"That car just about damn near hit us...and I bet you anything Arturo was the driver, and he also probably put that pig Garza in charge of harassing you, Leon. I assume that he got a real kick out of it. All the torment he unleashed on you was for his own sick entertainment!" Aleida fumes.

Leon nods at her words. He remembers everything perfectly. "Yeah, I know, baby." He looks over at the rest of the Gen-Xers on their Saturday night triple date at a restaurant called Lorenzo's and holds Aleida's hand. "So, a while back, this bigoted Caucasian officer pulled me over and kept accusing me of having drugs in my vehicle when I really didn't. Benny and Julio were with me since we were waiting in the car while Aleida, Daya, and Gloria shopped at the mall. Since the boys don't look like me, that bastard accused me of kidnapping them, even after I repeated that they're my girfriend and friend's children. The kids corroborated it, too. He kept telling me, 'You're harboring immigrants and that's against the law, spook,' when finally, the ladies and Daya cut in."

"Mm-hm, we were all running to the scene and yelling at that fucker to leave Leon alone. I was the loudest, but Glo was the fastest. The dipshit called her Flo Jo because of it. He's already been sued, but it's still so traumatizing to us. My man was hella scared he'd be taken to jail," Aleida murmurs.

"Oh, wow, I'm so sorry, bro!" Fahri exclaims.

Diane puts her hand over her heart. "Yes, that's awful! I deeply apologize. Alex and the girls at first thought it was P who was trying to frame you, but when Daya mentioned shit like that happened to you guys frequently, she assumed it could've been P or someone after Gloria and her family."

"Ay dios mío, and it was the latter!" Gloria says.

Charles shakes his head. "I'm just relieved that all that mess is over with and the criminals are either dead or in the big house! I hated seeing you guys suffer."

"Me, too!" Diane and Fahri chorus.

"Well, thank you for your sentiments," Gloria tells them, squeezing their hands.

"Sí, gracias," Aleida echoes her in Spanish.

"Yeah, your support means a lot." Leon beams at his friends and they return the gesture.

"We got lucky with Carol and Barb," Diane mumbles. "I dunno how the sisters weren't out to get me since I prevented them from murdering Debbie. I was in their way, too. I'm just glad Carol preferred working at Dairy Queen. When Barb asked for a job at Friendly's, I got a bit scared and nervous but then I remembered she didn't know that I knew about the plan to kill Debbie, so I just acted natural. I thought if I didn't step on Barb's toes, I'd be fine. So to protect myself, I stuck up for Barb when others talked ill of her...including the girls! Barb wanted my help in killing Debbie, but I declined and told her I didn't like violence."

"Well, that's good. What did those hermanas locas want with our girls anyway?" Gloria wonders aloud.

"They told me they just wanted to play a game of kickball when I questioned their motives," Charles responds. "They needed teams, but I spotted their bullshit a mile away."

"I think most of the girls did, too, except Daya and Lorna, unfortunately," Leon says.

"Luckily, though, Daya's gotten off the bad path and so has Lorna!" Aleida points out.

"Barb was a horrible influence on them," Fahri murmurs.

"I know she was! Did you know she and Arturo were together?" Gloria wonders aloud, and her friends look shocked. "They were the couple from Hell, so creepy! He made me watch videos of the two of them while I was locked in the closet at first. They abused each other equally, both verbally and physically...like they had true love in some twisted way, even though it was toxic on both sides. He'd slap Barb, but she'd kick him in the nuts and break a plate over his head, for example. There was aftercare and hurting each other is just the way they connected, like S&M."

"Oh, gross!" Diane exclaims. "That does sound like Barb, though."

"They had rules and shit, if one said to stop or it hurt, the other always stopped what they were doing! It's like they actually cared about each other. He never hit her where she was cut by Carol, he knew where it was because of her scar on her cheek. He also prevented any fighting between the sisters since he didn't want her to get hurt! They knew they wouldn't die from each other's abuse. They were discussing how they enjoyed hearing their victims scream or cry out in pain and they only wish they'd just gotten me and Debbie…they ranted to each other over the fact that Barb never got Debbie and Arturo couldn't get me alone anymore these days and he didn't have the guts to kill me or Lourdes, which he didn't!" An involuntary shiver comes over Gloria. "They'd always comfort each other with, 'you'll get 'em next time!'"

