#turntugg

While gathering flowers in a field, Persephone began to wander. Finding the flowers even more beautiful the farther out she went.

College called, the way it did for all good girls who came from money. Lindsay left home in a flurry of well wishes and jokes about graduating early with her Mrs. She was teased about her future as a greek, it was what was expected from a girl like her. She smiled and nodded and let people distract themselves with blonde hair and a full wallet.

The Texas debutante left her gated community for the bright lights of Los Santos.

A city whose glamour held her enraptured from the moment she saw it, the city school was the only one she bothered to apply to. Built on foundations of instant gratification and flowing with rivers of hedonistic desire. Fuck Vegas, this was the id of the nation. Even hiding at the border of the city, the university couldn’t keep the life blood of Los Santos from pumping in from its beating heart.

Lindsay heard its call like a siren song.

Even with the reputation like the one Los Santos had, it wasn’t hard to find people to go out with. Girls looking for a little danger, guys looking to prove something, and people just looking for something they couldn’t get at home. The clubs provided a bit of danger tourism for those who wanted it.

A chance to dance with someone who was more ink than bare flesh.

A chance to accept a ride from a stranger that might take you more than just home.

A chance to try something a little harder than weed.

Lindsay took each step in stride and made friends along the way.

And then she took a big step. Turns out it’s a lot easier to sell drugs when you’re pretty and white, who would have guessed.

Lindsay picked up small jobs from people at clubs, taking packages of drugs she knew, and even those she didn’t, to sell to people she went to school with. Delivering the goods that others couldn’t because no one expected her to be doing it in the first place. Her first step was just doing what she was told. She worked her way into the confidences of the right wrong people until she was trusted with enough merchandise to put a person away for a long time, if they got caught with it.

The thing about Lindsay was she was often underestimated. Nobody expected much from her just like they did not expect much from spring; somehow people always managed to forget that the worst storms could come between the mildest weather. Lindsay could be the calm and the storm.

Lindsay was good with numbers, she was better at business, but she was the best at working people over.

College students, it turned out, weren’t great with conversion rates once the metric system came out to play. College students with addictions to club drugs were even worse and cared even less. Lindsay figured out pretty quickly which kind of person you could stiff, and which kind would pay more than the shit she was selling was worth. No one was going to pull out a scale to check her on her word and with the right flowery words she could get just about anyone to drop an extra couple bucks per ounce.

She held onto the extra for herself. The extra money and the extra drugs.

While she built up her own stockpile and saved, she made friends with bigger badder wrong people. With the right stolen merchandise it suddenly became a lot easier to open certain doors for yourself. Especially when you had no gang loyalties to speak of.

Lindsay found ways to open doors she hadn’t been entirely sure even existed, all by showing off some leftover inventory with a half decent purity and throwing out a couple names -- and maybe by greasing a few palms along the way. Promises of loyal clients she knew she could bring with her and the self given title of freelancer got her new contacts and better stock, letting her ditch the deadweight she’d been working with and pull herself up the ladder.

All it took was a few meetings with a man whose watch said he was someone very important -- or that he was trying pretty desperately to be -- and she was started down a path she had never even seen before. He set her up with his usual supplier, said Lindsay could meet them in an alley in the near abandoned westside of Los Santos. It was a trial run, prove that she was more than just a mouth with some okay product and enough money to get attention, then they could talk about working together.

So she put up her hood and took that final step into the darkness.

Far from the safety of the field, Persephone was startled when a large chasm opened up in the ground beneath her and swallowed her whole. She was discovered by Hades who took her to his kingdom.

Los Santos had a way of always being cast in dramatic shadow, maybe it was the dark that brought out the criminal element or maybe it just had a way of casting its own shadow. Either way it made the voice coming from them less surprising than the person doing the talking.

“You lost, Little Red?”

“Why don’t we skip the talk and go straight to the part where you show me what big teeth you have.”

She came out of the shadows with a sharp smile, baring white teeth between dark, red lips. The woman emerged from the shadows around her, dressed in all black, she would have been petite if not for the six inch heels she had on. She approached Lindsay with the rhythmic click of stilettos sharpened to a point.

She made a show of looking over Lindsay, leaving a hot, slippery feeling as her gaze trailed over Lindsay’s body like blood dripping down from a cut you didn’t know you had.

"You've got some bite, I like that, makes things more fun."

Things were about to go bad. It could be argued that things were already there. Drug suppliers didn't slide from the shadows and they sure as hell didn't look like the woman standing in front of her; sleek and deadly with a knife at her hip.

"Well give me some time, I can be a whole lot of fun, dollface."

Lindsay knew knives.

It was a new hobby, one she'd picked up after a few of the college classes she actually bothered to attend. Every female student at Los Santos University was required to take a self defense class, and then there was the stage combat class some people thought was as big a waste of time as her acting major. So she knew how to deal with knives when they were coming at her, and she knew how to use a fake knife when it was in her hands. But when Lindsay picked up a hobby she didn't go halfway. Knives were a lot like people, useful in most situations but the sharp ones could cut you if you weren’t watching.

