Jeanette's POV
"What are you doing here!?" Brittany was not taking this well. Then again, nobody expected her too. I was delighted to see my prince had decided to show up after all! I could show him my secret art project! This was, as he would say, STUPENDOUS!
Alvin gave Brittany a dorky, endearing, and dare I say charming looking grin. "You thought I'd miss a chance to hang out with my GIRLFRIEND?" He stressed the last word and came over to me. "Can you believe her?"
I had no clue what he wanted me to say. Were we putting on an act? Was I supposed to not tell Brittany that I thought he wouldn't come? Because….I kind of already did. "Uh….." I stammered.
He must have taken the hint that I wasn't comfortable playing along because he continued talking. "What do Brittany Miller and a black hole have in common?" He asked.
Theodore came over to us and raised his hand. "They both suck?" He asked, quickly covering his mouth when he realized that Alvin had tricked him into insulting my older sis.
"They're both incredibly dense." Alvin finished, wrapping an arm around me.
I pulled his arm off and looked at him angrily. "Alvin Michael-Murphy Seville." I scolded. "Please do not insult my sister. She's been through enough pain…..and we're just starting to get along again."
He recoiled at my words. "Don't say my full name out loud!"
Oh no. I remember him asking me never to do that. It was a great honor to be trusted with his full name. His brothers knew, my sisters knew, but the rest of the school did not….until now.
"Dude!" A boy shouted. "Your middle name's Murphy? That is the dorkiest name I have ever heard!"
A ponytailed dark haired guy laughed loudly. "Guess your name fits ya. A dorky middle name hiding between two cool sounding ones….and one that's average."
"Gets worse. Michael-Murphy…..is hyphenated." Brittany wasn't helping.
Three girls I didn't know laughed. "Oh my gosh! Nobody even has hyphenated names anymore. Like, sooo last century."
Alvin couldn't handle anymore and I was backing as far away from him as possible. "CAN YOU ALL SHUT UP!? I DIDN'T CHOOSE MY NAME! DAVE DID!" He recomposed himself with extreme haste. "Now, I believe we have some art projects to look at. Focus on that and not me."
I was next to Simon by the refreshment table now. He looked surprised. "First time I've ever heard Alvin try to get attention OFF himself."
"Tell him I'm so so so sorry." I squeaked in a total panic.
Alvin ran over and grabbed my hand. "I can ignore them. Don't worry." He turned a bit pink in the face. "Sorry for insulting Britt. I didn't realize she was cool with us now."
Oh fiddle sticks. He still didn't know the full story. He probably thought….I don't know exactly what he thought, but it was only fair he knew the truth. "She isn't. She just...came to support me. I didn't ask her too. She surprised me almost as much as you did.
"Oh….." We both hid behind an easel. "Well, this is awkward." Alvin stated in a voice that sounded half calm and half unsure.
This was my chance, Brittany was busy getting refreshments….probably to calm herself down before she caused a mini earthquake with her feet. She wouldn't follow us. I could show him my piece!
"Since you….are here now…..there's something…..I….I….I really want to show you. I drew and colored it in secret, saving it for….today." I told him, making a conscious effort to stop my voice from breaking.
He peeked out from behind the easel. "Can my friends see it too?"
I gulped. "Which…..friends?" PLEASE, DON'T SAY BRITTANY! I screamed internally.
"Them." He pointed to Kevin, Cheesy, Anita, and Vanessa who were all chatting together as they looked at a picture of a mermaid. Mermaids are so magnificent. Sometimes, I wish I could be a mermaid. I can hold my breath for a very long time. Maybe I'm part mermaid.
"Oh, yes, yes, they're fine." I told Alvin happily.
A few minutes later, our small group had snuck into the back corner of the auditorium. We all came upon the drawing together. It was finally time to reveal one of my most difficult art pieces.
"That's….astounding." Alvin sounded mystified. "I love it!"
"So pretty!" Cheesy added.
Anita nodded. "Very cool!"
Kevin wiped a tear from his eye. "I have never seen something so beautiful in my whole life."
Vanessa, an artist herself, gave my piece some positive critique. "Excellent use of color and the background is breathtaking. I especially love the technique you used for the pine trees. One line at a time. Must have taken so many days."
