Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

TW!!: Violence, blood, explicit descriptions

If you see this work outside of AO3, it's been stolen.

So. Naomi was already a bit nervous to go to school. Usually just going to a new school would make her a little bit worried. But when you're going to Pinehill High, it's more than a little worry. It's almost going into fight or flight every step of your morning routine.

She had begged, and pleaded, and begged her father, but he really wouldn't budge. It was the best posh school he could find in the area. Besides the rate of injury and death of course. How it hadn't been shut down by now heaven only knows. It had been called out again and again yet it seemed anyone higher up refused to do anything about it. How much of a hold the principal must have on officials must be insane. They'd have to be taking it like a champ daily to overlook this.

Currently, she was sitting in the car, glaring at the chauffeur. Obviously her father couldn't be bothered to even show up. No wonder he never liked crapping on her mom for going off to pursue being a supermodel and leaving them behind, he was no different. She looked down at her nails, making sure the polish was perfect. She needed to look her best if she wanted to find a friend to protect her.

"Ms Velazquez."

She looked up as her chauffeur spoke suddenly, his hands a little too relaxed on the wheel, as if he wasn't at all worried.

"We're here."

Peering out the car window, she saw it in all its glory. It looked way too funded for a school with its reputation. It looked pretty posh like a private school, with marble stairs, clean windows, sharply cut hedges, and people flooding in. There were vast freshly trimmed fields, a large fountain, and a sea of pine trees. There was a fresh fountain, and various bushes of tulips.

"Well. Good luck." He said, unlocking the car door.

Her hands were practically shaking as she took the handle, opened the door, and climbed out. She smoothed out her skirt, before slipping into the crowd. She really did NOT want to get noticed, and so slinking through was the best course of action.

"Did you see Susie drive in? Such a cool car."

"Mhm! She's so refined!"

Naomi noticed the two girls talking beside her, but didn't exactly want to jump in. Instead, she wanted to get to homeroom as quickly as possible, and maybe find a friend there. In the meantime, she put on her prettiest smile, and tried to move through the crowd as calmly as possible. Even when she saw her mother's face on a fashion magazine someone was reading, she kept up her smile. Maybe she was more like her than she thought.

When she entered the school, the crowds only got worse. She found it harder and harder to blend into the sea of people, as they quickly began to fracture off into groups. She felt like a broken record thinking this again but she really needed to find a friend. Naomi was a very goal - driven girl, and so when she had one, she stuck to it. So find someone, and try to join up with them. Simple.

"OMG, June is so hot."

"I know, just look at him!"

"I dunno, he said my nose looks weird."

"Well if he said it, it must be true."

Naomi tried not to give the cluster of girls a weird look at the way they almost worshiped this boy. But he was probably popular so she understood it. Popular people were probably either absolute Greek gods and goddesses, or insanely strong and tough. So it made sense to some extent?

Anyways, she had reached homeroom by then. Sitting down in a random chair, Naomi decided to wait. And wait. Eventually some students flooded in, all crowded around a girl. She clutched a jungle - green bow in her hand like it was worth millions. She sat down, looking quite smug, as everyone crowded around her. The name 'Kelly' came up quite a bit around her, so maybe the tie belonged to her? Naomi was pretty intrigued, almost forgetting her 'keep your head down' rule as she edged closer.

"OMG is that hers? You have to give that back!"

"That was so brave! I can't believe you have something of hers. I joined the theatre department for years but all I have is a few props."

"Ahem."

Everyone shot into their seats as their teacher walked in. The man had the build of a rugby player, with a scowl upon his face. He wore a red sleeveless t shirt with a splash of yellow, orange and pink on the front, and baggy denim jeans, with some thick boots. Glasses perched upon the bridge of his nose, and his curly black hair in a sharp buzz, with his ebony skin only slightly marred. Two golden studs gleamed in his earlobes.

"I am Mr. Yaouba. I teach Art at this school, and I will be your homeroom teacher. I hope we can all get along during our times together. Please introduce yourselves."

Well, she was screwed. Naomi couldn't keep a low profile if she had to introduce herself to 29 people. She would just have to hope she could scope out an ally or two during the introductions. But she couldn't see any. She learned the girl with the apparently stolen bow was called May Blair, though. But soon it was her turn.

She stood shakily and spoke very quickly to be able to sit again as soon as possible. "Hello my name's Naomi and I like fashion and my fun fact is that I can fit my whole fist in my mouth."

"What else can you fit in there?" A boy heckled, only to receive a sharp look from Mr Yaouba.

"Please remain respectful." He reprimanded calmly, before continuing the introductions.

Naomi sat down, face burning like her phone after 7 hours of doom scrolling. Quite a few people were looking at her, scouting her out like prey. She wanted positive attention but that didn't seem like what she was getting. She tried to focus on a mark on the table instead.

When homeroom ended, she quickly hurried out of the classroom, hoping to not have to encounter anyone in there. She realised like thirty seconds after, though, that she probably didn't want to be wandering the corridors alone. That would be worse. But she couldn't go back now. What would she do?

Click. Click. Click.

The clicking of heels across the floor. She looked around but there really was no place to hide. So she froze. Amazing survival instincts.

"Ugh, I didn't bring any spares either. It's so annoying. And no one else has a green one. No one I want anything from anyways."

Naomi's jaw dropped when she saw the girl walking down the corridor. A girl, about 17 or so, 5''11ft tall, with long glossy black hair, shimmery pale skin, a round face, and was gorgeous. Like some kind of fairy or goddess. Her favourite colour was clearly green. She wore a green fitted blazer with golden buttons over a white shirt, and a very dark green skirt that went just down to the lower thigh area, darker green knee - high stockings, and black heels. She seemingly was of East Asian descent, but Naomi didn't want to assume. She wore green eyeshadow with black winged eyeliner (with a dash of red), blush, and red lipstick. There was also a girl with a red bob talking to her, nodding along with everything she said, but she really looked like a troll compared to the queen next to her.

"Oh! Hello?" She said a bit theatrically as she saw the girl standing before her.

"Hi." Naomi squeaked out.

"Just passing through, no need to be scared. Or worship the ground I walk on or anything. Not doing autographs right now." She began to walk past, until Naomi realised something and blurted it out.

"I know where your bow is."

The girl, who must've been Kelly, stopped and turned. "Where?"

Naomi suddenly began to flounder. "Um, uh, May Blair." She managed.

"That little biatch. Gemma, go fetch her. Ask Veronica for her timetable."

The redhead gulped. "You want me to go talk to Veronica?!"

"What? She's not that scary is she?"

"But she's a.. a.."

"And so am I. So unless you want to be Singing Tree no.5, go find out where May Blair is. Chop chop."

Gemma scurried off, and Kelly walked past Naomi, stopping next to her. "You may be new, but you're good at gathering how things work. I might be seeing you soon." Then she walked off.

Naomi's heart was still racing as she went to Maths. She had no idea if she had just ruined someone's life, but she seemed to have gotten on the good side of someone very popular and influential around here. So there was some bright side at least.

She sat through Math, trying to focus and not get too worried. But the pit in her stomach only grew every time she looked over at May. The butterflies only fluttered more and more, and she almost felt sick.

The bell rang and she bolted out, although she screeched to a halt when she saw Gemma waiting by the classroom door. The redhead smiled at her, and Naomi smiled back, but it was entirely hollow, as she headed out.

It was recess, and so she went to wander around in one of the gardens. She just sat watching TikTok on her phone-

SMASH!

The sound of shattering glass rang out above her, and shards rained down before her like a diamond shower, refracting light. Shortly, something else fell, hard. It was quickly apparent that it was a person.

Naomi heard her heart pounding in her ears, not only from the jump scare but from fear, yet she felt like she needed to get closer. She was way too curious. She stood, stomach doing gymnastics routines, heart doing its best impression of a marching band, as she looked over. Slightly bloodstained hair, fresh crimson cuts on calves and hands, a tie that she hadn't seen on her earlier tightened to the point it would be hard to breathe, there she lay. May Blair.

Chapter Text

TW!!: Descriptions of violence

Naomi froze, looking down at the body. She looked up, but couldn’t see what had happened. And so, she ran. Into the building, through corridors, until she found herself in the middle of the cafeteria.

The layout of the cafeteria clearly benefitted the clique structure. At the bottom floor level were various circular tables, with places to buy food at the back. There were stairs to the second level, but huge crowds swathed around them, like a blockade to prevent low rank people from going up to talk to the higher up cliques. There was then another floor that was much less populated, but with some much posher and prettier people, with only one or two students around the stairs to the final floor. It was more of a balcony, and she could only make out the figures of four – ish people sitting around a table there.

“Looking at the diamonds?” Gemma had appeared behind Naomi like a magician.

“Diamonds?”

“That’s what they call their club. Although it’s more of a clique. The Four Diamonds. Because they’re beautiful and perfect. Obviously, the name changes with the number of people in it, and people have left and joined. Or, well, been kicked out.”

Naomi looked up in awe. So those must be the students with the highest status in the school. “Is Kelly one of them?”

“Oh, yeah. And she’s head of the theatre department too. She’s big on those kinds of things. But I need to give her bow back. Bye!”

Naomi grabbed Gemma’s wrist suddenly. “Did you do something to May Blair?”

Gemma’s face heated up. “Not me. My job is to just carry things around for Kelly. One of Veronica’s lackeys gave it to me and told me to get it back to her. But… just for advice… try not to investigate these things. For your safety, I mean.” The redhead gave her a nervous smile before bolting off.

Well, that wasn’t great. Naomi didn’t exactly want to get jumped, so perhaps she should go back to keeping her head down. She still felt really guilty though, and it was definitely her fault.

...

Sitting in English Literature class, she was still being accosted by guilt. Her feet tapped on the carpet, and her fingers fiddled with the corners of ‘Othello’. She just sat there in the library, not really listening.

To be fair, the lesson was pretty fun due to the teacher being pretty chill. Ms Durchdenwald was her name, and she just let them chill in puffy and comfortable chairs in the library, eating biscuits, drinking tea and talking about books. It felt more like a book club than a lesson. The comfort couldn’t distract her though.

