<h4>Chapter 566: Chatting Over Chess</h4>


    Kat managed to escape her lecture (torture session) and headed off to find something to distract her. Listening out for Lily and Sylvie, she found the two had set up a chessboard in the lounge room and were using a number of pillows spread out on the floor as a ce to sit while the chessboard was set up in the middle. Kat wanted to go over and hug Lily to try and calm herself down… but she was feeling conflicted.


    Despite desperately wanting to simply push the information she''d recently… acquired… from her mind, Vivian and Callisto had been right when they said the talk was mentally scarring. For someone like Kat that had a perfect memory it was even worse. As soon as she looked at Lily and the desire to hug her bubbled up, so did half a dozen other much more inappropriate thoughts and Kat found herself embarrassed. That was a surprise in and of itself.


    *Why! Why can''t I get this shit out of my head? I need to find a box shove it inside and burry it under a bunch of mundane stuff and mark it never to be opened under any circumstances ever. I just want to hug Lily and feel a bit better after that horrible experience but now I feel like second guessing myself. Why am I even doing that! I already know I''m asexual and I still have images of her tied up or of her tying me up. How does that even work?*


    Kat bit her lip and considered her options before realising the easy solution. Lily may be her girlfriend now but Sylvie deserved hugs as well. So Kat walked over to the game and picked up Sylvie before depositing the younger girl on herp and started to hug the girl. "Hi Kat" said Sylvie cheerfully.


    Lily pouted but had eyes full of mischief. "Hello Kat, no hug for your girlfriend?"


    Kat red back. "I have… so many horrible ideas trapped in my mind now Lily. I don''t know why I had to go through that. I feel so unclean and I can''t even get dirty anymore. So. I''m going to sit here and hug Sylvie while you both y chess until I finally manage to burry those thoughts in the deepest part of my mind and hope I never remember them"


    "That''s just how it is Kat" said Lily with a grin.


    "Right… was it this bad when your parents gave you ''the talk''?" asked Kat.


    Lily let out a slight giggle that she couldn''t prevent from sneaking out that caused Kat to narrow her eyes. "Lily…" said Kat menacingly as she tightened her grip slightly on Sylvie. "You did have to go through the talk didn''t you?"


    Lily seemed to consider her options here and eventually decided to say, "Sort of…"


    "How can they sort of give you the talk?" asked Kat with a slightly threatening tone to her voice.


    "Well Kat, seeing as neither of my parents are gay… when they finally got around to the talk… I let them start but couldn''t help but blurt out I was in love with Ste half way through it… and hooo boy did that confuse them" said Lily shaking her head as she made her move on the chessboard. Sylvie, deciding that Kat''sp was best, responded by telling Kat to make a move for her, "In the end my parents just kinda… panicked?


    "They had a whole thing nned I think… a proper presentation like Vivian and Callisto did but upon finding out I was gay… they just asked me a few times if I was sure. If I wasn''t justtching onto my only friend instead of looking for people. They asked if I was Bi, or just gay, a couple more times and after asking me about my preferences, specifically what I found attractive in women, Dad got this odd look of approval and just wandered off… then Mum had no idea what to do with me.


    "I think Dad might have been able to say some things but I could tell he wasn''t really invested in giving me the speech… and it''s not like I hadn''t looked up a few books on the subject… though sadly they were all for straight people. So… Mum was just sort of left standing there very confused for a bit before she went back to the kitchen and made herself some coffee."


    "I feel awfully cheated" said Kat with a pout. She didn''t pout… but this was certainly worth the exception to that. "Maybe I should convince Vivian and Callisto to start up the projector a second time for you…"


    Lily winced at the thought and searched Kat''s gaze for how serious she was. What Lily found was an odd mixture of emotions and she tried to figure them out before giving her answer. After a few moments and another round of chess moves, Lily decided Kat was split three ways. The first part of Kat would never want to subject her to that, the second wanted her to suffer a little for setting it up… and the third part genuinely wanted to know if she''d appreciate the chance.


    "It''s fine Kat" said Lily carefully, "I… well… I feel a little mean admitting this but know our three bullies?" Kat of course nodded, "well… I don''t know which one, never actually double checked… but one of them left a themselves logged into theputer after they left one day… and I may or may not have looked up the answers to most of my questions then. So I don''t really need it"


    *That… that''s surprisingly vindictive Lily. I wish I could say I waspletely surprised…? but the chance to find out new information that''s very relevant to you while getting the bullies back just a little bit. On top of that the chances of getting caught were tiny and… well… it''s not like any of them would be willing to ask about who was searching such things up and risk people thinking it really was something they looked up and were trying to hide it. I''m a little surprised the school wasn''t blocking that sort of thing… but maybe it wasn''t explicit enough or that they weren''t familiar with the… terms…*


    "I''m not as surprised as I maybe should be… but I am a little surprised you went through with it Lily" said Kat with a grin. "That''s a little vindictive. Not that I mind… but you''re normally a lot more timid. You never fought back and I had to step in. Granted you didn''t exactly like that I was taking those hits instead, but you allowed it even if it upset you. Did you get back at them in any other sneaky ways?"


    Lily quickly shook her head as a few more moves were made on the chessboard. Kat wasn''t sure who was winning but her money was on Sylvie. Lily was smart sure, but she didn''t really care for chess too much.? "Not really. Or at least, nothing like that…" said Lily softly. "I… it was somewhat early on all things considered. I had a crush on you but we weren''t really friends just yet so I didn''t know you that well… and honestly it was more revenge against what they''d done to you then what they''d done to me. Even if nothing came from it I got information and more than a bit of satisfaction…


    "I mean… I know now that it really doesn''t bother you but… well… you know how much I was fighting myself when you first showed up so I was actively looking for ways to mess with them somehow and get them to focus on me again instead."


    Kat''s eyebrows shot up at that. "You were what?" hissed Kat


    Lily waved Kat off as ''Sylvie'' made her next move. "It''s fine. I thought you were putting on a brave face. I hadn''t properly internalised just how little you cared about what they were doing. Actually… now that I know you''re asexual a lot of little things make sense. None of the teasing about how you''d never find a man would have bothered you at all… because you were never trying. Thements about being gay they swapped to when that didn''t work… also failed because you knew you weren''t attracted to women… calling you ugly didn''t matter because once again, you didn''t care for romance and I assume the kids at the orphanage all knew how beautiful you really were… wow is there anything they said or did that actually mattered to you at all?"


    Kat let of a slight humm as she considered what Lily had said. "Not really no. I mean, the mostmon insult about not having parents didn''t work when I was younger and the trio were around to see that. When I was older they were likely smart enough to work out that they''d be the onesing off as horrible if they kept on with it. It''s just a line that crossing would have meant they were the bad guys…


    "The water wasn''t a problem either. I''m d the uniforms weren''t seen through when wet though. It might have been a bit more annoying if they were but I''d have figured something out, I guess. They never used juice which was nice. Probably because they also made fun of the fact I had second hand uniforms and that I''d beat them up for ruining them because I couldn''t have Gramps paying for more…"