I was sat on my bed read that book Zach had given me moments before I'd punched Jackie this afternoon – my reason for being cooped up in the first place, on Homecoming. It's all about Evolution this book, and it's got some interesting things in it. Dr Suresh really believed that there were, are, people out there, like me, with powers. This guy is a genius! He talks about this certain genotype that's inside each and every one of us, and that's what makes us all the way we are, there's this thing that triggers the powers and-
My mobile went off, it was ringing shrilly by my side, and it was kind of hard to ignore. So I picked it up and push out the screen, a new SMS from Zach. Why would Zach be texting me on Homecoming? Anyway, it read "Clack. Clack-clack", which it's safe to say was a little confusing so I wrote back instantaneously: "Zach? What r u doing?" and almost immediately get a message back saying: "Throwing rocks at ur window! Open up!". I frowned ever so slightly before rolling sideways off my bed towards my window, and unlocking the hinges to find a ladder propped on the roof that leads up to it.
And there he was. The guy who lead my campaign. The guy who got me voted Homecoming Queen by getting me the 'freak vote'.
"What's going on?" I asked, momentarily blocking his pathway into my room.
"I'm here to rescue you." Like a Knight in shining armour perhaps. "Let's go!" That is about the nicest thing anybody has ever done for me, Zach, no matter how horrid I've ever been to him, is always so nice to me. So why can't I make the effort to be nice in return?
"I'm grounded," I said matter-of-factly, it sounded kind of harsh after it came out, why do I always do that to him?
"No one grounds the queen, come on," he's still stood on that ladder, not coming in, and he was not giving up any time soon either.
"Yeah, tell that to my Dad!" I did it again, making points with a harsh tone and digging into his niceness! I really need to stop!
"You only get to be Homecoming Queen once," he started to ascend into my bedroom now, knowing that he wasn't going to win as easily as he once thought, "and you know what, you already cemented your victory in the eyes of the student body by punching Jackie. Plus if you back out now, she becomes Queen." He stood before me, looking down at me, and I couldn't help but notice how much he seemed to care. He was doing this for me, and I could see it in his eyes.
"My Dad would pitch a fit!" I turned and walked away from him, and I knew I was being a bitch to him. He was trying to get me to have a good time, to go to Homecoming. Even if it meant going against my Dad, who had always quite scared him. But he was still here.
"So big deal, he grounds you more, what? He double grounds you! But come on, you deserve this!" I smiled at him, wholeheartedly. He was always so good to me. He was trying his hardest not to make too much noise. And he was trying his hardest to persuade me to go with him. You know what? He was right. I did deserve it, I may have been a bitchy cheerleader, but I didn't look down on the rest of the people in my school like they were scum. My best friend was one of them, and I would not be turning away from them.
"I do deserve this," I smiled at him, he was fiddling with something on my desk, not looking at me, some may even say avoiding looking at me out of fear of something or other. "And tonight," I continued with that smile on my face, "you can be my date to the dance!" I got up sprightly and made my way to get ready.
He actually looked shocked. Why would a cheerleader want to go to a dance with a 'freak'? Why, because he was my best friend that's why. Right about now I don't give a damn what Jackie thinks of me, I beat her because of him, and I wasn't about to let him down. Not now.
"Me?"
"Sure why not?" And I was utterly convinced that by going with him I could prove to him, and myself that I wasn't as shallow as I seemed. He had been such an amazing friend to me, and I was going to repay him by letting him take me to the dance. That is shallow! But all the same, it really wasn't out of shallowness, I didn't mean it like I was allowing him to come with me as a favour to him. I wanted to go with him. Like I had done with the dance we had had in sixth grade.
He had dropped whatever it was he had been fiddling with, and scratched his lower cheek, and he looked positively uncomfortable. Shoving his hands deep into his jacket pockets and searching for the right words. He finally decided: "For a million different reasons."
"Is it about what Jackie said, because I don't care-"
"I don't care about that. You think I care about that?" he had taken up the seat I had departed not a minute ago, and I sat on my window sill, amidst the bears, oh god those freaking bears! I really need to get rid of them, or have less on show! "She can call me whatever she wants I'm not gunna be embarrassed by it. I know who I am. I like who I am. I like who you are," I felt like smiling, not because he had paid me a compliment; but because he had paid me that compliment. In the last six months I had just wanted to be accepted for who I was in the real world. And he did, he likes it, and that is what I needed to hear. "I just … I just wish that," he pointed at me, his hand still in his pocket, and I smile ever-so-slightly, "you liked who you are."
"I'm finally realising who my friends really are," I looked him in the eye, and let him in that little bit more. Sure I had confided my deepest secret, but this was really saying something, out of all the people I knew, no matter how popular I was, they weren't my friends. Not my real friends. Zach was my real friend. "That maybe being different isn't the end of the world. It's just who I am."
"Exactly," his smile was so wide, and so cute, it was hard not to melt at the sight of it, but then I remembered, this was Zach, the boy best friend I had known since kindergarten, and always loved deep down, the best friend I'd ever had, "you gotta embrace your inner freak."
Quite what happened then, a stupid half laugh came out, semi through my nose and it sounded so utterly retarded. But he just smiled at me more.
"Cause the only thing you'll regret is denying who you really are."
That's when I realised; it wasn't who I had been when I was 'normal'. It was who I was now, and that's what truly mattered. I had a friend, for the first time in my cheerleading life, I had a friend. Somebody who 'loved' me, and I 'loved' in return; a platonic love. The sort of love held between friends, best friends. The person you can count on the most. And that the main thing I know now. Zach is that person for me. I can count on him no matter what, and now, he can count on me. I hope, because I need him more than anyone, and I want him in my life.