Rhonda felt like on cloud nine after giving May her small kiss. She felt like she could take on anything life definitely will throw at her, at least until after her date on friday. She loved the sound of that, date. Her excitement was reaching such heights, the dragon girl was literally skipping through the hallways without noticing it herself. The other students did, though. It was quite a sight.
Reaching her next classroom she immediately spotted Lichi, Usami and, most importantly, Margo among the students there. Rhonda still wasn't sure how she was supposed to act around the girl, who claimed to be her half-sister, especially after she acted so rude to her. The latina resolved to at least apologize for her behaviour, but when their eyes met she felt a shudder go down her tail at the glare the albino gave her. And there was that oppressive feeling of aloofness she was giving off again. The lesson was about to start anyway, she could also apologize afterwards. Instead she quickly sat down between Usami and Lichi.
The following English lesson was probably the most mundane and normal lesson she had in this school so far. A teacher with a normal human body and no magical tricks. The latina had already gotten so used to this school’s zaniness, she actually found herself bored as Miss Ennui just droned on in her downright sleep-inducing voice.
After what felt like several hours the lesson ended and Rhonda had gathered enough bravery to immediately make her way to Margo’s desk. “Margo Keischo, can we two talk?”
Rhonda felt herself flinch, as Margo’s glare settled on her again, but decided to stand her ground. She was a dragon, after all. “Not here,” she said in an equally aloof tone, nodding her head towards all the girls that were already watching them. She grabbed Rhonda's scaly arm and pulled her out of the room.
As she was led through the hallway, Rhonda felt herself reminded of the previous day. Similarly they stopped in front of an empty study room and entered. Once the door was closed, Margo leaned against and let out a breath. “Phew, seriously Rhonda, you have to be a bit more careful. What do you expect the others who saw us will think?” she reprimanded Rhonda surprisingly casually.
Said girl nearly felt whiplash as the mood switched from ”she might kill me” to “just two acquaintances spending time together”. She quickly regained her bearing and said, “I wanted to apologize for how I treated you yesterday. I was rude while you only tried to be considerate.”
Margo surprisingly just shrugged it off. “You don't have to worry. I totally understand that it's probably really hard to have all of this dropped on you, especially right after Abigail kicked your butt.” (Rhonda: “Did you have to mention that?”) “I didn't hold any grudges or anything. In fact I was expecting you to come around.”
“That's good to hear.” And this could've been it, but Rhonda’s curiosity got the better of her, as her ‘curiosity helping her’ currently held the advantage in the statistics. “But one thing I noticed, you suddenly appear so much… nicer. It’s like the girl in front of me and the one, who stood up to Miss Lancaster yesterday, are two completely different people.”
“In that case, let me give you a brief lesson on my… our family. The Keischo’s are a long line of great witches, many of which became even greater leaders. From early on we’re taught to project a mask of strength and willpower to the outside world, to become the image of a powerful leader. In public we’re strong personalities people can rely on, in private we can be very different. Because of this we highly value honesty among family members. Many people would lose their shit, if they found out that Marni Keischo, youngest student council president in St.Chariot’s history, always wore shibari under her uniform.” Margo gave a girly giggle that Rhonda never would’ve expected to hear out of her mouth. “The fact I instinctively feel enough at ease to show my true face in your presence is proof we’re related.”
“Okay, let me be honest, I still don't fully believe the whole ‘secret half sisters'-thing, it’s weirder like that one time when… eh...” For once Rhonda was drawing a blank on which of her adventures fit the situation.
“When you accidentally traded your lower half for one of a cow?” Margo offered.
“Yeah, that one for example. How do you know?”
“I told you our mother was watching you.” She put her index fingers together. “Well, she wasn't the only one. Your adventures with Sofia became so exciting that we often watched them together. Especially on Christmas it felt like the whole family came together.”
Rhonda paled. “Does that mean you…”
Margo frantically waved her hands. “No, no, no. My other mother made sure to turn it off when that happened. And even then it was usually only about half an hour per week. Don't worry.”
The latina let out a breath. “That's good to hear. Oh, and you have two mothers? That explains how we can be sisters and still go to the same grade.”
Margo suddenly avoided her gaze, another action Rhonda never would've expected from the honor student. “Not exactly, the truth is a little bit more complicated, but, knowing you, you might not want to know the full story.”
Rhonda was considering the offer, but ultimately decided against it. So far she had always been better off when knowing everything. “I can handle it. Shoot. Can't be worse than having your mind transferred into a children's book.”
“Oh, I really enjoyed this one. Anyways, I warned you, no turning back now. It all started when my mothers decided to meet up with a friend and her husband and one thing led to another and–”
“Oh god…”
“Yes, it's that kind of story. I’ll skip the details, but, in short, modern biology never considered what could happen if a woman has two vaginas. She ended up being impregnated by both your father and my other mother.”
