Jude met the following morning groggily, facing the day with only a couple hours of sleep. With a barely hidden yawn, she landed behind her desk in third period math, glaring at the chalkboard full of equations in front of her. Her morning studio session only lasted long enough to make her late to school, much to her dismay, rather than long enough to qualify missing the whole day. Students around her filed in, each pulling out the weekend homework that currently sat half-finished, crumpled in the bottom of her backpack.
Speid came in and took his seat in front of her, turning to drop a packet on her desk, "Homework from first period." He explained and casually revealed a sheet of paper under it, "And your math homework."
Jude grabbed at it eagerly, relieved "How?"
"Made a copy and had Wally do it."
"Why Wally? He's a grade behind us."
"Exactly." Speid smirked "It'll look like you did it."
"Ha-ha." Jude muttered sarcastically, but was relieved to have something to turn in. Another zero on homework would shove her into failing territory.
Their teacher called the class to attention, having them complete the equations on the board while he gathered homework, forcing their conversation into a whisper. "How grounded are you?" Speid asked
Jude pretended to concentrate as her teacher picked up her homework, not bothering to hide the surprise on his face "Nice to see some work from you, Ms. Harrison." She glared at his back "Only a week." She answered Speid
"Wow. Only a week from Stuart the Steward? How'd you manage that?"
"Josh managed it, actually, he tal-"
"Ms. Harrison. If you would like to see your junior year, I recommend you start paying attention." The teacher barked from the front of the class. His anger met Jude all the way at the back of the class, forcing her into silence. She did her best to keep up during the lesson, but without finishing the homework, she was more lost than usual.
Speid pulled a paper from his binder and, trying to be discreet about it, jotted down a note. "Psst." He dropped the folded note over his shoulder, landing it on Jude's desk. She dropped her pencil, happy for the distraction.
Did you make it to the track?
Jude smiled a little, last night playing in her mind. She responded in a hasty scrawl, passing it back by reaching under her desk and putting it on his seat.
Yes. Police raid – only raced once. Had to hide out with ass shaker.
Speid furrowed his brow a little, responding:
And no hate rant? You must have had a good time ;)
Only if hell has frozen over
Speid smiled teasingly, though Jude couldn't see it. Someone's got a crush
Bite your tongue!
Speid shook his head, stashing the note when the bell rang. The teacher wasted test reminders on students too preoccupied with escaping math to pay any attention. Jude took her first real breath as she stepped out into the hallway, joining the chaos of class change. "I swear Mr. Burner hates me."
Speid stopped at his locker and stashed his math book, looking over at Jude sympathetically "Just ace the final, I'm sure you'll be fine."
"Ace a math final? Talk about a biblical miracle." Jude grumbled and pressed her back up against the lockers "Ever since I won Instant Star, he treats me like I'm a moron." Speid's face shifted like he was going to make a joke, and shut him up with a smack to his arm "Don't even say it!"
Speid laughed quietly to himself anyway, taking out his history book "Help me study for our English final, and I'll help you with math. Deal?"
"Deal." Jude said with a smile of gratitude. All around them, the students were buzzing with the excitement and panic of finals week; hyper for summer to start while praying desperately to be in new grade when the summer ends. "I'm think I'm gonna ditch. Science is a study period today, and I don't even want to think about what's for lunch."
Speid pointed up at a poster to their right as they passed it "We all know what's on the menu for tomorrow, though."
Jude's eyes squeezed shut with a flush of embarrassment "Jude jambalaya – really?! I'm ditching for sure."
"Rumor has it, the marching band is learning your new single."
At that, she had to choke back a laugh, imaging her guitar riffs blaring from a bunch of tubas "Fabulous."
Speid looped an arm around her neck "Don't rain on your own parade, dude. Jude Harrison day is gonna be epic."
Jude glanced over at a poster with her face on it; someone had written "loser" across the bottom. "Define epic."
"Sadie alert." Speid said, pointing to Sadie walking a few feet ahead of them. She tried to hide her hair under a hat, but a few pieces managed to fall loose in streaks of pink framing her face. "Why doesn't she just dye it back?"
"Apparently her hair is too damaged from bleaching it so much that if she uses anymore, it'll just fall out."
