I was dreaming about chocolate marshmallows. I don't understand how such a thing hasn't been invented yet. All of a sudden, the Mother of all chocolate marshmallows began reproducing into mini blue marshmallows who all had Ellen's face on them. It was slightly disturbing.
"We're blue, we're blue," they were all chanting squeakily when their voices morphed into blares and hoots. It was annoying and it seemed to be getting louder and louder. I finally punched one of the annoying little marshmallows and instead of the soft mushiness I had been expecting, my fist connected with something hard.
"Oomph!"
I jerked awake to see my uncle lying on the ground at the foot of my bed, doubled over. "Good morning," I said groggily. "I had the weirdest dream, and I went to punch a marshmallow..."
I trailed off in horror. I hadn't punched a marshmallow. I had punched my uncle, and he had a nice blue bruise beginning to bloom on his cheek. I seem to turn everyone I touch into a one blue shade or another, all through various means.
I realized with another start that the tooting and blaring hadn't been a part of my dream, either. Someone was wearing out their wheel by honking it right outside my window.
My uncle cautiously stood up and immediately put some space between us.
"Courtney," he grimaced, lightly touching his jaw, "since Grace lives right across the street from us, she volunteered to drive you to school today. I called to you up the stairs half an hour ago to ask if you were up and you told me to stop yelling across the whole house because it was rude."
I was more confused than ever. I hate waking up, things like this always happen.
"So I decided to check that you actually were awake, which you weren't, so when I leaned over to nudge you, you punched me!" he wore an aggrieved expression.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I moaned. "I thought you were a marshmallow."
"On second thought, I'm not going to ask," said my uncle as the hoots got even more persistent and loud, if that were even possible.
I crossed to the window and shoved my head outside. "OI! HONKER! GO SHOVE YOUR HEAD IN A PUBLIC FOUNTAIN WHILE I COUNT TO A MILLION!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. The beeping stopped and the passenger door of a sweet Lexus opened.
Grace stuck her head out. "You can't count that high, remember?" she shouted back.
I scowled and gave her a gesture that my uncle unfortunately caught through the open window.
"Courtney Elizabeth Meyers, enough with the obscenities on the roof! Please reattach yourself and get dressed; you're making Grace late!" With that, he turned and stomped his way downstairs.
I sighed. Déjà vu.
I hurried to my closet and frantically searched for clothes, tossing the humiliating Caution jeans aside. "Snowballs," I muttered, pawing my way through a pile of shirts.
I tugged on skinny jeans, leg warmers and a plaid shirt. On top went a denim jacket and cut-off gloves. After brushing out my wavy hair and applying some mascara, I jammed a checkered cloth cap onto my head and rushed down the stairs, careful to avoid getting the laces of my shoes stuck in the doorway.
My uncle was waiting for me at the entrance.
"I'm giving you some money," he told me, as I put on my Keds, "in case you want to buy lunch. Take Grace out or something, you know, for putting up with you." I aimed a scowl up in his general direction as I yanked the leg warmers over the shoes.
I straightened and grabbed my bag.
"Schoolwork in your bag? Shoes on the right feet? Head screwed on tightly? Excellent, off you go," my uncle beamed, shoving me out the door and closing it behind me.
I stumbled my way down the steps and got into the back of the Lexus. The moment I was inside, we began to drive.
"Finally."
"Ahh!" I hadn't realized Grace was right beside me until I heard her peeved voice in my ear.
She considered me sourly. "Do you WANT to make an entrance?"
"Uh... not today, thanks."
"Well you'll probably have one anyway. Everyone's already at school and will be there when we show up!"
"So?" I was missing the point.
"So they'll be waiting for a confrontation between you and Ellen!" she exploded.
"Goodness, sweetcake, I know. It's called a war. It's not like you can avoid it."
She was still huffing as we pulled up to the school, but definitely looking nervous.
"No, really, go ahead," she told me as the door opened.
"That's right, ladies first," I said, stepping out first.
