As I headed towards the gym with my head down, I suddenly heard the nasally sounds of Martin as he called out, "Lamby Pie! Wait for me snookums!"

Do I really need to say that this did not help my mood or my day.

I heard Hay Lin say to Cornelia, "See Cornelia your wrong there is a boy that likes Irma, so there!"

Hay Lin really is a good friend, I 'll try to remember that after I salvage my pride.

But Cornelia, never one to be outdone, just replied, "Martin is not really a boy, he doesn't even count as human. Hanging with him will NOT improve her stock and she really needs to face her options. Because hanging with her is starting to make MY stock go down."

I turned around just in time to see Taranee and Will stop laughing and stare at Cornelia.

Caleb looked shocked and said, " Cornelia you need to stop right now..."

But Cornelia just cut him off and kept going, "What?! Don't look at me that way, I'm just saying what we all know to be true! I'm just getting tired of making excuses for why she is such a hopeless spazz. Hanging with her is costing me 'cool' friends and even Matt and Nigel are starting to avoid her!"

It took all my strength to turn back towards glass and try to walk away with some dignity. The tears had stopped, but only because I was in a state of shock.

Martin stood to my side and called my name again, but I was so not able to deal with him at the moment, I just shuffled into class and told Mr. Walton I was too sick with female problems to participate in class today. He saw my tear stained face and must have believed I was in great physical pain, so for once he just nodded and let me sit on the bleachers.

I spent the hour sitting quietly with my head in my hands, while Cornelia's words echoed in my head. That had been so unexpected and harsh. What had I done to deserve that kind of treatment? Even worse, was the thought that my friends who were happily part of couples were feeling the burden of my company.

This day just was not getting any better.

I didn't even hear the bell ring, Hay Lin walked over and put her hand on my shoulder and said, "Hey Irma, class is over. Are you okay?"

I looked at her and weakly nodded. Then I told her to go on without me I needed some time alone. As she walked out of the gym ahead of me, I had a glimpse of my lonely and solitary future.


The rest of the day, I kept to myself. I skipped lunch and sat in the library thinking and pretending to read a book so no one would talk to me. Several times, I heard kids in the hall re-hashing Cornelia's in-my-face episode from this morning. As if being there and hearing it the first time wasn't bad enough, I was treated to stares as other girls added their own opinions to Cornelia's, and let me just say, no one had anything good to say and other than Hay Lin in the hall, no one came to my defense. And you know the gossip is bad when even clueless Martin stays away.

It's a scary thing when you realize a lot of people don't like you. It's even scarier when you realize that most of your best friends think of you as a bothersome freak. I mean, what do you do with that kind of epiphany? This is not the kind of self realization you seek out.

Finally it was time to go home, I grabbed my coat without saying a word to my 'friends' and headed home.

About two blocks from the school, I heard someone running behind me. Then Caleb's voice, yelling, "Hey Irma, wait up."

I must be a glutton for punishment!! Hadn't I just been viscously attacked by his girlfriend earlier today, while he stood there and heard every mean word? So why did my feet stop walking? Why didn't I just keep going home, climb into bed and hide under the covers?

But what can I say? Caleb's voice, his eyes are all I dream about...I'll take what I can get, he's worth it.