Scene I

"Five more minutes left until you have to turn in the questionnaire. If you are finished, you may set them on my desk."

I look down at the nearly-blank sheet of pink paper – yes, pink, of all the sappy colors – and set my pencil down. Before I had a chance to stand up, however, Mrs. Caldwell stepped in front of the opening of the desk, looking suspiciously at me.

"Finished, Miss Collins?"

After a slight hesitation, I nod. "Yep. Completely."

Mrs. Caldwell cocked her head in the way that said she knew you were lying. She held out her hand and I was forced to hand her my paper. I could feel everyone's eyes on us and heat started to tickle my cheeks.

"There are only four questions answered. Out of twelve!"

I held my tongue as she looked at me, waiting for my answer. So what if there were only four answered? The thing they were doing this for was stupid and pointless. Besides, I wasn't planning on going to the stupid dance. Okay, here it goes; the survey thing was a questionnaire for a type of matchmaker game for school. They would match up the singles and hold a sort of masquerade dance to introduce couples.

Dumb, huh?

The entire class sat and watched in anticipation as I continued to look up at the teacher. I still did not give an answer because I was not brought up to snap at teachers. Mrs. Caldwell just looked down at me until I felt uneasy and just couldn't handle it anymore.

"Does it really matter if I finish it or not? This isn't a grade or anything, right? Why make us do it?"

"Well, this is a school-type function this coming weekend. This is a chance to meet new people and learn more about yourself."

"What if you aren't going? Then what?" I had lowered my eyes because I couldn't stand her piercing eyes boring into mine.

"Then this will let the staff get to know a little bit more of the individual student."

"That's creepy. And pointless."

"And every answer must be filled in. I suggest you finish this up and turn it in. Be honest and it will be alright."

She hands it back to me and I just look at it. "But—"

"Every question, Miss Collins. Get going."

With as much irritation and impatience as she threw into her tone, I hastily take up my pencil and look over the questions. I felt her gaze penetrate my skull and it almost seemed as if she tried to look for the answers herself. Along with her stare, I felt others looking at me as well and the color in my cheeks deepened. I scribbled down answers and tried to skip one, but Mrs. Caldwell caught me and barked for me to answer it. It was when the bell rang that I handed her the paper – every question answered – and took off down the hall to my locker and my next class.

I turned the corner and almost ran into my friend Cora, a short and spunky girl with the heart of an otaku and the maturity of a thirty year old. She smiled at me as I nearly trip and spill our books over the hall. I quickly apologize, but she waved it off and started for my locker with me.

"What happened last hour? Anything fun?"

Containing my frustration with Mrs. Caldwell, I fake a smile. "No homework. You check last night's graphs and then she makes us do this survey."

"Oh? On what?"

My shoulders visibly sink and hunch over greatly. "A questionnaire for the Valentine's Day dance this Saturday. It's like stupid matchmaker and crap like that."

Cora looked up at me with confused eyes. "Matchmaker…as in, like, blind dates?"

"Yeah, and the dance is kind of like a masquerade."

The word was just out of my mouth when Cora suddenly squealed with fan girl happiness. She was the biggest Phantom fan of all my friends, and the mention of something like that makes her excited. Squealing was one thing, but once she had a nosebleed thinking of Sasuke Uchiha shirtless. For those of you non-anime fans, he's from an anime called Naruto.

"Sorry. Couldn't help it."

"It's fine. Happens to everyone."

I stop at my locker and she heads down to hers for her lunch. We usually walk to lunch together or wait long enough to catch Sadie as she comes back from her student aiding at the middle school. Sadie, a chipper girl with excellent grades and addiction to yaoi and manga, strode to her locker and greeted me with a forced smile. That's what happens when you student aid for a class of seventh graders.

"That bad, huh?"

She sighed. "This time, they were yelled at for harassing me. Thank God he talked to them."

I nod and Cora came up behind Sadie and the three of us head to lunch together. By the time we got to the table, Darcy, Steve, and Kevin were waiting for us. Darcy, a tall and dark teenager with a vocabulary limited to swear words and "Kakashi" and the ability to surprise us all, had just set her tray down and sat. Steve, a very intelligent blonde woman with an unintentional skill of entertainment, sat next to Kevin, a short man with many talents and the flair of a young child.

The three of us sat down and I saw my younger sister, Anya, hurrying over to get a good seat by us. Anya was a misunderstood girl who enjoys watching scary movies and beating down the Twilight series that none of my friends like. Once she got in a good spot, the talking began.

"Did anyone do that stupid survey in Mrs. Caldwell's class?" Kevin asked.

"That pissed me off!" Steve, in a joking-type voice that made us want to laugh, pointed around the table. "That lady wouldn't get off my back about it."

"Oh, same here," I started, looking at her. "She made a scene in my class when I didn't answer all of them."

"What kinds of questions are on it?" asked Sadie, looking at the two of us intently.

"'What is the perfect date?','What is your favorite type of cuisine?','Name a few things you do in your spare time.' Dumb crap like that," I explain.

"Psh, well, fuck that," Darcy, with her vocabulary again, chomped into an apple.

"What's it for?" asked Anya.

"Some retarded dance this Saturday. It's going to be like a masquerade. Blind date type thing. We won't know for a few days who goes with who. It's mainly for the singles, but everyone had to do one, even if they aren't going."

"I'm not going. I have a new manga series being shipped and I want all weekend to read it."

"Another chapter to write for the fan-fiction."

"Watching Naruto."

"Studying for tests."

The excuses kept racking up. I couldn't believe the amount of people who did not want to go. I thought I was going to be the only one, but all of my friends aren't going. Do I sense party? Do I hear YouTube videos calling? Cosplays knocking on the door?

Out of the corner of me eye, I see Jacob Kemple walking to his table just a few from ours. At that moment, cold chills waved up and down my back, making me shiver. I was wearing a sweatshirt and the chill from his mere presence makes me wish to go home. No one really knew how much this guy really freaked me out. He looked like Harry Potter and a guy I once knew; he had the glasses and he wore a sweatshirt with sweatpants today, bringing out the mere weirdness of his very being.

I grab up some of my lunch and eat it with enough time to talk with the table before the bell rang and we all had to go to class. As the day wore on, I began to unwind from that dumb questionnaire from earlier. I wasn't going, so no need to worry about it. That is, until I'm told who I matched up with.