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If there was one upshot to being bedridden while recovering from her first face-to-face clash with Octavian, it was being able to slack off all she wanted while she was laid up, with zero protests from anyone.
Oh, Akila had said something about plans to bring Cleo the homework she missed out on. And Cleo supposed it was a nice vote of confidence that Akila believed any of it was actually going to get done. Thus, as a show of her unflappable royal benevolence, Cleo decided that allowing Akila to keep living such a lie, for as long as possible, would make Akila happiest.
So Cleo did.
Because, hey, what were best friends for?
Right now, she was playing Shark Crunch! VII: The Sharkening on her tab—a strategy-based spinoff of the galactically popular Fish Kaboom! series of vidgames. Normally Cleo did not have the patience for 'strategic' things (that was more Yosira's thing—heck, she was the one who'd showed Cleo the game in the first place).
But come on.
You could play as sharks.
…or you could play as human shark hunters trying to keep said sharks from taking over the beach. So, basically, one fun faction, and one boring faction. Whatever. The promise of her own shark army? Cleo was totally going to step out of her comfort zone for that.
As she played, the tiniest part of the back of her mind wondered if she was enjoying the screams of beachgoers too much. Thus, in a fit of deft and immaculate mental multitasking (and people said she had a one-track mind! Please), Cleo promptly went into the back of her mind, and slammed said voice into the wall with a solid-light 2x4 straight to the face.
("Don't even try that stuff!" WHAM! "They saw the signs posted on the beach!" SLAM! "They knew exactly what they were signing up for! Besides, marine life is precious… probably! Sharks have rights too!" SMACK!)
There. Empathy for puny video game humans summarily beaten, bruised and bloodied. Either way, it was going to take more than what some silly fishermen with harpoons had to stop her loyal shark subjects.
…and oooh, oooh, there they went! All the middle-class families were running now after seeing their own being chomped! It didn't matter if her shark army couldn't survive on land, the message was officially sent!
"Yahoo!" she said, standing on top of her bed in a powerpose, as the last hunter fell. "I am the Shark Queen! Bow before my power! Your beach is mine! Wahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaa!"
An empty room answered with a silent reply.
"Huh." Cleo quickly stopped where she was, letting her tab fall onto the mattress. "You know, genocidal triumph isn't just the same when it's just you?" She sat back down on the bed, her chin parked in her hands. "I wonder if Octavian has days like this."
Not to mention… well, by her calculations, it'd been several months—and 300 centuries—since she'd been to a beach, or riverfront, or anything. She kind of missed it. She wondered if there was… some kind of future beach out here in the Nile Galaxy? Preferably one that wasn't shark-infested. Maybe. She could use the combat practice—
Her tab rang.
She looked over to see who was calling—and the moment she saw a glimpse of very long pink hair, she suddenly felt very conscious of her own. Reaching to her nightstand and picking up a brush, Cleo did a quick 10-second groom before picking up her tab and answering the video call.
"Callie!" She said in a loud, boisterous voice. "Wow, I never expected you to call—"
"Oh, my—" Callie gasped, looking around herself with exaggerated head-turns. "…keep your voice down! I'm still in public, and I don't want people thinking I'm actually talking to you, random recording of Cleo-poo-tra!" she said, making sure that last part was extra loud for everyone in the hallway she was in to hear.
"You know, if we're ever going to have a real working relationship," Cleo said to her part-time friend, "we're going to have to talk about this whole 'being embarrassed to have me around' thing."
"Meh." Callie shrugged. "Eventually." Cleo heard the sound of a door opening in front of Callie, then closing behind her. The lighting around Callie then changed, indicating that she'd likely found one of the empty classrooms to duck in. "Okay, there."
"Great," Cleo said. "Am I allowed to talk now?"
"Not yet!" Callie said. "Ugh, you're so impatient and demanding. You know that, right?"
"Yeah, gonna hang up now," Cleo said, frowning. "I can get this treatment from you in class."
