane, the lane that would make taking the chicane harder. Focus, focus; she glanced in the side mirror. Couldn’t see Kate. She looked up, and her heart skipped a beat. The rear-wheel-driven, naturally aspirated V10-powered Carrera GT had leapt off the starting line with a speed that Kate’s Supercharged, all-wheel driven V8 couldn’t match.

“My god. I’m ahead of Kamikaze Kate.” She pulled the gearshift down into second, working the floor pedal, but Kate was nobody’s fool. The Jaguar was following the Carrera GT, the low, sleek car plowing through the air and disrupting it, making life easier on Kate’s V8—but the low profile of the Carrera GT, even with her spoiler deployed, didn’t let her take as much advantage of the high-pressure front in front of Kate’s Jaguar as the Jag took from the Carrera’s wake.

“She’s going to try to pass me going into the turns.” Though the Carrera GT was light—lighter than the Jaguar, in fact—the rear wheel drive would be a hindrance in the turns, where Kate’s all-wheel-driven Jaguar would hug the corners. She might use the turns to her advantage, too, but that would take skill, and require her to push the Carrera GT harder than she had before. She let herself slide to the outside lane, Kate following her.

“Oh, this is going to be tricky…” Emily knew there was no margin for error. She had to perform a heel-toe downshift with perfect stick work. There simply was no other option to keep up her advantage, and she’d lose the pole position to Kate.

“You’ve done this before.” Not in the Carrera GT, certainly; in fact, only in her 240SX, and never very well. But by now, she’d had almost as much practice in the Carrera GT as she had in the 240SX. The turn was coming up. She had to do it now! Emily licked her lips and went for it, pushing in on the brake and hammering down the clutch pedal, shifting down a gear and twisting the wheel.

She botched it. Her stick work was flawless, her wheel was in the perfect position, but the Carrera’s high-revving engine caught her totally off-guard with its un-clutched revolutions, shooting well past her mark and nearly into the redline. The Carrera bucked like a bull at a rodeo, and Kate glided smoothly around her as she slid into the turn, nearly into the grass; she was definitely in the red and white; not in and of itself a problem, but she was behind the other driver, which was a problem.

“Nice try,” Kate laughed as she came out of the skid in the lead, drifting easily to the other lane.

But Emily wasn’t done. She gassed it again, trying the maneuver again, even as she thought that if she wrecked the transmission, Nathan would have her hide. The Carrera bucked again, but not as badly, and she started to gain. This time, the slipstream was well in her advantage; the slipstream off the larger, bulkier Jaguar gave her an incredibly easy time, and the low-profile Porsche pushed hardly any high-pressure front in front of her, and what there was slipped somewhat under Kate’s rear bumper, granting her little advantage.

“You can get this back on track, Emily.” She pushed in as Kate emerged from the turns ahead of her, seeking an opening to pass, but Kate was good, blocking her again and again. The chicane, though…

“Jimmy, there’s no disqualification, is there?”

“No, there’s not, not unless you wreck, go into grass in the turns, or do something like ram the other car. Why?”

Emily didn’t answer. If she was wrong, she was in trouble. But the sod was well-kept, and…

She pushed up close to Kate, getting the benefit of the draft, then slid out dramatically to the left as Kate drifted to the right to skirt the chicane. The result was that she held onto the wheel tightly as the Carrera GT soared over the grass. It cost her revs and miles per hour, but she had succeeded in getting open track ahead of her, and floored the gas pedal.

The Carrera GT’s engine opened up like a banshee behind her, even as the V8 next to her growled like a monster. But she was gaining. She was too far up for Kate to get back ahead of her, and although Kate’s acceleration curve was nearly as good as her own, her lower top-end was costing her as her engine struggled harder for each additional mile per hour.

Emily barely even recognized the cry of, “Holy shit!” in her radio; she certainly didn’t acknowledge it as she pushed the Carrera GT up, up—ahead. She was ahead, and slowly moved to the side to take the next corner.

Kate was almost on her bumper; the blonde racer must have had a view straight up the Carrera GT’s left tailpipe; in her slipstream, Kate had little trouble reaching her top-end, and the Carrera GT had to fight harder The dramatic difference between their top ends couldn’t come into play very much, since she’d run out of straight too soon.

“Hope this works…” Emily slid to the outside lane, floored the clutch while braking and lightly rolling the gas. The Carrera still bucked, but she was in the lead coming out of the first turn.

But Kate was still on the Porsche’s bumper. “I’m not going to shake her. She’s not going to fall for the chicane trick again. If I lose the advantage now, it’s over.” She hadn’t actually expected to win; her initial goal had been to prevent Ash from doing this race. But the instincts in her had started to take over—the hunger. She realized that she wanted this, wanted to do something even Ash hadn’t, even if she did have the handicap of a bona fide Supercar. She wanted it as badly as Ash had; wanted it as bad as Kate must want a victory over a superior vehicle. She was going to be the first teenager to serve up a nice, chilled dish of defeat to Kamikaze Kate.

It was, after all, a dish best served cold. Or was that revenge? Either way, she performed another heel-toe downshift, coming around the corner perfectly. And then she learned why Kate had been given the appellation kamikaze. Kate had dramatically oversteered, drifting into the next turn and actually cutting ahead, but having lost most of her momentum—and Emily’s Carrera GT was plowing straight for her bumper. Emily pulled the wheel hard to the right, the six-piston Brembo calipers squealing, rubber laid on the asphalt as she avoided the collision, narrowly—and Kate came out ahead. Emily realized she could have salvaged the turn still with her massive acceleration curve, but she’d held the brakes over-cautiously, failed to heel-toe downshift with the turn, and she came out on Kate’s bumper, aligning to the next turn into the straights.

It was do or die time, and she was in a position to die, not do. But she wasn’t going to give up. Emily gassed it, pushing up on Kate’s bumper as the Jaguar accelerated. Her speedometer was going easily upwards of one hundred, and she pushed. The chicane—Kate was too close to the middle, she knew Kate would block her if she pulled left. So she pulled right, sailing over the grass on the outside of the chicane.

And the finish line was coming up.

“Gonna be a photo finish!” Jimmy yelled.

Emily pulled over to the side, too far for Kate to block her, but losing a lot of momentum in the process. She floored it again and, free of the constraints of a Jaguar ahead of it, the Carrera GT’s engine howled once more. She knew she’d pull ahead, but… it was going to be close. She was pulling alongside, her eyes focused on the track, shifting into the next gear in a fraction of a second… Then they were over the line and she looked to the side; her head was aligned with Kate’s front bumper as they started to brake, the Carrera crouching as much as the Jaguar, which imitated its namesake, hunching forward as their tires laid yet more rubber on the asphalt.

When the Carrera GT pulled to a stop, Emily turned on the air conditioner and pulled off her helmet; she was drenched in sweat, and for once glad for the headband she habitually wore for a practical purpose. She quickly unbuttoned her jacket, tossing it into the passenger’s seat, and undid the buttons on her blouse as well, letting her breathing return to normal; looking to the side, she could see that Kate was likewise cooling off. Then it hit her; it was even colder outside the vehicle than it was inside (especially with the heat coming off the engine, mounted directly behind her), so she opened the door, getting out at the same time Kate did. The long-maned blonde racer’s eyes met hers, and Kate ran up to her, throwing her into a bear-hug, which made Emily blush slightly.

“Oh my god! The last time I had such a fun race was that run against Ash on the mountain!”

“Who won? I didn’t even see.”

“Neither did I,” Kate admitted, laughing out loud.

Emily started to laugh as well, closing her eyes; two ladies without jackets and with unbuttoned blouses, in the frigid, clean, cold winter air, the smell of exhaust and burnt rubber all around them. “Holy shit, that was incredible! That’s the kind of shit that packs the stands tight!”

“We got it on video, too!”

“Huh?” Emily looked up, as did Kate, releasing the embrace.

“Jenny started up the camera on the stand.” Jimmy showed them on his PDA, revealing a movie clip of them going through the chicanes. Then he switched it to the photo-finish image; Kate’s bumper was over the starting line, with Emily’s front bumper equal with the front of her wheel-well. “That’s what I call close, Blues.”

Emily looked up into Kate’s eyes, as Ash hugged her from behind. She smiled. “You earned it. I see why they call you the Demon of Greylock.”

Kate laughed, and smiled; she embraced both Ash and Emily, hugging them tightly. “You earned it, too. I just won.”

“You want another go, Kate?” Ash grinned.

Kate shook her head. “Once was enough for today. I’ll see you again, Ash, on the Mountain.”

“You’d better.”

Kate grinned at her, and squeezed both girls again, tightly. “You two are good; very, very good. Keep it up, and you’ll be legendary. Maybe even better than me.”

That got Emily grinning wryly, and she closed her eyes, shivering softly. “Mmmmh…”

“I’ll be seeing you two later. Actually…” Kate bit her lip, softly. “Yeah. I think you two deserve to know. There’s a Big Race coming up, on Greylock, around the end of January or into February, depending on the weather. Normally we don’t invite high-schoolers, especially when some of the talent that’s coming has even come from as far as Washington State and Scotland, but… You two are invited—as per me.”

“Yeah, I’ll second that invite, Kate,” Jimmy said. “These two can hack Greylock.”

“Wait… what?”

“You heard me, Ash. I just invited you to the Big Race. The entry fee is however much you can afford to pay, winner takes all. I’ll give you more details when I know.”

“Wow. Who all’s in it?”

“Most of the local talent. Me, of course, Jimmy, Brent Westcott and his buddy with the Toyota Spyder, Tom Fuller, Aiden Brewster, your friend James… Someone decided it would be a good idea to invite that jackass Colin who works at AutoModerZ, and I agreed since I’d love a chance to make him beg. Nathan heard about it from Jimmy, and got his way in, and he brought in the out-of-towner talent. I don’t know them, haven’t met any of them yet. And now there’s you two.” She squeezed Ash and Emily’s shoulders, grinning at them, then sliding away. “I’ll catch you two later! Have fun!”

Kate walked back to her car, leaving Emily and Ash standing on the roadway.

“Hah-hah! Well, there you go, King. How d’ya like that, Blues, you both get invited to the Big Race by Kamikaze Kate herself. She must really like you two a lot.”

“Wow. Just…” Ash blinked, then she turned to Emily, who stared back at her; they were both grinning like loons; then they embraced, tightly.

“I am so going to have to see this,” Jenny said. “Hey, can we get me some flares, and I’ll start the thing off like the other night?”

Ash shrugged, “Uh…”

“Well, I don’t see why not,” Jimmy replied. “You two can invite racers, if both of you—or one of you and someone else—agrees, I don’t see why you couldn’t bring a spectator, too.”

“Awesome.”

“Man, it’s getting’ late.” Jimmy checked his PDA “Whoa, yeah. It’s like, four thirty already, and I usually jet outta here by four. Do you girls mind if we call that a day?”

“I don’t mind.”

“Me either.”

Ash yawned, and smiled. “Mmmh. Let’s get going, then. Driver’s seat!”

Jenny was right behind her, yelling out, “Shotgun!”

Emily laughed. “Fair enough, fair enough.”

Ash and Jenny got into the Carrera GT. Ash started the engine, and Jimmy walked out of the way as Ash turned the car around. She pulled it out to the gates, and then to the parking lot, waiting for Emily in the 996, who took up a position behind them, before pulling out.

“Hey, Ash, I have a question.”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Didn’t you get that video I sent you? The one of Emily being tased? I sent it because I figured you could help us.”

“Uh… no, I haven’t… Oh.” She squirmed, fishing her cell phone out of her pocket and turning it on.

“You forgot to turn it back on.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“We’d better have your mom send this out to Lieutenant Grayfield.”

“Okay, will do.” Ash smiled as they drove along.

“What about dinner?”

“Mom’ll probably make it.”

“Yeah… Your mom’s real nice, isn’t she?”

“… Yeah, she is.” Ash sighed, affectionately, and Jenny closed her eyes.

“I wish she were my mom. She’s so nice to me… I don’t know what I’ll do when she gets tired of having me around.”

“Aw… Jeez, I… You know, she might not kick you out. My cover-boyfriend and his brother have been living at my house for nine months. My parents are both very accommodating… And I think, in a strange way, she’s getting used to you.”

“You think so?”

“I think so.”

Jenny nodded, and smiled. “Mmmh… Hey, Ash, will you come to my birthday party? If I even get one… I don’t think any of my old friends will.”

“You bet your ass I’ll come, Jenny.” Ash grinned. “But only if you come to mine.”

“That’s a promise.”

Ash smiled over at Jenny, who grinned back at her, then lay back, closing her eyes, with a happy, contented smile. “You’re too kind to me, Ash.”

“Nah… I think you just needed a real friend.”

“Thank you, anyway.”

They rode on in comfortable silence for some time, until Jenny took in a breath, while they were on the highway. “Ash? Can I ask you another question?”

“Of course,” the tuner replied, quietly. “Go ahead and ask.”

“Ash… What’s a Misfile?”

8. Harmony Dreams

On The Highway, December 29, 2004, 4:51 PM

It was the sum of all of her fears. Those three words. Three words that caught her chest in a tight grip, three words that had her reacting in shock, braking hard as she heard them. A horn blasted behind her, Emily in the Porsche 996 slipped to the side, accelerating hard to avoid the collision that Ash nearly caused.

What’s a Misfile? The words caught her completely off-guard, absolutely bringing her brain to a crash state. Fortunately, instinct took over and she floored the gas in time to (barely) avoid the front bumper of the 18-wheeler behind her, the Carrera GT’s massive acceleration curve powering it ahead.

Those three words. Words that could spell her doom if the wrong person heard them. Words that could destroy her world. Erase her, literally, from existence. Words that would rob her of her friendship, her relationship with her mother.

“Where the hell did you hear that word?!”

Ash stared over at Jenny, who looked back at her in shock. “A-A few days ago. Emily muttered something about it when she woke up from a nightmare; she said something about dreaming you were a boy…”

“Oh, hell.” Ash swore, groaning. “It’s… Look, it’s nothing. Don’t mention it again, please?”

“It doesn’t sound like nothing, Ash. Please—”

“Drop it, please!”

Jenny’s lip trembled. “N-No, I won’t. Something’s bothering you, and her, about it.”

It must have taken an act of tremendous courage for her to say that to Ash, but that was small comfort to the upset tuner. “Jenny…”

“No! It’s not nothing. Whatever it was, it made her upset, and now it’s gotten you, too. What’s wrong? Are you in some kind of trouble?”

“This is a switch.” Ash sighed. “Everything’s wrong, Jenny. I’m in more trouble than you can believe if you mention that word to anyone.”

“Tell me.”

“I… I can’t. You don’t need to know, and you wouldn’t believe me.”

“What, is this some kind of The Matrix shit?”

“(Hmmm… that’s one way of putting it.) It’s… complicated.”

“Just because I’m blonde and don’t get A’s doesn’t mean I’m stupid, Ash.”

“I never said that! Look, it’s complicated, it’ll sound crazy, and I’ve no way to prove it to you if I told you, even if I wanted to. (I don’t believe I’m having this conversation. Better here with her, than at home with dad or Vashiel, but I still don’t want to be having it.)”

Jenny looked thoroughly unconvinced, staring at Ash with worried eyes. Ash had been about to say something, but the naked concern on her friend’s face gave her pause. She bit her lip. How was she going to explain this without explaining anything? She sighed.

“Jenny, let me ask you something. If you’re in the middle of the woods, and you do something to a tree, say, spray-paint something on it. And then something happens to the tree, like… I dunno, it burns down. And you’re the only one who knew about the spray-painting, and nobody else would believe you about the spray-painting… did it happen?”

“What? That’s… That’s stupid, of course it did.”

“But how are you going to prove it? Burned completely, absolutely gone.”

“I… um, I’ll—”

“And then you go to find the can you used, only the can is gone. And the receipt is gone, too. You call your credit card company, but they have no record of the charge. You call the bank, they have no record of the amount ever being deducted from your account—it’s still there.”

“Um…”

“And now you’re trying, and trying, and trying, to prove that you spray-painted this tree, but you can’t, because when you go back, the tree is ash. Even if you get a CSI team to come through and look for particles of paint, they can’t find anything!”

“What are you saying, Ash?”

“I’m saying I can’t tell you what I’m saying, and you wouldn’t believe me if I told you, and even if I did prove it to you, you wouldn’t like it, and wouldn’t want to know it. And I’m afraid you wouldn’t want to know me, either.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to know you? You’re… well, quite possibly the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You wouldn’t bow down to me, and when I tried to hurt you, you shrugged it off and kept going. You shrugged me off so hard I fell down, so you stopped and picked me back up, too…”

Ash let out a heavy sigh. “Trust me, Jenny. It’s… it’s better you don’t know, for all of our sakes.”

“Ash, something is hurting you. I don’t like it; I want to help.”

“When did you become Ms. Sensitivity?”

“I’ve always been sensitive, Ash. You can’t stick an emotional knife in someone and twist it without knowing where’s the right place to stick it. Something’s hurting you. Right here.” She reached over, pressing her hand over Ash’s heart. “And it’s got you torn up, and I can’t figure out what it is, but I want to help. You got so… so upset when I said that word. Something is definitely there, and it’s definitely eating at you.”

“… Maybe it is. But I still don’t need… Well, maybe that’s wrong, but I still don’t want you to know. Trust me, it would only make things worse.”

“Ash… it’s… it’s not drugs, is it? I knew someone who went down that way…”

“W-What?! You’ve been with me for the last what, week, more or less on a live-with basis. When have I had time to do anything like that, even if I wanted to, which I don’t!”

“I don’t know… I’m just… I’m trying to understand, Ash.”

Ash sighed; annoyed—at herself, because a part of her wanted to explain it, to confide in Jenny. “I… can’t, Jenny. I can’t explain it. You won’t believe me, it’ll make me seem like I’m absolutely insane, and if you do believe me, it’ll hurt.”

“Ash…” Jenny sighed. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Okay…”

Ash followed the red Porsche ahead of her as Jenny fiddled with the radio, then she bit her lip. “Ash… I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“I was listening, at the door. Christmas morning.” Ash blinked, inwardly cursing herself. “It’s just… I wanted to know what you were doing… I thought you might, might maybe be about to, you know… And I guess I was kinda hoping to hear it, but instead you talked about some weird stuff that doesn’t make sense.”

“Oh, I—”

“Are… are you a transsexual?”

Ash groaned inwardly; that was the last question she wanted to hear—or answer. Worse, she knew the answer Jenny was looking for might freak Jenny out almost as much as the solid, honest truth. “Ash, I…”

“I am not,” Ash answered. “I…”

“She said something about you being raised… and about you being a boy?”

Ash got a sinking feeling in her gut. “Jenny… (Crap, crap, crap. If I tell her the truth, she won’t take it well. She’s using me as her female role model. Sonuvabitch, how’d I get roped into this?) Jenny, I swear to you, my birth certificate, as written by the delivery room doctor’s hand, says ‘female’.”

“I… believe you, Ash.”

“Thank you, Jenny.” Ash reached over, stroking Jenny’s cheek, tenderly, with the back of her fingers, and the fashionista smiled softly at the touch, closing her eyes.

“Ash? I promise, I won’t eavesdrop again.”

“I’d… appreciate that, Jenny.”

“I’m sorry. It was stupid, I just… well… the two of you are so beautiful, so incredible, so perfect together, so tender… I guess… I just wanted to hear you making love. I won’t do it again.”

Ash continued to stroke Jenny’s cheek as she didn’t need to shift at the moment, even as she blushed red, and Jenny’s eyes remained closed.

Upton Residence, 6:59 PM

All was, for once, well. Emily asked about the sudden freeway creativity, Ash said she’d explain later, and all was accepted. The trio were on the pulled-out couch-bed; they had watched some random movie and were now playing Underground 2. Ash was on the edge of the bed, lying on her stomach with her head laid out on a pillow, her arms emerging from under the pillow. Jenny was lying at an angle on her back, with her head tilted down over the edge of the couch staring at the TV, and Emily was sitting against the back of the couch at a right angle to Ash, having discarded her sweaty clothes as soon as they got home and taken a quick shower, and was now wearing a bra, a pair of Ash’s shorts, and the light cotton sheet from their bed kind of like a robe. By tacit agreement, their feet had met under the long covers over Emily’s legs; all three were quite obviously enjoying the contact without saying a word about it, softly stroking and caressing.

“How the hell,” Ash asked, as she pushed one of the AI drivers out of her way coming off the starting line, “can you lay like that and control your car and not get sick?”

“I dunno. I just can.” Jenny tittered softly, grinning. “Going down, Ash.” She pushed on her nitrous hard, attempting to slide up behind Ash and spin the tuner’s virtual ride out.

She failed when Ash lit her own nitrous long enough to get in front of Jenny’s car and let Jenny slam into her from behind, providing a large boost of velocity. “Not quite, Jenny.”

“How did we wind up like this,” Emily thought to herself, yet she still smiled. “We’re literally flirting with disaster here, yet… it feels good.”

The playful barbs Ash and Jenny were exchanging were punctuated with a twitch, a caress, or a playful swat. Ash soared through the race, though Jenny was hot on her heels—and succeeded in spinning Ash out on the last turn before the finish line, claiming the victory. She clasped one of Ash’s feet between hers, giggling.

Ash knew it was Jenny, due to the smooth metal texture of her toe-ring, and grinned. “Well played, you devious…”

“Bitch?” Jenny giggled and nodded as Ash tossed her controller to Emily and slid her hand unhesitatingly up Jenny’s shirt, tickling at her stomach, which elicited a giggle from Jenny.

“Mmm… How about another movie?” Emily asked.

“Like what?”

“Well… my pick this time, okay?”

“All right. Hang on.” Ash closed out of the multiplayer mode and shut off her PS2, while Emily slid off the bed, clutching the blanket around her like a robe. “I still don’t believe you did that,” Ash said. “Why? Your mom gets home late. Besides, it’s not like you both haven’t seen me naked. And this way, I don’t have to wash extraneous clothes.”

“Liar.” Jenny giggled up at her. “You just like the feeling of that blanket.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “I’ll go put something on if you want.”

“I do.”

“You… you do?”

“Then I get the blanket.” She snickered, then shrieked playfully as Emily hurled the pillow in her hand at the blonde’s head.

Emily set the TV back to the digital cable and looked through the On Demand. “Mmmmh. We watched one of your picks last time, Ash, so…” She grinned at Ash as her face fell. “I think it’s time we made you suffer through a romantic comedy.”

“I stand corrected. You’re the evil one, Em.”

“Yep!” Emily giggled as both Ash and Jenny sat upright. She selected one she’d never seen before, and sat back on the bed.

Ash crawled between her and the blonde, and Emily spread the blanket enough for all of them. “I’ll sit through it, but don’t blame me if I doze off, okay?”

“Okay.”

“You know,” Jenny said, “if you two want to watch a ‘best of both worlds’ movie… I saw Bound in the listing.”

“What is it?” Ash asked.

“Trust me when I say ‘right up our alley’. It’s got stuff we’ll all like. Just, uh… it’s the kind of thing we ought to save to watch at like, 2 A.M.”

“Like?” Emily wondered.

Jenny giggled. “Trust me, I’ve seen it before.”

“Heh… all right, Jenny.” Ash reached out, stroking the blonde’s cheek, and leaned to her left onto Emily’s shoulder. Jenny leaned on Ash as they watched.

The movie was… well, crushingly boring was an uncharitable way to put it; Ash felt she could solve the movie’s ‘problems’ in five minutes by walking into the screen, smacking all the characters and setting them down for a five-minute heart-to-heart. On the other hand, cuddling into Emily was good. Her head on Emily’s shoulder, Emily wrapped her arm around Ash’s shoulders, to where Jenny had access to it. Jenny’s arms were around Ash’s body, and Ash’s arms were around Emily’s. Ash had taken Emily’s other hand, and they squeezed one another gently.

“Wow. This feels…” It hit Emily all of a sudden, and she smiled. “This is just like the old times with Molly and Jen and Katie.” Emily perked up, looking to her right. Unlike her old friends though, Ash and Jenny were instantly sensitive to changes in her mood or behavior; both of them looked from the TV screen to her face.

“Em?” “Emily?” They asked, nearly simultaneously, and Emily smiled broadly.

“I missed this.” Emily trembled softly, taking Ash and Jenny by the hand, tugging them both close and hugging them tightly.

“Missed… what?” Jenny asked.

“A… long time ago, I had three friends: Molly, Jen, and Katie. They pretty much ditched me during our… their senior year because I was getting to be too…” She gulped, trembling with emotion and worry—that was a close call, but it seemed to slip Jenny by. “Too… too young to hang with them anymore. Now they’re all off in c-college, and I’m…” She sighed. “I’m here with you two… and the both of you are going to be graduating this June, too, aren’t you?”

Jenny smiled and kissed one of her cheeks while Ash kissed the other.

“Don’t worry, Em. You know I’m not going to leave you, no matter what.”

“And me… it’s not like I’m going to have much chance at getting into a good school, anyway, and I’d be better off just modeling everything under the sun than getting into a bad one, I’d think.”

“Tsk! Don’t say that, Jenny.”

“W-Why not?”

Emily scowled at her. “College is important. You need to get a degree.”

Jenny closed her eyes in response, placing her head on Emily’s shoulder. “I… I’m not really good at academic stuff. I’m horrible at math, and… well, I don’t read very well. Complicated words give me a really hard time”

“That settles it, then.”

Jenny’s head perked up. “Hmmm?”

“I’m just going to have to tutor you.”

Jenny winced. “Oh, Jeez. Are you kidding me? I’ve looked into those books you packed along with you, those things might as well be written in Russian.”

Emily started to giggle. “Good friends are worth their weight in gold, so I’ll just have to make sure you can both get into a good school with me. Besides, if we can still manage to hit all the gigs your mom has, we could just rent an apartment instead of doing the dorms thing.”

Ash let out a groan, and nuzzled Emily’s shoulder. “There’s no point in arguing with you, is there?”

“Less point than arguing with me about me buying you swim-wear, Ash.”

“Heh… I still have that suit, you know.”

“I know. We’ll have to open up the pool at my mom’s when summer gets here.”

“Did I miss something?”

“Just a bit.” Emily tittered softly and kissed Jenny’s cheek. “So, what d’ya say?”

“It doesn’t sound like I have a choice.”

