“A tiara would look great with this dress.”

(HQ)

After being forced to sit through hours of dress fittings with the evil soon to be stepmother Tracy was pretty sure she never wanted to be in another dress store again, she was tempted to just buy her prom dress online. But after some convincing from Heather and some reasonable reasoning she found herself in their favorite designer dress store downtown. Thankfully not the same one that the soon to be evil stepmother got her surprisingly not too bad bridesmaid’s dresses at.

“I really think you just need to relax,” Heather said as she shifted through the dress catalog, “I mean, you can’t let Patty ruin prom and dress shopping.”

“I guess,” Tracy shrugged, she did not want to talk about that soon to be evil stepmother right then.

Heather cast her a sympathetic look then looked back at the dresses. “Should I go with blue or purple?”

“Why purple?” Tracy asked, Blue was Heather’s favorite color and she had just assumed she would stick with that, plus it complimented her deep blue eyes.

“I don’t know, I thought I would switch it up a bit,” Heather said.

“Well, I just want a pale pink color,” Tracy said, flipping through another catalog.

“Do you guys have anything you wanna try on yet?” the salesperson asked.

“Yep,” Heather said, holding open the catalog and showing the salesperson the pic of a pretty teal dress with an empire waist and pearl detailing.

“Okay, only that?” the salesperson asked.

“Also anything else that looks like this,” Heather laughed, “I want a sea blue with lace or pearls.”

“I can think of a couple dresses that fit that bill,” the salesperson said, turning to Tracy, “and you?”

“Pale pink, almost white, long with a high neckline,” Tracy said.

“I got it,” the salesperson said, “I’ll get a couple that fit your requests then be right back for some fittings.”

“Thanks,” Heather said.

“I love shopping here, being catered to like this,” Tracy sighed.

“Right?” Heather asked, “So, who do you think’ll ask you to prom?”

“If I wanted someone to go to prom with me, I’d just ask them myself,” Tracy shrugged, and she didn’t. Personally dates were just another thing to cause her to worry and her biggest problem was trying not to worry herself sick.

“Well, do you think anyone will ask you?” Heather rephrased her question.

“Maybe,” Tracy shrugged, “We’re not too popular.”

“But someone must like us, right?” Heather asked.

Tracy shrugged, “I don’t want a date. I just wanna go with you, full out girls night.”

“So, I can’t get a date?” Heather asked.

“You can, if you care that much or if someone asks you,” Tracy shrugged, “but why do we need dates?”

Heather shrugged, “going dateless is a classic sign of being an outcast loser.”

“Well, how about we be each other’s dates?” Tracy asked.

Heather laughed, “are you asking me to prom?”

Tracy shrugged, “I guess so.”

“Wow, I expect a bigger proposal than that,” Heather laughed, “If you want me to show up at prom with you, you better pull out all the stops.”

Tracy laughed, “Whatever, Heather.”

The salesperson came the with a rack full of dresses, “here they are, ladies.”

“Thank you,” they said.

“I’ll just be right here if you need any help.” The salesperson said.

“Alright,” Heather said walking up to the dresses and picking up three blue ones, “these look perfect! How am I gonna choose?”

“Good luck,” Tracy said grabbing the three pale pink floor length dresses, “let’s get started.”

They entered their respective dressing room and and proceeded to put on each dress one by one, showing them off between dresses.

Tracy’s first dress was a satin-y pale pink sleeveless dress with the high neckline she asked for, with no bells or whistles. She looked elegant and old hollywood, or current hollywood.

“I love it,” Heather said, “But it’s a bit vanilla, isn’t it?’

“It’s classic,” Tracy said.

Heather’s first dress was a short sky blue a line dress with an exaggerated heart neckline with pearls lining the waist.  It was what she wanted, except the a line skirt. She did not want that, it was too commercial.

“Yeah, too commercial,” Tracy said, “You don’t wanna looks like half the girls there.”

Tracy’s next dress was a more silky, flowy dress, the same pale pink, with a lacy sheer high neckline and three quarter length sleeves.

