HIGH SCHOOL DAZE

Chapter Two

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 6TH, 2007

All night all I could think about was Cruz and him grabbing my arm. I felt like he wanted to say more to me but talked himself out of it. I laid in bed for hours thinking about what he could have had to say to me. I also imagined what it would be like to stand on my front porch and kiss him goodnight for what would feel like hours, just the way No No gets to do.

Was it wrong of me that I was having these thoughts about my best friends boyfriend. It was not like she actually cared about him, or that he actually cared about her. It was also not like I was going to do anything or act on any of my desires. A girl was entitled to have her own fantasies, without feeling ashamed of them. Right?

“Butterfly,” Brat’s voice called through my bedroom door. “We are going to be late for school, it is already 7:30.”

I looked over at my alarm clock and jumped up in a panic. I had no idea that it was this late and I was not even out of bed yet. I guess I did not get to sleep until later then I thought, causing me to sleep in. As worried as I was about it, it made me smile, I was never the girl that slept in. It was nice to be something different for a change, even it it was only a small change. 

I quickly made my way out of bed and rummaged through my closet. In a hurry I pulled on a torn up pair of jeans and a ratty old sweat shirt. I was not out to impress anyone, so I figured there was no reason to try and look better then the girl who slept in. 

“Butterfly,” Brat yelled through my door, banging her hand firmly against it, “Get a move on it or we are going to be late.”

I swung open my door and gave Brat a dirty look, she proceeded to stick her tongue out at me and run off down the hall. I try to explain to my parents how our life would be much simpler without her in it, but they never seem to listen. I think that they think that I am joking. 

Her being an annoying little brat ... is no JOKE.

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I crept into my home room class three minutes after the bell had rang. I could see the look on Nut’s face and it made me smile. It was a look of worry and confusion. I had never been late and the only time I had ever missed a day of school was when I was really sick. So I can tell why he would be worried about me.

“Where the heck were you,” he asked, leaning over toward my desk as I sat myself down and looked up toward the front of the class. I was trying to pretend like nothing was up and I did not know what he was talking about. He gave up and moved back to sit up in his own desk.

“We are so glad that you could join us, Ms. Butterfly.” Squeak said in his normal squeaky voice. It always made me want to laugh, but my cheeks were burning so badly with embarrassment at the moment that I could only look down at my desk.

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“You going to tell me why you were late?” Nut asked me again as we sat down at a lunch table toward the back of the cafeteria. We were not really the type of people to sit with the crowd or fit into the norm.

“You were late,” I heard a voice chime in, I could tell right away that it was No No. She had a voice that was hard to miss. It was like listening to a princess complain about her food not being cooked right, or listening to Veruca, the spoiled rotten child from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

“Yeah, she was late,” Nut said again, not pulling his eyes away from me. I knew that I was going to have to tell them something.

“Look,” I said in a frustrated tone, throwing my hands down against the table, causing our trays to shake slightly. “I did not sleep well last night, so I was really tired this morning and I slept in. End of story. Now will you just drop the subject.”