Disclaimer- We'll put it this way. I own it no more today than I did yesterday. Make of that what you will.
Chapter 3- See no evil, hear no evil, date no evil.
Mrs. Hudson's geometry class was the worst part of my day for a multitude of reasons. For one it's directly to the left of the cafeteria so having to deal with that lovely aroma is just one of my daily trials. Secondly, math or anything math related isn't exactly where I shine. I'm much more of an English and literature type of girl. And last, but certainly not least, he's in this class.
Jared Thail.
Now, I know what you're thinking. Out of the Fearsome Foursome he's probably the least threatening of them all. I mean, come on, he just stands in the background and does nothing. How bad can he be?
Yeah, well, I thought the same thing. That was my mistake.
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(Freshman Year Flashback)
"This can't be happening." I said to the girls who were lounging around at various points in my bedroom.
Sara was sitting on the edge of my computer chair, absently playing with a paperclip. Tiffany was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of my bed dragging a piece of string around in front of Nutter-Butter (my cat) who was watching the string with a surprisingly dubious look on his little feline face. Ally was sitting on my window seat watching me with a concerned expression.
"What can't be happening?" Tiffany stood up, abandoning her sting and plopped herself onto the bed next to me where I was lying staring up at the ceiling still reeling with shock. Nutty pounced triumphantly on the piece of string that was left behind.
"I can't even say it out loud." I flipped on to my stomach and rested my chin on my pillow.
No I certainly couldn't. This was too amazing to be true. Things like this just don't happen to girls like me. Girls who are almost six feet tall and built like Vikings don't get asked out by guys like him. If I tried to say it out loud I would surely wake up from this dream and if this was in fact a dream I didn't ever want to wake up.
"Well, if you're not going to say it out loud that certainly puts a damper on this conversation." Sara left the chair, stepped over Nutty, pushed my feet out of the way and sat in the space they vacated at the end of my bed next to Tiff.
"Sweetheart, you'll have to eventually tell us." Ally lifted herself from the window seat and came over to join us on my small double bed, leaning up against the headboard.
"No," I stubbornly sat up, sat Indian style and hugged my smiley face pillow to my chest.
All during this exchange the same mantra was playing in my head; This isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't happening….
"Ok, how about this," Tiff jumped up and ran over to my desk. She grabbed my heart and peace sign covered notebook and my fluffy topped pen before turning back to me again, "If you can't say it then you can still write it, right?"
They all turned to stare at me, waiting for an answer. I considered it. I heard somewhere that you couldn't read or write in dreams. Well, this was as good a way as any to figure out if this was really happening or not.
I held out my hand for the notebook and pen. They all straightened up and watched me impatiently while I put the pen to the paper. Tiffany tried to shift to look but I leaned away from her and shot her a warning look. She held up her hands in surrender and stopped trying to peak.
Jared Thail asked me to the homecoming dance.
Well, I could read and write so I guess I wasn't dreaming. I handed the notebook over to Sara. The three of them scurried over to her side of the bed to read over her shoulder.
" 'Jared Thail asked me to the homecoming dance' ," Sara read slowly, like she was trying to make sense of it….then… "JARED THAIL ASKED YOU TO THE HOMECOMING DANCE?"
I glance over to my bedroom door, expecting my over-eager mother to come running in at the prospect of my beginning to date but quickly remembered that she was pulling a double shift tonight. Dodged that bullet.
It had happened in the hallway as I was leaving World History class. I was trying to write the homework in my planner and walk at the same time. Jared was leaning up against the lockers surrounded by Amy, Shandra and Sean. They were all speaking to each other in hushed voices and shooting the occasional glances at me. I quickly diverted my gaze from them. They weren't the once you wanted to piss of and I certainly wasn't going to be the one to do just that.
In my haste to look away and still writing in my planner I ended up tripping over Mr. Brauc's door stopper. All my books went flying to the ground and I soon followed. I had hit my elbow on the way down and may have twisted my ankle a bit.
Needless to say this isn't what worried me at the moment, thought. What I was worried about then was the fact that I was holding up hallway traffic and everyone was staring at me. Me. The giant hulking monstrosity that couldn't even walk right.
I scrambled around on the ground, frantically trying to gather my belongings. I reached for my science notebook when a tanned hand sweeped down and picked it up. I looked up to find the owner of the hand. Oh my god. This isn't happening. Please tell me this isn't real. Jared Thail did not just see me trip like a fool.
