Run for her money

SO here’s the next chapter for Battleon High: The Musical. I’m so sorry it took so long, but I had focused more on Revenge than any other stories, and all my unfinished ones slipped to the back of my mind. So, I hope you enjoy this. I couldn’t find a video of the original to base this on, so I settled forth best I could get. So if you’ve seen it and this isn’t how it goes, then I apologize, and hope that you like it anyways.

The rating for this would be a hard pressed T.

Italics are for one person singing, Bold is for when two, and Bold Italics is for the ensemble.

Disclaimer – I own Rayne, Lizzie, Blaze, Trip, and Felix. Xenolord owns Maria, Natalya, and Serras. Hans, Aquella, and Diviara belongs to Artix Entertainment, LLC. Everyone else, I do not own.

BBBRRRIIINNNNGGGG

The bell rang, just as Maria expected. It was her final class of the day, and she couldn’t wait to get out of school.

Gathering her items as quickly as she could, she jumped to her feet and raced to the door. Only a few steps now and she would be free from-

“MARIA!”

Said woman flinched at the sound of the voice. Turning around, she plastered an uneasy smile on her face. “Yes Ms. Kellpp?”

“Could you come here please?”

“But Ms. Kellpp, I gotta-“

“Now.”

Maria gulped inwardly, and approached the water elf’s desk. “What is it?”

Aquella stared at her sternly over the lens of her glasses. When her teacher started wearing glasses, Maria wasn’t sure- she just thought that Aquella was using them for dramatic effect. “Ms. Despair, I’m afraid to say that your grade in my class is dropping.”

Maria’s jaw dropped. “But, but Ms. Kellpp, that’s not possible! I’m one of the best in the class, you said it yourself.”

Aquella sighed, and rubbed at the bridge of her nose. “You may be one of the best in the class Maria, but you are also one of the... least motivated. Other than those moments where you truly go above and beyond the expectation level, you do not do much work. I’m afraid that if your grades slip any further, I’ll have to send you to summer school to make up for it.”

“SUMMER SCHOOL?” Maria screamed.

“Yes, summer school.” Aquella said, after taking a moment to make sure that her ears were not bleeding and that she hadn’t gone deaf. “But, I think I have something worked out for you.”

“What do I have to do?” Maria eagerly responded, the chance at redeeming her grades too good to be true.

“Well, you see...” Aquella cleared her throat, and looked away, pulling off the glasses Maria knew she didn’t need off.

“Recently, I met one of my former colleagues. A teacher such as myself, who also specializes in the Arts department. We met in a bar, and I suppose I had had...one too many drinks at that time. I made a bet that my students were better than his and well...”

“He expects you to live up to that doesn’t he?” Maria finished for her, a small smile tugging at her lips.

“Yes...” She coughed, not making eye contact with her student.

“Anyways,” She said, after successfully winning her battle with the blood rising to her cheeks, “As you said yourself, you are one of my best students. Should you do well...your marks shall be bumped up.”

Maria smiled at this. “So what are the requirements??”

Aquella shrugged, and let the glasses frame hang between her pinched fingers, revealing to Maria that there was no lens. “There are none- except for one.” Fiddling with the stack of papers that she had been shuffling through before, she picked out one, and looked at it.

“I assume you know Blazier Montgomery.”

“Blaze? Yeah, I know him. He’s a friend of mine.” The seafoam haired woman looked confused. “But what does Blaze have to do with...”

She trailed off as Aquella put the paper she had picked out down on the table, and turned it toward Maria. It was a test. And right at the top, in bold red ink, was an F.

“Much like you, Ms. Despair, Blazier is under the same circumstances as you- a talented student who is in danger of failing.” Aquella explained.

“So, I have offered him what I have just offered you. The only thing that you need to do is work together.”

“I can do that.” Maria nodded.

Aquella smiled cheerfully at her, putting her fake glasses back on. “Then that’s all I have to say, Maria. You may go.”

Maria walked to the door. Just as she was about to cross the threshold, she stopped, and looked back at her teacher. “Ms. Kellpp, what song should we do?”

“I’ll leave that up to you.” Ms. Kellpp said offhandedly. “If you do it all yourselves, then that’ll give me even more to boost your grades on. Plus...” She didn’t finish, her cheeks faintly turning a darker blue.

“You said that we were all very creative, didn’t you, Ms. Kellpp.” Maria deadpanned.