"Actually, only two. I drew it on Sunday and touched it up with color on Monday." I said. I didn't think it looked like it took days. It was fairly average. What it represented, however, was above average.
The picture in question was of Alvin and I watching the sunset, like we had last Friday. It was vibrant! So many oranges and yellows and pinks and blues. Of course, also purples! I couldn't leave out my favorite color! I had actually recreated the scene from memory. Our first outing together as romantic partners. It deserved to be memorialized forever on a large sheet of poster board. It was made using colored pencils and it had a very scrapbooky look to it. You could almost imagine the book it came from. Maybe I'd have to take a small photo of it and put it in a scrapbook someday. The border around the piece brought it all together. It was purple and I had written the words "It's just you and me and we'll keep learnin', as the world keeps turnin" on it. Those words were from a song that Alvin and his brothers sang for their album Yolo. I thought that song perfectly captured the moment.
"Whoah, Netta, you're like an artistic visionary." Alvin complimented me.
A visionary? Was I really? I didn't think I was good enough to be a visionary.
Kevin stepped closer and really looked at every inch of the drawing. I was worried he would find and point out flaws. "It looks really professional."
My heart fluttered. They liked it! They all loved my art! Now, if only my story could get such wonderful comments.
"I have some other things on display too,..." I said, with a newfound confidence in my abilities. "Right this way." I told my snazzily dressed classmates and boyfriend. This art show was turning out so much better than I was expecting. My positivity had returned! Everything had to work out okay now. It just had too.
ALVIN 2.0'S POV
Jeanette's artwork was INCREDIBLE AND SUPERB AND TERRIFIC AND ASTOUNDING AND….ALL THE SYNONYMS FOR REALLY GREAT! I cannot believe I almost missed out on this. Hey, at least everything worked out for the best. I got to hang with my pals at the art show AND I was officially POPULAR AGAIN! Starting tomorrow, I would have all my perks again. I could not wait!
Jeanette looked so elegant in her fancy floofy dress as she led our little group around to all her paintings, drawings, and even a pottery bowl I didn't know she made. We really should talk more. Too bad she's extremely quiet, even around people she's comfortable with.
"Have you ever thought of going into art professionally?" Anita, AKA super nice and super hot girl who is also a friend of mine, asked Jeanette.
Jeanette brushed her hands against the bottom part of her dress. She was all flustered and fidgety. It was adorable. "N...No, but….I have thought about being a writer….or studying animal science."
I shot her one of my best and most charming grins. "I bet you'd be a fantastic writer."
She didn't answer me, leaving me unsure of whether I said the right thing. I probably did. I complimented her! Who would feel bad about getting a compliment?
Eventually, our group made it back to the refreshment table. We'd looked at over 60 art pieces. Even Vanessa had a few on display. Her painting of her pet myna bird was almost indistinguishable from the real thing. Wowza!
Tangent time! Hoho, gotta love that ADHD. I have a bird too, only he's not a pet. He's more like a son to me, which sounds weird. His name's Warbie and, thanks to a little accident involving one of Simon's wacky chemistry formulas, he can talk the same way we can! Vanessa's bird only can repeat phrases he hears, which is much less impressive. Warbie spends quite a bit of time with me, and the rest of it chillin' in his birdhouse. I love him with all my heart. He and Jeanette are some of the most important people in my life. I don't know what I'd do if anything bad happened to either of them. Fortunately, nothing bad seems to happen to them…..cuz all the bad things are busy happening to me.
Simon grabbed me and pulled me under the refreshment table. He wanted to talk about….something. "Were you really where Jeanette said you were?"
"Huh?" I asked, not really listening to all of his words.
"Why were you late?" He talked slowly, like I was an idiot who couldn't understand the words at normal speed.
I evaded the full answer. "Cuz I was in the bathroom." It wasn't technically a lie. That's where I got the toilet paper from that I used to TP the teacher's lounge with my new popular posse.
Simon's eyes narrowed and I knew he didn't buy my words for one second. "Jeanette said you were somewhere doing challenges to prove you deserve to be popular."
"Okay, okay, fine." I said in defeat. "I was. And I did it. They accepted me. Ohoho! Alvin Seville is back!"
