I don't know what's going to happen next. I'm just going to let my fingers fly over the keyboard and see what I come up with.

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That went well. OK, I'll think about what I'm writing, but I don't know what I'll end up with yet. Thanks for reviewing, Bloodylilcorpse and Lord Candycane.

School restarted. Homework restarted. Sitting at the lunchtable with a bunch of kids I'd known since kindergarten restarted.

And that was the worrying thing. Della stuck close to me when she could. She'd managed to apply to the school by forging her parents' signatures when she had to and fobbing the school off to avoid them insisting on meeting them, and she had managed to get into my homeroom. We had pretty much all our classes together too, since our electives were all tasters this year (that would change next year).

But the thing was, all my friends were long-time friends. We always stuck together, and never had a new kid tried to break into our group. Until now.

My friends were not very accepting of Della. They didn't say anything to her, but they made it clear that she wasn't wanted by making a point of turning away to talk to another person on the table. And although they never said anything mean to Della's face, when she wasn't around, they were not at all nice.

One day, when Della said she felt like taking time off and called in sick with flu ("It's not like it's going to matter if my grades slip – you still have parents to impress, but I have nothing" she pointed out), the discussion about her really got going.

"Where's the magnet today?" Tara asked me. "Lost her charge?"

"Ha ha." I said sourly. "I guess she's ill. She doesn't exactly call and tell me if she doesn't feel well enough."

"I wish she'd never started at this school at all." Brandy said bluntly. "Or if she had to, why couldn't she pal up with another new kid, instead of always hanging around us?"

"Oh, she has her reasons." Ginny laughed unkindly. "It's obvious. She's been attaching herself to Brooke ever since she got here. She doesn't want to hang with a new kid – she wants to be one of us because she wants to be Brooke's best friend."

All eyes turned to me. I didn't know what to say. "Well...um...you see, the thing is..."

"Oh, don't act like you haven't noticed, girl!" Ginny said impatiently. "She always sits next to you, is always talking to you, and is only interested in you. She doesn't care about the rest of us. She just likes Brooke."

Emily, who so far had said nothing, leaned forward, eyes round. "I don't get it, though. Why would she just want to have one friend and not the rest of us?"

This had gone far enough. I cleared my throat. "I introduced her to you during the summer, remember? Didn't I say how I knew her?"

My friends shook their heads.

"We were at camp together." I explained. "And Della's shy. I'm sure she does want to be friends with you all, too, but she's more comfortable talking to me because she knows me so well."

"Whatever." Brandy shrugged it off. "It doesn't mean she has an excuse to be in our group."

But Emily paused, looking around. Finally, she said "I'm willing to give her a chance. Why not? Just because we don't know her doesn't mean she's not nice."

There was a long pause. Then Tara smiled. "Okay. I'll give her a chance if you want to, Em. Just one chance, though."

"I'm not going to." Brandy said stubbornly, eyeballing Ginny, just daring her to agree with us.

She just shrugged. "I'm not going to take sides. I won't hinder her chances, or make things easier for her, but I bet that even if you give her a chance, you'll see I'm right. She only wants Brooke as a friend."

I told Della about that conversation that night. She thought about it, and then said "I guess they're sort of right. I'm only trying to be in your group because of you, but it doesn't mean I don't want their friendship. All I want is to be part of your group. Now that I'm out of the camp, it would be nice if I could just do whatever I want." She paused, looking thoughtful. Then she grinned mischievously. "Think it would change anything if I told them the truth about myself?"

"You're kidding!" I said incredulously. "I mean, you didn't tell me until I asked. And imagine their reactions! Tara's pretty unscarable, but Emily would freak out, Brandy would hate you even more, and Ginny would straightaway think you were up to something."

Della gave a shrug. "We'll just see what happens. Maybe when I know them better, I'll tell them. But if you're so convinced it'll scare the girl who actually said she'd give me a chance, I'll keep quiet for now." She suddenly made herself transparent and floated a few inches in the air, not too near to the ceiling but clearly above the ground.

"I feel like I'm hallucinating when you do that." I commented.

Della laughed at me. "You know you can do that, too. Why don't you? Maybe it'll feel more real when you're flying."

So I willed myself up a few inches too. Della grinned and we both "sky strolled" outside, making ourselves invisible so we wouldn't scare anyone.

Onward, Della found being in our group a little easier. She made an effort to talk to some of my other friends, to the point that Ginny had to admit she was wrong. As for Brandy, she stopped making things hard for Della. She still didn't initiate any conversation, but she stopped pointedly trying to talk to another member of our group when Della addressed a comment towards her. Although, the person in our group Della got along best with turned out to be Tara. We considered her the "brave" one of the group because she showed no fear, loved horror movies, and kept watching R-16 things with her older brother (apparently she made him let her watch, but he got into big trouble if his parents found out he let her watch them too). But something about Della appealed to her. Maybe it was the sly, sinister part of Della. She had such a sweet personality, it was easy to forget that she'd once lured preteens to the woods to have them die like her. Of course, Tara didn't know of that, but she seemed to sense it, and before long, when Della wasn't with me or the whole of our group, she and Tara would be whispering to each other and cracking up laughing.

Life was starting to get on track. Nothing could make me happier.

Yeah, Brooke, I totally believe that you're enjoying life...er...death. And I just want to know...anyone get the reference with the names of Brooke's friends? And just so you know, despite any similarities they may have to their namesakes (hint hint), they are not the same people. Bonus points if you can name the four books I'm referencing!