I was vaguely aware that Grace was beside me; I was grinning too much. "Um, Grace? Do you see what I see?" I asked.
Grace was holding back barely-controlled laughter. "I think so."
We watched in amusement as the two girls walking in front of us happily gossiped. The one on the left had "Can't touch this" written in white paint on the butt of her jeans. Her friend's butt simply said "Entry denied."
"What have you done?" Grace said but grinning.
"Why, I do believe I've started a new trend," I replied as another girl walked by with "I Hate This Part" being proclaimed in that area.
We were both grinning when I walked into someone. It was Ellen.
"Courtney," she greeted me with a sneer.
"Hellen," I greeted her with a snigger, emphasizing the hell part. Her face was still light blue, giving her a ghost-like quality.
"Do you have any idea how much it cost to re-dye my hair?" she snarled in a dangerous voice.
"More than it took to re-make your nose?"
Several on-lookers sniggered.
"How very mature of you," she said sarcastically.
"Aw, thanks. You still have a lot to learn, though."
I noticed Nate beside her. "Well if it isn't King and Queen Ivy. So you're what, Yale?" I asked Ellen. "Is he your latest Harvard or something?" I indicated Nate. His face wasn't in the least bit blue anymore; most people were saying it was because I had felt sorry for him for being Ellen's boyfriend, so I hadn't dosed him as good. In truth, it was because my resources had run out.
"Hiya, Harvey," I smirked at Nate. He ignored me and hit Mark's arm. The two guys left, Mark shooting me a wink and Grace a glance. She blushed.
"You're looking a bit blue, Yale."
Ellen opened her mouth to retaliate but then, of all people, the Human Bouncing Wonder bounced his way into our midst.
"Ah, Ms. Meyers," he beamed at me. "Please remove your hat inside."
I pulled it off, fluffing my hair and smiling sweetly at Ellen. She glared, unable to spit out her poisonous thoughts.
Smirking, Grace and I melted away into the crowd.
***
This was going good. I had impressed Ms. Reynolds by my deep understanding of Shakespeare's Othello in English; I had also made a good enough impression on Coach Harris yesterday to have her come up today and invite me to tryouts. I accepted.
Today was Day Two on my schedule, which meant I had History before lunch instead of Gym. I had done rather awfully since I knew only Canadian history.
"Courtney, who was our first President?"
"Umm... George Bush's many-times-great-grandfather?"
Not that great. At lunch, Grace and I had gone out, mainly to avoid all the people who were high-fiving me and smiling at me and coming up to me to get me to read whatever was written on the butt of their jeans.
Now, however, according to my Day Two schedule, I had Math. "Why do I have English and Math every day?" I whined to Grace as we finished at our lockers.
"Lord, I don't know. But you're going to have to put up with Alice's questions. Got your scissors?"
I rummaged around in my bag. "Yep."
"Use it only in case of emergencies," Grace said solemnly.
I rolled my eyes. "Alice IS one big emergency," but Grace had already hurried off after a quick hug and wave.
I walked into Math class where Mr. Vector was standing at the board.
"Courtney. Sit your gluteus maximus down," he invited.
"I'm going to guess that's my butt."
"Your butt muscle," he corrected.
"Oh. I was unaware I had one."
As I neared my group, I swear I saw Jacob's nose get closer and closer to his paper, ducking his head as far as his neck would allow.
I sat down across from him, beside a quiet Alice.
"Ahem."
I looked at Jacob but all that happened was that he brought one hand up to nervously flatten the fringe into his eyes.
"A-HEM."
Jacob raised reluctant eyes to my face.
"Hello, Jacob," I said pleasantly.
"Hey, Courtney," he mumbled.
I waited. He squirmed for a few uncomfortable minutes during which I continued to stare at him.
"I'm sorry."
"Not yet, you aren't," I promised him.
His eyes widened. "Okay, okay. I take back what I said yesterday, all right?"
"What did you say, exactly?" I asked sweetly.
"Um. A lot of things which were wrong, I see that now."
"Mm-hmm. But what sort of things did you say?" I persisted. He wasn't getting off easy.
