I was supposed to bring the diagrams to school on Monday to show the team, but obviously I didn't have them.
I meant to tell Jordan before lunch, but I could never catch him. He was always heading off with his friends, and I didn't like to approach them.
So at lunch, I basically felt like I was walking to the executioner.
"Where's the diagrams?" said Jackie. "Jordan told everyone you'd bring them."
Even Chelsea looked eager to see them.
I gulped. "I...don't have them," I whispered.
"What did you say?" said Jordan. "I can't hear you, Hayley."
"I don't have them," I repeated.
"Did you forget them?" asked Chelsea.
I could have said yes and lied, but I couldn't.
"No," I said. "Someone stole them."
Jordan looked completely shocked. "What—how? They were at your house all weekend, weren't they?"
"There was a girl. She was invited over to our house because she said she wanted to 'talk to me.' I guess she swiped them when I wasn't looking...but I don't know how she knew I had them!"
Diane snorted. "Great job, Hayley," she said nastily.
Chelsea had a funny look on her face. "Who...who was it?" she said quietly.
"It was Cricket," I said, looking down.
"Cricket? From which Side?" asked Riley.
"C," I said, ashamed.
Chelsea spoke up. "It's not your fault, Hayley," she said.
"Well, of course it is," I said.
"No. Cricket was texting me on Friday. Now that I think about it, I must have let something slip to her. That's how she knew. I'm so sorry, Hayley. I just got riled up."
I lowered my voice. "Was she talking about me?" I asked.
"What—no! Well, yes, she was," Chelsea said timidly.
"Point is," said Jackie, "Hayley lost our prank and now we're prank-less. It's all her fault."
"Don't blame her," said Jordan immediately. "Of course Hayley didn't want to lose it. But we'll think of another prank."
I turned to Jordan as we headed back to our classes after lunch. "Are you mad?" I wanted to know.
"No," he said. "I'm definitely not mad, Hayley! Like I said before, it's not your fault."
"Okay," I said miserably. "But there's no chance of getting it back now. C Side's not going to want to give it up."
Jordan wrapped his arm around me, which I thought very sweet. "So? We'll of course think of something else."
The next day, Diane and Jackie were standing by their lockers when I walked into school that morning. I hated having Diane's locker above mine.
"Excuse me," I mumbled, kneeling down to unlock my lock.
Diane jumped back. "Don't touch me, nerd," she said.
I ignored her, only started filing away my books and pulling out my binders. I was just about to stand up when something cold and wet and cinnamon-smelling landed on my head. I looked up in horror to see Jackie holding an plastic Starbucks drink above me...open and dripping right onto me.
"Oops," sniggered Jackie. "So sorry, Hayley."
I jumped up. "What is your problem?" I yelled.
"I was supposed to be Jordan's girlfriend," said Diane. "Not you. He was so close to asking me out at the beginning of the year...and then you showed up. And now you're all smug about having him to yourself, aren't you?"
"What? No! How could you even think that, Diane?" I demanded.
"Stop acting so innocent," said Jackie. "We know you're not."
The Starbucks drink was slipping down my sweater, and I had nothing else to say, and people were passing by and staring at me, so I shut my locker and stormed off to the bathroom.
I opened the door. Suddenly, I tripped over something and...ice water sloshed over my head. I was completely soaked.
"Aargh!" I yelled. When I looked up, I saw a bucket of water dangling above the doorway.
My prank.
I ducked into the bathroom and wasn't having much luck wiping the coffee off my hair when Chelsea appeared.
"Oh, god," she said when she saw me. "What happened to you, Hayley?"
"Diane and Jackie Reynold happened," I said. I wasn't so embarrassed as I was angry. "She dumped her entire Starbucks drink over my head."
"And how did you get so wet?"
"C Side booby trapped us, with the prank Jordan and I came up with," I said bitterly.
Chelsea looked at my hair. "Is that a pumpkin spice latte?"
"Chelsea!"
She shook her head. "I'm sorry," she said. "Do you have any extra clothes I could bring you?"
"Just sweatpants and a shirt," I said. "In my gym locker. Do you suppose you could run and fetch them for me?"
"Of course."
I told her my combination and she was off. She brought me back the load of clothes as the bell rang.
"I think we're supposed to be in class," Chelsea said nervously."
"You go," I said. "There's no point you getting in trouble too."
"Alright," said Chelsea. "I'll see you in homeroom...you are planning to tell Jordan, aren't you?"
"About the prank?"
"Well, yes, but about the twins as well! Why did they even do that to you?"
"Diane was mad," I said, "because she says Jordan would have asked her out if I had come along. It's such a stupid thing, really, Chelsea. I don't want to go whining to Jordan all the time."
Chelsea protested for a while, but eventually left me to change. I made a valiant attempt to dry off my hair and my glasses, but I couldn't make it stop looking shiny and greasy.
My gym clothes were less than flattering, and I still thought I smelled quite a bit like cinnamon and sugary pumpkin. I vowed I would never try a pumpkin spice latte...ever.
I yanked on the strings attached to the doorway, and the bucket fell down. I dumped everything in the garbage can so no one would trip over it.
When I stepped out of the bathroom, the hallways were deserted. I looked at the boys' bathroom. It had to be rigged too.
I sighed. I was already ten minutes late to class. There would be no harm in arriving a little later. And definitely, nobody deserved to get a bucket of cold water dumped on them at eight in the morning in October.
I quickly pushed open the door to the boys' room and jumped back. Ice water spilled and sloshed everywhere, spreading out to the hallway. I stepped inside the bathroom (luckily it was empty) and started untangling the ropes and strings from the doorway as fast as I could.
The door opened, and Jordan was standing there.
"Hayley?" he said. "What's going on? Why are you here? Is that...a bucket? And why is everything all wet?"
"C Side used our prank against us," I answered, ripping off the last piece of string and shoving everything into the trash. "That's why I'm here, Jordan. I'm not..."
"I know," he said quickly. He frowned. "You smell like a Starbucks latte."
"I don't mean to," I said. He held out his hand, and I took it.
"Oh, no. Did Diane and Jackie do something to you?"
"It's nothing," I said hurriedly. "Really, Jordan."
"Hayley, please!" said Jordan. "What did she do?"
"She thought you would have asked her out," I said quietly, "if it weren't for me arriving. So she dumped a pumpkin spice latte on my head. Would you have, though? Asked her out?"
"Um, I suppose," he said. "I'm sorry, Hayley. Don't get upset."
"I'm not. But why?" I said.
"I guess she's powerful. And pretty," he said. "Not that you aren't, of course, but—"
"Hey! What are you kids doing?" somebody said. I turned around to see the school janitor hurrying up to us, keys jangling in his belt. "Did you make this mess? Great, now I've gotta wipe it up..."
"No, sir," said Jordan, which was technically a lie.
He swiped his hand at us. "Oh, go on. Get to class before I report you!"
As we hurried off, Jordan's words rang in my ears.
I suppose...I guess she's powerful...And pretty...
Why was I shocked? Diane was all those things. And I wasn't.
I'd just have to accept it.