So she had a knife at her own hip. Not that it mattered, women who looked like the one in front of her, with a knife on her hip and in her smile, weren't the kind that went easy on beginners. This was a hit, seems Lindsay wasn't as good at making friends as she thought. But maybe she could fix this.

"Oh I'm sure you could,” the woman said, “pretty thing like you. Thing is other people don't seem to agree."

The knife was out, long and deadly, Lindsay took a small amount of comfort in the fact that at least it seemed like the hit was expensive. But it stayed in her hands, this was still a negotiation. Not that it mattered, Lindsay had the feeling she wouldn't get much warning before she learned it wasn't anymore.

"Well you don't seem like the type to care about what other people think." Lindsay said.

The woman sent to kill her laughed, that knife still in her hands. Maybe Lindsay would get lucky and her assassin was out for violence and lesson teaching rather than her literal head on a platter.

"I don't think you know me well enough to be jumping to that kind of conclusion. Do you, Little Red?"

"Maybe I could get to know you, you seem like the kind of person I'd like to know."

She looked back at Lindsay, it was hard to tell if she was impressed but that knife was in her hands and not on Lindsay's neck or between her ribs. That's the kind of thing a girl considered a win.

"Now that's a sweet thought, but here's the thing, I know you Little Red."

This could go one of two ways.

Lindsay had met a few people who had already known who she was. It could be good, when you were trying to make a name for yourself you wanted people to know your name. That was part of the deal, the bigger you became, the more you wanted your name whispered in the shadows. There was always that chance that she just knew about her work.

There was also that chance that she had been watching Lindsay, and Lindsay wasn't sure if that was something she wanted. No, that wasn’t true. Normally, learning a girl with the kind of looks that could start a gang war had been watching her was the sort of thing she would love. But then normally she wasn’t worried about picking a new accessory from between her fourth and fifth ribs.

“Well now I’m just embarrassed,” Lindsay said, “cause I don’t think I can say the same, doll.”

She took a step closer and gave the blade in her hand a little twirl between her fingers. Lindsay wondered if she could manage to disarm her would be murderer if she would just end up getting stabbed with a stiletto for her trouble.

Another step closer, off to the side she was trying to flank Lindsay, so Lindsay turned too.

“You’ve been making waves, Red, and being the professional I am, I’ve been watching you. Turns out you don’t have as many friends as you thought you did.”

“At least tell me you like what you’ve seen.”

A smirk, she was pacing circles around Lindsay now, like a predator circling her prey, and Lindsay had given up spinning around to keep pace.

“Well now you’re just fishing for compliments, but I’ll admit I’ve always enjoyed a bit of competence. You’ve done a pretty good job climbing your way up the ladder. Not as many rookie mistakes as I usually see.”

“I’m flattered,” Lindsay said, sincerely, “if I’d realized someone was watching I would have put on more of a show.”

Another slow trail of her eyes up and down Lindsay’s body.

“That would be something cause, Lindsay Tug.gey, you’ve been a bad girl.” Lindsay felt a dark thrill run down her spine to settle somewhere low in the pit of her stomach at the use of her real name; knowing that this woman who had clearly been sent to kill her had just been playing coy this whole time added a new twist to their banter. “Stealing from the Ballas to climb up the Triad ladder,” she tsked, “that’s not how things are done around here.”

“Now I’m just embarrassed,” Lindsay said, “you know my name and all about me but I can’t say the same.”

“Oh I don’t think that’s true, an up-and-comer like you, I’m sure you’ve heard whispers. I don’t follow just anybody.”

“My momma raised me better than to assume,” Lindsay said. It wasn’t any safer than admitting she didn’t have a clue who she was dealing with, but it had a lot more Southern charm, almost made her seem like she was being coy too.

“You really are cute, and you’ve shown some potential,” she said giving her knife another twirl, “the politics of this really is such a shame.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” Lindsay said, trying to think fast.

Another spin, the handle hitting her palm with a dull slap. “Is that so?” she sounded curious, but Lindsay had no way of knowing if it was sincere.

“Join up with me.”

That earned Lindsay another sharp toothed smile, “And why would I do that?”

Lindsay shrugged. “You either will or you won’t,” Lindsay said taking a chance. “You said it yourself, you’ve been watching me. You know what I’m capable of, you’ve seen what I’ve done already, I’m sure you can imagine what we could do together.”

“I’ve been offered quite a bit of money to take care of you,” she said, conversationally.

Lindsay did her best to keep a pokerface, tried not to imagine the feeling of a sharp blade sinking into the space between her throat and collarbone. “You could take that easy payout now, or you could help me put a little work in and we could make so much more.”

She must have expected things to go this way, or maybe Lindsay’s reputation was more impressive than she’d thought it was, because it wasn’t long before the knife went away and a hand was extended. “Meg Tu.rney, pleasure.”

When Demeter learned her beloved daughter had been taken by Hades, she demanded that Zeus secure her freedom else she doom the Earth to an eternal winter.

Uncomfortable, isolated, starving.

All told Lindsay’s first experience in the Los Santos police department wasn’t shaping out to be that positive. At least she was in an interrogation room now instead of the holding cell they’d shoved her in a few hours ago.

