Aria was woken up by a loud blaring noise. She groaned, rolling over. Gripping her pillow and pressing it tightly against her ears, she screamed, "JAKE, STOP IT! SOME PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!"

The younger boy poked his head into her open door. "I know you need your beauty sleep, Ari, but it's gonna' take a few more centuries before any of that starts looking good."

That got Aria out of bed in a flash. "I'll kill you, you little maggot!"

Jake pressed the button on his air horn when Aria was only a few feet away from him. She jumped, startled, and that gave him enough time to zip down the stairs.

Rather than chase after him, she slammed her door closed and twisted the lock.

It was just another morning in the Anderson household.

"Brat," Aria muttered, smacking Jake in the back of the head as she passed by him. Jake opened his mouth at her, revealing chewed up egg.

"Brat," his older sister repeated with a snarl as she harshly jerked a slice of toast from the plate on the counter.

"Jake, don't do that," their mother scolded. She turned to her daughter. "Aria, that's not all your going to eat this morning, is it? Breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

"Afraid so, mom," the ebony-haired girl replied. She took a bite, chewed, and swallowed before adding: "I need to get to school early today." She began walking backwards out of the kitchen as she said, "I'll try grabbing something from the cafeteria before class if I can. Later, mom."

She sneered at her brother. "Later, twerp."

Jake blew a raspberry at her as she headed out the door. He turned to his mom. "Why couldn't I have been born first?"

She sighed. It wasn't the first time Jake asked that, but how in the world could she possibly explain the workings of the human body to a nine-year-old?

So, she settled with the answer that had helped parents and frustrated kids for years.

"I'll tell you when you're older."

Jake just groaned in response.

"Where are you, Lex?" Aria asked, glancing around the empty hallway.

Her best friend was supposed to meet her at Dominic Stevenson's locker, but so far, Alexis was nowhere to be found.

"I bet she's eating breakfast in the cafeteria," she grumbled to herself. "The girl's like a bottomless pit that never gains weight."

"Hey, I'm a growing girl," a voice said from behind her. "And a ninja needs her energy thank you very much."

"A nin-what?" Aria asked, spinning around. Her eyes widened when she saw Lex's attire. The shocked expression was quickly replaced with a dry one. "What in the world are you wearing?"

"Did you not here me the first time?" she asked as if it her obvious. "I am a ninja."

"No," Aria disagreed. "You are delusional."

Lex sniffed, sticking her nose in the air. "You're just jealous."

"Yes, that must be it," Aria sarcastically said as she turned to Dominic's locker. "Now help me with this. . . . You aren't wearing that thing to class are you?"

". . . Maybe . . ."

"Oh man . . ." Aria sighed.

It was during the five minute rift between first and second period that it happened.

Aria was opposite Dominic's locker, but stood two lockers down, so he wouldn't see her right off the bat. She contemplated rubbing her hands together evilly with a wicked grin, but dismissed the idea. That would be too much like Lex and the world only needed one Lex.

As if hearing her name in Aria's thoughts, Lex suddenly appeared beside her. "Did I miss anything?" she asked anxiously. Her ninja getup was replaced with a blood-red cloak over a white dress and black leggings.

"No, you're just in time," Aria replied not even bothering to question Lex's new clothing of choice or her sanity. She was too use to Lex's weird behavior. Besides, Lex's sanity was beyond gone and as the saying goes: 'you can't lose what you never had'.

And just as Aria knew she would, Lex not only rubbed her hands together evilly and grinned wickedly, but let out a mad cackle aswell.

The few people that were close enough to hear stared oddly at her, but then they realized who it was that was cackling like a maniac and turned back to their conversations.

Lex being weird? That wasn't new.

Aria watched intently as Dominic approached his locker and began turning the combination. Come on, come on, she thought, her eagerness making it seem like Dominic was turning the combo in slow motion.

And then he opened his locker.

A 'BOOM' 'SPLAT' made the entire hallway be engulfed by silence.

Aria grinned widely at a stunned Dominic. He was covered head to toe with tomato sauce. The red goop seeped through his black hair –his greatest 'asset', or so he thought.

It first started with a snort from someone and then a giggle from someone else. Pretty soon, the whole hallway was in an uproar.

Finally thawing out, Dominic whirled around, dark eyes flashing. He knew who the culprit was. "ARIA!" he yelled angrily.

"Is it time for a chase scene?" Lex asked excitedly.

"You know it," Aria smirked. "Run!"

The two friends barged through the crowd, their loud laughter heard above everyone else's. Dominic pursued them, ignoring the laughs and teasing remarks thrown his way.

That Aria was going to pay for this!

"Hello, Aria," Dominic said in false politeness. He turned to Lex. "Aria's sidekick."

"I prefer the term 'trusted assistant," Lex replied, crossing her arms and sticking her nose in the air –her trademark response to certain comments she didn't agree with. Being called "Aria's sidekick" was one of them.

"Whatever," he rolled his eyes. Instead of being spiked up like he originally had it that morning, his hair was damp and laying flat. He was now wearing his gym uniform since his other clothes were covered in sauce.

"Dominic," Aria nodded coolly. Smirking, she added. "You clean up nice."

He sneered at her. "Do you have any idea how long it took me to get my hair to spike just right?"

"Longer than it takes me to shower and get dressed for school?" she asked sarcastically.

"That's because you're not a real girl."

She sneered in response. "Oh yeah, well you're not a real boy, because it doesn't take normal boys that long to do their hair. I mean, seriously, I think most of the guys around here just wake up, get dressed, and leave their bed head the way it is."