“You don’t, really, once Em’s made up her mind.”

“Dead men walking!” Emily let out a jovial and triumphant shout, raising her arms upwards in victory, throwing the blanket off of herself and them… as the door opened.

“Well, this is certainly unusual.” Marie giggled quietly as the trio on the pullout bed scrambled to pull the blanket back around Emily. “Brings back memories of my college days.” She walked around behind the couch, dropped her bags, and leaned over the back of the couch to stare down at the girls. “But, you know, there is a more comfortable bed for that kind of stuff in there?” She pointed at the door to the bedroom Ash and Emily were sharing, eliciting a blush from all three girls.

“It’s… it’s not like that, mom. Really.”

“Ash, hon, you don’t have to justify or excuse anything.”

“No, really. It’s not, Mrs. Upton.” Emily blushed. “I’m dressed like this because I got into a hard race today at the track, and I was covered in sweat when I got home, so I took a shower. But I didn’t feel like washing more clothes than I had to, so I just wrapped up in the blanket from our bed instead of getting dressed.”

“Sure you did. Okay.”

“No, really. We have photographic proof… Err, we will when Ash gets to her e-mail,” Jenny added. Marie laughed.

“Ash, Emily, Jenny… you don’t have to justify yourselves to me.” She leaned down, kissing the top of Ash’s head as she ruffled the hair on the other two. “Emily, have you tried calling your mother recently?”

“Er… no.”

“I think I explained pretty well what was going on. By now, she should be back at your aunt’s house if your aunt’s recovery went well.”

“Okay. Thanks, Mrs. Upton.”

“You’re welcome, dear. Have you three had dinner?” They shook their heads, and Marie smiled. “Good, because I’m in the mood to cook!” She spun on her heel and walked towards the kitchen, leaving Emily blushing in her wake.

“I suppose I’d better… ah… go get dressed.”

“Maybe a good idea,” Ash teased back.

“All right then, get off me. You two are heavy!” Emily made a dramatic, teasing show of straining mightily and failing to budge Ash and Jenny, which made Ash snicker and Jenny giggle as they slid away and let the blanket-robed girl return to the bedroom.

Emily sighed softly, shrugging the blanket off and tossing it on the bed, thinking, “I need to change these covers, too…” She started to rummage for something spare she could wear. “Let’s see… no… dirty… no… ew.” She realized she’d found the pair of panties she’d been wearing the day she had been arrested, and scowled. “They took my damn purse, and it figures I’d hit my period while in the holding cell.” Making a face of disgust, she briefly contemplated burning the bloody undergarments, until deciding that she would do the wash herself, tomorrow, and make damn sure to use a liberal helping of bleach in the underwear load.

“Ash!” She called out. “We’ve got too many clothes here, I need the laundry hamper!” Ash stuck her head back into the room. “There’s too damn many clothes to keep using our suitcases as laundry hampers; can you get the hamper we had when we were here over the summer?”

“Ah, yeah. I remember where it is, I’ll be right back.”

Emily pulled on a tee and a pair of jeans—her last clean pair.

Ash returned with the hamper and set it down. “We running out? Do I need to do the laundry?”

“Ah, no, that’s okay. It’s my turn.”

“Turn?”

“Yeah, remember, we took turns over the summer? You had the last turn?”

“Um… if you insist.” Ash shrugged.

Emily smiled, a bit nervously. “I do insist.”

“Um…” Ash blinked at her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

“You’re not normally so… weird over getting the laundry done.”

“Well, I am tonight. Is that a problem?”

“…” Ash shrugged, walked over, and put her hands on Emily’s shoulders. “You okay?”

“Just… something really embarrassing I’d rather not talk about.”

The tuner waited a beat, and then smiled. “All righty.” She slid close, hugging Emily, and the blue-haired bookworm sighed happily, pushing back into Ash.

“Did you hear what your mom was cooking?”

“Nah, not yet. She chased me and Jenny out when we tried to spy on her.”

“Ah. It’ll probably be good, anyway.”

“Yep.”

Emily raised her head, sniffing at the air once, twice. “Mmm, I think it’s chicken, whatever it is.”

“Sounds good.”

“Smells good, too. Hey, I need to call my mom, okay?”

“All right.” Ash slid away, and Jenny’s voice called out a challenge from the other room, to which Ash grinned wolfishly. “Oh, it is so on, blondie!”

“In your dreams, dye-job!”

Emily giggled as Ash turned and ran back to meet the challenge and the good-natured ribbing. Then she picked up the telephone, took a deep breath, and sighed, dialing the number for her aunt’s house. The phone only rang twice, before her mother answered, “McArthur Residence.”

“Mom?”

“Oh, Emily, thank god. Are you okay?”

“Isn’t that my line? What’s going on?”

“Never mind about that, what happened? You’re not in trouble, are you? You’re not being locked up, my god, please tell me that orange-haired wastrel didn’t steal a car with you!”

“W-What?!” Emily blinked, flattened by her mother’s gushing, so startled by it that she sat down, straight on the floor. “What are you talking about, mom?”

“Emily, the last time I spoke to you was about a week ago, and then two nights ago, I get a call saying you’re under arrest and I had to tell the state police that I was authorizing Ash’s mother to act as your guardian on my behalf! I’d have come myself, but…”

“Oh… Oh, oh. Jeez, I’m sorry. I should’ve called you that night. We’re fine, mom. I’m not under arrest; it was a giant, colossal error. I’m not in trouble, we did not steal any cars!”

“What was going on?”

“Okay, look. We… We went to a party on Friday, a Christmas Eve Party, and there were a lot of nice cars there, and Ash got into a race with this arrogant German prick and stomped him. The owner of one of these really nice cars let us keep his car until we went back to Tempest, and Jenny—that’s a new friend—and I were in the car alone, and some mall rent-a-cops decided that a couple of teenagers shouldn’t have a car like that and told the cops we stole it, but we didn’t. It’s all cleared up now.”

“You… you went to a party with strange men who own expensive cars? Emily, you’re… Oh my god, are you… You didn’t…”

Emily felt the vein in her forehead sticking up as she realized what her mother was implying. “Nothing like that!” she exploded, suddenly. “It was a party arranged by Ash’s mother’s company and Porsche AG. I got to wear a really nice gown for like ten hours, drape myself over cars, I went dancing with Kay Wheeler, and Ash got into a race. Oh, and I’m getting paid.”

“You… Oh my god, Emily… you’re… you… you…” The disbelief and horror in her mother’s voice was evident, and Emily squeezed her eyes shut. “You prostituted yourself?!”

“NO!” Emily held a hand up in a claw. “I said it was nothing like that! Uuuuurgh! Why aren’t you listening to me, mom? You never listen!”

“But… you said you… went dancing with that boy you had such a crush over.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “Mom, he’s gay. There was nothing like that. Nothing at all. (Well, not unless you count Ash fingering me in a half-a-million-dollar race car, but like hell I’m going to tell you that.)”

“What? But…”

“Mom, look. It’s fine. I’m not a whore; I didn’t have sex with any men! It was just a party, and I got to wear a beautiful dress and dance with Kay Wheeler and I got paid for the privilege, and Ash got to drive a really awesome car and kick some arrogant German’s ass. And why am I justifying this to you? I’m not stupid. You know that, why are you on my case?”

Her mother sighed. “Look, Emily… I’m worried that these people might be a bad influence on you.”

“What are you talking about, mom? I’ve never been happier.”

“But your grades are suffering…”

“One B-minus. From last year. This quarter’s report card, the lowest on it was a B, and I’m still far ahead of Ash. She may be a senior, but she’s barely passing pre-calc, and I’m passing Calculus. And what I’m learning here is a lot more interesting—and useful—than ‘gems’ about nineteenth-century literature. That class could put someone on amphetamines to sleep.”

“Oh god… You’re not… You’re not doing drugs, are you, Emily?”

“Why me?! WHY?!” Emily clenched her fist, feeling her fingernails bite into her palm. “Noooo, I’m not… Urgh.” She sighed, loudly. “What’s next? You’ve already called me a druggie and a whore, why not call me stupid and complete the trifecta of awful things to call your daughter? Hmm? What do I have to do to please you that doesn’t involve baking my brain with inane factoids about literature from two hundred years ago, or doing better in mathematics than ninety-nine percent of everyone out there? I’d think you’d be happy to hear from me, but all I get is accusations, so what am I doing wrong?!”

Boiling with emotion, Emily didn’t hear her mother’s answer the first time. Or the second.

“Emily?”

“I’m here.”

“I’m sorry.”

It threw a monkey wrench in her internal tirade. “You’re what?”

“Sorry. I’m… Look, Emily, I don’t want you making the same mistakes I made.”

“Look, I’m sorry I was born and I ruined your high-ambition life, mother, but I’m not the one who got knocked up when I was sixteen! Stop blaming me for what you hate yourself for, and stop punishing me for it! I’m my own person, and you have to accept that!” She stormed to her feet. “You basically built my relationship with Molly like some kind of arranged marriage, you disapprove of everything normal. Can’t I just be myself and not have to worry that I’m disappointing you somehow? I can’t be perfect all the time! I just can’t be! I got into some trouble that wasn’t my fault, and as soon as the lawyer and the car’s owner showed up and said what was what, the cops let me go, but you’re not letting it go! And I tell you what happened, and you call me a whore and then ask if I’m doing drugs, what am I supposed to think?! Or feel?! Why can’t you just let me have my own friends for a change, live a little and have some fun? I didn’t do anything dangerous, we didn’t do anything illegal! It was just a party, not… not some kind of Roman orgy or something!”

Her mother was silent for several moments after she stopped speaking, during which time Emily realized that tears were streaming down her face. Finally, her mother spoke again, “I… am sorry, Emily. I just… I just want what’s best for you.”

“Do you?! Or do you want what’s best for you? You haven’t liked Ash for the longest time, and that really hurts, because she’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to me! Can’t you trust me when I tell you I’m okay? When I tell you everything is fine, that it was all a misunderstanding?”

Her mother apologized again, but Emily shook her head; she couldn’t believe it. What her mother had said, had insinuated… It just hurt too deep. “Save it,” she said. “How’s Aunt Natalie doing?”

“… Your aunt is doing well, Emily. There was an infection as a result of the car crash, and they had to operate on it, but they got everything. It was… It was touch and go for awhile, but she’s fine, she’s home, resting.”

“You’re going to be with her for awhile, aren’t you?”

“Only until the end of this week, we think. She’s arranging for a nurse to come and check on her… When are you coming home, Emily?”

“I… I have no idea.”

“Remember, you have class on Monday.”

“(Ugh. Right, right.) Right. Then I guess we’ll be home some time before Monday.”

“All right, Emily.”

Awkward silence followed, and Emily closed her eyes. “I’m sorry I yelled at you, mom. I just… Ugh. I’m sorry. I… I’ll talk to you later, mom.” She hung up, feeling idiotic, and looked up—Ash was standing inside the door, having shut it, staring at her. “What,” she asked, bitterly, but Ash merely walked over and put her arms around Emily from the side. It broke Emily’s shell of anger and bitterness, and she turned, pushing Ash straight down into the bed, pushing on top of her, into her, laying her head in Ash’s chest. The tuner just held Emily for the longest time, simply stroking her hair and cuddling her close.

Finally, Emily looked up, trembling softly. “Ash, I’m sorry, I…”

“Shh, Em. I heard it, I know why you’re angry.”

“I’m sorry. I ruined the night, didn’t I?”

“Nah. I know why you’re all angry and pissed.”

“Eh?”

“Yeah. It’s happening to me, too, remember?” Ash squeezed her, tightly, and Emily closed her eyes again. “You lost it at your mom, Em. It happens, I guess. I heard what you said to her about what she said to you. Sounds like she took everything all wrong.”

“Y-Yeah…” Emily sighed, sobbing quietly, and Ash just held her tightly.

“It’s okay, Emily.”

“At least you’re here for me, Ash.” Emily looked up, into Ash’s eyes, and Ash smiled warmly, sliding a hand up to the back of the blue-haired bookworm’s head, holding her tightly against her. “I’m always here for you, Em. Have I ever not been?”

Choking softly, Emily licked her dried-out lips, whispering, “No, you’ve never not been, Ash. Thank you.” Then she pushed her head into Ash’s shoulder again, her eyes closing. Their embrace held for the longest time until Ash’s mother called them to announce dinner.

Emily pushed herself up first, smiling softly. “Sorry I lost it, Ash,” she murmured, putting her hair back in place.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay, I won’t…” Emily closed her eyes again, and sat up, slowly. “Don’t mention this? I’d like not to explain it again.”

“Okay, I won’t, but you know my mom’s probably going to ask.”

Emily let out a soft sigh, and nodded. They stood up together, Emily helping to pull Ash out of their bed, and walked to the kitchen, from where the smell of chicken and lemon wafted. Four places were set at the table, each with a chicken breast, broccoli, crisp carrots, and a small pile of leafy greens, most likely lettuce and maybe some spinach.

“Oh well. Can’t win ’em all every day,” Ash thought of the food.

“Emily? What was that about, are you okay?” Ash’s mother asked as Ash and Emily took their places at the table.

Emily looked down with a sigh. “I’d really rather not talk about it.”

“… Emily, dear, is everything okay?”

“Yes, everything is…” Emily started to let out an angry outburst again, but caught herself in the middle, and closed her eyes. “No. No, it’s not okay, but I really don’t want to talk about it. Please, can you let it go, Mrs. Upton?”

Marie frowned softly at Emily, staring at her with concern in her green eyes for a few moments, before nodding. “Okay, Emily. If that’s what you want.”

“Thank you,” Emily murmured, as she picked up her fork and knife. Ash looked sidelong at her friend, whose eyes were still downcast.

Dinner was quiet and awkward for a while, but about the time Ash was finishing off her last bite of lemon chicken, Marie looked up again. “Jenny,” she began, quietly. “I’ve been trying to talk with your mother, but she wasn’t to be found yesterday. I’m sorry.”

Jenny looked down, squirming softly. “Mrs. Upton, I…”

“No, it’s okay.” Marie leaned forward, smiling softly at the blonde girl. “You… You can stay with me as long as you need to, Jenny, even if she won’t let you go home.”

“I… Really?” Jenny blinked, twice, staring across the table, at Marie. Then she closed her eyes, smiled and said, “Thank you… I… Thank you, Mrs. Upton.”

“You’re welcome, dear; please, it’s no trouble at all. I’m hardly going to kick someone out in the middle of winter.”

Dinner finished quietly, and Marie announced that, unfortunately, she had an early day tomorrow, so she’d have to get to bed, which she did.

“What time is it, anyway?” Ash asked, as her mother walked up the stairs.

Emily double-checked her thick, waterproof digital watch, replying “Ten thirty.”

“Okay, it’s not too late… I need to call Harry, since they’re going to be releasing the Monster tomorrow.”

“All right.”

Ash walked to the front door and pulled out her cell phone. “I need to remember to charge this thing,” she thought, thinking of having forgotten to do so two days ago. Her phone’s battery read a nice, solid, half charge, though, so it would be fine for this call.

She found the number for Harry’s cell phone in hers, saved it into her address book, and then dialed it. On the fourth ring, the phone was picked up, with a woman’s voice answering, “Hello?” It was Kate.

“Kate, it’s me. Is Harry around?”

“He’s under a car at the moment.”

“You’re still at the shop?”

“No, he’s under my car at the moment. What’s on your mind?”

“Ah, they’re releasing the Monster tomorrow, I wondered—”

“If we’d still come and pick it up? Of course; hang on a moment.”

Kate held the phone away from her head, and Ash caught whispers of a conversation: Kate’s strong, but somehow tamed tone, and Harry’s thick Welsh accent, like the motor of a car. Then Ash heard the unmistakable sound of a board being rolled out from under a car, and Harry’s voice on the phone.

“You there, Ash?”

“I’m here, Harry,” Ash said, smiling softly to hear her mechanic’s voice.

“Ahlright then. Where’s the car, and when can we pick et up?”

“Um… it’s at the Barnstable County evidence impound, in Cape Cod. I, uh… don’t know where that is.”

“Noh problem, I’ll joost use a map. I’ll find et. What time shood I be there?”

“I… don’t know that either, um… say, two in the afternoon?”

“Ahlright, then. Noh problem.”

“Thanks, Harry. Goodnight.”

“Night, lorve. Oh, an’ Kate says goodnight, too. Was ’at really your blue-haired friend that nearly beat her to-day?”

“Yeah, that was Emily.”

“A Porsche Carrera GT. How in the hell you landed that, I’ve noh idea, an’ I’m not sure I want toh. She says she’d lorve a rematch, but if I’m cohmin’ down in that flatbed, she’ll have toh stay an’ man the shop.”

“Ah, well, that’s a shame.”

“Aye, it is. I wanted toh see that. Anyway, have a good night, I’ll be at the Barnstable Impound at two tomorrow.”

“Okay. Goodnight, Harry.”

“Goodnight.”

The call ended, and Emily smiled from behind Ash on the couch. “Two o’ clock tomorrow, eh?”

“Yep. Then we can send my fallen warrior home.”

Ash let out a wry smile, and it cracked Emily up. “On its truck if not with it, huh?”

“What?” Jenny and Ash asked at the same time, as Ash’s grin transitioned to confused, and Emily just fell back, giggling and clutching her stomach.

Jenny yawned, softly. “I’m tired as a dog. You two mind waking me up when it’s time to watch the movie?”

“Sure,” Ash replied.

“I guess that means we stay up, huh? I’m not tired.”

“Me either… Drive?”

“I’m driving,” Emily replied with a grin.

Ash smiled. “Oh, okay.” Emily held out her hand as Ash chucked the Carrera’s keys to her.

On The Highway, 11:37 PM

“We’re almost inland. Should I turn off?”

“Off the highway?” The Carrera GT was rasping along at an easy sixty-five miles an hour, hardly even trying to maintain the speed, as they traveled westbound. “You enjoying it?” Emily nodded, and Ash grinned. “Punch that shit.”

Emily grinned back; her revs were starting to get high as her speed crept up. She saw the opening, put on her signal, and slid to the left lane. Clear road ahead, and she could get past the 18-wheeler that had been in front of her for ten minutes. It was trivially easy, but Emily still smiled as the Carrera GT’s engine howled, imagining it for the briefest moment as a monster let loose to stretch its legs and pounce after having been kept in strict check. The mammoth engine behind her pushed the car to eighty without hardly trying; her revs were high enough, close to the red.

“I could just drop it into third and keep going.” The Carrera GT would certainly take it and keep going without difficulty. The temptation was strong—too strong. Emily had the Porsche in third gear and only realized she needed to slow down when she had overtaken another tractor trailer and looked down to see she was pushing a hundred and five. She pressed down on the brake, brought the car’s speed down to something approaching the legal limit, and down-shifted, while Ash laughed at her.

“And now comes the hard part: now that you can handle a car at high speeds, not pushing it to high speeds on the public roads.”

“Heh, yeah.” Emily blushed bright red, as she kept it down to the sane speeds.

“You know, Em… You’re incredible.”

“I am?”

“You are. I was… Well, remember how you all-but jumped me after that race at Truro? I was really…” Ash blushed. “Really hot for you, watching that… God, I feel so girly, but it’s true, watching you straight-up stare down the Kamikaze like I did and tell her to get in her car… And then you took off like that. That was intense.”

“Yeah… It was amazing. I honestly didn’t think I’d stand a ghost of a chance of winning, let alone have lost by only having a few yards of pavement less than I needed.”

“Kinda like me—when I lost to her, I had a few yards too many.” Ash grinned, and Emily grinned back at her. “Why’d you want it so bad, though?”

“Um… Promise you won’t get mad?”

“I promise.”

Emily gulped, focusing on the road ahead of her for a few moments, blushing hard red as she realized she’d have to fess up. “I couldn’t let you race her.”

“Er… what?” Disbelief, confusion, anger crept into Ash’s voice.

“(She has a right to be mad.) Please, listen… I… I was protecting you.”

“From what? Kate likes me, remember? She’s not gonna run me off the road!”

“No… From yourself.”

“But—wah?”

Emily took in a deep breath, and let out a sigh. “Remember that night you beat Aiden? I knew that if you took Kate on, at the speedway, in this car, and won… you’d be beating yourself up for winning by equipment advantage instead of skill alone, and it would make you angry and depressed at yourself. But if you took her on with this car, and lost, you’d be beating yourself up for losing in a vastly superior car, which would be, well… devastating to your ego. Lose if you win, and lose if you lose. The only way to keep you from losing was not to let you play the game, and the only way to do that was to do it myself.”

“I…” Ash struggled for words.

“Please… I know it was sneaky and manipulative, but… I just wanted to protect you, to keep you happy.”

“… Did you enjoy it?”

“What? Manipulating you? Of course not!”

“No, racing the Kamikaze, in this car.”

“Second-best thing I’ve ever felt in my life.”

“What was the first?”

Emily smirked. “Having your finger inside me and your lips on my neck, in this car.”

The tables turned, it was Ash’s turn to blush bright red again. “You were racing to win, right?”

“Hell yes.”

“From how long?”

“The moment I realized that black thing in the rear-view was Kate’s XKR… No, that’s wrong. It was before that. When we were revving up and burning our tires. That’s when I knew I wasn’t just going to pussyfoot around. That’s when I started to want it. The win… I wanted it so bad.”

“Heh. Would’ve been fuck-awesome, being the first high-schooler to hand Kate a loss, huh?”

“Yeah, yeah it would’ve been…” Emily sighed.

“Hey, you’ve got another year and a half. I’ve only got six more months.”

“Really?”

“Really. After seeing that, I know you’re going to be the next King of the Mountain. You might even take it from me while I’m still in high school.”

“I dunno about that, Ash… I’m not nearly that good.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Emily.”

“Sorry. Can’t help it; it’s the hormones.”

“Bullshit. I have the same chemical cocktail in my head as you have in yours. You’re just too modest.” Ash grinned, pinching Emily’s arm, and Emily giggled.

“Okay, okay… So, tell me something.”

“Mmmh?”

“If you were so hot for me, why didn’t you jump me when we got home?”

“Ah… Well, y’know, we’re both enjoying that most lovely feature of the feminine biology…”

“That wouldn’t have stopped you from kissing me.”

“Yeah… actually…” Ash sighed. “Jenny kind of fucked-up my world on the ride home. She asked what the Misfile was.”

“Oh… Fuck, she said she’d drop it.” Emily scowled.

It wasn’t often Emily cursed, and it got Ash’s attention. “You knew she knew? What’s going on?”

“Okay, okay… That night, that night Joshua smashed up your car… I woke up from a nightmare, remember?”

“Yeah…”

“Well, you weren’t in bed, but she was, and I was panicking, and she was holding me. I was talking with my eyes closed, and the dream was about the Misfile, and it spooked the hell out of me, and I said that word around her…”

“Oh… crap. So, if she heard it once from you, and she got a reaction like that out of me…” Ash sighed. “Fucking great.”

“Yyyyyep. She ain’t gonna let it go. Maybe… maybe we can try pleading with her? I dunno.”

“Me either. So, um… what was this dream about?”

“…”

“Emily?”

“Ash, promise me you won’t… won’t freak.”

Ash laughed. “You’ve just told me that you deliberately stole from me my one potential chance to actually defeat Kamikaze Kate, not out of a desire to do it yourself, but specifically to keep me from my victory, and that Jenny has just enough information to be absolutely destructive if she ever meets Vashiel, or says enough wrong shit around someone who knows him. What could be worse?”

“The dream… Ash, it was about what would happen if you were re-filed, but I wasn’t.”

“I… oh. How bad was it?”

“Well… God, I can’t even remember that face anymore…” Emily snorted. “Even when male-you is the specter that haunts my dreams, I can’t picture it… In short, I had… the life my mom wanted me to have. Rich… well, not filthy rich, but I was a biochemical researcher with some big company like Pfizer or Wyeth, and I was married to an M.D. named Joseph Manderly.”

“It’s weird that you can remember a detail like that in its own right, but please, continue.”

Emily smirked softly at Ash. “Don’t you remember the details of that sex dream you had of me last summer?”

Ash’s cheeks lightly reddened and she grinned. “Okay, point. Please, continue?”

“Yeah. Well, it was… stifling. The dream started with him wanting to have sex with me, but I… just didn’t want to. I guess I was like, I dunno, thirtyish. I forget the exact number now. I used work as an excuse to leave, even though I had nothing to do and probably could’ve just taken the day off, especially as it was supposed to be my anniversary.”

“This is a disturbing amount of detail, but keep going. When does it get to me?”

“In a while… Anyway, my life was on the rocks, marriage was… suffocating and disappointing. I remember, particularly, that he’d made me sell a 350Z, in preparation to have children. He bought me a minivan, Ash, a minivan.” Emily blanched with distaste, as did Ash. “And yet he drove something like your dad’s car, some kind of really powerful Audi he didn’t know how to do anything with. My 240SX was in the yard, and I got it out and took it to work instead, but my boss just handed me a huge bonus and told me to go home, but I didn’t. He called me on the road, asking if it was the Ford minivan that was the problem, then offered to replace it with the latest Town & Country…”

“Um, wow… I guess that’s…”

“Galling, especially after what I’ve done in this Carrera GT. The idea that I’m some kind of frail or fragile flower who can’t be trusted with a powerful car… Ugh.” Emily scowled.

“You know flat-out that’s bullshit, Emily. Flat bullshit. You’ve raced the Kamikaze and lost by less than a front quarter panel. You’ve pulled off a perfect sidelong drift in your 240SX, and you’ve beaten me in my own Monster XR. You’ve driven a stock Porsche 996, and won against one of the local talent’s best racers, in his race-tuned Toyota Spyder.”

“I know, Ash. It’s just…” Emily sighed. “What man could accept that? What guy could accept a wife who does stereotypically ‘guy’ things, and does them far better than he can?”

“Harry can,” Ash pointed out.

“Okay, yeah…”

“And so can I.” Ash put her hand on Emily’s on top of the gearshift knob. “Even if I’m not really, y’know, a guy right now…”

“Heh. That’s something I never thought I’d hear you say.”

Ash shrugged. “Well…I… I guess it was bound to happen. I’ve been living in this body for so long. It’s not like I’ve, y’know, forgotten what it feels like to be a boy, but… it’s a lot better with you, too. My whole life is.” Ash squeezed Emily’s hand.

