Annabell would've spent Sunday wallowing in her embarrassment and self-pity after the fiasco of waking up in Jason's lap, but a text from Maxine in the afternoon kind of put a wrench in her plans. Well, more like her text and then sudden appearance.

'getting lunch at FG, wanna come???'

For reference, FG or ForeatGrill was kind of like a McDonald's in this world but better. Now that Maxine had mentioned it, Annabell seriously wanted some of those chicken nuggets. But somehow her shame outweighed her hunger for those crispy chicken nuggets.

'not feeling too good. Prob not'

Annabell's mind reached a blank with Maxine's reply.

'itll be my treat! + Candice is joining'

Free chicken nuggets or staying at home. Free chicken nuggets or stay at home? Free chicken nuggets.

Which fully explained why she was sitting in a red leather seat booth, dipping her chicken nuggets in ketchup as Maxine shoveled french fries down her throat to Candice's horror.

Friendship is great, isn't it?

"How do you even do that?" Candice mumbled in disbelief. "What are you? A vacuum?"

Maxine paused in her quest for consumption to pout at Candice. "I prefer the term 'Red Kirby', thank you very much!"

". . . Red what?"

"Kirby! Please tell me you know who Kirby is."

Candice shook her head, obviously not knowing what iconic pink creature Maxine was speaking of. This caused Maxine to choke on her own saliva.

"Are you sure you live in a mansion and not under a rock?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Annabell probably needed to intervene. After one more chicken nugget. Mhmm. Okay, yeah, she'd step in now. Thoroughly chewing her food, Annabell finally interrupted the two before things went out of control.

"Maxine, Candice may not be particularly up to date with pop culture but that doesn't make her ill-informed."

Her soft voice interrupted the two voices, Candice instantly feeling a bit smug about being defended and Maxine a bit hurt. She was only teasing the other girl, why was she being scolded like a child?

"I didn't mean it like that..."

Annabell smiled gently. "I know you didn't. I just wanted to settle this argument before we got kicked out."

At that, the two other girls could agree. That conversation was getting a bit heated and the staff behind the counter were glaring at them. There was a good chance that if Annabell hadn't stepped in, the three of them would've been asked to leave the premises. That would've sucked.

"And Candice?"

"Yes?"

"All you need to know about Kirby is that... It's? He's? It's a pink, round creature that consumes all, even worlds. So Max is just a red menace who could eat the entire world if she wished."

Candice snickered a bit at the image that created in her mind. That would be extremely hilarious.

Maxine made a face at that statement. "Damn straight. I could eat both of you at the drop of a hat."

"Even me?" Annabell pouted, cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk.

Max grinned evilly. "Why would I give up on such a desert?" Annabell gasped dramatically and stared at Maxine before the both of them, and even Candice started to laugh their heads off. They all honestly couldn't remember what they remember what was so funny by the time they calmed down.

Candice was gaining her breath back when she remembered something. "By the way, Anna..."

Anna looked over at the girl sitting across from her, head tipped to the side. "You and Jason went on a date yesterday, right?"

The entire table was silent for a short bit before Annabell's entire face burst into flames. "W-who told you that?!" Dammit, Jason! You snitch! Brooke couldn't help but cry out mentally, freaking out. If Candice knew, who else knew?! Ughhhhhhhhhhhhh.

"Jason's mother wouldn't shut up about it last night. She quote," Candice made air quotes. "'Couldn't believe there was a girl who could stand her son for more than an hour that didn't want money'."

While Annabell sank deeper into her seat, face covered, Maxine's brain was processing the new information and the information she'd received on Friday from Ethan. (After yelling at him for being late to Boxing Club, but people didn't need to know that.)

"Max, you won't believe what Jason did today!"

"Don't use him to get out of this! Where the fuck were you?!"

"I was at Student Advisement to see Annabell, but that's not the point right now!"

"Oh god, my brother's become a weirdo. I understand how all those siblings in teen dramas feel now."

"He threw me out of the room and locked me out!"

"I would've thrown you out too, dumbass!"

So that was why Ethan had been so promptly kicked out. A case of jealousy, yet Maxine couldn't seem to accept it. Annabell going out with Jason. It seemed weird to her. Maybe she was just a pouty friend. Yep, she was definitely a pouty friend.

"Wait, you guys went on a date? Like... A date date?" Maxine asked, gesturing to the blushing Annabell with wide eyes. All she got was a silent nod. Annabell was kind of having a not so mid-life crisis so she was down for the count in this conversation until she recovered.

"I couldn't believe it either. I haven't heard of Jason going on a date since. . . I can't even remember. That's how long it's been." Candice recounted, surprise obviously written across her face. This spurred on the conversation that was being turned into white noise by Annabell. The perfect balance of interest and embarrassment. What could bring it all crashing down?

A female lead, that's what. Ain't they charming?

The female lead in this instance is Miss Charlotte, our darling little Cinderella and her trusty sidekick Sarah.

To put that into more believable terms, it was Charlotte wanting food and Sarah paying for it because she was told to. Charlotte was going to capitalize on Sarah's adoration for her as much as possible. After all, she needed the money that the girl possessed.

