After the final period, Lemon and Sour exchanged phone numbers to keep in touch outside of school. They smiled at each other. "You're no longer alone, Sour Sweet." said Lemon. "If you need anything, I'm just a text away."

Sour's eyes welled up with tears. "Dammit...how many times am I gonna cry today?"

Lemon put her hand on Sour's shoulder. "But those are tears of joy." she smiled.

"Tears are tears." said Sour.

Lemon rolled her eyes and smiled. "All that matters is that I'll be there for you if you need someone to talk to or a shoulder to cry on."

Sour sniffled and hugged Lemon. The school bus horn honked. "Oops! Gotta book it! Remember, text me if you need someone to talk to!" Lemon broke the hug, waved goodbye to Sour and boarded the bus. As she took her seat, she saw Sour waving back with a huge grin on her face.

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Lemon's bus reached her stop and she got off. She opened the door to her house. "Parentals? I hope you're not busy, 'cause I have one hell of a story for the both of you!"

As Lemon told her parents all that happened over the course of the day, their eyes widened.

"I had no idea she was going through so much..." said Florid.

"Get in line." said Lemon.

"Well it's great that you two made friends." said Citrus.

"So now she, me, and a few others are going to participate in the Friendship Games!" smiled Lemon.

"Do tell us how they went afterwards." said her mother.

"Of course I will!" said Lemon. "Besides, Crystal Prep always wins. You guys know that."

"There's a first time for everything, kiddo." said Citrus.

"Oh ye of little faith." said Lemon, smiling and rolling her eyes.

"Just saying." said Citrus as he folded his arms.

"So..." said Lemon, rubbing her hands together. "What's for dinner?"

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After dinner, Lemon ran to the basement to play a game. I wonder who's on? She went to the game's menu and chose Team Battle.

Team 1
Twi_Sparkly73
Zest_iz_Best
Sour_5w337
Sweets_CMC
Scoots_CMC
Bloom_CMC

Team 2
Dashin8r
Fashionista_4_Life
FarmGurlAJ
SunShimPwny
Flutterbutter
P0nk4_P0

"Oh crap, those guys again?" Lemon Zest slapped the palm of her hand to her forehead. "Well, at least Sour and Twilight are on my side. Don't know about the other three, but they seem to be together based on the last three letters of their gamer handles." She cracked her knuckles. "Maybe we'll stand a chance this time!"

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Well, we lasted longer than I thought we would...but we still got our asses handed to us. Lemon made a sputtering noise and shrugged. "Well, it is what it is." She looked at the time. "Huh. Time flies when your attention span does." She ran upstairs, said goodnight to her parents and got into bed. She drifted off to sleep...

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Lemon opened her eyes to find herself in an arena. She heard a chainsaw off in the distance, followed by maniacal cackling. "Incoming, motherfucker!" said her assailant. Rushing at her was a very, very unhinged Sour Sweet.

"Oh, FUCK!" yelped Lemon, and she ran as fast as she could in the opposite direction. She stopped in her tracks suddenly. "Wait. This is a dream. Duh!" she said as she smiled. The undeniably crazy Sour lunged at Lemon, who jumped into the air, twirling like an acrobat and landing directly behind her opponent.

"What the-" said the dream Sour before Lemon hugged her. Before her eyes, the dream Sour slowly melted into a puddle of blood, staining Lemon's hands and uniform.

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Lemon woke up, screaming. Her parents barged into her room.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" asked her mom.

Lemon was hiding under her covers, trembling. "What's wrong with me?" she said, her voice quavering.

"Lemon?" asked her dad as he turned the light on.

Lemon flinched as her bedroom lights turned on.

Her father took off the covers to reveal a very frightened Lemon Zest, tightly hugging her pillow and tears in her eyes.

"Oh god, what happened?" said her mother, her tone filled with concern.

"I...I..." choked Lemon. "I...had a dream..." she started sniffling.

"It's okay, honey. Take your time. Mom and I are here for you." said her dad, giving her a reassuring smile.

"I...I killed Sour. I hugged her and she melted into a puddle of blood." said Lemon as she started sobbing.

"Hey...hey." said Citrus in his most comforting voice. "It's okay." he hugged her and slowly rocked her back and forth, whispering words of comfort to Lemon.

"I knew I'd have nightmares with blood on my hands. Why did I lose control like that?!" Lemon said between sobs.

Florid joined in the hug. "You had an emotional day, Lemon. Everybody loses control at some point."

"But...but that doesn't..." Lemon tried to say between sobs.

"You're right, Lemon. That doesn't justify what you did. But that's in the past. You and Sour Sweet made amends, and that's what matters." said her father, still using a comforting tone of voice.

"I just feel so...terrible!" Lemon said. "The guilt is going to drive me insane!" by the end of that sentence, she went from sobbing to flat out bawling.

"It's okay, hon. Just let it all out." said her mother, gently stroking Lemon's hair and back.

Citrus and Florid glanced at each other, afraid for their daughter.

After a few minutes, Lemon's bawling went back to sobbing, then sniffles, then simply shaking, hugging herself tightly to calm down.

"Are you going to be okay?" asked Florid.

"Honestly?" said Lemon. "I don't know." she said as she wiped away a tear and blew her nose. "I've never had a nightmare that bad before." she took a deep breath, and shuddered.

"You know what might help? Melatonin." said Citrus.

Lemon smiled. "If it helps me sleep peacefully after having a dream that bad, I'll take it a hundred times over!"

Florid smiled. "There's the Lemon Zest we know and love!" she said and hugged her daughter.

"Thanks, parentals. I really, really needed that. I love you both!" she said and hugged both of them.

"We love you too, kiddo." said Citrus.

"If you need anything else, don't hesitate to let us know." Florid smiled.

"Of course I won't!" said Lemon. "Good night!"

"Good night!" said her parents.

Lemon took the melatonin and drifted off to sleep again, this time with a peaceful dream.

Author's Notes:

In case you haven't noticed, I like writing dream sequences.