-Chapter 5-
Presbyterian Middle School
Room 203
Wednesday, October 17th
10:03 A.M.
Wednesday morning, Massie sat behind Hanna in math class, glaring hate daggers at the back of her head. She couldn't believe that Hanna had just betrayed her like that yesterday at the mall. And she had left Massie for Alicia!
Suddenly, Hanna yawned and stretched out her arms. Her BlackBerry was in her right hand, and the screen was tilted toward Massie. Hanna had probably meant for Massie to see what was on the screen.
Massie squinted to make out the words. Her blood turned cold. It was a text from Alicia. Can u believe that bitch, Massie? Can't believe u were ever friends w/ her. -Leesh
Massie gripped the edges of the desk hard and willed herself not to scream. She dug her fingernails into the wooden desk, jerking away once she felt the pain. Without turning around, Hanna smirked, knowing that Massie had read it.
Massie kicked Hanna with her Jimmy Choo heel. "Hanna," she hissed.
Hanna didn't reply.
"Hanna," Massie hissed, louder this time.
No reply.
"Hanna!" Massie whisper-screamed.
Mrs. Adams, who was powering up the Promethean Board, stopped to stare at Massie. "Is there a problem, Miss Block?"
"N-no," Massie stammered. She could feel thirty-one pairs of eyes on her. She shrunk back into her seat, and looked down at the ground, hoping Mrs. Adams would just let it slide.
"Well, there's a math problem up here waiting for you," Mrs. Adams said, not letting it go. A few seconds later, the Promethean board powered up. "Ah. Miss Block, why don't you come up here and do the first problem for us?"
Massie gritted her teeth and slowly walked to the front of the classroom. "Come on, my grandma can walk faster than that," Mrs. Adams said.
Massie picked up the pace. She grabbed the Promethean pen and stepped back to look at the problem. She was in advanced math, and they were doing algebra right now. 3x - 8 = 4, the problem read. These problems were what Massie lived for. They were easy, and she loved doing them.
She tightened her grip on the pen and began to solve the problem. 3x = 12, she wrote, adding eight to both sides. x = 4, she wrote, dividing each side by three. She stepped back to show Mrs. Adams her work.
The thirty-one other students in the classroom gasped. How did she do that? their expressions said. Massie was shocked. How could this class not know simple stuff like this? And this was the advanced class!
Mrs. Adams pursed her lips. "You didn't show your work," she finally said.
"I did," Massie said sweetly.
"No, you didn't," Mrs. Adams said firmly.
"But I showed my work. See?" She pointed at the Promethean board.
"You didn't show how you got to 3x = 12," Mrs. Adams insisted. "And you're supposed to explain to the class how you did it."
Massie rolled her eyes. "Fine." She stepped back from the board. "First, I added eight to both sides. Then, I divided each side by three. My answer is x = 4."
"Now write that," Mrs. Adams said.
Massie sighed and wrote in +8 on both sides. Then she wrote in /3 on both sides. "There."
"Well done, Miss Block. Can anyone come up to do problem number two?" Mrs. Adams looked around the room, searching for volunteers.
Massie beamed and walked back to her seat, sticking her tongue out at Hanna along the way. Hanna stuck her tongue out back at Massie.
Hanna's hand shot straight up in the air. "Um, Mrs. Adams? I volunteer to do problem number two," she said.
Massie raised an eyebrow. From what she could remember, Hanna was lousy at math. Massie used to tutor her back when they were friends. Hanna was the girl who always sat in the back in math class, and never raised her hand. When she was called on, she would stammer and her face would turn all red, and the teacher would have to call on someone else.
"Come on up, Miss Harrington." Mrs. Adams smiled at Hanna.
Hanna strided up to the Promethean board, and searched around for the pen. "Where's the pen?"
Massie looked down at her hands. She was gripping the pen so tightly that her fingers were starting to turn white. She released her grip. "Oops." She walked up to Hanna and gave her the pen. "Sorry."
Hanna just rolled her eyes. Massie walked back to her seat, embarrassed. Why had she kept the pen?
Hanna turned to face the Promethean board. "The problem is 4(x - 5) = 8." She scribbled something on the board, then turned to face her classmates, revealing the finished problem. "First, I distributed four to x and negative 5 to get 4x - 20. Then, I added 20 to both sides to get 4x = 28. Finally, I divided both sides by four to get x = 7."
"Great job, Hanna!" Mrs. Adams clapped for her. "Class, let's give Hanna a big round of applause!" The class applauded with fake enthusiasm.
Hanna smirked, staring directly at Massie. Massie glared at her with her eye twitching. Hanna choked back a laugh. Massie threw her hands up in surprise. What was so funny?
Hanna walked back to her seat confidently. Once she sat down, Massie poked her with her pencil. "Ow!" Hanna cried out. "She poked me with her pencil!" Hanna pointed at Massie, who looked startled.
"Massie . . ." Mrs. Adams made a tsk, tsk sound. "At Presbyterian Middle School, we don't use pencils as weapons. You should know that by now. You've been here for a month and a half already."
Massie wanted to scream. Hello? This is only my third day here! But instead, she took a deep breath. She had to keep up the charade. No one knew that she wasn't actually a fifth grader. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Adams. Won't happen again!" She put on a smile and tried to look genuinely sorry.
Mrs. Adams just ignored her, and started to try to find a third volunteer to do the third problem. Massie poked Hanna with her finger this time. Mrs. Adams couldn't tell her to not to use her fingernail as a weapon, could she?
Hanna whirled around. "What?" she snapped.
"When did you become a math genius?"
