"Masako!" Mai hissed as she slid into the seat next to her best friend. "Masako!"

"What?"

"You'll never guess what just happened?"

"If this is your reason as to why you're late for Drama Club, I want to hear it. I had to make up an excuse to Miss Mori. She's just gone to get the new scripts."

"What did you say?"

"That you're on your period and needed to go to the Matron for a tampon," Masako said, straight-faced.

"You what?" Mai gaped. "You said that in front of everyone? In front of the boys?!"

Masako burst out laughing.

"You're so easy to wind up. Nah, I told her you forgot something in your locker. So why were you really late?"

"You are such a bitch," Mai complained, but she smiled.

"You love me really," Masako said. "Why were you really late?"

"You know Oliver Griffiths?"

"Sound and lighting guy? Works with Mr Lin?" Masako asked. "Gene's twin?"

"Yeah, him. I was about to come in when he called me over. I thought he wanted help with the equipment or something. But he didn't!"

"What did he want?" Masako frowned. "He wasn't being creepy, was he?"

"No, he told me that he thought I was nice and then he kissed me on the forehead. And then he just walked off."

"What?"

"He kissed me!" Mai pressed. "No one has ever kissed me before!"

"And you're… Happy about this?" Masako asked, unsure.

"Well, I don't know. It's kind of nice to know someone wants to kiss me."

"I think it's weird. Has he ever spoken to you before?"

"Not really. But he's cute and he's nice so…"

"Oh Mai, you can do much better than that creep," Masako insisted. "Half the time, he doesn't even wash."

"That's not true…"

"Okay fine, maybe it was just once or twice. But seriously. You can do better."

"You're such a spoilsport," Mai muttered. "Honestly, I thought you'd be happy for me."

"Happy that some loser likes you? Sure, thrilled. But I'm not giving you my blessing to anyone less than an angel. You deserve the best."

Mai rolled her eyes, but before she could respond, Miss Mori returned with a stack of photocopied scripts.

"Right, everyone, settle down. We're going to be doing Cinderella for this year's pantomime."

The Drama Club members immediately buzzed with excitement and students began laying claims to parts.

"I want to be the Prince," Yasuhara shouted above the buzz. "I'm the best looking, Miss Mori, you've got to give me the part—"

"That's questionable," Masako interrupted. "Besides, in Panto, the male lead parts can be played by women and quite frankly, I think it would do wonderfully for LGBT+ representation to have a Princess woo Cinderella—"

"You just want an excuse to kiss a pretty girl on stage—"

"Maybe I do, jealous that I've got a better chance?"

The rest of the Drama Club 'ooh'ed. Miss Mori rolled her eyes.

"Okay, quieten down you two," she said. "I just want to do a read through this week. Let's have Masako as the Fairy Godmother, Gene as Prince Charming, Mai as Cinderella, Yasuhara as Dumpling the horse—"

"Aww, Miss!"

"Would you like to be the front end or the back end of the horse?"

Yasuhara groaned for effect. The Club laughed at his expensive and Miss Mori continued to give out parts.

Meanwhile, at the back of the classroom, Oliver slipped into the room and sat down next to Mr Lin.

"What are we stuck with?" he asked in a low voice.

"Cinderella. Mori has already given the costume people a list as long as her arm. She wants West End level costumes for Cinderella. You know the type, where they spin and it transforms from rags into a ball gown."

"How's the sound and lighting looking though?"

"Doable. She wants us to add some special effects to our repertoire, but nothing crazy. I did have to talk her down from some ideas last week. She went to see the Cursed Child a month ago and has got all caught up on how they did the magic."

"Where does she get the budget for this crap…?" Oliver muttered under his breath.

"She adds to it from her own salary. Her parents are so wealthy she does not need to work. She does this stuff for fun," Mr Lin revealed. Oliver shook his head in amazement. "But why are you late? It's not like you."

Mr Lin pulled a slightly bent cereal bar from his pocket and handed it over. Oliver shoved it in his bag with a nod of thanks.

"I— I got caught up," Oliver said, his voice hollow. "I had to help Malcolm out."

"Malcolm? I didn't think you were friends with him."

"I'm not. But he and his friends needed some assistance."

"Oliver, are they—"

"No. It's fine."

"Okay! Let's start!" Miss Mori called over the hubbub. "Act one, scene one, we'll skip the musical numbers for now. I've got to speak to Mr Takigawa about that… John, start."

