"I could see myself now." Lexi walked out of the school door with a tight dress, push-up bra, and shiny makeup on. "I'd be the girl no one could ever get. Hi, Ted, how are you? Hey, boys. And Id imagine my former classmates sitting around at barbecues in their dirty, dirty back yards, many years from now."

A screen of Ethan and another boy in the backyard being shown. Alma laughed, slapping her hands together.

"Man, I really wish i'd boned Lexi Howard." one of the ragged boys said.

"Yeah, you and the rest of East High Land." the other said in return, throwing his fake beer can into the ground.

"All I had to do is wait." Lexi spoke, the audience clapping as the stage went dark again. Three people ran across the stage with signs that read 433 days later.

"Look, Lexi, some guys prefer smaller boobs." Hallie looked toward Lexi, who stood in the mirror, adjusting her bra. "If you and I could trade bodies, i'd do it in a heartbeat."

"Well, maybe they're still growing." Lexi gave a shy smile.

"No, they're not." Hallie answered.

"Well, sometimes it takes-" Lexi began.

"No, they're fully formed." Hallie answered, walking toward the nearby mirror.

Lexi looked back at her. "To be honest, i'm not really the type of person that wants to be known for their body."

"Hell no you don't, Lex!" Alma shouted from the crowd, cheering as a few people clapped around her.

"But, I also didn't want the troubles that came along with it." Lexi stared out at the audience, the scene changing to Hallie sat on her bed, her phone to her ear.

"I wasn't even looking at him, I swear." the blonde cried over the phone. "You're the only person i've ever dreamed of."

"I feel like i've lived most of my life in my imagination." Lexis voiced, scenes of Hallie kissing different boys over taking the stage. "Taking the smallest moments and dreaming them you into something bigger. A little exchange, and I fall in love. A moment to myself, and i'm on stage. But reality always finds a way of pulling me back."

Rue smiled as the scene turned, Jade climbing up onto a gas station roof with Lexi. "I think, before high school, we should think about all the things we don't like about ourselves, and change them, so we can be like, like different and cooler people."

"I don't think we need to be cooler." Jade said in return.

"Well, we should at least try to know what's cooler." Lexi nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, but we still shouldn't try to change." Jade shook her head.

"But, what if we get excluded from things?" Lexi looked at her in worry, legs crossed.

"That's also a good thing."

"Really?"

"Yeah. My dad says he refuses to be apart of any club that will have him as a member."

"That's cool." Lexi smiled slightly.

"Yeah, don't tell anyone, they'll fucking ruin it." Jade laughed slightly, laying back as the light focused on just Lexi.

"Jade was the first person that made me feel okay about not being cool." Lexi spoke before different flashes of Hallie, Marta, and Luna taking selfies appeared. "I just feel like in ten years, technology's gonna get really scary and we're gonna wish we never used it."

"What are you talking about?" Marta asked, laying on her back.

"Well, all these tech companies are developing artificial robotics so it's only a matter of time before they become the new military industrial complex and start making killer robots." Lexi smiled from her bed, holding her book in her hands. Alma caught sight of Ethan back stage, waving his way as he waved back.

"I think there's a big difference between taking selfies and killer robots." Luna looked over.

"Yeah, maybe now, but that gap will close." Lexi said back, slapping her book closed as the trio all stared at her in disbelief. "But, anyways, back to where I was."

The stage turned to show Jade and Lexi on the roof again. "We talked and laughed for hours that night. I miss those days. It was before my dad left and Jades dad died. Before Jade got into heavy drugs and before I got inside my head. It was before we grew apart and before I started doubting myself every time someone would ask me if Jade was my best friend. Let this darkness be a bell tower, and you the bell."

A flash of Hallie dancing with Sue and their dad played, Alma gave a sad smile at the sight, pulling Lexi in. She thought about her own dad, her mother, her little sister. Three people she loved the most, yet the three people that destroyed her from the inside out. She thought about how her mom hadn't noticed her struggling, how focused her was on her little sister. She thought about how much Ainsley loved her and wanted to be around her, then thought about how hard it was to put all her anger aside and just be a normal big sister. Then the guilt from that hit right after. Then, finally, her dad, who had been the paper cut of the beginning. Where was he? Was he okay? Did he miss her? Did she miss him? No. Did she feel guilty for not seeing him, despite it being the most healthy option for her? Yes.

Rue grasped her hand, pulling her back as Alma looked over, giving a small smile as she squeezed her hand back. "I sometimes think about how my sister and I had so many of the same wishes growing up and how different we became. At that age, we all thought we knew what love looked like. And we had our suspicions on what it felt like. But, that's all what made it so intoxicating. Non of us had any idea what it actually was."

After a second, the stage spun again to Jade and Lexi on a couch. "I don't know if I want to do this."

"It's just weed. It's not heroin." Jade laughed, holding the plastic baggy.

"You think Ethan's gonna make a play about you next?" Rue whispered to Alma.

