True to his word, Jocelyn did end up coming over and Derek ended up kicking Virgil out so he could do whatever it was he did with the girl. Virgil didn't know why this time he was rather disgusted by the display. He had known for months, almost a year that Derek was seeing Joc behind Stephanie's back. This time when he walked out of the house he almost wanted to go to Stephanie and tell her. There were latent feeling he had for her, but he never acted since he had given the two his blessing years ago. It wasn't right to go behind your friends' backs, then again.

Virgil looked over at Charlie's house for a moment and found himself walking toward the door. For some reason he felt as if he should be there rather then with Derek. Almost as if that dream was the reality he belonged in and not this one.

Wait a minute. Reality? Where was this coming from? Yeah, he had been known to dabble in the science fiction arts, but not to the point where he actually believed in any of it. He was the one who didn't need school. Okay, take that back. He did need school. He was just an average student, nothing stellar, but he didn't want to be at school. It was a waste of eight hours of the day. Or was it?

He had always liked going to school before. He showed up on time, participated in class. What had caused him to change his outlook?

Virgil was in thought as he reached up to knock and felt nothing but air. He looked down and Charlie was standing in the door with a surprised look on his face.

"Yeah?" Charlie asked.

"Oh, sorry…I don't know why I'm here." Virgil said backing away. He took off across the lawn and toward the bus stop. He needed to get home and sleep. Obviously something was going on that he didn't quite understand.

He didn't even glance back this time. He knew Charlie probably thought either he was sick or losing it. Neither sounded like a good option.

Sleep, that was all he needed. Amy woke him up to early and he didn't get enough sleep. Virgil thought about searching for one of his parent's ambien and sleeping the rest of the day. That way all this madness would go away.

He was Virgil, popular funny guy. Wasn't he?

/GG/

Sleep came easy and the next thing he knew it was Monday morning, about four AM. It was nice, his parents letting him sleep. Then he remembered, they went over to visit his grandparents so they probably went to church and left without even realizing he had slept for the better part of the weekend. Oh well, he wasn't thinking about the dreams or being someone other than the one who was looking back at him from the mirror, so problem solved.

Virgil walked downstairs and raided the refrigerator for something, anything. He felt like he hadn't eaten in a week. He grabbed a chicken leg out of the fridge and walked over toward the television. There had to be something on somewhere.

He found an episode of 'Star Trek' called 'Mirror, Mirror'. Then he flipped to an episode of 'Stargate Sg1' called 'Ripple Effect'. After that he flipped to the movie channels and found the movie "Scrooged'. Had he actually been paying attention he might have found that to be too much of a coincidence not to look deeper into the meaning. As it was, he was too hungry to notice, so he watched the movie till school started.

It was like any other day, except he actually showed up for school on time. Something he hadn't accomplished for almost two weeks. It felt right. He smiled at everyone as he entered into the building and walked toward his first class. A couple of his classmates gave him the thumbs up for showing up on time and a few girls came forward and walked with him a short distance. He liked the attention.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw someone pass in the same direction he and his posse were traveling. He recognized the build and ran after him.

"Zeke! Wait up man." He said as he caught up.

Zeke looked at him with raised eyes. "Who are you and what do you want?" He asked in a hushed tone.

"It's me…Virgil." Virgil noticed Zeke didn't recognize him. "We're fri…" He then noticed everyone in the hallway was watching the scene play out. "Ends?"

"In what universe?" Zeke asked walking away and shaking his head.

For a moment Virgil didn't know what happened. It was like he was being pulled in two directions. Zeke was his friend. He knew that deep down, so why did the guy act as if he didn't have a clue who he was?

"Virgil?"

He turned around and looked at Stephanie and Derek; eyes wide as saucers.

"What's going on with you Virg, you've been acting strange for a few days? You get slammed on the head or something?" Derek asked without a hit of concern.

"I don't know." Virgil said softly. "Wait a minute."

Virgil walked away. Everyone in the hallway watched as he pushed his way through the crowd and grabbed poor Eugene by the collar and pulled him back toward Derek.

"I believe you owe us something." He said, crossing his arms over his chest and staring the cowering Eugene down.

"I'm s-s-sorry Virgil. I didn't b-bring it." Eugene stammered.

Virgil eyed the rest of the student body. It was time to live up to his little coven's name. He grabbed Eugene by the collar and with Derek's help, hoisted him over his head and placed him into the organic waste bin. He knew that the kids that ate breakfast threw their excess organics in there, but a bunch of people tended to either spit or vomit in there too if the mood was right.

There was a definite squishing sound as Eugene's head touched bottom and Virgil felt a sense of accomplishment as the jocks and stoners patted him on the back in congratulations. Even Stephanie was smiling, though she was doing an awfully good job of keeping the smile down to a minimum.

Eugene had borrowed some money from both Virgil and Derek during one of Virgil's loan shark mistakes. He was supposed to bring it back on Friday, but Virgil wasn't there. He was going to have to start charging more interest.

"Now Eugene, don't make me think it was a mistake in giving you that money." Virgil said, leaning toward the can and crinkling his nose. It had the most disgusting smell.

"Hey…a…Virg." Derek whispered. "Just so you know, there's Doug McClain's vomit in there along with dog poop Tolkan picked up from the sidewalk today."

Virgil stood up and looked at Derek with a grin on his face. "That is bad." He started to snicker. "Now, turd head, bring my money tomorrow or I'm gonna do this again."

There was a round of applause and cheers from the outer students. Mainly because they didn't want to be next on Virgil's rampage. So it goes.

Just as he was about to leave though, Eugene stood up and pulled his slime covered face out of the can. Virgil got another flash and all but passed out at what he had just done.

"Oh my word!" He said leaving his pack and making his way back to poor Eugene. "Eugene, I am so sorry."

If Virgil hadn't been the one to just push Eugene into the can everyone would have thought for a moment he was actually serious.

"Yeah, let me fix it for you." Brett said, sneezing into a tissue and then sticking it into Eugene's mouth.

"Cut it out Brett." Virgil snarled and put a hand on Eugene's shoulder, touching the slime as he went.

The smell was pungent and it made Eugene vomit down the front of himself and onto the floor.

"Ewww." Chorused a bunch of people as Virgil rubbed Eugene's back, getting himself dirty in the process.

"Come on Gene, let's get you cleaned off." Virgil said, trying to lead Eugene away.

"No." He said, pulling his arm free. "Why would I want the help of someone who doesn't care about anyone but himself?"

Eugene ran off, leaving a confused Virgil in his wake.

"What…just…happened?" Virgil asked himself. "Ohhh." He spit, looking at his covered hand. He ran out of the front door and raced toward the pool. He didn't care that the school would have to drain it, he wasn't going to let himself stay like that for the rest of the day.