"Hello everyone, my name is Buttons, but I bet you all guessed that! Who here has been to a panto before?" John asked. The rest of the club reacted as expected. "I'm sorry, I must be going a bit deaf! I didn't hear anything at all!" He raised his voice and continued, "I said, who here has been to a panto before?"

Oliver tuned out. He began to read ahead. He only got a few pages in when he felt someone's eyes on him. Glancing up, he expected his brother. But it wasn't. It was that girl.

He looked straight back down at the page without a change in his facial expression. Damn that Malcolm.

The read-through continued. They only just finished act one before everyone had to go home.

"We'll pick up with act two tomorrow, and I'll be running auditions on Friday," Miss Mori said. "Mr Lin, I'd like a word with you before you head off."

"Good luck," Oliver muttered as he collected up his bag.

Gene caught up with him and they left the drama studio together.

"You know," Gene said, "it's a shame you don't want to act, we'd make a great pair of ugly sisters."

"That's the role you want?" Oliver asked, eyebrow raised.

"Well half the guys here don't have the balls to wear a dress, I reckon me and Yasuhara will end up doing it."

Oliver nodded, deep in thought.

"Do you not want me to be—"

"Pick who you want," Oliver muttered. "Let's head to the library."

"But I'm hungry."

Oliver shoved his hand into his bag and found the cereal bar that Mr Lin had given him. He thrust it into his twin's hands and Gene smiled.

"Thanks."

"He won't have gotten food in," Oliver said. "But he said he was going out tonight so maybe we could get something… I found some loose change in the loos earlier. Someone must have dropped it."

"Yeah? Could we get one of those microwave meals?"

Oliver nodded. They were just out of the school now. Students from the Drama Club were spilling in every direction...

"I think Mai might have a crush on you," Gene said. "I noticed her staring."

Oliver didn't say anything.

"Do you think he's forgotten about that cereal at the back of the cupboard?"

"Maybe," Oliver mumbled. "I'm not sure it's worth it though."

Gene offered a bit of the cereal bar to Oliver, who refused. He ate the last of the bar, then pocketed the wrapper.

"Bin that."

"I will."

"No, bin it now, there's one over there."

Gene sighed but did not argue. He binned the wrapper.

Mai frowned as Facebook opened. Top of her newsfeed was a video of herself. It was a video of Oliver kissing her on the top of her head. It was captioned 'Nerd finally kisses a girl'.

A chat window popped up.

Masako: You seen it yet?

Mai: Yeah, wtf?

Masako: Did you know you were being filmed?

Mai: No… Who posted it?

Masako: It's anonymous. I told you he was a creep.

Mai: Doesn't mean it was him...

Masako: I don't have his number. Does he even have FB?

Mai: No idea… I don't think so? I don't have him as a friend.

Mai scrolled down the comments on the videos.

Doesn't even have the balls to kiss her properly?

Poor girl - who is she?

Only time he'll get female contact - ha!

She clicked away from it, not wanting to read any more.

Mai: Did you read the comments?

Masako: Yeah, people are dumb.

Mai sighed and pulled out her homework. She started working through the French grammar exercises she had been set earlier that day. Mai didn't find them too difficult, she was reasonably happy with adverbs.

She moved onto her Maths homework but did not get very far.

"I'm home!" a booming male voice called through the house. "Blimey does Madoka go on."

Mai downed her pencil and headed down to the kitchen. Mr Takigawa, a.k.a Monk, a.k.a her guardian, was flicking the kettle on.

"You would not believe what she wants," he went on. "She acts as if I have a full blown orchestra at my command. Our lot are good, but blimey, she acts as if they're all at a national level. We might have one or two players with that sort of potential "

"Has she decided on songs yet?" Mai asked, slipping into a breakfast bar chair.

"She's set on some from The Greatest Showman."

Mai grinned.

"I thought you'd be happy about that," Monk said. "She does want you to try out for Cinderella though. And she's pretty set on Masako being the Fairy Godmother."

"Oh, I wanted Masako to be the evil stepmother."

Monk laughed.

"Yes, Masako could play that one well too. I think she wanted Naoko Kuroda for the evil stepmother, but we'll see."

"Ooh, yeah, I could see that," Mai mused. "What's for tea?"

