SPOILERS: This chapter and further chapters contain spoilers for Academy M - Mistake 1.

144.)

Blossom only made it one sentence into Academy M before she had something to say.

"Oh, the epigraph is from the Source again. And I think The Lovers is a tarot card, right? I need to learn about this stuff. And… Mistake One? Not Chapter One? Suspense."

I expected a lot more theory crafting from Blossom's once-over of the epigraph, but upon reflection I realized that was unlikely. She'd said in the past that she didn't understand tarot that well. Honestly, I didn't either.

"Mmhmm. I think all the chapters will be Mistakes instead. If I can keep that up..." Knowing the protagonist, it was probably do-able.

"That's so intriguing!"

Blossom wriggled in place as she began to read the story.

"Oooh, First person! Don't think I didn't notice that, because that is new and if you were any other author I'd think it was just a stylistic choice. But it's you so I know it's important."

A few more sentences, with Blossom's lips quietly mouthing the word as she read.

"Eli... that's a familiar name..."

"Mmhmm."

"He's the guy in Academy T, right?" Blossom asked. "With that secretary girl, with the tablet?"

"Yep."

"Interesting..." Blossom kept reading, but then she stopped just as abruptly.

"Judith? Wait, is Maria a staff member, not a Candy?"

"Mmhmm." I knew the chapter was short, but there was a lot of information. It was also very different from the rest of the series already, and she was only a few sentences in.

"Holy shit, I've wanted this for so long! Oh my gosh, oh my goodness."

Blossom narrowed her eyes as she read more, just a few more words.

"Touched. Touched and able to compile a dossier... she didn't disappear... wow, wow, we're learning so much!"

The implications there were a little vague. I'd probably go into it later in the story, but it wasn't impossible to deduce what made Candies different to People. And it only got more complicated from there.

"Uh. Did you forget to add someone’s name?" Blossom asked. "There’s just a line here."

"I didn’t forget anything," I said plainly.

"Great, more things I don’t understand." Though Blossom’s tone was sarcastic, her voice was bright with excitement.

"She's still an Arcana... and... being an Arcana is dangerous, okay okay okay." Little mutterings and musings like this were not Blossom’s typical go-to, but she was just bubbling over with anticipation and it was hard not to babble quietly while she read.

"She's into tall women? Sounds like someone cute and crinkly that I know~"

"I don't care about height," I snapped back, but Blossom flashed me that mischievous smile and went back to reading.

"Academy B namedrop, yush. That's my girl Bala in there, you know it. And also this is wild, because usually the protagonist's name correlates with the Academy title letter and this still does because Maria, but also like I think Judith is the Candy, so I would have expected Academy J."

"Ai starts with A," I offered, but she rolled her eyes. She was quiet for a few moments and I waited impatiently for her to finish the chapter at a painfully slow pace. Finally, she read the last few sentences out loud.

"...I should have shown an ounce of caution, but my pride never let me make such compromises. Determination and commitment motivated me, and they would motivate me to oblivion. Judith Levin would be my downfall, and that cascade began when I accepted her as my responsibility. She was my first mistake."

"So...?" I asked, a little nervously. It took her less time to read this chapter than any other, but it felt like it had been ages since she started. My anxiety was characteristically high.

"I am so into this. I am so intrigued! This is probably the strongest start you've ever written and you are known for writing strong starts so that’s saying a lot! I am so into the mystery here, and the foreboding, and also like… it’s first person, but also it's past tense, so like, is this a retrospective thing? It's so interesting!"

"Yeah?" I let out a little sigh of relief, but I was still anxious. Chapter One was the least of my worries. "I admit, I'm not really sure what to do now. I have some plot ideas, but... I don't have a good concept of who Judith is as a person."

"Well, what would be fun to write?"

"I have no idea," I mumbled. "Usually when I write somebody, I have an idea in mind. Like, with Ai. She's curious. Bala is all about autonomy and choice. Talita is passionate. Kione is analytical."

"Aya?" Blossom asked.

"Aya's just a good girl," I laughed. "That was what I wanted to write for her."

