"Ugh." Blair slammed her trigonometry book shut and groaned aloud to no one in particular. "I don't understand any of this material!"
Ms. Muldune, the school librarian, better known as 'Moose Jaw Muldune' glared at Blair from behind her bifocals that seemed to make her pale, grey eyes appear even larger. She held up a plump finger to her lips.
Blair mouthed a half-hearted 'sorry' and sighed deeply. She knew she needed to study, but she just couldn't help drifting into her thoughts. She looked at her surroundings. The Eastland library was beautiful and she was so happy that her family's legacy, although slightly tarnished, was a part of it. She was glad her grandfather's money went to good use, to something worthwhile.
Blair smiled.
The debutante wasn't as shallow as she appeared to be. She had many layers. "Yeah like an onion." She could hear her roommate, Jo quip. She chuckled lightly.
As if on cue, a sporty brunette plopped into the chair across from Blair, producing a loud, 'thud'. Blair was still daydreaming and didn't notice her, although Ms. Muldune did.
"Sssh!"
Jo ignored the grumpy librarian and turned her attention to the girl in front of her.
Jo snapped her fingers. "Hey, Blondie. You over there thinkin' about that weenie, Bink Parker again?" she joked. Blair finally snapped out of her reverie and glared at Jo, pretending to be more annoyed with her than she actually was.
"Very funny."
"So I heard ya over here talkin' ta yaself and -"
Blair stared at her . "I was not talking to myself. A Warner would never do-"
Jo cut her off. " Whateva Blair, anyway do ya need help with your trig homework?" Blair looked grateful, but cautious. Jo noticed. She held her hands up, defensively. "Hey, no catch. Just didn't wanna hear ya complain' like last time. Ya went on for days."
Blair feigned offense, gasped, and brought a perfectly manicured hand up to her ample bosom. "I did no such thing, Jo. I simply stated that a Warner is-"
"Held to a higher standard than the rest of us and that your father would be upset, and blah blah blah." Jo finished. "You went on forever."
"I wasn't that bad."
"You were a nightmare. That's all you would talk about for hours, about how you would disgrace the Warner name and ruin your 'perfect' image."
Blair gave up. There as no arguing with Jo. She nodded. "You're right, you're right. Perhaps I was a bit bothersome."
Jo chuckled. "Yeah, a bit." She shook her head, still smiling. This was as good as "owning up" was going to get with Blair.
Jo stared at her roommate. Blair was beautiful, this was no secret. But what was a secret was just how much Jo agreed with this fact. Jo didn't even realized she was staring so intensely at the heiress or how far she had drifted off into her nostalgic daydream about the first time she and Blair had crossed paths three years before.
She remembered it like it was yesterday.
September 1980
Jo pulled up to Eastland on her 1977 Kawasakiki kz100. 'Oops.' She thought as she ran over some flowers.The brunette hopped off her bike and looked around. 'The school isn't as fancy as I thought. Sure it's more than I'm used to, but it's not that big of a deal like I thought it would be.' She shrugged and strutted through the door. Appearing to be more confident than she actually felt. When she walked in she noticed three people standing in the middle of the cafeteria. A beautiful, curvy, well dressed blonde, a pretty plump girl with rosy cheeks, and a redheaded older woman. They were clearly just talking about her, by the way were staring her. 'My loud exhaust musta scared 'em.' She thought with a chuckle. She was tired of the staring contest, so she spoke. "Is this where I'm supposed to be?" she asked.
The blonde spoke up and pointed opposite the way Jo had entered. "Delivery boys, use the rear entrance." Jo was both amused and offended by the mistake.
Suddenly realizing she still had on her motorcycle helmet, she removed it shaking out her brown ponytail. "Delivery boy? Ha, Gimme a break. Is this where I'm supposed to check in?"
The blonde was stunned. She laughed, almost nervously, Jo noticed. "I don't believe this." she said, realizing her mistake.
The other girl spoke up. "You don't? I was gonna ask him to the fall dance!"
Jo had enough and held up her hand as if to strike her, but her eyes stayed on the blonde.
Finally the redhead spoke up, "You must be the new student, Jo."
"Yeah, how'd ya know?"
"Well, I've never seen a motorcycle parked in my flowerbed before."
Jo felt bad, but didn't dare show it. She shrugged. " I thought they were weeds." and walked past them, taking in her surroundings.
The blonde girl gave Jo a once over, stopping at her derriere. Once she realized where her eyes had rested, she tried to play it off, hoping no one noticed. So she made a crude comment about the Jo's jeans which caused Jo to threaten her. Once again, the school dietitian interfered.
"Don't hit a total stranger, introduce yourselves first!"
She nudged the blonde, who reluctantly extended her hand. "Blair Warner." she said shortly. She wasn't sure if she liked this girl. She didn't know how she felt about her. It was strange. She did know she had never met anyone like Jo. Jo felt the exact same way about the Blair, she also downplayed her feelings with sarcasm as she offered her hand. "Gloria Vanderbilt." Suddenly Blair jerked her hand back. Jo knew why, that's why she didn't shake the other girl's hand during their introduction.
Jo continued to taunt Blair. "Ooh, your hand's dirty. Better go have it steam cleaned or somethin'."
This time Blair had enough. She took a step forward. "Why you little-"
Jo decided. She liked her, for now. This chick had guts for a girly girl. She was just never going to admit that. To anyone. Ever.
Mrs. Garrett intervened once more, but not for the last time. "Your room assignments are on the board. Go see who you're bunking with."
Natalie and Blair hurried off into the lounge, excitedly to see who they were going to be rooming with. Although she was curious, Jo acted cool on the surface. 'Never let 'em see ya sweat.' She thought. When they reached the bulletin board in the lounge. Blair scrunched up her face, in confusion or disgust. No one could be sure. She read the name aloud.
"Joanne Pol-knee-a-zek." she and Natalie laughed. "Does she come with an interpreter for that name?
Their laughs were cut short when a menacing looking Jo came toward them. Natalie moved out of the way, fast. "It's Pol-nia-czek"
Blair was in complete and total disbelief that this was happening to her.
"You?"
Jo held up a fist. "Yeah and I got your interpreter right here. Nobody jokes about my name."
Blair was nervous, but kept her composure as she hurled an insult right back at Jo.
"They really don't have to. There's enough laughs in the way you look and act."
Jo stepped closer.
Mrs. Garrett stepped in between them and spoke to Natalie, whom everyone almost forgot was in the room.
"Natalie, why don't you show Jo a better place to park her motorcycle."
Jo, feeling the need to prove herself had to have the last word. "Why don't I just park it on Blair's face?" As she walked away, she had a slight smile on her face. She knew this was going to be interesting. And it was. Later that day Jo met Tootie and since then the four girls had been through so much together. They stole the school van, got arrested for sneaking in a bar and even ended up rooming together above the kitchen to pay off the debt for the damages to school property. Tootie said it was gonna be 'some kind of semester'.
'And it was.' Jo thought to herself, smiling, still lost in her daydream about the debutante. She had forgotten where she was and of her present company who was now looking at her as if she arrived from another planet.
Blair waved a hand in front of Jo's face and then snapped her fingers.
"Earth to Jo, can you hear me? Hey Polniaczek!"
Jo snapped out of her daydream and looked at Blair, now blushing a deep crimson.
Blair noticed.
"What were you thinking about?" she asked, genuinely interested.
Jo shook her head
"Nothin'. she cleared her throat, nervously. "Nothin'. So you need help with your trig or what?"