Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Note 1: This is an AU. The most important part is that Danny was the one who died, but some events happened at different times as well as a few other things. Just saying that to avoid confusion.

Decision 1.1

October 14, 2010

'Just one more day before the weekend...'

Those were the thoughts of Taylor Hebert as she reached home from school on a Thursday. Those were thoughts that echoed in the minds of many school children, but Taylor had more reasons than most to dread school days.

She was being bullied.

Depressingly, even that wasn't all that uncommon in the world, but suffering was not a competition, and Taylor was clearly affected badly by it, specially because the chief of her bullies was her former best friend, Emma Barnes.

And the worst part was, Taylor had no idea what had happened for Emma to turn on her like this. She had given her so much support six months earlier, when her father died (Danny Hebert 1969-2010, she remembered the gravestone). But in the previous month, when she had come back from summer camp, Emma was suddenly together with two other girls, Sophia Hess and Madison Clements, and they had bullied Taylor together ever since.

Some of which was physical, some of which was emotional, but it never stopped and was wearing Taylor down. And of course, she wasn't able to get any answers about the why of the bullying, no matter how much she tried to ask Emma.

Taylor fell on the couch and turned on the TV to try and distract herself from those thoughts, but it didn't exactly work.

'Perhaps I should ask mom to get me transferred to Arcadia...' She thought idly.

But her mind rejected that suggestion, and she knew why. It was the same reason why she hadn't even told her mother about the bullying, even after one month: Because she still wanted to be friends with Emma, and doing such a thing would make her feel like she had given up.

Perhaps it was irrational, but she still felt the same way. And besides, her mom was always so busy with her Protectorate work and that would just put another unnecessary burden on her... Of course, she realized that this was just another excuse, but Taylor still hadn't made up her mind about it.

While she was struggling with those thoughts, Taylor happened to catch a snatch of conversation of the movie that was playing.

“[..] so I seduced him, and now we're no longer enemies.”

'Enemies, huh...? Does the trio count as my enemies?' Taylor's thought morosely 'Too bad I can't just seduce them...'

A moment passed, and then another moment as Taylor actually considered that thought instead of just shrugging it off as a weird tangent.

'Seduce them...?' She thought again.

This was a patently ridiculous idea, but something in Taylor couldn't just reject it out of hand. Perhaps it was because the thought had a seductive appeal, since all three of the girls were very attractive.

Emma was hot, with a curvy body and a striking face. In fact, Taylor first realized she liked girls when her puberty arrived and she found herself strangely attracted to Emma. She had never acted on that attraction, because it was too awkward, so she doubted the girl knew about it.

Sophia, on the other hand, was athletic, with a toned body that was firm and defined in a way it was difficult to find in people their age. And she was the most physical of the bullies, which meant Taylor had close experience with that.

Madison, the third one, was just cute. She was small and looked soft, and she had a nice smile (when she wasn't bullying Taylor, because that smile was bad). Taylor's first thought upon seeing her beside Emma had been 'she looks so huggable'.

Of course, the attraction Taylor felt for the trio had just made the situation weirder for her.

The idea of seducing them... It was patently ridiculous, but now it had taken root and Taylor couldn't stop thinking about it.

'Why don't I try it?' Taylor ended up thinking.

It was not the kind of idea she would normally consider seriously, but this was far from a normal situation for Taylor. She was confused, and she was desperate and there were so many factors that made things so complicated...

And she was actually considering the idea seriously.

'Even if I don't achieve anything, it's not like things could get much worse.' She thought (she was lying, trying to convince herself to take the plunge)

And despite everything, Taylor still felt a small thread of hope that she could actually succeed.

'Maybe I could have Emma back...' And that thought was the clincher. Taylor had decided.

Still, she was a rational girl, and she knew that this was something serious... So she made a compromise with herself.

'Regardless of what happens, I'll tell mom everything tomorrow... If nothing works, maybe she'll convince me to transfer.'

That thought hurt somewhat, but Taylor was determined to go through with what she had decided. This only gave her more motivation to give everything in her attempt. She was going to bet all in that crazy idea!

And then her mind ground to a halt, as an urgent thought forced itself to the forefront of her mind.

'How the hell do I seduce them?!!!!!'

-0-

After experiencing a few minutes of panic, Taylor managed to calm down enough to think about it.

She almost decided not to go through with the idea after all, only her earlier decision making her unable to give up.

Then she remembered something. Perhaps it was a line from a movie or something similar, but she suddenly thought of a man smiling and saying “seduction is not about being physically attractive, it is about confidence.”

Taylor grabbed onto that idea like a lifeboat in a storm.

'Confidence...'

She didn't know if she had confidence, but now that a door had opened for her, Taylor definitely wouldn't ignore it.

'They definitely wouldn't expect this, which gives me time... Maybe I should google seduction methods...'

So Taylor went to her room and turned on the computer. She had some planning to do.

-0-

October 15, 2010

Taylor had gone through an entire world of emotions after waking up. And she could barely believe that everything she had done and decided the previous day had not been a dream.

Taylor psyched herself up as she did her morning routine, whispering to herself that she had already decided, and had planned so much that it would be a waste not to try. That was the only way she could deal with the case of nerves she got from the proximity of the critical time.

When she got into the bus, Taylor was more or less ready, and focused herself on calming down, thinking that failing due to nerves would be the worst possible result.

She got off at Winslow, it was now showtime.

-0-

She had classes with both Emma and Sophia separately that day before lunch, which she included in her plan. But to get the best results, she would also have to meet Madison by herself before lunch, which meant she would have to find the girl before classes started.

She was in luck, and the bus actually reached school pretty fast, so she actually had time to look. And she was doubly lucky, because she managed to find Madison with a bit of time to spare, and the girl was alone.

The brunette still had not seen Taylor, so she moved closer and closer, remembering the tactics she had devised. And when Madison actually turned and saw Taylor, she was already close enough.

Taylor smiled, in an expression she had practiced on the mirror for a long while the previous day, and it was so incongruous that Madison was unable to react at first.

“Good to see you, Madison.” Taylor spoke, using a tone of voice that she had also practiced for long.

Taylor looked straight into Madison's eyes, and she saw faint signs that she had been affected, so Taylor extended her arm and lightly touched Madison's shoulder, before bending down and whispering in her ear:

“I'll see you later.”

Then she walked off, struggling to keep up her act, and hoping that she had read Madison's reactions correctly.

-0-

Thankfully, she had an entire period without any of the trio to calm herself down and prepare for the next phase. And it was necessary, because Sophia was the one she would meet.

