“No!” the scream reverberated through the cafeteria. “No no no! I don't believe it!”

Outbursts like that were a lot less common than usual, thanks to exams being officially upon them. The magic of exam week is always that feeling of survival, of the final boss. Survive through this five to seven tests and you can have a reprieve from all that stress and worry. But someone in the cafeteria was not in tune with the air of tense anticipation.

“What the heck is going on over there?” Kyle asked, turning around to see.

“Evan is sitting with his date for the dance,” Betty said, as if the thought didn't bother her at all. “They are playing chess.”

“I never thought of chess as that exciting,” Kyle said.

“It is when you are losing to Evan,” Betty said.

“NO!” Goldie shouted, pounding the table. Evan was laughing.

“Yes I can see that,” Jenny nodded. “That's a very "losing to Evan” reaction.”

Evan left Goldie to pack up the chess boards and came over to the table with them.

“How are you guys doing today?” Evan asked, a huge beaming smile on his face. “I'm on a winning streak.”

“We could hear,” Kyle said.

“It could have been a more harmonious lunch date,” Betty added.

“Ah heck Betty,” Evan said. “I'm sorry, I'm not trying to...”

“It is perfectly alright,” Betty said. “I will admit I was disappointed, but you are a close friend. I have no desire to stand in the way of your happiness in anyway.”

“Thanks,” Evan said sheepishly. A shadow fell over the table as Goldie arrived.

“You forgot your cell phone,” she snarled, holding out the offending object.

“Oh thanks!” Evan said. “Looking forward to the dance?”

“Touch me and I cut your balls off,” Goldie snarled. “I plan on getting out of it before then anyway.”

“What does she mean getting out of it?” Jenny asked.

“You're the new girl,” Goldie said. “Ragbah. What are you doing here? I heard you didn't need to take exams.”

“Moral support!” Jenny said, raising her arms in the air like a cheerleader. Then she started pumping them like imaginary pompoms. “I'm having trouble with this particular part of American culture but it goes like...gimme and E! Gimme an X! Gimmie---”

“....gimmie gimmie a man after midnight,” Kyle finished, cutting her off. “Maybe the chess game was loud enough for the cafeteria during exams.”

“Oh yeah,” Jenny looked around at the frustrated stares coming from all directions. “You're right, I'm sorry.”

“Well anyway this jerk showed up out of nowhere,” Goldie waved at Evan with the edge of her chess boards. No, chess boards. She was carrying three of them. “And when we started losing, he started making bets. Finally I decided I would take him down once and for all, and bet I'd go to the dance with him.”

“I see,” Betty adjusted her glasses. “That does explain a great many factors.”

“I'll win my way out of it though,” Goldie said. “Eventually.”

“Excuse me but why do you have three boards?” Kyle asked.

“Because we were playing three games,” Evan said.

“It was part of the challenge,” Goldie said. “He won all three, it was infuriating. I just wish he'd told us he was this talented years ago, our record wouldn't just be good it would be spotless.”

“Yeah,” Kyle gave Evan a look. “He's got a lot of hidden talents.”

“Do you have to talk about me like I'm not here?” Evan said.

“I'm trying to visualize it into existence,” Goldie shot back. “But actually I'm not going to be here, I have an exam. Good luck, everybody. Except Evan.”

“Hugs and kisses!” Evan called after her, chuckling until Kyle elbowed him in the side. “Ow! What was that for?”

“You cheated!” Kyle said.

“I did not!” Evan insisted.

“It's one thing to win a game,” Kyle said. “That was bad enough. But you tricked someone into going out with you that way? How does mental enhancement even make you good at chess in the first place?”

“Chess is just like tic tac toe or rock paper scissors,” Evan said. “Just really, REALLY complicated. It's all about conflicting patterns. If you memorize all the known patterns, you can win most games. That's how all the chess masters do it.”

“But you're using an unfair advantage!” Kyle shook his head. “This is exactly the reason Trevor isn't accessing his node.”

“Well I didn't know anything about nodes when I started out,” Evan said. “But since then I've had time to think of it, and I came to the conclusion that all of that's a load of horseshit.”

“Oh really? How do you figure?”

“Three reasons,” Evan said, holding up three fingers and putting them down one by one. “First, chess isn't martial arts. There's no way I'm going to accidentally kill Goldie if I use too much brain.”

“Okay fair,” Kyle admitted. “But you still...”

“Second,” Evan cut him off, “I don't think it is an unfair advantage. Goldie was born with the brains to head the chess club, a boatload of money, and looks like something out of a high schooler's fantasy, I know because I've had a few billion of them. Is a magically photographic memory really that unfair an advantage in the face of all of that?”

“That's like saying doping is okay because some cyclists are shorter than others,” Kyle huffed.

“And three,” Evan said, “I will absolutely guarantee you the world's top chess grandmasters are doing exactly the same thing.”

“What?” Kyle blinked. He hadn't been expecting that one.

