Matt Bangsund stared at his mother. "What is this? It's not true!"

"That's what I hoped you would say," his mother replied smiling.

"I'm glad to hear that, Matthew. But that doesn't mean you're out of trouble," Mr Fabian interjected.

Matt whirled around to look at Mr Fabian. "What do you mean?? I never raped her!"

"Um, maybe I should go home. I'll talk to you later, Matt," Stephen said and quickly left. Matt barely paid attention to Stephen's departure.

"Mr Fabian, I didn't do anything. All I did was drink a bit....Well, I drank a lot--"

"Enough to get drunk?" Mr Fabian asked.

Mrs Bangsund sighed. "Yes, Matt was drunk. Does it make a difference?"

"It does make a difference, Lisa. If he was drunk, then the prosecution can claim that his memory was not 100%." The lawyer stated.

Matt opened his mouth. "I may have been drunk, but I can remember everything just fine, thank you! I did not rape her! I just..." Matt trailed off. How do I say that I slept with her in front of my mother? My sex life is not the kind of thing we talk about often!

"What did you do, Matt? Did you sleep with her?" His mother asked softly.

"I realise that this is a difficult subject, Matthew. But we need to know exactly what happened," Mr Fabian softly said. "Why don't you sit down?

Matt sat. He gazed at the floor, unable to meet his mother's eyes. "It started after school, I guess, when I broke up with Chris...."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sandrilene Mazurkewich stood beside a bench in Jubilee Park. "Do you want to sit, Charlene?" she asked.

"Why not?" she sat. Sandy followed suit. The two of them sat there in total silence for a couple of minutes.

"Okay, if you're not going to say anything, I am," Sandy stated.

"Be my guest," Charlene replied.

"You have a problem, right? And you believe that it isn't a problem," Sandy continued. "And Thayet asked me to talk to you because..."

"Because your sister had an eating disorder too," Charlene filled in. "Thayet told me," she said in a way of explanation.

"Right," Sandy said.

"To tell you the truth, I didn't know you had a sister."

"I don't."

"What?? But I thought that...I mean, Thayet said that you did," Charlene exclaimed.

"I did have a sister. Her name was Trisana--Tris for short. She went to boarding school in Switzerland, that's probably why you didn't know about her."

"Oh, I get it. Why did you say you don't have a sister anymore?? Did she run away or something? I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that--I don't want to pry or anything." Charlene hastily added.

"Tris was an anorexic," Sandy said, staring off into the distance. "She left for boarding school when she was 11 and I was 7. Four years later, we got a phone call in the middle of the night. The school was calling to tell us that she had collapsed and was in intensive care in the hospital. My parents flew over to Switzerland the next day. They made me stay at home. The next time I saw her she was dead. We had to hold the funeral in Switzerland. Nobody back here really knew what happened." She stopped and Charlene noticed that there were tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," Charlene softly said.

Sandy whirled around and the tears in her eyes threatened to fall. "You're sorry! Ha! You're the one doing exactly what she did! You're sorry that my sister's dead but you don't care that you'll be dead too if you don't wake up and face reality! Do me one favour, Charlene. When you leave this world, say hi to my sister, okay? Tell her I miss her, okay? Tell her that our mom and dad pray everyday for her--that they cry everyday for her. Just like I do." Sandy got up and ran out of the park sobbing.

Charlene sat on the bench stunned. Yeah, but you don't have to live every day having no control over your life! It'd be better if I was dead--maybe then mom and dad would see how important I really am! she screamed at Sandy in her head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thayet sat in her room in the evening. She should've been doing her homework, but she just wasn't in the mood to do it. Instead she decided to read her mail that had been sitting on her bed. A letter from Grandma, a stupid newsletter, and a letter from Tish--cool! Letitia Hemingson was her pen pal from England. She opened the letter and began to read it.

'Hi Thay!

I know it's been ages since I last wrote--I'm so sorry! But I have some news that I think you'll like. But I feel like stringing you along...so I'll tell you later on in this letter. How's life going with you? I got your letter 'bout breaking up with your steady. I hope you're doing okay. I remember when I broke up with Mike, it was hell. I'm doing pretty good now, life's fairly simple and uncomplicated here. It's even slightly boring--ahh!

I'm in this year's musical production, though. It should be good, it's a mix of different stuff, like there's sections from the Messiah, Pirates of Penzance, The Boyfriend and Grease. I want to try out for Rizzo in Grease....'

