They smiled as they approached. Fake, condescending smiles. I smiled back, even more condescendingly. "Hello there!" the blonde said in a sing song voice. "Hello." I said, smiling smugly back at her. "My name is Eliza." the blonde girl said smoothly. "And this is my dear friend, Harriet." I nodded at Harriet. �Her dear friend, Harriet'. Ha. More like her dear lackey.

I smiled smoothly. "It's a pleasure to meet you." "Oh, the pleasure is mine...I'm sorry, I didn't catch your names." Actually it wasn't a pleasure to meet them. And I didn't throw our names, thank you very much.

"I'm Angelina, but you can call me Angela. And this is Jack." "Jack," Eliza squealed, "it's a pleasure to meet you!" She grinned adoringly at Jack and extended her hand. I clenched my fists as Jack bent to kiss her hand. The game had begun. "Angelina," Eliza said thoughtfully, "that's an interesting name." She didn't mean that as a compliment. I held my head up. "Why thank you. It's much prettier that the common names, don't you think?" I said, looking her straight in the eye. I had just scored a direct hit on not just Eliza but Harriet too. I smiled smugly.

"Jack...isn't that an Irish name?" Eliza asked, thinking that she had me now. I dug my fingers into Jack's arm. He had been watching this, he knew what to do. "Actually, it's English." Jack smiled. So maybe it was a lie but Eliza still couldn't challenge it. "Oh." she said, as if she really didn't care at all. I noticed Eliza looking at my dress and then at my hair. She looked up, the condescending smile on her face once more.

"That's quite an unusual dress," Eliza commented, eying it, "Really quite plain, I must say. And what a strange color." she admonished. I could feel Jack tense up next to me. I could handle it. I looked at her with arched eyebrows. "I prefer to wear something different, be an individual, you know. Not just follow the crowd and buy the dress that everyone has. Oh, and this color," I looked down, indicating my skirt, "it's really quite different. Not so washed out or as flashy as the other dresses." I looked at Eliza pointedly. Ooo, I was good tonight.

Eliza laughed patronizingly, as if it was her private joke that I would never understand. I smiled sweetly. "Oh!" she said surprised. "What happened to your hair? It's so short!" she giggled. I was seething. My hair was my sore spot. There really was no comeback for that one. She had gotten me there. Eliza knew she had scored a direct hit on me. She must have felt especially confident because she decided to take it a step further.

"It's awful short, don't you think, Jack?" she lamented, pouting. I couldn't control myself at that point. I lost my composure and looked at her in disgust. I could have reached out and choked her right then and there. It would be extremely satisfying. I think Jack could tell I was really angry. Jack smiled coolly. "No, Eliza, I don't think it's �awful short'," Jack said, mimicking Eliza, "I think Angela has beautiful hair, a beautiful dress and a beautiful name. Now, if you will excuse us, the second act is going to begin soon." We smiled smugly at them and them turned and walked back to our seats.

The entire balcony was empty, except for us. I breathed a sigh of relief and flopped down in my seat. I turned to look at Jack. I studied him for a second. "Thank you." I said, really meaning it. Jack shrugged and sat down next to me. Jack suddenly turned and grinned at me. "We sure got her, din't we?" I grinned. "Yeah, we did."