“No seriously,” Evan said. “Prove I'm wrong. Better yet think about it for a second. We know magic exists now, we know enhancing yourself this way is possible. Do you think everyone shares Trevor's hangups? Of course they don't. If this power exists people are using it to improve their own lives.

“Oh, and we know you can use it and not realize you did. Betty and I both did that, after all. So I bet you if we gave that little node test to the world's top scholars, athletes, politicians even maybe, it'd come up with at least one or two little ones. Minimum.”

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“Well....maybe.” Something about it still sounded wrong to Kyle, but he was having trouble figuring out why.

“Think about it,” Evan grinned, slapping him on the shoulder. “Or are you gonna tell me you're not using it to ace exams?”

Kyle had no answer to that one. He'd recently tried to connect a mental node with Tanya's help, only to discover he already had one...a huge node. A little discussion had revealed that was how he'd heightened his reflexes enough to dodge Danny so easily when they fought in the hall. It was tied more to his reflexes than Evan's, but it had still made his memory and learning speed a lot faster. A LOT faster.

“Knew it!” Evan laughed. “Alright I gotta go, see you guys later.”

“There's just kind of been a lot going on lately,” Kyle said, once Evan had left.

“We know,” Jenny said, rubbing Kyle's back.

“I have meant to ask this since this morning,” Betty said. “Did something happen between you two last night?”

“No.”

“Yes.”

Jenny and Kyle glared at each other.

“Maybe a little bit,” Kyle admitted.

“I see,” Betty adjusted her glasses. The gleam made them look pure white. “Please give excruciating details beginning with the desire to make skin on skin contact.”

“What? No!” Kyle sputtered. “Where did you even get that notebook from?”

“We are in a school,” Betty said. “I have notebooks. Now, did the desire come upon you suddenly, in the heat of the moment, or was it a slow...”

“Put that away!” Kyle insisted. “Seriously! I can't handle this right now. I'm still annoyed at Evan.”

“That's pretty common,” Jenny said.

“I can't believe he tricked someone into going to the dance with him.”

Betty and Jenny exchanged a look.

“He has no idea does he?” Jenny shook her head,

“A common failing of the male brain,” Betty said. “I should be going as well, the exam period is starting soon. But before I go allow me to assure you Goldie is quite satisfied with the arrangement.”

“What?” Kyle whirled around between them. “What? But all she did was complain and insult him!”

“She's so happy to have someone who can match her in chess,” Jenny sighed. “She'd never have accepted if he just asked her though.”

“And Evan figured that out?”

“Almost certainly not,” Betty shook her head. “He was probably attempting to be perverted and got lucky. But the outcome is the same. And while I am, as I said, disappointed, I will endeavor to be happy for them.”

She walked away then, Kyle unable to do anything but stare dumbfounded at Jenny's nodding face.

“It's true,” Jenny insisted.

“I don't get women,” Kyle sighed.

“I figured that out when I got into bed with you na--”

“NOT at school!” Kyle said. “Please I'm begging you.”

“Okay okay,” Jenny sighed. “Why didn't you let me tell Betty we're together now?”

“Because she just got rejected,” Kyle pointed out. “It felt wrong. I guess we have to tell her before the dance, don't we? I mean she might ask to hang out that night assuming I'm not going...”

“Oh don't worry about that,” Jenny said dismissively.

“What do you mean?” Kyle asked.

“Guys really don't notice anything,” Jenny rolled her eyes. “Betty didn't notice either, but I'll give her a pass because she was distracted by Evan. But I think Betty is going to be busy on the night of the dance.”

Betty wasn't sure when exactly she'd become attracted to Evan. It had happened slowly, so slowly she'd barely noticed. It wasn't that she'd never been physically attracted to anyone before, not in the slightest. But this was more than finding the sight of someone pleasing, she'd discovered she wanted to spend more and more time with him. Maybe it had taken so long to notice because they spent so much time together already. But it was there.

And she'd just assumed. She'd just assumed he would be there whenever she got around to asking him. She'd feared rejection, certainly, but it had never occurred to her he might find someone else. Evan hadn't had a girlfriend in his entire life, and he chose now to become spontaneously popular with girls. She should have listened to Kyle and asked him long ago. But discussions like that didn't come naturally to her. Telling Kyle had been difficult enough.

She mulled all of this over as she packed up her bag, her exam finally over. Her last exam, actually, she had an AP class the others didn't that took its exam earlier. She was officially free for the rest of the summer, until university classes started.

“Meow,” Moonlight said from within her bag.

“Please be quiet,” Betty said. “You know I am not supposed to have you in school. We will be outside in a few minutes and I will let you out.”

“Mrow!” Moonlight insisted, pointing with a paw. Betty turned her head in that direction and saw Trevor standing sheepishly in the corner.

“Hi Betty,” he said. “I was uh, I wanted to talk to you.”

“We speak quite frequently,” Betty asked, confused.

“Well this is different,” Trevor said. “I just...dammit I've never had to ask before. Wow, that was a stupid thing to say, I sound like most arrogant prick in the entire world. Let me start again, okay?

