Tiffani bowed her head, her eyes closed tightly.

Oh, God, she thought, oh, God, what do I do? How do I talk sense into them? They’ve changed, and not for the better. Emily’s getting plastered, Ophelia and AJ are hooking up at wild parties, and as for Angela, she’s just completely lost her mind. How do I tell them what I think? What do I say to make things better?

Tiffani toyed with her cell phone, pressing buttons at random and running through the list of numbers stored in it. One telephone number caught her eye.

“Hey, I forgot I had this number,” Tiffani muttered. She glanced over at the clock beside her bed. “Eleven,” she muttered. “Too late? Well, she did say to call anytime.”


Charise jumped slightly when she heard her cell phone begin to ring.

“Pause the movie,” she hissed at S, grabbing for her phone. She flipped it open and answered it. “Hello?”

“Charise, this is Tiffani.”

“Hey,” Charise said slowly. “It’s kind of late. What’s wrong?” She pressed the “speaker” button on the phone, so that S could hear.

“Everything’s wrong!” Tiffani exclaimed. “Everyone’s getting plastered and stoned and hooking up and acting like polar opposites of themselves!”

“College life in a nutshell,” S muttered.

“Hold on,” Charise said to Tiffani, now fully alert, “who’s doing those things?”

Tiffani breathlessly spilled out the whole story. “And now, I just don’t know what to do.”

Charise took a deep breath. Damn, she thought, I knew they were changing, but this is insane.

“Tiffani,” she replied, “I don’t really know how to help you. But I do know someone who gives great advice about this stuff. Give me about five minutes to call and set things up. Knowing her, there’s only two places she’ll be today and tomorrow.”


Valo stretched out on the bed, watching Manhunter. Grant sat nearby, playing a computer game.

“It’s like CSI: The Early Years,” Valo remarked, nodding towards the screen.

“Yeah,” Grant added. “Back before Grissom moved to Vegas.”

“No wonder he never talks about his past.”

They chortled at their shared joke. Valo sat up slowly and peered closely at her cell phone.

“Ten-thirty,” she remarked.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

“You get it,” Valo said. “I need to run to the bathroom.”

Grant nodded and headed out of the bedroom and to the front door. He opened the door slowly, allowed Charise, S, and Tiffani to enter.

“Right on time,” Grant said. “Valo was wondering when you’d show up.”

Valo shuffled into the room and nodded politely. “Hey,” she greeted the group. Her eyes settled on Tiffani. “You’re the one who wanted to talk?”

“Yeah,” Tiffani replied.

“You two can talk in the bedroom. I’ll make something to eat,” Grant suggested.


Valo led Tiffani to the bedroom, where she sat on the bed. “Make yourself at home,” Valo said kindly. Tiffani sat on the bed as well.

After several seconds of silence, Tiffani blurted out, “Please, I need your help. The people I care about… they’ve become different people. They’ve changed for the worse. Isn’t there something I can do to make them see what big mistakes they’ve made?”

Valo heaved a great sigh and bowed her head. “You’ve come all this way for nothing, then,” she replied.

“What? I don’t understand.”

“People tend to change for the worse, when they do change. In fact, as of late, I’ve questioned people’s ability to ever change for the better. You are asking for something impossible.”

Tiffani shook her head. “You’re wrong!” she snapped. “People can change into better people, and they do change for the better. Like, take my boyfriend AJ. He used to be a stereotypical jock who only dated cute, thin women. But he managed to change into a decent guy who fell for me, of all people, a chick who is the opposite of what his ‘ideal’ was. Or… or… take his sister Emily. She used to always keep to herself and seemed afraid of attention. Now, she’s acting in plays, and, while she’s not the life of the party, she’s at least more likely to speak up. Or, take her friend Ophelia. Ophelia used to be so serious and such a loner. Being friends with Emily helped to make her more… hell, I don’t know… more mellow and easygoing. Hell, take me, for instance. I used to be part of the school’s cheerleading squad and dance team. They kicked me off the teams for being too heavy. I joined the campus news team as revenge. Now, I’m friends… kind of… and look up to some of the same people I’d never be seen with before. Ophelia and Emily are two of the kindest, most brilliant people we know, and I consider it an honor to be able to interact with them. People can change for the better, damn it! If they didn’t… then… then last night, when that guy was violating Emily, I would have just ignored it, rather than jumping in and saving her!”

Valo stared in shock at Tiffani, whose face was red from yelling. Tiffani took a deep breath, collecting her thought, and continued, in a calmer tone, “Now, what am I going to tell these people to try and make them see things my way?”

Valo smiled, a slow and wise smile. “The same exact things you told me,” she replied. “Maybe some people do change for the better, and it’s the people who change in negative ways who get all of the attention and press.”

Grant rapped at the door and peeked in. “I’ve got grilled cheese sandwiches and hamburgers made,” he announced. “Are you ladies having a good talk?”

“Wonderful,” Valo replied, rising and kissing Grant’s cheek.