Cheer-Streaked: A Westbridge Over-Drama

5: In The Freak Of Time

"Welcome to my world!"

It was like walking into the Middle-Class Barbie dollhouse. Everything from the bedspread to the curtains (oh, the curtains!) screamed "I'm poor and less than coordinated". Vomit-worthy as the whole experience was, I actually mostly felt relief; I've always thought Sabrina was a complete weirdo so I had no idea what to expect going into her room. So yeah, at least there were no shrunken heads or anything.

"Have a seat," she said, pointing at the floor.

"Um... excuse me?"

"Yeah, normally I'd offer you the chair, but I figure we need plenty of space to spread out." Now she was busy pulling all sorts of stuff out of a dresser drawer. "So, what should we start with?"

Okay, we actually worked on the project for about an hour and a half, so I won't bore you with crap that I've mostly forgotten by now, to be honest. I only bothered with the first part because I wanted you to know what ghastly surroundings this scene took place in, and now I'm ready to skip ahead to the important stuff.

"Libby?"

"Hmm?" I said, waking out of a stupor. Hey, this stuff is less than riveting. "Sorry, what were you babbling about?"

The freak was definitely exasperated. "I said should we use green or yellow paper behind our factoid sheets?"

"Uhh..." I rubbed my eyes. "Shouldn't we just use pink? I mean, hello, it's perfume."

"Hmm..." She looked at the stack of multicoloured paper, still in the packaging. "Yeah, I guess, but I've always kind of been against the 'pink equals girly' stereotype... I mean, other colours can be girly too, right?"

"Look, whatever - I just want to get it all done and go home, safe in the knowledge that we won't ever have to do this again."

She laughed. "Libby, there's no way we can finish our entire presentation tonight."

There's the doom. "What? Why not?"

"Well, geez, we still have to actually make the perfume... and then we have to plan the layout of our booth, and figure out who should say what to the judges when they get to us, and we-"

"Who should say-" I grabbed my head in frustration. "Who cares?! You're wasting my precious time on pointless drivel! God, what does it matter who says what?!"

She blinked at my sudden outburst. "Uh... well, if you want credit for this, you'd probably better sound like you helped with the project; otherwise, they'll figure out I did the whole thing."

"Oh... well, I guess you have a point." I started to settle back into my stupor, but something about what she just said started nagging at the back of my mind - something just slightly out of place. What was it?

Meanwhile, she ploughed ahead. "So, I was thinking you could open by introducing yourself and me to the judges; then, I can start explaining what our project is, and we'll go back to you for-"

"Sabrina," I interrupted, still before I'd fully wrapped my mind around it; I was so preoccupied I actually used her stupid real name.

"Huh?"

"Why wouldn't you want them to think you did the whole thing?"

She hesitated. "Uh, sorry if I sound like a broken record, but... huh?!"

Believe it or not, I still didn't know where I was going with this. "You said I should know what we were talking about so... so it wouldn't look like I didn't do anything." That's when it really hit me. "But you hate me, and you love science; don't you want all the credit?"