LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 11 – Locker Room Talk
Lunch came faster than I expected. One second I was contemplating how exactly I would tell Horton off and preparing myself for it, the next I was sitting at a table in the cafeteria, Emily by my side and the other magical mostly girls in front of me. I recognized Clara and Aleah and Ellie, but not the fourth one. Which meant introductions were in order. Introductions during which I did not want to use my deadname.
So I signed to Emily “Hey, could you tell everyone I chose the name Daisy, but that I’m gonna stay closeted, so could they please use a nickname?”
I could see the gears turning in her head, figuring out how to go about it, but out of the corner of my eye I caught Aleah smile a bit, right before she spoke up. “So, D, why don’t you introduce us?”
Okay, yeah, quick, simple, short for my actual name, that would work. “T-this is Emily Hope, we’re, we’re in the same y-year. And she’s, she’s mine, she’s…” Emily grabbed hold of my hand in that moment.
“I’m D’s girlfriend.” She finished the sentence for me, which, for the record, I only had trouble with because I still had trouble believing it. Especially when I was in boy mode, the fact she admitted it despite the fact really confirmed it for me at last. She did love me, we were girlfriends, and Horton had tried to blackmail me into handing over her nudes.
“I’m happy for you two! Now the rest of the introductions,” Aleah said, clapping her hands a bit. “I’m Aleah Young, a Junior. This--” she grabbed hold of Ellie’s arm, “-- is my girlfriend Ellie Metsänpeitto.”
Ellie signed, “I don’t like using my voice.”
“That’s fine, I’m fluent in ASL, I’ve known D for years and D’s anxiety makes D go nonverbal a significant amount of the time,” Emily replied and explained.
“I’m Clara Everest, Senior, and President of The Club. I believe Blake South is the only member D hasn’t met yet.” Clara turned to the unfamiliar one at the table.
“That’s me, I’m a freshman. And I use they/them pronouns,” they contributed. With everyone acquainted, all that remained was waiting for Horton to appear. I kept scanning the cafeteria for him, looking from one end to the other, but thankfully it didn’t take long to see him by the door, the one that led to the gym. Our eyes met, and he gestured with his thumb behind him, turning and walking away.
“Sh-show time,” I stuttered out while getting up, backpack firmly in hand, and followed after him.
His arms were crossed; he was standing near the boys’ locker room door, and when he saw me approaching, he scrunched his nose up. “You pussying out after all, Cloudton? I thought you’d finally grow a pair.”
I stood in front of him, fists clenched, and looked him right in the face. “F-fuck you, Horton. I’m n-not a, a creep like you. I-I don’t have to drug g-girls to have, have them spend a night with me.”
“Taking it up the ass doesn’t count, Cloudton. You need a lesson, though.” He grabbed me by the collar, and threw me into the locker room, walking in and locking the door, leaving everyone else outside. My flight was stopped with the nearest row of lockers, and the impact against them forced me to let go of my backpack, which I hadn’t sealed properly. This had the obvious result of Potato Bun and my wand spilling out. I coughed while Horton looked at them. “What a fucking sissy, bringing toys to school, what are you, ten?” He picked them up. “Fuck, this thing is cringe; I think my little sister has a cheaper version of it, some light-up crap out of plastic. Maybe she’d like a new one, what do you think?” He tossed the wand in the air a few times, before throwing it at me. I had but moments to move my head, as the crescent embedded itself in the locker. “Damn, that thing is dangerous. Always knew it was a matter of time before you went on a crazy rampage. Now what do I do with this thing.” He was turning Potato Bun around, and with a wicked grin grabbed hold of her head. “Ah yes, such a simple answer, I’ll make the tranny cry by ripping apart his toy.”
Horton began pulling, but of course as Potato Bun was a living creature, she didn’t stand for it, and screamed. “STOPSTOPSTOPSTOP, DAISY’S MOM ALREADY USES ME FOR PITCH PRACTICE, LET GO!” The surprise of hearing Potato Bun made him drop her, providing her with an opportunity which she used to float next to me. I used the precious moments of confusion on Horton’s face to get the wand out of the locker and firmly in hand.
The confusion didn’t last long, however, he just shook his head and laughed. “Really, Daisy? What a faggy name. Next you’ll say you’re a fairy princess and the freaky doll is your animal companion.”
“Daisy’s a Magical Girl and I’m her Guide!” Potato Bun shouted, and so to prevent further slips, I grabbed her and covered her mouth.
“Magical Girl? Magical Girl? So what, you transform or something?” He took out his phone. “Show me.”
“No.” I got off the floor. Horton kicked me in the gut.
“Show me, tranny. You’re not leaving until you do. Tell you what, you do that, I won’t ask for your boyfriend’s nudes. She can keep her dignity.”
“I-I wouldn’t give them to, to you anyways. You c-can’t threaten me with t-that.” I held the wand tighter.
“Is that so? Well how about this, I’ll make your life so much of a Hell your mom will move you across the country for your sake. No more dyke boyfriend after that.” That threat made me gulp. I couldn’t leave, I wouldn’t leave; my life was here, Emily was here, the Magical Mostly Girls were here. I looked down in resignation.
“Fine.”
“Good. Now introduce yourself. With your actual name.” He was pointing the phone at me, it was unclear whether he was taking pictures or recording.
“M-my name is, is Daisy Clou--”
“That’s not your actual name, tranny. Try again.”
I growled. “My l-legal name is D-David Cloudton. I’m a, a sophomore at Ashhill H-High. And I’m a M-Magical Girl.”
