After the weekend ended, it was back to school for me. Now it was revenge time. I grabbed a Kaltein bar before heading off to school and made sure to keep it until lunch. I got it out as the plastics sat down.

"What's that?" Regina asked.

"Oh, I'm so fat and disgusting, I use these diet bars to help you lose weight."

"I'm trying to lose three pounds. Bring me a whole box."

"Sure. I'll give it to you tomorrow

I snuck the whole box into school and handed it to her. She gladly took it and ate two bars during lunch. That was a little over a month ago and she was definitely gaining weight. Now it was time for phase two: getting Aaron far from her reaches. Me and Janis were discussing how to do this at the mall.

"If we make Gretchen think Regina is mad at her, she'll start spilling her secrets." Janis claimed.

"I won't do that, Gretchen is fragile."

"Exactly, and if we crack her we can find something we can use."

"Janis no."

"That's what you said last time."

I glared at her. "Whatever, I have to go."

"Where?"

"The plastics wanted to talk to me about something. Ta!"

"Ta!" I heard her mock me as I walked away.

I told them to pick me up by the mall entrance and that I had been there to shop for my parents' christmas presents. They believed me thus far. I waved when I saw the pink car pull up. Karen pulled me inside beside her.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"So you know how we have the Christmas talent show coming up?" Regina asked.

"Yeah?"

"Well every year we perform a, like, awesome performance."

"What kind of performance?"

"A dance one!" Karen exclaimed.

"And you really think I can handle it?"

"Sure, the coreo is pretty simple."

We arrived at her house and walked to her room, sauntering by Ms. George without a glance. Regina took us to her room and Gretchen started the music. Karen demonstrated the moves, as they deemed her the best dancer, and told me to copy her. Regina corrected me whenever I got it wrong and soon I had it half memorized.

"Good job everyone."

"This was actually kinda fun."

"Your moves are getting better, they could still use improvements though. Practice again on Wednesday."

"When's the showcase again?"

"Friday."

"Right, thank you."

"You can go now."

I scrambled quickly to my feet and left. When I got home I called Sharon. She picked up after a couple rings. I took it in the bathroom so my parents couldn't hear.

"Hey!" I heard her voice filled with joy on the other end.

"Hey."

"You sound tired."

"I am."

"What happened?"

"The plastics had me practice for the winter showcase performance."

"Rockin' around the pole?"

"Yeah, you know about it?"

"They do it every year, it's kind of a uh…"

"Tradition?"

"Reoccurring nightmare."

"Oh. You don't like it?"

"Teenage girls in red leather with short skirts dancing sexily? No, can't say I'm a fan of that. It's worse since I'm the only faculty member who can play the piano for accompaniment and the piano just happens to be at a lower angle of the stage."

"I can see why that can be problematic."

"Yeah… So are you ready for the test tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah, please don't tell me that you didn't study for it. You need to get your grade up."

"Can we please just not talk about school right now?"

"Fine, but you better not fail this one."

"I will do my best."

"So did you want to hang out Wednesday night? You could come over and watch a movie."

"Can't. Dance practice. Can we do it another day?"

"Tomorrow night I have to grade the tests and Thursday night I have work for my other job at the roller rink."

"This weekend?"

"Out of state teacher's conference."

"Next week?"

"Yeah, we can schedule something Monday if you want."

"Monday it is!"

"Cool."

I just listened to her breathe for a second.

"Goodnight Cady, make sure you get some sleep."

"Goodnight."