“Just make sure that your performance is wowing, Ms. Despair.” Aquella said, rubbing at the bridge of her nose again.

“And no funny business.” She warned, glaring sternly at Maria through the empty rims of the glasses frame. “I want to make a good impression. So that means no songs about lesbians, no subtext, and no swearing. Do you understand?”

“Yes Ms. Kellpp.” Maria replied turning and walking out of the room, her mind racing with ideas.

“So Maria, what should we do?” Blaze asked, sitting cross-legged with a notebook he was to use for ideas in his lap. He held a pencil in his left hand, poised and ready for writing. They were outside in a local park with the rest of their friends, but Blaze and Maria had broken away from the group to discuss their ideas.

“I don’t know, honestly.” Maria sighed. “But it has to be something wowing, something that will amaze and astonish this teacher friend of hers...” She paused, before adding in thoughtfully “And parts that we can both sing as well.”

“Great.” Blaze groaned. “We haven’t even started, and were out of ideas already.” He looked down at the empty pages of his notebook, and felt like banging his head against the tree he was sitting against. “And how long is it until we have to present this to Ms. Kellpp and her friend?”

“Three weeks, now that we spent this entire week brainstorming.” Maria bit her lip, and ran a hand through her hair in frustration. “Usually that would be all that we needed, but at the pace that we’re going...” She huffed, blowing seafoam green strands out of her eyes. “We’ll never be done in time.”

“Damnit.” Blaze mumbled, dropping his pencil on the ground so that he could run both hands through the locks of his hair sticking out from underneath his bandana, and over the bandana itself. “This is so much harder than it looks.”

“I know.” Maria growled, flipping over a page in which she had written down various musicals, and scribbled them all out. “But we have to try. I can’t afford getting my summer taken away from me.”

“Same here.” Blaze agreed, picking up his pencil and twirling it between his fingers. “I can’t be stuck inside while everyone else is out and about. I want to go to the beach!” His face lit up, and his eyes glazed over with the thought of the place. “It’s warm there...plus there are girls. And when the girls get stolen away, I can hit on the guys left behind...”

“Blaze...” Maria called. Blaze had fallen silent, as he stared dreamily into space. She snapped her fingers in the teen’s face.

“Sorry.” He said, shaking his head.

“Too much information.” She said dryly, smirking when Blaze turned bright red.

“Shut up.” He muttered, adjusting the position of his bandana.

“Why should I? It’s more fun if I don’t.” She quipped, the smirk turning into a smile when he went even redder, his face nearly matching the colour of his bandana.

“You shouldn’t say that. If you do, I’ll...”

“You’ll what?” Maria asked, snickering.

“Well- I-Look!” He yelled after stumbling over his words. He outstretched an arm, and pointed to something in the distance. “It’s a clown!”

Maria looked away from her blushing friend, and in the direction that he was pointing. Indeed, there was a clown. He was standing in full clown garb, twisting balloons into shapes of animals. Natalya, Safiria, Rayne and Lizzie stared at him, mildly amused, while Trip and Felix were gaping at the balloons, their eyes wide, flicking back and forth between their friends and the clown.

“HOW DOES HE DO THAT?” Felix was shouting, wonder evident in her voice.

Suddenly, a football came flying seemingly out of nowhere. It sailed through the air, before coming down right on the clown’s head. The clown dropped his tied balloon poodle, and began to curse. He turned towards the two teenagers who had thrown it.

“Hey mister!” One of them yelled. “Could you give us back the ball?”

“YOU LITTLE CRETINS!” He screamed at them, clutching the football in his hand. “I SHOULD BEAT YOU RAW!”

The other one looked stunned. “Could...could we just have our ball back? Please?”

“YOU WANT IT! HERE IT IS!”

With that, he threw it at them as hard as he could. They both had to duck to avoid being hit by the ball. With frightened yelps, the two of them took off running.

When the clown turned back to Natalya and company, all of them had stepped a significant distance back. Even Felix, who usually missed such displays as that, had inched backwards, holding the balloon animal in trembling fingers.

“Well, if you keep on teasing me Maria, I’ll do that to you!”

“Yeah right.” Maria scoffed.

“It’s true!” Blaze said mock seriously. “One day, I’ll have had enough, and I’ll become a mean, rough clown. Then I’ll come and get you. But knowing how weird you can be...” He smiled innocently. “You’ll probably get off on the rough treatment or something.”

