Hiya girls! First of all THANKS for all those who REVIEWED. I love you!
I have to start with small talks as usual:
Daydreamer-022: Thanks again for reading it.
Denise: (I call you Denise because I'm afraid you might switch your pseudo again): so what do you think the trouble with love is?
Literati Lover: I owe you an apology for completely misspelling you pseudo last time. I'm so sorry. BTW when will you update your story?
Review-happy: I sympathise with you having to wait for your brother! Oh and yes "every girl needs time to plan how to *accidentally* bump into their crush" but sometimes the plan doesn't turn out to be as subtle as one had thought. I remember one of my friends used to constantly tour around the school so that she could accidentally bump into her crush or then she could just have the chance to spy on him one more time. Well, he started to notice it and he didn't like it that much: so ok, once she literally run after him cause she'd missed him on her school touring and it totally freaked him out… So please girls be subtle or then be straightforward but avoid running after your crush like a dog after its dog. It's not all that pretty. (Though I have to admit it was really funny, from my point of view).
On the other hand, in High school I had that crush for that guy and he noticed it and yes he avoided me for a few months. But who came begging me to become his girlfriend in the end? Yep, you got it! He did. (Right, I dumped him a year later even though he was still begging me to stay… but I had spent a wonderful vacation month in NY and hadn't missed him even one second. Actually I was too busy having a crush on that other guy who also happened to be slightly younger than I was. Uh… am I perverted?)
Marieke: Happy to hear you liked my story. I hope your computer didn't suffer bad damages after you spat on it. I also I hope your drink didn't go out from your nose (sorry) because that would be terribly painful (I know what I'm speaking about).
Jenimo: (Are Jenimo and J the same person BTW?) Thanks for your support. So I'm gonna try to follow your piece of advice (see under).
Announcement: My chapter was a bit too long so I split it into 2. I can post chapter 6 and a half (because it is a bit shorter than my usual chapters I call it chapter 6 and a half) very very soon if you REVIEW this one. (Yes, it's true, I confess it all: I love reviews, so please, please, review!)
DISCLAIMER: See all previous chapters. I'm tired of writing it down.
We are on the roof of the school right now. We = Lilly, Tina, Shameeka, Ling Su, Boris, Lars, Wahim and I. No Kenny! Yippee!
Does that mean I at last have succeeded in breaking the news to him about my total lack of love for him?
Of course! NOT! No, he is not here with us because, well, he caught a cold. To be honest hearing he was sick made me happy! I know it sounds kind of mean. I, being his girlfriend should be worried about him. But I am finding that incredibly hard. Why? Oh yes why on earth can't I be a little more compassionate with the poor guy seeing that I'm already about to break his heart? Well it has all to do with the way he fell sick. It turns out he spent two whole hours trying to play a serenade under my very window (on the fire escape, to be more precise). And when I say trying, I'm actually being nice. I mean the guy doesn't know how to play music, he cannot sing either! But worse… I was not even home yesterday. Right, I was sleeping at Lilly's! Meaning I didn't hear a single note of his serenade. Not that I regret it anyhow. Now knowing all that, I would normally have felt terribly sorry for Kenny… if only he had not been screaming every two sentences that he loved me. I mean did he realise he was about to ruin my whole life when he screamed that he loved me? Had he forgotten that Lana does happen to live with me nowadays? Had he forgotten that Lana is evil? And now she's making my life a living hell! Not much change there though…
Anyhow as I was saying, we are now on the roof of the school. Why the roof? Easy: because there is never a single popular person around here. Which means we can be at peace to discuss our hatred of Lana. And so I started the debate:
"Ok… As you all know we are here to find out a way to get rid of Lana. So who's got an idea? Please, guys, I need you to help me…. Anybody?"
"Uh, Tina started hesitantly, maybe we could set her up with some new guy. You know love makes people happy and nice."
At which Lilly jerked "We'd better set up Josh with another girl. If Lana gets jealous besides being humiliated, she'll be far too busy obsessing over Josh and the new girl -not to mention dreaming about revenge- to remember about your whole existence".
"Well, I answered, you might be right but there are two problems: first we don't know who to set up Josh with, secondly, I have already noticed that when Lana is angry she kind of takes even more pleasure in torturing me. Like I'm her scapegoat or something. I just can't take anymore of that".
"Why don't we just lock her in the supply closet?" Boris offered.
Now, I appreciate Boris' help but one has to be realistic: his idea couldn't stand a chance. It was ok for a short-term riddance but Lana was bound to be found (duh… she has a cell-phone! She could call her so popular friends any minute to rescue her. Sure it would be a bit humiliating for her to be found in there. But she'd soon be back home torturing me). I could see why Boris had come up with this idea though, obviously he wouldn't have had to spend the next G&T hour in the supply closet if Lana was already in there.