"I'm happy those motherfuckers never did!" Aleida comments.

"Yeah, they were a disgusting pair!" Fahri adds.

"Like Bonnie and Clyde, or Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck," Charles realizes aloud.

"Good thing those fools are not real and dead," Leon states.

"Mm-hm," they agree.


"Don't commit credit card fraud, unless you want to go to jail!" Sister Jane is lecturing Sophia. "Trust me, I got caught trespassing at a nuclear facility and the flagpole was at the School for the Americas. Prison wasn't fun."

"Oh, yeah, you and your band of nuns!" Sophia stifles a snicker. "I remember them...Sister Jen was annoying, Sister Kennedy was a friend of yours, and then there was Sister JoAnn and Sister Patricia…"

"I know...I feel like I don't belong there sometimes. We went to a rally in Washington to stop the war in Vietnam. That was the most normal I'd ever felt."

"You should just quit being a nun and be with Gene...you can't even hear Christ!" Sophia encourages her.

"Well, actually, it'd be Carlos, if he's the same as he was when he was my boyfriend in Nicaragua in summer of eighty-eight. I think I'll get kicked out of the convent since I wrote a book called Nun Shall Pass and it was quite naughty!" Sister Jane and Sophia have a chuckle about that and Gloria joins in. "Oh, hello, Gloria! How are you?" Sister Jane asks as Gloria approaches them.

"I'm much better, and you?"

"Great! Well, divine intervention will do that to you. I'm honestly happy that you and the others were able to escape!"

Gloria beams. "Me, too." She wiggles her fingers at Sophia in a greeting. "Hey! I need a new style after being kidnapped."

Sophia smiles and waves back at her. "I understand that! So, how you want your hair?" she asks as Gloria sits in the salon chair.

"Like, to my chin with the ends curled up, thank you!"

"You're welcome."

Nita arrives and waves at them. "Looks like the week's off to a great start!"

They return the gesture and she flips through a hairstyling magazine. "Yep! So, how you doin'?" Gloria wants to know.

"Very well, thanks! Life with Debbie is wonderful." Nita responds. "You?"

"Truly relaxed. At last." Gloria chuckles through a sigh.

"I ran into Pat yesterday...he was my old friend while we were firefighters, but he dumped me after my transition, so I didn't say a word, just purposely bumped into him and strutted off!" Sophia appears proud of herself.

Gloria snickers. "That's the way to do it! Fuck 'em if they don't accept you for who you are."

"Some people are transphobic, but what I don't get is why Crystal's parents don't speak to her anymore...they don't even go to Michael's baseball games or birthday parties...he doesn't have grandparents in them."

"Aw, that sucks," Gloria says sadly. "I got no idea either. Tell her I'm sorry."

"Same here," Nita chimes in.

Sophia nods with a slight grin. "I will, thanks." When she's done, Gloria pays her and praises her for a job well done. She receives many compliments from her friends and the girls at work when they see her.

"You really like it? Not too short or nothin'?" Gloria touches her 'do and flashes Fahri a smile.

"No, I love your new look!" Fahri compliments her and her cheeks warm up.

"Aww, well, gracias!"

Fahri beams at her and it melts her heart. "De nada."


"Hey, so I just wanted to thank you for stopping Fruit of the Loom from bullying me," Blanca murmurs as she strolls into Diane's classroom before school on Monday. "You know...Chapman."

Alex's mother nods in understanding and beams at her. "You're welcome!"

"How'd it all happen anyway? I know Ouija told you, but she didn't give me many details about it. All she said was she wanted to tell a white woman because Chapman was white and in Ouija's eyes, Chapman would only listen to a white lady! Ouija could've also gone to Piper's house and told Mr. and Mrs. Chapman but they would've not believed her. So, she picked you since you were the most involved in Piper's clique's lives! It's probably what got Chapman so pissed off, but she deserved it." Blanca snickers. "Lo siento...I know your daughter liked her a lot, but she was horrible to me."