"Ayako said we had everything for bolognese," Monk said, opening the fridge. "And I think she's right…"

"There's a first time for everything," Mai mumbled.

"Oi, cheeky." The kettle boiled. "And for your cheek, you can make me a cup of tea. I'll start on the food."

Mai jumped up and complied.

"When's she going to be home?"

"Ayako? Who knows, she said she had a late shift today. She mentioned one of her patients being stubborn."

Monk emptied a pack of mince into a large pan and stabbed it several times with a wooden spoon to break it up.

"Stubborn?"

"Yeah, the baby is refusing to be born," Monk said. "She said this morning that this kid was going to be born today whether they liked it or not…"

"I mean, if I was a baby, I would be terrified into being born by Ayako so…"

Monk laughed again. He chopped some vegetables and threw them into the pan on the hob.

"Mai, you… You like Ayako, right?"

"Of course I do," Mai said.

"Because I've been thinking—"

"Yes."

"What?"

"Yes, marry her."

"How did—"

Mai rolled her eyes.

"You're so obvious."

"Am I?" Monk asked.

"Yes, you are." Mai poured the tea and mixed in milk and sugar. "Just don't propose in public, she'd hate that."

"You mean I'm not allowed to embarrass her by serenading her?" Monk asked in mock offence.

"No. Definitely not that."

"And if she says yes… Would you want her to adopt you properly too?"

Mai could hear the tentative tone in his voice and wondered how long he'd been worrying about this.

"Ooh, then she wouldn't be my sort of evil stepmother…"

"No, but if something happened to me, she'd be able to take care of you without any legal issues."

Mai shrugged.

"I'm not she'd want to, it would make her feel very old to have a 15-year-old daughter…"

"Good, then she can feel as old as I do. Are you sure you're okay with it? I know you didn't get on with her at first and I don't want you to feel—"

"Seriously, Monk, it's fine! We didn't get on at first because you were giving me a load of attention because you were freaking out about looking after a kid. But we're good now. The household has reached equilibrium or something." Mai shrugged. "So propose to her before she thinks you don't want her."

Monk smiled.

"You've grown up a lot, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, old man."

Mai put the kettle on again for the pasta.

"Talking of growing up," Monk went on, his voice more serious now. "I saw something interesting today too. On Facebook. On that anonymous school posting page thing."

Mai groaned.

"Want to tell me about that?"

"There's nothing to tell! I don't even know why there was a video of it!" Mai protested.

"Which twin was it?"

"Oliver," Mai mumbled. "He was being really sweet and—"

"Those comments on that video were not nice though." Mai looked around and saw that Monk was frowning. "Do you know if he knew he was being filmed?"

"I… I don't. I don't even have his number to ask him."

"Hmm." Monk pursed his lips. "I'm not happy about that."

"That I don't have his number?"

"Well, that too. But I don't like you were filmed without your permission. He's a good kid; he's as cheeky as you are."

Mai scoffed.

"No, he's not, he's quiet and—"

"Witty. He gets quips in, just a lot more subtly than you do."

"Are you—"

"I'm just saying, I would potentially give you two my blessing."

"Eugh, you're the worst. I don't need your blessing for anything," Mai said. "And he didn't even talk to me after or at Drama Club or anything."

Monk frowned.

"Maybe you should talk to him. He's always been a bit reserved. But Lin thinks he's a good kid. His mother died not long before yours."

"What?" Mai gaped. "Really?"

"Yeah. She had been sick for a while if I remember rightly."

"Oh…"

The microwave pinged. Gene sprang into action, opening it and pulling the plastic tub containing the microwave meal onto a plate. He left the contents in the tub, however, and used the plate to transport their dinner from the microwave to the table. Oliver grabbed two forks and passed one over to his twin.

They ate the entire thing in less than two minutes.

"I'll wash up," Oliver said. "Hide the rubbish in our room. We can get rid of it at school tomorrow."

Gene dashed off with the plastic tub, the film lid and the cardboard outer. They had a secret bin under their bunk bed. Oliver, meanwhile, washed and dried the cutlery and the plate. He put them away and picked up his school bag, knowing he'd be better off in his room.

Before he could leave the open plan living space, the front door opened.

"Ah, you're home," a gravelly voice said.

Oliver spun around to see his father, Jeffery, and some woman hooked on his arm.