There was no way to catch her by surprise, since Sophia was already in the room when Taylor entered, and she snarled at Taylor in the usual manner that promised pain in the near future.

But Taylor had already accounted for the need to deal with Sophia's aggressive stance, and she just needed to follow the plan.

So, instead of flinching back as usual, Taylor smiled in a friendly manner and walked towards Sophia with a hand raised in greeting.

Obviously, this wasn't what Sophia had expected, and her snarl became more of an uncomprehending mouth drop. This got her off-balance, so Taylor took the chance to get the first word.

“Helooo, Sophia. How ya doin'?” Taylor tilted her head slightly to the right.

“Hebert, the hell are you-?!” Sophia tried to regain initiative, but Taylor wouldn't allow such a thing so easily.

“No no.” She said, shaking her finger in Sophia's face “You are supposed to respond when people ask how you are doing.” Taylor's expression was similar to that of a teacher with a misbehaving student.

Sophia gaped at her, like she couldn't understand the sheer audacity Taylor was exhibiting.

But that sort of thing couldn't be stretched forever, and Taylor understood that very well. So she finished things off by bending down so her face was almost touching Sophia's and spoke:

“I'm looking forward to seeing you three at lunch.”

And then she went to her table.

And for the first time in a long while, she wasn't tormented while in a class with one of the trio.

-0-

Finally, it came time to deal with Emma, in the last class before lunch.

It was appropriate that she would be the last one of the trio, because Taylor felt that, in a lot of ways, she was the most difficult part.

While the other two were girls Taylor had only met recently, Emma was someone whom she knew ever since they were children. There were a lot of conflicting emotions that came to mind when she thought of Emma, and that made it hard to concentrate in doing what she had to do.

Still, Taylor was resolved to push forward. Getting Emma back was the main reason why she was even doing all that, and now that it seemed like her tactics were having results, this emboldened her confidence.

The approach for that new challenge was actually remarkably simple. She had gotten to the room before Emma, and she waited beside the door until the redhead arrived.

And before she even had the chance to notice Taylor, she was already swept up in a hug.

“Hi, Ems.” Taylor said, using her old nickname.

“Ta-” Emma was confused.

And Taylor added to that confusion by planting a kiss on her cheek.

“Come on, come on! I saved a seat for you!” And Taylor dragged Emma to sit beside her.

By that point, Emma had already gotten over her shock.

“Taylor, what are you doing?!” She didn't scream, but she came very close to it.

Taylor's response to that was to smile and poke Emma's cheek with her index finger.

“I made a decision, you know.” She spoke, looking at Emma and thinking of the good times “And I'm not backing down now. I'm going to collect the whole set...”

Emma was clearly struggling to figure out what was going on and what Taylor had meant by that, but then the teacher arrived and Emma didn't have an opportunity to change seats.

And Taylor still wasn't done. She laid a hand over Emma's hand on the table and spoke again:

“I'm going to talk to you three at lunch time, but for now, I'll be at your disposal.”

Then she looked forward to pay attention to class.

But for the rest of the period, she kept poking Emma and smiling suggestively at her.

Her friend definitely couldn't concentrate on the class.

-0-

When lunch time came, Taylor breathed deeply to calm herself down. Things had gone according to plan in the initial encounters, but the next part would be the real deal. She would face all three of them at the same time, and that was what would really decide if she was successful or not.

She had “primed” all of them to face her approach differently, and the fact that she was aiming at the entire trio meant that they did not have a steady support, since sharing information among them would show that she was serious enough to do such a thing, while otherwise the one who hadn't been targeted could support the others.

She had promised the three that she would see them at lunch, and Taylor intended to go all out. She went back over every single thing that she had planned and practiced, and visualized possible approaches and responses to certain situations. And when there was no way for her to get any more prepared, Taylor waited patiently for the perfect moment.

The trio came for lunch together everyday, and it took a bit of time for them to meet each other and come, so most of the students were already there by then.

And when the trio entered, those who had good observation skills would have been able to see that things weren't as usual. The three were looking around in something similar to fear, talking to each other with low voices, and paying no attention to the other students.

Of course, the person they were looking around for was Taylor, and of course they weren't able to find Taylor, because she was waiting for the right moment to make her appearance, and that moment came when the trio sat down on their table.

Taylor stepped away from her hiding spot and walked towards the three. Her confident steps had been practiced and honed to perfection, and her smile was mysterious in exactly the right way. The trio looked at her coming and froze for an instant.

They didn't say anything, so Taylor simply kept walking up to them. Emma was being flanked by Sophia on one side and Madison on the other, and there was an empty seat besides Madison. The perfect spot.

Taylor sat down there with complete brazenness, having gotten so completely into her role that any extraneous thoughts or nervousness were completely forgotten. She turned to them and smiled a little more broadly, waiting for one of them to speak first.

Emma was the leader, so she was the first to speak.

“Taylor, what is all this?” She asked in a tone of voice that was almost calm.

“It's like I said, Ems.” Taylor spoke with her confident tone, and extended her arm to touch Madison's shoulder again “I decided that I'm going to collect the whole set.”

“Ta-Taylor...?” Madison spoke, but stopped when Taylor started rubbing her shoulder lightly.

Sophia rallied:

“What do you mean by that, Hebert?!” She spoke angrily, but it was clear that she was disconcerted by Taylor's behavior.

“Oh, but I thought what I meant was perfectly clear.” Taylor spoke teasingly and moved her chair closer to the others, to the point where she was as close to Madison as possible “Specially considering how popular you three are.”

At that point, the other students in the cafeteria had definitely noticed that something strange was happening, but Taylor had gone completely beyond any possibility of concerning herself with them. She was in the zone, and she was going to ride the lightning until the end of the line, even if it meant falling down the hole.

Exactly. Confusing mixed metaphors were the only way to really describe Taylor's state at that moment. And the trio definitely wasn't ready for something like this. Even though they were three and she was only one, they felt like she had total control of the situation.

Since the three seemed to have lost their tongues, Taylor kept going.

“I mean, you girls are so interested in me, I figured that I should respond to your feelings.”

“Wha-What do you mean, our feelings?” Madison asked weakly.

Taylor smiled and removed her hand from Madison's shoulder, instead extending her arm around Madison's back to touch Emma's shoulder.

“Exactly what you think it means. I am going to make your desires come true.” The second sentence was spoken in a whisper that Sophia had to focus in order to hear.

Then the girl reverted back to her usual response, violence.

“Hebert, I swear, if you don't stop with that I will-” Sophia didn't manage to finish her threat because Taylor moved again.

