Scandalous Confessions

Later, at the school cafeteria, Bloom, Stella, Flora and Tecna sat around discussing Musa's behavior over breakfast. Bloom gestured toward the others with her fork.

"All I'm saying is you guys were being kind of rude to Musa."

Seated beside her, Stella gestured back with the muffin she was nibbling at.

"Bloom, she stayed out all night without letting us know where she was and made us all worry about her, and on top of that she's obviously hiding something."

Bloom shook her head.

"Maybe, but she's still our friend."

Seated across from Bloom, Flora glanced around at her friends.

"Bloom's right. I think we owe Musa an apology for the way we treated her."

Sitting next to Flora, Tecna picked up her glass of orange juice.

"I'll apologize to her if she spologizes for worrying us."

Bloom slumped down on the table looking depressed.

"And she probably won't apologize until we do first. At this rate nobody's going to apologize for anything and we'll all just stay mad at each other."

Lockette, Bloom's bonded pixy, fluttered down to lay a tiny hand on Bloom's shoulder.

"Don't be sad Bloom. Everything will be alright again soon."

Bloom smiled at Lockette a little sadly and sat up straight again. Just then Mirta, the former Cloud Tower freshman witch, walked over with her tray.

"Hey guys. Mind if I join you?"

Bloom smiled at her and gestured at the empty seat beside Flora.

"Sure Mirta. Have a seat."

Flora smiled at Mirta fondly as she sat down.

"Hey sweetie. How have you been? We haven't seen much of you this semester."

Mirta smiled as she picked up her knife and fork and started cutting into her scrambled eggs.

"I've been pretty busy. Switching schools is hard enough, but I've got a whole year's worth of lessons in the basics of fairy magic to catch up on if I'm going to keep up with my grade level. Professor Palladium and Professor Whizgiz are giving me special tutoring sessions after classes to help me catch up."

Bloom chased the remaining syrup around on her plate with the last forkfull of her pancakes.

"Sounds like you've really got your hands full this term."

Mirta took a bite of her eggs and nodded.

"It's a lot of work trying to catch up on last year and keep up with this year at the same time, but Professor Palladium says I'm doing okay."

Stella tilted her empty juice glass idly.

"It's more than that! You're making the switch from witch magic to fairy magic. I'd call that pretty impressive!"

Tecna gestured toward Stella with a spoonful of cereal.

"Mirta is dedicated and a hard worker, which is more than I can say for some people."

Stella smiled and chuckled nervously.

"Eh heh heh heh."

Flora took a bite out of her toast and turned back to Mirta.

"Have you been making a lot of new friends?"

Mirta looked down at her plate of eggs.

"Not so much. People have been avoiding me all semester just because I used to be a witch. There were even a few cases of open hostility where a couple of girls said some pretty nasty things to me."

Stella looked appalled and outraged.

"That's terrible!"

Mirta looked up.

"It's not so bad. I dealt with a lot worse back at Cloud Tower all the time, believe me. Anyway, things are starting to get better now that I've been here a while. I think folks are starting to accept me more than they did. There haven't been as many mean comments lately and a few girls are even starting to talk to me now."

Flora put her arm around Mirta and gave her a one-armed hug.

"I'm glad to hear things are turning around for you Mirta. You just hang in there. By the end of this year you're going to have all sorts of new friends. If things start getting too tough for you though, you can always come talk to us. You know where we live, and you've got my cell number so call any time."

Bloom nodded and smiled at Mirta.

"That's right. We're your friends, so don't be a stranger."

Mirta ducked her head and blushed a little bit as she smiled back at them.

"Thanks guys. I really appreciate that."

She raised her head and took a better look around.

"Say, where's Musa and that new girl, Lola?"

Bloom's smile faded a bit.

"Layla. I'm not sure where she's at right now, but Musa had to call her boyfriend, Riven."

Chatta flew around in front of Mirta's face.

"Musa stayed out all night last night without telling us where she was and worried us all sick, so we called Riven to see if he knew where she was, only he didn't know because he stood her up!"

Flora frowned a little as she scolded her blabbermouth pixy.

"Chatta ..."

Chatta turned to Flora and spread her arms wide.

"What? I'm just telling it like it is."

Mirta glanced around at the others.

"So where did she go last night if she wasn't out with Riven?"

Stella gestured off-handedly.

"She spent the night at Layla's place."

Mirta paused thoughtfully with her fork halfway to her mouth.

"So Layla never called to let you know she was there?"

Tecna looked surprised.

"Hey, that's right! Musa isn't the only one to blame for not notifying us where she was last night."

Bloom glanced around at her friends with a pained expression.

"Guys, come on. Can't we just put this behind us and move on? Musa's back, we know where she was, and I'm sure she won't worry us like that again."

Tecna closed her eyes and turned her head aside.

"Well she'd better not, that's all I've got to say."

Flora looked to the right and pointed.

"Here come Musa and Layla now."

All eyes turned to where Musa and Layla, their respective pixies in tow, approached the group with trays in hand. Flora, Bloom and Mirta smiled welcomingly. Stella and Tecna's expressions were somewhat colder. Musa cast her eyes downward, not wanting to meet the eyes of the others. Layla nudged Musa with her shoulder, giving her an encouraging smile when she looked up. Musa smiled back weakly and the two of them walked past Stella to sit on the other side of Bloom where two empty seats happened to be available. Layla greeted the others as they sat down.

"Hey guys. How's it going?"

Stella gestured airily.

