A Long Night Ahead

A/N: In case, you haven't read September or Vizzini, I'll include the explanation again: This was part of an English assignment. One of our options for our project was to write a missing scene for the novel that you read. Of course, I immediately jumped on that. No one else did it, but you know what? I don't care. The moral of the story? Fanfiction is completely underrated. Oh, the novel: Prom Dates From Hell by Rosemary Clement-Moore. If this doesn't seem like my writing, it is because I was instructed to imitate the author's style. Happy reading!

A/N 2: I have just realized that this book doesn't have it's own section on Fanfiction. Which thoroughly breaks my heart. I absolutely love this book and I can't believe that it doesn't have a place. I don't know if any of my readers have read this, so I'm going on the mere hope that someone out there is looking for this book.

"I'm sorry, Maggie. I don't know what to tell you."

I sighed exasperatedly and looked at Justin. "What am I going to do now? It's due tomorrow."

He stroked up and down my arm with his hand. "Write it again?"

I turned to him and gave him a look that rivaled Mom when we talked about my dreams. "No, Justin. Because I was going to get a zero on the final paper of the year."

"Hey," he said, deserting my arm. "You asked."

The place where his hand had been was chilled. "I guess I should start it."

"With what? Your melted desktop?" We both looked disgustedly at the hunk of melted metal. Covered in the fire extinguisher fluid, it looked more like a robot that tried to take a bubble bath.

"I'll use my dad's laptop, I guess. I'll have to."

I heard footsteps coming up the stairs with purpose, undoubtedly my father. It was confirmed when I heard his voice calling, "Are you alright?"

I looked at the mess briefly, wondering how to answer the inevitable question.

"What the—What have you done?"

Justin looked at me with questions in his eyes. I wasn't getting any help from him. "I was trying to access a page that the computer obviously did not like."

Dad's eyes narrowed. "It wasn't—" he paused. "It wasn't dirty, was it?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, Dad. Polite, proper Justin was watching porn with me on my computer that I use for school."

"Oh. Good. So what were you searching for?"

I glanced up at Justin, deliberating with myself on whether to tell him what was going on or not.

Justin jumped in. "Maggie thinks it must have been a site with a lot of bells and whistles. The CPU just—"

"Oh. My. God."

My mom was standing still, stunned in the doorway. I opened my mouth to explain, but nothing came out. She wasn't supposed to be home until later, when Dad and I had figured out a plan. Her eyes were widening and narrowing and her expression shifted from livid to scared to confused. Finally her face settled. Livid.

"What have you done to your computer? And your desk and—and—"

She was too infuriated to finish her thought. "I'm so sorry, Mom. I don't know what to say."

"You better know what you'll—" She jerked, seeming to have noticed Justin for the first time. "We'll talk about the punishment later." I made a mental note to thank Justin for that.

"Did you lose anything important, Magpie?"

Justin looked sadly at me. I sighed. "My theme for English. Completed and due tomorrow."

Dad breathed out slowly. "Do you remember what you wrote? I mean, you have outlines, right?"

I nodded. "But I'll have to write it again."

He was sympathetic. "Go downstairs and work on it."

I nodded again, grabbing my outline out of my backpack, giving silent praise that my outline wasn't on the desk.

"It was nice to see you again, Justin." Mom said as I left the room.

"You too, ma'am. I guess I should be going. I suppose I'll see you another time."

"I hope so," Dad said, as I came to the foot of the stairs.

He followed me downstairs while my parents assessed the damage in my room. "Do you think you'll get in enormous punishment?"

I shrugged. "Not sure. I guess it depends on whether my dad has figured out that what's going on isn't a coincidence."

"Let me know," he said as we reached the study.

"I'll see what I can do." I turned and sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time. "Thanks for saving me from the Webpage of Doom."

He chuckled. "It's not a problem. Is there anything I can do for your paper?"

I shook my head. "I doubt there's much I can do at this point. Plus, you got me out of heat. Literally and figuratively. You've done enough."

"Well, it's not like I want all my good research up in flames." I raised an eyebrow and shrugged it off. For now. "Call me when you're released?"

I laughed half-heartedly, dreading what horror my mother had in store for me. "If I'm released."

"Good luck. You've got a long night ahead."

I glanced down at my outline in aversion. "No kidding."

A/N: Information included again: The second part of this option (the downside, in my opinion) was to write an explanation of how your scene could've changed the outcome of the novel. I figured I'd include it for you in case you cared. If you don't, skip this and get to the reviewing.

If this scene had been inserted into the novel, Maggie's reference to the "parental freak-out" would be clear. The reason Maggie didn't get punished is made clear in this scene, and would not have to be guessed. Maggie's mindset is also made clear in this scene, along with how her rewrite was sufficient. One would assume that the second paper wouldn't be as well written as the original, and this shows that Maggie could have made a substantial supplement and had a definite way to do it.