I bring my water bottle to school with me, just because with the heat that's constantly beating down here, I worry that I'll get too dehydrated if I don't drink enough. I take my seat in History and Cassie waves to me. She asks me if I feel confident about tryouts later today and I assure her that I feel great about them.
Mister Lofton starts his lesson off telling us about when the different states were founded but twenty minutes later he's answering someone's question about what a domestic partnership is.
"I told you," Cassie says to me, and I grin.
The two of us chill the whole period and sometimes listen to the random things that Lofton is informing us on (currently the difference between ponies and horses) and sometimes have our own conversations.
I learn that Cassie has an obsession with One Direction and when I tell her that this doesn't necessarily bother me, she begins to rant on and on about how amazing each of the members are. I listen and nod, though I truthfully don't know much about them at all.
She's showing me pictures she took from when she went to their concert in July when the bell rings and I leave the class where the only work I had to do was listen to Cassie fangirl over a boy band.
I head to Calculus and Adrian sits at the desk next to me. I help him out every once in a while with our math problems but sometimes I think he just asks me for help so we have something to talk about. I eventually decide to ask him what his tattoo means.
"Hey, Adrian," I say.
He looks over at me, "What's up?"
"Can I ask you a question that might be a little personal?"
He pauses, "You can ask, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'll answer it."
I nod, "I wanted to ask you what your tattoo is supposed to mean?" I tap my own wrist for whatever reason.
He nods at me and rolls up the right sleeve of his sweater and puts his arm on my desk so I can get a better look at the artwork permanently etched on his skin, "See, it's like a word search."
I nod as I look over it. The letters are written so neatly.
"I used to get myself in trouble a lot for saying the wrong things. Got in trouble with my parents, with my friends, females, even the law once. And I realized it was my big mouth always getting me into trouble; I never thought about the things I was saying...
"So a few months ago I got this tattoo to always remind myself to look for the right words to say; to think before I speak. I'm still afraid that I'll say the wrong things at the wrong times, but.. I don't get into so much trouble now."
I stare at him in awe. He shrugs and rolls his sleeve back down. I feel a little bad because now I'm not sure what to say.
I decide to tell him this, "After hearing that, I'm afraid I'll say the wrong thing now."
He chuckles, "Don't be, just say what you really think."
"I think it's an amazing story," I tell him honestly. "It has a very deep meaning behind it and I appreciate it."
"Thanks," he grins at me.
"So many people nowadays get tattoos for no reason whatsoever. I mean I don't have any problems with tattoos but... I just think if you're going to get something permanently etched onto you, it ought to mean something."
Adrian nods in agreement, "Very true. That being said, do you have any tattoos?"
I shake my head, "No, my parents would flip. Besides, I'm too afraid and I don't have anything that I think I want on me forever. Maybe one day though."
He laughs a little, "I'm glad to know that you're such an intelligent person."
I smile, "The same goes for you."
~
When I get to Honors English, there are already about ten people there before me. I take my seat in the back and sip from my water bottle, totally spacing out. I get lost in thought, daydreaming about if I were on a beach right now without a worry in the world.
All I have to worry about is not getting too tan as wonderful music plays loudly. I laugh and smile about absolutely nothing and everything feels perfect. I don't realize how deeply spaced out I am, lost in my beach daydream, until I hear someone snapping their fingers by my ear.
I break out of my reverie and turn to my right, "Oh, hi."
"Yeah, hi," Dylan says. "I said hello to you like three times." He takes his seat and fixes his glasses.
"Sorry," I tell him, a little embarrassed. "I was spacing out."
"I noticed. What were you thinking about?"
"The beach."
"The beach?"
I nod.
"Why the beach?"
I shrug and say, "I've always loved the beach, but I never really got to go to one in Washington. And I haven't gotten the chance to find one here yet."
"Well I promise you, there's plenty around," he says.
"I think I might go to one this weekend."
He nods, and I take it that that's the end of that conversation. I begin to take my binder and pen out for class and the bell rings. I expect Miss Hathaway to start teaching then, but instead the announcements come on.
A guy with a voice that sounds both cheerful and official says the pledge of allegiance and goes on to tell us about upcoming meetings and events. He talks about the cheer tryouts after school today and tomorrow, and Naomi who sits in front of me turns around.