She gave a panicked look. "God, I wouldn't put it past that boy."

"My whole life i've always had this feeling that at any moment, something horrible was about to happen. I think Jade used drugs to push away all the bad thought. But, it did the opposite for me. All I could think about were the bad thoughts. The things that could go wrong. The people that I could use. And the million and one reasons why i'm not good enough."

The stage faded to black, the audience clapping. Alma smiled, clapping her hands together. "When Hallie and Marta entered ninth grade, they became inseparable."

The cheer team preformed one of their best numbers, Marta and Hallie front and center. Alma leaned on Rue again with an exhale. "You know, i'm glad you and I didn't turn out like Cassie and Maddy."

"Me too." Rue hummed.

"When I first met Marta, she made me nervous. I had never seen anyone as sure of themselves as her. Because of that, I didn't really trust her." Lexi spoke as the cheer number came to an end, Hallie and Marta wiggling their tongues at one another as the stage spun back to the bedrooms. "Until her parents started fighting all the time and she basically moved in with us for a few months."

"Okay, okay, i'm not running a brothal here, okay? Girls, it's time for bed." Ethan walked out in his Sue outfit again. Alma gave a cat call from the audience. Sue flipped the light off. "Good night sugar plums."

"Mom." Hallie scolded her, silence passing. "Marta?"

"Yeah?"

"You can sleep in my bed if you want."

Alma frowned as Marta crawled into bed with Hallie. "My parents use to fight all the time too, so I know how it feels. You can stay here as long as you want."

Marta cried from the other side of Hallie. Alma leaned some to look toward Maddy, imagining what she was doing at that time. Back then, Maddy hated Alma, and Alma hated her just as must. It was hard to imagine hating each other, especially seeing what was happening at the time, especially in Maddys eyes, when she knew if she knew Alma back then, she'd had been her Hallie but in so many better ways.

"Jake and Marta's relationship was our first impression of love." Lexi spoke as Ethan, with his hair slicked back in all black, put a coat over Marta.

"No one's ever loved me as much as you." Marta grasped his hands.

"No one ever will." he said back, the two leaning in for a kiss. Alma adjusted in her seat, clearing her throat as Rue glanced over at her with a half grin.

"You know there's a large break after this next act." Rue whispered toward Alma as the stage stayed black. "Just incase you want to escape to the back."

Alma looked over. "Why would I do that?"

"Just saying." Rue shrugged, the light shining on the stage again as boys worked out all around, all shirtless with tight pants on.

"All right, babe. Time for me and the boys to workout." Jake spoke as he grasped Martas hands. Alma gave a mini cheer at the sight of him, shiny with fake sweaty, his hair slicked back, and showing more skin then he ever usually did.

"You guys are so gay." Marta spoke, all the boys going silent as they stared at her. The audience laughed.

"Babe, that's not funny." Jake said back seriously, Marta leaving the stage. Jake slapped one of the boys on the ass. "All right! Come on, Tiger!"

I Need A Hero began to play in the background as the boys lifted weights in the middle of the stage. Jake sat up. "Hey, Paul, could you rub a smidge of oil on my back? I can't reach, my peaks are getting too freaking big!"

Alma gave a loud laugh at the Ethan grabbed himself, the boys bouncing around in the background to go on beat with the song. Paul reached around to grasp Jakes chest. "Anything for you, Jake. Your body's fantasist, can I help?"

The boys began dry humping each other on the stage, laugher and wolf howls going through the audience. Alma cheered with a laugh as Ethan flexed his muscles, one of the boys lifting a weight between his legs before running over, body rolling with the other. Alma whistled as Ethan lip sunk the song, throwing his hands in the air in the middle of the stage. Rue clapped her hands.

"Can you believe him?" Alma laughed as Ethan and the other boys punched thin air, all on beat with the song before Ethan threw his body around, high kneeling it before pretending to trust his hips into the line of guys on the ground. A group picked up his body, spinning him in a circle. Rue and Alma laughed together, cheering for the star of the show.

Jake jumped up on the weight bench, seemingly faking ejaculation all over his team mates. Alma slapped her hands over her face to contain her laugher, afraid she might piss on herself. The boys all felt him up, squinting water at each other. Alma cheered as a group of boys lifted Ethan again, watching as he walked on air before dropping him, smacking another guys ass over and over before preforming high knees once again in the middle of the stage.

He ran over, leaning off the side of the stage as all the boys felt all over him. He was lifted into the air once again, the boys all going back to their in sync dance moves before running to the side, all thrusting their hips onto each other and fake moaning loudly. Rue culled her hands together. "Woo!"

"Get it, Ethan!" Alma yelled from the crowd, cheering.

"Lexi, you're a fucking G!" Maddy shouted as Nate stormed off, Cassie following. Rue and Alma got to their feet, clapping and cheering loudly.

"I'll be back." Alma whispered to Rue, hurrying down the walk way of the cheering audience, making her way behind stage.

•

kylie speaks

hummm, what are you up
to miss alma?