This chapter involves another favourite female character, really bad maths pick up lines, occasional language, and mild slash. Oh and by the way - trust me when I say that the characters in this chapter have a good reason for acting the way they are.

Also to all the readers/reviews who haven't watched Mean Girls - don't worry! The story is going to make perfect sense without the background knowledge. To all the readers/reviewers who have watched it... four for you, Glen Coco. You go Glen Coco!

I didn't get much sleep that night—I was tossing and turning, my head buzzing with everything new I've learnt and the friends I've made. Fingon was dating Maedhros! That Lúthien girl was so pretty! Celegorm was a stunner. And most surprisingly, he and his brothers were… actually really nice?

And fun. It was always fun when Fëanorians were involved.

The next morning Fingon gave me a ride to school, still driving so quickly that we had several near-death experiences before we got to the carpark. He dropped me off outside my maths class, ruffled my already-messy dark hair, and said "Be good, sis." And that was it. He was off.

I walked in alone, and chose a seat near the back of the class. I mean sure, I liked maths. I was good at it. But that was back home, one-on-one with my tutor. Who knew what level of maths this class was up to?

But as I soon found, I didn't have to worry. It was dreadfully easy—honestly, I could solve these equations in my sleep. So when the lights dimmed and we began to watch a video, I felt my eyelids growing heavier and my head falling into my hands... until the guy in front of me turned around.

Suddenly wide awake, my face turned as white as my dress.

It was the creepy guy who had spilled juice on me in the cafeteria yesterday, and he had obviously not been cowed by Curufin's threats.

"Hey princess," he murmured, winking at me, "you bored? Me too, the only number I care about is yours."

I rolled my eyes. "No thanks."

He only leered at me. "Would you like to see the exponential growth of my natural log?"

My mouth dropped open in horror. "No! Now shut up!" I looked around—everyone was still distracted by the video, and nobody heard him. Please don't continue, please just shut up…

"But princess, you're too distracting. Can I plug my solution into your equation?"

I gritted my teeth and turned away, staring stubbornly at the wall and refusing to acknowledge his presence. Maybe if I ignored him for long enough…

But then a new voice hissed, "Ëol, shut the fuck up this instant or I will crack your skull open with a mace."

I looked over at the girl next to me who had spoken. She had her hair up in a messy ponytail, and fiery eyes that were glaring straight at the creepy guy, Ëol. She cracked her knuckles and, with a disappointed grimace, Ëol turned back to the front.

My sigh of relief was audible. "Thanks," I whispered to my neighbour.

She grinned. Her teeth were crooked and the laugh lines around her eyes were genuine. "Don't mention it. He's always been a lecherous creep." She extended a hand towards me. "I'm Haleth."

I shook it, smiling back. "Aredhel."

"Nice to meet you. Don't worry about him," she said, jerking her head towards Ëol, "next time we can swap seats. He knows not to mess with me."

If possible, my smile grew wider. "Appreciate it." Then, because I wanted to continue chatting but couldn't think of anything else to say, I asked, "How's the video? I haven't exactly been paying attention."

Haleth snorted, glancing at the projector which currently seemed to be explaining the Fibonacci sequence. "Damned if you ask me. I hate this stupid subject."

I chuckled quietly. "Yeah, me too." I avoided mentioning that the reason I hated it was because it was too easy.

"Listen, Aredhel, I'm throwing a party tonight, starts at 8. Back for another dull year, you know the drill. You seem pretty cool, wanna come? It'll be medieval fantasy themed."

I brightened. Second day of school, and already invited to a party? "You bet! Can I bring some friends?"

"Sure, bring all the girls you like. As for the guys, only bring the hot ones." The two of us shared a quiet laugh at the back of the class. "And make sure you dress up," Haleth added, "people take these things pretty seriously."

When the bell rang, Haleth had to rush off to another class in a different building, but not before we exchanged numbers and she texted me her address. By the time I had finished packing up my things, the classroom was almost empty—to my relief, Ëol had also left quickly. But just as I headed out the door, someone stepped out in front of me.

"Hey," he said. I almost didn't recognise him because he looked so different with his hair down, but it was my cousin Maglor.

