“Ugh, Monday morning,” Ophelia muttered, shutting her locker door. “I hate it.” She sighed and leaned against her locker, eyes closed, trying to prepare herself for yet another day consisting primarily of dealing with a lot of idiots, most of whom didn’t know how to write a decent paragraph, much less know the difference between Orwell from Huxley.

This is my version of hell, Ophelia thought. There are very few things that could be much worse than this. Very few. Then again, I’d rather this to what Charise deals with.


She opened her eyes and found Emily staring at her, looking puzzled. “I thought you fell asleep standing up or something,” Emily remarked.

“I’m not that lucky,” Ophelia responded. “Too loud in this hellhole of a school. I can’t wait to graduate.”

“I have some major news for you.”

“Oh God… how major?”

“Well, it involves you… sort of.”

Ophelia raised an eyebrow. “What happened?”

“AJ and Tiffani broke up.”

“Again?”

“Yeah. And this time, it’s because Tiff thinks AJ’s fooling around with you.”

“I’m not, obviously.”

“Yeah, but you know how Tiff is.”

“Yeah,” Ophelia said with a sigh. “Do you think this’ll affect the CNC show?”

“Yeah, it might,” Emily replied, nodding.

“You know what this means, right?”

“What?”

“We have to get those two back together.”


Jade walked down the hall and adjusted her fake glasses. I can’t wait for this semester to be over, she thought. I’m sick of dressing in this getup! As she turned the corner, she ran right into Charise. “Oh, I’m sorry!” Jade exclaimed, helping Charise to her feet. “I should have been watching where I was going.”

“It’s alright,” Charise murmured.

“You’re Charise, right?” Jade asked. She turned Charise’s left hand slightly, to get a better look at the ring that had scratched her palm when aiding the young woman. “Nice ring. Diamond?”

“Yeah. I’m engaged.”

“Well, congratulations. Who’s the lucky man?”

Charise raised her head slightly and said, “Dunstan Diggory.”

Jade’s eyes widened, and she released Charise’s hand. “I see,” she said slowly. “Well, have a nice day.” With that, she hurried away, frowning. This is bad, she thought. I don’t know that girl too well, but I don’t think she deserves to have to deal with Dunstan. No one is that horrible. No one!

Valo sighed and splashed some water onto her face, then wiped it away with a paper towel. This is my version of hell, she thought. The only thing worse would be being stuck dealing with my mother for all eternity.

She walked over to the restroom door, but before she could open it, it swung open and nearly hit her nose. Valo jumped back, startled. Jade, who was walking in, smiled apologetically and said, “I’m really clumsy today. You’re the second person who’s nearly been maimed by me.”

“Oh really?” Valo asked.

“Yeah. Guess who I ran into-- literally-- just now. Charise Marlow.”

“The chick who’s dating Dunstan, right?”

“Yeah,” Jade replied. She made a face. “Get this-- they’re engaged.”

“What?” Valo cried out, shocked. “When the hell did this happen?”

“No idea.”

“This is bad.”

“Really bad.”

“Do you think there’s anything we can do about it?”

“Well, it’s rude to go up to someone you don’t know too well and say, ‘Hey, your fiancé is a jerk,’” Jade sighed.

“Mm… I wouldn’t have minded telling my step-cousin that about the guy she's engaged to,” Valo muttered. “You know how I feel about him. He’s… ugh. Well, he’s not as bad as Dunstan, but still… he’s pretty horrid.”