159.)

It was hard for Blossom, because she wished she could explain to Amy that literally anything she did would be great, but the poor girl got in her own way so damn much. For now, all Blossom could do was to facilitate and encourage her. So she changed into something more highschool cheerleader and less college VSCO girl, then trussed her hair up in pigtails for the full look.

It took longer than I was proud of to open that door. I had to get in character a dozen times, each time second-guessing myself when my hand touched the doorknob. But I did open that door. I walked in with my backpack, because I thought it had a good high school aesthetic.

"Blossom," I said coldly, so cold that I thought I was trembling. And she was standing there in front of me, wearing a cute little skirt and pigtails. I broke eye contact, then forced myself to look back at her. Be confident, Amanda. Come on.

"Who else were you expecting, barging into my room?" Blossom put her hands on her hips and pouted, channeling a little bit of 'high school brat', even if it was a kind of 'high school brat who should know when not to piss off the girl who could ruin her life.'

Jeeze, she was good. She had a slightly different voice, a little haughty, a little more like high school. And her mannerisms weren't really something I'd seen from Blossom in years. I felt a twinge of intimidation. Or maybe that was just a part of my character concept. This was my school bully after all.

"That wasn't a very polite way to say hello," I said sourly. I wanted to sound a little more pointed, but my natural brattiness leaked in.

"Oh right, I forgot. I'm supposed to be polite to the nobody-girl. What do you want?"

Blossom did her best not to ringlead the scene, not to railroad it in any one direction, not to take the spotlight off Amy, and not to drive her away. But it wasn't easy to find that balance.

Honestly, her words irked me a little bit. It was a little too similar to what we had been through before, a little too close to home. Maybe I should have called Yellow and adjusted, but I didn't want to mess up so soon. Plus, my irritation was a motivating factor.

"What do I want? I want to tell the whole school that you still wear diapers to bed!" Yeah, the irritation was coming through pretty well. "The only reason I haven't is because I thought maybe you didn't deserve that humiliation. But I guess I was wrong."

Blossom thought about her response here: oh who would believe you? Or maybe: no no wait don't do that! Instead, she froze in place and glared at Amy. And then… looked away. An act of submission if there ever was one, however small.

"Look… you don't have to do that, okay? And whatever you thought you saw, maybe you didn't, okay?"

The submission felt unexpected, like we were supposed to be fighting or something. I had to take a moment to temper my annoyance, then I crossed my arms.

"Well, I dunno. I've looked through the pictures a few times, and it's pretty obvious. Also, maybe you should close your bedroom blinds at night." I guess we were next door neighbors or something in this story. It sure fit the trope.

"Yeah or maybe you shouldn't be a pervert taking pictures of girls at night through their windows, huh? Seriously, what were you even thinking?"

"I thought, 'Oh. There's my bitchy neighbor Blossom, who constantly harasses me at school. Is she wearing a diaper, like a bedwetting toddler? Gosh, what if everyone at school knew about it?'"

I felt a pang in my stomach; my anger quickly spun into guilt like straw into gold. I knew it was a roleplay, but if the situation ever presented itself, I don't think I would have ever actually blackmailed Blossom. Or, I like to think I wouldn't have. Sure, I hated her, but it just wasn't right. I may have been vindictive, but I wasn't a villain...

"Listen, I did you a favor by sleeping with Dirk - guy was an asshole. You can't just hold onto that forever - find a new dude and move on, fuck knows I did." Blossom developed the character interactions a little more, built the scenario, built the history. "Honestly you should be thanking me, and deleting that photo."

"Well..." I hesitated. My thoughts weren't on the scene. It was so easy to gravitate back to high school, to when Blossom was really my bully. I took a breath and tried again. Stay in character, Amanda.

"Well, I guess I'll return the favor. Once everyone at school sees this, you won't have to keep it a secret anymore. And you can thank me whenever you get around to it." I turned on my heel to leave the room.

"Hey wait wait! Wait no, don't…"

It was so hard for this Blossom - as it had been for the real high school Blossom - to backpedal and show contrition. Even now, a few words could have gone a long way, but she wouldn't do it. Stubborn bitch.

