Social Experiment

13 | Spy Kids

The hallway was a frenzy of voices greeting me as I passed. Some I knew, most I didn't, but all of them took their chance to smile and wave as if we were best friends.

"Hi Lauren," A girl from my gym class beamed.

"Hey Lauren," Some jock in a letterman jacket nodded with a smirk.

"Lauren," A rather jittery girl squeaked. "Hi!"

"Hey Laur," An unknown girl greeted with a wide smile and enthusiastic smile.

I just blinked in confusion at everyone who greeted me, genuinely too shocked to respond. Over the past few days, I've gotten a different kind of attention from people. Instead of just staring and whispering, now they greeted me like we were old friends.

It was weird, the way things were changing. Before I was hardly noticed in the halls unless I was under Thomas' arm. Then when I changed, all that followed were whispers and rumors. Now it seemed like people actually cared about me liking them.

Like I said: it was weird. And it wasn't just passing greetings in the hallway, either. When I walked into a classroom, the boys sitting in the back would wolf whistle or give me some lame pick up line that ended with a high five from their friends.

I usually just rolled my eyes and gave them a snappy reply so I could take satisfaction in watching the guys face fall. But today, I was too tired to even do that, so I stuck to one liners and the whole "pretend like these ass hats don't exist" technique.

While I'm walking out of the schools front doors, thankful to be done school for the day, I pull out my vibrating cellphone and see a call from Stephanie. I smile and answer, putting the phone up to my ear as I begin to cross the front yard of the school.

"Hey Steph," I greet easily.

"Hey Laur," Something crinkles in the background. "I'm at your house already, and let myself in. So hurry home."

I laugh at my friend, knowing she must've found the spare in the plant pot beside the front door. "Okay, I'm leaving now and will be there in a few. Don't eat all my pretzel chips!"

The crinkling noise pauses, and I know I caught her in the act of doing exactly that. As my gaze sweeps the parking lot to make sure no cars are coming, I see a face grinning at me, his hand frantically waving to catch my attention.

My laughter halts immediately as I see Matt, Bailey's longtime boyfriend, waiting in between my car and his, no doubt picking up Bailey. He had probably just gotten home for winter break and wanted to see her.

Judging my the way he didn't ignore me when he saw me, I guessed that Bailey hadn't clued him into our lack of friendship recently. So I plastered a smile onto my face, hung up the phone, and waved back as I approached, and when I did, he crushed me in a hug.

"Lauren, it's good to see you," Matt tells me as he hugs me and then let's go with a kind smile. "I've missed this place."

My smile is genuine when I say, "I bet Loyola's been treating you well."

He nods and his curly brown hair bobs on the top of his head. "I love it in Maryland. The school is amazing, and there are some really cool people there."