As we're sitting through second period, it's the same as the first. Ms. Parker begins to explain the syllabus on the board and gets one of the students to hand out the printed PowerPoint so we can follow along. I pop a piece of gum in my mouth and cross my legs, trying to pay attention. When the student reaches my desk to hand me the paper, I wink at him. "Thanks joey boy," he grins widely.
"Y...you we.. welcome A...ddy." I burst out laughing before he scurries away, embarrassed.
As the class progresses, I get the feeling that someone is watching me again. I turn my head and catch Macy staring at me from a few rows over. I sigh and make a disgusted face. I've been pretending for years that I dislike her. But the reality is that whenever her gaze falls on me, my body heats up, and my palms become sweaty.
A part of me misses the friendship we used to have. Not that Gina isn't an amazing best friend, but something about Macy is different, and it could simply be because I'd had a secret crush on her since I was eleven. If only she knew what a single glance my way did to me, but I would never admit it.
I'll give her something to gawk at since she's staring at me. When the teacher returns to her desk and assigns a "Getting to Know You" worksheet, I get up and stroll over to the pencil sharpener. It just so happened to be next to Macy's desk. When I arrive, I scan the room to see whether anyone else is looking in this direction. Fortunately, they are not and are concentrating on the worksheet. Macy's is the only set of eyes that is still on me.
I smirk at her before tossing my pencil over my shoulders. "Oops," I mumble before turning around and bending over in front of her. I feel the cold breeze on my barely covered ass cheeks that face her.
I hear a slight coughing fit happening behind me. Still leaned over, I turn my head to look at her and find those brown eyes clinging to my behind, as she rubs her chest trying to compose herself. Her eyes flicker to mine, and she quickly moves her attention away, clearing her throat as if she didn't see anything. I chuckle, grab my pencil off the floor, and walk back to my seat.
When class is over, I walk out, not paying attention to her anymore. Gina is waiting by the door, so we can walk to our third period together.
"Did I see you walking with Macy?" She screeches and jumps up and down.
"Lower your voice." She is the only one that knows about my crush on Macy Tanner, and I would like it to stay that way. "And yes, my dad made me."
"Mhmm, you wanted to, just admit it," she laughs, nudging me. I roll my eyes and start walking away. We walk to class and sit next to each other. While listening to our English teacher speak, Gina passes me a note not wanting to get into trouble for talking.
'So, what happened?'
The note read. I sullenly look at my best friend, not wanting to answer. But her wiggling eyebrows make me chuckle, so I write back.
'Dad says walking with her will help with the bullying.'
She hurries and squiggles something back.
'Told you.'
I read the letter, but before writing anything back, she snatches the paper back to her desk to write something else.
'So, you gonna try to get in her pants?'
My eyes grow big at her note. I scrunch the paper up and throw it at her, pissed. It hits her in the eye, and we both bust out laughing. The eyes of the entire class glance our way.
"Ms. Reed, Ms. Lewis, Are you okay?" Our laughing ceases, and we turn and nod. "Good, pay attention."
"GoOd PaY ATtenTIoN," Gina whispers, mocking him. Our teacher turns back to the board, and we both cover our mouths, trying to hold our laughter.
My mind wonders off to what Macy said earlier in our first class. She's right, I don't know anything about her anymore. Our friendship ended years ago. I don't want to get into her pants per se, but I do want to get to know her again. I'm just worried about what will happen to my status if I hang out with her. I worked my ass off to be on top of this school and I'm not ready to give that up.
The bell rings, and Gina and I drift through our last class of the day. We head to the cafeteria, meeting up with Camden and our cousins. Aunty Jayda and Uncle Benjamin found out after my parents got married that they were having twins. Layla and Mia are a year younger than Cam, but they all started kindergarten at the same time. So while I'm a senior, the three of them are freshmen. Layla and Mia are some of the youngest in our school, but they are the smartest. The twins get that from their mother. Aunty Jay likes to remind us that she was always top of her classes.
Strangely enough, all of our birthdays are only a few days apart. So we had our parties together every year to make our parents' lives simpler. We don't mind since we are all so close anyways. Only Olivia, Uncle Roger's daughter, and Rayden have a birthday later in the year. They are a year apart, but they have a party together every year. They don't mind, of course, because they're best buddies. All of our parents are close friends, so all of their children are close friends as well.
Camden, Layla, Mia, Gina, and I all head to the line to get food and people back up to let our big group go ahead of them. Because Gina and I are popular, my brother and cousins are popular by association. When I graduate, I need my brother to take over my reign of popularity, so our legend continues in this school. Popularity is everything. Being popular means that you fit in society. Right? Well, I want to fit in. My dad was popular in high school... why can't I be?
When we all finally get our food, we sit at our round lunch table. Cam takes a bite of his pizza then looks at me. "Ads, why were you walking with Macy today?" Here we go again.
I groan. "Because Dad asked me to. Can we drop it?"
"Why do they pick on her? She's gorgeous. Besides, she just keeps to herself and stays hidden under that hoodie," my cousin Mia says, taking a bite of her food.
"It's because she's been shutting them down for years, so they clown her because they think she's a dyke." her twin sister Layla answers.
