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The crowd roared with excitement as the ball hit the net. The home team on and off the field came rushing to embrace their captain after scoring the winning goal. Their captain was a Lopunny named Lily. She was an athletic college student who was a couple of years away from university and starting her future career in sports. She was wearing her soccer uniform and was covered from head to toe in dirt and mud, but her emerald green eyes still shined brightly as she wiped her hair out of her eyes, and she cheered with her team while they lifted her in the air.

"We did it!"

"We won the championship!"

Those words rang in Lily's ears as she was handed the championship trophy. She raised it high above her head as the local reporters snapped as many photos as they could take, and one reporter and cameraman fought their way through the crowd and eventually got to Lily.

"Miss Lily!" The reporter said as he and the cameraman approached Lily, "Congratulations on winning the soccer championship against the infamous Tauros Chargers, who, until tonight, had a record-making winning streak that put their school on the map as the best school for sports! What do you have to say about that?"

"Well," Lily shouted over the crowd as she breathed heavily, "Their defense was strong, no doubt about that, but they constantly left a window open for getting past them! Once I found it, all we had to do was hope to Arceus that they didn't notice it."

"Amazing!" The reporter exclaimed, "You are quite the tactician!"

"Thank you, I'm also the captain of the chess team, so finding openings was relatively easy for me."

"That's incredible! Anything else you want to say before this interview is done?"

"Yes," Lily said as she looked into the camera. "I want to thank my mom who always supported me and my passions, my coach for constantly pushing me to always do my best, and I want to thank Maxi and Maxine for being the best friends anyone could ask for!"

"Well, thank you, Miss Lily!" The reporter said as he looked into the camera. "Well, you heard it from here first, folks! The Tauros Chargers' reign ended tonight as the Scoring Scorbunnies take home the championship! This is Adam Heiden signing off!

Half an hour later, the entire field was almost completely empty, save for a few people who were chatting. Among those people was Lily's mother, Amber. Just like Lily, Amber was also a Lopunny, but unlike Lily, Amber was a Shiny Lopunny, which made winning beauty pageants easy for her. She was wearing jeans and a soccer shirt with her daughter's team crest on it.

"Uhhh, mom?" Lily said "Can you please let me go? You've been hugging me for the past fifteen minutes."

"Nope," Amber said as she hugged Lily tighter.

"Mom, just let go!" Lily chuckled as she tried to pull out of Amber's hug.

"Not until you say 'I love you'!"

"Fine! I love you, mom!" Lily laughed as she tried again.

"I love you too!" Amber said as she let go of Lily. "See? Was that so hard? Now let's go, I made a delicious Boston Cream cake to celebrate your victory!"

"Aww, mom! Thank you! I love your Boston Cream cakes!"

"I know, why else would I make it? Now let's go home."

They turned to leave, but stopped when they heard a voice say "Yo, floppy ears!". They turned and saw Ingrid, a Zangoose with baseball-like markings across her entire body. Lily sighed as she saw that Ingrid was still wearing her baseball cap despite the fact that they were at a soccer game.

"Hey, Ingrid. Did you enjoy the game?" Asked Lily.

“No…. how could I when you keep doing that?”

"Doing what?"

“THAT! Hogging the spotlight! You didn’t give any of us a chance there!”

"What are you talking about? Everyone had their time in the spotlight! Yes, some had shorter times than others, but I did my best to give everyone a chance to shine!"

“Yeah! I’m one of those you didn’t give a chance!”

"But you prevented the ball from getting into our net several times, so that should count for something, right?"

“Yeah… but you’re putting a massive shadow on the rest of us. Everyone talks about you and never about us! Because you keep letting yourself do all the winning plans yourself!”

"W-well, I-I-I'll do my best to let everyone help out with winning!"

"Sweetie? Are you ready to leave?" Amber asked as she put a hand on Lily's shoulder.

"O-oh! Yeah, I am! We can talk on Monday!" Lily said to Ingrid as she made her way to her mom's car.

“Hmmmph,” The Zangoose mumbled to herself as she walked away. Lily and Amber got into the car and Amber started the engine before asking Lily, "Are you okay, sweetie?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lily said as she wiped her hair from her eye.