I was squinting my eyes closed and trying to will myself away from the situation when he spoke, "I believe this belongs to you."
I slowly lifted my head to meet his eyes but found that I couldn't quite make it. Instead I stared at his chin. His perfect, chiseled chin. Had there even been such a good looking chin as this, I wondered.
I ducked my head forward, using my hair to hide my flaming face, when I realized that I had been staring at his chin like it was the freaking holy grail. "Um…Thanks." I mumbled and took the notebook from his hands.
Umm..THANKS??!!? God! What is the matter with me? I should have come up with something witty and charming to say that would have surely had him enthralled. Maybe made a joke about my own clumsiness. Anything but ummm.. Thanks!
"No problem." Jared ran a hand threw his hair and glanced back over to his friends who were watching us with a strange glint in their eyes.
He was probably dying to get back to them and away from me. I was just about to excuse myself so he would have an out to leave when he spoke again.
"Look, Karen-" he began.
Karen? Who the hell was Karen? It took me a minute to realize that that was me. Karen had never seemed like a lovelier name than it did at this moment. Despite this he should probably know this isn't my actual name. Just so there's no confusion when he signs the marriage certificate.
"It's Kim, " I interrupted timidly before chancing a glance at his face again, keeping my eyes firmly away from his chin. He wasn't looking at me but instead was staring at the lockers behind my head looking…..guilty? Huh?
"Yeah, whatever. Look, do you want to go to the dance with me?"
I just stood there staring at him and waiting for the punch line. Then none came. He couldn't be serous! Could he?
A full minute had passed since he had asked and I just stood there staring at him with my mouth open wide like I was at the flipping dentists office.
"Karen? Well, do you?"
I absentmindedly nodded an affirmative while wondering just how weird it would seem if I threw myself into his arms. Probably pretty wired. Weird enough to ruin all of this anyway.
"Great. I'll meet you there at seven. See you then, Karen." With that he was gone, disappearing around the bend in the hall with his friends in tow.
I was only slightly aware of the late bell ringing.
Oh, my god.
Jared Thail had just asked me out…..Holy shit.
Back in the present my three friends where all in various states of frenzy. Tiffany was jumping up and down on my bed screaming, "Oh my god!!! He is so HOT!!!"
Sara was bouncing excitedly in place while still sitting. At least I think she was bouncing excitedly. It might have just been Tiff's jumping. "He's a sophomore! An older man!"
Tiffany gasped and collapsed into a sitting position on the foot of my bed, watching me eagerly, "You know what this means, don't you? You, Kim, are dating the most popular guy in school! He's a sophomore! Not to mention completely delicious looking! " a look of shock registered on her face, "Oh my god! He can drive!"
This revelation started Sara and Tiff in on another screaming frenzy. It wasn't until then that it occurred to me that one member of our group was strangely missing in this conversation. Ally had moved herself back over to the window seat and was hugging her knees to her chest. She was watching me , only me completely ignoring Tiffany's and Sara's hysterics, with an odd look of worry on her face.
I extracted myself from the group hug that the shrieking Tiffany and Sara had felt compelled to pull me into and made my way over to sit next to her, leaning back against the slightly opened window. The cool breeze on the small of my back felt refreshing.
"What's up, Ally-gator?" I asked, pulling out our old childhood nickname for her.
She shifted slightly to look at me, something she had not done since I sat down. Her normally pretty and comforting face had twisted itself into a fearful but determined expression.;
"Doesn't this seem a bit odd to you? I mean, what? You've never even spoken to Jared before today. And suddenly he walks right up and asks you out?"
"Yeah..," I spoke slowly, trying to understand, "So..?"
"So something isn't right here. You've seen the type of girls Jared goes out with. You're not at all like them."
This was true. Jared had a history of dating two types of girls. Cheerleaders and sluts. Sometimes he got lucky and could find both qualities in one girl.
I stared at her in shock, feeling like I had been slapped. She was supposed to be my best friend! And she couldn't even fathom a guy like Jared, who was sweet and funny and good-looking and popular, would have any interest in me?
I didn't want to jump the gun and accuse her of something so when I found my voice I croaked out, "What, exactly, are you saying?"
By this time Tiffany and Sara had noticed that they were alone in the celebrating and had started to watch us with confused looks on their faces. Silent tension filled the room and replace the previous air of excitement.
