Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of The New Universal.

I don't own the Companion Quartet.

Enjoy!

Connie sighed, glaring at Col and Rat.

At the moment, the three of them-plus Abby and Dr. Brock-were at the showcase. Abby had to wait by her books-as were all the other students, waiting for the editor-and Dr. Brock was with her, trying to help her calm down, since she was freaking out-of course, most students were, too, and they had parents, siblings, or friends calming them down, so it wasn't really out of the ordinary.

Since Col, Rat, and Dr. Brock had decided to stay in Minneapolis until Connie decided to come home, Rat and Col were enrolled in school as "exchange students," and Abby had become close friends with them-as much as Connie hated it. They shouldn't even be there at all! In reality, she didn't even want to be by them, but they just stuck by her.

Anyway, Connie gently picked up a book and smiled at the nervous student who was staring at her with wide eyes-it was one of the few students that didn't have anyone talking to them. "Ooh, this cover is awesome! Did you draw it?"

"Y-yeah," the student said. "B-But it's not that good…"

"Are you kidding, it's awesome!" Connie said. "If the book is as awesome as the cover, the editor is sure to pick you!"

The student perked up. "You think so?"

"I know so," Connie promised. "Good luck!"

"Thanks!" the student said as Connie walked away. Col and Rat hurried after Connie, who was already walking to the next exhibit and picking up a book, reading the summary.

"Oh my gosh, this sounds great!" Connie said, smiling at the student and his parents, who were staring at her. "When this one gets published, you can count on me buying a copy!" She set the book down, then walked away.

"What was that about?" Col asked, giving her an odd look as she continued walking. "I thought that you were certain that Abby's gonna win."

"I never said that I'm not," Connie said, looking at him. "But all these people worked really hard, too-can't you tell just by looking at them? Everyone's nervous-and they have every right to be. The competition is going to be tough without a doubt. Which is why everyone deserves to know that they're going to do great. Even if the editor doesn't choose them, they'll all find someone, and their books will be read by tons of people. At least, just about all of them will. There are some that won't."

"How do you know?" Rat asked.

Connie gestured at a girl who stood at a nearby table, looking incredibly smug. "She looks so sure, but why doesn't she feel nervous? I mean, everyone else here does, and people are trying to get them to calm down. She either doesn't realize what's at stake here, or she's been told by plenty of people that her books are so good that there's no way she'll lose, but I happen to know that Abby's books are amazing, too. So, the question is, is she overconfident, or rightly so? Some people don't have good books at all-they aren't cut out to be authors, although I'm sure that they're really good at something else. That's the way life is."

Rat looked around. "Just how many people are showing their books, anyway?"

"Twenty five, I think," Connie said. "Yeah. And all these people are from around this area of the United States, all through high school. In four years, they'll do something similar to this, and they'll be more people trying to reach their dreams of being an author through this."

"You sure know a lot," Col said.

Connie shrugged. "Abby's my companion, remember? I know what goes through her head, and when she's stressed, she does research about what she's stressed about. She actually researched the program last week-and yet you guys didn't notice." She rolled her eyes. "If you ask me, you guys should just go and forget about all this. Forget about me and Abby and all this universal stuff."

"How can you say that?" Rat asked. "We're sorry, alright? How many times do we need to say that?"

"It'll never be enough," Connie hissed, turning and glaring at them. "You really think that anything you can say can make up for what you did? You guys literally just would leave the table when I got there! You acted as if I had killed someone! So you think that it's ever going to make up for what you did? Because guess what? It's never going to!" With that, Connie spun around and stormed away. Rat started to walk after her, but Col grabbed his arm.

"Maybe we should give her some space to cool down," Col said.

"Are you sure?" Rat asked.

Col nodded. "She's angry-it might be best to give her some room."

Rat looked ready to say something just as there was a loud noise, and the ceiling caved in.

Dun-dun-dun! What's gonna happen next?

I should update before too long-but knowing me, that might not happen as soon as I'd like.

Until next time!

Lunetheart out.