Lea stared up at the ceiling. They had been torturing her for two weeks now; didn't they realise she wasn't going to tell them anything?

She wish they would just put her out of her misery and kill her already. Unfortunately though, that no longer had the same meaning for her. She knew if she died again there was no getting back to WA. Death would claim her once and for all this time around, and seeing as he disapproved of the Cupid programme she definitely wouldn't be one of the best treated dead.

Where were WA? Surely they'd have sent a team out to recover her by now? But there wasn't much she could do to help speed the process up from her cell. All she could to was wait and hope for the best.

Her chief torturer chose that precise moment to swing open the door. He grinned unpleasantly, causing Lea to shiver. The bucket of water in his hand became a streaky blur as she was plunged in headfirst before she even had time to scream.

***

"Well?" Lisa demanded, looking at us. "What do you want?"

Julia shuffles the plans in her hand, sifting quickly through the sheets of paper until she found her carefully prepared speech. "Miss Ross, or do you prefer to be called Lisa?" Julia inquired politely.

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Put away those papers, because I can't abide people trying to sweet talk me into things. As well as that, you should know by now respect for your elders is necessary which would lead to you calling me by Miss Ross."

I had expected Julia to shakily put away her notes and wring her hands out worriedly, but as always I had underestimated her. She slipped them into her pocket like it was no big bother, then she resumed speaking with a steely glint in her eye. "We are here with an amazing money-making opportunity for you with next to no effort required on your part, which as you can imagine concerns your extremely successful arcade. We would like to hire it out tomorrow afternoon for a very special event we have planned. I promise we will not harm the machines or other equipment in any way and will not change the order of things. I can't swear to you that there'll be no mess but I can swear that it will be gone afterwards." Oh, Julia. I should have trusted you to learn the speech off by heart.

"No," she replied so bluntly it shocks me. "Saturday is the busiest day of the week. I'm not hiring out the arcade then. Perhaps Sunday, but no more than two hours, max. And you'd have to paying me this amount." She slipped a piece of paper across the table. I picked it up and my eyes went wide, but because of my lovely limitless card money wasn't really a problem.

"We agree to those conditions. A day won't make too much of a difference to us," I confirmed.

"What sort of event is it anyway?" Lisa asked, a silly smile on her face now she'd been promised the money she wants. Harriet leant over and whispered it in her ear. Lisa clapped her hands in delight.

"Oh, how romantic! Your friend Fiona is very lucky." She beamed. "What all will you be doing?"

"We just need to put a few decorations up, nothing too big," Harriet answered. "It'll all be taken down after."

Lisa nodded. "That all seems in order then. Shall we discuss things a little more over a cup of coffee tomorrow morning, say at a quarter to eleven in Starbucks. We'll get all the details finalised then."

I beamed at her happily. "Sounds good, I guess we'll see you then." She nodded, then waved her hand dismissively at us. We trailed out the door, leaving her in peace.

As we stood at the top of the grand staircase again, I rested my hand lightly on the top of the gleaming banister. I closed my eyes tightly, and when I opened them again I wasn't looking down on a grumpy cleaning lady, but a grand party with young lords and ladies floating past in beautiful, colourful dress and impeccable suits. In between mingled a few waiters in black tie, offering them dainty glasses of champagne. The chandelier above twinkles and glimmered down at us, sending beams of light scattering to even the darkest corners of the room. Laughter filled my ears, as well as sweet music playing gently in the backroad by a small orchestra assembled in the entrance hall.

I glanced down at my dusty pink, full skirt that dips down the cover all but the very tips of my white slippers with the edge of glimmering, tiny pink hearts poking out. As I reached up to pat my hair, I could feel that it's stiff as poker and pulled into a tight bun. I felt the clips digging into my head, wailing in protest, but a girl has to suffer for the sake of her beauty. I lifted up the edge of my heavy skirt with a gloved hand, and began to glide gracefully down the steps. In this moment, I was no longer Jessica Kinney, I was not even Rosie Parker, I was Lady Rose Grey.

