"Oh god! Why did I have to see that?"
"Ashley! Oh my god. Ahh umm. You weren't supposed to be back for a while and we, umm. This is so embarrassing."
What you just heard was Julia stuttering and trying to cover up the fact that her and Jonathon were about a couple minutes away from having full on sex. It was a horrid sight to see. I stepped in the room as I waited for Jonathon and Julia to put their clothes back on.
When Jonathon finally got dressed he winked at me and left the room. I turned to Julia with a look on my face that suggested that she better not do that again. Even though I had been expecting them to do something like that for a while, it was only a matter of time before I caught them.
"I can explain-"
"No, it's okay. Just make sure never to do it on my bed. Ever."
She looks at me in disbelief. "But, you were so angry. Why were you so angry if you weren't planning on yelling at me or something.?" Gosh she's thick.
"Look, I don't mind you guys . . . you know . . . doing what you were about to do, but I just don't like walking in on it. Next time try going to his dorm or something."
"Oh, okay." She sits on her bed and looks at the floor. She looked like a little kid who had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
I watched as she slowly got up and rummage through her drawer for something. "Well, now that that is settled." She takes out one of her notebooks and sets it in front of her. "We need to find you a guy."
"What do you mean?" I knew exactly what she meant.
"You need a boyfriend, or at least find a way to stop all the guys from hitting on you."
"Why would you care?" I ask with a hint of confusion in my voice.
"Well, how many guys have asked you out, or asked you to go to their dorm with them after last class?"
"About 6." I lied a little, it was actually 7.
"Dang girl! If we don't get you a man to protect you from those man whores quick, you'll end up being man handled by the lot of them." She exclaims in shock. It wasn't actually shocking if she thought about it. Whenever she and Jonathon broke up there were all sorts of guys trying to get in her pants.
"Really, I think I'll be fine. It's not like I absolutely need anyone. I can fend for myself."
"Oh no you can't."Oh yes I can. "Come on, I need to show you some options." She motions me over to her bed and I make sure that I sit somewhere where I am far enough away from anywhere that she and Jonathon had been.
"Okay, now what?"
"This is where we will find your perfect guy." She pulls out the notebook that she had gotten from her drawer earlier. But it wasn't actually a notebook, it was a yearbook, last year's yearbook in fact. It was actually brilliant if you thought about it, a yearbook showed every person in the school.
"Okay, how about this one." She points to a dirty blonde that had asked me out earlier.
"Oh no, that guy had bloody awful pick up lines." I exclaim as she laughs at me.
"What about him?" She points to a brunette who was a little cuter than the last choice.
"Nah, he looks like a pervert!"
The rest of the yearbook search went about the same. Julia would point out guys that I knew from experience were either man whores or to invested into the popular group to give any thought about caring for another human being. I might have been being a little too harsh, but I absolutely didn't need a man to distract me from this mission.
"Wait, what about this one?" I point to a cute brunette boy who looked a little bit familiar. He had shaggy dark brown hair and didn't look like he would grow up to be a pedophile like some of my earlier options.
"Oh, no. you don't want him." She tries to turn the page, but I stop her.
"Why? He looks just as hot as the rest of my options, maybe even cuter."
"Because that's Simon Evergreen! He's a total nerd now. He used to be best friends with Jonathon and Max. Right after yearbook pictures were taken, Lindsey broke up with him. He was heartbroken, so no one would date him. Eventually he turned himself into what he is now! It was such a shame to lose a hottie like him at this school." She sighs and tries to turn the page again, but for the second time in the last few minutes, I stop her.
"But he still goes here. He's just a little nerdier." I try and reason with her. She looks at me in disbelief, I must've said something very wrong in her eyes.
"Ashley! Never can you ever date a nerd! It would ruin your rep! You need somebody popular, or someone on the football team, or something. You can't in any circumstance ever date a nerd." I really didn't see how bad it could've been to date a nerd, but if it made me lose my friendship with little-miss-popular, I would have to let it go.
"Fine." I let it go. Her expression turned from negative to positive in under a second. I could swear that this girl was bipolar, but she was born perfectly normal.