"I get it. I was glad Ouija told me, because I can't stand people who taunt others just for the fun of it. She was one of my students and I could handle Piper...for some reason, that girl was capable of respecting me, but no other adults. I had heard talk around the school that Piper was a bitch, but a student had never come to me about it before Ouija, and Ouija telling me such detailed descriptions of the bullying and name-calling caused great concern. I wanted and needed to look into things more."

Blanca giggles inside at Diane calling one of her dead tormentors a bitch. "Well, to be honest, Ouija thought I was smelly and weird looking, too, but she didn't like bullying in general."

"You weren't any of those rude things the students called you...you were just trying to survive high school like the rest of 'em!" Diane insists.

"Gracias...pero, how did you believe Ouija, if Piper was like this with you?" Blanca crosses her fingers on one hand. "I never opened up, I wasn't comfortable with doing that."

"Since I had heard a lot about Alex being bullied when she was younger until she changed elementary schools, I know how that is secondhand and I'm extra sensitive to anyone being bullied. I spoke to the other students who had been harassed and asked them if Piper was the one doing it, and some said yes. So, while it was hard to believe that Piper was guilty of the bullying and as much as I didn't want it to be true, I looked into it and even stepped in when I caught her red-handed."

"Where?" Blanca asks as her interest piques even more.

"Once I rounded the corner from the ladies' room in the science wing, I spotted her through a one-way glass window. She was yelling at someone and making them cry. Nobody expected me to be there...I knew that if she noticed me at anytime during my detective work, she'd immediately stop whatever verbal abuse she was inflicting on you or another poor soul. I also couldn't just sit in one of the stalls and wait for Piper to come in and start trash talking someone. I thought of eavesdropping at mine and Alex's trailer park where the girls had sleepovers sometimes, just to see if I could overhear some gossip that Piper was spreading to her friends. I once talked to Piper about it." Diane scoffs and rolls her eyes. "Of course, she denied everything and tried to make me tell her who the student was that started these quote, unquote 'rumors', but I told her it was strictly confidential. Piper told me in a snotty voice that she'd find out somehow. I started disliking her once I discovered what exactly she was up to."

"I'm guessing she figured it was Ouija who ratted her lousy ass out, since she started a physical fight with her once...when one of the asshole maestros broke it up, they claimed it was over a boy, but Ouija later told me it was because of panties and the fact that she tattletaled on Fruit of the Loom."

"Yeah, I heard about that!"

"I'm just glad you and Ouija put that conniving puta in her place!"

"Same here." They beam at each other and exchange a quick hug. Blanca really cannot be more grateful for her.


"I just feel awful for not doing anything about the fact that you were possibly being abused, Nicky. I'm so sorry...I should've reported what was going on, I'm a teacher and I'm mandated to do that if I suspect something amiss with a student," Diane tells her. She'd asked Nicky and Red to come to her classroom so she could discuss this with them. "I'm shocked I haven't faced six months in jail or a thousand dollar fine yet!"

The blonde girl shrugs. "It's alright! I'm in a safe place now. Vee won't ever be a problem again. It's not like any of my actual educators, including Frieda, told higher-up authorities that they thought my guardian was responsible for my injuries."

"I didn't report it either. I had no proof. I just threatened that woman. Trust me, Diane, you clearly did the right thing, because who knows what could've happened if Vee thought Nicky ratted her out!" Red points out.

"Yep, I care more about the kids than flimsy protocol." She gives Nicky a meaningful smile, and Nicky grins in return. "Nobody ever follows it in this school anyways. The rules also say when a child is telling you about being abused, you're not supposed to show disgust, but I called Joe a motherfucker and a despicable thing for what he did to Lorna!"

"As you should!" Nicky says.

"Uh, it states as well that children witnessing domestic violence is considered abuse, which I hope means the blame is only on the abuser who hurt their spouse or partner, because Gloria is a victim too! Arturo was the only abuser in this situation. Some women are just scared to leave...whether they have kids or not," Red comments.

