Book 2: Chapter 19 (1/2)

“Rumors suggested that you had been hurt in the fire. Although the police didn’t release any mention of you in the aftermath.” Lyra spoke after a brief moment of silence. “What happened?”

“You were drugged the same as us.” Rebecca’s eyes flashed. “Another woman who was victimized by Clyburn and his men!”

“Ah!” I stepped back, realizing that I wouldn’t be able to hide in Lyra’s ample bosom anymore. “A-actually, I um… I didn’t get knocked out too long. I stumbled out the door shortly after waking up. There was someone in a shower but…”

I hoped the drugs would be a sufficient excuse for my shoddy and nonspecific explanation. I wasn’t really particularly good at making things up on the fly, after all. I could only keep my head lowered and look shy. Hopefully, my nervousness was just taken as general modesty.

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” Rebecca reached out and grabbed my hand. “I’m sorry… but I have to ask. Were you raped?”

“Becky!” Lyra shot her a glare.

Rebecca squeezed my hand tighter. “If Clyburn raped you, I’d like you to report it. I’ll help you. It’s the only way we can make him pay.”

I gave a wry smile. “I-I don’t believe I was raped. I-I didn’t get a good look at the guy. I don’t think he was Clyburn.”

I pulled back on my story. If I had declared that I was certain I wasn’t raped or I was certain it was Clyburn, I feared they’d start to question things a bit more. Keeping it vague, I might be able to get through this conversation without making these two girls suspicious.

Lyra breathed easier, relaxing a bit. “I did not believe it would be Clyburn.”

“Hmph!” Rebecca sniffed. “You yourself said you woke up with him holding you.”

“He-he was protecting me?”

“Is that what you believe, or what you want to believe?” Rebecca shot back. “He could have just said that!”

“E-even so. M-my virginity is intact… and if Clyburn was with me, then he couldn’t have been downstairs with you, right?”

Rebecca gave an icy stare, clearly not pleased with Lyra’s defense, even as I cheered her on in my head. I had thought somewhere in the back of my mind that Lyra and Dia would be able to fix this issue if they just gave their side of things. As far as Dia, I had forgotten to ask what she said in her statement, but it probably didn’t incriminate me. At the very least, my alternate identity wasn’t revealed or I wouldn’t be a part of the current conversation. As for Lyra, I realized that her story would seem suspicious to anyone. Lyra herself already made it known that she believed me, but it was easy how other girls would see it as just wishful thinking.

“Clarice.” Rebecca turned to me, apparently choosing to ignore what Lyra said rather than address it. “As a fellow woman, I would like to make a request of you.”

Rebecca suddenly gave a bow, causing both Lyra and I to grow flustered standing there. If we were still hidden behind the checkpoint, it would have certainly been an oddly suspicious scene.

“What is it?” I asked, trying to keep the worry and fear out of my voice.

“I would like you to inform the police that you were raped and that it was Clyburn who did it.”

“What?”

“You go too far, Becky!” Lyra stepped forward, “You want her to lie for you?”

Rebecca kept her eyes focused on me, still ignoring Lyra. “There were dozens of men there. Many innocent women were raped that night. I was one of them. The men all have claimed ignorance. They’ve all avoided taking responsibility for their actions. Even though I see the faces of the men, and have given their names to the police, every one of them has hidden behind the system. Of all the boys, only this Clyburn was caught red-handed.”

I lowered my head, my mind buzzing in disbelief at what I was being asked. “Why does that mean I should do this?”

“With the exception of Lyra, no other girl mentioned Clyburn’s name.” Rebecca sighed. “They took statements right after we woke up. We were still groggy. Since none of the girls have gone on record with the police stating Clyburn raped him, there is a chance he’ll walk.”

My eyes lifted as I began to understand. “Except… I haven’t gone on record.”

Rebecca nodded. “The police don’t have your statement. Since we know Clyburn was there, all we have to do is tie him to the rapes. It’s the only way we can make sure his case sticks. If you won’t do this for me, do this for Mako. Do this for Madison.”

“And what have the two of them said?” I shouted out, my voice sharper than I intended, causing her some pause.

“Nothing. Madison won’t talk on her brother. And Mako has remained oddly silent as well.” Rebecca sighed. “So, do you understand? This is why I need you. We need you. Just tell a tiny fib, and we can finally make a man take accountability.”

“It won’t fix what happened.”

“Of course, it won’t!” Rebecca’s hands squeezed until it almost hurt, her lips twisted in a slightly unhinged look. “I was humiliated. I was dehumanized. Nothing… nothing can change that. However, men have gotten away with stuff time and time again. Ever since the male protection act, they’ve grown increasingly bold. If we can get this sentence to stick, we can finally force the Senate to reconsider the act. We can stop men from using their position to take advantage of women.”

A small part of me thought her argument sounded compelling, but of course, I was absolutely the wrong person to be talking to. Rebecca’s argument was very one-sided, focusing on everything men have done while ignoring how men were subsequently treated. Even a world where matriarchy had control, this kind of thing didn’t change. I felt someone grabbing me from behind. It was Lyra, who decided to grab my shoulders as if she was providing me support. It felt strangely nice.

“Becky, that’s enough. It’s wrong to try to force this.”

“It’s okay,” I raised up my hand to stop Lyra. “I understand what you want, but I’m sorry, I just can’t.”

Rebecca let go of my hand, taking a step back. She didn’t look angry. If anything, she had a frustrated expression on her face. After a moment, she snapped her fingers, eying the two of us with a strange look and grinning.

“That’s right… I shouldn’t be surprised that you’ve sided with Lyra here. You do have feelings for her, after all.”

“What?” Lyra blinked, turning to me.

