Camie had no idea why Théa was staring at her of the sort. Was it that shocking that she was gay? Théa seemed to suddenly realize that she had been staring because she immediately shook her head before forcing herself to look away:
"I see."
She then tried going back to what she was doing but it seemed Lula was surprised too:
"You are really gay, Camie?
-Yes.
-That's so cool. I always wanted a gay friend."
Everyone frowned.
"I am so happy that we are finally hanging out together. We could go somewhere just the two of us some day. What do you think?"
Camie didn't have time to answer because Nylora asked:
"You said that you wanted a gay friend but isn't Amaltheia gay too?"
Lula laughed:
"No, of course she isn't. She has had the biggest crush on Firo for years. How could she be gay?"
Camie didn't like how easily Lula was talking about Théa's crush and she couldn't hold back anymore:
"Who cares who has a crush on whom? They are just hormones in the brain. They come and go as they please."
Lula laughed:
"You are not the romantic type, are you? I guess you don't believe in soulmates either?
-Of course not. Why would we only have one perfect person for us? That sounds sad.
-Come on. Don't you like the idea of someone perfect being out there for you?
-No."
Emma nodded:
"I agree with Camie, that's too much pressure."
Lula turned to Théa suddenly:
"What about you, Théa? You agree with me don't you? You have been saying that Firo was your soulmate for years now."
Théa's eyes turned cold:
"I don't know anymore."
Lula raised her eyebrows:
"What do you mean? I thought you believed in soulmates.
-And I told you that I don't know anymore. Now can I go back to my homework?"
Camie pinched her lips, not daring to say anything anymore. Seeing Black Gold get mad was something else and Camie didn't even need to breathe anymore. She would do photosynthesis, it's fine.
"Oh... Okay, sure."
Lula went back to work and Théa looked up at Camie. Camie couldn't help but flinch and seeing her like this made Théa lower her gaze. She looked like a sad puppy and Camie immediately regretted flinching but it was stronger than her. Théa just looked scary when she was angry. Camie wasn't scared of her at all but seeing an imposing woman be angry affected her and she didn't know how to handle it. She was Black Gold after all, the strongest hero that the Earth had ever borne. You shouldn't anger someone like her.
Théa went silent for the rest of the day and Camie really felt like she needed to say something, anything. She was scared that Théa misunderstood and thought that she was scared of her but Camie didn't know how to clear things up.
Having no idea what to say, Camie handed Théa a coffee:
"Here."
Théa immediately straightened up and she took the coffee very gently. She looked scared that she would break it for some reason and even when she took it, she made sure not to even graze Camie's skin.
"Thank you so much."
Camie immediately got uncomfortable and she dived back into her room. Théa understood that she needed some space and she did her best to focus on her work but she couldn't stop smiling.
At the end of the day the girls left the library, ready to go home.
"I had a lot of fun with you today, girls. I am so happy that I finally got to meet all of you. Could we meet here tomorrow as well? I studied way better with you all."
Emma shook her head:
"I don't think we'll come back tomorrow. But if we do we'll definitely let you know.
-That sounds good. Have a good evening, girls!"
Lula grabbed Théa's arm and pulled her away. While they were walking, Théa did turn back towards Camie however and waved at her with a small smile. When Théa disappeared from her field of vision, Camie finally noticed that her friends were staring at her:
"What?
-We don't like her.
-Who?
-Lula. We like Théa so we didn't want to make her uncomfortable but she was too much."
Nylora and Topiary quickly agreed:
"And we didn't like how she reacted to you being gay."
Nylora nodded:
"I am glad that she doesn't know that I am pan. How would she react to that?
-What about Emma and me? Both of us are queer too."
Emma shook her head:
"I don't think she would care. But let's forget about her and go home."
Camie agreed. She didn't plan on hanging out with Lula a lot so it was best to forget about her. It wasn't that easy to forget about Lula however because in the following days she seemed to always be with Théa. Usually Camie's friends would greet Théa and offer her to stay with them but now that Lula was there too they would only greet them politely before saying that they had to go.
Théa didn't insist but she was always disappointed when Camie left. She wouldn't force her to stay but she wouldn't let her go before giving her a cookie neither. But just as théa was giving Camie the second cookie of the day, Lula grabbed her hand with the cookie in it:
"Can I get one too? You only give them to Camie, I will get jealous at the end. I am your best friend after all."
Camie really wanted to eat that cookie but she knew that it wouldn't be polite to insist:
"You can have it, if Théa doesn't mind of course.
-Why would she? Thank you so much, Camie. You are really adorable.
-Don't thank me. Thank Théa and the lady."
Lula frowned:
"The lady? What lady?"
Théa immediately explained:
"The lady who gives me these cookies.
-You get these cookies from a lady? I would have sworn that they were from the Crave Backery. They have exactly the same ones.
-No, they are from a lady.
-No, no. Look. I can find it on my phone. See? It's exactly these ones."
Camie looked at the phone and she had to admit that they looked exactly the same. But why would Théa lie to her? She trusted Théa and if she said that she got the cookies from a lady then she did. Therefore she just nodded:
"They do look very similar.
-They don't only look similar, they are the same!
-I told you that I got them from a lady.
-But you are wrong."
Camie looked at her phone:
"I have to go now.
-Wait, Camie! Don't you want to know where Théa is getting her cookies from?
-No. Bye.
-Camie, wait!"
Camie turned back to Théa with a frown:
"Yes?"
Camie took back the cookie from Lula before handing it to Camie:
"Please have this cookie. I'll give another one to Lula.
-But...
-Please.
-Okay. Thank you."