Things were not going her way.

Lindsay and Meg were on their way to being the Los Santos power couple. Lindsay got her revenge on the Ballas and the Triad for setting her up, taking their customers, their dealers, and turning half of their suppliers against them. She was growing and expanding and really starting to enjoy being the kingpin of a crew of her own.

Problem was kingpins attracted attention.

Attention from rival gangs and from police officers looking to “clean up the streets”.

There was a reason that kingpins didn’t do grunt work. And that’s because when you were putting drugs on the streets and getting rid of the people who were in your way, it got people looking for you.

But Lindsay liked to keep things hands on, do a couple deliveries herself to help stave off the boredom -- cause what they don’t tell you about running a criminal empire is that it’s a lot like running any other business, a lot of work. So every now and then, between taking care of  with low level dealers who weren’t pulling their weight and charming foreign friends who help smuggle in new product, Lindsay would treat herself to a trip out.

Which is why she got pulled over for rolling a stop sign with enough merch to get her back seat to get her a minimum of ten years. Possession with intent to distribute, plus her traffic violation. There goes her spotless record.

It was a rookie cop who pulled her over, fresh faced and honest, looking to meet their ticket quota for the month. The drugs were really just an unfortunate bonus for him.

The problem with fresh faced rookies is that they still had hope in the system, it made them resistant to corrupting influences and it meant they always really wanted to take you in.

“Listen, Officer Dem.arais, this is really just a big misunderstanding.” Lindsay insisted, for the second time wearing her best just been reprimanded expression, “I’m sorry about rolling that stop and I understand if you have to write me a ticket, but this other stuff , I promise it’s not mine.”

“That may be the case, Miss, but I can’t just let you leave with all that in your back seat, I’m afraid I’m gonna have to take you in.”

Lindsay could feel her irritation rising, this was supposed to be a quick drop and now she was trying to convince herself that shooting a beat cop wasn’t worth the clean up.

She took a breath and put on her best pleading smile, “Can’t you cut me a break, just this once, I know it’s wrong and everything and I’m super sorry, but my sorority sisters asked me to pick up their stuff.” She put on her best puppy dog eyes and went for broke, “If you take me in I’ll lose my scholarship.”

“Miss, do you know how much you’re carrying with you right now,” Dem.arais said.

“It’s a big sorority.”

“I can’t just let you go, I could lose my job.”

Lindsay was ready to scream, and questioning that decision she had made not to just shoot this guy when he first started asking questions.

“Couldn’t you just take what’s in my car and let me go? My sisters, they’ll vouch for me if you ask them.”

“If they’ll vouch for you then they’ll still do it when you’re at the station, I can’t just let you go. Get out of the car.”

Now she was handcuffed to a table.

She should have just shot him.

Her one call went to Meg instead of a lawyer. A lawyer would have been admitting some kind of guilt, and her dark doll could get a little trigger happy when she was trying to get things. A phone call would at least get her a few hours before Meg tried to stage a jailbreak, if she was smart, things would all be blown over by then.

The door opened. “Miss Tug.gey, you’ve made quite a splash in your short time here.”

“Like I told your officer, Detective,” Lindsay started to say.

“Captain.”

“Captain,” Lindsay repeated, fighting between instincts to preen at the thought that she warranted someone so high up the chain and distrust at why someone who looked like a run-of-the-mill drug dealer who got caught at a traffic stop would get this sort of attention.

“And I know what you told my officer, Miss Tug.gey, the problem is that it's total bullshit.”

“I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about, Captain Burns,” Lindsay said, keeping up her mask of annoyed yet charming rich kid and dropping his name because she could.

“Your ‘sisters’ have never heard of you, and no one on campus has seen you in over four months. I hate to tell you but I think you've already lost that scholarship.”

“There are classes online, haven’t you heard the city can be a dangerous place. My mother worries.”

“I’m so glad you mentioned your mother,” Burns said, such a smug bastard that Lindsay almost wondered if he was on the take, “we can get right to the point of why we’re here.”

This was one of those times where staying silent was the smartest thing to do. She tried to remember if anyone had actually read her her rights.

“See when you bring a rich brat in for any sort of questioning, it grabs people’s attention. When that brat happens to be a Tug.gey that gets the district attorney’s attention. Do you know why that gets the DA’s attention, Miss Tug.gey.”

“Because innocent white girls getting wrongly imprisoned attracts the wrong kind of attention.”

“ Because her parents are funding his campaign for mayor and they aren’t pleased that their baby girl is in handcuffs.”

“That was my next guess,” Lindsay said.

“Now personally,” Burns said, leaning across the interrogation room table, “I have no problem leaving an entitled smartass to sit and stew. But what’s bad for the goose is really fucking shit for the gander, and Mommy and Daddy have threatened to pull their donations unless some charges are dropped.

“So here’s the deal,” he continued, “we have a reliable informant who’s told us that Ruby R.ose is actually a ‘sexy little thing, a blonde bombshell, looks like she comes from money,’ their words of course. Now who does that sound like?”