She noticed a large royal blue chair next to a bookcase of Plato, Socrates, and ancient literature like that. There were a variety of cushions on it, each with gold stitching, and it was next to the library’s fireplace. People seemed to avoid sitting in it like the plague however.

She leaned over and whispered to the girl next to her, with long dyed red hair. “Is that a teacher’s chair or something?”

“No, it’s just Susie's.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s blue and next to thick books so she owns it apparently. Whenever she comes to the library she sits there, so people treat it like her throne.”

Naomi looked at the chair. It certainly looked posh and well kept. “This Susie is one of the Four Diamonds, right?”

The girl rolled her eyes. “Yup. Those biatches.”

Naomi looked at her, surprised. “You don’t like them?”

“I don’t simp for June or worship Kelly, if that’s what you mean.”

“Huh. Why?”

“None of your business.” The girl said sharply. “Keep reading.”

“Oh.” Naomi promptly moved back into her comfy chair and burnt her tongue on some tea.

Next was art class, with Mr. Yaouba. He had switched out his glasses for some snazzy shades already, and was sat in a big bubblegum pink puffy swivel chair. He took registration then sat at a stool to get painting.

Despite his appearance, Mr Yaouba was quite a soft and sensitive man. He seemed to love sculptures with how many there were around the room, but also seemed to love abstract paintings of people.

“Paint something. Anything. From the heart.” He smiled, gesturing to the canvases upon easels before each student. “All people possess a passion. Channel that into your artwork, for the pursuit of beauty.”

Some of the girls in the class seemed to know exactly what they were going to paint the second he said the word beauty. Naomi just decided to paint a flower. Seems beautiful enough. She wasn’t the most artistic, but she knew people thought those were very pretty. A tulip maybe?

She focused on painting her dainty little meadow, until Mr Yaouba walked past.

“Very good. Simplicity is sometimes best. Not all beauty is found in the extraordinary or fabulous.” He said, a bit louder, as if that was targeted at someone. This caused Naomi to look up and check out other student’s paintings.

Some people did normal stuff. Like sunsets, or doves, or something. But a lot of people seemed to be painting the same figures. A blonde person in red, or a girl in blue, or else a dark - skinned noirette in pink. It was very… interesting. Was she getting a peak at Diamonds she hadn’t met yet?

“But he is beauty!” A girl, one of May Blair’s friends, protested, gesturing to her painting of the dark - skinned noirette in a pink outfit. It wasn’t very good but Naomi could make that out at the very least.

“I suppose if that is your interpretation…” Mr Yaouba said questioningly. “Just remember all. Art is a microcosm of life. Channel the passion you have for all things you find beautiful into everything in life, and you will bring beauty to everything you create.”

Everyone stared at him. It sounded like word vomit.

“Just… try your best and make pretty things, please.”

Naomi gave Mr Yaouba a nice wave as she left class. He was a great homeroom teacher and an amazing art teacher too, apparently. Even if he seemed to want to sound poetic more than he wanted to be understood.

As she walked over to the cafeteria, two girls stopped her, one with honey blonde hair, the other with black.

“Hey… Naomi, right?” The blonde asked, hitting her with a dazzling smile. Her voice had a melodic tilt to it.

“Yeah… why?” Naomi was a bit nervous to randomly be stopped by a group of two randoms. Actually, were they randoms? She had seen them in Maths talking to May Blair, she thought.

“We just wanted to hang out with you. Come with us!” The noirette beamed at her. They were both very pretty, not Kelly level but maybe supermodel level.

Naomi suspected this might be a bad idea. She may have been partially responsible for what happened to May (something that had been eating away at her all day), and she swore she saw these girls talking to her.

“Um, no thanks.”

“No, no, we insist.”

“No really, it’s fine- “

“Just come with us!” The blonde snapped, before returning to beaming. Naomi just decided it would be better to come with them, as she really didn’t want to get into a fight right now.

So, she followed them down the hallway. “Where are we headed?”

“To the cafeteria of course!” The noirette smiled at her, noticing Naomi’s expression. “To a back entrance. It’s less crowded!”

“Uh… sure.”

They eventually reached a door that Naomi could swear was in the music department but oh well. She opened the door, and entered.

And she was right. It was a music room of some kind, with a poster for ‘Triple Treble’. On the photo was the noirette, the blonde, and May Blair.

“Mhm. That’s the poster for our girl group.” The noirette girl said, smiling at the poster wistfully.

“We haven’t seen May since Maths though, and we were supposed to be hanging out to practise our next song.” The blonde said, still beaming, a bit more plastically now. “All after she stole Kelly’s bow.”

“I heard from Ashley who heard from Martha who heard from Gemma you told Kelly about that, huh?” The noirette asked. She seemed a lot calmer and less forced, more like she was genuinely curious. “Have you seen May anywhere?”

“Mhm. Since you seem to know so much about her.” The blonde questioned, clearly struggling to disguise her accusatory tone.

Naomi was sweating bullets. She did know what had happened to May, and the guilt was like a disease, afflicting her throughout the day. But to tell her best friends that she was partially responsible for her death... she just couldn’t do it. Her body wouldn’t let her.

“No… clue…”

“YOU’RE LYING!” The blonde suddenly cried out. “YOU DID SOMETHING TO HER!”

“Summer! Calm down!” The noirette exclaimed, placing a manicured hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“No! She did something to May, April! I know she did! And I’ll make her tell me!”

Summer lunged forwards, swinging a fist at Naomi. She backed up and narrowly managed to miss the attack. Blocking a right hook with her forearm, she attempted to kick her attacker, but the girl grabbed her ankle, and used it to slam Naomi down onto the ground, once, then twice, then finally throwing her into a wall.

Naomi had just managed to get up, nursing her back, when Summer aimed a punch to her nose, which Naomi managed to dodge by ducking, before punching the opposing girl in the abdomen, hard.

April seemed to have made up her mind by now. Picking up an amp cable and unravelling it, she used it as a whip, hitting Naomi on the shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain.

Naomi realised that she was at quite a bit of a disadvantage, so decided to just go for it. She rugby tackled Summer, using that as a distraction to be able to pick up an electric guitar, wielding it like a bludgeoning tool. It looked heavy enough, like it would hurt.

April gasped. “Don’t defile a guitar for that!”

Naomi didn’t really care, and was more interested in swinging the body of the guitar at Summer’s head. Summer managed to dodge it by ducking, so instead she just slammed down on the blonde’s head as hard as she could, which seemed to daze her quite a bit. She was going to kick her in the face when April whipped her with the cable again, which narrowly missed her face and scratched her bicep, causing her to let out a pained yelp. This gave Summer enough time to hit Naomi’s ankles with enough force to topple her over.

Now, being on the floor during a 2v1 where one opponent is armed with a whip isn’t the greatest position to be in. Naomi had to think quickly, starting with blocking Summer’s foot stomping her face using the guitar’s base, then pushing up upwards to knock her off balance, causing her to stumble backwards. April’s cable hit Naomi’s forearm, which hurt but not enough to prevent her from getting up.

Swinging with the guitar again, the base clashed with the opposing girl’s whip. She was going to move forwards when she got hit in the back with a bongo drum, likely thrown by Summer. This completely knocked the wind out of her, enough for April to get in another lash across her chest. But she needed to deal with April first.

Naomi snapped the guitar’s neck over her knee, causing April to cry out in outrage. She threw the part of the neck not attached to the base at April’s face to further distract her, then swung the base in reverse grip at the side of the noirette’s head, stunning her enough to deliver a harsh knee to her abdomen full – force, making her hit her head against the wall. She clearly wasn’t dead or knocked out, but was dizzy enough to be unable to fight.

Turning around, she noticed that Summer had been sneaking up behind her, a bongo drum held in her left hand by the rope on the side. Naomi grabbed her free right hand, and tugged her forwards, catching her off guard enough to land a forceful punch to her abdomen, then another punch to her face, before finally sweeping her at the legs, causing her to crash down onto the ground, clearly also dazed.

Naomi was panting, standing above her, when she heard slow clapping behind her, and turned around to see the girl from earlier, standing in the doorway. “What a performance.”

Naomi looked up at her, suddenly red. The adrenaline rush was starting to die down now. “Huh… you saw all that?”

The girl nodded.

“You’re not going to report me, right?”

The girl laughed. “Of course not. Fights are pretty normal around here. But I’ve never seen a newbie do so well. Usually, a fight on your first day is a sign for a pretty bad school career, but that’s when you lose.”

“So…”

“So, how about we hang out then? Name?”

“Naomi. Velazquez.”

The girl smiled at her. “Cute name. Mine's Jade. Dekker.”

Chapter Text

Naomi stumbled after Jade. “Hey! Slow down!”

“Huh. I thought you’d be faster.”

“I just got jumped!”

Jade shrugged. Her nonchalance was starting to annoy Naomi, but whatever. She continued to follow after her, eventually catching up and walking alongside her.

“So, where are we going?” Naomi asked, realising following unknown girls was how she got jumped in the first place.

“To eat lunch, of course.” She opened up the door to the cafeteria.

They walked over to the lunch line, where two girls were gushing.

“What are they on about? The Diamonds?”

“Probably.” Jade rolled her eyes.

“What do you know about them?” Naomi asked. “I don’t wanna push because you clearly hate them and all, but if you hate them, you’d have to know about them, right?”

Jade huffed. “Yeah, I know a thing or two. They’re colour coded, so they all wear kind of similar outfits in a different colour. Their leader assigns them their colour based on their personality.” Jade said. Naomi had expected her to know a thing or two but not this kind of knowledge.

“Oh, is that why Kelly loves green so much?”

“Mhm, Roxie said its because green means wealth, but its actually because she thinks Kelly is a jealous bitch.”

“…how’d you know that?”

“Gossip.” She said quickly, taking some food, Naomi did the same and they sat down at some random table in the corner of the cafeteria.

“Oh yeah, like what we’re doing right now.” Naomi said thoughtfully. “What else do you know?” She asked, since Jade seemed to be a fount of knowledge when it came to the most popular clique.

“Well, June is the youngest, then Kelly, then Susie, and Roxie. June sleeps around more than Roxie does, and Susie is the least slutty out of all of them. Popularity wise, it would go Kelly at the bottom, then Susie, then June, then Roxie. I’d say Susie is more of a threat than June since she’s so much smarter though.”

