Club Luna

=::= Kaylee's PoV =::=

"Hi Cass," I smiled and gestured, "C'mon in."

My girlfriend smiled back at me as she stepped in, then took off her sandals while I closed the door behind her.

Even though it was still just the first week of June the weather outside was really nice and Cassandra was dressed for it. She was in a pair of cute shorts that let her show off her legs and a tight t-shirt, with her little purse hanging by her left hip. And she still had that little white bunny plushie she got on Thursday clipped to the side of her purse.

Despite my misgivings about the whole enchanted plush toy thing I couldn't help thinking it was super cute, and a very Cass thing to do.

"Do you want something to drink?" I offered before taking her up to my room. "Or snacks or something?"

She shrugged, "Maybe some water or a soda or something?"

We headed to the kitchen first, then we both ended up getting bottles of spring water from the fridge. We were on our way back out when we ran into my dad, who looked like he was heading into the kitchen for a drink or snacks as well.

"Oh hello Cassandra," he smiled at her. "I'm glad to see you're up and about again."

Cass blushed slightly, "Hello Mr. Holt. And thank you, I'm feeling a lot better now."

Dad told me once it was kind of an awkward thing, working as an ambulance driver in the same smallish town where he lived. It meant there was always a chance of running into a friend or neighbour or something on the job, then seeing them again afterwards off the job.

There was no good way to handle it he said, and apart from not discussing private medical stuff there weren't any strict rules about it. Like some people didn't want to discuss it at all, they'd just pretend it didn't happen. Other people would think that was weird and they'd at least acknowledge it. And some folks were grateful and thanked him. It all depended on the person and how well dad knew them and all that.

When it came to my girlfriend he should have left it at that, and he probably would have too. Except for one thing.

Before me and Cass could escape upstairs my dad did a double-take and gasped, "Woah! Cassandra what happened to the burns?! How'd your wrists and ankles heal so fast? There aren't even marks! You had second-degree burns, there's no way they're gone in only forty-eight hours!"

My girlfriend glanced at me as she cringed, "Um, I don't know? I just heal really quick I guess? Good genes or something maybe..."

I put a hand on her shoulder and started to guide her past dad. And I gave him a bit of a look as I quietly reminded him, "Health stuff's private dad. You taught me that."

He nodded slowly as he stared at us both, clearly stunned and confused. Fortunately he let the subject drop, and me and Cass got up to my room without any more awkward situations.

I closed the door so we had some privacy, then as we sat down on my bed together she grimaced. "That was close. I hope that quick healing stuff didn't sound too made-up?"

"I think it was ok?" I shrugged. "Dad normally wouldn't ask about health stuff, he knows it's private. But I can understand how he'd be freaked out, like he just treated you two days ago and even I know it'd take longer than that to heal."

After a gulp of my water I asked, "Speaking of, did you ever figure out how you healed so fast?"

She shook her head and had a sip of her drink too, then replied "No. My parents didn't do it, I didn't do it, and Nina didn't do it. Maybe I really do have good genes or something?"

"Nina?" I frowned. "You mean Ninaya?"

"Yeah. I guess we started calling her Nina for short?" she replied. "Me and my parents I mean."

I had another gulp of spring water, then finally sighed. "How are you holding up after all that stuff Cass? Like... I don't know? Yesterday was a lot. And Friday was a lot too."

She frowned slightly as she stared at her water bottle, then finally shrugged. "I'm doing ok I guess? I haven't really had time to think about the Friday stuff yet. I'm still not happy with Miss Hawthorne, but like I said, I haven't had time to think about it. The stuff from yesterday... I think I'm actually kind of ok with that?"

Cass paused for another sip of water then explained, "If Nina was a scary evil nasty demon then I'd probably feel a lot worse. Like if she did stuff to me because she was evil or hateful, that'd hurt more. But she's not like that. She's a scared shy kid like me, and she was doing that stuff because she was lonely and the one person she thought was a friend told her to do it. And even then it took her a long time to even try, because she knew it was wrong."

"Cass she isn't a kid," I pointed out. "She's almost fifteen-hundred years old, and she's a demon."

My girlfriend frowned at her water bottle again, "She looks like my little sister, she acts shy, and she's timid and gets scared. I don't know what fifteen-hundred is in human years, but she looks and acts fifteen and I think that's how old she is. She's a teen just like you and me, but she's been all alone for most of her life. She needs some real friends, and maybe a proper family."

"She's an orphan too," Cass added before I could respond. "I asked her about her parents last night. She said she never knew them, she doesn't know if she even has any. That's another thing we have in common? Except where I got adopted and got a great family and friends, Nina had to spend all her life alone."

I watched her for a few more moments then asked, "You're serious about being friends with her huh? You want to help her, just like you did for Melanie?"

"Are you going to try and get her to join Club Luna too?" I added with a grin.

My girlfriend didn't smile, she just kept frowning at her water. Finally she shook her head, "I'm not sure Nina would want to start coming to school, and the club is kind of a school thing. If she sticks around though maybe my folks will talk to her about it? Like if she's still hanging around in August?"

"What?" I asked as I stared wide-eyed at her. "What do you mean if she sticks around? Like around here?"

Cass shrugged again, "She stayed with us last night. Mom and mum let her sleep in the guest room."

"What?!" I gasped. "She's a demon! Why in the world would your parents let a demon stay with you?"

She sighed and frowned at me, "I just explained all that Kaylee. So what if she's a demon? Melanie's a werewolf. You and the rest of the club are witches. My parents are angels. And I'm some mixed-up blend of human and demon and chaos goddess."

