Charise sat cross-legged on her bed, textbooks scattered around her. She cursed under her breath, angry at herself for not studying sooner, angry at her professors for scheduling the upcoming test on a Monday-- how dare they?-- rather than in the middle of the week, and angry that after several hours of reading and re-reading, she still didn’t understand the material.

“I wonder if I can get away with dropping this class,” she muttered. “No, wait, can’t. This is a required class for my major, and I’ll have to take this class, no matter what. Damn. Who was the hare-brained idiot who decided that psychology majors have to take biology? I mean, come on, we’re learning more about plants than brains. If a plant came in for help, what would I say? ‘So, tell me about your roots. Have you had problems branching out into the world?’” Charise sighed and flopped back. “I wish Dunstan wasn’t busy tonight; at least spending time with him would take my mind off the stress.”

Ding-ding-ding.

Charise sat up, hearing the ringing sound coming from her laptop’s speakers. “I’ve got an e-mail,” she muttered. “Better not be junk.”

She leaned forward and entered her e-mail inbox. “Hey, it’s from Dunstan,” she murmured, opening the e-mail.

Hey, Charise, it said, earlier this past week, I saw your friend hanging out with a guy. I’m not sure, but he looks a lot like S. What do you think?

Charise opened the attachments and gasped. The pictures showed Valo snuggled up to a man. In most of the pictures, the man’s face was either turned away from the camera or obscured. However, in one shot, the man could be seen in profile. There was no doubt about it-- the man was S.

Charise fell back, eyes wide. She… and S… and… but… what does he see in her? she thought, mind racing like mad. Why her? And why did she have to go after him? And… I… but… S…

She wiped a tear away and then sat up. Sighing, Charise typed a response to the e-mail and sent it:

Yeah… that looks like S. Can I come over?




Dunstan and Angela exchanged grins as they read Charise’s response.

“Success,” Dunstan murmured. He stroked Angela’s hair. “Sorry, honey, but you’re going to have to sleep at your own house tonight. I have to take care of Charise.”

Angela nodded and rose from his lap. “Very well then,” she replied. “I don’t mind you keeping me on pins and needles.”



“Still, I can’t help but feel like I’m playing hooky,” Ophelia remarked to S and Cy as they walked down the hall of the college building.

“Hey, your school’s letting seniors visit colleges this week. You’re just doing what they’ve allotted time for,” Cy replied.

“Even though you’ve already been more or less accepted here,” S added.

“Right. Thus why I feel like I’m playing hooky-- I’m spending time here with my friends, rather than at the school, learning stuff or working on the news show,” Ophelia responded.

“How’s that going, by the way?” Cy asked.

“Good. We’re getting about as many viewers as the cheerleaders’ show. Last week’s show on stress and methods of dealing with it was very well-received.”

Just then, they heard the sound of two women yelling at each other. S raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like they could use some of those techniques,” he remarked.

“Oh my God, that’s Charise yelling like that!” Ophelia gasped, running in the direction of the argument.


“Of all people, why did you have to go after him?” Charise yelled.

“I don’t know what the hell your problem is,” Valo snapped. “I’m not fooling around with the guy. I know him in passing, and that’s it.”

“You’re a goddamn liar! I’ve got pictures to prove it!”

“Well, the pictures are fake, then!”

“Liar! The pictures were taken a few days ago-- Wednesday, I think-- and you’re clearly in them.”

“I was with a guy on Wednesday, but it sure as hell wasn’t your friend!” Valo retorted.

Ophelia, Cy, and S ran around the corner and almost crashed into the quarrelling duo.

“S, you were with Valo on Wednesday, weren’t you?” Charise asked sharply.

S looked puzzled. “No, I was working on the play.”

“What play?” Charise asked.

“Long story. But if you need proof, Emily can vouch for me, along with a few dozen other people.”

“Then who the hell was Valo with in those pictures?” Charise yelled.

“Obviously, it wasn’t me!” S snapped, confused about the situation but angry to be yelled at.

Just then, a door nearby opened, and a man peeked his head out. “Hey, guys, can you keep it down? I’m trying to grade some tests,” he called out. When he saw the source of the commotion, his eyes widened. Valo flushed vividly. It was Grant Veneto.


“Someone tell me what the problem is,” Grant sighed, leaving his office to settle the dispute.