Danger had become no stranger to Lindsay, she had become one of those things that goes bump in the night and that came with a certain amount of peril. She was the kind of person who came to the most dangerous city in the US because it seemed like an adventure. She’d taken control of the city’s drug trade because she got bored. Hell, she had seduced the woman who’d been hired to kill her because she had a weakness for a girl with a deadly smile. Danger was just part of the deal. This though, this was the first time in months that Lindsay had felt scared.

“I could think of a couple people that sounds like,” Lindsay said.

But Lindsay thrived in the danger, in the dark where all of these vicious deeds were done. She may have stumbled into her role here, but that didn’t make the part any less hers.

“But,” she continued, “if the first thing you’re gonna throw out is a vague description from a snitch, I don’t think you’ve got much to go on.”

He laughed, “How’s this for evidence, our very reliable informant told us that Ruby R.ose and her deadly little right hand are a bit of an item.

“Now you and I both know how this works, the justice system is more about money and politics and less about justice, so why don’t we just cut to it. Your parents want you out and we’re pretty sure you’ve got something that can make letting you go worth our while. Give us a way to bring in your pretty little Dollface and we’ll forget all about the white stuff we found in your backseat.”

Lindsay thought she was afraid before, the thought that they had something on Meg sent a bolt of terror down her spine.

“I think I’d like to speak to my lawyer now.”

After watching the people starve, Zeus agreed to see that Hades set Persephone free. Hades agreed that she could be freed, if only that she did not eat anything during her time in the Underworld.

Lindsay spent three nights in a holding cell after she refused to talk to Burns.

Cold, isolated, annoyed.

She thought she had another two days before a certain someone burnt the place down around her.

The boys who pulled her out of her cell weren’t gentle about it, Lindsay figured that meant they were done waiting for her lawyer to make an appearance. She was shoved into a room with a very frazzled looking Captain already sitting at the table.

“I’m done playing games, Tug.gey,” he said slamming a hand down on the table in front of her, “tell us what we want to know.”

“Hullum get all his support pulled?” Lindsay asked conversationally, “Pity, I heard he was gonna turn this city around.”

“You have to be getting awfully lonely in that cell we’re holding you in, I’ve heard you rich girls need quite a bit of stimulation . Just give us what we want and you can go home.”

“I wish I could Captain Burns but I really don’t have anything to give.”

“We know about your girlfriend, Tug.gey, we’ve got footage of the two of you together.”

“Last I checked being queer wasn’t a crime here yet,” Lindsay spat.

“Listen kid, this doll of yours is a killer. She’s bloodthirsty, with a body count that was astro-fucking-nomical long before Ruby R.ose came into the pictures. What are you getting out of protecting her?”

“I- I don’t know,” Lindsay stuttered.

“She doesn’t love you,” Burns said, “you’re just another pawn to play with until you stop being useful, and do you know what happens once you stop being useful?”

Lindsay took a shuddery breath, “I think I can guess.”

The thing about darkness was it suck up on you. It fell slowly, gradually getting darker and darker until you were left alone in the inky blackness. When dusk settled in around you like a heavy blanket, that was your turning point. You could go inside where the light was or you could let the darkness cover you even further.

“Just give us something and we’ll make sure you get back home to your parents.”

Lindsay started to cry, a single shuddery sob breaking free, “She can’t know, she can’t know it was me. She’ll kill me, I just know she will, she almost has before.”

Burns looked almost gleeful. “Just give us enough to catch her, we’ll keep your name far from it, but once we’ve got her we’ll be sure to keep her locked up for a long time.”

Lindsay sniffled, “Okay, okay. She’s got a supplier that she should be meeting late Friday night, I mean late like 3am. He’s got this new drug he’s pushing, a club drug that people on the street are calling Pixie Dust.”

“Where can I find her?” Burns prompted.

“You promise this isn’t going to come back to me,” Lindsay asked. “And that there’ll be no charges brought against me.”

“I’ve got a signed agreement from District Attorney Hullum right here that says just that.”

Lindsay nodded, “She’s meeting him at Star that night club at the right end of 2nd street.”

Burns scribbled down everything she told him and passed it off to someone just outside the interview room door. “You did good, kid, you made the right call.”

“I’m sorry I let it get this far,” Lindsay said.

“Let’s just get you home, okay?”

Starving, on her way out of the Underworld Persephone stole four seeds from a pomegranate and ate them. Doomed by her indulgence, Persephone was cursed to return to her captor.

Freedom was a bright light at the end of a dark road. What the light was might change, but it was always brighter than whatever you were leaving behind.

Lindsay’s bright light was the small square of the outside world she could see through the windows in the door. She had a pair of handcuffs tight around her wrists as she was being led toward that freedom down the hallway of the police station, dim with its flickering fluorescents. Her release only restricted by the hand on her shoulder controlling how fast she could walk.

It had been made clear that the only reason she was being released before they had Meg in custody was politics. The only way Hullum was getting his campaign money was if Lindsay was released free and clear. Which meant Lindsay got a pass.