Sarah was the daughter of an extremely rich liquor tycoon owner, the only daughter, and she was doted on constantly with all sorts of gifts in the form of money, clothing, and jewelry with only the finest falling into her hands. Not to mention their close relations to the Yates and Han families. Every year, the Yates would host an exclusive dinner party with the help of the Hans for everyone in high society. The ones who supplied the wine and hard liquor for the party were Sarah's family, the Brandy's. This party would be happening in a month. Being friends would Sarah would surely get Charlotte an invite and closer than ever before to getting to know Jason.

It was after the girls got their food, the blonde girl caught wind of the conversation occurring between Max and Candice (with Annabell disassociating with all of her willpower).

"I don't want Anna to date, Jason! I'll never recover from this!"

"Just because they went on a date doesn't mean they're 'dating'. Though I wouldn't mind having Anna as a technical sister-in-law..."

"Since when does going on a date equal marriage?!"

Annabell wanted to cry. Again. They were all taking this situation way too seriously and it was killing her.

[ Host. The FL is approaching at current. She is less than a foot away. Please prepare yourself. ]

. . . . . .

"Say what now, Jules?"

Before Annabell could fully prepare herself, along with the other two girls at the table, the familiar and sickly sweet voice of the heroine filled their ears.

"Oh, Annabell! Fancy meeting you here. And this must be Candice and Maxine."

Charlotte was all smiles while Sarah seemed noticeably nervous. This was of course because of the annoyed malice emitting from both Maxine and Candice, who obviously disliked their little world being crash-landed onto by two absolute aliens.

"You know her, Anna?" Maxine asked, gesturing to Charlotte. She knew who Sarah was, mainly because she was in her gym class, but had no idea who the blondie was. Annabell finally stopped disassociating when prompted with the question from Max.

Annabell looked at Charlotte and then at Sarah before smiling gently and nodding, albeit her smile seemed a bit forced to her friends. "Yes. That's Charlotte Dixon, the transfer student I showed around on Friday. We're... familiar with each other."

The phrase should've just been that, a phrase, but it cut through Charlotte like a knife and her eye twitched. That seemed to be becoming a habit at this point, especially Annabell. These backhanded words were seriously getting on her nerves. Those were supposed to be her backhanded words.

Charlotte would've retaliated if it weren't for the other two girls sitting next to and across from Annabell. The famous royal posse that Snow White surrounded herself with. Maxine 'Mad Max' Peterson, who had recently started to be called a 'Red Knight' for the beautiful Snow White and Candice 'Queen' Han, the original female royal of the school who now graciously shared her seat with the new princess. Both people who could make, break or utterly pulverize her high school career before lunch.

"Would you mind if we sat here?"

"Of course we would, but why not?"

Candice snapped quickly, standing up from her seat across the table and sliding in next to Annabell and Maxine. Her grumpy attitude from being interrupted was still there. Not to mention the rumors she'd already heard about this Charlotte character and Annabell. The fact that the blonde had Sarah Brandy practically under her thumb was suspicious as well. Perhaps the rest of this Sunday would be used to 'research'.

Charlotte suddenly got a chill down her spine, but ignored it and sat across the table with Sarah, who was fidgeting nervously next to her. The table had gone awkwardly silent after their arrival, Maxine with a slight scowl on her face, Annabell was staring off to space (she was talking to Jules, but who would know that?), and Candice... She was emitting an aura of danger so strong that Charlotte couldn't look at her.

Thankfully, her phone buzzed in her pocket and was promptly pulled out from under the table. It was a text from Sarah.

✌Sarah✌: This is so awkward, why'd you ask to sit here?!

😘Charl😘: they're big shots @ school right?

✌Sarah✌: Yes, but...

😘Charl😘: then its better 2 get into their good graces. can't do that without talking 2 them

Before the covert conversation could continue, Annabell finally broke the silence. "How was your first day. Charlotte? It's always the hardest one."

Honestly, she wanted the silence to continue but she couldn't bear to let Charlotte keep thinking she was being slick. She could literally hear the soft clicking coming from her keyboard across the table. She thought people had learned to turn that sound off. Dumbass.

'Cursing is quite rude, Host.'

"I'll take a lecture later, Jules. This is war. Plus, you've said nothing about my language until now!"

Jules decided to stop talking and instead browsed the System Database for something to occupy itself with. Pictures from other Hosts and Systems, new worlds that were in development, Brooke's meme that was rapidly gaining popularity...

Charlotte smiled broadly. "Oh, it was great! Everyone is so nice, except for Miss Greene. She seems like such a total..."

The closer that Charlotte got to saying something rude about the elderly office lady, the stormier Annabell's expression got.

"A... Totally fun person to get to know! Ahaha. I think we just got off on the wrong foot."

"Hm." Annabell smiled, expression colder. "Have you gotten used to the town yet? There's so much to do here, y' know?"

Candice cut in. "Absolutely. Just yesterday Annabell went to the movie theater with Jason for the first time. It's super big." Maxine and Annabell gave Candice a look.