"You ready for tryouts, chica?", she asks me with an easy-going grin.
I nod, "Super ready! Thanks to you, of course."
"Aw, shucks, I try," she waves a hand at me then turns back around.
"You're trying out for cheer?", Dylan asks me. When I turn to look at him, he's playing some word game on his phone.
"I am," I tell him. "Why do you ask?"
"Just asking," he pauses, then says. "I hope you make the team."
"Why do you hope that?"
"Because our cheer team kind of sucks, other than Naomi and this other girl named Vanessa," he locks his phone and puts in his pants pocket. "And I saw that video Naomi posted of you yesterday. You're probably the best person they can get."
"Do you really think so?"
"Well I didn't say that for my own health."
I laugh, "Okay, well thanks."
The announcements finally end and Miss Hathaway passes out books. We have to fill out these book check out papers that take longer to finish than they really should, but soon enough we start reading the book. Hathaway reads out loud as we all follow along pleasantly, though she does have to ask Joey to be quiet on two separate occasions.
We read the first twelve pages and stop, so we're left with fifteen minutes of class left. Miss Hathaway passes out papers to everyone with twenty-five vocabulary words on it that we have to define by Friday.
We're given the remaining class time to start working on the definitions, and I pull out my phone to look up the words on the internet. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Dylan writing away but what surprises me is that he doesn't have a dictionary or his phone out.
I've defined the first two words and when I look at his paper, he's starting to write down the definition of the fifth word. I stop doing my own work and watch as he finishes writing the definition for the sixth word. Apparently he notices my staring as he stops writing and looks over at me.
"What?", he asks.
"How are you doing that?"
"How am I doing what?"
"You're just defining every word without looking them up. Is your brain like, it's own dictionary?"
"I read and write a lot, so I know a lot of words. Looking at this list... I know all of these words except for two. So I don't have to look them up."
"I wish I could do that," I tell him, amazed. "I'm a number person, that's why I'm so good at Math and Chemistry."
"Well I'm a word person," he says as he writes down another definition. "I like learning new words."
"I can see that. So English must be your best class."
"Exactly why I'm in Honors."
I nod and define three more words before packing up like everyone else. By the end of the period, I've defined a total of six words and Dylan is halfway done with the list. When the bell rings, I wave bye to him and head off to Jazz with Naomi.
"So how is it sitting with that weird guy?", Naomi asks me as we make our way to the locker room.
"You mean Dylan?"
"Yup."
"He's not very weird at all. I'm still confused as to why you all think he is," I tell her honestly.
"Okay, I actually shouldn't call him weird. I don't know him at all, nobody does; that's probably why we all think he's weird. He never talks to anyone."
"I asked him about that yesterday."
"You did?", she looks at me, interested. "And what did he say?"
"He said nobody else that he's talked to is interesting. They all bore him or are rude and stuff like that."
"Nobody else?", Naomi repeats, giving me a sly look and a smirk as she emphasizes that last word. "So he finds you interesting enough."
"I guess so," I say. "We're friends, anyway."
"You guys did talk quite a lot in English," she says. "I think he might like you."
"Of course he likes me, he's my friend."
"No, he might like you, like you."
I stare at her, "I've only known him for two days."
"Hey, don't you believe in love at first sight?", she laughs.
"Leave me alone already," I laugh with her before going into the bathroom stall and changing. I meet her back at her locker and put my things in there before we enter the dance room.
In Jazz, I realize that I'm better at dancing than I gave myself credit for. Certainly I'm nothing amazing (that would be Naomi), but I'm still pretty good. Miss Anderson has Naomi teach us some choreography to an upbeat song and I find myself enjoying it a lot. At the end of class, we all get some water and go to change.
"I forgot to tell you," Naomi tells me back in the locker room. "There is a dance portion of tryouts on the second day, which would be tomorrow. That's always where I shine. From the looks of it, you'll do just fine in that category too."
She smiles at me and I smile back before changing back into my short white skirt and black and pink floral top. I go back out into the locker room in search for Naomi but she doesn't seem to be anywhere. As I walk through one of the rooms, a girl bumps into me quite roughly.
