Soon, far too soon, it was time for the boys to go home.

"Don't worry about a thing, Dad. My driver will take them home," Sophie said.

"I'm not... um, your biological-" her dad started to say

In an almost desperate way, Sophie reached out and grabbed his arm. "Just let me have this one thing."

Marie giggled. She hugged all the boys as they left. It was a lot harder hugging Abe, since he was so tall, but she managed to hug his stomach and figured it worked. She felt her cheeks flush pink again from remembering their conversation.

Marie was helping Sophie set up her cot in her room when her dad popped his head inside.

"Good night Marie. Good night Sophie."

"Good night, dad," they both said.

He looked like he was going to say something but smiled, shook his head, and closed the door softly. Marie climbed into her bed as Sophie spread out her sleeping bag.

"Thanks Sophie. This meant a lot to me."

Sophie began unzipping her sleeping bag and climbing inside. "Hey, no problem. Anything for my BFF. I can finally say I approve of your new friends. Is Billy always such a character?"

The slight smile that always came when she thought about Billy's antics filled Marie's face. "Yes. I'm surprised he didn't start hounding you for secret information from the S.E.A. to fuel his love of conspiracy theories."

Sophie gave a short nod. "Yeah, he seems like the type to love those. I wouldn't have too much to give him."

"It wouldn't matter. He'd eat it up." Marie settled into her bed, her hands behind her head.

"And it's Abe and Albert who like you, right?" Sophie asked.

Immediately, Marie's face flushed hot. "Do we need to talk about it?"

Sophie turned, sitting partially up and resting her head on her hands. "Girl, this is a sleep over. Of course we're going to talk about it."

It didn't matter trying to hide her flushed face from Sophie. She'd find out eventually. "It's complicated. I mean, I'm only fourteen."

"Almost fifteen. And?" Sophie asked.

Marie turned to her stomach and hugged her pillow. "I'm not ready for a relationship. I enjoy their friendship, and I'm honestly terrified one of them will leave if I choose the other, and I don't want it to happen. I want them both to be my friends. This kind of thing complicates friendships, and if Abe hadn't told me what he did, I could have-"

"Wait, what did Abe say?" Sophie said.

The heat in Marie's cheeks burned hotter. "Would you let it go if I said nothing?"

Sophie placed her head in her hands. "No."

With a groan, Marie buried her head in her pillow as she told Sophie what Abe said to her tonight.

"Aw!"

"No, there's no awing about it. It complicates things. It means he's going to force me to make a decision about this. And deep down I know whoever I choose, the other guy would be miserable, and I'd be the cause of his misery."

Sophie reached out and patted Marie's arm. "Ah Marie. Trying once again to make everyone happy. It's impossible, especially in choosing relationships. And sure, if you make this decision, someone's going to get their heart shattered into a million bits-" Marie gave her way-too-blunt best friend a side glance, but Sophie kept talking, "but you've got to stay true to what you want and what makes you happy. And you'd have to believe the other guy would, with time, get over it. Because he will. And if not, then those are his problems, not yours."

Marie played with the frayed end of her pillowcase. "To be honest, I've known them for almost a month now, and all I want is their friendship. And I'm afraid if I admit that to them, they'll leave as well."

"Okay, um, when did you get such a low expectation of these guys?" Sophie asked.

Marie glanced over at her. "What do you mean?"

"Albert and Abe both sang your freshman song with you. They danced with you. When I called them up, they both leapt at the chance to come cheer you up. If you go to them and say 'hey, can we just be friends for a bit?', they are not going to leave you. And I've known them for just this evening."

Marie hugged her pillow close, feeling a tightening in her chest loosen. "You're right. I guess... this just has never happened to me before."

Sophie gave her a nudge. "Well, stop thinking about worst case scenarios. It doesn't help with your outlook on humanity as a whole."

Marie nodded as she felt a genuine smile cross her face. "You're right."

***

As the limo came closer, Sophie wrapped her arms around Marie and squeezed tightly. Marie hugged her just as tight.

"You'll be okay, Marie. They can't keep you locked in the S.E.A. forever. From what I hear from my parents, students rotate out of there fast."

"Thanks Sophie."

She waved. "Bye Dad!"

Marie's dad smiled and waved. "Bye Sophie."

She closed the door behind her and let out a sigh. The weekends were never long enough.

"So," her dad said like he'd been rehearsing what he was about to say. "Those seem like great guy friends you have there."

"Um, yeah."

"Any of them, you know, strike your fancy?"

Her face went bright red despite the laugh that burst out of her. "Dad!"

