Disgraced honor student, Nico Gray-Gomez, falls from top of the class to bottom of the food chain. He has a disastrous plan to reclaim his academic status, but just how low is he willing to go to claw his way back up?
• • ● • •
Nico has been demoted...
The plan was to try and talk to Kitty Coleridge, Ms. D-Class President, into joining my brilliant plan in bringing the A-Class down. However, Kitty seems to be more interested in putting sprinkles in her eggnog than listening to my proposal.
Thankfully, Florence Lin is more attentive. A pleasant surprise since she was less than willing to come with us earlier.
"So she threw you under the bus?" she asks. "Anya Havertz?"
I nod. "You know her?"
"Everyone knows her."
She's right. I feel dumb for even asking. Of course, everyone knows Anya. She's the Regina George of St. Madeleine. Pretty, popular, and totally evil. She's Satan with a pretty face and matte red lipstick.
"Which one is she again?" Kitty asks, adding the third packet of sugar in her beverage. Now I get why she's so hyper.
"Student body president. Last year's Prom Queen. The fat one. Hella mean. I don't like her."
"That's not nice," Kitty admonishes her friend.
She tilts her head. "Which part?"
"You can't say the F-word, Lin," she replies.
"Fat's not a bad word," Florence Lin (or just Lin) replies. "It's not like I don't like her because she's fat. I don't like her because she's a bitch and she humiliated Shawnie last year."
"That was her?" Kitty asks, scrunching up her face when Lin affirms. "She is a B-word."
Mack chuckles at her childishness, which brings both of their attention back to our side of the table.
"Let me get this straight," Lin says, leaning over the diner table. "You want us to help you get even by winning Best Class award this year?"
I nod. "She'll be the first A-Class president to ever lose that title. And Kitty will be the first D-Class ever to steal it from her."
Kitty and Lin exchange looks again.
"And what do we get out of this?" Lin pries.
"You get the satisfaction of humiliating Anya Havertz," I say, feeling a little smug when I see Lin's eyebrows shoot up a little. She's nearly onboard. Time to drive it home. "And of course, this will also help boost your grades up for college applications. Not just yours even, your whole class can benefit from it, too."
Mack clears his throat. Must've caught a cold from all that screaming earlier. I ignore him and continue.
"Let's face it. The D-Class is gonna need a miracle to get into a decent university with the poor academic performance you guys currently have. Even Jesus couldn't raise those grades up. But I can be that miracle. With my help, the whole class will be flooded with As and --"
Mack kicks me under the table, cutting me off short.
"Ow!" I glare at him. I was just starting to give the D-Class girls my best speech about the benefits of helping me.
"The attitude, Nico. Dial it down," his eyes say.
Oh, right. Shit.
I turn back to Lin and she in back to her reserved demeanor. Stone-faced. Arms crossed. Beside her, Kitty gulps down her eggnog, leaving a mustache of milk on her upper lip.
"What'd he say, babe?" she asks.
"I think Nicky just called us dumb," Lin replies pointedly.
Kitty gasps. "You think we're dumb?"
How am I supposed to answer that nicely when she's got eggnog on her face?
"Listen," I say, and Mack kicks me again, warning me to shut up, but I kick him back and send him a look that says, "I know what I'm doing!"
I continue, "We all know that the D-Class scores lowest in every exam. Your class' grade point average doesn't even reach 3.0."
"So that makes us dumb? Grades and numbers?" Lin challenges.
"Objectively speaking, your class is pulling the rest of the school down. You're practically the runts of St. Madeleine."
As soon as that last sentence gets spoken, I realize what an ass I sound. Factually, I'm right, but an ass nonetheless. I hate how I have no hold over the things I say sometimes. This mouth doesn't come with a filter.
Lin scoffs. "Look, buddy," she says, projecting such dominance over the table that I feel the need to slump down on my seat. "Most of us D-Class 'runts' are in St. Madeleine through scholarships. Varsity scholarships. Do you know how hard it is to balance academics and sports?"
I open my mouth, but she holds a finger up, effectively shutting me down.
"Of course, you don't," she says. "You're A-Class. You're riding off of your parents' trust fund for tuition. You've never had to focus on anything else other than your studies. But us?" She motions to her and Kitty, and I get the sense that she means the rest of the D-Class as well. "We have to be at practice before, after, and sometimes during class. While you're doing homework and studying cozy at home, we're sweating out there; in the pitch, in the field, in the court. Yeah, some of us need academic help, some of are failing classes that you guys so easily breeze through. But is the school providing after-class study programs? Do we get tutors? Remediation classes? Fuck no." She says those last two words like she's spitting knives right into my ribcage.
"So before you look down on us and call us the runts of St. Madeleine, Nicky," she says, "I suggest you take a good hard look at yourself and your A-Class privilege first."
The words slap me down my high horse and I've landed on my ass. I swallow the spit that has accumulated in my mouth, along with whatever little pride I have left. Look, I know about their varsity scholarships, but come on. How hard is that to maintain? And it's not my fault they don't get the help they need. I'm not the school principal.
"I didn't meant to offend you," I try apologize. "I was just speaking objectively."
"Oh, objectively," she mocks. "Well, objectively speaking," she says, using my own words against me, "we have no personal beef with Anya Havertz. Objectively speaking, we don't need your help with our grades. And objectively speaking, you're an asshole."
Lin stands from our corner booth, leaving her hot cocoa untouched. "Come on, Kitty, let's go."
Kitty stares up at her like a clueless little hamster. She slurps the last of her eggnog, and finally, finally wipes her mouth. "Thanks for the treat, Nicky. See you in class!"
Lin marches out of the diner. Kitty trails behind her. She waves goodbye when they walk past our window out on the street. Still so fucking bubbly!
"Ugh!" I slump down on the table.
Mack slides Lin's hot cocoa over to him and takes a sip. "Maybe handing them a pamphlet like a Mormon missionary wasn't such a bad idea," he quips.
"Shut up, Mack."
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a/n: Do you hear that? It's the sound of Nico hitting the ground. Way to go, snob.
