Sparkly

Fling

"You can really fling that thing!" Leilah said awkwardly, trying to compliment Derek's frisbee throwing skills.

Even after several years in this friend group, she still felt awkward speaking up. Still, she was much more confident than she had been.

"Thanks!" he said, then started pouring a diluted energy drink from a gallon bottle into his mouth.

Everyone else took sips from their normally sized water bottles, chatting about the match.

After a few more, they all packed up. Milana's house was on the way to Leilah's, so they always walked home together.

"I'm gonna miss Jaziah when they move. They're the best at dealing with Derek when he's being annoying." Milana said.

"Yeah." Leilah said.

They were one of the few people she'd ever been friends with. Of course she was going to miss them.

She wanted to express her appreciation to Milana for her and everyone letting her be a part of things and treating her like she wasn't less than them, but the words didn't come to her.

After a moment, Leilah said,

"We aren't going to be able to stay together forever, are we? We're going to move to different places, get busy with work, not have time."

Milana pursed her lips.

"Come on, you're being bleak! There's still the internet!" Milana said.

Leilah nodded, her throat tight as she wondered if they'd have time, or if it would feel the same.

"But I do get where you're coming from."

They walked in silence for a moment, the late day sunlight slanting down on them.

"I want to tell you that you're very important to me." Leilah said, stumbling over her words as she tried to express her feelings. "Since you're my friend, can you keep a secret?"

"Of course! You can tell me anything." Milana said.

"Come into these trees," Leilah said, pulling her into a park where the trees shielded them from the view of passerby.

"So, uh..." she'd been planning some kind of grand reveal, but it sounded stupid now that she here.

She transformed into Diamond.

"Yeah." she finished awkwardly.

Milana's jaw hung open, and she stuttered,

"Y-you're... you're Diamond!"

"Yeah." Leilah said, forgiving the stupidity of Milana's statement because of her shock.

"Since when? How? What even is... this?" Milana said, waving her arms to indicate Leilah's form.

"I dunno, it just showed up a few years ago as this gem on my chest and I can like transform and teleport and stuff." Leilah said.

"That's so weird. That's so weird. You're like, world famous. Do you realize that you're world famous?" Milana said, still freaking out.

"Trust me I've thought about this a lot. Anyway, this means I can visit you anytime in the future." Leilah said, hoping things would remain normal between them.

"...Yeah! And so much more. Or, do you not want me to like, use you for your powers? I won't ask you to if you don't want me to, I get how that could be, like, annoying." Milana said.

"No it's fine." Leilah said. "Want me to take you somewhere cool?"

"Absolutely!" Milana said, her eyes shining.

Leilah took her hand and made her weightless, then teleported them into the sky over a mountain range.

Milana stared around, her eyes shining, but her hand was locked in a death grip around Leilah's.

"Wow, we're really... we're really here." she said excitedly. "This is amazing!"

Leilah gave her some time to drink in the sight, remembering how incredible her own first time in the sky was.

"But I'm not gonna fall or anything, am I?" Milana said.

"No chance of that." Leilah said.

Her powers were definitely reliable enough to make one other person float. Even at her weakest, she would have been able to do this.

She mentioned it to Milana.

"These powers are incredible. Even when I'm not really sure what I want to do and I have trouble doing stuff like strong barriers and extreme healing, I can float effortlessly and teleport anywhere instantly." Leilah said.

"You've had to do strong barriers and extreme healing?" Milana said, her mouth hanging open.

"It was a long time ago, I've learned to stay out of trouble," Leilah said, somewhere between enjoying and uncomfortable with Milana's impressed expression.

"You've gotta tell me about all of it!" Milana said, squeezing Leilah's arm with the one that wasn't gripping her hand.

"Sure!" Leilah said, smiling.