“My life’s a lot better with you, too, Ash.” Emily smiled warmly, and turned her hand up, lacing her fingers with Ash’s, briefly but expressively. She stroked her fingertip over the back of Ash’s hand.

“Yeah… Hey, Emily. This stuff is starting to come off my nails. You… think I should reapply it?”

“Mmmh. What do you think about that?”

“Well… On the one hand, it makes me feel really… I dunno, even. I guess if I think about it, I have to ask why it should make me feel bad. And that scares me.”

Emily giggled, quietly. “Oh, go on. It’s not like if we’re half-way through putting it on, you get a masculinity-lack crisis and need to take it off, we can’t just pull it off with acetone and go watch an anime or action movie to cleanse your palette and get the testosterone pumping.”

Ash cracked up and squeezed her friend’s hand. “Okay.”

“Yeah. You know, I’ve actually been thinking about it. I looked up gender-identity disorder a while ago. I think you don’t actually have it.”

“Er…”

“GID, properly—to the best of my knowledge—comes when someone’s brain-chemistry is out of alignment with their physical state. But you… your brain chemistry is normal for a teenage girl. It’s only your memories which give you any pause.”

“Are you saying… I’d be better off if the Misfile were locked down by having my file read ‘female’ instead?”

“Absolutely not. We are our memories; without them, we equal nothing. Your memories, memories of being a boy for seventeen years, and then becoming a girl thanks to a pot-smoking Angel’s mistake, memories of having met me as his other mistake, memories of having lived in the body you weren’t born with… All of it, all of it, absolutely every single one, makes you Ash, Ash Upton.”

Ash smirked at her, and grinned. “You use my last name when you’re being serious. Why?”

“I dunno, your name slides smoothly off my tongue.”

“Heh. As opposed to yours; your name is so serious, so Highlander.”

Emily let out a sigh. “My name is Irish, not Scottish.”

Ash blinked. “Er… sorry?”

“It’s okay. Just… Yeah, it’s fine. That just irks me.”

Ash smiled at her. “Okay, fair enough. But you’ve pushed us off-topic, haven’t you?”

“Yeah…”

“No more stalling. What was so bad?”

“Okay…” Emily sighed, again, before continuing, “You were a boy. With the Misfile fixed, you didn’t know me. At all. And I… I found you. Tried to be your friend again, tried to get you to talk to your mom… but you wouldn’t have any of it; you thought I was some creepy psycho-stalker girl. I ran into you again, on the Mountain, and we had another bit of a fight. And it made me so sad when you just told me to stay away; it upset me. I hallucinated you—you, now—in my car, as I was driving down the mountain, but I was crying by the end, and… Well, there was a wreck, then I was dying… And that’s when I saw me, me, now, above me, telling me not to be sad, because it was her dream—my dream, not thirty-something me’s dream, and that… Okay, I’m babbling.”

“Yeah, but you sound freaked.” Ash put her hand on Emily’s shoulder.

“I…”

“It freaks me, too. The thought of not knowing you… the thought of… of you… being alone, with a me who’s not-me.”

“Is it possible?”

“What?”

“Is it possible that boy-you, without remembering the Misfile, would have been that way?”

Ash was quiet for a few moments, but even before she spoke, Emily knew the answer, which had a cold fist clenching her gut.

“Yes… I think… I think that’s entirely possible. You know me better than anyone knows me, and if you tried to use what you know to get close to me… I’d probably freak worse than I did when Missi tried to get close to me.”

“… Ash, it scares me. The thought of…”

“Not having me.” Ash slid her hand back down, over top of Emily’s, squeezing it, tightly. “It scares the hell out of me, the thought of not having you.”

They held like that, quietly for a few moments, and Ash smiled. “I love you, Emily. And I know you love me, too. That makes it… so much better. I don’t know that I’ll ever feel, well… ‘normal’, but normal can be overrated. You said it yourself—if I’m happy, what does it matter? Well, I think now, the answer is—I don’t know. I was so sure then, but now… it’s not so bad-seeming. Especially with that little graphic illustration of how bad it could have been… What was I driving?”

“Huh?”

“What car did I have?”

“Oh, um… Mustang GT. The current generation, I think, the one they just rolled out.”

Ash chuckled. “And, hell. I’ve driven better cars at seventeen, as a result of the Misfile than your dream put me in at the age of what, thirty? Something like that.”

Emily blinked, and giggled happily. “Wow. You’re shining a light through all the silver linings you can find, aren’t you?”

“Well, it beats moping and being miserable, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah… yeah, it does.” Emily smiled, warmly. “This feels good.”

“Yeah, I know. Right here, right now, you and I… this feels—”

Ash was interrupted by the sudden flash of lights and blare of sirens behind them. “Crap,” she finished.

The traffic on the road pulled over—as did Emily—but then Emily swore as the patrol car slid in behind them. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” She pulled the car fully off to the shoulder of the road. “Call your mom, Ash.”

“But she’s—”

“Just do it, now!”

Ash fished for her cell phone, as Emily fished for her own, looking around. “This is not a well-lit area,” she commented; it was the middle of the road in the middle of the night. She checked the time; it was 12:03.

“Mom, we’ve been stopped on the highway. Ah… I dunno. Where are we?”

Emily pulled the GPS unit towards her. “Route six, half-mile west of Quaker Meeting House Road.” Then she saw who was getting out of the car. “… Motherfucker, it’s him!”

“Who?”

“The guy who tased us. Palmer!” Emily bit her lip. “Another five miles and we’d be out of his jurisdiction…” The car was still in gear; her foot was just on the brake. Her hand twitched. She had only to move her foot from the brake to the gas and she’d be in second gear before he even got back into his cruiser. At the speed the Carrera GT could reach, she’d be in the next county before he got backup called.

“Which is worse: having done nothing wrong and being stopped by Palmer, or being arrested by Plymouth County’s state troopers for having evaded a lawful stop?”

She was considering it seriously; Ash knew she was. “Emily…”

Emily blinked once. “We can get away from him… I don’t want to be tased again.”

“Em…”

Cursing quietly, Emily took the Carrera out of gear and shut the engine off.

“Mom’s calling Lt. Grayfield. She gave mom her cell number after last time.”

The rap on the window came as a surprise, starting them both. Then the light shone in.

“You have the right to remain silent, Ash. Use it. Don’t say a thing you don’t have to.” Emily rolled the window down, but stared straight ahead as the officer crouched down.

“Well, well… License and registration, and keep your hands where I can see them. Both of you.” Emily pulled her purse off the floor by Ash’s seat. Carefully and quietly, she reached in with two fingers, taking out her driver’s license. Ash took the registration out of the glove box, also slowly. Emily passed them out, and the officer made a big deal of checking them; he even radioed in the license number, the registration, and the plate number, making the dispatcher check them all.

“Well now. You do know, you’re in a heap of trouble, don’cha girl?”

“Am I being charged with a crime?”

“Do you know how fast you were going back there?”

“Sixty-five miles an hour.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you were.”

Ash looked like she wanted to say something, but Emily put her hand on Ash’s, squeezing it. “Am I being accused of speeding?”

“Well, now… you know, my radar gun’s faulty. Could’a been wrong, so I had to pace you… I clocked you at sixty-six…”

Emily squeezed, because she knew the tensing in Ash’s hand was her preparing to say something. “Are you going to write me a citation?”

“Mmmmh. You know… it says here, you’re only sixteen years old. Does the word ‘curfew’ mean a thing to you?”

It was very galling—especially since she knew it wasn’t true. “Are we in the jurisdiction of a township which has enacted a curfew?”

It worked—sort of. Palmer lost his temper before Emily did, leaned close to the Carrera’s door, and reached in and grabbed Emily’s cheek. She yelped as he turned her head to face him. “You think you’re so smart, don’t you, girl? Think my boss likes you more than she’s loyal to her own? You watch yourself, girl. One mistake, and I will get you.”

“Officer Palmer,” Emily guttered out through clenched teeth, “Take your hands off me, or I will have you charged with assault.”

“Oh really? And what makes you think you’ll prove it?”

“You have a dashboard camera.”

“Really? That a fact? Seems the patrol car I was moved to has a faulty camera.”

Click. “Mine’s not faulty,” Ash said; she had taken a picture of Palmer’s hand on Emily’s head with her cell phone. “Take your hands off her, now.”

“Ash,” Emily hissed, terrified.

Palmer bared his teeth, but his radio chattered. “Officer Palmer, respond.” He took his hand off

Emily’s face to respond.

“Palmer here. Go ahead.”

“Lieutenant Grayfield’s ordered you to return to the barracks.”

“I’ve got a motorist stopped,”

“Now, Officer. Let the motorist go and return to barracks.”

“Affirmative.”

Palmer rocked back. “Well, well… Go on now, git.” He straightened up and took his nightstick from his belt. Emily bit her lip as he turned around, walking back slowly, spinning the stick on his finger.

Emily could just see it now: he’d say something smart like, “By the way, your tail-light’s out,” and smash the rear light on the Carrera GT. Her hand flew to the key, starting the car as he was getting even with the engine. She could do it: get the gear-shifter in her hand, pull the car into first gear, floor the gas, and she’d be off.

But Ash’s hand got to the shifter first, holding it out of gear. “Don’t,” she hissed in Emily’s ear, cell phone in hand, looking out the tiny window behind them.

Emily bit her lip, her hand on Ash’s, waiting for that shattering sound of glass. She stared out the side-view mirror. Palmer looked back, opening his mouth… but he must have seen the phone again, and he just turned around, walking on back to his cruiser. Emily let out a heavy rush of breath as the police car’s lights turned off and the cruiser pulled out and away.

Then Emily slumped forward, putting her forehead on the steering wheel and groaning. Ash put her hand on Emily’s shoulder. “Emily? You okay?”

“Yeah… Yeah, I’m fine. God, I thought he was going to smash the tail-light.”

“He was. That’s why I was ready to take a picture of it.”

Emily sighed. “God, I…”

“That fucktard… he has it out for you. That’s the guy?”

“That’s the guy.”

“We’ll give this picture to Lieutenant Grayfield when we give her the video that Jenny sent to me, too. Can’t we get him in deep shit for this?”

“In theory, yes… this is assault and harassment. In practice… I don’t know. Maybe we should just let it go.”

“No way. You stared down the Kamikaze; you’re going to let this punk hide behind a little silver badge when he’s laying his hands on you?”

Emily closed her eyes. “I just want him to leave me alone.”

“Then we’ll let Lieutenant Grayfield handle it. Speaking of which, I need to call mom and tell her we’re fine. Let’s go home.”

“O-Okay.”

Upton Residence, December 30, 12:45 AM

The light was on in the house when they pulled up into the driveway, and Ash sighed. “What do you want to bet she’s up?”

“No bet. God, do you think she’s going to be mad?”

“I dunno. We really didn’t need to go out this late…”

She needn’t have worried. The very first thing Ash’s mother did when they opened the door was throw the two of them into a massive, tight bear hug. “Oh my god, are you two okay?”

“We’re fine… we’re fine…”

“Oh, thank goodness.” Marie let them go, allowing breath to resume its flow into their lungs. “Ash, Emily… what happened?”

Ash detailed how they’d been out for a drive, talking to one another, when they got stopped. She explained how Palmer had gotten out, how he’d kept saying intimidating things and switching his tactic when Emily asked him directly if they were being accused or charged, and how he’d lost his temper and grabbed her. She took out her cell phone, showing the image of Palmer with his gloved hand on Emily’s chin, holding her—it came out quite clearly, Palmer’s face visible in the light of the GPS unit’s face.

“All right, all right… I’ll call Lieutenant Grayfield again tomorrow and tell her about all of this.” Ash’s mother sighed, softly squeezing both girls again. “Please, don’t go out again tonight?”

“We won’t,” Ash said.

“Thank you. Get some sleep, you two.” She gently swatted Ash and Emily’s backs, and turned around, walking up the stairs, with Ash quickly looking away when it hit her that her mother was wearing only a shirt.

“Oi.” Jenny was sitting on the pulled-out couch, under the covers, though her arm over them showed she was at least wearing a tee. “I guess the movie’s off, eh?”

“Well, no… we can just watch it later.”

“All right.” She yawned. “Goodnight, you two.” Jenny lay back, pulling the covers up again.

“Night, Jenny,” Emily said.

“Goodnight, Jenny,” Ash followed up, and the blonde smiled at them as they walked back to their bedroom.

“What a day,” Emily commented when the door shut behind them, pulling her jacket off and tossing it over the coat tree, followed by Ash’s jacket. Emily groaned softly, sat on the bed, and pulled her winter boots off, followed by her socks, then her shirt and pants. Ash’s hands fell to Emily’s shoulders and massaged them softly, causing Emily to sigh with newfound content.

“Yeah. What do you wanna do tomorrow?”

“I dunno.” Emily sighed. “After all this, I just want to stay home.”

“We have to go meet Harry at the impound and send the Monster home.”

“Right. And… crap, we don’t have enough seats in just the 996 for that.”

“We’ll have to drive the Carrera GT, then. You’ll have to drive it.”

“Me? Why me? I seem to get into trouble when I drive it.”

“Exactly. You’ve done nothing wrong, you have every right in the world to be driving that car.”

“I dunno, Ash.”

“You going to let yourself be bullied off the road by one asshole with a grudge?”

“I just don’t want any more trouble.”

“If he gives you any more trouble, we’ll document it, and we’ll fry his ass.”

“I dunno, Ash. Never heard of the blue wall of silence, have you?”

“Er… no.”

“It’s the colloquial expression referring to what happens when police officers form ranks to shut out outsiders investigating one of their own for wrongdoing.”

“Oh… that’s… that’s crap.”

“Yeah.” Emily rolled her shoulders into the massage, moaning softly. “That feels good. Don’t stop.” Ash continued with one hand and undid Emily’s bra with the other. The blue-haired girl smiled as she felt it release its tight grip around her, letting it slide off her body. Ash continued to rub Emily’s shoulders, then worked down her back, eliciting a strong moan of pleasure from her.

“You like that?”

“I love it,” she moaned, breathlessly, leaning back into Ash. Ash’s cotton-covered breasts pressed into her back. Ash’s hands, careful but not hesitant, slid around Emily’s breasts, squeezing her softly, pinching her nipples gently between the index and middle finger of each hand. Emily let out a breathless moan, her head falling back onto Ash’s shoulder.

“Do you like this?” Ash asked, softly.

“They’re not…”

“Losing their charm?” Ash’s fingers squeezed again; Emily’s mouth popped open, breathless in pleasure. “No way.”

“Good.” Emily smiled, pushing Ash back to the bed, lying atop her as Ash softly squeezed and massaged her 34B-cups.

“Ash, we need to go home soon, don’t we?”

“Yeah…” Ash sighed, softly. “We do, I guess. It’s been great, but for once, I think I’m looking forward to even seeing Rumisiel and Vashiel. This has been a winter to remember, that’s for sure.”

“For good as much as for bad, I hope?”

“Well, that’s a hard sell…” Ash squeezed again. “Heh. It's had its crushingly bad moments, I’ll admit, but…” She kissed Emily’s cheek, and the blue-haired bookworm let out a soft murmur of agreement. “Even getting the Monster trashed, bad as that is, can’t match knowing you love me.”

“It’s gotta be close, though.”

“Well, yeah… but you know, I can and will repair the Monster. I couldn’t replace you in a million years.”

“Mmmh. So… what do we do?”

“About?”

“Well… we send the Monster home tomorrow, and send the Carrera GT home with its owner tomorrow… well, today. Friday is New Year’s Eve. We can pack up, leave early, and be home in time to relax and enjoy it with all our friends and home-family.”

“Mmmmmh… yeah, that sounds like an idea.”

Emily giggled softly. “Now, get your clothes off. I want to fondle your breasts for a change.” Ash laughed as Emily rolled off of her, kicked her panties off, and started to undress her lover.

“Impatient much?”

“Yes.”

Ash laughed as Emily undid her bra, pulling the cotton support away and hugging her from behind, pressing her arms up and into the bottom of Ash’s breasts.

“How do you feel about them, now?”

“Well… I’m not, you know, thrilled or anything, but—ahh!”

Emily slid her hands up, squeezing her lover’s larger breasts, getting a gasp and a soft moan from her. “What about now?”

“… Growing on me when you do that.” Ash smirked and pushed back.

Emily grinned as she let her friend push her back to the bed. Raising her legs, she slid her feet into

Ash’s pants and panties at the sides, pushing them down Ash’s hips to her knees.

“In a hurry? It’s not like we can do anything.”

“Well… that’s not strictly true. It is possible to masturbate while you’re having a period. Without even getting blood on your fingers.”

“It… is?”

“Yeah.” Emily giggled. “But I don’t care if we do or don’t. I just want you to spoon me.”

“Done and done.” Ash giggled back quietly, divesting herself of the rest of her clothes and rolling over, as did Emily. Ash slid up against her lover’s back and pushed her legs forward to meet Emily’s. “Like this?”

“Perfect,” Emily moaned quietly, tugging the covers over them.

“So, um… how do you…”

“The clit, Ash. You can rub it, and the outside of your vagina… and play with the clitoral hood; that can feel good… and the breasts, of course…”

“Mmmh…” Ash slid her arms around Emily, hugging her, tightly. “Em?”

“Mmm?”

“Did you… want to know the details of that dream I’d had?”

“I… sure.”

“It was… We were together; you were on your back, under me… I remember holding your hand with your arm above your head, our fingers laced together.”

“Ahh, is that why you do that every time we’re face to face?”

“Yeah.”

“So… what were we… doing?”

“Mmm… grinding on each other’s thighs. I remember that quite… clearly.”

“Ahh… that sounds like fun. Guaranteed to get blood everywhere if we do it now, though.”

“Yeah…” Ash chuckled softly, and sighed, kissing Emily’s neck. “We have time, though.”

“Right. Not like we need to rush to do everything imaginable now, Ash.”

They let a few moments pass in silence before Emily broke it with a question, asking, “Ash?”

“Mmm?”

“Is… marriage important to you?”

“Marriage? Uh…”

“I’m not asking, believe me… I’m just curious.”

“Well… Hell, I don’t know. Why do you ask?”

“Just, a dream I had a while ago. I remember wedding bands on each of our hands, identical.”

“Oh. Was I a boy then, too?”

“No, actually.” Emily smiled, and turned her head, kissing Ash’s bicep. “Don’t worry about it. I’m not going to turn into one of those creepy girlfriends who pushes to get married as fast as possible.”

“I didn’t worry about it.”

“Good. Hey, strange question… do you want to ask your mom to get us a strap-on?”

“Er…”

“Just… you know, I thought you might want to…”

“Why bother? In like, two weeks, I’ll be able to buy one for us.”

“There is that…” Emily giggled softly, sliding her legs against Ash’s. “Do you want one?”

“Well… I dunno.”

“You’re not worried about some silly thing like feeling too ‘dominating’ of me with one, are you?”

Ash bit her lip, and Emily giggled, softly, pushing her neck up, into Ash’s cheek. “I’d like it, Ash. At least… I’m pretty sure I would.”

“Really?”

“Mmm-hmmm… but… would you let me use it on you in return?”

“Um…” Ash tensed up for a few moments. “I’d try. I don’t know if I could manage it, but I’d try to do it, Em.”

“You don’t have to—”

“No, I do. I really do.” Ash kissed the nape of Emily’s neck, softly. “I have to… I have to be yours, Emily, I have to prove that I can be everything for you that you are for me.”

“Ash… just be quiet and hold me. You don’t have a damn thing to prove to me.”

“What if it’s for me?”

“Then I guess I’ll wind up with a strap-on dildo above you sometime, won’t I?” Emily giggled softly; she could tell that Ash was nervous at just the thought, so she rolled half onto her side, kissing Ash’s cheek, gently. “You don’t have to prove anything, Ash. Nothing at all.” She took one of Ash’s hands, lacing their fingers together. “Not a thing, and please don’t forget that I love you just as you are.” Emily tilted her head up; Ash blushed, but tilted her head down. Their lips met, softly, warmly. The kiss held itself for long, intimate moments, Emily’s chest feeling breathless with each second, until they parted, and her tuner shifted. Letting her slide all the way to her back, Ash put her head on Emily’s shoulder.

“Thank you, Emily.”

The blue-haired girl smiled, sliding one hand around Ash’s waist from behind. “Thank you, Ash. Thank you for being here for me.”

Upton Residence, 9:25 AM

Sleep is a fragile peace, and by definition, one you cannot enjoy fully and remember enjoying it. Having it destroyed by the person lying against you moving suddenly and letting out a cry of sound, however, is altogether a different classification of having one’s sleep disturbed.

“Mnyaaaaa!” Ash’s cry was soul wrenching, familiar, and yet very, very terrifying. It was pleasure, no doubt; Emily had heard that cry before. But this time, as she was inhaling to say something smart, instinct stopped her, recognizing the horror and negativity that laced her lover’s voice.

“Ash,” she quietly asked, propping up on her elbow, staring into Ash’s face. Her lover’s face was white, but slowly going beet-red; her eyes disturbed. “Ash?”

Ash’s eyes latched onto Emily’s. For a brief, terrifying moment, Emily saw horror cross her friend’s eyes at the sight of her, then she seemed to relax, pressing her hand to her chest, as if reassuring herself that she still existed.

“Ash?” The tuner’s breathing was excited, but she looked… scared. “Ash, what’s wrong?”

“I…” Ash blinked. Gulped, visibly, and shivered.

“Was it the same dream as last time?” Emily asked quietly, as she sat up, slowly putting her arms around Ash. To Emily’s horror, Ash actually flinched at first, before seeming to check herself. Then she turned, and hugged Emily tightly, pushing her to the bed.

“It… Ugh…”

“Ash, tell me.” Worried now, Emily slid her head under Ash’s, staring into her eyes as the sun filtered in through the drawn shades.

Ash shook her head, trembling. “I… I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Ash, something has you terrified. Please, what’s wrong?”

“I… that dream…”

“It… Ash, what… Did you…”

“It…” Ash shook her head. “Please. You… a-and Jenny… and Missi… and I was… w-wearing one of those French maid outfits… a-and you started to…”

Emily shushed Ash, quietly, holding her head to her shoulder. “Shh. Shhhhh, it’s okay, Ash. Calm down, you’re not in any danger.”

“I-I know… but…” Ash trembled again.

“That sound… That was an orgasm, wasn’t it?” Ash bit her lip, and a bit of Emily’s shoulder, and Emily knew. “You had a dream that freaked you. It happens, Ash. Are you okay?”

“I don’t know, Em… I… I feel really bad, because it… I remember it feeling so good…”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Ash shook her head. “No. I… I just… I felt so helpless, so… so controlled, and I remember feeling like I liked it.”

“Does that scare you? The thought that you might be able to enjoy something like that?” Ash nodded, and Emily kissed her cheek. “Ash, dreams can be weird. Remember, I’ve had sex with another girl, as a boy, in my dreams. It doesn’t mean anything about who you are, so… It was just a dream that scared you, okay? Please don’t be afraid of me.”

The thought of Ash being afraid of her terrified Emily to her core, but Ash’s arms wrapped around her back, squeezing her, so she squeezed Ash in return. “I-I’m not afraid of you. It just shook me…”

“You’re starting to explore ideas you’ve never thought before, Ash. With me, talking with me, even doing some. It’s bound to make your mind come up with some strange things, but that’s fine. Even if you do wind up into submission, that’s… Well, who’s to say that’s really you? What gets you off and who you are aren’t very related at all.”

“Em? Not helping my self-image here.”

“Right… Look, Ash… you’re you. A dream that freaked you out by taking something you’re just hesitantly starting to approach with an attitude that’s not pure rejection… believe me, I know how terrifying that can be.” Emily kissed Ash’s cheek again. “But it’s one thing to face a core facet of yourself having revealed itself to not be what you always thought it was; it’s another to take a dream like this out of context. It’s just a single dream, it means nothing.”

“You… really think so?”

“Yeah, I do. Now, if it starts recurring, you miiight be in trouble; but just once? Nah.”

“… What did you mean, core facet of yourself?”

“When I had to confront the idea that I was attracted to a beautiful girl, emotionally, intellectually—yes, intellectually—sexually… the whole gamut. All of it: wanting to be with you, to have you, to be had by you. It was even more of a shock when I realized that other girls were turning me on that way. With just you, I could rationalize that I was attracted to your personality, and maybe just capable of compromising on your body, but… Ash, forget it. Just hold me, or let me hold you. Let’s just forget it, and comfort one another, okay?”

Ash blinked then grinned. “What do you need comforting from?”

“When I saw horror in your eyes when you saw me… that was the scariest thing I could’ve seen.”

“… I’m sorry.” Ash curled up, rolling to the side, holding Emily against her.

“Don’t be. So, a French maid’s outfit, huh?” Ash groaned softly, and Emily giggled. “You like that kind of thing?”

“Not on me!”

“What about on me?”

Ash looked down as Emily looked up into her eyes. Ash blinked a few times and then shook her head. “Uh… No, no, I don’t think so… That would be too, uhm… It would make you too… I dunno, what’s the word…”

“Servile?”

“Yeah. That’s not you, and it’s not what I like, either.”

“Okay. Then maybe, Ash… sometimes a costume is just a costume?”

“… Yeah. Maybe.”

Emily nuzzled into Ash’s throat. “So, the three girls you’ve ever had a ‘thing’ with, all presumably over you… You wanna tell me about it?”

“Not really.”

“Where was I, at least?”

“Really don’t want to talk about it.”

Emily giggled softly. “All right, all right. I wasn’t being horrible to you, was I?”

“Well… n-n-no, not really. It’s just… I don’t want things to be like that…”

“Being gang-banged?”

“Yeah. Exactly how I don’t want things to be.”

“Okay, that’s fine…” Emily grinned. “Mmmmh. You know, my dream was pretty nice.”

“What was it?”

“I hardly remember, except I remember it was warm, and dark, and you were holding me.”

“That’s exactly how we went to sleep.”

“Yeah, I know.” Emily giggled quietly. “So, time to get up, mmm?”

“Ugh. Just let me veg out for awhile, okay?”

“Yeah… okay.”

Emily smiled and kissed Ash’s cheek, warmly.

Upton Residence, 10:03 AM

Showered and dressed, Emily and Ash walked out of their bedroom. Jenny was nowhere to be found when they emerged, but just as Emily was curiously musing where she was, Ash pointed up the stairs; the sound of the water starting to run made it clear she was using the master shower.