"Okay, just know that if you want to talk about it, I'm always here," Amber said as she wrapped an arm around Lily and hugged her before she began to drive back to her college.

—–—

Lily walked into the dorm room, only to be met with total darkness. She flipped the light switch and was met with one of her dormmates yelling “SURPRISE!” and jumping into her view.

Her name was Maxi Valent, and she was a Maractus who was a bit shorter than Lily. She had long green hair with pink highlights and was wearing a pink crop top with spaghetti straps, and a pair of black shorts with a white belt that had a golden buckle. She's been Lily's dormmate for the past two years and is quite energetic, but also a bit dim-witted. It was a miracle that she hadn't been held back a single year, especially since she usually spends a lot of her nights going out and partying the entire night away.

After Maxi, the other dormmate said “Yaaay.” in a monotone voice as she walked around the corner. Her name was Maxine, and she was a Sneasler who was four and a half inches taller than Lily. She was wearing a navy blue and purple dress with matching stockings, spiked collar and cuffs, and a black belt. She was Lily's dormmate for three years, but Lily didn't know about her until almost a year and a half later. She's very introverted and usually doesn't speak, but when she does, it's very brief.

“Oh my gosh! Thanks, you guys! I've never seen you so excited, Maxine!” Lily said as she hugged the both of them.

“I know,” Maxine said flatly. “I'm really letting loose. Sorry for the outburst.”

“Ooh! Before I forget…” Maxi said as she broke the hug, went to the closet, and began digging in it. Eventually, she pulled out a wrapped gift and handed it to Lily. “We got you something!”

“What do you mean ‘we'?” Maxine asked. “I'm just learning about this gift.”

Lily unwrapped the gift and opened the box. She pulled out a pink top with the word ‘Champ’ printed on the chest. Lily squealed excitedly as she hopped in place.

“Thank you! It looks amazing!” Lily said happily.

“Yup! AND it's stretchy! Perfect for those melons you're growing.” Maxi said as she groped Lily's breast.

“Erm… Maybe I should shower.” Lily said awkwardly as she blushed and took a step towards their closet. Once she reached it, she took out some pajamas and walked out of the dorm.

“...Was that too much?” Maxi asked Maxine.

“You literally grabbed her boob,” Maxine replied as she lay on the bottom bunk of her and Maxi’s bunk bed and began reading ‘Smashed’ by Junji Ito.

———

Almost an hour later, Lily came back wearing her pajamas and clean from all the dirt. She tossed her dirty clothes in a hamper and sat on a nearby desk chair.

“Arceus, I needed that.” Lily sighed.

“Yeah, I swear I could've smelled you when you walked into the building earlier,” Maxine said without looking away from her book.

“Hey, wait a sec…” Maxi said as she leaned toward Lily and sniffed her hair. “Is that…blueberry shampoo?”

“Yeah,” Lily said as she leaned back on the chair. “They ran out of Eiras Spring, so I had to use Head and Tails.”

"I love it! It really suits you well. I could smell it all day!"

"Uh, one, that's pretty weird Maxi. And two, you don't even HAVE a nose!"

"Who said I need one? Anyways, congratulations on the victory, Lily.” Maxi said as she got on her bed. “That's another trophy for the main hallway.”

“You must feel so accomplished,” said Maxine.

“Yeah…” Lily said half-heartedly.

“What's wrong? Aren't you proud of yourself?” Asked Maxi.

“Oh, I am. It's just…eh, never mind, I'll bore you.”

“Lily, I'm more than willing to continuously poke you all night until you say what you want,” Maxine said as she extended her claw-like finger and poked it, causing Lily to giggle.

“Okay, okay!” Lily giggled as she rolled the desk chair away. “I… I don't want to do sports anymore.”

“WHAT?!” Maxine yelled as she dropped her book, causing Lily and Maxi to jump.

“Holy crap, she actually yelled,” Maxi said as she scooched away from Maxine. “The apocalypse is upon us.”

“Why do you want to quit sports? Don't you love playing?”

“I do, it's just that…well…I always wanted to be a performer.” Lily said as she blushed slightly.

“A performer? Like a mime? Or a stripper?” asked Maxine.

“Oooh, you're gonna become a stripper?!” Maxi said excitedly.

