Authors: Megan McKenney
“Hi,” I growled, stuffing my books back into my backpack.
“Guess we’re going to become best friends…”
“I’ve got plenty of those,” I looked up at the clock rudely. Only five more minutes before the bell rang…which meant I only had to endure five more minutes of this Keiffer kid.
“Right,” he placed his feet up on the table. “Seems like people everywhere are flocking to you. Should I take a number?”
I glared at him. “No, and I don’t like your humor. You can stop now.” I tossed my hair behind my shoulder. A girl that I hardly recognized walked slowly up to our table. Her eyes looked like they were much too big for her face. I guessed that she was possibly just a freshman.
“Jenna?” She asked in her extremely annoying squeaky voice.
“What?” I snapped.
“Um, I was just wondering if you would look over this article I wrote for the yearbook…” she handed me a piece of paper. I handed it back to her the second it touched my fingertips.
“Take it to Lacey,” I said quickly before she could get another word out. I didn’t want to be bothered with useless questions like that. “She’s the one who reads everything before they come to me. She’ll decide if it’s even worth anything.”
“But-“
“Listen,” I swirled around in my hair to face her. “Stopping me in the middle of class isn’t going to win you any points with me. I will say this one more time, take it to Lacey. If you don’t know who she is, ask around.
Everyone
knows who she is.” I faced Keiffer again so my back was to the small girl.
“But –“ she started again.
“Go!” I snapped at her. She quickly walked away as soon as she heard the harshness in my voice. I hated having to act that way to people who didn’t deserve it, but school was important to me…way more important that some stupid yearbook article.
“So
you’re
the popular Jenna Horowitz?” Keiffer asked, giving me another weird smirk. I buried my brow at his piercing stare that he was giving me.
“Why? Have you heard about me?” I wasn’t surprised that the new kid already knew my name. I was involved with pretty much every club and even people that I had never met before knew me. It was just something that I had gotten used to.
“Of course. Who hasn’t heard about you?” He asked, giving me another one of his grins.
“Do you mean to creep people out?” I asked angrily.
“How do I creep you out?”
“With that weird smile that you give people.” I tried to mimic his intense half smile that he had been giving me for the past thirty minutes. He laughed at my rendition.
“That’s just who I am. Maybe you can put that in your paper,” he suggested. “Why did you treat that girl like how you did?”
“I didn’t treat her in any way in particular,” I said while writing down the notes that Mr. Thomas was putting on the white board.
“So you treat everyone like a worthless piece of trash. Well, everyone but your best friend and your boyfriend…” He was studying me closely. I slammed my pen onto the table.
“First of all, my personal life is none of your business. And secondly, I have so much on my plate right now. Don’t judge me…you don’t even know me.”
“Well, I’m trying to get to know you,” he answered quietly.
“Why? Why does it matter to you?”
“Because I have to write that paper. It has to be all about you…something that you’re probably excited for,” he laughed.
“Well, that’s how we’re going to keep it. This relationship, if that’s what we should even call it, is based purely on school. That’s it. You only get to know what I tell you. Don’t dare try to figure me out.”
“But I will, Jenna. I will figure you out.”
I let out a deep breath, trying not to get upset with his stupid grin. He was so annoying! “Okay, so we need to do well on this. When can you get together?” I pulled out my agenda and flipped it open to January. “Let’s see…I can get together on Tues – no, wait, I have yearbook. How about Thurs – no, work.”
“Let’s just not plan,” he said suddenly, slipping his pencil behind his ear. “I’ll surprise you.”
“No, no, no you don’t understand,” I stuttered. “I have to do perfect on this paper. I do perfect on everything. Besides, this is worth seventy-five percent of my overall grade. Do you understand this?”
“Maybe life isn’t supposed to be perfect.” He stood up from the chair, swinging his backpack around one shoulder. “Maybe life’s supposed to have a few bumps along the way.” He winked at me before leaving the classroom, just seconds before the bell rang for end of the period.
