“Do you ever unbraid your hair?”
“Sometimes.”
“You
need to let your hair down sometime, you know.”
Cassie.
She’s my bestfriend. But at times, I want to scream at her loudly or something.
I sighed softly and rolled my eyes as we made our way through the throng of
people in the cafeteria, with our bags over our shoulders.
“Case,
let’s just get to Lexi and the others.”
“I’m
just saying! You can be pretty if you just give it a shot, Ave. I’m serious.” I
just nodded to give her a signal that I’ve been listening – and that I have no
belief in what she just said in the slightest. Cassie is a lot prettier that me
in the physical department, so she can’t complain. When I actually confessed to
being jealous of her shoulder-length, curly, rich locks and her expressive face
– oh, God. I can’t think about it again. There’s her and the rest of the pretty
girls and then there’s me. I’m not that hideous, I guess. I have nice dark
chocolate hair that reaches to my shoulder blades; hair I got from Dad. I’m
tall and slim – getting closer to skinny everyday – and I’m pale as sheet. I
have constant eyebags, but I’ve gotten used to them. The only things I like in
my appearance are my eyes and hair. I have caramel eyes, though some people
insist on brown, I know it’s caramel.
To
narrow my pitiful story down, let’s just say that a number of people turned me
down and crushed my confidence by using my for their own advantage. Isn’t life
just a piece of cupcake?
“About
time. We’ve been here for an eternity.” Theresa started eating the second that
Cassie and I sat down. Case said, “We had a complex sidetrack.” I giggled out
loud. Everyone knows what that c-word meant in this school.
“Do
you know where Ed and Nicole are?” Lexi piped up, finishing with her food and
pushing the tray back. Nicole and Edward had been together forever, like
seriously – they’ve had a crush on each other since 6th grade and on
freshman year, they boosted themselves up. They’re perfect for each other,
actually; I’ve never seen another couple more in sync.
Lexi,
on the other hand, is a more reserved type of specie. As much as I want to say
that Alexis Gladwell is a rebel, an emo, or something,
I always end up with the word ‘reserved.’ She has extremely black long hair, piercings
and very long legs.
“They’re
on the field,” Theresa managed between mouthfuls, “Doing something.”
Well,
that’s nothing new. “Something,” I said, nodding, “They’re doing something.” Cassie laughed her heart out
and dropped her spoon.
“You’re
taking it the wrong way – ”
“My,
you’re learning, Ave.” She said between chuckles.
“Shut
up, Case.”
She
smothered her laughs behind Lexi’s back, who just smiled at me and continued
eating her apple parfait. Theresa shook her head at me, barely able to hide her
huge grin, “I can’t believe you just said that – ”
“I
didn’t! Your minds are so corrupted – ”
“I
would say that yours is, too. But I
actually can’t.”
“Yeah.”
Lexi and Cassie chorused. I rolled my eyes at the three of them and took a sip
of water. I got used to them making fun of me in that particular way – the only
part I couldn’t figure out was how to react. Annoyed? Happy? I don’t know.
“I
would say thank you, but I think I
have something stuck in my throat.” I should’ve known that saying that was a
mistake when a about a dozen of French fries were thrown, aimed at my face.
“What
the – ”
“You
should be thankful that we didn’t include the ketchup.” Cassie interrupted with
her chin resting on top of her linked hands.
“Well,
then. Thank you Case, Lexi, Theresa,” I said, nodding to each of them as I
pulled out fries from my hair, “It’s gladly appreciated. I therefore announce
this carbohydrate-stuffed food as a mark of our strong friendship – ”
“Howdy,
guys.” Ed practically came out of nowhere and sat down on our table, hand in
hand with Nicole. She’s smiling like crazy, but again, that’s nothing new.
“We
already ate, so what’s up?” she asked, pulling her hair in a ponytail. Her
smooth blonde hair. I’m not really the envious type, but damn; she’s cute. And
here I am, having the sex appeal of a panda.
No,
wait. Pandas are cute. Maybe a platypus would –
“You
okay, Ave?” Edward asked, his brown eyes trained on me. I really liked the
color of his eyes even way before I started to admire him in a completely
different way. He’s always nice to me the way the other guys aren’t, but then I
found out one day that he’d been head over heels for Nicole. The worst part is,
he told me while asking for advice on
how to ask her out.
