I entered the school with a vibrant sense of optimism, holding my head high. My heels click against the blue vinyl tile flooring, causing people in my path to turn around. All eyes are on me as a break in the crowd opens up for me.
"Morning Addy," A freshman says, smiling with glee. I scrunch my nose, and with an upturned mouth and disdain look, I say it back. She giggles with her friends and runs away content.
"Hey, Adelaide!" Kenneth screams above the crowd waving his hands in the air. He's one of the tallest students at this school and the boy's volleyball captain. People think we should date because I'm the head captain of the girl's team.
"Sup Kenny!" I smile as I proceed towards my locker. He dashes through the crowd of kids behind me, approaching my locker and leaning against the one next to mine.
"Back to school party... this weekend... my house... parents are going out of town." He finishes his out-of-breath spiel and gives me an endearing grin as if he expects me to swoon over him like the other girls. I'm not going to, and I'm not interested, but I'm not one to pass up a good party.
I brush my fingertips down the side of his arm, hoping to give him a sliver of hope.
"I'll think about it." He smirks and takes a step back, gazing at me.
"Eww, Kenny. She's not interested. Move on dude." My best friend's voice breaks through the awkward silence. He looks between us before groaning and walking away.
I turn back to putting my books into the locker. "Thanks, Gi," I mutter under my breath to her. Gina is my best friend. Her mother is Melinda Lewis, or as the students at Clearwater call her, Principal Lewis.
My parents told me stories about how Mrs. Lewis used to come onto Dad back in the day. It was said that Dad never showed interest because Mommy was the only one for her. She and her husband at the time got a divorce when their daughter Gina was four years old. After trying and failing to get at my Dad for a while, she finally gave up.
Soon after she met Jessie, Gina's other mom, and they got married two years after Mom and Dad did. My parents eventually dismissed her flirting incidents as water under the bridge, and now they are all best friends. Which led to Gina and I becoming best friends.
"When will he ever give it up? He's been trying to get at you since freshman year." I just shrug my shoulders at her, putting away the books I don't think I'll need for classes this morning." Did you see Macy this morning? It's only the first day and they're already messing with her."
I sigh and close my locker, turning around to lean on it. As I glance across the hall, I see Macy sitting on a bench with her hoodie over her head. She is biting the sleeve of her jacket, and when her eyes meet mine, she rolls them and gets up to walk away. I lean my head back on the locker and groan. Gina laughs at me.
"When are you going to tell her Ads? You've been crushing on that girl since the 5th grade."
Gina is right, Macy and I were friends in 5th grade. I followed her around everywhere, and we were inseparable. But eventually, she started to get distant, and things between us changed. I never found out why though. When we reached high school, I became popular, and she didn't, so we drifted apart and never talked. I hate to see them bully her, but I have to uphold my popularity status until I graduate. I worked my way to the top and I'm not getting knocked off in my last year.
"You know if you and Macy were to get together, they wouldn't dare to mess with her anymore."
"You're right, but she would never want to be with me. We're complete opposites, and besides, she probably isn't even gay. Plus, don't you think I'll lose my popularity if the school finds out I'm..."
"Everybody's got a little gay in them. I came out as gay, and no one disowned me."
"Yeah well, that's because you're gorgeous and are my fri..." I stopped my sentence, knowing my words would hurt her.
She chuckles, "Don't stop there. I'm sure it's only because I'm your friend."
"Best friend." I corrected her.
"Right, and if I wasn't, I'd be like Blondie over there, getting harassed by the football team like the rest of the school's gays. You know since you're at the top of this school, you could make them stop if you really wanted to."
Gina is like a tiny voice of reasoning in my head that constantly tells me to do the right thing, but for some reason, I never listen. Instead, I make sure I don't do anything that jeopardizes my current popularity.
I see the blonde-haired, brown-eyed wonder in the busy room again, and she stares at me till I get butterflies in my stomach and turn away.
"I can't," I whisper, and she sighs.
"Fine. Whatever. You're only hurting yourself Ad."
"I don't need a lecture, Gi."
She raises her hands in defense. "No lecture. Just here to keep my best friend's head on her shoulders." The bell rings, and students begin to disperse.
I smile and kiss both her cheeks. "Love you Babycakes."
"Love you too Sugarplum."
We start walking towards our first periods, but sadly, Gina and I only share third and fourth periods. Because we finished most of our classes our junior year, our schedules are only half the day, which is convenient because we can walk to lunch together and then leave together. We don't have to eat lunch at school, but my parents haven't given me a car yet as some kind of lesson. Frankly, I'm not sure what the lesson is because I get straight A's and I'm doing well as Captain of Volleyball. What else could they possibly want from me?
I assumed not having a car would hurt my popularity, but in reality, it increased it because students with cars would flock to our feet to give us rides to parties or to hang out. We liked not having to ask our parents, then Mrs. Lewis bought Gi a car, and now she drives us everywhere.
As we're walking down the hall, I hear my name being called. I turn around to see Dad standing at her office door. She's the guidance counselor here but she has another job outside of school with Uncle Roger, that the whole family knows about, but doesn't talk about.
