* * *
"Aldys, what are you doing here?" Josie appeared kind of stunned at the door.
Aldys almost thought about just saying hi, then leave. Suddenly she noticed streaks of tears on Josie's face and her red puffy eyes. "I came to check on you. I was worried about you, Josie."
Josie smiled faintly then asked her to come in.
When Aldys got into Josie's house, she wasn't at all surprised to see what she saw. The inside of this house looked so much like what Josie had acted like, before she changed herself. "Why did you worry about me, Aldys?"
Aldys held a silent debate within herself, whether or not she should tell her why she worried about her. She decided to tell her the truth.
"I worry because lately I have noticed that you seem to have fallen for Mr. Coulson. And I don't think it is a good thing for you."
Josie straightened up her chin. "Why not?"
Aldys frowned her brows. "Well for one thing, you are just seventeen. You realise that a relationship between the two of you would be nearly impossible with out him losing his job."
Now Josie looked sad.
"Okay, I really haven't got permission to tell you this, but I really don�t want you to worry. I am not really seventeen, Aldys. I am twenty-five and I am working as an undercover reporter for the Chicago Sun Times."
Aldys hoped that she didn't look as shaken as she felt. Josie, as an undercover reporter? Somehow she had problems picturing that.
"That's the reason why a relationship between Sam and me isn't as impossible as you might think, or as he might think." She smiled wryly. "I wonder why I couldn't have met Sam at some other time, when I wasn't disguising myself as a seventeen year old."
Aldys went over to her and hugged her. Afterwards Josie told her her life story.
* * *
Aldys was the last person in the double helix to get into David's father's van. She had only put on a blue catsuit, but put on the white lab outfit as the others had done. Now she was linked to them for the evening. All she had to do now was to slip on the lab glasses.
They created quite a fuss when they appeared at the prom. "What are you supposed to be?" was a question frequently asked as they made their way over to their table. Aldys answered it patiently, until she got so tired that the last time it was asked she answered it as rudely as she could, considering the question had been asked by Gibby, Kristen and Kirsten. Well they deserved it, didn't they? Ok, maybe not.
For the rest of the evening Aldys just sat and enjoyed the Prom. She could tell that her friends were a bit disappointed that they hadn't created more discomfort by not dressing according to the theme. Aldys smiled at she saw the Queen of Hearts waltzing around. She knew what Guy and Josie would come as. They both had confided it to her, neither of them knowing that the other one had done the same. Aldys really loved the idea. She knew it belonged to Josie, and after the evening at Josie's she also knew why Josie had chosen it as well. They looked so sweet together as Rosalind and Orlando.
Aldys wasn't surprised to see that Josie and Guy was crowned as Prom queen and king. They were the best candidates for the titles. She was surprised, however, when Guy came over after the official dance with his queen. "Do you want to dance, Aldys?" He smiled at her to let it know it was okay, he even asked her friends if he could borrow her for the dance. They all nodded. Even the "nerds" had a problem with refusing Guy Perkins anything he wanted.
Aldys was having the time of her life as she spun around on the dance floor with Guy. They were only holding hands but somehow it felt like so incredibly much more. They were spinning around and around, gazing into each other's eyes for what felt like eternity.
"Nooo." The scream felt like it came from afar, but still was in this reality. Aldys and Guy stopped dancing; the scream had broken the perfect moment they had shared.
They turned around in time to see Josie storming towards Kirsten, Kristen and Gabby. The three girls held on a can of some thing and as Josie threw herself at them. That caused the box and the contents to swirl into space. The box landed on the floor. The contents, which Aldys learned later was dog-food, landed on the three girls. Aldys could hear various sentences muttered behind her and they all contained the words "they finally got what they deserved."
"You freak. You didn't belong among us in the first place. And to think you were elected prom queen. You aren't fit to be queen." One of the three girls had an outburst that seemed to anger Josie enough to let her cover drop.
"Well, let me tell you something. I don't care about your stupid prom queen. I am a twenty-five year old reporter, and ever since I came here I have worked my ass off to try to please you guys. Well, let me tell you something, Kirsten, Kristen and Gibby. The world isn't like that." She turned towards Aldys and pointed at her.
"I was new here, and this girl was the only one who showed me friendship. But you would only accept me after my brother, Rob, pretended to be a student here and told you to like me. There is a big world out there, much bigger than high school, and some of you might not last that long out there." With those words Josie ran out of her prom. Her brother followed her a few minutes later, when it looked like the mob would turn on him.
"Let's dance." Guy grabbed her hand and they danced the night away. Neither of them cared all that much anymore about what their friends would say.