"Uh, Boris, do you mean you want to share your closet with Lana during G&T?" I said. Ok, I was being a bit mean. But I had to practice as I was going to break up with Kenny in the evening. Lilly didn't like it though. She glared at me angrily. I really don't understand how she can be so protective of someone who tucks his shirt in his trousers! On the other hand she is friend with me who is both a freak and a princess so…I can't say much.
Anyhow I apologised to Boris and we carried on with the discussion. Everybody came up with more crazy ideas. Ling Su tried to talk us into sending Lana to a beauty contest which would take place in Alaska (not such a bad idea actually). Shameeka thought that we should find a way to discreetly cut Lana's hair. The idea made us all giggle and, yes it's true that it would be funny – we could give her such a horrid hairdo that even her friends would avoid her- but that would one more time backfire at me so we eventually decided against it. After that I joked about how great it would be if she had to take princess lessons (but hey… who could survive one hour with Grandmère?).
According to Lars, we could try to have Lana judged and jailed under Genovian laws (under a case of disrespect followed by moral and physical assaults towards the heir to the throne.) Wahim added that it would be much quicker and much simpler to just shoot her. He actually scared me when he said that. I just hadn't realised before how dangerous Wahim could be. I know he was just joking but still… I mean I hate Lana but not THAT much! It got me wondering if Wahim had a personal grudge against her.
Then Boris came up with a second idea. Obviously watching TV can have some really bad effects on teenagers. Even great series like, say, Baywatch could have some negative repercussions. Why do I mention Baywatch? Well surely because Boris had been watching the very same Baywatch episode I had watched a few days ago. Otherwise how would he have come up with this crazy idea of hiding drugs into Lana's belongings so that it'd be discovered and she'd be sent to detoxication centre? Lilly was not too pleased by Boris' idea though. "Oh yeah, she inquired sharply, and where would we get those drugs? The only thing we have is Mia's codeine medicine! I am not sure that would do it!"
"Uh… Boris, I added, we are not going to do anything illegal. It's far too dangerous! I am not sure what we'll risk but it would certainly be big. Plus when I said I wanted to get rid of Lana, I was not thinking about something so drastic. (I gave a meaningful look at Wahim when I said that.)
"Yes, but you have to be realistic Mia, Shameeka intervened, we'll never get rid of Lana if we keep behaving like saints."
Oh! Hold on! I certainly am not a saint. If I were a saint, I would not be plotting against Lana, nor would I be about to ditch my boyfriend while dreaming about my best friend's older brother… Still I believe all living creatures deserve a little respect. And Lana does certainly qualify as a living creature, be it the less worthy of all.
"What about taping a special episode of "Lilly Tells It Like It Is" in which we'd follow Lana and expose her true self to the whole world (Lilly literally beamed when she heard that. But the truth is very few people do actually watch her show)" said a pretty excited Ling Su (apparently she really enjoys the plotting game). Tina was of the same opinion: "Yes! If we can get her making out on tape with Josh, maybe she'll be sent to boarding school."
Unfortunately I had to cut it to them "Sorry to disappoint you girls, but everybody already knows about the whole Lana/Josh making out topic… I remind you that Mr. G. is a teacher here and he cannot but have noticed what's going on. Plus he already surprised her speaking about sex with Josh on the phone. Yet Lana has not been sent to boarding school! So taping her would hardly change anything".
But I could see a Machiavellian light in Lilly's eyes. "It is still worth a try. I mean it sure would be interesting to be able to psychoanalyse Lana on some quality show such as "Lilly Tells It Like It Is". With a little chance we could get her to say bad things about her popular friends or find a way to ridicule her…"
And that's how we agreed to try several strategies. Ling Su would be searching for some very-far-away-set-beauty-contest brochures to send to Lana. Tina would search for a potential new Mrs Richter (preferably a popular witch) and Lilly would start recording.
The rest of the day went rather smoothly. Or at least until G&T. I was still on cloud nine because Michael loved me. I started working on my poem for the poetry contest. Nobody mentioned our down-with-Lana plotting anymore, but I couldn't help myself smiling evilly whenever Lana crossed my way. I could see she was puzzled. She's not used to that kind of behaviour from me. I usually duck away when she is around. Actually the whole Scooby-gang was wearing a huge smile on their face for the rest of the day (I think I speak for everyone if I say we were all dreaming about 1001 ways to get at Lana). I was also happy cause I didn't need to worry about Kenny suddenly lurking in and screaming "I love you". To make things even better Judith Greshner miraculously kept out of my way (and out of my sight) for the entire day, and, best of all, Michael came to tutor me as usual during G&T. The only problem was: I had never been that red before. Which Michael kind of noticed. So embarrassing! He didn't seem to interpret it in the correct kind of way, though:
Michael: Uh Thermopolis, don't take it badly but you are terribly red. Are you feeling OK?
Me: Sure! I'm just hot today!
