Chapter 2: The Shoe Fits

The sound of Judy's alarm clock could have brought anyone to tears. If Judy hadn't been so tired, she might have cried. The alarm glared an angry 6:00am at her.

"Alright Judy," she coached herself. "Get up!" she mentally yelled.

After getting out of her nice comfy bed she was met by her first day of school outfit hanging on the chair. She rolled her eyes at it and went to go brush her teeth.

"Oh boy! High school!" Stink cheered. He already had his new school clothes on and was leaping down the stairs.

Judy closed her eyes and leaned her head against the cool mirror. Only a person like Stink would rejoice on the first day of school. She finished washing up and looked gloomily upon her first day of school outfit. She put on the clothes and slipped her feet into the delicate shoes.

"Drat," she muttered. The shoes fit perfectly. She couldn't bear to look at herself in the mirror and marched downstairs.

"There's my princess," Dad called. "Ready for school?"

Judy simply gave him a look of despair and plopped herself down at the table. She slathered butter on a piece of toast and poured herself some OJ.

"Oh Judy your hair!" Mom exclaimed. "Did you even brush it?" she asked but not even waiting for Judy's reply because she had already dashed up the stairs for her brush.

It was very hard for Judy to eat her breakfast because her mom kept tugging on her hair.

"Ow!" Judy complained. "I'm trying to eat here!"

"Your hair wouldn't be so tangled if you brushed it regularly," Mom informed her.

"We're going to be late!" Stink said with a mouthful of scrambled eggs.

"Don't worry, son," Dad reassured him. "You still have plenty of time before the bus comes."

After Mom was done ripping Judy's hair out by the roots a.k.a. brushing it, she pleaded with Judy to let her put some lip gloss on her.

"Come on, Stink" Judy said, grabbing him by the arm. "We got to go get on the bus."

Judy didn't bolt fast enough because when she sat next to Rocky on bus the first thing he said was; "Judy Moody, are you wearing makeup?"

"Please just shut up, Rocky," Judy said, covering her head and doing her best to wipe it off with her hands.

Amy poked her head up from the seat in front of them. "It looks good, Judy," she told her.

"Yeah," Frank said, agreeing with her. He smiled around his braces. Frank has had braces since...forever. He swore he was getting the braces off next month as well as contacts but no one was going to believe it until they saw it.

"Oh shut up, Frank," Judy said slumping in her seat. She was about to stick her feet up on the seat but then remembered her skirt.

"Ugh I hate school!" Judy yelled.

Everyone had to shuffle off the bus and then burst onto the school grounds. The newly painted sign made Virginia Dare High School seemed nicer than it really was. Amy slowed down to wait for Judy. Because "Namey" and "Moody" were close together alphabetically, Judy and Amy were in the same homeroom and had lockers near each other.

Judy approached her cold metal blue locker and simply stared at it. "Two more years of this," she whispered to herself and then opened it. She had sky blue and mint green locker shelves and her locker was decorated with pictures. All of the pictures starred her, Amy, Frank, and Rocky together camping, swimming in the lake, and playing sports. Her fingers trailed along the pictures and to the dusty mirror she never used. She leaned in and blew the dust off. She made eye contact with her reflection and paused. There she was, wearing lipgloss and mascara with her long dirty blonde hair smooth and framing her face.

"You ready?" Amy asked. Judy jerked up and slammed her locker.

"No," Judy said. "But let's go anyways," she said with a nervous laugh. Together they strolled into their homeroom.

The first day was always a bore. Teachers always pretend to be nice and then unleash their true colors further in the year. Judy tried to be a good student and pay attention. She grabbed one of her new sharpies and wrote "Medical School" in big block letters on her hand. Those two words always inspired her to keep working. Judy couldn't remember wanting to be anything else other than a doctor. Even as a little girl she dreamed of being like her heroes such as Elizabeth Black.

"Deep breaths," Judy said to herself as she forced herself to pay attention to Mr. Allen who was raving about the Revolutionary War.

When the bell finally rang, everyone was running out the door. It was Judy's favorite class: lunch. Judy walked down the hall in a cheerful mood.

"Hey Judy, wait up!" Frank called as he jogged to catch up with her.

"Hey Frank," Judy greeted. "How are your classes so far?" she asked.

Frank fixed his glasses as he gave Judy the summary of his day. "You won't believe this one," Frank said dramatically. "Your body is creating and killing 15 million red blood cells per second!" he said. "We learned that in AP biology."

Judy laughed. "Rare," she said. "I'll seem smart in that class later then."

Frank loved it when Judy smiled but he just gave a nod. "When do you have it?" he asked.

"6th period," Judy replied. "Tell me we have Calc together after lunch."

"Yeah, with Doyle right?"

"My grade is saved..."

"Very funny."

Judy and Frank met up with Rocky in the lunch line. They began the familiar process of grabbing a faded green lunch tray and orderly moving down the line, grabbing whatever looked edible. Judy piled a plate of pasta, dinner roll, apple and chocolate milk on her tray. At the end of the line she was about to get an ice cream when Rocky reminded her that soccer season was starting in week. Judy sighed and put the delicious looking dessert back in the freezer.

Together they walked over to the table in the very back of the cafeteria. Amy was already sitting there with her lunch box.

"Hey Amy," Frank said, giving her a peck on the cheek. "How's it going?"

"Oh, it was good," Amy said, slipping her hand into Frank's and they leaned in for a kiss.

Judy made a gagging face as she sat across from them. Rocky made one back at her and they shared a laugh.

"Please spare us," Judy said. "I'm trying to eat." she reminded them. She opened her milk carton and took a long swig from it.

Frank blushed. Amy laughed. "So-rry" she sang.

Judy took a large bite out of her buttery dinner roll. She slowly chewed and listened to Amy talk about all the clubs she was going to be president of this year. She noticed a short blonde boy standing near the entrance of the cafeteria.

"Stink!" she exclaimed, getting up. She jogged over to him. "What are you doing?" she asked. "Freshman lunch was earlier today," she informed her brother.

Stink stuck his hands in his pants' pocket. "I'm lost," he muttered.

"I thought you memorized the school map by now." Judy smirked. "Where are you headed?" she asked...slightly nicer.

"I can't find the bathroom," he muttered.

"I'll show you," Judy said, patting her little brother on the head.

Stink ducked his head. "Stop..." he muttered.

As they approached the boys' bathroom, Stink dashed in. Judy leaned against the wall in the hall to wait for him.

"Trying to be a boy again?" a melodious voice asked.

Judy looked up.

"Hello Jessica Finch," she said icily.

"Judy Moody," Jessica laughed. Her two friends laughed with her. Judy didn't even understand what was so funny. Jessica gave her dark brown hair a slight toss. She wore a rose colored dress, jeweled sandals and a lace cardigan. Her long dark brown curls were pulled out of her face with a pink headband. Jessica had gone from spelling queen bee in elementary school to class president in middle school to homecoming queen in high school.

"Did mommy pick out your clothes again?" she cooed.

"Bug off Jessica FLINCH!" Judy snapped.

Jessica wrinkled her nose. "You are just as sloppy and boring as you always were. I can't believe Rocky is into you."

Judy took off one of her flats. "Get away from me!" she yelled holding the flimsy thing above her head. Jessica took a step back.

"Judy?" Stink asked wide eyed. Judy glanced at him. "Let's go" she snapped, dragging him away.

"Immature!" Jessica yelled as she stormed down the hall with her sidekicks.

"Gee aren't you glad mom bought you those shoes?" Stink asked as she dropped him off at his class.

Judy shrugged. "I guess..."