High School Years

Chapter Nine

The following week passed by in a blur. Alex didn't acknowledge my existence, unless his crew was making fun of me or my crew. Then he would laugh along. But at home, at the bus stop, at the bus not once did he even make eye contact with me. While everything else in my life went forwards, he was going backwards. But I had bigger and better things to focus on than stupid ex-boyfriends/ idiotic next-door-neighbors.

Today after school was the first official meeting of Lunchroom Story. I didn't honestly expect us to be very good yet, we had only been learning a week. My dad says I've been picking up the bass very fast, but he's my dad so I don't know how sugar-coated his opinion was. Winter texted me that she thinks she's really getting the hang of the keys, and Jackson claims he's proud he hasn't killed anyone with a drumstick, which I really hope was his way of saying things were going great. Lex hasn't said much about her guitar, but I would find out later how she was doing.

"Hey Sum, come here!" I heard someone call me from the other end of the lunchroom. I couldn't identify the voice above so many others, so I turned around to look for the source.

"What are you waiting for, come here!" The speaker said again and I saw her wave at me. I went over to her table.

"What do you want, Gia?" I asked her.

"Sit down, just for a few minutes!" She begged. Why was she so peppy? I turned to look at my friends. They were all watching me with wonder. I motioned for them to carry on and I sat down at the table with Gia and company.

"Summer, do you wanna come to my Halloween Party Friday night? You've let your style go a bit, but with more makeup, your old clothes, and fix your hair a bit, you could totally come back into the group!" She said. I get that that was supposed to be an insult but she sounded like she honestly meant it to be a compliment. Gia Mark does not do compliments. This girl was fishing for something, and I couldn't care less what.

"What makes you think I would ever come back to you?" I asked her.

"Puh-lease Summer, we are the two most popular and pretty girls in the Freshman year. Together we could have every single person in our grade wrapped around our little finger!" She said. Of course that was what she wanted. To use me.

"There are a few flaws in your logic. One. I wouldn't call myself the prettiest girl in the grade, nor you with that cakeface. Two. I try to use my popularity for good, not evil, like some rich bitches I know." I told her. She was speechless, and I saw my chance to leave.

"It's been nice talking to you. See ya around, Gia." I said sarcastically with a little wave.

I made my way back to my table and rejoined the people who make my life the best.

"What did she want?" Lex asked.

"Just trying to suck me back into her little world saying how 'we are the two most pretty and popular girls in freshman year' and 'together we can have the whole grade wrapped around our perfectly manicured fingers' and stuff. I was like 'first of all if you want the prettiest girls in freshman year its not me and it definitely isn't you, cakeface' and then I said I use my popularity for good, not evil and called her a rich bitch, then I left, now here I am." I recounted the story of what happened two minutes ago.

"Wow, what did she say when you called her that?" Winter asked.

"Nothing, she was totally stunned!" I laughed. Winter and Lex laughed along with me.

"Is this really what girls think about?" Jackson asked, totally confused.

"Yeah, get used the mindset of a girl. You are gonna be spending a lot of time with us!" Winter joked.

"What have I gotten myself into?" Jackson laughed and mimed fear. Within minutes we were talking a mile a minute about plans for later. Jackson couldn't wait to show us everything he's learned so far, Winter was head over heels about her keyboard, and I bubbled about my bass.

"How's everything going with your guitar, Lex?" I asked her when I saw she wasn't saying anything.

"It's going really well, I just want to surprise you guys later." She told us. The lunch bell then rang and we headed off to class.

I had computer class next, my favorite. It wasn't my favorite because I genuinely enjoyed the class, though. It was my favorite because the teacher never payed attention to what was going on. You could literally be on any website or computer program, as long as it wasn't blocked by the school web monitor thing. I was going to go on photoshop and create a few ideas for a band logo.

As soon as I sat down and logged on to my computer, I was in the zone creating some pretty cool logos, if I do say so myself. They really weren't anything professional, but I know Winter's dad is pretty good with computers and could probably improve on my designs. I saved the designs and sent them to myself so I could show the them at the band meeting later.

Exactly forty-two minutes after it began, computer class ended. The bell rang signaling it was time for sixth period, and for me that was study hall. While I had my nose in a book pretending to study, I began to think. Well, technically I was already thinking, but a began to think of something worth mentioning. If I wanted to maintain my status as a popular, I needed to interact with more people than just the three I ate lunch with. What better way to do that than a party? I could throw a Halloween party on Friday Night, same time as Gia's, and I could show people what being popular should really be about. Sure, I didn't have as nice of a house or as nice things as Gia did, but at least I was actually nice. If the band was ready by then we could even perform that as our first gig! I doubted we could be ready by Friday, but it was an idea.