“Wha-? No!” Lily said as she waived her arms. “I'm not becoming that kind of performer in a million years! I meant an actress or a singer.”

“Why don't you just go ahead and join the drama club?” Maxi asked.

“Well one, we're full on members,” Maxine answered before Lily could. “Two, it's mostly anime fans and Rotom-Pad kids, and three, her mom wouldn't let her, you air-headed metalhead.”

“Heeeyyyy…” Maxi said in a pouty tone. “You forgot to mention the guys who keep bragging about how many musicals they've seen live even though nobody asked.”

“Still,” Lily sighed, “I want to do more than just sports. I mean, imagine what it would be like at the reunion in twenty years if I didn’t do anything else. ‘Oh, look! It's Lily the track star!’ ‘Lily the lead quarterback!’ ‘Lily the sports star and meat head!’ It'd be awful.”

“I dunno,” Maxine said as she went back to reading her book, “You have a pretty solid career path ahead of you, so I don't see the need to quit.”

“I'm not quitting, I just want to try something different for once without my mom stopping me.”

“Well, you're an adult, you can make these decisions on your own!” Maxi said as she laid back on her bed, “Plus, you would DEFINITELY rock the stripper pole!”

“I'M NOT BECOMING A STRIPPER!”

“Well you should. Pays better than retail.” Maxi said as she winked and stuck her tongue out playfully.

“Well, what about your dad? What does he think about it?” Maxine asked.

“You know him, he said he would support me no matter what.” Lily said as she held up a finger and looked at Maxi, “If the next sentence out of your mouth has the word ‘stripper’ in it, I will get a puppy from the vet club and bring it here.”

“No fair! You know I can't pet them!”

“Exactly, airhead.” Maxine sighed.

“Well…if your mom won't let you pursue your passions…why don't you do it anyway in secret? You know, behind her back?”

“That is…not a bad idea…” Lily said, pondering the idea.

“Y-you can’t be serious,” Maxine said as she looked away from her book. “Are you ACTUALLY going to listen to her?”

“I mean, it’s not a bad idea.” Lily shrugged. “Worst case scenario if I’m caught, she kicks me out of the house, disowns me then pretends that I don’t exist!”

“All that just for pretending to be Elizabeth Schuyler for almost three hours?” said Maxine.

“Like I said, worst case scenario.”

Maxine sighed deeply. “Alright. Fine. I’ll help.”

“Wait, really?” Lily said in surprise. “How are you going to help?”

“I’ll put in a good word for you at the drama club. We were thinking of kicking out one of our members because she got pissed that she didn’t get the lead last year.”

“You mean the one who tried singing the lead’s part even though she had a non-speaking role?” asked Maxi.

“That’s the bitch.”

“You’d really do that for me? Thank you.” Lily said warmly.

“Don’t mention it…ever. I have an image to protect.” Maxine said as she put a bookmark in her book, closed it, and then placed it on her nightstand. “I don’t know about you two, but I’m beat.” She said as she pulled her covers over her.

“Said the one who spent the entire game sitting down and reading.” Lily yawned as she crawled into her bed.

“My social battery died thirty minutes into the game.”

“Do either one of you want to spoon with me?...Lily?” Maxi asked as she inched towards Lily.

“No. Not after last time.” Lily said as she pulled her covers over herself. “I had to explain to my coach why I had a dozen band-aids all over my body.”

“Alright, fine. Maxine-”

“You come near me, I’ll tear the labels off your hair dyes.”

“Ok, hint taken.” Maxi said as she walked to bed and got under the sheets. “Night!”

“Maxi… You have two seconds to get off my bed and climb up to your bunk.” Lily said through gritted teeth.

————————————————

“CRAWLIIIING IIIIN MY SKIIIIN, THESE WOUUUUNDS THEY WILLLL NOT HEAALLLLLL!!!!”

“MAXINE, turn off your alarm!” Lily groaned as she got up from her bed. “Seriously, I know you're a heavy sleeper, but you have GOT to be able to hear the friggin’ intro!”

“It helps me prepare for the pain the day will inevitably bring,” Maxine said as she turned off the alarm.

“Arceus, would it kill you to show off SOME form of kindness?” Lily asked as she got out of her bed and began to get dressed.

