Why does he have to be so mean?
I’d known I shouldn’t have come here. I knew it was a bad idea. It had been a mistake. As soon as the guy and his friends left, I told Pete I was leaving. He tried to get me to stop, but I waved him off as I ran back to the change rooms.
As soon as I burst through the safety of the girls sign I burst into tears. Collapsing in a heap on the floor against the lockers, I let the tears flow.
I didn’t want to be a part of the track and field team anymore.
I didn’t want to go to this school.
I never wanted to see that guy again.
It wasn’t fair. I already knew I didn’t belong. I already knew that I wasn’t gorgeous, blonde, thin and rich. I knew that I wasn’t the type of person that usually went to this kind of school, and I knew that I wasn’t going to fit in and be super popular, ever. But did I really have to have this guy turn my life into a living hell whenever he saw me?
And if I did have a bully, why did he have to be super popular, and absolutely gorgeous? It wasn’t fair. I wrapped my arms around my knees as I felt sorry for myself and cried, tears streaming down my face.
Suddenly, a door on the other side of the change room slammed.
I looked up to see one of the girls I recognized from my table in science class standing in front of me, her black hair soaking wet.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing, I’m fine,” I replied hurriedly, wiping away my tears and scrambling to get up. The only thing that could have possibly made this day worse was getting caught having a cry, and that was exactly what was happening.
“No, you’re obviously not.”
“Fine, I’m not. But I don’t want to talk about it.”
“OK. Whatever.”
She turned around and went back into the shower stall. I sat back down, resting my head on my knees. I had thought I was going to love this new life, but instead, so far, it was the worst thing that had ever happened to me.
Five minutes later the girl came back out from the shower area, completely dressed.
“Hey, thanks,” I told her with a small smile. I didn’t want to talk about it, but I appreciated her asking.
“No problem. I’m Jas, by the way. Short for Jasmyn.”
“Tina.”
“Cool, see you in class tomorrow.”
“For sure.”
With that Jas left the room and I was left alone once more, with only the dull hum of the HVAC system to keep me company.
I didn’t think the day could get worse, but when I got home my mom told me we were spending the weekend at the Hunt’s place. I didn’t want any more reminders of this new life than I absolutely had to have.
Chapter Five
The weekend couldn’t have come fast enough, but sure enough, it finally arrived. I had survived my first week at the Moreton Academy, with only a bruised ego and a bully to show for it.
I had to take the good with the bad though: I wasn’t behind at all, and it looked like my grades were going to stay high if I worked hard. My history teacher also suggested that I might be able to take her AP class a year early.
Saturday morning my mom surprised me with some new clothes, way nicer than what I owned before.
“Next week when we get a chance I’ll take you shopping and we’ll get you an actual new wardrobe, ok?” my mom asked. Naturally, as a fourteen year old, I was super excited. These were Diesel jeans, and a really nice Ralph Lauren shirt she’d gotten me! I’d never owned anything this nice in my life!
The car came to get us around ten and we made our way to the Hunt Estate. Mom told me there were going to be a few other people there, that it was going to be a family barbeque. Great, that was exactly what I needed. More rich people that I didn’t fit in with to be around.
I stared moodily out the car window as we drove to the estate. I could feel my mom’s gaze on me more than once, but I think she sensed I didn’t want to talk about it, and didn’t ask what was the matter. Not that I was going to tell her, anyway.
It was one of those gorgeous Indian summer days, when the sun is out and shining, it’s warm enough to be out without a jacket, and yet the leaves on the trees are already falling easily onto the ground below. When we got out of the car a warm breeze stirred, whipping a strand or two of hair that had escaped my ponytail into my face, and I smiled. I loved this weather. Not too warm, not too cool. Maybe this wasn’t going to be such a bad day after all.
Mr. Andrews greeted us as we entered the lobby, then led us to the backyard, where the sounds of mingling and laughter got louder the closer we got to the open French doors.
As I saw the crowd of fifteen-ish people gathered outside, the nerves began to pile up once more. I had been expecting less than ten people. This was what I considered a full-on party.