In a single, smooth motion, Taylor slid off her chair and moved to Sophia's back. She grabbed both of the girl's shoulders, and spoke to her with the most forceful tone so far:

“You don't need to worry. I'm not going to do anything you wouldn't want me to.” Then she looked at the other two “But perhaps you need some time to think about it. I'll talk to you again on Monday.” She released Sophia's shoulders “Bye now.” She said casually, and walked away.

Taylor managed to keep up her confident attitude until she was out of sight.

-0-

When Annette came back home, she was almost bowled over by Taylor.

Her daughter started speaking so fast that she could not even understand a word of what she was saying, but Taylor definitely seemed extremely nervous about something.

Annette hugged Taylor, and said “Calm down... Calm down...” to get her to cool down.

After two minutes of that, Taylor finally seemed to have recovered somewhat.

“So... Now can you tell me what is going on?” She asked.

And then Taylor spoke. She spoke of how Emma had changed when she came back from camp, of how she and her two new friends bullied Taylor, of how she decided to try and seduce them (that part got a raised eyebrow from Annette).

“... And it worked, but I don't know how to keep it going, how to take things to the next level, and I can't just stop!”

Annette boggled at her daughter. She wondered how the hell had things gotten to that point. Had she really been so distracted by her protectorate work that she missed the signs? And now the situation had gotten to a point where simple solutions were impossible.

She decided that she might have to get Taylor transferred out of Winslow. But it was clear that her daughter was very attached to her idea, specially the possibility of having Emma back, and Annette felt like she was her duty to at least help her with that as much as she could.

“I think I know someone who can help.” She said.

-0-

A few minutes later, after telling Taylor to go take a bath, Annette went on the phone.

“Hello, Andrea?” She spoke.

'Annette? Is that really you?!' The voice on the other end of the line was incredibly excited 'Oh my god, it's been so long since the last time you called!'

“Ah, sorry about that, things have been complicated here.” She sighed “But I'm afraid this isn't really a social call.”

'Ah, do you need my help with something?'

“A situation came up with my daughter, and it's something I think you could help with.”

'Oh, tell me more.'

Soon after, the person on the other end of the line started laughing loudly.

Chapter Text

Decision 1.2

“Okay. So tomorrow I'll go there.” Andrea spoke on the phone.

Andrea Campbell was an attractive woman. She was remarkably short at only five feet tall, and she had a vibrant red hair. Upon hearing the confirmation from the other end of the line, she hung up the phone with a final “bye”, still smiling mirthfully.

“What made you laugh so much?” Came a voice from the side.

The speaker was a girl who could easily be recognized as Andrea's daughter. She was also red-haired and pretty, though her face was freckled and she was somewhat taller than her mother. Her name was Annette Campbell.

“Annette called to ask my help on something amusing.” Andrea said, a laugh in her voice.

“The one you named me for, right?” Annette recognized “What is that 'something amusing'?” She had a smile on her face.

Andrea let out a laugh just from remembering it, before controlling herself enough to answer the question:

“Apparently, her daughter Taylor is having problems with female bullies.” She said.

“That's no fun.” Annette opined, wondering where things were going.

“So Taylor decided to take matters into her own hands...” She stopped teasingly.

“And?” Annette played along.

“And started seducing them.”

“Pff... And... And what happened?” Annette looked like she was about to collapse into laughter.

“It... It worked!” Andrea was also barely controlling herself “But now... now she doesn't know how to follow up, so her mother asked for my help!”

That last part was too much, and Annette started laughing, followed shortly by her mother. They supported each other as they tried to regain control.

Eventually, they managed to recover enough to talk, and Annette was the first to say something:

“Can I help?”

“Huh...” Andrea was caught off-guard for a moment, then she thought “Well... I guess it could be good for Taylor to have a girl of her own age to practice on... So, sure!” She smiled broadly.

“Cool!” Annette cheered.

Then the two of them started discussing how things would work.

-0-

October 16, 2010

“So... When is your friend gonna come?” Taylor asked her mother.

Annette had explained to her daughter about Andrea, and how she was very skilled in the art of seduction, and could certainly help. And perhaps more importantly, she made it clear that Andrea could keep a secret, which was something that made Taylor grateful.

“She said she would be around ten o'clock in the morning, so we should be hearing her come here 10:05 at the latest.” Annette answered.

Taylor looked at the clock, it said 9:50.

“So, there is still some time to waste.” Taylor sighed “Could you tell me more about Andrea?”

“Well...” Annette thought “Most of what I have to tell is old stuff. We kinda drifted apart over time because of a whole bunch of factors, but... Ah, she has a daughter that's the same age as you, but she studies in Arcadia. And she named her after me.” Annette spoke slightly smugly.

“The same age as me, huh...” Taylor thought “I wonder if I could meet her...”

“Perhaps. Because of this, I'll probably end up talking with Andrea more, and perhaps we could visit her house, or they could visit ours.”

By an auspicious coincidence, a moment after that, the mother and daughter pair heard the sound of a car parking nearby.

“Think it's her?” Taylor asked.

“Probably.” Her mother nodded.

The two walked to the front window and looked through it.

“It's her.” Annette recognized Andrea sitting in the car that was parking.

She walked to the door, followed by Taylor, and opened it to greet her friend. And that was when she saw Andrea's daughter exiting the car. Andrea herself was also leaving her vehicle, and she looked up to see her old friend looking at her, so she raised one hand in greeting with a broad smile on her face while she closed the door with the other.

At the moment, Taylor also saw Annette (the younger) and got confused for a moment, she thought 'Emma?', but realized almost instantly that it wasn't her friend, and the red hair had been the main thing that led to the confusion.

Annette Campbell closed the car door on her side and moved to the other side of the car, before imitating her mother, both the greeting and the smile. Seeing that, Annette (the parent) smiled slightly herself and waved the two closer.

Andrea took the lead, running up to Annette (the teacher) and sweeping her up in a hug.

“Hi! It's been a while.”

Annette (the adult) returned the hug after a moment “Indeed it has.”

Andrea then turned to Taylor and hugged her as well “Nice to meet you, Taylor.”

“Nice to meet you.” Taylor said, slightly embarrassed.

After that, Annette (the teenage girl) walked up to the two.

“Hi, Mrs. Hebert!” She waved, then turned to Taylor “Hello! You're Taylor, aren't you?”

“Yes.”

“You're tall.” Annette (the redhead) said, like she was revealing a deep truth of the universe.