“No, but it’ll hurt like hell…yo, dumbass, wake up.” Maxine said as she grabbed a loose support beam and pulled it, causing Maxi to slide off and fall to the ground.

“Ow! Hey, I was sleeping!” Maxi groaned as she pulled her blanket off of her, which was completely covered in cactus spines. “Can someone help me up? I don’t have legs.”

“You’re literally next to your standing cane,” Maxine said as she rummaged through her dresser and pulled out two of the exact same dresses she wore yesterday. “Hey, Lily, which do you prefer, blue and purple or purple and blue?”

“Purple and blue,” Lily said as she grabbed her exercise bag and headed to the door. “By the way, Maxi, how can you sleep through that alarm? Even Maxine is awakened by it!”

“There’s an alarm?” Maxi said as she grabbed her standing cane.

“Arceus, you’re dumb.” Lily sighed as she opened the door. “I’ll see you guys later. I’m headed out.”

“Later, Lily,” Maxine said as she began to put on her dress.

“Bye, Lily!” Maxi said as she got up from the ground with the help of a cane. “Good luck becoming a stripper!”

Lily sighed as she walked out the door and walked through the corridors of the girls' dorms. She walked through the halls, down the steps and outside the dorms, and into the early morning air of her college campus. It was like this every morning: Maxine’s alarm going off at 7 in the morning blasting Linkin Park, Evanescence, or some emo band like that, Lily yelling at Maxine, Maxine breaking the bunk bed to wake up Maxi (and Maxine always fixes it perfectly), then Lily leaves to go to the college gym. Lily loved walking to the gym, especially during spring mornings like this; the fresh, somewhat cool air, the birds singing in the trees, the rising sun, nothing can be better-

“Hey, sexy!”

And just like that, the day was ruined. Lily didn't have to look to know who was trying to get her attention: A Vaporeon named Tony. He had a fairly large build and was wearing his team jacket, jeans, red sneakers, and a white shirt. He was one of the jocks on the men’s football team and was also among the ‘popular group’ that Lily was part of. She didn’t truly join the popular group, it was more like they came up to her one day a few years ago and acted like they were all best friends since birth, even though they knew nothing about her. They always tried to invite her to parties that had drinking or drugs or something, and every time, she made up random excuses to not go, ranging from the believable like having an assignment due the next morning, to the unbelievable, like having an acupuncture appointment with Maxi, but they always fall for it.

“Hey, Tony.” Lily sighed as Tony wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“So, what’s an empty glass like you doing without a nice cool stream of water like me?” asked Tony with a smirk.

“I’m headed to the gym,” Lily said, hiding her annoyance.

“The gym? Oh come on, you don’t need the gym! You already have a sexy body.” He said as he moved his hand from around her shoulder to her butt and gave it a squeeze.

“I would appreciate it if you would kindly NOT touch me there!” said Lily angrily as she blushed and swatted Tony’s hand away.

“Oh come on, what good is merchandise if I can't touch it?”

“Apparently you’ve never been to a china shop with a mad Tauros,” Lily said as she sped up her walking.

“Ha! That’s a good one! I’d expect nothing less from my girlfriend.”

“For the last time, I’m NOT your girlfriend!”

“Not with that attitude you’re not. Now, how about a date? There’s an empty space on my bed with your name on it!”

“No!”

“Come on, don’t make me beg, babe.”

“Okay, fine,” Lily said as she stopped walking and faced Tony. “I’ll go out with you if you can answer this riddle: Can an omnipotent being create a rock too heavy for itself to lift?”

“Oh, please, that’s an easy one! The answer is…wait…yeah-....no?....erm….” Tony began to think deeply for what Lily assumed to be the first time in his entire life. He stood in place as he thought, not moving a single muscle. Lily waved her hand in front of his face and got no reaction. She smiled and continued walking to the gym.

After some more walking and waving to some random classmates, she reached the gym and went inside. Since it was so early and the gym just opened, nobody else was there except her and the receptionist. After checking in, she put her stuff in the locker room and started off on the treadmill while reading on her tablet. She started off with a slow walk, then after a bit, she moved on to a jog, then finally a run. After finishing a few chapters of her book (this time it was 11/22/63 by Stephen King), she got off and drank some water. By now, a few other people have begun to enter the gym, like some members of the weight club. A few of them ignored Lily, but most of them either waved ‘hi’ to her or tried to ask her out for a date. She was used to this, but that didn’t mean that she liked the unwanted attention.

