"You're probably just over reacting" Vanessa tried to reassure her sister as the two prepared for the day.
"No I'm not, Gus is avoiding me" Becky argued while Vanessa spit the remainder of her toothpaste into the sink
"So do you want me to talk to him?" Vanessa offered however she still had her doubts that Gus was in fact avoiding his girlfriend
"I don't know" Becky groaned, she hated to get her sister involved but at the same time she had to know what was going on with Gus and it was becoming all to obvious that he doesn't plan on telling her.
"New look?" Ashley A teased Spinelli when she walked into physics to find her boyfriend's tomboy of a friend actually wearing a plain black skirt white a white blouse, her black sneakers however remained.
"Not your business" Spinelli answered through gritted teeth, clearly bothered by her own appearance.
The other Ashley's all giggled while Ashley A merely rolled her eyes with an amused grin as she took her seat, ok so the two girls weren't exactly succeeding at getting along and it might surprise you to learn that they were trying. Ashley A tried not to be so mean to Spinelli but it was hard when the tomboy made it so easy, while Spinelli was suffering from the same problem. The problem was that the two girls could not see eye to eye. To Spinelli Ashley A was nothing more than a spoiled little rich girl who had everything in life handed to her. She would always sit there and complain about how her younger siblings were being annoying but that was her only problem, she went out with her friends or T.J. every Friday night and always had plans for the weekend, to her life was a never ending party.
Ashley on the other hand saw Spinelli as still being the same violent little tomboy she had been when they were kids, she was nothing more than a kid refusing to grow up. She didn't care about anything except for having fun and her idea of fun still consisted of running around in the mud. So obviously this Spinelli trying to dress nice thing was confusing Ashley beyond all reason especially since she seemed embarrassed by it, why would she change her look if she didn't want to?
Vanessa and Gus had an ancient history class together so Vanessa decided that it was as good a time as any to put her sister's paranoid mind at rest.
"Hey so Becky thinks that you've been avoiding her" she said to Gus as she took her seat a minute or two before class started, she wanted to get this ridiculous conversation out of the way before Mrs. Fitzgerald began today's lesson on the roman empire.
Gus quickly grew pale out of nerves, he hadn't meant to avoid Becky but he knew that he had been. He just needed to figure out how to break up with her and he had been hoping that she wouldn't notice his recent distance towards her, apparently he wasn't that lucky.
"Sorry I haven't meant to, I'll go talk to her after class" he promised before mentally scolding himself for setting such an impossible deadline to go see Becky again and then subsequently break up with her.
Vanessa only nodded, she could sense that Gus had something on his mind and she mentally debated whether or not to help him. On one hand she wasn't sure if she could help him and she really wasn't sure if she actually wanted to get involved in whatever it is. But on the other hand he's her friend, her boyfriend's best friend and her sister's boyfriend. Deciding that based on all three accounts Gus is practically family, Vanessa decided that she probably had to at least ask what was bugging him.
"Are you alright?" She asked although her question seemed a little delayed due to not having asked it right away but better late than never
"I guess" Gus answered knowing that he wasn't fooling Vanessa and if anything he was confirming to her that he had a problem. But he didn't care anymore, he had tried talking to Mikey but he had tried telling him that distance wouldn't matter and he should stay with Becky, sometimes it can seem like Mikey lives in a dream world.
"You guess?" Vanessa teased with a small smirk but still serious "come on, what's up?" She questioned trying to look Gus in the eye as he lowered his head
"Please don't be mad" Gus asked of his friend who suddenly looked more concerned than she had a minute ago
"I'll do my best" she told him fearing whatever it was that he was about to tell her
Gus let out a sigh "ever since the college fair I've realized what different things Becky and I want to do with our lives and I just know it'd be for the best if we were to… you know… break up but…" Gus trailed off not quite sure how to explain this.
"Wait so why did you think I'd be mad?" Vanessa asked
"Um because I'm pretty sure Becky would be at least a little upset if I broke up with her and even with your track record I doubt you like seeing your sister upset. Unless you caused it" Gus said trying to make a joke out of Vanessa's somewhat complicated relationship with Becky.
