Rusty slowly walked towards the gym. He still hadn't recovered fully from his encounter with the rings, which now lay dormant on his dresser drawer. He didn't feel like playing tennis right now, and even felt less like facing Ariel & Gemini at the moment.

At the moment, Coach Rucera walked out of the gym. He took one look at Rusty as a concerned look flashed across his face. "You OK, Rusty? You don't look so good."

Rusty put on a smile. "I'm fine, Coach. I'm just a little under the weather. I can still play, though."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," Rusty responded, but his heart wouldn't put all of the enthusiasm in the statement that his voice desired.

Rusty spied Ariel sitting dejectedly in the bleachers. He walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "You OK, Ariel?"

Ariel didn't even attempt to smile. "I'm fine."

Rusty waited a moment before responding. "No you're not. I know that you're in a lot of pain right now, Ariel, but understand that everyone involved is."

A tear fell from Ariel's eye. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.

Rusty caught a glance from Gemini in the corner of his eye. He turned to look at her, but all she had on her face was a look of sorrow. The entire ordeal had been rough on all of them. "Gemini, please come over here. Let's talk."

Gemini only shook her head and walked away. Ariel got up from her seat, her eyes locked in determination.

"Ariel, what are you doing?" Rusty inquired.

"I'm going to take care of this once and for all," Ariel said firmly, walking swiftly towards Gemini.

Chloe walked with Melanie down the hallway. Coach Rucera had asked them to run an errand, but that didn't mean they couldn't spend a little idle time walking back.

"Things are so different here than they were in Chicago," Chloe gushed. "I really think I'll like it here."

"Glad to hear it. It should be an interesting stay, I'm sure. But now that they're changing up the district, things are going to get so mixed up. I don't see why they're doing it."

"I don't either, but let's not worry about that. I think that if I'm meant to be here, I'll stay here."

At that moment Brent Woodman was walking down the hallway towards them. He smiled when he recognized Melanie. "Hey Melanie! How's it going?"

"Great, Brent. I'd like you to meet someone."

Chloe nudged Melanie Sharply. "Melanie..." she warned.

"Oh, come on, Chloe. He won't bite. Brent Woodman, I'd like you to meet Chloe Bridges. She's brand-new to Midway Prep."

"Hi," Chloe said shyly.

Brent smiled brightly. "Hello! Welcome to Midway Prep. Has Miss Motor-Mouth been burning your ears?"

Chloe laughed. "Not yet, anyways. Actually, we were making our way back to the tennis courts. Coach Rucera's probably waiting, so come on Melanie."

"I'll catch you later now. Maybe we can talk again!" Brent called to them while running down to the science hall.

"Yes, I'd like that," Chloe said softly. "I'd like that very much."

"Is there something going on here, Chloe? Do you have a thing for Brent?" Melanie questioned, smiling.

Melanie got all the answer she needed with Chloe's silent smile.

"You have you work cut out for you, girl," Melanie warned. The two were now out on the courts where Coach Rucera was watching the team practice.

"What do you mean?" Chloe said, returning Melanie's serve.

"I mean that you're going to have to get rid of Eve Lancaster before you can get anywhere with Brent."

"Eve Lancaster? I don't think I know her."

"She's Brent's girlfriend, Chloe. They've been going together since June. They seem so in-sync, so into one another. It's going to be hard to break them up."

Chloe dropped her tennis racket. A sharp look from Coach Rucera made her quickly pick it back up. "He has a girlfriend."

"Of course. Practically everyone who's anyone in this school is going with someone," Melanie said, then laughed. "Boy, that's a tongue-twister."

Chloe didn't laugh. "If that's so, then why don't I ever hear about your boyfriend?"

Melanie got quiet and her eyes were a little hurt. "You have to have one to talk about one."

"Why don't you have one then?"

"I don't know, Chloe, and it seems that no matter how hard I try I can't get one. I'm always the butt of everyone's jokes because I'm alone. Don't let that happen to you, Chloe. You go after Brent and you get him, do you hear me? Don't end up like me," Melanie sighed.