Speid stopped mid-step, his jaw falling open as he yanked on Jude's backpack, bringing her to a stop as well, "Sadie isn't a natural blonde?" He demanded and smiled like it was the best news he ever heard "Stop it – SHUT UP! Dude! She tells everyone its real!"
"And she uses an awful lot of bleach to keep up that lie, too." Jude responded, humored by Speid's reaction
Kyle walked up to them with a complaint about physics but rather than respond, Speid knocked the book out of his hand "Sadie is a fake blonde!" He announced
"Stop!" Kyle gasped, his physics book forgotten
Jude rolled her eyes at them and turned to open her own locker "Like it isn't obvious." She contemplated which books she needed to study, but ended up only taking out the book they were reading for English, shutting everything except her homework in her locker to be worried about another day. When Wally joined them, Speid and Kyle relayed the news about Sadie and he freaked just as much as they all had "It's practically how she introduces herself!" He'd said. Jude crossed her arms, watching her band talked animatedly with an amused smile "Remember when she tried to tell everyone her curls were natural?" She offered, and sent them on a whole other tangent. With them busy talking, she ruffled Wally's hair as she passed him, "See you guys later."
IIII
Sadie walked down the hallway with her typical stride of confidence despite the messy pink hair peeking out from under her hat. She'd tried a ponytail, but it only exposed the pink-dyed skin above her ears. A hat was the best option she could manage and she'd rather die than miss her first day sitting with the cheer squad at lunch. Under her feet, she felt the crumple of flyers littering the floor and avoided looking at any of them. Not only had Jude and her friends printed out the pictures of the prank, but made copies and distributed them as well. Sadie didn't pay it much mind, though, she had some plans of revenge up her sleeve as well.
The senior table was full of excitement when she approached. The graduating seniors were passing out uniforms for the upcoming senior squad. Sadie's pace doubled at the sight of them, eagerly shoving her way to the front of the line "Uniforms already?" She squealed
Clara, the appointed captain for next year glanced at the acting captain, and back at Sadie with a fake apologetic pout "Hey Sadie." She dragged the words out, her voice low with sympathy "We've been meaning to talk to you, hon."
"You haven't told her yet?" Another girl, Monica, said and recoiled away from Sadie as though she were contagious "Tell her now before someone sees us."
"Tell me what?" Sadie asked, a hard knot forming in her stomach as her "friends" now regarded her as though she'd just announced she was joining the AV club
Clara rested a hand on Sadie's shoulder, "You're off the squad, sweetie."
Sadie shoved her arm away with an incredulous intake of breath, like she'd just been hit "WHAT? Why?" Her respiration accelerated with panic "Is it because of my dorky step-sister? I TOLD you we're not related – we're not even friends."
"It certainly doesn't help." Monica remarked as she picked at her nails "If I have to hear another word about Jude Harrison, I'm gonna vomit."
Clara ran her fingers through her perfectly straight hair and crossed her arms "Your reputation just doesn't suit us, anymore."
"What's wrong with my reputation?"
"Ugh!" Monica shoved up from her seat and yanked the hot from Sadie's head, causing her hair to cascade down to her shoulders in a messy pink heap "Just spit it out already!" She gripped to Clara "THAT is what's wrong with your reputation. You're a joke, and trust me, the senor squad isn't laughing with you."
"Oh, and your reputation is so spotless!" Sadie spat viciously "You're the school slut!" She stabbed her finger at Monica before pointing it to Clara, "And can you say STI, Clara? How about you say it three times."
Clara gasped and pressed a hand against her chest, a dangerous anger coming to her eyes before shoving Sadie back with enough force to send her to the ground, "You're OFF the squad. Get over it!" Her polished white sneakers stomped by Sadie's unmoving form, as she rushed from the cafeteria to hide her red face.
Sadie scrambled up from the floor and looked to anyone for help, but they all avoided her gaze like the plague. "You're all fake bitches!" With an angry screech she stormed through the double doors and out into the quiet hallway, nearly falling a second time when her skirt got caught in the door. With angry breaths gusting from her mouth, she turned and ripped Jude's poster from the wall, and then another one. When a print out of her own picture came into her path, she tore it to shreds, swearing to make Jude pay way harder than she'd ever planned.