“Yes, I am.” Taylor responded, like someone speaking a secret spy code “And you're Annette.” She stopped for a moment “I would say it would be weird considering that my mom is Annette as well, but I only call her mom, so...”

“Then there's no problem at all!” Annette (the student) declared.

Taylor smiled. It had been a while since the last time she had felt so at ease around someone of the same age, but Annette seemed to be the kind of person to easily make friends, and Taylor felt grateful for that.

Soon, the foursome had entered the house and sat down in the living room. Annette (the widow) decided to ask:

“So, you decided to take Annette with you?”

“Yeah.” Andrea said “I'm sorry for not having warned you about it, but she wanted to help, so...”

Taylor blinked “Help...?”

“Yes!” Andrea nodded “It helps to have a girl your age to practice on.”

Taylor looked at Annette (the daughter) in shock, without being able to speak, so her mother was the one to ask:

“And you're okay with this?”

“Sure. It sounded fun.” The girl spoke with a smile.

Annette (the mother) then looked at Andrea “She really is just like you, isn't she?”

Andrea nodded with a giggle.

“Okay.” Taylor recovered her faculty of speech “Then, how are we doing this?”

“First,” Andrea said, voice suddenly businesslike but still not entirely serious “I want you to tell me everything about the situation.”

-0-

And Taylor did. Andrea frequently asked for clarification or extra details when she felt it was necessary, but for the most part, she only listened and made small comments.

Like when Taylor talked about how Emma had suddenly changed:

“There's something strange there, you should try to find out more at some point.”

Or when she spoke about Sophia's particular form of bullying:

“She feels like one that you would need a careful touch with...”

Or when she spoke about her initial encounters with each of the girls during the previous day:

“Those went pretty well. Looks like you have a talent for it.”

Or when she spoke about her movements during lunch time.

“I would not have recommended trying something like that quite so soon, but it was good that you managed to make it work.”

Andrea spent some time with her eyes closed, thinking deeply. Annette (you know the one) simply waited patiently, Taylor was looking at Andrea like she held the secrets to life and death, and Annette (the other one) kept looking at Taylor, apparently finding her reactions interesting.

“Okay.” Andrea finally said, opening her eyes “I think I have a few ideas that might work, but the main thing would have to be simply increasing your basic seduction abilities.” She put her hands together “You can't rely on rigid plans all the time, you need to be able to react and adapt on the fly to anything that happens.” She then looked at her daughter and nodded.

Annette (exactly the one you're thinking of) smiled and got up. Andrea pointed to her with an open hand “Taylor, for your first exercise, I want to see how you would try to seduce Annette.”

Taylor paled a bit, but then she took a deep breath and also stood up. She had been the one to ask for help, so she was going to do it, no matter how nervous she were, so she walked towards Annette (guess which one).

Strangely however, she soon found herself to not be as nervous as she expected.

Part of it was the fact that she was home, with her mother nearby, so there was some feeling of safety to the expected. However, most of it was because of Annette. The girl was very friendly and open, and she was looking at Taylor without any signs of judgment. So, after thinking for a moment, Taylor brought to mind everything she knew about seduction and got to work.

Anyone looking at her from the outside (and there were three very interested observers), would have seen Taylor “shift”. She stood a little straighter, her arms were a little more relaxed, and her steps were firm and measured. But perhaps most impressive was her face.

Taylor's expression was completely transformed. Her eyes practically shone with confidence, and she had a smile that held a promise that could only be fulfilled at night. It was definitely the kind of expression that would be almost impossible to find in the real world.

And then she spoke, in a voice that could cause chills, and not the fear kind:

“Hello, Annette. How are things going?”

“Ah, I'm doing pretty well.” She answered, in a normal tone of voice.

Taylor took a step closer to her and reached a hand to the point of almost touching her shoulder “Where did you buy this shirt? It's nice.”

“I got it at a thrift store downtown. They have nice stuff sometimes.” Her voice was still even and her tone unchanged.

Taylor moved her hand back and approached one more step, this time getting so close they could dance together from that position, and looking down at Annette's face “Maybe I should go there one of these days. Where is it?”

“Wait, let me write it down for you.” Annette still maintained absolute calm, and she moved to a table that had a pen on it.

Taylor froze for a moment “Ah... I mean...”

Andrea clapped her hands together “Okay, cut! That's enough!”

Taylor turned to look at her with something similar to panic in her eyes. Annette simply stopped and turned to her mother without changing expressions. Andrea waved the two back to their seats with a small smile to make Taylor calm a bit.

“Okay, Taylor. Let me explain one thing to you.” She said, again adopting her somewhat more serious tone “When we were getting here, I asked Annette to avoid reacting in any way to your first seduction attempt. Do you understand why I did this?”

“It was to-” Taylor started, before cutting off her initial response and actually thinking about it, closing her eyes in concentration. Both Andrea and her daughter were helping her without asking for anything, so she decided to give them the benefit of the doubt.

She opened her eyes, and looked at Andrea “To show me the flaws in my method.” She concluded.

“More or less.” Andrea nodded “Mostly I just wanted you to realize one important thing about seduction: The fact that a neutral reaction is a lot worse for your efforts than a negative one.”

She joined her hands together with interlocked fingers “Seduction is not about domination, nor about trickery or anything like that. The true form of seduction is a communication between two parties.”

She separated her hands and showed Taylor her palms “First, you show your interest. A positive reaction is obviously good, but a negative reaction still involves feelings being shown, a true communication, and people really crave that sort of connection, so you can use it to your advantage.” She she reversed her hands “While a neutral reaction is an absence of communication. There are no feelings involved, so if you try to escalate things, you'll only hurt the other person without gaining anything. And that was why you did not know what to do in front of Annette.”

Taylor looked at her and thought. She had put things in words that Taylor didn't even think about. The teenager felt like this was something she could really believe.

“So, what do I do then?” Taylor asked, hopeful.

Andrea smiled encouragingly “The first thing you need to understand is that seduction is not an instant thing. It takes time and effort, just like all worthwhile communication between people. You need to follow the rhythm of how things go, and eventually there will be a chance as long as you don't give up.” She winked “Like I said, everyone craves that connection, so no one can remain neutral forever. As long as you don't push things, you can take as long as you want and you won't be hated.”

“Ahh...” Taylor spoke in tones of understanding.

“Now. If you asked me to point at the greatest flaw in your seduction methods, I would say...” Andrea said, speaking in a light tone “You rely too much on words.”

“Huh?” Taylor asked eloquently.

“Exactly.” Andrea nodded “You are good at using words, but talking too much diminishes their impact. You need to let your expressions and your body language do most of the work, and only use words at critical points.”