Diane gestures to her. "Exactly! So rude of whoever wrote those laws to put that in there. It's not like Gloria caused any of it. She probably tried to get herself and her kids out of that situation so many times."

"Mm-hm," Nicky and Red say in unison.


"Man, you've gotta stop flirting with women who don't like you...I'm talkin' about Ms. McCullough," Nicky starts out at the end of Woodshop.

Luschek scoffs. "You trying to start somethin', sunshine?"

"Don't call me that." She stammers and rakes her fingers through her big hair. "No, just tired of you being, uh, misogynistic, I suppose."

He groans and scratches the back of his neck. "Judy King was right. I can't be the victim, I guess. I'm a straight white man and I'm selfish, lazy, and dirty, according to her-"

"Everyone thinks that, fuckwad!" Nicky fires back.

"Ohhh, burn!" Flaca and Michelle shout together. The rest of the class cackles.

"That's what you get for calling me a monkey!" Janae says.

"Yeah, and not even caring that I hurt myself on one of your dumbass tools!" Gina puts in.

"You deserve to have your career terminated!" Poussey yells.

"Doin' marijuana and meth behind teachers' backs and sellin' heroin!" Cindy adds.

"Don't you dare try to pin that shit on me like you did before!" Nicky's eyes are filled with fury.

Luschek ignores them. "It didn't stop Judy King and Ms. Jones from participating in a threesome with me! We were all high on molly. Judy says I'm genuine and hilarious, though, so ha!" He points at Nicky.

"I heard she also said you were selfish, lazy, and dirty!" Nicky snarls.

"She started kissing your cheerleading instructor and then she pulled me in, it was fantastic!"

Ouija wrinkles her nose. "Gross, nobody needs to know that shit!"

"Didn't your sister marry that biker named Mark from Coxsackie?" Pidge asks.

"She sure did! She thinks I'm unreliable-"

"You are, but you're still hot, papí. I loved handcuffing myself to you!" Zirconia grins flirtatiously at him with her grills showing and he pretends to gag.

"The worst part of all, moron? You admired Piss-cuntella, who fuckin' terrorized all of us!" Flaca snarls through gritted teeth.

"Hey, he was a badass leader who challenged our boss!" Luschek tries to defend himself. "He's a hero!"

"Well, your hero's dead!" Nicky snaps. "Just choke on Caputo's dingleberries and fuck you, you piece of shit! Roast in hell like the fat pig you are!"

"God damn it!" Luschek bangs a desk in frustration. "Would you show me some respect? I am your teacher!"

"That's the biggest betrayal, Luschek. We thought you were cool," Nicky mutters. "Little did we know, you were boo-hooing about the dead gorilla who used to call Lorna our pet nut!"

"Now we're aware...you're just an idiot," Alison says.

"Yeah, and a big, fat loser!" Stephanie growls.

"Well, look at you, you're humungous!" Luschek yells after her as most of the girls exit the room as fast as possible, with the exception of Zirconia.

"What a jerk," Alana comments. "I dunno what Zirconia sees in him..."

Pidge scoffs. "Me neither."


"I got away with smoking marijuana!" Baxter brags in passing at school on Tuesday.

"That's because you a white boy!" Poussey snaps. "You so stupid that you took down eight bottles of non-toxic dye, tryin' to kill yourself!" She redirects her attention back to the girls. "So anyway, I rode a subway with so much diversity! I sat next to a white dude playing a hang, four people having a conversation, a black lady reading a book called The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon, three African American friends chattering away, a Hispanic couple making out, a white woman stroking her pregnant belly, and an Asian boy around ten stealing cash from his mother's orange wallet while she was sleeping. When he put it back, I exchanged a look with an Arabian man with a blue turban who just smiled and shook his head, and at the end of the man's song, everyone clapped."

"That's beautiful!" Taystee comments and the others are equally intrigued.

"Later, I rode on the front of a monk's bicycle with bright blue lights and the wheels were decorated with colorful lights such as green, blue, red, purple, yellow. I cheered as I rode along."

"Oh, cool!" Nicky tells her.

"Yeah. So, anything neat the rest of y'all wanna share?"