One step and then another. The distance between her and the first bit of fresh air she’d gotten in days getting that much smaller. With Captain Burns looming over her shoulder, reminding her that she was doing the right thing by rolling on Meg, all the way to the door.

He had one hand on the door and the other at his belt for the key to the cuffs around her wrists. Until the crackle of a police walkie broke the silence. There was a pause, before a tinny voice said, “Uh, Cap?”

The hand left the door.

It moved to the walkie attached to his lapel, “What Luna?”

“We went to that address you told us to check out, and there’s no club here. It’s just some bookstore.”

“Are you sure it’s not a front?”

“Nah boss, don’t think so. Talked to the owner, some old dude, and he says Neverland Books has been here for decades. We checked out the back looks like the only thing comin’ in and out is first editions.”

“Apologize and thank him for his time Luna, then get back here,” Burns said. His hand left his belt and moved to the chain that was connecting her two wrists. He gave it a yank that forced her to turn and face him. “Neverland Books?”

She smirked at him, “Guess you’ll never never get your hands on Dollface like you wanted.”

“Listen here you punk, I’m not playing games.”

“Neither am I, Captain, and I’m done talking to you. Guess you should take me back to my cell.”

A deal was struck between the gods, and Persephone was allowed to return to her mother.

Lindsay spent two months in jail before she got her hearing.

Turns out when you’ve been disinherited and have no money to speak of, that’s what counts as a speedy trial. So she stayed busy. She had her woman on the outside and since Meg had no record to speak of it was no problem getting her in to visit so they could keep the business running.

Lindsay might be locked away, but Ruby R.ose was still out running the streets. It had taken her too long to make herself a place at the throne of the Los Santos underworld, and Lindsay wasn’t going to let something like an impending trial let it slip through her fingers.

As her right hand, the queen of Lindsay’s empire, Meg kept things running smoothly. Ruby R.ose’s Dark Doll was the one people were scared of anyway, the name whispered in nervous voices, she was the only one who could keep the people from getting suspicious. It took a firm hand to keep the mutineers at bay. It took having a woman on the outside to make sure that there was a way to get out.

Lindsay Tug.gey didn’t have any money, cut off from her family’s wealth. Ruby R.ose and Meg Tu.rney both had substantial sums to their names.

It was like Captain Burns said, money made the justice system go round.

Which was why when two months had past, and Lindsay finally got her trial, that wheel had been greased enough that she could slip right out without a problem. She got away with time served, and all it cost was her time and a couple grand in a few retirement funds. The going rate for corruption was pretty cheap in Los Santos.

Lindsay had managed a pretty good trick, turning 10 years into 2 months. Now for her next trick she was going to reintegrate herself back into high society with the help of her lovely assistant. Friends in high places were always good to have, family in high places were even better.

Lindsay’s family was even easier to manipulate than the judge that let her off was.

Three phone calls and a promise that that phase in her life was over and done with, and she was welcomed back into the fold. It helped that rehabilitation and reunited families were press better than money could buy. Having Meg on her arm added a little something extra to the narrative, the connections that the Tu.rneys had made it easy to overlook any ambiguities that Lindsay and Meg might have still been attached to.

Lindsay had picked up a few new tricks and a few new friends in her time behind bars, she knew when it was best to just smile and agree.

As far as most people were concerned, you were what they called you.

Persephone spends most of the year with her beloved mother, but every year she must go back to Hades and serve her four months beside him on the throne.

Campaign season in Los Santos was nothing more than a well dressed war, and fundraising galas were the bloodiest battlefield.

It was a battle between the forces of light and dark, where the right candidate in the right position could tip the scales in favor of your side; and it served the dual purpose of giving the real players a chance to show off their money. When the season was in full swing, there could be two or three events every week, which meant you had to throw around a lot to really make an impression.

Tonight’s event was to get one Geoff Ra.msey elected to a seat on the city counsel; but it was for Lindsay Tug.gey.

This was her first gala event since being welcomed back into the good graces of high society. One that let her rub elbows with the kind of elites she wanted to. They might all have money, but the people who were endorsing Geoff were the kind who had gotten their money the same way she had, through less than reputable sources.

This gala was about Geoff, but it was clear that the real stars were the two women holding court in the corner.

Lindsay a vision as always in blush, a designer gown that was literally made for her with a skirt that blossomed like a flower around her, with Meg on her arm in a black dress that clung to the top half of her body before melting off of her and joining the rest of the shadow she was cloaked in. They had their hangers on thirsting for every word that left their lips, they were royalty leaving scraps for their lessers to pick up.

They were cons, stacking a deck only they could see so that things kept rolling in their favor.

Geoff Ra.msey was their dark horse. A man so crooked some were surprised he even knew there was a local government outside the mob, but who was good enough at what he did that he’d keep doing it til the booze or the feds caught up with him.

But he’d get elected.

Because when you have divine intervention on your side you have no choice but to go where you are led, and pawns are put on the field so that they can protect their queen.

That was how politics worked in Los Santos, and with each season a new kind of change was brought by those who were running the show.

There was still something different about her.

