(Szin. Watch. Narration: Alexis)

"Still, that harlot shouldn't have touched you." I said. Jen grumbled.

"It's fine. Besides you remind me of a story." Jen said. She wrapped herself tighter in her blanket burrito. I smiled.

"Well, then tell me." I said. Jen nodded and began.

"My mama always told me it was better to stay young. To stay five years old." Jen said.

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(Lol, we're switching to Laurens.)

"Jen Katherine Laurens!" My mom said. She looked at me sternly. "Don't make your mother worry. I've got enough gray hairs as it is." She sighed. She wasn't that old. Gray hairs? Just a joke. I shouldn't make her worry though. 

"I wish I was as old as you. Then I'd know better and be able to make decisions." I said. My mother laughed, it was a light laugh, full of cheer and happiness, despite her earlier comment on gray hair. 

"No, no sweetie. Stay five. Better to keep your youth and exuberance. I will educate you so you aren't ignorant, but please. Stay five years old. Even if you do grow up, stay young at heart." My mother said. She patted me on the head, and I jumped out to the playground. I didn't want mama to have gray hair over my injuries. I was a strong five year old. I ran up to the group of kids who I was friends with. We were gonna play princes and princesses. Being a girl, I was told I had to be a princess. Not fair. I begged to be a prince. I wasn't fit for dresses and maidenly screaming. No one but my mother cared. After the first five minutes of arguing of whether I could be a prince or not, the kids kicked me out and I sat on a bench. Another kid approached me.

"Hi! I'm Hera. Do you want to play the prince and the pauper?  It's my favorite fairy tale." A girl said. She had a headband with a bow on top of her hair, and a t-shirt and shorts combo. I nodded. "OK. You can be whatever you want!" She shouted. I said I'd be the prince. And so, we acted it out. I placed on her headband.

"And I'll be the pauper. You can be the prince in my place!" I said, saying my line of text. Hera had brought the book with her. 

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"So that's how you met Hera!" Alexis said. I nodded from my burrito.

"Yeah. Sunnytree park." I said. Then thought for a moment. "It's a good picnic spot. Maybe in the summer we should go there." Alexis nodded.

"Sounds great to me. As long as our souls decide to let us dictate stuff. Not be trapped to some specific events." Alexis said. She slung her arm around me, and turned on the tv.

"Danger Mings. It's about haunted Ming vases taking their anger out on four girls and a boy named Seven." I said. Alexis coughed.

"Sounds like a rip-off of another tv show I know." Alexis said. She flicked through a bunch of channels and picked an anime.

"A Netflix date?" I said. Alexis nodded. "With Hera and Laf passed out on the couch upstairs. It's like what, 3 am?" I added. Alexis nodded again.

"Only the silliest of things." she said. She sighed as we eased into binge-watching anime. 

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"It's morning." Alexis said. She handed me a plate of food. " Eggs? And...I think this is bacon? I prepared it like bacon."

"Yeah. Powdered eggs and vegetarian friendly bacon." I said. Alexis rolled her eyes in disgust.

"How do you eat it?" She said. I shrugged. And then my phone rang. I checked it. Lee.

"Are you going to answer that or do we have to listen to it like an alarm clock?" Hera moaned. I opened it up.

"Jen Laurens speaking. What do you need, Lee?" I said. Lee shouldn't have called me. She knew how I was in the morning.

"Uh hi. You know that history assignment?" Lee said. I detected a quavering in her voice.

"Yeah?" I said.

"Well, I think I'm may have failed."

"Oh that's great."

"My parents are gonna kill me."

"Yup."

"Should I blame Ms.Washington or take the punishment?"

"Take the punishment. If you are honest, they'll listen." I said. Lee coughed.

"Alright." She said, then the call ended.

"Do you guys know Charlie Lee?" I said. Alexis sighed, Hera groaned and Laf was still asleep.

"I know she's a obsequious toady. To George middle school." Alexis said.

"I know she only wears the latest clothing." Hera said. Laf snored.

"Will someone wake the french snoozer so we can ask her for information?" I said. Hera obliged and slapped Laf on the face. She woke up.

"Ow! Mon amour, whyyyyy?" She wailed. I looked at her.

"Are you familiar with a Ms.Charlie Lee?" I said. Laf nodded.

"Yeah, she bombs on many of her assignments and buys other students to finish them for her." Laf said. Then she sat down, holding a hand to her face. "Hurts like falling on the dance floor when Marie Antoinette is watching. Oh the shame of that..."

"Well, Another Relive moment?" I said. Laf nodded.

"Unfortunately, mon ami."

"Cool." I murmured. "Oh. Hey guys? I'm gonna call Ariana. Maybe she knows." I say. I stop abruptly as I realize that I don't have Ariana's number.

"It's this." Alexis says. She shows me her phone. I type in the number. No reply.

"Hi! You've reached the voicemail of Ariana Burr. Please call back again, when Ariana has the time to deal with your problems! Apologies to Family. Oh wait, she doesn't have any." The phone said.

"Dang, straight to voice mail." I said. Alexis winced.

"She normally answers it." She said. I grumbled.

"I suppose today is a not normally day then." I said. I coughed. "Anyone else here know the address of Ariana?"

"No."

"Nope."

"Non."

"Yes." Someone said from the window. It was Angelo. I opened the window.

"How long have you been there?" I said. Angelo coughed, and shivered.

"Long enough. Can I come in?" Angelo said. I rolled my eyes.

"Ladies?" I said. Alexis glared and then nodded. Laf and Hera smiled.

I opened the door and Angelo came in, then closed the window. 

