The Popular Crowd

Chapter 9

Sorry for the late upload! By the way, I really appreciate all the fans & comments!

*** *** ***

Dad confronts me when I step outside of my bedroom. I’m so startled by his looming presence that I jump a bit.

            “Geez,” I say huffily, walking past him.

            “Stop, young lady,” he says sternly. I stop reluctantly and turn on my heels.

            “Yes?” I ask, flipping my hair over one shoulder.

            He sighs. “What’s with the attitude?”

            I wrinkle my brow. “Nothing. Just…my weekend wasn’t the greatest.”

            I could see Dad becoming visibly uncomfortable. He hated talking about personal stuff.

            “Oh,” he cleared his throat and avoided my eye. “Anything you want to talk about?”

            “No, no it’s fine,” I say. “Did you want something?”

            He nodded. “Just wanted to let you know that your mom’s bringing Annie to the dentist today after school. You’ll be fine alone?”

            I smile a little. “I’m 16. I think I can tough an afternoon alone, huh?”

            “Good. And how about baby-sitting Friday night?”

            I shrug. “Sure. You and Mom going out?”

            He nods his head. “We might. We’ll leave about seven, OK?”

            He turns around and disappears down the stairs. It takes me a few moments to realize that I’d just booked up my Friday night. That was the night, my night. The pops were bound to go out and I had to be there, not baby sitting my little sister.

Shit.

I took a deep breath. I would have to talk to Benni later. Maybe she could watch Annie, or we could figure something else out.

            I checked myself in the mirror. I was doing a lot more of that lately. I used to not have to worry about how I looked so much. Sure, I wanted to look somewhat attractive. But, now it was important. People might be looking at me now that I was hanging out more with the pops, and I had to prove I was one of them. Plus…it never hurt to look good for Simon….

            I smoothed my fitted white t-shirt, and adjusted my colorful green and blue scarf. I wore tight jeans and pretty, beaded flats that I borrowed from Benni.

            I scarfed down a bowl of cereal before logging on to my desktop to check my email. Nothing new, mostly just spam. I figure I may as well check on Facebook, too. I honestly am not a big fan of the site. It’s pretty boring. But, I like to keep in touch with the rest of the world so I log in every couple of days.

            I have a ton of notifications. Someone had liked one of my pictures from like the 8th grade. My cousin Jeanie had posted on my wall. Finally I scanned the rest of my notifications quickly. They seemed to all come from the same post that I was tagged in. That was weird…it was one posted by Jasmine.

            I quickly clicked on it and my stomach dropped.

            Jasmine Richards: Seven minutes in Heaven….easiest game in the motherfuckingworld. Except when little Delilah Jones plays….haha girl <3---with Craig Baldacci