“Ah, all right. So…” Emily shrugged, and smiled, sitting on the pulled-out couch-bed. “What should we do? Make breakfast?”

“Sounds like an idea. Want me to?”

“Nah, let’s do it together.”

The duo were almost finished making breakfast—omelets again—when Jenny craned her head in through the doorway. “Hey! Something smells good,” she remarked with a broad grin.

Ash looked up from the stove, smiling at her. “Glad you think so. C’mon, breakfast’s almost ready!”

“Oh, great. But why don’t we pull out the folding tables and start the movie?”

Ash looked at Emily, who shrugged. “Sounds fine to me,” the bookworm replied.

“All right, you two handle the tables, I’ll get the plates,” Ash said.

Ash walked back out to the main room as Emily finished getting the tables set up at the end of the pulled-out couch-bed. Ash was carrying the three plates, each with an omelet and an apple on it, balanced in her arms.

“That’s a neat trick, Ash,” Emily teased her. “Guess that time you spent as a waitress at the Ale House taught you a few tricks, mmm?”

Ash chuckled and shook her head. “Yeah yeah, sure. Here.” She smoothly deposited the plates as Jenny was navigating the On-Demand menus. “I’ll go get the drinks.” Ash walked back to the kitchen and poured three glasses of orange juice. Noting that the bottle was nearly empty, she frowned and wrote a note on the pad on the fridge door to get more.

“So, what’s this movie about?” Emily asked as Ash set down the drinks and utensils, taking the seat on the right with Emily in the middle and Jenny on the left.

“Okay, it’s a mob film, right? This jackass Caesar is a money launderer for the mob, and he discovers one of his toadies has been stealing from him, to the tune of two million. But that’s just the background, the movie’s about this girl Corky, an ex-con who’s out to start a new life, and Caesar’s gangster-girl, mob-mollie type, you know?”

Ash nodded. “Okay…”

“So, well, it turns out they’re both… well, just watch the movie.”

The movie was starting, introducing Corky’s day out from prison, moving back into town, looking for work.

Marie Upton’s Office, Falmouth, 10:43 AM

“Yes, Henri, I know. I told you, I’ve taken care of it. You won’t ever see that dress again.”

Marie was kicked back in her chair, her legs up on her desk, talking on her headset telephone. Henri was ranting paranoid at her. “Yes, Henri, I’m positive you won’t see it again… What? No, I didn’t burn it! I just gave it to my daughter, since she liked it so much.” His response was blistering, and she winced. “What? You’d be fine if I’d burnt it, but now you’re yelling at me about the cost?” She sighed. “Okay, okay, fine, fine. How much do you want for it?”

The question took him aback, and she pressed the issue, “I’ve never seen my daughter so, well, happy to be wearing something nice as in that outfit. And if you don’t want it, I want it for her, so name the price!” He named a price; it was steep, unreasonably so given that he’d been willing to see it burn, but she wasn’t in the mood to argue. “All right, done… Yes, just like that. No, I’m not going to haggle you down, I just… Okay, fine. A thousand, and not a penny more… Twelve-fifty, final offer. Done? Good, done. I’ll mail you the check today.”

Henri loved to haggle, she recalled, shaking her head with a smirk—she nearly missed the next thing he said. “What? Oh, yes, the new line… You know I don’t do the modeling any more, Henri,” she chuckled, as he made another proposal. “My daughter? Sorry, not going to happen. It’s hard enough convincing Ash to get into a dress; I think she’d rather kill herself than wear less.

“Yes, yes, I know you want to find the ‘perfect’ girl to put this on, but I don’t think my daughter’s the one. She won’t agree, and I don’t think any amount of money would change that.” Thinking back to the check Mr. Almacy had cut for Ash, she was doubly sure, now.

“Although… You know, I can find you a girl,” Marie said, thinking of the blonde-haired girl on her couch—she’d probably move into the room Ash & Emily were using when they left. She had checked; Jenny had already canceled all of her daughter’s outstanding gigs, but Jenny had never had access to Henri in the first place. “Mmm, hold on, hold on, I know just the thing for you. Blonde, blue, five-four, thirty-four C. I’m positive she’ll jump at the chance.”

Henri responded agreeably, so she took down the details and bid him goodbye. She regarded the remains of the blueberry muffin on her desk. Smiling, she finished the muffin (which Henri had interrupted), and wrote out a check to Henri for the agreed-upon $1,250. It was expensive, but Ash seemed to like it, or at least disdain it less than the dress she’d worn over the summer, and her daughter needed something she could wear to a nice event.

“Now, where is that bitch,” she muttered to herself, pressing the button on her phone to open the intercom to her secretary. “Janice, where’s Jenny?”

“Which one?”

“The old one.”

“Hang on a moment… She just went into Mr. Almacy’s office for something. Almacy has a meeting scheduled now, for fifteen minutes.”

“All right, Janice, thank you.” Marie yawned, stretched, and set her phone to dial her house; she wanted to talk to Jenny.

Upton Residence, 10:50 AM

All three of the girls had folded their tables away and were lounging on the couch-bed, watching the movie with rapt attention. Emily was blushing to a light degree—after having been seduced by Violet, Corky had been fingering the mob moll on her couch when Caesar came home. The mob money-launderer had originally drawn the correct impression, but when he saw that it was a woman, he (incorrectly) assumed it had been something innocent, blaming it on being, “Fuckin’ dark in here!” Corky had made a graceful exit, and Violet had made her own, some time later.

The next scene was Corky and Violet in Corky’s truck, a beat-up old Ford, making out, which was just starting when the phone rang. Ash slid away, hot and mildly aroused from the earlier scene; it had been all-too-easy to draw a great many parallels between the tomboyish butch Corky and herself, and one between the two-faced Violet, with her putting on a helpless veneer for the person she was dependent on and clearly desperate to be free from, and her competent, capable true face, and Emily.

Ash picked up the telephone up. “Upton residence. Mom, hey!”

Emily muted the TV as Ash’s mother asked, “Hey, honey, everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine, mom.”

“Good. Can I speak with Jenny?”

“Sure.” She looked up—Violet had gotten Corky’s jacket off and was fondling her through her gray bra. “Jenny, my mom wants to talk to you.” She held the phone out, and Jenny took it, sliding to the kitchen as Ash sat next to Emily.

Ash pulled the covers back up into her lap, sliding close to Emily, who smiled at Ash’s return; Ash looked back and Emily murmured, “What?”

“Nothing,” Ash smiled, as they watched the muted television screen. Violet had asked something of Corky, and the scene cut away upwards to a bedroom: bare wooden floor with strewn clothes (two pairs of women’s clothes) and only a mattress and box springs without frame. Ash leaned forward, as did Emily. They were both straining to see; the characters were on the bed together, Corky on her back, Violet on her side and against Corky’s side (much in the way Ash and Emily often slept together, but Violet was propped up on her elbow). They were hungrily devouring one another’s lips, but from the angle they were at the figures were backlit. The camera started to move around them, both teenagers straining for a glimpse as the camera swung around to reveal Corky’s left leg arched, her foot tugging the covers from the corner of the mattress, moving it back and forth.

Emily’s hand clamped onto Ash’s thigh, and Ash did likewise to Emily a second later. Then Ash moved her hand in, up to Emily’s inner thigh, stroking her through the fabric of her pants, then squeezing—which Emily returned—when they saw Violet’s right hand between Corky’s thighs. It occurred to Ash that although the actress probably wasn’t actually fingering her co-star, she very well could have been, with the angle she was using and the athletic motion of her hand. Emily’s hand slid in; it tingled, and Ash trembled as Emily’s fingertips probed her inner thigh, though no further.

The camera brought the actresses’ impressive breasts into view, heaving as Corky started to orgasm. Their faces were last, and Corky was clearly biting Violet’s middle finger in a rictus of orgasm as Violet cradled her head.

The camera cut away again, revealing the two of them lying together on the bed, under the covers this time, as dawn’s light broke. Ash was beet-red and very aroused, and she knew Emily was too. She looked over, and Emily licked her lips, blinking a few times.

“You okay?” Ash asked.

“Y-Yeah…”

“That was…”

“I really do like girls, don’t I,” Emily whispered quietly.

“You’re a hell of an actress if you don’t. God, I’m so hot.”

“Me too,” Emily whispered back.

Then Jenny walked back in. “Aw, did I miss it? The good part?” She plopped on the couch on the other side of Emily, giving a knowing smile to her two friends. “Why don’t we rewind it and watch it again?”

“You can rewind an on-demand movie?” Emily asked.

Jenny nodded, grinning. Neither Ash nor Emily had any objection to watching it again.

Marie Upton’s Office, 11:11 AM

“She agreed!” Marie squealed happily at Henri.

Henri was glad to hear that, and told her to have her people call his people to arrange a schedule. Marie set Janice to the task, and smiled to herself, checking her email.

She didn’t have long, however, for soon Janice’s intercom connection buzzed her again. “Marie? Jenny’s out of that meeting with the Big Boss.”

“Snag her and tell her I need to talk to her.”

Marie stood up from the chair she was sitting in and set her headset down. The door opened, and her surly co-worker entered. She didn’t bother to put on a sweet face, which told Marie that: (a) she was pissed, (b) she blamed Marie, and (c) something made her absolutely certain she was safe from reprisal by Marie.

Marie put on her sweetest face. “How did you meeting with Mr. Almacy go, Jenny?”

Jenny seethed. “You didn’t tell me the boss’s son had attacked my daughter? Or that she’d taken a settlement from him without telling me?!”

“No, Jenny. I didn’t see it was really relevant. The boss asked us to meet him, and we did. He apologized for his son’s behavior, which both Ash and Jenny accepted, and wouldn’t let us leave without making whole the damage his son had done. He pressed Jenny to name a figure, and she did.”

“Are you out of your mind, Marie?! We could sue the boss! Have his ass and his company’s! This could’ve netted hundreds of thousands; millions, even! And she took twenty-five grand!?”

Marie sighed, heavily. “Look, Jenny, not everyone is a back-stabbing gold-digger. She just wants to see Joshua thrown behind bars for attacking her. And frankly, I can’t believe you, Jenny.”

“Believe what?”

Marie leaned over her desk. “What you said to Jenny, to your own daughter. What you did to her, reporting her credit cards stolen to get her in trouble. I had to call a lawyer to the state police barracks to get her out, and call a car’s legal owner all the way from Manhattan to straighten things out!”

“Stolen? I didn’t report her cards as stolen; I merely had them canceled.” Jenny shrugged off the accusation. “And when I heard from the officers that she’d been accused of stealing a car, I presumed that no-good daughter of yours had persuaded her to steal my Lexus.”

Marie rolled her eyes, but other than the visual exasperation, she let the slight slide. “Jenny, she’s your own daughter. How long are you going to keep this up?”

“Keep what up, Marie? No lesbian is any daughter of mine. She’s ruined her image, ruined her chances of marrying well, and ruined her life.”

“No, she’s torpedoed your plans to enrich yourself,” Marie thought. “Fine.”

“Fine?”

“Fine. If you want to be the kind of heartless gold-digging bitch who tries to seduce other women’s estranged husbands just to spite them, that’s fine. I don’t care. But if you aren’t going to be a real mother to Jenny, then I’ll take her in.”

“I already said I don’t care where she goes or what she does.”

“Then give me her things.”

“Her what?”

“Her things: her clothes, her possessions. And the car; I’ll buy it, Jenny. You already have a car; you don’t need two. I’ll pay off the lease on it in one go.”

“No.”

“Uh, what? Why not?!”

“As far as I’m concerned, she ran away. She’s old enough to take care of herself.”

“But… Jenny, she’s your daughter!”

“She is not my daughter. If you want her so bad, keep her. She’s ruined her whole life with this little stunt.”

“What stunt? What are you talking about, Jenny?!”

“She got weak. She stumbled, and it’s over. The other girls are moving up. She’s finished.”

“She is not finished.”

“Fine. Like I said, I don’t care, Marie. If you want to make my dyke daughter your personal mission, go ahead. I have girls who need work that know what’s what in this business. Excuse me.” Jenny ignored Marie’s sound of protestation behind her and walked out the door.

Upton Residence, 12:23 PM

“So, now the mob’s in disarray, chasing a dead man to find the money, and Violet and Corky made off with the cash,” Ash summarized the ending with a chuckle, as Corky and Violet drove off in a brand-new Ford F-450 and the credits rolled.

“Good movie?” Jenny asked.

Ash and Emily both confirmed, “Good movie.”

Emily giggled quietly. “I think we found a movie that tickles all of us.”

Ash nodded, and yawned, stretching out. “So, now… Mmmh, we need to find the evidence impound, retrieve my car, and put it on a flatbed.”

“Right, that’ll be around two P.M., so we need to find where the impound is.”

“The Carrera GT’s GPS Navigation system can probably find it for us.”

“Oooh, good point,” Ash said.

Jenny grinned. “Then I get to drive the 911!”

“Right. Oh! Ash, we need to call Lieutenant Grayfield and give her that video.”

“Oh, right.”

“We can drop it off on the way, then. Didn’t your mom give you the number?”

“I… don’t think so.”

“It’ll be in her Rolodex files, I’ll go look it up, Ash,” Emily said as she slipped out of the bed.

“All right.”

“So, what’d you think of the movie?” Jenny had slid close to Ash, turning to the side and lying back, putting her shoulders in Ash’s lap, head comfortably resting on Ash’s stomach. It was simplicity itself, the quiet intimacy and maybe even subservience of the gesture.

Ash slid her hand down, cupping Jenny’s chin, then rubbing the underside of her head softly, as she thought. “It was fantastic, really. It wasn’t mushy like most ch-err, romantic comedies,” she said, catching herself from saying ‘chick flicks’, “but it had strong… Well, I dunno, I didn’t mind watching the stuff where they were talking. It had action and suspense, and it looked like the bad guy was going to win for a while. The sex was…”

“Intense,” Jenny murmured.

Ash nodded, squeezing Jenny’s chin, softly. “If I had any complaints, it’s that there wasn’t a car chase sequence.”

“Yeah, but this was the W Brother’s first movie.”

“The W Brothers?”

“Wachowski? The guys who made The Matrix?”

“Ooooh, right.”

“Yeah, it was a low-budget one. Given that…”

“Pretty brilliant, I’d say, then,” Ash confirmed.

Jenny smiled up at Ash, took Ash’s other hand in hers, and laced their fingers together.

That was the position they were still in when Emily came back down the stairs, and she smiled at the sight of it. “I’d be murderously jealous if that were Missi Fuller… but all I want to do is put my head on Jenny’s chest,” she mused as she walked around the couch, crawled on from the other side, and did just that, lying back along Jenny (who wrapped her other arm around Emily’s stomach without a word).

Emily held up a piece of Post-it paper with a number. “This is Lieutenant Grayfield’s cell phone number. You call her, Ash.”

Ash took the note with her free hand, unlaced her other hand from Jenny (who wrapped it around Emily), and pulled out her cell phone.

It rang three times, then was answered with the officer’s clipped voice, “Grayfield.”

“Lieutenant Grayfield, this is Ash Upton. You, ahh, wanted that video file that Jenny took and sent before her phone was smashed?”

“Yes, I did. Do you have it?”

“It finally came through on my phone. Should I bring the phone in?”

“Yes, do that.”

“Okay… Um, you’re not going to impound my phone, are you?”

“I’m afraid so. You’ll get a receipt for it, and you can have it back when we call you.”

Ash flinched; though she’d only had it for a week, she loathed the idea of not having it now. “Okay.

We can do that now. Are you, uh…”

“I’m at the Barnstable County State Police Barracks. Is that a problem?”

“Um, no. No, we can do that. We’ll be there shortly,” Ash said before hanging up. “Damn, we’re gonna need to make some calls.”

“No, it’s… actually, don’t worry about it, I know just the thing,” Emily murmured. “I’ll take Jenny in the Carrera GT; I’ve driven this route before, and I know how to use the GPS system. Jenny can transfer your address book stuff to my phone, so we can still call your mom and such, and you follow us in the 996. When we get to the barracks, we give Lieutenant Grayfield your phone and all.”

“Right, okay,” Ash nodded. “Then we switch cars, ’cause I want another go.”

“Heh, all right.” Emily grinned at her. “Then we go to the evidence impound, meet Harry, put the Monster on his truck, and then…”

“Dunno. Oh, we’d better call Nathan and tell him he can have his car back.”

“Right. After that… speed-way for one last hurrah?”

“Nah.”

“Mall,” Jenny suggested.

Ash and Emily looked at one another. Ash didn’t look terribly happy, but Emily smiled, and Ash sighed. “All right, all right.”

“Just like that? No conditions?”

“Do you want me to attach some conditions? I can think of a few.”

“Nooo, that’s quite all right,” Emily grinned.

Ash thought for a moment that she saw a bit of Kate in Emily’s expression.

On The Highway Heading North, 12:35 PM

The great thing about business lunches is that the client will take you out somewhere to eat, they’ll pay for it, and it’s not even slacking off (in theory). Marie grinned to herself as the sleek black Jaguar (regarding which she still couldn’t help but be proud of the fact that her daughter had taken it for her from the arrogant Joshua, even if she couldn’t let Ash know about her feelings on the matter) roared up the freeway. She thought it might have been a slight downgrade from the Porsche, but you can’t touch the price, and she liked the sound of the eight cylinders ahead of her, not to mention the all-time four-wheel drive since the weather men were predicting that the weather might get worse; they’d been blessed with two weeks of calm after that unrelenting storm.

And the music… she’d been radio-surfing, and had found a classic metal station, so she was roaring down the road to the hard sounds of Mötley Crüe singing, “Too young, too young, too young to fall in luuurve!”

“Brings back memories…”

Memories, specifically, of the mid 1980s. All her friends had been green with jealousy at her having scored a med-school student with a fast car. She thought back to those days, and shook her head, heavily.

“Edward, why did you have to turn into such a bastard? You were so charming and cool when I met you. Why did everything change when I said ‘I do’? Bah.

“Oh well. I’m not going to let it get me down. And I haven’t; for fifteen years, I haven’t. My only regret is that I walked out of my daughter’s life as well as yours.”

She grinned widely as the song changed from the depressing Crüe song to Quiet Riot’s loud and brash, “Cum on feel the noize! Girls rock your boyssss! We’ll get wild, wild, wild!” Marie found herself singing along, “Wild, wild, wild!!!”

She almost missed the sound of her cell phone ringing. Cursing that she’d have to miss the song, she turned the radio off and answered, “Hello!”

Jenny was on the other end. “Mrs. Upton? We called Lieutenant Grayfield. She’s having us hand over Ash’s phone, but she says they’ll probably have it for a few weeks.”

“Oh, I see. Well, I expected this would happen.” She sighed. “What’s on your plan for the day, girls? Got anything at, say, six?”

“Um… we were going to give the phone to the Lieutenant, and then go to the evidence impound and have Ash’s car put on a truck for home.”

“Do you need money for the tow truck?”

“Um… no, no, Emily says we’re fine.”

“Okay. What’s after that?”

“Well, we were thinking of the mall, actually.”

“Oh, okay, the mall? That sounds good. You know, I’ll meet you there around, say, six, six-thirty?”

“Um, sure.”

“We need to go to the cell phone store in the mall. I need to get Ash a new phone, and get one for you, too.”

“For–for me?”

“Mmm-hmm! And I want to talk to you in person, too, so… It fits nicely, okay?”

“Okay then.” Jenny conferred quickly with whoever was driving the car she was in. “All right. Six thirty, we’ll be at the food court by the Chick-fil-A.”

“No problem; actually, it’s right next to the cell phone store, so that’s perfect.”

“Okay then. We’ll see you there, Mrs. Upton.”

“All right, Jenny. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Marie hung up the phone and smiled to herself. “Who would have thought I’d wind up taking in Jenny’s spoiled princess? Who would have thought she’d be such a self-centered egocentric bitch as to kick her out?” Marie’s smile turned into a sad, depressed sigh, and she drove on, not even bothering to turn her music back on.

Outside The Massachusetts State Police Barracks, South Yarmouth, 1:03 PM

Two Porsches growled up into the front visitor parking lot out front of the low, yellow-painted brick building. Emily clenched the steering wheel tightly; looking to her right, she could see Jenny was just as unhappy to be back here after their many hours of unjust incarceration. Ash got out of the 996 behind them, walking forward to the Carrera GT, and Emily rolled down the window. Ash could clearly see the upset on their faces.

“Jenny, go get in the 996 and keep the engine on. Can I have the phone I need to hand over?”

Jenny passed it over, after checking that it was the right phone. “I used your phone to send the video to Emily’s phone and Mrs. Upton’s. We can’t view them on these phones, since they’re not powerful enough, but there’s barely enough room to hold the data. They should be able to recover it on their systems.”

Ash nodded, and Emily looked up at her. “Ash, don’t give that phone to anyone but Lieutenant Grayfield herself. The last thing we need is for the blue wall of silence to ‘silence’ your phone like Palmer silenced Jenny’s.”

Ash nodded, putting the phone in the pocket of her brown bomber jacket, and leaned in, kissing Emily’s cheek softly. “Just stay out here. I’ll handle this, okay?”

“All right, Ash.” Emily leaned up, kissing her girlfriend’s cheek in return before Ash walked into the barracks.

A uniformed officer was sitting behind the desk, enclosed with what Ash was certain was bulletproof glass. “Can I help you?” he said, his voice coming out through the grille set in the glass.

“I’m here to see Lieutenant Grayfield.”

“What is this in reference to?”

“She asked me to bring her something, and I have it.”

“Okay. I can give it to her.” The officer indicated the slot through which something could be passed under the glass.

Ash shook her head. “She was very insistent I hand it to her directly. It’s personal.”

The officer behind the desk looked like he about to argue, but shrugged. “All right, miss. I’ll page her, have a seat.” He waved at a number of worn vinyl-upholstered chairs in an awful shade of puke-green. Ash sat in one without complaint—hardly worse than her school chairs, after all—and waited.

And waited. And waited…

Eventually it occurred to Ash that the officer at the desk hadn’t actually paged Grayfield. Ash stood up and asked, “Excuse me, is the Lieutenant coming?”

“Oh, right. I apologize, miss,” he said, giving Ash the most insincere apology she had ever heard. He finally paged Grayfield, and Ash again sat to wait.

Grayfield did show up in short order this time, walking over to Ash.

“Lieutenant Grayfield,” Ash said, rising and reaching into her pocket for the cell phone.

“Thank you for bringing this, Ash,” Grayfield said, taking the phone from Ash. “I’ll take this to the computer lab myself. The video is on here, right?” Ash nodded, and Grayfield nodded in response. “Good. Oh, and you didn’t hear this from me, but someone’s leaning on the county prosecutor to rake Almacy over the coals. The prosecutor’s not willing to consider a plea bargain at this time. Looks like you’re really going to get your date in court.”

“When will that be?”

“I can’t say. You’ll probably get some subpoenas in the mail.”

“Um… they do know I live in Tempest, right?”

“I’m sure they do, but I can make sure it’s known if you want to give me your proper address.” She took out her tape recorder and spoke, “Grayfield, Lieutenant A, with Upton, Ash, confirming mailing address of Upton, Ash.”

So Ash provided her full name and address, as well as Emily’s. “Oh, and I think Jenny’s moved in with my mom. Her mom’s kicked her out, you see.”

“Okay. Can you give us that?” Ash nodded, and provided Jenny’s full name and her mother’s Provincetown address.

“Record off,” Grayfield said and shut off her recorder. “I’ll make sure the county prosecutor gets this. You’ll probably get something in the mail sometime in January.”

“Okay. Thank you, Lieutenant.”

“It’s my job, Ash. Have a good day.”

“And you, Lieutenant,” Ash murmured, walking back out.

Emily got in the passenger’s seat as Ash left the barracks. Ash slid into the driver’s seat and checked the time—1:25. She winced. “Not gonna get there before Harry.”

“I punched in the route already. We’ll be late, but not by much if you go now.”

Ash put the car in gear and pulled out to the side of the road; once certain Jenny was ready to follow them, she pulled out and got onto the road.

“Okay. So, what’s the plan?”

“Well, we can call Nathan from the impound lot while Harry’s putting the Monster up on the truck and tell him he can have the Carrera back. Then we go to the mall; your mom’s meeting us at six thirty by the cell phone store.”

“Really? Why?”

“First, she wants to replace your phone, and second, to get one for Jenny.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yep.” Emily giggled quietly as they drove. “Wow, I guess that kinda does make you two sorta-sisters, doesn’t it?”

“Yeesh.” Ash shook her head.

Emily giggled. “What’s wrong, you two get along fine, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but… ech, if she’s my sister…”

“Well, she’s not your sister unless your mom actually adopts her. And anyway, it wouldn’t be like you were blood.” Emily winked.

Ash shook her head, laughing. “You’re bad.”

“No, I’m just me. Pointing out the logical flaws in your thinking.”

“Suuure.”

Emily stuck her tongue out at Ash, with a happy expression on her face, her eyes closed.

Barnstable County Evidence Impound, 2:13 PM

When the rasping Carrera GT pulled up the road towards the evidence impound, Ash could already see the big flatbed truck with ‘Aries’ written on the rear window and the side door panels. She smiled as she pulled into a parking space, Jenny parking the 996 beside her.

“That’s a sight for sore eyes, isn’t it, Ash?” Emily grinned at her.

Ash couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah… but I’m kind of afraid to see the damage to the Monster.”

“We have to look some time, don’t we?”

“Yeah. I suppose so.” Ash opened the driver’s door, and slid out of the Carrera GT, followed by Emily. Jenny likewise got out of the 996, and started to walk towards the guardhouse.

As they approached, the door on the Aries tow-truck opened, and Harry climbed out, dropping to the ground and shutting the door behind him. “Helloo Ash! And Emily, pet.” He waved at them, then blinked when he saw Jenny. “Got a new friend, pet? Gonna introduce us?”

Ash chuckled, softly. “Jenny, this is Harry. Harry, this is Jenny.”

“Pleasure toh meet you, pet,” Harry said to her. “How have you been, Ash?”

“Been better, Harry. Been worse, too.”