Naomi nodded. Jade’s knowledge of cliques would probably be crucial for survival. “And, uh, do you know about any other cliques?”

Jade began to list off all of the cliques, from cheerleaders to nerds. With all the knowledge she had, Naomi didn’t understand how she was stuck on some random table in the corner of the cafeteria.

“I’m just not interested in being popular.” Jade said simply upon being asked. “You on the other hand… seem like the kind of girl who wants to be in one of those high up cliques.”

Naomi thought about it. Being popular hadn’t been her goal, just to survive and get by relatively unharmed. But she did want to survive comfortably. And she had always been ambitious, like her parents.

“Yeah, but I wanted to be strategic. I thought I’d try a bit later, a few months in maybe…”

“Sure. For now, you can stay with me. We’ll be friends.”

Naomi nodded, smiling. There seemed to be a bit of a commotion nearby though, and both girls craned their necks to try and see what it was.

“Can you see what’s going on?” Jade asked Naomi, since the other girl was taller.

“Looks like a blonde girl is coming this way?” Naomi managed to see. “Is she Eva or Martha?”

“What’s she wearing?”

“Uh, she looks like a cheerleader. Pink and white uniform, and long blonde hair with a black Alice band?”

“Huh… black Alice band… who might that be… Oh shit.”

“What? Who is it?”

The girl broke through the crowd, moving like she was being mind controlled. Naomi noticed a lip print of pink sparkly lip gloss on her cheek. She was stunning, more so than the Triple Treble girls but less so than Kelly. Naomi didn’t want to shame, and it was probably just the cheerleader uniform, but her outfit was certainly a bit… provocative.

“Hello!” She bubbled. “Oh, um, hello Jade.”

Jade’s ears went pink, and she was suddenly very interested the table. “Hello Savannah.”

“How are things? Um, how’s this table? It’s a bit lower but- “

“Good.” Jade cut her off, clearly nervous she would keep talking. “Why are you here?”

“Oh, um, June wanted me to talk to the new girl. Find out her name and all.”

“It’s, uh, Naomi. Velazquez.”

“Velazquez? Like the brand?”

“Yes, like the brand.”

“Cool. I’ll let him know.” She scurried off.

“Did she misspeak?” Naomi asked.

“What do you mean?”

“She called June a he. She said she’ll let ‘him’ know.”

“No, June is a boy.”

Naomi thought Jade was joking or being sarcastic, but she was clearly serious. “Really? I didn’t think a boy would be one of the Diamonds.”

“No, technically any gender can join, but usually boys aren’t pretty enough to join or just aren’t interested. Most boys want to date the Diamonds, not be one of them.”

“So… he’s gay?”

“You’d think so, but he hooks up with like, the girls’ volleyball team or the girls’ soccer team a lot. If you’re a girl on a sports team of some kind he’ll probably go for you. He’s kind of in charge of the cheerleaders, like how Kelly is in charge of the theatre kids.”

Naomi nodded. Interesting, she had thought the Diamonds were all girls. She would have thought the most popular boy in the school would be some jock or something, not a cheerleader.

“And he wears an altered version of the cheerleader uniform?”

“Yeah, with these really tight booty shorts instead. There are some male cheerleaders though so he’s not the only one. Although he usually doesn’t wear the uniform around school since he’s a Diamond he wears their fancy clothes.”

The bell rang.

“What do you have next, Jade?”

“Sex Ed.” She rolled her eyes. “You?”

“Sex Ed!” Naomi said, surprised. “I think we have it together!”

“Sure, let’s go then. Ugh, this is gonna be so boring.”

…

Naomi and Jade got to class, which was in the gym, shockingly early, and so got to watch students file in, person by person. No one seemed too excited for this class, which was understandable. No one wanted to listen to some middle-aged teacher talk about this.

She noticed a crowd of about five or six cheerleaders walk in, then someone follow behind them.

Naomi’s mouth went dry.

The person following behind them was pulchritudinous. Like, more so than Kelly, and that had been her standard for a while. They had shiny espresso skin, long, bouncy, glossy, inky black tresses that tumbled thick around their face and down their shoulders. Their makeup was done better than Naomi could ever hope for, with layers of pink gloss upon their plump lips. They wore a pink fitted blazer with golden buttons over a white shirt, and a pink microskirt that only covered their upper thigh area and was more of a belt. Then some white long socks and black heels. They had a pair of sunglasses propped on their head, and were blowing bubble-gum.

But one thing Naomi couldn’t help but notice was their build. Their shirt buttons must have been made of titanium, and their back must have ached like crazy from that bust. What was that, 34H? Certainly, bigger than most. Since their skirt practically bared all of their legs Naomi could also see their thick thunder thighs, and wide hips. Their blazer also accentuated their slim waist. Naomi didn’t know whether that feeling in her stomach was jealousy or lust.

“Is that… a Diamond?” Naomi asked Jade.

“Yup. That’s June.”

She must have misheard her. “That’s a boy?!”

“Yeah.”

June seemed to giggle at something one of the cheerleaders said, walking up the gym steps to sit on the back row with them.

Naomi blushed, trying to focus on the teacher walking in, and not the new revelation that she liked femboys apparently.

Chapter Text

“There’s no way that’s a boy…” She muttered under her breath.

Jade rolled her eyes.

“Is he trans?”

“No, he’s cis.”

“It can’t be natural.”

“No, it is. You should see his family – he just won the genetic lottery.”

Naomi frowned, unable to stop looking. How did he have the dream build of so many teenage girls as a boy completely naturally? How much oestrogen was he producing? No, that was a weird thought.

The actual class was pretty boring and awkward, and it wasn’t helped by June and his cheerleaders constantly giggling at the back at literally everything.

Their teacher was named Ms Zheng, and she was a gym teacher. She was also apparently the coach of the girls’ Volleyball team. She was nice enough, but she probably should have stuck to teaching about sports.

“Mr Beauregard.” She called out June after he giggled for the hundredth time. “If you’re going to talk so much, I’ll have to move you away from your friends there.”

He popped a bubble of pink gum. “OMG, fine.” He had a pretty heavy ‘Valley girl’ accent. How stereotypical, even if it made Naomi’s stomach churn a little.

Naomi tried to focus, but it was a losing battle. “He does this all the time.” Jade said. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have any classes with him this year, but it seems like I have the worst luck on earth.”

“Well, at least we have each other?” Naomi said. “I mean, you’re my first friend.”

Jade smiled. “Yeah. You’re… kinda my first friend in a while.”

“In a while?”

“It was because of some drama. A lot of my friends dumped me, and I had to fend for myself.”

“Oh, that’s terrible.” Naomi said. “What happened?”

“No talking!” Ms Zheng called out. “You, please move to the front row.” She pointed to Naomi.

Naomi went red with embarrassment, and reluctantly stood up, walking down to the first row, before sitting down.

She continued to listen, a bit frustrated at being separated from Jade and unable to learn the full story.

“Mr Beauregarde, that is it.” Ms Zheng said finally. “Move to the front row.”

Naomi quickly realised June was rapidly moving towards her. The last time she had interacted with one of the Diamonds, she hadn’t known how big of a deal it was, and it was only brief. Now she would be sat next to one. And considering Jade ranked June as more dangerous than the girl who had someone killed for petty bow theft, Naomi was pretty much shitting bricks.

June plopped his huge butt on the bench next to Naomi. He rolled his eyes and blew another bubble of gum. Then his eyes wandered over to Naomi and he popped it.

“Woah,” he drawled. “You’re, like, totally pretty.”

Naomi’s face heated up. Why? Something about the way he said it, about his face, his body language, made her body react instinctively. Was this why Jade gave him such a ranking? He wasn’t even that hot! Well, that was a lie.

“Oh yeah, you’re Naomi, right?” He flashed her his pearly whites and she turned into a puddle. “I’m June. Beauregarde.”

Naomi swallowed and nodded. “I knew.” Her voice came out smaller than expected.

“What do you think about, like, being a cheerleader?”

“Um…” Naomi wasn’t stupid. Even if June’s presence was making it hard to think, and his perfume was filling her nose and melting her brain out of her ears (it was some kind of tropical perfume, so nice…), she knew he had an agenda for asking.

June continued smiling. He knew exactly what he was doing. He wanted her to underestimate him as a bimbo and just fall for his looks, like a siren. But she was prepared. Well, she had thought she was, but she was struggling. She was just a girl, a teenage girl, and she fell victim to lust as much as anyone her age or older would.

“Well?”

“I… uh…”

“You two! Can you please stop talking?”

Naomi could practically go up and hug Ms Zheng for that. Breaking up the conversation and giving her an opportunity to compose herself. But he was still right next to her, radiating heat. His perfume continued to waft off of him in waves. It smelled like it cost more than the whole school. Naomi had grown up in wealth and was still impressed. She could hardly think straight.

Then the bell, her saviour, her hero, rang. That usually annoying incessant ringing sounded like salvation.

“OK, make sure to stay safe kids!”

June turned to Naomi, but Jade showed up. June’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly, but he kept smiling. “Oh, hi Jade.”

“What do you want, June? Me and Naomi were talking.”

“I was just asking a totally honest question.” He answered. “Don’t, like, try sabotaging her social life just because yours totally went down the drain.” He stood up, and walked over to his cheerleader friends, rear bouncing beneath his skirt the whole way.

Naomi looked over at Jade, breathing heavily.

“First encounter’s always the hardest.”

Naomi stood, and they began to walk out to their next and final class – History. “That skirt has got to violate some dress code.”

“Do you really think this school cares about dress codes?”

Naomi thought about it then shrugged. She had a point. “He seemed interested in me though… not in the romantic way, I’m not delusional!” She added quickly. “Like, he asked if I wanted to become a cheerleader…”

“Hm… either he genuinely thinks it would suit you…”

“Unlikely.”

Jade nodded. “Or he wants to keep an eye on you. Becoming one of June’s little cheerleader minions is like becoming one of Kelly’s little thespians. You can live close to the Diamonds, and ‘bask in their glory’ and all, but you’ll never become one of them. Or, at least, it’s harder.”