“HEY!” Maria yelled, glaring. She stopped glaring a moment after, her angry look replaced with one of thought. “What did you say?”

“I said that I’ll become a mean clown, like the one over there. Then I’ll come and get you. But knowing you, you’d get off on the rough treatment.” Blaze repeated.

“Blaze, you are a GENIUS!” Maria cried.

“I am?” He asked, blinking in confusion.

“You’ve just given me an idea.” She grinned. She leaned over, and began to whisper in Blaze’s ear. A smile slowly spread across his face.

“I think that putting this on won’t be so hard after all.” He beamed, causing Maria to beam as well.

“But,” He added in as an afterthought, “Didn’t she say we can’t do something like this?”

“She said, and I quote,” Maria cleared her throat, and continued on in a perfect imitation of her teacher, “no songs about lesbians, no subtext, and no swearing.”

“She never said we couldn’t do this though,” Maria pointed out.

Blaze nodded. “Then let’s do this.” He picked up his pencil, and began to write down the idea.

“Let’s give Ms. Kellpp a run for her money.”

Three Weeks Later...

Aquella Kellpp paced in front of the door leading to the auditorium. She was nervous- it was obvious. She didn’t know what Maria and Blaze were up to; even though she had told them to make it a surprise, she expected them to at least give her some sort of hint as to what they were dong. But they hadn’t; and when she asked either of them, they would smile secretively and repeat what she told them.

“It better be good.” She mumbled to herself. “Better than his students anyways.” No matter how much Aquella didn’t want to admit it, her friend’s students did a wonderful job. That only served to add to her nervousness. If they didn’t do good... Aquella didn’t even like to think of what would happen.

“Where is he?” She asked out loud, becoming impatient. “He said he would be here by now. If that guy doesn’t show up, after all the trouble we’ve gone through, I swear I’ll kick his a...”

Aquella held the sound as she saw her friend come up.

“-aaand how nice it is to see you Diviara!” She quickly covered up, smiling weakly at the man.

“Aquella.” He greeted solemnly. His hands, just like his wings, were folded behind his back calmly.

“How are you?” She asked, trying to look as composed and calm as he did.

“I’m fine.” He responded. He looked around Aquella. “Where are your students?”

“They’re getting ready inside.” She said, inwardly cursing. When she had gone and seen his students perform, he had introduced his own students, pride showing in his face.

“I see.” He said slowly.

“I can go and get them right now, just wait here-“

“No, no.” He said politely. “I wouldn’t want to disturb them. I want them to be in their best condition.”

With that, he walked behind Aquella and held open the door for her. As she stepped inside, she heard him slyly mutter, “They’ll need to be if they want to impress me.”

Fuming, Aquella stomped in and took her seat in the audience, not so close to the stage, but not so far back either. It was a good distance, one that would provide the best view possible. Diviara strolled in soon after, taking a seat right next to Aquella. He spread his wings leisurely, before letting them hang over the top of his chair.

The curtain of the stage of their auditorium was drawn, further adding to Aquella’s suspense. One moment later, Hans stepped out from behind the curtain. Aquella vaguely remembered being told that he was helping with lights.

“We’ll be beginning in a minute, Ms. Kellpp.” He said to her. Aquella nodded. She couldn’t help wondering why Blaze or Maria couldn’t have come out and told her so themselves.

Hans disappeared back behind the curtain; probably through there he would go to where they controlled the lights. Just as he said, one minute later, she and Diviara were immersed in almost total darkness. Aquella sat with bated breath, waiting to see what was to happen.

BANG

Suddenly, the sound of a gunshot went off. Aquella nearly jumped out of her seat at it.

Sirens began to wail, and soon, a trumpet began to play. Other instruments soon joined in. They rose into a crescendo, before going back to only a few instruments again. The sweet melody faded into a darker tune, and Aquella’s eyes widened. Just as she realized what the song was, all the instruments jumped back in once more, and the stage lit up in a purple light showing a girl sitting on a backed chair, facing away from the two teachers, one leg outstretched to the side.

Queenie was a blonde, and her age stood still

And she danced twice a day in vaudeville.

Queenie was a blonde, and if looks could kill

She would kill twice a day in vaudeville

As the girl sang the second verse, she drew her leg in towards herself slowly. When both her legs were together again, Aquella could see the woman raising a hand mirror up, staring into it from below as she held it over her face at an angle.

