Ariel ran as fast as she could back to her dorm. Strangely, the woods seemed very familiar to her. The bag filled with the stones and ring clanged against her side as she ran, dodging tree branches and large rocks.

Suddenly, Ariel broke out of the woods and was back in the park. She spied Rusty and Gemini walking along the park trail. She almost decided to use the ring now, but decided against it.

"The time will come, Rusty, when you won't even remember who Gemini is. Gemini had better enjoy her hold over Rusty now, because soon Rusty won't want anything to do with her," Ariel said, pulling out the ring and feeling on it.

Gemini spied Ariel and called to her. Ariel walked reluctantly over to where the two were. "Is there something you wanted, Gemini?"

"Well, no. Not exactly. You just looked a little lonely over there. Is there something wrong?"

"Not for long, Gemini. Nothing will be wrong when I have the one thing I want: Rusty.", thought Ariel. Said Ariel, "No, nothing. I was just thinking hard, I guess. I've got to get back to the dorm. I have things I need to take care of."

Gemini looked at Ariel a long time. Ariel stared right back at her. Gemini shivered and said, "Fine. I'll see you later."

"Bye, Ariel," Rusty said.

Ariel turned around and ran to the dorm. She slammed the door behind her, and emptied out the contents of the bag. She laughed. "This is it, Gemini. This is going to be the final showdown."

On a white stretcher, Jessica was rushed into the hospital and to the emergency room. Following behind were Meredith, Kate, Melanie, and a nervous Carrie. Carrie worried that someone would find out that she was responsible for Jessica's accident. She shuddered to think what would happen to her if that happened.

Coming in soon after the girls was a tall, golden-haired girl with laughing blue eyes and dainty pink lips. She wore a beautiful white purse on her shoulder, and was very fashionable in dress.

"Meredith! Kate! Hey!" she called to the two girls. She instantly noticed that something was wrong. "What's wrong?"

Meredith looked at Kate uncertainly. Kate looked back at Meredith.

The girl was impatient. "What's wrong?! Come on, you two. Don't keep me in the dark. What just happened?"

Kate gathered up all of her courage and told the girl the truth. "Sharon, Jessica's been in an accident."

Sharon's eyes instantly dilated. Her mouth flew open. "What kind of accident?" she asked in a small voice, fearing the worst.

"Evidently Jessica's suffered a severe head injury caused by a rock. We still haven't found the cause of the accident, but I have a pretty good idea," Meredith said, looking indingantly towards Carrie.

Sharon's eyes flamed as she stormed over to Carrie. Sharon's hand flew out and she slapped Carrie hard. "You evil witch! How dare you do this! How..." she slapped Carrie, "dare..." another slap, "you..." SLAP, "hurt..." SLAP, "Jessica!" SLAP!

Carrie's face was by now thoroughly red and bruised. Meredith and Kate quickly grabbed Sharon to restrain her. "You are going to pay for this if it is the last thing you do, but you will pay. I'm going to make sure of that!" Sharon screamed at Carrie.

Carrie, with Melanie's help, regained her composure. "You're going to regret to your dying day what you just did, Sharon Redmon! It is not I but you who will pay for your actions. Who's to say if I even did cause Jessica's accident, and even if I did, there's no way you can prove it."

"Oh yes we will, Carrie," Meredith snapped. "We will prove it, and like Sharon said, you will pay."

Christian paced around the sidewalk bench...waiting. Waiting for something...someone.

Suddenly, Shannon came running up to him. "I'm sorry I'm late, Christian. Are you ready?"

Christian looked long and hard at Shannon. "No, Shannon, I'm not. Not until we discuss this."

"Discuss what?" Shannon asked, putting on a shoe that had previously been off.

"We need to discuss why you're always showing up twenty to thirty minutes, sometimes even an hour, after you said you'd be here. Sometimes we can just be talking, then you say that you have to go somewhere, and then disappear for hours. What's going on, Shannon?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Christian?" Shannon countered quickly, putting on an earring.

"Oh, I think you do. Why was your shoe off? Why do you have to put your earring on?"

"Because I tripped, and my shoe came off, as well as my earring. It took me forever to find my earring. I'm sorry if I'm late."

"I'm sorry, Shannon, but I don't buy it. Something's going on, I know there is."

"Look here, Christian," Shannon snapped. "If I say there's nothing going on, then there isn't. I don't need you nor anyone else hounding me about something that isn't even there. I was visiting a friend, a friend with serious problems at home. I talked with the friend as long as possible, for I knew that she didn't want to go back home to her problems. You of all people should understand that, Christian."

"Well...I didn't know," Christian said guiltily.

"Exactly, so you shouldn't go jumping to conclusions before you have all of the evidence. Now let's go," Shannon commanded, walking towards the dance theatre.

