"You're having a baby?" Leni asked.

"Yes, and be quiet about it." Lori said. "I don't want mom and Dad to find out just yet."
"Well their going to." Leni said. "It's not like you can tell them you're just getting fat or something."

"I know," Lori said, "But I want them to find out at the right time. I... I don't know what to do Leni. I'm... I'm scared."

"Lori, no matter what you decide, I'm here for you." Leni smiled.

"Thanks Leni." Lori said. "You're such a good sister. Also, I'm sorry about your toothbrush."

"Uh... yeah." Leni said. "Don't mention it. Especially the toothbrush thing, don't ever mention that again."

The two of them giggled for a moment.

...

A couple days later at school...

Leni sat at the lunch table with her usual friends.

"Has anyone seen Mandee?" Leni asked.

"Ugh, she was trying to call me all night last night." Jackie replied.

"What did she say?" Leni asked.

"I don't know," Jackie said. "I didn't answer. I'm not talking to her right now."

"That's so mean," Leni replied.

"I'll unblock her number eventually Leni, but for now I do not want to talk to her." Jackie said.

"You blocked her number?" Leni said in shock.

"I had a feeling that girl was some sort of freak this whole time." A third girl at the table mentioned. The third girl was named Stacy. Leni and Jackie didn't know why they still hung out with Stacy. While she was fine when they met her a few years ago, Stacy had become a bit self-conscious of her image, how the rest of the school saw her.

"Mandee is not a freak!" Leni said.

"She's just being a little annoying right now." Jackie added. "She'll come to her senses."

"You know you should watch who you hang around with." Stacy said. "Can't have some little weirdos making you look bad. It's bad enough she wanted you to dress as some creepy zombie or something, but now I hear she's hanging out with that Maggie girl."

"Uh, Stacy," Leni said. "It was a Halloween party. A lot of people dressed as creepy things. And what's wrong with Maggie?"

"She's just so dark and moody." Stacy replied, "And weird."

"Maggie was adopted," Leni replied. "I'm sure her family life is super complicated. I'm sure she has good reasons for being a little moody."

"Leni, she makes your sister look cheery." Stacy replied.

"Which one?" Leni asked.

"The one who always wears black and thinks she's some sort of witch or something." Stacy replied.

"Lucy?" Leni said. "She's not a witch. Do witches even exist?"

"I don't think so." Jackie said.

"No offense Leni, but your whole family is like some sort of circus." Stacy replied. "Not you though, you're cool. And so is Lori."

Leni wanted to say something but held her tongue. She was pretty sure Stacy was just projecting her own insecurities on others or something.

"I have to go to the bathroom." Leni said, getting up from the table.

On her way back Leni ran into her English teacher Chuck. Chuck was a short man with curly brown har, and a brown beard.

"Hey Mr. Shurley." Leni said.

"Hey Leni, you look troubled." Chuck said.

"Oh, some of my friends are fighting with each other." Leni said. "I'm just afraid my friend group is going to split up."

"Yeah friends can be complicated sometimes." Chuck replied. "But hey, even if they don't want to be friends with each other. You're still friends with both of them, right?"

"I guess. But we've all been such close friends for so long. I don't know what I'd do if they broke up." Leni said.

"You could try reminding them of the good times you had." Chuck said. "but if that doesn't work, maybe it's time to move on. Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever. But sometimes change is good, you know what I mean?"

"Not really." Leni replied.

"Well I have to go." Chuck said. "The Winchesters got detention again and I've been assigned to watch them over lunch." Chuck walked away.

"Winchesters?" Leni said to herself. "I don't think I've ever met them."

...

Lori was on video chat with Bobby.

"Did you tell your parents yet?" Bobby said.

"No, I'm waiting for the right time." Lori said. "I'm scared Bo bo bear. What are we going to do?"

"Well we were going to start a family anyway." Bobby said.

"I'm not even in collage yet." Lori said.

"We'll get through this Babe." Bobby said. "So long as we have each other."

"Aw Bo bo bear." Lori said.

"Hey, maybe you can have Lucy like read your fortune or something." Bobby suggested. "You know, see if things will go right for us and our baby. Wow, our baby, I can't believe I just said that."

"I guess," Lori said. "But honestly I don't really believe in a lot of that stuff."

Lori met with Lucy in the dining room. Lucy was dressed in her "madam Lucy" outfit. A crystal ball sat on the table before them.

"Well what do you see." Lori asked.