Thayet skipped the next few sections, looking for the 'news'. Then she found it.

'Well, I think I've sufficiently tortured you, so here goes. I'm going to the USA in about 2 days!! And I think I will be able to spend a lot of time in Riverdale, which means that I'll finally see you again after 3 years!! Isn't it great?? I'll be calling you over the phone from Canada--our plane stops in Ontario for a layover so I'll call you then and let you know if the flight's still on time & stuff. My parents have reserved rooms at the Colonade Hotel, so don't even worry about having to host us and stuff. But you can meet us in the airport if you want--we were just planning to grab a taxi or something. After all, it's just the three of us, and we usually pack light--mainly because we always end up buying tons of stuff!!'

Letitia's flight details were listed below, and Thayet copied them down.

'I can't wait to see you again, Thayet! This letter's kinda getting long (at least by my standards) so I'll just see you later!

Your best pen pal in the world,
Letitia'

Thayet looked at her watch to see the time, and realised that Tish must've posted the letter approximately 2 days ago (it was sent by 1st class mail). Oh my gosh, she thought. Tish is coming today! Thayet ran downstairs to tell her parents.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chloe-Lynn Redwood sat at home, playing her 10th game of Solitaire on the computer. She stopped and sighed, letting her thoughts wander. I can't believe what happened with Andrew, she thought. It's just so unreal. We were meant to be together. Everyone could see it--I could feel it! I don't care what the hell I have to do. I will get him back. Even if that means...being good. She shuddered at the thought, but she knew what she had to do. Andrew will be mine again, she vowed. Because we belong together. And because he taught me the meaning of love at first sight. She closed the Solitaire game and opened a Microsoft Word document. She started typing furiously.

Plan to Get Andrew Back
1. Apologize to Sandy in public so that he can see that I'm good now and not backstabbing.
2. Tell him that I want to be friends--that I'm sorry that I was so selfish and cruel.
3. Ask him out.
4. Never, never, never let him go again!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Matt sat in his room alone. He had spent the last 4 hours with his mom and Mr Fabian--his new lawyer. He didn't know what had happened. How could that--that--that chick do this?? He just couldn't understand it. It was one night...he was upset about Chris...and now he was going to have a criminal record because of it! Oh yeah, senior year really is going to be the best year of my life, he thought sarcastically. The phone rang in his room, making him jump. He didn't want to answer it--he just wanted to die.

"Matt! It's for you!" his mother called up the stairs.

"Okay!" he yelled back. He picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

"Matt! It's Thayet. You wouldn't believe who is coming here today!"

"What? Who's coming here? I don't know!" he replied crabbily, but Thayet didn't pick up it.

"Do you remember Letitia--the girl I met in England on our school trip in grade 9?" Thayet asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Tish is the one coming here! Can you believe it? It's soooo cool!" Thayet exclaimed. Matt didn't reply. "Matt are you okay? You see kinda down."

"I guess you could say that."

"What's wrong?" Thayet asked concernedly.

"I might as well tell you first--everyone's going to find out in the end." Matt outlined the details of his rape accusation.

"So it was you," Thayet mused.

"What do you mean by that?? You knew! How?" Matt cried.

"It was really just a guess," Thayet said. She told him about the yearbook meeting.

"Oh great! The five o'clock news is already covering the story! This is going to be just great!"

"Calm down. No one knows it's you, remember Linda & I were just guessing. In fact, it was Linda that even thought of it, I would never have thought about it by myself," Thayet said comfortingly.

"That makes me feel a lot better," Matt said sarcastically.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the next morning, the news about Matt was all over. The gossip mill had grabbed the story and exaggerated it to the nth degree. Every student and teacher was waiting to see if he'd actually have the guts to come to school--it was obvious that he was setting himself big-time if he came. Unfortunately, one person had not been told. Christine.

Chris walked into school, her head down, and feeling more than a little lonely. She'd called Charlene the night before, and Char was obviously upset. She made a mental note to herself to talk to Charlene at the first available opportunity.

One other thing that was bothering Chris was the fact that she was...bored. She was used to spreading gossip & stuff, but that had kinda calmed down since her break-up with Matt. Gosh, was that only 2 days ago? The day before yesterday? It felt like two years! Well, she did vow to herself that she'd have fun again--without Matt. This would be the perfect time to start.

