"Let's see. Maybe vampires are too overdone. I could make the protagonist a werewolf…" Lilith Pleasant mused to herself, staring at the computer, where one single line was written. She racked her brains for some good plots involving werewolves, but nothing came immediately to mind.

"Dirk? How dare you?"

"Lilith, I was just helping Meadow with her class notes! Chill, babe."

Sighing, Lilith fidgeted with the edge of her favorite skirt. It was a little shorter than her parents approved of and she loved it for that reason. She just couldn't focus on writing today, not with the morning's incident playing in her mind over and over again.

"Hey, Thayer. You better keep your hands off my boyfriend, you hear?" Lilith crossed her arms and stared at the other girl.

Meadow Thayer barely looked up from her reflection in the school's bathroom mirror. "Your boyfriend? That's cute, Pleasant. Real cute. I don't have any idea how a cute guy like Dirk got mixed up with you, but it's okay. It'll be over once he finds out what a real woman is like."

"You stay away from Dirk!" Lilith lunged for the stuck-up snob, seized by a sudden desire to strangle her. Meadow screamed.

"Get off me, you creepy goth freak!" she shrieked.

Eventually a teacher intervened. Meadow explained, in a shrill, fake-hysterical voice, that Lilith was a bully and had attacked her for no reason, and Lilith was given a week's suspension.

A woman's scream filled the air, startling Lilith out of her thoughts. She was sure her parents weren't home yet, and she wasn't ready to explain everything to them.

Another scream. Something was definitely wrong. What if Mom had come home early from work and been confronted with a burglar? What if Angela had come looking for her and something happened?

While not crazily fond of her family, Lilith did care about them, and so she stomped down the stairs, determined to face whoever or whatever was there. The screaming continued, louder and louder, seemingly coming from her parents' room. Lilith took a deep breath before flinging the door open. "All right, intruders! Get out of…"

Her eyes widened as she tried to make sense of the scene before her. Two bodies, entwined together on her parents' bed, one being the maid and the other...that couldn't be Dad, could it?

Could it?

Afraid to believe her own eyes, Lilith ran from the room, unnoticed by the two illicit lovers.

Unaware of the soap opera unfolding in her own home, Angela Pleasant breathed in the fresh autumn air as she stepped off the bus. She loved all seasons, and was definitely enjoying fall.

It wasn't until the bus pulled away that she noticed the stranger standing by the fence, looking around as though he couldn't make up his mind where to go. He looked to be about her age, but tall, with longish black hair and dark eyes, dressed comfortably in a jersey and shorts.

"Hi," she said, waving at him. "I'm Angela. Are you lost?"

The stranger jumped. "Uh, hi! Um, yes. I'm Rick. Rick Contrary. Have you seen a bus from Desiderata Valley High around anywhere?"

"Desiderata Valley High?" No wonder she'd never seen him around here. "Isn't that kind of far away?"

The stranger – Rick – shrugged and looked down at his feet. "We were on a field trip," he mumbled. "I kind of…got separated."

Poor guy. He looked so uncomfortable. Without thinking about it, Angela grabbed him by the arm, pulling him toward the house. "Well, come on then! We've got a phone at home, you can call someone to pick you up."

"Yeah, that'd be great. They made us give up our cell phones when we got on the bus."

His face was suddenly the color of a tomato, and Angela wondered if she'd been too forward, grabbing him like that. She released him as they entered the house. "Phone's in there," she said, gesturing. "I'll grab us some snacks while you call home."

"Thanks." He headed into the living room to the phone, and Angela smiled. He was kind of cute, in an awkward, bashful kind of way, and it felt good to help him. Humming to herself, she headed into the kitchen, debating what snacks she should serve. Gelatin? Cookies? Chips? Hmmm. Maybe she should check and see if they had any ice cream. Everybody liked ice cream.

A sob shook her out of her thoughts as she entered the kitchen. Her sister, Lilith, stood with her back against one of the counters, her face buried in her hands. Angela froze. Okay, so she'd heard about her sister's confrontation with Meadow Thayer (Meadow had made certain the whole school heard about it) but it wasn't like Lilith to cry over something like that. Normally she'd be fighting mad, stomping around and knocking things over in anger.

"Lili?" she asked quietly. "Are you okay?"

Lilith shook her head. "Angie…you're never gonna believe this. I'm not sure I believe it myself. I can't believe he would cheat."

Cheat? Oh no. There must have been more to the story than Meadow let on. "Cheat? Who, Dirk?" The words felt wrong in her mouth. She wasn't in love with Dirk Dreamer like her sister was, but she knew him to be a good, stable, reliable person. Trustworthy. "I never expected that, but you know what?" She took a step forward. "If he's going to be like that, he doesn't deserve to date MY sister!"