"Alicia helped me study last night, after we went shopping." Hanna glared at Massie. "Why do you even care?"
"Because studying together used to be our thing, remember?"
"Yeah, that worked out well. I was still getting C's and D's on tests." Hanna snorted. "What can I say? Alicia's a miracle worker."
"You've only known her for one day," Massie whispered.
"So? It doesn't matter how long you know someone. Take Ahnna, for example. You've known her for a long time. Does that mean you like her? No."
Massie crinkled her brows. "That makes no sense whatsoever."
"I thought you were the smart one," Hanna retorted.
"I thought you were the dumb one," Massie shot back, rather loudly.
Mrs. Adams stopped in the middle of teaching. "Miss Block!" She sounded surprised. "In this classroom, we do not call each other words like 'dumb.' Apologize to Hanna right now."
"I'm sorry, Hanna," Massie mumbled.
"That's better. If I catch you talking during class again, then you will get a detention. Understood?"
Massie nodded. "Yes, ma'am," she answered.
Mrs. Adams turned back to the board. Massie tapped Hanna on the shoulder. Screw the whole detention thing. "Psst," she whispered in Hanna's ear.
"What do you want?" Hanna looked annoyed. "I'm trying to do my work."
"What do you see in Alicia anyway?" Massie asked.
"Oh. Well that's an easy question." Massie anticipated herself for what was coming. "She's nicer than you, for one," Hanna continued, tapping her chin. "She treats me like an equal, instead of like her dog who she uses to do her dirty work."
"I don't do that!"
"Remember that time you made me crawl around under the soccer bleachers to find your necklace because you 'didn't want to get your precious new heels dirty?' Hello? Ever thought about me? You think I want to get my shoes dirty? Hell, no. And I mean 'dirty work' literally. My pants were so muddy that day."
"Well, at least you found my necklace," Massie said in a joking way. She patted her gold locket adoringly.
"Massie. I'm serious. This isn't a joking matter."
"Come on, Han. Lighten up."
"We're not friends anymore, Massie. And you know it. So stop calling me 'Han.'"
"Okay, okay, chillax. Geez, why so tense?"
Hanna didn't respond. She turned back around and began to take notes on the lesson.
"Hanna," Massie hissed in her ear. "Where's my purple notebook?"
"Miss Block!" Massie looked up to see an angry Mrs. Adams standing over her. "That's the third time I've caught you talking in class. You have a lunch detention today." She took out a pink slip of paper and scribbled some details on it. She placed it face down on Massie's desk, and walked away.
"This isn't over," Massie yelled. She didn't care if Mrs. Adams heard her.
"Miss Block!" Mrs. Adams looked extremely mad. "I don't know what's gotten into you today. Go stand outside in the hallway for a while and think about what you've done."
Massie's jaw dropped open. Only delinquents got sent to stand out in the hallway.
"Massie. I said, go stand outside in the hallway and think about what you've done," Mrs. Adams repeated.
"I heard you the first time," Massie mumbled under her breath.
She got up from her seat, taking her time out of hope that Mrs. Adams would think twice about her decision. But Mrs. Adams didn't move a muscle.
"Of course it's over," Hanna whispered. "I won. You lost. Go cry a river, build a bridge, and get over it!"
Upon hearing that, Massie picked up the pace, and stormed out of the room angrily. As she slammed the door, she could hear Hanna exclaim, "What's up with her?" Laughter erupted from the classroom.
Massie sank down against the wall. She couldn't believe that they were laughing at her. Just one short week ago, her life was going perfectly. She had friends and alpha status. Now she had an ex-best friend out to ruin her life, and a "best friend" who she hates.
"I wish my life was back to the way it was a week ago," Massie murmured. She closed her eyes, and hoped for her wish to come true. Nothing happened.
Massie sighed. It was no use. There were no shooting stars in the daytime. Suddenly, an idea formed in Massie's head. She pulled out her iPhone and opened up the Internet. She typed shooting star dates in the Google search box and pressed go.
A few seconds later, the search results showed up. Massie clicked on the first link, which led her to a website that listed all the shooting star dates. She scrolled down excitedly, eager to see the shooting star dates.
Once she saw the next date, her spirits soared. The next shooting star date was this Halloween, Wednesday, October 31st, which was exactly two weeks from now. It said the shooting star was going to come at 9:30 P.M. on the dot. Perfect. She would be at Ahnna's party then, assuming Ahnna doesn't dis-invite Massie from her party, so all she had to do was sneak out before 9:30 and make her wish. What could go wrong?
Just then, the principal, Mr. Brennan, appeared in front of Massie. "Miss Block," he said, enunciating every syllable. "Cell phones are not allowed in school. I'm afraid I'm going to have to take that away." He pointed at the iPhone in Massie's hand. "And I'm going to have to give you a detention."
Massie handed the phone over reluctantly. "I already have a lunch detention."
"Oh. So I guess you wouldn't mind serving another lunch detention tomorrow, would you?"
"No, I wouldn't mind," Massie mumbled.
"Good." Mr. Brennan pulled out a pink slip, uncapped his pen, and scribbled something on the slip. "Here you go. See you tomorrow in my office for lunch, Miss Block."
As she watched the principal walk away, Massie seethed. Two detentions in one day? She had never gotten a detention before. Well, she had in seventh grade, but she was in fifth grade now.
Massie groaned and put her head in her hands. All she could do now was count down the days until October 31st.
Omigod, it was so hot outside, it set a new record! It's spring, yay!
P.S. I created chapter names! Hope you like 'em!
Review!
xx,
Rachel