"Hi," I said, and then ran out of things to say.

"Nice to see you at our house yesterday. Well, I didn't actually see you, but I heard you." He suppressed a grimace, as though our conversation had seriously interrupted his music. I was going to give a heart-hearted apology, but he quickly moved on. "Anyway listen, you wouldn't happen to play any instruments, would you?"

Why are you asking me? I thought, but replied, "Yeah, I kinda play guitar." Fingon had taught me as a kid, but I'm pretty sure he only learned it to impress Maedhros.

Maglor brightened. "Sweet. Do you want to join our band? We get extra funding if we have a girl, and we'd really like some t-shirts."

Almost instinctively, I looked down at his t-shirt. Like Caranthir's it was a band t-shirt, but unlike Caranthir's metal bands, it seemed to be referencing some obscure classical music joke that I didn't get.

"Some new t-shirts," Maglor clarified, going slightly pink. "This one is kind of dated."

Our maths teacher, Ms. Nienna, looked up from her desk, where she had been putting the last of her papers into a folder. "You know it's a good idea, Aredhel," she said, nodding encouragingly at m. "It'd be fun and you can put it on your CV."

"Yeah," I said absent-mindedly, but then realised that I actually did agree. It would be fun to have a group to jam out with once in a while. "Sure, that sounds great."

Maglor beamed. I was mildly freaked out because his expressions always looked perpetually melodramatically sad, and seeing him smile was a bit… weird. "Cool," he said happily. "Practice is 4-6 every Wednesday at our cousin Finrod's. You know where he lives, right?"

Today was a Wednesday. I wracked my memory to remember what suburb Finrod lived in. "Yeah, Nargothrond right? I can't come tonight though, there's a party on."

"Oh yeah, Haleth's. She managed to convince us to play for her tonight, so I'll be there. See you." Maglor left whistling what sounded like a Mozart concerto, which I supposed was as cheerful as classical music got.

That left me and Ms. Nienna. I tried to awkwardly shuffle out of the class without her noticing, but she caught me.

"A party already? A bit irresponsible, isn't it? It's only the second day of school." I had the feeling that Ms. Nienna might be making fun of me, but though she was nice enough, she never smiled so I couldn't be sure.

"It's just a small thing," I said, trying to brush it off. "Just to celebrate starting school again."

Ms. Nienna picked up her belongings and her eyes twinkled knowingly. "With Haleth, it's never just a small thing."

Turns out, Ms. Nienna was right.

I spent the rest of the day frantically making my costume with Fingon and Maedhros, who had come over. He came under the pretence that the Three C's were driving him mad, but I was pretty sure he just wanted to spend time with my brother. Since the theme was medieval fantasy, Fingon was dressing up as King Arthur or something—he spent an hour trying to get his crown right—and Maedhros was going as the wizard Merlin. Which is dumb because they made a whole TV show about that romance and Fingon still hasn't admitted to me that he's dating Maedhros.

As for me? I'm going as that warrior princess chick Éowyn from Lord of the Rings. She wears white too and damn, she's cool. I briefly considered dressing Turgon up as a Nazgul so I could stab him in the face with my wooden sword, but he was against that idea, for some reason.

"Do you know what your brothers are going as?" I asked Maedhros, partly out of sheer curiosity, and partly out of the unlikely hope that Celegorm was dressing up as Faramir.

"Maglor's going as an elf." Maedhros rolled his eyes. "A minstrel bard is so clichéd. But I think the Three C's are going as princes, which is even worse."

Princes? I brightened. Faramir was a prince, right? Not really, no, some small part of my brain informed me, but I ignored it.

"The twins aren't going?" asked Fingon.

Maedhros shook his head. "They're too young. They begged me to sneak them in but mother would kill me if she ever found out."

The party start time of 8pm came and left. In fact, 9pm wandered in, decided nah, and left too. Fingon and I had been ready for ages, but Maedhros was fussing over how his robe looked funny when he walked. I told him nobody would even notice, let alone care, but he told me that he cared, and that was enough. Why was my brother dating this guy again?

