"Is Fatima coming over again this evening?" Axel said, entering the living room where Dream sat on the couch. Sawyer sat on the other side of the couch, beside her, and Savannah stood, her back against the wall. "She seems really nice, for anyone even distantly related to Francesca, let alone her twin."

Dream bit her lip. "No, I don't think so."

"Why? She's so nice," Sawyer chimed in.

"It's Dream's fault," Savannah grumbled. "But I'm guessing, most likely Francesca and Fatima pulled a twin switcheroo, because Francesca was somewhat nice and Fatima was somewhat nasty."

"It's not impossible for Francesca to be nice," Zac shrugged. "Although I have my doubts about Fatima being mean."

"Right?" Axel said. "Fatima is really, really nice. If she had been the one attending Pebblebrook Creek High, life would be so--"

"Similar to our lives right now," Dream cut in. "You can't judge Francesca and Fatima from the way they act right now. From what I've seen, they're very similar. Fatima is right, Francesca is really just hurting."

"Hurting from what?" Sawyer said. "Usually you're pretty rational, but she's the one who's hurting people, nobody is hurting her."

Dream sighed. "I try not to make assumptions, but they really don't have an easy life. Have you ever seen their mom? And their dad is estranged. It's like Francesca and Fatima are parenting their young brother. And, there's probably a valid reason why, as twins, they don't go to the same school. I mean, no one even knew Francesca had an identical twin sister before."

"She has a point," Sawyer said. "I didn't want to believe it, but...I mean, I saw it with my own eyes, it's kind of hard to doubt."

Savannah scowled, sitting down on a beanbag chair. "However, please forgive me for being mad at her after so many years of bullying."

"I didn't know she bullied you," Dream said. "I thought you always avoided her."

"Well, I was never close to Francesca," Savannah admitted. "But I've seen the way she treats people all the time. I just feel so bad for her victims."

Dream couldn't help but feel sorry for Francesca instead. Something about her and Fatima's behavior seemed odd. And now that Dream had been sucked into this mystery, she was determined to make her way out.

---

"I take it that didn't go well?" Chloe asked. She was sitting on the ground in the corner of the room, looking at her phone.

Not wanting to answer that question, Dream decided to change the subject.

"You're staying in our room all day?" she asked. "Why aren't you hanging out with the rest of the group?"

Chloe shrugged, her eyes still glued to her phone. "I guess I don't really fit in. When you guys have conversations, it's like I'm watching you guys talk, instead of being a part of the conversation, you know?"

"You can always join in," Dream suggested.

"I tried that. I'm more or less ignored."

"Oh," Dream hadn't realized that before, but now that she thought about it, Chloe was right. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Besides, they talk a lot about Pebblebrook Creek High, and I have no idea what they're even talking about."

"What do they say?"

"Mrs. Woods is a horrible teacher, Francesca sucks, blah blah blah, I think Mrs. Woods is nasty but Francesca is okay."

"Yep, you've said that many, many, many times already," Dream said. "I'm trying to get them to like Francesca and want to work with her, and they're bad-mouthing her behind her back."

Chloe sighed. "Yeah, okay."

"What's wrong?"

"It's just--you're exactly like your new friends, you know? The only thing you've been talking about these past few days is Mrs. Woods and Francesca and things about that. Like, is it possible for us to talk about anything else?"

"Oh," Dream was beginning to see why Chloe didn't fit in. "Do you want to take a break and relax? Like go skiing or something, just us two?"

Chloe paused for a moment, thinking. Then, she yelled in excitement, "Oh yeah! That'd be great!"

Yep, my Chloe is back, Dream thought. 

---

A/N

Sorry this was kind of a filler chapter lol! Next chapter... something HUGE is going to happen. So stay tuned for that!

Please vote, comment, and share, thanks!! <3

Next update: Wednesday

💙, Stella Rose