On a Slippery Slope (2 page)

A Textbook Case of Mean

O
kay
, so guess what! My day is starting to turn around — Maple Ridge Middle School is amazing! It's, like, crazy-huge and modern, not at all like a junior high. It's like one of those high schools you see on TV, and it's packed with kids … happy kids. I know they can't all be mean; it's not statistically possible!

Of course the bell rings as soon as I get through the doors, so I have no time to look around before having to face the reality of a classroom full of kids who all know each other, and, for some reason or another, have it in for me (that is, if what happened on the bus this morning is any sign of how the rest of the day will go).

I've decided there is no use in rushing to find out. I'm just going to take my time and wander around until I stumble upon the office. That's my plan, anyway, and I think it's a good one considering the morning I've had so far. When I do make it there, I'll explain why I'm late. I'm sure they'll understand, it being my first day and all.

“Young lady, don't you have someplace to be?” a very stern-looking older lady says, tapping her watch.

“Well, yes,” I say, smiling, “I'm looking for the office.”

She frowns. “Not very observant, are you?”

“Pardon?” I frown back.

She points straight ahead. “The office is there. You passed right by it on your way in this morning.”

“I did?” I scratch my head. “No I didn't. I came in through the back doors.”

“The back doors?” she asks. “You must be a bus student.”

“I am.” I smile.

“Well, that means you are
very
late for class. Very late indeed!” she barks again. “The buses arrive long before the bell!”

“Oh, you must be Hannah!” another lady cheerfully calls out from the doorway ahead.

I smile and wave, letting her know she is right.

“Thanks, Gladys. I'll take it from here,” the cheery lady in the doorway calls out.

“Well get moving, then,” Cranky Lady/Gladys orders, pointing toward the office. “They're obviously waiting for you.”

Happy to break free from the old biddy, I do as I'm told. “Sorry I'm late,” I say, smiling.

“Not a problem.” She grins. “This is a big school, and it's easy to get lost.” She walks behind her desk. “Let's get you situated, shall we?” She sits down and starts rifling through a pile of papers in front of her. “Here we go. Found it!” She holds up a fancy-looking navy folder with a red crest on the front. “This is your information package.”

“Information package?” I ask.
Wow, this school keeps getting cooler by the second!

“In here, you'll find a map of the school, a teacher directory, a cafeteria menu, a list of our school's clubs, our latest school newsletter, your locker number, and your schedule.” She opens up the folder and pulls out a paper. “Oh …” She bites her lip. “You're in Ms. Winters's homeroom class.”

“Ms. Winters's class?”

“Yes.”

“Is that bad?”

“Well, no … not exactly.”

“Is she mean? Is she that lady from the hall?”

She frowns. “Heavens, no. That's Ms. Grimm.”

“So what about my teacher?” “Oh, Ms. Winters is lovely.”

“Well, what's wrong then?”

“Oh, nothing dear. Everything will be fine … It's just that …”

“It's just that what?” I demand as politely as I can.

“Well, it's just that I heard from Fred that you got into a little trouble on the bus this morning.”

“Wait, who's Fred?”

“Fred's my husband, Mr. Locke, and I'm Mrs. Locke. I run the office.”

“What?” I ask, confused.

“Fred is your bus driver.”

“So, what did he say?”

“He said that Chloe and Ivy were not very friendly this morning.”

“Chloe and Ivy?”

“Yes. They're not the nicest young ladies,” she whispers.

“Yeah, one of them said something about my dad.”

“Oh, that was probably Chloe.” Mrs. Locke looks down at my schedule and sighs. “Chloe … hmm … I've heard, your fathers work together at Channel Nine.”

“My father and Chloe's dad work together?”

She nods. “Yes, I believe they do.”

“But my dad just started there. How do you … how does she …”

“Oh, word travels quickly around these parts, my dear.”

“She said my dad's a job stealer, but that's crazy. I know it is.”

Mrs. Locke raises an eyebrow.

Omigosh! She knows something!
“Why would Chloe say that?” I ask. “Do you know?”

“Well, you didn't hear it from me …” Mrs. Locke looks around to make sure no one is listening. “… but word is, Chloe's dad was expecting to get your father's new job.”

“Oh, gosh.”

“When the station fired their last weatherman, Chloe's father filled in for a while, but he wasn't very good. Actually —” She stops, glancing to her left and right “— he always seemed a little stiff. I understand why he didn't get the job.”

“Why did they fire the guy before him?”

“Oh, he was almost as bad as Chloe'
s dad
— no real personality.”

