"True popularity comes from acts of kindness rather than acts of stupidity." ~Bo Bennet
The rest of my periods were torturously long. I was extremely glad when it was lunch time. I looked around for Scarlett and Sophia but couldn't find them. They were probably late from one for their classes. Scanning around the cafeteria I spotted Maya and Katie. I sighed in relief. Katie was probably the closest person to me after Scar and Sof.
I made my way towards there table and plopped my lunch on the table eager to finally be able to devour my food.
"Hey Alana" they both said in unison.
"Hi" I replied back. I was pretty close to Katie but not so much to Maya. Katie and Maya were best friends kind of like how Sophia Scarlett and I were. We talked about our school day so far and of course, about the night before. Katie looked a little uncomfortable as she kept twirling her golden brown hair.
"Are you alright?" I questioned her.
"Yes, just a little tried." She responded.
After about ten minutes Sophia came and sat down beside me. I turned towards her "It's about time you came." I said quite annoyed.
"Sorry" she said sheepishly while her cheeks turned pink slightly. Wait, Sophia was blushing? It had to be the boy that she danced with yesterday. I would tease her but I wouldn't want Maya and Katie to find out. I was a big tease but I wasn't that cruel. I'm going to plan this carefully with Scarlett I thought. Wait where was Scarlett? I turned to Sophia ignoring her blush and asked "Where is Scarlett?"
"She's playing basketball with the guys." She replied. I rolled my eyes, wherever there were sports there was Scarlett. I should have known.
All of a sudden the cafeteria became eerily quiet. That could only mean one thing, the bugs had entered. I turned to see that I was correct. High almighty Sasha and Natasha strutted into the cafeteria. Now, they weren't actually bugs, but instead a group of two-faced, gossip, mean girls. They could even star in Mean Girls 3! See what I did there. Anyway each of the bugs was a devil in their own way. In addition to that fact, they were all drop-dead gorgeous.
Sasha was the type of girl you wanted to stay out of. She would make low blows to your face but it wouldn't just stop there. Constant snide remarks and public humiliation came with the package. Natasha was like a sly fox, pretending to love you, until she could stab your back. Unlike most stereotypical girls, they were both cunningly smart taking most AP classes.
I could honestly say these girls had made school hell for so many people. That's what pissed me of. School was supposed to be a safe haven from your family life but they made it worse. I can still remember the time when their victim was me. I was only in grade seven and it had hurt be beyond anyone else. If I look back now, I don't care but before it felt like thousands needles piercing through my skin.
Sasha stepped on a table and flipped her russet hair over her shoulders. All of the guy's eyes flew to her emerald green ones. Her smirk became a thin frown as if she had noticed that all the popular guys were not here. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Sophia smirking probably thinking how stupid she was.
There were all outside playing sports. At the thought of this fear washed over me. If she had something so important to say she would physically go and say it, disturbing the game Scarlett was playing. My skin paled at that thought.
Sasha and Natasha had often interrupted her games and Scarlett had threated to break their face if they ever did it again. Knowing Scarlett, she was perfectly capable of doing that. After all she took karate for years and she was able to stand her ground with her older brother.
"I will be having a Halloween Party on October 31st" she started off, "Only exclusive important people will be invited. The invitations will be put in your locker if you're lucky enough to get them"
Sasha and Natasha snickered and looked at the not so popular people. I felt my blood began to boil.
In and out I repeated to myself over and over again.
With that the bugs left the cafeteria and you could hear theire high heels in the hallways. Everyone in the cafeteria started talking about the Halloween Party.
"What did she have to say" said a voice. I turned around to and see Scarlett sit down on the table.
"Just about her Halloween Party On October 31st" said Sophia in high pitched voice. I snorted and I felt that my juice was about to come up. I looked around to see everyone was laughing.
"Nobody really gives a damn about them." said Maya.
"They just really want to become popular which is why they pretend to care so much." said Katie.
