“Crystal, Delilah is incoming,” Mallory’s voice quietly warned as we were all sitting and eating lunch.

Awww, I was having a nice, Delilah-free day and my progress in Auto Shop had put me in a really good mood. I knew that I was probably going to have to deal with her in Gym and Home Economics, my last two classes today, but I had been hoping to put that off just a little longer while I enjoyed my lunch and the company of my friends. I wasn’t the only one not happy to see her as everyone was glowering at a spot somewhere behind me, including my sister and our girlfriends, who had to turn around to do so.

I finished the bite of my chicken sandwich that I was currently chewing, let out a long sigh, and turned around to face Delilah as she approached our table. She did not look happy, or even healthy, today as she strode toward our table with a purpose. She was pale, but her cheeks and nose bore a slight flush, and her eyes looked a bit blotchy and swollen. I’m sure she would have covered up if she could have, but we weren’t allowed to wear makeup or jewelry at school.

She sounded as bad as she looked, her voice a little raspy and she was sniffling a bit as she said… something that I didn’t quite catch even with my excellent hearing. Something about juice? In any case, she looked miserable at the mere action of approaching our table and possibly being seen with us. I wasn’t feeling particularly sympathetic. Okay, maybe a little bit, but only about the fact that she seemed to be sick, and it might possibly be related to me burying her in the snow yesterday.

“No, Crystal. Don’t feel bad for her, she’s only getting what she deserves,” I tried to convince myself.

“You’ll have to speak up, and maybe use English, Delilah,” Rose snarked, “Not all of us speak mumble.” The bunnies’ ears were better than mine, and I had a feeling that both Rose and my sister had heard exactly what Delilah said, whatever it was.

Delilah looked at my sister’s girlfriend like she wanted to turn her into rabbit stew or something. “I said…” she started before hesitating and looking like choking out whatever words were to come after was causing her physical pain. Well, her throat did sound a bit raspy, but I suspected that that had nothing to do with the look on her face as she finished by adding, “I’d like to call a… truce.”

It was probably as close as she could come to admitting defeat. In response, she got nothing but a bevy of dirty looks from everyone at our table. My sister looked particularly non-sympathetic as she crossed her arms over her chest and said, “Nuh-uh. Not gonna happen, we haven’t even come close to extracting the price that you owe for what you pulled on our birthday.”

“You want… money?” Delilah croaked out with a look of confusion on her face.

“Do you know anything about the Fey?” Trixie said with a look that said exactly how stupid she thought Delilah was. “She was talking about the long price. Revenge, to put it in a word that you can actually understand.”

“Seriously, how can you be so ignorant about Paranormals and still come to this school? The first three things my mom taught me when I Manifested were to keep a low profile and a disguise on around normies, always keep an eye out for Snatchers, and never ever fuck with the Fey if you value your life and happiness,” Clarice added with a frown. “There’s a reason they call it the long price. Those who cross them suffer for a very long time.”

I could see Delilah’s temper begin to flare up in real time as she was being called out on her ignorance. I needed to get ahead of this before someone, probably Delilah, did something stupid that they would later regret. Or maybe I should encourage that? With a smile, I locked my gaze on Delilah and offered, “I propose a deal.” That was something else she should probably learn to be cautious about around the Fey and this was school, so it was the perfect place for a lesson.

Everyone’s eyes immediately turned toward me, and I could see a mix of curiosity and mischief in the eyes of my sister, Rose, and Trixie as they hung on to my next words. “I will agree to your truce for one week, long enough for you to get over whatever has you sounding and looking so terrible. Or should you publicly apologize for and admit everything you’ve done to me and my friends; I will have no more quarrel with you. Should you choose the temporary truce instead, I will not do anything to harm or harass you for the next week. If you do anything to harass me or those close to me during that time, then the deal is off.”

There was no way that Delilah was going to admit, let alone apologize, for everything she had done, and we all knew it. However, I felt that it was only fair to give her the option, and it would be nice to end this feud for good if possible. Predictably, she took the easy option as she replied, “I’ll take the truce.”

I shook my head as I narrowed my focus only on my nemesis. “No, Delilah, this needs to be done properly. This is a verbal contract after all, and we have witnesses. My offer is that I will do nothing to harm or harass you for the next week and in return, you will not do anything to harm or harass me or those close to me nor plot with anyone else to do so. The deal ends at lunchtime next Friday, or if should you break the terms of the contract. If you agree, then say, ‘I accept the terms of your contract, Crystal.’ If you do that, then our truce can begin.”