Until a protruding voice broke through my vivid image, causing the world to fade from me. I lunged out desperately, and it seemed to cling at my fingertips for a millisecond before slipping away completely. I stomped down the last few steps huffily, refusing to look my dream crushers in the eye.

"What the hell were you doing, Rosie?" Harriet asked, amused, as we walked out of the house. "You looked loopy with your eyes half shut and your arm all wonky in the air." She angled her head back a little, placed her left arm in the air as if holding something, and walked it. toe first down the street with a little swagger in her step. I couldn't help but laugh at her imitation, and at my own crazy imagination. What had just happened in terms to the arcade returned to the forefront of my mind and I couldn't help a wide, lunatic grin from spreading across my face.

"I'm so happy happy happy," I sang, dancing down the street. "I'm so happy happy happy!"

Julia linked arms with me smiling. "It's great we're getting things sorted out. Fiona and Nathan will soon be broken up! Do you know, on average, eighty-five percent of couples break up?"

The geeky fact which possibly nobody but Julia would come out with made me smile. She's been a bit more subdued since Saturday night, and this was the first fact she'd came out with all week. Maybe she was finally starting to recover from the trauma inflicted upon her and Harriet.

Harriet added, "and perhaps there'll be a new relationship soon." My eyes locked down on her faintly blushing face. Could she know that I intended to get Owen and Fiona together immediately after we end this thing with Nathan? But then a far more likely possibility sprang into my mind, one that would explain the rosy red cheeks, the unusually bright mood and the constant soppy smiles she'd been displaying. Did Harriet have a crush on someone? "Wow," I said aloud.

"I know, that's crazy, right? But then, fifty percent of marriages end in divorce, so we can only expect pretty high numbers for simple couples. Statistics also say that most people will date twelve people before getting married. It's horrible to think about the amount of break-ups we will suffer. However, I do agree that this particular one is for the best." She rattled on, squealing excitedly when she sees the ice cream shop because it was her cue to dole out ice cream facts. This was all the confirmation I needed to know that Julia was completely back to normal.

***

     Early on Sunday morning, a cream coloured invitation had been slipped underneath the door. It wasn't till a few hours later that Fiona noticed it. Her forehead wrinkled in confusion as she slid open the envelope sealed with a glittery red heart. Her eyes grew wide as she read the curling red writing. Her heart did an excited little flutter as a beaming smile spread across her face. How romantic, a date at the very place she and Nathan had met!

    Fiona wasn't completely stupid. A part of her deep down knew that this relationship wasn't going to work out. But it was nice to pretend, and when Nathan did things like this she could almost picture her walking down the aisle to him.

     That Sunday afternoon she dressed especially carefully for her date. She selected a figure hugging pink dress and sky high heels. Then she set off for the arcade.

     As she walked in she immediately saw the pink and red streamers dangling from the rooftops. There were helium balloons positioned around the edges of the hall in the shape of hearts. She also saw that all the arcade machines were switched on to show the leaderboards. She smiled as she glanced at the closest one, then her smile faded to a frown. The name on the top of the leaderboard was Fiona, but Harriet had always beat her in that game.

     Fiona's smile widened again though as the possibility of their being another Fiona occurred. But as she looked at the next game, the top name was her surname. Her eyes scanned the tops of the leaderboards quickly, as she walked quickly along the line of boards with increasing panic. But then, as she saw the final few words, her heart started being so loudly that she was surprised it didn't burst out of her chest.

     Slowly, she bent down and picked up the blue rabbit. And stared at the engagement ring it was holding in its furry paw.

Once again, I'm SO sorry for not having updated in AGES. I'm in the middle of exams and I suddenly felt the urge to write another chapter, which is why it's so short. Probably nobody's even reading this because they probably thought I've given up on this book, but I swear I haven't. So if you are reading this, P L E A S E let me know. As soon as my exams are over (not long now!) I'll be returning to regular updates. Anyway, surprised about the proposal? Did you expect it? Don't worry, all the questions you may have will be answered in the next chapter...

Zoe xxx