It was Friday night, and Dana had been looking forward to this night all week. She straightened her dress and checked herself in the mirror. She had done this several times already, but she was nervous and excited, and wanted to make sure everything was perfect. Her hair, dress and make-up looked just as good as they did the last dozen times she checked, and she began pacing back and forth, checking the clock. 6:45 PM. Dana was frustrated that time wasn't moving faster. 7 o'clock was only 15 minutes away, but to Dana that felt like an eternity.
As she thought this, a knock came at the door. Was he early? Her heart skipped a beat, and she rushed excitedly to the door, opening it with a tad too much enthusiasm. The smile she was wearing fell as she saw her two visitors.
"Oh, what are you two doing here?" Dana said, disappointed.
Standing at the door were Dana's triplet sisters Emily and Penelope. Like Dana, they were fairly attractive and had blonde hair. Unlike Dana, they were not dressed for a date. Emily had her waist-length hair down, and was wearing a fun bohemian dress and sandals. Penelope had her hair in a bun, and was dressed in a professional looking gray blazer.
The three girls had been attending the same college for the past year. Dana was majoring in physics, Emily was majoring in art history, and Penelope was majoring in classical literature.
Emily gestured to herself, and said slowly, "Need brains. Very sorry."
Penelope translated, "We're sorry to drop this on you, sis, but it seems that Emily forgot about a midterm she had tonight."
Dana's face turned red with anger. "You've got to be kidding me! We decided last week that it was my turn to have the lion's share of the intelligence! I've got a date tonight. I can't meet Sean acting like an idiot!"
Penelope spoke up, "Look, Emily messed up, but this test is worth 30% of her final grade. We can't let her fail."
Dana had half a mind to say 'Yes, we can', but instead said, "Fine, she can have what she needs, but she totally owes us twice as much time next week."
Emily nodded dully, "Yes. Agree."
Dana grabbed the golden pendant that hung around her neck and held it out. "Let's get this over with."
The two other girls touched the pendant, and it began to glow with a soft white light. Dana imagined energy flowing from her and into Emily and she felt a familiar tingling sensation in her head. Her thoughts started to feel fuzzy, and her thinking began to slow. She started doing squares in her head. 1 times 1 is 1, 2 times 2 is 4, ..., 12 times 12 is 144. She kept repeating the squares from 1 to 12 again and again. On the fourth pass she couldn't remember what 12 squared was. She kept going until she found herself unable to remember what 9 times 9 was, and she promptly let go of the pendant.
Penelope let go of the pendant a few seconds later.
"Do you, like, feel any smarter Emily?" Dana asked, looking at her sister with a vacant expression.
Emily nodded. "Indeed. In fact, I think one of you might have given me a bit more than usual."
The pair looked towards Penelope. The girl was looking around distractedly, apparently unaware of her sisters.
"Penny?" Emily said.
The girl turned towards the sound, and they could both see that her eyes completely lacked the intelligence they had displayed only a few moments ago.
"Penny, can you give us an idea of where you're at intelligence-wise?" Emily said.
Penny stared at her sister in confusion and said nothing. Her hand found its way to her mouth and she began to suck her thumb.
"Wow, she really did give up a bit more than usual. Well... I've got a test to get to. Can you make sure she doesn't get into any trouble?" Emily asked.
Before Dana could respond, Emily had already turned her back and was walking back towards campus.
"She's got, like, a lot of nerve! First she forgets about the midterm, then she leaves me to take care of you!" Dana said angrily.
Penny just kept sucking her thumb, and didn't respond. Dana couldn't help but giggle at how her sister looked right now. The young woman dressed in business clothes and sucking her thumb created a comical image.
"Well, let's get you inside." Dana said, grabbing her sister by the shoulder and leading her through the door.
Dana spent a few seconds trying to decipher the hands of the clock, and finally figured out that it was 6:55. For the first time that night she hoped that time would move a little slower. She sat Penny down on the floor, and put some paper and crayons in front of her. Penny pulled her thumb from her mouth and grabbed the red crayon. She held the crayon with her hand in a fist, and began scribbling on the paper. Dana quickly made a sandwich for her sister, laid it in front of her, and went around making sure the safety locks on everything were secure.
Not long after Dana checked the last lock, there was a knock at the door. She straightened her hair in the mirror, and answered the door.
"Hey, Sean!" she said cheerfully.
"Hey, Dana," Sean said. "You look great."
"Thank you!" Dana said, "You don't look so bad yourself."
Sean was dressed in a nice collared shirt and dress pants. He had jet black hair, and a handsome face with piercing blue eyes. He carried himself with an air of confidence and charisma, which was how he first caught Dana's eyes.
"Shall we go? I don't want to miss our reservation," Sean said.
"Re-ser-va-shun?" Dana said slowly, the word feeling alien on her tongue.
"Yeah, you can't just walk into Les Papillons. I had to pull a bunch of strings to get us a table there," Sean said.
Dana thought Sean must be strong if he could move a table with strings. "Wow! That's really cool!"
Sean smiled. This was their first date, and he had been worried that Dana would be the kind of girl that wouldn't fall for his usual boasting and name-dropping, but it seemed that he had misjudged her. He now had no doubts she would soon be his.
* * *
They got to the restaurant, and Dana was impressed by the atmosphere and appearance of the place.
After they were seated, she remarked, "This place is, like, sooo pretty."
Sean thought this might be the time for a cheesy line, so he said, "It's not as pretty as you are tonight."