She clapped her hands together again “With that said, your first exercise in this classes will be learning how to use your body language to its greatest effect.”

“Later.” Taylor's mom, who had been watching the discussion quietly, spoke in tones that brooked no argument.

“What?” Andrea asked.

“It's already time to start making lunch. So we should do that and eat, and after that we can continue.”

“Well... Okay.” Andrea agreed “What are you going to make?”

And so, the seduction lessons were temporarily paused as the sacred lunch hour approached. Taylor and her mother worked in the kitchen, and soon the four of them were enjoying a peaceful meal.

Taylor's nervousness had completely disappeared.

-0-

After eating, Taylor started on her exercises under Andrea's instruction.

Specifically, she was instructed on how to move, how to position her body, what expression to make and even what places to look at in a variety of possible “encounters”, such as sitting beside one of the girls, talking with one alone, talking with one in the company of other people, standing next to one while she is sitting, and variations of pretty much all of the above.

It was phenomenally comprehensive, and Taylor could tell that Andrea was really taking her task seriously. Annette still served as Taylor's seduction target, but this time she had more to do, as Andrea asked her to react in a variety of ways, to get Taylor used to all sorts of scenarios. She also talked about her impressions of Taylor's attempts.

She praised Taylor's technique even as she pointed out possible improvements, which were tested and given their own comments. Obviously Andrea was the one who was most responsible for the teaching, but Annette was also helping a lot, and Taylor's mom made a few suggestions of her own, even though it wasn't really her specialty.

More than once, they had to make pauses to rest, and eventually Andrea said it would be better to continue the physically demanding stuff the next day, and so they went into something else important: Strategy.

“Considering what you've told me about their reactions, I feel like Madison is the one who is most susceptible to your seduction attempts.” Andrea said “As such, she is probably going to become the cornerstone of your future strategy.”

“You mean I should focus on her?” Taylor asked.

“No, on the contrary, I think you should focus on the other two.”

“What's the reason for that?” Even her own daughter didn't quite understand Andrea's plan.

“It's simple.” Andrea said “Because of her susceptibility, if you focus on her, she will definitely fall quickly, but this will also drive a wedge between her and the other two, and those negative feelings will make it harder for you to execute your plan.” She opened her arms “However, if you focus on the other two, they will slowly become closer to Madison, due to their shared attraction for you, and her susceptibility will pretty much mean you would have a spy on the enemy camp.”

She stopped to let Taylor think about that “You said you wanted to seduce all three of them, so your best bet is to keep them united and influence them as a group. That doesn't mean you should ignore Madison, but you must focus your efforts on Emma and Sophia.”

Then she yawned “You should probably train specific tactics for each of the three, but it's already late, so it would be better to leave it to tomorrow. Me and Annette will leave after dinner.”

Taylor's mother clapped her hands together “Right. In that case, why don't you come help me, Andrea. I'm making my old chicken stroganoff.”

“Okay.” She said, and followed Annette into the kitchen.

Taylor saw that she was now alone with Annette, but after an entire day together, this simply didn't scare her in the way it would have had it happened at the beginning of the day.

Still, it was Annette who decided to initiate a conversation:

“So, Taylor. What are your hobbies?”

“Nothing much.” She scratched her head “I read a bunch, and I've been playing a lot of flash games on the internet. What about you?”

“Oh, I play Dungeons and Dragons.” Annette spoke, clearly excited “Do you know about it?”

“I have heard about it, but I never really looked into it.” Taylor answered “Tabletop roleplaying, right? Could you tell me about it?”

Annette smiled broadly, and the two were soon having a lively discussion about rules systems as well as the origin of certain tropes.

When Annette came back, she was happy to see her daughter smiling as she talked with her new friend.

Chapter Text

Decision 1.3

The training and planning lasted for the entire weekend, and left Taylor feeling a lot more confident than before.

She still wasn’t all that confident, but considering that her first action had been born out of pure desperation, Taylor was actually doing a lot better. More importantly, she was the type that worried but had nerves of steel when everything came to a head.

And that was proven after she got to the school. The first member of the trio she came in contact with was actually Emma herself, who had been walking through the school corridors. Taylor headed for her with a purpose, completely forgetting about her earlier nervousness.

Emma didn’t notice Taylor until she was pretty much next to her. Her eyes widened in surprise.

“Taylor-” She tried to say, but was interrupted.

“Emma!” Taylor exclaimed brightly, and wrapped the redhead in a hug.

And it wasn’t just a casual hug, but a deep, full-bodied hug that made it seem like the two were lovers who had not seen each other for a while and were just reuniting.

“I missed you.” Taylor whispered at Emma’s ear, before releasing her from the hug.

“Taylor, what’s going on with you?” Emma managed to recover after a moment and ask that.

“Didn’t I already explain that I wouldn’t back down?” Taylor asked, in a light tone “This weekend without being able to see you only made me more determined.”

While Emma tried to wrap her head around the fact that this seemed to be the new status quo, Taylor put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly “See you in class, Ems.” She said, before leaving.

+0+

The first class of the day was math, and Taylor had it together with Madison. She lucked out, finding out that Madison had also arrived early, and was just setting up her things on the desk when Taylor entered.

She sat down on the desk behind Madison’s and spoke casually:

“Hey, Madison. How was your weekend?”

Madison looked behind, surprised. But then she smiled and answered “Well, the biggest thing was that my family went to that Baskin Robbins ice cream place on the boardwalk.” She put a hand on her chin, in thought “The pistachio ice cream I got was pretty tasty, actually.”

Taylor nodded “Nice. As for me, I met mom’s old school friend Andrea, who came visit our house together with her daughter.” She smirked “And she actually named her daughter Annette, after my mom.”

Madison giggled “Really? How old is she?”

“She’s actually fifteen, just like us. But she studies in Arcadia, which is why I didn’t meet her before.” Taylor said “She’s pretty cool, I hope I can introduce you two some time. Ah, and Sophia and Ems as well.”

“I’ll look forward to it, then.” Madison said “And how is it going with you and the two?” She leaned forward, seeming interested.

It sounded like Madison wanted to know about her seduction attempts. Was she worried about a possible wedge being driven between herself and the two because of it? That wasn’t something Taylor expected, but she could definitely work with that.

She leaned forward and spoke in a conspiratory tone “I just met Emma. And it looks like she still hasn’t quite understood my intentions.”

“So what did you do?” Madison asked.

“I gave her a nice hug.” Taylor said, smugly.

