Persisting Anyway

7) Thought Processes and new nicknames

I decided that I might as well wear something that was presentable. I wanted to wear jeans and a t shirt, but since some people were sober at the party Saturday night, they should probably see me in something classy. Carter was sober, and I wanted to dress up.

For him? Psh.

I searched my closet for my favorite blue dress. It was light blue and went to my mid-thigh. Little patterns and cut outs decorated the dress. I performed my daily routine of getting ready for school meticulously.

Before seven o'clock I was downstairs and ready to go. I do not know why I was so anxious to get to school. Although, it might have something to do with the person who said I was a gem, or my eyes were hard to forget. In order to burn some time, I stood in front of a full length mirror, which covered the majority of a wall in the living room, and perfected my outfit.

When did I become such a girl? When did I care about how my dress lay or even if my necklace matched my neckline? Heck, I barely even knew what a neckline was! Nonetheless, I moved the necklace only a few centimeters to make the beads on opposite ends line up, and made sure there were no surprising stains that appeared in awkward places.

By seven o'clock I deemed it okay to travel to school. Normally I left at seven ten so being ten minutes early wouldn't hurt anybody. The drive to school consisted of music and singing, like always.

My seatbelt dancing was the bomb.com, and my singing was... singing. I pulled into the familiar parking lot. Cars were already coming in. Horns honked and people shouted hellos and gave out hugs. As I passed people, I gave a smile or a hug. My cheeks began to hurt when I finally reached my locker. It took so many muscles to smile, but I was fine with it, I was happy today.

Maybe I was happy that I didn't have homework over the weekend, or maybe I was happy because of someone or something. More someone than something.

"Hey chica." Rory hip-bumped me, I to give her a hug and I gave one to Claire as well.

"So, how was the party with Carter?" Claire gushed.

"I wouldn't say it was just with Carter." I hedged.

"Well, technically he invited you so that counts!" Rory exclaimed.

I gave in. "It was amazing, he is so sweet and adorable and polite and...perfect. Well, not perfect because nobody is perfect, but he is the closest you can get to perfect. Oh my goodness, he called me a gem and described my eyes as blue topaz and really pretty, and he said my eyes are hard to forget. Oh, it was perfect. He is practically perfect in every way." I sighed. Realizing that I had said, I slapped my hand over my mouth. "That was super cheesy, sorry."

"Oh! You guys are going to date and it will be so cute! Cute little Sydney walking down the hallway with Carter, everyone knows her name and they worship her even more than Amanda!" Claire was on a roll. She had started jumping on 'cute little Sydney'.

"Everyone will copy what you are wearing because they want to be like you. They'll vote you the cutest couple in the yearbook! Eek! I can just see it!" Rory added to the conversation.

"And then, you become popular then we become popular and then we can go to parties!" Claire added.

"Then I will be popular and Josh and I will finally date!" Rory's dreams were practically in her reach, she even stretched her hand out. It was pretty funny; the three of us describing what popularity would be like.  

Interestingly enough, we were content with our "social status". I was happy with how everything had turned out during my high school years.