“Hey,” Mr. Rivers said cheerily, walking into the classroom.

Ms. Gibson looked up from her computer and smiled warmly. “Hello,” she replied. “What do you need?”

“Got a minute?” he asked.

“Yeah, sure. I was just looking at this electronic scrapbook one of my students turned in. I think it’s absolutely brilliant,” she said.

“Yeah?” Mr. Rivers responded, peering at the screen. “Who turned it in?”

“One of your best students.”

“Ophelia did this?”

“Yeah. Check this out,” Ms. Gibson said. She clicked on the last “page” of the scrapbook. A photo of the Clique News Crash team came up, along with a long message. A song also began playing.

Mr. Rivers tilted his head. “What’s the song called?”

Ms. Gibson smiled a little and said, “It’s a song from the third Silent Hill game, I think. Letter-- From the Lost Days, I think it’s called.”

Mr. Rivers nodded a little and scanned the message. “What’s the gist of this? Ophelia‘s huge message, I mean.”

“That she hopes that when she’s older, she can look back on her life and smile.”

“Oh.”

“So, what did you want to see me about?”


Mr. Rivers grinned and replied, “I finally heard from You-Know-What.”

“You did? And?”

“There’s going to be some very happy teenagers on Award Night when they hear about the scholarships they’re getting.”

“That’s great!” Ms. Gibson exclaimed. “Oh, they’re going to be so excited!”

“Now, remember, not a peep to any of them. I want this to be a surprise.”

“You know I won’t say anything. Oh, they’ll all be so delighted, especially Emily and Ophelia.”

“Well, they do deserve it, for everything they’ve gone through.”

“And they’re wonderful students. That reminds me, I also got word from a few more organizations. I swear, it looks like those two aren’t going to have to pay anything to attend college.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah. I’m telling you, these kids are going to have bright futures. The least I can do is smooth the path a little to make the journey less arduous.”


“Voting started today,” Emily sighed, flopping onto the ground.

“I’m telling you, Em, one of us is going to win,” Tiffani said confidently.

“I wish I could be as sure as you are,” Ophelia replied.

“Have either of you seen Angela lately?” Emily asked.

“No, why?” Ophelia responded.

Emily shrugged. “I don’t know. I saw her the other day and, I don’t know, it looks like she’s put on some weight. Probably just all of the end of the year celebrating. You know, with cakes and junk like that.”

“Yeah, probably,” Tiffani said, nodding knowingly. “A few years ago, I put on, like, five pounds between April and May because of all the parties I went to.”

“She doesn’t seem like the party type,” Ophelia mused.

“Well, we did see her at that crazy party earlier in the year,” Emily spoke up.

“Yeah, but that was kind of the exception,” Tiffani said.


Valo sighed and looked up from the book, her eyes almost burning from being awake for so long. Have to keep reading, she thought. Have to get material for the last paper. She closed her eyes for a few seconds to alleviate the discomfort. When she opened her eyes, Tacita was standing beside her, holding a slice of tiramisu.

“Here,” Tacita said firmly, placing the cake on the table beside Jade. “I know you don’t like coffee, so this is just as good for energy. You look like you’re about to zonk out at any minute.”

“Thanks,” Valo responded, yawning. “I’ve been up for almost two days straight.”

“My sympathies,” Tacita replied, sitting beside her. “What’s that you’re reading?”

“It’s a book. I’m reading it as research for my history paper.”

“Ouch. What’s the paper on?”

Valo smirked a little and replied, “The world’s oldest profession.”

“Seriously?!”

“A comparison. Ancient Greece and early twentieth century Japan.”

“And you’re doing this for a history class?”

“Hey, it’s history!”

“Yeah, but I didn’t think you could do that!”

“The professor was fine with it. It was even one of the suggested topics on the syllabus!”

Tacita sighed. “You have a cool professor!”