"I got somethin'," Blanca pipes up. "So, it's a Mamma Mia situation with mi mamá y yo, since we don't know who my dad is between Chad, Rodrigo, and Julio!" She ticks their names off with their fingers and shrugs. The girls laugh together.

"Maybe you could get a paternity test for all of them?" Karla suggests.

"Nah. I don't need to, I'm pretty sure it's Chad." Blanca munches on Doritos, as do Flaca, Maritza, Nicky, and Shani. Lorna has a bag of Cheetos.

"Yo, her daddy's got the same name as my husband, Amanda!" Poussey exclaims, batting her eyes exaggeratedly.

"Nope, that's my man! Mackenzie, you are not gonna take him!" Taystee retorts in a hoity-toity voice and splays her hands out. She wiggles her fingers and rolls her eyes. Their friends start snickering together.

"Oh, you've got Mark! I'm with Chad!" Poussey fans herself. "Off that subject, can you believe our parents are making us tour a public school? Ugh!"

Taystee pretends to gag and she lets her tongue hang out of her mouth. "So dirty there! They don't even wear uniforms like at our highly religious private academy! I'mma have to sanitize everything!"

"Rich white girl problems, y'all!" Alison beams as she gestures toward Taystee and Poussey, who are giggling hysterically with the rest of the group.

After calming down from peals of laughter, Nicky clears her throat. "Angie the shower shitter tried to sell me crack cocaine before being thrown into the slammer."

"What?! Why didn't you tell us?" Flaca asks worriedly.

"Please don't say you relapsed..." Alex begs.

"No, no, of course not!" Nicky waves away their concerns. She gestures to Shani. "You wanna tell 'em, babe?"

"Yeah! I slapped that dumb ho in the bathroom," she announces and everyone cracks up. "She ran away like a scared little kid! I shook my fist at her, daring her to make another attempt to get Nicky back on drugs. Plus, Red threatened to poison that bitch's food." She tucks a blonde lock behind Nicky's ear. "My girl is not gonna be hooked on that shit ever again!"

"That's right! Being high is something of the past," Nicky states. "It's all behind me now."

"Yaaaaay!" Maritza claps her hands and the others cheer and high-five her.

"I haven't done much as class president besides organizing dances," Lorna admits sheepishly. She puts on bright red lipstick in her compact mirror.

They guffaw in unison and Daya gives her hand a fond pat. "It's okay. You've been occupied with other shit, we all have! It's amazing that my mom and Leon were able to throw me a fantastic super sweet sixteen birthday bash this past weekend!"

"That was so much fun, I loved dancing with you!" Adarsh tells her, and her cheeks flush pink.

"I enjoyed it, too!"

"Yeah, it was a lot like Blanca's quinces, especially because of the disco ball and everyone dressing up!" Diablo states.

"You needed that fiesta after everything," Blanca chimes in.

Daya finishes her bite of tamale. "I sure did, and the rest of y'all did, too!"

"Girl, you looked damn good in gold!" Flaca compliments her.

"Aw, thanks!" Daya responds cheerfully.

"I can't believe the hunger strike flopped," Brook complains as she and Polly come up to their table while linking arms. "Nobody was focused!"

"Yeah, of course when Blanca started the standing up on tables, everyone paid attention!" Polly grumbles. "How dare you do that to my bestie?" She and Brook had joined forces since after Brook's talk with Judy King, Poussey had no longer thought much of her.

Brook frowns. "At least you're on my side, Pol...but Poussey, you were my girlfriend!"

"Not anymore." Franziska smirks.

"People don't always get what they want, Brook!" Poussey informs her. "You don't know that, though, since you're privileged!"

Brook rolls her eyes. "Whatever, okay? It didn't give you the excuse to break things off with me. We were lezzy togezzy!"

"Okay, never say that cringy phrase again. You don't even like The Wiz, I mean, I don't either, it's lame as fuck, but I watched it for my girl T…point is, you don't do shit for anyone but yourself!" Poussey tells her. "You assumed I was a ghetto hood rat just because I'm black!"

"What?! I never said that! Terry and Gus would not stand for this!"

