4
I slowly turned the doorknob and prayed my mom or dad wouldn't see me from where they currently stood in the kitchen. I was extremely sleepy and I didn't feel like doing anything, let alone go to school.
"Almost there," I whispered to myself and I slowly pulled the front door open. Just as I was stepping out..
"Have a good day at school Chass!" My dad called after me .
"Yeah thanks dad!" I yelled back and tried to escape before my mom could say anything .
"CHASSIDY! Get back here now!" She yelled.
Here goes maniac mode . I sighed before turning around.
"Good morning to you too mom," I said blandly as she walked up to me.
"Don't good morning me! THREE of your teachers called me yesterday afternoon," she yelled . "It's only the second day of the term Chassidy! Explain to me why you couldn't get to class on time!"
"My grades from first semester were perfect," I said nonchalantly while grabbing an apple and taking a bite out of it. "I don't think being on time really matters. Two minutes doesn't make a difference."
"Watch the attitude," my dad chimed in .
"Oh come on dad. Not you to," I said and he just stared at me. Here he goes backing her up again.
"Well I wonder where I get the so called 'attitude' from. My father who is glaring at me and my mom who is screaming at the top of her lungs?"
With that, I headed to my car. I did not have time for my parents to ruin my day before it even started.
After about a 15 minute drive, the Lake View High School sign appeared to my left. The school was pretty big I guess. There were three floors and the school had a north, south, east and west wing. We were pretty good in basketball and football and for the most part, everyone knew each other because we'd been going to school together since preschool.
I quickly parked and before heading into the school, I admired my outfit's reflection off my car.
Just as I smoothed out my dress and fluffed my infinity scarf, a pick-up truck pulled into the parking space next to me.
I coughed a little as my nose was filled with what seemed like cow manure and... Grass.
I flared my nose upward and waited curiously as the mystery man stepped out of the car. I squinted my eyes trying to pierce through the tinted windows, but it was no use. I'd never seen this car before.
I noted the small strands of hay hanging from the tires. Who was this? Some farm boy?
" Oh goodie.. We have ourselves a country boy," I let slip out teasingly as the driver's door opened.
To my dismay, out stepped someone I already disliked with a burning passion.
The guy with the bad attitude from yesterday hopped out of the car and stared at me blankly.
"Huh, behold everyone. It's Superman."
"A simple good morning would be nice too you know," he stated grimly and shut the car door behind him.
I smacked my teeth and before I even got a chance to say something back, he started to head for the building's north entrance.
"Hey wait up!" I yelled and tried my best to jog up to him. It was pretty difficult considering I was wearing heels, but I managed.
"You know I didn't need your help yesterday," I stated and stared at him expectantly.
"You didn't?" He said and grabbed my arm, causing me to wince slightly. "That's bruising really nicely."
I squinted my eyes at him and clenched my jaw for his sarcasm. I looked down at my arm and self-consciously pulled my sleeve down to cover the blueish, purplish mark.
"What's up with you?" I asked him and he shrugged.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You barely know me, but you'rq popping up being my 'knight in shining armor?' What's up with that?" I questioned.
He just ignored me and I huffed, irritated with him completely.
"Whatever," I said and tried to speed up, to get away from him. Unfortunately, when I did, my ankle rolled around and I nearly yelped in pain as I could feel myself seconds away from face-palming the ground.
Before I could at least attempt to save myself from any more pain and embarrassment, my body halted completely and I didn't even feel the ground.
"I think your 'knight in shining armor' is pretty accurate actually," he said with a smirk as he pulled back up and I steadied myself. He'd caught me by placing his arms under my underarms like we were playing a game of trust.
We continued walking and I didn't say anything else as we walked from the parking lot to the front doors. I tried ignoring his presence as much as I could, but for some reason I couldn't dismiss his smell. I couldn't tell if it was cologne or just his natural smell, but it was like..pine and almost electrifying. I didn't want to be near him, but I didn't want him to stop walking alongside me either.
Wait.. What?
I shook my head, snapping myself out of whatever mentally disturbing thoughts I was having. I needed to make sure I got at least eight hours of sleep tonight.
"I was thinking... Most people would have thanked me for what I did yesterday," he said and he held open the door for me.
"Well I'm not most people," I retorted sassily while stepping through the door.
"I was trying to help you," he said and looked at me unbelievably.
"And I didn't need your help," I said back and with my response, his entire expression quickly fell into a grimace.
He stared at me like I was the last person he'd ever want to talk to on the face of the earth.
