“Hello,” Tiffani chirped, holding her application out. “I’d like to apply to run for Prom Queen. I’m sure you’ll find that everything’s in order.”

“Hm,” the teacher replied, taking the application and looking it over. She nodded approvingly. “Well, you qualify, so feel free to begin campaigning. I must say, it’s going to be an interesting one this year, with so many girls running.”

“Huh?” Tiffani said, perplexed. “What do you mean?”

“You’re the… uh… fifth or so girl I’ve seen come in to sign up. I think the other girls have already started hanging up their posters.”

“Fifth?” Tiffani repeated in disbelief.


She bolted from the room, eyes with astonishment, and came face to face with the first poster, which showed Ophelia’s face and an interesting slogan: “A vote for Ophelia is a vote for change. The time has come to represent the rest of the students, and not just the popular ones!”

“This has to be a joke,” Tiffani muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. “Has to be a bad dream. Dear God, please let this be a horrible dream.”


She slowly walked down the hall, trying to deny the existence of the poster. She looked to her right and found herself face to face with another poster, this one featuring Emily and the phrase “Vote smart! Vote for Emily!”

“This is definitely a bad dream,” Tiffani muttered, shaking her head again. “This can’t be happening. It can’t really be happening. Not like this. I mean, what’s next?”


As though in response, a few feet away was another poster. Tiffani sighed resignedly and looked at it. This poster featured a picture of Angela and the slogan “Angela… the beautiful choice.”

“Okay, this is just getting ridiculous,” Tiffani muttered to herself disbelievingly. She stormed into Ms. Gibson’s classroom, where Angela, Ophelia, and Emily were squabbling with each other.


“Look, I’m the best-looking, so I’m the guaranteed winner. Just give up,” Angela sneered.

“Nowadays, just being good-looking isn’t worth much,” Ophelia countered. “I think people will want someone who’s got a good head on her shoulders.”

“Right, like me,” Emily spoke up. “It’s time for someone smart to be in the running.”

“What, and I’m not smart?” Ophelia snapped. “There’s a lot that my being voted Prom Queen could teach people.”

“Look, if I want to learn how to cut myself and hide it, I’ll check the internet,” Angela said with a smirk.

“Excuse me!” Tiffani yelled. All of the girls became quiet immediately and turned to her. “When I said one of us should run for Prom Queen, I meant me.”

“Why should you be a candidate?” Angela asked.

“I got kicked out of the team. I have to show that I’m better than them.”

“Hey, I got kicked out, too,” Angela retorted. “You’re not exactly unique, you know.”

“Both of you should shut up,” Ophelia said irritably. “You’re both being stupid.”

“And you running for Prom Queen isn’t, Miss Gloom and Doom?” Angela replied.

“Better me than you.”

“Look, we can all solve this easily,” Emily said with a sigh. “Just agree that I should be the candidate. I don’t have an axe to grind against the cheerleaders or any motivation for this, except for fun.”

“Which is why you shouldn’t be running,” Angela snapped. “Besides, no one’s going to vote for you.”

“Well, no one’s going to vote for you either,” Ophelia snapped. “You’re two-faced.”

“And you’re a freak.”

“Name-calling isn’t helping any of this. It was my idea, so I should run,” Tiffani interrupted them.

“Actually, no, I thought of it before you did,” Ophelia spoke up.

“I thought of it the morning they put up the posters,” Emily added.

“I thought of it while I was walking to class that day,” Angela remarked.

They all stared silently at each other, scowling. Just then, AJ walked in.


“Hey,” AJ said cheerily. “What’s up?”

The girls all turned to him, and their expressions frightened him. They had the look of wolves who’d been tracking particularly delicious-smelling prey all day and had finally caught up to it. Their eyes glistened, almost hungrily. AJ’s own eyes widened slightly, and he slowly backed away from them.

“I… forgot something at my locker,” he lied.

“Oh, let me come with you. There’s something I need to talk to you about,” Tiffani said quickly, hurrying forward.

“I’m not letting you alone with him,” Emily spoke up, elbowing her aside. “AJ, a minute for your sweet sister who shared a womb with you for nine months?”

“AJ, don’t listen to them; they just want you to take their side,” Ophelia yelled, pushing Emily and Tiffani aside.

Angela rolled her eyes and carefully stepped around the squabbling trio, saying to AJ, “Look, AJ, you and I haven’t talked much in the past, but I feel that once I explain my opinion to you, you will agree with me.”

AJ stared in horror at the girls and ran out of the classroom. Ophelia looked at him, then at the other girls, and yelled, “Way to go, dimwits! You scared him away!”