“Shay? Uh, Miss Chandler?”
I look up. Mr. Daniels towers over me then smiles one of those knowing grins. “Shay, time to leave. But I do understand how that book completely sweeps you away, right?” He sighs and looks off in the distance then clears his throat and leans towards me. His coffee-tinted breath warms my cheeks as he waits for me to gain.. err.. consciousness.
“Wuh? Ohh. Mm, yeah. Totally.” I numbly mutter and swipe up my bag. “Thanks.” I rise and rapidly clack away, shaking my head. In the hall, James is chatting with Avalon, who is leaning up against the lockers and giggling. James grins that amazing grin and walks away. Avalon turns to her little clique and freaks out as they all jump up and down with her. I clear my throat awkwardly and they literally all turn. I feebly smile and stomp to my locker. Avalon and James. Ick. But it’s true. James decided to turn down that road, as does every other guy Avalon entices. Yes, you know that road. I’m talking about the one that looks smooth and calm and like a sweet shortcut to success and popularity. But then as you get going and pick up speed, it gets slippery and bumpy and you have no idea what you’re getting into. Avalon always has to have it her way. But she is totally scary. I swear, she always acts all sweet and cute and popular but then she turns evil and threatening and a little too grown-up, if you know what I’m saying. Okay, you may think I am simply jealous of her in which I reply… yes. Yes, I am indeed jealous that she has James and I do not. But come on! Even her clique secretly hates her. Everyone knows that! But what can I do? Nothing. I press my head against the cold metal and breathe. Stop worrying. Huge bio exam coming up. You can’t freak out now. Calm down. I take one last breath and feel cold, minty breath against my face. Avalon is standing right next to me. “Something wrong?” She cooes.
“Oh, no! Course not. I’m fine, thanks.” I quickly explain.
“’Kay! Just you looked like really weird but I guess that’s normal.” Her clique giggles as she smiles superiorly.
“Uh..? Sure. So, how’re you and James?” I quietly mumble as I try to act bored and take some things out of my locker. My heart is beating frantically. “Oh, fantastic! He just asked me to prom, that’s what I got so excited about!” She glanced around at her groupies and laughed.
Oh yeah. Forgot to mention. Junior prom. Ugh. Thanks for that reminder!
“Great!” I say and step back. “Gotta get to class..”
“See ya!” She waves overenthusiastically and right as I turn, they start whispering away.
Oh boy, here we go.
I breeze by everyone in the hall and get to Biology. I sit down at a lone lab table and tap my sharp pencil against the shiny black surface, waiting for the other students to arrive. I consider what just occurred: Avalon talked to me! I mean, she kinda just ruled me out but she actually spoke to me! I widen my eyes as I think about what she was trying to do. Miss Porto, my passionate Bio teacher, glances up at me from her desk stacked high with papers, pencils, graduated cylinders, mugs of old coffee, potted plants, beakers, goggles, and what not. She smiles from behind the mountains of stuff and waves the exam in the air like a flag on a windy day. I tentatively smile and squeak back the metal stool to get the test. “You’ll do great,” she says. Let’s hope so! I sit back down and begin…
“Okay everyone, time to pass in your tests! If you did not finish, meet me after school so you can! Great job guys! I’m sure you did great!” Miss Porto chirps as she collects the exams. I hand in my test and take the exit to the right. Free period, here I come.