“Come on, MJ, give that back!” the girl yelled, racing after her friend.

“Michaela, come on, chill out. Give Delilah her sketchbook back,” Ophelia called out. Michaela sighed, slowed down, and finally stopped. “That’s better. Now come on, you guys know better than to act like this. Just because I’m in charge right now doesn’t mean you can act like the guys in Animal House.”

“What’s Animal House?” Delilah asked.

“No idea. Must be one of those weird adult things,” Michaela replied, shrugging. “Adults are weird. I don’t want to be one.”

“Don’t say that,” Ophelia said. “Now, why are adults weird?”

“They just are. Like, how come a lot of them are so grouchy? I mean, yeah, I know they have work and all, but still…” Michaela began. She paused, thinking.

“But still, what?” Ophelia asked.

“Well, I don’t like school, but I don’t let it make me mad.”

“I go just because of the cute guys,” Delilah spoke up.

“Keep thinking like that, and you’re going to end up in trouble,” Ophelia remarked.

“How am I going to be in trouble?” Delilah asked.

“You’ll get knocked up early on. Trust me, it’s not worth it.”

“Oh. Oh, like Mom was with me! She had me not long after she graduated, I think!” Delilah remarked.

Ophelia stared at the child, eyes wide. “…You really worry me sometimes, kiddo,” she finally said.

“So, Lia, what’s high school like?” Michaela asked.

“Yeah, is it like those stupid movies and TV shows?” Delilah added.


“Well,” Ophelia sighed. “Well, I’ll be honest with you two. Whoever tells you that high school is the best years of your life is lying. High school, that’s your prime suffering years. You don’t get better suffering than that. But you know what I’ve found? The bad times… that’s what molds you, shapes you into who you are. Those good times… they don’t do squat for you.”

Delilah and Michaela considered this for several seconds. Finally, Delilah said, “I’d rather have fun than go through bad stuff.”

Ophelia sighed and muttered, “Children today!”


“So, any luck?” Emily asked.

Tiffani nodded and grinned, saying, “Yeah, AJ agreed to it.”

“How long did you have to nag?”

“Two hours, fifteen minutes, and fourteen seconds.”

Emily laughed and said happily, “So, now we have a male ‘running mate,’ so to speak. Awesome.”

“Yeah, one of us will win for sure,” Tiffani replied. “So, have you decided on a song yet?”

“Song?”

“Yeah, we all have to pick a song to come onto the stage to.”

“Oh, yeah. I figured we could all get together tomorrow and decide as a group, so there’d be no overlap.”

“Good idea.”

“Yeah, I thought so, too.”


“This song!” Tiffani exclaimed. “Definitely this one.”

Ophelia stared at her, astonished. “Tiff, are you sure?”

“Positive! I mean, the part about even friends being out to harm you… that’s great. In fact, if I ever get married, I want this to be played at the wedding.”

Ophelia stared at Tiffani and said slowly, “Tiff, I think that’s kind of a bad idea.”

“Why?”

“Playing November Rain at a wedding is like playing Janie’s Got a Gun at a ‘We Love Our Children’ type of benefit.”

Emily snickered and spoke up, “Actually that happened on a TV show. Full House, I think.”

Ophlelia stared in astonishment at her friend and said slowly, “That’s incredibly sick and tasteless.”

“Yeah, I thought so, too.”

“Why?” AJ spoke up. “What’s so bad about the song? I mean, besides the gun part.”

Emily and Ophelia both stared in shock at him, and Emily finally said, “I’ll explain later on.”

Ophelia sighed, “Okay, so Tiffani chose November Rain. Em? Chose a song yet?”

“I’m not sure,” Emily said slowly.

“Okay, well, you still have time to decide. AJ?”

“Well, I guess I Can Tell is out of the question,” he said wryly.

“Obviously, unless you can track down an instrumental version. Seriously, are you even thinking?” Ophelia remarked, rolling her eyes.

“What about you, Lia?” Emily asked.

“Not sure,” Ophelia said slowly. “Maybe If You Could Only See or Killing Loneliness.”

“Now who’s being weird?” Tiffani muttered.

“I heard that,” Ophelia responded.