Mrs. Golde really went all out for this thing, because she came up to me in the morning and said that she'd gotten me, Fiona, Delphine, Lucas, Walker, Brandon, Mitchell, and Jacqueline excused from the entire day to rehearse. Without wasting a moment, I told Fiona and Delphine. They went to find Brandon and Lucas, and I went to find Walker.

Perfectly, I bumped into Jacqueline and Celine bickering. Mitchell was nowhere to be found.

"Jacqueline!" I said, skidding to a stop. "Hi, Celine. Where's Mitchell?"

"Bathroom," Jacqueline said. "As I was saying- the Chamber of Secrets is not a chamber, it's a basement!"

"It is so not a basement! It's a chamber!" Celine said (A/N: this is based on a real argument I had with my best friend for a solid 20 minutes).

"It's a chamber in a basement, dumbass!"

Terrible time for Mitchell to be away with his bleeper button.

"Mrs. Golde got us excused from all our classes today so we can rehearse," I cut in.

Jacqueline smiled. "Oh, yeah! Where are we meeting up?"

"Mrs. Golde's class. Fiona and Delphine are getting Brandon and Lucas. Can you get Mitchell while I find Walker?"

Jacqueline nodded. I found Walker on his way to Shipping and told him what Mrs. Golde did. His face lit up, and we raced to Mrs. Golde's class. (Quite literally raced. I won.)

We had eight hours to do all kinds of rehearsals. Table readings. Improv, in case there was any scenario we weren't prepared for. Physical rehearsals. One-on-one for the pairs to make sure they were in sync.

Finally, at around two PM, we all separated and went to the bathrooms. There were a couple of girls who were very confused as to why Delphine was doing makeup for all of us and why we were out of uniform, but they got out quickly.

It was mostly the same as last time. Delphine actually managed to fix Fiona's shoulder-length mess of wavy blond hair, twist it into a sort of ponytail and pull out two strands at the front. I thought it was genius, because the end of the ponytail showed the few curls Fiona had in her wavy hair. Delphine also clipped back Jacqueline's hair, but also tugged out a curl at the front to "frame her face," she said. She brushed out my hair and did a twisty kind of half-up with a flower clip at the back. She braided back part of her hair and held it in place with a few pins, letting the rest of her curls run free.

The guys didn't differentiate much from last time. Although I could tell Lucas was putting just a bit more effort, because his hair shone with just a bit of gel. Gel. Lucas Crystalos, messy hair supreme, had gelled back his hair. I don't know why that bothered me so much. I could've sworn he lent some to Mitchell, too, because although his brown hair was always shiny, it seemed a little poofier. Walker looked like he had crossed his fingers and dumped his head in the sink, then dragged a brush through it and let it be. The only person who didn't look drastically different from last time was Brandon, who kept it simple with slightly damp and brushed hair.

It was two twenty now. We had forty minutes.

By three, the bell rang, and we had only just finished our dress rehearsal. Mrs. Golde told us we'd have to wait a bit to catch one of the busses to the main school building, so we did. I sat between Fiona and Jacqueline, trying not to shake. If this failed, it would be my fault. They were in this not because they wanted to, but because they were my friends.

If I failed, they failed with me.

The bus came around maybe twenty-five minutes later. We all piled in, taking advantage of the space. I plopped myself somewhere near the back at the window seat. Lucas looked like he wanted to sit next to me but then hesitated, glancing back, and sat directly behind me instead.

Fiona, Delphine, Brandon, and Walker each picked a spot and sat by themselves. Clearly it was nerves like mine. Mitchell sat all the way up front behind the driver, and Jacqueline remained standing in the walkway next to him, watching the way.

The ride was exactly five minutes long, but about two minutes in I heard Lucas's voice from behind me.

"Hey."

"Hey, Lucas."

"You okay?"

I sighed. "I don't know. I feel like I dragged you guys into this. Just because you're friends with me doesn't mean I get to drag you into my messes."

"Actually, that's kind of the point of friendship. Y/N, trust me, you're not dragging us into anything. The whole group was there when you stood up for the fandoms. We all cheered with you. I'm honored I get to do this with you."

I glanced back. His blue eyes stared onto the passing schools; the Harry Potter school, which was absolutely huge, the Divergent school, and so on. But his expression was soft.

"How many times am I going to thank you for being this sweet?"

He smiled, still not looking at me. "Don't. You accepted me when no one else did. We'll always be even."

The bus pulled to a stop right then.

"Everybody off!" Jacqueline declared. Mrs. Golde escorted us into the building. It was huge, and so much fancier than our school. Fiona was at my side the whole time, her big brown eyes peering at everything excitedly.

Mrs. Golde stopped in front of a door and took a breath.

"I just wanted to tell you how proud I am of you kids. You've worked so hard. I know you're going to convince them."

Fiona grabbed my hand and squeezed, her smile wide. Delphine took my other hand. We looked at each other for a moment. Then Mrs. Golde opened the door and we stepped in.

The room was big. The founders all sat at a table. Mrs. Golde ushered us to the front, then stood off to the side.

I studied them. There was the founder for the Percy Jackson fandom, Gabrielle Vasquez, the founder of the Hunger Games fandom, Rotella Hollander, the founder of the Harry Potter fandom, Tiana Truvis, and a bunch more at the back of the table that must've been the founders of other fandoms. I was shocked at just how many there were. This school was so much bigger than I thought.

