Petra backed away slightly, shocked by the abysmal amount of information her friend had obtained.

“I’ll admit they're not entirely reliable, as I've mostly relied on past years, but I have some very interesting dates lined up to mess up our friends' love lives, and the first one is the date on the 17th. Denny confirmed it to me. He picked a horrible place, but we'll make the date perfect.” Saying this, Amabelle pointed to January 17 on the homemade calendar.

Petra was speechless. Literally, she couldn't say anything at all, and didn't even think she wanted to.

It was a pathological problem. Petra didn't think it was normal.

Luckily a knock on the door saved her from having to make any comment.

“Norman! You're late” Amabelle welcomed him.

Norman's eyes widened for a moment at the condition of the room and its owner, but made no comment, and merely moved past the garbage to sit on the edge of the bed.

“Sorry, but I was working on my resolution” he justified himself.

Amabelle sulked at him for a moment, but let it pass.

“Okay, you are justified. I can't wait for the exam period to end. We have work to do!” the girl exclaimed, pounding her palm to emphasize.

She really was the queen of emphasis.

“And lessons to follow” Petra tried to object, in a low voice.

“Those are secondary” Amabelle cut short.

"Why did she enroll in university?” Norman asked softly, so that only Petra could hear him.

"I think she misunderstood what it is," replied Petra, at the same volume.

“Stop confabulating, you two, or I'll start shipping you” Amabelle threatened them.

They both put on a disgusted expressions on their faces, and walked away from each other.

“So, as I was saying…” closing the parenthesis and the threats, Amabelle took the stick to hang the clothes up and started pointing at various dates on the calendar.

“… the closest events are Denny and Mathi's date tomorrow afternoon, dinner at Petra's house on Saturday evening and Clover and Diego's date on the 26th, or maybe the next Saturday” Amabelle explained, indicating the respective dates.

“Wait… what dinner at my house? I didn't know anything about it” Petra objected, confused.

“The date between Clover and Diego is new to me” Norman participated, arching an eyebrow.

“The dinner at your house is the one your father wants to organize with the Durkes, Felix told me, and I invited myself. They have many daughters, your father and Bonnie won't notice my presence” Amabelle explained, confidently.

“They have only three daughters, the only one with red hair is eight years old and they know you well, they know who you are, and I don't think my father would kick you out anyway” Petra objected, without understanding Amabelle's mental reasoning.

It must be said that half of the reasoning she made, made sense only to her.

“As for Clover and Diego's date… I'm working on it. I tossed the idea of a blind date to Diego, who laughed and said he understood where I was going with this and wouldn't fall for it. Clover didn't really answer me, and it's a good sign, given that those who remain silent consent. However, on Saturday they will go to that date. End of story” Amabelle clapped her hands smiling.

“I’ve never been so happy to be aro-ace” Norman commented to himself.

Petra agreed with him. Not about being aro-ace, but about happiness in being out of Amabelle's scary plans.

“Since Max is too stressed lately, with exams, work and the application to be the assistant of the art history professor, I've decided that for January I won't focus too much on him and Sonja, also because it's the only one who seems to get by on his own. Ahhh, they grow so fast” Amabelle wiped away a fake tear.

“I dare not imagine what will happen in February” Petra commented, glancing at the calendar and noticing that in addition to many writings, Valentine's Day stood out more than all the rest, and was surrounded by hearts and more annotations than on other days.

“Wait, why is Women's Day marked with ‘Ferren will become a couple!’?” asked Norman pointing to March 8th.

“Everything in its time. For the moment let's focus on January. Norman! Tomorrow are you…?” Amabelle began to propose, ignoring the comments and hiding the following months inside the wardrobe.

“No!” Norman answered before she could finish the question.

“But the Norman eff…” Amabelle tried to insist, pouting.

“I have an exam on the 18th, I won't spend the day before stalking Denny and Mathi, I'm sorry” he insisted, adamant.

Amabelle looked at him with puppy dog eyes, but after a few seconds she gave up, and turned to Petra, with a toothy smile.

“Petra, my dearest friend…” she began to smooth her.

Petra sighed, and rolled her eyes.

“The only reason I'm going to accompany you is to avoid you ending up in prison, just know that” she offered, crossing her arms.

“We'll be like Anjelica and Francisca when they teamed up to remove Pablo from the clutches of the wicked Countess” Amabelle exalted, anticipating the stalking.

“Are there counts and countesses in that series too?” Petra asked, wrinkling her nose.

“Oh, no! Countess is the name of the character. The twins Countess and Baron” Amabelle explained, distractedly, as she wrote a new note on the calendar.

Petra could say with absolute confidence that was the trashiest series ever created.

Norman looked between the two, confused, but was smart enough not to ask.

“For dinner instead… Norman, could you hide in the bushes? Unfortunately I can't officially invite you, since I shouldn't be there either” the girl asked him.

“Actually, I already have a commitment on Saturday” Norman pulled back, a little sorry.

Amabelle raised her eyebrows suspiciously.

“What commitment? Aren't we your only friends?” she asked, devoid of any tact.

“Thank you for reminding me. It’s not a friend thing. I have to tutor a high school student. His parents set Saturday evening as a time to punish him” he explained, desolate.

“Okay… but I want you more present in the future! Ugh! I'm counting mostly on you” Amabelle complained, throwing herself on the chair in front of the desk.

"So I can go?" Petra asked hopefully.

“No, stop there! Let's do this. Petra will take me to Denny's date and of course to dinner at her house. Norman will stay with me during Clover's date” she split roles. The collaborators shrugged.

“As for the action plan, for Denny we will have to improvise, since Mathi is unpredictable. While for Mirren and Felix I have the perfect idea” her mischievous smile predicted nothing good.

As she unfolded her evil plans, Petra grew increasingly disbelieving that she was her best friend.

And more and more admired because yes, the aforementioned best friend was crazy, but she had a percentage of evil genius that would be the envy of the best cartoon villains. And Petra had always been on the side of the villains.