Kimberly's Story

Sudden Emotion

When the bell rang, I snatched my books and ran to my locker. I had to get a spot in the cafeteria, we ran out of food at home so I didn't pack a lunch.

"Kimberly! Kimberly, over here!" someone shouts.

I look sideways to find Lizzie calling for me. I try to put on a fake smile as best as I can and run up to my friends. Lizzie is about my height and has peach-colored skin. Her eyes are beautiful; a mix of green and brown. Her hair's brunette and is long and wavy. She's one of my best friends, which includes my other friend, Stephanie. Stephanie is the tallest in our group, the strongest. She used to punch all of the mean boys at school, now she dates them. She has light blue eyes and beautiful blond hair. And she is gorgeous.

We've known each other since kindergarten but I can see that we are slowly drifting apart. Stephanie isn't really a good friend to either of us. She always has to come first before anybody else. I really didn't care, however, Lizzie, on the other hand, did. I played an easy part in our friendship. Lizzie talks behind Stephanie's back and I just agree. It is fairly easy. The same goes for Stephanie, too, of course.

My friends think they know me so well. They are too wrong. I didn't tell anyone about my parents. To others my life is a mystery. The only downside is having to lie to everyone about house renovations all the time.

I wanted school to be my safe zone. Where I could run away and be a different person for six hours. If I didn't lie to them, this would be exactly like home; a nightmare.

My smile stretches up to my cheeks but I know it doesn't quite reach my eyes. I've practiced this smile for months. My other one had not been satisfying enough. My friends had asked too many questions, personal questions. Apparently, when I smiled my lips gave a slight twitch. I hoped this one wouldn't make them ask if I as OK. I hated that question, it was too cruel. Every time I heard that, I wanted to melt and cry my heart out. I wouldn't, I refused to. I would stay strong and not give in to this annoying question that could destroy everything at school.

I was almost proud of myself. I deserved a certificate. Was there a certificate for fake smiles? It didn't matter, because I knew there was one for acting. I just happened to be a professional. Who would have thought?

"Kimberly! I saved you a spot!" Lizzie shouts from the foyer.

We all sit around the foyer in a circle on the benches. It is the heart of the school. Any direction you went intersected the foyer. You had to pass the foyer at least several times a day. It reminded me of the human body's heart, and we were the red blood cells. We passed and we left, as if we needed to be pointed to the right direction and then you were swept away in a swarm of other blood cells to another body part. Or a room full of security cameras. As if we were psychopaths and needed to be checked to make sure we meant no harm. If we passed, we continued to class with the rest of the mob of students. And if we didn't? I would have to think about that one. Anyway, I had checked for security cameras in the foyer many times. To my disappointment, I never found any.

"Hey," I say with false perkiness.

"Hey, you were late for class in the morning," Lizzie responds with her squeaky voice. She looks like one of the little mice on an episode of the Discovery Channel, I think to myself.

"Hello? Focus, Kimberly, focus!" Lizzie laughs.

I shake my head and look at her."Sorry. Yeah, I had to run back to school because I forgot my textbook." The lie came to me effortlessly. All lies did, they were a necessity in order to hide what needed to be hidden. Which was my entire life; who I was, what I liked; who I wanted to be.

"Ohmygosh! You won't believe what I did yesterday!" Stephanie squeals.

I never understood why I was friends with Stephanie, or how we even became friends, at that. She wasn't necessarily the nicest person to everyone. If you weren't with her, you didn't exist. I remember one time when one of the "unpopular" boys in our grade asked her out. It was awful; the poor guy got juice dumped on his head because she said that his hair was too greasy and needed a wash. From that moment on, her nickname for him was "grease head." No one stood up to her because they all knew that if they did, the same thing would happen to them. Most definitely something way worse than dumping juice on their heads, and that was guaranteed.