I paused with my hand on the doorknob. I didn't want to share the imaginary pictures with the imaginary school. I didn't want to hurt imaginary alt-world Blossom, I really didn't. So when she spoke up, I let out a little sigh of relief and turned back to her.

She wants this, I reminded myself. It was her idea.

"Let's just forget this whole thing happened, alright?" Blossom said. "Let's just… forget that you got those photos, forgot what you think you saw, forget all of it, and just go back to our usual routine, alright?"

Easy for the bully to say, wasn't it?

"I don't like our routine," I said flatly. Again, a little too much of real-life Amanda in those words. I wanted her to just admit she was a jerk, tell me she read my stories, and play baby sometimes at her beach house. But that wasn't part of the scene, I guess.

"Alright, fine, what do you want? Money? You wanna extort me?" Blossom was feeling the close-to-home-ness as well, but she was doing her best to hide it.

"Nope. I want to teach you a lesson."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Blossom quipped.

"It means I'm tired of your high and mighty bullshit," I said sharply. "I'm tired of you harassing me all the time. I'm tired of you thinking you're better than everyone else. So we are switching places. From now on, I'm in charge of you."

Blossom laughed. And then she paused. And the reality hit her.

"Oh my god you're serious…? What does that even mean?"

"You've got two choices, Blossom," I said evenly. "Either you follow my rules from now on and I promise not to let any of them interfere with your reputation. Or I send these pictures to Trina and Britt, and I wash my hands of this whole thing." Trina and Britt were actually two of Blossom's friends in high school; I couldn't come up with fake names fast enough. And technically, Blossom was just one member of the bully squad. She was one of the worst, but certainly not the only.

Blossom had a full deer in the headlights moment for a full few seconds, because those weren't made up names. It actually made it more anxiety provoking, and more hot, in equal measure. They canceled each other out.

"…for how long…? How long am I supposed to… follow your rules?"

"Until I think you've learned your lesson," I shrugged. "Could be a few days. Could be the rest of high school. Dunno."

If this was a real ABDL story, it would be a lot longer than a few days. It would probably last until they fell in love or something. But I didn't feel like alt-world Amanda and alt-world Blossom could ever fall in love. That thought made my stomach turn. I really didn't like this version of me...

"Fine! Fine. Whatever. Fucking hell."

Notably, Blossom didn't usually cuss in front of Amy, and that made this one of the more notable differences between her real self and this fake self. But that was the point of the game, wasn't it?

Blossom's tone really caught me off guard. Already, I wasn't feeling great, but her raising her voice like that... I actually winced. She was standing there with her hands on her hips and I had a vivid flashback of that same frown on her face. I had to look away from her.

I fumbled the backpack off my shoulder and unzipped it. I took out one of the pink bunny diapers - the babiest print we had - and tossed it onto the bed. It was a power move, not saying anything at all. But honestly, I wasn't sure I could speak in that moment.

Blossom took two steps towards Amy, and put each of her hands on the girl's hips. Her voice lowered, and she spoke softly.

"I'm just checking in, cupcake; you seem spooked. Is this okay? Do you need a yellow?"

I shook my head and faked a smile. But Blossom was getting good at seeing through those. She waited another moment for me to catch my breath.

"Just... weird. This. I'm not sure. I'm trying."

"It's too close to home, right? I'm kind of feeling that way too. I get huge pangs of guilt. And it's fine if we're not having fun; not every permutation of a fantasy makes for a good reality. Are we yellow? Or red? You're not in any trouble."

I shook my head. I didn't know how I felt, but I knew if I gave up now I'd never forgive myself. We didn't even get to the fun part. I didn't even get her in a diaper! Fuck, why was I so bad at this?

"I just wanna keep going," I said, trying for a hopeful inflection.

"Okay…"

Blossom wasn't sure that she should have been relented so easily, but she was trying not to micromanage it. To Blossom, this was a yellow. And they'd talked about it. She had to trust Amy's own agency. So she took a step back and looked over her shoulder at the diaper on the bed, and then back at Amy with incredulity.

"Is this your idea of a joke?"

