27: Physical Education
“Never seen moves like those in a game,” said Lysander, “Makes everyone else look a little boring, ya know?”
“An elegant angel of the game!” added Angelo.
Hermia was equally impressed and slapped Phantasia on the back at the end of the match. “You’ve been keeping those talents hidden, haven’t you?”
“I didn’t want to draw attention to myself,” said Phantasia. Her ‘innocent’ smile wasn’t working. “I kinda…got lost in the game?”
Hermia clapped her on the back again. “You’re gonna go far, girl!”
In the girls’ changing rooms, Hermia enthusiasm didn’t dwindle. As the rest of the girls pulled off their kit, she leapt atop the abandoned desk in the corner.
“Great game, everybody!” she said, clapping them all by herself, “I saw a lot of untapped potential out on the field today. I hope that won’t be the last time! The Winter Games are only a few months away and we’ve got a lot to prove against those other schools!”
The other girls didn’t share her enthusiasm, though, and began to mingle in the showers, a bizarre ritual that still fascinated Phantasia several weeks after her first experience. She didn’t need to wash, what with her body being ethereal and all, so she put on an act and used the opportunity to study everyone’s behaviour. Some girls were shy – Shelley washed herself in a corner, away from everyone else, Deneb and Andromeda rushed to get out, and Kaori fumbled around with several bottles of shampoo – while others, such as Ceres, Lyra and Hermia, stood around chatting without a care. Phantasia also had the chance to compare her pale, porcelain-like body with the variety of tones and curves of normal humans, and there was always the odd envious glare her way. It wasn’t like she chose the body she had! It was just the way things were: all faeries conformed to the human perception of beauty. Something to do with the Goddess and the collective subconscious, according to lessons she’d not paid enough attention to back in the Innerworld.
Aside from subtle and not-so-subtle body comparisons, the changing rooms were also the venue for gossip. Separated from the boys and gathered together, the girls couldn’t resist the allure of rumours and probing questions. This week things had taken a darker turn, however, with recent events overshadowing the usual debates on who was what and with who where and why.
“I just can’t believe Amanda!” said Korrigan, “Those girls were always mocking her! Of all of us, Amanda’s the last you’d expect to follow them, right? Well, now I think about it, I don’t think any of us would! Those three girls were horrible bullies and I–”
Ceres cut her off before Korrigan flustered on through break. “’Ey, Phoenie, what’s up with her? You lot were best mates and all,”
Phoenie mumbled under her breath, then looked up and caught everyone’s eye with an expression of quiet rage. Pulling a towel around her, she stomped out of the showers, grabbed her clothes and disappeared into the toilets next door.
“Now that’s not like Phoenie at all,” said Hermia.
“Yeah, Kat, what’s up?” asked Kaori, “She’s usually gossiping away, not angsting!”
“You don’t work with her,” said Katrina, “Phoenie can get…angry, at times. Especially because, well, Amanda, she…”
“She what?”
Katrina shrugged. “I…don’t know. I can’t remember very well. Ann?”
“I’m not too sure myself,” said Andromeda, who was already dressed, “Amanda was investigating Godhand, then she disappeared when they fled. I don’t see why Phoe would get so angry because of that, though,”
“Is she just jealous because of Theseus?”
“I always thought Phoenie had a bit of a crush on him,”
“Like Phoenie would ever crush on someone,”
“I’d be jealous of Amanda!”
“Nah, I heard Theseus is totally self-absorbed,”
And so the conversation continued, only dying out when they left the changing rooms and rejoined the boys outside. Phantasia could see the bonds that linked all those separate, competing auras together, but not what emotions those bonds consisted of. Only by taking into account the things they said and the ways their bodies reacted could she Phoenie’s secret crush on Theseus, or Deneb’s for Doyle. So many complicated, interwoven threads; a complex map of relationships, emotions and hormones, like a net that encapsulated all of them. If only she could understand her own place in it, but Phantasia found herself blind to the bonds connecting her to others, as if she were surrounded by a brilliant light that overpowered them.
***
