The High School Experience

» it's the mexican side

· Chapter Two ·

The first thing that came into my head when Natalia said something about a 'list' was a shopping list. I mean, people made a list of things they wanted to buy, right? But what puzzled me the most was why Natalia would want us to make one. To be fair, she did tend to spend a hefty amount on clothes and shoes (she was quite well off, after all), but the one thing she never did was make a list. Her usual shopping experience consisted of splashing out on whatever she thought was cute.

"A list?" I repeated. "Why do we need to make a list?" Caryn was giving Natalia a concerned look, most likely to check for symptoms of hysteria.

"Because, I just thought that we should do something fun this year." 'Fun' was a synonym for 'crazy' in Natalia's dictionary.

"But there's only a few weeks left of the year," Caryn pointed out.

"Exactly."

All this was processing in my brain, but I still couldn't figure out the whole point of Natalia's idea. "So, let me get this straight," I began. "You want us to make a list, a list of things that are supposedly 'fun'..."

I think Caryn and I were on the same page, because she also turned to give Natalia a questioning look. Her gaze flickered between the two of us.

"Yes." The 'duh' tone to her voice obviously meant she thought we were both dumb.

"Why?"

Natalia rolled her eyes. "Because."

"Because what?"

"Because I said so."

I groaned and leaned back in my chair. Why couldn't she just give a valuable reason? She seemed to be finding amusement in my irritation. One corner of her mouth was slowly pulling upwards, the first signs of smirk. Fine. If she was going to be like that...

Standing up swiftly, I pretended to gather up my things. "Well, I'm sorry, but my mom's expecting me home." It was a complete lie; my mother wasn't due to arrive for another two hours, after she finished from the office, but the startled expression on Natalia's face was worth it. Caryn was the exact opposite, and I knew she see through the little white lie.

I was already making my way towards the shop's doors when Natalia finally gave up. "Alright! I'll tell you!" Despite being slightly overjoyed that she relented, her voice was unmistakably loud, and a handful of people stopped what they were doing to give her and I an annoyed look, and I internally cringed. I shuffled back down the aisle and dropped my bag back on the table, creating a dull thump, and then stared expectantly at Natalia.

"O.K.," she said. "When Tiffany said that she wasn't fun enough...I thought of an idea."

"The idea being this list, right?"

"Yes," Natalia confirmed.

"So, we make a list." Caryn asked, "Of what?"

Natalia hesitated before going on to say, "Of things we've never done before." Caryn and I exchanged glances for what must've been the fifth time that day. Things we've never done before? What type of things did she expect us to do? Backpacking in Africa? Whatever was going on in my best friend's head was definitely not good.

"What do you mean by that?" There was no doubt that I was cautious to what was about to come out of her mouth. Natalia could undeniably think of the most ridiculous things sometimes. Back in sophomore year, she had thought it would be a good idea to paint her room blindfolded, because she had 'never done it before'. It's safe to say, her parents weren't very pleased, and grounded her for three weeks. I really didn't want to be serving the same punishment from my parents.