He gulped and flicked his eyes quickly to my face. I suppose he saw something there because he mumbled, "Look, I'm just sorry for everything, okay?"
"C'mon, search your mind - that shouldn't take long," I said.
He sighed. "All right. I'm sorry for saying that you're just like them. Happy?"
"Not yet," I said. I bent low over a thick piece of cardboard I had purposely found at home and wrote in a black Sharpie: SHE'S JUST LIKE THEM.
I popped the lid back onto the marker and picked up the paper, holding it out to Jacob.
"Here," I said. "I want you to eat your words."
Annoyance flashed across his face. He leaned back and crossed his arms. "No," he said stubbornly, his jaw becoming more pronounced. "I'm not eating a stupid piece of cardboard. Besides, 'eating one's words' is entirely figurative. I apologized many times; I was wrong about you. And that's all I'm going to do."
I studied him for a moment and then grinned. "Nice. You're not a pushover after all."
"Excuse me?"
"For once, that wasn't an insult. I would have insulted you if you HAD eaten your words..." I grinned, "but you didn't, so that means you're not a pushover."
He stared at me.
"Well, thank goodness that's out of the way," I continued when I saw no response was forthcoming from a confused Jacob. "I couldn't have been friends with a pushover, you know," I told him, absent-mindedly shredding the cardboard.
He finally gave a real grin. "What makes you think I would want to be friends with something like you?"
I didn't really have time to reply because Mr. Vector's voice cut in.
"Young people, eyeballs up here or I will tape your tongues to the roofs of your mouths."
I ran my tongue over my lips.
"So as I was saying, for those who weren't listening," he gave a pointed stare in our direction, "your test will be on Friday."
"Sir," a girl raised her hand, "do we have to memorize all the equations?"
Mr. Vector smiled. "I'm going to make your lives easier. Instead of telling you 'you have to memorize this and that equation, I'm just not going to give you any equations at all!"
He beamed in delight as the class let out one huge groan.
I noticed there were things written on the board that I hadn't noticed because I was terrorizing Jacob. It was a list of things to study and criteria for the test.
Mr. Vector now added in yellow chalk "The only equations that will be provided will be the equations that will be provided."
The class groaned again. "How very impish of me," Mr. Vector complimented himself with self-approval.
"All right, well get to it young people!" he said, flapping his arms as though preparing for take-off, "The homework is on the board! Don't make me come and beat you!"
I looked at the people beside me in some alarm at this. They all wore bored and resigned looks as they pulled out the massive textbooks, so I was guessing this was a typical usual threat.
I turned back in my seat in time to see Alice hastily stuff something in her Gucci purse.
"What was that?" I asked, a suspicion forming.
She wouldn't meet my eyes. "Nothing."
"Give it here," I said commandingly, holding my hand out.
"No," said Alice, but she looked scared.
"Alice," I said, pulling out my scissors, "I swear I will cut you bald if you don't hand me the invitation!"
At the word 'invitation' Jacob's head flew up to look at us.
"Please don't," she said pitifully in a small voice.
I pursed my lips. "Even though it goes against everything in me, I promise not to harm the dang thing in any way."
She hesitantly pulled out a familiar thin and elegant piece of paper. I unfolded it.
Hers was identical to mine, with a vine of Ivy curling at the side. The only thing different was her name, which read Alice Jade Worthington, and the date. It was this Friday. I suppose, according to Grace, this was the 'sweat it out' period of time.
I didn't say anything but grimly handed it to Jacob. Alice gave a small squeak of terror.
Jacob gave her a look. "Relax," he murmured to her as he scanned the invite. He shook his head and passed the slip of paper to the anxious Alice who reverently folded it exactly the way it had been, and, after one last fond look, returned it to her purse.
Jacob and I looked at each other. Bugger it. They were recruiting to fill in the two empty spaces. Who would be the next one to get an invite?
** Hey guys, hope you liked it! So who do you think will get the next invite? Feel free to comment! Have a superly fantastic evening/day! :) **