For a moment, Delilah looked like she was being forced to swallow shards of broken glass before she forced out the words, “I… accept the terms of your contract, C-Crystal.” She practically choked on my name.

As she did so, I could feel the magic as I was bound to that deal. “A deal has been struck, and I will keep my end of it,” I announced with a grin.

“Fine,” Delilah snapped before turning on her heel to turn away.

Surprisingly, out of all my friends, it was Mallory who called out to her former friend’s retreating back. “Hey, Delilah, a word of advice from a ‘friend’ but you should be careful when making deals with the Fey. Crystal just got you to promise to leave all of us alone for a week and not get anyone else to do anything to us either and while she promised that she would not do anything to you for that time and is bound to her word, she didn’t say anything about the rest of us.”

The retreating Fire Mage stiffened at the Efreeti’s words but even more as Alison cheerfully agreed, “Yup. We might do something, or we might not. Who knows, but won’t it be fun to find out which?”

Delilah hurried away as our table erupted in a chorus of giggling girls. Once she was gone Nikki, who was still silently giggling, projected her thoughts to the rest of us. ~ I’m not sure which would be more fun, messing with her knowing that she can’t mess back without fear of Crystal coming for her again, or letting her think we’re going to and keeping her on edge while waiting for it to happen. ~

Bella’s mouth twisted upward in an evil grin as she said in a tone quiet enough not to carry toward any of the nearby tables, “Why not both? We could let her stew until Tuesday or Wednesday and then anything goes.”

“Yes, that,” Nova agreed as she tried to stop giggling. “We definitely need to do that.”

“Oh, yes,” Trixie concurred with a predatory smile, “this is going to be fun.”

Carmen was trying not to laugh and shook her head as she pointed out, “You’re all really vindictive, you know that, right? I wish I had useful magic that would let me get in on this though. That bitch needs to learn her lesson.”

“My dear Carmen, we don’t need magic to mess with her. The normies prank each other all the time without it. Stick with me and we’ll get our licks in too, I guarantee it,” Clarice offered as she put an arm around the Healer’s shoulder and gave her a conspiratorial wink.

“Let the games begin,” Jess said. From the smiles on the faces of her and her girlfriend, I could tell that the bunnies were already making plans of their own.

Melody was the most serious of us all, looking very pensive as she turned to Mallory and inquired, “You probably know Delilah the best out of all of us, Mallory. How likely is it that she even keeps her part of the deal?”

The Efreeti, who was back to eating her salad with her fork in one hand and doing something on her phone with the other, considered the question as she chewed her mouthful and then smiled at the table at large. “Oh, she’d most likely try to get away with little things while getting Crystal to keep her part of the deal, but her parents place a lot of importance on keeping one’s word and following contracts to the letter. Crystal has a verbal contract with her, and it was witnessed, even if it was only witnessed by us. Still, I think she will find that she has every reason to stick to the agreement right about… now.”

Mallory was grinning like a cat that just ate the canary now and my girlfriend arched an eyebrow as she said, “Okay, I’ll bite. What did you just do?”

“Well…” she began with an innocent look on her face that completely contrasted her conspiratorial tone of voice. “Since I haven’t gotten to blocking her number yet, and I doubt that she even considered blocking mine, I sent her a copy of the video I just took of Crystal making her proposal and her accepting it. Since I included a little reminder that I still have her parents’ numbers as well, I’m sure she’ll be very happy to stick to her part of the deal for the next week.”

I was torn between allowing my jaw to drop at Mallory’s unexpected brazenness or laughing my ass off. I settled for giggling and grinning at the newest member of our group. “Mallory, I could kiss you!” Then, turning to my girlfriend, I batted my eyelashes as I pleaded, “Melody, my love, can I pleeeease kiss her?”

The Efreeti, who I was quite willing and eager to make good on my offer to kiss at the moment, almost choked on her salad as she laughed. Once she managed to calm down, she shook her head. “Sorry, Crystal. As flattered as I am by that offer and as pretty as you are, I must decline. You’re just not my type, I prefer guys.”

I shrugged it off, I would just have to kiss Melody extra passionately later. “You can’t blame a Nymph for trying,” I teased. “I mean, that unexpected deviousness of yours was just so… hot.”

