Sang the Stray (Completed)

35. Virtue and Challenge

A/n: Thank you all for the votes and supportive comments.  You are all wonderful readers!  This is a long chapter.  I know that almost every Academy FF has a scene like this, but I think it's because we all love that one in the series.  Hopefully, I pulled this one off okay.
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After swimming Gabriel, once again, insisted on doing my hair, but this time also dressed me in one of the outfits from our shopping excursion. 

"Alright, now sit and I'll put some shine on those lips," he patted the toilet lid and I obliged. Jessica had used enough of Tare's version of make-up, both actual and virtual enhancement, that I was a bit wary of what Gabriel might use. "Now purse your lips like a kiss," he instructed. I pushed my lips out and he laughed. "Shit Trouble, you've never kissed anyone," he declared.

I gaped, "How?...but..."

"Humpf! That is not how kiss you someone. Here, like this," he said demonstrating how he wanted me to hold my lips. He smoothed over a light gloss and had me smack them together. "Perfect, the others should be here soon."

As we came out of the bathroom, North's booming voice rang from the entryway, "What the fuck is that?!"

I glanced over to where North stared in horror. Luke had built a pyramid of all the desserts he could snag from the dining hall. There were pie slices and brownie squares, or at least the Taren version of those. All heaped together, it was quite a delicious sight, but clearly North disagreed. Luke now stood guard in front of the stacked sweets warning North to back off, "It's for SANG!"

North glanced in my direction. I totally gave him puppy-dog eyes. He wasn't going to relent, "That's not good for you." I tried to pout the lips.

Gabe cried out, "Oh, no way!" He pointed to North saying, "She gets her birthday cake, and You," he pointed to me, "put that lip back in. No starting the girl shit. It doesn't work, so just...don't."  He marched us over to the Pile of Goodiness.

Nathan stood nearby, looking highly amused. "So, do we just eat it?"

"Uhm, well, there is song..." I drifted off realizing I had gotten all the boys' attention. Now, I was scrambling to translate the English to Taren.

"And," Kota prompted.

"Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday to...name...Happy Birthday to you," I just said the words to the rhythm of the song, thinking the translation was pretty close.

"Huh, weird, you say Happy Birthday to Name?" Luke wondered aloud.

North smacked him on the back of the head.  "No, idiot. You say the person's name...Right, Sang Baby?" He looked to me for confirmation.

"Yes," I nodded meekly.

Kota sort of looked around at everyone then started "Happ..." The others joined in, singing in a variety of tones and pitches. It was the worst and best rendition of Happy Birthday I had ever heard.

North allotted Luke one piece of his cake creation, but I saw two other pieces of some sort get snuck away when North's attention was elsewhere.

"Hey, let's watch Hidden War," Luke suggested when Kota asked what I wanted to do next. It was one of the few Taren shows I liked and had talked about with Luke and Gabriel while in MedBay. I hadn't caught up to the current season. It focused on a girl going through the Setari program, or the show's interpretation of the program based on what information KOTIS did release. The Setari-obsessed public had a lot of far-fetched or silly shows, like Jessica's favorite of the Setari Songstar. Hidden War was the one show that Luke and Gabriel said was fairly accurate in its depiction, and which they actually kept up with.