The next morning, Kristy awoke with a pounding headache. She had fallen asleep in her clothes from last night, and she could already see a light crusting of blood on her sleeves that she hadn't managed to bandage up the night before. She sighed and went to her closet, quickly tightening the ace bandage that she had become so accustomed to.
Downstairs, Watson was flipping pancakes and scrambling eggs, all the while putting out plates for Sam and David Michael. When Kristy finally entered the kitchen, he barely looked in her direction as he spooned some food onto her plate. Nor did he notice as she pushed the food around in silence or swallowed a few tabs of Tylenol before grabbing her bag and heading out the door. In her house these days, Kristy could usually get through a day saying a few words at best.
As she walked to her bus, her cell phone rang accusingly. Kristy had refused to pick up any calls from Mary Anne or Claudia, and she wasn't even sure if Jessi or Mallory knew that the BSC had disbanded. Not that she was going to be the one to call them. Since Claudia made up her mind, she could make the calls. After all, she was the one with the phone in her room.
"Kristy!" Shannon Kilbourne called, jogging to catch up with her. "I've been calling you for the past five minutes!" As she ran, her long blonde hair streamed perfectly behind her, giving Kristy a slight twinge of jealousy.
It was always a misconception of the BSC members that Kristy didn't care about her appearance. Though she always chose to wear jeans, turtlenecks, and gym shoes, she had her own reasons for following this pattern: she just didn't feel as if she could compete with the rest of the club. Though she knew she shouldn't do it, Kristy constantly compared herself to Claudia, Dawn, Stacey, and even Mary Anne. She figured in the BSC hierarchy of looks, she was slightly prettier than gawky Mallory, which wasn't saying much (however, Kristy always thought that Mal would probably end up being gorgeous in a few years, much to her chagrin). Shannon, a former BSC member, was no exception. Sometimes, Kristy wished she could just stop by Shannon's and ask for advice on how to change, but she always talked herself out of it. Kristy Thomas was no girly or feminine, and changing her appearance would be almost too much for her to deal with. It felt like she had multiple personas battling for who would come out on top.
Shannon smiled as she approached, scooping her hair into a ponytail. "What's new? I haven't seen you in ages!"
Kristy stifled a laugh. Ever since starting to date her older brother Sam, Shannon had become a constant fixture in her house (although most of the time they stayed locked up in his room, not that Watson ever noticed). "What's new, Shannon?"
"I was wondering if Sam said anything to you about what he had planned for this weekend. You know, since Watson and Elizabeth are going away, he was thinking of having a few people over. Nothing too crazy, of course."
Kristy's original reaction was to protest. After all, the old Kristy would never have let Sam throw a party when her parents were out of town. In fact, she was rarely alone in the house, save for the time that Bart Taylor came over and they made out while watching commercials. But something stopped her from saying anything. Maybe this was what she needed – a chance to step out and try something different. "Sounds fun," she said.
The frown that was beginning to grow on Shannon's face was replaced with a smile. "Really! I totally thought you'd say no. That's awesome, Kristy. Well, I better head out. I don't want to miss my bus. See you Friday!" With that, Shannon ran across the street to her stop without looking back.
"Why does math have to be my first class?" Claudia thought to herself as she entered the room. As she took her seat next to Alan Gray, she reminded herself that she wasn't supposed to say anything to him, at least not after what happened last summer. But really, it was so hard to resist.
Claudia and Alan used to be close. Too close, some might say. But that all changed as soon as they entered the summer after their freshman year of high school. Stacey, Claudia's best friend, began constantly lecturing Claudia about ditching her friends for her boyfriend. The whole time, Claudia thought that Stacey was after Alan, so she eventually broke up with him after she convinced herself that Alan was flirting with Stacey. Since then, Stacey and Claudia's relationship had become more strained, though they did still try and keep in touch. Alan and Claudia hadn't spoken since.
"Of course they had to seat us alphabetically," she thought to herself. Instead of copying down the Pythagorean Theorem, she pulled out her notebook and began to doodle in the margins. "Claudia," Alan whispered. She ignored him. "Claud," he said again, and she turned. He handed her a folded-up piece of paper. "Read it later," he said. She crumbled it and put it in her multi-colored beaded purse. Maybe she'd read it after school. Maybe.