"Stop!" I said, halting Alenia's turn to see me. "Don't look at me yet."

"What?" She asked, standing mid-turn with her hands splayed out, balancing herself midstep. We stood in silence for a moment, and her patience began to wear thin. "Michael!"

"I've had a crush on you for years," I said, finally breaking the silence. "And I wanted you to know that before you turned around."

"Why?" She asked.

"Because you need to know before you turn around because even if we don't mate, or something else goes wrong, I still like you,"I said. "I've liked you since we were kids, before the prophecy, and everything since has only proved that I was as right then as I am now."

"No," She said, clarifying. "Why do you like me like that?"

I let out a laugh, nervous and so sad that she was asking that. "Why wouldn't I? You're strong and loyal, and you stand up for yourself. I mean, you never seemed to have that awkward stage where you copied everyone around you."

"Michael- I-" She said, "You know I-"

"I know," I said. She didn't feel the same way, before this year I'd been barely a blip on her radar and yet... I had to tell her, she had to know. "But that doesn't change any of this."

"Okay, yeah, uhm," She said, laughing nervously. "I haven't really been living up to your thoughts of me, have I?"

"Alenia, you always exceed my expectations," I answered honestly.

She took a deep breath, "I'm going to turn around, now."

When I turned around I looked for Michael, standing up on the platform a few steps above me. I wasn't brave enough to face him, so I started at the bottom. His shoes and up his jeans, looking at his shirt before making it to his face. His dark hair, just a little disheveled, framed his hopeful and nervous eyes. He looked completely the same, and yet...

"Well?" He asked quietly. It was as if he was worried he would spook me and I would run away. As if I could run away, turn my back on him and ignore everything. As if I could ignore the way my every cell had roared for the moment I had first seen him.

"Do you feel any different?" I asked, there was no way that I was the only one to feel this. That he, somehow, didn't recognize how perfectly right we were for each other.

"Do you?" He asked, and I very nearly insisted that he answer first. I had asked first, after all, but I stopped myself. He'd opened himself up only moments ago, offering me a comfort I knew I needed, and I knew I would need in our life together. It was a comfort I had been unable to return, so the least I could do would be to tell him what I felt now. What I was only capable of feeling because he'd helped me do so.

"Yeah," I answered."Well, no, I don't- I just know- you know?"

He nodded, but any answer he might have given was stopped by the sound of impending footsteps. It was far past curfew, and we both quickly, and as quietly as we could, ran in the direction of our dorms. The sound was still coming when we got to our floor, so with a swift smile, we ran in opposite directions to get to the safety of our rooms.

"Alenia!" Margie announced my name when I burst in, rushing to hug me. "How are you? Mrs. Gillbert wouldn't let us wait for you two past curfew, stupid bat."

Christine did not say anything, she merely half smiled and shared a knowing look with me over the ever-excitable Margie.

"I'm fine," I said, my chest still nervous from almost getting caught.

"So- your wings?" Margie looked at my runes while she asked, almost like she was waiting for my wings to pop out any moment.

"Fine and fully functional," I said, amending my statement after further thought. "If a little sore. They're looking into the rune but it's fading away."

"And Michael?" Margie asked, "Did you-"

"-I think that's enough, she probably wants to sleep," Christine cut in, saving me from Margie's brigade of questions.

I nodded thankfully, "I'll tell you everything tomorrow, promise."

Margie looked frustrated but bit her tongue and nodded, "Okay."

"Awesome," I said, smiling tiredly. Tomorrow, I would tell them tomorrow, but for now, the news was all ours.

Tomorrow came sooner than I'd hoped, and when Margie woke me up I desperately begged off to the shower. Now, clean and stretched out, I walked back to my dorm as slow as I could. I hadn't had breakfast yet, something I sorely needed. I'd woken up feeling hungry and remarkably normal, something that meant I wasn't really in the mood to explain everything to Margie and Christine. I would have to, though, because I'd promised, and they deserved the truth from me. Not to mention, if they ran into Hank...

Yeah, I needed to let them in on everything.

