I received a text from Fiona the evening the group left for support group, saying that they'd taken a detour on the way home and went to New York. She told me they'd be back in a day or two and not to worry, but I knew well enough that they could take care of themselves. Instead, I decided to put my time alone to good use. I did what I'd been putting off for a long time, and I called Juliet.

     She picked up on the third ring. "What is it?" She snapped, and I instantly recoiled. She wasn't in a good mood.

   "Hear me out." I said immediately, remembering her tendencies to hang up on me when I talked too long. "I just want to tell you something that I've known for a while. It's wrong for me to keep it from you, I know that now, even if it means I fail my training and never become a Cupid. I... I can't set up Fiona and Owen up." It all came out in a rush. "You see, they're cousins, and I didn't know that, because I should have but I didn't so I tried but it failed and Owen has a girlfriend that I don't want to hurt because even though she's being a bitch she's an amazing friend that's going through a hard time - "

     "Rosie, sto - "

     "Oh yeah, and Owen's my brother, by the way, which I've known from the start but couldn't tell you - "

     "Rosie, I know all of this."

     I blinked, like a deer caught in the headlights. I just have heard her wrong. "Sorry?"

   "I know you and Owen are related and that Fiona is your cousin. Well done, you've just passed the first stage of your training. Only dozens of more stages to go." She commented drily, her voice crackling a little over the phone.

     "What do you mean, no Bieber quote intended?" I asked, shell shocked. How could Juliet know all of this? If she knew all of that then why did she ask me to set up the two? Wait - was the fact they were cousins not a problem? That would be just gross.

     Juliet sighed. "I can't believe you haven't figured it out by now. We never actually wanted you to set up Fiona and Owen, it was just a test. Because you owned up to not being able to do it, you passed. We also intentionally put you in a situation with your brother, so that we could test your ability to keep the Cupid secrets to yourself. You also passed that test. We never realised your old best friend might become part of the mix, but that also proved your trustworthiness. Now that you've accepted all those facts, it's time to give you your real mission. I've been waiting for you to call me, at this rate it will be Christmas before you leave that place."

    My head was spinning. It was all a test. All my hard work was for nothing. It was just a test. "What's my real mission then?" I asked confidently, trying to pretend I wasn't stunned and angry to Juliet.

      "Well, while you were trying to get your cousins together you did exactly what we wanted - you broke Nathan and Fiona up. In the fight that followed, Nathan realised all the things Fiona said was right, and now he's ready for a proper girlfriend. We'd hoped this would happen, but you managed to carry it off far quicker than we anticipated, which proves your worth. This is where you come in with your friend Julia. In this case, opposites really do attract. You need to get the two of them together, and before Nathan finds someone else to have a proper relationship with." Juliet explained.

"So, all this time, you knew who I really had to get together and yet you sent me out on a fool's errand anyway?" I stated through gritted teeth. Juliet got very highly on my nerves.

"Yes." She said simply. "I have to go. You've been here for a while now Rosie, and Halloween's next Wednesday. I would recommend you get Julia and Nathan on their first date before then, as Nathan's new resolve might be weakened by all the Halloween costumes. Bye." The end of the line went dead, leaving me with an inexpressible feel of anger.

Near impossible missions with tight deadlines. Just what I loved best.

***

The next morning, Fiona's bed was still made up perfectly. I didn't think I'd heard her come in during the night, but I double checked anyway. They must still have been in New York, and I wished for a fleeting moment that I was there too. But the time by myself gave me the perfect opportunity to come up with a game plan.

I only usually went to classes to stay in Fiona's good graces, but there was no reason to attend then if she wasn't around to see it. Instead, I walked past the usual lecture room with an odd feeling of satisfaction. My heart went out to the poor people still stuck in there.

There were posters lining the walls on my way to the doors, and eventually I stopped to see what they were all about. It advertised a fun general knowledge quiz with prizes for the winners, that I think I'd heard Julia say she was entering. It was tomorrow night, and in an effort to promote friendliness between the students at the start of the night you were randomly put into teams of six.

A plan quickly started to form in my head. The quiz would be the perfect opportunity to force Julia and Nathan together. Julia would definitely be entering, and I could maybe convince Nathan to join too as an opportunity to meet girls to have a relationship with, as he now wanted. Then, if I could rig it to get the pair in the same team, and organise the prizes myself... Yes. It could work.

I knew my plan was a long shot, but I had to try it. At the bottom of the sheet it was advertising to see a girl named Fergie who was organising the event if you could help. I took a pen out if my pocket and scribbled her room number down on my hand. If I could help with the event it would make my plan so much easier. Then I started off towards Room 236.

