"You okay?" Adi asked as two girls walked through the school halls. She was holding onto Toni's arm, but didn't need to do much except catch her friend if she fell. Really, Adi was feeling more than a little guilty about the current situation. She wasn't glad that she'd been there when Toni needed her. She wasn't particularly proud of being the only one of her classmates to remember what Toni's dad had taught them about using the injector pen. The only thing she was really thinking now was how she'd escaped public humiliation, and how this trip to the nurse's office would give her a perfect opportunity to change her diaper before the rest of their girls found out she was wearing one. Even in the middle of saving a friend's life, the first thought on her mind had been how to get out of presenting her essay; and when she realised that it was only natural to feel terrible about it.
"I'm fine," Toni gave a one-shoulder shrug, swayed a little. The two girls stopped for a moment, and Adi found herself wondering if a hypothetical passing observer might think they were a couple.
Toni was wearing designer ripped jeans and a leather jacket over a plain white tee. Not the school uniform, not even close, but the teachers never did anything more than telling her she should be dressed properly. Toni was muscular as well, the biker jacket wasn't just for show and it took some strength to force a heavy bike without power steering to do your will. With those broad shoulders, and close-cropped blond hair with a few flame-blue streaks, it wouldn't be hard for someone to mistake her for an a toned, confident, and fashionable guy. She had a slight crush on Adi to, she'd admitted it in the past. That was the thought that would have made Adi back away if she wasn't supporting Toni's unsteady progress down the hall. Right now, she really didn't need the tomboy making a playful grab at her ass.
"Are you okay?"
"I..." Adi started. She didn't know what to say, it wasn't a question she'd planned an answer for because it was the last thing she'd expected the other girl to ask. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"I don't know. Brit wouldn't tell me. But I know there's something wrong. Something with Leatherface calling you up to the front of the class. As I saw you freeze when she called on you, that's not like you at all. What happened to the ego, babe?"
"It's..." a long pause, enough time passed for them to take three or four steps. "She really didn't tell you?"
"Not a word. Don't you know, I'm only her sidekick?" That was a gag that would have attracted a half-hearted attempt at a slap in any other circumstances. An in-joke that Adi wasn't a party to, and that neither of her best friends would explain. Not knowing got on her nerves more than anything else ever could.
"Well, you'll find out anyway. I got hypnotised, right?"
"No way! Like, is that even real?"
"That's what I thought. It was just..." she hesitated again. She didn't want to tell the truth, about her reviews and her little obsession with testing out these things just to prove it wasn't possible. That would be way too embarrassing in the circumstances. "Kind of a dare, you know? I didn't think anything would happen."
"But something happens when somebody says your name?"
"Yeah. Only my full name, though. Well, my full first name. So 'Adi' is fine, and 'Spenser' is fine, but if anybody calls me–" She suddenly stopped, not knowing if it would happen if she said it herself.
"Don't worry, I won't say it. I already promised Brit, but she didn't tell me Adi was okay. And she didn't tell me why, just that I'd know if you want to tell me."
"Thanks. It just makes me embarrassed. I'd rather not say the details, if you don't mind? It was just a bit more than I could deal with. I don't know what I'd have done if you hadn't..."
"You okay, Adi?"
"You were pretending, weren't you? You faked a medical emergency so I could cut class?"
The scope of that accusation was more than Adi could take in. She would never consider something like that, and she couldn't believe anyone would. But the tomboy just gave a gentle nod, and a lopsided grin that was right out of the movies.