Mallory blushed as she went back to eating her salad while Melody turned to me and cocked an eyebrow playfully as she taunted, “A fire pun for an Efreeti, Babe? That’s a bit obvious.”

“Speaking of obvious puns,” my sister interjected. “It’s a shame that you’re the only one excluded from making Delilah miserable over the next week, Sis. After all, vengeance is a dish best-served cold.”

We all groaned at that, but Clarice immediately pointed out, “I think Crystal has that part down, Jess. First, she froze Delilah’s clothes, and with all of the cold showers she’s been making her take…”

“She’s also frozen her bra at least twice this week, that I know of, and both times while she was wearing it,” Mallory pointed out helpfully.

“Actually, I froze her bra three times,” I admitted quietly with a grin. “The two times in Home Economics and once while I was passing her in Art class to ask Mrs. Bealey something.”

“Just the thought gives me chills,” Trixie said with a dramatic shiver. “I’ll have to step up my game with my Wood magic once we start having our fun because I plan to get enough payback for both me and Crystal.”

Bella snorted in amusement. “Between the cold showers, her frozen tits, and what you did to her yesterday afternoon, it’s no wonder she’s catching a cold.” As we went back to eating our lunches and talking about our plans for the weekend, I felt a little bad that I might be responsible, in part, for Delilah getting sick, but I firmly reminded myself that if she didn’t want to get cold, then she shouldn’t have fucked with a Snow Nymph.

Both of my classes that afternoon were disturbingly average. Even though Delilah was in both classes, I was bound to not mess with her, and she seemed to take Mallory’s threats seriously, especially since the Efreeti shared both of those classes as well. And since my sister, Rose, Clarice, and the others all decided to make her sweat for a while before making Delilah miserable, I couldn’t even watch them mess with her.

I actually felt a little miffed as I watched Delilah delight in her first hot shower after gym class this week. As much as I wanted to do something though, I had made a deal, and I would have kept my promise even if I wasn’t magically bound to do so. I just never expected that not being able to push her buttons or play magical pranks on her would make my classes so… boring.

It wasn’t all bad, I guess. It was nice being able to bake a new cookie recipe with my sister without worrying about what petty bullshit Delilah would try next. Her obvious discomfort at being Mallory’s partner was mildly amusing as well. Also, Mallory was right, she was pretty good in a kitchen when I wasn’t constantly freezing their stuff. Knowing about how tight Mallory and her mother were for money, it was also nice seeing her be able to bake something nice that she could take home as a treat and share with her mother.

Gym class was actually kind of funny when I thought about it. We played dodgeball and while my deal with Delilah made me unwilling to target her since it might count as messing with her, she was actively avoiding targeting me and my friends as well. Her minions didn’t seem to have any problem with it though, so she must not have talked to them about it one way or the other. Most of the other girls on my team had no issues throwing balls at Delilah and friends though, often with great veracity and velocity.

We won, mostly because most of the Fey species were on our side and we’re damn graceful and agile, not to mention quick when we want to be. Clarice was no slouch in any of those departments either. Still, watching Delilah enjoy that hot shower was a little bit vexing. I like to think that I wasn’t immature or petty enough to let it bother me though, and I put it out of my mind by the time that I was at my locker with Jess and Melody and getting ready to go home for the weekend.

“Nice work, Crystal, that pole routine was practically flawless,” Anita said with an encouraging grin.

“Yeah, that was sexy as hell,” Adora agreed with a matching expression. “You’re getting very good with the flirtatious body language and expressions when you’re on the stage and the pole too.”

Stella nodded as she looked me over thoughtfully before adding, “You have both of the stage routines that we’ve been working on down too. You’re probably ready to hit the main stage tonight. Do you want to talk with your mom and Pan to see if they’ll put you on tonight? I’m sure they’d be willing to give you a slot if we say you’re ready.”

“Pffft! She already has a slot, Sis, and I’m sure she’s going to have all the men here wanting to see it, up close and personal,” Adora joked after a snerk of amusement and with a very suggestive eyebrow wiggle.

Wow, it’s a good thing that Nymphs have no sense of modesty or shame because otherwise, I would probably have been blushing bright red at that raunchy joke. Not to mention the hint of giving extra services that it implied. Hell, I gave a snort of amusement of my own at the joke. Given what I was and what job I was almost ready to start doing professionally, I had two choices when it came down to the preconceptions people might have about me, either fight them head-on or roll with it, take it in stride, and learn to find the humor in it.

