Disclaimer: Nope, they don't belong to me.
"Ugh," Alex said. "Monday." She rolled out of bed and checked the clock. It was eleven-thirty.
"Damn it!" she muttered. "Would it kill anyone to tell me if it was a snow day?" Then she remembered that it was a holiday break, and she was having a sleepover. All the gang was coming--her best friend Casey Novak, Olivia Benson and her boyfriend Elliot Stabler, Fin and his friend John Munch, and George Huang. The group called themselves the "Criminal Crew," not because they broke laws, but because they had all met in the few electives available to 8th graders. The group's classes were all criminal-justice related.
Alex and Casey had Criminal Law first period. Elliot and Olivia were in a side-along course, which basically let them hang out with detectives for two hours each day. Fin and George took Criminal Psychology and Drug Recognition together, because all the other classes were full. John, who was actually a 10th grader, had gym with Fin. All the Crew took the basic Criminal Justice course, for grades 8-12, which was taught by a local detective named Captain Cragen.
By the time everyone got to Alex's house, it was nine-thirty at night. They played board games until about eleven.
"Let's play Questions Only!" Casey, the talkative one, exclaimed.
"What's that?" John asked. "You mean the game where you have to only ask each other questions, first one with a declarative statement loses, right?"
"No, John," Olivia told him. "It's like Truth or Dare--just only Truth."
"I'll start," Casey began. "Uh...Alex, what's your middle name, and where's the weirdest place you ever used it?"
"Emily," Alex replied. "And this one guy on the Internet instant messaged me, asking me all sorts of questions, like what were my three sexiest body parts and why. I told him that my name was Emily. He said, 'Someday, we will lie in bed, and I will whisper your name, Emily.' It seriously freaked me out."
"Pedophile," Elliot muttered.
"I almost forgot who I was pretending to be, I was so surprised," Alex said.
"It's hard to be someone you're not," Olivia remarked.
"Yeah," Alex responded. "Okay, um, John. What's the worst insult you've ever gotten?"
"Well, once I asked out a girl, and she said, 'Who the hell are you?' I couldn't believe she didn't know me, because I sat behind her in Science since 6th grade."
"No, wait, what about today in dodgeball?" Fin broke in.
John sighed. "I thought we agreed we wouldn't talk about that."
"Come on, John," Elliot said. "What happened?"
"The coach called me a retarded gazelle with a spastic disorder," John said with a straight face. "Amidst the cries of 'Break the pencil!', chanted by my own classmates."
"You are going to be a walking bruise," Fin told him.
"I know!" John muttered. "Let's change the subject, please. Olivia. What happened to your face?"
The rest of the group flinched as Olivia turned bright red. John was the only person in the Crew who didn't know about Olivia's mother, who was an alcoholic, and sometimes hit Olivia because her father was her mother's rapist.
"Uh, I...walked into a wall," Olivia lied, running her fingers over the large bruise. "Fin, what's your favorite sport?" She quickly took attention off herself.
"Dodgeball," he replied immediately. "Casey, um, what's the job you'd least like to do?"
"Defense lawyer," she responded with a smile. "There's no excuse for some things. Elliot, what do you want to do when you graduate?"
"I dunno." Elliot thought for a minute. "Maybe join the Marines. I want to help people. George, what do you think is the worst thing ever?"
"Elliot, that isn't a good question," Alex objected. "That's just a pathetic cop-out so you don't have to think of a real question!"
"No, it's really quite insightful and meaningful," George said.
"Yeah!" Elliot agreed. "It's meaningful...and...stuff."
"Well, I would have to say a power rapist," George responded to the question. "Rape is the ultimate act of degredation."
"And on that note, I say good night to you all," John said, turning out the light.