I found it without a problem, then knocked on the mint green door. It had been painted that colour, making it easier to spot amongst the other plain wooden doors in the corridor. I rapped on it again, and the girl who must have been Fergie opened it. She smiled welcomingly at me and her blue eyes twinkled through her stylish purple glasses. "Are you here about the quiz? Come on in!" She invited me, and I accepted.

Her room followed the same layout as mine, but with a huge splash of colour. There were rainbows and flowers and ponies painted childishly on the walls, that made me hide a grin. Fergie gestured to the sofa and I took a seat.

"You're the first person that actually replied to my request." Fergie beamed. "There's an agonising amount of stuff that still needs some before tomorrow, so I'm really grateful for your help! I hope you don't have much to do the next few days!"

My smile became rather strained. There was just the two of us, running this massive event? Although it sounded geeky Julia had informed me that the quiz was an annual tradition and even non-geeks enjoyed it. "I'm happy to help." I lied.

She suddenly reached forward and hugged me. My hands fell stiffly to my sides, and I really didn't know what to do. The awkwardness still hung in the air between us even after she let go. "I haven't even gotten round to organising prizes yet. I need a prize for each of the six in the winning team, which you can choose within budget. Also, I've gotten some local businesses to donate prizes for the ballot to get publicity for their stores, so I'll need you to pick them up too." She handed me money to pay for the winner's gifts and a list of things to collect. "Thanks," she said, ushering me out the door before I had time to react. "I appreciate it!"

I felt as if I had been cheated out of two days. I already resented having to do so much work for Fergie, and I'd only just been given my first job. I headed towards the exit, sighing at the thought of the amount of things I'd had to do. Being a Cupid wasn't meant to be so much work.

The list of things to collect was so extensive that I had to hire a cab to carter me from shop to shop, and then put the prizes in. After I had all the ballot thing ready, I headed out to buy some proper prizes. The teams were supposed to be evenly matched between boys and girls as best we could, so I bought a Soap and Glory gift set, a perfume and matching body lotion, an aftershave, a gift voucher for men's shoes and two gift vouchers for Hidden Treasure, the pizza place, the perfect place for a casual date. The last prize was to be split between two people, and I'd made sure the rest of the gifts were extremely girly or manly so Julia would have no choice but to split the prize with someone, who would be the relationship seeking Nathan.

I paid the taxi an extortionate amount of money to help me carry all the things up to Fergie's room, but I had taken out money from the credit card so this wasn't a problem. Fergie eyed up the prizes I'd chosen with approval, but slight suspicion. There was of course no way her money would have covered all of it, so I'd paid for it all myself. However, she didn't question it. "Well done, Rosie." She beamed. "I thought about things like socks and flowers, but this is far better. I like the fact you got the pizza place vouchers, so two of the team mates go on a date. Great idea!"

I grinned, having of course done this for my own unprofessional motives. "Thank you. I enjoyed prize picking."

Fergie checked her watch. "It's just gone two, so time's up for joining. There's a few lists outside the cafeteria for people to sign up, can you go grab them, then organise them into teams? Try to keep three girls and three boys to a team." I nodded, then headed down to collect the lists.

There was one hundred and nineteen people who had signed up, which was extremely impressive, and if I could convince Nathan then we would have exactly twenty even teams. I took the lists down, then headed off to Nathan's room, intending to persuade him to join up.

I knocked on the door to his room, and he opened the door up. He looked good in just a simple t-shirt and jeans, but I didn't feel any sort of attraction to him. I didn't really like him, but hopefully he had changed.

"Hi!" I said chirpily. "I was wondering if you'd like to join the quiz tomorrow night? It's going to be great fun!"

He frowned. "Sorry," he apologised awkwardly. "But that's not really my sort of thing...."

"I heard you were looking to meet girls, and this is the perfect opportunity to do it!" I kept the same sickly tone to my voice, a wide smile plastered across my face. "You get randomly put into a team of six, with three girls and three boys, and if you win one of the prizes is a dinner at a pizza place with one of the girls off your team! It's the perfect place for a casual first date!"

I saw his resolve slowly melting away; he sighed. "Alright then." He said, reaching for a sheet. "Sign me up.

I don't really have much to say except the next chapter is a Zola one, which I am actually more excited for than the normal ones. School starts in two weeks exactly, so hopefully I'll have a few more chapters done by then. I can't believe I'm approaching the twenties with my chapters! I'm so excited for the next few chapters, I think you'll like them.

Zoe xxx