She had gray eyes

Lips like coals aglow.

The girl rose the hand that wasn’t clutching mirror to her face, seemingly trailing her hands over her face

With those shoulders, what a back she had

The girl let the mirror drop again, and arched her back as she sang the line, before reaching her left hand back and letting it trace the curve of her shoulder.

“Her legs were built to drive men...

As she sang the line, she turned in her chair, facing the side of the stage rather than the back.

“Mad.” She sang, raising her leg upwards. The purple light was replaced with the normal light, revealing Maria, her normally seafoam-green hair covered with a short, curly, cloned wig. As she rose her leg so that it was at an almost ninety degree angle, Aquella’s eyes nearly bugged out as she saw that Maria was wearing only a small top, a skirt, and a robe that only reached mid-thigh. Her legs were adorned in stockings, and on her feet she wore hells, adding at least another inch or so to her already tall height.

Placing her leg back down, Maria turned her head and stared out at her small audience, where Aquella was sitting in particular. “And she did.” Maria sang, a smirk on her face.

Behind her, six other male teens were stepping with the beat. Maria got off her chair and did so as well, before turning and facing the front.

“She would skid!” Maria threw her arms out to both sides. There were six men, three on either side, all of them in undershirts and black slacks.

She has grey eyes

Lips like coals aglow

And her face was a tinted mask of snow

All of them, including Maria swung their hips side to side. They all began to gather in closer to Maria, breaking up their line.

“With those shoulders, what a back she had!” Maria repeated. The boys drew in around her, forming a semi circle. “Her legs were built to drive men...”

Her legs were built:

They all drew in close around Maria. Two of them held her by her back; two others supported her arms

The final two held her legs- one of them kneeled and held her by her knee, and the other rose her leg and let it rest upon his shoulder, outstretched.

Her legs were built to drive men-

“Mad!” Maria crooned, pulling away from all the men simultaneously, grinning seductively around herself at them. She bent one knee, and ran her had up the pale expanse of her leg. The men chuckled appreciatively at this, spreading out into a group around her.

“But how was she ever to love them?” Maria asked out into the audience. “There were far too many of them!”

She never got tired of the men she desired,

She never inquire of the men she desired,

They all shimmied to the side, and when they stopped, one kneeled down, and hugged her leg.

“One is simple” Maria sang. The men in the background never stopped repeating their mantra.

“Two is good.” Another one kneeled down as well and held her other leg.

“Three is better.” Another one grabbed onto her, winding his warms around her left arm, clinging onto it.

Four?

“Now you’re knocking on wood!” Maria grinned as the fourth man wrapped hisarm around her waist. “Well I adore men, so bring me more men!”

She never inquired of the men she desired

The men clinging onto Maria’s legs lifted her up onto their shoulders, while the other two held her hands to keep her steady.

Of their status or their wealth,

They were all in perfect health.

They let Maria slip down from their shoulders, all of them forming a semi-circle around her yet again.

Queenie was a blonde –

“True, so True,” Maria sang at the same time,

And her age stood still

Queenie was a blonde and-

“And Queenie knew!”

“That she liked her lovers violent!” One of the men reached out, and grabbed Maria’s shoulders, pulling her roughly towards him.

“And she liked her lovers vicious!”Maria sneered, and pushed him off of her, only succeeding in stumbling back into the arms of another man.

“But until she found the one man!” The second man let her go, and she was pulled hard into the arms of another.

“Who could answer all her wishes!” Much like Maria did to the first, she pushed him off of her, propelling herself into another male who was all too happy to yank her close.

Queenie was sexually:

Maria walked away from him, walking to a fifth male. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he placed one on her thigh, bending it and drawing it up so that he pinned it to his hip, as if they were doing a tango of some sort.

Queenie was sexually ambitious

Capricious

Maria let go of the man, wandering over to the sixth and final one.

“So delicious.” She leaned in close to the man, before pushing him away.

Are you ready to laugh?

The side of the stage Maria was standing on went dark, and another spotlight shone on the other side. There stood blaze, surrounded by the six men, and six women as well. Like the other males, he wore a white undershirt and black trousers. Unlike the other though, he wore a black unbuttoned dinner jacket, and a cummerbund. There was a large sunflower in the pocket of his jacket, and he held a retro bike horn in one hand. On his face there was a large red clown’s nose. He lacked his red bandana, and Aquella was surprised to see that his hair, usually blonde, was now dyed dark.