I nodded my head. That was all true. Honestly, the only reason the bugs were popular was because the whole school let them be. If we had not given them a second glance I'm pretty sure they would be sitting alone at a table.
"So guys, let's get out of this glum mood and go play soccer. It has been like what? Three years since you last played, Ally?" Scarlett.
"Yes. I gave up for good, after grade eight."
"Just because you got injured once doesn't mean you have to give up for good."
Ouch.
She had hit a soft spot. After playing on an extremely rainy day I had slipped and had injured not only my leg but my pride as well. I had failed my team; let them down when they had needed me, resulting in us losing the semi-final game and being kicked out of the tournament.
"I have a perfectly valid reason as to why I stopped." My face was becoming red with an angry blush.
"It's not valid, it's stupid!" Scarlett almost yelled. She turned to Sophia. "Don't you agree Soph? She used to be one of the best defense players until she gave up. Just because of one little thing, she let it get in her way."
"Scarlett calm down!" Soph cried. Everything felt weird. It was as though we had all switched bodies. None of us was acting like ourselves. She faced me. "It's about time you got over it, Ally. Nobody will remember. That's all I'm saying."
"You weren't in my position." I muttered. Glancing at the pizza I didn't feel so hungry anymore.
"Does it matter? Most of the guys playing won't even remember. They didn't go to the same middle school as us. It was true. Dillon and Nick had came in our school freshmen year. They had attended another middle school along with half the students.
I sighed. "I'm in." Knowing Scarlett wouldn't drop the subject. She would have dragged me either way.
Scarlett pumped her fist in the air, "That's great Ally! Are you coming Sophia?"
"I'm sorry guys, but I have to finish up a math assignment." She responded.
Scarlett and I both gave her a weird glance.
"You're never behind in homework!" I said in a bewildered voice.
"Mind telling us the real reason?" Scarlett said while she raised her eyebrows.
Sophia sighed. "You girls caught me, Miss Lena asked me to help her mark the quizzes from the morning.
Scarlett gave her a salute and said in a mocking voice, "Say no more Professor Hansen, have fun marking the quizzes and remember to give me a smiley face beside my 100%."
With that we both turned our separate ways. Scarlett and I to the soccer field while Sophia to Miss Lena's math class.
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On the way to the soccer field Scarlett turned towards me and said "Don't freak out or kill me."
I looked at her in surprise. "Why would I want to kill you?"
"Because I know you, and you'll be mad at me when you find out." She said looking kind of terrified.
That was extremely weird. Scarlett was afraid of very few things. Now I really wanted to know what she had done and was terrified of me finding out.
But then she smirked at me and said. "You're going to have a lot of fun today Ally."
When we reached the soccer field, the pieces in my brain finally clicked. In the middle of the soccer field stood Nick with his best friend Dillon and their pals. He was running his hand through his brown hair while his friends were getting ready to start a game. I felt the color drain away from my skin and before I could turn around and flee Scarlett had already called out to the guys
"Dillon! Wait up bro! We're playing too." She hollered.
Dillon and Shaun turned around in surprise. Yeah I got it. They almost never saw me play soccer. You do know what they say; never judge a book by its cover.
"She playing too?" he asked in a confused voice.
"Yes, she, who has a name is playing." Scarlett replied.
"You're kidding me Scar, aren't you? Nobody but you ever liked to play with us." Said another voice from behind Dillon, the voice turned around and I saw that it was Shaun.
Of course they had to be surprised. The last time I played was in middleschool, just because you don't see someone playing something at school doesn't mean that they don't play it somehere else. I really wanted to prove everyone wrong. I smirked at all of them and said "Game on boys." Then to prove how serious I was, I took my long auburn hair and tied it in a bun. I stared at Dillon and hazel eyes met cerulean blue ones. He couldn't hold my gaze. He stopped staring.
Yeah jerk in your face I win! I thought.
"Fine let's get started. Scarlett and I will be captains and let's see who actually wins the game." Dillon said.
"Fine but I get to pick first." Scarlett said as she shrugged.
