Second Chance for the Player

Chapter One

I chewed the end of my yellow number two pencil trying to finish this last page from my English textbook.  The page seemed to drag on forever and I gave my eyes a break from this excruciatingly painful workload.  I lifted my head and blew a few stay pieces of my hair from my face.  I shoved my hand into a bag of twisted cheese puffs and the bag crinkled as I pulled out a handful of my favorite study snack.

            “Shhh!” Graham hastened me sharply.

            “Sa-wee,” I mumbled crunching through my food.

            “God, Fi-fi chew your food,” Missy commanded snobbishly.

            I rolled my eyes at her criticism and use of that nickname then proceeded to throw a cheese puff at her.

            She shrieked and then glared at me with her piercing aqua eyes, “Way to get that artificial cheese junk all over Marc Jacobs and Monet,” she quarreled pointing from her blouse then down to her art history textbook.  

            “Guys please?” Sophia asked raising her head of short black waves and looking back and forth from Missy to me.

            Everett chuckled in his seat as Graham admiringly smiled at Sophia.  I put my hands in the air in mock arrest showing my withdrawal from this little bickering session and Missy just rolled her eyes again and fluffed her blonde voluminous hair. 

            Then a small wrinkled face with leopard print rimmed glasses poked her head from around a tall antique wooden bookcase. 

            “Do I have to tell you kiddies to hush up every day?” The librarian asked in a high pitched voice.

            “It does feel that way,” Missy told her.

            We all turned to look at her as she just sat there examining the ends of her hair.

            “What she means is, we’re very sorry Mrs. Flannigan,” Graham interjected in his kind smooth voice.

            Mrs. Flannigan made an irritated sound and hurriedly stumbled away. 

            In actuality she probably did have to come over here and tell us to be quiet almost every day, but that is because we were in the library that much.  It was our hang out and study spot ever since our group came together end of freshman year.

            Missy had been my roommate since the first year and she could be pretty unbearable at times.  She came from a very rich family and her father did not even care about how much money her education was costing him.  Even though she was not the brightest person in the world when it came to school, but she did have a great fashion sense and had a soft spot for makeovers, to which I sometimes took advantage of.  We did not hit if off right on the spot, after all she was pretty judgmental and high maintenance.  She was also in that very preppy category that the majority of this school was. 

            Missy had had a tough time at first finding her place.  At first she tried to get in with the “popular” blondes who spent none of their time studying and all of their time talking about the hottest new guys.  But Missy had made the awful mistake of wearing a pair of sweatpants to class one day when she was sick, and then she was out.  It was really atrocious to think that a group of girls could do that to one person, but that was Kensington High.  She spent the next week sitting on the bathroom floor bawling and after I could put up with her wails no more I entered the danger zone in there and helped her get over it all.  Then we were friends after that but did not actually become the type of people who hang out together until I needed a costume for an English project and Missy gladly stepped up to lend me something from her closet.  Since the dress was not too medieval she let me keep it too.  Although that came with daily outfit checks, it was very nice of her.  It was not too difficult to put up with being her roommate except how long she takes to do her hair in the bathroom.