Kendall & Me [discontinued]

06 | Am I Going to Meet Troy Bolton?

“Isabel, what do you think of this F?” Diana demanded, shoving a piece of lined paper in my face.  “Is the loop okay or no?”

I blinked, glancing over at Diana and forcing a smile.  “It’s kind of hard to tell when the paper is so close to my face,” I told her with a short grin. 

With more than a little grumbling on her part, Diana pulled the paper away to a distance so that I’d actually be able to see more than blurred lines of blue and white.  I pursed my lips with thought, my eyes flicking between Diana’s F and the F in my mother’s signature.  My mom’s name was the only name Diana hadn’t mastered yet.  Though writing the name Francesca was not all that difficult, it was incredibly hard to write it out exactly like a woman with a sophisticated signature.  Sadly, my mom was the type of person who prided herself in having a beautiful cursive hand.  So this was going to be challenging.

“I think it needs to be a little thinner,” I said, tilting my head to the side.  “You might want to try tracing her name over again.  The A’s look a little off, too.”

Diana sighed deeply, but nodded.  “Whatever you say, boss,” she drawled.  She collapsed on my bed with a sigh.  “It would be so much easier if we only had to use a copy machine.”

“That it would,” I murmured, my attention already elsewhere.  “Too bad we don’t have that option.”

My eyes went back to my computer screen as I typed Ashlynn’s name, yet again, into Google.  I leaned back against my bed, my spot on the floor seeming more comfortable at the moment than my mattress.  Don’t ask me why I felt that way.  I just did. 

I’d been searching for Ashlynn’s location for what felt like forever.  In reality it’d been about a week, but it made no difference to me.  Even if Diana managed to master signatures, it would still be pointless without Ashlynn’s location.  Elijah had already figured out how to get us out of the school and into another one.  He’d finished his part in the plan the day after it was assigned.  He was trying to help me find Ashlynn, but it was proving difficult.

Saying I felt screwed would be a complete understatement.

“If she had honor roll this would be so much simpler,” I muttered, bringing a hand exasperatedly through my hair.  “She’s probably failing her classes.  Even in elementary school she didn’t care at all about her grades.”

Diana’s eyes flicked toward me before moving back to her sheet of paper.  “Girl, no one cared about grades in elementary school besides you,” she said with a small grin.  “And you didn’t even care about grades until you came home with a B and your parents scolded you for not doing your best.”

That was true.  The first few years of my elementary life had been bliss.  Grades weren’t my concern; playing with my friends on the playground and coloring in my coloring books were my concern.  But the first time I got a low score, my parents drilled it into my head that it wasn’t acceptable.  I needed to thrive in my education.  I needed to care.

“I wonder how much they’d scold you now,” Kendall mused, appearing out of nowhere.  She sat crisscross-applesauce next to me, her chin resting on her fist.  She smiled mischievously.  “I mean, you’re supposed to have B’s and all.”

I jumped, letting out a small curse.  “Geezum, Kendall!” I gasped out.  “Don’t do that!”

“Hi, Kendall,” Diana drawled disinterestedly, her full concentration placed on her signature forgery.  “This F is going to be the death of me!”

“Are you having any luck?” Kendall asked, serious now.  “It’s been like a week.”

I shook my head, frowning.  “It’s ridiculous.  I’ve looked everywhere.  It’s like she never even existed.”