“It’s looks like a wedding dress,” Heather said.

Tracy nodded.

Heather’s second dress was a darker, more teal blue and was not an a-line skirt, instead it just flowed around her hips and to her knees. The fabric looked almost multicolored, flowing from a green to a blue.

“I like it,” Tracy said, “especially the pearls on the neckline.”

“Yes, it’s nice,” Heather said, “One last dress though.”

Tracy’s last dress was kind of a mix of the first at the last, it has the sheer high neckline but also the satiny material of the first dress. It was the one.

“I like this one, it’s sophisticated, almost basically a wedding dress but not completely one” Tracy said, staring at herself in the mirror, it flowed just right and made her look red carpet ready, she could imagine herself accepting some kind of fashion award wearing this dress. It was the dress.

Heather agreed.

Heather’s last dress was a dark sky blue, like a really sunny September sky through sunglasses, it had a heart neckline and pearls stitched into the skirts that flowed just above her knees.

And it was her dress.

“Gosh, you look perfect,” Tracy said, “like that dress was made for you.”

“Well it will be,” Heather laughed, “After I get it properly fitted to my size.”

“We are going to own that prom.” Tracy said, “if only we could get prom queen, both of us.”

“Or just one of us,” Heather said, “A tiara would look great with this dress.”

“Or mine,” Tracy said.

“Or yours,” Heather said, smiling at Tracy. This was the first time in a while that she had seen Tracy truly happy and it lit up her insides, and in that amazing dress she looked like she could rule the world.

“Yes,” Heather said.

“Hm?” Tracy asked,still admiring herself in the mirror.

“I’ll go to prom with you,” Heather laughed.

Tracy turned to look at Heather then, grinning, “this prom is ours!”

All You Need is Friends, Hopefully.

Tracy had been spending more time at Heather’s house than her own, an attempt to escape the terrors of Patty. Her dad and the evil soon to be stepmother were now knee deep in wedding preparation and Tracy didn’t want to be anywhere near that, she was still trying to think of a way out of being one of the bridesmaids. She didn’t want to be the bridesmaid to Patty, yuck.

So it was just another typical night at Heather’s, Heather was on her bed reading skimming through a book she needed to write an essay about before tomorrow and Tracy was painting her nails a pretty shade of light pink because she had already gotten all her homework done. She could not stand to be late, or even close to it. She didn't need any extra stress.

A ding from her phone pulled her away for her careful focus on her nails, but thankfully not causing her to ruin them. She carefully put the top back on the nail polish and got her phone with the hand that didn’t have any polish on it yet, no point in risking any damage to her perfectly polished hand.

It was a text from her dad saying “you’re going dress shopping with Patty tomorrow, no buts.” Tracy groaned and tossed her phone away from her, no way was she ever going anywhere with Patty, and her dad knew it.

“You okay down there?” Heather asked peering down at Tracy who had now moved to laying on her back.

“Don’t tell me you messed up your nail polish,” Heather asked, rolling her eyes before looking back at her book.

“No, I didn’t” Tracy scoffed, “My dad wants me to go dress shopping with Patty, not gonna happen.”

“Tracy,” Heather said, her voice taking on that dangerous tone that told Tracy that a lecture was coming. She had to admit that sometimes Heather acted a bit like a mom.

“You know you’re gonna have to go sometimes, why don’t you just get it over with?” she continued.

“Why? I don’t wanna be her stupid bridesmaid,” Tracy said, yanking on her ponytail as she always did when she was stressed.

All she heard from Heather was an annoyed sigh and a page turning, then “well I don’t wanna write this stupid paper, but does it look like I have a choice? Do it for your dad.”

“I hate him too,” Tracy said, though that wasn’t entirely true. She just hated that he had to go and fall in love again, it was perfectly fine when it was just them two. Then Patty came along sweet talking him with long words and astronomy, and now this was happening.