When I turn to look at her she turns back and says "oops, sorry" in the most sarcastic and bitchy way I've ever heard. I want to kick her in the face and pull her stupid blonde hair but instead I just frown at her and keep walking.
A few seconds later I finally find Naomi- well actually, she finds me.
"There you are!", she exclaims with a grin, then frowns suddenly. "Why do you look so mad? You okay?"
"I'm fine," I tell her. "A girl just bumped into me is all."
"Whoever it was, I'm sure she was just jealous because you're bomb and she's not," she says in a joking matter but she sounds serious at the same time. "If she bothers you again, just let me know and I can take care of it."
"Thank you," I half smile at her and as the bell rings for second lunch, we make our way towards the cafeteria.
~
As soon as Naomi and I take our seats with Adrian, Linda, Ivy, that Brandon kid that Ivy introduced me to yesterday, and some other guy I don't know, I realize that I forgot to bring my lunch again. I sigh in frustration and Ivy tilts her head at me.
"What's wrong with you?", she asks.
"I forgot my lunch at home again," I whine.
"Ay dios mio!", she exclaims. "Again? Well come with me, we'll go to the student store."
"Okay," I stand up and grab my wallet before we walk down the stairs.
There's a line of five or six people in front of us at the little store, so I take the opportunity to ask Ivy a question.
"So," I begin. "What is your relation to that Brandon guy?"
"It's a little complicated," she looks up at the ceiling. "I guess we're dating."
"What do you mean you guess?"
"Well, technically, we've been dating since March but in the last week of August he cheated on me. We stopped talking for a week but then we started talking again. We never really broke up, so we're still dating."
"He cheated on you?", I ask her, amazed. "Why wouldn't you break up with him?"
She shrugs, "I like him a lot, even though he did hurt me. I guess I like him enough to forgive and forget about it."
We move up in the line, and I say, "But what if he hurts you again?"
Ivy shakes her head, "He won't. We talked about this, and I trust him."
I can't believe what I'm hearing, but I decide not to bother her about it anymore, lest she get angry or upset.
We finally get to the counter and I get some Top Ramen for two dollars. I fill it up with the hot water they provide, and Ivy and I make our way back up the stairs and to our table. When Ivy sits back down next to Brandon, I see him give her a kiss on the forehead and I find myself frowning at him. To distract myself, I turn to Linda.
"What are you eating?", I ask her, but I know fried rice when I see it.
"It's chicken fried rice that my mom made last night," she confirms. "Do you wanna try some?"
I shake my head, "I'm good with my Top Ramen."
For a while, I don't speak but simply listen to everyone else talk and gossip. Naomi, Ivy, and Linda talk about some girl named Haley and her apparently terrible new hairstyle; Brandon and that other guy I don't know talk trash about other school's football teams.
Linda, Naomi and Adrian talk about these two guys that apparently got really high at a party last Saturday and had a crazy Nerf gun fight; and finally I hear Naomi and Adrian make plans to dance after school on Friday. The bell let's us know that lunch is over and I look down to realize that I only ate half of my noodles.
After throwing away my leftover food, I wave goodbye to everyone and make my way to Chemistry. Mister Luthy salutes me as I walk in, and once again I'm the first person in the classroom. I go sit in the same place I did yesterday, secretly hoping that nobody takes the seat next to me unless they wear glasses and their name is Dylan.
As more people make their way into the classroom, a girl that passes me surprises me by telling me that she thinks I'm hot and I thank her and quickly get out my phone to distract myself.
As time continues to pass, I wonder if Dylan is skipping class or went home early or something. But just as the bell rings, Dylan is in the room looking as dis-shelved as who knows what. He stops in the doorway to take a few breaths as if he's just run a mile, then finally walks slowly over to sit down next to me.
His glasses aren't sitting properly on his face, his hair looks tussled, a couple of buttons on his button-up are unbuttoned and there's some dirt on his pant leg. Dylan fixes himself up as Mister Luthy starts to go over what makes a Covalent Bond a Covalent bond.
"What happened to you?", I ask him quietly.
"Nothing," he whispers back.
"Clearly something. Did you fall?"
"It's nothing."