“So, you’re saying…”

“He’s worried you’ll try to join the Diamonds and is trying to nip that in the bud before he has to deal with it? Yeah, probably.”

“But why would he care? Are there only a certain number of spots in the Diamonds or something?”

“No, but… all of them are usually vying for Roxie’s attention. The Diamonds have been around for ages, but out of the current members, Roxie’s the oldest. She’s the Queen Bee, and everyone, even Diamonds, want her to like them. He probably doesn’t want another rival.”

Naomi nodded. Then she stopped suddenly.

“I’m gonna become a Diamond.”

Jade stared at her, then cackled. The doubling over, eyes watering, struggling to breathe kind of laugh. “That’s a good one, Naomi.”

“I’m not joking. I’m gonna join their clique.”

Jade got serious all of a sudden. “Naomi, this isn’t a good idea. That’s one of the most dangerous paths to take. Practically everyone wants to join them. Most girls who try end up being killed by other girls with the same goal. There’s a reason it took so long for the Three Diamonds to become four, and why they’ve stayed that way so long. It’s practically suicide. It’s fine, shoot a little lower.”

Naomi shook her head. “If June thinks I’m so much of a threat, that must mean I have a shot. And I’ve already seen the Diamonds’ cruelty.” She thought back to May Blair’s body and clenched her fists. “I’ll become one of them and destroy them from the inside, like a virus. No one should hold so much power, the lives of hundreds in the palms of their hands. And certainly not four hormonal teenagers!”

Jade bit her lip. “I agree, but come on. Even if you somehow survive and become one of them, you’ll have to do that without anyone catching on. Because if they do, you’re dead.”

Naomi nodded. “I don’t care. I’ve been thinking about that body the whole day… it was over a bow, Jade. That should never happen again.”

Jade nodded. “Fine. As long as you understood just how dangerous this is.”

“Mhm. I do. But I can’t do it without you. You have so much info on The Diamonds. You might just give me the edge I need.”

“Don’t worry, I will.” Jade grinned. “You’re my best friend, after all. Someone needs to keep you alive.”

Naomi smiled happily. She checked off a box in her head. Mission – Find a friend who’ll protect you. Status:

Complete.

Chapter Text

Part 2

Current objective – Join the Diamonds.

Naomi and Jade couldn’t meet after school, her dad wouldn’t allow it, but she got her number and they called instead. They chatted about random things before they actually got to the elephant in the room.

“So, how do I actually become a Diamond?”

“You’ve got to do one of the ‘trials’ set up by each of the currently existing Diamonds. And they don’t want others joining, so obviously they make them really hard, practically impossible.”

“That’s fine.” Naomi said, although she was sweating bullets. “Is there a required order, or…”

“No, but I’ll recommend doing Kelly’s first, then June’s, then Susie's, then Roxie’s.”

“Okay. So, what is Kelly’s?”

“It’s in the drama studio, or behind it, really. You have to collect the words that make a quote from a play, usually Shakespeare or something, then once you’ve got it you face her and she decides whether you’re pretty enough to proceed. If you are, she gives you this key. Anyone who gets caught forging it gets killed.”

“That doesn’t sound too hard.” Naomi frowned.

“That’s not the hard part. The hard part is all of the other girls who want to join up who’ll want to attack you, and Kelly’s cronies hiding in the set pieces to jump you.”

“Ah.”

“And there’s a bunch of fake parts of the quote that blow up if you grab them.”

“How is this legal again?”

“All of the upper management’s got major ties to the government and rich philanthropists, including all of the Diamonds’ parents.”

“Ah.”

…

The next morning, she was even more nervous about going to school than she had been the previous day, and that was saying something. Still, she was excited to see Jade.

She and Jade whispered in hushed tones as they walked to homeroom (Jade was in a different homeroom but it was close to Naomi’s), as Jade explained further.

“You’ll wanna go to one of Kelly’s lackeys to sign up, but that’ll put you on her radar even more than you already are, and she might send someone to take you out before you even get to the studio.”

“Great. Should I carry a weapon, or…”

“Speaking of, I got something for you.” Jade slipped her bag off her shoulder, reached in, then slipped something into Naomi’s hand.

She looked down and gasped. It was brass knuckles, and definitely new ones.

“I- “

“I saw you fighting Summer and April. You’re definitely good with melee, so I figured that’d work best. Besides, you don’t seem like the stabbing or gun type.”

“Yeah, definitely not.”

…

Naomi knew who she wanted to sign up with. Gemma. She was in her English Lit, after all, and whilst they weren’t friends she had hope Gemma wouldn’t try killing her on the spot like any of Kelly’s other lackeys.

She stopped her after class, with Jade lingering nearby just in case.

“Hey, Gemma!”

“Hi, Naomi.” Gemma smiled at her, a little nervously. “I heard you talked to June. Are you…”

“No. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about signing up to become a Diamond.”

Gemma froze. “Naomi, I really don’t think-“

“You won’t change my mind. Please, Gemma, I’m sure about this.”

“I’ll… I’ll tell Kelly right away. But are you sure-“

“Yes.”

Gemma sighed. “Okay. But here’s some advice. One of Othello’s flaws is jealousy.”

“What?”

“It’ll make sense. I just…” She looked around. “See you soon, Naomi. I hope.” She gulped and scurried off.

Naomi caught Jade’s eyes and shrugged at her.

…

Naomi decided to go at lunch, because if she was going to die she didn’t want her last meal to be the cafeteria food, and her dad wouldn’t let her hang around after school anyways.

She was glad Jade hadn’t abandoned her, despite her clear aversion to the Diamonds. Her friend slinked along nearby, keeping her eyes peeled.

It became harder and harder to blend into the crowds as they thinned more and more the closer they got to the theatre department, and eventually their corridor was empty besides the two of them.

“It’s really quiet.” Naomi said. “Didn’t you say there was supposed to be other girls competing?”

“There should be…” Jade glanced around, then cried, “Look out!”

She tackled Naomi to the ground as something soared over their head, leaving them in a very awkward position on the ground. Naomi looked over and saw their attacker.

He was dressed in a Robin Hood outfit, which implied he had probably just come from the theatre department. In his hand was a prop bow and… oh. Those weren’t prop arrows.

“That’s Zack Jones.” Jade said.

“One of Kelly’s lackeys?”

“Yup. She’s already trying to get you out of the running.”

Zack nocked another arrow and fired at them, but they darted out of the way just in time. Naomi realised she was at quite the disadvantage, as she needed to get in closer to attack, whilst Zack could keep his distance and pick them off. He had definitely made a tactical mistake by revealing himself, though.

Naomi blocked yet another arrow with her bag. She noticed he wasn’t attacking Jade, though, probably because he hadn’t been ordered too. She moved in closer, using her bag as a shield, but Zack took that as a sign to retreat.

“Is he…?”

“Probably planning on surprise attacking us when we turn the corner.”

“So how do we beat him?”

Jade shrugged. “Just because I know shit doesn’t mean I’m some strategist.”

Naomi sighed. So, she’d have to figure it out herself then. Obviously, she could take another path to the drama studio, but chances were Kelly had planned for that and sent her little assassins down every path from the cafeteria to there so that wouldn’t be great, and Zach might catch on and follow them…

Of course! Her homeroom wasn’t too far from there, and that was near the art studio. In that case, Zach following them would be a good thing.

“Okay, let’s head to the art studio.”

“What? Why?”

“You’ll see.”

…

Zach must’ve been expecting an ambush when he entered the art studio, because he already had an arrow nocked, swivelling around as if eager to put an arrow in someone’s skull.

He didn’t find anything, though, just two girls with huge cardboard shields.

Zach immediately fired on Naomi, but she raised her shield to block his arrow barrage. Her huge shield had two holes in it, covered in transparent tape so she could see through, but he couldn’t fire through.

Naomi began to charge forwards, and Zach turned to leave, but Jade had a string attached to the door, and when she pulled on it, it slammed shut. He reached out for the door, but Jade had a hooked stick and reached out to hook his bow whilst he was distracted, tugging on it, and whilst he managed to keep her from disarming him he was also left open, allowing her to rush forwards without her shield up.

Naomi threw a punch at Zach’s face with the brass knuckle on, with strength she didn’t expect. He hit his head against the door of the art studio and was knocked out.

“Really didn’t expect your plan to work.” Jade said.

“Thanks.” Naomi murmured, searching Zach and finding a phone. She managed to unlock it and go on messages with Kelly. “’Just killed her’.” She texted out loud.

“She’ll probably asked if you checked the pulse next.” Jade said.

Sure enough, Kelly texted back, ‘You checked her pulse?’.

“’Yes, she didn’t have one’.”

“She’s gonna say something about rewarding you next, probably giving you a role in the upcoming play.”

‘You’ve done well. You might have a speaking role in the winter musical’.

“How are you guessing these?”

“I know a thing or two. Now let’s get to the drama studio quickly. She’ll probably be recalling all her other assassins, so let’s get there before someone sees you and she gets word you’re not dead.”

“Good call.” Naomi looked down at Zach. “He’ll be alright, right?”

Jade checked his pulse. “Seems like he’s just knocked out.”

“Good. Let’s get going!”

Chapter Text

Naomi strolled into the drama studio, half – expecting to get jumped the second she walked in, but luckily she didn’t have to deal with that.

Jade hadn’t entered the room with her, but she had given her a warning.

“Don’t trust anything in there. I know it’s obvious, but Kelly’s drama lackeys are really good actors. Don’t fall for it.”

Then she had slinked off.

The drama studio was decently large, connected to the stage and main hall on the left and a huge costumes room by a door at the far end. Some of Kelly’s lackeys milled about, but the actual Diamond was nowhere to be seen.

Gemma was, though, talking with some other theatre kids. When she saw Naomi, her eyes widened.

“You’re alive? I mean, uh, hi Naomi!”

Naomi couldn’t help but smile, a little wearily. “Hi, Gemma. I’m here for the audition?”

“Yeah, great. Um, basically, you’ll have to go through the costumes area behind the drama studio and collect parts of a quote. That okay with you?”

“Yeah, sure. Hit me.”

Gemma looked very sad but still opened the door for her. “Good luck.”

It was incredibly dark in there. Naomi could hardly see anything and could only vaguely make out the racks of very dramatic costumes, making up a maze surrounding her. Dim green lights shone far away, which Naomi decided to venture towards.

