“…And this is gonna kill you,” Valo said, pausing to sip at her tea.

“What happened?” Jade asked.

“Well, my dad called me up, and he was like, ‘Jess, your mom called,’ and I was like, ‘What did she say?’ and he was like, ‘She said you b***hed at everyone at Crystal’s party,’ and I was like, ‘Did she tell you why?’ and he was like, ‘No,’ and I told him what happened, and he was like, ‘You had a good reason to yell at them, then.’” Valo paused for a breath and stared at Jade. “What’s with the weird look on your face?”

Jade struggled to hide her smile. “I never thought I’d see the day where you’d lapse into Valley Girl-speak, Valo,” she replied. “I think you said ‘like’ about twenty times in that sentence.”

“Sorry,” Valo replied. “We all have our moments of adolescent vocabulary, even when we think we’ve grown out of it. So, how did things go the other day?”

“What, with the date?”

“Yeah. What did you think I meant, with your sleeping and eating?” Valo joked. “So, come on, give me the scoop.”

Jade shrugged. “What’s there to tell? We met, we ate, we went bowling, he dropped me off.”

Valo raised an eyebrow and said, leaning close, “You’re hiding something. Did anything else happen?”

“What, between me and Graham?”

“Well, that is who you went on a date with, unless there’s something else I should know,” Valo responded.

“Not much happened,” Jade replied. “He showed up with a rose, and he got a quick kiss after he dropped me off.”

Valo smirked a little. “I don’t know. I just feel like you’re still hiding something,” she said.

“Why would I hide anything from you?”

“Maybe you did something you know I’d yell at you for,” Valo suggested.

“Now, why would I go and do something like that?” Jade asked.

“Good question,” Valo said. With a frown, she looked down at herself. “Hey, Jade, am I fat?”


“I don’t know,” Ophelia remarked. “It seems kind of fishy to me.”

“I think she’s on the up and up. I mean, I can understand the situation,” Tiffani spoke up. “I’m speaking from personal experience here. Getting kicked out of a club is pretty tough, and I guess we seem ‘safe’ to her.”

“I’m not sure we can trust her,” AJ replied. “There might be an ulterior motive behind this.”

“But, what?” Emily asked. “What does she have against us?”

“As a group, nothing. But maybe she’s seeking revenge against one specific person,” AJ said.

“Who? What did any of us do to her?” Emily asked.

“That’s an unknown in the equation,” Ophelia muttered. “A known unknown, if you will.”

“She sure has changed,” Emily said quietly.


“Hello,” Angela said cheerily, walking into the room. She nodded at Charise, and then looked over at Dunstan. “How’s he been doing?”

“The same,” Charise replied. “He’s really worrying me.”

Angela nodded knowingly. “I can understand that,” she said. “Why don’t you go home and take care of yourself? I’ll take over for a few hours.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Charise responded. “Besides, you’re young. You don’t need this kind of stress.”

“It’s really no trouble,” Angela said firmly. “Leave everything to me.”

Charise sighed and said slowly, “If you insist, then fine. But if you need anything, just call me.”

“Of course,” Angela replied. She watched Charise collect her belongings and leave. When she was certain that Charise was gone, she slowly turned to Dunstan. Slowly, a sinister smile appeared on her face. “So,” Angela murmured, leaning in close, “things haven’t improved, clearly.”


“Nope,” Dunstan said quietly.

“So, what’s got you down?” Angela asked.

“Nothing you need to know about.”

“So, there’s something we need to discuss,” Angela said, lightly tapping her fingers together.

“Dear God, don’t tell me you’re knocked up,” Dunstan groaned. “That’s just what I need, on top of everything else.”

“Nope,” Angela said cheerily. “However, there is the matter of payment.”

“Payment?”

“Charise and I have been taking very good care of you,” Angela replied. “Me, especially. I’ve spent all my free time here with you. And, as you know, my amount of free time has significantly increased since I was kicked off the team, even though you were providing rather generous donations.”

Dunstan sighed and responded slowly, “What were you thinking, in terms of payment?”

Angela smiled ominously and said, “We’ll work something out later. Right now, let’s focus on getting you back to normal. You’ve been sitting around your house, doing nothing, for God knows how long. Let’s get back to getting the old Dunstan back, the one I had so much fun with.”