After a bit, she moved on to the yoga ball. While using the ball, she started with some hamstring ball tucks, and some V passes before moving on to some tuck crunches and rollouts. After about twenty minutes, she moved on to the weightlifting machines and began working on her upper body with the bench presses, then she moved on to the leg press machine.

Eventually, around 9 AM, she decided it was time for some breakfast and packed her stuff, headed back to the girl’s dorms (while passing Tony who was still thinking), took a shower, and changed into her usual clothes, that being a pair of black leggings with holes under a pair of sports shorts, and her new top that Maxi gave her. Once she changed her clothes, she headed off to the cafeteria, which was a bit farther than the gym, but she didn’t mind. She eventually arrived, got in line, and got herself a steak and cheese omelet with a side of hashbrowns, yogurt, and a banana with a glass of chocolate milk. She took her tray and found Maxi and Maxine enjoying their breakfasts, so she sat with them.

“Hey guys,” Lily said as she sat down and began eating.

“Hey, Lily,” Maxine said as she ate a slice of plain toast.

“Did you do something to Tony?” Maxi asked as she finished eating her oatmeal. “He’s been standing in the same spot for the last two hours.”

“Oh, yeah, I asked him if an omnipotent being could create a rock too heavy for itself to lift.”

“HA! Good one!” Maxi giggled.

“How was the gym?” Maxine asked as she drank from her black coffee tumbler.

“Eh, the usual. Some Machamp asked me out.”

“You mean Dylan? The guy with the scar on his cheek?”

“Yeah. Honestly, he took it better than Tony.”

“Please, a toddler throwing a temper tantrum would’ve taken it better than Tony.” Maxi scoffed as she finished eating.

“Tell me about it,” Maxine said as she took her tray and got up. “I’ll be right back, I got to throw away my trash.” She said as she began to walk away.

As soon as Maxine was away, Maxi took a quick sip from Maxine's tumbler and put it back.

“So, how is it?” asked Lily.

“...it's REALLY sweet,” Maxi said as she smacked her lips. “I think I might actually get a canker sore.”

————————————————

Lily finished eating her breakfast, got up to throw away the trash then left the cafeteria. She walked around the campus for a bit before deciding to visit one of the clubs Maxi and Maxine told her about. She walked outside to the club building (where the gym is located) and passed a small crowd that surrounded Tony where a bunch of the boys and some of the girls in the school were trying to make him move by any means (she did see some guy give him what she could assume was an atomic wedgie to no avail). She entered the building and examined the map to find which room the Clearwater Society was located in, which happened to be on the third floor. After confirming the room’s location, she began to walk up the stairs on her left.

She remembered when Maxi told her about the Clearwater Society a few months ago. Apparently, it was a club where its members did vigorous and thorough research to try to find ways to improve everyday living with the planet. She heard that they once found a way to improve the quality of cooking food easily, but Maxi never told her what it was or how to do it. After a bit of climbing the steps, she reached the third floor, then after a bit more, she reached the door labeled ‘Clearwater Society’. She was actually a bit excited to see what Maxi and her club were up to. Maybe an experiment to find out what could be a clean, renewable replacement for gas? Or perhaps some way to use plastic to solve the housing crisis? She excitedly opened the door, wanting to see what was inside….only to find the room completely empty, save for a single table in the middle with a full water bottle in it and all the members watching it like it was about to start dancing at any second.

“Erm…hello?” Lily said, trying to grab Maxi’s attention.

“Hmm?” Maxi said as she looked away from the bottle and saw Lily. “Oh! Lily!” She said as she got up and ran to give Lily a huge hug as though they haven’t seen each other in months, even though it was less than an hour since they saw each other. “Welcome, welcome, WELCOME! Welcome to the clean water club!”

“Y-you mean th-the Freshw-water Society?” Lily asked, holding back tears from all the cactus spines that just entered her skin.

“That’s what I said! The Fresh water club!” Maxi said as she let go of Lily, who now looked like a pin cushion that was tossed into a needle stack. “Come in! We’re in the middle of a groundbreaking experiment!” She said as she grabbed Lily’s hand and dragged her to the table.