She began to walk forwards, fingers slipped through her brass knuckles as she stood ready to fight. But it didn’t matter – she still screamed like a little girl when a teenage girl in a Frankenstein (or, Naomi thought, technically Frankenstein’s monster) costume burst from the clothing racks and wrestled her to the ground, hands around her neck.

Naomi squired, but the girl was twice her size and triple her weight. She swung her fists, and when that didn’t work she tried to scratch her, then managed to shift into a position to bite down on the girl’s finger.

She let out a scream of pain, and released Naomi, who bolted down the aisle, Frankenstein girl following her the whole way, until she reached one of the lights.

Beneath it was a large TV screen, a plaque, with the words, ‘Oh, beware, my lord’, inscribed on it. Two puzzle pieces hung from the plaque below it, one reading ‘Of Jealousy’, and the other reading ‘Danger approaches’.

The TV flicked on, and Kelly stood there, standing before a crowd of theatre kids and adoring fans. Naomi had forgotten just how pretty Kelly was – she wore the same outfit as last time she saw her, and her makeup was perfect as usual, with a dazzling smile that drew such crowds to her.

“And our second contestant for the day,” Kelly was announcing, “Naomi Velazquez, the First Year!”

No one clapped or cheered, which was slightly demoralizing but expected. Naomi cast a glance over her shoulder and saw her pursuer gaining ground.

“Um-“

“Bup, bup, bup!” Kelly held up a finger. “Let me finish. You’re being presented with two choices for how to continue this quote. Is the quote, ‘Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy’? Or is it, ‘Oh, beware, my lord, danger approaches’? You have ten seconds.” She added in a sing – song tone.

“Uh…” Naomi felt like she was on a game show.

“Ten… nine…” Kelly cast a venomous glance over at her audience, who began counting along with her.

Naomi thought back to what Gemma had told her. “It’s ‘Of jealousy’, right?”

The crowd clapped, but Kelly shot them another glare and they stopped. Kelly gave a smile so pretty and so well – constructed Kelly struggled to tell it was fake.

“Well, you’re right. Take your puzzle piece and continue.”

Naomi didn’t need to be told twice. She snatched it and jumped out of the way just in time to avoid Frankenstein girl rugby – tackling her. Naomi kicked the girl in the face whilst she was down and sprinted off.

Whilst on her way to the next light, she found another girl ahead of her. She could just make out a light wolfcut in the dim light, yet she didn’t seem to be a theatre kid.

Kelly’s words rang in her ears. ‘Our second contestant for today’. That meant someone else had gone to compete first. They’d survived Kelly’s attacks, too, and must be dangerous.

Naomi hesitated for a second, before hearing Frankenstein girl’s thundering gait and ducking into a costume rack.

The juggernaut glanced around in confusion, before seeing the other girl and charging. Wolfcut girl proceeded to pull out a pistol of some kind, and fire at Frankenstein girl’s legs, causing her to slip and fall.

“It’s a tranquiliser,” The girl said, voice about as warm as the Arctic, “I got the idea from Susie. She’s my queen, and I’m going to join the Diamonds to get closer to her. Anyone who gets in my way gets what they deserve.”

And she turned, to keep going.

Naomi gulped. How was she supposed to compete with that? She looked down at the Frankenstein girl, twitching on the ground, letting out a pained groan. The dart clearly hadn’t done too much damage itself, but the tranquiliser was slowly doing its job.

Naomi slipped through the clothing racks in pursuit. Did the plaques replenish their puzzle pieces? Could she follow behind this girl, listen out for the correct answers, and win that way?

Before she could figure out the answer to her question, though, wolfcut girl was grabbed by someone emerging from the costume racks, a boy in a Romeo costume, who via the element of surprise managed to wrestle her to the ground, pressing his very real sword prop to her throat.

Naomi took her chance, speeding up, but wolfcut girl saw her. Whilst trying to fight Romeo off of her, she fired a tranquiliser at Naomi, which luckily missed. Naomi ran, managing to get to the plaque.

The plaque showed a Romeo and Juliet quote, and Naomi realised that the other girl had a different puzzle to her, probably to prevent her earlier strategy of trailing behind. However, when Naomi approached, the plaque went into the ground on some mechanism, and a new one with Othello came out.

The TV flicked on.

“It seems Naomi has made it to the next post.” Kelly said, seeming sorely disappointed. The crowd booed, and Kelly waved dramatically. “No, no, it’s fine.” She said, very obviously acting. “This time, you’re faced with three options, and still ten seconds.”

Naomi read quickly, with Kelly and her audience counting over the TV. The plaque showed the quote so far – ‘Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy!’, and three puzzle pieces showed the options for its continuation. ‘It is the greediest’, ‘It is the green-eyed monster’, and ‘It will consume thee’.

Shakespeare liked similes, right? The second one seemed the most poetic! “The second one!” Naomi said quickly.

Kelly frowned. “Whatever. Take it.”

Naomi hastily grabbed the next puzzle piece, but as she turned to leave, felt a sharp pain in her ankle.

Turning, she saw wolfcut girl trailing towards her, with Romeo hanging onto her ankle the only thing slowing her down, and he had seemingly been turned into a tranquiliser dart pincushion. Naomi looked down and saw at dart sticking out of her ankle.

She felt her heart begin to race, which she knew would only make things worse. She had to get moving and get as much distance as she could before she was either immobilised and/or passed out.

Naomi sprinted, which couldn’t have been good for her considering the tranquiliser racing through her system, but she hoped adrenaline might help combat it. Things were only made worse when another theatre kid launched herself from the costume rack, swinging at Naomi. She landed a strong punch with her brass knuckle, breaking the girl’s nose, but she could feel the tranquiliser beginning to work – her legs becoming numb, her movements slightly more sluggish.

Naomi glanced around and realised the costume rack was on wheels. Thinking quickly, she jumped towards it, picked up a staff prop, and used it to push against the ground and propel herself on the rack, forwards, using it as a vehicle to reach the next plaque.

She managed to dismount, her legs like jelly beneath her, and stumble towards the plaque as the TV switched on.

“Hello there.” Kelly said, as if Naomi had just shown up to her house for a tea party. “Doing well, Naomi?”

“Peachy.” Naomi murmured.

“Amazing! You’ve got four options now, because we can’t have things being too easy.” Kelly gave a gorgeous grin. “Go on. Ten seconds, of course.”

The options were, ‘Which doth mock’, ‘Which doth consume’, ‘Which seeks to hunt’, and ‘Which cannot be overcome’. Naomi thought back to her Othello lesson the other day. It was definitely one of the ‘Which doth’ ones, and it was too soon in the quote to talk about consumption, that felt like an end of quote thing…

“First one.” She managed.

“Correct. Take it.”

Naomi managed to snatch it up, scrambling onto her costume rack – mobile, but just as she did she felt two more sharp pains in her shoulder.

Wolfcut girl was running, now, and Naomi’s only hope was that she would pause to work on the plaque. Despite the tranquiliser’s effects, Naomi managed to propel herself down the maze and reach the final plaque in one piece. She was teetering on the edge of consciousness and had to keep slapping herself and biting her lip and tongue, yet she knew it was a losing battle.

She dismounted, probably for the last time, to see a plaque with the quote so far, and one blank puzzle piece.

The TV flicked on. “Already here? Wow, I’m impressed.” Naomi would’ve been fooled by Kelly’s fake compliment had she not known anything about the girl.

“Where’s the answer?” She asked groggily, biting her hand over and over, as hard as possible.

“This last question isn’t multiple choice. You have to answer it yourself. I’ll graciously give you fifteen seconds this time.”

Naomi wanted to scream, but she just sighed instead. She looked at the quote so far:
‘Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy!
It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock’

What could that be? That was Act Three, right? How did Kelly expect her to remember that, especially with three tranquilisers in stuck in her?

She had to think. There was monster imagery, so Naomi thought of eating, then flesh, then meat. Then she remembered something her teacher had said, and she got the answer with six seconds to spare.

“The… meat it… feeds… on…” She managed.

Kelly looked seething. The crowd seemed impressed but didn’t dare to cheer or clap or any other form of celebration.

“Fine. Take your puzzle piece.”

Naomi reached out, grabbing the puzzle piece, and flipping it over to see what she said on the other side.

Then she heard footsteps, and saw wolfcut girl approaching, having finally caught up.

“You’re persistent. I’ve never seen anyone last so long after three whole tranquilisers. Still, you’re cornered. I’ll just hit you with a few more and-“

She clearly wasn’t expecting Naomi to go straight at her. She pushed down with her prop staff with all of her strength, and the wheels sent her at her with incredible speed. Wolfcut girl seemed to panic for a second, before fumbling around for more tranquiliser darts to refill.

But Naomi was already upon her, landing a swing whilst she rolled towards the girl and hitting her, hard. Then Naomi dismounted and used the remainder of her strength to knock the girl out cold.

However, that remainder of her strength was likely important. Naomi was beginning to fade in and out of consciousness, and her legs had already completely stopped working. She fell down, and gripped onto the bottom of the costume rack, beginning to drag herself across the floor, still using her staff prop to propel herself.

She reached the end of the maze, a door with a lock on it, and Naomi realised why she had been collecting puzzle pieces this whole time. She managed to use the costume rack once again to prop herself up, and shoved the pieces in, assembling the completed quote:

‘Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy!
It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on.’

The doors swung open, revealing the stage, the audience, and Kelly, who looked absolutely enraged.

“Why you…” She clenched her fists. “Fine. I’ll admit, you’ve passed my trial. I guess you’ll be needing this.”

Kelly walked over to Naomi, who had maybe a quarter of her consciousness remaining, bent down and handed something to her.

“You’ve done well. Now goodnight.”

Naomi opened her eyes in the school’s medical room. The hell? What happened?

Jade stood over her. “Hey. You’ve been out a little while.”

“What… happened?”

“You passed. I managed to get this off of your body.” She held up something gold, a key with two theatre masks on the end. “This was from Kelly. It’s impossible to copy, and when you show it and the other three keys to Ms Gadhavi she’ll sign you up for the club.”

