Chapter 1: Ultimatum

I flop on my bed, exhausted.

Why does this have to be so difficult?

Ugh. I bury my face in my pillow, trying to figure out what to do.

*Flashback*

The bell rings its final chime. I'm late. Again. Mr. Hobb will not let me hear the end of it. I near his door at the end of the melancholy hallway where happy dreams go to die. I say that because everyone, (and I do mean everyone) has fallen asleep in his class at least once. A few other classmates were just coming up too, and I slipped in the room after them. But remembering how I got caught last time, I reached for the door before it slammed. It slowly closed, thankfully silent. A triumphant smile grew on my face- but it didn't last for more than a second. A booming voice interrupted my mini-celebration.

"Sabrina Grimm, you're late. Again."

I turned to find him only about two feet away from me.

"Sorry..." I mumbled. "It...won't happen again."

He huffs and mumbles so I can barely hear. "You're lucky you pay attention in class."

I almost burst out laughing, but took the invitation to sit down.

The same old boring day of "paying attention" and pretending to take notes took its toll on me. All I got out of the dreadful morning was a bunch of random doodles and shapes that filled up a large part of my notebook.

Oh well. Just like every other day.

My last three periods weren't academics, so I was beyond happy about that. After over 3 hours of torture, I found myself in the cafeteria. I really don't care for the slimy cold "food" that they try to pass off as a hamburger. This includes the runny mashed potatoes, or the mysterious green french fry that sometimes appeared with your meal. I'm not gonna eat any of that stuff but I am certainly not complaining about the actual period of lunch.

I plopped down at my table, when I was suddenly hit over the head with plans. I'm not joking. I was literally hit in the head with a flyer. I grabbed the paper and smoothed out my blonde locks. "THE ANNUAL FERRYPORT FAIR IS BACK!" it said in large black letters. The face I saw when I looked up was unmistakeable.

"Angie!"

"Hey 'Brina, look at the flyer I so politely gave you!" she said, cutting right to the chase.

I didn't even continue reading when she started explaining everything in vivid detail.. So much impatience in such a small body.

Angie was a petite one. Only 5 feet and 1 inch, she was smaller than a decent amount of people around. She had shoulder-length shimmering blonde hair like mine and her unique blue green eyes were wide with excitement. Some of Puck's friends have asked about her before but she was too stubborn to actually consider any of them as potential 'boyfriends'.

"...try to win! And last time it totally worked, and I swear that that was the happiest day of my life! These fairs are always the best! Oh, and by the way, guess what?"

She continued as if she didn't know that I hadn't been listening to her half the time.

"Jessica's dad is sponsoring this year!" She said in excitement, but then her loud, cheerful voice lowered to a mutter. "Stupid filthy rich, spoiled brat, good for nothing..." I warned her with a scowl not to go on. "...so the whole place is gonna be tricked out and it will be way cool."

I only had to look at her for a second to know that she was going to drag me to this fair and I wouldn't be able to say a thing about it.

Oh well. It wouldn't be the first time.

"oh and ummm...Sabrina?" I looked up to see her facial expression. She seemed like she wanted to tell me something that was really important. But she wasn't looking at me. I tried to follow her gaze and she whispered "They're here."

I turned to find myself knee-deep in fake central.

Jessica. As always, flanked by Nikki and Lindsay. Great.

"Hi, losers." Jessica screeched in her nasally voice. "It's kind of early to be lameing it up, dont you think?" Her "friends" laughed at the stupid joke, but changed their faces to smug as they stared at me. I knew I wouldn't like what would be coming next.

"You already know that my father is sponsoring the fair this year, and I am personally inviting everyone." She continued in her awful voice.

"Oh joy! We HAVE to go now because you invited us!" Angie exaggerated, being her same old sarcastic self.

"No one asked you Annie."

"My name is Angie."

"Whatever."

"Don't whatever me!"

"Stop!" I yelled. Enough was enough. "You invited us, so fine. Why are you still here?"

"Because I'm not done. Like I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted..." she looked at Angie while Angie rolled her eyes. "...everyone must have a date. Yes, even you leprechaun."

"I would love to see your date Barbie. You know, because you had to buy your friends, I wanna find out what boy you can scrape up." Angie said with a huge smile and twinkle in her eye.

Jessica was your typical ditz. Bleached blonde hair. Fake hair extensions. Fake tan. Fake color contacts. Fake nails. And loads of makeup. All mixed together into a whole lot of desperate.

I pitied her.

"And what if I don't show up with a date?" I challenged her.

"I'll make your life a living hell." she sneered. "Well at least worse, if it could get any worse." She rolled her eyes and started walking away. "Later, lame losers!" and she was gone.

"UGH. She drives crazy all that is sane! How can you stand that?"

"Angie..." I said, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "I live with Puck."

"True. But you yell in his face. You barely said a word to her!"

I shrugged. "I'm tired."

She laughed. "Ya, great excuse."

I couldn't tell if it was sarcasm or not.

"Well, she may not have a thought running through her pretty little head-but she was surprisingly clear." I said, looking at Angie.

"Yep. Show up without a date and she will personally make your life ten times worse."

Somehow that made my choice clearer, but 10 times harder to make.