"Sure, but my team will win anyways no matter who you pick." Dillon said arrogantly.
"In your dreams" Scarlett said venomously and then changed her voice to her normal. "Alana, Shaun, Tyler, Brandon and Kevin are on my team. The rest are yours Dilly boy."
"Ugh! Don't call me that Scarlett I hate that name!" Dillon said in hatred as his handsome face turned into an unattractive one.
"That's what nicknames are for idiot, names that you hate to be called but need to be called." Scarlett said in a joking manner.
Dillon groaned and said "Come on Nick, Shaun and everyone. It's time to kick some a*ss." With that Dillon and his team trotted to the other side of the field.
On the other side we all got into position. The game commenced. I had to win for not only pride but also Scarlett's sake. It was due to her I was playing after so long. It was time to be the best defense women there is! Just as I finished thinking that, I saw Alex, Dillon and Nick rush towards the goalie.
I have to prove myself I thought. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kevin had run up and he had tried taking the ball from Nick. From Nick's feet positioning I could tell that he was going to pass it to Dillon so I ran with a burst of speed and kicked the ball away from him.
Too bad in the process I also kicked Dillon. I heard a loud yelp. I looked and saw Dillon on the grass rolling in pain.
"You kick so hard, women." He said while growling.
"I'm sorry" I said and smiled sweetly not really meaning it. He had been so rude before! Revenge is so sweet. Yeah I know what you're going to say next, paybacks a b*itch but it's worth it.
The guys were all laughing on the grass and Scarlett being the smart girl she was, took the chance and ran to the opposite net. She kicked the ball hard and it landed in the goal. Then she started dancing like a manic and came back to where we were all sitting around Dillon the girl.
"In your face Dillon, Alana and I just kicked your butt." Scarlett said proudly. Then she decided in envelope me in a tight hug. "It's all thanks to you kicking Dillon, Alana."
"Man, Dillon you just got kicked in your shin and also lost a game both done by girls. That's hilarious dude." Nick said while he smirked at his friend. This made my heart skip. Yes I know, it's very cheesy but I had a massive crush on him.
"Both of you should consider joining the soccer team with us." Shaun said while looking impressed. "We need people to injury the other players and if a girl hits them they can't hit her back." I never knew Alex was such a cunning boy but seriously after today I remembered how fun soccer used to be. I would love to join the soccer team. Our school doesn't have one for girls because there aren't that many players but it would be and honor to play with the guys who if I have not mentioned are extremely talented soccer players.
"We'll think about it." Both Scarlett and I replied in unison. As we finished our sentence the bell rang. The rest of the day passed without action and by end I was relived. School was finally out. FREEDOM!
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I walked home to fun the house very silent. I found a note on the table. It read.
Gone grocery shopping also had to drop of Justin to soccer practice. Foods on the stove eat it. Be back soon -Mom
I had the house to myself. This was probably the best thing that happened in the world to me. Grinning I skipped over supper/ dinner and went to the junk food cupboard. I grabbed a couple of snacks and headed to my room. Closing the door I changed into more comfortable clothes and boosted up my laptop. Now was the perfect time to watch now you see me. If you haven't seen that movie then you really need to close this website and watch it. It is remarkable and hands down one of my favourite movies. Near the ending I heard a car park in the driveway.
Oh shoot. My mom was here. I discarded my wrappers of Maynard's, and Doritos sweet chili heat. Then I opened my textbook to a random algebra page and pretended to be looking hard. At the same time my room door opened and my brother came in all smelly. Perfect timing, if I do say so myself.
"Hey Justin, how was soccer practice" I asked pretending to care.
"Really good, the coach put me as center forward." He said while looking excited. Now I was interested.
"How... did you get center forward!" I said with my mouth open.
"Practice" he said and smirked and ran out of my room.
Now that was outstanding. My brother and me and always played defense. I guess it ran in the family you could say. Getting forward was a big deal. I felt my eyes closing. I packed my bag and changed into my pajamas and drifted to sleep. The last thought I had was of getting into the soccer team.
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