Naomi stared. “So…”

“Yup. Second day here and you’re closer to success than most girls have been in their lifetime. Good job. Now take a nap until the school nurse shows up, and she’ll probably let you go home early.”

“Good call.” Naomi murmured. “Thanks, Jade.”

Naomi saw Jade fight back a smile. “Don’t thank me. You’ve still got much tougher challenges ahead. I don’t know why you do this to yourself.” Then she paused. “But… you're welcome.”

Chapter Text

Kelly’s mansion (or, well, her parents’ mansion) didn’t exactly fit her aesthetic. One would expect her to live in a medieval castle on a stormy cliff, not in some preppy L.A mansion. But, well, her parents were actors, not despots from the Middle Ages, so that made sense. Still, the pathetic fallacy of the rain and thunderstorm that night helped make her house seem a little more villainous.

 

The actress watched from her window as her fellow Diamonds’ cars drove into the parking lot – first Susie’s royal blue, then June’s bubblegum pink. Roxie would probably be late, as per usual.

 

She descended the stairs, snapping her fingers, and her butler, Marcus, hurried in.

 

“You called, ma’am?”

 

“Is everything ready? They’re here.”

 

“Of course, ma’am. We’ve prepared their food, drinks, chairs, even entertainment.”

 

“And you’ve chosen the perfect temperature?”

 

“Yes. Miss Quigley prefers cooler temperatures, but Mr Beauregarde prefers warmer ones. As such, we’ve chosen the perfect Goldilocks zone.”

 

“No, I don’t care about them. Cater to Roxie above all else, remember?”

 

“Yes, ma’am.”

 

The doors swung open, and Susie strutted in, her royal blue raincoat wrapped around her like royal robes, as one of Kelly’s workers held an umbrella over her, having met her at her car. She shed her coat, dumping it on one of the workers before strutting over to Kelly, tutting.

 

“Can you believe the weather? Even in Britain the storms weren’t that bad. Preposterous...” She smoothed down her skirt, the longest of the Diamonds, and flashed Kelly a smile. “Good evening, Kelly.” She said pleasantly.

 

“Ciao.” She waved theatrically. “Lovely weather, isn’t it?”

 

“You’re so funny, Kelly.” Susie murmured sarcastically. “Are the snacks ready?”

 

Kelly held a hand to her chest in mock hurt. “So impatient! Don’t you want to make conversation with me?” Susie glared at her, and Kelly sighed. “Yes. Go on. Arrivederci.”

 

Next to enter was June, skipping in and blowing a kiss to the employee who held his umbrella, causing her to flush. He then bounded over to Kelly, and she tried to ignore the ridiculous anime girl physics on display.

 

“Ciao bella~.” Kelly gave a smile and wave, though she was acting. June was hot, and so, so easy, but she could never be serious with him.

 

Still, June’s smile was cute. “Hi! It’s rainy outside. Really, really rainy.”

 

“It is. Did you get wet, June?”

 

June giggled and bit his nail flirtatiously. “You could say that.”

 

“Susie’s already gone past, by the way.” Kelly said. “Everything’s ready.”

 

“Ooh, there’s cheesecake?”

 

“Of course. How could I forget?”

 

June smiled, and skipped along towards the lounge, allowing Kelly to drop the act. She waited for about ten minutes, until she decided that Roxie would probably be late, as usual, and so went inside without her.

 

Susie was drinking some tea and chatting with June, who was stuffing his face with cakes as per usual (Kelly’s theory was that he was so thick in the behind because that’s where his body stored all the carbs he ate).

 

Kelly plopped down on one of the seats, grabbing a snack. If she was being honest, she hated being ‘equal’ with these two. June wasn’t as bad as Susie – she hated Susie. The fact that she’d managed to pass Kelly’s test was so infuriating, especially with how smug she was about it.

 

“Are we starting without Roxie?” June asked.

 

“I...” Kelly looked toward the door. “We can catch her up. Besides, she always has the final say, right?”

 

“Your funeral.” Susie murmured.

 

Kelly ignored her. She was happy to be in charge, at least until Roxie showed up. “So. Anything significant happen with you all?”

 

“Some people tried and failed my test to earn my key.” Susie said.

 

“Oh, someone tried mine,” June said, “but we ended up hooking up instead, and I got a new jock to work for me!”

 

“What else is new...” Susie murmured.

 

“Oh. Well, someone actually did manage to pass mine...” Kelly murmured.

 

“What?”

 

“Yeah, I couldn’t hear that.” June said.

 

“Someone managed to pass...”

 

“Huh?”

 

“SOMEONE MANAGED TO GET MY KEY!” Kelly blurted out.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

They turned. It was Roxie, having somehow shown up without them hearing her. She was of course dressed in red, her long blonde hair tumbling down her shoulders.

 

“R - Roxie!” Kelly stood. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise you, uh, so, I didn’t, I, we were just chatting, just waiting for you, we’re-”

 

“Shut up Kelly, stop kissing my ass.” Roxie walked over to a chair and plopped down on one. “June?”

 

June hurried over, and sat at Roxie’s feet, as she played with his hair, running her fingers through his locks. Kelly hated how June was the favourite. Like, you get your organs rearranged by the head of the Diamonds once or twice and she’s like 10% less rude? So unfair.

 

“So, Kelly, who’s the lucky student who passed your test?”

 

“Naomi Velasquez.” Kelly said nervously.

 

“I talked to her.” June said. “But she seems to be friends with Jade. Ow!” He squeaked, looking up at Roxie.

 

Kelly suspected Roxie had just pressed on his scalp much too hard, and the idea of her harming him gave her a kind of sick pleasure.

 

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about it now. Since Kelly failed, I think she deserves a form of punishment. But if she’s taking advice from... her, then I assume June will be next.”

 

June looked up at Roxie, clearly quite nervous. “I-”

 

“Don’t fail, alright?”

 

June gulped. “I won’t, Roxie.”

 

“Good boy.” She patted his cheek and looked up. “But if he does, Susie, you’ll be the last line of defence before I have to get involved.”

 

“She absolutely will not get past me.” Susie said. “That I can promise you, Roxie.”

 

“Good. Four Diamonds is more than enough. Five, and one affiliated with her, no less... is too many. You all get that, right?”

 

There was a chorus of slightly terrified agreement.

 

“Good. Kelly, I’ll think up your punishment. Now, let’s all have a nice evening, okay? Kelly, turn a movie on. If it wasn’t raining, we could play croquet...”

 

Kelly fumbled for a remote and turned the TV on, drowning out the din of the tempest outside.

Chapter Text

“So, what’s June’s trial?” Naomi asked. They had been able to meet up as she told her dad it was for a club, which was technically true. So now, they were hanging out in a park nearby the school, with Naomi planning on rushing back to the school before her dad’s chauffeur showed up to pick her up. “Is it a huge orgy or something?”

 

“Kind of, actually. It’s a date.”

 

“What.”

 

“Well, kind of. More of an interview. Basically, you go out with him, he asks you a bunch of questions and flirts with you, and if you survive his many assassination attempts and resist his siren – ness, you pass.”

 

“Is... that it? That doesn’t seem too bad...”

 

“You’ve met June. He’s a succubus. A siren. If you let your guard down, he’ll eat you.”

 

“Figuratively, right?”

 

“Well...” Jade shrugged, and Naomi realised what she was implying.

 

“Ew!!”

 

“It’s true! Most people fail because they end up getting freaky with him and just becoming one of his little minions.”

 

“Well, luckily I won’t fall for that.” She saw Jade staring at her. “What?”

 

“Come on.”

 

“Fine. I’ll... keep my guard up.”

 

“Keep your guard up for assassins first.” Jade said. “I guarantee they’ve had a meeting on you getting past Kelly’s trial. They can definitely guess that you’re doing June’s next, and June won’t want to upset Roxie. Expect the worst of June’s roster.”

 

“Oh. Well, that’s just cheerleaders, right?”

 

“Cheerleaders, jocks, etc, etc. Just keep your eyes peeled. I’d say go to sign up ASAP.”

 

“With who?”

 

“One of June’s cheerleader minions, probably. You’ll have to pick one and ask them.”

 

“Where would I find them?”

 

“Probably go to the bleachers. You’ll at least find one cheerleader there.”

 

“Great. Are the cheerleaders evil too?”

 

“Naomi, come on. Everyone at this school is evil.”

 

“Besides you, of course.”

 

Jade shrugged. “To some extent.”

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

“Kidding.” Jade scrunched up her soda can and aimed at the bin but completely missed.

 

Naomi snorted. “Aim’s not one of your talents, huh?”

 

“Shut up.” Jade murmured, as she walked over to pick up her soda can and put it in the bin properly.

 

Naomi watched in amusement, but her attention was quickly diverted as something hit the bench beside her.

 

It was some kind of spherical device, that smelled a whole lot like bananas. Naomi immediately jumped back, looking around for where it could’ve come from. Whilst Jade approached, concerned.

 

“What was that?”

 

“I don’t know. Some weird banana gadget.”

 

“Sounds dangerous.”

 

Naomi couldn’t tell if she was joking or not. She burrowed into her pockets for her brass knuckles, preparing to slip them on her fingers just in case, when her ears picked up something.

 

Buzzing.

 

“Do you hear that?”

 

“Hear wha- oh, the wasps?”

 

“Wasps?” Naomi whipped around and saw a huge swarm of wasps flying towards them.

 

“Maybe it would be a good idea to move.”

 

“Thanks, Jade.”

 

“No problem.”

 

The two of them sprinted out of the park, but the wasps continued to give chase. They ran across the street, but the wasps didn’t let up, and unlike the girls, they didn’t have to wait for cars to cross the road.

 

They were descended upon by the swarm, and Jade whipped her jacket off to try and bat the wasps away until the cars passed and they raced across the street. The sun was beginning to set, casting a golden glow upon the buildings, and unfortunately blinding them when they turned a corner, allowing for their airborne pursuers to catch up once again.

 

“Leave us alone! We haven’t even done anything!”

 

“Wasps are stupid like that.” Jade said. “Luckily, I have a solution.”

 

She pulled out a cigarette lighter, a bottle of perfume, held the lighter in front of the perfume bottle, and pressed on both.

