The Ugly Side of Beauty

Chapter Seven: Confession

“Okay?” I rocked back on my heels to give her some space. She took a deep breath, nodded and stood up. I followed suit.

“Okay.” She said more firmly. “Let’s go to the stupid long jump.”

It turned out that Chocolate was as bad as I was in sports, despite her monkey way of moving around. Her long jump was barely three feet from the jump line, and she’d gotten a foul as well, because she overstepped. She laughed it off with the other Red students, unaffected by her results.

I tried my best and was pleasantly surprised to get a pass. Jolene and Cindy were something else altogether. They almost literally flew over the pass line. I couldn’t take my eyes off Tom when it was Green’s turn to use the high jump. He made it look so effortless, with a small run-start, a little spring of his toes and he was smoothly landing on the mattress on the other side, feet first.

Nick did it gymnast-style, taking the customary run-start, lightly springing on his toes and dived over the bar and rolled. Dan was… well, not as good. He took the run-start, didn’t bother to bounce and took the bar with him to the mattress.

I just couldn’t do it. Most of the Reds had jumped over, barely touching the bar. But whenever I reached the yellow bar, it was almost like a red light to me and I just couldn’t jump. Chocolate had it almost as bad as Dan. She just charged forward, her hands out, palms out and took the bar as she ran over the mattress. It was hilarious.

The only thing that Chocolate could pass was the short put. I imagined she must still have some pent-up frustration about the confession and threw the put way beyond the third line. I could barely even lift the put, much less throw it. When I flung my hand out and released it, it dropped straight down to earth.

By the time they announced our second break, I was totally spent.

“That was brutal,” Cindy sat down next to me and groaned. I just stared at her, shocked that she was talking to me. She smiled at me, and then registered my expression and sighed. “I’m sorry, okay?” she looked away with an obstinate expression on her face. “I’m not a bad person.”

There was a pause, and then I laughed. She turned back to me, blinking.

“I’m sorry, too.” I smiled at her.

“What do you have to be sorry for?” she wondered aloud. “Look, I shouldn’t have been so hostile to someone I didn’t know, but I’m like that to people I don’t know.” She rushed to explain. I wondered why she was explaining to me now. “I’ve been feeling like a bitch ever since and I really want to be your friend.” She smiled at me hopefully. I smiled back and nodded jovially, but I wasn’t fooled. She may mean it, or she may not, but I knew better than to trust someone off the bat; especially with a past like mine.

“Sure,” I told her. She grinned at me and was about to say something when a few shadows fell over us. We looked up to see these Red seniors looking down at us.

A blonde girl stood at the very front and smiled at me. To anyone else, she probably looked nice, but to me, she looked like what I used to be. A wolf in sheep’s clothing.

“Hello, Cindy.” She nodded at Cindy who plastered on a fake smile and nodded back. Huh, it seems I wasn’t the only one not oblivious to the girl’s farce. Then the blonde looked at me, and behind the gentle politeness in her eyes, I saw disdain and malice. “And you must be Jolene’s new charity case.”

The other girls sniggered.

“Georgina,” Cindy said in a warning voice.

Georgina flipped her hair and smiled a genuine smile that made my hair stand on end. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for it to come out that way.” she paused when the other girls giggled again. “Actually, you know what? I did mean it.” She said sweetly. Her demure behaviour was at complete odds with her words.

“Hi, Georgie!” Chocolate head-butted the blonde girl who was thrown to the side. My jaw dropped for the ten-thousandth time at Chocolate’s insane boldness. The other girls helped Georgina up from the ground. She mock glared at Chocolate.

“You’re as crazy as ever, I see.” She ruffled Chocolate’s already messed up hair.

Chocolate’s eyes found me and she beamed. “Oh, you guys have met.”

“Hey, Choco, I heard you broke another guy’s heart.” One of the girls called out in a proud voice. Chocolate froze for a second, not long enough for anyone to notice anything odd, but long enough for me to know she wasn’t over it yet. And just how many hearts did Chocolate break, anyway?

“It… just happened.” Chocolate smiled mechanically, and I saw confusion flash across Georgina’s face. They must really know each other for her to notice that something was up.

“Georgie! What are you doing here?” Jolene jumped on Georgina’s back and they sort of play-wrestled. I saw the similarities right away. Georgina was Jolene’s sister. The popular one. Well, that made sense.

“Just wanted to see your new friend.” She smiled at me in the sweet-but-not way. “Well, we have to go now. See you around.” She hugged her sister before leaving with all the seniors.

“She’s so nice, isn’t she?” Jolene looked positively glowing. Obviously, someone had never seen the cruel side of her sister.

Cindy snorted. “Once upon a time.”

“What?” Jolene’s face clouded with confusion.

“Nothing,” I said nonchalantly. Chocolate put her hand in her pocket and took out a piece of chocolate and popped it into her mouth. I tried to quell what I wanted to say to her, which was that if she kept eating chocolates so regularly she was going to grow pimples and become fat.

“I think the break should be over soon.” Chocolate mumbled through her chocolate. “Next up would be the cheerleading competition.”

I perked up immediately, as did everyone. I always liked watching cheerleading and wanted to join, but I couldn’t do a cartwheel to save my life. Chocolate, however—monkey that she was—didn’t even have to go for try-outs to be accepted. She tumbled like a pro-gymnast, or a kid who grew up free and wild. I was betting on the latter. Jolene and Cindy were naturally athletic, but Jolene couldn’t follow the beats. So out of our little group, only Cindy and Chocolate had joined.

We were all excited and left to go to the field. Chocolate and Cindy left to get ready with the Red house cheerleaders and that left me stuck with Jolene. I felt honestly awkward, especially since I’d just encountered her not-so-pleasant sister.

“So you met my sister just now?” she smiled at me, her eyes filled with excitement. I guessed she hadn’t left behind her hero-worship days. Just my luck, it was the one subject I wanted to avoid, and she opened a conversation with it. Just great.

“Yes,” I replied flatly. And I wish I didn’t; she reminded me of my past.

“And? What do you think of her?” she practically bounced on the spot.

“She… looked like you.” That was the non-negative thing I could say about Georgina. Thankfully, that was enough to please Jolene.

“Really?” she grinned at me so happily that I nodded half-enthusiastically. I really hoped the day wouldn’t come when she finally saw her sister for what she was.

A teacher’s voice blared over the school speakers again. “Please gather at the school field, the cheerleading competition will now commence.”

Since we were already at the field, we just searched for a place with a good view to sit at the Red house tent. I spotted the guys at their respective houses and stared hard at the ground. I had to do something about my messy emotions fast.

Then they announced that the first house will be Red house.   

Author's Note -->>>

Hey hey, Lavender here. Well, if you like Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars, try reading my new story, Secrets Of True Love Club.

That's about it for today ^^ If you have any requests (like, what stories you want me to write) feel free to let me know :)  (One of my friends asked me to write a story about unicorns, so I'll be plotting that too!)