Oh my god! That was kind of ambiguous. I hope Michael didn't pick it up.
Me: Uh. I mean, it's so hot in here, maybe I should open the window.
Michael (with a worried face): I'm afraid you might have fever… It's not that hot in here. I'd better bring you to the nurse.
Me: No, no, I'm fine! I swear. It's Algebra. It makes me feel bad.
Micheal: Algebra makes you feel bad? You're tomato red because of Algebra? No way… Mia, be honest… are you on codeine again?
Oh no! Not that again! Won't they ever forget about that codeine incident?
Me: No I'm not. Algebra! Algebra is the problem!
As if! But duh how could I concentrate when all I could think about was Michael's naked body.
Michael: Um, I think I know what is your problem.
Me: You do?
Michael: Yes, you don't actually believe I've forgotten what happened, do you?
What the hell is Michael speaking about? It can't be about the poem. No, cause he was already gone when I left it and he didn't go back since. Or does he know I saw him naked? How could he know about that?
Me: So… you noticed?
Michael: I don't see how I could NOT have.
Me: Really? But… but you didn't say anything. You just left.
Michael: Well it was kind of inappropriate considering the situation. And… there was no time to speak about it.
Me: But you didn't feel shocked or angry or…?
Michael: Not shocked, no! Maybe a bit angry, though.
Me: Michael, I'm so sorry. I just couldn't help it. I don't know what went over me.
Michael: Don't worry too much about that Thermopolis. When I said angry I meant…
Me: Please, forgive me! I so totally understand why you are mad at me. It might sound like I'm asking too much but… could we still be friends?
Michael seemed a bit surprised to hear that. He even looked sad… I guess he was terribly disappointed because I (the girl he had had a crush on – Yep, I guess I can use past tense from now on) turned out to be a voyeur.
Michael: …friends? Oh…. Ok… I see. Yeah, sure, let's be friends!
I could tell right away that he wasn't convinced by what he said. I guess he'd rather avoid all contact with me altogether. Why did this have to happen to me? Just when I was about to be happy, my hopes get crushed again. Why is it that all bad things come to me as if I was a magnet (Yep I guess I could change my name as Princess Misfortune Magnet)? I mean whatever it is that I did wrong in my previous life, I think I received enough punishment already. After all my life is now squeezed between Lana and Grandmère. Isn't that cruel enough? This time it's my entire fault though. If I had behaved myself, if I had been the princess Grandmère wants me to be, I would still have a chance with Michael. My eyes filled up with tears.
Me: I screwed up, didn't I? Now you don't even want to be my friend anymore.
Michael: No, Mia! Please don't cry! I really do want to be your friend. And it's not like a big deal. You were afraid and you squeezed my hand. No problem! I mean the movie didn't seem all that scary to me but hey I'm a guy and I'm older as well. You don't have to be ashamed for what you felt and did.
I stopped crying right away. So he was not speaking about the closet incident (or should I call it strip tease incident?) but about the holding-hands one! Oh my god! I am so dumb! How could I not have thought about it?
Me: Oh! So that was what you were speaking about? I thought you…
Shut up Mia! I can't believe it. Am I really that stupid? I guess the answer is YES.
Michael (suspiciously): Yeah. What did you think I was speaking about?
Me (nostrils flaring): Um… nothing.
Michael: Come on Thermopolis, spit it out!
Me (all sad): Were you really angry at me about… well you know… about what I did at the movies?
I had to be careful not to speak too loudly as Lilly was glaring at us meanly from the other side of the room where she was planning out her special Lana episode of "Lilly Tells It Like It Is".
Michael: Not at you! At the whole situation and… at Kenny especially.
Me (sheepishly. Hey that could be the moment when he confesses how much he loves me): at Kenny?
Michael: Well yes because….
Me (redder than ever): because?
Michael: Because he is your boyfriend…. And so he should take care of you. But he didn't noticed how scared you were. And since I'm both your friend and your best friend's older brother, I feel a bit concerned about what happens to you. In a … friendly and fraternal kind of way! You see... So I thought I could state how lame Kenny's behaviour was. And it's also his fault that you hurt your leg. As I said, I really am a good actress. Even a genius like Michael didn't realise I was faking it… Hollywood, here I come!
Me (somewhat vexed): Ah…
Michael: And don't take me wrong. It's not against you or your boyfriend. But friends are usually expected to tell what they think. And I'm your friend, right?
Me… Right.
Now I had to be courageous and tell him how I felt about him right away.
Me: Actually Michael…. I think I must be honest with you on that subject. I…
Michael: You?
Me: I… I am not in love with Kenny. You are the one I… should listen to.
Coward! I'm a terrible coward!
Michael (happily): That's great to hear.
Me: Yes. And I think I'll break up with Kenny tonight.
I can't wait for Michael to discover my poem! I wonder what he will do when he sees it. I am going to die waiting…