The Unfortunate

Caution

Lise stabilized the glasses on the bridge of her nose and erased miles of pencil work with a huff. Of course she messed up the formula again, for the second time in a row, on the same exact math problem! This wouldn't be an issue if Estelle hadn't distracted her in class earlier that day! As her irritation grew, so did the pressure on the paper, and her thoughts were interrupted by a loud tearing sound. She had ripped her last sheet of scratch work. Sighing in exasperation, Lise roughly slammed her pencil down and her hands flew to massage her sore temples. She reached for the television remote with one hand and turned on her TV, curious as to what channel it had been left on.
What greeted her eyes was the New York City News Station logo, a green silhouette of the Statue of Liberty surrounded by the letters 'NYCNS', and she immediately sat up in interest. Although she currently lived in the bustling borough of Brooklyn, she didn't want to watch networks that were limited to just the town. One of Lise's AP classes required her to stay updated with the world, and that meant to tune into more major news networks on a regular basis. Consequently, she watched the NYCNS almost every day and tried to make it a useful habit.
The familiar woman on the screen was in the middle of recounting the details of a fundraiser for saving wildlife. Lise wasn't listening because she cared, but she figured that it might be a topic for the future pop quiz her teacher could give her, just to keep Lise on her toes. It couldn't hurt to know more about saving wildlife, she mused.
Suddenly, from across the room, the blonde's phone began ringing obnoxiously. The girl gave it a few seconds before heaving herself up and answering the call. Unsurprisingly, it was Estelle, and even more unsurprisingly, it was a FaceTime call.
Lise scoffed and declined it. She went to sit down again, this time bringing the phone with her. A few minutes later she got another call, and was heavily tempted to simply ignore it this time, but her kinder-side won out. Pressing the green button and allowing the screen to display her own face, she deadpanned. "Hey."
"Aw, don't be like that!!!" Two sad eyes appeared on the screen, the camera unsteady. "I thought you said you weren't mad anymore!"
"I never said that," Lise defended herself. "I just... heavily implied it."
"Oh, don't kid me, I know you're just joking! You love me! I'm so lovable!" Estelle's full face came into view, curly pigtails and all. Her hair was short and black, just barely passing her shoulders, and she usually wore it in childish pigtails and adorned it with a headband. She must have owned a bunch of those, because it seemed like every day Estelle was wearing a newly decorated accessory on her head. "Anyways, I just wanted to talk! Dawn's not answering so she probably fell asleep or something so I went right to you!"
"Gee, thanks for letting me know I'm your second option." Lise muttered, but Estelle heard her and gasped.
"No, no, don't feel bad! It's not like that, I just meant that when it comes to chatting, Dawn would probably appreciate it more since you're always working and stuff." Lise was actually touched by Estelle's consideration, and she let her stoic facade loosen up a little. "You are, like, studying or something right now, right?"
"Well, I was. I just..." Lise pondered telling her friend that she was having some trouble, but her mind told her that her pride would not survive taking such a hit. "I just finished math and I was moving onto other stuff." Oh, she was such a terrible liar.
"Maybe you should lie back and relax for once. It feels great, especially when you've been working your butt off. Grab some snacks, sit in front of the tv, and avoid using your brain as much as possible!" Estelle sighed dreamily, but Lise knew that the raven took breaks way more often than necessary. The blonde figured she should take Estelle's advice about relaxing with a grain of salt.
"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm much happier with getting all the work done, and then resting. There's no point in stopping in the middle when you can just power though and-"
"No, you need a break!" Estelle's retrodict, no matter how infuriating, was partly correct. By her friend's standards, Lise probably did deserve a break by now; after all, she had been studying meticulously for five long hours. However, according to Lise, breaks were just excuses people made to postpone work. She didn't take breaks during the day, that was how nighttime was meant to be spent! "Seriously, you use your brain too much and it will cause a shortage and you'll die!"
"I strongly believe that's untrue."
"Wait, are you watching TV right now? Is that what I hear in the background?" Estelle's eyes were peering over Lise's shoulder and the blonde moved to block the view of the screen. "Hey, let me see! I want to know what things you watch!" Sighing, Lise hit the button to flip the camera's view and she showed Estelle her TV. (Not because she was giving in or anything, but just so Estelle didn't get the wrong idea or think Lise was slacking... even if that kinda was what she was doing.)
"Oh, it's just the news. That's so-" Estelle stopped speaking when her eyes registered the words on the screen. Lise was confused for a second, and she flipped the camera back to her own face.
"What's wrong?" She asked, and Estelle glared at her.
"Change it back! Look at the headline!" Lise raised an eyebrow but complied anyway.
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'BREAKING NEWS: AFTER MONTHS OF INACTIVITY, THE DREAMERS FINALLY GIVE A SIGN'
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Lise and Estelle stared at the screen, neither speaking but both listening intently to what the reporter was saying.
"Just a few minutes ago we received an astounding call from a citizen, giving us shocking information about a very notorious name that we all haven't heard of in quite a while: The Dreamers. The Dreamers were an insidious, dangerous group that lurked around New York. Even today, the media knows very little about the Dreamers; time after time they managed to dodge the police, and as a result remained a complete mystery to the public. However, after months of unexplained silence, they've suddenly reappeared again! No one knows how many members are in the Dreamers, how old they are, or what their motives could be. But what we, and many of you, do know... is this picture." The reporter turned her head and stepped to the side to reveal a brick wall covered with colorful graffiti. "You may recognize this; the shape of a crescent moon, surrounded by clouds. There are bright splotches of color all over this wall. It's the official gang symbol for the Dreamers, which they themselves created by painting it on hundreds of buildings over the years. The crescent moon is their trademark, some would say."