I raised an eyebrow, looking just as confused. I didn’t find Lyra completely disagreeable, but saying I had feelings for her was a little strange. After all, we still didn’t know each other much. We’d only met a few times and our relationship had come in passing. Maybe, she had it backward. I was almost certain that

That’s when I remembered that Rebecca wasn’t talking about me. He was talking about Clarice. I recalled I had said I was interested in Lyra to keep the lipsticks at bay. As resolution appeared on my face, Rebecca’s grin grew like a cat.

“Th-that’s… my feelings for Lyra are-“

“F-f-feelings!?” Lyra’s comforting embrace with those spongy soft things pressed against my back abandoned me in an instant.

I turned back to Lyra, gesturing excitedly while shaking my head. She had a somewhat distant expression on her face. I knew I was dressed as a girl at the moment, but it was still painful to be looked at that way.

“It’s a misunderstanding!” I tried to say.

Lyra suddenly lowered her head, giving me a loose bow. “I’m sorry, I don’t see you in that way.”

“Geh!” I felt like I had been punched.

I know I was being rejected by a girl I didn’t have any particularly strong feelings for, and in the end, it wasn’t even me being rejected, but a made-up female, however, my body still reacted towards rejection. The fake smile on my face and my wide-eyes likely made the perfect image of a girl being rejected. Why did I suddenly want to cry?

“Actually, I have a class coming up. I’m honestly not trying to bail on you. I swear!” Lyra suddenly announced, backing away.

“Lyra, how cruel…” Rebecca laughed, holding her hand up to her mouth.

“I-it’s not because you’re a woman!” Lyra said, “It’s just… I have someone I love!”

“Eh?” Rebecca’s laugh stopped, completely caught off guard

I froze too, remembering her declaration the last time we met. I could only give a wry smile. Of course, she wouldn’t be interested in Clarice. Clarice couldn’t give her a baby. Only Clyburn could accomplish that. Lyra realized she had spoken too much because her face quickly grew red. She spun and fled, my perfect buffer abandoning me with Rebecca an instant later. Rebecca shook her head in disbelief and then chuckled to herself again before her eyes landed back on me.

“Don’t be too upset, sweetheart, despite the rumors, Lyra isn’t like us.”

“Huh? Like us?”

Rebecca smiled, walking up to me and putting a hand on my shoulder. “She’s not into women. I know all the rumors say she’s a man-hater, but hating men never seemed to translate into liking women. I can tell with a look, usually. I happen to be attracted to women, I can see you have an eye for women too.”

“Eh!” I became a little flustered, as the Wrath president, perhaps the person I least wanted to be around was stroking my arm in a strange way.

She leaned forward and whispered in my ear. “I, for one, think you’re very cute.”

What is with this scene? Are all Wrath member’s horndogs? First, that giant guard tried to take advantage of me, and now this girl was touching me? I had been hit on by two lesbians in under ten minutes. I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry. However, unlike Tookie, Rebecca released her hand and stepped back. Her face didn’t look as lecherous as it had a moment before. Instead, she looked somewhat friendly.

“Are you busy, at the moment?”

“Busy?” I looked up at Rebecca’s eyes.

She seemed suddenly quite genuine and was giving off a big sister vibe that I had never received from either of my two big sisters. It was a strange look if only because I had built up in my mind how dangerous and threatening Rebecca was. I had seen how she looked down on men with hatred and vitriol. Just moments before, she had even tried to get me to lie to put myself in jail. I had no doubt, this woman hated everything that I was. Looking at her now, though, I wondered if that was necessary. Perhaps there was some way we could meet a middle ground here.

“I want to take you somewhere.”

Somewhere? Was Rebecca hitting on me still? I really wasn’t sure. Her smile seemed genuine. I supposed it made sense for her to be president of Wrath that she had a charismatic side to her as well. There had to be something about her that convinced other girls to join her cause. If she was all fire and brimstone, I didn’t think she could possibly be such a strong presence in Amaryllis Academy.

“A-actually, I have a class. I-introduction to magic.” I breathed easier as the excuse popped into my head.

The class started in ten minutes. It was one of the classes I wanted to take more than anything. Normally, a Freshman couldn’t take the class. They needed a math class first. However, since I faked my transcript, I figured I could jump ahead. If it came down to algebra, I was decent enough. I did do a business major and I wasn’t too shabby with numbers. At the very least, I didn’t think Math would transfer into magic anyway.

With that excuse, I could finally break things off with Rebecca. I was nervous every second she was looking at me. Being at school next to her was like swimming in a pool next to a shark. Any second, I was just waiting for the teeth to clamp down and pull me under. Once I was free from her clutches, I promised myself I would never ditch Brooke again. Actually, if Rebecca was a shark, wouldn’t that make Brooke a killer whale? Either way, my life was over!

“Introduction to Magic?” Rebecca nodded thoughtfully. “If that’s the case, why don’t you come with me to my class?”

“Huh?” Don’t tell me, she was in Introduction the Magic too!

“Intro is really boring. It’s just learning formations and spell symbols. The really cool stuff doesn’t start until Contemporary Magic. That’s the class us Juniors take. I know the instructor, she wouldn’t mind signing you off for a day of Intro if you’re in her class. It’s allowed on the universities mentoring code.”

“Y-you want to mentor me?” I let out a cough of disbelief.

“Just call me Big Sister Becky!” Rebecca smiled genuinely, reaching out and grabbing my hand. “Come on. You started your semester late, didn’t you? You weren’t a student two weeks ago, so you must have filed an application to get closer to Lyra? I’m sorry it didn’t work out, but there are a lot of available girls on campus. Maybe you could find a cute upperclassman!”