I scrambled to my feet, waiting impatiently for the class to file out of the classroom. I ran out into the hallway, frantically looking around for any sign of Keiffer. Students started to flee around me, making it look like I was the center of the ring. How was it that I was surrounded by so many people but felt so alone at the same time?
“Hey, baby,” Brad wrapped his arms around my waist. I jumped at his gentle touch but relaxed when I realized that it was just him. “Why are you so tense?”
I shook my head. “Just stressed, I guess. Have you seen a guy with blonde hair…tan skin…walk that way?” I pointed towards the direction that Keiffer had gone.
Brad stared at me. “Why are you looking for another guy?”
“Don’t be jealous,” I assumed. “He’s my partner for class. It’s no big deal. Listen, I need to get to my next class.” I slipped out of his arms and quickly walked down the hallway towards my trigonometry classroom.
After lunch, I sat nervously outside of Principal Nelson’s office door. Brenda sat next to me, obviously arching her back so that she appeared just a few centimeters taller than me. I laughed at how hard she was trying, and kept picking at my nail polish in order to not let the butterflies in my stomach get to me.
“Ladies, please come in,” Principal Nelson shook our hands as we took a seat in front of his grand desk. “I bet you’re both extremely excited for this day.”
“I’ve been working years for this,” I laughed.
“I’ve been working my whole life for this,” Brenda added quickly, obviously trying to one-up me again. I rolled my eyes at her desperation.
“It’s been a tough race for both of you. You both have excellent grades and reputations for excellence. Brenda, you’ve been seriously involved with the marching band for the past four years and have excelled in Student Government. And Jenna, I don’t even know where to start with you. Your yearbooks are excellent, and the cheer squad has won more competitions with you as the captain. I’m extremely proud of both of you. Brenda, looks like you’ll be going to Princeton next year, is that correct?”
“Yes sir. Already accepted.” She fidgeted with her skirt nervously. “Majoring in Law.”
“Very nice, Miss Leswill. And what about you, Miss Horowitz? Looks like you’ll be going to Yale. Just as nice,” he smiled.
“Yes sir. That’s my goal. I turned in my application this morning.” Nervously, I tucked my hair behind my ears.
“Well, I won’t keep you two in suspense for much longer but Miss Horowitz, you will be valedictorian. Miss Leswill, you will be on stage along with Jenna to hand out diplomas.” He noted my smile. “Don’t think that this is completely permanent. We’re just giving you a heads up so you can start writing a speech. Brenda may take your spot if you don’t continue to prove that you’ve got what it takes.”
“I do have what it takes,” I answered quickly. Brenda coughed angrily next to me. “I won’t let you down, Principal Nelson.”
“I hope you won’t. Run to class now, Mrs. Michaels has written the two of you hallway passes. And girls, I’ll be keeping a close eye on you this semester.”
Brenda and I quickly left the office. As soon as his office door shut behind us, Brenda grabbed my arm. I stopped abruptly, letting the pain where she was grabbing my arm fill my whole body. A sense of rage ran through her and into me… just the look in her eyes gave me a sense of uneasiness.
“You may be valedictorian now, but I’m going to break you down, little by little, until I get what I want,” she snarled. I swore her eyes were turning red as she spoke to me through her clenched teeth.
“You’re just jealous that I’m better than you. I’ve always been better than you.” My words hurt, I knew it. But at the same time I didn’t care. This girl had been my enemy since I could remember. I wanted my words to hurt. I wanted her to be in pain.
“You’ll never be better than me. You better keep your boyfriend close. Because I’m going to have something of yours…” She let go of my arm as soon as the school secretary walked past us, her heels clicking gently across the tiled floor.
“Oh, keep a close eye on Brad?” I giggled as soon as the secretary was out of ear shot. “He’s not really interested in middle schoolers.” My comment hit her hard, but she shook it off with great force. Brenda was a tiny girl. She only weighed ninety pounds and wasn’t even five foot yet. She had always been made fun of by her height and weight, but she sure could rock some great outfits without any fat rolls or anything.