"Don't remind me! Anna's gonna leave me behind with Candice in Singleville any day now! Not that I really care."

Charlotte was burning at the moment. Movies? With Jason? Seriously? "S-so you and Jason went on a date?"

Annabell blushed. "Well, I wouldn't call it a date per se. We did hang out. A little."

Charlotte would've let out a sigh of relief if it weren't for Candice butting in again. "What do you mean it wasn't a date? You guys kissed, right?"

Annabell loved Candice, she really did. But she swore to god she'd strangle her if she said anything else right now. The FL wasn't supposed to know this stuff yet! She looked so pissed! But it was still kind of a funny expression she was making. Kind of like a pissed off tomato...

'Would you like a picture, Host?'

"Honestly? Hell yeah, take the shot."

'Understood, taking photo... Photo successfully taken. Would you like to post it? Your last post was quite some time ago.'

"Sure."

'Posting photo, please wait.'

Brooke was quite satisfied now. Charlotte, on the other hand, was definitely not. First, this girl posing as Snow White had taken her spotlight, then her potential at popularity, and now her crush. She was seeing red. Before anyone could tell what was happening among the chatter, Annabell was coated by a sticky, wet substance.

Charlotte had thrown her soda onto her.

The table was completely silent for a full five minutes. Charlotte staring at her hand in shock while Annabell was simply in shock at Charlotte's sudden reaction. Sarah was mortified and gaping at the blonde. Candice and Maxine? They were pissed beyond belief.

"What the hell, you psycho?!" Maxine screamed out, standing up from her seat, attracting the attention of the entire restaurant.

Charlotte's mouth moved but no sounds came out except. "Ah..." I'm so..." "I didn't mean to..."

Annabell was completely silent throughout the yelling before slowly looking up at Charlotte. Green met gray and neither of them said anything. That was until Annabell threw her drink at Charlotte, completely drenching her as well.

Things continued to spiral from there.

By the time police were called and had arrived, all five girls were brawling on the floor. Two of them drenched, two of them ganging up completely on one, and one trying to pull them apart. It was complete chaos. Annabell could only sigh mentally.

They'd never be let back in here.

--------

'Congrats, Host! The FL's level of hate has reached 75%!'

"Doesn't change the fact I'm sitting in a police station soaked in soda with my friends and that blonde bitch, but thanks, Jules. My parents are gonna kill me."

As of current, the five girls were sitting in the police station's waiting room with completely different emotions. Charlotte sat the farthest away from Maxine with a black eye and various bruises on her while Maxine was still glaring at her full of contempt. Sarah was absolutely terrified while Candice was trying to help Annabell dry her clothes as much as possible. It was a losing battle but an appreciated one.

"... I hope we can all acknowledge we're fucked when our parents show up." The curse that flowed out of Annabell's mouth so easily shocked everyone but they nodded together. This was thankfully not going onto any of their records due to two of the girls involved being part of influential families, but nothing was protecting them all from their parents.

"Can we also all agree this was entirely Charlotte's fault?" Maxine added, glare still evident.

"Why is it only my fault?!"

"This wouldn't have happened if you never threw your goddamn drink."

"It was an accident!"

"Sure. So was my fist in your eye socket."

Charlotte covered up her eye while Maxine smiled triumphantly, her point and dominance established. The rest of the time they spent there together was silent, each of them having a parent or two showing up to pick them up. Maxine's mother had grabbed her by the ear and been yelling as she was tugged out of the station, Candice looking quite downcast as her father showed up the station and silently took her away. The same had happened to Sarah. Now, the only ones still there were Annabell and Charlotte.

"Charlotte?"

"Y-yes?"

"Why do you hate me?"

Charlotte was quiet for a short while before speaking. "You have everything I want. And I'm going to take it." She'd already ruined her chances of friendship with Annabell, why not come clean?

Annabell let out a soft giggle that chilled Charlotte to the core. "Is that so? Well..." The click of low heels alerted the blonde to the black-haired girl approaching her, stopping directly in front of Charlotte and bending down to meet her eye to eye.

"You already took everything from me once." The smile Annabell gave Charlotte killed all the words in her throat. That wasn't to smile of a sweet, innocent princess. It was the deranged smile of a bloodthirsty tyrant, ready to sink their teeth into an unfortunate peasant. "I won't let you do it again. Remember that."

Annabell returned to her seat at a casual pace, sitting down and getting into position just as her mother and surprisingly father walked into the station. Sniffles and whimpers that sounded hoarse and long lost into the air.

"Annabell! What in the world-" Her mother was in hysterics. "I get a call saying you got into a fight and that someone was injured- just what were you thinking?!"

Annabell looked up at her mother and father, trembling before bursting into tears. "I-I didn't... It was an accident. I didn't think it would get so bad."

Her mother would've kept yelling at her if it weren't for the hand of her husband on her shoulder. "We should do this at home. Not here."

Annabell continued to sniff as she stood up and followed her parents out of the station, not sparing Charlotte another glance. The blonde girl was in shock as the station hallway fell into silence once again. She could only sigh.

She had seriously underestimated Snow White.