All right, here you go. This one's more of a filler chapter. This part is not quite so important, but it ought to stand on its own. It's also a nice breather and was simply fun to write.

I'm trying to mix in a fair amount of fluff in order to lighten the mood somewhat.

Enjoy!

Luan walked into the Chuckle-Monkeys meeting the next day in a sober mood. She hadn't stopped thinking about what had happened last night. She couldn't stop thinking that she wanted to do it again.

But she wouldn't let that bother her.

She just had to push it back into the far recesses of her brain, and it would be a problem for another day.

Improv group was the perfect way to distract herself.

Don't worry. Be happy.

Of course, there was always the problem of her thoughts coming back to haunt her at the most inopportune of times. But she would deal with that when the time came.

Luan gazed around at the vaguely controlled chaos that was improv group. Several students stood in a group, chatting about some guy's Y'allTube video about a Russian college class. A few were conducting a skit about kangaroos. A couple were sitting in a corner, editing an old script. Mr. Wil - Rob, she corrected herself - and another mentor, the father of two of the students, were sitting off to the side and watching the proceedings.

Luan walked over to the group talking about the Y'allTube video; most of her friends were over there. She saw Andy, Bobby, Nadia, Maggie (which she was mildly surprised by, since Maggie didn't attend many meetings), Lizzie, and Ralph crack up.

Bobby was saying, "...means 'I am a Russian puppet'!"

Luan remarked, "Oh? You're telling the covfefe joke again? If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that one..."

"...You'd be richer than a recent law school grad with half a million in student loans," interrupted Andy.

"Yeah, but that takes maybe one nickel."

Nadia quipped, "Another day, another nickel!"

Everyone burst into laughter.

"Well, I hadn't heard it before, so I asked Bobby to tell the story," explained Maggie.

Andy nodded. "All right, then. Any more ****y stand-up routines that you wanna share again?"

Bobby brightened up and straightened his wiry frame. "Sure!" He adopted his typical "joke-sharing" affect. "So, my uncle works at a summer camp for children who are about to be mo-"

Luan interrupted him, concern written on her face. "No, no, no, don't tell that one! That one's just wrong!"

Bobby complained, "Oh, come on! I was halfway through already!"

Maggie raised an eyebrow. "Says the girl who made that quip about the nice rack."

Luan facepalmed. "That was one time! No homo!"

Nadia added, "And the one about Jesus being similar to a painting."

"Oh, come on! That was hilarious! And you gave me the idea!"

Bobby said, "Don't forget about the time when Lizzie gave me the vacuum so she could go clean out the fridge and you said, 'Wow! A man holding a vacuum? That's a first!'"

Luan laughed. "Yeah, that one was friggin' awesome."

Maggie added, "Although the fact that you consider him a man makes me worry about you."

Ralph said, "Honestly, some of those dank memes you come up with are on point."

"I don't-"

"I was talking to Bobby about the one with Ian and Nadia."

Nadia groaned. "Oh, good God, don't bring that one up."

Maggie snickered. "Too late."

Andy added, "Honestly, that's kind of a ****ed-up thing for a dude to make about his girlfriend."

Lizzie piped up, "Oh my God, I just realised something!"

The group turned to look at her.

"Get this! Christmas is CHRIST-mas!"

Everybody facepalmed.

"You're an idiot," commented Nadia.

"We're all idiots," observed Andy. "Otherwise, we wouldn't be here."

"True that," remarked Luan.

Maggie added, "But Lizzie's more of an idiot than most. Remember the noodle incident?"

"I don't remember it," replied Ralph.

Bobby raised an eyebrow. "That's because you're a tool."

Ralph merely shrugged.

Nadia turned to Bobby. "So, about that suicide pact thing?"

"Yeah?"

Luan snickered.

Nadia said, "D'you want to just use your pocketknives, or should I bring mine, too?"

Bobby replied, "You can bring yours if you want."

Maggie asked, "What suicide pact?"

Luan told her, matter-of-factly, "Bobby and Nadia are gonna jump off of a cliff and stab each other on their way down. I volunteered to be the one to yell, 'Do a flip!' as they fell, but they said they didn't want a third wheel. Bobby said it was a them thing."

Maggie nodded, a smile playing on her face. "Ooh." She turned to Nadia and waggled her eyebrows. "I like your style."

Nadia frowned. "I already told you I'm not interested."

Lizzie said, "I really think you might wanna tone it down with the suicide jokes."

Bobby replied, "Jokes? What jokes?"

Everybody cracked up.

Rob strode over. "Guys! I thought you were supposed to be practising! The competition's only in three days! C'mon, get a move on!"

Ralph said, "But we're being funny! That's what we're supposed to do, right?"

Rob ignored him. "Nadia, Luan, Andy, come with me. You're gonna do more training exercises with Monty and Jack."

Nadia folded her arms across her chest and pouted. "Ergh. **** me," she grumbled under her breath.