"Great! Now let's go down to dinner." She drags me to my feet and we make our way down to the cafeteria in building 3.
*
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*
*
"Wakey wakey English muffin!" Julia wakes me up again. I groan and go through the normal morning routine again. This time she turns on the radio and sings along to the top 40 country hits. I've realized that most of the Americans at this school listen to country music, which I could live with.
By the time we got done, I decided to look at the clock. This time I realized that we were done thirty minutes earlier than yesterday. So when we left the dorm instead of going to pre-cal, she headed down to the cafeteria. I'm guessing that yesterday we hadn't had enough time for breakfast, but today we do.
The breakfast served by the school wasn't half bad, a buffet of eggs, bacon, waffles, and other breakfast items. I had begun to realize that we sat at the same table with the same people every day.
"So, who heard about Mrs. Wirth and Sam getting it on in the janitors closet?" I had also realized that the conversations were almost the same every day. Who slept with who, and who wanted to sleep with who, and which nerds had gotten geekier by the day. It was honestly starting to get boring, but I still acted like the prep school girl with the bad memory. On the inside I was starting to feel like setting one of them on fire, even though it was barley day two of this mission.
"So, have you found any guys that are good enough for your apparent high standards, Ashley?" Lindsey asks me.
I turn to Julia. " You told them?"
"What else was I supposed to do? You need professional help, and Lindsey and Lilly are experts at this." She tries to reason with me this time.
I sigh and accept the fact that they weren't going to let me off the hook. I look around our kinda large table and pick out the least man whorish guy at the table. "Fine, you guys can pick for me." I state. I figured that since the only single guy at the table that I hadn't rejected from the yearbook photos was Max, there wasn't much to choose anyway. I didn't like his unfriendly demeanor towards Simon, but it wasn't like it would be a real relationship.
"Yeah, I'll set you up by the end of the day!" Lindsey gets excited and almost jumps out of her chair. The rest of the girls around me squeal in delight of the set up. I'm in for some major trouble with these girls.
I hear laughter from the other side of the cafeteria and I decided to give it a look. Jonathon and Max were over there shoving Simon into a table, letting him spill half of his food onto the floor. The rest of my table laugh and I join in. I meet Simon's gaze as he tries to leave the cafeteria in embarrassment. I immediately feel sorry for the boy who lost it all because of a stupid breakup.
I wish that there was something that I could do, but sadly for both of us, the popular kids didn't help out the rejects like him.
The rest of the day was uneventful, and by the time dinner rolled around, I could tell that everyone was keeping a secret from me. They weren't very good secret keepers though. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that they had arranged for Max to ask me out after dinner. It was obvious, the way they would avoid talking about guys with me, which they did often, and the way they would all look at me and Max whenever they thought I wasn't looking.
I had steak and potatoes for dinner, which was fancy in my book for school food. These kids had very rich parents, so they got the best treatment possible. When desert rolled around, the whole table was almost all staring from me to Max. I almost couldn't take it anymore.
"Hey, Ashley?" Max whispered from his seat next to me. I had chosen to sit next to him because I liked to see him jump with jitters every time I spoke. It was like this guy had never asked a girl out before.
"Yes." I smiled, still focusing on the finished bowl of ice cream in front of me, just to get him riled up. Man this was kinda fun.
"Can I talk to you in private?" I hear ooh's and more cat calls from the table as we get up and head to the hallway. He blushes and I can't help but think that he should be used to the tables behavior by now.
We walk into the hallway and I turn to face him as the cafeteria doors close. He is still looking at his hands, nervous. I soften up and realize that I should probably help him out here. This must've been the guy's first time asking a girl out.
"So . . . "
"Umm, Ashley?"
"Yes?"
"Will you . . . umm . . . can you, uh . . . gooutwithme?" He blurts out quickly. I knew what he said, but that was only because of my training.
"Umm, what did you say?"
He breaths out and in and finally builds up the courage. "Will you, Ashley, go out with me?" he gives me a look that suggests that he's expecting rejection, and I feel sorry for him all over again. This guy was a grade A jack-ass, but he looked so, well, sad.
I lean up and kiss him on the cheek. He stumbles back in surprise. "Was that enough of an answer for you?"