“Awn, same ol’ story, eh? At least you’ve got your paws on that, right?” He pointed at the Carrera. Ash laughed. “Yeah, I did. Even if Emily did steal my chance to beat Kate.”

“Don’t worry pet, you’ll get another crack at her. Anyway, let’s go an’ see where they’ve put my lil’ beastie, an’ see what kinda damage that tool did to her.”

The guard at the gate took a look at Ash’s driver’s license, verifying she was the owner of record of the Monster XR, and jerked his thumb to the back. “It’s in the back, under a tarp. Left you plenty of room to get the truck in, since she can’t move on her own.”

“It can’t move on its own?”

“Well, orders we have say not to move it without a truck. Whether it can move on its own or not, I don’t know.”

He opened the gate, and Ash, Harry, Emily, and Jenny proceeded in. There was clearly a car under a blue tarp, and Ash and Harry pulled the stakes up and the tarp off.

Harry swore. It’s not often he swore, but he uttered, “Bluddy hell, this is a focking mess!”

Ash trembled at the sight of her stricken car, letting out a soft gasp of emotion, then a sob. For once, she couldn’t even blame it on being a girl; Ash was certain that she would have sobbed even if she were still a boy. Fighting not to cry outright, Ash began to survey the damage.

In the light of day, the damage to the Monster XR was phenomenal. The only things that seemed not to be damaged were the tires. Every single panel was beaten in, banged in, and even punctured. The mirrors had been shattered off (they were sitting in the passenger’s seat) and the spoiler had been smashed away (it, too, was in the front seat, in two pieces). The windows were of course smashed, as were the headlights and taillights. The bumpers had been beaten in as well.

“Holy hell,” Jenny murmured.

Emily simply shook her head in disgust. “I hope that bastard enjoys his soap on a rope time. I just wish he’d done something to me that I could press charges for, too.”

“Yeah…” Harry shook his head. “Let the twat rot in prison. Sorry, Ash,” he said, putting his hand on her shoulder. “I’ll tow her back to Tempest, but this is gonna be a nasty piece of work. You have toh more or less buy another Merkur for the body panels an’ all. That’s noh gonna be cheap, and neither will the fixin’ part.”

“I understand, Harry. As it happens… I’ve already got another Merkur.”

“You’re kiddin’ me…”

“Buying a junked Merkur for the body panels is something I was already planning on doing, Harry. But when it comes down to it, I need the better car operational.”

“Yeah, I see where you are goin’ with this.”

“Strip the body and glass, the doors and the spoiler, from the XR4Ti, and put them on the Monster. Leave the skeleton of the XR4Ti in my garage until we can repair it to snuff.”

“Ahlright, if you say so pet. Are you sure about this?”

“I’m sure,” Ash answered, while regarding the battered body of the Monster. “What do I owe you?”

“God, I cannot even begin. I’d need to take her back to the shop an’ figure out exactly what all’s been done to it.”

“You can just start when you get home. I’m good for the money, you know that.”

“Yes, I do. Pet, this could run you thousands, though.”

“It’s not going to run over fifty thousand, is it?”

“Fifty thousand?!” Surprise was evident in Harry’s voice. “I could build you a new Monster for that! Hell, you could buy a brand new Mustang GT for that!”

“Yeah, I know. The father of the guy who did this told me to tell him what it would cost to repair it. I didn’t know, so he asked how much it would cost to replace the whole car, lock, stock and barrel. Then he just… cut me a check for fifty grand.” Red was evident in Ash’s cheeks.

“Well, if you have toh get your car smashed in, I guess it helps to have it beaten up by the son of a man with deep pockets, hey?” Harry said, laughing. “Ahlright, I’ll get toh work when I get ’er ’ome. You wan’ me toh get the car from your dad’s house an’ start replacing panels as soon as I get ’er in?”

Ash thought about it for a moment, then she nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, okay.”

“I’ll get to it, then. Oh, an’ Kate sends her lorve to all of you.”

“Send mine back, Harry,” Ash said while Emily voiced similar sentiments. “Need help getting it onto the truck?”

“Nah, that’s fine. Be off with you; I can take care of me own creation.”

Ash turned away from the Monster XR, closing her eyes to brush the tears out of them. She walked back towards the gates, Emily and Jenny following her.

They returned to the Porsches, and Emily took out her cell phone. “Now, we need to call Nathan, right?”

“Right.”

Emily flipped through her address book. “Okay, I got it out of your phone.” She handed the phone to Ash.

The phone was picked up on the fourth ring, “Hello, this is Nathan. Who’s this, I don’t recognize the number.”

“It’s Ash—Ash Upton?”

“Oh, Ash, great timing. Is this your cell phone?”

“Emily’s, actually. The cops took mine for evidence.”

“Oh, that’s a shame. Hey, great timing, though. Do you need the Carrera GT? I kinda need it for tonight.”

“Um, need it?” She looked at Jenny and Emily. There were three of them, and two cars with two seats each between them. “Um, we’re actually having another automotion crisis at the moment. Jenny’s bitch of a mom came and stole her car back.”

“What? Aw, Jeez, that’s a real bummer…”

“Hey, your mom will be meeting us at the mall,” Emily pointed out.

“Actually, there might be a way. My mom will be meeting us at the Cape Cod Mall ’round six. If you can let us drive to the mall and get it from there—”

“That’s no problem. You heading to the mall right now?”

“Yeah, we are.”

“Okay, meetcha there.” The phone sounded as if the other handset was being held away from the

person speaking. “Yo, Jim-bo! Fire up the ’cuda, we gotta go down ’the mall!”

Ash chuckled softly. “Staying with Jimmy?”

“You bet. Why pay for an impersonal hotel when you get a friend’s couch to crash on? And when was the last time a hotel’s concierge invited you to a party, then?”

“Never?”

“Exactly! And sure, a hotel will call a car for you if your pockets are deep enough, but they generally don’t have Hemicudas.”

Ash laughed. “Fair ’nuff. Okay… There’s an arcade in the mall, behind the food court. Meet out front?”

“Out front? Try inside.”

“All right, see you there.” She hung up and laughed. “We’re gonna meet ’em inside the arcade.”

“All right. Driver’s seat!” Emily called.

Ash smirked. “Oh, all right.” She handed the Carrera’s keys over.

Then Jenny called “Shotgun!”

“Damn, I’m too slow today.”

Jenny tossed Ash the keys to her mother’s 996 and walked to the Carrera GT’s side as Ash walked to the driver’s seat of the 996.

Cape Cod Mall, Hyannis, 3:15 PM

The Carrera GT and 996 rolled into the parking lot of the packed mall together, driving back to the far reaches where they could find two parking spots together. By sheer chance, they got a spot right under a parking pole sign, and directly next to what was unmistakably Jimmy’s ’Cuda.

“Looks like they’re here already,” Ash commented as she got out of the 996.

Jenny let out a sigh. “I don’t want to give it baaaaaack,” she whined, to which both Ash and Emily laughed.

“Yeah, but it was never ours in the first place. So we ought to be glad we had and lost, than never to have had at all.”

“Plus, I nearly beat Kate the Kamikaze in it. That was awesome,” Emily added.

Ash grinned at her. “Yeah, yeah it was.”

Jenny yawned, smiled, and looked at the mall. “C’mon. Let’s go shopping,” she said, with a vengeance.

“Just don’t try to use your cards this time, okay?”

“Okay.”

“We ought to give the keys to this back, though,” Ash said, fishing the keys for the Carrera GT out of Emily’s pocket.

Emily laughed and sighed sadly, staring at it. “Oh well. It was a good run.”

“Yeah, yeah it was.”

The trio turned, walking up to the mall, while Emily repeated the parking number they’d parked at to memorize it, until Ash reminded her that they had managed to park directly next to Jimmy’s Barracuda—and it was unlikely that they’d be able to miss what were probably the two fastest and most distinctive vehicles in the parking lot parked together.

“So, you think we should go back to the same store, maybe find the stuff we had to ditch last time?” Jenny asked, as they passed through the glass-enclosed foyer.

Emily shrugged; she looked at Ash, and then inexplicably grinned. “Oh, I’d love to. But we’d better cut her loose to do something else, I don’t think she could handle that.”

“Handle what?”

“Come with us and find out,” Jenny said with a lascivious leer that made Ash instantly wary.

But she could hardly back out now. “I have the distinct feeling I’m doomed, but we may as well get on with it, then.”

“Dead man walking!” Emily cheerfully called out, leaving Ash to hang her head as they walked through the mall.

The food court was packed, of course, so they picked their way through it.

“Mmmmh. Think your mom will treat us to dinner here?”

“I dunno, maybe. Of course, it might be more like lunch if this winds up being a late-ass night.”

“Heh. Dinner at 11, that would be messed up.”

“Eh, it’s not so bad, if you plan to stay up into the A of M, which we frequently do,” Ash replied, with a shrug. “Anyway, let’s see. They said in the arcade, so… think they’re playing Need for Speed?”

“Probably.”

Picking their way to the back of the arcade, they found that the NFS units were in use, but not by either Nathan or Jimmy. “They’re almost certainly in here somewhere,” Ash mused, as they turned around and fanned out.

It was Emily who caught sight of the objects of their search, catching Ash’s attention with a wave. Ash walked over, presuming that Jenny would catch up to them, which predictably she did by peering around the other side of the row of consoles and moving towards them as Ash and Emily closed in.

Nathan and Jimmy were side-by-side at a shooting game, loud gunshots issuing forth from the machine’s speakers as they both furiously aimed, fired, aimed, fired, aimed, fired, and the occasional sound of the death of a monster of some stripe or another issued from the machine. Jimmy was wearing an all-black outfit, including a black dinner jacket and a bowler hat, with a white shirt and tie visible through his unbuttoned coat, while Nathan was wearing black slacks and likewise black shoes, but with a gray dress shirt, no tie, and no coat.

“I don’t get it. How can you possibly be better at this than me, man,” Nathan groused as they continued to furiously fire at the screen, their plastic pistols making sharp chink-chink sounds and a plastic slide cycling on top of them each time. “How is it possible? You’ve never held a real gun in your life. I go to the range at least once a month and I’m licensed to carry a concealed firearm in five States. How can you possibly be doing better than me?!”

Jimmy let out a loud laugh at him, jovially shoving Nathan with his shoulder. “I’m just good, man. You mess with the best,” and the sound of a monster’s scream issued from the machine, ‘GAME OVER’ appearing over Nathan’s side; he let out a sigh of disgust, holstered the plastic pistol, and finished with Jimmy, “You die like the rest.”

“I get it, I get it.” Nathan rolled his eyes, reached up to the top of the game cabinet, pulling down a dinner jacket like the one Jimmy was wearing. “And what galls me the most,” Nathan griped at his friend—Ash held her hand out to stop Emily from moving forward, grinning at the lamentation unfolding before her—“Is that you didn’t even take your damn jacket off.” Jimmy continued to do well, as Nathan took a brown hat—a pinch-fronted fedora—down from the top of the cabinet as well, pulling it onto his head and down over his brow.

Ash snickered softly. “A fedora? Really, a fedora? Nice hat, Indiana,” she ribbed him as the three approached.

The car’s owner turned to face her, laughing. “What, you don’t like my hat?”

“Nooo, it’s fine, if you’re going to a movie marathon, Dr. Jones.”

“Okay, okay.” Nathan pulled the hat off his head. “Had fun with my car, I hear, Blues.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I did,” Emily answered, while Ash grinned, dropping the keys in the hat. “Speaking of Blues,” Emily said, “Are you two dressing as the Blues Brothers?”

“Very nearly, Blues,” Jimmy answered, not even looking up until he, too, attained a Game Over, and holstered the pistol. “Except he’s got this damn brown thing and not a proper hat.”

“Everybody’s hating on my hat today. What’s wrong with my hat?” Nathan groused, as he took the keys and pocketed them.

“Because we’re going to a New Year’s party, and you’re wearing a hat that looks like the one my granddad wore in all the pictures I have of him.”

“A New Year’s party?” Ash asked, looking up. “But it’s the thirtieth, not the thirty first.”

Nathan and Jimmy both grinned at her, “Yeah. That’s the idea.”

Ash laughed. “Don’t get drunk and wrap that car around a tree.”

“Hah! No chance of that, King; this boy don’t touch a drop, ever.”

“I told you that already, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, I think you did. But still… a two-day party?”

“Three day. It’s not the end of the New Year till it’s January second, King,” Jimmy clarified.

“All right, all right. Well, thanks for the car, anyway.”

“You’re welcome. You flattened Rainer Herrbruck in my baby, and your girlfriend nearly handed Kate a defeat. That’s worth the loan-out.”

Ash chuckled at that, grinning. “It was great, you should’ve been there.”

“I wanted to be, believe me. Oh well, the video of the race is good enough.”

“Video?”

“Yeah, I’ve got some copies here, too,” Jimmy cut in again. He picked up a bag from one of the mall’s stores, took out three disks in thin, slimline containers, and handed one to each girl.

Ash grinned at the disk. “Awesome.”

“Awesome? But, I lost…”

“Yeah, but you lost to Kate. You lost for the lack of only four yards. I raced Kate in my ’Cuda in August, and she flattened me. Not even close. Even in a Carrera GT, it’s no small feat to ‘just lose’ to the Kamikaze.”

“Yeah, fair enough… I guess she’s moving up. Her Jaguar was accelerating a lot harder than it did the last time I raced her. I don’t think the Monster can compete anymore.”

“Sure it can. What kind of engine you got in there, Ford five-liter?” Ash nodded. “Nice, nice engine, there. Can do a crazy number of mods to make it more powerful on the cheap. I heard Kate upgraded basically her whole drivetrain, and upgraded the super on her Jag even more. You might want to think about supercharging Dr. Harrystein’s monster if you need more power out of it.”

“Or nitrous,” Nathan interjected, to which Ash scowled at him. “What, don’t like NOS?”

“Nitrous is for cowards.”

“Or people who appreciate the tactical advantage a sudden burst of horsepower can provide.”

“Nitrous makes you lose control.”

“Sure, but it can be just the thing when you hit a straight and need to go, or you had a bad corner and need to get back up to speed in a hurry.”

Ash crossed her arms, smirking. “Then why don’t you have nitrous on the Carrera GT?”

“Are you kidding me? That’s a six hundred horsepower Porsche. It’s stock, and it already accelerates faster than the Space Shuttle. I have used NOS in the past. It has its advantages, but you shouldn’t rely on it to win.”

Jimmy laughed at him. “Not to mention it risks blowing your engine if you don’t take a lot of care to make sure the engine can handle it. Better to get more control out of your machine with a more regulated boost, like a supercharger, if you haven’t got the engine to handle natural acceleration.”

Ash rolled her eyes. “Okay, okay. Anyway, you have the keys back. Thanks for the loan.”

“No problem. Maybe I’ll let you borrow it again sometime.”

Jimmy checked his cell phone, and shook his head. “Hey, man, we gotta burn asphalt if we’re gonna get there on time.”

“What? Crap. Sorry, King, Blues, Jenny—we gotta jet.” They turned to leave, then Nathan turned around and whipped the fedora off of his head. “And since it’s apparently too dorky for me, put it to some good use with that ‘supreme tomboy’ thing, King.” He tossed the fedora to Ash, who caught it. Then Nathan turned to dash and catch Jimmy, leaving Ash blinking and holding a hat and a DVD in a CD case.

“Huh,” Ash said, shrugging, looking at the hat. “Now I’ve got a hat.” She blinked. “Where am I going to put it?”

“Your head is traditional,” Emily quipped at her, and Jenny giggled, taking a compact out of her purse, opening it as Ash put the hat on.

Ash twisted her head left and right, staring at the sight of the brown hat on her head. “Frig, I look like Indiana Jones, don’t I?”

“Kinda,” Jenny replied, and giggled. “It’s a fashion massacre, but it kind of looks okay, I guess. Just don’t wear it anywhere serious. All right, well… shopping time,” Jenny added with a ferocious grin at Emily, who nodded. Ash got a sinking feeling, as her two friends turned and led her from the arcade.

Cape Cod Mall, 4:11 PM

“It’s bad enough,” Ash groused, “That I somehow let you two talk me into trying this, against all my better judgment, common sense, and sanity. But how—by the power of Grayskull—is it that every single time I go into a fitting room there’s a poster of my mom in there?”

“Really? Again? That’s freaky!” Emily laughed, sticking her head in.

Ash didn’t bother to freak out; Emily had seen her naked, after all, and as she had yet to get to trying on one of the ridiculously impractical and spicy lingerie things Emily had suggested (and Jenny had vociferously encouraged her to try), she didn’t mind as much, simply covering her breasts with an arm.

The poster was posted high on the wall behind her. This one showed Marie modeling a light purple, lacy-fronted bra, the (somewhat faded) caption reading, ‘Signature Collection – by Henri Leroux’ and declaring ‘In five luxurious new colors’.

“That’s not the worst, believe it or not, Ash,” Jenny said.

“What’s the worst, then?”

“Going into one of these places to try on something, and having a poster of yourself above you. And it’s even worse when someone sees a picture of you and asks why you don’t look as golden as you did in the picture.” Jenny pushed in through the other side of the curtain and looked up. “Yeah. So, it could be worse, you know.”

“Oh, so I just get compared to my supermodel mother instead of myself?”

“Well… no, I guess you do have the same eyes, don’t you?” Jenny grinned. “I still doubt anyone would get the connection, though.”

“Okay, okay, out, you two. Out!” Ash fought down self-consciousness enough to bare her breasts by taking her arm away, pushed both of her friends out, and pulled the curtain firmly shut on both ends. Ash turned back to the ‘outfit’ Emily had gotten to her and sighed.

“Why in the world did I agree to even consider this?” she asked herself as she sat down.

The response took shape, swirling out from her right shoulder in the form of her shoulder devil—and wearing the outfit that Emily had picked out for her. “Because, inside of you, somewhere, there’s an uninhibited wild woman waiting to come out? It’s in your blood, after all,” the miniature figure said, pointing up at the poster.

“Bullshit,” another mental voice retorted, swimming out from the other side—her shoulder angel, in its traditional robe. “It’s because you want to make Emily happy so much you’ll think about doing something you’d never think about doing before. But if you don’t want to do it, if it makes you feel too emasculated, why do it?”

“Ignore this drag,” her shoulder devil said, jerking her arm towards the angel. “It made you feel great when Emily told you she liked it when you looked good—and when that hot blonde thing with the tits said it, too. You want to show off what your mother literally gave you. Go on, if you can. Shake what momma gave us, and don’t feel bad about it, ’cause it’s for your girlfriend.”

“Shut up, both of you, I’m trying to work up the nerve,” Ash growled.

From outside the curtain, Emily’s voice, hurt, came, “We weren’t talking that loud!”

“(Shit! Emily and Jenny!) S-Sorry,” Ash hurried to clarify, “I w-wasn’t talking to you two!”

“Not us?” Jenny asked. “Then who?”

“Um… n-nobody; just doubts in my own head. Really, n-not you two!”

“Ooookay, this is one of the weirder things you’ve done, Ash… but, okay. Let’s just move away for a bit, Jenny.”

Ash picked up the bra and sighed. It wasn’t see-through, like the ones Emily had been picking out, or tiny, like one of the ones Jenny had found. She still didn’t want to try it on, let alone the panties. “Am I losing myself? Maybe I’m finding myself… Is this what it’s come to? Giving in?” Ash pictured herself, in a sundress with a basket of flowers and with a rainbow arcing behind her. She shivered. “But this isn’t… y’know, sugar-sweet girly stuff… This is… it’s spicy, like…” Remembering the time she had put on a ridiculously over-the-top ‘girly’ act to get Colin to hustle about getting her the spark plugs, she shivered again, and pictured herself in a tiny casino-girl one-piece outfit, wearing high heels and fishnet stockings, being leered at by a horde of men.

“I can’t… but… Emily’s not like that.” She tried to picture Emily, wearing something that she had picked out today, in a similar situation—and couldn’t. Everything Emily wore in public had been… Well, normal; attractive, yes, but normal. Not the kind of stuff she’d been buying here… “But she does buy it. And it doesn’t seem to be an entirely new thing, either.”

It was not easy, reconciling her image of Emily with her buying the kind of—for lack of a better word—slut-wear that she had seen Emily thinking of trying on, not to mention the red lingerie outfit at Albany. But, she had seen it with her own eyes. And long talks with Emily about the nature of her private masturbation and how most ‘innocence’ was just an act had revealed a side of Emily that Ash found, frankly, blazingly hot, if surprising.

“Maybe girls just… Maybe you can wear something like this and not be a total hoe-bag? I…” Ash looked down at the outfit in question. This time she pictured it under her normal clothes, jacket, jeans, and a T-shirt, during a race, which she won, and being revealed when Emily pulled her out of her clothes later.

“I don’t know if I can do this… but I’m going to try. If only because I think it might be a turn-on for Emily.” Ash took a deep breath and let it out. She looked up at the poster. “Did you ever feel stupid, or silly, trying on something like this?” She shook her head; her mother was cut from the same mental cloth as Jenny, who took to showing off like a car to road. “Would I be different, if I was born your baby girl, instead of your son?” It occurred to her that her mother had called her ‘my tomboy’, implying that girl-Ash had still been given to tomboyish clothes. “But she did have all those spicy things in my closet. Greh. I feel like I’ve inherited a used and modified car and no instructions or documentation. I feel like… Well, frankly, like I’ve inherited someone else’s life. But now it’s my life. And I have to decide…”

She looked down at the bra in her hand. “What have I got to lose? Dignity? Nobody will see this except Emily and maybe Jenny. I don’t even have to take it home, I could probably leave it here in Cape Cod, and it’d just get swept up into Jenny’s stuff. Dad will never see it; absolutely not Rumisiel or Vashiel… just Emily. And me… You like showing off for her, in your car, or in something ‘tomboy awesome’… Why not in something that’ll make her hot for me?”

Ash sighed, heavily, regretfully. “This would almost be easier if I could just fall back on a knee-jerk ‘no’ answer. This self-reflective stuff is for the birds. I don’t want to face this stuff! But I have to. If I’m going to abandon the attempt to be re-filed… That means I’ve accepted living my life in a girl’s body… no, as a girl. Am I… am I losing myself?”

She shook her head as Emily’s words came back to her. “No. I am Ash Upton. I am who I am, who I make myself. I felt… as if something had been stolen from me when Rumisiel dropped my file in the wrong folder, and maybe it was. But I can’t keep harping over it; what’s done is done, this is my life now. The only choice will result in me never remembering any of this—and if that happens, am I me anymore? Or do I just black out, and some guy wakes up the next day remembering my life without the Misfile… without Emily, without any friends except James… That’s suicide, only there’s someone else to take my place seamlessly, and nobody else notices… isn’t it? I can’t do that… So where does that leave me?”

She looked down at the bra in her hand. “It leaves me in a lingerie store in Cape Cod, staring at an evocative bra in my hand and thinking to myself instead of either putting the damn thing on or just putting it back. Fuck it; gotta do something.”

Ash took another deep breath, then she wrapped the garment around herself, clasping the metal hooks under her breasts. She turned it around, slid through the shoulder straps, and worried the bra into position, letting it push up and support her breasts. Then she turned to face the mirror.

“I did it.” The mint-green bra, not see-through, but with a lacy rim and exposing all of her cleavage was fitting snugly upon her person. “I don’t believe I did this…” She shook her head. “In for a penny; I might as well go the Full Monty.” She tugged her jeans down and off, then doffed her own panties. Closing her eyes, she stepped into the matching pair of panties, pulling them up right. They fit, but they were extremely uncomfortable, cut entirely wrong in the front and rear. “Ech.” Ash looked down, pulling them off, and realized she’d put them on backwards.

“Gah. D’oh!” She sighed, and reversed them, pulling them up the correct way this time, and working them until they fit, snug. Ash crossed her arms under her breasts, pushing them up even further, staring at herself in the full-length mirror.

“I think this is even turning me on, kinda, and I thought I was over that.” It wasn’t much, but the outfit was hot. Picturing it on, say, Jenny… Ash shivered, shaking her head. “This is exactly the kind of thing I can see on Jenny. I shouldn’t be doing this… should I? Why am I doing it… why aren’t I? Ugh… this is that self-doubt coming up. This is simple: Do I want to buy something for vanity because it will look good on me, or not? I’ve done it before…” She had only to look down at the white jeans with the flame pattern crawling up to the knees, and grin.

“Is this really so different? I bought that because I like looking good, but not being ogled for showing off skin. But I… wouldn’t mind Emily ogling me. So why is this wrong?”

Ash sighed, and slipped out of the bra, then pulled the panties off. “Okay. I can just do this. Or I can just toss it back. It’s not outwardly girly, nobody but the people I want to show this to can possibly see it…”

Ash nodded to herself, and reached down, pulling on her clothes. She pulled the curtain away, and found Emily standing there.

“Oh! Are you done?”

“Yeah,” Ash said, her voice hitching slightly before she smoothed it back out. “Yes, I’m done.”

“You okay?” Emily peered at her.

Jenny leaned into view from the stall next to her. “Does it really take you an ordeal requiring ten minutes to try on one set of mildly-spicy lingerie?”

“Yes, Jenny. It really does,” Ash replied glibly, and walked out with the tiny set in her hands.

“So…”

“I’ll buy them,” Ash murmured quietly to Emily, when she asked. “I don’t… I don’t know if I’ll ever wear them again, but I’ll buy them.”

“Ash, you don’t have to do this.”

“No… but I want to. I can’t be intimidated by underwear, after all.”

Emily’s face twisted up into a grin, and she pulled Ash close, kissing her quickly, brushing her warm tongue against Ash’s lips. “Okay.” Unsaid, but obvious to Ash in her eyes was, ‘I’m proud of you’, and Ash nodded in reply.

Cape Cod Mall, 6:19 PM

Ash, Emily, and Jenny exited the clothing store, each of them carrying large bags in both hands.

Admittedly, only one bag in Ash’s hand was hers, the other had stuff from both Emily and Jenny in it. Fortunately, perhaps, they’d only wheedled her into buying one new pair of shoes (which were a thoroughly practical pair of black sneakers), though she hadn’t managed to get out of buying clothes.

“Do we have enough, you two think?”

Jenny and Emily looked at one another.

Ash sighed. “Forget I asked! Yeesh, let’s just go to the food court where we’re supposed to meet my mom, okay?”

“All right. I’m hungry, anyway,” Jenny remarked.