 

Naomi let out a little help as flames roared out, the makeshift flamethrower frying a solid ten of them, but just getting the rest even angrier. Jade turned to and fro, trying to fry the rest of them, as Naomi stood behind her, a little concerned about being burned, or about getting in some legal trouble from blasting a bunch of bugs with a flamethrower in public.

 

But, even after all the wasps were dead, even more showed up.

 

“Come on!”

 

“Maybe this has something to do with the gadget from earlier.” Jade suggested as they began to run again, as Jade was already running low on perfume. “Some super - wasp attractor or something.”

 

“Oh, right! It smelled like bananas!”

 

“...so?”

 

“I remember reading in a book somewhere that wasps and bees release a pheromone when attacked to get back up from their hive. One molecule present in the honeybee pheromone was isopentyl acetate, also known as banana oil.”

 

“So, you’re saying someone attacked us with bananas?”

 

“Well, no, but maybe they’ve done some advanced chemistry, and made a pheromone that will attract a ton of angry wasps to attack us.”

 

“So... we wash it off?”

 

“Or cover it in something else, yeah!”

 

“Well, in that case...”

 

They turned into an alleyway, and Jade immediately began to douse the two of them in perfume. She used almost all of her bottle, then toasted the remaining wasps, finishing off the rest, allowing them to walk out of the alleyway calmly.

 

“So, who do you think attacked us?”

 

“Probably an assassin, but wasps aren’t deadly...”

 

“No, but they hurt, and if they send enough of them at us, maybe they’re hoping one’ll get in our throats or up our noses or something?”

 

“That would be pretty bad.” Jade said, noticing another one of those devices bouncing in front of their feet. “DAMN IT!”

 

She kicked it away, but Naomi suspected it was too late. “Got any spare perfume on you?”

 

“Me? No.”

 

Naomi looked in the direction it came from, to the top of a building, where she saw a retreating figure. “Up there!”

 

“That’s an apartment complex.” Jade said. “But they could either go down the elevator or the stairs...”

 

“Then let’s split up!”

 

“Good idea! Should confuse the wasps too!”

 

They sprinted off, into the building, the incessant buzzing of the striped, yellow swarm pursuing them as they went.

 

“I’ll take the stairs.” Naomi said.

 

“’Kay, I’ll go for the elevator then!” They split off, as Naomi approached the twisting spiral staircase and began to climb as fast as she could.

 

Obviously, outrunning a wasp swarm was hard, especially a swarm of effectively high ones, whilst she was out of breath and climbing some really tall stairs, so a few times, she did trip on a step or two, causing her to trip down the stairs and have to restart her climb.

 

But eventually, after climbing, climbing, and climbing some more, she reached the top, pushing her way onto the roof of the building.

 

Jade was standing there, having obviously reached the top first. She was covered in wasp stings and staring horrified at the girl opposite them.

 

She wore a red leather jacket over white latex pants and tall black leather boots. Her hair looked pretty wild, and she had some cool wasp – themed sunglasses propped on her head. Beside her was a box, a catapult on a tripod stand, and a box filled with those devices.

 

“Hi there, Naomi. You’re my target right now, but getting Jade will probably get me in their good books.”

 

“Let me guess – the Diamonds sent you?”

 

“Some hard cash and an invite to June’s next party will win over even the most stubborn students at our school.” The girl agreed.

 

“Cut the crap, Randy. What’s in the box?”

 

“Your name’s Randy?”

 

“Piper Randy, really.” Piper said, before turning to the box. “Now, uh, have either of you two heard of the Asian giant hornet?”

 

Naomi’s face fell. “No. No way.”

 

“What? What is it?”

 

“The Asian giant hornet is the biggest hornet in the world,” Naomi began to explain quickly, panic setting in. “Not only can they spray venom into people’s eyes, but their sting is some of the worst in the world. It’s been described as feeling like a hot nail being driven into your skin.”

 

“But it’s not lethal, right?” Jade asked. “Unless your allergic?”

 

“Even if you’re not allergic, if the dose is great enough, multiple stings can kill. There’s this neurotoxin called mandaratoxin, and, and-” Naomi couldn’t even get the words out. She remembered thinking, ‘Damn, I’d hate to be chased by one of those’ when she read about it. And now... she had a feeling quite a few were only a few feet away.

 

“Thanks for saving me the explanation,” Piper grinned. “Now, uh, I’d say there’s roughly thirty Asian giant hornets in this box. I’ve been saving them for a big assassination gig like this one. And with a few blasts of my special attack pheromone, you two will be public enemy number one for the hive. All I need to do, is...”

 

She aimed the catapult, and Naomi’s fight or flight triggered. She jumped out of the way of one, and whilst she got up backflipped out of the way of another, but as they say, third time’s the charm, and the weird pheromone gadget rolled past her feet, likely getting the smell all over her.

 

She looked over at Jade. Maybe she could distract all the wasps, and give Jade an opportunity to get out of there? But no, Jade had been distracted by Naomi and caught one being sent right at her face without thinking. She dropped it immediately, but Naomi guessed it was too late.

 

Piper clapped with glee. “Yay! This’ll be my biggest gig yet! It’ll put me on the map! Not many people get to say they killed a key – holder and THE Queen Roxie’s-”

 

“Shut up!” Jade said quickly. “We’re not dying!”

 

“You’re right.” Naomi riffled through her pockets and pulled out a bottle of hand sanitiser. Then, taking Jade’s lighter off her, she combined the two and sent the flaming bottle right at Piper.

 

Piper dodged, and it hit the box containing the hornets instead.

 

“Ha! Idiots!”

 

Naomi threw her brass knuckle, hitting the catapult stand, and knocking it over, causing it to skim the gadget bucket. Piper shrieked and tried to run away, but the gadgets spilling onto the floor pressed their buttons and turned them on, making Piper the one covered in attack pheromones, and much, much more than Naomi or Jade.

 

“You’re right to say not many people get to say they killed a key – holder and an enemy of your Queen Roxie,” Naomi said, “And you sure as hell won’t be one of them!”

 

Piper screamed and ran for her life, but the hornets had already been unleashed. They swarmed her, delivering enough stings to probably send her to the hospital. Meanwhile, Jade and Naomi took the elevator out of there (After Naomi picked up her brass knuckle of course), the sheer amount of sweat they were drenched in probably washing off any remaining pheromones.

 

“Oh, shit, I’m probably going to be late to my dad’s pick up.” Naomi winced.

 

“And I guess he won’t like that?”

 

“Probably not. There probably won’t be any more ‘afterschool clubs’ for a little while.”

 

Jade shrugged. “Well, it was fun while it lasted.”

 

“One day?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

A lady with a tram rolled into the elevator, and looked at them in distress. “Are you two young ladies alright?”

 

Naomi looked down at herself, drenched in sweat, hands and probably face covered in wasp stings, and just giggled. Then Jade giggled, and they were giggling all the way down to the ground floor.

 

The lady rolled out of the elevator, probably very concerned.

 

“Imagine she saw the state Piper’s probably in!” Jade joked.

 

“Should we... call the ambulance?”

 

“And have her frame the whole thing on us? Nah, she should be fine. When her employers realise she didn’t turn up, I imagine they’ll call.” Jade thought about that for a second. “Actually, I doubt any of them will care. Fine, let’s do it, but we can use a burner, and probably a voice – changer too to avoid the cops going after us.”

 

When Naomi turned up at home that night, she was lucky that her dead was, as usual, not home. She got patched up by one of the house servants, took a shower, and slipped into bed, excited to hang out with Jade at school the next day, and beat down on a wide variety of colourful assassins.

Chapter Text

“He’s upstairs. In his room. Third door on the right.”

 

Buddy gulped but nodded, fearful but also eager. The jock walked past the maidservants and ascended the staircase, following their instructions to the room, and knocking on the door.

 

“Come in~!” June’s valley girl drawl came out in a sing – song tone.

 

He reached out, hands shaking, before gripping the door handle, turning it and pushing into the room. The inside was dimly lit, with only the scented candles (They smelled of caramel and vanilla) and the light from the outside illuminating the boy inside.

 

June was wrapped in a silky pink night robe, over skimpy, lacy pink lingerie – a bra and thong. He was reading a magazine that Buddy realised was, um, not exactly PG. Buddy’s face turned redder than his jacket and he staggered back.

 

“I - I’ll g – go-”

 

“No, stay.” June pouted. “I didn’t invite you here for no reason. It’s just that I’m seeing someone later, that’s all.”

 

“Okay...” Buddy lifted a shaky hand to flick the light switch on, and sat down on an incredibly plush pink chair, covered in bubblegum pink pillows. He felt his body sink in like a fluffy cloud.

 

“You know the reason I called you, right?”

 

“You have a job for the team?”

 

“Mhm. Just someone I, like, want you to totally get rid of. You get it, right?”

 

“Of course. But, um...” Buddy questioned to himself whether asking his next question would get him killed or not. As cute as the femboy before him was, he had a feeling those nails of his weren’t just for show, and that was without his servants. Regardless, he steeled his nerve, testing the waters. “Putting the whole team on one task will be uh, take a long time. We could use that time for practice. So, uh, what I’m, uh, saying is....”

 

“You wanna be paid?”

 

Buddy gulped. “It... would be nice.”

 

June smiled, flicking his magazine shut. “Okay, I’ll, like, level with you. This is kinda important, because, like, Roxie put me up to this. So, just this once, I guess I’ll give you a pic.”

 

Buddy’s mouth went dry, and he had to stop his jaw from falling to the floor. “O - of what?”

 

“If you manage it, it’ll totally be your choice.”

 

This was an opportunity very few students of Pinehill were granted. To retrieve an explicit picture of a Diamond was like receiving an emperor’s seal. He and the rest of the team would be kings among men, gods among the student body...

 

“You’re kidding, right?”

 

“No. This is, like, my serious face.”

 

“We’ll do it. I promise, we won’t let you down.”

 

“Good. I want a cute pic of the body, too, so I can, like, totally show it off to Roxie. Actually, give it to me, so I can, like, take a selfie with it. I can totally put it in my collection.”

 

“Okay! Anything you want, June.”

 

June blew Buddy a kiss and gave him a little flirty wave (a wiggle of the fingers, that’s all) and he almost fainted. To prevent himself from impregnating his underwear, he stood and walked out of the bedroom in a daze.