"I've noticed," Dominic replied, but he was staring at her hair as he said it. "You should invest in a straight iron."

"And you should jump off a cliff," she countered, glaring. She ran a hand through her hair. "And my hair is straight, jerk."

He snorted. "If that's what you call straight than I'd hate to see what you'd call fluffy."

"Why you . . ."

"Shh," Lex suddenly hissed. "It's him."

Aria tore her glare away from Dominic and searched out the person Lex was referring too. When she found him, she arched a brow. "You mean the teacher?"

"Yes," she nodded seriously. "He's evil."

Dominic snickered. "And this is what happens when you lower your standards."

"If I had high standards then I would be friendless like you," Aria retorted snootily. Ignoring the scorching glare her rival gave her, she returned her attention to Lex. "He's not evil, Lex -maybe a little unfair with his assignments and grading system, but not evil."

"Unfair," Dominic scoffed. "Why, what are you making?"

"99," she automatically replied. When he didn't respond, she turned to find him glaring at her again. "What are you making?"

He mumbled incoherently.

"What," she asked. "Speak up, dude."

"96," he managed to force out.

She smirked. "I bet that kills you."

"Bite me."

"He is evil," Lex insisted, bringing the two back to the topic at hand. "He's out for world domination."

"You think Mr. Miles, our biology teacher, is out for world domination?" Dominic asked in disbelief. He shook his head. "That's ridiculous. You're ridiculous."

"I wasn't even talking to you. I was talking to Aria," Lex snapped at him. She turned to Aria. "You believe me, right?"

"Well . . ." Aria trailed off with a shrug. "There was that one time you accused the librarian of being a witch."

"She was conjuring spells," Lex exclaimed defensively.

"She was reading a book."

"About witches and spells."

"Don't forget about the time she said that the janitor was a vampire," Dominic reminded them.

"He was pale and looked at me like he wanted to drain my blood," she replied. "I could've died –or worse, become just like him."

"He only gave you that look, because you tried prying his mouth open," Aria rolled her eyes.

Dominic blinked. This was news to him. He gave Lex a strange look. "You tried doing what?"

"I wanted to see if he had fangs," she shrugged as if it were obvious.

"I honestly shouldn't be surprised, but don't you think that's a little much?"

"Okay, so maybe I went a little too far," she admitted. Determined, she added. "But I am most certain that Mr. Miles wants to take over the world. I mean, look at him, he just screams evil scientist."

"I repeat: he's our biology teacher," Dominic stressed. Glancing at Aria, he said, "You two are meant for each other. You're both weird and dimwitted."

"I'm dimwitted?" Aria scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Whatever you say, 96."

He glared, but before he had the chance to come up with a retort, Mr. Miles called the class to attention and began the lesson.

"World domination," Lex sing-songed under her breath.

"Dimwitted," Dominic sing-songed back.

"96," Aria sing-songed at him just to make him mad.

He glared.

She smirked.

It was fun angering the person you loved to hate –especially when you were besting him in academics.

"So, Lex thinks my bio teacher, Mr. Miles, wants to take over the world," Aria said at dinner that night. She had told her mother the events of her day –carefully leaving out the part where she planted a tomato bomb in Dominic Stevenson's locker.

"Don't you have any normal friends?" Jake immediately asked.

"Oh, you mean like the normal friends you have?" Aria asked sarcastically. "Because I'm pretty sure looking for bigfoot in the park doesn't qualify as normal."

"Ryan said he saw bigfoot's tracks with his own eyes," her little brother exclaimed. "I saw 'em too. He showed me."

"Right, and I'm going to marry a rich lawyer, live in a mansion, and take a private jet to my beach house in Hawaii every year," Aria's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Not until you're out of school, dear," Mrs. Anderson said absentmindedly as she scanned over the newspaper, searching for the want ads.

Jake and Aria glanced at their mom before Jake turned back to Aria, "Don't you already have a boyfriend?"

Aria grimaced in disgust. "Dominic is not my boyfriend! He's just a dumb jerk who thinks he's so much smarter than me," she scowled. Thinking for a second, she added as an afterthought, "And cares way too much about his hair."

"Huh, a pretty boy with brains," Jake smirked. "You don't see that every day."

"Not that you would know anything about being a pretty boy or having brains," Aria smirked back when Jake's own smirk morphed into a scowl.

Aria: 1

Jake: 0

Trading comebacks with Jake was like practicing for Dominic the next day. Too easy in Aria's opinion. It almost wasn't fun.

Almost.

"I have an excellent idea on how to prove that Mr. Miles is trying to take over the world!" Lex exclaimed.

Aria pulled the cell away from her ear. She just picked up on the first ring and that's the first thing she heard?

And surprisingly, it wasn't the oddest thing she'd ever heard either.

"Give it up, Lex," she sighed.

"No, just give me a chance to prove it," her crazy best friend pleaded.

"Fine, but as soon as you find out that you just let your overactive imagination get the best of you, stop accusing the teachers of being things that they aren't."

"Fine, but I won't, because it's not my imagination," Lex insisted. She then lowered her voice. "I'll give you the details tomorrow at lunch. I am not alone."

"Is your mom there?" Aria asked dryly.

"I'm pretty sure she's a siren."

She sighed. "Good bye, Lex."

Hanging up, she shook her head.

She didn't know what Lex had in store, but she had a bad feeling about it.

How come she always got stuck with the crazies?

Looking up at the ceiling of her bedroom, she mouthed, 'Why me?'