[Leopard]

Nicole

What Nicole had actually been doing in the bathroom while Evie had been kneeling outside was not masturbating – as Evie had fantasised – but calming down and cleaning herself up. What she was cleaning up from, however, takes a bit longer to explain.

-

There were four girls in Nicole’s compartment for the journey back to school: Jenna, Emily and her little sister Hannah, and of course Nicole herself. All four knew each other from the previous year at St. Krystal’s; Jenna, Emily, and Nicole were all moving up to fifth year together this year, while little Hannah was starting her third year at the school.

They had spent the first part of the journey catching up with what each had been up to over the summer, and discussing how exciting it was to finally be moving to the upper form, which meant a new dorm, and, more importantly, the chance to apply to enter one of the four prestigious student houses.

Hannah, meanwhile, had been sulking, as none of these things were happening for her. She stared out of the window, pouting face firmly in place.
Nicole realised that the younger girl was probably feeling extremely left out, especially with her big sister and sister’s friends all leaving the lower form dormitory. She shifted closer to Hannah, who she was sitting next to.

‘Cheer up,’ Nicole said softly, letting her other friends continue to gossip about which houses they were going to try and get into. ‘You’ve still got your other friends in your year level to look forward to seeing again.’

‘I know that,’ Hannah murmured in what Nicole could only describe as a miserable voice. ‘But it's just not the same. I like hanging with you guys so much more, and I don’t like being away from my sister so much.’

Nicole and Jenna had – privately – speculated on just how close Emily and Hannah really were. It was entirely possible that they really were simply two close sisters, but they were awfully affectionate when they thought people weren’t looking. Nicole was always looking, paying attention to everyone around her. Emily had also been Nicole’s roommate the year before – one of the reasons they were such good friends – and had noticed Emily missing from her bed on many occasions, and once or twice Hannah had come in during the night and crawled into bed with Emily. There hadn’t been any odd noises, but…

‘I’m sure you two can still visit each other,’ Nicole told Hannah reassuringly. ‘She’s your sister; she’s not just going to forget about you.’

‘I know,’ Hannah sighed. ‘But it’s still not the same.’

‘We all grow up,’ said Nicole philosophically. Realising that this was unhelpful, she added, ‘How about we all play a game and just concentrate on having fun right now?’

Hannah turned from the window to look at Nicole, her eyes lighting up. ‘Poker?’

‘Yup.’ Nicole was known as the poker queen amongst her friends. Any time she suggested a game, it was sure to be poker.

‘Sounds great.’ Hannah beamed.

‘I’ll make it extra special fun for you,’ Nicole winked.

Hannah blinked at her, looking puzzled, but Nicole chose not to explain just yet. She turned back to the others.

‘It’s game time, people.’ This was Nicole’s most famous line, one well known and dreaded by her friends.

Jenna and Emily looked up from their heated discussion about which of the private student houses was better that Nicole had only loosely been following while talking to Hannah.

‘Poker, again? Really?’ Emily asked. ‘Can’t you at least let us get back to school before pilfering all of our money?’

‘We’re not playing for money,’ Nicole told her.

In actual fact, they never played for money – Nicole assumed that Emily was trying to cover up what they really got up to for the sake of keeping Hannah out of it. Nicole was having none of that.

‘It’s proper game time,’ she said. ‘Strip poker.’

Everyone in the carriage stared at her.

'Umm, Nicole ... we're on a train,' Jenna pointed out.

‘Afraid of losing?’ Nicole asked her teasingly.

‘Against you? Yes,’ Jenna retorted.

‘Plus, Hannah’s here,’ Emily pointed out. ‘She’s a bit young to be stripping in front of everyone, let alone in public.’

‘Stripping doesn’t even have anything to do with sex,’ Hannah said, rolling her eyes. ‘There’s no age limit on having a body.’

Emily shrugged. ‘Fine, don’t come crying to be when you lose. We’ve all had a lot more practice playing than you, just saying.’

Hannah snorted. ‘And the first one naked can go stand in the corridor for a minute.’

‘Hope no one sees you,’ Emily shrugged.

‘Or you,’ Hannah retorted.