Chapter Twenty Four
It’s Complicated

 

The rest of the weekend came and went as it has always been wont to do, and classes resumed. Dennis was more than fine the next day. Apparently, the reason the teachers were never warned he got hurt by the magical field around the school was because he was never in any real danger. Regardless of that fact, he still excitedly talked about his ‘injury’ to anyone who would listen. Emily couldn’t help but smile whenever Dennis mentioned the height from which he dropped himself, even (or especially) when the height increased with every retelling of the story. But Emily also made sure nobody actually picked on the boy for his stumble. Terence and Ricky, the Cat Familiar and his Wizard, made the occasional snide comment, but most of the kids at Threewees seemed to recognize that picking on Dennis also meant picking on not just Emily, but also Jacob, Jenna, Sarah, Leah and Benjamin, and that just wasn’t going to be worth it for anyone. 

The other noteworthy thing was Jenna and Benjamin finally getting their own Focuses. Well, technically speaking they were Foci, but getting the students to call it that correctly was a battle lost up front. 

“It’s so pretty,” Emily said, his eyes big as he looked at the bracelet on Jenna’s wrist. It was exactly the kind of jewellery he’d seen on someone like Lady Lalonde, catching the eye without being too obvious. He wondered briefly if it would make sense for him to maybe have something similar. Like, in cat form, obviously. As a Familiar, having a collar of some kind to show that he and Jenna were a team. On the other hand, asking for something like that felt a little weird. 

“It issss,” Jenna said as she held it to the light. Slightly more colours reflected off it then were actually in the colour spectrum. “The best part is that it wasn’t even that hard to make.” Apparently, a Focus was just that, a way to focus the Warlock’s magic, their power and attention. They weren’t some arcane magical artifact without which a mage would be completely defenseless. Apparently, even a stick would do in a pinch, although it could take some time to properly attune. “It takes a little bit of my magic,” she said, “so I shouldn’t do it often, but if I don’t like it, I can make another.” She twirled it a bit more. They were sitting at a table off one of the paths close to the main School buildings. Well, Jenna was sitting at the table. Emily was perched neatly on it, his tail around his feet.

“That’s so cool,” Emily said. He could feel a kind of instinct bubbling up inside him, which he quickly recognized as the cat-part of his Familiar shape. Right now, there was a slight urge to reach out and smack the bracelet. Gently. It was reflecting twinkly lights, after all. And it was right there. Seeing the smile on Jenna’s face made him resist the urge, though. He didn’t want to take away from the moment. “Did you try it out yet?”

“Not yet,” Jenna said, shaking her head. “The teachers don’t explicitly forbid it, but the field across the school that warns people when our lives are in danger also apparently reduces just how effective the Focuses are. Something about not wanting to blow up the School.” She rolled her eyes dramatically. “Like a little property damage ever hurt anyone.”

“As if,” Emily giggled. “Silly teachers.” Jenna joined him in laughter of her own. “But yeah, we’ll be getting classes soon on how to properly create spells with these —” she jangled the bracelet demonstratively, “— and then we’ll really be unstoppable.”

“Yeah, we will!” Emily said excitedly, causing Jenna to giggle and put her hand on Emily’s head, ruffling his fur, before looking across the campus at Dennis and Simon, who were being entertained by Jacob and Benjamin, and their new Focuses. Benjamin, Simon’s Warlock, had opted for a staff, which made him look like a slightly dorky but still cool Wizard, while Jacob had simply used his own glasses and turned those into his Focus. Jacob was a little older, and clearly the more responsible. The two of them, with the help of Leah, who had a bit more experience, were creating tiny fireworks in the air above Dennis. He was wagging his tail excitedly, while Simon seemed to be doing his best to do cool backflips through them. That’s when Emily noticed that Sarah was looking vaguely in their direction, although it was also possible she was just zoning out. 

“Well… maybe with one or two others, yeah?” Jenna said with a little wistful sigh. She looked at Emily. 

“You mean like Jacob?” Emily said. He was a little bit annoyed at how hard it was for him to smirk when he was Cat, but he made up for it by just giving Jenna a pointed look. Jacob seemed to have heard his own name, but he was busy cleaning his glasses and when it wasn’t repeated, he went back to practicing small spells for Dennis.

“I… wh— Maybe!” Jenna stammered. “I wasn’t talking about him.” She nodded at the group. “You seem to get along very well with Simon. I mean, I haven’t seen him when he wasn’t a bouncy little ferret, but I’m sure he’s cute.” She put a finger on her chin. “I think… brown hair and blue eyes.”

“Brown eyes,” Emily corrected her, and his teeth made an audible ‘click’ as he snapped his jaws shut. But it was too late, the damage was done. 

“Oh?” Jenna said as she leaned on her hands, her elbows on the table. “I see someone has been spending some time looking into his eyes, hmm?” Across the road, Emily saw Simon look at them inquisitively, and Sarah’s eyes still seemed to be on them. .

“I… No, I haven’t!” Emily blurted out, switching to his mental link with Jenna to avoid anyone overhearing them. “Besides, it… it… It’s complicated!”

“Complicated how?” Jenna said through the link. “He’s cute and I think he’s got a soft spot for you, and I’m willing to bet that, when you’re human, you’re a really cute girl too. If you’re not sure, I can always ask Simon what he thinks?” 

Emily put his head on the table and covered his face with his hands. How was this happening? “Noooooo,” he begged through the link. “I swear, it’s more complicated than that.” He opened an eye, and looked at Sarah. She was absolutely looking at him, and now that they’d made proper eye contact, she was wagging her tail ever so slightly. “I… I think I like Sarah.”

“Oh! I didn’t… I didn’t know you were… Oh!” Jenna clapped her hands excitedly. “It’s so cool! Now it makes sense that you and I would be paired up!” 

