His Crazy, Cheerleader Side-kick

When the newbie arrived...

The school had been abuzz of a new girl who had just moved to the sleepy town of Hillbury Estates, but I did not care. I was on the track to be the most popular senior of Hill High. Ever. I had especially enjoyed being Homecoming queen to Kyle's King. 

And when I saw the newbie, Natalie, I knew I had nothing to fear. 

She was ugly, dressed simple, and had neither style nor sophistication. 

So I gave her no more thought; that was my first mistake.

When the big bug science project came around and we were assigned partners, Kyle had been selected to be partnered with the new girl. I had attempted to pay the Science teacher off, but Mr. Sloan was immovable. That was the trouble with trying to bribe a rich teacher - they simply did not work for the money but for the 'joy of teaching'. Whatever. Fine and dandy. 

And no, I did not get stuck with Will as he wasn't even in that class, fortunately for me.

After Kyle turned me down for a date in order to work on the project with Natalie, I started giving her thought. Serious thought. At that point she was merely a 'two' on my Threat Scale. Not a big deal. Perhaps it was time to move her to a 'three' or 'four'.

When I saw Kyle walk her to her locker on several occasions, I knew it was time to step up my game.

I set her up during lunch. I made sure my friends Ginny and Lana were in line behind Natalie as we moved slowly to the checkout. 

"..from the Valley." Lana was saying as I joined them.

"She like probably like speaks like this. Fur shure, dude." I stated in a mocking tone loud enough that my target could hear me. Of course my little posse snickered and snorted.

But Natalie surprised me by turning to me and the girls.

"We haven't spoken that way since the 80's." Ouch. Nice one. Girl hath game.

But I was sharp; I hadn't clawed my way to the top by my beauty alone.

"Ahh. Is that how old your clothes are?" I laughed as I rolled my eyes, staring at her foppish clothing. They were totally out of style and completely ugly. I thought I had her as her face had pinked some.

"My clothes are in fact from a thrift store, because I have more important things to spend my money on than the latest Gucci bag." Once more I had to laugh at her.

"Gucci is so last week, dear. Grab a Cosmo some time, why don't you?" I shot back, feeling quite clever.

"I'll stick with good ole Sears and Roebuck, thankyouverymuch." And she walked away.

The girl actually left her tray and walked away, turning her back on me. I shrugged, feeling victorious and continued on, cracking more nasty jokes about her clothes and hair and style as we ate our lunch.

One afternoon a few weeks later, I was hanging up posters for the Valentine's Day Dance, to be held in a month from that point. I felt someone at my back, staring at the poster so I glanced quickly behind me and then looked once more as it was Natalie. Time to continue my attack.

"I don't think you'll have much fun at one of these. They're called 'Dances' and usually you have a partner." I grinned sweetly at the girl and then turned back to fasten the last corner to the locker side.

"Oh, right." I heard Natalie's reply to my witty comment. "I've heard of these odd ritualistic ceremonies. I've always wanted to go just to do some research to see the natives in their indigenous habitats. Maybe I'll go to investigate this one."

I blinked at her words. Why did she have to use such big ones? Was she a nerd? I nodded to myself. That had to be it - she was a nerd. Now I knew I had NOTHING to fear of her.

Wrong. Kyle more and more began to put me off. First it was the project, and then it was the fact that Natalie was going to help him with his Calculus. Then it was that they were going to hang out and shoot some 'hoops'. Give me a break. Was she even a girl?

Seriously. I became alarmed as I saw them more and more frequently together. I bumped her to a seven on the Threat Scale. I had to start getting creative.

It was a few days later that I found myself with binoculars in hand, studying Kyle from afar as he tossed a football with Natalie. He didn't even throw hard; what was the point? I growled angrily as they laughed together, and then stopped when I realized two things - first, growling was very unlady-like and secondly, I was no longer alone.

"So what are you doing? Spying? Hmm. Sandra Sunday-Morris spying." It was the goth loser, Will.