The Power of Anime and Gin-Joint Jazz

"I guess Sabrina was right, after all," I say, cleaning up after my dinner, which really only amounts to throwing away the little foil dish thingy the microwave dinner came in. I should probably learn how to cook at least a couple simple things before I die from a sodium overdose, but I haven't had time. "Everything worked out."

Sophie doesn't move from her spot on the floor in front of my stereo. Er, about six inches above the floor, technically. "Dumb luck," she pronounces, but I can see she's trying to convince herself as much as me. She goes back to happily singing along with the CD Sabrina gave her. The singer's voice reminds me of one of those old black-and-white cartoons, high-pitched and cutesy. Sophie's voice reminds me more of a cat whose tail has just been stepped on. A cat that happens to be tone deaf. I'm not going to say anything about it. If I were hearing my favorite band's music after going a lifetime without it, I'd sing, too.

With the weight of the photo incident off my mind, it doesn't take long to finish my homework, even with getting distracted by Sophie's one-woman concert a few times. Eventually I convince her to take a break from playing the CD on repeat to watch the episode of Private Eye Poltergeist the VCR recorded last night. I make it through the show, but I'm yawning so often by the end that the TV screen looks a little blurry from my eyes watering.

"I think I'll catch up on some sleep," I say, and for a change Sophie doesn't try to talk me into staying up just a little bit later. I must have some serious bags under my eyes. A glance in the bathroom mirror as I'm brushing my teeth confirms it: I look like garbage. I guess that's what a couple weeks of bad sleep and stress will do. Not all of the stress has been bad, of course. The stuff with Blaine, yes. But most of the rest has been… pretty cool. Exciting. New.

I'm glad I moved here.

I almost say as much to Sophie as I wrap myself up in my comforter, then feel like a sap and just wish her goodnight instead. Her being awake in my place all night doesn't bother me so much anymore. It's kinda like having a night security guard. If that security guard spends most of their shift watching anime instead of doing much actual guarding. Some probably do, right?

With nothing much to preoccupy my mind for the first time since the first day of school, I fall asleep easily, cautiously optimistic about tomorrow.

Sophie listens to Clark snore. Usually, it takes him an hour or more of tossing and turning to really get to sleep. Tonight, he goes out like a light. Not that she's happy about having to do so, but she has to give credit where it's due and silently thank Sabrina for cleaning up what was surely her own mess so that Clark doesn't have to worry anymore.

Her methods had been underhanded and disreputable, but Sophie had to admit it was clever. Or, rather, not clever, but crafty. Cunning. Sneaky! Ruthless! Any number of other negative adjectives. Yes. She wouldn't slip. Sabrina wouldn't worm her way into her heart the way she has Clark's.

What a shockingly ridiculous notion. Sophie could scarcely believe the thought could even cross her mind. Clark could extol Sabrina's virtues all he liked, but Sophie isn't swayed. Sabrina is selfish, rude, cold-hearted, calculating, and just an all-around she-devil!

Fumbling a little with the jack, Sophie plugs Clark's headphones into the odd record player like Clark had showed her. The TV is muted so that Clark could get his rest, and she would rather listen to her new record again than listen to Clark's snoring all night. Watching picture shows and listening to music all at once! Why, isn't this the very portrait of luxury?

Cheerful, Sophie lies down on the floor, lining her ears up with the headphones, hands up to support her head. With a flourish, she crosses one ankle over the opposite knee and tamps down the urge to hum along with the tune. These headphones are really the cat's pajamas! It's like Helen is right there, singing into her ears, without bothering Clark at all! He doesn't seem to enjoy Helen Kane as much as Sophie does. Maybe he just doesn't have a very good ear for music. He's a good sport about her playing the record over and over, though. What a doll. She moves her foot back and forth like a metronome to the beat of her very favorite song of Helen's, where she lists out a load of things she doesn't like, like dark hair, seriousness, a bookish personality… until she meets her sweetheart who has all those things. It's an adorable song, and it has such a lot of pep to it.

