3:30 PM

Emily stood up and stretched, saying, “I have never watched so many episodes of Beavis and Butt-head in one sitting!”

“Well, what did you think our idea of partying was?” Ophelia replied.


Emily went back to sitting on the sofa. “Hey, Ophelia, the other day, you told me you’d tell me what the deal was with Cassandra and S. So, how about now?”

Cy rose and headed to the kitchen. “I know this story already. I’m going to make us something to snack on. Show off your storytelling skills, Lia.”

“Make yourself comfortable, Emily. This might be kind of long,” Ophelia said. Then, she began.


“Cassandra was adopted by the Verona family a few months after she was born. They never hid this fact from her. Now, that would be okay, normally, except the Verona family is definitely not a typical family. S is apparently a genetic oddity, as he’s completely normal.

“His dad, Nelson, was highly religious, and he made S’s mom, Catherine stay at home and cook and clean and pop out children nonstop. Nelson died last year, by the way."


Ophelia sighed and continued. "When S was about seven or eight, his older siblings, Felicity and Grant, about seventeen or eighteen at the time, were disowned from the family after refusing to give up rock music. S hasn’t heard from them since."


"What a jerk!" Emily remarked.

Ophelia nodded and said, "It gets even better. His older sister Madeline became promiscuous rather early. At the age of thirteen, she was caught fooling around with three guys at once. So, their dad sent her and S’s other sister, Theodora, who was about four years older than S, to an all-girl private school."


"What did Theodora do?" Emily asked.

"Theodora did nothing wrong, but since she was developing early, Nelson thought she would get into trouble. So, that just left S and Cassandra."

"How terrible!"


“Cassandra had no one she could rely on except S; her dad was a jerk, her mom was totally passive, and all her other siblings were too far away to help out. Things were all well and good for them for a while; Cassandra had her big brother to love her and protect her. But then, something changed."


Emily sat up and listened closely. Judging from Ophelia's tone, this "something" was pretty serious.

Ophelia said, "Their parents transferred them over to the school Charise and I were attending. S met Charise the first day he was there, and he immediately fell for her."


"Wow!" Emily remarked.

"Well," Ophelia continued, "Cassandra did not like the idea of anyone taking her big brother’s attention away. That was her big brother; she shouldn’t have to share him! That was her line of reasoning. Since then, Cassandra has not been too fond of Charise. She sees Charise as being competition for S’s affection.”


Emily sat silently for several seconds. She did not know how to respond. Ophelia cracked a smile and said, “It’s too serious now. Come on, let’s go see what Cy made for us.”


Cy peeked out from the kitchen, holding a coffee cup. She grinned. “Hey, Lia,” she said.

“Yeah, Cy?” Ophelia replied.

Cy made her voice as low and gravelly as possible and said, “Do you folks like coffee? Real coffee from the hills of Columbia?”

Ophelia laughed hysterically, while Emily looked on, puzzled. “I don’t get it,” she said.

Ophelia and Cy exchanged looks of amusement. “I guess this means we’re going to spend the next few hours watching Metalocalypse clips, eh?” Cy said.

“Well, the funniest ones, at least. Like the food library one and the coffee jingle.”

"You guys are so weird sometimes, but you're still cool," Emily remarked.