Emily frowned and looked up at her. “What do you mean? I don’t get what Sarah has to do with you and me being Familiar and Warlock?”

Jenna gently put a finger on his nose. “Because we’re both queer, silly. It’s okay, I won’t tell anyone. Ohhh, this is so exciting!” She was practically bouncing in her seat. “I never thought I’d have a queer friend, let alone a Familiar.” Her forehead creased a bit. “Although I suppose I never thought I’d have a Familiar before I knew what one of them was.” The thought of Jenna already thinking of him as a friend warmed Emily more than he expected it to. “You should talk to her though. I’m sure she thinks you’re cute!”

“Well… I mean… it’s complicated… Because I do like Simon…” Emily realized he’d said too much. Not because he thought he couldn’t trust Jenna not to keep a secret, but because she looked like she was going to explode from the sheer excitement she was trying to contain within herself. 

“Oh my Goodnesssss,” she said, clasping her hands in front of her mouth. “You are the best, Emily,” Jenna said. “You know, I used to think I liked girls too, but that was more because I thought I was supposed to.” She shrugged. “It was a bit of a mess, because then I realized I was a girl, and was like ‘I’m not gonna fall for it this time, I don’t have to like boys if I don’t want to’ but then it turned out I just liked boys.” 

“Boys are pretty neat,” Emily sighed as Simon fell over trying to bite his own tail, much to Dennis’ delight. He heard Jenna giggle in his head. 

“You’re really cool, Emily,” Jenna said. “I’m glad you’re my Familiar.” Emily was glad for his fur, or he’d be blushing. 

“Thank you. I’m really glad you’re my Witch, Jenna. You’re pretty cool too.” Jenna gave him a few pats on the head, but then seemed to decide it wasn’t enough, and picked Emily up into a hug. He squeaked as the air was driven out of him. 

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“Eep!” He felt the pressure lessen enough for him to take a deep breath, and relaxed a little. Despite the fact that she was a teenager and therefore made mostly out of elbows and knees, Jenna was a pretty good hugger. 

“Hey, Emily!” Jenna said as she lowered him back onto his feet. 

“What?!” he asked excitedly, sitting to attention. 

“Let’s be best friends!” The offer was so innocent, but also came so out of left field for Emily it nearly knocked him off the table. He never really had a lot of ‘friends’, just some people he had been near in high school, and his parents hadn’t really allowed him to visit his fellow classmates. After the chiding he’d received for asking someone to come over for his seventh birthday, he hadn’t really tried anymore. 

“I… I would love to,” he said.

“Did I say something wrong?” Jenna asked. “You’re crying.” Emily looked down his nose. He hadn’t even realized. Then he heard Jenna laughing. “I’m so, so sorry, but you looked really funny when you tried to look at your own nose.” She crossed her eyes to demonstrate, and Emily couldn’t help laughing either. 

“No,” Emily finally said. “You didn’t say anything wrong. You’re the best, Jenna.” 

“Nah,” Jenna said. “We are.” She stuck out a fist, and Emily bopped it carefully with his paw. It was hard to bump fists without a thumb. “If we’re best friends, you do have to tell me everything though,” she said, “like if you talk to Simon.” 

“Or if I heard something about Jacob?” He gave Jenna a sly look.

“Yes. No! Don’t you turn this around on me! We’re friends so we have to share, right?” She rubbed Emily’s head again. “Us girls have to look out for each other.”

“O-okay,” Emily said, realizing he did have something to come clean about. “There… there’s something I should say, actually.” He didn’t even know how he was going to tell Jenna he wasn’t a girl like her. She’d probably be scared of him, or at least wouldn’t trust him. Not the way she would another girl, at least, and since he wasn’t one…

“It’s going to have to wait!” Jenna said as she hopped up. “Hi, Simon!” She said as she leaned over, picked up the Ferret, and put him on the table next to Emily. “Oh, I think I hear someone asking for me!” She ran off, with a “Good luck!” in Emily’s head, who sat nonplussed next to an equally dumbstruck Simon.

“Um,” Simon said. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Emily said, a little nervous, the tip of his tail twitching. “What’s up?”

“I… I was just curious what the two of you were talking about,” he said as he scooted a little closer, “since you seemed a bit upset there for a bit, so I wanted to check up on you. Make sure you’re okay. Are you? Okay, I mean?”

Emily couldn’t help but smile. He tried, and utterly failed, to resist the urge to bonk his head into Simon’s. Softly. “Yeah,” he said. “I am.” He looked at Sarah, who wagged her tail. “There’s just a lot to think about, you know?” 

“Yeah…” Simon said, also looking in that direction. “It’s been a busy couple of weeks.” Emily tried to smirk as he laid down, letting his feet and tail hang off the edge of the table. He only jumped ever so slightly when Simon crawled over him to curl up against his stomach. 

“That’s… not really what I meant,” Emily laughed, “but yeah, it really has.”

“You’re cute,” Simon said, and Emily half-growled reflexively, but he felt his tail twitching again. “Especially when you’re trying to hide the fact that you’re flustered.”

“I… don’t you start!”

“Oh, was Jenna getting to you, too? I saw you glancing over at us, you know.”

“Maybe she was just looking at Jacob.” Emily put a paw on top of his stupid little face. He was right and he knew it. “You’re cute too,” Emily said. “But I’ve just got so much stuff to think about right now and — ow!” 

“That’s fine,” Simon mumbled with Emily’s paw in his mouth. When the paw was pulled back, he spat out some hairs. “I’m a little confused too. But I like it like this right now. Is that okay?”

“Yeah,” Emily said. “That’s very okay.” Across the street, Sarah caught his eye and winked. His tail twitched and he pretended to fall asleep.