Madison then asked for more details, and that led the two to have an actual conversation, which ended up with Taylor talking about her plans towards seducing the two. It was somewhat bizarre to have one of her former tormentors acting so friendly to her, but apparently Madison was dealing with her change in attitude in a somewhat different way from the other two.

When the teacher got in, and the class actually started, the two had to stop talking, but Madison then passed to Taylor a notebook page with a note scribbled on top of it, continuing their conversation. Taylor wrote her response and passed it back, and then the two spent most of the class passing notes between each other.

Taylor felt that it was quite fun, specially when she wrote in ‘Ah, and don’t worry, I also have things planned for you.’ and got to see Madison visibly react when she got the note. Her reply was also notably delayed, and ended up being ‘I’ll look forward to it’.

+0+

After leaving the class, Taylor didn’t end up meeting any of the trio in the corridors, and her next class was computers, which she didn’t share with any of them, so she didn’t get to use any more of her prepared tactics, but used the chance to reassess her mental and emotional condition.

The tension had returned now that Taylor was out of the battlefield (and she actually considered this a war, huh...), but she was feeling somewhat more confident than at the start of the day, since her advances were still working.

Also, while she felt a little weird about Madison’s friendliness, it wasn’t as much as she had expected, and after thinking about it for a bit, Taylor understood why: She had interacted a lot with Annette during the weekend, which caused her to become more used to receiving friendliness from girls her age.

Finally, Taylor thought about her goals in trying to seduce the trio, and found out that she was actually feeling even more determined about it than before. Originally, trying to restore (in a certain meaning) her relationship with Emma was the main reason for doing that, and the other two girls were more like add-ons, for whom the only thing she felt being physical attraction.

However, her recent interactions with Madison had gotten Taylor curious about her, about someone she had previously only seem as one of Emma’s flunkies. She had fun talking and passing notes with Madison in class, and she was curious about how Madison saw the whole situation, specially considering her change in attitude.

Perhaps intrigued would be a better word to use than curious in this case. Anyway, what Taylor felt towards Madison definitely wasn’t just physical attraction anymore. It wasn’t that strong either, but she felt that it could potentially grow a lot as she got to know Madison, and she definitely wanted to know her better.

And that made her think about Sophia. Would Taylor feel similarly about her if she knew her better? She didn’t know, but almost without thinking about it, Taylor decided to change her plans for the next time she met the other girl. And that would come soon, because Sophia was in Taylor’s next class.

+0+

For that class, Taylor ended up getting there almost late. Sophia noticed her immediately, and looked at Taylor warily. The latter didn’t try to hide her intentions, and looked straight at Sophia while walking around the room towards an unoccupied desk.

Taylor chose a route that passed next to Sophia, and spoke when she reached close to her:

“Hey, Sophia, can I talk to you after class? I have a favor to ask.” She said naturally.

“A favor? Hebert, what are you planning?” Sophia was still wary.

“Later.” Taylor said decisively, and went to the desk.

Compared with her first class, this time she actually paid attention to the teacher, although Taylor still sneaked a few glances at Sophia, who was sitting a few desks away. And apparently the other girl was doing the same, as their eyes met one of the times she did it.

Eventually though, class finished, and Taylor managed to attract Sophia’s attention and call her to a corner of the quickly emptying classroom via a series of nods. The other girl looked like she was considering simply ignoring Taylor, but seemingly decided that it would be too much like she was afraid of the girl, so she went to talk.

“So, what did you want, Hebert?” Sophia asked, still very belligerent.

“You’re really good at track and field, right?” Taylor started “I’ve been thinking of taking up running, Could you help me out with that?” She asked.

Sophia became silent for a moment, looking at Taylor with an expression like she had just seen the other girl grow a second head. After that moment, she finally opened her mouth to speak.

“... Are you fucking serious, Hebert?” Her tone was incredulous “What makes you think I would do that?”

Taylor put a finger on her chin “Well... There are a few reasons...” She started “First, you seem to really like track and such things, so you would enjoy the experience. Second, since this is a favor, that means I would owe you a favor. And third...” She stopped for a moment, and grinned.

“If you don’t accept, I could just find out your training times and run in your sight until you got so fed up with my awful running you decided to take over my training anyway.” Taylor leaned forward “So really, wouldn’t it be easier if you just accepted it early?”

Again, Sophia’s expression showed that she could barely believe what she was hearing. And for a moment, Taylor actually thought that she would explode in anger, but Sophia seemed to regain control and ended up saying:

“Fine. But you better be ready, because I’m not going to go easy on you.”

Taylor smiled “That’s exactly what I’d prefer.”

Then they started talking about the specifics. But Taylor, despite managing to maintain her composure, still found the situation to be strange. She hadn’t really expected for Sophia to actually accept (at least, not right away), so Taylor didn’t really understand what was going on with her. It was almost as if... something had happened with her.

Eventually, Sophia told Taylor to meet at a certain area of the docks at two of the following day. And she also decided to use that opportunity to try and figure out what was up with Sophia.

Chapter Text

Her next interaction with the trio would be during lunch, and Taylor decided to act more subtly than she had during the previous lunch time.

Of course, subtlety was a relative concept.

When she arrived there, Sophia and Emma were sitting next to each other, and Madison was sitting across them. Taylor walked up to the table casually and sat down next to Madison.

“Hello!” She did a cheery wave to the two.

The three girls looked at her, apparently unable to respond so easily. Taylor took the opportunity to touch Madison's knee with one finger, then with her whole hand since the other girl didn't react negatively.

“Hey, Ems. Did Sophia tell you?” Taylor advanced the conversation by herself.

Sophia twitched, and Emma looked confused “Tell me what?” She asked.

“Since she is so good at track, I asked Sophia to help me with my running, and she accepted.” Taylor said with a smile.

Sophia put a hand on her face in exasperation, while Emma looked between her and Taylor in disbelief. Madison put a hand over Taylor's, and started tracing circles on her skin with a finger.

Emma eventually sighed, finally settling on saying “If you're happy with that.”

“Ah, that reminds me...” Taylor said, taking hold of the chance “Emma, are you free this afternoon?”

“Why do you ask?” Emma seemed wary.

“Because my first training with Sophia will be tomorrow, so I thought it would be nice to go out with you today, so you don't get jealous of her.” Taylor spoke calmly.

Emma went speechless again, and Madison lightly pinched Taylor's hand, as if to say 'I'm here too, remember?' Taylor replied by turning her hand upwards and interlocking her fingers with Madison's.

“Why would you want to go somewhere with me?” Emma eventually asked.