Gina says bye and walks away to her first class down a different hall.
I walk over to my Dad. "Yes?"
She moves out her doorway, and Macy comes into view. I just look at her with a blank expression, still wondering why my Dad called me. "Addy, I need you to walk Macy to class. You guys share the first two."
"Seriously?" I fuss.
"Yeah Mrs. Reed, I can handle myself," Macy spat back.
My Dad raises her hand. "It's fine Macy. My daughter here holds some type of 'Popularity' in this school. Honestly, I don't know why or how, but it's best if you two are seen together. They should start to leave you alone, and hopefully, my daughter will learn to humble herself." She says the last part low, thinking I wouldn't hear. "It also means you can get through this last school year without being expelled from getting into fights."
"Fine," Macy says. Dad turns to me and smirks. What the hell? Is she trying to play matchmaker or something? I groan but agree.
"Fine, let's go," I mutter. Macy starts to walk out of Dad's office towards the class, but Dad stops her.
"Wait. Here because you guys are going to be late." She hands me a tardy excuse and leans in to whisper in my ear, "Be nice Adelaide, not everyone's life can be as perfect as yours."
I look at her in confusion. What does she mean by that? I know everyone's life isn't like mine. I let it go, nod, and walk out of her office to take Macy to class.
She is a little shorter than me, but only because I'm wearing heels. I'm sure if I take them off, her height would match mine. I look down at her outfit and scuff. She's wearing sweatpants with bleach stains on them and a hoodie with old dingy converse.
"You should try to dress better... maybe then they'd stop messing with you." I say, smiling proudly at my solid advice.
"You should dress less slutty, and maybe people would stop falling at your arrogant ass feet."
I stop in my tracks with my mouth agape. "I don't dress slu..." The tardy bell rings, and she continues to walk away. I hurry behind her, trying to run in my heels. We reach our first class, and I knock on the door as she stands there with her hands in her pocket. Mr. Henry, our science teacher, answers the door, and I hand him the tardy excuse slip. "Nice of you two to join us." He turns to scan the class. "It looks like there are only two seats left in the back."
I look to where he's pointing and mentally facepalm myself. The class is set up with double tables, which means she will be my lab partner for the rest of the school year. "Ughhh, can this day get any worse?" I say under my breath.
We walk over to our seats, and everyone stares at us because we walked in together. Little chatters are heard across the room, and I sink in my seat, trying to avoid the stares. Mr. Henry continues to explain the syllabus and how the rest of the semester will go. I can feel eyes on me, so I glance to my side through my hair and see Macy looking towards me. But just as quickly, she looks away and starts biting on her black sleeve.
She's annoying me by biting on that stupid hoodie. It's a horrible habit she's always had since we were kids. I turn fully to her and try to take her hoodie out from the grasp of her teeth. "Stop biting on that," I whisper, grabbing her arm and pulling it out.
She snatches her arm back like my touch was fire on her skin. "Don't touch me."
"Well, stop staring at me then," I say angrily.
"I wasn't," she replies, looking down.
"Whatever," I turn back around and cross my arms, ignoring her for another 20 minutes. I glance her way a few times, still pissed, before she speaks again.
"What is your problem?" She whispers back.
"Nothing. You have such a horrible habit of biting that shit. You always have."
"How would you know?"
"Because I know you." We hold our gaze on one another for a minute before the bell rings, ending class. She grabs her things, stands up, and turns to me.
"You don't know shit about me, Adelaide." She spits back bitterly, then turns away and stomps out of class.
I grunt and grab my things to leave for the next period. She walks ahead of me, but I run to catch up to her.
"What do you want?"
"Remember my dad asked me to walk with you."
"Oh, so you're only here on orders, not because you want to be... cool." Her words took me aback for a second. Was I only walking with her because I was told to, or was that just the perfect excuse? We walk to the next class, and everyone is staring at us and whispering to their friends. Every extra second I stand this close to her, I can feel my reputation slipping away more and more.
"What is she doing next to Addy?"
"She is scum on Addy's feet."
"Oooo the troublemaker, and Queen B have teamed up."
"How could that trash pull her? I've been trying for two years."
Gossip is circulating throughout the hallways. Brooklyn approaches us, squeezing between Macy and myself. "Hi Adelaide," she says, twirling her hair and glancing Macy up and down before returning her gaze to me. "You can do better than that." She smirks, pointing to the blonde next to me. "There's a party this Friday you should come. I can show you a great time."
I smile at her. "At Kenny's? Yeah, I'm probably going."
"Oh great! Then I'll see you there?"
Macy scoffs, shaking her head and walking away to our second period. I push past Brooklyn, "Yes, I'll see you there Brook. I'm sorry, I have to go," walking fast to catch up to Macy.
We make it to class, and she chooses to sit on the other side of the room. Still at eye distance, but three rows are between us.
Whatever. What do I care if she doesn't want to sit next to me? I lean down in my seat, not paying attention to the teacher. This year is going to be hell.