"The football team has nothing better to do. Besides so what if she likes girls? That's not a reason to pick on her. I like girls." Gina counters.
"We know!" they all say in sync. Gina is not afraid to be out, unlike me. She doesn't have as much to lose as I do. Nobody dares to mess with Gina. The difference between Macy and Gina is that Gina dresses as if she belongs in this group. Macy constantly appears grubby and does not dress stylishly like the rest of us. Even then, that hasn't stopped me from feeling the way I do about her.
I didn't know that was why Macy was being picked on. I now realized I never paid attention to why over the past three years... I just stood by and let it happen, not just to her, but to everyone that was bullied, not wanting to tarnish my reputation.
Ruckus is heard behind us, and we turn to see Macy being picked up by a football player. Anger rises in me as I see she isn't even fighting back. He yanks her hoodie off and yells hateful words in her face, then the guys begin to shove her around. I can't stand for it anymore, but before I can get up to say something, Gina does.
"Chase, let her go!"
"Gi..." I say, trying to pull her back from the chaos.
"Awe, come on Gi Gi baby. Let me play with the trash a little longer," he says, pouting. I just want to put my foot up his ass right now.
"She's not trash!" anger boils in my friend.
"Oh yes, she is. She's a carpet muncher with no friends."
"So what? So am I. You don't treat me like that. So just let her go!"
"Or what, Gina? You tryna protect her now? This little dyke your girlfriend now, huh? You know we only accept you because you're friends with Adelaide."
My blood is boiling, but I stay quiet behind them. "She's not my girlfriend. But your ignorant name-calling is pretty offensive to those in this school apart of the queer community." Agreeing and nodding are coming from all around the cafeteria.
Chase is the school's football captain and has been the school's homophobic bully for years. He and his boys have been labeling kids offensive names and beating them up for the fun of it. I don't know how he's been able to get away with it for so long because half of the school's staff is a part of the queer community, including our principal, Gina's mom.
"Whatever," he says, shoving Macy away from him, "I couldn't give two fucks about you or those fags!" He spits in our face.
It's as if all the lights went out in my head, and I step in front of him, my fist connecting to his jaw. Uncle Roger and dad taught me to fight, and my right hook just put Chase on his ass. It hurts a little but I just shake my hand, trying to make the stinking stop. I look around at the quiet room, knowing I probably just ruined my image. All eyes are on me, and before I know it, cheers erupt in the cafeteria.
"Addy. Addy. Addy" they are chanting my name, and a weight lifts off my shoulder, knowing I still have the popular vote in this school.
Macy walks past me and shoves her shoulder into mine. "Didn't need your help Pillow Princess."
I pierce my lips at her comment and turn to say something, but before I can, I hear my dad's voice blare through the crowd, "Adelaide Reed! My office now!" I start to walk towards her, rubbing my fist from the stinging. "Macy Tanner, you too."
"Dad, she didn't do anything," I say, trying to help, but she didn't want to hear it, so Macy was pulled along with me. I look back and see a teacher helping Chase to the nurse's office. I turn my view to Gina, who is doing a happy dance and jabbing her fist in the air. I roll my eyes because if she had just kept her big mouth shut, I wouldn't have felt the need to defend her. Macy could have handled herself as she said, just like every other time. I walk out into the hall towards the guidance counselors office. We get into her room, and Dad points to the chairs in front of her desk.
"Sit."
We comply, not wanting to get into further trouble. "Adelaide, what the hell were you thinking? It's the first day of school. I told you no trouble this morning!" My father starts. I can tell I'm on thin ice.
"Dad, he started it. He was picking on Macy and then was calling people offensive words." I try to reason.
She puts her hand up. "Ads, that's not the way to go about it. And Macy, I asked you to stay by my daughter so they'd leave you alone. We have talked to their parents, and the school board won't do anything because of the endorsements coming from Chase's parents. If I had a say he would be out of here, but I am only a guidance counselor. There isn't much I can do." Macy puts her head down.
"I can't protect you all the time from ignorant students Macy. You need to stay out of trouble so that you can graduate to get out of your current situation. No fighting, skipping, getting expelled, or grades dropping this year. You hear me?"
Current situation, what situation was she in that she needed to get out of. Is there something I'm missing? I just thought she was a quiet student who liked to sit in the back of the class and has a poor sense of fashion.
Macy nods her head to my father's words. "Alright, now that that's settled, Adelaide, you don't have any consequences this time, as long as you continue to hang around Macy for me." I groan and slouch further in my seat.
"Macy, do you have a ride home?"
She nods her head. "Uh, yeah, I still have two more classes, but I do."
"Okay, you're free to go." She gets up and walks out the door. Dad turns her attention back to me.
"Alrighty then, let's go, Princess. Your mother would love to hear what you did today." She says, smirking. I roll my eyes and get up for us to go home.
Dad only does half days at school. Since there are three other guidance counselors, one for each grade, when Dad leaves, another counselor opens their doors for the seniors. This allows Dad to spend the rest of her day doing whatever she does with Uncle Roger.
We get into the car, and I look out the window on the way home, not ready to tell mommy what I did today. I mean, it was justified... right?