Okay, here's the aftermath of the Sadie Hawkins dance deal. It should mostly deal with Haiku and Maggie's feelings about the matter. Now, before we begin, let me respond to some reviews, an oddity, I know, but still, it's something I gotta do.

Krusa1:

1) It's the same story as in "Poetic Past," so it would be redundant.

2) Like in Poetic past, Maggie and Haiku didn't become goth or emo on the same day. It was gradual.

3) That I can do!

Also, good news! From now on, I'm starting with the requested one-shots! So go on, shoot out as many ideas as you want!

Alright, now, let's move on.

Haiku, having just finished her dance with Clyde, walked to the shadows where Maggie was supposed to be hiding, only to see Maggie walk out of it, her hair partially covered in punch, and with bruises all over her body.

"Whoa, what happened with you, Maggie?" the poet inquired as the emo teen dusted herself.

"Apparently, moving around in complete darkness involves bumping into a ton of stuff you can't even see in the first place," the teen girl sternly answered, before adding as she squeezed the juice out of her hair, "That, and some of the drink fell on my hair after that redheaded boy's ball-run stunt or whatever that was."

"Yeah... Well, the dance is pretty much over," Haiku grabbed Maggie's hand. "How about we go back home now?"

"I'm glad we agree on something."

And so the sisters left the building and drove back to their house on Maggie's two-person bike. Along the way, though, Maggie couldn't help but ask:

"So, you seemed rather happy while dancing with that dark-skinned boy. Care to tell me what's that all about?"

Haiku, obviously, blushed at the inquiry and looked away as she answered:

"T-That's something I'd rather discuss once we get back home."

Respecting her sister's wishes, Maggie remained silent for the rest of the trip, and once the duo had returned, so took the chance to clean out the remaining juice and bruises and then waited for their mother to return.

7:00 pm

Haiku and Maggie-the former sitting on the latter's lap-watched Television with stoic looks during their quest to endure the wait for their mother's arrival.

Truly, this was a task that any mere mortal would find impossible.

Luckily, though, the woman arrived soon afterwards. "Hi girls, I'm back home!" she greeted as she went inside, with Haiku immediately running up to her and hugging her. "Hi, Junior, how was the dance?"

"Mom, don't call me Junior!" Helen said, before returning to her hugging. "It was good, though there was a deal where I thought Lincoln, the guy I was set to date, was triple-timing me with three other girls."

"Huh, really?" the woman remarked rather nonchalantly as she took the food and put it on the table. "Well, sweetie, perhaps there was some sort of misunderstanding going on?"

"Of course there was, that's always the case in this kind of situations," Maggie sternly stated as she walked to the table. "But, I bet if the girl with the violet stripe hadn't spoken first, you would've simply accused him without even hearing his reasoning, wouldn't you?"

"Uh-"

"Magdalene, leave your sister alone," the mother instructed. "She's still young, so she's bound to make mistakes like that."

"Mom, when I was her age, you scolded me whenever I judged people wrongly, and always told me to not see things in black and white," the emo retorted, narrowing her eyes. "So why, exactly, do you not do the same with Helen?"

"I just don't want to bring up anything that could end up causing a big fight," the woman sighed. "Look, the dance is over, I brought the food, so let's eat dinner so we can go to sleep in peace, alright?"

Haiku and Maggie exchanged looks before answering "fine" in unison. So the three girls each got their food: Maggie and the mother got the adult burger, coke and some fries, while Haiku got a kid burger, fries, juice, and an ice cream.

She also got a toy... In the form of Ace Savvy. "Ugh, I already got over a dozen of these!" the poet whined, catching her mother's attention. "Didn't you ask if they had One-Eyed Jack? He's the only toy left I need to complete my collection!"

"Ace Savvy was the only toy they didn't have available," the woman answered, quickly going back to her food afterwards. "Just enjoy your food, sweetie, you'll get better luck next time."

"Have you tried finding somebody who's willing to trade their Ace Savvy for something else?" Maggie suggested. "After all, if it works for certain card games, then it should work for action figures, right?"

"Maggie, I don't know any goth or poet that's a fan of Ace Savvy! And worst of all, the Ace Savvy Burpin' Burger toy campaign ends next week!" the poetic fanatic whined. "I'm gonna be Ace Savvy-less for the rest of my life!"

Haiku planted her face on the table in frustration... With her mother and Maggie not reacting until the woman asked, "So, did anything interesting happen during the dance?"

"Oh right, the dance! I totally forgot about it!" Haiku got up then dusted her face. "Well, after discovering Lincoln was with other girls, we all decided to go off with other boys: I went with a dark-skinned guy named Clyde, who shared my pain of unrequited, eternal vampire love."

"Is he in love with a vampire?"

"No, he's in love with some blonde woman named Lori. But, we shared the same kind of pain, and... Well, I kinda liked being with him for a while."

Maggie went "oooh" while the woman smiled, seemingly in approval. And then Haiku took out the whistle and said, "Oh, and Maggie gave me this weird whistle for some reason.

Upon seeing the object, Maggie and the mother flinched and their eyes grew wide in shock. In the mother's case, though, she quickly calmed down and said, "Helen, go eat your food upstairs, I have to talk about something with your sister."

Haiku just shrugged and went upstairs with her stuff, leaving Maggie behind to be met with both a glare from their mother, and a blunt question:

"You gave your sister "that" kind of whistle on a public dance event?!"

"I-I did it just to be safe," the emo stuttered. "You know how she's still young and pretty, and the idea that somebody would take advantage

"She's too young to find out about that type of whistle, Magdalene!" the woman snapped. "Please tell me she has no idea about it's name!"

"No, she doesn't! All she knows is that it's a whistle! That's it!"

The mother sighed in relief. "I'll ask that you refrain from giving her something like that again. She needs to stay ignorant of "that" side of the world until she's ready. Otherwise-"

"She'll end up like me, I know," Maggie bitterly finished.

Hearing her say that made the woman put on a sympathetic look and comfort her oldest daughter. "I know you only have the best of intentions, but please, don't give her something like that again, okay?"

The emo remained silent, but eventually flashed a smile and said, "I'll try as hard as I can."

However, as the duo hugged, Maggie could only think:

"But I can't stand the thought of losing someone so important to me."