"Aww," the woman simpered. "This is one of your sons, right? He's so cute."

"Introduce yourself, boy."

"Hi, I'm Oliver," he said mechanically, forcing a smile to his face.

"Where's your brother?"

As if on cue, Gene appeared in the doorway.

"Oh, hi, I'm Gene," he said, holding his hand out to the woman.

"Oh you're so polite," she said, smiling and shaking his hand.

"Now, I'm sure you boys have some homework or something to do, don't you?" Jeffery asked.

"Yes."

"Why don't you do that in your room."

"Yes, Dad."

Both twins scarpered.

Once safe in their room, Oliver sat cross-legged on his bed and pulled out his homework. Gene climbed up onto the top bunk and did likewise. They worked in silence, breathing through their mouths and listening.

A high pitched laugh echoed through the house.

"I'm sure that's not the only thing she'll be faking today," Gene whispered.

"Shut up," Oliver muttered.

"Why? He can't hear—"

"Just… Please?"

Another high pitched laugh.

"Is it true you kissed Mai Taniyama?"

Oliver rolled his eyes.

"It… Yes, I did."

"Why? I didn't know you liked her."

"I don't. I was a dare."

"Oh."

A high pitched giggle followed by some guffawing.

"Since when did you do dares?"

Oliver did not reply.

"Noll?"

"Shut up."

Gene shut up.

The sound of fumbling humans reached their ears.

"That was quick."

"Please—"

"I'll be quiet."

Oliver closed his eyes. He could hear his father and his date moving around the house, in the general direction of his father's bedroom.

"Does Mai know it was a dare?" Gene murmured.

Oliver opened his mouth to tell him to shut up again, but a bang silenced him. Something — or someone more like — had hit the door. Oliver held his breath. Giggles erupted. She wasn't hurt. Oliver relaxed.

"Come on," his father growled, just outside their room.

The sounds faded as they moved down the corridor.

"No, she doesn't," Oliver whispered back.

"That's not very nice, Noll. Don't lead her on like that."

Oliver gritted his teeth and put his head in his hands, glad his brother could not see him.

"I'll apologise tomorrow."

"Please do, she's too nice for that…"

"I thought you're a teacher," Mai complained.

"Mai, I teach Music, not Maths," Monk said.

"But you said you did Maths at A-level! This is only GCSE!"

"I did," Monk said, picking up the homework sheet again. "But trigonometry is witchcraft and—"

"Maybe we should ask Ayako."

A noise made them both look around. But it was just the catflap.

"I thought that was her for a moment," Mai whispered.

"Oh Luna, do you have to bring in mice?" Monk groaned. He let the homework sheet fall to the table and stood up. "You wretched animal—"

"She's not wretched!" Mai said. "She's a brilliant hunter and she thinks you can't feed yourself."

Luna dropped the half-dead mouse by Monk's feel and purred up at him.

"I think she is tormenting me," Monk muttered.

He reached for some kitchen roll and tore a square off. Luna left her catch and sidled her way over to Mai, who picked her up and stroked her.

"Who's a good kitty, hmm?" she murmured.

Monk picked up the mouse in the kitchen roll and binned it.

"That cat is a menace."

"She's lovely."

"I think you should ask someone else for Maths help," Monk admitted. "I'm too rusty to be of any use on it."

"Like who? Masako hates Maths and—"

"Why don't you ask young Mr Griffiths?"

"Oh my god, will you give it a rest about him? Why don't you date him—"

"I just thought it would be a good opportunity for you to talk to him," Monk said, hands in the air.

"You're the worst." Mai packed up her school stuff and Monk ruffled her hair. "Eugh! Don't do that."

"Aww kid, you love me really."

"You just want to embarrass me."

"Maybe I do."

"Git." Mai grinned. "I'm gonna go and watch some Netflix before bed. Goodnight"

"Goodnight, Mai. Don't stay up too late."

"I won't."

She headed up to her room with Luna following in her wake. After getting ready for bed, Mai put on an episode of Brooklyn 99. Luna jumped up onto the bed and curled up beside her.

Her mind drifted back to the trigonometry homework. Maybe asking Oliver wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Author's note: So this story has some scene's that go in the "made me feel icky writing it" list... The other thing on that list was rape so... Yeah, this story is not nice and I have no idea why I decided to write it? But oh well, it's here now!