ivy and C.A. - I don't have a freaking clue how the Queens ended up here. We should probably ask the author.

Aw, crap.

But anyways, I thought it'd be fun. That's it.

Chapter 11: Fear and Lust and Pride

"Where's Laf?" Alex asked.

Only three of the merry group of four had gathered that Wednesday evening in Sam Adams to drink their sorrows away. The mood of the place felt entirely different without the lovable Frenchman present.

"He's busy doing his work. For his French class!" Hercules responded.

"He's French, but he's taking a French class?"

"It is an advanced French class," John added. "The most advanced French class at King's, I believe. And he's taking it as a freshman."

Alex drained his shot. "Well, whatever he wants to do, I guess. Now, imagine if he majored in French. That would be funny."

John and Hercules were just drunk enough to believe that it was funny as well, and the three of them laughed together.

We can be beautiful...

"Veronica?"

"Gah! Oh. Hey, Martha!"

Martha pulled herself up next to Veronica. "Some apple cider, please?"

The bartender looked confusedly at her before going to a back room to get it.

"How's Kings?"

"It's been amazing!" Martha gushed. "The place is so big, there's so many people, everything's just wonderful."

The bartender slid a cup of the drink over, which Martha happily began to drink.

"Have you seen the gardens and the fields over on the west side? It's absolutely gorgeous." Her speech was temporarily interrupted by Alex, John, and Hercules' uproarious laughter.

"They've got two fountains over there. Two fountains! I've never even seen two fountains so close to each other before."

Veronica grinned and listened to her best friend go on and on about the aspects of the campus that she liked. Being with her true best friend? This was more than fine.

Back over at the unnamed southern library, Lafayette shuffled through some books on a shelf, barely paying attention to them. France this, French that. He knew it all already.

This spying business - or at least, that's what it certainly felt like - was much more in Hercules' line of business than his own. Despite being absolutely enormous, the young man Laf had befriended had a natural talent at just fitting in and somehow being unseen.

That was not him. Lafayette always stood out. It's what he was born to do.

But perhaps that makes me the right man for the job, he mused. No one would ever expect me to be a spy.

"Oh, Thomas?" The very high-pitched voice of Heather Chandler snapped Lafayette out of it, and he busied himself with the task of looking busy once again.

"Yes, Heather. You can clearly see that I'm sitting right here," came the snarking reply.

A moment of silence.

"Anyways, Chandler. Do your betas have a clue?"

"Betas? Who says 'beta' in a normal conversation?"

"A guy I know," Thomas dismissed. "Now, answer the question."

Heather let out a laugh that rattled Lafayette's eardrums and probably didn't obey the sound regulations of the library.

"Of course not! They still think that you and I hate each other," she cackled.

Thomas also began to join in with aggravating laughter, the two of them creating a sound not unlike that of a couple of banshees.

"Ah, such pawns they are," Thomas said after he'd finally calmed down.

"But. Our power here isn't perfect, you know," Heather warned. "There's still people popular enough to challenge us."

"Yes, yes, I know. I have a list right here, as a matter of fact." Another pause. "Chloe, Catherine, Alana, Glinda…"

"THOSE are the people who you're worried about? Seriously? They're nothing!"

"You can never be too careful," Thomas said simply.

"Well, I know who we need to be careful around. And her name is R-"

"Hello, there."

Lafayette felt the eyebrows on the top of his head furrow. Who was that third voice? He'd certainly never heard it before. Whoever it was, they sounded really… sexy.

Thomas and Heather were clearly so stunned by this mystery person's appearance that they stayed silent.

"You both think that this is still high school. Neither of you have any idea how actual power here works." The voice speaking was clearly feminine, and it practically sounded like the mouth speaking it was dripping with venom. "You continue to play with your dolls. What idiots."

That, apparently, was the last straw.

"YOU! You, are the PG rated version of me!" Heather screamed. All the other students in the area looked at her fearfully, much too scared to ask her to quiet down. "You are nothing! You're a wad of dirt to be scraped off of my heel whenever I-"

"So one of my pupils in the art of popularity has actually tried to bring me down," Thomas mused. "I can't say that I'm surprised. You're so… predictable."

The tension in the room felt palpable. It practically felt like the temperature of the air was rising.

"You both are still high schoolers. Still fish out of the water," the third voice concluded, not heeding any of their words. "Even you, Thomas, despite your constant bragging about being a sophomore."

"Good evening to you both." And without another word, the distinctive sound of a pair of heels clacked out of the room.

Silence ensured as the doors to the library opened and closed.

"How very."

"Whaaatttttt?"