It's Hard to be Lee

6. New Friends, New Things

After several football games, Lee found that she did not get a kick out of cheerleading. Larkin High was in a town right outside of Los Angeles. The population of the school was thirty percent white, thirty percent Hispanic, thirty percent Black, and ten percent everyone else which included students who claimed multi-racial, like her. There were two distinct classes, the haves and the have nots. Lee was a have, which were the wealthy students. The wealthy families lived on one side of town. The have-nots were not poor, but they were not rich either. They either had one working parent or two working parents with low incomes.

Lee had no prejudice against how much money a person had like some of the students. If you were rich, played a sport, or were part of the dance or cheerleading squad, you were a Pop, which was short for popular. That was the only clique that mattered at Larkin.

So, if Lee had not made cheerleading, she still would have been a Pop. A few of the cheerleaders would not have been a Pop if not for being on the squad. The cheerleaders were just one small clique with their own was and attitudes that Lee did not like.

There were only two Black girls on the squad. Lee and Kelandria Humphreys, who Lee was cool with, but she had her own crowd. The squad was mostly white with a few Hispanics. Lee knew it was a fluke she made the team. She could barely do a split, but her flips were the best. She was too tall to be at the top of the pyramid, so she had to hold the smallest girl on the squad, Heather Hamilton.

"So Lee, the team is going to hang with the football team after the game and go to Baskin Robbins. You're coming?" Heather asked her. Heather was always bubbly, happy, and tossing her long blonde hair.

"I don't think so." Again, she did not need a lot of friends to seem cool. She was happy with the small circle she created so far. High school was tough enough, but when you added petty girls and their attitudes she didn't need it.

Heather did not like her answer, scrunching her face and putting her hands on her kips. "Why not?"

"My boyfriend and I might do something." She thought that answer would suffice, but it did not.

"You have a boyfriend? Cool, invite him along. And is he cute? Does he have a friend? A cute friend! Oh wait, I don't care how hot he is," Heather rambled on between giggles.

"I don't think—"

"Come on Lee, you never do anything with us. You know half the team thinks you're stuck up."

That was rude of them to think. Because she did not hang out every day with them talking about boys, clothes, and make-up? "I am not!"

"Then come with us."

It was kind of like blackmail, and it worked. No one wanted to be seen as that loner, stuck-up girl. What harm could it do if she hung out a few times with her teammates? Maybe if she got to know them she would like them.

Lee decided to go with Mark and they had a good time. She met a lot of the football players and ate lots of ice cream. Lee even got to know FeeFee Perez, who was Mexican and a sophomore at Larkin. She had seen her around, but of course, had not said a word to her.

FeeFee was a year older than her, seemed smart, and was friendly. While all the other cheerleaders talked about celebrities and who on social media was the hottest, FeeFee was into things she liked, like reading and writing, getting good grades, and doing what she loved. FeeFee was into drawing and she was pretty good at it, showing her pictures on her phone.

FeeFee was gorgeous too, with long dark brown hair with red-dyed ends. She was smart but spunky at the same time. She wore a lot of make-up but it looked natural on her. She was the only other girl that came close to her height, only an inch shorter than her. They bonded over height issues as well.

"Boys are intimidated by my beauty, my brains, and my height," she boasted.

"Exactly!"

They laughed together. She knew she found a new friend in life.

"So Lee, I'm having a slumber party next Friday, you want to come?" FeeFee asked her.

"Sure! Uh, can I bring my friend Yvette?" It would be great if Yvette and FeeFee could become friends as well.

"Sure, the more the merrier."

"You are meeting all kinds of people," Mark said to her while they were still sitting at a table with a group of cheerleaders.

"I know, it's cool," Lee said, waving to a group of football players, sitting at a table near. They were nice looking, but she was never the type of girl to flirt with boys when she had a perfectly good boyfriend beside her.

"But hey, watch out for some of those players," Mark said to her. "Football isn't the only thing they play."

"Oh Mark," Lee said, pinching his cheek. "I have you."

"You sure do. Remember that."

Lee was doing great in her classes, all As and a B in science. The only thing she liked about that class was Mark. They studied together and she was getting a B as well. Joe was getting a B too, while Yvette struggled with a C.

Lee's favorite class was Actor's Studio I. They did a lot of in-class monologues and skits, and she almost always was paired with Joe.

"To be, or not to be, that is the question," Joe recited comically.

Lee laughed. "Come on Joe, stay in character. We're doing Romeo and Juliet."

"Oh, okay. Romeo, oh Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?"

Lee hit Joe's arm. "You're Romeo!"

"Oh. Juliet, oh Juliet, where art thou Juliet!"

"I give up!" Lee sighed, sitting back in her chair.

"Let's do Romeo and Juliet the hip-hop version."

"Mr. Bennett said..."

"Forget Mr. Bennett. We need to be different and unique. Stand out. I know you know about that," Joe said, pulling on her ponytail.

Man, that took her back, Russell Hart, her first crush, for many years played in her ponytail while chanting, "Lee, Lee you're my honeybee." She missed him. Lee shook the memory from her head then grinned at Joe.

"Okay, let's do it."

Hey Readers!

Lee is getting better about meeting friends now.