“Tracy, I know you don’t wanna hear this-”

“No, I really don’t. Please don’t go on, I don’t care.” Tracy interrupted, sitting up and glaring at Heather. “I’ve heard it all the other times you’ve told me and I don’t care.”

“You’re acting like a twelve year old!” Heather said, sitting up herself and crossing her arms, sending an equally chilly glare to Tracy.

Tracy just shook her head and stood up, “home would be better than this lecturing.”

“That’s where you should be,” Heather said, “facing your problems instead of running away. None of this is healthy.”

“If I wanted a therapist I would have went to one when my dad first brought it up,” Tracy said.

“I am just trying to be your friend,” Heather said, the defiance leaving her face and being replaced by hurt. Tracy almost backed down but hated to lose, she didn’t want Heather ot think she can just start bossing her around.

“Then act like one,” she said before turning around quickly on her heel and stomping out the door.

“Tracy!” Heather called after her, Tracy ignored her and continued hastily stuff her shoes on and leave just as she heard Heather stomping down the stairs herself.

Tracy was thankful for her car and a quick getaway as she pulled out of Heather’s driveway fast, but not too fast as even when in a fight she couldn’t go breaking the law, and driving away as Heather appeared on her steps looking sad and small.

The third fight of the week.

LONELY NEW YEARS

Every year Heather and Tracy hope and hope to get invited to someone glamorous New Year’s Eve party, preferably by a certain queen bee whom’s name rhymed with warriette. Spoiler: it’s Harriette.

But her party was exclusive, and only her closest friends get invited. Apparently it’s not really glamorous and her whole family is there too, but just imagine the boost in popularity they would get if they were invited to that party.

But this year was the same as every year, the day before New Years eve and Tracy and Heather had no plans other than to stay at home and watch the ball drop on TV while drinking Heather’s parent’s champagne, which they were allowed to do since every year Heather’s parents left to their own adult party and left the girls with some champagne and well wishes.

“You girls will be fine, right?” Heather’s dad asked as they sat in the living room channel surfing. Heather’s parent’s were having a little vacation at a hotel the day before New Years Eve, which meant two days to themselves.

“Of course, dad,” Heather said, “I’m eighteen now, I can handle being home alone for one night.”

“And she’s not alone, I’m here,” Tracy reasoned.

Her dad nodded and left the room to tell her mom that they were good to go.

“This is gonna be fun,” Heather said, trying to gather some excitement.

“Yeah, fun. All alone on New Year’s Eve,” Tracy sighed, “I can’t believe we’re alone again!”

“Maybe we should invite people over,” Heather offered.

“Who?” Tracy asked, “do you have any numbers in your phone other than your parents, me, and the vegan delivery place?”

Heather frowned, but didn’t contradict her. She was right. Tracy got out her own phone and scrolled through her contacts, but hers was the same. Lonely.

“We’re off, girls,” Heather’s moms aid as they passed through the living room, “have fun, and save the champagne for tomorrow! And you can invite people over, just clean up after yourselves.”

They were literally living the dream, if only they had people to invite over.

“Okay mom,” Heather said.

“I love you,” her mom said quickly before they finally left the house and a few seconds later Tracy and Heather heard the car go on and leave the driveway. And they were alone.

“This sucks,” Tracy said.

“Let’s get some food,” Heather said, getting out her phone.

“Vegan?” Tracy asked, a small smile on her face.

“Do I eat anywhere else?” Heather asked.

“No, you don’t” Tracy laughed.

And, with the mood lightened, Heather ordered them some food and they watched a marathon of America’s next top model as they ate. They critiqued the girls on their modeling, called out there makeovers, and yelled at the judges when they disagreed. They didn’t even bring up the New Year Eve predicament the whole time, but they silently vowed that next year they would find something to do.

At that time the next day they were on the same couch, counting down the seconds, a little loopy from the champagne, and just as the ball dropped they exaggeratedly kissed each other on the cheeks.

WINTER VACATION

The week after Christmas was officially vacation time, families all over Broad meadows were packing their cars and driving up to the mountains for a week or so in a lodge spending their days skiing and drinking absurd amounts of hot cocoa.