Her voice got a little harder as she continued, "It doesn't matter what we are ok? What matters is who we are, and what we do. Hating her or not trusting her just because she's a demon... That's no different than not trusting me for being trans. Or treating you differently just because you're into girls."

"I'm sorry Cass," I apologized. "I guess I'm just a little anxious about demons after everything Miss Hawthorne said on Friday."

She looked like she had something else to say about that, but in the end she just had a few gulps of water and let the subject drop. That left an awkward silence between us for a few seconds, but I had some other questions to ask. They were probably just as touchy, but I was curious.

"Do you think your moms will figure out how to fix the thing with those runes?" I asked. "So it's safe for you to use magic again?"

Cass shrugged, "I don't know. Nina gave mum a whole bunch of stuff that Socha left behind, all the stuff she used to do the rituals to me when I was a baby? So mom and mum have been going over it ever since, with Nina's help. She's translating all the demonic stuff since my folks can't read that. If they can't figure it out then they said there's some friends they can talk to."

I asked, "What about Miss Hawthorne? She might be able to help, she knows all kinds of obscure magic stuff."

My girlfriend's expression got darker, she almost scowled. "They won't talk to her, and I don't blame them. I'm not looking forward to seeing her in class tomorrow."

"But she's your favourite teacher," I responded in a sad voice. "You know she didn't mean for you to get hurt right? The burns were an accident."

"It's not about that," Cass stated. She sounded grumpy and upset as she went on, "She knew I wasn't human right from the start and she kept it secret. Then she made Melanie lie and keep secrets too. And... There's other stuff but I'm not ready to talk about it yet. Sorry Kaylee."

I sighed, "It's ok Cass. Like I said before, you've been through a lot. I'm sorry for pushing and bringing these things up."

She nodded, then shrugged again. "Anyways if I can't do magic the way you taught me, maybe I can get Nina to teach me demonic magic instead? She said they don't use the Will and the Way and the Word. Or I guess they still use the Word, they have demonic spells."

"Don't joke about that stuff Cass," I said as I gave her a stern look.

She opened her mouth to reply, then closed it. Then after a second or two she nodded, "Sorry Kaylee. You're right, it wasn't a good joke."

After that it felt like things were a bit awkward between us both. Actually when I thought about it, things had been kind of awkward all week. Like ever since the bunnygirl showed up at school Monday morning, things had been a bit strained. Or at least, ever since we talked to May about the bunnygirl.

With that on my mind I commented, "I wonder what May's going to do about those enchanted toys in the vending machine? That conversation kind of got forgotten after you got hurt on Friday."

Cass grumbled, "I hope she leaves them alone. They're not hurting anyone, and they're helping trans people. It's none of Miss Hawthorne's business and she should keep her nose out of it."

"You heard what May said," I responded. "They're dangerous. It's permanent magic, it's turning people into demi-humans. We can't just ignore it."

My girlfriend actually glared at me and stated in a hard voice, "All I've heard is cis people wringing their hands about what-ifs and maybes. You and Miss Hawthorne keep talking about how it's dangerous and horrible but you have no idea what you're even talking about! You eavesdropped on me and Kenzie on Thursday Kaylee. You heard how happy she is!"

"Melanie said the same thing on Friday about the catgirl she met at work," Cass continued in the same hard tone. "Silvia's happy and doesn't want to be changed back, neither does Kenzie. That's two real live trans girls who's lives have been made better, versus your made-up hypothetical dangers."

I found myself staring wide-eyed and silent while she continued glaring at me, like she was waiting for my response. I'd never heard Cass get angry before, but in the past few days she'd snapped at Miss Hawthorne and now she snapped at me. And both times it was about the same thing.

After a couple more seconds I finally sighed, "Cassandra I know this is an important subject to you, but I don't think you're being objective about it. Maybe -"

"No!" she stated. "You're not going to discount my opinion because I'm trans. You don't get to tell me I'm too close or I'm being unreasonable. You don't know what it's like Kaylee. You don't know what dysphoria is like, what it's like being stuck in the wrong body. Maybe if you spent a few years dealing with that you'd understand. But those plushies are helping trans people and they're not hurting anybody else. The vending machines stay."

I sighed, "Cass you didn't even know you were trans until after you got turned into a girl. You're not -"

She cut me off again, "That doesn't mean I didn't suffer Kaylee! It just means I didn't know why I was suffering, or what was wrong with me! Maybe you should do some reading or research on the subject before you try and talk about it? That's supposed to be what you're good at."

"Cass I'm sorry! I didn't mean..."

She was already on her feet, and she stalked out of my room then ran down the stairs. She didn't even stop to put on her sandals, she just scooped them up and ran out the door while I was still on the stairs. I found myself standing in the open doorway watching as she ran barefoot along the sidewalk and finally out of sight, on her way back home.

My stomach was churning and there was a lump in my throat while my eyes started to sting.

"Kaylee honey?" mom asked as she moved to stand next to me, with her arm around my shoulders. "Are you ok?"

I gulped then shook my head and whispered, "Me and Cass had a fight. Mom I think I messed up."

She closed the door and pulled me into a hug, then tried to reassure me. "It'll be ok hon. These things happen. Give her some time. Maybe call her tonight, or send her a text. If you want to patch things up let her know that. And if you want to apologize, then make sure you do."

There were some tears in my eyes as I hugged mom back. I blinked the tears away and sighed, "Thanks mom. I hope you're right."