Clark made sure to put the "Sub Title" on the picture show before we went to bed, so Sophie is able to read the dialogue. Reading in silence is quite familiar to her, so it's not a hardship.

This show has mostly girls in it, and Sophie doesn't care for it as much as Private Eye Poltergeist. Too many frills and bows for Sophie's taste, thought it might be the kind of thing Sabrina enjoys. Not that Sophie cares at all what Sabrina likes.

In this particular episode, the quest to defeat the evil queen is put on hold as the heroic princess spends an entire day endeavoring to spoil a day out between her destined beau and her rival. Without much success, but Sophie doesn't pay as much attention to that as to the heroine's methodology. The day out is in fact orchestrated by the princess, so that her beau can see first-hand what an obnoxious and silly person the rival girl really is.

Say, now that's an idea!

A whole day with Sabrina. Wouldn't that be just the dose of reality the doctor ordered? For Clark! Sophie hardly needs to be shown the true depths of Sabrina's rotten apple personality. Naturally.

She would be there, as a matter of course, but only because she's unable to go very far away from Clark. And then he'd see once and for all that underneath that pretty face, Sabrina wasn't worth the time of day.

He hasn't talked about her as much as he used to, granted. Not until that nasty business with the photograph, anyway. That was no guarantee that love was dead. This would merely be a precaution. Like a shot in the arm after the flu. For Clark.

Not for Sophie.

At the bus stop the next morning, I'm surprised by Sophie asking Sabrina if she has any plans for Saturday.

If I'm surprised, Sabrina is bowled. over. I've never seen her eyebrows shoot up that high before. They look like they're about to escape into her hairline. "You want to spend time with me, Sophie?" Her eyes are huge. It's cute, now that I'm used to it, how excitable she acts around Sophie. It's a complete one-eighty from how calm and collected she usually is.

"Why not?" Sophie is working very hard to look nonchalant, hovering more or less at a standstill near the ground instead of drifting through the air like usual. "I've been cooped up in that hotel for decades, and going back and forth from Clark's home to the school and back is only fun for so long."

The way Sabrina's hands twitch, I can tell she's fighting the urge to flip through her day planner and rearrange absolutely everything around whatever Sophie wanted to do.

"I completely understand," Sabrina says, bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet. "You must be horrifically bored. I'd love to spend Saturday with you!"

Sophie grins, which makes me very suspicious.

Later, in class, when Sophie settles into my body to have a nap, I confront her. "Okay, what are you up to?"

An impression of wounded innocence warms the tips of my ears. "Clark! There's that old paranoia again. What makes you think I'm up to anything?" Sophie chirps in the back of my head.

"You can't stand Sabrina, but you want to spend all day with her?"

"Which means you'll get to spend all day with her," she shoots back, huffy. "I thought you'd be thrilled to go on a date with your dream girl. You're welcome."

Yeah, sure. Sophie would definitely do that with no ulterior motive.

"Sabrina said already that she doesn't like me that way." I turn half my attention back to writing notes. "I'm getting over it, so don't go trying to start trouble."

"I would never!" With that, Sophie resolutely goes to sleep and my head is filled with the white noise of her snoring.

I'm left wondering what her angle is. It's true that I'm settling into the idea of being friends with Sabrina and nothing else. At first, I wondered if it would be better to distance myself a little, that it would hurt to see her every day. But it really doesn't. The more I get to know her, the more the fascination wears off. I still think she's cool, and I admire her tenacity and brains, but I'm not going insane over her, or anything. Maybe I've gotten more mature since last year.

Sophie, being Sophie, is too stubborn to believe me, apparently. Unless there's another reason she'd want to suffer through hanging out with Sabrina for hours, and I'm a handy excuse.

She has been listening to that CD Sabrina burned for her an awful lot since she got it.

… Does Sophie want to go on this date herself?