I Was Replaced by the New Girl

I Was Replaced by the New Girl (Two)

Recap:

My mouth watered during the whole tram ride. Never before had I become so enveloped in something that made me feel so warm. This was not a crush, this was a spark. This was the beginning. I could feel it.

Fortunately, all of his friends left the tram before him, leaving him alone so I could see the silence on his face. He was graceful. I know I may sound like a stalker, obsessive, and infatuated, but I was doing no harm just looking, aren't I? I thought not, until the moment he turned to his left and looked directly at me. He felt my stares. He felt the mood. There was only one word to say.

Shit.

---

I did not turn away, because turning away means you're a coward, everyone knows that, and apparently, so did he. After a moment, that was definitely much, much more than a moment, he turned to face his front again, his face unreadable.

My tram stop came before he got off, meaning I would have to do the awkward wait-in-front-of-you-while-you-stare-at-the-back-of-my-head-while-I-wait-for-the-doors-to-open move. I did not want to do that, so I pressed the stop button and just before the doors open I would run out of the tram. That had worked successfully.

I got home and decided that I would catch the same tram, no earlier, no later. I don't care if I come home at five o'clock, I am seeing that God again.

On the Monday I saw Victoria again, I told her all about my episode with Tram Boy. She seemed to approve of him, even if she hadn't seen his face; I may have over-exaggerated. Jessica continued to ramble on about her boyfriend, Mish continued to respond to everything she said, Helene and Nina continued to have their own conversation, and that Emie girl continued to read her Frankie magazine on her own in homeroom.

On the Tuesday of the first school week of the year, Helene, the sweet, accepting-of-others girl called out Emie's name before most of our classmates arrived.

'Emie, come sit here.' Helene called out to her and motioned to the spare seat on our corner.

The girl smiled and sat down on the recommended seat. 'Thanks. You're Helene, right?'

'Yeah. This is Victoria, Sami, Nina and Mish.' Helene said, pointing to all of us.

'Hi.'

'You read Frankie?' Victoria said. 'I love that magazine so much!'

'Yes! I've bought like, every single one of them.'

'They're amazing, aren't they.'

'I know, yeah?'

We talked about her old school, why she moved, boys, the bitches in our year level, and everything else you're supposed to say to a new girl trying to make friends, until Jessica came, and noticed the new addition to our group.

'Hi!' Jessica said. ' You're the new girl, right?'

'Yeah.' Emie said, nodding.

'So how do you like it here?' Jess said.

'It's pretty good.'

'That's awesome. Do you know anyone here?'

'Um, no. I don't.'

'Oh, that sucks! Come sit with us at lunch.' Jess said, which was the ultimate invitation to our group. Emie was quite nice, she wasn't irritating and she wasn't troubled.

We all sat in our usual spot at recess and we talked about the new girls.

'Oh my god,' Nina piped up, chewing on her banana while doing so. 'There's this new girl in my art class and, I was like, what the fuck, when I heard her, because she has the most annoying voice ever. I swear, louder and more high pitched than Hannah's. I think her name's Fiona?'