I shook my head. I had to get it together. I took a moment, took a deep breath, and tried to focus on the room. On the scene. Blossom, my enemy. Not Blossom, my partner. The diaper on the bed, a reminder of her shame. Not the diaper on the bed, a reminder of what we share together. Fuck.

"Rule one," I said, forcing confidence. "You wear these to bed now. Not your other ones."

"Where did you even…" Blossom's voice trailed off for theatrical effect, and then she shrugged her shoulders. "Fine. Whatever. It's not like anyone sees, and if you wanna be the one paying, that's your problem."

It was a bitchy, catty, overly confident retort. And it was as fake as fake could be. Blossom's eyes kept darting toward the new diaper. She kept pretending she didn't care. She even bit her lip when she thought it was plausible that Amy wouldn't be looking, while making certain that she very much was.

"Rule two," I continued. I was making these up on the spot. "If no one else is around, you'll call me Miss Amanda. You can think of me as... your babysitter."

"This is stupid…" This was so hot! "Fine. Whatever. As long as it's not in front of anyone else; you can have your little fetish thing, Miss Amanda. Weirdo."

I wasn't sure Blossom had ever called me Amanda before. It was... jarring. But I shook off the alt-world fugue and tried to come up with a third rule.

"Rule three," I said, then paused. If I kept doing baby stuff, it would be weird, right? She already said it was my fetish; that wasn't the angle I wanted. So I picked a rule that I knew for sure would piss her off. "No sex."

"Hah! Good luck!" Blossom scoffed, thinking that this one definitely had to be a joke. She waited a second, to let the penny drop, then shook her head as quick as could be.

"No way! No fucking way!"

The yelling and the swear words were a combination I simply couldn't have prepared myself for. The first one was rough, and that one was no better. Keeping composure felt exhausting, and I wanted to give up this whole thing and go take a nap.

"Little girls who wear pink bunny diapers to bed don't need to be doing adult things like that," I said with a smile. It wasn't a fake smile; I really liked that line! But it felt like a candle at the bottom of a mine shaft.

"Are you serious? I don't wear that shit in front of people! If I did, I'd still be a damn virgin. Look, I'll play your little game or whatever, but there's no way I'm going to stop having sex. Is that what this is about? Are you jealous?"

Ugh! How was she so good at turning everything back at me? It was like trying to break a mirror with light. I balled my hands at my side and took a deep breath. Fine.

"Rule four," I said sharply. "You treat me with respect. Because every time you don't, I add a new rule to this list. And you'll know each rule is your fault!"

That was a great angle! Blossom wondered how much more her fictionalized AU self should resist. She was trapped, after all. Hmm.

"…people are going to notice if I stop having sex…" Blossom said sourly.

"That's not my problem." My tone was razor sharp. I was frustrated by her wittiness. She was so fucking good at everything... I felt incompetent. "If you break any of those first three rules even once, I'm sending those pictures. Then no one will want to have sex with you. So figure it out."

"Fuck you." Blossom crossed her arms, and added, in her own defense: "That only broke rule 4, just in case you didn't notice."

Blossom glanced at the diaper and then at Amy.

"Is that all, Miss Amanda?"

"It was," I said, full of annoyance. "Rule five. No swearing. Little girls don't need to be using words like that."

"Ugh! Fine, fine! No more rules!"

Seeing her own demise was delightful, and Amy was nailing it. Blossom wanted to break character just to tell her that.

"Now get changed," I said flatly. I thought maybe I was supposed to change her myself, but it felt weird in the context of the scene. And anyway, it might give me a bit of a reprieve...

"What? Now?" Blossom looked incredulous.

"Yes, now. I said you wear those to bed. It's bedtime."

"It's..." Blossom checked the clock on the bedside table. "8:20."

"So technically you're twenty minutes late," I quipped back. That one felt good.

Blossom was quiet for a moment. She actually wasn't sure just how much she was blushing, but she knew she was. Blossom dramatically looked away and snatched the diaper up off the bed without looking back.

"Don't watch…"

"Like I'd want to," I said cattily, and stepped out of the downstairs bedroom. I closed the door behind me and leaned against the wall. My heart was racing, and I felt like I could feel the blood flowing through my arms and legs.