Meg was charismatic, had great grades, and always looked like she stepped out of someone's dream wardrobe pinterest board. Lindsay hadn't started the rumor that Meg was a witch but she was a big believer in it. Meg was a little too perfect after all, witchcraft would at least mean there was something wrong with her.

Lindsay actually had a lot of friends in common with Meg but didn't hang out with the girl much herself. She wouldn't say she avoided Meg, that would be ridiculous; but Lindsay would maybe agree that if she saw Michael talking to her in one of their shared classes or saw Meg sitting at their usual lunch table then Lindsay might find herself talking to other friends on the other side of the room.

Like today for instance.

“You know just cause we share a table and Meg is sitting in your seat, you don't have to go to the other fucking side of the room. You could join us,” Michael said, as Lindsay sat back down in her seat as Mr. Ramsey walked in to start the class.

“Maybe I had something to say to Gavin and Jeremy,” Lindsay said, refusing to admit that Michael was right and Meg was the reason Lindsay was chatting with the other two.

“And maybe you're afraid if you talked to her you'd let slip that big crush you have on her.”

Lindsay didn't even bother to come up with a response to that, trying to pay attention to whatever was being said by Geoff.

“Is this about that witch thing,” Michael asked suddenly. Loud enough that Lindsay turned to shush him so no one else could hear what they were talking about. “Oh my god it is, she's not a fucking witch, Linds are you serious?”

“She's just too fucking perfect, there has to be some skeleton in her closet.”

“Just cause you've got that hard on for her doesn't mean there has to be some deep dark secret. A witch, christ, she's not fucking Sabrina.”

“I'm the ridiculous one, like you don't turn into a lovesick puppy whenever Gav or Ryan bat an eyelash at you.”

It wasn’t her best comeback, but it got Michael off her case long enough that she could hear what they were supposed to be doing that day. “Alright time for everyone’s favorite group project,” even Geoff sounded like he was annoyed at the thought of group work and he was assigning the project. “You’re all going to get your floursack children, because it’s a pain in the ass to grade the plastic babies, you’ll all pass if you can keep from ripping or replacing your sack.”

“All you did was scribble on the bag, how would you even know?” Ryan called out.

“That’s my signature, Haywood, stop looking for loopholes or I’ll fail you for fun.”

“Well, Ryan’s partner is screwed. Sorry about your F, Turney,” Michael called out, the laughter plain in his voice as he mocked the usual partners.

“Thanks Michael that reminds me. I’ll be assigning your partners, since Michael and Gavin can’t be partnered together without breaking or blowing something up.”

“You set fire to the chem lab one time,” Michael sighed.

He divided them up by last name which left Meg with Lindsay. “Get with your partner, fill out the sheet, figure out how you’re going to make it through the week without turning your homes into backdrops of Tony Montana’s mansion.” Lindsay could see Geoff’s shoulders sag as his reference got no response from her classmates.

“Every semester the movie references get more and more mainstream and it gets even funnier when everyone pretends they don’t get them.” Meg said as she took Michael’s now vacated seat.

Lindsay laughed because she was a little too worried to do anything else. Witch theory or not, she was a little afraid of Meg or of looking like an idiot in front of Meg.

“If he weren’t such a good cook I’d wonder why the hell he picked Home Ec instead of shop.”

“Well he’d have to fight Griffon for the job.”

Making Meg laugh was an accomplishment that Lindsay was more proud of than she had right to be. “True, Griffon rules the shop with an iron fist.”

“And her personalized chainsaw.”

Lindsay was learning quickly that Meg’s laugh was a sound she wanted to hear a lot.

“So, what do you want to name our little bundle of joy?”

“Kimball is nice,” Lindsay suggested.

Meg smiled, as she wrote down Lindsay’s suggested name on the care sheet Geoff had handed out. “I’m kind of glad I didn’t have to partner with Ryan,” Meg confessed, “he’s got this fascination with the name Edgar, and I just can’t be the mother of that child.”

Lindsay didn’t bother to hide the way her nose wrinkled in distaste at the name, “No, Kimball… Turntugg? Has a better ring.”

“You like it?” Meg asked, “We could hyphenate, but our ship name is cute and less wordy.”

“Ship name?” Lindsay asked, sure that this was a cosmic punking or that Meg could actually read her mind and was now fucking with her.

“Yeah, you know, like Brad and Angelina or half the internet.”

“I know what it is, I just didn’t know we had one.”

“Of course,” Meg said, a bounce in her voice that Lindsay couldn’t figure a cause for, “everyone has one. I'm just glad ours is cute.”

“Make sure you figure out a schedule with your partner, since your new babies don't cry or eat you have to be with them 24/7 until Friday. No leaving them in lockers or with the grandparents,” Geoff said.

“You're in one of Sorola’s algebra classes, right?” Meg asked, the sudden topic shift surprising Lindsay.

“Yeah, last period. Why?”

“Do you want to come over to my place and study for that test tomorrow? We can work out the custody schedule then.” Meg asked. She was wringing her hands in her lap but she didn’t seem nervous, it was like she needed to keep them from acting on their own.

It couldn’t be that she thought Lindsay might say no.