"Why did you want a fortune telling again?" Lucy asked.

Lori had not told Lucy about her child. The only ones who knew were Herself, Leni, and Bobby.

"Oh, you know," Lori said, "I was juts bored, thought it could be fun."

Lucy looked into her crystal ball. "The future that awaits you is one full of agonizing pain and misery."

Lori's heart sank, "R-really?"

"Don't take it personally," Lucy said, "I don't know what's going on. But I did readings for Lincoln, Lynn, Luan, and even Clyde earlier today. They all came up the same. Agonizing pain and misery. I think the spirits are just trolling me."

"Rrrrriiiiggghhhhttt." Lori said, feeling a bit nervous. "Well if your crystal ball isn't working right. Can I at least have my five bucks back?"

"Sorry, no refunds." Lucy replied.

Lori scowled.

...

Lynn came downstairs to Lincoln and Clyde playing a video game.

"Hey Lynn, you wanna play?" Clyde asked.

"Me?" Lynn said. "Sure, I guess, what are you playing?"

They were playing he latest fighting game, which Lynn was happy to join in on.

Leni walked in the front door.

"Hey guys." Leni smiled. "Hey Clyde, did I invite you to my Christmas party?"

"I don't think so." Clyde said.

"Well make sure you can make it. I would love for you to come." Leni smiled, handing him an invitation. "Lincoln if you see Mom and Dad. Tell them I'm at the mall, I wanna find a new sweater for the party."

...

Some time after Leni left, Lincoln, Clyde and Lynn switched to a cooperative first-person shooter game that involved saving the earth from an alien invasion.

...

Oh, M gosh this is perfect Leni thought to herself. She had found a soft green sweater. The sweater had white bands around the chest and arms. The white bands had a pattern of little red hearts. Leni tried the sweater on in the dressing room and she looked absolutely adorable.

She bought the sweater and headed out of the store. She then ran into Mandee.

"Mandee?" Leni said. "You look different."

Mandee was wearing a jean jacket over a black t-shirt. She had ripped black skinny jeans and her hair was died black, and she had black eye liner. She even had her nose pierced.

"Is that a problem?" Mandee asked.

"No, you look...great." Leni said with confusion in her voice. She could hardly tell this was even the same Mandee.

"The other day I ran into Maggie," Mandee explained. "She said some things that I wasn't too sure about at first. But now that you and Jackie have been ghosting me, I realized Maggie was right about you. So, I started to hang out with her, and she gave me a makeover."

"Ghosting you?" Leni said. "I don't even know what that means."

"You were ignoring me." Mandee explained. "Neither you nor Jackie have returned any of my calls for the past couple of days. It's like I no longer exist to you."

What is she talking about, she never called me. At least not in the past couple of days Leni thought And if she did, of course I'd return her calls.

"You haven't been calling me." Leni said. "not in the past couple days."

"Of course, now you're denying it." Mandee accused. "Can't let yourself look bad."

Look bad? Leni thought, What is going on with you?

"Seriously take a look." Leni pulled out her phone. "I haven't been getting any calls for some time now... oh... oh that's not good."

Her phone was dead.

Dang it! The battery is dead Leni thought It must have been out for some time and I didn't even realize it. Why do I do that? Why am I such a screw up? Ugh, oh well. Live and learn Leni, everyone makes mistakes, you just gotta learn from them.

"The chargy thingy ran out." Leni said. The word is battery, Leni, "I'm so sorry about this, I'll make it up to you. We can talk now. I promise I'll return your next call."

"Too late for that." Mandee said. "I see how things are now, you guys don't like me anymore. Well guess what, I don't like you either!"

Leni felt her heart shatter. "What? Of course, we like you. What's gotten into you?"

Just then Maggie showed up.

"Is she bothering you?" Maggie asked.

"No, it's fine." Mandee explained.

"At least come to my Christmas party." Leni said, handing Mandee an invitation. "You can bring Maggie."

"What do you think Mags." Mandee asked.

"Sure, I suppose." Maggie said. "If we don't like it, we can always leave."

"So long as Jackie's not there." Mandee said.

"She won't be." Leni said.

"Then Fine, I'll be there." Mandee said, then she and Maggie walked away.

Oh no, I just lied to my best friend. Leni thought, How, could I do that? 

Will Leni's Christmas party go as she hoped, or will disaster strike? How will Lori's parents react to her news? And now Lynn is getting closer to Lincoln and Clyde, what could this mean? Stay tuned.