Forever Remember: The Rose Code

Chapter 13: Fly Girl

Butterflies danced in my stomach every time I accidentally glanced in Tyler's direction during the history lesson. I wondered what other classes we would have together. To prevent Tyler from assuming I was easy or desperate, I intended to play hard to get until Mimi found another guy to distract her. 

With only two minutes left in the period, Mr. Jefferson gave us a reading assignment to write in our agendas. While everyone else muttered under their breath about having homework already, Melaney, Emily, and I compared our schedules.

"I have Calculus next and then Physics, and then we all have gym together fourth period." Melaney said.

"Next, I have Business Math with Ms. Keys and then Business Law," Emily said.

"I have Business Math and Law, too. We can walk together," I offered.

I overheard Tyler tell Todd that they had Calculus next. When the bell rang, Melaney followed them out the door and down the hall.

Emily and I retraced our steps down the stairs to Ms. Keys' class and sat in the same desks as homeroom. Math was my favorite subject, and Ms. Keys was my favorite teacher. She took attendance and started the accounting lesson. I paid close attention and even took notes. When Ms. Keys handed out worksheets for homework, I folded the assignment and put it in my agenda.

"Where is Business Law?" Emily asked.

"Upstairs," I complained, wondering how Melaney and Tyler had fared in Calculus.

Emily and I trudged up the steps to Mr. Adams' class and selected desks in the middle rows by the windows. He passed out our textbooks and told us to turn to page one. Mr. Adams looked like a grizzly bear with his thick, fuzzy, brown hair and beard, but he sounded like a bee buzzing in my ear. While he droned on about federal law and the U.S. Congress, I gazed out the window, watching the clouds streak across the sky, envisioning future dates with Tyler.

Eventually, Mr. Adams stopped lecturing, passed out our workbooks, and assigned chapter one for homework. I paged through the book. Chapter ten was about criminal law. That should be much more interesting. I had a vested interest in learning about the statute of limitations for various crimes.

Emily and I hurried back downstairs to the gymnasium. Melaney waited for us outside the girl's locker room. We walked in and saw, to our dismay, Mimi Holt standing beside her minions (and also her cousins) Heather and Stacey Locke. The three were mirror images of each other - snobby, blonde, bouncy cheerleaders.

Give me a B for bubble-headed, bleached, *bleeps*! The first and last time I said the offensive word, which meant female dog, Mother made me swallow a tablespoon of vinegar. Disgusting! That was how I felt every time I saw Mimi. I had been hoping to not have any classes with her.

Since it was the first day of school, we didn't have to change into our gym uniform - ugly orange t-shirt and black shorts. We entered the gym and stood on the red line while Mrs. Wynn checked off our names on her clipboard. She had the ideal last name for a gym teacher. With a blonde pony tail hanging out the end of her orange Milltown baseball cap and a shiny silver whistle hanging around her neck, she led thirty girls outside.

Mr. "Bean" Wilson, the tallest, thinnest man I had ever seen, hence his nickname, waited with thirty boys. Tyler and Todd were two of them, which would've been wonderful if Mimi wasn't also in the class. Mimi would make mincemeat out of me if I spoke to Tyler. She destroyed the last girl who flirted with him.

We had the option of playing volleyball on the football field or running around the track. Easy decision. I ran, even though I wore leather moccasins and not my usual sneakers. Melaney walked with Emily and didn't even try to keep up with me. She knew I needed to run off all my anxiety before I could endure another minute of classes. Running as fast as possible, I felt my worries float away like the wind.