Meg only lived a short walk away from the school, and just a couple streets away from Lindsay’s neighborhood. She biked along beside Meg, noticing the animals that trailed behind Meg as they moved through the neighborhood out the corner of her eye. Meg didn’t seem to notice, so it must have been routine by this point, she just cradled their flour sack baby in her arms as they talked.

Despite her long avoidance of Meg, they actually got along well. The conversation flowed easily between the two of them the whole way to Meg’s house.

Lindsay would admit that part of the reason she had so readily agreed to study with Meg had been to see how the other girl lived. A secret hope that she would get some kind of explanation to the weird feeling she’d had about Meg for so long, a selfish hope that maybe she would find something that was wrong with the girl and realizing that even if there was it would probably only make Meg more endearing.

She felt bad for feeling disappointed that Meg’s room was disgustingly normal. A large bed that took up most of the room and a desk that looked like it was used more for storage than studying. It was clean for the most part, more than Lindsay’s was at the moment, Meg’s closet overflowing into the room a bit. The only thing that stood out at all was the dress form in the corner and the videogame art on the walls. Disgustingly normal, no spellbooks or broomsticks in sight.

Meg sat Kimball the flour baby on the desk before she flopped down on her bed. For the first time since they were partnered together Lindsay felt awkward, sitting in the chair at Meg’s desk as she tried not to feel like the biggest thing in the room.

That feeling disappeared once Meg's attention was back on her. There was something about the way Meg could manage to make you feel like you were the center of her world with just a look and a smile. Something even stranger was how she could make math seem bearable, an hour studying with Meg seemed to go by in seconds. Was making math less awful a sign of witchcraft? Algebra was evil, and Lindsay thought she remembered the two were supposed to be linked.

Bearable wasn’t the same as enjoyable though, Lindsay was spinning in Meg’s desk chair as a way to keep herself entertained while Meg read off questions from their study guide. She somehow didn’t expect her elbow to catch her flour sack baby that was still sitting at the edge of Meg’s desk.

She definitely didn’t expect the hand Meg flung out to stop the bag’s fall, or for the bag to go flying into Meg’s waiting arms.

Lindsay was on her feet as quickly as it had flown across the room.

“You’re, you’re actually,” Lindsay couldn’t even get the words out, they seemed ridiculous when they had some real evidence of something paired along with them.

“Yeah,” Meg said.

“A witch, a fucking witch.This can’t be fucking happening.”

“It totally is,” Meg said. She rolled out of her bed and took a step toward Lindsay, raising a hand that made Kimball slowly float up from the mattress.

“So what are you going to do now? Do you have some witchy reputation to maintain?” Lindsay asked. Meg’s hand sank slowly down to her side and Kimball sank slowly back onto the bed. Lindsay watching somewhat warily as Meg came closer.

“Witches aren’t all bad, you know. That’s just a myth started by some douchebags in Salem as a way of controlling women.”

Lindsay could only nod dumbly along, looking down at Meg as they now stood chest to chest. “So what?” Meg asked, “Are you worried I’m going to hex you?” A grin was pulling at the corner of Meg’s mouth, “Afraid I’ll put a spell on you?”

The look in Meg’s eyes had Lindsay thinking that wasn't out of the realm of possibilities.

“Or are worried I might draw you into the devil's snare?” Meg asked. The way Meg’s hand had snaked up to play with Lindsay’s hair and the other that had curled around Lindsay’s hip had her thinking Meg already was. “Or slip you my love potion number nine?”

“Guess that depends on how present company would feel about the effects of that,” Lindsay managed to say, head still reeling at the way things were going.

“I wouldn't be opposed,” Meg admitted. The sly smirk on her face made it suddenly clear why witches were usually paired with cats.

She definitely wasn’t freaking out about her roommate and what Lindsay was going to do about her. She had texted the girl once over the summer, to ask if the other girl was bringing a fridge or not, and they hadn’t really spoken again since. She wasn’t sure how you asked a person you’d only spoken to once about harboring an illegal animal in your room. The only thing she did know was that she wasn’t driving all the way home to take Ruby back.

So she sat in her car, looking for someone who didn't look like a snitch to help her unload the most important thing she'd packed. She wasn't having much luck, only managing to find students wearing shirts that marked them as Resident Advisors or ones that looked like they were well practiced in the art of tattling.

Lindsay was starting to plan a way for her to get Ruby in on her own, trying to decide if she could nestle the sleeping kitten in her suitcase with her clothes so they could get in the building. It was a plan that she knew probably wouldn't work. Ruby had never been good at keeping quiet when she was supposed to, that was how her parents had discovered the little stray kitten she'd been hiding in her room.

A second later and she didn't think she would have to find out. Her idle scanning of the parking lot had her gaze landing on someone who looked like the perfect accomplice. She had purple hair falling in waves around her shoulders and a pokemon skirt twirling around her legs as she walked past Lindsay's car. Lindsay knew she would agree to help, and it wasn't just because this girl looked like she was exactly Lindsay's type.

She launched herself out of the driver’s seat. She had to catch this girl before she could walk into the dorm and Lindsay lost her chance, but even as she did she was careful not to jostle the still sleeping cat.