Except a few families, like Barry’s and Tracy’s, both of whom families were going on a cruise. Barry had tried and tried to get his parents to let him go with Terrence up to the ski lodge they were staying in but they said no and he was stuck in the middle of the ocean soaking up some sun.

Tracy didn’t care, she didn’t care for sun and she didn’t care for snow but she did care that she was stuck on a boat with her dad and Patty, right after all that marriage proposal stuff. But at least she had a reason to go out and spend a ton of money on bathing suits.

The Brown family were going up to their cabin for some skiing and hot chocolate drinking, and along with them were Fedora’s family and Bryan’s family. Bryan’s family had their own lodge, it was next to the Browns’, but Fedora and her family were staying with the Browns.

Heather’s family was also going to the ski lodge, the same place where the other families owned them, but her family didn't own one they just stayed at the lodge. The whole place was full of A.L. High students, it kind of felt like school but in a vacation setting. Heather just wished that Tracy could come like she usually did.

And just about everyone else was going to that lodge, Lexi and Honey’s, Layla’s family, Ella and Mariah’s Family, etc etc.....

Arrival day to the lodge was busy busy, everyone of those A.L. High families were trying to get checked in at the same time, except, of course, the one’s who owned cabins. They didn’t have to check in, they could just go in.

“I love this place,” Fedora said, spinning around in the snow. Harriette, Collin and Tamarai were staring at her with disbelief as they stood shivering in their heavy jackets and scarves and gloves while Fedora were a jean jacket and a pair of fingerless gloves with a light scarf.

“Remember when I used to love this place too?” Harriette laughed, leaning into Collin for some warmth. “I’m freezing.”

“Let’s get inside,” Collin said, putting his arm around Harriette’s shoulder and guiding her into the cabin. Tamarai stayed behind watching Fedora.

“Hey, wait up,” Fedora said, stopping her spinning abruptly and causing herself to lose balance and almost fall face first into the snow.

“Does it snow a lot in New york?” Tamarai asked, kneeling down and running her hands through the snow. Tamaria was still amazed with snow, even after almost ten years of going to the ski lodge.

Fedora laughed, “You bet it does!”

Tamarai smiled, “Maybe I’ll move there too, after I graduate.”

“Everyone should,” Fedora said, “Now come on, I don’t want to be left out.”

“Okay,” Tamarai said, following Fedora into the wonderfully warm cabin. Collin and Harriette were sitting by the fireplace, out of their jackets now and under a blanket.

“Hey, babes,” Fedora said, “you disappeared. Where’s the hot chocolate?”

“Water’s on the stove,” Harriette said, opening up her side of the blanket and gesturing for Fedora to join them.

“Great, I need some,” Fedora said, taking a seat next to Harriette, “Hey, Tamarai, over here.”

Tamarai smiled and joined them next to Fedora.

The whistle on the kettle blew and Tamarai jumped a little, shocked, making the rest of them laugh.

“I got it,” Mrs. Brown said, heading into the kitchen.

“This is ridiculously cozy,” Fedora laughed, “Can you believe we’re sitting here under a blanket in front of a fireplace, and your mom is about to get us some hot chocolate?”

“Actually, yes, because we do it every year,” Collin said.

“Oh, shut up,” Fedora said, pushing Harriette so Harriette would push Collin for her.”Hey,” Harriette said, “I don’t want to push Collin!.”

“You baby him,” Fedora playfully scoffed.

Harriette just stuck out her tongue at Fedora.

“Hot chocolate is coming!” Mrs. Brown sang as came from the kitchen carrying a tray of mugs.

“Yums,” Fedora said, grabbing her mug quickly as soon as Mrs. Brown set down the tray in front of them.

“And I put some cinnabuns in the oven,” Mrs. brown said.

Fedora grinned, “this day cannot get better. It just cannot.”

Mrs. brown smiled at all of them, then slipped back into the kitchen.

“Are you guys actually gonna help us unpack?” Bentley asked, setting down someone’s bags right beside them.

