Author's Notes:

Six days until the Friendship Games.

Lemon Zest jumped out of bed. "Aww, yeah! It's Saturday, bitches!" She quickly got dressed and ran to the kitchen. "What's up, parentals?" she said as she entered. "Any plans for today?"

Citrus Splash looked up from his newspaper. "None in particular. Do you have anything in mind?"

Lemon thought for a moment. "Not really. I mean, I'd be fine if we just had a nothing day. I could use one after the day I had yesterday. But really, I'm up for pretty much anything at this point. You have any ideas, Mom?"

Florid glanced up at her daughter from the table. "I didn't have anything planned today. Maybe we could just play it by ear?"

Lemon shrugged. "Meh. Whatever works. I'm going to go outside for a jog before breakfast."

"Come back soon!" said her father.

Lemon left the house and started jogging while putting on a tune to listen to. She kept an eye out for cars and people along the way while still enjoying herself. She suddenly came to a dead stop. "Twilight!" said Lemon.

Twilight smiled awkwardly. "Hi, Lemon."

"What brings you out here?" asked Lemon.

"Oh, just scientific research, investigating a school, detecting abnormal activities." said Twilight.

Lemon blinked.

Twilight laughed awkwardly as she pulled at her hair. "Kidding!"

Lemon laughed. "I didn't take you for a jokester, Twilight!"

Twilight shrugged with her smile remaining awkward. "What can I say? I guess I'm just a natural!" she said as she laughed nervously.

Their conversation was interrupted by an all too familiar voice. "Aww, look at you two!"

Lemon and Twilight both turned their heads. Twilight tensed up, and Lemon felt her anger rise almost immediately. Her gut feeling suddenly getting warmer.

There, standing in front of them, was Sour Sweet. "You should get a room!" she said. "Don't think you can worm your way out of this one, Zest! There's no school staff to stop us!"

"What are you even doing here, Sour?" said Lemon, fiddling with her phone.

"Well, this is the neighborhood I live in!" Sour said sweetly. "What's your excuse?!" she yelled.

"I was jogging. Twilight here just happened to be in the area." said Lemon. Twilight waved shyly.

"Well good for the both of you!" said Sour, slowly walking toward them.

Twilight started backing away slowly. Sour took notice of this.

"Oh, don't worry, Twilight! I won't hurt you..." Sour said sweetly. "It's her I'm after!" she gestured to Lemon. "We have a score to settle, after all!"

I'd thank her for leaving Twilight out of this if she wasn't so unhinged right now... thought Lemon.

Twilight continued to back away slowly.

"I don't want to hurt you, Sour." said Lemon.

Sour laughed. "Then what was yesterday's fight all about?"

Lemon's expression hardened. "You told Principal Cinch about my confession! You crossed the line and I was pissed! Of course I'd want to kick your ass! I lost my temper!" Just like I am now... she thought. Lemon had finished fiddling with her phone. "Twilight!" she said.

"Eek!" Twilight yelped upon hearing her name.

Lemon tossed her phone at her new friend. "Catch!" she said.

Twilight was momentarily stunned, but then surprised herself by catching the phone. She gave Lemon a look of confusion. "What am I supposed to do?" she asked.

Her temper at its limit, Lemon shouted "Just read the fucking note and do it! I'm losing control here!"

Twilight jumped, startled at her new friend's sudden outburst. She looked at the note, nodded, and ran away.

Sour's face twisted into a mocking grin. "New buddy's got your back, huh? Well I'll make sure she can have what's left of you when I'm finished!" she screamed as she rushed towards Lemon.

"We'll see about that!" said Lemon as she rushed towards Sour. "What the hell is your deal, anyway?" she said as she threw a punch at Sour's nose. Strong enough to make it bleed, but not to break it.

"You tell me!" Sour said. "You're the expert, apparently!" She kicked Lemon in the side, making her stagger. "You hit all the right spots. Yes! I admit I'm jealous!"

"So why me?" asked Lemon as she recovered from Sour's kick. "Surely there's other students you can pick on!"

"Oh, how noble of you!" said Sour.

"Hey, I'm sure someone would end up sticking up for that person even if they didn't stick up for themselves!" said Lemon as she dove under Sour and grabbed legs, forcing her to topple to the ground. "CPA may be a hellhole, but I still have faith in humanity!"

Sour laughed. "Listen to you, you sound like a cliche superhero!"

"Said the cliche alpha bitch!" Lemon said.

Sour rolled her eyes. "Does anyone ever wonder why the alpha bitch is the way she is? Doesn't she deserve sympathy?"

"Really?!" shouted Lemon. "You're playing the victim card?!" she said as she ran toward Sour.

"Did you ever bother to get to know me?!" said Sour.

Those words set something off inside Lemon Zest. "'Did I ever bother to get to know you?'" her whole body was trembling with absolute fury. "'DID I EVER BOTHER TO GET TO KNOW YOU?!'" All Lemon Zest could see was red. Tears were streaming down her face. She ran towards Sour Sweet at a speed that surprised both of them, then pinned her to the ground. "I tried to get to know you when I confessed my feelings to you! And you turned me down! LIKE. THE. BITCH. YOU. ARE!" she punctuated the last five words with the strongest punches she could muster to Sour Sweet's face. Before she could strike a sixth time, she felt a pair of strong arms hold her back. "Let me go!" she shrieked. "I'm not done with her!" As she flailed her arms, she saw her hands. She stopped moving immediately, then slowly looked at them. Her hands had small streaks of blood on them. She looked at the person who was holding her back, and she almost immediately broke. She buried her face in her father's chest, bawling.

"Let's get you home, kiddo." said Citrus as her walked her to the family car.