"Nononowaitwaitwait!" Callie said. "S-sorry for the weird. I still get way too into 'The Callie' mode sometimes," she continued, making air quotes with two free fingers. "Long habit. Hard to break. Working on it." She looked away. "And yeah… I believe you being surprised that I'm calling."
Cleo nodded, her smile returning. "It's cool, Callie. And, thanks. So, what's the word?"
"I was going to ask you the same question," Callie said. "You haven't been to class for almost two weeks now! Akila says you're just getting over the uncommon cold, but I've been hearing…"
Callie trailed off, her expression squishy and uneasy. "…look," she finally said with a huff, and a much softer, sincere voice. "Are you okay? I want to know if you're okay. Like, really okay. Life okay."
"Awwww, Calliieeeee!" Cleo beamed, cackling. "That's so sweet of you! See, this is why I still keep you in my contacts!"
"Please. Shut. Up," Callie said, her entire face beet red. "And answer. My. Question."
"Yeah! Yeah, I'm good," Cleo said, sitting up in bed with excitement, still glowing from knowing Callie cared. It'd been a while, and the most they'd seen of each other lately was still in public class and lunchtimes, where they'd made a silent pact to 'keep up' the ruse of being rivals for the sake of Callie's image. That said, the reasoning for that was beginning to make less and less sense—especially in the wake of calls like this. "At least, I'm good now. Was touch and go for a while, there. But, uh… what have you been hearing?"
And then Callie's face was full of activity again. "I heard you went up against the Big O himself!" she said, leaning in with the loudest of whispers. "And without me! We could have kicked his butt! Heck, I could have kicked his butt for you!"
"Believe me, Callie," Cleo said with an awkward laugh, the pain of being wrapped in Octavian's tentacles suddenly fresh in her mind, "no one could have kicked his butt for me. Not even me." She paused, then quickly said, "Uhh, not that I'm confirming that I did ever face him. Nope! Nope, nope."
"Uh huh." Cleo watched Callie stand her tab on a nearby desk, sit in front of it, and cross her arms. "Tell me another one. Or, better idea: next time, tell me when you do these things."
"I mean, it was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing we didn't exactly plan on?" Cleo twiddled her thumbs. "You know how he likes to drop in on whatever you're doing, completely uninvited…"
Callie blew some of her hair to the side. "Classic Cleo. What, you hit up the Gala-Mall on Capitalis-13, and he just happened to show up looking for a sale?"
"Eh, wrong planet, but… you're… not that far off?" Cleo said with a sheepish giggle, rocking from side to side in her bed. "But yeah. It was really scary, and I almost didn't make it out alive. But also, I did, and I'm here. So it's cool."
Callie took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and loosed a long exhale through closed lips. Finally, she said, "Okay. I believe you. Just… I don't know. Don't do that again. Not like I can stop you. Or him. I just. Ugh. "
She was putting up a better front than usual today, but there was no mistaking the true concern on Callie's face. It was getting easier to tell, every time they talked together—on private tab calls, in empty rooms, in secluded areas of parks and forests.
"Callie? I… really appreciate you being worried about me," Cleo said, and meant it.
"Of course I'm worried about you, you… tunnel-visioned idiot!" Callie finally exploded in a storm of hissing. "If you're gone, things…" Her voice softened just as quickly. "…things stop. They stop being interesting, they stop being fun, they…"
Callie did her best to quickly wipe her eye with one finger, in a way that Cleo couldn't see. Except Cleo did see, of course—both the swipe, and the telltale moisture left behind. "…they stop being good. And I like good."
"Yeah," Cleo said, matching Callie's softness while reaching for a nearby pillow and hugging it. "I like good, too. So, don't worry. I'm not in a hurry to die. Even with the biggest bad in the galaxy after me."
"Okay," Callie said, almost managing to hide a sniffle. "So, y-yeah. We should, uh, go somewhere. Once you're better."
Cleo beamed. "I'd really like that." After a moment's thought, she said, "Hey, Callie? Weird question, but: how do you feel about beaches?"
"Huh? I mean, they're all right, I guess." She tossed her hair with one hand. "It's tough always being the hottest girl at any and every one of them, but that's everyone's else's problem, not mine. Why?"