Ariel went into the bathroom to freshen up a bit. Sitting on the bed were the stones and the ring. Strangely, the ruby ring began to glow; a deep intense glow that flowed through the bed that it was sitting on. The other stones began to glow red too. Objects on the table began rattling, and the window strangely opened and a soft breeze blew in.

Ariel came out of the bathroom. The rattling stopped as did the breeze.

"I thought that this window was closed when I came in," she said. "Oh well." Ariel closed the window and picked up the ring. "Ouch!" she cried. The ring was hot to touch.

A friend of Ariel's, Charlotte, knocked on the door. Ariel, picking up the ring, opened the door.

"Charlotte! How nice to see you! Please, do come in!" Ariel greeted.

"Oh, what a pretty ring, Ariel. May I please see it?" Charlotte begged, her eyes locked on the ring.

"Well...I don't think," Ariel hesitated, clutching the ring tight.

Charlotte grabbed the ring and put it on. "Oh, it's so...so beautiful," she said, going into a trance state.

Ariel snapped her fingers in front of Charlotte's face, but Charlotte did not blink nor respond. "Charlotte...Charlotte...Charlotte!"

Charlotte looked Ariel straight in the face with glowing red eyes. "What?!" she said in a strange, evil-like voice.

Ariel screamed and backed away from Charlotte. She cowered agains the wall, slowly edging towards the door.

Charlotte's eyes changed back to their normal color, and Charlotte came out of the trance. "Like I said," Charlotte commented in her normal voice, "it's a beautiful ring," she said, taking it off. "I'll see you tomorrow at the contest. Good luck!"

Ariel picked up the ring. It wasn't glowing anymore, but she felt a strange sensation rising throughout her body. She too went into the trance-like state, and her eyes glowed red. Soon, her entire body radiated red light. She said in the strange, evil voice, "Gemini had better watch out, for she doesn't know who or what she's dealing with."

The girls were interrupted by a nurse attendant. "Girls, I'm afraid you are going to have to go into the waiting room. We can't have you here. We don't want any interference. The room is upstairs and at the end of the long white hall."

Sharon, Meredith, Kate, Carrie, and Melanie took the elevator upstairs and made their way to the waiting room.

"I hope Jessica's OK," Melanie said quietly, half-praying half-pleading.

"Oh, please, Melanie. You're a part of the problem too. You never should've teased Jessica in the first place," Kate shot at her.

Melanie's eyes filled with tears, but she didn't try to wipe them away. "I know, Kate, and I feel horrible. I never should've done that. I realize it now. If I ever have the chance again, I'll apologize full-heartedly and I promise never to do it again."

Carrie scoffed. "You're not sorry and you know it, Melanie. I could hear the tone in your voice. You meant what you said."

Sharon was filled with rage. "Can you just shut up, Carrie! Jessica could be dead right now and you wouldn't care. You're a cold-hearted little..."

"Sharon..." Kate interrupted. "This isn't a time for name-calling. We need to concentrate on helping Jessica get better by praying."

Carrie glanced at her watch, even though she wasn't really looking at what time it was. "Oh, look at the time. I've got to get going. I have to get my beauty rest, you know."

"God knows you can't get enough of that," Sharon said, killingly sweetly.

Carrie just smiled at Sharon and got up and left.

"Thank God that witch is gone!" Sharon breathed. "Would you guys like something to drink?"

"No thanks, I'm trying to..." Meredith was cut short by a nurse walking up to the girls.

"Girls, I have some news for you," the nurse said.

"What is it?" Melanie asked quietly.

"I'm afraid it's bad news. Jessica has slipped into a coma."

Christian & Shannon prepared for their night dance class.

"Look, Shannon. I'm really sorry of accusing you of doing something you weren't," Christian apologized.

"It's fine. I know you're just concerned, as I would be about you. It's an honest mistake, and I won't hold it against you." Shannon replied, smiling.

Even though Shannon had vowed there was nothing going on, Christian still wasn't convinced, despite his apology. His gut told him that Shannon was hiding something, but he just couldn't figure out what. He couldn't deal with it then, though. He had enough on his mind worrying about his parents.

"Thinking about your parents, eh?" Shannon inquired, stretching out on the bar.

"Yeah. I know that divorce is inevitable, I just want to know when. Who knows? It may put my parents out of their misery or not. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"I hope so, for your sake. It must be awful to see your parents fight like they do. I'm glad my parents have a good relationship."

"Yeah, you're lucky," Christian sighed wistfully, glancing out the window and the violet night sky dotted with whites and yellows in the form of stars. "I wish my parents were like yours."

"Look, Christian. Everything will turn out fine, you'll see."

"Yeah, now that you say you're just hanging out with friends, I don't have to worry about anything tarring our friendship. I know I can count on you."

"Yeah," Shannon said weakly, watching Christian walk away to stretch.

"I'm so sorry, Christian," she said to herself, looking at him with saddened eyes. "But I just can't tell you this now, or ever. No one must ever find out about my secret."

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