Lily looked at the water bottle and saw that the label said ‘Clearwater Bottled Water Inc’, most likely the explanation for how the club got its name. “S-so…” She winced as Maxi sat back down and looked at the bottle. “What are you guys doing…?”

“We’re seeing how long it takes for the water in this bottle to evaporate.” One of the members said without looking away.

Lily looked around and noted two things: one, there were no windows in the room, and two: the bottle still had its factory seal. “Okay, well, I’d better head down to the nurse’s office. See you.” Lily said as she began to stagger to the door to leave. She was about to leave before she remembered something. “Hey, Maxi, what was the thing you guys came up with to improve the quality of cooking food?”

“Oh! That's easy! Can I tell her?” Maxi asked as she looked at the other members for approval, who all nodded enthusiastically. “The secret is…cook frozen foods in the oven instead of the microwave! That way you won’t have to cook a pizza one slice at a time!”

————————————————

“And that’s number 237! Congratulations Lily, you broke the school record for most cactus spines removed.”

“What was the previous record?”

“Three.”

Lily was able to stagger her way to the nurse’s office thanks to the help of some students who were tasked with rolling Tony (who was STILL thinking) on a dollie there as well. She spent two hours getting all the spines removed by the nurse, and it was NOT fun for her.

“There we go, dearie.” The nurse said as she finished wrapping Lily’s arm with gauze. “Now just rest for the remainder of the day, you should be good to go back to classes tomorrow. Don’t worry about your missed classes, I’ll send them an email.”

Lily sighed as she laid down on the recovery couch, slightly wincing with every movement. By now, she would've been eating lunch, but here she was, lying in the nurse's office, nowhere near the cafeteria, and absolutely starving.

“Hello, sweetie.” A voice came just outside the office. Lily looked and saw it was her mother Amber holding a book and carrying some fast food. “Your friend Maxine called me and told me that you had some sort of accident involving a ‘living pincushion with a quarter of its total IQ’ as she calls it, and told me to get you some fast food. I also got you that new book you wanted.” She said as she placed the food on the table next to Lily.

“Aww, thank you, mom,” Lily said as she attempted to turn over so she could reach into the bag, but winced from the pain.

“I got it, sweetie,” Amber said as she began taking food out of the bag. “I see you got a new shirt. Where'd you get it?”

“Oh, Maxi gave it to me after the championship,” Lily said as she took the sandwich that Amber was handing her. “It means a lot that she had all that faith in me.”

“I'm not so sure…” Amber said as she sat down on a nearby chair, placed the book on the table, and grabbed her own sandwich from the bag. “I went to your dorm first because I thought that you were there, and when I went to leave, I saw a pink tube top that had ‘who needs a scholarship anyway’ bedazzled on its front. It wasn't even buried, it was literally placed on the top of the trash can like someone was laying clothes for a field trip or something.”

They ate in silence, occasionally broken by Tony whenever he thought he solved the question (Yes! Wait… No!... Uhh….). Lily finished her sandwich and lay in silence as Amber finished hers, then decided to break the silence.

“Mom…I was thinking…I want to join the drama club.”

“How would you join? Your schedule is filled with your sports activities.” Amber said as she finished her sandwich.

“Well…what if next year…I…I…I dropped some sports?”

Amber looked at Lily with wide eyes, like she asked to marry a Croagunk. “Why do you want to quit sports? Your team needs you!”

“Mom, I'm not quitting, I just want to, you know, broaden my horizons,” said Lily as she took the drink her mom was handing her.

“But if you leave the team, it could cost them a championship!” said Amber before she took a sip from her own drink.

“Mom, winning some piece of plastic isn't everything. I just do it for fun.”

“Try telling that to the others.” Amber joked.

“Mom, I'm serious. I want to try out something new, and I REALLY want to be an actress. It's something I've been thinking about since the start of the year.”

“Why would you want to pretend to be Elizabeth Schuyler for almost three hours? It sounds exhausting.”

“I won't start out with that, it'll be smaller roles at the community theater just to get a feel of it, and if I like it, I'll become more serious with it.”

“I don't know…your team really needs you…but I'll…I'll think about it…” Amber sighed.

