“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Ms. Gibson asked, plugging the machine into the wall.

“Trust me, this is the ‘in’ thing these days,” Mr. Rivers assured her.

“We’re going to get fired.”

“For what, doing something entertaining?”

“You know what the school administration’s like,” Ms. Gibson sighed. “Pompous jerks with no sense of humor.”

“If anyone asks, I’ll take full responsibility,” Mr. Rivers responded. “They’ll never suspect you were responsible. And if I get fired… well, then, so be it. I’ll be happy to leave this hellhole of a school.”

“You and me both. So, you have the CD?”

“Yeah. I’m telling you, Gabby, this is going to be hilarious. The kids are going to pretty much wet their pants laughing.”

“That’s sort of gross.”

“Yeah, I guess. Come on, let’s go get the snacks and punch and all that junk out of my car.”


“Oh my God!” Tiffani giggled, walking around Emily and AJ for a better look. “You guys actually dressed alike, sort of. You two really do look like twins now.”

“Yeah, we thought it would be kind of cool to actually dress like stereotypical twins,” Emily replied, shrugging. She adjusted her hat and grinned at Ophelia. “Ophelia actually had to help us find clothes that were similar enough. I think we ended up getting these in the guys’ section of the store we went to.”

“Well, you both look super-cool!” Tiffani exclaimed.

“So, how did it go with your mom?” Emily asked.

“Meh. Pretty much how I expected. ‘You’re a disappointment, you’ve failed your father and me,’ all that junk.”

“When is your mom going to get that you don’t want the same stuff she does?” Ophelia asked.

“Probably never.”


“Parents can be pretty frustrating sometimes,” Emily sighed.

“Em, you are, like, a parent’s wild dream,” Tiffani observed wryly. “You have no real reason to complain.”

“So, since I’m a good student, I’m not allowed to complain about my parents?”

“Well, what kind of complaints do you have about your parents?”

“She gets treated like she’s a kid still,” AJ spoke up. “Parents sometimes have a hard time accepting that their kids have grown up and don’t need help all the time.” Emily nodded silently.

“Yeah,” Ophelia muttered in response. “And they can sometimes do totally embarrassing or annoying things, because they love you.”

“Parents are… pretty weird,” Tiffani sighed.


“Will everyone please be seated?” the elderly woman on the stage said. With some mumbling and hurrying, everyone obeyed her. “I’m Beatrice Esso, the vice-principal of Oakdale High. I’m afraid the principal had some business to attend to, so I’m here in his place. Welcome, students and parents, to the seniors’ award night. Tonight, we’ll be giving a lot more awards and scholarships than usual, due to certain changes and activities that have occurred this school year. So, without further ado, let’s get started.”

“More scholarships?” Ophelia whispered to Emily.

“Yeah. I hope at least one of those goes to one of us.”

“That would be nice.”

“Probably won’t happen, though.”