Taylor thought about repeating her assertions that Emma already knew what she wanted, but eventually decided on a different tack:

“It's been so long since the last time we did anything together. I missed you.” She spoke, letting her real feelings through.

Emma recoiled in shock, and then her expression showed a deep internal struggle. Taylor decided to gamble.

“You don't need to say yes if you don't want to.” She said “You're my friend, so I don't want to make you uncomfortable.”

This caused an even bigger reaction than Taylor's previous words. Emma actually looked stricken for a moment, before quickly restoring her expression to normality. She took a deep breath and looked Taylor straight in the eyes.

“I don't have anything planned for today, so I wouldn't mind going out with you.” She spoke, sounding more like someone agreeing to a duel.

Taylor didn't mind it though, simply smiling in barely restrained joy (she wasn't even faking it) and asking a question:

“What time do you want me to pick you up at home?”

Emma looked somewhat surprised at the quick advancement of the discussion, but managed to say “Ehh, how about three and a half?”

“That's good. That should give you time to get ready.” Taylor nodded “Okay, it's settled, then.”

Sophia observed the whole back and forth with an expression of exasperation.

+0+

While she was heading back home, Taylor took the time to think about the situation again. It wasn't just Sophia that was acting weird, Emma also seemed to have something going on. The two seemed to be closer to each other than to Madison, so there was a possibility that the two had some secret that resulted in the way things were now.

Taylor was curious about it, but she didn't really need to know. If that secret allowed her to seduce them more easily, then it was enough for her.

All that said, Taylor had to prepare for her date, so her thoughts turned towards that when she reached her home. As it happened, she had received quite a lot of advice on the matter of dates from the Campbell mother and daughter.

She carefully chose the clothes to wear. Taylor wasn't going to try too hard on her appearance, simply putting on some nice jeans and a white blouse. She also wore a casual necklace and arranged her hairstyle to become a bit more showy. The main thing was making it obvious that she had put in some effort for the sake of her partner, without reaching the level of being pushy.

With all that taken care of, all that remained was for Taylor to plan out the mechanics of the date itself.

+0+

When the time came, Taylor headed to Emma's house. She knocked on the door, and was answered by Emma's mother.

“Oh, Taylor. It's been a while.” The woman said.

“Yeah. A lot of things happened.” Taylor said, reaching a new personal best for understatements “How is Emma doing?” She asked.

“She's doing fine. Actually she asked me to tell her when you got here.” That said, Emma's mother went upstairs.

Taylor only had to wait a little bit more before Emma came down. She was wearing a light blue dress whose skirt reached a little above her knees. It had a butterfly design on the front and was sleeveless.

Emma really looked good on it.

“Hi, Emma!” Taylor greeted her, approaching and looking the redhead up and down with a smile, making clear her thoughts about her attire.

“Hi, Taylor.” Emma said, considerably less enthusiastic. She also looked at Taylor's current appearance, but her thoughts about it were difficult to determine.

The two left the house and Emma spoke up:

“Where are we going, then?”

Taylor smiled at her “How about we visit the boardwalk? I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun there.”

Emma accepted the suggestion, and the two headed to their destination.

+0+

The redhead was acting pretty stiff at first, but she slowly started to loosen up as she spent more time with Taylor. They walked around, looking at stuff, and Emma's responses when Taylor talked to her were used by the latter to gauge how things were going.

They did not have a set destination, so Taylor brought Emma along and entered whatever shops seemed interesting, enjoying the relative casualness of their interactions but still keeping careful watch on her partner, determined to take advantage of that chance to the max.

“Hey, do you think these earrings would look good on me?”

“Hmm... Strawberry and peanuts special, huh... I wonder how it tastes...”

“Have you heard about the drama involving the lead actress?”

Taylor brought up a lot of subjects, hoping to find something that would drive Emma to take an active part in the discussion. And eventually she finally managed it.

“Don't you think this dress looks like the one from the posters of the Arc of Destiny movie?” Said about a dress being shown by a mannequin inside the store.

“The cut is a lot different, but movie sets have designers who could customize it, I guess.” Emma answered.

“Hmm, I understand. That's the role of the costume designers, right?” Taylor asked, noticing the other's interest.

“Yeah, but there is quite a lot involved in it.” Emma explained “Sometimes there's work for historical or regional style outfits, there's also the question of making adaptations based on what will show up on the recording, including all the extra lights and similar things they use to get a higher quality...”

That was clearly a topic close to Emma's heart. She spoke for quite a while without any more prompting, and then Taylor, having found a chance, asked about the qualifications needed to become that kind of designer, leading to an abridged retelling of the biographies of several respected figures of the field.

Emma even got thirsty in the middle, so the two moved to a nearby coffee shop to drink some juice. With that, the ice had been thoroughly broken. Taylor was then able to have some more physical contact with Emma. She did so casually, and without pushing too hard, only doing some small touches and pressing her body against Emma's lightly whenever she could get away with.

They kept walking around, Emma now taking the lead in conversation. And little by little, she seemed to be responding to Taylor's advances, though slightly. That was a good step forward. All in all... It was a nice date.

Time flew, and when it got to six in the afternoon, Taylor decided to take Emma back home, as following with traditional dating etiquette, except with one small twist...

“Well... Bye, then-” Emma turned around to send Taylor off, but was interrupted.

Because Taylor took the opportunity to plant a kiss on her mouth. She then smiled, waved “bye bye” and walked away. Leaving Emma in front of her house, completely stunned.

Chapter Text

Taylor's memory of going back home was vague and foggy. It almost seemed like one moment she was walking away from Emma's house and the next moment she was collapsing onto her bed.

The date had gone even better than Taylor had dared to hope, but that didn't mean she would let her guard down. There were still four more school days on the week, and Taylor wanted to make sure to take advantage of that, because when the weekend came, it would be difficult to predict what would happen. (Something had clearly happened during the previous weekend, after all.)

Taylor knew that dealing with Sophia would be very different from her interactions with Emma, since she didn't have the same connection and shared history. She was nervous about it, but Taylor had also been nervous when it came to her date with Emma.

More and more, Taylor was realizing something about herself: She performed well under pressure. Instead of stumbling, Taylor ended up doing even better than expected when the chips were down.

After those thoughts were over, Taylor got an urge to tell her mother how the date had gone, but a stray thought informed her that Annette wasn't home yet. Apparently she had actually checked when she got home, even if she didn't remember doing so.

It was a stifling feeling. Taylor really wanted to talk to someone about what had happened.

And then she remembered that Annette (the non-mom one) had given her a contact number. Taylor had honestly forgotten about that option, since it had been a while since she had an actual friend she could call.