"Ha, ha very funny" Vanessa mocked dryly before reverting back to her sympathetic demeanor. "Gus you're one of my best friends and honestly judging by your reasons I think the last thing you want to do is upset Becky" she began, stopping to watch Gus's response and when he nodded to indicate that she was right she continued.
"Then let her down easy and let her down soon because it's only going to hurt both of you more if you lead her on" Vanessa advised him before Mrs. Fitzgerald called for the class's attention
"Trust me you'll feel better once it's over" Vanessa assured her friend before turning around in her seat to face the front.
Never once did Vince ever think that in his lifetime he would feel even an ounce of pity for Randall Weems. But that day during their gym class they were playing the same thing that they played every time they had a substitute teacher, handball.
It's a relatively simple game, many of the kids described it as soccer with your hands but unfortunately Vince had Randall on his team and with no one else wanting to paly goal Randall ended up doing it only to receive several balls to the face.
"I'm going to pull Randall out of goal" Vince said after the first game was won by the opposing team and they were getting in position for the next game
"Why? He's blocking almost every shot" A girl named Carly protested only to have Jessica Smith roll her eyes
"He's also blocking them with his face" Jessica scolded, siding with Vince.
With that said Vince figured that the other two members of the team wouldn't have a problem with Randall being placed into the line of defense so he jogged over to the goal where Randall had just reached is position
"You're in" Vince said pointing to the line of defense at the center of the court
Randall looked at the de-facto leader of his team in surprise, he isn't exactly athletically inclined and today his face has been a ball magnet, which although painful seemed to be serving as an advantage. But none the less he nodded and raced off to play, something he never could've imagined doing.
As Vince took Randall's place in the goal he watched as the game began and his team advanced into their opponent's territory. At first the game seemed to be going well, until Jessica decided to pass the ball to Randall. It wasn't a bad decision; after all he was her only open teammate but he missed the ball and then was trampled by two members of the other team racing for it. Over the course of the three minute game Randall was shoved, knocked over, tripped and worst of all ignored, and maybe the saddest part was that none of this was done purposely. So when the sub blew his whistle and Vince's team vacated the court in order to alternate with the third team who had sat out the previous game, it came as a relief to Randall and pretty much anybody who had been watching him.
"Mind if I take goal again next game?" Randall asked Vince thinking that at least he wouldn't get as hurt playing goal
"Sure" Vince agreed knowing that Randall was probably right.
Sure Vince never thought he'd ever feel sorry for that Snitch, and yes Randall still is a Snitch. He still starts rumors and tells lies just to get a laugh for himself, he's Ms. Finster's student assistant which has given a laugh to anyone who ever attended Third Street during the same time Randall did. Not to mention all of the paper's he's cheated on over the years; sure everyone had cheated on papers throughout the years but Randall defiantly holds the record for it. But watching that sad display during the game it had been visible not only on Randall's face but all over his body that he was truly trying. He was really trying his hardest and he was just failing miserably. Jessica seemed to have noticed too, as she was also eyeing her beat up teammate sympathetically.
"At least we've only got one more week of this" she said under her breath
"Yeah but then its volleyball" Vince said revealing that he had heard her
Jessica whirled her head around but Vince did not meet her gaze, it was as if they were each speaking only to themselves but were playing off of each other's statements.
"You think he's going to get hurt doing that to?" Jessica asked choosing her words carefully in case Randall heard her, although he probably knew that he sucked and wouldn't be surprised if she said it she still didn't want to take the chance.
"Not if we just keep the ball away from him" Carly muttered but Vince narrowed his eyes.
No, he wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Keeping the ball away from a bad player, it was so simple but it was the worst thing you could do. Vince had done it before and he knew how to do it, you only made sure that people who knew what they were doing and were good at it could get the ball. You convinced yourself that the bad player in question didn't notice or didn't care or even understood that what was happening was being done for the good of the team.
But Gretchen had made him see things clearly.
What he did to her in seventh grade, at the time he thought it was no big deal. But when she took that shot and he blew up at her about it afterwards, she had been so hurt. At the time he thought it had been pure anger she let loose on him that night and maybe it was, but maybe it was more.
Vince waited outside of the girl's locker room until Gretchen came out and when she did upon seeing the anger written all over his face she rolled her eyes.
