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The next day, at school...

Taylor quietly walked through the hallways to the cafeteria. He would've walked with Tootie, but he had to stay behind in Chemistry to finish his test. It was safe to say he'd be in need of therapy if he ever say a periodic table after the year was over. He stopped at his locker, undoing the code with the mastery of someone who'd been around defective lockers his whole life. After grabbing a bag with his gym clothes, for his next class after lunch, he closed his locker. A girl with black hair, and purple tank top and white mini-skirt was waiting for him. He jumped in surprise. She simply smiled, and blinked her brown eyes at him in a flirty manner, "Hi."

"Uh...hi." he blinked in surprise again.

"So...Taylor, right?" she batted her thick eyelashes at him, revealing the light purple eyeshadow on her eyelids.

"Yeah. And you are...?"

She placed a hand on his chest and laughed as if he'd just told her that pigs were flying in front of her face. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought I'd forgotten something. I'm Trixie."

Trixie? he thought, This is Trixie? Wow. She's certainly a lot different from what I thought she'd be like.

"And you must be Taylor?"

He raised an eyebrow, not sure whether to be confused, stunned, happy and flirty, or freaked out. "Yeah, that's what everyone says my parents named me."

Trixie laughed again. "Oh, you're funny! I like guys with a sense of humor." Taylor couldn't help but grin. She continued, "And what was it you said about me being different?"

"Huh?"

"You said that I'm a lot different from what you thought I'd be like. What did you mean, Taylor?" She gave a flirty smile. Taylor, on the other hand, wasn't smiling, but wincing. Crap! I said that out loud? Oh sh--

"Anyway," Trixie cut in. "The point is that I like you, Taylor."

"But you've only known me for--" he started to say, but cut himself off when she raised an eyebrow with a bit of impatience.

"I see potential in you." Trixie tapped her chin as she studied him, "You remind me of someone. And clearly, I only know cool people. So if you remind me of a cool person, then clearly, you must be cool too." she paused, "You are cool..aren't you? I mean, at your other school--"

"I was plenty cool." Taylor said quickly, his mind on the chicken sandwich in his bag that he couldn't wait to eat. Trixie didn't seem to mind being cut off this time. In fact, she was smiling, pleased with his answer. "I thought so. I mean, once a popular, always a popular. Isn't that right, Taylor?" she but a flirty emphasis on his name and gave a seducing smile, but the flirtation didn't reach her eyes, which held another emotion.

"Yeah, right. Exactly." Taylor said. He pointed down the hall, towards the cafeteria, where he could hear the sound of the 6th period lunch students talking, and eating. "I'm going to go to lunch. See you later." he took a few steps towards the cafeteria, but Trixie put a hand on his arm, stopping him.

"Not so fast. Why are you in such a hurry?" she ran a finger in circles on his shoulder. Because I'm hungry! he thought, but refrained from saying anything. She leaned in towards him, and for a moment, Taylor thought she was going to kiss him. But instead, she leaned over slightly, and whispered into his ear, her warm breath tickling his earlobe. "Listen, I think we should go to Prom together. I was nominated for Prom Queen. So it should be fun. Please tell me you'll say yes."

"Um...I'll think about it and let you know later." he said. There was a flash of disappointment in her eyes, and Taylor felt a bit guilty. "I just-- um--it's just that I want to feel happy when I tell you my desicion. And I can't feel happy on an empty stomach."

Trixie seemed to buy this, and smiled. "Ok. Then go eat." And without another word, she hurried down the hall, towards the chemistry lab. Taylor shook his head and struggled to keep his pace at a brisk walk rather than a mad sprint as he entered the cafeteria.

"You asked him to prom?" Veronica took a bite out of her sandwich, staring at Trixie in disbelief. She forced a smile of delight for her best friend, but it didn't reach her eyes. Had Trixie been a bit less self centered, she would've noticed. Trixie nodded in excitement. "Yeah. And I know he'll say yes. I mean, who doesn't say yes to me? Nobody, that's who. And I would never ask out a nobody, so I don't even have to worry about it. Now, normally, I won't ask out a guy who's better looking than me, but he's an exception. Actually, I think we'll complement each other. Who would be a better prom king than him? I actually..."

Veronica couldn't help but stop listening for a number of reasons. The first being that as she looked across the cafeteria at Taylor, she felt jealous, sad, and confused. The second, and most major, being that Trixie thought she was a shoo in for prom queen. But just that morning, She annonymously nominated herself. As a matter of fact, the entire cafeteria was abuzz with discussions of prom. Any minute now the Principal would come in with her megaphone, and read the names of the students who were in the running. And this made Veronica nervous.

The third reason was that she didn't know where she stood with Trixie anymore. She had always been best friends with Trixie, closer than sisters. But as they got older, Veronica developed more common sense. And common sense told her that she was in a one-sided relationship. She did all the dirty work, and Trixie got all the glory. She couldn't even remember Veronica's name sometimes, attempting to cover it up by pretending to call her "best friend" or "sister dear". She even insulter Veronica, pretending that she was only joking, or worse, not even realizing that it was hurtful. The more Veronica thought about it, she realized that after nearly 18 years, Trixie didn't know her at all. Veronica had let it all slide, as if she hadn't noticed the forgotten birthdays, neglection, and so forth.

Because "commmon sense" also told her that no matter what Trixie did, she was popular. And if you associated with a popular person, that made you popular too. And she certainly didn't want to be unpopular. Especially with the evil wrath that she was letting loose lately. She felt torn, not knowing whether to love her like a sister despite her flaws, seen only by her, or to hate her with the passion that seemed to be burning stronger every day. And to be honest, the hate was outshining the love so brightly that she wasn't sure she even held love for her "sister" anymore, and when she remembered how she used to want to be the raven haired witch, she felt ashamed. Trixie had taken away from her so many times, and she deeply lamented her for it...

"Attention, students!" Principal Manning, a tall woman who always wore her gray hair in a tight bun and her mouth in a tight line, stood with a megaphone. Everyone was surprised to see that the prim and proper woman was actually smiling. "I know you've been waiting for this. And frankly, I couldn't wait to tell you. I'm sure you all know what this is about, so I'll just get to it. The nominees for Prom Queen are..."

Veronica shut her eyes. If her name was called, it'd be a bittersweet moment. She'd get to pursue her dream of being prom queen. And she looked forward to Trixie ending their friendship. But at the same time, she didn't.

"Trixie Tang!"

The entire cafeteria burst into applause.

"And Veronica Langston!"

She couldn't hear anything anymore. She felt sick. Her stomach was fluttering from happiness, but more from fear. The dark look that had crossed Trixie's face had flashed across so fast that she could've imagined it. But something told her that she hadn't. But in an instant, Trixie was laughing. But Veronica couldn't hear it, despite the fact that she was sitting next to the girl. She felt like she'd been submerged in water. All she could hear was the rushing sound filling her ears. This was how she always felt before she had to --

Veronica clapped a hand over her mouth and her stomach flipped. She leaped out of her seat, tripping on it. Her knees had barely touched the floor before she started scrambling to her feet, running out of the cafeteria, and into the bathroom. Her face felt hot, and she felt as if she was about to start sweating. She ran into the closest stall, not even bothering to close the door, and she vomited, tears streaming down her face. After a moment, she wiped her mouth, sobs now coming out rather than her lunch. She flushed the toilet. Normally, she'd go straight to the nurse. Common sense told her that if she was sick, lying down and resting would help. But something told her that she'd been letting her common sense escape her, lately. So instead, she sat on the floor, leaning against the toilet, crying, without even knowing why.