"Who are they?" Karla wonders aloud.

"Don't indulge her in a convo, por favor," Blanca advises her in a whisper.

"My other besties besides Polly! Terry is in charge of a bakery that sells anti-authoritarian cupcakes and Gus runs an anti-logging blog."

"Well, it doesn't seem like you're as good of a person as they are!" Karla snaps and hi-fives Blanca.

"Plus, you stink, dirty girl!" Pennsatucky informs Brook while sitting down. The others burst out laughing.

"Yeah, ain't you ever heard of a shower?" Franziska adds. "You know, when I moved in with Poussey's family, I thought she'd be in a love triangle with you and I, because she seemed interested in us both, but her friends were chanting at her to be with me! I'm more grateful to have her than you ever seem to have been! Just wash your entire body and hair and get out of our faces."

"I refuse to because like my natural body odor, German girl!" Brook puts her hands up in surrender. "I don't need to listen to this! I've got Polly when she's not with her boyfriend, and also Trey Anastasio's BO, and Brittani with an I and her strawberry kush!"

"Good, then leave us alone, china!" Michelle snaps.

"I'm Japanese-Scottish!" Brook yells.

The girls flip off her and Polly, who finally make their departure.

"Uh, so this is really random, but yesterday, I overheard Ms. Bell and Mr. O'Neill doing some PDA...she calls him panda!" Alex announces.

Lorna giggles. "Aw, cute!"

"More like too much information for my ears, but I'm happy for 'em at the same time!"

"Yeah," the girls murmur together while smiling.

"Ah...speaking of Mr. O'Neill, he brought his banjolele the other day and played it for the gym class. He said he can't stand nuns 'cause of Catholic school, but last year, he had to make up a song for them on his musical instrument so they'd leave the building...they were here for Sister Ingalls, who was fasting before she quit," Daya lets them know. "I saw Ms. Maxwell at Jamba Juice too, and it was weird but also funny!"

This makes the friends laugh.

"Those two are cool, but my favorite teacher is Berdie Rogers. In her drama class, we learned about musicals, masks, and chlamydia dell'arte, which is from Europe!" Lorna says brightly.

Alex points at her and beams. "Pretty cool shit!"

"I'm so glad the evil is out of this school. At least Healy isn't as bad as the monsters who used to work here. I'm hella relieved they're gone, they had the audacity to put their fingers up my butt...I'm not shocked, though."

The girls and guys look at Michelle sympathetically and Alex gives her girlfriend's hand a gentle squeeze. "Me neither."


Meanwhile, Gloria notices Cindy in line at the cafeteria, examining a girl's dark curly hair and sniffing a lock. She turns around sharply and glares. "What?!"

"Lea, you Jewish?"

"Cuban," she tells Cindy in a stiff voice and rolls her eyes before Gloria serves them ham, cheese, pineapple, and bell pepper pizza and they walk off.

The next two after them are Ouija and Pidge. They're not giving her the evil eye this time, which is weird. "Gracias," Ouija murmurs while taking her plate of potato tacos and giving one to Pidge. She nudges her friend in the side.

"Lo siento for calling you a bossy twatwaffle," Pidge chimes in. They actually appear to be genuinely sorry, but Gloria doesn't fully trust them.

"Thank you," Gloria tells them with a smile. They return it and wave at her politely before departing. "That was strange, I wonder what brought it on."

"Yeah, where's their apology for lustin' after my man?" Aleida demands while slopping rice on someone's tray. "I mean, it happened, but Ouija and Cindy weren't sincere about it!"

"They probably did it out of pity for me 'cause I was on the news with the crazy stalker ex," Gloria tells her.

"You got that badass haircut, too...they probably know not to mess with you, and Aleida, they're not flirting with Leon anymore, so take that as a blessing!" Red points out.

Gloria smirks. "Yep..."


"You got your mommy and her boyfriend standing up for you now, huh, Supercunt?" Polly asks in a snotty voice on Wednesday as Alex walks by her in the cafeteria. "Why don't you just starve yourself? Oh, wait...aren't you doing that already because you're too poor to buy food?"