“Well, my dad has got plenty of that!” I say with a nervous chuckle, hoping that he has enough to satisfy the station.

“Okay, off you go then!” Mrs. Locke smiles and sweeps her hands towards the door.

“Wait!” I yelp. “Please tell me that Chloe and Ivy aren't in my class?”

Mrs. Locke closes her eyes and shakes her head. “I wish I had better news.”

“What about Gabby? Is she in Ms. Winters's class, too?”

“Gabby Brooks? You mean A.J.'s sister?” she asks.

Just when I manage to get that boy off my mind, he has to pop right back in there. I can't believe that I'm actually going to find out today, once and for all. I'll finally know if that sweet, handsome boy with those adorable, brown, puppy-dog eyes is my next-door neighbour …

“Hannah?” Mrs. Locke waves her hand in front of my face. “Are you still with me?” she asks, laughing. “Do you mean Gabby Brooks?”

“
Um
… yes,” I say, snapping back to reality. “So is Gabby in my class, too?”

I know if she says
yes,
and Gabby is in my class, I might actually survive this year, but if she says
no
, then I'm toast.

Mrs. Locke shakes her head and I know before she even opens her mouth … I'm somebody's breakfast.

M
y classroom is on the third floor, at the top of the stairs. I knock on the door and step inside.

Ms. Winters looks up from taking attendance. “Oh, hi. You must be Hannah,” she says, warmly.

I nod.

“Class, please say hello to our new student, Hannah Smart. She's just moved here from Vermont.”

“Hello …” a few people mutter.

“You can take a seat over there by the window,” Ms. Winters says, pointing to an empty desk.

I scan the room and see that Chloe and Ivy are sitting on the other side, about as far away from me as you can possibly get,
thank god
. Even so, I can feel them staring death rays into my skin. I don't dare look at them because I know full well that's exactly what they want me to do. I want to yell, “Seriously, grow up! I'm not going to look at you!” But then I'd probably look at them and that would defeat the purpose.

“Hannah, you can pick up your textbooks at the back of the room.” Ms. Winters points to a shelf. “Chloe, could you help her collect them?”

“Sure, Ms. Winters. I'd be happy to.” Chloe grins sweetly.

As Chloe finishes collecting my books, she flashes me a big, friendly (
FAKE
) smile, and then winks, which I suspect is meant to scare me or something.

How do people get to be so evil? Are they born this way?

I walk slowly to the back, passing right by Ivy, who actually hisses at me. Can you believe it? She sounds just like a cat or a snake or maybe a teenage hissing zombie. It's so weird that I can't help but laugh, which turns out to be a big mistake because as soon as she hears me, she jets out her leg, catching me right in the shins. My hands automatically fly out in front of me, an automatic reaction to protect my head from hitting the hard tile floor, which is coming toward me at lightning speed. My hands hit first with a burning
smack
! I instantly pop back up and yell, “I'm okay!” to anyone who cares. No one does. They're all too busy laughing.

“Oh, Hannah, are you okay?” Ms. Winters cries from the front of the class.

“Yup, I'm fine,” I say over the sounds of giggling. Of course, I'm everyone's focus again, for the second time today. I expect that Chloe must be laughing her head off, but when I look over, she's frowning. Does she feel bad for me? Maybe she thinks Ivy went too far. I brush off the dirt from my leggings and continue on toward her. She is awaiting my arrival with a huge pile of textbooks. Do I dare smile? I do.

She smiles back, and I think I might be in the clear, but then she whispers, “Ooooops,” and lets the entire stack fall to the floor.

I pick up my books, turn on my heel, and walk back to my desk, steering clear of evil Ivy.

“Eeeek!” I hear a familiar voice coming from the hall. All I can see is a massive head of sandy blond curls (that must belong to Gabby) bouncing by the doorway, then, “Hannnnaaaaahhhh! Catch you at break! I can't wait for you to meet my twin!”

The class is laughing, Ms. Winters is shaking her head, and all I can think is —
Gabby has a twin?

Just Sign on the Dotted Line

T
he
morning bell rings for break and I instantly panic. What am I going to do now? How can I sort out this Gabby/twin/A.J. business when two girls will be lurking out in the hall just waiting for their chance to pounce?

The hallway is crazy, full of kids laughing, running, ripping open chip bags, and peeling back banana peels. Chloe and Ivy, who I've decided to call “The Queens of Mean,
”
are nowhere in sight, thank god, but then, neither is Gabby. This is the worst! I am desperate to find out about her twin, who I know can't be a girl; Gabby said she only had one brother and that was it. So A.J. must be her twin! Now I'm more desperate than ever to find out if he's the guy I met on the plane!