"Well, you could write someone who's bratty? It could be good to help you with understanding that headspace and being more okay with being in it?"

"Talita was sort of bratty," I muttered. "I don't want to retread territory or anything..."

"Hm, well... maybe there's a different kind of bratty?" Blossom offered. "What's the dynamic going to be with Maria and Judith?"

"I wanted to do something more manipulating," I admitted. "More one-on-one, like in Academy I? But with less forcefulness and more gradual acceptance. I don't think I've done that yet."

The early Academy Works stories were all about forced regression. The last few were more about social manipulation. I wanted this one to feel more personal. Maria could take on just about anything, but what would make Judith unique?

"I think that's a great idea,” Blossom said. “Like, you know how we did that play together where we were one-on-one and I was your babysitter in Town? Something like that."

"Yeah, but..." I didn't want to get into it with Blossom right now, in part because I didn't want to spoil the story. The point was: I didn't want Judith to be like Talita. Or Kione. Or anyone. I just needed her defining character trait. The thing I could use to ground her identity. It made writing consistently a lot easier.

"Anyway, I'll figure it out." I faked a smile. This was actually bothering me more than I wanted to admit, but talking about it felt like running in circles. I just needed to clear my head.

"Okayyyy~"

Blossom had a tone like a skeptical co-host on a late night infomercial, but she decided not to chase that particular rabbit. So she made another suggestion instead.

"Let's go somewhere this weekend. A road trip together? Even if it's not that far away? I've always wanted to do a diapered road trip."

"Uh... well, we have to be home tomorrow afternoon, right? I don't think that's much of a road trip."

"Tomorrow night," Blossom corrected. "No sorority meeting this time."

"Hm... okay. Did you have somewhere in mind?"

"Nope."

Blossom set my laptop aside and opened up her phone.

"Oh! Oh! Let's go to Salem? I've never been and I bet it's super touristy, but... I guess it's only 90 minutes away and that's not much of a diapered road trip, is it? Okay okay okay, let me look for..."

Blossom was quiet for a moment, focused on her phone, scrolling with her thumb and looking with all the seriousness of a girl studying for a final. A few moments later, her eyes lit up and her grin blossomed much like her namesake.

"Oh my god, that's perfect."

"Hm?" I had returned to my own laptop in the meantime, trying to figure out the Judith problem. Blossom's excitement broke me out of the spell.

"Wanna go to New York?" Blossom asked cheekily.

"I haven't been there in a while..." I had been to New York City a few times on field trips, and my mom and I saw Disney On Ice when I was younger. It was about a four or five hour drive from our home town, so probably further from the beach house. "We would have to get a hotel..."

"That sounds even more exciting, honestly. I'd love a New York Road Trip slash Romantic Date Getaway with you, cupcake."

Her excitement was definitely palpable.

I felt a bit of heat on my cheeks and looked down at my laptop for no reason other than to avoid looking at Blossom.

"I'm paying for half the hotel," I said concretely. "And it has to be a reasonable one, not like... a thousand dollars a night downtown." I had a lot of spare change these days. Since Christmas, I hadn't had to buy myself much of anything so my work money was piling up.

"How about I pay for the hotel, and you get to pick where we have dinner and you can pay for dinner for both of us?"

There was an advantage to the classic heteronormative dynamic of "the boy pays": no one had to talk about footing the bill. But Blossom much preferred this because some awkward conversation was always better than assumed misogyny.

"Don't pick an expensive hotel," I told her. But she probably would anyway. So I would have to pick an expensive dinner place... I sulked. I had never taken someone out on a date before, not like this.

"When are we leaving?" I asked.

"Now?" Blossom shrugged. We can get breakfast on the way and check into the hotel by the afternoon.

It was still pretty early. With traffic and stops, we probably would make it around dinnertime. But I had some time to spare.

"I'm going to shower first. So, let's leave in an hour."

"That sounds great!"

She beamed. If this were a story, Blossom would have expected the both of them to be in diapers the whole time. Since it was real life, she could only hope for that.