Are you ready to smile?

Are you ready to sing and dance for a while?

“Before too long she’d meet a man named Burrs,” Blaze sang, striking a grand pose.

“A handsome devil with a life like hers!”

“A clown!”

“A clown!” The six women repeated, all of them bouncing on the spot in time with the music.

“Of some renown!”

“A clown of some renown!”

“Well known!”

“Well known!” The men boomed this time,

“All over town!”

“Well known all over town!”

He could make ‘em laugh!

“Ha!” The ensemble yelled

Bend their ribs in half!

“Ho ho!” Everyone excluding Blaze crowed.

He was master of his work,

He could give em hell.

Blaze smirked at Aquella and Diviara, and bent over close to the ground.

Just one sentimental smirk

And the house might yell-

“Uproarious!” The ensemble roared, throwing their hands up in the air as Blaze stood straight, smirking like his character would.

His onstage audience began to laugh in time to the beat, and Blaze snickered, jumping around, honking his bicycle horn at the same time as he squeezed his nose, doing a little dance onstage. He turned around and wiggled his bottom at the two teachers, before turning around and smiling, his arms thrown out in a comical pose.

Glorious!

The ensemble began to clap in time, just as they did laughing, and Blaze smiled, turning around and taking bows.

He stared out into the audience, smirking cockily at Aquella and Diviara for a moment before switching his gaze somewhere over his head!

“Burrs! Burrs! Burrs!” The men and women sang, sounding like a heavenly. With every chant of Burrs’ name, two of the men left the group of twelve, leaving only the six women behind. They crossed the stage, surrounding Maria in a semi-circle once more.

“Oh yes, they shouted out his name,

Proclaiming he was grand.”

Blaze sang to the audience of two. Like the men did to Maria, the girls surrounded Blaze in a semi circle.

“Burrsie, Burrsie,” The girls purred, giving Blaze sultry looks.

And yes he played the girly game,

But behind the scenes-

He was mean and rough!

“He was mean and rough!” Blaze growled. The girls separated into two rows, three in each of them. As he sang his line, he stomped to the closest one, grabbing her by her wrist roughly.

He was made of vile and violent stuff!

“They liked him tough,” The woman pushed Burrs (Blaze) off of her, and Blaze stormed off to the other one beside him, snarling his line in her face.

Get in his way and he would run you down!

Blaze and Maria crossed over, switching their sides of the stage. Maria and the males turned around and faced the wall, swaying to the music, while Blaze and his troupe of girls face forwards.

“He was a very scary clown!” Blaze belted, his eyes filled with fury and yearning to fight.

“Burrsie” The ensemble sang.

“He didn’t want to be bad.” Blaze told his audience. “This wasn’t fun for him. He didn’t want to run from girl to girl; there was just... no one who understood him. NO one who knew what he needed.” Blaze seemed to sigh silently, wistfully.

“He was bored. He was sore. He was dying for more.”

“Queenie...” The ensemble murmured in the background.

“Where was she?” Blaze asked into the open air.

“Queenie...”

“That special girl, who could send him over the top?”

“One day he’d find her...” Blaze carolled.

Until she found the one man...

“One day, you bet...” Slowly, blaze reached up and removed his clown nose, clenching it in his fist and gazing at it as if it were the answer to his questions.

Who could answer all her wishes...

“One day she’d just, appear...”

“ONE DAY...”Blaze and the ensemble sang in unison. The ensemble began to pace along the stage in their rows. Blaze looked over to the side, to see Maria slowly approaching him.

“Then one day they met...” Maria sang, approaching Blaze slowly.

“And fireworks flew...” Blaze gazed at her, intrigues, taking his own small steps to her.

“Her passion ignited...

She was smitten.”

Maria threw a quick glance at her audience as she sang this, as if sharing a secret opinion with them.

“His colours shone through...

He’d met his match!”

Blaze approached Maria, and they stood a metre’s distance apart, almost sizing each other up.

“They knew what to do!”

“I found you!” Maria and Blaze said, looking at each other with surprise, as if they never expected it to happen.

“Now Queenie and Burrs were well fed!”

Slowly, they began to gather in, circling each other as they did so, never once taking their eyes off the other person. In the background, the ensemble was singing,

“For the one thing that they had:

For the one thing that they had in common...”