Taylor grabbed her cellphone and dialed in the number. It rung only a few times before a lively voice came from the other end of the line:

'Hello!' It was Annette.

“Hello, Annette. It's me, Taylor.” She said.

“Ah, Taylor!” Annette replied “So it's you. How are things going with the girls there? Everything going nicely, I hope?”

Taylor had to smile at that “That's actually what I called you about. Things are going almost disturbingly well. I actually went on a date with Emma today.” She said.

“Oh, an actual date?” Annette asked eagerly “Did you kiss her at the end and everything?”

“I sure did!” Taylor answered with a giggle. That surprised her, as she wasn't usually the type to giggle “And it was great!”

“And yet you're still worried.” The other girl pointed out “I think I have some idea of the reason, but why don't you try to explain first?”

“Well, how do I say it...” Taylor tried to put her feelings into words “I guess since things are going too well... I'm worried about what will happen when it all goes back to normal...”

There was silence from the other end of the line for a few seconds. Then Annette spoke again:

“I... I think I know what you mean... Since the way the three of them have been reacting to you has been different than you expected, there must have been some other influence behind it.” Her voice started getting more confident as she went along “And you don't know what that influence is, and how long it would help you.” She finished.

“Yes.” Taylor spoke with a sigh and a shake of the head “I don't even know what that is, or how I could deal with it. But not understanding that is only part of the problem...”

“Hmm... So what is the rest of the problem?” Annette asked.

“What if I'm just taking advantage of them?” Taylor replied with a question of her own “Whatever it is that's influencing them, I have nothing to do with it, but I am still taking advantage of the situation to get closer to the three.” She spoke in a weak voice.

“I see...” Annette spoke thoughtfully “In that case, there's something you could do about that.”

“There is?” Taylor asked.

“Yes.” Annette said firmly “It all comes down to you having some sort of power over them, but there are actually a lot of relationships featuring power imbalances.” She stopped for a moment “That is a slightly different situation, but a lot of the same rules apply. Mostly it is just a matter of concern and restraint.”

“Concern and restraint?” Taylor asked.

“Essentially, you need to concern yourself with the feelings of the other person or people, and restrain yourself adequately based on that concern.” Annette summed it up “It's a hard balance to strike, because it usually requires a frank level of communication and discussion between the parties involved.”

“... I can understand that.” Taylor spoke.

“Of course, that's more difficult because of the 'complicated' situation of your relationships.” Taylor almost laughed at the way she said 'complicated' “So, instead you will need to carefully watch yourself to make sure you don't go over the line, and you will have to carefully observe the girls to make sure where the line is.”

“That seems really complicated...” Taylor nodded to herself “But thank you. Having some concrete advice really makes me feel a lot better.”

“You're welcome.” Taylor could easily imagine the smile on her face upon hearing that “But now that the serious stuff is out of the way, how about you tell me more about your date?”

Taylor smiled back and started talking, and the conversation between them ended up lasting quite a while.

October 19, 2010

Tuesday arrived, and with it Taylor immediately started putting Annette's advice into practice. She kept up her confident attitude and tried her best to interact with the three girls, just like before, but she also kept an eye open for any signs that she could be placing the trio under undue stress.

After the previous day's events, Emma was acting very embarrassed, which was pretty cute. Taylor gave her space, instead of trying to push things further. Sophia was her main target during the day, as Taylor worked to ascertain the other girl's mood in preparation for their date in the afternoon.

That included striking conversations with Sophia whenever possible, as well as taking advantage of an opportunity to sit beside her during lunch. Sophia seemed to be very wary, so Taylor avoided getting physical with her.

Meanwhile, Madison was apparently having fun. Taylor had no idea how things had gotten to that point, but the other girl not only kept up her... “flirting”? Would that be the right word? But even increased her efforts.

Taylor was at the receiving end of many unsubtle touches, interested looks and meaningful words. Madison's technique had some similarities to what Taylor was doing, but mostly it was far more subtle and took advantage of her cuteness.

Annette had given Taylor some tips about how to deal with Madison, and they were still applicable even if she was more aggressive. Apparently Madison was the kind of girl who enjoyed the flirting game, but Taylor would have to keep things interesting if she wanted to keep her attention.

That resulted in interactions that could truly be likened to games, the most important of which being one where both of them were in science class, and Taylor's seat was directly behind Madison's. Both of them had gotten there early, so there was time to talk.

+0+

It started with Madison casually leaning backwards on her chair and smiling at Taylor:

“We meet again.” She spoke.

“And it's a very fortuitous meeting indeed.” Taylor played along “We actually have time to talk in private.”

“Oh? That could be interesting.” Madison spoke with a slight grin and moved her chair closer to Taylor, leaning forwards.

That was an obvious cue for Taylor to speak first, so she did:

“Just looking at you being all eager is already nice.” She said.

“Well, can you blame me?” She asked with a mock pout “You don't give me nearly enough attention. That's not how you're supposed to treat a girl, you know?”

Taylor leaned forwards herself “I'm truly sorry if I made you feel lonely.” She reached her hand up and slightly touched Madison's hair “It's just that I didn't want to do anything by half, so I wanted to be prepared before treating you.”

However, Madison wouldn't make things that easy “Oh, really?” She spoke with a slight trace of sarcasm “But what about Sophia and Emma? Is it okay not to show them the same consideration?” Madison did not glare as she spoke that, but Taylor could still feel a sense of danger.

“That is not the case.” She replied quickly, knowing that this was a delicate part of the conversation “The situation with them is different from yours, since they still haven't quite accepted that I'm telling the truth about my intentions, so I have to be a bit blunter with them.”

“I see.” Madison said with a nod, putting a finger on her cheek “I do appreciate you wanting to be through with me... But don't keep me waiting for too long.” She said with a smile “I wouldn't appreciate that.”

Taylor once again felt a palpable sense of threat. This definitely needed a response:

“Then you should be looking forward to tomorrow.” She said.

“Hmm... Are you saying you got something special planned for tomorrow?” Madison asked.

“Exactly.” Taylor lied “But it's a secret.”

Madison's smile got even broader “In that case, I'll be looking forward to it.” She reached forward to whisper in Taylor's ear “You really raised my expectations, so I hope you'll deliver.”

With that, she moved her chair back into place. Taylor settled herself back on her chair, only then realizing that it was already almost time for class to start.

Okay. She had just committed herself to something like that without any plans whatsoever. She would have to think deeply about what to do with Madison. However, that wasn't the time for it, she needed to prepare herself for training with Sophia.