Fedora glared at him, “can’t you see we’re having a moment?”

Bentley laughed and shook his head before saying sarcastically, “I’m soo sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“Shut up,” Fedora said.

“I’m sorry,” Collin said, standing up, “I’ll help.”

Bentley grinned, “And that was the right answer.”

Fedora just shook her head and looked at Harriette, who was looking at Collin.

“Do you want me to help?” harriette asked.

“No, you stay and be warm,” Collin said.

Harriette smiled and looked at Fedora as if to say “isn’t he perfect?”

“I’ll save you a cinnabun,” Harriette said.

“I’m sure it won’t take that long,” Collins aid, “but thanks.”

“I’ll help too,” Tamarai said, standing just as Bryan came through the door carrying two bags.

“That’s all,” he said, setting the bags on floor.

“Oh,” Tamarai said, “Guess we weren’t needed after all.”

“Cinnabuns are done!” Mrs. brown announced as she stepped into the living room with a tray of food.

“Ah, is everything inside?” she asked as she took in the scene.

“Yep,” Bryan said, “I gotta go help my mom unpack, see you guys later!”

“Want a cinnabun for the road?” Mrs. brown asked, holding out the platter.

“Oh, sure, thanks!” Bryan said, quickly taking one before heading out the door.

“Alright, kids,” Mrs. brown said, “take your bags into your rooms and then you can come back and have some food.”

Fedora frowned, she wanted a Cinnabun now, but you didn’t say no to Mrs. Brown so she found her bags and brought it to the room that she, Collin and Harriette were sharing. They always had the same room, year after year. It’s gotten a little harder for them to all stay in one room as the year passed, when they were little kids it felt huge but now it was kind of cramped. But there was room for three beds, so they stuck to it. It was one of the charms of staying at the lodge.

But now that the family has grown, so they all had to share rooms. Bobby, Fisher, and Bentley shared a room, Tamarai and the Twins shared a room, Fedora’s parent’s shared a room, of course, and Mrs. Brown and Grayson shared a room.

After they loosely unpacked they gathered back into the living room and ate Cinnabuns and finished their hot chocolate as Mrs. brown made dinner.  Dinner was a quick beef stir fry and buns that were made beforehands and just need to be heated up. After dinner Bryan’s family came over to the Browns’ cabin and they played charades in the now incredibly crowded living room.

After that they split up and went into their room and “went to sleep”. Fedora, Collin, and Harriette stayed up talking, Fisher and Bobby stayed up chatting on their phones, Bentley stayed up because he just couldn’t sleep, but everyone else, they went to sleep.

And the day one of the ski trip was over and done with.

THE PLACE TO SKATE

“Tracy, I can’t believe I’m asking you this, but what does one wear to ice skating?”

It’s a saturday and Heather is standing in front of her floor length mirror in a short a line skirt and a sweater. It looked like a perfect ice skating outfit, but maybe she should wear jeans? What if she falls and hits her knee and because she had her leg bare she get’s a hideous bruise?

So she called Tracy for help, while her relationship with Tracy was bumpy lately they still were besties and she knew that Tracy would help her.

“A sweater, because it’s winter,” Tracy said, “And maybe a cute skirt with leggings?”

“You’re a fashion genius, Tracy,” Heather said, grinning to herself in the mirror. After a quick goodbye to Tracy, Heather runs over to her dresser and began sorting through it for a pair of white leggings.

“Perfect,” she says as she pulled out of pair of white knit leggings. She pulled them on and then goes back to her mirror. Now she looked good, and like she was ready for some cold weather. She then pulled on some black booties and stuffed the necessities into her purse and headed out the door.

So why was Heather worrying about what to wear to ice skating so much? Well she had a date. It had been a really long time since she last had a date, and it was kind of a shock when the other day Bachelor carter approached her at lunch and asked if she wanted to go out with him this saturday.

She couldn’t say no.

