Story by Lajien
Compiled by Julia Miller

Anika stands in front of the mirrors as she admires herself in the wedding dress she picked out. She was still amazed at what the Blue Lace drug had done to her body with Jack’s blood added to it. Something about Jack’s blood has physically changed her. It had hurt like hell as his blood coursed through her body.

“I think that’s the one for you, mom.” Justice couldn’t believe that Ron and Anika had adopted her. That had been a year ago, and now she was calling Anika’s mom.

I wasn’t going to start crying was I?

She did a twirl, which was adorable and would have been much prettier if she’d had room for her dress to flare out without bumping into the walls and furniture.

Avery led Zoe downstairs to Mr. Al's office. She knocked on the door, and Mr. Al said "Enter" from inside.

Zoe opened the door and entered the office to see Mr. Al sitting at his desk. "Hi Mr. Al," she said.

"Hey Zoe," said Mr. Al. "Did you need something?"

"You could say that," said Zoe. "I hear Geraldine and Roxy used to be boys, too. Just like me."

Mr. Al stared at Zoe. "You figured that out unusually quickly," he said.

Ari brings a friend to poker night, but what's her real game?

Chapter 1
I find myself stumbling across the brush that fills the valley. My memory of how I got here was a complete blank. The last thing I remember was loading up to go on a convoy to Kandahar. I no longer have my weapon with me. I still have my body armor and assault pack with me. Soot and blood cover my uniform.

I touch my head and feel it wet and sticky. Blood is covering my face. Grabbing my first aid kit from my body armor, I proceed to wrap my head wound. My head is still pounding in pain.

It was a fifteen minute walk from the school to Zack's house. All the way there, Zack contemplated how she'd break the news to her parents. Would she text them before she got home to tell them what happened? Would she knock on the door and say hi before telling them the whole story? Hundreds of different scenarios played out in her mind, each even worse than the last.

“I appreciate the…offer,” Jen shifted uncomfortably in front of Sheena’s desk. “But…First Girl I…I don’t think this is the job for me.”

“I disagree, Jenise”, Sheena said, placing emphasis on the last quarter of Jen’s name. She grinned inwardly as Jen grimaced at the use of her full name. “You have shown great proficiency in your position, and to put it all forward, my dear, you cannot spend the entirety of your service career scrubbing…shit. ‘Tis a new word I learned. Shit. Does it suit me?”

Zack hated summer school.

The whole point of summer vacation was to give kids a two-to-three month break from school, wasn't it? So why even have summer school? That just totally defeated the purpose. But Zack's parents insisted that he needed it, so here he was, sitting in the classroom while listening to Mrs. Swanson drone on and on about math.

Chapter 2

She looked at me wide-eyed, “I’m going to spend the next year flying with the next boss of the company? That’s wild.”

We drove to the secure parking under the office building and left our things in the back as we got into the elevator. I punched the button for the top floor.

As we rose, she said, in a very timid voice, “I’ve never been up there before, this is scary.”

I told her not to worry; Terry was a good guy and would never put anyone into a situation he didn’t know they could handle.