'sup, guys? As you can see, I kinda lied about the dream only being for Lili. Whatever. I like this chapter. READ IT.

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It was poison. Sabotage. Treason. It had to be. There was no other possible explanation. Her head reeled. She spilled the contents of her stomach on the floor. How…why…of all people, how could she, Lili Zanatto, daughter of the Grand Head of the Psychonauts, not see this coming? She kneeled over. She started to take short, shallow, breaths. She-

"Jeez, Lili. The cafeteria mashed potatoes aren't THAT bad." Joelle rolled her eyes at the scene that was unfurling before her. Lili hoisted herself back up into her seat, rather pained, and said through her teeth,

"This is worse than Cruller's." Lili used her index finger to poke her friend's nose, "and if it's worse than Cruller's, it's BAD." She nearly collapsed on the table.

"C'mon, it can't be that bad! I think they just hired a new chef, actually." Joelle said, giggling.

Lili lay her head on the table, panting. "I guess they cut corners. And by cut corners, I mean all of them. By about ten feet."

"Look, I'll try it," Joelle groaned, "and prove to you that it's not toxic." Joelle almost literally ate her words as she put the spoonful of mashed potatoes n her mouth. The effects were almost instantaneous. She froze in her spot, a tortured and pained look in her eyes. She began to pale. She dropped the spoon and fell to the floor, lying absolutely still, save the occasional random convulsion or twitch.

Lili smiled a little as she weakly mumbled, "I told you so."

About an hour later, the two were on their way to advanced algebra. Joelle was going on and on about how people who didn't believe in global warming were idiots, and Lili wasn't really paying attention, just nodding and saying 'uh-huh' every now and then. Her mind was on other things. Like how she was that close to becoming a Psychonaut when her dad put her in this hellhole school. And what the hell was in the mashed potatoes. And Raz. She missed him. Badly. The good news was that this was actually second semester, so summer wasn't too far away. The problem was, would Raz's dad let him go to camp?

She noticed something out of the corner of her eye. A tall, black-haired, wannabe body builder. This wasn't the part that bugged her. She had seen far weirder people in camp. No. What bugged her was that…that thing he was doing…she nudged Joelle.

"Hey, Jo…"Lili called her friend by her nickname, "what's up with that idiot's eye?" At first the strawberry-blond girl was confused, as she didn't know what Lili was talking about. Until Lili pointed it out. Then Joelle cringed.

"Oh…uh…that's not good." Joelle said with as much pain in her voice as she had when she ate the killer mashed spuds earlier that day.

"What? Is it some sort of deadly optic fungus?"

"I wish. That…" Joelle pointed to the guy again, who wasn't looking at Lili anymore, "…is Joe Toidi. He winked at you."

"What?!?"

"Yeah, it's a thing he's got going on. He does it almost every year. He picks a girl that he likes, and then obsesses over them." Joelle nervously whispered in her friend's ear.

"I'm gonna kill that idiot SOOOO much…" Lili almost flew into a rage upon hearing this.

"Yeah, I know. It's terrible. Nobody does anything because nobody knows except the girls that he chooses." Joelle shook her head and blushed deeply. Not a blush of admiration, but of embarrassment. "First, he just gives you a wink in the hall. Nothing big. But then he starts stalking you. Then he approaches you, and tries to get everyone away from you so that he'll have you all to himself."

"Sounds kinda like Elka. She was this girl at my summer camp, and she did almost exactly that to J.T." Lili mused.

"…after that, it's not too long until the most horrible part occurs. He comes up to you one day in the hallway…and…and…shoves his tongue down your throat." Joelle shivered at the very thought.

"Wow…but…you said that only girls that he did it to know how it works…how do you…?" Lili didn't even have to finish her sentence.

"Because," Joelle sighed, nearly throwing up, "I was that girl one year."

That night, Lili got into her bed, thinking of ways to torture that boy.

"G'night looser!" Robbi shouted to Lili on her way to her bunk.

"IN. THE. MIDDLE. OF. LIBYA." Lili yelled through her teeth, seething. Great. Just what she needed before hitting the sack. With all this anger, how was she ever going to fall asleep?

Okay, Lili…relax…think of calm things…think of things that make you happy…About five minutes later, when the lights were being shut down for the night.

She stretched her arms and yawned. Ugh. Morning. Lili hated mornings. She just wanted to lie there forever…in the warmth of the sun…in the relaxing sound of the waves crashing delicately against the shore…in the warm sand…wait…Lili quickly got to her feet. Where was she? This wasn't Hagatha Home. She took in her surroundings…she was back at camp? On the shores of lake Oblongata? What the hell was going on? Then she remembered falling asleep…she relaxed. Lili was obviously in the dreamscape.

She heard a rustling behind her in the odd, overgrown plants on the shore. "H-hello?" She conjured up a blanket of her pink aura to shroud her fists. "I'm warning you…These psi-fists not only hurt, they can set stuff on fire. So you'd better come out before…" she felt a breath…two breaths on the back of her neck. Pumping with adrenaline, she turned her psychic fists into a giant, razor-sharp psi-blade as she spun around to face her opponent, putting the edge of the sword to their neck.

"Uh…hi?" Razputin said dazedly, in shock over the fact that his girlfriend had just tried to kill him. Lili lowered the psi-blade, in just as much shock as Raz. She broke out in a huge grin, and knocked him to the ground with a hug.

"You moron! Never do that to me again!" Lili promptly glomped him, knocking Raz to the ground.

"Okay, only if you promise not to strangle me with another bear hug." But he was laughing, and hugged her back. The two sat like that on the shore of the dreamscape Oblongata for a long time, Lili clutching Raz, and Raz clutching her back, occasionally running his fingers through her long hair.

"You know what my favorite part is about all this?" Lili sighed, eyes closed.

"I dunno. What?" Raz said honestly.

"Guess."

"Hm...Let's see…" He put his free hand to his forehead, about to read his girlfriend's mind. You're real. Raz smiled at this small thought coming from Lili. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"You cheater!" Lili yelled at him, more jokingly than anything. "I mean that…I know that you're not just a figment of my imagination. You're the real deal, more or less."

"I still don't get it."

"I know you're not a figment of my imagination…" Lili got a little closer to Raz, "…because otherwise, you'd seem cold and empty."

"Yeah. Kinda hard to have a boyfriend like that." Raz giggled.

"You idiot." Lili said as she pressed her lips against his. The two stayed in that position for a good minute and a half before pulling away. Suddenly, an odd noise was heard…it reminded Raz of the Meat Circus…someone in the distance was calling his name…

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Spare a reveiw, ma'am? I really need it. I wanna get better.

...that aside...expect the plot to actually go somewhere next chapter.

NINJA OUT.