"What were you thinking Gretch?" He demanded of her as she leaned against the wall knowing that he would keep her here longer than a minute.
"I was thinking that the game was almost over, we needed one basket to win and I had a clear shot" she spat at him, clearly not in the mood to have this argument, not that Vince cared at the moment.
"Gretchen there is no way you could have ever made that shot and I was telling you! I was telling you to pass and you didn't listen!" He shouted at her as a fire lit inside of her eyes
"The only reason you were yelling at me to pass is because you didn't want to give me a chance-" she had begun only to be cut off
"It was a chance we couldn't afford" Vince argued but Gretchen gritted her teeth and shook her head.
"It didn't have to be" she spat now seething with rage
"I knew from the beginning that the only reason you wanted me on this team was so you could play and that's why I did it. But I thought that you would at least teach me and if you had then I would've made that shot!" Gretchen shouted back at him but he just rolled his eyes, he wouldn't say it out loud but no amount of training could help Gretchen.
"Look blame me all you want but you knew you couldn't make that shot and you still took it" Vince spat at her before walking away to go join his parents.
It had been almost five years and just now when replaying the fight over in his head Vince was beginning to hear the crack that Gretchen had in her voice that night and he wondered if he was imagining it. Regardless he had already lost one friend because of his competitive nature and although he has since made amends with Gretchen and Randall is anything but a friend to him he still doesn't want to make someone feel the way he made Gretchen feel. What was natural to him was foreign to her and foreign to Randall, he wouldn't just ignore it this time around. He didn't know how just yet but somehow he was going to help Randall.
The day after her failed attempt at dressing like a normal girl Spinelli returned to school dressed in her usual jeans and t-shirt. Her mom had asked her why she dressed up yesterday and not today for her birthday but Spinelli simply shrugged it off and hurried out the door. So now she walked to her locker before homeroom started and began turning the dial. She sighed remembering how during the previous years of high school T.J. had made this stop with her every morning. She was always the second of their friends to show up in the morning, the first being T.J. who would wait by the main entrance for about five minutes until she got there and then he would follow her to her locker. By the time she closed her locker door Patrick was usually getting to school so they would head back to the main entrance and meet him there before going to roam the halls. It wasn't much but it was a routine that went down the drain when Ashley A came into the picture and by this point Spinelli figured that the relationship may actually last.
"Oh well" she breathed finally yanking her locker door open after dialing her combination a second time when it didn't work the first time.
Immediately a bright green gift bag with a red ribbon tied to one of the handles sitting on the high shelf in the locker caught her eye.
"Which one of those idiots broke into my locker this time?" Spinelli grumbled wondering what kind of gag gift her friends had placed inside of that bag.
She reached up and pinched the edge of the bag to pull it down and then get a better grip on it but when she looked inside she didn't see a joke.
She normally would've thought it was joke; the lime green paper bag was filled mostly with sparkly white tissue paper and under the first layer was make-up. There was a tube of mascara, a small eye shadow palette, a tube of lip gloss, and a small container of blush along with a brush to go with it. Taped to the lid of the blush was a note with amazingly small hand writing on it
Your clothes are fine; I think this is what you were looking for. Don't use it if you don't want to-Happy Birthday.
-Ashley
P.S. the thing on the bottom is from T.J.
To say that Spinelli was surprised that T.J.'s girlfriend had gotten her something for her birthday would be a huge understatement. Spinelli was completely and totally dumbfounded by the gift and truth be told make-up was exactly what she had wanted. She had wanted to buy herself some for a little while now, even before Collin's stupid comment, but every time she went shopping her mother was with her and she could NOT let that woman know that she wanted to try and be just a little more girly, it felt like admitting defeat. Pushing the make-up aside she looked under the second lair of tissue to find that T.J.'s gift was just as personal. It was her old orange ski cap which she had given him when she moved away, she giggled thinking about how cheesy that had been but at the time it seemed appropriate. She put it on her head for a second, kind of surprised that it still fit. She took the cap off and fixed her hair before placing it back in the bag and then back in her locker so nothing would get crushed inside of her backpack. She decided to come and get the gift at the end of the day and then use it tomorrow.