Arlene peeped through her window and when she was sure no one was in, she snuck into her room. She shut the window and turned to walk to her bed but grabbed her chest with a gasp when she met her best friend, Delaney, smiling widely, waving a white paper at her face.

"What the f**ck are you doing here? You almost killed me!" She whispered in a half yell, trying not to alert her step mom.

She suddenly grabbed Delaney's ear and twisted it really hard. "Ouch! Arly! Let go of my ear!" Delaney winced.

Feeling satisfied, she released her already reddened ear, with a smirk plastered on her face.

"The next time you try scaring me this way, I'll feed you trash." She said, sitting carefully on her bed. It wasn't worth the title 'bed' in the real sense. It was simply a scrawny piece of riff-raff. She couldn't risk her butt bone being broken.

"What's with the smile?" Arlene asked, looking at Delaney who still wore a huge grin.

"I opened your mailbox today."

"And?"

"I found this letter. Here." She said, extending the paper to Arlene, raw excitement in her eyes.

Arlene took her gaze to her best friend's hand, and then to her face. She was suddenly skeptical and she couldn't tell why. "Have you read it?" She asked, pushing the letter towards Delaney.

"Yup!" She nodded quickly.

"Then I'll love to hear it from you." She added, giving Delaney a wink.

Delaney felt delighted. "You know the scholarship exam you wrote last month?"

Arlene tilted her head to the side. "Which is it?"

"I meant the CADAZELLE's."

"Oh! Yeah. What about it?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Delaney asked, her grin widening by the minute. "I wouldn't have been asking if it were." Arlene replied with an eye roll.

"You qualified, numskull!" Delaney shrieked. Arlene gave her a long look. "What? You aren't happy?"

"A numskull knows nothing, Del." She pointed.

"Oh! Forgive me, Arly. You're the smartest. Happy now?" Arlene replied with yet another eye roll. "But seriously, you mean I won the scholarship?"

"Yap!"

"Aah!" They shrieked loudly, skipping like nine-year olds while holding hands.

The door suddenly flew open and Arlene's step mom stormed in, a menacing look on her face. She threw a hard glare at Delaney and then at Arlene.

"It's always you misleading this cretin. You should mind the way you frequent this house - you have one. And as for you, you'd better gone to ask Michelle for a dress. Your dad's returning this evening. You can keep the dress after that, don't go returning it. I don't have money to spend on getting you a new one." She ordered and walked out, but walked right back in almost immediately. "I'd better not hear any of your ear splitting voices. You're disturbing Max." With that, she slammed the door shut.

Delaney and Arlene shared a look. "Another boyfriend?" "You make it sound cool. It's her man friend." Arlene replied, sitting back on her bed. Delaney shrugged, sitting too.

"Is your Dad aware?"

Arlene chuckled mirthlessly. "Who would tell him? Me? Pfft! Then I'll be dead by morning."

"When am I to resume?" Arlene asked after some time, a smile creeping up her face, a clear indication she was fed up with her step mom's dumb stories. "The letter says you can start tomorrow, or wait till next week."

"The hell! I'm starting tomorrow."