Chloe felt sorry for Melanie, but in a way, she knew that she was right. There was something about Brent that attracted her to him: his manner, his bright smile, or maybe his bushy eyebrows. One way or another, Brent would someday be a major part of her life. She was sure of it.

Ariel walked strongly up to Gemini. "Gemini, this can't go on any longer."

Gemini only looked at Ariel. "What a thing to say from the person that started it all in the first place. I don't feel like hearing anything you have to say, Ariel. I don't have the energy nor the time."

"Well make time, Gemini, because I'm not going leave until we settle this," Ariel snapped, her eyes steady and unyielding to Gemini's sharp glare.

Gemini folded her arms across her chest. "Start talking then. Coach wants us on the courts in two minutes."

"OK, look. I'm sorry for not telling you, Gemini, but if you could take one minute to put yourself in my shoes, you'd understand why I did it. If I would have told you it would have been the same as finding out like you did."

"Oh, come on..." Gemini began.

"You know I'm right Gemini. You would have felt the same way, you would have felt the same betrayal. Like I told Rusty, I tried to fight this. I really did. But you can't fight emotions, Gemini. You should know that better than I."

"I should?" Gemini inquired sarcastically.

"Yes, you should. Remember last year when you lost that dance contest to that girl from Midway Academy. Do you remember how she came up to you and threw your loss and her win in your face? Do you also remember how you slapped the snot out of that girl? That was emotion, Gemini. You couldn't have fought that slap if you tried."

Gemini only stared back at her in response. She knew that Ariel was right, but wasn't about to admit it.

"I just want there to be some understanding between us, Gem. I understand why you're angry, and you have every right to be."

Gemini's voice softened. "I'm not angry, Ariel, just disappointed. I thought best friends told each other everything. I didn't think you'd keep something from me like you did."

"I know, and I apologize with all of my heart for doing that. It was wrong. I never should have done you like I did," Ariel said with tears in her eyes. She hoped with all of her heart that Gemini would understand. She didn't want to throw away a six-year friendship for this.

Gemini bit her lip as she thought. She thought of the many joyful moments that she and Ariel had shared. She remembered the many nights when Ariel had been her only comfort from the harsh world that had struck her down. She remembered holding Ariel's hand in a crowd of strangers when they had gotten lost, when she had had the feeling that as long as she and Ariel would hold hands, everything would be okay. Gemini turned to Ariel with teary eyes. "I forgive you, Ariel. I forgive you."

Carrie quickly opened the door and rushed to Jessica's bed. Her eyes filled with worry when Jessica began to stir. Carrie covered her mouth with her hand as Jessica's eyes opened.

Jessica looked over at Carrie. "Wha-?"

Carrie looked helplessly at Jessica. "No, Jessica. Not now!"

Jessica seemed to completely ignore Carrie's painful exclamations. Her words tumbled together as she began to speak. "Wha' am I doin' he'?"

Carrie couldn't respond. "No, you're not going to do this to me, Jessica! I won't let you do this to me!"

Jessica began to move in her bed. Carrie eyed her life support system. She knew that with the pull of one plug, all of her problems could be solved.

Visions appeared in Jessica's mind; visions of determination, of going into a tumbling run, of striking her head on something sharp and drifting into a state of black bliss. "Who di' tha'?"

Carrie moved closer to Jessica's monitors. She fingered them with shaking hands. She knew it was wrong, that it was evil, but something inside of her kept pushing her fingers towards the wires that kept Jessica alive.

Jessica's eyes went wide when she saw what Carrie was doing. "No! Sto' tha'!" she attempted to yell at Carrie, but only succeeded in going into a spasm of hacking coughs.

Carrie shook her head at Jessica and turned back to the support system. She followed a long black cord from the back of one of the machines to the wall, where it was connected. She slowly pulled it out. One machine went silent and black as Jessica's coughing worsened. Another cord was pulled, then another. One more left that kept Carrie between everything she wanted...and total disaster. One more cord between Jessica's life and Jessica's death.

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