Ash chuckled. “Me too.”

They found Marie at the Chick-fil-A. She waved and smiled as soon as she saw them, walking towards them as the trio approached her. “There you are! Had a good run, I see?”

“Yeah, we really did,” Emily replied.

Ash just let out a sigh and a weak grin, to which her mother laughed, ruffling her hair. “All right, all right.”

Marie then looked at Jenny, and her face fell to a sad smile. She hugged the blonde girl, tightly, murmuring, “I’m sorry, Jenny.”

“Er… s-sorry for what, Mrs. Upton?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Marie clarified, and sighed. “For now, let’s get you those phones.”

They walked into the cell phone store, where a couple of geek-types wearing good shirts were waiting, one talking to another customer. The one at the back smiled at Marie. “Back for more, Ms. Marie?” he laughed.

Marie shook her head. “Afraid so.” She walked up to the desk. “My daughter’s phone was confiscated by the police as evidence, and I don’t want to wait for it to be returned, I’d rather just replace it. And Jenny here needs a new phone, and to be added to my plan.”

“Okay, I can do that. Same model as the last ones?”

Marie nodded, and the man spun into a flurry about services and charges and so forth. It was all over inside of ten minutes, but Ash was very lost by the end. Jenny, however, seemed to understand everything being said, and indeed, had walked over to a huge wall of accessories for the cell phone, and brought back a bright, metallic hot-pink cover for hers.

“Why that color,” Ash asked, when the four had exited the cell phone store with their new phones having been activated (the man had said they should be operating within five minutes).

“It’s distinguishable and noticeable. And I like it,” Jenny grinned.

Ash rolled her eyes good-naturedly. Hers was the default, glossy gray, as was Emily’s.

“Why not that color, Ash?” her mother asked.

Ash had no good answer, so she simply shrugged. “No idea… Anyway, we were going to get lunch, right? And one of us will need to ride back with you.”

“Er… ride back with me?”

“Yeah. Nathan needed his car back tonight, so we gave it to him. We only have your 996 now, and three of us.”

“Oh… Oh, that’s a problem; I’m not going home. I have to go back to the office for a while.”

“Oh…” Ash and Emily and Jenny looked at one another. “Well… damn, that’s not good.”

“I can call a cab for you,” her mother offered.

Jenny shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I can just go with you to the office and back for a while. It’s not like I don’t know my way around or anything,” she said with a grin.

“Actually, that might be a good idea, Jenny. I have some papers I’ll need you to sign on my desk. Do you mind?”

“No, not really,” Jenny replied. “Guess we’ll catch up to you two later tonight, then?”

“Yeah, sounds about right. See you, then.” Emily waved to the two, and walked off; Ash hugged her mother and Jenny briefly, before following Emily, with Jenny waving at them.

They had made it all the way back to the 996 before it hit Ash that they had left without eating. “Uh, Emily, why did we just ditch my mom and Jenny?”

“Because it just occurred to me that this is going to be the last night we have up here, and I want to do something wild before we have to go back to Tempest,” Emily replied, as she opened the forward-mounted trunk on the 996 and started loading her bags.

“Something… wild, huh?”

“Yeah. New Year’s Eve at my house typically consists of studying while maybe watching the ball drop in Times’ Square. Then I get two days of weekend, followed by back to normal. And you know what? I’ve been there before. Literally. If this is going to be like 2002, it’s just going to be a minor interval in a long and soul-crushing stint, and worse. Because after 2003 is when my mom started to really crack down on me; if you think you’ve seen bad yet, you haven’t.”

“Ah… Jeez, I didn’t—”

“So,” Emily continued, cutting her off, “I want to live it up now, before I have to go back.” She grinned at Ash, who nodded.

“Okay. So, what do you want to do that’s so urgent it can’t wait for a Chick-fil-A sandwich?”

“Um… I don’t know,” she admitted.

Ash laughed. “Okay, what would you have done with Molly then?” she asked as she walked around the 996, getting into the passenger’s side, while Emily slid into the driver’s seat.

“Jeez… oh-three? Molly, Jen, and Katie tore out of Tempest; they went to Manhattan and watched the ball drop.”

“We could make it there,” Ash pointed out, “We’ve got a whole day to drive.”

Emily nodded, but sighed. “I know, but… I don’t think I really want to go to Times Square. Katie passed out at some party and got… Well, Molly stopped it before she got raped, but she was molested, for sure.”

“Okay,” Ash said, puffing out her cheeks, then sighing. “So, what do you want to do? I don’t think you want to try crashing that party Jimmy was talking about.”

“Mmmh… nah,” Emily considered it briefly, then shook her head. “Maybe I’m just being stupid,” Emily muttered darkly.

Ash reached over, stroking her cheek. “Don’t talk like that.” Emily looked at her. “You’re exactly right. If the crackdown is Saturday, then we have the rest of Thursday and all of Friday to live it up. You know, I bet Jenny knows of some party or something we can crash.”

“We wouldn’t be able to all get there, though, even if we weren’t personae non grata around here.”

“Oh yeah…” Ash sighed softly.

Emily quietly said, “I’m sorry, Ash.”

“Don’t be. You’re entirely right, Em.” She leaned over, kissing her bookworm friend’s cheek, softly, perking Emily up. “Especially since report cards come out soon, right? Your mom’s gonna flip you didn’t get straight-As, isn’t she?”

“Well… she might not, after your dad owned her last summer, but…”

“Well then, we have two days to ourselves. Let’s find something to do, then.”

“Okay. Let’s take this stuff home, then, and figure it out from there.”

Cape Cod Mall, 6:33 PM

Jenny waved at Ash and Emily’s retreating figures, calling out, “Bye!” as they walked off. They were out of sight before it hit them.

Marie asked, “Did we just get ditched?”

Jenny blinked, and then laughed, shaking her head. “I think we did, Mrs. Upton.”

“Just call me Marie, Jenny.” Mrs. Upton ruffled Jenny’s hair, and sighed. “Well, I guess we ought to get those—oh!” She let out a soft yeep and took her cell phone out of her pocket. “Hello? Yes, I’m coming back… Need me now?” She rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine. I’ll be back soon.” Marie hung up the phone. “Everything’s an emergency in this business, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is. We have to go?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“No problem.”

Marie led Jenny to her car, the black Jaguar which Jenny was so familiar with from its time as the car of her ex-boyfriend. She slid into the passenger seat, settling in and buckling up—something she had never done, she noted, before she had met Ash. Marie likewise got in, secured herself, and started the growling Jaguar engine.

“So, what did you say ‘I’m sorry’ about, Mrs… Marie?”

“Oh.” Marie started the car in motion, with a sigh. “Jenny, I talked with your mother today. She… I’m sorry, Jenny, I hardly know how to say it.”

“Let me guess, she’s being an absolute bitch and refusing to even let me clean out my things?” Marie hung her head, and Jenny sighed, settling back into the seat. “That doesn’t surprise me. She’s a bitch. Her whole motto in life has been ‘take what you can, give nothing back’.”

“Didn’t you get that from Pirates of the Caribbean?”

“Well, yeah, but that’s what it’s always been, even before it was codified by Johnny Depp… So, no, it doesn’t surprise me, at all, anymore. I was only ever her pawn, I think. She might even have had me just to try and get married, you know… I can’t say for sure, but I wouldn’t put it past her.”

Marie made a face of distaste, and Jenny shook her head. “Don’t say you’re sorry, please.”

“Okay… I… won’t, then.” Marie let out a sigh. “I wanted to get your car back. I offered to pay off her payments on it.”

Jenny snorted, and shook her head. “She’s been letting the payments on my car slide, so she can keep up with her own.”

“But… why?”

“One-upsmanship. She makes all the money she makes, and she takes ninety percent of what I made, and she’s still floundering because every time one of the neighbors does something, she has to do it one better. She didn’t even want to get me a car, until Annette’s parents got her a Cadillac. So she had to one-up them so I’d still be the ‘better’ of us, which meant either a BMW or a Lexus, and she went with getting me a car identical to her own.”

Marie shook her head in disgust. “That’s… that’s awful. And she’s been letting the payments on yours slide…”

“Mmm-hmmm. Why?”

“That’s… that’s just interesting,” Marie murmured. “But don’t worry about it.”

“Um, okay…”

Upton Residence, 7:30 PM

“I don’t really look old enough to sneak us into a club, do I,” Emily asked, as she and Ash carried their bags into the house.

Ash shrugged. “I dunno. That’s more Jenny’s thing than mine…”

“Well… You know, we might manage it if we look like we’re loaded.”

“Eh?”

“Put you in the Red Arrow again, your mom hasn’t sent back the Blue Diamond yet, we roll up in the Porsche, we’ll look older and more loaded than we really are.”

Ash snickered. “Well, it sounds like a somewhat workable plan, but for two major flaws. One: We’re not really loaded, two: there’s no way in Heaven or Hell that you’re getting me into that dress again.”

Emily giggled. “But we are loaded, remember? We’ve got the money we haven’t already spent from our paychecks from the Party, and you’ve got the fifty damn grand that Mr. Almacy wrote you.”

“Oh, yeah… but first, that’s to get the Monster fixed. Second, I’m not getting back in that dress.”

Emily grinned at Ash, as they dumped their bags in their bedroom, and looped her arms around Ash’s neck, pulling up close to her. “Yes, you will. Maybe not soon, but you will before this school year’s out; you’ll do it and you’ll like it.”

Ash stared back into her eyes, incredulous. “You’re in the predictions business now?”

“Well, unless you plan to skip your senior Prom, you’ll need something to go in, and they still have that stupid rule against cross-dressing, so you won’t be able to go in a tux.”

Ash shook her head, but hugged Emily close anyway, kissing her cheek. “I dunno… I mean, I really don’t want to go with Rumisiel, and I’m not going to let any other boys ask me, either.”

Emily grinned ferociously, and slid her hand down, squeezing Ash’s rear. “Who said anything about taking a boy at all?”

Ash’s eyes grew wide. “Holy…”

“Well, it’s either not go, take me, or take Missi,” Emily said, with a grin. “You won’t get in alone, after all.”

Ash blinked, and then she started laughing. “Did you just ask me to the Prom with you?”

“Well… I guess I did.” Emily grinned, and bunched her arms up, pushing Ash backwards onto the bed; she fell in with a laugh, and Emily jumped onto her, staring down into her eyes. Ash laughed again, and reached up, hugging her loosely.

“You didn’t freak,” Emily murmured, dropping her head to kiss Ash, slowly, warmly.

Ash’s eyes closed. Her hands slid under the back of Emily’s shirt, splaying her fingers out on Emily’s smooth back, arching up into the kiss. When it broke, Ash grinned. “I don’t feel afraid of you, or with you… Emily, you just make me feel safe. When I’m, well, being aggressive, I sometimes get afraid I’ll be too forward, or too strong. You’re helping me overcome that, but… When you’re aggressive, for once, it just feels… Okay to let you take control.”

Emily giggled quietly, and slid her legs between Ash’s, sliding out, pressing her long body along her lover’s. “Ash, I trust you. Go ahead and take ‘control’ if you want. I’m not going to freak.”

Ash blushed softly, nervousness clear on her face, and slid her hands up to Emily’s shoulders. She squeezed softly and closed her eyes.

“You’re having a hard time doing it, because you’re afraid of hurting me physically, aren’t you?”

Ash opened her eyes, and found them mere inches from Emily’s own, with Emily kissing her lips, softly.

“We’ve been over this, Ash… But it’s really kind of endearing, that you’re so afraid of hurting me.” She leaned in, and gripped Ash’s shoulders, squeezing them. “I am not a fragile, delicate flower, Ash. Sex can be rough. It’s by nature very physical. But you’re not attacking me by making love to me, Ash. You understand that, right?”

Ash nodded, kissing Emily’s earlobe. “Yeah, I do.”

“Then don’t be afraid of squeezing me, or pushing me roughly. Don’t be afraid of hurting me.”

“Mmmh… I’ll try not to be, Em.” Ash sat up, pulling Emily into her lap.

The blue-haired bookworm shifted, wrapping her legs around Ash’s waist. “Ash, let me put it this way—what do you want to do? In your dreams, or daydreams, or fantasies, how do you and I make love? What do you do to me?”

Ash’s eyes closed, and she bit her lip for a moment. “I… I can squeeze you, push at you, pull you… Bite you, maybe, be…”

“Forceful?” Ash nodded, and Emily leaned in, biting her lover’s lower lip, kissing her hungrily. Ash slid back, and Emily pushed in, reaching up between them, wrapping her hands around Ash’s breasts; she squeezed strongly and a moan of pleasure came through, emerging from Ash’s lips.

Emily pulled off suddenly, grinning. “Like that?”

Ash was blushing; Emily could feel her heart racing through her chest. Ash nodded, “Y-Yeah, just like that.”

Emily grinned, sitting up, on her knees, straddling Ash’s waist. She pulled her headband off, tossing it to the side, and then doffed her shirt in the same way, leaving her in only her bra above the waist. “Then do it.”

Ash blinked, reaching up, hesitantly, and Emily shook her head. “Don’t hesitate, Ash. I’m not going to be offended now, just touch me. Just… do what you want to.”

Ash did. She reached up, pushing her hands up, under Emily’s bra, pushing the fabric of it up, to the top of her breasts, and clasped Emily’s bare breasts in her hands, squeezing them strongly. Her friend arched into her grasp, letting out a cry, her eyes closed.

Terrified, Ash let go. She realized it was the wrong move when Emily lowered her head again, growling, “Don’t stop!” She took Ash’s hands, pulling them back to her breasts.

Ash laughed, squeezing and kneading slightly, grinning wildly at the sight of her friend’s fleshy breasts squishing and moving under her fingers. She began to say, “Can I—”

“Don’t ask, just do it,” Emily growled out.

“Okay,” Ash murmured, flushing. She arched herself, lifting her hips; she could feel the now-familiar feeling of arousal tingling through her pelvis, worming through her whole body. She sat up, licked her lips, then wrapped them around Emily’s nipple, sucking on it. Not slowly or gently as before; this time, she let wild abandon creep into her actions, and Emily let out a groan of pleasure as Ash sucked hard on her friend’s pink nipples, switching from one to the other and back again.

Ash reached behind Emily’s back, unclasping her bra as Emily’s hands clawed down Ash’s back, pulling up her shirt. They parted long enough to discard each other’s clothes, and then Emily pushed her breasts back against Ash’s face, clasping her head into her cleavage with one hand, fumbling for her lover’s bra with the other, unclasping it eventually and pulling it off her.

Ash stared up at Emily’s eyes; Emily stared back. Their wild motions had put Emily’s hair into gorgeous disarray, and the expression of unmasked lust on her face was very inviting. “You’re pushy tonight,” Ash commented.

Emily grinned. “Hormones. Sometimes they make you bitchy, but sometimes they just make you horny,” she murmured, running her fingernails over Ash’s breasts, then squeezing them just as hard. Ash cried out as pain blossomed; but she found no objection to the feeling, instead pushing her larger breasts into her smaller lover’s hands. “And it looks like you’re feeling the same way,” Emily whispered as she leaned in.

“Yes, I am,” Ash growled back, laughing. “You turn me on, what can I say?” She reached up, sliding her hand into Emily’s hair, tugging her in. Heedless now, Emily’s boldness making her feel just as bold, she kissed her lover greedily as Emily’s fingernails dug into her breasts, then slid down, dragging five lines of fire down each, over her nipples, and down her stomach. Ash cried out into the kiss, as their tongues furiously worked against one another, hot, slick, filling her senses with Emily: the taste of her tongue, worming against Ash’s own, thrusting into her mouth; the feeling of her breasts pressed into her own, the lingering lines of pain down her chest, tingling through her body and urging her onwards; the smell of her excited lover, heavy in Ash’s nostrils; the beautiful sight of her bright magenta eyes staring back into Ash’s, fixed on her, giving her all and intending to take Ash’s all in return; and the moan she made as Ash responded by dragging her own fingernails down Emily’s back.

Ash rolled, pushing Emily down to the bed this time.

“See, you didn’t hesitate this time,” Emily murmured, her voice heavy with lust, as Ash dropped to her throat, kissing, then sucking on the hollow, leaving a groan in Emily’s chest. “God, I want you, Ash,” Emily confessed.

Ash looked up, grinning. “Mmmf… Damn, I’m still bleeding, I think. What about you?”

“I might be stopped,” Emily murmured. “But still…”

“This is incredible,” Ash replied, shifting her legs; her hips resting over one of Emily’s thighs, and she pushed forward, pushing her denim-clad pelvis into Emily’s; Emily growled sensually at the sensation, and drew her fingernails down Ash’s back, as their breasts pressed into one another.

“We could always just continue in the shower,” Emily breathed in her ear.

“Do you want to?”

“Will you freak about being bloody when we’re done?”

“I dunno…”

Emily let out a groan, and bit her lover’s shoulder, eliciting a gasp from Ash, though it wasn’t nearly strong enough to break skin.

“I need a shower anyway—a cold one, if nothing else.” Ash laughed, and Emily grinned up at her.

“So, we might as well try taking advantage of the situation; we have your mother’s house all to ourselves for hours. And I’m tired of being quiet; I want to be loud.”

Ash pulled Emily’s head slightly up, kissing her again, her kiss full of hunger for Emily, and Emily’s reply full of hunger for her. She laughed, “L-Let’s try, then,” as she pushed her shoes off with her feet.

Emily heaved her body, pushing Ash off of her. With a laugh, Ash rolled to her back, curling her legs to remove her jeans, and Emily did likewise, after first kicking off her shoes. Ash then wrapped an arm around Emily’s back, while Emily grinned at her, tugging her down by her orange hair. “I love the hell out of you, Ash,” she murmured, and Ash laughed, kissing her again, on the nape of the neck, then sinking her teeth in slightly.

They lurched towards the bathroom, greedily grasping and squeezing and kissing at one another almost every step of the way, as they tried to discard their remaining clothes: socks together, and their panties. Emily tugged her tampon out, barely flinching at the pain of her hasty yank, tossing it in the trash, while Ash opened the door to the shower.

Ash started to look down, but Emily caught her head with her hand, keeping it up. “Don’t look, just touch,” she warned her lover. Ash nodded, tugging Emily by the wrists into the shower, ultimately with Emily pushing Ash against the sidewall of it. They reached out together, twisting the knobs; it was a lucky stroke that they each liked their showers in the same temperature band.

Both emitted a yelp when the blast of cold water hit them, and Emily pressed into Ash for the warmth of her body, which was rapidly prickling up with goose bumps, while Ash reached behind her, pulling the glass door closed. Emily pressed into her, in the heat of the moment taking control; Ash groaned as she felt Emily’s thigh slide between her own, their legs interlacing.

“Y-You want to do this?”

“Do you?”

Ash moaned softly, considering for a moment, as she squeezed Emily against her. “I did last time. It’s your turn, if you want to. But I thought you said you were never expected to be the one thrusting?” Emily bared her teeth, and kissed Ash’s neck again. Ash tilted her head to offer Emily better access, and Emily pushed up and in. Ash felt the heat of Emily’s mound, her open slit, pressing into her thigh, and gasped loudly as she felt Emily pressing her smooth thigh into her own vagina, letting out a tremulous groan of pleasure at the contact.

“I’m a fast learner,” Emily replied. “But I think you’d rather have an encore, wouldn’t you?”

Ash laughed, even as the intense pleasure spread from that tiny point that was her clit, like fire burning through her sex and suffusing outwards through her body. She gripped Emily by the hips, turning the two of them around. “Y-Yes, I would.”

“Then take me, Ash. I’m yours, and you can have your fill,” Emily groaned.

Ash thrust up, once, strongly; abandoning fear for lust, letting the pleasure and the taste wash away trepidation. She forced Emily up against the wall, her lover standing on the balls of one of her feet, pushing her other thigh into Ash’s mound. Emily braced that leg on the metal frame of the shower’s door, as she responded fully, arching into Ash, her hands clenched around Ash’s shoulders.

A groan erupted from Emily’s throat, and she squeezed down on Ash’s shoulders. It felt good to be loud for once, and Ash cried out with her. Emily started to gyrate her hips on Ash’s pressing thigh, and let out a moan of pleasure, matched by Ash’s.

“Mmmmf! Ash… Don’t stop!”

“I won’t,” Ash growled, even as she was slowing down. “It’s j-just hard to stay upright.”

“Then fuck me on the floor,” Emily replied.

Ash did, suddenly turning. She laid Emily down, quickly; the blue-haired bookwormish tuner caught herself with a bone-jarring landing, but couldn’t care less. Ash slid smoothly down atop her, and Emily cried out with the feeling as Ash slid up against her, the hot water beating down on Ash’s back, flooding down onto her own sides.

Her lover slid forward, bracing slightly on her knees. Emily responded with a groan, raising her right leg alongside Ash’s hip, the left flat. And Ash dug in with her toes, thrusting into her. Emily trembled and moaned, because the angle let Ash grind her own sex against Emily’s. The blue-haired tuner let out a cry (as did Ash) as their vaginae met one another. Like lightning, the sexual thrill raced through her, and Emily let out a groan of pleasure, wrapping her right hand around Ash’s waist, placing it in the small of her back, as Ash took her left, squeezing it and lacing their fingers together.

Emily’s eyes rolled up as Ash hit upon the idea. Emily quivered with the sensation as Ash’s large, swollen clitoris met her own, and cried out, tremulously, as her lover started to push into her with even more strength. She reached up, whispering to Ash, “Fuck, I love you… an-and I love this. I do-don’t care if you have a penis or not… y-you’re still the best lover I’ve ever imagined.”

Ash laughed back at her, as she slid to the side, leveraging her thigh hard into Emily’s pelvis, getting a groan from her for it. “I-I’m just glad you like it at all.”

“I love it,” Emily admittedly, splaying her fingers and gently digging her fingernails into Ash’s back, as she resumed grinding against her. “I r-really do… Oh! Yes, like that… More, harder…”

“L-Love to,” Ash moaned out in reply. Obliging, she pushed and slid with all of her might, braced on two legs and one arm, while Emily cried out. It was musical, eliciting the sounds of pleasure from the bookwormish tuner. “A-Am I doing it right?”

“Mmmmh! Y-Yes… Y-You can put your finger i-in me if you want,” Emily moaned out, staring into her eyes; Ash stared back. She didn’t hesitate, sliding her hand down, between their bodies. She felt between them, and Emily groaned. “Left… Right there… Go on, I’m already very wet.”

Ash pushed in, groaning, her body quivering as she once again felt Emily’s insides around her middle finger. Emily groaned in return, as Ash ground her mound onto Emily’s, and slid her finger in to the second knuckle.

“It feels so… so…”

“Incredible,” Emily groaned, reaching behind Ash, squeezing her rear, then down to her thighs. Emily gasped as Ash’s finger slid into her all the way, and squeezed Ash harder, groaning. “P-Pull up with your finger, Ash. Y-You’re right over my g-spo-ooooooot!” Ash did as directed, and Emily’s back arched, her eyes closing, hand squeezing Ash’s thigh, hard. “Faster,” Emily hissed and Ash sped up, both with her thighs and her hand. Emily withdrew her hand, squeezing her own breast harshly, arched like a bow being pulled, crying out again, louder, a wordless cry of pleasure as orgasm wracked her body, quivering and shivering.

“W-Was that an orgasm?” Ash asked.

Emily nodded, groaning out, “Yesss! Nnnngh, yes!” She collapsed to the floor of the shower as Ash stared at her eyes; Emily stared back, groaning as the exertion of it all caught up with her, and she moaned, pulling Ash into her. “Grind on my thigh, Ash,” she murmured, pushing her thigh up between Ash’s legs. Ash didn’t need to be told twice, and Emily wrapped her outside leg around Ash’s thighs as her lover ground against her.

It was intense, and incredible, dragging her sex along Emily’s smooth thigh, the (comparatively) broad pearl of her clit being pressed into her lover’s yielding flesh, and the smooth sensation of it gliding across her labia. Emily pushed against her, and Ash soon joined her lover in orgasm, erupting like a bolt of fire through her body, starting at that tiny, incredible nub, and rocking through her body, leaving her thoroughly exhausted, lying atop her lover, the two of them panting for breath for long, long moments. Then Emily raised her hand, tugging Ash’s head to hers, kissing her again, long and languidly, sated. Ash joined her, filled with the wonderful feeling of afterglow, sliding her tongue into Emily’s mouth, caressing her tongue.

It took even longer for their kiss to part, and Emily let out another groan, this time closing her eyes. “Ash… that… thank you.”

“F-For what?”

“For making that the most incredible, wonderful thing I’ve ever felt. For enjoying me the way I was meant to be enjoyed.” Emily moaned, and started to stroke Ash with everything she had: both hands, one on her back, the other on her chest, her thighs wrapped around one of Ash’s, and her feet, stroking her lover’s.

Ash stroked her back and grinned happily. “It…”

“Was wonderful, wasn’t it?”

Ash nodded and blushed, softly. “I wasn’t too rough, was I?”

“Noo,” Emily breathlessly moaned. “You were perfect. Not too hard, but you didn’t treat me like I was fragile.”

“Love you, Emily,” Ash murmured, kissing her lover’s lips. Emily smiled back. “I know…”

Marie’s Workplace, 7:37 PM

“You know, it occurs to me my mom’s going to flip when she hears the news. I can’t believe you actually got Henri Leroux to sign me!”

Marie laughed softly. “Well, I hear his lines are exclusive to me, so he’s got to pick someone I recommend for the line…”

Jenny shook her head, grinning. “My mom was always trying to get something of his to put on me.”

“Yeah, I know.” Marie grinned at the blonde girl, and ruffled her hair.

Then Jenny hugged her quickly, leaving Marie staring down at the top of her blonde hair. “Thank you for taking me in, Mrs.—Marie.”

“You’re welcome, Jenny,” Marie replied, hugging the girl back, and letting go as the elevator opened onto the floor with her office. The maze had been demolished since there wasn’t a big party or event being prepared for, and that left the floor mostly open—a few tables had been erected with various long-lived snacks and such. Both Marie and Jenny snagged a blueberry muffin from the table as they walked by. Jenny grinned when she realized Marie liked the same kind of muffins as she did—even if her mother was always screeching at her to eat bran.

“What are you doing here, dyke?”