By the time we were on our way in Fingon's Porche, it was nearing 10pm and I was starving. I hoped Haleth's place had good food, because at this rate I was going to pass out from starvation before I got to dance with Celegorm. And I was definitely going to get that dance, because this white dress was gorgeous. It had beautiful flowing sleeves and the skirt floated airily along when I balanced precariously on my shining stilettos. On top of that, a leather corset accentuated my figure—it had once belonged to my great-grandmother, who bought it like 300 years ago or whenever corsets were still in fashion.

Oh, and the wooden sword strapped to my side. Can't forget about that.

The party was already in full swing by the time we parked next to Haleth's house. It wasn't very big, certainly nothing like my place, but it had a huge backyard that was rigged with flashing lights and bunting and streamers flowing from some huge trees.

By the time we entered, we weren't even fashionably late anymore—we were just late. The food was already half-eaten, and Maglor and his band were rocking out on a makeshift stage near the side. And I don't care if he came second-best in some stupid contest last year, his voice was the best I had ever heard.

Haleth let out a shout of delight when she saw us come in. She came over and squeezed the breath out of my lungs with a hug, almost toppling me over in the process. "Nice to see you could make it," she said, grinning. Her cheeks were flushed red—the party had started, after all—but she was still fine on her feet. "And these guys are your friends?"

"My brother Fingon and our cousin Maedhros," I said, gesturing.

"Wow," said Haleth, sounding impressed, "your family has good genes."

"Thanks," was all I could think to say.

But I was rescued from making further conversation by a loud, familiar voice.

"Aredhel!"

It was Celegorm, practically pushing the crowd aside to get to me. Curufin and Caranthir followed, both looking as though they'd rather be somewhere else. They were all wearing tunics or something, elaborately decorated with all sorts of golden thread and jewellery. Still, the only way I could tell they were supposed to be princes was by the crown on each of their heads.

Celegorm pulled me into an embrace, and I almost lost my balance for the second time that night. "You look good, Aredhel." His words were slightly slurred and I could smell the alcohol in his breath, but they still meant a lot to me.

"You guys are late," said Caranthir accusingly, glaring daggers at Maedhros, as though he knew it was his fault.

Celegorm reluctantly let me go, sensing trouble, but Maedhros just shrugged. "Perfection takes time." He swirled his robes dramatically and left with Fingon, presumably to find some food or make out in a bush somewhere.

Haleth was glaring at the Three C's—she had probably heard of their reputation, but I still felt a need to introduce them. "These are my other cousins," I told her. "Celegorm, Caranthir, and Curufin."

"Oh," scoffed Haleth, looking at the Three C's disparagingly. "I did wonder who had invited these guys. I remember explicitly telling Maglor not to, but if you're Aredhel's guests I can't exactly kick you out."

I felt my face flush. Oops.

"What?" Caranthir snapped, "Do you think we gate-crashed?"

"Wouldn't put it past you," Haleth said coolly.

My cousin took a step forward, his face turning dangerously ruddy. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Curufin put a hand on Caranthir's shoulder, and steered him firmly backwards. "Brother, let's not upset the host." He turned to Haleth with a cold smile. "Don't worry, we'll behave ourselves."

"Whatever," muttered Caranthir, his face still red, "let's go get food." This was something I could definitely get behind. We weaved our way through the crowd towards the food tables, and I was so hungry that I ate my way through three cold chicken wings and two tasteless hot dogs before I realised that Celegorm hadn't followed us to the food.

"Where's…?"

The question died on my lips when I spotted his familiar blond hair in the crowd. He had stopped to talk with someone with long, raven hair, and as I craned my neck to get a better view, the stranger turned towards me.

My face paled.

It was the gorgeous girl I had seen at the cafeteria yesterday, Lúthien Tinúviel. She was wearing in a stunningly beautiful grey dress and around her neck was a necklace with a shining gemstone. The tips of two pointed ears were just visible through her shimmering dark hair—the Elven Princess look suited her perfectly. Maedhros' words echoed in my mind. I think Celegorm's obsessed with her.

Celegorm's obsessed with her.

