Red ✔

Crush Fallen

I am frozen in place, full of shock. My head is dizzy from the words Clive, is, our and class. The awesome eighth grade year is losing its awesome…ness. Bit by bit, layer by layer, chunk by chunk. I did not just hear that. I did not just hear that. I did not just hear that. I keep telling myself.

“Hello?” Holly asks, waving her hand in front of her face. “Can you hear me?”

I stand there without a single flinch. I did not just hear that. I did not just hear that. I did not just hear that. 

I feel a knock on my head. “Anyone in there? Huh. Empty,” Leo teases.

They giggle.

I did not just hear that. I did not just hear that. I did not just hear that. 

Nicole shakes my shoulders. “Are you okay?”

“Uh…” I gag, not bothering to listen to her except for that repetitive voice in my head. I did not just hear that. I did not just hear that. I did not just hear that. 

Marilyn slaps me hard across the face. The pain does not strike me until—

“Ow!” I yelp, rubbing my face. “Why did you do that for?”

“You looked like it is the end of the world,” Holly replies.

“Well—” I begin.

“Because it is not,” she cuts in. But it is! I am going to make this year so perfect that no one can ruin it no matter what. Thanks a lot Ministry of Education.

“It is not so bad,” Leo comforts (but it only made me feel a lot worst). “Maybe he changed.”

“Oh, please,” I sneer. “He won’t change even if Victoria told him to.”

Victoria Crawford is the prettiest girl in our grade last year. I did not see her today, so I cannot compare. She is also Clive’s long term crush since preschool. He practically fell for her the day he set eyes on her. It was the most obvious thing in the world. He was drooling on his shoe in preschool when they had naptime. He would do anything for her. If Victoria told him to do her homework, he would do it. If she asked him to eat a worm, he would eat it. If she said to jump off a cliff, he would even jump off for her.

Not only is she the fairest one of all, she is a witch. She has the nastiest attitude of any girl I know. Whenever someone mocked her or do something she does not like, they regret it. There was this one time, Holly accidently spilled grape juice on her new designer top. The next day, Victoria made her evil minions scare Holly with a plastic spider, which Holly was terribly frightened of. Holly ran, screaming. Everyone laughed at her. She was so embarrassed she left school early and called in sick the next day. I just wished Victoria would go to hell to where she belonged.

“Why are you guys always fighting? Can’t you forgive him? You’ve been keeping that grudge for nine years,” Marilyn says.

Nicole tucks her hair behind her ear. “It will be about time you guys made up anyway.”

I fumble. I glance at him. If he wanted to change, he should have done those eight years ago. It is too late now.

He catches me staring. He turns to my direction. His eyes escalate up and down on my outfit. Is he checking me out? Gross with a capital G! I peer to see if anyone else noticed, but everyone is too busy talking and minding his or her own business. Then, he walks toward me.  Gah!

“Hey!” he shouts to me, walking closer.

What does he want? When he gets close enough to our group, he waves at us warmly. I roll my eyes, annoyed.