Chapter 1: Invitations

Vendetta walked into class in a grumpy mood. Ugh, school. Ugh, Monday. She did not want to be here, especially not if that stupid girl Charlotte was going to be here. As she and Grudge took their seats, she noticed that Charlotte wasn't in her spot. Good. She thought. Maybe today will not be so bad.

"Sorry I'm late!" As if on cue, Charlotte burst in through the door, her hands full of colorful construction paper.

"Ah!" Vendetta balled her fists. So much for that thought.

Charlotte turned to Mr. Milk and told him "I almost forgot to get the invitations ready!" Then she went to her desk and dropped the construction paper -three invitations.

Mr. Milk started to tell the class. "I thought maybe… today we'd read chapter 5 of…of…"

Before Vendetta could interrupt the teacher, Charlotte had already skipped to her desk and was shoving an obnoxiously pink invitation on her table. "I'd like you to come to my sleepover Vendetta!"

"I would never go to a sleepover with you!" Vendetta yelled. "I hate you!"

But Charlotte hadn't paid attention, as she was already approaching Maggie's desk. "Come to my sleepover Maggie!"

Maggie rolled her eyes as Charlotte walked to Marion. "And here's your invitation, Marion! My sleepover will have cookies and chocolate milk and board games and we're watching a movie!"

"Uhh…" Marion took the paper.

So, it's not just me. Vendetta thought. At least they look like they don't want to go either. She noticed that Maggie had ignored the paper, while Marion was reading it with a confused and worried expression.

Charlotte sat down at her seat again and listened to Mr. Milk, as he was talking about something. Vendetta looked over the invitation. It had a smiley face on the front, and on the inside it said in large letters "YOU ARE INVITED TO CHARLOTTE'S SLEEPOVER!" and all around it were colorful stickers. "To Vendetta, From Charlotte" it said on the bottom. Vendetta glanced up at Charlotte when she finished reading it. Charlotte gave her a smile. Vendetta gave her a look that she hoped said "reading this made me want to puke."

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Charlotte said. "We're also giving each other makeovers!"

"No!" Vendetta yelled. "I would rather give a makeover to a fiend!"

Charlotte gasped. "Oh! Can we do that?! You should bring one of your puppies over and we could give them the makeover! Or Grudge!" Grudge raised an eyebrow. "And we can style each other's hair and eat cheese and-"

"We will not be doing any of that!" Vendetta yelled. But then, she had an idea. "Actually," she switched her tone, "I think I will make a fiend, that will give you a makeover. A very fun makeover indeed."

"Will they give Marion and Maggie makeovers too?"

Marion looked up worriedly at her name being mentioned. "What?"

"Oh yes." Vendetta smiled. "The more the merrier!"

"Yay! Thanks Vendetta!"

"And that is how to do long division." Vendetta turned from Charlotte to Mr. Milk, who had written and solved many confusing equations on the board. Apparently, he had been doing the lesson while Vendetta and Charlotte were talking. Mr. Milk grabbed a pile of packets. "This is your… homework. Just do the first section, we'll go over it tomorrow."

"HUH?!" Vendetta looked horrified. Was the teacher actually giving everybody assignments?! How had she managed to let him get through the lesson?!

Before Mr. Milk got to her desk, he stopped, met the eyes of her giant hamster, and scurried around the desk. He handed out the packets to everyone else, aware that he was being watched by those angry green eyes. Finally, when he only had one packet left, he turned to Vendetta nervously. "If you could just, um-"

"Give me homework and I will give you a bad day with one of my bigger fiends." Vendetta's eyes narrowed. "One that has claws!"

"Oh my, um, never mind!" Mr. Milk put the packet back on his own desk, looking ashamed of himself.

"Isn't it time for recess?" Vendetta asked, but then the bell rang immediately after. "Class dismissed." Mr. Milk said. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yippee, homework!" Charlotte put the packet in her backpack and leaped out of her seat. "Meet you at the slide!" She yelled to Vendetta. Vendetta bared her teeth.

It was now recess, and the kids were all hanging around outside. They weren't really playing, as they didn't want to run into any fiends.

"Psst!" Marion whispered to Maggie. "Are you actually going to the sleepover?"

"I don't want to." Maggie sighed. "But do we really have a choice?"

"Well," Marion paused.

"Of course not!" Vendetta interrupted, as she intervened. She shoved them each their invitations, the ones that they left in the classroom after they got dismissed to recess. Marion even fell to the ground. "We will all be going to Charlotte's stupid sleepover! I do not care if it makes you miserable! Hehehe…" Vendetta walked away, muttering something about makeovers.

"Well, now I'm terrified to go!" Marion whined when Vendetta was out of earshot. Maggie blinked, saying nothing, but thinking the same thing.