As Blaze and Maria finally reached each other, Blaze grasped Maria by the hand, then slid his arms around her waist and hugged her close so that his chest pressed against her back. He positioned his head so that it looked like he was kissing her neck. Blaze and Maria both smirked at the next line.

“Was the fact they were so good in bed!”

As the ensemble began to dance, Maria and Blaze dashed offstage, over to the side. When they were off, they looked nervously at each other. Even with the three weeks they had, they had spent a lot of time looking for willing participants, and then even more finding people who wanted to help run the lighting and equipment for them. When they had gotten to this part, both Maria and Blaze were extremely uncomfortable, and all the chemistry that they were able to induce would immediately leave.

“What are we going to do?” Maria hissed to Blaze, who looked like he was sweating bullets.

“I don’t know, I don’t know...” He muttered. As Robina and Safiria, who had volunteered to help, held out the bed, Blaze was struck with an idea.

“So, now you know!” The ensemble sang, trying their best to focus on the two teachers in the audience, than what was going on off stage.

“Safiria, put this on.” He said, handing his dinner jacket to the vampiress. She looked at it, confusion evident in her amber eyes.

“But-“

“Do it!” He hissed.

Aquella squinted out at the stage. The ensemble was still singing, but she didn’t see her two pupils. Where were they?

“A fascinating woman,

A fascinating lover,

A fascinating couple-“

Her question was answered as a bed was rolled into the middle of the stage. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plated, and her jaw dropped, as she saw that Maria was on it, clad in only her undergarments and stockings, straddling the student playing Burrs and mimicking riding them.

“As”

Blaze smiled from offstage, smiling as Maria rode Safiria, who was wearing his dinner jacket. He grinned, and silently praised himself for choosing to dye his hair dock, instead of wearing a wig; He doubted that any short wig would have been able to hold Safiria’s incredibly long hair.

“They,”

Maria grinned down at Safiria, putting a little more power into rolling her hips as the ensemble sang,

“Go!!”

The trumpet played one last time, before the auditorium went dark again.

When the lights went on again a few minutes later, the ensemble and the bed was gone. Maria and Blaze were standing in the middle of the stage; Blaze once again had his dinner jacket on, and was holding his horn, while Maria was wearing her skimpy robe from before. They were both biting their lips, staring nervously at Aquella and her teacher friend.

Aquella jumped out of her seat, and took long, determined strides over to the stage.

“Maria Despair and Blazier Montgomery!” She boomed, eyes flashing angrily. “That was...That was... THAT WAS!!-“

“The best performance I have seen from students, ever.”

Aquella almost gasped aloud. She could see that both Maria and Blaze were just as surprised as she was. The water elf turned around, to see Diviara standing behind her.

“Your performance was amazing, both in acting and in vocals.” Then, he smiled, and Aquella did gasp out loud. Diviara- stoic, stern, strict Diviara- was actually smiling in approval. He began to clap for both of the students, and the entire little cast that they had put together for this one performance reappeared, clapping as well.

“Well that’s what I was just about to say!” Aquella added in quickly, her surprise fading. She put her hands together, and began to clap as well.

“Aquella, I’m impressed.” Diviara told Ms. Kellpp. “Your students were even better than mine; and it’s good to see that you would actually let them do such a sexual song as this- it shows that you have great trust in them.”

“I know!” She beamed, clapping even harder than before. Looking at both Maria and Blaze, she mouthed ‘A’ to both of them. Maria cheered, and Blaze pumped his fist in the air.

“YES!” They yelled, their cries thankfully not heard over the whoops and hollers of their crew. As Aquella and Diviara exited the auditorium, and the students went off-stage to exit, Safiria caught Maria’s hand, bringing her to a halt.

“You naughty, naughty girl.” Safiria grinned. “Doing such a thing, in front of our teachers.”

Maria smirked. “If you want to blame someone, blame Blaze.”

“If by blame, you mean thank over and over again, then sure.” Safiria quipped. Her eyes raked over Maria’s form. “Do you think you could keep the outfit?”

“I think costuming wouldn’t mind, but why?”

“Well, you know the title of the musical?” Safiria asked. Maria nodded.

“I’m thinking of having one back at home, just you and me.”

Maria blinked, then grinned sultrily at Safiria.

“I do like the way you think, my dear.” She purred. Safiria let out a laugh, then dragged Maria out of the auditorium, secretive smiles adorning both their faces, all the way until they made it home.