As she, Luan, and Andy walked off, Maggie called after her, "When?"

Bobby decided to join in the catcalling. "I hate to see you go, but I love to watch you leave!"

Nadia snapped back, "Shut UP!"

Monty and Jack were busy throwing around a Wiffle ball when the group stopped by. Rob said, "Monty, Jack, these guys are gonna be practising with you guys for now." He walked off.

The five high schoolers exchanged glances.

Monty said, "We were just throwing around the ball. You wanna join in?"

Luan, Nadia, and Andy nodded. Monty tossed Andy the ball.

Luan asked, "So, how are college applications going for you guys?"

Jack sighed. "I ****ing hate it."

Andy added, "Yeah, it's a pain in the ***."

Nadia grimaced. "I'm gonna hate senior year, aren't I?"

Andy and Jack both nodded.

Andy said, "I came up with a great plan, though. You know, no college is gonna take a straight white male?"

Monty replied, "True that."

Andy grinned. "Well, I'm gonna put down that I'm three different genders on my application. And then, when I get in, I'll just say, 'Oh, I decided that I'm male.'"

Luan exclaimed, "That's friggin' brilliant! So, my sister-"

Jack interrupted her. "Which one?"

Luan continued, "Luna said that she and three other girls were applying to this one tough school - I forget what it's called - and the three others are all Asian. So, on the day the school was giving out acceptance letters, one of them says, 'I think that, out of all of us who're applying, it's gonna be you who gets in.' Then Luna asks, 'Why?' She says, 'Because you're white.' After Luna got declined, she sends the girl a text saying, 'WHERE'S MY FRIGGING WHITE PRIVILEGE NOW?'"

The four others laughed. Monty bobbled the ball when he caught it, then hurled it at Jack's head. Mildly stunned, Jack picked it up and threw it at Monty's stomach.

Luan turned to Nadia. "Again, you sure you don't need any help with the suicide pact thing?"

Nadia shook her head and reached into her pocket. "Nah. But if you want, you can borrow my knife. Remember, horizontal for attention, vertical for results."

Luan was about to respond with her typical quip of "And diagonal for both", but she didn't. Her brain froze.

Something about the self-harm quip did it to her.

She couldn't think for a minute.

Her brain ran on autopilot.

She smiled sweetly and said to Nadia, who was proffering a pocket knife, "Thanks but no thanks."

Luan rejoined the Wiffle circle, doing her best to not give any outward sign that something was wrong.

The thoughts that she had shoved deep into her brain shot out with the force of water spurting out of a crack in a dam.

She ought to cut herself again.

She ought to talk to Luna.

She was worthless.

She was a fool for cutting herself. A freak. A moron.

She deserved to feel more pain.

Luan wondered why she would think this way. She hadn't before.

But now cutting was an option. It hadn't been one before.

Luan wondered why the suicide joke would affect her this way. It hadn't before.

But cutting had never affected her before.

She caught the ball when it flew her way.

It reminded her of a joke.

"So, the frisbee kept getting closer and closer, and then it hit me," she said.

Jokes were Luan's main social strategy.

They were what had got her the few friends that she had (if she could even call them friends) in elementary school. They were what helped her keep the friends that she had now. They were what gave her some level of popularity.

They were what kept her happy.

They were the only thing that gave her life meaning.

They infused themselves into every aspect of Luan's life. They haunted her waking hours, infested her dreams. They influenced her speech and actions and thoughts.

Jokes were as much a part of Luan as were her heart and brain and soul.

She existed to entertain.

Monty laughed. He was the only one who did.

Luan assumed that the others hadn't been paying attention. She lobbed the ball at Nadia, who didn't see it coming and was struck by it.

"Hey!" she yelled indignantly.

Luan laughed. "Gotcha!"

Upon looking over and seeing Luan's infectious grin, Nadia smiled in return, then hurled the ball at Luan's head. Luan dodged it, and it struck Cody, who was working on the script. He scowled and threw it over his shoulder. Luan chuckled at his misfortune.

Improv group was friggin' great.

It was the perfect distraction for her tormented mind.

When she arrived home that night, Luan decided to change into her pajamas before starting on her homework. It would make her life a lot easier when she went to bed.

Luan removed her T-shirt and replaced it with her pajama top.

She stopped before completely changing.

She lifted the hem of her shirt, examining her incision.

The mark was still there. It had formed a scar.

More than ever, Luan wanted to cut herself again.

More than ever, she wanted to talk to Luna about her troubles.

Luan realised that for as long as the scar was on her body, she would continue to be troubled.

But she hoped that it would remain, if just as a reminder to never do it again.

Luan sighed and finished changing. She really didn't want to do any homework, but she didn't have much choice in the matter.

FYI, Luan is a junior in this AU.

I am not advocating for trigger warnings. If something bothers you, you don't have to read it.

And I didn't intend for that last part about jokes to sound so creepy.

See you later! Don't worry, next chapter will be considerably more depressing!