A hush came over the room as May entered the first class of the day. She kept her eyes on the ground and quietly made her way to her seat. The gentle weight of the Bow in her pocket felt like an enormous burden, and the soft whispers that clearly carried her name only made matters worse.

"I heard what happened." Glancing to her left, May gave Lily a once-over; in her short blue skirt and small white top stretched to its limits over her generous endowment, she almost seemed like a smutty caricature of a real girl. May also felt that her friend would appreciate the sentiment.

"Don't wanna talk about it."

"Are you sure? You're on everyone's list now." May shot Lily a worried look, and the busty girl quickly clarified, "Oh! That's not necessarily a bad thing! There's lots of different lists, you know, like who to watch out for, or who's a rising star, or..."

"Or who to beat to impress others," May muttered. Pursing her lips, Lily nodded.

"Yeah. There's those too. But you've got some star power now, girl! You beat Annie! Nobody beats Annie!"

"Nobody beats anyone until they do."

Lily sighed, rolling her eyes. "Come on, lighten up. Today is a good day. Nobody's going to fuck with you the day after your big win. People want to see what you're going to do next."

I'm sure that demanding Annie back and potentially getting into another Bow fight will convince everyone I'm not interested, May thought ruefully.

"Speaking of which, did you hear what happened to Annie?"

May chewed her lip. She didn't want to know what happened, but in a sense, she needed to. "No; what?"

"So that fat kid, Morty, he picked her up after you gave her away and brought her straight to that weird miniatures club." Lily stifled a giggle. "Word is they glued her feet to like a pedestal or something, so now she's basically a living trophy."

"That's..." May swallowed to keep bile out of her throat. That's your fault, she told herself. She chose not to voice the thought. "Does Morty still have her?"

"Yeah, he's been showing her off to everybody. Like, everybody. He's super stoked to have his own Loser even though he's never fought anyone." Rolling her blue eyes, Lily chuckled. "It's kinda sad for both of them, really."

"Yeah." Feeling a million miles away, May fought to keep tears out of her eyes. She was responsible for what had happened to Annie. There was no question about it now: she had to get her prize back. Surely, she thought, it wouldn't be too hard. After all, was Morty really going to fuck with her?

Class couldn't have been slower. May kept her right hand in her pocket, all too conscious of the glances and stares of her classmates. She tried to distract herself and focus on the lecture, but all she could think about was Annie glued to a pedestal, being observed and prodded and mocked by her former classmates.

The moment the bell rang, May was on her feet, her supplies long since gathered into her backpack. She was vaguely aware of Lily calling her name, but May didn't have any time to waste. Opening the door, she took three steps before being accosted by a small group who pinned her against the wall. Flashes of the same fear and confusion as yesterday came back to her, but there was a third emotion mixed in this time.

"What the fuck is this?" she asked, shoving back the boy pinning her shoulders to the wall. Each of the assemblage took a small step back, though they still maintained enough rank to keep her penned in.

"You shouldn't have won, May." A girl about May's height with bobbed blonde hair said, standing directly in front of her. She wore two people as earrings, their ankles and wrists bound to each end of a length of chain that slipped through her lobes. "You're a... non-entity. You don't fit in with the power structure."

Snickering, another girl added, "I bet you don't even have any slaves on you right now."

"I don't have time for this," May growled, trying to push her way past. The group shoved her back harder against the wall.

"Wrong; we don't have time for you. There's no room here for some worthless little upstart trying to make a name for herself, understand?"

May took a long, slow breath. These Bow-types, they were all the same; they needed their power to be recognized. Butting heads with them would just slow her down more.

"I understand. Look, I don't even care about it, okay? Ask anyone - Annie came after me. I did what was expected, turns out I won. That's it. End of story."

The blonde eyed May suspiciously, as if searching her decor for a trace of a lie. Finally she shrugged and nodded. "Sure. It happens. Just make sure it doesn't happen again." She flicked one of her earrings as a threat, and the little woman dangling from her lobe gave a low, pathetic squeal. May flashed a brief, insincere smile and once again forced herself through the group, this time being allowed past.

Fucking psychos. Next period was swiftly approaching, and May racked her brain to figure out if she knew where Morty would be. She half-jogged down the hall, weaving through the mess of people until something through the window caught her eye. Down on the lawn in front of the school, a small group was circled around something, staring down at an object held in someone's hand.

Staring down at Annie held in Morty's hand.

"Gotcha," she whispered. Descending the nearest flight of steps two at a time, she was on the ground floor in seconds flat, bursting out of a side door. A few members of the group observing Annie looked up, and one of them called out.

"Hey, it's her!"

More heads turned in May's direction, and she blushed instinctively. She had hoped for a one-on-one confrontation with Morty, as public spectacles weren't really her thing. Making the best of the situation, May slowed her gait and straightened her back, doing her best to project the awe-inspiring aura of a Winner.

Morty beamed at her, waddling forward with his prize in hand. "Oh hey May!" He sounded enthusiastic to see her, as if giving him Annie had been May's plan all along. "Check it out!"