“Good job, now show everyone your pretty transformation, you fag.”
I sighed and held the wand up. “M-Moon Wand Power, sh-shine!” Horton just began laughing after I said it, but the laughter stopped as the transformation began in earnest. “Th-there.” I crossed my arms, having finished, and Horton just looked at me, slack jawed.
“Oh my god, that really just fucking happened. This is going to go fucking viral.” There it was. My biggest anxiety realised. Being forced to come out before I was ready, by my bully forcing me to transform, meaning Mom would have to move us. Everyone would know now. Everyone would be snickering, attacking me with slurs, hurting me directly, I could die. I was screwed. “Let’s see how extensive it is now, shall we?” Horton took one step forward, and the ceiling was gone, surprising both of us.
The ceiling, the back wall, a chunk of the door, all of it had been ripped off, revealing the sky above. A mass of sickly purple and green and orange, bright and neon and painful to look at for too long. And blocking it out was a truly massive Nightmare. It was like a successful human centipede, just without the heads. Its body was covered in patches of hedgehog spines, and the stump where its neck would be on the frontmost body was stretched out, like a weird tube, its face on the flat side. It had a vertically slit mouth, and a ton of eyes around it. “Finally, it took so long to manifest. I thank you for your services, Horton, I will not need them any more.” It began reaching for him while he stood there, paralysed, a wet spot growing larger on the front of his pants. There was a hiss in the air, and the Nightmare stopped, looking at its hand, in which an arrow was embedded.
I looked towards everyone, seeing them transformed. Rainbow Knight Clara, Bi Witch Aleah, Ace Ranger Ellie, Lesbian Lumberjack Blake, all of them were ready to fight. The Nightmare laughed. “Oh, you think you stand a chance against me; how cute.” It swung at them, tossing them aside with the back of its hand. Horton used that chance to hide, leaving me alone with the Nightmare. “There, that’s better; now we can talk, David, and you can admit what a creepy pervert you are.” It bent over to be right in my face with one of its eyes. “You can admit you’re not really a girl, that all this is a lie. The Buns Lie, don’t you know? All to make you join, to make you fight for them, and for what? Do you think they wouldn’t stoop so low so as to make you think you liked being a girl? The confidence you have when transformed cannot be real.”
It was trying to get to me. To feed my anxieties, my dysphoria. Thoughts ran through my head at eighty-eight miles per hour, causing a feedback loop, making me start to agree with it. I couldn’t be a girl, I was just a weird creepy dude, and it wouldn’t be above the Buns to do mind control. But why would the transformations be respectful of our queer identities we’d held before being recruited? I hadn’t known I was trans, but transforming had helped me realise it. Clara, Aleah, Blake, Ellie, all of them were queer before being recruited, their flags reflecting them. Changing a person would make them less likely to fight. And to have a Spark, you need to start off with a strong moral center, a strong moral core, a compass always pointing in the right direction.
And that’s when I broke out of the spiral. The Nightmare was full of shit. All of them were, it was their deal. I also recognized that voice. It wasn’t the exact pitch or resonance, but the tone, the words, the energy -- I had been hearing that voice for eleven years in my nightmares. Which is exactly what the creature before me was. Nothing but a Nightmare. I knew how to deal with those. I might have been lacking control over the environment at that moment, but I had control over myself. I quickly looked to the side, and saw all my teammates getting up, looking at me.
The Nightmare opened its mouth, ready to eat me. I took a deep breath in, and a step to the side. The Nightmare took a bite of empty air, and I found myself ten feet off to the side. I couldn’t summon an arsenal to deal with this creature, my lucidity only covered myself now, but I knew how sharp the wand could be. I stepped forward, aiming for its leg. It screamed, looking at me, as the wand was buried deep in its leg. The moon had grown in size, becoming a large sickle. With a flick, I spun the wand in its legs, cutting it through, and completely removed it with a pull, freeing the wand. The foot turned to mist, and the Nightmare looked on in disbelief. “How? You’re nothing, you’re garbage, you’re dog shit I stepped in, people like you are not worth the air you breathe!”
I didn’t reply. I simply jumped. With a single bout, I was high up in the air, looking down at the Nightmare. Before I began falling down, I twisted the wand in my hand, and it transformed once more, from a sickle to a morning star. I aimed for the top of its head on my way down, and the impact was strong enough to push its head down onto the ground. I turned my landing into a somersault, and continued the motion, hitting the Nightmare with an uppercut to what could broadly be considered a chin, with enough force to throw it into the air somewhat, making it land on its back. Leaping onto its neck, I turned the wand into a sickle once more, and buried the tip in the Nightmare’s flesh, running down its exposed stomach, faster and faster, until I reached the end and turned around to see the results of my labor. The Nightmare was gutted like a fish, its insides a wriggling mass of slugs. A phrase popped into my head, a single line, along with a set of instructions, like instinct.
As I jumped into the air, the sickle’s blade grew larger and larger, as well as thicker and sturdier and heavier. At the apex of my jump, I spoke the phrase.
“Heavenly Guillotine.” The tip of the blade was on the back of the creature’s head, and I spun, decapitating it in one clean motion. The blade shrunk back, and I saw the afterimage go behind me. I could only guess the impression it gave.
The sky shattered, the Nightmare turned to mist and dissolved, and all before my feet touched the ground. I was once more in the locker room, with Horton hiding in the corner, a puddle under him. I smiled. “You can’t threaten me, Horton. So don’t try.”