 

...

 

“So, that’s who you think I should ask?”

 

“It’d be a good idea.” Jade said. “She’s the cheerleader least likely to stab you on the spot.”

 

Naomi narrowed her eyes. Penny Hollis, member of the cheer squad, and one of June’s little minions, though also a member of the horse-riding appreciation club, and the art club.

 

“She’s, uh, nice?”

 

As if the universe was answering her question, a... unique scene unfolded at that moment. Penny’s horse keychain fell off her bag, and a guy accidentally kicked it. The next second, he was on the floor, face going from pale to red to a unique shade of purple as Penny squeezed the air out of his throat.

 

“You little shit! You can’t just go around kicking my favourite pony like that! Die in hell, ASSHOLE!”

 

The guy just about managed to gasp out a “S... or... rry....” and she seemed to calm down.

 

“Oh. That’s fine, then.” Penny hopped off him, and picked up her horse keychain, giving it a little head pat.

 

“THAT’S the nicest one?” Naomi whispered incredulously.

 

“Well, everyone in this school’s fucked up. You knew that already.”

 

Naomi sighed. “Okay. I guess-”

 

The screeching of the bell postponed Naomi’s plan significantly. She let out a groan.

 

“What’ve we got next?”

 

“I’ve got Maths, you’ve got Gym.”

 

“Gym?” A second groan.

 

“Oh, cheer up, you’re good at that.”

 

“Yeah, but it still sucks. Let’s just get this over with.”

 

...

 

Usually, gym classes were separated by gender. But today, their usual gym teacher wasn’t in, and their new one seemed awfully insistent on them pairing up with the boys, so thee they were.

 

Naomi scanned the lineup of boys, but luckily June wasn’t present. Who was present was the entire male football team, each built like a tank with an extra layer of muscle for good measure. Naomi didn’t like her odds, especially when she learned they would be playing dodgeball.

 

“Can’t we mix up the teams?” One girl complained.

 

“No, we’ll keep it boys vs girls.” The substitute insisted. “Let’s get the game started. Boys will go first.”

 

“Hold on, that’s not how dodgeball works!” Naomi said. “The balls are supposed to be in the-”

 

The teacher hit her with a mean right hook.

 

“Quiet down, please, girls. Stop your complaining or I’ll have to give you a handicap. Boys, take as many balls as you want from the tub, then the girls will get their pick afterwards.”

 

Obviously, the boys weren’t stupid, so when the girls received the tub, there were two deflated volleyballs and a tennis ball left in there. Naomi swiped the tennis ball before the rest of the girls could dogpile the tub and grab every atom of dust inside, and moved off to the side, cheek still stinging, hoping she could maybe get in a good shot against one of the boys.

 

The gymnasium was musty yet large, with a wooden plank floor, and some climbing ladders, ropes, and other activities that had been pushed to the sides on the walls for more space. The boys had formed a unit that reminded her of the military, each with a ball in either hand, with a row of balls at the back in case they needed to restock. They were led by Buddy Holly, captain of the football team, although if Jade was there maybe she would get more info. Overall, she didn’t like her odds.

 

Until the universe smiled upon her.

 

“Mrs Manon, I want to change sides.”

 

It was a boy on the other end – Keshav Bandari, a Telugu boy who looked perpetually on steroids. His skin was marred with scars, and he wore the Pinehill Gym shirt with ‘RHINESTONE COWBOY’ gym shorts. His hair was shoulder – length and shaggy – did he cut it with blunt scissors or something?

 

“Uh, I don’t know if-”

 

“Let him.” Buddy insisted.

 

“Alright.” The teacher shrugged.

 

Keshav crossed over to the girls’ side, dodgeball in hand, whispering to Naomi, “You’re the target.”

 

“Huh?”

 

Keshav didn’t say much more, just crossed over to the back.

 

Naomi didn’t have any time to think about that before the game began.

 

And about four different dodgeballs came flying at her at, like, Mach 5. She ducked under one, weaved around two, and caught the fourth.

 

“He’s out!” Another girl said.

 

Mrs Manon ignored her.

 

Naomi was about to throw it back when she noticed it beeping. She didn’t hesitate and hurled it at one of the boys, but it exploded as it soared through the air.

 

“What the fuck? Bombs?”

 

“Uh, language!” Mrs Manon scolded.

 

Naomi scowled. So, this was the next assassination attempt? And now she was facing the entire football team, armed with explosives. With no allies, because Jade was currently praying for a quick and merciful whilst her teacher droned on about Pythagoras, whilst Naomi was living out her friend’s wish. Great. She just loved her life.

 

And it didn’t look like Mrs Manon was doing much – chances were, she had been paid off with enough cash to look the other way. How much must her wages suck for students to be able to pay her so much? Or was she just that negligent?

 

No time to think – three more dodgeballs, soaring at her fast enough to make a cheetah cry and decide to make a workout plan. She would have to dodge – catching or letting them hit her was too risky.

 

She managed it, leaping left, but two more dodgeballs met her when she landed. She batted one away with her fist and ducked to avoid the other, but the boys were quickly picking up new ammunition. Would she have to completely exhaust their stock? How long would that take? Could so last that long?

 

The girls seemed to have realised what was going on and were following an unwritten rule of Pinehill – never get involved with assassination attempts, just sit back and grab a snack. So, they backed off, leaving her completely exposed. Tch. No loyalty.

 

Naomi stood, dodging a curveball, and an underarm throw, but one dodgeball grazed her side as it exploded, throwing her to the floor and sending a sharp pain through her body. She managed to get back to her feet, but the boys seemed to now have the idea to time their throws so that the balls would explode exactly when they reached Naomi – that way, dodging became the only viable option, and even that became much less foolproof.

 

And this new technique began to pose Naomi some trouble. Her ponytail was set alight when she swerved to the side of an explosion, and she was forced to drop and do a barrel roll to put it out and avoid getting turned into popcorn.

 

She was getting overwhelmed. Eventually, six different dodgeballs came at her at once. Holy coordination... if she was being honest, she was kind of impressed, even if it meant she would be barbecue in roughly three seconds.

 

A dodgeball soared over her head, exploding in contact with one of the balls and knocking two others off course. Then Naomi was pulled out of the way by something rough wrapping around her wrist, which hurt but saved her life.

 

She looked up. Keshav Bandari was stood there, having turned one of the climbing ropes into a lasso.

 

“I’ve only got one dodgeball left, now.” He said. “So, with your tennis ball, I’d say we’re set.”

 

“Dude, what are you doing?” One of the boys asked.

 

“I’m not interested in June Beauregarde foot pics, sue me and send me to hell.” Keshav helped Naomi to her feet.

 

“June... foot pics...”

 

“Long story. Let’s just say there’s a gemstone that wants you dead. If you’d prefer that didn’t happen, we’d better work together.”

 

“But why are you helping me?”

 

“Longer story. Let’s just get to it.” Keshav pointed. “The football team’s like a suit of armour. But every piece of armour has a weak point you can target.” He pointed. “Buddy.”

 

“Buddy? But he’s-”

 

Keshav yanked Naomi out of the way of two dodgeballs and ducked to avoid another one. “He injured his Achilles just yesterday. Was so happy running out of June’s place he tripped, apparently. Kind of ironic, huh?”

 

“Right. He’s the Achilles’ heel.”

 

Keshav jumped over a dodgeball this time and pulled out a Swiss army knife from his pocket, throwing it at one of the boys, and getting it lodged in his foot.

 

“Um, I think I’ll stop you there!” Mrs Manon scolded. “I’ll have you know-”

 

It was Mrs Manon’s turn to get a right hook. Dazed, she was grabbed by Keshav, who used her as a shield for two explosive dodgeballs. Naomi couldn’t help but find it a little cathartic.

 

A plan began to form in Naomi’s mind. To get Buddy right where she needed him. But first...

 

“Get them to move to the left.” Naomi whispered.

 

“’K.” Keshav pulled off a part of the wooden climbing frame nearby, and crushed it to splinters, before throwing the splinters at their opponents, sort of herding them in the way Naomi wanted.

 

She swapped Keshav’s baseball for her tennis ball. She realised what they’d done – stuck the explosives inside, with a button and timer on the outside for their use. She flicked on the button and threw a curveball.

 

The boys were distracted with Keshav, who Naomi admitted looked a little worse for wear because of all the explosions he’d tanked, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that they were focused on him.

 

“Throw it, now!”

 

Keshav threw his tennis ball, and they all focused on protecting Buddy, seemingly forgetting for the moment Naomi existed, or that she could have thrown her ball. Of course, one boy did realise, and jumped in front of Buddy to take the exploding dodgeball, but that just meant he was sent flying back, into Buddy, who was sent flying back into the row of dodgeballs at the back of the room.

 

“BUDDY!”

 

The team raced over to check on him, and Naomi took that as her cue to leave. She raced over towards the door, but it was locked. Keshav threw himself into the door, however, and it splintered.

 

“You’re, uh, pretty strong.”

 

“Comes with the territory.”

 

...

 

“So, can you actually explain why you helped her?” Jade said. “I don’t want to accidentally let one of June’s spies or something hang around us.”

 

“Jade!”

 

“I’m just... on guard.”

 

“No, it’s fine. Buddy told us we were being hired by June to kill Naomi here. But I don’t mess with those Diamonds. It’s a personal thing. Any enemy of theirs is a friend of mine.”

 

“Fine. My plan is to join the Diamonds and take them down from the inside.”

 

“Naomi!”

 

“What? I think we can trust him.”

 

“I disagree... but fine. You in or out?”

 

“I’m in.” Keshav said. “I’ll have to avoid the football club for a while, though. I’ll have a target on my back for a while.”

 

“You can hang out with us, if you want? Though my dad doesn’t usually let me out of the house, so it’s usually just calls...”

 

“’K, why not?”

 

Jade narrowed her eyes and gave him a ‘I still don’t trust you’ look, but they exchanged numbers, and Naomi looked across the cafeteria, to Penny.

 

“So, we get her alone,” Naomi said, “And I ask her?”

 

“That’s the goal.”

 

Naomi nodded, steeling herself, and standing up, to approach.