Cleaning Out My Closet

Chapter Five

So can you believe it? Ray's going to let her school have it *evil laugh*. What's she going to do? Intrigue...

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this relatively short chapter-I had to go ahead and post this tidbit, and I hope you all enjoy it!

Write on!

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My way of joking is to tell the truth. That's the funniest joke in the world.

                -Muhammad Ali

There was an extremely different attitude in the Tapfer house the morning after the move was announced. You’d expect it to be subdued in our case; after all, none of us wanted to leave here. But I guess my siblings figured out the same thing I did: we needed to make the most of the time we had left here, before we started fresh somewhere else.

I was walking towards the school again the next morning after telling my siblings goodbye, and was once again greeted by Braxton. This time I was slightly more prepared, and turned my face up to him in a smile. He seemed surprised by my attitude towards him; I was practically giddy, even if I had no concrete plan yet.

“You sure seem to be in a good mood this morning,” he ventured, his mouth moving to mirror my smile. I shrugged noncommittally, but the smile stayed on my face.

“I guess you could say I have a new outlook on life as of last night,” I said vaguely.

“Really? Well, I must know what this new outlook is,” Braxton replied, keeping his long-legged stride shorter to keep up with my slower pace.

“I guess you could say…I don’t care,” I said simply.

Braxton laughed. “Well, that’s pretty straightforward. I’ll have to try that one sometime.” He looked down at his schedule again, and I assumed they changed both days of our school’s block schedule. I tried peeking, but he was a lot taller and had the paper just out of eyesight.

“What’s your class?” I asked, defeated. His finger trailed down the page, resting where I assumed Period One, Block day White began.

“Vaughan,” he said. I smiled again, and it made me wonder how many times I would smile today.

“Me too,” I said cheerfully, and I was rewarded with a real smile from Braxton; not just an amused smile or an interested smile, but a smile that showed he was truly happy about that. He had the kind of smile that made you want to do anything to make him smile like that again.

“Show me the way?” He asked.

When we walked into class, I automatically noticed the smell wafting through the room. I looked around and found it: a large white box, containing some of the most heavenly donuts ever created. Better than Crispy Crème. These are donuts to die for, and I felt my stomach growl in anticipation.

I sat down in my usual seat, also towards the back of the room: that tends to happen with a last name so far to the end of alphabetical order. And, once again, Braxton was stuck in the back. Poor kid.

“All right, class, I know you’re all looking forward to donuts, but you’re going to have to wait ‘till the end of class,” Mr. Vaughan said to us, packing up the box. “Principal Moore is going to be coming in to observe class today, and I want you all on your best behavior.”

There was a communal groan as we all watched the donuts disappear behind his desk, and class began. As he said, a few minutes later the principal arrived, sitting in the back of his class with an intimidatingly thick notebook. As usual, the class is quiet, the teacher is nervous, but we all made it through and Principal Moore left when five minutes of class were left.  Poor Mr. Vaughan sighed in relief, brought out the donuts, and collapsed in his chair.

At that point, I couldn’t take it any longer, and I was one of the first to jump up to grab one of the few long johns.

“God, I don’t think she could’ve hopped up any faster, could she?” Laughed a cheerleader to her friend. Both of them were known bulimics, so of course I was fat for wanting a donut. I grabbed two napkins and two long johns, one for Braxton just because I was feeling in the giving mood.

They snorted. “Not only one, but two donuts. What a pig.” I handed Braxton his donut, which he took gratefully. I plopped down in my seat backwards to face him, and away from the cheerleaders. No longer able to control myself, I tore into my chocolate-covered pudding filled heaven with a vengeance.

“Oh my god, do you see her?” The other girl said back to her.

“At least I’m not going to puke it up after class is over,” I said in a singsong voice, taking another bite of donut. It wasn’t until I was finished that I realized there was a collective silence in the room. I looked around and realized that everyone was giving me these really weird looks, and I realized what I’d just said. Out loud.

“Ex-cuse me?” Said one of the cheerleaders, getting into full teen bitch mode. I turned to look over my shoulder at her as I licked one last bit of chocolate off my finger, completely at a loss of words now.

Thankfully and ironically, I was saved by the bell. I grabbed my TMNT book bag and took off, throwing my napkin away as I walked out the door. I sat down in my next class, in a daze by what I’d just said. It completely just slipped off my tongue, without me even meaning it to. Well, I guess it’s started then.

Seconds before the bell rings, Nina struts into class and sits in her desk in front of me, immediately turning to face me.

“Holy freakin’ crap, Ray! You’re started already!” Nina said enthusiastically.

“Well, it didn’t take long for that to spread,” I said wryly.

“No shit, it just happened last hour, right?” She asked. I nodded. “And did you really threaten to shove a donut down her throat?”

I gaped at her. “Of course I didn’t! She was making fun of the fact that I grabbed a donut and one for Braxton, so I just said at least I’m not going to puke it up after class.”

Nina burst out into a fit of laughing. “Dude, that’s great! What an epic way to start the day! And I bet she had no idea what to say.”

I smiled at her, reveling in my triumph. “Not really, she just said ‘excuse me?’ in that cheerleader voice,” I mimicked, putting my hands on my hips and bobbing my head side to side in a very teenage girl fashion. Nina laughed again, holding out her hand in an anticipated high five.

“Win!” She said, and I lightly high-fived her. Soon after, class started and I sat back and thought about what I’d done. This girl is already starting to spread the word of what I’d said to her, and it was just fifteen minutes later. Chances are, all her friends are going to mouth me now.

But then again, I’m moving and will never see these people again. I don’t care what they think of me. As I think about this, a smile spreads across my face again.

This is going to be fun.