"Exciting. I could be a snowglobe!"

"You could! Although I'm not sure how comfortable containing the little snow granules can possibly be!"

"Probably not very, but if they're sparkly I would feel fabulous."

"Fabulous and itchy!"

"Both of those things!" laughs Darren. "Not sure it would be worth it."

"I'd err on the side of not, personally. Remember that if I ever accidentally turn myself into a snowglobe: I didn't want that and it was not intentional."

"I will. And then I will try to turn you back into a sphinx again."

"Hurray! I like being a sphinx." She materializes her tail and loops it around the back of his leg.

That makes Darren blush, but he smiles. "I'm very glad you like being a sphinx," he says fondly. Is that him scooting closer? Indeed it is!

And is this her putting her head on his shoulder? It is that!

Well now Darren just has to drape an arm around her shoulder and hold her.

Awwwwwwww. If he's gonna do that she might have to have wings and sneak one around his back.

Awww! Snuggle. Darren won't be complaining about wingsnuggles.

"Yeah," agrees Darren, softly. "See you."

Bella considers for a moment, then sneaks a swift little kiss and goes out to meet her dad.

"So you did kiss her!" says Savannah, poking her head out from where she'd been eavesdropping from.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" he replies.

The next day of school, Bella arrives humming and sits right next to Darren when she appears at English.

He smiles at her affectionately. "Hey, you."

"Hi! How are you? Was Savannah insufferable?"

"Wonderful! And of course she was, she kept asking questions and prying and eventually I just hid in our room with the door barricaded until she promised to stop teasing me about it."

"The etiquette around locking your sister out of your shared room must be complicated."

"Not really, I got there first and she just wanted to bother me, so I can lock her out just fine. She's done the same to me, it happens. I can just poke her for anything I need in there and she'll hand it over before going back to whatever made her lock herself in our room."