Looking down, May reeled at what she saw. Lily had not had all the details correct; Annie had been glued to a pedestal, but not by her feet. Instead she had been forced into a kneeling position, legs spread wide, and her entire shins had been secured by what seemed like hot glue to the wooden stand. Her back had then been pushed out and, as May saw when Morty tilted the stand, a metal rod was secured to the base, keeping Annie's chest thrust upwards. Finally, her hands were bent such that the palms touched the wood and then glued in place.

"I turned her into the perfect little fuckdoll!" Morty said, pleased with himself. "She can't say no, she can't wriggle away, and she's always available! I guess I gotta figure out how I'm going to feed her, but that's secondary."

"Give her to me." May knew she had done a poor job of keeping the disgust out of her voice; she also knew that she didn't care. Annie had become a piece of meat to these degenerates, and they had put her on display in the most grotesque way possible.

Morty's smile faltered as he met May's gaze. "W... what?"

"Give me Annie and walk the fuck away." Her voice had become a low hiss and she stepped towards Morty, hoping to intimidate him by proximity if not necessarily just sheer size. "Now."

The fat kid before her stepped back, cradling his prize closer to his chest. "What? No. You gave her to me. She's mine." May had expected the crowd around them to remain as neutral as ever, but to her surprise they seemed to be siding with Morty, making a wall between him and May.

She hadn't wanted to do this, but it seemed as though there was little choice. May pulled her mother's red Bow from her pocket, already gripping it by the handle. The sensation of the raised points sliding into her fresh scar was strange, but not wholly unpleasant. Staring Morty in the eyes, she held it out.

"Fight for her, then."

Opening his mouth, Morty began to say something when another boy stepped forward, a shit-eating grin on his face.

"No problem. Two sluts for the price of one." May felt a moment of panic as the newcomer gripped the Bow before she could let go. The design flashed in front of her eyes for just a moment, and once again she felt as though there was something to understand, something to glean from it if only she could study it for longer than a split-second.

Then, the boy was gone. The experience was much less dramatic than it had been with Annie; for one thing, it had been easy to keep her feet underneath her, and the electric shock had felt much less severe. She briefly wondered why that was as she knelt down and took the small boy off of the pile of clothes, tucking him into the cup of her bra. Raising her eyes back to Morty, she extended the Bow once more, smirking.

"Fight for her," she repeated, delightfully noticing the crowd flinched away from her Bow this time. Morty in particular looked frightened, but not quite cowed yet. He needed a little more nudging. "You know the kind of influence we Winners wield, Morty. You don't want that kind of enemy, do you?"

"B... but-"

"But nothing. Hand her over or take the Bow. Those are your options."

He looked at her Bow, then at her chest. His lips smacked before he spoke.

"If I... if I lose to you, are you gonna..." he pointed at her breast, where the small, wriggling outline of the cocksure kid could be seen. May realized, with both amusement and disdain, that Morty wasn't asking out of concern, but out of hope. She tilted her head slightly.

"Sure, Morty. Tell you what: I'll even let you fuck Annie. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

The fat boy looked down at his prize, licking his lips in anticipation. It was clear he would like that, and for the second time that day May was pleased with herself for managing to keep bile out of her mouth.

Morty didn't say another word. He marched forward and took the Bow, and a moment later he was gone. The crowd murmured to themselves, but May wasn't thinking about that. She was watching Annie's pedestal as it fell to the ground, seemingly in slow-motion. The heavy wooden base kept it upright as it fell, and moments before impact May let out a soft laugh.

Thunk! Morty's own toy collided with him, and May was quick to follow up, inspecting the damage. The little thing was squealing in pain like a stuck pig, writhing in his clothes. His head was covered in blood, and more seemed to be coming fast. Taking her time, the three-time Winner rifled through both sets of pants in front of her, extracting the wallets and taking whatever money was inside. She tossed the rest aside and picked Annie up before standing back to her full height, slipping the Bow once more inside her pocket.

"How sad," she said simply, looking down her nose at Morty. "But at least he's lucky I don't care enough to put him through the hell he deserves." Using the toe of her sandal, May covered the shrieking thing in his own shirt before snuffing him out with a soft, wet crunch. Blood oozed through the fabric of the clothes and several boys turned away in disgust; several more watched with rapt fascination.

Looking down at Annie dulled the thrill she had just felt. The little girl's expression was still one of helpless horror; surely, May realized, Annie had no concept of what would become of her, instead just trading hands from one cruel owner to the next.

"You're so cool, May," a girl from the crowd said. May looked at the thing in her hand, the thing under her foot. She tried to smile, but it made her feel worse.

"Thanks," she replied curtly, looking back at the school. In the same window from which she had observed Morty, she herself was now being watched by the short blonde girl with the slave earrings. Not dealing with this. Not right now. Once again May turned and walked off school grounds in the direction of her home, even as more people began to whisper her name, and word began to spread.