The class was quietly working on their assignments when Angela made a strange sound, almost like a muffled scream. Everyone turned to look at her, startled.

“Angela, what’s wrong?” Ms. Gibson asked, hurrying over. She peered at the girl’s red face. “What’s wrong with your mouth?”

Nearly in tears, Angela held out a small tube to Ms. Gibson, who squinted at it and sighed, exasperatedly, “Angela, how did you manage to confuse lip gloss and a glue stick?”

Angela shrugged, tears running down her face as the class snickered at her. “Go to the nurse,” Ms. Gibson commanded. Angela nodded and hurried out of the classroom.

Mae smiled and gave Tiffani and Ophelia a thumbs-up. They nodded in response.


“Hey, guys, I heard something awesome,” Tiffani announced.

“Yeah?” Ophelia replied. “Tell us.”

“After that little glue thing, after Angela finally got her lips unstuck, she dropped out of the competition,” Tiffani said, grinning.

“Good,” AJ responded, nodding. Louie nodded in approval as well.

“It’s pretty horrible what happened to her, though,” Emily spoke up. “I mean, I can’t imagine why anyone would feel that she deserved that.”

The others shifted awkwardly, and AJ began, “Em, you know--”

“You know, bad things happen to bad people sometimes,” Ophelia interrupted. “Sometimes, people get what they deserve.”

“Why? What did Angela do?” Emily asked. She eyed the others. “Did you guys have something to do with this?”

Ophelia sighed. “Look, Em, that’s not important.”

“Yes, it is!” Emily exclaimed. “You all look like the cat who swallowed the canary, and you’re not telling me what’s wrong. Now, I would like to think that as my friends, you’d be decent and tell me what’s going on.”

“I told you,” Tiffani muttered to Ophelia.

“Shut up,” Ophelia growled.

AJ rose quickly. “I’m staying out of this and shutting up!” he announced, hurrying away.

Emily watched him make his escape, then snapped, “Damn it, will one of you just let me in on the secret?”

Louie swallowed hard and looked at the ground, and Ophelia toyed with her shoes. Tiffani rolled her eyes at them and took a breath. “Em,” she said slowly, “just trust me when I say that we had very good intentions when we did this for you.”

“What? Gluing Angela’s lips together?” Emily asked, perplexed. “Why? What did she do to me?”

“Well,” Louie spoke up, “you know how you were looking for your journal? Well, uh, Angela stole it.”

“That was pretty rotten of her,” Emily remarked, frowning.

“No, it gets worse,” Ophelia said. “She… well…”

“She photocopied pages from it and stuck them up around the school. I got here early, so I was able to take them down, with the help of Ophelia, AJ, and Louie. I caught her in the act, and Ophelia and I got Mae to do the big switch, and… well… that’s what happened,” Tiffani blurted out.


Emily looked down at the ground and said quietly, “So, then… you read what was on there?” She looked up, her eyes filled with tears. “You guys read what I wrote?”

Ophelia sighed and squeezed Emily’s hand. “Em, we know that’s not what you’re like anymore. And we don’t think any differently of you. We cared enough about you to make sure every one of those damn things was torn down before anyone saw them. Do you think this would make us think badly of you? Listen, Em, my grandma taught me something when I was young. She told me that family isn’t about whose blood you have; it’s about caring for each other and helping each other through the tough times. As far as I’m concerned, you’re family to me. Anyone who hurts the people I care about has to deal with me. And Tiff was the one who got us all together to make sure all of the things were taken down. If she didn’t care about you, she’d have just walked away, or let Angela keep putting them up, or even help Angela out. I don’t think badly of you; I know you’re a good person, and you don’t deserve to be hurt by trash like Angela.”

Emily smiled weakly and replied, “Thanks, Ophelia. So… are we going back to competing against each other and acting like we hate each other?”

“Ask Tiff that,” Ophelia replied.

Tiffani sighed and responded slowly, “Nah, I don’t think it’s worth fighting anymore. It’s not worth trying to kill each other over something like this. Maybe if it was something more worthwhile, then maybe. As long as one of us manages to beat the pants off that snobby cheerleader.” She grinned. “Come on, time for a new campaign strategy.”

“What’s that?” Ophelia asked.

“Campaign as a group, so to speak. Posters saying to vote for a member of CNC. Between the three of us, one of us should get enough votes to win, especially with Angela out of the race.”

“Maybe. But the people who voted for Angela might vote for Sherrie now,” Emily replied.

“Not necessarily,” Tiffani responded. “I’ve been listening, and the few people who I’ve heard saying they’d vote for her seemed to be the ‘undecided’ type. So, maybe we could try to interact with those people and get their support. Ladies, we all need to step up our looks a notch.”

Emily frowned, and Ophelia looked over at her and nodded a little. “How much of a change?” Ophelia asked, as though speaking Emily’s thoughts. “I don’t think Em or I want to become totally different people, just to get votes.”

“Just slight changes,” Tiffani said calmly. “Like, Ophelia, you could wear something really eye-catching, like maybe that outfit you wore to the dance earlier this year. And Emily, maybe you could wear a nice dress. Nothing skimpy, you know. Just something tasteful and attractive.”

Emily nodded slowly. “Yeah, I guess that’ll be okay,” she agreed.

“Great! Then tomorrow, we strike back!” Tiffani cheered.


“Bad news, Lia,” Cy said, frowning.

“Bad news? Why? What happened?” Ophelia asked worriedly.

“Your grandma hasn’t been feeling too well lately. If she’s still sick when the prom comes around, I might be late to show up or not even be able to come.”

“But can’t Uncle Preston--”

“You know he’s busy. Sorry, Lia, but it’s my responsibility to help take care of Ms. Cici. Why don’t you bring someone else with you?”

“Like who?”

“Well, how about Graham?”

‘He’s kind of too old to go to a high school prom.”

“Well, then go with S. He’s young enough.”

Ophelia chuckled at the idea. “Nice, but no. I don’t need to bring a date to feel good about myself. Just try to stop by if you have time, okay?”

“Sure.”