Normally Lilith would have smiled. She would have made some sarcastic comment meant to hide the fact that she loved and appreciated Angela's solidarity. They'd then go on to argue about something minor, such as who should date who on their favorite TV show or who copied who on their hairstyle, and life would go on.

But this time Lilith didn't smile. She didn't have any cutting remarks. "No, Angie. I'm not talking about Dirk." She took a deep breath. "I meant Dad."

Angela nearly fell over. Lilith's words rang around and around in her head. Daddy…cheating? With who? It was impossible! Ridiculous! Totally absurd!

She burst into giggles, suddenly sure Lilith was joking. It was the only explanation that made sense. "Lili…you really had me going there. You're crazy, making up stuff like that on Daddy!"

She doubled over with giggles until Lilith's fist connected with the side of her face. "THIS IS NOT A JOKE!" Lilith yelled. Her fingers found a grip in her sister's hair and Angela twisted away.

"Ow, Lili, stop it! That hurts!"

A light clicked in Lilith's eyes, and suddenly the pain stopped. "I'm sorry, Angie," she said quietly, as though just realizing what she had done. "I'm sorry."

"LILITH MARIE PLEASANT!" Their father, Daniel Pleasant burst into the room. He grabbed Lilith's arm and dragged her out of the kitchen, but Lilith snatched her arm back. Daniel barely seemed to notice the disgust on her face. "What's gotten into you, attacking your sister like that? For shame!"

Angela winced. She hadn't forgotten Rick, who was still on the phone in the next room. Poor guy. Was it too much to ask her family to behave in front of a guest? And of course, she knew Lilith. Lilith wasn't going to take that lying down. Lilith was going to fight.

As she suspected, Lilith stood up straight and tall. "You're one to lecture me about shame!" she yelled in her father's face.

Daniel winced, but he recovered quickly, crossing his arms. "Young lady! Is that any way to speak to your father?"

"Oh, I don't know. Is hopping in the bed with Boobs-for-Brains Kaylynn any way to treat your wife?"

"Lili," Angela gasped, unable to believe that her sister would cross that line, or the way her father seemed to have no answer. It was true. Lilith wasn't making things up. Her father's face confirmed it.

What was going to happen to their family now?

"Yeah. I saw that," Lilith said, turning away from Daniel in disgust. Daniel's mouth hung open, unsure what to say. Would he comfort his daughter and apologize or deny his guilt?

"Uh, hey, Angela?" Rick poked his head around the corner. "Um…is this an okay time to ask where the bathroom is?"

There it was. Her chance to escape. "Uh…Yeah. Through that door right there. And hey, when you get out, let's hang out outside, okay?"

She escorted him outside a few minutes later, babbling away about anything and everything. "…I really don't swim as much as I used to, I used to love it, but then I started getting older. But really, I used to pretend I was a mermaid like all the time and it was so much fun and now I know I can't be a mermaid but I'd like to go out to sea, it's so fascinating. Did you know the octopus has three hearts?"

"Yeah. Did you know the female angler fish completely absorbs the male into her body?" It was the first time Rick had spoken up since they had come out here. He gave a bashful grin. "My mom's a marine biologist and my dad tracks whales for a living. I've been on a few trips."

"Really? That's so cool! Do you think I could talk with them?"

"I guess so." Rick shrugged. "I mean, my dad's supposed to be on his way to pick me up, anyway, so you'll meet him. Maybe he'll hang around for a chat. I just hope he can manage to do it without doing something stupid and embarrassing."

"Yeah, that's always rough." She was definitely familiar with embarrassment right about now.

He winced. "Sorry. I wasn't talking about in there, I promise."

"It's okay," Angela said with a sigh. "I'm sorry you had to see all that. Lili's not really a bad person, she's just really upset. But this thing with my dad and the maid...I mean, what got into him? What's going to happen now? Did he even think about us at all? I bet he didn't! And now when Mom finds out everything's going to be crazy around here, and Lili's already at odds with Mom and Dad both and I'm going to have to be peacemaker and I'm no good at that, Lili and I fight all the time. It's going to be so awful I may just go ahead and move in with my grandparents just to avoid all the drama or something like…sorry."

"Sorry?"

"I'm rambling again. You barely know me and I'm burdening you with all my problems." She scratched at a mosquito bite, staring down at the grass. Who knew inviting the poor guy in would lead to all this?

Rick hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder, and when she looked up, she was surprised to see him smiling. "Hey, it's okay. I fight with my parents a lot too. I get it. So if you need to talk, talk."

Angela was suddenly very glad to have met Rick. He had such a kind smile, and she just knew she could trust this shy, awkward, but nice boy. "Actually, if you don't mind…I think I'd rather hear about the ocean."

His smile widened. "Of course!"

And so, while her sister dealt with a family crisis, Angela sat outside, making a new friend.

She would never forgive herself for that.