“Hey, you, wait up,” Lindsay called, realizing that not knowing the girl's name could make getting her attention harder while they were in a lot full of anxious parents and college freshmen.

Luck was on her side, the girl stopped, looking around as she tried to find who has called out and if they were talking to her.

Lindsay tapped on her shoulder to let her know that Lindsay was there and that she was actually the one being called. That didn't stop the girl from jumping a little when she turned around and found someone right behind her. “Hi,” she said still looking a little confused as to why a stranger had been shouting at her from across the parking lot.

Lindsay didn't have the time to beat around the bush. “Can I ask you a question,” she asked.

The girl nodded before saying, “But I just moved in, so I can't tell you where anything is on campus, except the coffee place.”

Lindsay shook her head, but she tucked that information away for later, she didn't love coffee but depending on the girl's reaction to her next question Lindsay might want the excuse to spend more time with her. “I just need your help getting something into my dorm room. Well, more like help getting someone in,” she said, fingers crossed that it seemed like an innocent enough question.

She didn't miss how the other girl’s eyes narrowed and, yeah, playing it back in her head the question was a little more suspicious than she had originally thought. “That depends, what am I helping you bring in, cause I draw the line at helping a stranger smuggle in their sex slave. Nothing personal, just one of those lines a girl won't cross.”

Lindsay could feel her blush as it creeped up the back of her neck all the way to her hairline, and she knew that her face had to be the same shade of red her hair was. “No!” she shouted, unable to keep the hysteric and embarrassed edge from her voice. She tried to calm herself a little before speaking again, something that was hard when she could see the amused look on the face of the pretty girl standing across from her.

“No, I just need your helping getting her into the building.” Lindsay carefully pushed aside the fabric of her hoodie pocket where Ruby was hidden to let the other girl see her but to still keep the kitten hidden from the people around them.

The girl's squeal had Lindsay nervously checking the parking lot to see if they'd grabbed the attention of anyone else. Wide eyes looked back up at Lindsay, alight and excited, “That is the cutest little thing, what's its name?”

“Ruby,” Lindsay answered, as the girl reached into Lindsay's pocket to pet the kitten.

“Hi Ruby, I'm Meg,” the girl, Meg, said her eyes downcast as she spoke to the cat. Meg looked up at her through her lashes and Lindsay was fighting a little to stay unaffected, “Before I agree, can I ask what this cute thing’s name is?”

“L-Lindsay, I'm Lindsay,” she said, doing her best not to choke on her tongue as she answered.

Meg smiled and Lindsay thought her heart might have skipped a beat, “Good, now that introductions are out of the way, let's see if we can't get your furry little roommate past the front desk.”

They got through the front door with no problem, but it seemed that once they crossed the threshold of the dorm Ruby decided that nap time was over. Lindsay could feel her squirming around in the pocket she'd just been sleeping in. Lindsay stuffed her hand into that pocket, gently cupping Ruby to try to hold her still, and she ran her thumb over the kitten's head to try to keep her quiet.

Meg lead her over to the table where she needed to sign in, Lindsay grabbed the paperwork she had to fill out and tried to fill it out as quickly as possible. Once the pen touched the page a soft meow escaped her pocket. Meg coughed loudly as the next one started, keeping the fit up while Lindsay stroked the top of Ruby's head in an effort to quiet her. A few seconds of attention were enough to silence her, Lindsay started to scribble her information down as quickly as possible to get out of there. Though Ruby was quiet she refused to be still and Lindsay’s pocket danced as her paws kneaded at the fabric, Meg must have noticed as she started to talk to the RA manning the table. Her idle chit-chat drew the boy’s attention away from Lindsay as he hung on every word Meg had to say.

Lindsay practically shoved the forms back into his hands once she'd finished filling in information and signing blank spaces. He glared at her a little bit as he lost Meg's attention and had to do his job once more. She could see Meg scanning the lobby now as she hunted for the next obstacle they would have to pass now that this one was almost over.

Lindsay snatched the key to her room from his hands when it was offered. Not bothering to say thank you as she hurried off, not missing his scowl when Meg waved and left for the elevator with her. She steered Lindsay away from the hall coordinator and between parents helping their children carry in their overstuffed luggage.

The two slipped into the open doors of an elevator and Meg stabbed at the door close button so no one could slip in with them. They waited until the doors had completely closed before they said anything.

“We did it,” Meg cheered, giving a small, excited bounce that shook the elevator car.

Lindsay was grinning from ear to ear, excited that they’d gotten Ruby through the crowded lobby. “We just have to get to my room and we’re good,” she agreed.

“Oh, right, new objective I’ll be your companion for that mission too if you want me.”

“I’m in 1121, think you can convince my roommate not to turn me in.”

She couldn’t miss the way Meg smiled a little, shy now, as she looked at the panel of the buttons to select the floor. “That shouldn’t be a problem, I’m pretty psyched to have such cute roommates.”

Lindsay could tell by the look on her face that she wasn’t kidding and she smiled in a way that she hoped didn’t reveal that she already had a big crush on her new roommate.