Sasha had always been a little bit perplexed by Maria's fedora. According to everyone else she knew, Maria was wearing it backwards, but Maria didn't seem to care. "They're the ones who are wearing it backwards," Maria explained. "I'm the only one who's wearing it right."

Despite her backwards fedoras, odd taste in music, and thrift-store wardrobe, Maria had her fair share of followers, and Sasha was one of them. There was something about Maria's scene that drew Sasha in, even if she couldn't quite put her finger on it. It wasn't until Sasha got to know Maria, however, that she realized just how much of a drama queen she could be.

Today, Sasha was meeting up with Maria and some of her friends in Maria's first floor apartment. She knocked on the door of Apartment #102, hoping that she had put just effort into her hair to make it look effortless.

"Hey Sasha," Maria said as she opened the door. "Come on in."

Sasha followed Maria into her apartment, where she saw two more girls sitting in Maria's bedroom. Sasha recognized them as Stacey and Ella Denton, identical twin sisters who were sophomores like Maria.

Once all of the girls were seated in the bedroom, Stacey (or was it Ella?) took out a package of Oreos. "We can all share these," she said.

Sasha opened up the package and popped a single Oreo into her mouth. She let the sugar flow over her taste buds, and she savored the taste. Maria, on the other hand, was racing to eat as many Oreos as possible.

"What are you going to do now?" Maria asked after she had finished all of the Oreos.

"I heard that References Upon References is playing tonight," Ella (or was it Stacey?) commented.

"Why would I want to see them?" her sister said. "References Upon References is an awful band."

References Upon References was one of the biggest new indie bands in the Chicago area, and last year, they had also been Maria's favorite band. It was in February, when they had appeared on the cover of a mainstream music magazine, when Maria changed her mind. According to Maria, it was now only acceptable to like References Upon References ironically, which Sasha didn't quite understand. She still liked the band, even if she would never admit it to Maria.

"The concert isn't until 7:00," Stacey (or was it Ella?) said. "We can't go until later anyways."

"What are we going to do until then?" her sister asked.

"I've got it," Maria said. "Let's make a list of the cutest boys at Martin Van Buren High School."

Sasha shook her head. Gossip wasn't exactly her thing, and she hated that her friends were acting like she imagined that the popular white girls did. However, it seemed as if these "friends" were ignoring her.

"Sounds good," Ella and Stacey said in unison.

"Who should we put on the top of the list?" Ella asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Stacey said.

"Matthew Clark is clearly the cutest boy at Van Buren," Maria said.

"For sure," Ella (or was it Stacey?) said. "He's insanely smart, he plays piano, he's on the track team, and he's hot! What more could a girl ask for?"

"Did you hear that he got into Stanford?" her sister said.

"You've told me that many times," Ella/Stacey replied.

"Who's the second hottest?" Stacey/Ella asked as she took out a piece of paper and wrote "Matthew Clark" at the top.

"Saul Casey," Maria said, as if is was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No, I'd say that it's Warren Mitchell," Ella argued.

"I'd go with Saul," Stacey said. "He has nicer eyes."

"What about Jonas Ramirez?" Sasha suggested. "He's kind of cute."

Maria shook her head. "I appreciate his...boldness, I guess, but the eyeliner makes him look like a raccoon, and his haircut is so dumb."

"I agree," Ella said. "Sasha, you don't want a man that wears more makeup than you do."

Sasha could barely put up with Maria and Ella's insults to her longtime crush, but maybe they were right. Saul and Warren were both a little bit unconventional, but they were unconventional in the socially acceptable way that Maria was. Jonas, on the other hand, was on a whole different level of odd, but that didn't stop him from being sweet and adorable, at least in Sasha's opinion.

Maria, Sasha, and Ella continued to make their list, but eventually, they got bored. Sasha couldn't describe just how relieved she was when Maria said "I think that's a pretty good list. Do you guys want to see what I found at the thrift store?"

"Sure," Ella said.

"It can't be more exciting than anything we've found," Stacey said. "We're at the thrift store all the time."

"You won't believe this," Maria said. "I found a Desperate Housewives chess set."

Maria, Ella, and Stacey all laughed hysterically. "Who would buy that?" Ella asked in between giggles.

"I don't know," Stacey said.

"It's in my closet," Maria said. "Sasha, will you get it out?"

Sasha nodded and opened Maria's closet. Before long, she located the chess set and placed it on Maria's bed. Sasha then opened the box, but a rodent bounced out of the box and ran away. It was too big to be a mouse, but the ears were too long for it to be a rat.

"What the hell just happened?" Sasha asked.