Journey to the center of Attention

Chapter 3

To say that Karen was speechless after my little outburst would be the understatement of the century. Karen was totally stunned, probably more than me. I mean, even I was completely, utterly, shocked by what I had done, rather said.

“You just wait, you little nerdy. How dare you!” Karen’s jaw clenched, she was beyond angry now,”You.Are.Dead. So, so dead. You will have to pay!”

She didn’t even let me answer back. She just turned around, signaled her minions and walked away.

“What just happened?”  Casey asked me. She was totally puzzled, just like me.

“I really don’t know,” I just shrugged.

“You are aware that Karen will now be plotting revenge in order to make your life a living hell, right?” Casey continued.

“I’m trying not to think about it though,” I started walking to class and Casey joined me. She didn’t say anything else about the whole incident on the way.

What happened next was even more bizarre. At lunch, I was approached by Ashley Kingsley.

“OMG Tiara, you’re my hero!” shrieked Ashley. She practically bumped into me.

This girl hasn’t talked to me since middle school and now she was telling me I was her hero? Back then we were really good friends. After middle school, she had really gotten into the whole ballet dancing thing.  She suddenly became popular as she was a member of the dance team. Not as popular as Karen though. She didn’t date one of the ‘it’ guys even. But, she was popular nevertheless.

“Ah well, I’ll get going now. Late for practice. But seriously Ti, you are awesome!” Ashley waved goodbye and walked past me.

Ti? What was it? I was her friend again, all of a sudden?

“Ti! You’re my hero!” Casey mimicked Ashley, earning a laugh from me. It made me feel a bit better after a really…eventful morning.

“No, seriously Ti, don’t mind her,” Casey said.

”She is happy because she is jealous of Karen’s popularity. You insulting Karen like that might damage her popularity. She doesn’t care about the fact that you stood up for yourself. People, normal people in this school hate Karen. But they are afraid of her because she is student council president and her dad is on the school board. They may even envy her. So no one has stood up to her. You did. That is something new and refreshing. I’d even go as far as to say that it is admirable. So I think many more people like Ashley may notice you appreciate you even, for their own reasons,” Casey explained.

I didn’t say anything for quite a while. I thought about what she had just explained to me. People appreciate me? They like me? So what was I, like popular now? But doesn’t it mean that things were changing at Abby West high? A nerd like me being popular. That had never happened at AWS before. Nerds were…well nerds. No one else really bothered with us nerds and the PBWR just bullied us. No one stood up for us, no one really liked us.

“Yoo hoo! Penny for your thoughts TI!” Casey snapped her fingers in front of my eyes. “I know it’s hard to accept, but, welcome to the world of popularity! I bid you farewell from our world of nerdy unpopularity, my dear friend! Things aren’t really going to be the same from now on.”

I knew that Karen will surely be making life hell for me. She would not remain silent. Was being popular really worth the trouble? No, not really. It didn't really make things any good, this realization. Infact, I was even more confused and frustrated. Totally clueless for now. 

Was it really happening? Was it really true?

What was it? Some kind of magic, some voodoo?

Had the shooting star played its part?

Was it the start?

A hint that things were changing, things were finally new

Though it got me in trouble, but it had worked. Can this be true?