the nerd and the heartbreaker

mika - a new friend

 "Just give me your worksheet already!" Maya breathed. "You're lucky Ms. Sanchez is late. If I get another F because of your slow, clumsy fingers, I'll tell your cheerleading coach all about your... new qualifications... or, rather, your absence of them."

I rummaged through my Spanish folder desperately before reaching a half-wrinkled sheet of paper, my small, neat handwriting scribbled over the blanks. I'd stayed up until nine in the night studying for today's Unit 1 benchmark test, and the way I had to use Google Translate for several of my answers in the worksheet revealed the gravity of my situation.

"Great! I won't be able to copy your handwriting. Who writes this small and cutesy, anyway?" Maya sneered. "I guess I'll be taking this."

"What?" I could barely stop myself from falling off my chair.

Maya rolled her eyes. "Princess, you understand that Spanish 1 has thirty kids? Ms. Sanchez doesn't know your handwriting as well as you think."

I shook my head with panic. "Why don't you just copy down my answers?"

Maya's eyes widened with false shock. "Oh, so you're telling me what to do? Sorry, I don't listen to bossy beggars. I'll write my name on the top myself, then."

"Give me my paper back!" I ordered, standing up from my seat. My chair tipped backward... and fell this time.

At that instant, I knew I had made a mistake.

I wasn't supposed to stand up to anyone, especially not to Maya. At least, that was what Maya had always said. I closed my eyes and took a breath, feeling dizzy.

"Support your friends to the best of your ability," my mother had once told me. "It'll come back to you for the better in the end."

Now, the question was: were they even my friends?

I turned to look at Amber, who had remained so quiet for the duration of the entire conversation that I had almost forgotten she existed. Instantly, I felt a pang of guilt but pushed it away. I wasn't sure my brain could handle any second thoughts right now.

With all honesty, I didn't want to leave Amber with her cruel and codependent partner, but I knew the consequences of not changing my social circle.

All of a sudden, I felt a quick, light jab on my back. I turned around to see a paper airplane still swaying side-to-side in the air and delicately picked it up before it touched the ground, which was still sprinkled with dust from my fallen chair.

I stared blankly in the direction where the airplane came from — behind my seat. What did Racheal and her friends want with me?

Maya had always spoken poorly of Racheal, although the points I could make about her from the one-sided conversations between a furious Maya and perpetually startled Amber were only characteristics I found admirable, like standing up to Maya's schemes.

I knew a few other girls in Racheal's group — or, gang, as she liked to call it. I was half-certain that most of them were dating each other. I didn't find that sort of community to be unnerving or even unusual, although I had never dated anyone of any sex.

Frankly, I would prefer to keep it that way. Relationships were terribly hard to maintain; it was already a challenge to balance your academic and personal lives, and adding a boyfriend to the mix only made it twice as complicated.

I tipped my head down to observe the airplane and noticed barely legible scribbles on the wings. Tentatively, I opened the airplane, and it read:

Friends? - Racheal

I looked up, and Racheal mouthed, "Yes or no." She gestured to the empty chair next to her, and I assumed that would be my new seat if I answered in her favor.

I nodded my head, and, for the first time in what seemed like forever, I smiled.