“Screw you, Jenna.” She swished her ponytail behind her as she disappeared into the crowd. I wanted to do the same, but as soon as I stepped out into the crowd, the students parted around me so I was alone in the middle of the hallway. No one would come within ten feet of me, which was a blessing and a curse. One girl even took a snapshot of my outfit for the day so she could copy it for tomorrow. Taking a deep breath, I headed towards my next class.
Chapter Two
By the time cheerleading came along, I was absolutely exhausted. I had the girls run a mile around the gym track, me trailing behind them so I could watch their form. The girls waved at the basketball players who were stretching on the court.
Two hours later, we finally finished practice. I changed into my stupid pink Sprinkles shirt and put a matching bow around my ponytail band. Luckily, I was able to wear jeans at my job, which made work attire somewhat more manageable.
“Hey,” I said breathlessly as I tied the bright blue apron behind my back. Brad was in the corner sweeping up a pile of sprinkles and nuts. “How was it?”
“Busy,” he responded, a smile a mile from his stern face. “I don’t understand why they don’t just hire a third person to work with us. I mean, we’re going to be swamped later tonight.”
“Awww, is poor Brad feeling a little stressed?” I teased, while wrapping my arms around his neck. He shrugged his shoulders. “I think I know how to unstress you.”
He shook his head. “No, you stress me out even more. Well,
that
stresses me out even more.” He stepped out of my embrace. “Have you thought anymore about
that
?”
“No,” I answered truthfully. I picked up the broom and started to busy myself.
“Jenna…”
“Brad…” I rolled my eyes dramatically. “I told you that I’m not ready.”
“We’ve been talking about this for over six months now. Aren’t you in love with me?” He asked, watching me carefully.
“Well, yes, but I just – “
“You just what?”
“I’m just not ready, that’s all. I want to be one hundred percent ready.” I turned to face him again. “And I don’t feel like talking about it, okay? In fact, I don’t ever want to talk about it until I’m ready to. Okay?”
“But –“
“No, I don’t want to talk about it. I love you, Brad, but I…”
“Don’t love me enough?” He answered.
I nodded my head slowly. “Yes, I don’t love you enough…not yet at least. I mean, I don’t even know what love is. Please, Brad, let me make the decision by myself.”
“Fine,” he answered before retreating to the freezer. I let out a deep breath and welcomed the first of the many costumers that were going to be filling our little shop for the night.
By the time I got to Lacey’s house later that night, it was nearly nine. There was still a glow from the television from her room so I walked around the house and tapped on her screen door. She opened it for me, obviously still dressed in the pajamas that she had gone to bed in the night before. She had bags under her eyes and held a tissue in one hand.
“Oh, Lacey,” I pouted my lip at her. “You look really sick.”
“I feel really sick,” she laughed. “I’d let you in, but then you’d be sick.”
“I really can’t risk my health, especially with everything going on, but I’ll take my chances.” I slipped into her room and threw myself across her unmade bed. “Guess who’s Lakeshore High’s new valedictorian for the class of 2016.”
“No way?” Lacey exclaimed. “You?”
I nodded my head excitedly. “Principal Nelson just told us today. Brenda was pissed!” I laughed. “You should have seen her face. Oh, man, victory is always…”
“Sweet,” Lacey finished for me. She blew her nose into her Kleenex again.
“Precisely. Okay, well, you need to get better and I need to get some rest. My parents were expecting me home almost an hour ago.” I stood up from her bed, stretching my arms above my head. “Oh, Literature class is dreadful, Lace. Absolutely dreadful,” I rolled my eyes at the thought of class and dropped my arms down to my side dramatically. “We’re being assigned a group project that’s worth seventy-five percent of our final grade. And the best part, I got stuck with some new kid who argued with me in front of the whole class.
He’s
dreadful.”