Alex flips Polly's tray over and bangs it with her fists. Polly yelps and jumps back. Larry keeps his hands on Polly's shoulders. "What the fuck did you just call me, Holly Hobbie? I've had enough of your bullshit, you cunt-ass whore! You've irritated me for the last goddamn time!" Alex hollers with her hands balled up into fists. Everyone around them is looking. "At least Jessica Wedge wasn't in the science fair like she said she'd be, because I would've smoked her! You would've had a loser for a sister, literally! Talk about second-hand embarrassment!"

Michelle snickers near them. "Ohhh, Polly's bout to get her ass beat!"

"Please don't," Polly whispers.

Alex glares at her. "I really should, but scaring you is even better. Plus, I don't wanna get detention because of you being such a bitch that I had to kick your stupid teeth in. You're not worth fighting."

"I'll moon you next time you freak out my girlfriend! You'll see my Kool-Aid Man tattoo on my left ass cheek!" Larry hollers pathetically.

"Wow, I wish I didn't know that," Alex mutters, trying not to laugh. She walks away with Michelle and then exchanges hi-fives with all of her friends. They appear to be proud of her, and so does her mother.

"You did great!" Nicky exclaims and the others agree in unison.

"Thanks!"

"Yo, one of those loser scammers messaged me under another account on Facebook," Flaca lets them know. They gasp.

"How can you be sure? What'd he say?" Maritza wonders aloud.

"I forgot...and I dunno. The person spoke like whoever talked to me last year, so it could've been him. I blocked him, but on my fake Facebook profile, I tried to scam him...made up a story about a dead husband and sick daughter and asked for a hundred dollar American Express card. I said I needed it now and he said it would take three hundred and sixty-five days to get it. Later, he blocked my fake account." Flaca sniggers and the rest of the girls and guys join in. "It felt like revenge, but I'm glad he got the scammy feeling from my fake account!"

"Daaaaamn! It's funny when the tables get turned! A taste of his own medicine!" Blanca comments.

"Sí, we got a kick out of that!" Diablo says.

"Yeah, kinda like what I did to Polly! I finally scared her shitless!" Alex cackles victoriously and exchanges a short but sweet kiss with Michelle.

"Whoo-hoo! Speaking of getting back at bullies, Miss Claudette adopted Odette from her maid service company, Clean Makers, and flat-out stabbed the girl's abuser to death! Frieda helped her hide the body," Taystee informs them.

"Oh, wow, that's amazing!" Poussey exclaims, and the rest of them agree.

"Remember when a boy was arrested for sneaking an army of rats into the principal's office when Hellman and Lin-dumbass were taking over the school?" Karla asks.

"Mm-hm, he was hailed as a hero!" Flaca exclaims and the group cackles in unison.

"Did you hear that Fig came back a changed woman after Lin-dumbass made threats? Pennsatucky also helped by showing both Caputo and Boo pictures of Lin-dumbass kissing them! So, the Sea Witch is still alive, but can't make our existence miserable anymore since she don't work here no mas!" Daya announces.

"Awesome news!" Adarsh comments happily and everyone concurs.

"Also! Caputo talked to that ho about laying off me getting deported!" Blanca announces.

"Uh-huh, as soon as he did that, she tried to make him work at a school in Missouri, but he fired her before she even had the chance to take Hellman's place as principal! Lin-dumbass thinks Fig looks like a camel, and it turns out that Fig hates her too! Good thing Caputo ain't hirin' any ol' Mr. or Mrs. Schmuck-a-fuck, his words, not mine!" Taystee lets them know, and they laugh together. "More juicy deets...Caputo was called Beer Can in high school and Fig's ex who shaved his balls left her for a man named Gavin."

"Wow, thank you, I did not need to know those last two facts about the male anatomy!" Shani gripes. Everyone cackles.

"Well, now we gonna call Fig Natalie, because that's what Caputo says her first name is...I dunno if she still wants to be Fig or even Figueroa. Caputo nicknamed her Fangs once," Taystee says.

"That's weird, because she doesn't smile with her teeth, that's why my mom doesn't trust her," Daya murmurs.