My shoulders kinda caved in as no one had ever made me feel so little before. I swallowed as he looked away from me.
"Whatever," he spoke harshly before walking off . "You don't ever have to worry about me defending you again."
And then he was gone.
"Hey! We need to work on that project!" I yelled after him, though he was already out of earshot.
Great Chass. That was an AMAZING comeback. Go ahead and pat yourself on the back because you really showed him.
I rolled my eyes and dismissed his whole presence. Was I, Chassidy August, going to worry about some country farm boy? Absolutely not. He meant nothing to me and if he knew any better, he'd treat me with a little more respect. This was MY school. I ran everything here and if he's smart, he'll figure out I'm not the one to mess with.
I walked further into the building and put on a shouldering glare. This look may not have gotten me a lot of female friends, but it sure did attract the horny boys.
"Hey Chass!" A couple of girls squealed. "Hey Chassidy!"
I grinned quickly, acknowledging their presence though I knew that each of them despised me secretly. Rumor has it, they made an awful Facebook page about me BUT do I still get on Facebook? No. So I have yet to see this page, though everyone says the off guard pictures they took of me look pretty good.
I continued down the hall and stopped at my locker before heading to first period.
When I got there, I was almost immediately greeted by Brenton. I hope he didn't assume that there was something real between us. Yesterday was exactly that.. Yesterday.
"Hi Chassidy," he said with a bright smile.
"Not now Brenton," I said without even looking at him. I was too busy thinking about Matthew. I still couldn't believe how he'd dismissed me earlier. We would definitely have to get that straightened out. Definitely.
"Oh... Well I was just thinking that maybe you'd like to go out Friday night... With me" He said in more of a questioning tone.
I finally looked at him and felt kind of bad for the way I was treating him. "Yeah, sure," I said nicely and he smiled sweetly at me.
"I'll text you the details," he said and I nodded. With that, we both focused on the teacher.
**
Just like any other day, last period couldn't have come any quicker. I was irritated and I wanted to just leave already. I'd pretty much either ignored everyone or snapped on them, which wasn't good... I guess.
When I finally got into the classroom, Matthew was talking to Ms. Flinnagen. I sat in my seat and observed the other groups. They were already discussing their topics, thesis statements and ideas for how'd they arrange their projects.
He turned around and looked almost shocked that I was in class. Or maybe that look was actually embarrassment, because I caught him trying to switch partners. He had made sure to sit on the opposite side of the class as me in third period, but I wasn't complaining about that at all.
"You're stuck with me.. Aren't you?" I said knowingly as he sat down next to me.
He just nodded.
"I know because during lunch I had a thirty minute debate with her on why I, myself, should get a new partner. And of course, she didn't budge," I said and opened my notebook.
He looked at me suspiciously.
"Let's just try to make the best of it okay?" I suggested, finally quote on quote 'manning up.'
The rest of the class period we brainstormed topic ideas. But of course, we disagreed in some type of way on each suggestion.
"What is wrong with how cross cultural media transformation destroys the culture of a particular society?" He asked me.
"It's borriinnnggggg," I said for the fifth time.
"Do you have any better ideas then?" He asked me and I threw my hands up in the air.
Ugh. This was useless.
Before we knew it, the bell was ringing and we still hadn't even decided on a topic! This project was due in two weeks and if we continued on this rate, we wouldn't finish in time.
"What are you doing tonight?" I asked while gathering my stuff.
"Umm.," he stammered. "I'm not into you like that."
I smacked my teeth. "As if," I said and stood. "We need to work on this some more. You're coming to my house."
We both stood and walked to the door.
"Meet me at our cars," I said and he nodded.
A few awkward seconds passed as we just stared at each other.
"Okay," I said and went one direction.
"Alright," he said and walked the opposite way I was going.
**
After a short drive, we were getting out of our cars, heading into my house.
"Woah.. This is your house?" He asked shocked .
"No Matthew. I brought you to someone else's house," I said, unable to withhold my sarcastic remark.
He gave me a straight face and I unlocked the front door. Remembering my mom's manic episode this morning, I tried to sneak Matthew to my room unnoticed.
"Woah.. This is YOUR house?!" He said again unbelievably, as is he was reading my mind and purposely went against what I had just thought.
"Shhh!" I urged quietly and covered his mouth. I tried to continue up the stairs, but by that time my parents were at the bars of the steps.
"Damn it," I mumbled. "Gosh guys. Do you two even have a job?" I asked them.
My dad chuckled while my mom shot me a fierce glare before staring at Matthew.
