The next day, she woke up at 11. There wasn't much to do until Ellie came over. Ashley took a shower, changed clothes. As she was pulling on a pair of pants, she stopped and stared at her leg. The bloody cut from yesterday was just a thin red line now. Just looking at it made her feel ashamed of herself.

"What would my parents say? What would Ellie say?" she asked herself, knowing the answer. "They'd be so ashamed of me, and so worried too." She thought a minute. "I won't do it again, I swear. It was just a one time thing, and it'll never happen again." She took on last look at the cut, pulled on her pants, and finished getting ready.

Ashley finished getting ready just in time too. Moments later, the doorbell was ringing.

"Ashley? Ellie's here," her mom called to her up the stairs.

"Coming mom!"

Ashley and Ellie headed up to Ashley's bedroom. Ellie plopped down on Ashley's bed, and Ashley took her desk chair.

"So, how did Marco try to 'heal you'?" Ashley asked, remembering what Ellie had said yesterday.

"Oh, that. He brought me some chicken noodle soup, without the chicken, and chanted over my bed, mostly as a joke. The soup was good, but I don't think the chanting helped me any," Ellie giggled, remembering.

"He is the nicest guy," Ashley remarked.

"You know, I don't know why you don't ever hang out with us. It'd be fun, and I'm sure he'd like you."

"Oh, you know, three's a crowd and all that. Besides, what would I do, tag along on your dates?" Ashley asked, half joking.

"You're never a crowd. Wait, that didn't make sense," Ellie giggled. "What I meant was, Marco and I would love to have you around. I never have a problem sharing my friends."

"Well, okay, that might be fun."

"Want me to call him now?"

Ashley thought about this for a second. She hadn't honestly expected Ellie to mean what she said. But why shouldn't she; she wasn't Paige!

"Sure, um, okay! That sounds good," Ashley said, handing Ellie the phone.

Ellie had a quick conversation with Marco. "He said we should walk over there, is that okay with you?"

"Great!" Ashley said, and they headed downstairs.

After letting her mom know what was going on, they started walking the few blocks to Marco's house.

"So, what'd Paige do to you yesterday?"

Ashley's smile fell off her face. "Well, besides a few snide comments, which she obviously felt weren't enough, she tripped me at lunch. Falling on my face wouldn't have been so bad; I'm used to being a klutz, but I was holding my lunch tray."

"Oh no!" Ellie cried, seeing what was coming next.

"Yeah. Splat went my tray all over my shirt. It has pernment lunch food stains all over it. I felt like such an loser, walking down to my gym locker to get my gym shirt. I felt even dumber having to wear it all day. It was like a huge flag, reminding the whole school of what an ass I am."

"You're not an ass," Ellie reassured her.

"I don't know. All I know is that I felt really stupid. God, I wish Paige would lay off me for a day, just a day."

"Hey, here's Marco's house," Ellie said.

Ashley tried to cheer up. "Excellent!"

Ashley got home that night, late. It was about 11, and she was tired. She and Ellie and Marco had a lot of fun that day, just doing nothing.

As Ashley got ready for bed, she took another look at the cut on her thigh. She felt nothing.

"See," she told herself, "You don't need this. You can get to bed just fine."

And she did. She finished getting ready for bed, and fell right asleep.