“Wait… does that mean we are…” Rhonda asked.
“Yes, technically you could call us half-twins.”
“That's… really not what I wanted to ask… If my mother is a witch, that’d make me a half-witch.” Margo nodded. “Does that mean I have magic?”
The grimace Rhonda got from Margo was not promising. “That's hard to say. Unlike full witches, who often already develop their magic before they can walk, it's unclear when or if half-witches receive magic powers. Some discover it during childhood, some live a whole life without ever being able to cast a spell. The only thing I can certainly say is that you will get at least some benefit from the extended youth and life span of a witch. Mother was hoping that sharing a womb with a full witch child–” (Rhonda: “Can you please not phrase it that way?”) ”–would increase your chances of developing magic. But it seems like the only effect it had was you taking all color from me.”
Rhonda stayed silent at this poor attempt at a joke.
“Yes… I know I’m not the best with jokes… Oh, and if you want to know, you're the older one of us two. You were born about an hour before me, but it happened around the date change, so we have separate birthdays. Back to the story, when you didn't develop magic, it was decided you’d be safer to grow up hidden among mortals. Your father's wife would gladly care for you like her own child due to her infertility. To ensure our secret connection not being discovered our mother even went so far as to use a powerful transformation spell on you, changing your essence so you’d grow up the spitting image of your foster mother.”
As she processed all the information that was just dumped on her, Rhonda had to sit down. She didn't expect her situation with Margo to become even weirder, but here she was with her half-TWIN finding out she had been transformed her whole life. But the worst part, it made way too much sense. This was either the most elaborate ruse she was ever the victim of, or a truth stranger than fiction. Her parents never gave her a straight answer when asking why they decided to adopt her younger brother. Similarly she was occasionally wondering why she seemed to have barely gotten any traits from her father.
“I assure you, Rhonda, even among witches a story like yours is unheard of,” Margo clarified.
“No, it's alright. Weirdly enough, the more you’re telling me, the more plausible it sounds.” Her voice didn't sound as convinced though. “I’ll still have to ask my parents for confirmation, but right now I’m not so opposed to this idea of being sisters than yesterday.”
The albino girl brightened at hearing this. “That's good to hear. Initially I only told you this, so you’d be more careful, so I hope our relationship will only improve. But if you don't mind me asking…” The pale girl's face suddenly became red. “You know… if we're already here… from sister to sister… Could you maybe put in a good word for me with Sofia?”
Dragon girl’s lesbian senses were tingling. “Don’t tell me, are you interested in my best friend?”
Her face was now as red as her eyes. “What?! No… Maybe… It’s just a stupid childhood crush. She just often looked so cool when saving you, especially during the cannibal-beaver incident. I’m sure you also had one.”
Several images of big-tidded anime girls came to Rhonda's mind. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Margo ran up and hugged the half-dragon for a third point on the ‘mannerisms she wouldn't have expected from Margo Keischo a few hours ago’-list. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She realized what she was doing and released the latina. “Sorry.”
“No, it's fine. It felt nice,” Rhonda said. If she was honest to herself, she always wanted to have a sister. She dearly loved her younger brother, but that's not the same. “I wouldn't mind spending more time with you, but that would probably be too suspicious, if we two suddenly became close.”
“I’ve also been thinking about it and I think I might have a solution for this,” Margo offered. “Join my student council!”
This caught the mortal off-guard. “What? Why?”
“Like it or not, it's only our second day and this–” She pointed at Rhonda's draconic body. “–has already garnered some attention among our classmates. But we can use it to our advantage. In spite of everything my– our sisters told me about this school, you have not been ridiculed yet for your transformed body, quite the opposite actually. I followed you yesterday and happened to overhear your conversation with the now fox girl. She mentioned how you inspired her to this decision. Sooner or later you might become a figurehead for the transformation victims.”
Rhonda had never considered this. She only had this done to herself hoping to outwit the others, but now that Margo mentioned it, aside from some snide remarks from Abigail (and some teachers surprisingly enough), there really wasn't anything else. Maybe they were afraid of her actually being able to breathe fire? Or did they secretly admire the pride she carried her transformed body around with?
“Considering this, it wouldn't look out of place if I recruited you for my student council to secure the votes of the ever growing number of transformation victims,” Margo continued.
“Wait, aren’t you essentially just using me to one-up your… our sister?” her potential older half-twin asked.
Margo shrugged. “Pretty much, but see it more as a win-win situation. I can secure votes and we can spend more time together without anyone becoming suspicious.” Then she added in a silent voice, “And Sofia might notice me.” Margo held out her hand to Rhonda. “So what do you say, Rhonda Martinez, will you join me in my quest to become student council president?”