Breaking Boundaries (unordinary love story)

Chapter 10: A Recipe For Disaster

Friday.

Thank God It's Friday.

Even though I like school, it was hard to feel chill with finals coming up. It felt good to know there was a weekend coming up. School could really kill someone with stress.

Before school started Kendall and I met up at Sandy's locker. Sandy fumbled for her combination. When she opened her locker, confetti shot out, blasting us with bits of paper.

"What the heck?" said Kendall.

We were covered in confetti.

Behind us, people burst out laughing. The whole school was roaring with laughter, but these four people had the best laugh - Rick, Rand, Zach, and Phoebe.

Rick and Zach fist bumped.

"Hey onion girl, are you throwing a party?" said Zach. "Did you forget to invite me?"

I was trying to get confetti out of my hair. "That's not funny."

"Everything about it is funny," said Rand.

They dissolved into laughter.

"I can't believe you guys just broke into my locker to prank me," Sandy said. "Very mature."

"Rick found your combination," said Zach, shoving Rick's shoulder. "Never knew a dork was dumb enough to write it down."

I looked at Rick. That slug!

"That was the best freak show ever!" cooed Phoebe.

They walked off.

I reached into Sandy's locker and pulled out the spring loaded confetti bomb.

"Nimrods," muttered Kendall. "Especially Rick. He found your locker combination."

"It was in my pencil pouch," said Sandy. "I don't know how he got it."

"Misty, you should really just not tutor Rick anymore," Kendall said. "Just let him fail on his own. That jerk doesn't deserve to pass."

"He's not that bad," I said.

"He's not that bad?" said Kendall. "You hate him."

"I guess," I said. But I knew I hated him less now. I still did, but he understood me and I understood him.

The bell rang. Right before I could make it into the classroom, I accidentally bumped into someone (literally). I was about to apologize, but then I realized it was Rand, and my heart sank.

"Watch where you're going, onion head!" said Rand. "Do you need four eyes to see?" She made these circles around her eyes with her hands.

"Four eyes," taunted Phoebe, making the same circles around her eyes.

I ignored her. I tried to push past them to get to class, but Rand pulled on my hair. I grimaced at the pain.

"Is Misty short for mistake?" sneered Rand. "Because I think you are one. You were not meant to be born."

"Ooh, good one, Randie," said Phoebe.

Ouch. Those words hurt.

Tears pricked the back of my eyes, and Rand let go of my hair. I watched them walk into the classroom through my own tears. I blinked. Rand had definitely made it her life mission to sabotage my life and make me miserable, and so far she was succeeding.

During lunchtime I told my friends that I still had a tutor session, then headed for the library. Inside, Rick was already there. Our egg drop project was on the table.

"I brought the egg drop device," he said. "It makes more sense for you to keep it."

"OK."

"Are you mad at me?" asked Rick.

"For what?"

"For what happened this morning."

"Um, no. I mean, kind of."

"I found Sandy's locker combo a few days ago in Language Arts class. I gave it to Rand then, and she bought a confetti bomb for that prank."

"At least it wasn't you who did it," I said. "But don't think Sandy's not changing her locker combo."

"Whatever."

"So do you want me to go over the study guide with you right now?"

"Yeah."

He gave me his study guide and I took a look at it after straightening it out.

"Well the first question asks you to calculate the force between two charges," I said. "It's kind of like calculating the force of gravity between two objects."

"I'm already lost."

"So we use Coulomb's law...kq1q2 over r squared...and whether the force is positive or negative depends on whether it attracts or repels. Like charges attract and opposites repel."

"I don't get it. What radius? How do I know if it's a like charge or not? You're making me feel stupid."

"Well if both are positive or both are negative then..."

"I don't get it. Whatever."

"Maybe I should try explaining it another way."

"Zip it, onion head."

"OK..."

Then Rick rose from his seat, stuck his face in mine and got really close. He grabbed a fistful of my shirt, his face distorted in a scowl. "Hear me out, Gates. You are going to sit next to me in physics class on finals day. Then, you are to give me every answer. We'll come up with our own little secret signs for communication, which you will keep your trap shut about." He tightened his grip. "Got it?"

I nodded, and he slowly let go of me.

I straightened the wrinkles he left in my shirt.

I could not believe that for a moment I had thought of him as less of a jerk.

Turns out, he still was.

"Can I borrow your pencil?" he asked.

I could not believe him at the moment, but I still gave him my pencil.

He started to write on his study guide, pressing down really hard. The led snapped.

"Whoops," he said innocently.

I shot him a dirty look and grabbed my broken pencil to go sharpen it.

My folder was still on the table when I did.