"I… I just realized that I haven't been to one in…" Cleo paused, trying to make sure to put this right without giving away her one, most important, secret—at least, just yet. "…uh, a very long time. And I've never been to one in, uh, this galaxy?"
A smile slowly spread across Callie's lips. "I got you, girl. Two trips, coming up."
Cleo tilted her head. "Wait, two?"
"Oh, please," Callie scoffed. You think I'm letting you roll with me in one of your originals? Probably some tattered old ragfest that's seen better days?" She leaned in, her proud smile returning. "You're with me, you go future-trend. As in, so far ahead of the trends, that they don't exist yet. The moment you're better, we're hitting up the Gala-Mall for a real swimsuit. Maybe two."
Cleo lit up. She'd forgotten all about bathing suits! They… would probably be really good things to have on a beach trip. At least, for now. "Works for me," Cleo said. "I don't think I've been to malls in this galaxy, either."
Callie rolled her eyes. "Seriously? Ugh, Cleo, just how behind the times are you?"
Cleo blushed. If only Callie knew. Again, one day. "Hey, sometimes I can surprise people."
"Whatever. That means you haven't been to Capitalis-13, either. They'll have something there that can spruce even you up. Wanna jet there when you're not a bed vegetable?"
Cleo nodded. "Sounds sweet! Though, just FYI, I'll be telling Akila that we'll be going on a study date so she doesn't nag me about back homework. So, uh, keep up that story?"
Callie sneered. "I should just not do that, just to spite you. But sure. Whatever. You've been looking out for me this long, I guess."
"Yeah, about that," Cleo said. "Does this mean you're okay with us being seen in public together? Won't your mom find out?"
Callie froze where she was, her face blanching. Cleo didn't blame her. Callie had strict parents—including a military officer—who tended to not want to see her in any circumstance that didn't pertain to "upward mobility". Surely, word would have gotten out about Cleo and her exploits months ago, to say nothing of her current Octavian battle if Callie was right about the rumors.
But Callie was not allowed to be seen trailing behind even that. She had to excel. She had to exceed. She had to dominate—or, face severe, insulting, and honestly, emotionally poisonous dressing-downs from her mother, every time she failed to do so.
To say that such circumstances put a damper on Callie's ability to be friends, to have real friends, especially in public, was an understatement. But Cleo and Callie were taking the shot anyway.
In the end, Callie took a deep breath, her expression hardening. "I'll just have to be brave about it." She flashed a slanted smile. "But given how we were just talking about you taking on the biggest bad in the galaxy, I guess I can't fall behind, now can I?"
With a wide grin, Cleo splayed fingers on the screen of her tab. Callie splayed hers back, a single screen and wireless connection being the only things keeping them from truly holding hands.
"You never will. I got your back," Cleo said, softly.
"Thanks," Callie said, just as softly. "I've got yours, too. Prepare to look good, and then splash crazy."
"Can't wait. And… hey. Thanks for checking in on me. I really appreciate it."
Callie was silent for several moments, simply… looking at Cleo, her eyes wide, her lips quivering. Several times, she opened her mouth just the smallest bit, each time, looking as if she was going to say something.
Instead, Cleo saw Callie bring up her index finger to end the call, and the screen went dark.
Cleo flopped backwards onto her mattress, looking straight up. It hadn't been the first time she'd seen Callie lock up like that. But, meh. Whatever it was that Callie wanted to say, she would in her own time.
But for now, there would be fun, there'd be swimming, there'd be shopping—
Cleo stopped short.
"Wait… what's a 'mall'?"
…
…meh. Again, she'd find out later.
Cleo rolled over, picked her tab back up, and rebooted Shark Crunch! VII: The Sharkening. Once more, after pressing Start, she was faced with a choice again. Protect the beach, or conquer it?
After mulling over it a bit more… she picked the sharks again, relishing the screams of the beachgoers.
She'd conquer the beach herself soon enough. And with Callie by her side, no less.
Friends made the future nice.