"Want a smoke?"

"No, I’m good," Tina said as she opened Nadia’s lotion bottles and grimaced at the smell they emitted. "I gave up."

"You weren’t even addicted in the first place," Nadia said as she lit a cigarette and smoked. Being expelled was actually a blessing to her more than a punishment. Her single mother didn’t mind what Nadia did as long as she didn’t end up in jail or cause a dent in the family fortune. With her freetime, Nadia’s been catching up on her favorite TV shows and downloading new songs for her MP3 player.

"So what have you been doing this whole time?" Tina asked trying to take shallow breaths to not inhale the smoke Nadia was polluting the air with. She wanted to visit her to know what she was up to and to give her her weekly dose of "gossip." Ever since Bette Porter’s been coming over, Tina gave up smoking, drinking, and wasting her time doing reckless things with her friends.

"You know, living life," Nadia said as she giggled. "How’s the school been without me?"

"Boring," Tina lied. It was more fun to go to school now that Nadia was gone. She usually would bully the freshmen and backtalk the teachers but now the school’s students and staff got a big weight lifted off their shoulders once news of Nadia’s expulsion got out.

"How’s Bette?" Nadia asked with a sly smile, crossing her legs and observing Tina’s facial expressions.

"What about her?" Tina said, scrunching up her face is faux confusion.

"Come on Tina, I know you’ve had your eye on her since that day in Biology," Nadia said, smiling triumphantly when Tina huffed in defeat. "I am her ex-girlfriend after all. So spill…"

"Well…"

"And this year’s Homecoming theme is "Happily Ever After."

"Boring!" A skater boy said causing the homeroom to erupt in laughter. The daily announcements were going on longer than they wanted as the ASB President went on and on about next week’s festivities.  It was at last homecoming week.

Bette and Tina went back to their routines with Bette coming over and tutoring Tina but the more Tina learned, the less she relied on Bette. They never spoke about what happened in the dressing room and the school’s AV room. They sort of let it go (yeah right). But because they individually found out that their friendship could not be defined as one anymore, they strayed from deep, serious conversations that had to do with relationships, love, etc. Tina stopped talking about Henry around Bette and Bette stopped complimenting Tina on how she looked hoping Tina wouldn’t get the wrong message. Both of them really needed help…fast. (Thanks BettyvHall)