"Kim, he's popular. And you know how he and his group treat people. You know what they did to Chelsea Diamond in the fifth grade. Something isn't right here."
Ally was now staring at me with a pleading look on her face while I tried to make sense of her words. Who was I in this scenario? Chelsea Diamond? No. That couldn't be. Jared would never do something like that to me.
"I'm not Chelsea Diamond, Ally. And this isn't the fifth grade anymore. They've grown up. " I tried to inject some confidence into my tone.
"No, Kim, they haven't grown up! Not at all! We've grown up but they haven't!" Ally's shriek added to the tension level in the room.
Ally was starting to look angry now. She stood up in front of me so she towered over me in my sitting position on the window seat. Suddenly the cool breeze offered by the window wasn't soothing any longer. Now, it was making me feel nauseous. I stood up so that Ally wasn't looming over me.
"Why don't you just say what you're really getting at?" I said with false calm. Inside my heart was threatening to burst from my chest and do a tap-dance around the room.
Ally opened her mouth to further try to cut me down. I'm sure. This time I didn't let her. I spoke right over the words she hadn't managed to force out yet.
"You don't think a guy like him could ever be interested by someone like me. You don't think anybody could honestly want to go out with ugly, pathetic me. " I suddenly wanted to cry, knowing what one of my best friends was actually thinking about me.
"No! What?! No! Kim, that's not it at all! I just-" I cut her off again before she could finish.
"Well, I have news for you, Ally. Jared does want to go out with me. He did ask. And you know what else? I said Yes!"
Ally took a step back from me when I screamed the last part. Sara and Tiff were still sitting looking shell shocked. They must be shocked because usually by now they would've either taken sides or began to referee.
I continued, mercilessly, "You're wrong! You just are!" I screamed desperately, " I know what this is! You're jealous! You just hate that someone like Jared could show any interest in someone like me and not you!"
This time she was the one who looked like I had slapped her.
After a moment she cleared her throat and spoke once again, "Well if that's how you feel I guess I'll just go then."
She turned away and slowly gathered her things before walking away from me , down the stairs and through the front door. This would be the last time I would speak to her for two weeks, until the night of the big dance. To this day it's still the longest we've ever gone with out speaking.
You all probably know what happened from there. I got all dressed up and blew half a years allowance on a dress. Tiffany spent an hour on my hair and another thirty minutes on my make-up. I got to the dance at seven on the dot, not wanting to make him wait.
And he never showed up.
I waited for three whole hours before making my way home alone in the rain. I had forsaken the idea of a ride from my mom assuming Jared would want to drop me off.
I really was an idiot.
That night I had laid in my bed crying like the pathetic mess I was. My sobs were getting louder and I was distantly thankful that my mother was working nights this week. I hadn't even bothered to take of my dress and although my mother is a little clueless watching her only daughter sobbing in an evening gown would have tipped her off that something was wrong.
I would have called Tiffany or Sara but because they hadn't been invited to the dance they decided to pull an all nighter at the movie theater sneaking into all the R-rated films. I should have just gone with them.
I should have known this was nothing but a big joke.
I jumped when I heard my window creak open behind me. Just my luck. Get stood up and then killed by some crazed ax murdered. Figures. The least he could have done was get to me before I was stood up.
When I turned around I didn't see an ax murderer (at least she has no history of ax killing that I'm aware of) but instead I saw Ally climbing into my room. I braced myself for her to say 'I told you so' or scream that I was an idiot and a horrible friend.
Instead she just climbed into bed beside me and pulled me into a hug, "I'm sorry. He just doesn't see how wonderful you are."
The next day in school I was fully prepared to have Jared and his friends all laughing at and mocking me. Instead they looked right through me as always. It took me a while to realize they had forgotten all about there prank. What had seemed so monumental to me meant absolutely nothing to them.
I meant absolutely nothing to them.
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From then on, i figured if i wasn't going to matter to them they wouldn't matter to me. So now I'm one of the select few who aren't afraid of them. I didn't worship them like everyone else and when i was forced to encounter them we exchange rude comments and went on with our lives. I was fine with it being this way. I don't know why he had to up and decide to change everything.
A/N- I'm sorry if this chapter gets a little corny at the end but I was up until three writing it and I've gotten very tired by now.
Review or I'll kill Jared! I mean it! I'll do it! (Although if the Jared I'm killing is the Jared in this story so far that wouldn't exactly be a tragic loss, would it?) None the less, Review anyway.