Though admittedly Bachelor was not her type, she liked the more artsy guys. Not the jocks, but any smart person would be able to see that dating a jock would increase her popularity a lot. And Bachelor was kind of cute, he was tall, and dark, and maybe even handsome in a teenage jock kind of way.

So Bachelor was coming to pick her up any minute now, and she was annoyed to find that he was late as she stepped out the door. She looked around and saw no car in sight. She let out of frustrated breath and sat on the porch swing that was at the corner of her porch. Her house was an old victorian style house, the same as almost everyone elses in Broad Meadows. Even when the Brown family redid their house they kept it looking victorian, but it wasn’t old anymore.

Heather remembered when they redid their house, it was big news since it was only about a year after Mrs. Brown’s husband died and he had originally helped design and build the house all those years ago. Some people thought it wasn't right for her to do it.

But that wasn’t the point right now.

Heather checked her phone for the time and confirmed that he was ten minutes late.

“And this is why I don’t date jocks,” she murmured to herself.

Finally the sounds of a engine went through the neighborhood and there he was in his big SUV.

“Gas guzzler,” Heather said, again to herself.

She sighed and got up and over to the car. He grinned at her as she opened the door and climbed into the big car.

“Hey, babe,” he said.

Heather wrinkled her nose. Was this really worth the popularity?

“Okay, no babe,” he said, noticing her distaste.

“Hey,” she said.

“You look good,” he said, now looking a tad nervous.

“Of course,” Heather smiled, “thank you.”

Now her made a face, then shrugged and they got moving. It was an awkward silence on the way to the skating rink and Heather was relieved when he finally pulled up to the big building. The sign said “THE PLACE TO SKATE” in big light up letters. Heather thought it was kind of tacky.

Heather waited to see if he’d get out and open her door for her, but he just sat there staring at her as if waiting for her to do something.

Heather rolled her eyes and opened her own door and got up, practically falling. Already this date was looking to be a disaster.

Once inside Heather rented some skates, remembering the times she and Tracy went and how Tracy had to bring her owns kates.

“Why would anyone wear shoes that someone else has worn?” Trayc would say with disgust.

Heather had to admit that if you really thought about it then it did seem a bit disgusting. But she made a habit out of not really thinking about anything, Tracy did that enough for the both of them.

After getting her skates on she waited to see if Bachelor would help her get to the rink, and maybe hold her hand as they skated. But nope, he just grinned at her then got on the ice and left her behind. He zoomed right away.

Heather scoffed at him and made her way onto the ice alone, but she didn’t feel much like skating now. She just skated around in circles, sometimes Bachelor would pass her and shoot her a grin.

She couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing, he couldn’t actually be this terrible of a boyfriend. Not that he was her boyfriend yet, but he would never be if he continued to act like this.

Heather skated with her arm crossed, a sour look on her face waiting for Bachelor to notice. and finally after about fifteen minutes of him grinning and zooming pass he slowed downa nd started skating ebsid eher.

“Hey, uh, are you okay?” he asked.

“Finally you notice,” Heather said, glaring at him.

He frowned, confusion clear on his face.

“What?” he asked.

“I’ve been skating alone for the past fifteen minutes!” Heather exclaims, throwing her hands up and causing a few stares.

“Oh,” Bachelor grimaced.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “you want to go home?”

Heather almost pushed him. How could he be so ignorant? First he ignores her and then when she shows a little bit of emotion he wants to get rid of her? Did he know nothing about girls?

What she wanted was for him to say sorry and hold her hands and skate with her for fifteen minutes. Then she wants him to buy her a burger, and she wants to only eat half of the burger and say she’s full. She wants him to eat the rest of her burger, then she wants him to drive her home and when she get’s home she wants him to walk her up to her door and tell her that she looks beautiful. And then she wants there to be a an awkward silence until he finally kisses her. And she wants some fireworks to go off during the kiss.

She wants go inside after all of that and call Tracy and tell her all about it. She wants to hear Tracy be excited for her. She wants to go to sleep thinking about the date. She wants him to text her goodnight.

Instead she says “yeah, take me home.”