“Charise here is convinced that I’m fooling around with her friend Samuel Verona, even though I’m not,” Valo replied.

Grant’s eyes widened even more. “Did you say… Samuel Verona?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s me,” S added, raising his hand a bit.

Grant’s lips trembled slightly, and tears came to his eyes. “Oh God…” he whispered. He stared at S. “Years ago, your dad kicked your oldest brother and sister out of the house for liking rock music.”

“Yeah,” S said with a nod. “But… how do you know?”

“It’s me.”

S’s eyes widened, recognizing the man at last. “Grant!”



“So, let’s see if we can figure out what happened, eh?” Grant asked.

“Sure,” S agreed, “but first… what happened after you got kicked out?”

Grant sighed. “Well, there’s not much to tell. After Dad kicked Lissie and me out, we moved in with some friends and changed our last names from Verona to Veneto. You know… Verona’s in Veneto… yeah, clever, I know. Anyway, after that, we attended college-- I studied poli sci, and Lissie studied education. She’s an elementary school teacher now, and married. I’m… well, not married. But I’ve been seeing a very special lady for a while now.”

Valo flushed vividly. “Me,” she added.

Charise raised an eyebrow. “So, how did you two meet? At an eye doctor or something?”

Valo gave Charise a withering look. “You sure seem to like the taste of foot,” she remarked.

“Huh?”

“Never mind. Think about it. What do we have in common… besides glasses and long hair?”

S thought. “Well, I know Grant liked music a lot… probably still does.”

“Bingo,” Valo replied. “We met at a HIM concert.”

“How long ago was this?” Ophelia asked.

“A few years ago. The HIM/Aiden concert at the House of Blues. She went with Cy,” Grant explained.

Ophelia gave Cy a light punch in the arm. “Hey, how come you didn’t take me?” she asked.

“You were sick,” Cy replied.

“I’m never too sick to see the sexy Ville Valo!”

Valo laughed, “I’m with you on that, kiddo. Well, anyway, you weren’t feeling well, so Cy asked me to come along so she wouldn’t be alone. I agreed, of course. Well, while we were there, some idiots tried to start a mosh pit. One guy got shoved into me so hard, I almost fell over. Grant caught me and… well… things kind of happened from there.”

“So you literally fell for him,” S joked.

“Yeah, something like that.”

“So, how does all this relate to the pictures?” Charise asked.

“Charise, show us the pictures that you were sent,” Grant instructed her.

“I don’t have my laptop with me.”

“Fine,” Valo said. “We’ll go to the computer lab.”


“Well,” Valo remarked, “that’s definitely me. And that’s definitely Grant… with one hell of a Photoshopped tan and some minor editing to make his hair look shorter.”

Cy, Grant, S, and Ophelia murmured in agreement.

“Whaaaaaat?” Charise cried out, peering closer at the pictures. Now that it had been pointed out, it was clear that the photos had been altered.

“Yeah. Grant and I met up after he finished teaching class, and we went out and ate and hung out, like we usually do,” Valo said. “Still, it’s a decent effort.”

Charise was silent.

“Who sent you the shots?” Ophelia asked.

“Dunstan,” Charise replied softly.

“I hate that man,” Valo muttered.

“He’s the devil,” Ophelia murmured in response, surprised that someone else shared her hatred for Dunstan.

“I think I need to have a talk with him,” Charise remarked.

“Good idea,” S said. “In the mean time, I think it’ll be great to catch up on lost times with my brother.” He turned to Grant. “You need to come home and see Mom and Cassandra.”

“Sure. I heard about Dad’s death, and, wrong as this is, I was happy about it.”

“I don’t blame you one bit, dude.”



Charise is such a fool, Dunstan thought. She completely believed me when I told her that the photos I sent were meant to be a joke. Still, I do hate when my plans backfire on me. Who knew that Valo was dating that damn Samuel Verona’s brother? Hell, I didn’t even know he had a brother. It is time to try a new tactic, I think. In order for it to succeed, we will need more people working in my favor. He sighed. But how?

Dunstan sat up and beckoned Angela over. “Come here, Angela,” he said softly. Angela nodded and walked over, then perched on the sofa. “Did you miss me the other night?”

“Yes,” Angela replied.