"Liar."
"Some guys bothered me, okay? That's it," I can tell that he's kind of angry, even through our whispering and I instantly feel guilty for pushing him.
"I'm sorry," I say after a minute.
Then I think about what he must mean, by saying some guys bothered him. Does it mean he was being bullied? I look over at him cleaning his glasses, and decide that that must have been what happened. I feel really bad for him and want to tell him this, but he really doesn't look like he wants to be bothered.
We spend the entire class without a word passed between us.
~
Naomi and I walk to the locker rooms to change for cheer tryouts together and a girl with unbelievably curly, light brown hair named Vanessa joins us. Vanessa is a very nice girl who laughs a lot and speaks rather loudly even though she doesn't need to. You can't help but smile when you're talking to her because she always sounds so excited to be talking to you.
On our way to the gym, Vanessa tells me about how she hopes the team is better this year. Apparently Varsity hasn't accomplished much in the past, but Vanessa says she has a feeling that this year will be better.
When we get to the gym, there's a table where two ladies and a man sit with clipboards and pens. There's a long line of gymnastics mats on one side of the gym where I expect we'll be showing off our tumbling. I look around at the other girls trying out. There's around thirty to forty other girls here and I don't really recognize very many of them, except that blonde girl, Maddie, from my History class.
Vanessa, Naomi, and I put our belongings on one of the stands and start stretching with all the other girls. I get a little intimidated, looking around at all my competition, but the reassuring smile that Naomi gives me clears away all of that self-doubt.
Cheer tryouts officially begin. The first thing they have us do is jumps, where we do the toe-touch, the hurdler and the herkie. Thanks to Naomi's help, I do all three of them really well. Afterwards, they teach us Chatsworth's main cheer and we perform it three different times in three different groups.
I keep reminding myself to smile and I'm amazed at how easily I'm able to keep a genuine grin on my face; I'm having fun! We line up over at the mats next, and I'm one of the last people in line. One by one, we take turns doing whatever tricks we can.
Vanessa goes first and she does a round-off followed by two back handsprings; perfectly. A few girls can only do cartwheels, and one messes up on hers. One girl with bright red hair does an impressive three back handsprings in a row and but doesn't stick the landing. Naomi does a round-off, back handspring then back tuck and she nails it.
I'm almost up with only one short, Asian girl in front of me who does a simple cartwheel followed by a round-off. Suddenly it's my turn and I can feel everyone else watching me, even the only two remaining girls in line.
I take a deep breath, raise my arms up and throw it all out there. I do the combination that Naomi and I came up with and I do it perfectly; cartwheel, round-off, two back handsprings, and a double back tuck. The only problem is I feel my feet sliding out from beneath me when I land. I'm not landing properly!
Shit, shit, shit.
In gymnastics, we were always taught that if we felt ourselves falling on a landing then to hit the splits. That's exactly what I do, and I smile widely, trying to make it look like that's what was supposed to happen.
Standing up, I send another smile to the judges while I walk towards Vanessa and Naomi who are cheering quite loudly for me; they definitely make good cheerleaders. I watch as the girl after me suddenly runs out of the room and everyone murmurs in surprise and confusion.
Then the last girl does some impressive tricks and lands nicely. The judges explain that tomorrow we will be evaluated on the memorization of the cheer we were taught today, and tomorrow will also be the dance portion of the tryouts. Everyone thanks them and we all pack up and leave by half past four.
After shower, dinner, and a detailed recollection of how tryouts went, I climb into my warm, inviting bed. I feel more tired today than I have been in a while and it doesn't take long for my eyes to feel droopy. Before I completely pass out, I get two notifications from my phone.
I look and see they're from Facebook; one message and surprisingly eight friend requests (which I wonder about not being notified of before, stupid phone). The friend requests are from Linda, Ivy, Cassie, Adrian, two girls whose pictures I recognize from cheer tryouts, a boy from History, and Dylan. I accept all eight of them and go to see who the message is from.
Dylan O'Brien
Once you confirm that you are my friend (this counts in real life too, not just fb) there's to turning back. js.
The bright screen of my phone lights up my smile as I type back.
Anita Burns
Looks like ur stuck with me as a friend, from now on (: