“Thanks,” Emily said to Valo. “I think I have some ideas for what to do now.”

“That’s great,” Valo replied, smiling warmly.

“Do you want to hang out?” Ophelia asked. “I just bought all four seasons of Home Movies on DVD.”

“Thanks, but I’ll pass,” Valo said. “I’ve got something on my agenda already.”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” Ophelia responded. She turned to Emily. “How about it, Em?”

Emily shrugged and replied, “Maybe tomorrow. I want to try to get my ideas out while they’re still fresh in my mind.”

“Suit yourself, then,” Ophelia sighed. “Tomorrow, it is. I guess I’ll get a start on mine, too.”

“Don’t work too hard,” Valo told them.


“I guess I’ll go now,” Mark said, kissing Jade’s cheek.

“Oh?” Jade responded. “Where are you going?”

“I have a gig tonight. Nothing major, but…”

“Yeah, I understand. See you soon, then?”

“Of course. Eat and get some rest; it’ll make you feel better.”


I wouldn’t count on that, Jade thought bitterly, watching him leave. She sat on the couch, counting her options: the sleeping pills in the medicine cabinet, the countless knives in the kitchen, the deep bathtub that took forever to drain… or, there was another option. Her weak, shaky legs carried her over to the telephone. She lifted the phone and dialed the number.

“Hello?” the voice on the other end said.

Jade took a deep breath, then replied, “Graham? It’s Jade.”

“Jade, how are you?”

“Fine,” Jade lied. “Want to get together? To hang out, I mean.”

“Yeah, fine. Just let me finish eating, okay?”

“Of course.”

“So, where are we meeting up?”

“Z’s.”


Emily returned to her bedroom and looked around, smiling to herself. As she approached her desk, she noticed that there was something new present, a photograph. She picked it up and peered at it, then smiled at the image of herself and AJ as children.

“I forgot about this,” she muttered. “God, we must have been six or seven when this was taken.” She sighed and shrugged. “Well, time to get started, I guess. I‘ll start with this picture.” She took a piece of paper and a pen from her desk drawer and began to write. “This picture is very special to me. It brings back great memories because…”


“…Because back then, we were best friends, and it‘s nice to remember the happier, simpler times,” Mae muttered, writing. She carefully attached the scrap of paper to the scrapbook page, beside the photograph of herself and Ophelia as young children. “God, what happened to us?” Mae whispered, staring at the picture. “Things can get really crazy…”


“…When you least expect them to,” AJ mumbled. He looked over at the picture of the Clique News Crash team, for more inspiration. “And sometimes you learn just what you’ve been missing out on,” he added, thinking of Ophelia. “Because of these things…”


“Let’s make a fast plan, watch it burn to the ground…” Jade sang under her breath. She tapped her foot anxiously. Why did I ask him to hang out? she thought. Stupid! What the hell was I thinking? Am I doing this to get revenge on Mark or because I’m really interested in Graham?

She jumped a little when she felt a light touch on her shoulder. She turned to see who it was and smiled when she saw that it was Graham.


“Sorry if I scared you,” he apologized. “You looked like you were concentrating pretty hard on something.”

“No, it’s okay, really,” Jade replied, knowing the answer to her thoughts now.

Graham smiled and sat across from her. “Well, I’m glad you wanted to hang out,” he remarked. “And you look great, as usual.”

“Thanks,” Jade said, blushing a little. “Sorry for calling you out here, but I just guess I needed to get away from the usual stress for a while. I think…”


“…What we have is a really great friendship,” Mark concluded. He looked over at his companion. “Don’t you agree?”

“Stop sugarcoating it,” the other person replied, smirking. “Face it, we’re friends with benefits. FWBs. Hookup buddies. Calling it a ‘really great friendship’ is kind of… uh… I don’t know. So, what did she say when you told her about us?”

“Well, I didn’t mention names, exactly.”

“So, what did you say, then?”

“That there was another girl that I got together with but hadn’t for a while--”

“Not a lie, since this is the first time in a few months since you’ve decided to come by.”

“True.”


“You know, she would kill us both if she found out.”

“Which is why I didn’t mention any names.”

“You should have. Give her someone to yell at besides Valo, for a change.”

Mark laughed. “Tacita, you’re a riot, you know that?”

“Yeah, I know.”