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     "She's making me hide the knives in the bushes," Lexi spoke into the phone quietly.

     Eliana sighed heavily, being in the comfort of her own bedroom.  She was getting ready to hang out with her sister and was pretty much just remaining idle.  "That bad?"

     Accidentally, Eliana had become a mutual common ground for nearly everyone and anyone who knew and was involved in the drama between Nate and Cassie and therefore, Maddy.  Now, Eliana had already said her piece on the ordeal, but she couldn't help but feel bad for Lexi.  Lexi, who had already been overlooked so much, had already gone through so much with her parents, and now was forced to share a room with Bridezilla.  In short, Eliana didn't mind being a decent human being and listening to her friend.

     Lexi nodded even though Eliana couldn't see her.  "I am currently breaking off tree branches to cover them.  She just... won't stop crying."

     Eliana placed a hand on her hip as she stood sideways from her mirror, facing her Doja Cat poster.  "Lexi..."

     "I know," Lexi said quickly as if reading Eliana's mind.  "More than anything, it's just annoying."

     "Well hey, I still love you and you're welcome in my home anytime.  I'm waiting for Gwen to finish her homework so I can start teaching her how to sew.  She said she wants to learn how to make met gala dresses.  We're starting with pillows.  You're welcome to come over if you'd like."

     "Aw, how fun!" Lexi gushed.  "Maybe I will, I've got some stuff to do but I'll text you later."

     "Alright smexy," Eliana snickered.  "Keep your cool.  Love you."

     Truth was, Lexi really needed a break.  "I'm not the bad guy," Cassie insisted, standing in the living room while Suze sat on the couch watching TV, Lexi coming to join her on the opposite couch.  "Everyone keeps looking at me like I'm the bad guy, but I'm not the bad guy!"

     "Well, you're not the good guy," Lexi said.

     "Yeah, that's for sure," Suze agreed.

     "Everyone thinks that I was hooking up with Nate when he and Maddy were still together, but that's not accurate," Cassie crossed her arms over her chest, frantically talking and moving.  "There was no crossover."

     "Cassie, please, just a little bit of peace, please."

     But Cassie kept going.  "But Rue made it sound like we were just hooking up the entire time, but I would never do that to someone I love."

     "Yeah, I don't think that's a real airtight defense," Suze said, briefly taking her eyes away from the TV to glance at her daughter.

     "It's the truth!"

     "Oh, Cassie, you're driving me nuts!  It's one thing to do what you did, and it's another thing to pretend you're all innocent, and it's no big deal."

     "I'm just pointing out the facts," Cassie continued breathing heavily as she raised her voice in the room.  Lexi looked on, almost scowling at her sister's attitude.

     "Well, I'm pointing out the principle," Suze retorted.

     "What principle?"

     "The "don't fuck your best friend's boyfriend" principle," Suze blinked slowly.

     "That is what I am trying to tell you, Mom!" Cassie yelled, her cheeks turning a dark shade of red as she did.  "They weren't boyfriend and girlfriend, God!"

     "I don't care!" Suze yelled back.  "I just wanna watch my "Millionaire Matchmaker" in peace for one hour, one goddamn hour!  Fuck!"

     Meanwhile, Eliana was clutching a cherry-flavoured soda in a glass bottle, deciding if she wanted to pick out candy as well to accompany her movie binging plans for the night.   "Can I help you, honey?" an unwelcomed man's voice entered her thoughts, having previously been deciding between something sweet or something salty for her pick of the evening.

     "No," she replied, her eyes never leaving the stand of candy in front of her.

     "Hey there," he said quietly, getting closer.

     "Do you work here?" she asked quickly, turning to look at the man in the eye.  "Don't lie to me because I know who works here."

     Of course she did, having been familiar with nearly every item (and the small janitorial closet the one time she and Fez stayed late in high school).  She knew that this was Fez and Ash's store and theirs only.  So naturally, she was appalled when he said...

     "Yeah, and I can help you look for anything you might need," he said, slithering to get close to her, placing a hand on her lower back.

     She jumped almost instantly, stumbling away from his touch.  "Listen, I've just had a long day and I really don't need this right now."

     "What do you need, baby?" the man smiled, and Eliana saw the evil glint in his eye as he did so.  "Tell me what you need baby."

     Before Eliana could react, her first thought was to slam the bottle in her hand against him violently, another voice entered their conversation.  "Do we have a problem ova here?"

     Upon seeing Fez, who... you know, was Fez — a tall and tough-looking guy with his white shirt and gold chain, the guy who was initially bugging Eliana backed away a little.  Her heart practically sighed at the sight of him.

     "Just..." the guy awkwardly chuckled.  "Just don't worry about it, man."

     "You're causing some of my customers to feel uncomfortable," Fez said, his eyes never leaving the guy in front of him.  It was then that Eliana noticed that she could see Ashtray sitting behind the counter watching intently, along with two other young girls two isles away watching cautiously.  Eliana felt better knowing there were people around watching for her.  "Get out."

     "Who are you, man?"

     "The dude who own this store," Fez said, shifting to cover Eliana even with just his shoulder and half of his back protectively.  "So get out."

     "Who said Nate was a bad person?" Cassie returned to her living room again.  "Rue?"

     "It doesn't matter."

     "'Cause if we wanna talk about people, let's talk about Rue," Cassie ignored her mom and sister, just like she had been doing for practically forever now. 

     "Rue's a good girl," Suze said with raised eyebrows.

     "And I'm not?"

     "I didn't say you're not a good girl," Suze defended.  "Rue's had a very hard life."

     "Not harder than my life or Lexi's life."

     "It's different," Suze said.

     "Right," Cassie bit.  "Her dad died and ours just stopped calling.  I don't know which is worse. And if you weren't such a fucking loser with no self-respect, you'd drop her 'cause she treats you like shit," Cassie said this time facing her sister. 

     "Enough!  Enough!"

     "What, I can't say it to her, but you two can say it to me?" Cassie questioned.

     "I never said you didn't have any self-respect!" Suze argued. 

     "You don't have to!" Cassie yelled, practically blue in the face.  "I can fuckin' feel it!"

     After she left the room, Suze turned to a quiet Lexi.  "Oh, she needs a fucking exorcism.

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I didn't really wanna write about cassie but I thought it would be nice to add more dimension to these chapters and show what's going on with everyone else?