“Hey, Betty, do you want to go to the dance with me?”

Betty stared at him.

“My face is too naturally neutral to adequately express my surprise and confusion,” Betty said.

“Well I thought about it a while ago,” Trevor said. “So I asked Kyle about you, about what your deal was, and he said you were into Evan, so I backed off. But now...too soon, right? It's too soon.”

Betty blinked a couple of times. She'd never considered Trevor as a romantic partner. That being said, they did get along. And he certainly was aesthetically pleasing.

“I cannot promise we will have sex,” Betty said. She then felt a spike of alarm when Trevor fell against the wall, clutching his chest. It took her a second to realize he was laughing. “Are you alright?”

“I'm fine,” Trevor promised, between fits of the giggles. “I'm fine. That was just such a you thing to say. I understand that, Betty. If you'd prefer to say we're going as just friends that's fine too. But I'd rather spend the night with you than any of the other twits around this school who keep throwing themselves at me. And if it turns into something else...I mean we'll see, right?”

“Yes,” Betty said, a smile pulling at the corners of her lips. “Yes. That sounds enjoyable.”

“Great!” Tyler said. “I uh, I got one more test today. But we'll talk later, alright?”

“Ahah I see,” Betty said. “You chose this moment to ask me because you had a built in exit strategy to avoid any awkwardness.”

“Can't fool you,” Trevor laughed, walking away down the hall. “I'll see you later Betty.”

Betty watched him go, letting her eyes travel down to his ass. Yes, he certainly was aesthetically pleasing. She didn't feel quite the same connection to him she did with Evan, but staying close to him for an evening would not be unenjoyable.

“Meow,” Moonlight said proudly, patting her on the head like she was the pet.

“Stop that,” Betty said absentmindedly. “What should I do now, Moonlight? Traditionally, this when I should contact my closest female friends to discuss the developments. But I do not have any female friends...”

Except wait.

She did.

She did have friends like that now.

“I knew it!” Jenny pumped her hands in the air. “I knew he was interested in you!”

“I did not know it,” Betty said. The two of them were sitting together in front of the school, on a bench beside a brick wall around a maple tree. “But I am somewhat pleased. It is not the same as with Evan. But it is not unpleasant.”

“I think you'd be happier with Trevor anyway,” Jenny said. “I know you've known Evan forever, but...”

“He can be a little much to take,” Betty admitted. “I suppose our attention must now go towards proper clothing.”

“Proper clothing?” Jenny asked. “Oh right, people do dress up for dances and stuff. What's the right clothing to wear to a dance?”

“I was hoping you would know,” Betty said. “I am generally hopeless with appropriate social cues. I assume you've seen many more events like this than I have.”

“Like a couple of thousand years ago,” Jenny said. “In Uzbedi. Modern America is a complete mystery.”

“Oh-ho!” a familiar voice rang out above them. “Is that so?”

They looked up to see Ammeline standing over them on the brick wall, hands on her hips and her trademark superior expression across her face. The light reflected off the bright white bag for her fencing sword slung across her back.

“And so my rival!” Ammeline declared. “I have uncovered yet another of your weaknesses!”

“How did you get up there?” Jenny asked, cocking her head.

“That is not important!” Ammeline declared.

“The only logical answer,” Betty adjusted her glasses, “is that she saw us sitting over here and circled around the back, where she scrabbled up the brick wall on the far side.”

“I said it isn't important!” Ammeline insisted. “Honestly, a dramatic entrance is its own reward, you're not meant to question how it came about! How gauche.”

“Sorry,” Jenny said. “I was just curious, is all.”

“If you must comment on it then praise me for my flair for the dramatic!” Ammeline struck a pose with one arm raised in the air.

“Absolutely no one who has ever met you denies you have that,” Betty confirmed.

“There you see?” Ammeline said. “Good! It's settled. Now stop creating problems, or I will deny you my help!”

“Your help?” Betty asked.

“I happened to overhear the two of you discussing your dates to the dance,” Ammeline said.

“Oh so you were behind the wall listening when you climbed--”

“And I overheard you lack proper attire!” Ammeline talked right over Betty. “Now a lesser woman would allow you to suffer in your iniquity, and arrive at the dance in whatever sad rags you were able to cobble together in your ignorance of proper fashion and style. However Ammeline Trent is no such coward! Defeating a fencer with both arms tied behind her back is no true victory. When I arrive at the dance and dazzle all who attend, overshadowing you completely, no one will be able to say you were dressed one spec less glamorous than I!”

“You mean...” Jenny asked slowly, still trying to piece together the words. “You're going to help us shop for clothes?”

“Who better?” Ammeline insisted. “Rejoice, for you ladies find yourselves under the tutelage of the Ammeline Trent, the most glamorous woman within a hundred thousand miles! By the time I'm done you'll sparkle like diamonds....almost as bright as me! Ahahahahahahahaha....”

Betty and Jenny shared a worried glance as Ammeline threw her head back in a maniacal cackle.