Not Your Average Nerd

Chapter Five

Oh crap, I thought as I finally looked up to see who was checking me out. I was so close to making it out, free of any awkward reunions. Of course I had to run into someone. On top of being socially awkward, I had some of the worst luck out of anyone in my family. The tall tan girl with platinum blonde straight hair smacked her gum as she rang up the cans of green beans.

“Good morning and thank you for choosing Safeway.” She recited without enthusiasm. Her ice-blue eyes flashed up for a second to see who she was working with. SURPRISE, I thought in my head. Her mouth dropped as she placed her hand on a pack of meat. Of all people to see, why did it have to be her? Jessica Roman, the girl who was like the female-version of Royce Matthews. A girl who had the guys begging on their knees and loved every single bit of attention she received. She didn’t look any different since the last time I saw her at graduation. Her hair was still flawless, her skin was perfect, the makeup she wore looked like it cost more than my apartment in Texas, and her body was still athletic. What the hell?

“Ileana Stoica, the Romanian girl, right?” Jessica asked as she continued to ring things up. Her plump lips curled into a half-smile that I used to fear.

My head nodded. “Yeah,” I said quietly.

She tossed her head back and laughed—no, cackled. “What the hell happened to you, girl? It’s been, shit, years since I’ve seen you! Did you just die and come back today?” Her nails clicked as she pushed buttons on the crappy old keyboard set out in front of her. This place really did need to step into the new wave of technology.

 “I don’t live in Astoria anymore.” I simply said. Nothing more, nothing less. I really didn’t feel like sticking around to chat, especially with someone so evil. How dare she attempt to strike up a conversation with me? Did she the rumors she used to spread about me? My favorite that I heard circulating around was one that had to do with me being some sort of modern-day female Jeffery Dahmer. It was so random and so freaking strange that it topped the list.

“Oh, you don’t? That’s pretty cool. I mean, I can’t imagine living anywhere else besides Astoria, you know, but it, um, looks like… you’re doing well.” She began bagging my items, tossing random things into random bags, not even caring to have some sort of order.

“Yeah. I have an apartment and go to school in San Antonio.” I placed the cash on the small counter in front of me.

“San Antonio… that’s in New Mexico, right? That whole deal with the Alamo and crap, I think.”

“Texas.”

She tapped the side of her head with her right hand and giggled. “Oh, yeah, stupid me. How could I forget? I have relatives from Texas.” Ew. “But yeah, that’s cool. What are you going to school for?” I watched her take the money, push more buttons, and deal out my change. It took her a while pull out my correct change. I did the math in my head quicker than it took her to stick her hand in the register.

“I’m a law student.” I folded the wad of change up and pushed it into my pocket.

“Law! Oh, my god that’s awesome. Future lawyer, huh? I never would have guessed that you would have gone with lawyer. You were, like, rocket scientist genius or something.”

Even though I had every right to be a super-bitch to Jessica, I wasn’t. She put me through so much by being Royce’s partner in crime. They were the infamous couple during our time there. Both were extremely pretty, the top athlete in their sport, and pretty damn loaded with money. I hated the both of them. I could have stood there as Jessica talked to me and said nothing. I could have wrinkled my nose at her and silently left the minute she completed loading my cart up like some sort of work monkey. But did I? No. I mean, I wasn’t exactly friendly, but I could have been worse. I could have said, ‘thanks slut-bitch’ before leaving. Something I’ve always wanted to say to her. But I didn’t. I managed to give her a tiny smile and told her “have a good one”.