Ohh kay. So. This story was rapidly leading nowhere, and I'm still not quite sure what to do with the plot, but I hope I can steer it back into calm waters. Or at least waters that don't turn the boat the other way.

Erin was jealous. She had amazing friends. They were stunning, smart and funny to boot and she didn't feel like she offered much to the friendship. She looked at people like Emma, and she saw them getting somewhere in life.

Erin looked down at herself, hands spread, and sighed. She was frumpy. She wore strange clothes. She had split ends and a small scab on her cheek. Her fringe always got into her eyes and she desperately needed glasses.

Emma was the successful type. Teachers loved her because she could ask questions, yet already know the answer. Parents loved her because she was so polite and helped out. She was the strong, reliable type, much like an Ikea desk of the firm variety.

Emily was funny. She was the original boy-magnet, even from a young age. She could be singing "I am getting so hot, I'm gonna take my clothes off" one minute, and the next be praising the mysterious realm of scalene triangles, or something intelligent like that.

Shaylee was the eclectic. She always had a catchy one-liner or a brisk comeback that would leave anybody speechless. She had bouts of laughing which were sometimes uncontrollable. Shaylee was a role model in that she could pick up just about any instrument on God's green earth and play it like she'd had lessons on it since the age of four.

Molly was definitely the crazy one. She frequently made up rapid hand signals, or words, or sayings or jokes, and it rarely took her more than thirty seconds to find innuendo in something. She had the mixture of emo and indie down pat, and could cheer you up before you knew anything was wrong.

So, sitting on the back step of the local town hall, Erin couldn't help feel a little left out. She stroked Simba, Emma's pet spoodle, thoughtfully as she tried to accurately determine where she fit into the equation.

As she started humming the second verse of Advance Australia Fair, to try and place the words she'd forgotten, Shaylee opened the door and plonked herself down. In true Shaylee spirit, she was trying something new today, and was aiming not to speak.

"Is the part about it being girt by sea in the first or second verse, Shay?"

Shaylee stuck one finger up to indicate and then slumped back down again.

"How did the auditions go then?" Erin asked, but was cut off by the door opening again. This time Emily and Molly came out, laughing madly.

"They were absolute crap. Thank god you didn't enter, Erin. Seriously," Emily snorted.

"So I said to the farmer, that... that's a nakie hon!" Molly chuckled, sending Emily into giggles again. Shaylee tried not to smile too much.

Emma stumbled out, not grinning but not frowning either. "Lets make a pact never to do this again," she said.

"Down with talent shows," Emily agreed.

There was a great silence. By great, don't assume that I meant it was good. I mean great as in huge.

"So uh, where are we going?" Emma asked quizzically. "I don't know... Hey! Let's go to Alagaesia!" Erin cried.

"No! We can't just drive to Alagaesia whenever the hell we feel like it! We don't even know where it is!" Emma sighed. She was well accustomed to any one of her friends making odd remarks or suggestions.

"Well, it was either that or Narnia. And to be honest, I don't think I'm up to all that snow, do you?" Erin queried, looking down at her plaid dress.

"Hmm. I suppose not. Maybe if we drive in a general... that way direction... we might find Alagaesia?" Molly suggested, tapping one finger on her chin.

"Only one was to find out," Emily said briskly. She snapped her fingers and a car fell onto the gravel next to them. Utterly baffled and bamboozled, the friends were ushered into the car without realising it, and Emily had taken off in a cloud of dust and discarded music sheets.

While Simba sat smugly in the front seat on his own, Emma, Molly, Shaylee and Erin were cramped into the back. Erin felt something poking into her spleen, and reached for it, producing a TMX Elmo.

She handed it to Molly, who squealed, and Erin occupied herself with her Eddie and Freddie hand-made Magical Penguin plushies.

Emma read an educational novel of assertiveness, and Shaylee simply stared out the window, the scenery reflected in her blue eyes.

Suddenly, Elmo burst out it a fit of giggles. "YOU TICKLED ELMO!" he cried and wiggled around, constricting them even more. "Tell that bloody red monster to stop moving!" Burst out Shaylee. "I mean uhhh... nothing..."

Is it an improvement? Please let me know. Seriously. I really want to know.