Thanks for the reviews!

Boris Yeltsin – Thanks. I'm glad to hear that.

Exintaris – Thanks for your reviews. I decided to develop the friendship between Joey and Anna because I think the two work well together that way. I'm still trying to figure out how Anna fits into the others' lives. As of now, she's friends with Joey, hated by Ross, confused by her feelings for Chandler, and confused by the three girls in general.

Side note: I realized that I accidentally referred to apartment 20 as "apartment 19" in chapter 9. Oops.

I hope you guys enjoy!


Chapter 11 – They're Squares and I'm a Circle

I don't even like Monopoly.

What am I doing?

How do I even play this game?

Does it ever end?

My little metal dog moves along the board, finally reaching Go, and Monica hands me two pieces of paper money for some reason.

Don't look confused. Just take the money. Don't look confused.

I smile and take the money, trying to look like I actually care about this stupid Canadian money. I don't even know how anyone knows how much money they have. The faint glow from the candles barely illuminates the Monopoly board, and all this money looks the same to me.

As I wait for my next turn, I quickly become bored, so I find a pen and some napkins to doodle on. I have to illustrate this children's book about a group of circles who move into a community of squares, which is supposed to be an obvious metaphor for racism, but I keep thinking about the fact that, for the life of me, I cannot draw the straight edges of the squares. And then I start thinking about the fact that Monopoly is made up of squares, and the other three girls seem to like Monopoly, but I don't like Monopoly, so does that make me a freak or something? Maybe Monica, Rachel, and Phoebe are the squares, and I'm the circle—and we're all white, so it can't necessarily be a metaphor for racism, now can it? Maybe it's just discrimination in general. Not to say that these women are discriminating against me. Hell, I'm the one who suggested Monopoly.

Why am I so upset about a stupid board game, anyway?

"Anna." I'm pulled out of my thoughts by a voice calling my name. "Anna," Rachel says, trying to get my attention and looking quite relieved when she finally does. "It's your turn."

"Oh, sorry," I say meekly. I'm about to take my turn when I suddenly stop and announce, "I'm bored. Let's do something else."

I expect the other women to give me incredulous looks and question how I could possibly be bored with Monopoly. I expect them to think of me as some freak, some circle, but instead I get nods of agreement.

"Yeah, this game sucks," Rachel says, knocking over all her little houses with a wave of her hand.

"Seriously, why did you even suggest it?" Monica asks me as she puts the pieces into neat little Ziplocs.

"So it's agreed that we all hate Monopoly?" I say.

"Oh, definitely," Phoebe replies.

I watch as Monica places the lid on the box and puts the game away. "Cool. So . . . what now?"

The three seem to think about this for a while—so long that Joey and Paolo wind up returning to the apartment during that time. Oh well—I tried to keep the weird Italian man away. I tried.

Joey storms in with an angry presence. "So apparently it's 'rude' and 'pervy' to ask a woman if she wants a little company during a blackout." He grabs a beer from the refrigerator and makes his way over to the couch. "You're right, Anna: I do need pointers." He sits down and takes a sip of his beer. He then gets this look on his face like he's just realized something, and he says, "And now that I think about it, so do you."

"Um, excuse you?" I ask, thoroughly insulted.

"Yeah, you're the one who told me to go hit on women during a blackout," Joey accuses me. "This is all your fault!"

I glance over at the other women, and all three seem incredibly confused—and they mostly seem that way because they're paying attention to me and Joey instead of Paolo, who's still standing awkwardly by the door.

"It's, um, a long story," I tell them, hoping they'll be satisfied with just that. I turn back to Joey. "Okay, do I look like an expert on women?" I defend myself.

"Well, you are a woman, so . . ." He trails off.

I roll my eyes. "I told you: Girls confuse me."

He sighs and sits back, sinking himself deeper into the couch. "Whatever." He drinks his beer. "When will the lights come back on, anyway?"

Monica joins the conversation then. "My mom said on the phone that it could be any minute." We all look up at the ceiling, as if expecting the power to come back the moment Mon says that. Nothing happens. She shrugs. "Worth a try."

Of course, the lights come on a second later.

"Well look at that."

My eyes burn from the sudden light, and I have to close them and give them a moment to adjust to the brightness. After all our eyes have made their adjustments, Monica asks out of the blue, "So, where's Ross?"

"No idea," I say. "He left a little while ago. Hey, does the power coming back on mean that Chandler will be back soon?"

"Yeah, I guess," she says casually before turning her attention to Paolo, followed by Phoebe and Rachel.

Chandler is actually not back soon at all. I wait and wait for hours. It's gotten quite late, and though I originally planned to go to bed over four hours ago, I currently cannot seem to bring myself to fall asleep. Finally, overcome with worry, I decide to call Chandler. Monica and Rachel are still up, but Phoebe and Joey both became tired about an hour ago, so they went to their respective bedrooms and presumably have been asleep since then.

Chandler doesn't pick up, so I leave a message. "Hey, Chan. I don't mean to bother you. It's just that it's"—I check the time on the stove—"almost three in the morning, and we haven't heard from you in a few hours, so I just wanted to check to be sure that everything is—"

He picks up then. "Hello? Anna?"

"Hey," I greet him. "Where are you?"

"With Jill." He sounds happy. Why does that annoy me so much?

"Oh. Where are you guys?"

"Um, we decided to get some food. Since we both missed dinner."

"Okay."

"So we're at a restaurant."

I nod, though I'm vaguely aware that he can't see me. A second later, I say, "Wait, like a date?"

"Um. Sorta."

Oh. "What are you talking to me for, then? You're on a date. That's a bit rude."

"Well, you called me," he says. "Plus, Jill just went to use the restroom."

"Okay."

"She's coming back, actually. I'm gonna go, now. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Bye."

"Bye."

He hangs up. I place the phone back on its stand.

Well, crap.


I hope you guys enjoyed!