Because I didn't have a potty mouth like the previous proprietor, the deli was fairly quiet the next day. Celie's apron was replaced by a small petal pink one. Elise bought it for me so that I didn't look like a burrito in Celie's. Fifteen minutes after the opening, destruction had found its way into the grill and was on fire. The Lovebirds and the Pole Dancer helped me put the flames out. It took some squealing and struggling and cursing before the fire stopped.I returned to my eggs, waffles, and pancakes. Some people had to wait a little longer than usual, but I made it through breakfast just fine. I told everyone that Celie was on vacation in the Caribbean, and the Jogging Grandma promised to spread the word around the building to back me up. I'm not usually a lair, but my conscience just couldn't handle telling them that I was the cause of her being hospitalized.

I had trouble getting to sleep that night, even though I was really drained from the day's activities. Last time I checked, Clarice Kingsley was positively dating my two best friends. Karmen and Elise were both warring against each other to impress her. If they had figured out that I quite casually slipped and got myself tangled up in the web of Clarice's charm and allure, the biggest mess in Celie's building could very easily be my life.My routine was becoming settled. At six A.M. I'd rush down to the deli, set the coffee machine, heating up the grill, and defrosting the meat. The Pole Dancer was usually just coming home from work, so I'd mix her a double Alka-Seltzer cocktail and send her upstairs. Then I'd lock up and out for my morning walk. By the time I came back and showered, I was ready to open for the day.

I had only a week to gather up the cash before the end of the month, or I could guarantee that the three of us would be homeless for real. I was hoping for Elise's modeling money to save the day, but she came at four in the morning and was greeted by two very light sleepers. One was ready to start another round of bickering while the other just waited to prevent it.Elise was carrying a big box of the Orion SkyQuest Classic Telescope. It looked expensive. It looked like the April rent. I was too frazzled for tact."You have to return it!""I couldn't do that," said Elise. "This is the last model and the company won't make another one like this again. Besides, it's already a little broken.""Are you serious?" Karm

I racked my brains all day yesterday trying to figure out how to pay off the rest of the deli refurbishing, plus our rent. Elise suggested she should just go to the ATM and withdraw from our parents' account, but I strongly protested the idea."We're not gonna depend on our parents' help, remember?" I said. "We have to make it on our own."Karmen and I realized we were going to have to do this a different way to make our entrance into the business world.I figured we could just create flyers and put them in every mailbox in our neighborhood. All we needed was some cool description and graphic art to get us started. I did some math, and it would cost us at least a couple hundred bucks to make enough flyers for the whole block alone. But we had no choice.

The fight that never happened before happened. I would cut all the crazy parts and fast forward to us sitting at a table together during the after-party.The fashion show had ended in the weirdest way possible. I kind of expected to find security guards to come and escort us out of the place, but nothing happened.After being on the receiving end of Karmen's bewilderment and Elise's strange stoicism, Clarice insisted we all sit down and be civilized adults. Little did she know that being adults were our less favorite thing in the world.But I still thought it was a clever move since Karmen couldn't yell at me for stealing her girl in front of people, and Elise didn't want to be seen as the melodramatic one, so she remained calm and collected. Clarice was safe from bein