And sure there is an awkward silence, but it lasts the whole car ride and instead of walking her up to the door he just says a quick goodbye and he’s gone before she even gets to the porch.

Obsessive Perfectionist Ways

“Okay, ready?” Tracy asked Heather. They were sitting in Tracy’s room getting ready to make a video for their Youtube channel.

Heather took one last look in the mirror, fluffed her hair a bit, then took a seat in one of the chair in front of the tripod where the camera was sitting.

“Ready,” She chimed.

“Alright,” Tracy said hitting play on the camera and joining Heather in the chair next to hers.

“Welcome to-” Tracy paused abruptly and scrunched up her face.

Heather let out a sigh, this was the tenth try and every time Tracy would pause somewhere and say it wasn’t good enough. Heather tried to ignore Tracy’s obsessive perfectionist ways most of the time, but she had places to go and people to see.

“Hello, and welcome to 2girlFASHIONS,” Tracy said, “I’m T-Heart.”

“And I’m H-Song,” Heather said, with her best entertainer smile on. The one she spent a week trying to perfect.

Heather and Tracy had started their fashion blog, 2girlFASHIONS, two years ago. They started with outfit of the days, and moved on to fashion tips and reviews. Then the next logical step would be a Youtube channel, which they made during the summer. They already had a pretty substantial amount of subscribers.

Today they were trying to do their first tag video, the best friend tag. But Tracy was making it take forever, they hadn’t even gotten to the first question yet.

“We asked you guy what you wanted to see,” Tracy continued, “and a lot of you guys said the best friend tag. So that’s what we’re doing!”

Heather grinned, “so let’s get to the questions?”

Going good.

But Tracy froze and then scrunched up her face.

“No,” she said.

Heather groaned, “I promised my mom that I’d be home to see off my cousins.”

Heather’s cousins had stayed the summer while her aunt and uncle celebrated their anniversary in Paris. Her cousins were only five, ten, and thirteen, so basically a bunch of little brats. The summer with them had not been very enjoyable.

Tracy glared at her, “fine. Just go.”

“Ugh, come on Tracy,” Heather said, “Let’s just finished this video quickly.”

“If you’re not willing to put in the time for our channel then just leave,” Tracy said, standing up turning off the camera.

“Fine whatever,” Heather said, “I was gonna invite you to my place, but I guess you don’t want to come.”

Tracy just shrugged and stood there, as if waiting for Heather to leave.

Heather sighed and stood up, “see you later.”

Tracy just shrugged again.

Heather rolled her eyes and left the room. She said goodbye to Tracy’s dad and his girlfriend who were sitting in the living room watching one of those lame sci fi movies from before her time then left. She glanced back up at Tracy’s window where she could see Tracy sitting at her computer. Heather sighed, these fights were so petty, but they happened all the time nowadays. Heather didn’t want to worry about the state of her relationship with Tracy but she still did.

Back in Tracy’s room Tracy was sitting at her computer trying not to hear Heather’s car pull out of the driveway. She didn’t mean to snap at her again. It just happened, she was always on edge lately because she had a pretty bad feeling that her dad was gonna invite his girlfriend to live with them. She didn’t want Patty, and her weird obsession with outer space, in her house.

So she was a little angrier at everything.

When she went downstairs later to see if dinner was in the works she found her dad and Patty watching some show about aliens.

“Uhm, do you guys know what time it is?”

Her dad practically flew off the couch, he obviously hadn’t seen her enter the living room.

“Oh, wow, look at that,” Patty said checking her watch, “It’s late, you must be hungry.”

“Not really, it just that we usually have dinner at night,” Tracy said.

“We can order some pizza,” her dad said.

Tracy made a face.

“No?” her dad said.

“I told you I’m on a diet,” Tracys aid, “Pizza is not one of my diet foods.”

Her dad frowned, “oh.”

Tracy shook her head, “whatever, I’m not hungry, you guys can do whatever you like.”

And with that she left the room, feeling as she usually did after seeing Patty; angry.