5th Generation

Episode 3: The Tome

Paz sat at her usual lunch table sort of listening to her friend's constant talking. Sandy was one of Paz's closest friends. She loved her, but she never shut up. The two girls were practically polar opposites. Sandy was an outgoing theater geek, and Paz was a quiet artist. It sort of worked out, though. Sandy could do all the talking. Most people would argue that the chatty girl talks about nothing, but sometimes the things she talks about come in handy. Like improv tips. That was not the case today, though. Paz just tuned her out and drew on her binder. Across from her, a blonde girl wearing a 'Keep Calm and Ship It' sweatshirt slid into a seat. Hazel was the third in their group. "Oh hey!", greeted Sandy, finally taking a breath. Hazel grinned.

"Hey guys" Hazel was a fangirl. She was always obsessing over something. Right now, it was the show Gravity Slides. Gravity Slides was a good cartoon and Paz liked it, but Hazel was a whole other level. Paz was in a few fandoms, but had never hit that over the top obsession point. The fourth girl in their group was a girl named Jacqueline. She hadn't arrived yet, so Hazel placed her book-bag on the seat next to her to make sure no one took it. Jacqueline was the most mysterious of the four. Every day she wore the same leather jacket and her hair had been dyed half purple and half black. Neither Paz, nor Hazel or Sandy knew why she wore the jacket or what her natural hair color is. Sometimes, it could be worrying. What else did they not know about her? Jacqueline eventually made her way to the other girls and took a seat across from Sandy.

"Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we could meet our younger selves?" Mused Sandy.

"yeah!" replied Hazel. "I would tell baby me she falls in love with a triangle!" Her friends rolled their eyes over her 1,000th allusion to Phil Decipher, the antagonist of Gravity Slides, that day. Paz thought back to when she was younger. She had never had too many friends, but she had always had at least someone. She and Sandy had met on the school bus in 1st grade. There had been no other place to sit besides next to little Sandy. As soon as little Paz had sat down, Sandy had started talking. And she never. stops. Paz tuned back into the conversation to find that they had been talking about the same thing. How they met.

"...we were assigned to sit next to each other and it just sort of happened." Sandy was explaining. Paz recognized it as how Jacqueline came to be in their group. Years ago, the goth had moved to their town and Sandy had recruited her. Hazel nodded.

"Yeah! And we met because you had no one to sit with at lunch, so I invited you to sit with me!" Sandy frowned. A rare sight.

"That makes me sound like a loser.."

"Aren't you?" asked Jacqueline.

"Hey!" sandy crossed her arms, but it was all friendly. "So I'm like the glue that brings all of us together! You all love me, right?" asked Sandy.

"How can we not?" grinned Hazel.

"Riiight" said Jacqueline sarcastically.

"Suuure" added Paz slowly. Sandy frowned briefly before lighting up with her usual smile.

"I love you guys too"

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After school, the girls met up at Hazel's house. Clothes and books and such were all shoved to corners of her room to make space for the four friends. Jacqueline and Hazel sat on Hazel's bed, while Sandy perched on a dresser across from them. Paz was on the floor, propped up on her elbows, drawing the strange book in front of her. It was something Sandy had found in a library not too long ago. The cover was blue and had a skull with blue roses for eyes on it. Paz had been drawing it while the other girls talked. The journal had the magical property to make practically anything true. All someone had to do is write something in it's pages, and it would happen. The page always comes out of the spiral binding and as long as that paper remains intact, whatever was written stays true. Now, Paz clicked her pen to change the ink from black to blue and started coloring in the cerulean book. Hazel noticed the drawing and spoke up. "Hey! That's not the right color..."