Gemini fought back tears. Ariel hadn't denied. She hadn't said anything. Gemini felt so small as she realized the enormosity of the situation. "I can't believe this is happening," she said weakly.

Ariel, too, was fighting back tears. The horror of what she had done had suddenly come upon her. "I'm so sorry, Gemini. I really am," she tried to put a hand on Gemini's shoulder.

Gemini jerked away. "No! I don't want to hear any of your 'condolensces,' Ariel."

"Gemini, please don't," Ariel pleaded tearfully.

"Just leave me alone!" Gemini screamed as she ran off towards the girls' dorm area. The tears began flowing freely as she let go of all self-composure that she'd had before. She barely made it up the stairs and into her room before she fell and broke down completely. She sobbed wildly, pounding the floor with her fists. "How could she do this to me? How?"

Gemini's voice began to rise. "I thought that we told each other everything. That's what best friends do! But not only did Ariel take up an infatuation with my boyfriend, but she lied to me about it. Outright lied. She could have at least told me that she liked Rusty!"

Gemini felt the ultimate betrayal. Someone she trusted, someone she'd felt she could tell anything and that there would be no secrets between, had stabbed her in the back. The hollowness that Gemini felt was unimaginable. "There's only one thing that I can do. There's no other way to handle it."

The nurse came out of the office suddenly. "Rusty's calling for you."

Ariel wiped away her tears. "For me? No, I think he needs to talk to Gemini first."

"He said he wanted to talk to you," the nurse repeated gently.

Ariel got up slowly and walked into the room with the nurse. She almost began weeping again when she saw Rusty's body on the small white cot that served as a resting bed. His head turned when he saw her. He smiled. "We need to talk."

Ariel made her way to a chair beside the cot. She took Rusty's hand in hers. "About what?"

"About what you and Gemini were talking about," Rusty said in a gravelly whisper.

"Let's wait, Rusty. You're still not well. All three of us can talk later. We all need to concentrate on getting you better."

Rusty coughed horasely. "No, Ariel. We're going to talk about this now."

Ariel sighed. She knew that there was no putting it off. Rusty wasn't going to be side-tracked or put off. She had to face it. "Fine. What is it that you need to say?"

Rusty tried to take a deep breath but only succeeded in wheezing. "I heard you and Gemini talking over things outside. You weren't exactly the quietest of people, so I heard what you were talking about. I know that you like me, Ariel."

Ariel drew a deep breath. The time was upon her. She had some serious explaining to do.

"Please go into greater detail than that, Enya," Voir said, rather agitated at Enya's holding off. "As I said before, we do not have all of this eon to discuss what we're going to do. We need to decide and start planning now."

Enya huffed impatiently before realizing her mistake. She smiled quickly to make up for it. "As you wish, Voir. I think that we should throw a little Halloween party for the students. Halloween is only days away, so I believe we should do a little something for the youngsters."

"Why? What for?" Voir demanded.

"To wreak havoc, of course," Enya said sweetly. "You see, with everyone there, we would be able to do damage of colossal proportions."

"And how would we get someone to a party when we invite them?"

"I'm sure that an Eye of Newton here, a dragon's tail there, will take care of all of our problems," Enya concluded, smiling devilishly.

Even a smile began to appear on Voir's hooded face. "I like the way you think, Enya. All you have to do is get them there, and I'll take care of the rest."

"Do you have something in mind?"

"Yes, but you'll have to wait and see. I've got to go pay a visit to some old friends that may be able to help us. Good night."

Enya watched with satisfied eyes as Voir left the room in a flash of red light. "Oh, yes, Voir. This will be one Halloween to remember, that's for sure."

Gemini heard a knock at her door. "Go away!" she shouted at the door.

The door, which had been unlocked, slowly opened. Walking in was Shannon. She quickly noticed the quivering heap that was Gemini. Shannon rushed to the floor. "What's going on, Gemini?"

Gemini only sobbed harder. "Just go away and leave me alone! Please!"

"Gemini, something's wrong here. Just tell me what it is and maybe I can help you," Shannon soothed quietly, stroking Gemini's hair.

"Nothing can help me now, Shannon. Nothing!" Gemini exclaimed bitterly. "How can you think talking something out will help when you've been betrayed in the worst sense?"

"Shhhh. Calm down. It'll be OK. Just breathe," Shannon said softly. "Breathe and then we can talk."

Gemini began to sniffle. She began to regain self-control. Shannon got up and picked Gemini up some tissues. She put one kleenex on Gemini's nose. "Blow," she said. Gemini blew obediently. Gemini calmed down a little bit more. "Now," Shannon began. "What's going on? How have you been 'betrayed in the worst sense?'"

"I just found out that my best friend has been lying to me for I don't know how long."

"Ariel? How so?" Shannon was concerned. She thought that Gemini & Ariel were as close as two friends could be.

"I found out today that she likes my boyfriend, and has for some time now. I mean, I thought I could trust her to tell me these things so that we could talk about them and work them out. I didn't want anything to come between us, but if I can't trust my best friend..."

Shannon listened as Gemini's voice trailed off. After a while, she asked, "So what are you going to do?"

Gemini took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "There's only one thing that I can do right now. I'm going to end things with Rusty tomorrow."

"Look, before you say anything, Rusty, let me tell you everything. It's not as if I just 'discovered' suddenly that I had feelings for you. It's been much deeper than that. Since last year it's been developing. I mean, I tried to fight it because I knew that you and Gemini were trying to hook up. And I was for it. I thought that you two would make a great couple, but I couldn't make the feelings go away. I really tried to, Rusty. I didn't want to have feelings for you. There were many nights when I lay awake that I wished I'd never had them, that I'd never even looked at you in that light. But I just couldn't put them off. Sometimes I'd think I was forgetting them, but in the back of my mind they kept growing and growing and growing, and soon they were too powerful for me to control. They made me do things that I know isn't right, but they were turning me into this uncontrollable monster. That's probably the reason that you're here right now. Rusty, I am so sorry for everything that has happened. Just please understand that I didn't want any of it to. I wanted, and deep down I think I still do, you and Gemini to be happy. You two are my best friends, and I'd have an arm chopped off for you if it came down to it. I just wanted everyone to be happy," Ariel's speech almost ended in a sob. She buried her face in her arms.

Rusty had listened patiently and sympathetically. He was quiet for a long while afterwards. "I understand," he finally said. "I really do understand, Ariel. And I'm so sorry if I'm the cause of it all. But don't you worry, we'll get through this. All of us. Together."

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