“Really? Thank you-OW,” Lily said as she tried to hug Amber, only to wince in pain from her injuries.

“Take it easy, Lily,” Amber said as she placed a hand on her shoulder.

The door to the nurse's office opened, and Maxine entered. “Hey, I'm taking Lily back to the dorm.” She said as she approached Lily and lifted her easily.

“Okay. I should go, too. See you later, sweetie.” Amber said as she stood up, picked up the trash and the book, gave the book to Lily, kissed her forehead, and left the room. Maxine carried Lily out of the office and headed towards their dorm room.

“So, how did it go?” Maxine asked.

“She basically said no,” Lily said, slightly disappointed.

“But she said she'll think about it, and you sounded really excited.”

“I know…but whenever she says she'll think about something, it always results in a ‘No’.”

Maxine nodded with understanding. “Don't worry, Lily. Your chance will come soon, and I bet It'll change your life for the better.”

After a bit of walking, Maxine and Lily reached their dorm room. Maxine carried Lily in and laid her on her bed, got her portable DVD player, put a DVD of old cartoons in it, and then put it next to Lily so she could watch it.

“Aw, thank you, Maxine,” Lily said as Maxine pulled the covers over her. “You're so sweet.”

“I am NOT sweet!” Maxine said in an offended tone. “I am a demon of darkness, a horsewoman of death, and the mistress of all the damned souls! Whenever I go to the coffee shop downtown, I ask them for a coffee that is as black, bitter, and bleak as my soul!”

“And what do they give you?”

“A glass of milk, but the results mean nothing, it's the attempt that counts!”

Lily watched cartoons for a few hours before Maxi returned to the dorm looking like she just swam in a giant puddle of mud.

“What the heck happened to you?” asked Maxine.

“Just got back from an experiment,” Maxi said as she walked into the room, spreading mud all over the place. “We were trying to find out if mud can stimulate growth hormones.”

“And the results?”

“It worked! I am now five foot four!” She said proudly.

“Maxi, you were always five foot four. Did you forget to measure yourself again?”

“Oh, right,” Maxi exclaimed softly. She went to her dresser, got clean clothes, and turned to leave, only stopping when she saw Lily covered in bandages. “What happened to you?”

“You hugged me.” Lily said bluntly.’”

“Oh, right,” Maxi exclaimed softly before leaving the dorm.

————————————————

A half hour later, Maxi returned, now cleaner and wearing fresh clothes. She entered the dorm just as Maxine finished cleaning the last of the mud. Maxine sighed as she sat down and Maxi tossed her muddy clothes in the dirty laundry basket, causing some mud to splat on the ground.

“Hey! I just cleaned that!” Maxine said annoyedly.

“Ooops, sorry…” Maxi said as she sat down. She noticed that Lily wasn't watching cartoons anymore. In fact, she was lying on her side and facing the wall while under her covers. “You okay, Lily?”

“Her mom said that she wasn't going to be doing anything involving acting.” Maxine sighed.

“Oh…I'm sorry to hear that, Lily.”

They all sat in silence for a bit when Maxine took out her cell phone and typed something on it. Maxi's phone vibrated, and she took it out and saw she got a text from Maxine.

MI: Lily's really upset about this.

M: IKR? Usuly she iz rdng RN, but she is qut.

MI: We should do something to cheer her up.

M: wut shd we do?

MI: What do you think would cheer her up?

M: Scissoring?

MI: NO. Something that doesn't involve her moving too much, you pincushion.

M: HBT blndfld lego?

MI: 2 good ideas in 24 hours. Apparently there is a god.

“Hey, Lily!” Maxine said as she put her phone away. “Wanna do some blindfold Lego? I got a new set!”

Lily turned and smiled softly. “Okay…” She sniffled. Maxine went to the closet and got a small Lego set while Maxi got a blindfold from her dresser.

“I call blindfold!” Maxine said as she opened the box and gave Lily the instructions. She sat down at her desk while Maxi blindfolded her, opened all the bags in the box, then dumped them on the desk, making sure that none of the pieces fell to the ground. Lily looked at her dormmates and smiled softly. She knew that even if her mom wouldn't support her desire for something new, she at least had two of the strangest friends anyone could ever ask for.