The Dicken sisters were similar, and they were my friends and mentors too. Given their shared raunchy sense of humor, and the fact that they seemed to enjoy their work very much, I assumed that they took the latter option, and I was cool with trying to do that too. In fact, I was kind of looking forward to my new job, except for my nagging doubts and a sudden case of stage fright.

I had gotten home from school almost two hours ago and almost immediately began my training session with the Dicken sisters. We had been working hard since, trying to iron out any kinks in my stage and pole routines. My mentors seemed to think that I was ready, but I was plagued with doubts and worries about what might happen when I tried performing in front of people for the first time.

“I dunno, do you really think I’m ready? I feel like that last routine was still a little rough and I can do better. Maybe we should take another week and…” I began to protest before Anita cut me off.

“Crystal, I couldn’t have done that routine much better, and I’m the best pole dancer at the club,” she said as she ended my protest and wrapped me up in a hug. “First-time jitters, huh?”

“No! I… well, maybe?” I replied, my voice trembling a bit.

Adora and Stella quickly joined their sister in crushing me in a hug and one of the pair said, “We all get the jitters our first time, Crystal, but you’re going to do great.”

“How about a compromise?” I think it was Stella who said it since out of the three she seemed to be the most mature. “You towel off and get dressed and then we’ll all head downstairs for some dinner. After we eat, we’ll talk to Tiff and Pan about getting you on the schedule for tomorrow night. No getting out of it, you have to woman up and stick to the schedule they set for you tomorrow night. We can spend the morning doing one last practice session to work out the kinks before you and Carmen go to meet your friends at the wrecking yard for the afternoon.”

“I…” I wasn’t sure, I was too nervous. “It still feels too soon,” I murmured.

“That’s the thing about first-time jitters,” one of the girls said sympathetically. “You’re never going to feel like you’re ready until you get out there and get some real experience. Now, come on, Crystal, you’re ready so woman up and say it with me… ‘I’ll perform tomorrow night.’ It’s just four little words.”

“I’ll… perform tomorrow night.” My heart was racing, and my throat was almost too tight to get the words out and I could feel the weight of them settle upon me. They had the weight of a promise or a deal, maybe a little bit of both and there was no getting out of this now. That was dirty, but at the same time, it sort of made it easier too, and eased the weight of worry upon my heart and mind as well as I was truly committed to this course of action.

Still, I complained as the girls released me from their embrace, “That was mean, using my Feyness against me like that.”

“Yeah, it kinda was,” Adora admitted, “but if I didn’t, you’d keep looking for ways to get out of it and you’d be nervous and beating yourself about continuing to put it off. Now you’ll do it, and trust me, you’re ready. No matter what happens we’ll be there for you and so will your mom, Pan, Rhissa, and everyone else who lives at the club. We’re your family, and we’ve got your back.”

My grumbled half-protests were cut short as a thrown towel smacked me in the face and Anita playfully stuck her tongue out at me. “Now get dried off so we can go downstairs and eat something. We still have some things to do to prepare for your debut tomorrow night.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled as I started using the towel for that very purpose. “And don’t stick that tongue out at me unless you plan to use it.” Wow, I really was starting to adopt their sense of humor, I would have to be careful about that at school.

For a moment, Anita just stared at me in shock that I had been so verbally suggestive. That was usually their shtick after all. Then she grinned at me and asked, “Was that a threat or a promise? Ooh… I hope it was a promise.” The last was added with a playful waggle of her eyebrows and a leer.

Stella made a show of rolling her eyes and letting out a dramatic sigh, but she couldn’t hide her smile as she said, “Well, we’ve successfully turned our protégé to the dark side, are you two happy now?”

“Yes!” “Very!” came two immediate replies as I finished toweling off and started getting dressed.

“You three are shameless. Why am I your friend again?” I asked as I slipped on my panties and started to maneuver myself into my bra.

“Because we have so much in common, like that shameless thing, and we taught you to shake your money maker,” Adora suggested with a Cheshire grin. “Admit it, you love us!”

“Yeah, yeah, sure I do,” I replied with a roll of my eyes. I couldn’t quite hold back my smile though.