I'd complain about them not making an escape attempt yet, but we're actually given a good reason for them not leaving later in the chapter. Then again, they weren't aware of the reason at the time, so they're still being remarkably stupid.
Modelland is preparing for the 7Seven Tournament. The Tournament decides which of the seven upperclassBellas will graduate. The girls want to defend ZhenZhen from attacks she gets, but are too busy worrying about staying alive.
They've done nothing to prepare or plan. And worrying without doing anything about a problem is both unproductive and stupid, especially when it's a life or death issue.
We get a long paragraph about what the girls are worrying about - sacrifice, torture, death - and a description of Ci~L staring at the girls sadly during the War of Words class.
How are they supposed to subdue her? She's got a ton of super powers that would make subduing her a huge pain. She can multiple herself seven times, fly, teleport, make any man want her (Modelland security are Bestosterone boys), shapeshift, among other powers.
And why is she still being treated like this? She's got blackmail material on the BellaDonna which based on her reaction, should be enough for her to do whatever she wants.
Bravo continues flirting with Tookie, leaving bottles of whipped cream for her and waving at her during class, but apparently Tookie hasn't bothered to tell him about Ci~L.
Tookie and the other Unicas have completely lost their appetites due to the stress of not doing anything about their situation.
That semicolon doesn't belong there?
Considering how they've all been treated like crap since day one, I'm having a hard time buying that they feel like they're living a dream.
SCENE CHANGE!
While Tookie's class is given a tour of the new stadium the Bestosterone boys built, Tookie suggests using the emergency ZipZap to escape.
Dylan asks if she's out of her mind for suggesting an escape route which has a fifty-fifty shot of dumping them in the Diabolical Divide. Considering they all think they have a 100% chance of being killed if they stay . . .
The others point out that climbing the wall would require crossing the entire Diabolical Divide.
So she'd rather have a 100% chance of ending up somewhere dangerous instead of a 50% chance? Dylan is a moron.
Everyone else agrees that Dylan's plan of certain danger is better, so Piper scouts out the perfect place to climb the wall. To mark the exact location, she places a single strand of her hair between two bricks.
Oh, yeah. I'm sure a single hair is going to remain there. I give it five minutes before the wind blows it away.
Tip for writers: if a character is supposed to be a genius, don't have act just as dumb as everyone else.
While lying in bed, Tookie angsts some more. Thankfully, a loud alarm goes off.
Kamalini is the only one to not hear the alarm, since she's too busy being high on her Headbangor to react to the world around her. Tookie has to shake her awake.
Tookie sees a girl in a nightgown run past, heading towards the wall. It's Desperada.
I'm torn between cheering for Desperada for being willing to risk death for what she wants, and annoyance that the only proactive characters are portrayed as either evil or completely dependent on her boyfriend.
Tookie is shocked that while she and her friends were talking about scaling the wall, Desperada is actually doing it.
Ci~L rushes forward and yells at Desperada to get down.
Gunnero Narzz then comes out to insult Ci~L and confirm that the torture of Ci~L has continued. (Why introduce the plot point that Ci~L has power over the BellaDonna if she's not using that power to escape torture?)
News just in: everyone in this story is an asshole.
Ci~L tries to talk Desperada down while Narzz tries to egg her on. Naturally, Ci~L doesn't give Desperada the real reason why going over the wall is a bad idea. No, that would be helpful and actually might stop Desperada from making a horrible mistake.
Desperada jumps over the wall, and a lightning bolt strikes.
Holy crap! Desperada is Mary Marvel!
Desperada turns to look at the others.
So her body is completely unchanged except for suddenly being the body of a seventy-year old. I don't think "unchanged" means what Tyra thinks it means.
Lightning strikes again, making the wall reflect Desperada's image back at her. She begs to be let in, saying her boyfriend won't like her like that.
Zarpessa proceeds to make fun of the Unicas, saying that they've obviously already crossed the barrier due to how ugly they are.
Tookie shows that she's mature and not sinking to Zarpessa's level by shoving Zarpessa to the ground. Tookie acts surprised when Zarpessa gets back up, ready to fight.
Dylan gets between them, preventing a fight. Darn it.
A large crane suddenly appears and picks up Desperada to put her in a roller-coaster car to take her back into Modelland.
Then an earthquake starts, causing debris to fall everywhere . . . except on Ci~L.
So the earthquake was caused by the statue walking around? Why does the statue need to move at all?
Tookie wisely tells her friends that they can't climb the wall to escape.
ಠ_ಠ
All of my hate, Tyra.
The chapter ends with Tookie writing a letter to Ci~L saying that she doesn't understand her.
Tookie then says that she lives with evil already. And by evil, she means Zarpessa.
She then writes that she won't be Ci~L's victim, and that she and her friends are going to escape.
So instead of telling the world how abusive and horrible everyone in power at Modelland is, she's just going talk about Ci~L. That makes sense.
And it ends the chapter.
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