"Who is this?" She asked without taking her eyes off of him.
"Matthew, parents," I introduced. "Parents, Matthew. We'll be upstairs working on a project for Sociology class," I rushed before running up the stairs. Turning back, I realized he wasn't right behind me. He hadn't even moved at all.
Matthew held out his hand politely. "It's nice to meet you ma'am."
My mom just stared at him before walking back into the kitchen. "Keep the door opened."
"Gross mom," I shot back.
Matthew bounced back from my mom's rejection to his kindness, by offering his hand to my dad.
"Sir," he said.
My dad smiled and took his hand. "It's nice to meet you Matthew."
Matthew smiled. "You too."
"Okay okay. Enough with the love fest," I said and went down the hall and into my room. Matthew soon followed.
"Hmm.. The devil's lair," he mumbled and I threw a pillow at him. He just laughed it off.
"Not funny," I said with a slight smile, but I quickly changed my expression to one that was nonchalant.
"Okay.. We can get start--" I started but was cut off by the ringing of my phone.
"One second," I promised and answered the call as Matthew took this opportunity to snoop around my room.
"Um.. Hey Brenton," I said. "I'm kind of busy right no-- Brenton I already told yo-- but-- okay okay fine. Friday night, pick me up at eight o'clock," I said and hung up the phone.
Matthew turned around with a hilarious grin on his face and a picture of me from the seventh grade in his left hand. Bushy eyebrows, braces, and huge coca cola bottle glasses. It was not pretty... Well that's what I thought back then.
I ran up to him and snatched the picture from his hand, quickly stashing it in one of my nearby drawers.
"Focus!" I said but he wouldn't stop laughing.
I just rolled my eyes and sat on my couch. My room was more of a high end loft.. I could thank my over-the-top parents for that.
He came and sat next to me and though he was done laughing, a huge smile remained on his face.
"Who was that on the phone?" He asked.
"A guy.. Asking me on a date," I said and the smile quickly disappeared from his face.
"Figures," he said and tried to go back to embarrassing me again. "That picture of you was... Woah."
I punched him playfully in his arm and he laughed.
After he finally settled down, I said, "yeah.. I didn't have many friends that year... Any actually."
"And now?" He asked.
"Still no friends.. Most people think I'm a whore," I said regretfully with a hint of sadness.
"Why?" He asked.
I looked at him with a straight face. "I think you know why."
A few minutes passed as we sat in silence.
"I just don't get it.. Boys can do whatever they want. Have fun with as many girls as they can find and they're 'the man.' While girls have to sit back and cross our legs, making sure we're always polite and if we don't, we're sluts or whores. It's such a double standard," I said. It was so unfair.
I waited for Matthew to say something, but he didn't. Did he not have an opinion or did he know I was right? Either way, him not speaking was making the tension between us slowly start to grow back.
"That's it," he said.
I looked at him confusingly. "What?"
"That should be our topic!" He said again and smiled. "It's brilliant and everyone would be interested. 'Males vs. Females: Is Their Still A Double Standard Today?'"
I smiled at our idea. For the next three hours, we brainstormed and FINALLY got started. And to my surprise--and probably his-- we were actually working together pretty nicely.
"This is nice," he said.
"Yeah," I said back and smiled.
"Chass!" I heard my mom call. "I need to see you and your friend.. NOW."
"Ughhhh," I muttered and headed downstairs. When we reached the kitchen, the smell of whatever she was cooking hit our noses.
"What did you want mom?" I asked.
She looked at me before staring at Matthew blankly. "I think it's time for your.. Friend to go."
"Mom how rude can you get?" I asked her unbelievably. She was being such a bitch right now.
"Hey hey hey," my dad came over and intervened. "Everyone just calm down. I think that your mom may be coming off a little rude, because she doesn't know Matthew. You know how she can be with new people."
I rolled my eyes instinctively. My dad always defended her, even when he knew she was wrong. It was so irritating. They were like magnets or something, always together.
My mom sighed. "You're right Chass. I'm sorry," she said to me and then to Matthew. "I just have this thing with new peop--- you know what? Why don't you stay for dinner?" She suggested with wide eyes and a huge smile.
My heart started racing and I looked at Matthew expectantly. What was he going to say?
"Uh.. I don't think that's a good ide--" he started but was cut off by my mom.
"I'm an excellent cook.. Plus, we'd have a chance to get to know you better."
He looked at me and then back at my mom. "What the heck," he said while shrugging. "Let me just call my parents to let them know."
I mentally cursed. This was going to be extremely ... Troublesome night.