Both Marie and Jenny halted in mid-stride and turned around. Rachelle was staring them down. Marie opened her mouth to say something, but Jenny held up a hand. She leaned on the table and laughed. “I work here, what about you?”

The raven-haired girl snorted at her. “You don’t know it yet, but you’re through.”

“Oh, really? Then how come I’m on my way to sign on with Henri, mmmh?” She smirked at the flash of sudden jealousy in Rachelle’s eyes. “Besides, boys love girls who can turn on the ‘lesbian’, or so I’m told. Reports of my ‘throughness’ are greatly exaggerated.”

“You whore,” Rachelle spit.

“No, that’s what I was.”

“Hey, Rachelle, baby, you up here?” Joshua Almacy asked as he walked out of the elevator.

“And it looks like that’s what you are, bitch.”

Fire flared in Joshua’s eyes as he saw Jenny and Marie. “Yo, what the hell is this bitch doing here?” Marie narrowed her eyes as Joshua stalked towards them. “Don’t the conditions of your bail require you to stay away from the both of us, Joshua Clayton Almacy Junior?”

“Yo, hey. I work here, remember?”

“That’s no excuse,” Marie retorted.

“Have fun, Rachelle,” Jenny sneered. “Enjoy getting whined at by a whining bitch who wants sex and isn’t smooth enough to butter up a slice of bread. Have fun knowing your boy’s ride is a low-end Mercedes because he’s such a bad driver he can’t beat a tomboy tuner with a Mustang engine in a beat up old chassis, and too stupid to realize she’s setting him up for the fall.”

Temper flared in Joshua’s eyes. He started towards Jenny, raising his hand before Rachelle grabbed him by the forearm. “You idiot, she’s goading you! If you hit her then you go back to jail until this all blows over!”

Joshua spun, his fist backhanding Rachelle; the raven-haired girl let out a squawk of pain as she fell to the ground and Marie gasped.

“Don’t you ever talk like that to me, slut! I’ll have your ass fired,” he spat at Rachelle, and turned around, stalking back to the elevator.

Jenny was over at Rachelle’s side only a split second before Marie, kneeling down. “Oh my god, are you okay?” Joshua’s hard backhand had split open her skin over the top of her cheek, and blood was oozing from it.

Defiantly Rachelle bared her teeth at Jenny. “I don’t need your help, whore!” She grabbed the table, pulling herself up, shaking off Jenny and Marie’s attempts to help, and ignoring Marie when she said she should go and see Mr. Almacy, stalking towards the stairs.

Jenny sighed, heavily, slumping her shoulders, as the other girl stormed away. “Damn it… that was my fault.”

“What? No it wasn’t, Jenny!”

“I was goading him, wasn’t I? I wasn’t even thinking about it…” Jenny sighed.

Marie put her arms around Jenny’s shoulders from behind, hugging her softly. “Jenny, ultimately, nobody is responsible for anyone’s behavior but their own. You didn’t force him to do that. He did it himself, and I am going to tell Mr. Almacy.”

Jenny sighed. “It won’t do any good. She’ll deny it, say she fell on the stairs or something.”

Marie’s face fell, and she sighed. “If I see him again, I am going to call Grayfield about him violating the terms of his bail.”

“That might work.” Jenny sighed, and shrugged. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize for what he did. Come on.” Marie let go, and led Jenny back to her office. She flicked the lights on, and walked to her chair, while Jenny sat in the chair ahead of the desk. “Let’s see… Here we go.” Marie pulled out some papers from her lower-right hand drawer, handing them to Jenny. “Have a look through those.”

Jenny looked through the documents, grinning. They were the same ones she’d signed many times before, agreeing to model a certain line, but this time it was Henri’s stuff. She quickly signed them all, and grinned wildly at Marie, who put them in her fax machine, punching in some numbers and running it through.

“There we go. Looks like your next shoot is January 4th, Tuesday.”

Jenny nodded. “Ah, okay. When?”

“Um, six.”

“Okay, yeah. I can make it from school to the studio in… Oh, crap.”

It hit them both at the same time, and Jenny winced, as did Marie. “Yeah, crap. We need to talk to your school. Hell, they probably won’t let you transfer without your mother’s permission.”

Jenny groaned and sighed. “I’ll be eighteen in two weeks. Jeez, this is gonna be a problem, isn’t it?”

“It could be… Damn.”

Jenny sighed. “I guess I’ll just have to wait until I’m eighteen, but what about signing this. Is it going to be a problem?”

“It could be, if your mother wants to make trouble. Well, I suppose we could just talk a judge into declaring you legally emancipated, since you’ll be eighteen in two weeks…”

“I don’t want to be trouble. Why do I wind up being trouble, even when I’m trying to be nice?” Marie shook her head. “Jenny, you’re not being trouble. Relax. I’m sure this isn’t going to be a problem.”

“Okay…” Jenny nodded.

Upton Residence, 7:59 PM

“Ash?”

“Mmm?”

“C’mere.”

Emily tilted Ash’s head towards her, kissing her lover on the lips. The two were lying atop the bed in their room, nude but for a towel wrapping Emily’s hair up. Ash kissed back, softly, and smiled as they parted.

“Thank you,” Emily murmured.

Ash grinned at her. “Thank you, Em.” She hugged the blue-haired tuner, placing one arm over her and squeezing them together. Emily smiled, closed her eyes, and put her head on Ash’s shoulder.

“I almost wish this night wouldn’t end, Em.”

“I know what you mean.” Emily rolled over, lying on her back, and Ash rolled likewise, sliding her arm under Emily’s head, while Emily took her other hand, pulling it across her body and squeezing it.

Their eyes met again, and Emily smiled broadly, eliciting a similar smile from Ash. Emily curled herself into the orange-haired tuner, closing her eyes, and Ash curled her arm up around Emily’s back, wrapping the other under her, hugging her tightly. Emily yawned softly, and closed her eyes.

“Tired?”

“A bit.”

“Can you grab the pillow?”

Emily did so, murmuring, “Lift your head,” when she brought it close, sliding it under Ash’s head. “So, tomorrow… Back to Tempest in the morning?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Right. And then back to normal…” Ash sighed, softly. “Angels. Dad. Your psycho mom. Mind-busting math…”

“You know, I can help you get through your math classes, Ash.”

“I…” Ash sighed. “I know, I guess, I just don’t like asking you for help.” Emily’s eyes opened, a cool expression of annoyance on her face, and Ash shook her head. “No, no, it’s not like that, it’s just… I don’t want to annoy the hell out of you with my stupidity.”

“Oh, is that all?” Emily rolled her eyes, and grinned. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll get you through this, if you’re going to college with me.”

“College…”

“Mmm-hmmm. My mom’ll probably disown me as hard as Jenny’s did if I say no.”

“I dunno…” Ash looked away, up at the ceiling. “Do you even think I could hack it?”

“You could, I know you can, if you try. I… I just, honestly don’t know if I even want to go. Am I just living my mother’s dream for her?”

“What about your dreams?”

Emily closed her eyes, thinking. “Um…” She thought back to that dream: married to an M.D., brilliant pharmaceutical researcher working for a high-brand pharma-corp… Or the dream that had come before that—standing on the line at the Circuit de la Sarthe with Ash. She grinned at that one and giggled.

“Something on your mind?”

“Oh, just remembering an old dream.”

“A good one for a change?”

“Yeah. I had it that night you had a nightmare.”

“The one with you and Missi?”

“No, the one before that.”

“Oh, oh… Yeah, that… So, this good dream of yours.”

“Have you ever heard of 24 Hours of Le Mans?”

“Uhh, of course? Why?”

Emily snickered softly. “I dreamed that you and I were going to compete in 24 Hours of Le Mans as a team together.”

“Oh… Oh, cool!”

“I also dreamed we were married, at the time, but…”

“Really?”

Emily turned her head; Ash was blushing, and Emily laughed, kissing her cheek. “It was just a dream.”

“Yeah… I s’pose so.” Ash closed her eyes, nuzzling into Emily’s shoulder. “So, was it a good car? A Ford GT?”

“Actually, it was a Porsche.”

“Oh… I could drive that.”

Emily giggled softly again. “You already have; I think it was like, one of my patented futurism-cars, a later re-make of the Carrera GT.”

“Oooh. Neat.” Ash grinned, and kissed Emily’s cheek, softly. “So… I’m guessing you’re not terribly interested in being a doctor or a lawyer?”

“Not really. I guess I just want to be free. Free of my mom’s expectations. Free to just… find out what it is I really want.”

“Mmmmh. I hear you, Em,” Ash murmured in the blue-haired girl’s ear, and softly kissed her earlobe. “Is that why you like coming to Cape Cod?”

“Yeah. It’s easy to just unwind here, without my mom, with your mom around… You’re really lucky to have such an awesome mom, you know?”

“Yeah… I guess I am,” Ash replied, with a sigh. “And I’d never have known her if not for…”

“The Misfile.”

“Ugh. I don’t want to feel like I have anything to thank Rumisiel for, but… I guess I do.”

“Well, you could go less hard on him?”

“Maybe I shouldn’t go hard on him at all… I… I don’t think I want to go back, Emily. Not at all.”

“Why not?” Emily didn’t sound surprised as she kissed Ash’s ear.

“Mmmh. Don’t you already know?”

“Well, I have my ideas…”

“What do you think it is?”

“You don’t want to die.”

“Huh?”

“It’s the same reason I don’t want to be re-filed. If I go back, it puts me in Molly’s bug, when she was in that crash. I’m a dead girl, literally, but even if not, I would be dead. I wouldn’t remember any of this: I wouldn’t remember you, I wouldn’t remember Rumisiel or Vashiel, I wouldn’t remember grappling with the question of my own sexuality, or the feeling of manually shifting a car, or sitting behind the wheel of a Porsche Carrera GT, burning my rear wheels next to the Kamikaze, or having totally owned my mother in an argument, or the thrill of hearing the turbo in my 240SX spool up for the first time, or the squealing joy of having done a slide right, or the feeling of having your finger inside me for the first time…

“So, who would I be? There’d still be an Emily McArthur, assuming she survived the crash in Molly’s VW, but she wouldn’t be me. And that would mean that I would be gone, dead, ka-put. Like if you get gunned down, but get cloned. There’s still someone walking around with your name, and your memories, but you are gone, fundamentally, and someone else has your name.”

Ash blinked. Then she grinned, kissing Emily’s cheek warmly. “Yeah! You really do know what I’m thinking, don’t you?”

“Sorta,” Emily replied, with a giggle. “It’s…” She smiled, and closed her eyes, placing her head again upon Ash’s shoulder. “I love you. I love you so very much, but more… we’re close.” She squeezed Ash’s hand. “It’s almost like I can tell what you’re thinking, when you’re thinking it… I like the feeling.”

“And so do I.” Ash grinned, softly. “I… I wonder if I can do the same.”

“I don’t think it’ll stand up to a ‘test’ like, ‘think of the most unlikely thing you can’. I don’t think I’m like, reading your mind or anything,” Emily replied, with a smile.

“Okay, fair enough… Do you think I can hack it?”

“Hmm?”

“College, Emily. Do you think I could hack it?”

“I haven’t known you not to be able to do something you actually put your mind to, Ash.”

“Yeah, but… Ugh, math really burns my head.”

Emily snickered quietly in response, kissing Ash’s cheek. “I’m trying to help…”

“I know you are, Em…”

“Anyway, I’ll have an extra year to get you up to snuff.”

“An extra year? Oh, right.”

“Yeah. You’re graduating in June, I’m not.”

“Right… I’m sorry,”

“Don’t be. I was pissed off, but… The last ten months have taught me that not everything worth knowing can be read in a book, Ash.” Emily grinned, and kissed Ash’s lips, softly. “Like this…”

“Heh. You’ll get it, I know you will.”

“Into school?”

Ash nodded. “Pretty much a foregone conclusion at this juncture.”

“But… is that what I really want?”

“I dunno. Is it? Educated at some prestigious university, hired by some ridiculously rich company to help make them even more rich? Nine-to-five or whatever for the next thirty years?”

Emily shivered, and Ash chuckled. “Yeah, me neither.”

“So, what do you want?”

Ash shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. But I want to be close to you doing it.”

Emily giggled quietly, and kissed Ash’s cheek again, closing her eyes. “Love you, Ash.”

“I know, Emily. I know.”

Marie Upton’s Office, 8:39 PM

“Okay. Yes, I understand… Good, we’re in agreement, then. Thank you, and good-night!” Marie cheerfully told the person on the other end of the line, then hung up, with an exasperated sigh. She glanced at the time in the corner of her computer screen, and shook her head. “Eight forty. Ugh.” By now, almost everyone was gone, and she would have been, too, if not for a sudden influx of late contacts by her various and sundry suppliers and buyers.

“Just wearing the underwear was a lot easier than this,” she groused good-naturedly to her empty office, and began the shutdown sequence on her computer. “Oh well.” She stood, walked to the door connecting her office to the break room, and opened it. The TV and lights were on, but the only sign of Jenny was her coat thrown over the back of the couch. Marie walked around said couch, to find Jenny either asleep, close to it, or doing a good facsimile thereof, ‘staring’ up at the TV with closed eyes, her head on her arm. Marie smiled, prodding the sleeping girl’s arm.

Jenny awoke with a start, looking up, then relaxing. “Oh, s-sorry.”

“No problem, Jenny. To tell the truth, I probably would have done the same. Anyway, I’m done with these dingbats who think their business is such an emergency it can’t wait until the New Year. That’s it! I’m off, don’t have to come back in until Monday.”

Jenny laughed softly, and dragged herself to her feet, taking her coat from the back of the couch. They walked out of the break room, shutting the lights off on the way out, and Jenny yawned, as she put her jacket on. “S-s-s-soo-ooooo, have you got any plans for dinner?”

Chuckling at the blonde’s protracted yawn, Marie shook her head. “Haven’t thought of any, yet. It’s too late to hit a store and get something I can cook, and I think I’m out of things I can easily make into dinner, so we might wind up going out.”

“Fine by me. Wonder where Ash and Emily would like to go?”

“Why don’t you ask them when we get home, then?”

“Okay.”

“Okay,” Jenny replied, as the two walked into the elevator.

Marie pushed the button, setting the lift in motion to the floor where she had parked the Jag. ”You know, Jenny, it occurs to me that your birthday is the same as Ash’s, the 11th, right?” Jenny nodded in confirmation, and Marie smiled. “Well, we’ll have to work something out, won’t we?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s the Tuesday after next. See, I was thinking, if you wanted, and depending on when her party will be… Well, they’ll probably hold it that weekend or so. Probably Saturday. See, you could go to Tempest to visit Ash during her party, stay the night, then bring Ash and Emily back here on Sunday for your party, mm?”

Jenny chuckled at that, and smiled. “That would be nice, though I suspect I wouldn’t have many people who’d want to come to my party, anyway.”

“Quality, not quantity, right?”

Jenny giggled quietly. “Sure you don’t just want an excuse to steal Ash and Emily away from Tempest for another day?”

“Well, that may be a nice fringe bennie,” Marie replied, giggling quietly and twirling some of her long hair around her finger.

“Mmm, that would be nice,” Jenny admitted, as the doors to the elevator opened, letting them exit to the parking garage, where Jenny strode forth—

And nearly ran straight into her mother, who was walking out of the door to the stairs opposite the elevator. “Oh… Oh no,” Marie thought, as Jenny’s eyes met Jenny’s, and she could see the explosive potential brewing.

It was the first time she’d seen her mother since that night she’d been disowned. Despite all the reasons she had to loathe her senior, Jenny felt a sinking sensation in her heart that she was sure she would have called a ‘weakness’ a month ago. She wanted… to make peace, maybe reconcile. She lifted her hand, plaintively, beginning to speak, “Mom?” Her voice quavered a bit, as she made her plaintive out-reach, somehow desperate for her mother’s affection. But her outreach was wasted; her frizzy-haired elder had turned away as she was raising her hand, walking coldly towards the door to the parking garage. Jenny blinked a few times, watching her leave, her vision becoming blurry—tears were forming in her eyes. Her lips trembled, parted, taking in a breath, though she couldn’t think of anything to say.

The display of heartlessness was not lost on Marie, either. The suddenness of Jenny’s plaintive gesture made Marie certain it was genuine, as was the utter icy apathy with which Jenny had simply walked away. Marie could see the shock and betrayal, the emptiness from the profile of Jenny’s face, and couldn’t help wondering, “Did Ash feel that way when I walked out on her?”

Marie blinked, realizing that tears were forming in her own eyes as well, and she spun Jenny around, hugging the younger, shorter girl tightly to her, placing Jenny’s head on her shoulder. The young fashionista didn’t sob, but she did clutch Marie in return, and the brown-haired woman raised her hand to the back of Jenny’s head, stroking her hair, softly, quietly.

Upton Residence, 9:44 PM

“Ash?”

“Mmm?”

“Do you think we ought to get dressed?”

“That’s probably a good idea, since they’ll probably be back soon.” Ash let out a soft moan, opening her eyes. The lights were still on, giving her a beautifully illuminated view of Emily’s shoulder and hair. Her lover was atop her, lying slightly to one side, with her head on Ash’s shoulder. Ash’s arms wrapped around her, the fingers of her left hand laced with those of Emily’s right. “Do you want to get up, Em?”

“Not really,” the blue-haired bookworm replied, languidly stretching her body, raising their arms up, back, above their heads, stroking Ash’s feet with her own. “How do you feel?”

“Great…”

“Sore?”

“Like hell,” Ash replied, with a soft chuckle. “But I still feel great.”

“Me too… Mmm, Ash? Give me a massage?” Emily smiled, and rolled over, off of Ash, and lying facedown on the bed.

Ash didn’t reply verbally; she didn’t need to. She rolled over as well, yawning as she got to her knees and leaned over Emily’s back. She put her hands on Emily’s shoulders, and started to rub, kneading large handfuls of her friend’s flesh in her palms.

“Mmmh, lower, Ash.”

Happy to oblige, Ash followed Emily’s instructions, letting the blue-haired tuner guide her, rubbing down, across the back of her ribs, to the small of her back, and back up, helping Emily to work out the kinks in her muscles she’d gotten from all the arching and squirming and other activity on the hard tile floor of the shower.

“Ash, tell me something. How does it make you feel?”

“This, you mean?”

“Yeah. Being lovers like this,” Emily murmured.

Ash slid down, lying lightly along Emily’s back, supporting herself with her arms at Emily’s sides.

“It feels… It feels good, Emily. It feels… I dunno, just…”

“Somehow, indescribably right?”

“Yeah.” The orange-haired tuner grinned, cupping the sides of Emily’s breasts and gently kissing her shoulder, eliciting a soft sigh of pleasure from her blue-haired companion.

“Exactly like that, Ash… exactly.” Emily pushed up slightly, taking Ash’s weight onto her back. It was comforting, and she rolled over under her lover. When it was done, Ash’s head was between her breasts, and she smiled, squeezing Ash into her. “How does this feel?” she whispered softly while cupping Ash’s head into her cleavage.

“Like… like a guilty pleasure,” Ash murmured back. “Like I feel like I should feel like a sissy for loving this so much… But I just…”

“Don’t?” Ash nodded, and Emily smiled. “You want to feel safe and warm, and I can give that to you. You can do the same thing, too,” she said, with a soft giggle.

“Mmmh. That’s even weirder, but in a good way. It’s not something I…”

“Ever expected to do, cradling a lover underneath you?”

“No, it wasn’t… it’s… mmmh, I guess I like this. I like being able to make you feel safe, and I like feeling safe with you.”

“Mmmh… I could just fall asleep now…”

“Me too… What time is it?”

Emily double-checked her watch. “Five of ten.”

“Mmmmh. Wonder how late they’re gonna be?”

“Dunno.”

Ash yawned, muffling it in Emily’s breasts, and Emily smiled at her friend, hugging her tightly. “Your friendship has… been the best thing that ever happened to me, Ash.”

“…And yours to me, Emily.” Ash smiled softly, looking up into her lover’s eyes; green meeting magenta, they slowly clasped their hands together, squeezing softly, gazing into one another’s eyes. Ash didn’t ask; she didn’t need to. She saw it in Emily’s eyes. Ash braced her legs and knees and pulled up, tugging herself to her knees. Emily sat up, with her legs between Ash’s, staring into her eyes, before leaning forward, placing her head on one of Ash’s breasts.

“I didn’t want to admit it, for so long,” Emily murmured. “I kissed you in your sleep, hoping I’d find it disgusting, but… it just… it was a kiss. It felt good. I grabbed your breasts, I thought it would be weird, and it was… but… weird because it made me tingle, weird because I enjoyed it. I so wanted to ignore the fact that all day, my hands felt a bit, well… jelly-like, from that grope, or that I wanted to do it again, wanted to fondle you… I’m sorry, Ash. I was so neurotic, I… I held us back, didn’t I?”

“No, Emily, you didn’t.” Ash laughed softly at her, tilting her blue-haired friend’s head up. “Where we’ve been has led us here, right?” She smiled, and Emily smiled back, leaning up to kiss her, softly. “So, do you still want to grope me?”

“Oh, yes I do.” Emily grinned back. “Turn around.”

Ash laughed, and did just that, reversing herself on Emily’s lap, and leaning back into the smaller girl. Emily reached around Ash’s body, squeezing her breasts with impunity, squeezing Ash’s nipples between her fingers. Ash’s jaw dropped, moaning, satisfied. “You know, I… I loved it, that day, too. I wanted more…”

“I’ll squeeze your tits any time you want, Ash,” Emily murmured, biting gently into the taller girl’s shoulder, getting a sigh of pleasure for her troubles from Ash’s lips.

That was how they were when the door opened. Jenny walked in, the muffled radio from the other room’s volume jumping as soon as the door opened, the blonde already talking, “Hey, where do you… oh,” she said, with a wide grin, as Ash and Emily turned to face her. “I’ll tell your mom you’ll be a bit,” Jenny continued, grinning madly and blushing as she backed out of the door, leaving Ash and Emily both blushing hotly.

Ash let out a nervous chuckle, while Emily giggled quite quickly, shaking her head. “I guess we didn’t even hear them come in.”

“Guess not. We probably should get dressed…”

“Sounds like a good idea.”

They got dressed then, with only a bare minimum of fuss and kissing one another, and soon walked towards the door, Emily leading. She turned however, instead of opening the door, and Ash pushed her against the door—exactly what she had hoped Ash would do.

“Did I scare you, earlier?” Emily asked quietly, smiling up at Ash.

Ash shrugged. “Yeah… but not so bad. Besides…” She raised her hand, kissing Emily as she stroked the blue-haired bookworm’s hair, brushing it behind her ears. “You’re supposed to push me, right?”

“Yeah, but… I don’t want to be pushy, Ash.”

“You’re not. I’ll tell you if I’m getting freaked, okay?”

“Okay.” Emily grinned, kissing Ash in response, slow and soft, then turned the doorknob with her hand, blindly fumbling for it behind her before finding it. “Let’s go.”

Pulling Out Of The Upton Driveway, 9:59 PM

Jenny had made the request to go to Marco’s, which was open past midnight. She had also made a plaintive request to go with Ash, leaving Ash in the driver’s seat of the Porsche 996, with Jenny in the passenger’s seat, looking decidedly morose.

“What’s wrong,” Ash asked, as she pulled out, following the Jaguar in front of her.

“I… we saw my mother today, Ash.”

“Your mom? Oh.”

“She wouldn’t even look at me,” Jenny said, suddenly, sounding quite weak and pathetic. Ash got the feeling she was seeing Jenny at her most vulnerable, an unsettling sight and sound.

“Oh… Jeez, oh Jeez, Jenny.”

The blonde continued, her eyes watery, breath coming difficult to her, “Even after what she did when she came here… I… God, this is what I deserve after all I’ve done, isn’t it? I just… I just… I wanted her to hold me, to say she still loved me… I guess she doesn’t, though.”

“I… oh, Jeez, Jenny.” Ash reached over, taking Jenny’s hand, putting her own over it and curling her fingers between Jenny’s, into the blonde’s palm, as a soft, gentle piano-based song started to play on the radio.

“Was that wrong of me?”

“What?”

“Just… just wanting her to be like she was, years ago… to…” The fashionista’s voice choked, and she closed her eyes, a well of self-loathing rising up in her, making her throat tight. “To tell me I was still her daughter and she loved me?”

“Oh, holy…” Ash let out a sigh of exasperation, as Jenny’s fingers clenched around her own, needing an anchor. “No, Jenny. That… that’s not wrong at all.”

Jenny’s throat worked, and she gulped for air. “I just… I just…”

“You wanted your mom back in your life,” Ash said. “And it hurt, and it hurt more than anything, but you were so afraid… And then she rejected you, Jenny. I’m so sorry.”

“You…”

“I’ve… kinda been there, Jenny.” Ash closed her eyes, briefly, at a red light, though not nearly as long as she wanted, as she thought back, drawing on five-year-old memories and extrapolations of what the Misfile’s changes must have been. “My mom… she left my dad when I was three. I can’t… really remember her from before then. I found out about her when I was thirteen. We got lingerie catalogs, and dad said, ‘Hey Ash, wanna see what your mom looks like? She’s the woman in the bra and garters on page 16!’” Ash let out a soft shiver at the memory of how freakish that had been, having masturbated to that very picture not two hours previous to the revelation.

“So, wh-what happened?”

“I… I didn’t know what to think. She surely must have known where I was, right? I… I wanted to talk to her, to have her back, but I… I didn’t know what was going on. I was lost, confused, and… scared. I wrote a letter to her, and I… I took it to the post-office box,” Ash continued, airing her very real frustrations and emotions from that time.

“What if she didn’t write me back? What if she didn’t want to know me, or care about me, or anything? What if… what if I was being a sissy? It all went through my head, all the time… I… I tore it up. (Aw crap, I went too far!)” Ash bit her lip as soon as she said it. “Craaaap, need a fix.”

“You tore it up?”

“Yeah,” Ash said, with a sigh, grateful she’d picked up enough smoothness to at least stall for time. “I threw it in the trash, but… I didn’t want to be a sissy-girl, a pansy, you know? I walked away, but… I came back, like, an hour later. (I really thought about doing that, didn’t I?) I pieced it together, and wrote a new one. And I sent it, and… and she wrote back to me.”

“Wow… that’s… You came close to never knowing her, didn’t you?”