But
I got over it. I always do. Been there, done that countless times. And if that
memory could be any more humiliating – which it can – he never even knew I had
a thing for him. I never had the guts to tell him, only Cassie.
But
as I said, I got over it. To be
honest, I keep on hoping that maybe, just maybe, someone will actually like me. Even for just a bit. I’ve never
had anyone in my life like the others do, but sometimes, I get tired of
waiting.
“Of
course I’m okay. Just thinking of some homework.”
They
all groaned in unison.
“Please
don’t remind me of homework.” Ed said in a defeated voice.
“Avery,
lighten up!” Nicole exclaimed, her pearly white teeth showing.
“With
all due respect, you can do your homework in your sleep.” Cassie, this time.
“Yeah,
and all of ours, as well.” Theresa joined in. If truth be told, she can
actually be the school’s genius
herself. But she doesn’t want to. Although she gets an A without much of a
sweat, her real problem is with projects and performances. She doesn’t like to
be up and about, doing this, checking that – she just sits.
“I’m
just saying. By the way my Gym grades are looking, I don’t think I’ll – ”
“Pass?”
Lexi and Cassie said together skeptically. I shrugged my shoulders as Ed chuckled
and put his arm around Nicole. He said, “That’s so unlikely. I don’t think I
would live to see the day where you fail one subject.”
“Yeah.”
They all muttered in unison with their eyes on my direction. One person can
only take too much of staring.
“Are
you all trying to burn me with your eyes or is it just me?”
“Just
you.” Lexi said, pulling out her iPhone as everyone engaged in their own
conversations. She started tapping and said suddenly, “Oh, I forgot to ask,”
she put her phone down and leaned forward eagerly, “How the Boy E?”
I
almost cried from intense joy. Boy E is one of the topics I look forward to
talking with my friends today. In case you’re wondering – which, I’m sure you
are, considering the primary instinct of human socializing which naturally
tends to – oh. Nevermind. Boy E is an acronym made by my five-year old cousin,
Nique. It means bane of your existence. I just got the habit of using it and it
stuck to the rest of us ever since. Boy E is my seatmate. Travis Anthony
Warner. Frankly, he made my life hell since I stepped in this school. He’s the
most famous jack-of-all-trades, master of none guy in MHS. You know that kind
of person that everyone lusts after? That’s him. And being my seatmate, he
constantly annoys me with all his poking, pick-up lines and winking and the
smiling, hell – everything. He just
thinks he’s this super awesome gut and that we should all bow down to him.
I
loathe Boy E.
“Did
I hear that cursed acronym?” Cassie swiveled around and faced me, “What’s he
done this time?”
I
grinned at her. “Nothing. He didn’t come in class today.” Her eyes widened
slightly and her eyebrows shot up, “Really? That’s great! He should do that
more often.” We laughed loudly, except for the lovebirds at the side who were
whispering under their breaths. I was brimming over with happiness as I thought
of my peaceful morning without Warner. But I wonder why he didn’t come.
But
who cares, anyway?
“I
seriously don’t see why he’s bugging you so much.” Nicole said, lips pursed. “I
mean, he has zillions of girls after him and I think Athena lusting over his
body is quite more than one person can handle.” I felt a stab of irritation at
the mention of Athena. I don’t like her at all, especially when she shoves the
fact that she has Travis to my face. Like I care. She’s just annoying me when
she does that. I get that she’s pretty, with her stylish blonde hair and eyes
that screams, I’m hot. Then her
designer clothes, world-class heels, make-up, and seductive mouth.
Yes,
Travis and Athena should do the world a favor and just get together. I’m sure
the first thing they would do together as a date would be to look at themselves
at the mirror and glorify their bodies or something like that.
Okay,
that’s incredibly rude and judgemental. Who knows? Maybe deep inside – deep, deep inside – they’re sort of nice
people. Sort of.
“I’ll
survive. Thanks Cole.” I said to her and smiled. She smiled sweetly in return
and nodded her welcome. Of course I will survive. And I will. In fact, I think
it would be easier than the most complex of Professor’s problems.
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