Where is she? The only glimpse I've seen of her all day was that flash of blond breezing by the doorway, but that was an hour ago —meaning the last sixty minutes of my life have been pure torture! Come to think of it, this whole day has been!

Suddenly, from across the hallway, I hear a familiar laugh. It's not Gabby's laugh, but I know it. I've heard it before. I spin around to see a boy, his hand pushing a glistening lock of sandy blond hair from his eyes. Oh my gosh! I can't believe it. It's him — the guy from the plane! A.J.!

My legs go weak and I stumble back into my locker. He has to be her brother —they have the same eyes, the same colour hair, and the same cute dimples! Holy wow! A.J. is the boy version of Gabby.

He doesn't notice me, which is good because my whole body has gone to mush and I'm starting to get that annoying, tingling feeling under my arms again that makes me hope I remembered to put deodorant on this morning. He's running his finger down a paper that's tacked to the wall and laughing at something the boy beside him is saying.

“Nah, you worry too much, dude. You'll get to go. We'll figure it out!”

“Loser!” Chloe jeers, waking me out of my trance.

“Don't even think about it.” She nods in A.J.'s direction. “He's
totally
out of your league.”

“Yeah, and if you go near him, it will be a bad day in Hannah-land,” Ivy says, narrowing her eyes.

“Hannah-land, hmmmm …” Chloe says, putting a finger to her chin. “I like it! Hannah's little imaginary world where she thinks a guy like
that
would ever talk to
her
.”

“Why are you so mean?” I bark back.

Suddenly, A.J. looks up, and stares straight into my eyes, which I'm sure, are like saucers. “Hey, I know you!” he exclaims.

“
Um
…” is all I can manage.

“You're the girl from the plane,” he says, his smile widening to the point where I can't help but notice that he has
the most perfect
teeth I've ever seen — like, ever. “Wow, what are you doing here? You go to this school?”

“
Um
… uh …” I am so seriously mad at myself! Why can't I speak?

“How come I've never seen you before? Are you new?”

“Oh, there you are!” Gabby yells, happily waving as she runs toward us. “Yay! You finally met my twin!”

“Hold it,” A.J. says, pointing at me, “you know her?”

“Yeah, she's the new girl from across the street … the one I took to the concert.”

“
WHAT
! Everybody shut up!” Chloe whips her head around, focusing death-ray eyes on Gabby. “This is the girl —” She angrily points her finger in my direction “— that you took to the concert instead of me!” Chloe's face is so red that if she were a volcano she'd be erupting right about now. “I told you I wanted that ticket, Gabby!”

“Well, I must have forgot,” Gabby snips, folding her arms over her chest.

A.J. chimes in, “So, let me get this straight. The girl from the plane is the same girl you took to the concert?”

“I don't know.”
Gabby smirks.
“Is
this
the girl you told me about, the pretty one who almost stole your iPod?”

“Gabby …” A.J. puts his fingers to his lips and makes a face at her.

“Well, is she?” Gabby asks again, not letting him off the hook.

“Looks like it,” A.J. replies, his dimpled cheeks suddenly pink.

“
Um
… hi,” I squeak.

“It's Hannah, right?” he says, just as the bell rings.

“Yup, it's me! Hannah Banana,” I blurt out, grinning ear to ear like a complete idiot.
Why did I say that? I hate, hate, HATE when people call me that
.

“A.J.” He smirks, sticking out his hand.

He wants me to shake it! What kid does that? He did it on the plane, too. If I touch that hand, I know what will happen — my knees will go weak, I won
'
t be able to speak, and I
'
ll make a total fool of myself again. Super, now what am I going to do?

“Well, this is great! We all know each other!” Gabby puts her arms around both of us, saving me from A.J.'s outstretched hand. “Well, gotta get to class,” she says, letting go. Once she's halfway down the hall, she turns and yells back, “Oh, and you have to join our club! See you at lunch.”

“Club?” I say, looking at A.J., who is now the only person left in the hallway besides me.

“Yeah,” he says, all smiling and dimply. “There's the signup sheet on the wall.” He points to where he was standing earlier. “If you want to meet people and have fun, sign up … if you dare,” he adds with a chuckle.

Just then, Ms. Winters pokes her head out of the classroom and points to the clock. “Time to get moving, Hannah. Class is starting.”

I look down at my hands, which are empty, and then back at A.J.

“Heads up!” he yells, throwing me a pen.

I run over and scribble my name on the bottom of the sheet, not knowing exactly what for. Oh well, I guess I'll find out soon enough.