I could feel my whole world crumbling around me, but I couldn't tear my eyes away. Celegorm brushed a piece of hair out from her perfect eyes, he hooked his other hand around her waist, and…

I screamed, but no sound came out. My jaw hung limply, my eyes were wide, my stomach felt like it was going to fall out my butt. I had this lump in my throat like after you dry-swallow a big pill. Celegorm was making out with Lúthien—actually, it looked more like he was trying to eat her face off, but I digress—he was kissing her right in front of me!

Without a word, I stormed away, my vision blurring with tears. I hated Celegorm, I hated him, and his two brothers as well! I was so stupid to befriend them! Why did I ever think I had a chance with him? Lúthien was so much prettier than me, and anyway, he was my cousin!

Half-cousin, said the small voice in my head, but I silenced that too.

I stumbled out onto the sidewalk, tripped over air and crashed painfully onto the concrete. I gasped in pain—through my tears, I could see red painting my hands and knees. I threw off my stilettos furiously and took off running bare-foot, ignoring the fact that Haleth's house in Brethil was at least half an hour drive from Hithlum, where I lived.

I hadn't been running for long when a familiar-looking car with high-beam headlights pulled over and Fingon jumped out. "What happened to you sis?" he shouted, gaping at my tear-stained face, bloody hands and knees, torn dress and lack of shoes.

I stubbornly blinked away the last of my tears. "Long story," I said, hiccupping, and my brother laughed despite himself.

"Come on, let's go home. And please be quiet up the stairs. If father sees you like this he'll skin me alive."

We dropped Maedhros off on the way home, then crept up the stairs like thieves in the night. It wasn't even that late—barely midnight—but our parents and Turgon slept early like the good citizens of society they were, leaving Fingon and I to be the mischief makers.

We entered my room, and turned on the light. I washed my face and Fingon dressed my wounds, and I felt a rush of gratitude towards my brother, who had really tried so hard to be the best brother he could be. "Thanks," I murmured, as he bandaged my knee. It was a big deal—I had always taken him for granted.

He grinned in reply. "Just wear pants tomorrow sis, and our parents won't even notice." He sat beside me on my bed and suddenly looked serious. "Now, do you want to tell me what happened?"

So I spilled everything. From Curufin's bottle of vodka hidden in his bookshelf to Celegorm's giant dog to Ëol being creepy, I left no stone unturned.

Fingon was looking decidedly worried by the time I had finished.

"Aredhel," he said gently, "why does it sound like you like Celegorm?"

Because I do, said my brain, but I kept my mouth firmly shut.

"He's your cousin," Fingon admonished.

My mouth couldn't keep shut any longer. "Yeah but he's my half-cousin," I blurted out.

"That only makes it half better! Besides, you know how father is always going on about how we should consider them full cousins, share the family love and everything."

"Yeah but…" I wracked my brain for some sort of comeback. "It's not like you can talk! You're dating Maedhros!"

I clapped my hands to my mouth as soon as those words slipped from my mouth. Fingon's eyes narrowed and he suddenly jerked away from me, as though I had slapped him.

"How do you know that?" my brother said quietly.

I mumbled something that was muffled by my hand, but he pulled my hand away and forced me to speak. "The Three C's told me," I whispered, my heart threatening to jump out of my throat. "Please brother, I didn't mean to find out, it was an accident. And—and I didn't tell you I knew because I wanted you to open up to me in your own time. But it's not like I care who you're dating, actually I—I think Maedhros is great for you, you guys are cute together, even if—even if he is our half-cousin," I finished lamely.

Fingon stared at me for a long moment, silent. I cursed my tongue for running on, certain that he was going to explode at any moment. Probably kick me out of the house and never speak to me again. But after what felt like several hours, he managed a smile.

"Love doesn't give a rat's ass about gender or bloodline," he said.

That was probably the most profound thing I had ever heard my brother say. I tried to follow it up with something equally profound. "And I no longer give a rat's ass about Celegorm." Okay, that wasn't quite as deep as I thought it would be, but whatever. "I should have listened to you from the start. The Three C's are evil."

Fingon bit his lip, deep in thought. "We can fix this," he said at length. "I have a plan."

Now, before you all flame and murder me, trust me when I say Lúthien has a very good reason for doing this, and it will be entirely in character once it's revealed. What is this reason? You'll have to wait to find out ;)