Trin, Jax, Brad, and Alan lounged on the couches in the basement, watching TV. Noah sat in an armchair, fiddling with a knife. Mirabelle fluttered down the stairs, perfect blond ringlets bouncing, trailing sparkles and perfume. "They've found a new Mary-Sue!" she exclaimed.
"What?" gasped Trin. "But we're it! Who claims to have found another one?"
"Chiomi."
"Oh, no," groaned Alan.
"Dammit," said Noah. "We're in for another parody, aren't we?"
Mirabelle, co-captain of the cheer squad, walked down the hall arm-in-arm with Brad, first-string quarterback. Crystal glared at them in disgust. They were so sickeningly fake. You would almost think it had been set up, the way she'd been kidnapped right before the Homecoming game and they'd threatened to cut up her face if they didn't throw the game. Threaten the pretty cheerleader, and of course the dumb jock will run off during half time to rescue her. And Brad was just a giant meat slab, so his punching the guy who'd kidnapped Mirabelle through the wall wasn't really that impressive.
They stopped to talk to Jax and Alan, since Jax and Brad were kindred dumb jocks. Alan and Jax had been going out since the girls' volleyball team, of which Jax was the 'star' and Alan the manager, had gone to nationals. Jax had gotten so worked up after beating the three-year defending champs, she'd kissed Alan. They hadn't stopped the PDA since.
Watching the four of them, Crystal scowled. They were all so brainless and snotty. Their perfect lives had nothing to do with the real world. She leaned against the wall, waiting for her Home Economics partner, the horrible Trinalia. Crystal hated Trinalia because she was, as far as Crystal could tell, perfect. Vice president of student council, with perfect clothes, perfect makeup, perfect tumbling red curls. Crystal was convinced that Trinalia had sold her soul to the devil for that and her gorgeous badass boyfriend. Not that the boyfriend stopped every dumb jock in school from hitting on her. Trinalia and Mirabelle both. It was disgusting. But there was no way Crystal would ever go out with a guy as idiotic as Trinalia's boyfriend, Noah, even if one did eventually ask her out.
Frustrated, Crystal looked at her black watch. Trinalia was late. They were supposed to be making cookies as an extra credit product. Bored, she dug her dark purple notebook out of her black backpack and sat on the floor, starting to compose angst-ridden poetry.
Crystal looked up when the bell rang, and her black hair fell into her purple eyes. She shoved it out of the way, and finally saw Trinalia walking down the hall towards her. Trinalia's denim skirt and fitted blue-and-pink striped tee made Crystal feel vaguely shabby in her worn black jeans and ancient black tank.
"I'm sorry," said Trinalia. "The student council meeting ran really long. Thank goodness for double lunch, hmm?"
Crystal nodded, stood, and glanced at Noah, always a presence at Trinalia's side. In jeans and a long-sleeved Harley T-shirt pushed up to his elbows, he looked as broody as ever. How he and perky Trinalia had gotten together was a mystery, but Crystal had heard strange rumors involving a cult sacrificing Trinalia and Noah beating up a squad of ninjas.
"Well," commented Noah, "since I'm not a slacker, I've got class now. See you later, Trin." He leaned in for a quick kiss.
"Bye," said Trinalia with a smile.
Crystal watched jealously. She was so alone in the world. She tightened her lips. No, they disgusted her. She didn't care about having a boyfriend, or having friends. Everyone in high school was a loser, anyway. "Let's go. I brought a recipe I clipped from the newspaper."
"It's chocolate chip, right? I thought that's what you had said," Trinalia confirmed as they entered the foods room. "'Cause I brought – oh my god!"
A fire spurted from one of the microwaves. A boy with messy brown hair aimed a fire extinguisher at it while another guy franticly moved things away. It seemed the fire was barely under control, until the brown-haired boy grabbed a second fire extinguisher and shot them at the fire simultaneously. When the fires were finally out, he turned to the girls in the door with a killer grin, still holding the fire extinguishers at hip-height like a gunslinger. "Hey. All under control, ladies."
Trinalia gave him a dismissive look and moved to one of the counters, setting her Kate Spade tote on a stool. Crystal followed, digging the newspaper clipping out of her bag as she went. Strangely, the brown-haired boy followed, too, and leaned on the edge of the counter. "So what are you two lovelies doing?"
"Get lost, Matt," Trinalia said, getting an apron from the cupboard. "You know I have a boyfriend, and I'm sure Crystal isn't interested in shallow players."
Matt looked wounded, his soft brown eyes sad. "C'mon, Trin, don't be mean." He turned the puppy-dog face on Crystal, and she could see the spark of flirtatious humor in his eyes. Really attractive eyes. He probably was just a brainless player. She didn't care, anyway. She wasn't some stupid slut. She was better than all that. "Crystal, was it? Tell Trin to stop being so mean."
Crystal gave him a glare. "Whatever."
"Ouch. You're mean, too. Why are the gorgeous ones always mean?" Matt said this in a light, teasing tone, as if he really didn't care.
Edgy, Crystal didn't answer, instead helping Trinalia make the cookies. She didn't know how to deal with guys like Matt. They would say anything to get in a girl's pants, it didn't matter who she was.
Matt eventually wandered off, and Trinalia sighed. "Yeah, sorry about him. Matt acts like an ass a lot. You'd never believe he was the one coordinating the campaign to stop violence against women." At Crystal's surprised look, Trinalia explained. "He's been working with student council on it for the past couple of years. Honestly, I don't know what makes him tick. He's such a total perv, but he's a good person under it. Anyway, this batch needs to go in the oven."
Crystal looked at Trinalia in surprise. She wouldn't have though Matt would be anything but a slimeball. And the school's yearly, month-long campaign had been written up in the paper. She'd hardly have thought he'd be involved in that. Maybe she'd misjudged him.
"Okay, that was pointless," said Noah, flicking his pocket knife out to clean it. "All we did was meet the guy. And he's hardly a Stu."
Mirabelle gnawed the end of one of her perfectly pink nails. "Well, I've been reading a lot of stories online lately, and guys like him do seem to be popping up a lot."
"Like in that one Japanese comic, the dog one?" piped up Trin from the DDR mat. "And I really hated that Crystal girl. She's so not a good Sue. I mean, I really wanted to punch her."
Mirabelle's eyes widened. "No! That would have made you the really bitchy popular girl! We can't be cast like that."
"But we have been, in stories with Blacks," said Jax.
"Blacks?"
She shrugged. "Did you see what she was wearing? And all the angsty stuff with not knowing what she wanted. Totally Black."
Mirabelle pouted. "Why not purple?"
Jax gave her a look. "What works better for a depressed, friendless, angst-fest?"
Trin nodded. "Black it is."
Brad sighed. "Well, at least now we've met the new Sue."