"I take it this means Alvin 2.0 is going to disappear." Simon looked upset. Haha! He LIKED me as 2.0! He'd never admit it, but I knew. I could feel it.
"Hardly. I'm gonna be popular and nerdy." I told him happily.
He looked confused. "I'm not sure how that will work."
"Me either. Guess I'll find a way." I answered with honesty.
As we got out from under the table, he looked terrified. What's so scary about me being popular? It's the best thing ever. In fact….
"Hey, Britt. Guess what!" I said with a cheeky smile.
She blinked her icy blue eyes, looking unimpressed. "You're dropping out of the band to become a full time science guy?"
"Ha Ha." I said sarcastically. "No."
"You've decided to join the chess club?" She was making me furious.
"Can I just tell you?" I asked impatiently.
She curled her lip. "Sure."
"I'm popular again." I watched her reaction carefully. A couple tears, her frown inverted itself, she was excited to hear the news.
"No joke? You….You're gonna be you again?" She placed her hands on my shoulders. "The curse is broken!"
I shook my head. "I'll still be 2.0, just a cooler version of him with cool friends and I won't be picked on anymore."
She considered the option for a moment, then said…"I'll take it. Close enough. I am so HAPPY for you!"
Just like that, everything was solved! I am awesome at problem solving!
"If you're popular again, will you be letting my sister go?" Britt's words sent my happy mind plummeting back down into a fiery pit of anger. "Wouldn't make sense for a cool kid to date a nerd."
"Yeah, I'm still gonna date her. Nothing you can say can stop me!" I fumed. "Here's the deal, Brattany. Until you accept Jeanette and I are madly in love, you are no longer my friend."
And with that, I left her. I didn't even bother to look back and see her reaction. I did not want to feel sorry for her. She lost her privilege of being my pal, plain and simple.
I rejoined Jeanette and my nerdy friends.
"Thank you for coming." My girlfriend said sweetly.
"When Alvin makes a promise, he keeps it." Kevin commented. How nice of him to put in a good word for me.
I could feel my face growing warm. "That's right. I do. I try my best to keep it anyway."
She didn't say much else, she was probably worn out from over-explaining every art thing she could think of tonight.
When I got home and changed into my pajamas, I thought eagerly about school tomorrow. Everything had worked out better than I expected today. Maybe Britt was right and the curse was broken, but it was a bad luck curse and not a curse transforming me into a nerdy version of myself. Nerdification? Is that the name for it. Doesn't matter.
I stared up at the glow in the dark stars and planets hanging from the ceiling over my bed. I had redecorated my room a little to give it some 2.0 flare. It was pretty nice. Calming. Like having a whole universe right on my ceiling. I love space stuff. I even correctly identified a meteorite once, by sheer accident. Maybe it was a sign though. A sign I should study Astrophysics. Starts with an A. It would be a cool subject to get into. Don't ya think?
"Nooooo!" A weirdly quiet voice echoed through my head. "Don't give in. Don't study more. You want to have fun. Studying isn't fun."
The voice was right. What was I thinking!? It was spooky how easily my mind slipped into nerd mode these days. As much as I wanted to believe it was caused by personal growth….like most people tell me, the whole curse idea was seeming less and less farfetched. How many of my thoughts were really MY thoughts? Oh well, even if I am cursed, being popular would surely break the curse or at least limit its influence. I'd be only slightly nerdy soon, instead of super nerdy. I hoped.
The next day, I listened to music through my phone on the way to school. Simon, Theo, and Dave all looked at me strangely as I sang aloud.
"I'm in with the in-crowd, I go where the in-crowd goes. I'm in with the in-crowd, I know what the in-crowd knows. Like how to have fun…." I bobbed my head to the beat. Life was good.
Simon cocked an eyebrow at me. "You realize that song is older than Dave, right?"
"I do and I don't care." I retorted with vigor. He was NOT wrecking my day by making me think too much about stuff. My nerdy meter was at a 10% and popular kids rarely need to think. 10% is as low as it can go, cuz let's face facts….it's a huge part of me now. It was imperative...I mean important that I impress the A table people today. Once I was a well established member of the group, THEN I could afford to be nerdier around them without them kicking me out. It's a very tricky system. I gotta do it right. Ha! Why was I even worried? I crushed the initiation tests. The rest would be smooth sailing.