Lanie rummaged through her messenger bag, pulling out a small makeup compact. Leaning into the mirror, she applied eye makeup darker and stronger than her mother approved of. Pulling out her hair tie, she shook her long red hair loose around her shoulder and used her palm to scrunch it up.

"Lanie. You got any lip gloss?" Lanie's best friend Cassie sauntered into the bathroom with her hand outstretched.

Bending down, Lanie pulled her tube of cherry lip gloss out of the side pocket of her bag and tossed it to Cassie. "There you go," she said, watching as her best friend applied it without so much as a glance into the mirror.

"More makeup your mom doesn't like?" Cassie asked, handing Lanie back the lip gloss tube.

"Yeah," Lanie said, giving her hair one last once over in the mirror. "We're going to be late to homeroom." Stooping down to pick up her bag, she headed out of the bathroom with Cassie on her heels.

"Have you seen Rich yet today?"

"Not yet. But he's never here until right when the first bell is ringing anyway." Lanie turned around the corner, dodging student traffic cluttering the halls.

"Did you talk to him like you promised?" Cassie asked.

"Not yet."

"Come on, Lanie," Cassie sighed. "You promised."

"I've known him practically my whole life, but we haven't been that close lately, Cass, we were together, but, I mean…when I see him, I'll hint that you're interested, but beyond that…" Lanie shrugged and lifted her hands in the air in a gesture of surrender.

"I guess," Cassie pouted.

The pair walked into their homeroom and settled into their desks right beside each other right as the bell rang. Rich slipped into the room right as the bell finished ringing, and slipped into his desk around the room as the teacher turned to face the class.

"We have a couple of announcements today," George O' Malley said to his class. "First off, there is an all school assembly tomorrow morning directly following homeroom. Apparently the administration feels the need to go over the school tolerance rules a third time, once again disrupting our student's education."

"We don't mind!" someone called from across the room.

Lanie looked over at Cassie to exchange a laugh, but Cassie's gaze was locked on to Rich across the room. Lanie pulled a notebook and a pen out of her bag, flipping it around to doodle on the back.

"As of this moment on," George continued, "any student caught using an Ipod or any sort of music player during class will receive detention, as well as the loss of their music player."

A course of groans echoed throughout the room.

"We are here to learn, people, to memorize and absorb knowledge. We aren't here to listen to that sludge you call music."

There was a rustling noise across the room as several students removed headphones from their ears and shoved them into their bags. Lanie watched out of the corner of her eye as Cassie removed her own earbuds and slipped them into Lanie's bag.
"Hey!" Lanie hissed.

Cassie just shrugged, returning to her adoration of Rich.

"Last thing," George said, an undertone of relief in his voice. "The guidance office is starting to set students up for classes for next school year. Class selection forms can be picked up in the guidance office. If you want certain electives, your best bet is to sign up early so that you have the best shot. Pick up the forms, fill them out, have your parents sign them, and bring them back. The end."

As George finished talking, the bell signaling the end of the homeroom period rang. "See you tomorrow," he called to the students as they spilled out of his classroom into the hallway. Flopping down in his chair, he waited for his next students to come in.

Cassie turned back to Lanie with the smile of a plotting teenager. "Rich has study hall this period in the cafeteria. You want to skip next period with me and go hang in there?"

"I hate skipping," Lanie said as they reached their lockers and grabbed books from inside. "I feel like I'm missing stuff."

"Isn't that the point? Missing stuff?"

Lanie rolled her eyes. "Whatever you want, Cass, if you buy me a soda."

Cassie grabbed Lanie by the arm and steered her into the cafeteria, pushing her towards Rich before heading over to the soda machine.

"Rich," Lanie nodded.

"Hi," he nodded back, closing his textbook.

"Look," she started, "this is really embarrassing, but…"

Cassie dropped into the bench across from us, putting a soda in front of me. "Hey, Rich."

"Hi, Cassie," he answered.

"Look…Rich," Lanie laughed. "Cassie really wants to talk to you."

"Oh really?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Cassie ducked behind her backpack, her face flushing a bright red.

"Apparently she has a crush on you, judging by her blushing and ducking behind her bag," Lanie stated. "Happy now, Cassie?"

"Thank you," she mumbled from behind the fabric.

"So Rich, Cassie. Cassie, Rich."

OoooooooooooooooO

Lanie took the red block she was holding and threw it at the door of the playroom, wondering when her mother would finally come back for her. "I want my mommy," she said to nobody in particular.

"Where's your mommy?" Doug asked, sprawling out in front of her.

"Working with your mommy."

"Oh," he answered. "Can I play with your blocks?"

"Yeah," Lanie answered, turning slightly so that she had access to the dolls behind her.

"Can I play?" Rich asked.

Doug nodded, shoving some of the blocks over to Rich. They slowly built a fort of blocks together, alternating who would lay the next piece.

"My Barbie is super woman," Lanie stated, marching the doll across the floor until it stood by the boy's building. "She could blow your whole house down."

"Nuh-uh," Doug answered. "Nothing could blow my house down. I'm making the best house. The best."

"My half is better," Rich said childishly.

"It's good," Lanie said. After a moment's thought, she added, "Can she sit in it?" while holding up the doll.

"Be careful," Rich said solemnly.

"If you knock it down, you can't play with us anymore."

Lanie reached out with her doll, gently balancing her on the top of their block building. The walls held for almost a minute before collapsing, but it felt like forever. "That was cool."

"You broke it!" Doug cried, pulling the doll out of the wreckage and tossing it into her lap. "Now we have to do it over!"

Lanie shrugged, hugging her doll. "So do it over. You can build it again. You can be anything that you want to be."

OoooooooooooooooO

Addison bent over the patient in the exam room, listening to her heartbeat. "Hi, Angie. I'm Dr. Montgomery. Can you tell me what happened?"

The patient leaned back as Addison wheeled over the ultrasound cart. "I was in an accident."

I hadn't guessed that. Addison thought to herself, fighting hard to keep the smirk off of her face. "Were you wearing a seatbelt?"

"When I got hit, it tightened around me really hard, and it's been hurting really bad, and…"

Addison rolled up the parts of the patient's shirt that hadn't already been cut away. "I'm going to spread some gel on your abdomen so that I can use ultrasound to check the baby. It might be a little bit cold."

Angie winced as Addison smeared on the gel. "You aren't kidding."

"Sorry," she answered as she lifted the transducer.

"It's okay."

"I'm going to place this on top of the gel and use it to take pictures of the baby."

Angie nodded. "I've had an ultrasound before."

"Okay, here we go," Addison said, lowering the transducer to her belly. The pictures from her abdomen came up on the ultrasound screen, and Addison checked the baby over carefully. "It looks like everything is normal. I'm guessing that the pain you're feeling right now is bruising from the seatbelt, but I'd like you to stay at the hospital overnight just so we can have you under observation."

"All right," she agreed. "I'd do anything for this baby."

Addison smiled, shutting off the ultrasound machine. "I get that. I have one of my own."

OooooooooooooooO

Lanie gathered up her books and her purse and stood up from the table. "Now that you have been probably introduced, I'll leave you to your love chatting."

"Aw, Lanie," Rich whined, "don't go."

"I have to go to class, Rich, I'm already late."

"Fine by me," Cassie piped in.

Rolling her eyes, Lanie said, "I see how I rate."

"I love you, Lanie," Cassie said.

"Uh huh," she muttered, turned away.

As Lanie reached the cafeteria, a severe thundering sound stole over the cafeteria, rattling the glass and causing all of the students to fall silent.