“Closer than you can possibly imagine, Jenny,” Ash answered, entirely truthfully.

“But you did get her, didn’t you?”

“Well… yeah,” Ash said, suddenly feeling like a heel.

“I’m… I’m kind of envious, but… Well, when my mom turned cold shoulder on me… Ash, your mom grabbed me. Spun me into her and held me.”

Ash smiled, slightly and wryly, at that.

“She just… didn’t say a thing, she just held me… Jeez, I… I don’t…”

“Stay with her, Jenny.”

“What?”

“She’s always wanted a girlier daughter than me, anyway.”

“You… you’re not…”

“Angry? I’m angry at your mother for what she did to you, now and all the times before; furious, in fact. I hope I don’t see her again, or I might be winding up in prison for beating the hell out of her.” Ash slid her hand from Jenny’s, reaching up and stroking her cheek with the back of her fingers. “But I’m not mad at you. If anything, I’m glad. Emily and I are… going home, tomorrow. I… hell, I didn’t know you at the start of this month except as the bitch daughter of my mom’s bitch coworker. A fortnight ago, all I knew you as was as a stone-cold bitch, ice-queen gold-digger. Now I hate the thought of not having you around.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, I do. I’d bet dollars to donuts that Em feels the same way, too. It’s weird, because you’re like, everything I thought stereotypical—and stereotypically despicable—in a girl, but I hate the idea of you not being around, and of not being here to have your back… So yeah, I’d be really glad if you stay with my mom. We can stay in touch easily, what with these cell phones my mom bought us.”

“… Thank you, Ash. Being around you, and Emily, and your mom these past few days and weeks…” Jenny took Ash’s hand in both of hers, kissing it, softly, then holding it tightly to her chest. Ash smiled softly, even at the feeling of the back of her hand sinking into Jenny’s ample, soft breasts through the fabric of her shirt and bra.

“Jenny, my mom… She’s a great person, magnificent in fact. She tries her hardest to be a mom to me, even though she lives a whole state away. Stay with her… I don’t know if she can replace your mom, but I know she’ll do her damnedest. Have you liked living with her the last week?”

“Y-Yeah… she’s… she makes me feel… safe. Safe, warm, and…” Jenny sniffled. “I just realized, my mom hasn’t made me feel any of that in like… I dunno, a decade. She’s been pushing me so hard, for so long, teaching me to take whatever I could, to play people for my own gain. She hasn’t just…”

“Shh. You don’t have to say anymore, Jenny.”

“Thank you, Ash.”

“You’re welcome, Jenny.”

As they drove, the radio bleated out the distinctive twin-twin guitar chords, and a singer began, “This ain’t a song for the broken-hearted!” Jenny blinked as the song started in, looking up as they drove down the freeway. Jenny grinned widely at the line, “A heart is like an open highway, like Frankie said I did it my way!”

“Yeah,” Jenny said. “You’re right, and, thank you. I’m not… I’m not going to let her get me down like this, to destroy all that feels good and right about life.”

“That’s the spirit, Jenny.”

Jenny squeezed Ash’s hand tightly, momentarily, and released it.

They drove on silently through the night for many more minutes, when Jenny looked back up at Ash.

“Ash, I want to know. What’s a Misfile? Why does it trouble you?”

“Erk…”

“I’m not dropping it, Ash. You’ve done so much for me: you’ve torn me down when I was being a brat, and you picked me back up; you literally held me when I was feeling awful; you’ve actually told me you liked the idea of me staying with your mom when mine threw me out; you’ve shown me things I never could have seen before, about myself, about the world; you’ve shown me passions I never thought I could have, and hope that they might be fulfilled… You’re like a best friend and a sister in one, and I have this ridiculously huge crush on you, and on your girlfriend. And I know something’s bothering you.”

“What… what do you mean?”

“Look, I just do. I can’t pin it down, or figure it out, but you’re… Well, I think helping me is maybe helping you, but there’s something there, and I want to help you.”

“Jenny, I—”

“Don’t want to talk about it. I know, but I’m not letting go of you. Not now. You’re too important.” Ash groaned, audibly.

“Come on, Ash. You can tell me anything, you know that, right?”

“(Rrrgh. Fine!) Fine. You want to know the truth?”

“Yes!” Jenny said, exasperation in her voice. “I want to help you.”

“Okay, Jenny, fine. You want to know the truth? You want to know what a Misfile is?” A bit of a manic glee grew within Ash’s heart. “In March of this year, Emily was seventeen years old, nearly eighteen; she was about to graduate with a massive report card, and had already been accepted into Harvard. Then one day, poof! She’s fifteen going on sixteen. Just like that, the only person who remembers two years of her life having happened at all is her.

“And me?” Ash laughed. “I went to bed a teenaged boy, and woke up with breasts as big as yours. I was turned from a boy into a girl overnight, and the whole world only ever remembered me as a girl.

“And all of it because of one, jackass, pot-headed Angel—yes, an angel, what with wings and a halo, I’ve seen them both myself. His name is Rumisiel, and he’s the ‘cover’ boyfriend of mine, only he’s covering for more than you think. You see, that idiot was, for some asinine reason, given some measure of control over the Celestial Filing Cabinets. He lit up while he was at work, and his bosses stormed in. He managed to put the last two files on his desk—mine and Emily’s—away. He shoved my file into the girl cabinet, but because the header line in my file still says ‘boy’, I remember being a boy, even though nobody else in the world remembers me that way, and all evidence of me having lived a life I never lived is there. He also left out the last two pages of Emily’s file, the record of her life. But her header line reads age eighteen, not age sixteen, so she remembers those two years, even if as far as the world is concerned, they never happened. That is a Misfile.”

Jenny stared at Ash as if in utter shock as Ash took a deep breath to recover from her manic unload. Then Jenny’s eyebrows furrowed. “Ash! That’s not funny! I’m trying to help you here, and you feed me some kind of fantasy crap about Angels?!”

“You can’t handle the truth,” Ash responded, sarcastically and bitter, before she got very soft and quiet. “And I’m so very, very sorry about that, Jenny. I know you want to help me. And believe me, I… I actually want your help. But believe me, the truth is precisely, exactly as unbelievable as that story. And worse is that I have no way to prove it to you, even if I wanted to tell you. So… please, Jenny. Don’t make me tell you the same thing over again, okay? Please, if you want to help, you can help me most by not mentioning it again.”

“Can’t she help you?”

“Who? My… my mom?”

“Yes, your mom.”

“… No, she can’t. Jenny, please—”

“Not going to say a word to her, Ash. I swear.”

“Thank you, Jenny.”

Marco’s Parking Lot, 10:51 PM

“Okay, so, why did you want to come here, anyway,” Ash asked, as they got out of the car. “What with the high chance of running into at least one unpleasant encounter?”

“Really… I just had the feeling you two were leaving tomorrow, so I did this so I could get the chance for a long drive with you so we could have that talk.”

“Really?”

“Really.” Jenny grinned. “Anyway… thanks.”

“No problem, Jenny.”

Ash and Jenny turned, looking for their companions, as they had been forced by parking limitations to park on opposite sides of the lot, when Ash’s new cell phone rang. “Hello?”

It was Nathan on the other end. “Ash, I’m sorry I didn’t think of this earlier, at the mall. You said your blonde friend got her car basically stolen, right?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“It’s not the coolest or fastest thing in the world. In fact, it’s pretty much the opposite of a hot chick-car, unless you happen to be redneck-country, but I’ll let her borrow my Durango for as long as she needs. Is she around?”

“Uh, yeah, next to me, in fact. Hang on.” Ash looked over at Jenny, holding the flip-top cell phone up aside her head. “It’s Nathan. He says if you want it, he’ll let you borrow that SUV of his for as long as you need.”

“Really? Gimme.” She held out her hand, and Ash put the cell phone in Jenny’s hand.

Ash spied her mother and Emily waving at her from near the door to Marco’s, so she started walking quicker to catch up to them; Jenny followed, though not nearly as fast.

“Something up?” Emily asked Ash as she arrived ahead of Jenny.

Ash nodded and explained the situation. “How did he get my number, though?”

Marie chuckled. “That’s not hard. I set your new phone up to have the same number as the deactivated unit.”

“Oh, okay.”

Jenny caught them up, returning Ash’s phone. “Here you go.”

“So, what’s going on?”

“He said he and Jimmy will drop it off for me like on the second or so.”

“All righty. That’s pretty awesome,” Ash said.

“Yeah, I know. I don’t know how I deserve it, but… Well, let’s just go get dinner, mmh?”

The maître d’ hardly bothered to give them much of a disdainful look this time, as he had the quartet seated. They ordered, and were soon talking. Small talk gave way to serious conversation when Marie said, “Hold up. We have some serious things we need to talk about.”

“What is it, mom?”

“Well, first off, there’s the small question of how you two are getting back home.” It hit Ash like ten tons of bricks and she groaned.

“Don’t worry about it. You’re taking my car.”

“W-What?”

“My Porsche? You two seem to love it. Take it, and keep it as long as you want to. I trust the two of you, and it makes you happy.” Ash blinked, and blushed lightly, while Marie grinned at her. “And secondly… is birthdays. Both you and Jenny are eighteen on the eleventh.”

“Oh… right.”

“I don’t know what Edward’s planning to do, but if you want to ask him to do it your way…”

“What did you have in mind?”

“Get your birthday party scheduled for the fifteenth. Jenny can go to Tempest to attend your party, stay the night. The next day—”

“We come back here for Jenny’s birthday party, and then we go home on Sunday.”

“Right!” Marie grinned at her daughter, and then her eyes lit up. “Heads up.”

Ash turned her head, and grinned as the waitress approached with the platter of their dinner. Ash grinned, sliding to the side to make more room for the waitress, who began to set their plates down.

Back On The Road, December 31, 12:37 AM

“You okay?”

“Mmm? Yeah… I’m just kind of depressed.”

“Again? Your mom got you down again?”

“No, you do,” Jenny smirked.

Ash looked back at her, blinking. “What?”

“You’re going to be leaving in less than twelve hours, right?”

“Well… yeah, probably. You—”

“I already know I’m gonna miss you,” Jenny replied, with a soft grin. “You and Emily. You two have helped me soo much the past week… I…”

“Shhh. It’s fine.” Ash reached over, taking Jenny’s hand, caressing it tenderly, and Jenny looked up, with a smile.

“Can I…” Jenny bit her lip, feeling silly.

Ash asked, “What?”

“Well… I was… It’s stupid, but… can I sleep with you two?”

“Ah…”

“You two make me feel so good, so warm, so safe.”

Ash blinked again, and bit her lip. “If Emily’s okay with it… This isn’t a transparent ploy to get me to grope you in my sleep, is it?”

“Well, I won’t say it didn’t enter my mind…” Jenny giggled softly.

Ash rolled her eyes. “Was it really that good?”

“You have no idea, after all the guys I’ve let fondle me, all the hard, impersonal, greedy touches, how good it was to just have someone sensitive touching my tits.”

Ash snorted, and shook her head. “That’s kind of crazy. But okay, if you say so. You know… Why won’t your mom let you get your stuff?”

“Well, she technically owns it.”

“The car, sure, but the rest?”

“No, all of it. She’s not the kind to give unless she’s getting something out of it. But even so, I’d guess she’s waiting for me to get desperate enough to crawl back to her.”

“That’s—”

“That’s my mother,” Jenny said, with a brief scowl, and then a weary, resigned sigh. “It figures she took it, just after you two got it looking so… unique. Perfect.”

“You think so?”

“Yes, I do. You may be content to have your Monster look like a beat up old 1980s junker, but I thought it really looked… mmmh, great.”

“You really get off on looking good, don’t you?”

“My favorite song is ‘Barbie Girl’, figure it out.” Jenny grinned at Ash, who chuckled. “And thanks to you, I realize just how unique and bold a car can be, both under the hood and over it. I… I really liked what we did to my car. What you and Emily did for my car…”

“I thought it looked good, too. Spinners… I’d never put them on my own, but they weren’t bad… So, really, ‘Barbie Girl’?”

Jenny nodded. “What can I say? I am shallow, I love looking good, and driving something that looks good.”

“So, you must be thrilled at the idea of driving that old SUV around.”

“Oh yeah, absolutely thrilled, let me tell you,” Jenny said, with a sardonic grin. “Still, it’s got four wheels and eight cylinders, which will get me to and from school, anyway.”

“School… Man, how’s that gonna work?”

“Fuck if I know, honestly. Your mom’s still puzzling that one over.”

“Okay…”

Their conversation trailed off again, with Jenny looking away, out the window of the Porsche at the side of the highway.

“Ash? You don’t feel like I’m…”

“Stealing my mother? No way, Jenny. It’s… it’s fine, really. Like I said, I’m glad. You’re more the kind of daughter she’s always wanted than I am, and you can actually be here all the time.”

“Mmmh… thank you, Ash.”

“You’re welcome. Does what I think really mean so much to you?”

“It means the world to me.”

Upton Residence, 1:08 AM

Marie had hardly gone in the door when she wished the girls a good night and went straight for the stairs, leaving Ash, Emily, and Jenny walking into the house and locking up. They did so, and shut off the lights, leaving them illuminated only by the light from the tree.

“So, was this impromptu vacation worth it, Ash?”

“Yeah…” Ash looked at Jenny, and smiled back at Emily. “Yeah, it was, if only because we made a new friend.” She wrapped her arms lightly around Jenny’s shoulders, and the blonde girl blushed softly, as Emily came up to her other side, hugging her as well.

“And the really super cars weren’t bad, either, were they?”

“That too,” Ash said. “You know, we’re not going to all be together again for at least two weeks, right?”

“Yeah…” Emily grinned. “So, see, I was thinking…”

“You, too?” Jenny looked up, asking Emily, and the blue-haired girl nodded, squeezing her smaller blonde friend’s body.

“Yeah. What do you say, Ash?”

In response, Ash just blushed, shifting awkwardly before reaching down, taking Jenny’s hand and pulling her towards the door into the bedroom she and Emily shared.

“I don’t deserve this… I don’t deserve you two in any way,” Jenny said quietly.

Emily kicked the door shut behind them. “Shush. Yes, you do. Simply because you are our friend…”

“But I make things so… complicated, don’t I?”

“Yes, you do,” Emily said with a grin, as she reached down, pulling her shirt up, dropping it in the hamper. Ash’s shirt followed, while Jenny awkwardly slid her own off.

Then Jenny gasped when Emily moved behind her, unlatching her bra. “E-Emily?” Ash was looking at Emily’s eyes too, the look in her eyes confused. “Em?”

“You’re really confusing for us, you know, Jenny?” the blue-haired girl said, as she pushed the blushing blonde back to the bed, gently pushing her down with a finger to the shoulder. “The last girl who got a crush on Ash, I got so very, very jealous over. You? I guess it’s really weird, because we all kind of think each other’s attractive. But… tonight, since it is the last time we’re going to see you for awhile…”

Jenny’s eyes were wide, and Ash sat next to her. “Emily, you’re not thinking—”

“No, I’m not,” the blue-haired bookworm clarified, with a light blush of her own, as she tossed her own bra behind her, landing atop Jenny’s; Ash’s joined them a moment later. “But tell me… Would you regret if it we didn’t take the chance now?”

“The chance?”

“To hold her. To squeeze you,” she said, shifting from addressing Ash to addressing Jenny, “between us, the same way we sleep when together, holding you tight. Would you want that?”

The blonde on the bed blushed heavily, but raised her legs, tugging off her shoes and discarding her socks. “I… I’d like that… A-Ash?”

The orange-haired tuner looked down at her new blonde friend, Jenny’s breasts rising and falling, illuminated by the moonlight. She bit her lip, and nodded. “Yeah. I’d like that.”

It didn’t take the trio long after that to disrobe, and they were even quicker together under the covers. Jenny became sandwiched between Ash and Emily, with the blue-haired tuner spooned tightly to Jenny’s back. Emily’s lower arm was under both Jenny and Ash’s heads, the upper over the blonde, resting gently against the underside of Jenny’s breasts, firmly squeezing her soft body to Emily’s own. Ash and Jenny were staring at one another, Ash’s lower arm holding Jenny’s, while her upper arm rested over both Jenny and Emily. Necessarily, they were tightly close, blushing softly.

“You okay, Ash?” Jenny asked quietly.

Ash shrugged. “I dunno. I… I want to hold you, you’re a friend, you’re important to us… It’s just… I’m kind of attracted to the idea of a menage a… Menage a twas?”

“Ménage à trois, Ash,” Emily corrected with a soft giggle.

“You are?” asked Jenny.

“Yes, I am… it’s… I’ve thought about it, of course I have.”

“What do you think?” asked Emily.

“It feels like a bad idea, but one… that’s so… indescribably desirable, too.” Ash leaned forward into Jenny, kissing her cheek softly as she gently stroked Emily’s side with her hand, and both of her friend’s feet with her own.

“I’m sorry, Ash. I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable…” The blonde closed her eyes, guilt welling within her. “This is me being selfish, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not,” Emily assured her from behind, kissing Jenny’s cheek from behind. “We both wanted this, to hold you tight the last night we were going to be here. Do you think it’s a bad idea?”

“I… I don’t want to come between the two of you.”

Emily grinned, pushing Jenny’s hair out of the way, whispering across her ear. “The only way you’re between us is literally. Close your eyes and just enjoy it, okay?”

“Okay…”

Jenny closed her eyes, as did Ash. Jenny breathed out, softly, letting the proximity, the two very supple, soft, curvy bodies pressing into her lull her to sleep. The last thing she remembered was the feeling of Emily’s hand deliberately moving up between Ash’s lower breast and her own, cupping and squeezing her enhanced mound tenderly, as she felt the two of them shift enough to kiss over her head.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to:

Chris Hazleton (aka Peacefire), for being a good sport about letting me play in his playground.

Griffon8, for editing help.

You, for reading this story.

1. Rumisiel’s Dream

Thanks to:

The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, for their rendition of the song “Roll Tide”, the theme song to the movie Crimson Tide, the primary theme of this story.

2. A Midwinter Night’s Dream

Thanks to:

The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, for their rendition of the song “Roll Tide”.

Ozzy Ozzbourne, for many, many great songs which helped immensely in getting through this story.

3. After the Dream

Notes:

Emily’s misinterpretation of the lyrics to Green Day’s song, ‘Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)’, is very common.

Thanks to:

The Need for Speed Underground 2 Original Soundtrack, for providing much of the musical inspiration for this story.

4. Concrete Dreamscape

Thanks to:

The Need for Speed Underground 2 Original Soundtrack, for providing much of the musical inspiration for this story.

5. Electric Dreams

Thanks to:

The Need for Speed Underground 2 Soundtrack.

The Need for Speed Carbon Soundtrack.

ThePirateBay.org for enabling me to listen to the NFSU2 and NFSC soundtracks. Griffon8, Cheshire Cat, and CyberRanger for being beta-readers. CyberRanger and Rhiannon for appearing in this story.

6. Beyond Electric Dreams

Notes:

The Porsche 911 series has strange terminology. It may seem that, at times, the model series are used interchangeably—this is intentional. It is proper to refer to a Porsche 997 Turbo as a 911, a 911 Turbo, a 997, or a 997 Turbo. It is also proper to refer to a Porsche 996 (such as Marie owns) as a 996 or a 911, but it would be improper to refer to it as a Turbo (the Turbo being a performance upgrade of the 911-series cars) or as a 997 (different beast generation).

Emily is not misspeaking. When she told Ash about having had a poster of Kay Wheeler over her bed, she had (to her frame of reference) removed it two years ago. But we know she mostly sleeps on her side, and background stuff in your bedroom can easily slip your notice. She later realized that she had taken it down after her 16th birthday the first time; thus, it was still on her ceiling when she got back from Cape Cod. Emily then took it down and stored it.

Thanks to:

Toady One and his creation, Dwarf Fortress, the source of innumerable delays.

George Carlin, for pushing the envelope old-school.

Google Earth, for being an invaluable research tool.

Royal Crown Revue, for “Hey, Pachuco!”.

Bad Religion, for “Beyond Electric Dreams”.

Tomoyasu Hotei, for “Battle without Honor or Humanity”.

The Need for Speed Underground 2 Soundtrack.

The Need for Speed Carbon Soundtrack.

The Star Wars soundtracks.

ThePirateBay.org for enabling me to listen to the above-mentioned soundtracks.

The Need for Speed Carbon composed music, which may be found at

http://www.imeem.com/people/GCgawn//music/cQIslZoe/need_for_speed_carbon_nfs_carbon_composed_music/

Francine Webster, Administrator of the Cape Cod Light, for answering my questions. Griffon8, Cheshire Cat, Rhiannon, CyberRanger, Saradraco, Shannon, Scotts13, Owncksd, and random55 for being beta-readers.

Cheshire Cat, for appearing in this story and being a good sport about getting the crap beat out of him.

Griffon8 for editing—he really could do it professionally.

7. Carbon Dreams

Notes:

There is no plot hole. The police identified Nathan as having been in Boston. Nathan said he was in New York City. You may draw one of two conclusions from this:

1) Nathan was in NYC, and the police’s system misidentified his location as Boston.

2) Nathan is full of it, and spoon-fed them bullshit about being in NYC when in fact it just took him six hours to get from Boston to the state police barracks in Cape Cod because he’s a dumbass who can’t navigate without a GPS map system, a compass, and a native guide. Feel free to pick the one you like better.

Emily is not a better racer than Kate. Ash is not a better racer than Kate. Nathan is less of a skilled racer than all three of them, but he has had the most experience in the Carrera GT, and, obviously, the most expensive car. Emily is also not a better racer than Ash, but she’s close enough that she can conceivably achieve victory over Ash on a basis that’s as much luck as skill.

Emily is very, very smart. But she does not have perfect knowledge of subjects she has not studied in-depth. This is why she makes the mistake of saying that McArthur is an Anglicized version of MacArthur; it is not. Both McArthur and MacArthur are perfectly Scottish surnames, and Emily is making a reasonable, if incorrect, extrapolation based what she knows the morons at Ellis Island tended to do with foreign surnames they had a difficult time pronouncing, let alone spelling.

Yes, the story is complete. I’m ending on a classic Chrishanger moment. Please direct all complaints to someone@else.com. Alternatively, direct them to the Misfiled Dreams thread.

Thanks to:

Toady One and his creation, Dwarf Fortress, the source of innumerable delays.

Blizzard and Warcraft III, and my pal Eric, the source of many more innumerable delays.

The Irish Rover’s ‘Songs of Christmas’

Google Earth, for being an invaluable research tool

The Thin Blue Line, the theme song to Law & Order

The Anubis: Zone of the Enders Original Soundtrack

The Need for Speed Underground 2 Soundtrack.

The Need for Speed Carbon Soundtrack

The Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Soundtrack

The Hot Fuzz Soundtrack

ThePirateBay.org for enabling me to listen to the above-mentioned soundtracks (except the ZoE OST & Irish Rovers)

The Need for Speed Carbon composed music, which may be found at

http://www.imeem.com/people/GCgawn//music/cQIslZoe/need_for_speed_carbon_nfs_carbon_composed_music/

Griffon8, Cheshire Cat, Rhiannon, CyberRanger, Saradraco, Shannon, Scotts13, Harri, Kyeudo, Random55, Sara, Shandi, Bails5607, RallyNinja, and MythicalXeon for being beta-readers.

Griffon8 for editing—he really could do it professionally.

8. Harmony Dreams

Notes:

Due to the Misfile, Ms. McArthur’s unplanned pregnancy was moved to when she was eighteen, not sixteen. Emily saying sixteen in the heat of the moment is a result of her having a fight with her mother and falling back on old knowledge. (The moving of Ms. McArthur’s unplanned pregnancy to her senior year is Word of God, from the horse’s mouth.)

There may be some confusion as to the naming of the car Jimmy drives. Jimmy drives a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda with Chrysler’s legendary 426 Hemi engine in it. Barracudas are often abbreviated as ’Cuda, and with the Hemi engine in it, the Hemi is often prefixed to the abbreviation of ’cuda, thus, ‘Hemicuda’. It is perfectly acceptable to call it a ‘Cuda’, a ‘Barracuda’, or a ‘Hemicuda’, in much the same way Marie’s 2004 Porsche 996 can be called a 996 or a 911.

Nathan may or may not be talking out of his ass when he says the Porsche Carrera GT accelerates faster than the Space Shuttle. It’s hyperbole; please don’t bombard me with the stats for how fast the Space Shuttle accelerates. (For the record, the Carrera GT out-accelerates the Shuttle for the first nine seconds, past which the Shuttle wins by just enough to have beaten the Carrera GT over the Quarter Mile.)

There is no plot hole in Nathan having walked out without asking where the car was parked. Remember, it has a GPS locater beacon in it, and Nathan’s BlackBerry is linked to the function. He was planning to go back with Jimmy to the Barracuda and have Jimmy drop him at the Carrera, following the GPS beacon. However, the Carrera GT is parked next to the ’Cuda, so it’s a moot point.

Thanks to:

Avenged Sevenfold, for the philosophy ripped straight from their lyrics.

Bon Jovi, for “Thank You for Loving Me” and “It’s My Life”.

Aqua, for “Barbie Girl” and “Butterfly”.

Google Earth, for being an invaluable research tool.

The Need for Speed Underground 2 Soundtrack.

The Need for Speed Carbon Soundtrack.

The Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Soundtrack.

ThePirateBay.org for enabling me to listen to the above-mentioned soundtracks.

The Need for Speed Carbon composed music, which may be found at http://www.imeem.com/people/GCgawn//music/cQIslZoe/need_for_speed_carbon_nfs_carbon_composed_music/

Griffon8, Cheshire Cat, Rhiannon, CyberRanger, Saradraco, Shannon, Scotts13, Owncksd, Harri, Kyeudo, and random55 for being beta-readers.

Bails5607, FracturedSoul, Gavin, HalcyonSpirit, Hoopla, Jamjamnorman, jbenant, MythicalXeon, RallyNinja, Samantha, Shandi, and Splatz for additional beta-reading.

Griffon8 for editing – he really could do it professionally.

Table of Contents

Title Page

1. Rumisiel’s Dream

2. A Midwinter Night’s Dream

3. After The Dream

4. Concrete Dreamscape

5. Electric Dreams

6. Beyond Electric Dreams

7. Carbon Dreams

8. Harmony Dreams

Acknowledgements