"Even though I was hella mad at her for not doin' nothin' about Maritza's situation with Humps at the start of escuela, Fig...er, Natalie, she's got great shoes!" Flaca comments, resting her elbow on Maritza's shoulder. "I'm glad she's improved now, though."

"Totally," Maritza concurs.

"Man, but we still got Healy!" Nathan complains. "Otherwise known as Doctor Psycho."

"Yeah, he sucks! He hates how women are taking over the world!" Pennsatucky says. "He especially can't stand lesbians."

"Last year, when I was against Vee, Suzanne went to Safe Place, that was run by Healy and you were the co-leader, Pennsatucky," Poussey murmurs. She turns to Blanca. "Vee hated snitches, so I couldn't say anything and risk my safety, since Suzanne had already beat me up as Mara. I remember you were there, too...he was pressuring us to talk about our feelings when most of us wanted to bottle 'em up."

"Exactly! Somebody tickled me in a game of Human Knot, and I couldn't stop giggling...although, I was uncomfortable. We all held hands and tried to undo the knot without letting go of each other," Blanca mumbles. Diablo gazes at her fondly and strokes her chin. "Gracias for standing up for me when Healy made me say I was depressed, Poussey. We had to go by the feelings chart, which was stupid. I told them I felt happy, but that wasn't on the list of emotions." She rolls her eyes and melts into Diablo's side.

"You're welcome...and last year, Brook was telling some tall brunette Jamie Fletcher, that none of us liked Healy," Poussey recalls.

"We still don't!" Alison mutters.

"With plenty of good reason!" Hassan adds.

"He's a terrible counselor," Karla states.

Shani nods. "I know, right?"

"Mm-hm. The only good thing about him were his weird Russian cookies, but unfortunately, Leanne got 'em all!" Adarsh points out.

"She's so annoying! Anyway...I just realized that mine and Vinnie's names start with the same first letters as Lida and Vasily!" Lorna announces.

"Oh, yeah, that's cool!" Vinnie tells her with a grin and everyone beams at this interesting fact.

"You know what else is?" Maritza asks rhetorically. "Diane started a new thing...she gave me and Lorna some neon pink post-its, the kind that can be seen for miles because of how bright they are. If we're having a flashback, dissociating, panic attack, etcetera, we can just put one of the post-its on our notebooks, or somewhere in front of us on our desks. She'll take that as a cue to not call on us and not expect us to participate. When we're ready to engage in class again, we just move the post-it out of sight." Lorna nods in affirmation to Maritza's statement.

Flaca touches her girlfriend's arm and beams. "Aww, that's so sweet of her!"

"Mm-hm," they all concur.

"I'm not surprised, though!" Alex states proudly. "My mom's awesome like that!"

"She's also teaching that poem 'The Raven' and relating it to Stephen King novels because it's dark!" Lorna chimes in cheerfully. "It's kinda neat!"

"Goth, too! Flaca, you'd love it!" Maritza exclaims.

"Quoth the Raven...nevermore," Flaca recites dramatically. "Babe, I've read it tons of times! I learned it in seventh grade! It's so sad, though. It's about a man who misses his wife, Lenore, who has died."

"Oh...that's depressing!" Lorna frowns and pushes her pasta around her plate.

"Many things are, I'm sorry to say," Nicky tells her, and everyone agrees.

"By the way, this is random, but I just thought I should point this out. So not on purpose and unplanned, a total coinkidink, but the kids are close with their mother's best guy friend. Benny and Julio think of Leon as an uncle figure, Alex is tight with Fahri, and Emilano and Christina just love Charles!"

"Aw, you're right, that's cute!" Maritza squeals and the others voice their agreements wholeheartedly.

This is the beginning of the final ten chapters-for real this time! Happy New Year! Hopefully, 2021 will be an improvement. I just wanted to get this marked as completed before January 1st, but like I said before, take your sweet time reading! I love the support you've given me these 4 and a half years! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing and sticking with this story until the end, Juliette45 and VeraRose19! This has been a fun journey, but alas, it's run its course and is truly the end of an era.