"Wes?" I asked, confused to find Wes knocking on my dorm door. "What are you doing here?"

Something about him put me on the defense, but he didn't look upset in the slightest.

"Oh, hey Alenia," He said, smiling simply. "I heard you were in the hospital yesterday, wanted to see if you were okay."

Any suspicions I had about his appearance were confirmed when Margie opened the door and cursed when she noticed Wes talking to me, panic quickly taking over ever expressions. "Shi- Wes, we told you nothing was going on."

"Good morning, Margie," Wes said smoothly, not at all put out by her pushy tone. "I came by to see if Alenia was okay."

"I'm fine," I answered tentatively, knowing now that I wasn't the only one who needed to share stories of what happened the day before.

"In that case, do you want to get breakfast?" He asked, signaling off all sorts of warning bells in my mind. If that weren't enough, Margie stood behind him completely panicked.

"I don't eat breakfast anymore," I answered without thinking, and immediately wanted to sink into the ground. It was clear that I didn't react well to pressure, and Wes noticed, cocking an eyebrow up.

"Really?" He asked, "No more cereal?"

Ah, cereal, my favorite snack and breakfast food. Who would have guessed that it would be my undoing? Behind him, Margie was shaking her head softly in the cradle of her hand. Where was Christine when you needed her, Margie and I were clearly incapable of navigating this situation.

"I have plans this morning," I explained, biting the bullet before I came up with a more cringe-worthy explanation. "Sorry."

"No need to say sorry," He said, shaking his head lightly. "See you around?"

"Uh, sure, yeah," I answered, just hoping he would leave. Seeing something behind me, Wes gave me one last smile and did just that. He was gone from the hallway when Christine walked up, giving Margie a questioning glance.

"He wanted to see Alenia," Margie said.

"I assumed," Christine said dryly, leading us back into the room. Once we were all inside she spoke up, "What happened yesterday?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Margie looked terrified when she saw Wes," I said, crossing my arms softly. Christine gave me a look, and Margie looked like she would burst if I waited any longer to tell them. "Fine, fine, so after my wings came out Naomi sent Michael out, so we planned to meet on the roof, but I met Hank on the way." I groaned just remembering it, "That didn't go well, he probably thinks I was cheating on him with Michael."

"Were you?" Christine asked, earning an instant response from Margie.

"Christine!" She snapped, sounding scandalized.

"I wasn't," I replied sternly, knowing I wouldn't have done that to Hank.

"But Michael kissed you," Margie replied then, sounding confused.

"He kissed me, not the other way around," I said defensively.

"So why does Hank think you cheated on him, then?" Christine asked.

I groaned, "He kept asking me questions I couldn't answer. It doesn't matter, it's over now, he graduates at the end of this cycle. After Hank, I met up with Michael, and yeah, um, we- yeah."

Suddenly something in my life felt too personal to share with my best friends, my sisters. It was a realization that made me feel guilty, but I couldn't change it. Telling them the details of the night before felt unfair to Michael, felt like something I should keep to myself.

"So, now what?" Margie asked, "Are you two like, together?"

"I don't know," I answered honestly. "I don't feel anything different for him I just... know we match?" Putting in words what I barely understood myself was difficult. "I mean, I don't see the point in dating anyone else, but at the same time, I'm not ready to sign my soul off or anything. It is new and confusing and, honestly, I need to sort myself out first."

"We should all do it!" Margie exclaimed when I finished, nearly jumping up and down in excitement.

"Do what?" I asked, not sure what she was so excited about.

"Focus on ourselves," Margie said. "I mean, we've all been so focused on dating, we need to focus on ourselves. So, we should make a pact to stay single, for the rest of the cycle."

I looked at Christine, she had yet to find her life partner and, and as an 18-year-old succubus she wasn't running out of time per se but would traditionally be focused on that now. Six months of being single and not looking for a partner was a tall order for her.

"I agree," Christine answered faster than I would have expected. Like that I found myself in a pact, agreeing to focus the rest of year 12 on myself.