It's Friday, January 18th. I still can't believe I get Fridays off this semester. Today's actually a great opportunity to ask Quilene and Aerolynn to go out and eat with me at Stuff Yer Face. I think it will be a great time to unwind and actually try to be friendly with each other during this first week. Plus, Mom wanted me to try some new experiences this semester, so hopefully this will help in that regard. Consider this Friday off the basis of everything I'll be anticipating going forward.

We arrive at Stuff Yer Face on 49 Easton Ave at eleven-thirty in the morning, eager to get our hands on such delicious foods like stromboli sandwiches and pizza. I'm especially curious to find out what the Buffalo Chicken Boli is like. Shortly before leaving, I'd gone onto Stuff Yer Face's official website and looked up the menu. One of the strombolis on the menu was said to be a Buffalo Chicken Boli, which is supposed to have breaded chicken tenders, mozzarella cheese, and a spicy bleu cheese dressing. That sounded interesting, to say the least, so I want to try that for myself. I don't really know what Quilene or Aerolynn would want to eat. They might want burgers or something, I don't know. Apparently, the menu also offers up something like a PBJ Burger, which sounds weird and disgusting.

Anyway, I'm getting off track here. We're at Stuff Yer Face right now, and we're trying to decide on what we can eat. For drinks, we all just get water. As for food, we start off by ordering some Chicken Wing Potachos. I've never had Potachos before. Apparently, they're like if mashed potatoes and nachos had a baby. I'm willing to see how they taste. While we're waiting for our appetizers to arrive, I happen to notice the Russell twins sitting at the table next to us.

Anaïs and Siana Russell are dicephalic parapagus conjoined twins. They're tall and slender with short, curly dark coffee brown hair that is styled up to a point at the top and hazelnut brown skin. They share a torso, a pair of legs, and a pair of arms; but they have separate heads, hearts, and spines. They each control an arm and a leg, so moving anywhere at all requires a lot of teamwork. They had a vestigial third arm that had to be removed when they were babies. They've got small upturned noses, dark brown eyes, square jaws, rectangular faces, and rather thin lips. They're wearing a black plus-size winter coat lined with white faux fur, what I suspect to be a plus-size gray hoodie, plus-size black and blue chain pants from Hot Topic, and lastly black Pacific Mountain Whiteout Boots. They also happen to have a pair of black leather gloves in one of their pockets. Anaïs and Siana also speak slightly differently from each other. The left twin (Anaïs) speaks in a higher tone while the right twin (Siana) speaks in a lower one.

"Oh my gosh, it's Hope!" Anaïs exclaims to Siana upon seeing me.

Siana squints at me for a minute, then nods. "Oh yeah, it is Hope."

Anaïs waves at us. "Hey, Hope! It's so good to see you!"

I wave back at the twins. "It's so good to see you, too, guys!"

"Rhonda actually told us that you're in her Gender, Race, and Sexuality class," Siana says.

I nod. "Uh-huh. I'm actually really liking her as a professor so far."

"That's good. Who are your friends there?"

I gesture at both Quilene and Aerolynn. "Oh, they're my roommates. The lady with the black hair is Quilene Summers, and the lady with brown hair is Aerolynn Rizzo. Aerolynn just moved in a little while back."

Quilene and Aerolynn tell the twins hello.

"Oh, cool." Siana gives a thumbs up. "You guys get along very well?"

I innocently roll my eyes. "Well, we try to. Quilene and I are best friends. She and Aerolynn, on the other hand... they used to be friends, but not anymore."

Siana purses her lips. "Oh, that's a shame."

"Yeah," Anaïs adds. "It's a real shame."

"Well, I don't really mind that they're not friends anymore..." I let out a big sigh. "...but it's their squabbling that's gotten to me. I even had a nightmare about it. Luckily, I'm making Aerolynn go through a three-month trial basis, in which she'll have to be a good roommate to us."

"That sounds like a good idea," Anaïs says. "That should really help her appreciate what good roommates she has."

It's at this point that my roommates and I get our Chicken Wing Potachos. We start to dig into our appetizers and savor every bite we get.

"Oh, hey, are the appetizers here any good?" Siana asks me. "This is the first time Anaïs and I have eaten here. In fact, we just ordered some pierogies, and we wanted to hear what you thought."

"Well, the Chicken Wing Potachos are pretty good, that much is certain," I reply. "I don't know about the other appetizers. This is also the first time my roommates and I have eaten here."

"Ah. Well, at least we're trying this place out together, huh?"

I just laugh. "You said it. Maybe if we get the chance again, we'll meet up somewhere else one of these Fridays. I've got Fridays off."

Siana gives a thumbs up. "Sounds cool."

"Yeah," Anaïs adds. "That definitely sounds cool."

My roommates and I come back from Stuff Yer Face an hour and a half later. After we'd eaten our Chicken Wing Potachos, we'd gotten our Buffalo Chicken Boli, Caribbean Chicken salad, and PBJ Burger. I actually liked the Buffalo Chicken Boli alright. It's pretty good, but it was pretty spicy for my tastes. Quilene seemed to really enjoy her Caribbean Chicken salad (she's been trying to eat healthier lately), while Aerolynn went ahead and got the PBJ Burger (which, again, sounds weird and disgusting but to each their own). All in all, Stuff Yer Face was a pretty good place to have lunch. I would totally recommend eating there again.

Before Quilene and Aerolynn have to leave for their respective classes, Aerolynn pulls me aside to ask me something.

"Hey, you know the guy who was handling our food?" Aerolynn asks. "What was his name?"

"Uh..." I start to reply. "I think it was Auston."

"Auston, yeah! Uh, I think he looks really handsome. Did you get his number?"

"No, did you?"

"No. The next time you're at Stuff Yer Face, could you ask him for his number? I promise not to tell your brother that Quilene's intersex."

Beads of sweat start rolling down the sides of my face. Did she just say what I think she said?

"Um, I don't know..." I start fidgeting with my hands. "Couldn't you ask him yourself?"

"No, I'm too nervous. That's why you have to ask him. If you can't do that, I'll have to tell Jonah about you-know-what..."

Oh no, what is this? Is this... blackmail? I have to stay calm. I don't want to give Aerolynn the satisfaction of squealing to Jonah and trying to humiliate him. I have to go with what she's demanding.

I let out a heavy sigh. "Alright, you have a deal. Just remember, though: if this works, you'll have to make sure to let him know you're interested in him. Don't do anything stupid like claiming to be a nice girl and then getting hostile and calling him names if he rejects you. That shit doesn't fly in the dating world."

Aerolynn firmly grasps my hand and shakes on it. "Alright, fine. It's settled, then."

Aerolynn proceeds to grab her tote bag and head off to class. I turn around to see Quilene standing right there in front of me.

"So... what exactly did Aerolynn ask you to do for her?" Quilene asks me with a cocked eyebrow and her arms folded across her chest.

"Oh, Aerolynn wanted me to ask our waiter for his phone number," I reply, trying to keep calm.

"And?"

"She said she'd tell Jonah about you being intersex before we would."

"How could you let her do that? She's a freakin' rat!"

"I'm just as angry about this as you are, but I don't want her to tell him because she thinks it'll humiliate him. I don't want that for Jonah."

"Me neither... so what do we do?"

I let out a heavy sigh. "I'll guess we'll just have to go along with what Aerolynn wants."

Quilene covers her face with her hands. "Fine."

I just want to scream out loud or something, but I can't bring myself to do it. Besides, Quilene's heading off to class right now, so I'm going to be alone with my thoughts for just a brief while.