He shrugged, but he had a smile on his face. "I am glad Sophie did that for you. She is a great friend."

Marie smiled. "Yeah. She is."

***

Monday, being the curse it was, always came too quickly. Marie found herself once again on the metro heading for school. She went over her monologue for Drama, making sure she had it memorized. The problem was, she knew when she got up in front of everyone, her stage fright would take over and she'd forget everything. She wanted to get it over with and was mad drama wasn't first. Now she'd sweat the whole day and not enjoy any of her other classes.

Before she met up with her guy friends, she snuck into Mr. Edison's classroom. He was going over notes and turned a page when she walked in. He didn't look up.

"Mr. Edison, sir?" she asked.

He grunted to let her know he was listening.

"I just, um, I wanted to let you know I'm attending the S.E.A. classes now, so I won't be able to be a part of the after-school physics club."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Something in his tone made her pause. He didn't sound sorry. In fact, he sounded cold. Marie frowned.

"But maybe when I'm done with the S.E.A. program I can still attend the after-school physics club."

Mr. Edison still didn't look up from his notes. "It would be too much catch-up work, Marie. Sit this one out for the semester. There's always next semester."

The coldness in his tone freaked Marie out. Why was he being like this? Marie was surprised to feel angry. Mr. Edison needed to be on her side. He needed to be angry at the S.E.A., but more importantly, he needed to be supportive about her education. He was already doing so much for her math. Why was he being weird?

"Off you go, Marie. I have a class to prepare for."

Everything inside her froze up, and she wasn't sure how she was supposed to react. She didn't have the confidence to press it. It hurt more than she wanted to admit when Mr. Edison waved her away. Marie gripped her books and turned around, leaving the room hurt and confused.

She hung out with her friends to kill time. Abe gave her an uncharacteristically large smile and Marie smiled back. She tried to forget the strange and hurtful encounter with Mr. Edison.

There were still snickers and shouts of "charity case!", but Marie did her best to ignore them. Maybe with time they wouldn't bother her, but they still hurt. She tried to put on a brave face every time.

As Marie took notes in her Biology class, she tried to figure out if she secretly hated Mr. Edison for not getting arrested. She should ask, but it was easier said than done, especially after his cold reception that morning.

Mr. Edison reminded them of the test on Wednesday, and Marie for once felt confident she would ace it. Is this how other students at Presley High felt about every other test? It seemed like all the tests were clumped together, and then there was the Marching Band competition at the end of the week to keep everyone pumped. Marie had no plans to attend it.

Marie again pretended to sing in choir, knowing choir tests were on Wednesday too. She'd have to sing her part, by herself, in front of her teacher, who would find out soon enough she was faking the entire month. Which meant she'd fail choir and have to retake it. Her thoughts began spiraling. If she had to retake choir, her senior class schedule of mostly math and science classes would never happen. Then again, the S.E.A. might not let her take any more math or science until she had a grasp of the basics. It took everything inside Marie not to freak out in her choir class.

***

"Ready for your monologue, Marie?" Billy asked when she sat down at lunch.

Marie groaned. "No."

"You'll do great. You did great over the weekend, so this should be no problem," Albert said.

"Yeah, I guess." Marie took a deep breath, then let it out. "I'm trying not to think about it. They'll probably put me in tech for the one-act, which is fine. I'm more a behind-the-scenes kind of girl anyway."

"Does anyone know what kind of one-act Mr. Hitchcock is casting us in?" Albert asked.

Billy's eyes glowed with a conspiratorial light. "It's a romantic comedy. Do you want to know why it's a romantic comedy?"

Marie and Albert exchanged hesitant looks as Abe sat down with his lunch.

"Um, sure," Marie managed to ask.

"Mr. Hitchcock has done horror and psychological thrillers for the past seven years. I heard last year from the brother of a tech worker how the girl he cast as the lead had a mental breakdown during dress rehearsal and believed she was actually in a psych ward, which was what the play was about. Long story short, parents complained big time, and the school pressured Mr. Hitchcock to steer clear of the psychological horror and thriller genre."

Marie felt sorry for the girl before remembering she needed to take everything Billy said with a grain of salt.

"Um, really?" Albert said.

"Look it up! The past seven years have all been scary plays, and now he's doing a romantic comedy! Sounds suspicious to me," Billy said.

"And just because he's switching to a romantic comedy, we're supposed to believe this brother of a tech worker or whatever?" Albert said.

Billy gave him an intense look which made Marie try hard not to laugh. "Always question everything you believe, Albert."

It might have been real. It wasn't too far-fetched to have a mental breakdown at Presley High.