"You mean on this fine morning when Musa came waltzing back into our dorm after being gone all night without telling us where she was? Things couldn't be better. Thanks for asking."

Musa looked down at her tray, looking like she didn't know whether to crawl in a hole and hide or pitch a fit. Bloom shot Stella a disapproving glance.

"Stella ..."

She looked back at Musa and laid her hand gently on Musa's arm.

"I'm sorry if we were a bit rough on you this morning Musa. We were just worried about you, that's all. We're your friends, and we just wanna know that you're okay."

Musa let out a sigh and looked up at Bloom with a grateful smile.

"I'm sorry too. I should have called you guys to let you know where I was spending the night."

Layla nodded in agreement.

"Ditto for me. I'm sorry I didn't let you guys know she was staying with me last night."

Stella smiled brightly at them both.

"Apology accepted! All's well that ends well I guess."

Bloom turned a frown on Stella and cleared her throat.

"Heh hem."

Stella looked momentarily taken aback, then squinched her eyes shut in a sullen pout.

"Oh, alright!"

She opened her eyes and glanced at Musa apologeticly.

"Sorry I gave you such a hard time this morning Musa."

Bloom and Flora both turned their gazes on Tecna next. Tecna scowled down at her tray crossly.

"Fine. I said I would apologize and I will."

She looked up at Musa with a repentant look.

"I'm sorry I was so rough on you this morning Musa. It was uncalled for."

Musa smiled back at her friends gratefully.

"Nah, it's alright. I guess I had it coming."

Flora glanced up to where her pixy Chatta was hovering nearby and tapped her on the shoulder. Chatta turned to look at Flora.

"What?"

Flora leaned toward her a little.

"Don't you think that you owe Musa an apology too?"

Chatta crossed her arms stubbornly, closed her eyes and turned her back on Flora.

"I don't see what I have to apologize for."

Flora pointed a finger at her.

"How about the way you rudely accused her of hiding something this morning? Or the way you tattled on her to Mirta earlier?"

Chatta opened her eyes with a start as she realized that Flora had a point. She turned to Musa, put her hand on the back of her head and pasted a big embarrassed smile on her face.

"Oh right, that. Sorry Musa."

Musa smiled back at the little pixy.

"No big. We're cool."

Mirta smiled at the others.

"I'm glad you're all friends again. I hate it when friends fight."

Musa turned a bright, friendly smile toward Mirta.

"Oh, hey Mirta! It's nice to see you again. Sorry about all the drama there just now."

Mirta grinned back as she picked up her glass of pomegranite juice.

"No problem. I'm just glad it all worked out okay."

Musa turned to gesture toward Layla.

"Mirta, I'd like to introduce you to Layla. Layla, this is Mirta, the one I was talking about last night."

Layla extended her hand across the table to Mirta.

"Hi, nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you."

Mirta set down the glass she was drinking from and shook Layla's hand.

"I've heard a lot about you too. I hear you went into the Underrealm and saved the pixies from that Lord Darkar guy."

Layla shrugged.

"I didn't do it alone. I had a lot of help."

She gestured toward her baby pixy, who was examining Mirta shyly.

"This is my little friend Piff. Piff, say hello to Mirta."

Piff fluttered a bit closer, giving Mirta a wide-eyed stare. Mirta smiled and held out her hand toward the little pixy.

"Hello there Piff. It's really nice to meet you."

Piff broke out in a big open-mouthed grin and flew over to nuzzle against Mirta's cheek. Mirta giggled delightedly and cuddled her with both hands. Layla grinned at the scene.

"Looks like she likes you. Piff's a real good judge of character."

Mirta held Piff out in her hands and smiled at her adoringly.

"She's so adorable! Can I keep her?"

Layla grinned as Piff took off and flew back to settle down in her hoodie.

"Sorry. I'm afraid she's already taken."

Stella stood up and picked up her tray.

"Well, I hate to eat and run but I've got an appointment to get my hair and nails done this morning and I don't wanna be late."

Tecna stood up also.

"And I've got some research to do on ways we can combat Lord Darkar."

Bloom chimed in as she and Flora stood up with their trays.

"Flora and I have some laundry to do. Guess we'll see you all later."

Mirta smiled as she waved goodbye to the others.

"Bye guys! Catch you later. It was nice seeing you all again!"

Musa picked up a strip of bacon from her tray as she and Layla also waved goodbye.

"See you guys at lunch!"

As the others walked away, Musa turned to speak to Layla.

"Speaking of laundry, I need to swing by your crib after breakfast. I think I grabbed the wrong pair of panties when I got dressed this morning."

The sound of a fork clattering on a plate drew both girls' attention to Mirta, who was sitting there with a shocked look on her face. She quickly stood up and grabbed her tray.

"I, uh, guess I'm done too. Um, I'll see you guys later."

As Mirta quickly retreated from the scene, Musa turned to face Layla with a chagrined look on her face.

"Whoops! Me and my big mouth!"

Layla grinned at Musa lasciviously.

"I rather enjoyed your big mouth last night."

Musa pulled a face at Layla.

"Very funny. But what are we going to do about Mirta? She totally overheard what I said just now."

Layla shrugged back at her.

"Not much we can do now. We'll just have to hope she doesn't mention it to anyone else."

The sound of a throat being cleared drew both girls' attention to Tune, who was hovering in front of Musa with her fists on her hips and a disapproving scowl on her face.

"Ahem! What's this I hear about you putting on someone else's undergarments this morning young lady?"

Musa put her hand on the back of her head and a big embarrassed grin on her face as she glanced sideways at Layla.

"Eh heh heh."