Valo ran a spell-check, and for the fourth time, she reread the letter. Maybe it sounds too snippy, too bossy? she thought, biting her lip. No, she argued with herself. Whatever is necessary. She needs to know what is going on. If there’s going to be any changes, any at all, it’s up to me to work toward them.

She sent the e-mail and let out a low sigh. “There,” she murmured. “It’s sent. Now, to play the waiting game. The worst she can do is ignore it or say that these are not legitimate concerns.”


“We will continue this tomorrow,” Maya announced. Everyone nodded in approval, and she continued, “Court is adjourned.”

Tiffani sighed and thought, It seems like they aren’t giving this situation the seriousness it deserves. I wish I would have thought to ask Emily or Ophelia to be my lawyer for this. Damn my sense of pride. Admitting I need their help-- theirs-- that would be admitting weakness. And let’s face it, I really suck in that category.

She rose and allowed Maya to exit the “courtroom” first, and then exited with Lyle. Sherrie and Ms. Bellereve were a few steps behind.


“Lyle, you damn turncoat,” Sherrie called out, when they were a safe distance from the room.

“Such strong words from such a superficial girl,” Lyle shot back.

“You’re one to talk. You f***ing cheated on me! Who is she? Heather? Veronica? Sawyer? I bet it’s Heather!”

Lyle gave Sherrie a withering look. “Someone who is your superior in every way, and that’s all I have to say on that,” he replied. He put a hand on Tiffani’s shoulder and guided her forward. “Come on,” he said to her, “we’ve both heard enough B.S. for one day from this chick.”

“B.S.?” Sherrie shrieked, infuriated. “I’ll show you B.S., Lyle Robbins! And Tiffani, when this damn case is through, not even your loser news show buddies will want to be anywhere near you!”


Tiffani blanched slightly. Is that true? she thought worriedly. Am I doomed to become a complete loser with no friends? AJ may not be the best boyfriend, but he’s still not a bad guy. And Ophelia and Emily… they may make me feel really stupid sometimes, but they’re pretty nice. Hell, even Angela’s an okay chick, even if she is kind of wacko. We might not be friends, but… we’re something, right? They’re the ones who gave me the guts to stand up to Mom, even if they don’t realize it.

Lyle frowned at Tiffani’s worried look. “Relax, Tiff,” he reassured her. “It’s just the rantings of an snobby, self-absorbed girl who’s jealous that you’ve got friends who are interested in more than just makeup and shopping.” He gave her shoulder a brief squeeze. “Come on, let’s go get your homework assignments and go get your stuff out of your locker, okay?”

“Sure,” Tiffani agreed.


Martha Tanner read the e-mail slowly, a wrinkle appearing between her eyebrows. She wasn’t sure what surprised her more-- the tone of the e-mail, or the fact that it came from, of all people, Jessica DeSidiro, the worker who was both competent and incompetent. Odd-looking, with features like an anime character, an odd fashion sense, and an apparently inability to speak above a quiet voice in most instances. She seemed to be a loner, even in a group, the type of person you’d expect to be either a brilliant thinker or a maniac killer. Jessica DeSidiro, who cringed when spoken to by her superiors, who seemed incapable of maintaining eye contact, whether praised or scolded. And yet, she was very kind to others and was reprimanded on several occasions for chatting, hugging people, and giving backrubs to stressed out friends. How could words of such anger and frustration and bitterness come from this enigmatic employee of hers? She read the letter over once more:

In the time that I have been employed by you, I admit that I have not always been the ideal employee. However, I am doing my best to work at my shortcomings. That being said, I wish to bring up some questions and concerns that I have, regarding the game room.

1. Last semester, a friend of mine was harassed by several people on multiple occasions. As a result of being bullied, he has chosen to take his classes online this semester, rather than face his abusers. Should he return to taking his classes on campus, if I am ever a witness to even a single act of harassment, I will inform you, and, should it come to it, the campus police. No one should ever feel too threatened to come to school.

2. There is a rule in place about swearing in the game room. However, it says nothing about people playing video clips with swearing in them. Now, I can understand if a person is unaware that the video contains swearing or are playing them so quietly that I cannot hear them. However, when people knowingly play clips that are known to contain swearing-- and play them at a volume allowing the whole room to hear it, like it or not-- it should be questioned whether these videos and situations should fall under the swearing rule. What is your opinion about this?

3. On several occasions, people have loudly discussed very inappropriate topics, such as whether or not women deserve to be raped. As you can imagine, these topics are not pleasant for everyone to hear. I would like permission to take whatever disciplinary steps are necessary to bring an end to these types of discussions.

4. Several “regulars” have shown disrespect to myself and other people on more than one occasion. They have argued with me when told to watch their language, have purposely broken rules, and have generally made a nuisance of themselves. They are, to put it bluntly, wearing on my nerves, and not surprisingly, they have been committing the acts stated in the previous three items mentioned. If they cause so much as one more problem for me, I will get you, and you can deal with them as you see fit, since nothing I’m doing seems to be affecting them.

5. My fifth concern does not concern troublemakers, at least, not directly. I feel that there should be a list of the people banned from the game room, along with a short physical description of them. Said list could then be made available to all game room attendants, in order to ensure that those who shouldn’t be in the room are not. I believe that this will make some aspects of the job easier for the other workers who may not know who everyone who comes into the game room is.

Thank you for reading this list of concerns, and have a nice day.

Martha sighed to herself and began to type out a response to the e-mail.