But what shocked our whole group even more was the laptop that sat at the front of the table. On the screen I could see, live and moving, Rick Riordan, JK Rowling, Suzanne Collins, Shannon Messenger, and a bunch of other authors. I could've sworn I even saw Jeremy Zag.

"Well, no one told me this was our Hunger Games victor!" Uncle Rick said, lightening the mood. "Go ahead, dear."

I took a breath and stepped forward for my opening speech. But not before catching the sight of Delphine holding Lucas's hand, which made me falter.

"Well, I-um-" I fumbled. Walker put a hand on my shoulder and whispered to me.

"Take your time. You got this."

I took a breath, counted to three silently, then opened my mouth again.

"We're all gathered here today because you wished for future generations to attend Fangirl School. I'm here because I was considered odd in my old school with other people. I didn't fit in. Here I do. There's already common ground that exists between everyone that attends Fangirl School. But now I'm starting to wonder if the Fangirl School system really is fair."

I stepped back and let Delphine and Lucas do their part. Fiona grabbed my hand. Her best friend sense was clearly tingling, because she held on tight. Delphine and Lucas's fingers were still entwined as they gave their part.

"This school's fandoms vary from as big and diverse as Harry Potter to as small yet memorable as Miraculous Ladybug. Yet not all are treated the same. As we know, the fandoms of Harry Potter, the Hunger Games, and Percy Jackson all meet up once a year for Get-Into-The-Book events. But other fandoms don't get this privilege," Delphine recited flawlessly.

"Let's show some clips from this year's Get-Into-The-Book event," Lucas said, his voice softer and not booming like Delphine's. I pressed a button on the screen, and it opened directly onto the video Lucas had edited together. The first few clips were the actual events, then the interviews, and a surprise clip from Lucas's phone of watching the reenactment with our group.

"Our fandoms get this privilege of enjoying ourselves. Meanwhile, I asked around and interviewed some people from other fandoms. Mrs. Golde helped me."

This part was a surprise. That wasn't in the script, but I signaled for him to keep going.

He tapped another button on the screen, and it opened up a video made of photos, with no sound. Mrs. Golde handed him a small notebook, which he started to read from.

"Cindy from the Miraculous, Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir fandom, season five year says that the same activities and places get visited every year in Paris, and it tends to get boring and repetitive. Lavinia from the Sonic fandom says most of the trips they go on don't make any sense and don't relate to her fandom at all, since most of the places in the Sonic universe are fictional."

He paused and looked up. "We get things that are entertaining even if they don't relate with our fandom. We get somewhat exposure to what the other fandoms are like. I met Walker, Jacqueline, and Mitchell here because of the Get-Into-The-Book events. In a way."

He stopped and stepped back, Delphine going back with him.

Pamela Estodan, the founder of the Miraculous fandom, looked almost impressed. "That's true, I have heard complaints from my fandom about the trips. And I suppose your statement about exposure to other fandoms is correct."

Some of the other founders nodded appreciatively. Lucas's face flushed.

Fiona and Brandon delivered a quick but notable speech about their personal experiences in Fangirl School, how they got to meet each other through it, and how much fun they had watching the reenactment and how others wouldn't get that privilege.

Then Jacqueline and Mitchell stepped up.

"Mitchell and I have known each other since we were young. We've had this love for Percy Jackson ever since we were about six. We participated in the reenactment together. It's how I got to know Y/N and take part in this. I know a girl. Her name is Marie Everett. She's in the Keeper of the Lost Cities fandom. I had to describe the reenactment in detail to her. And she said something to me that comes back to my head every once in a while."

She took a breath and looked the head founder dead in the eye. Of course, there were two. There was Alaina Winters, who helped fund for the school when it first started. Then there was the other founder. Mia Grace. (A/N: Yes, I did just insert myself in the story as founder of Fangirl School.) Her bright green eyes met Jacqueline's. She looked very friendly, meeting Jacqueline's gaze with a smile that said we'd already won her over.

"'I came to this school so I could be equal with everyone else. Is it equality if I don't get to do certain things, just because I don't like the same thing they do?' And I think about that a lot."

Walker then went on to talk about how the events would be more fun for us and the other fandoms if they, too, got to participate, just so we weren't being repetitive. Then finally, I stepped up.

This was it. This was the moment where I would win them over in case everyone else failed.

I took a breath, remembering my lines- then decided to throw them out the window and improv. I remembered my struggles with Delphine. With Lucas. And I remembered one other thing.

At the end of the day, I was just a teenager girl. Just turned thirteen. I put all of those thoughts and emotions at the front of my head, and spoke.

"I'm just a teenage girl," was the first thing that came out of my mouth. Without looking, I could tell they were either panicking or facepalming, but I pressed on. "And teenage girls aren't supposed to be upset because they went through so much to be equal to everyone else just to be cast out yet again. We're supposed to be studying. Going out with our friends. Picking which guys we like best. I alone went through so much, being the weird girl for liking something different at my school. The same is happening to hundreds of teenage girls in Fangirl School, a supposed safe haven for fangirls. They should be allowed to be like the other fandoms too, and not again cast aside for liking something else."

I stepped back again and, for the first time, all eight of us stood in a row in front of the founders.

Watching.

Waiting.

Holding our breaths.

And the founders burst into applause.