My eyes rolled back, and a moan escaped my lips.  Luhan was right.  These chocolate-chip cookies were heavenly.  All the previous cookies I had tasted before in my life suddenly became obsellete.  All that mattered was that this - the half-eaten cookie I currently holding, was The Cookie.  

 

The Glorious Cookie. 

 

You had to fight (and kill) me to get to this.

 

"Isn't there another way of eating in a less obscene manner?" Candace complained.  She was eyeing The Cookie enviously.  And nope, there was no way in hell that I was giving her my last cookie.  It was too bad that she hadn't rationed wisely like me, and had instead gobbled down hers at first sight.  "For goodness sake, stop  like you're having !"

 

"That's because I am!" I cackled.  The glorious cookies were making me high.  "This cookie is sending me into multiple s!"

 

Candace released an hysterical screech, clamping her hands down on her ears simultaneously.  "EWWW!  You're GROSS, Soph."

 

I didn't deny that.  I was gross, and weird, and disgusting, and repulsive and... The list continues.  I was pretty glad that Luhan had left right after he'd excitedly given us a commentated tour to the BEST cookie shop in the world, merely down the street.  Luhan seemed like a good guy, and my sister undoubtedly had the hots for him.  I had no desire to scare off my potential brother-in-law with my strange antics.  

 

"So..." I brought up.  "It doesn't take a genius to see that someone's in love with the cute boy-next-door."

 

A splotch of blush appeared on her cheeks, before fanning across her face like really fast moving rashes.  "Well, I..." Candace shifted uncomfortably.  

 

I smirked at her smugly.

 

"Anyway," I told her.  "I approve.  He's a cu-tie-pie.  You guys will have adorable babies!"

 

The bright red her neck wore literally burst into flames.  "Stop it, Soph!" Candace scolded.  Her footsteps stopped abruptly and hung her head. "He doesn't even like me."

 

"Who says?" I sang chirpily.  "You don't know that~"

 

"He likes you."  

 

My bouncy skips screeched to a halt.  What blasphemy did I just hear?  Candace must have forgotten to insert the 'doesn't' or something, which must have completely changed the sentence.  

 

I was about to shoot the insane idea down, when Candace elaborated - defeatedly, "You're so blind, Soph.  The reason why he bothered to bring us to this-" She gestured at The Cookie, hands raving.  "-cookie shop was because of you!  It's called impressing, Soph!"  Everyone within a five meter radius of us swivelled around to stare at the source of the screaming.  Candace, upon realizing that she had gained quite a large crowd of onlookers via unconsciously shrieking at her twin sister, blinked twice, before snapping shut with a click.

 

She didn't like being at the centre of attention.  I supposed it had to be an inherited thing, because I wasn't exactly fond of it myself.

 

"Sorry," Candace mumbled, when we were out of earshot.  "It's just... you're better than me in every way, you know?  Like a mary-sue.  Like... you're pretty, smart-"

 

"-,messy, and I wasn't potty-trained till I was seven," I finished for her helpfully.  "Canny."  I pulled my arms around her.  "You know that's not true."

 

"Maybe." Her voice was muffled.  My grip around her tightened.  

 

"Here," I told her gently.  I held up my magical cookie to her lips.  "Have The Cookie."  She shook her head.  Her eyes were still trained unwaveringly on the roads ahead.

 

Wow, she rejected The Cookie?

 

This was bad.  Candace must be pretty upset.

 

"Okay," I tucked the cookie away. "No cookie, then." Candace didn't reply, but her stride increased in ferocity.  I had to practically run to keep up with her.  "Hey," I panted.  "Don't be like this, big sis!   Boys s-, it's all t-their f-fault, ah, slow down!"  I grabbed onto her sling bag, gasping like a dying fish.

 

"OI, Canny!"

 

~0~

 

"Are you like, an Alpaca, or a cat?"

 

I must have heard her wrongly.  Did she just ask me if I was an Alpaca or a cat?  

 

I peeked at the reflection of myself on the silver Mercedes in front of me.  A relatively pretty girl - neither resembling an Alpaca or a cat, stared back at me.  You see?  I had cleaned up pretty well.  If she had told me that I was an Alpaca (or a cat) this morning, I might have believed her.  But now...

That girl was just being plain mean.

 

"Neither," I snapped at her.  "I'm a girl.  A girl who's late for school, and needs you to move out of her way, so that she can quickly get to class."

 

The girl's expression soured.  "Look kid, this isn't something to joke-"

 

Still pissed at being indirectly labelled a cat/alpaca, I pushed past her.

 

Claws dug themselves into my soft flesh; an iron handcuff clamped down onto my wrist, immobalizing my hands.  My eyes widened, and I spun around with barely concealed anger.

 

"Let go of me!"  I hissed.

 

Her grip of my poor wrist tightened further.  That girl must have worked out alot.  I tried not to think of the possibility of leaving this skirmish with crushed, useless hands.

 

"Are you new?" Her light brown eyes prodded my face.  "If you are, it explains a lot about your stupidity."

 

My eyes narrowed to slits.  "Are you calling me stupid?"

 

"Maybe."  Seeing that I wasn't about to make a dash for it, the girl let go of me.  I snatched my poor, tortured wrists, out of her hands, rubbing a finger over the bruised area, courtesy of her superhumanly powerful grip.  "We're in a war here," She informed me.  Her eyes darted to my face once more.  "And you're going around unprotected?  It's like jumping right into the middle of a crossfire, unarmed."

 

Alright, she was definitely daft.  If the large Alpaca stuff toy peeking out from her handbag didn't prove that, that statement just did.

 

Oh god, I wished we hadn't moved from Florida...

 

"Your imagination is... Wow," I complimented her.  "But I'm running late, so-"

 

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked, slightly thrown.  That girl had gone down on all fours, and was currently fumbling through her handbag for something.  I watched, with a 'What's this crazy girl doing?' expression on my features, as the Alpaca's red head bobbed up and down inside her bag.

After a second or two, the girl pulled out a stack of stickers.

 

Alpaca stickers.

 

Then she branded me with them, sprinkled them all over my lower arm, until barely any skin was visible.

 

I looked like some crazy Alpaca fan.  No way in hell was I going into class like this.

 

"Hey, um-" I tried to protest.  She waved away what I wanted to say, stood up, and took a step backwards.  The girl stared at my obscene Alpaca-covered left arm, admiring her own handiwork.  

 

"You'll thank me for saving your hide one day," She said, sounding immensely proud of herself.  "I've AP Physics for first period, you?"  She began to turn, and amble down the corridor.

 

"AP Physics too," I croaked.  And, we've already wasted away half a period pasting stickers on moi.

The nutso girl hauled me down the corridor before I could even squeak in protest.