"She lives at Aaron St. I only know this because she requested I tutor her in English. Which is ridiculous considering she's English." Angelo said. He sighed. I blinked.

"Really? Do you know what number?" I said. Angelo shook his head.

"It's been a year since I tutored her." Angelo said. Then he looked at Alexis. "It's a bit early, but I started organizing an awesome end of year party for eighth graders, and would you guys like to come?" 

"Sounds fabulous!" Laf said. I coughed.

"Can we focus on the problem at hand?" Alexis said. I grinned.

"Precisely." 

"Ah yes. So, lets go investigate. Better bundle up, though. It's like...2 degrees out there." Angelo said. I nodded and donned my turtle winter gear. Alexis placed her green jacket and scarf on. I put a set of green furry earmuffs on her. She smiled. Hera pulled her coat on, and Laf bundled up as best possible.

"Ok, So, to Aaron St?" Angelo said. We all nodded and marched out.

"It's the snow penguins." Laf said. She smirked.

"Yeah..."

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(This is one of the longest chapters. Switching to Ariana) 

I woke up, and my vision was blurry. Laelyn was dabbing my forehead with a wet cloth. 

"Honey, are you ok?" She said. I nodded.

"Yes, just...I think I'm just really sad." I said. Laelyn nodded.

"Oh. I think I know what happened." She said. 

"I know what happened!" A voice said. SO familiar, so annoying.

"Ah, yes...I invited your friends in." Laelyn said. She stepped to the side. Alexis' face filled mine.

"So, Ari, what happened?" She said. I sighed.

"I think I'm....depressed." I muttered. Jen looked at me.

"SAD?" She said. I shook my head.

"Depressed."

"But SAD is Seasonal Affective Disorder...." Jen said. She blinked. It's weird. I'm tired. My eyelids shut. I murmured I was just tired. Alexis laughed. 

"Ok, so she's depressed... yeah, we're gonna just let her rest. And....ugh....let's call a therapist." Alexis said. That's all I remember before I drifted off. 

(Well, here's Jen narrating)

"When did Ariana get so depressed?" I said. Alexis shrugged. Angelo looked at us.

"You guys remember the fire drill? Well, Elijah came dragging a girl by the name of Kit Doe. Apparently....Kit was dating Ariana." Angelo said. He inhaled. "So maybe this depression was brought up by that? Loss of love can lead to depression..." 

"It seems like a smaller thing though." Alexis said. Then she furrowed her brow. "I did see like, a book. It had a note... 'written in by My mother' do you think that Ariana's mom wrote in that?"

"It's possible. Family loss could be another trigger." I said. I looked outside. "I'm mildly tired."

"Could we ask Ariana's ....caretaker to let us just kinda stay in the house for a bit?" Alexis said. Angelo grimaced.

"I got a mom who's not too ok about me spending a long amount of time around girls. I'd have to leave." Angelo said. Then his pocket buzzed. "The matriarch calls." He muttered. "I've gotta go, bye guys." He said, and started walking out the door. Laf and Hera followed.

"Where are you two going?" I asked. Laf smirked.

"Home. I'll be writing...is it....fanfic?" She said. Hera smiled.

"Embroidery. Got some projects to do." She said, and ran out the door.

"Oh, guess it's you and me, Lexi" I said. Alexis was passed out on the floor. I checked her. She was tired. I sighed and sat down at the desk in front of the window. My phone rang again.

"Heeey. Charlie again. Can I ask about the math assignment?" Lee whined. I turned my phone off. It was snowing outside. I'm sure Ariana was okay now. And...I guess I could stay for a bit. Let Alexis have a nap. I stared at the snow for a few minutes... then I pulled out my phone. Sooo, bored. Fine, let me search up some of those weird shows Alexis showed me. Uh huh. Yeah.

(The tiniest time skip ever. I don't have any ideas for fill in for Alexis' nap.)

"I'm awake." Alexis said. I sighed. Finally. So bored. We left a small note for Ariana and ....Laelyn? Then we left. Me and Alexis traveled to my house and hung out there. Then Alexis went to her house.

Christmas was fun. The hamilsquad partied it up. And being immature idiots, we played some board games. And other stuff. What's really disturbing is that Laf wrote a smut fanfic. I'll not dwell on that. I got a turtle necklace from Alexis. Hera gave me a knitted turtle plushie. Laf got me a rainbow button set from Blazing Subject. Ariana was still in depression apparently and couldn't make it. 

New Years. We got "drunk" on sparkling water. And the countdown to midnight was priceless.

(Ahhhh...yes. You are mad at me time skipping? Tough! This chapter is end of year seven.)

Valentine's Day....Alexis was so sweet. We had a lovely time. Honestly,my day was perfect. She gave me a lovely kiss. It lasted a full three minutes. I timed it! Kinda...

Uneventful March... mostly just celebrated St.Patricks day with Hera. April fool's day, then Easter. Great, fine...And then... May. I was overwhelmed by the work. I comforted Alexis and we put a bouquet of flowers near a picture of Alexis' mother for mother's day. That was a bittersweet day. Alexis spent time with my mother and me that day. Might I mention, that this whole time, Lee, kept calling about assignments? Alexis and me were slowly growing angrier. Then, Lee insulted Ms.Washington. We'd grown very attached to Ms.Washington and it was not a good idea to threaten her. Insult her. Demean her in anyway. Me and Alexis confronted Lee, and Lee said she'd back off. Great. Then school ended. Laf scheduled a pool party. She invited most of the former seventh graders, and a few eighth graders. She even invited Ms.Washington! And well, it didn't go too well.