Just then, she spotted Charlene down the hall. "Hey, Char, wait up!" she called. She noticed that lots of people had stopped walking and were staring at her. Oops, she thought to herself. Mental note: don't call your friends in a public place. "Char," she repeated quieter, when she reacher Charlene.

"Hey Chris," Charlene said weakly.

"Are you okay? You look kinda...frail."

"Oh, gee, thanks! You look fab too." Charlene returned sarcastically.

"I didn't mean to offend you--but maybe you should've just stayed at home. You look like you could do with some rest," Christine explained.

"It's a nice thought, but mom would just be hovering all over me all day if I stayed at home. Telling me to have plenty of liquids, giving me ten bowls of chicken soup....no thanks!"

Christine smiled--Charlene's mom was generally a very reserved person, but whenever one of her children got sick, she turned into a mother hen. "Okay, sure. Enough about that. Is there anything interesting going on gossip-wise lately? Apart from the whole Matt thing, I mean."

Charlene gulped. "You know? Who told you? I was going to call last night...but then I forgot. You must be devastated!"

"Devastated? Um, Char, I know you're a bit under the weather today...but you told me, remember? Yesterday morning, before school, you called me? Ring a bell?" Chris looked at her friend inquisitively.

"Oh, right. But you haven't heard about the latest....developments."

"Developments? What are you holding from me, Charlene? Tell!" Chris cried.

Charlene looked around. "Let's go into a conference room in the library--I think we need some privacy for this."

Christine followed, her suspicions aroused. "Sure."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sandy stood at the lockers with Thayet and her pen pal, Letitia Hemingson. She looked around, losing interest in the current conversation, because mostly it was just about stuff she already knew. She saw lots of people staring at them--obviously Tish's English accent was making people curious. Looking down the hall, she saw Charlene and Christine walk away.

"Hey guys," she interrupted.

"Sandy, we were just talking. Rude much?" Thayet returned, but she was smiling.

"I'm sorry. But I just saw Christine over there. She looked...um...happy. Considering that her ex-boyfriend just got accused of rape, that's out-of-the-ordinary." Sandy explained.

"Whoa," Letitia breathed. "I'd hate to be in her shoes right now--when did they break up? Yesterday?"

"The day before, actually," Thayet replied.

"Anyway, enough about that--please can we talk about something a bit less...depressing?" Sandy asked.

"I agree. Rape is not one of my number one conversation topics." Letitia agreed.

"Fine, fine. Give me a topic, then," Thayet challenged.

Letitia whistled under her breath. "Who's that hottie? You know, Thayet, I'll think I might just stay here--we don't have such good species of guys in the UK!"

Thayet and Sandrilene laughed. Thayet turned to see the guy that had caught Letitia's attention, and saw...none other than Andrew Loden. "Uh-oh."

"What?" Letitia asked.

"You picked the wrong guy to pin your hopes on." Thayet replied discouragingly.

"Why? Is he taken?"

Sandy turned now to see the guy. She grinned evilly. "Oh, I think Tish has good taste. Very good taste."

Thayet looked at her best friend, her eyes narrowed. "Sandy, after everything that's gone on between you and Chloe, you'd think you might've learned a lesson. Guess not."

"What?? I'm lost people, fill me in!" Letitia demanded.

Thayet gave her a quick version of the feud between Sandy and Chloe. "...so you see, Chloe's just a total freak who feels the need to screw with people."

Letitia looked at Sandy. "And so you want me to go out with him so that you can get revenge on Chloe."

"Basically, yeah. She deserves it--and anyway, he's too good for her. He's a really nice guy and you're a really nice girl. You'd be good together." Sandy stated.

"Well, thanks for the compliment--who's that?" Letitia looked at the red-haired girl that had come up to him. She stood close to him, and whispered a few words in his ear. But he didn't seem very happy to see her, which was encouraging.

"That is none other than Chloe-Lynn, our resident cheerleader," Sandy replied with more than a touch of sarcasm.

Letitia laughed. "Don't you worry, Sandy. You've only known me for a short amount of time. But when you get to learn a bit more about me, you'll find out that I never give up without a fight. And as long as he's single, I stand a chance."

Thayet looked at Tish with surprise. She'd never seen this determined side of Letitia before. But she liked it. Because now Chloe-Lynn might actually get a taste of her own medicine.