Bee's alarm clock is loud enough to wake the both of us up, but it doesn't get her up this morning. Just me. I yell, "Bee! Bee!" and I hear her startle awake. She turns off the alarm, and I turn over and cover my face with my pillow. The sun is hardly even up yet. She never woke up this early before. I don't even wanna know what time it is. Begrudgingly, I fall back asleep.
When I finally get back up for school, shower, dress myself, and grab breakfast, I go down to my car. I get into the driver's seat and sit and wait for Bee to come out of her front door. My older brother, Gabe, used to drive us to school in the morning, but I've been doing it since he graduated and moved off to college. Not only do I drive Bee, but I also drive Drew and Noah to school every morning as well, so the fate of the entire car relies on Bee being punctual. She always is. She takes less time to get ready than I do.
Today is different. Not only does she not come out on time, she texts me this:
Bee: I'm running late! Go ahead and get the guys. I'll take the bus!
I groan and pull out of my driveway. Part of me was looking forward to finally seeing Bee this morning after spending an entire month apart. I was going to ask her about it too, about her absence. But I guess I'll just get over it
I pull up to the curb outside of Noah's. He's already waiting outside. Noah opens the door to the passenger seat, normally reserved for Bee, and looks confused. "Where's Bee?"
Why does everyone always ask me that?
"I don't know."
Noah can tell by my tone that this is not the time to make small talk, so he gets in the car and keeps quiet on the way to Drew's. Drew opens the back door behind me and echoes Noah with a, "Where's Bee? She's not coming today?"
I tighten my grip on the steering wheel, "Just get in the car."
"You hate to see it," he says, slipping in.
Once we finally get to school, I rush to my locker and unload some of the empty binders I got for the new year. Buses normally don't arrive until right before the bell, so I wait around in the hall until they arrive hoping to clear things up with Bee before school starts. Suddenly, I feel the hallway sort of change. It changes in that weird way when everyone is focusing on one single person. It doesn't happen often, but that makes it all the weirder when it does. I turn my head to look and see a girl walking down the center of the hallway. She's wearing a short orange skirt and tall black boots. Her hips sway as she walks. Her hair is so long it goes to the middle of her ribcage. She looks flustered, as if she's not used to so many people looking at her, and I know she's not.
I know she's not used to it because the girl is Bee, and Bee has been mostly invisible to everyone but me and Noah and Drew until now.
"Who's the hottie?" asks Drew, materializing beside me as my attention is on her.
"...It's Bee," it comes out sounding more like a question.
"Holy crap. It is." He says, then he laughs. He whistles long and loud, and she looks over at us, and she smiles. Bee seems embarrassed, but also hilariously flattered. Her face lights up, and I recognize the smile under all the lipstick. It's the same smile. At least that's still the same.
She walks over to us, and Drew is the first to speak, "You look cute." He's flirting with her, isn't he? Drew is flirting with Bee. The world is upside down.
"Thanks, Drew," she laughs.
"New look?"
"Yeah, just trying out something new," she looks over to me with a twinkle in her eyes. Her eyes are really bright. Are they bigger? Or is it just the makeup? They're a really beautiful shade of green that I've never paid attention to before. "Hey, Josh."
"Hey..."
"What do you have first period?" She smiles, and her white teeth glisten even whiter against the dark shade of her lips. Is this really Bee? I take too long to reply, so she reaches out and takes the schedule from my hand. "Off period. Hey! Me too."
Drew responds before I can even gather my thoughts, "Noah and I have it first period too!"
"Really?" she asks, excitedly.
"Yeah. It's shaping up to be a pretty good year, isn't it?" he asks.
"I agree," she looks at me, but Drew responds again. How is Drew so casual about this?
Our school has a car shop for mechanics to practice and stuff, and the four of us have been working on this old junkyard car in there for a couple years now. We always use free-period to go to the garage. Even during finals when we should have been studying. "We were gonna go to the garage to work on the car. You coming? Doesn't look like you're dressed for it," Drew asks. It's tradition. Of course she's coming.
Her answer isn't what I expect, "Oh, yeah, you're right. These aren't exactly shop clothes."
"It's okay, they look great," Drew grins at her, and she laughs again.
"Thank you!"
I finally regain the ability to speak, "What are you gonna do first period if you're not coming to the garage?" I ask her.
"I was thinking about staying in the study hall classroom for first period."
"What are you going to do in a classroom?"
"Study," she says, as if it's obvious.
I'm incredulous, "It's the first day of school, Bee. There isn't anything to study."
"I'll find something to do. Don't worry about it. I'll see you later," she reassures me, and then turns to go.
Did I just enter another dimension? What was that?
"Nice," says Drew. I'm not sure if he was referring sarcastically to my inability to have a normal conversation with Bee, or literally about her appearance.
"Dude, it's Bee. You were just flirting with Bee," I remind him.
"Yeah, and?" he responds.
"I don't know. That's weird, don't you think?"
"Josh, she's a cute girl," he says, watching her from afar, "And she just got a whole lot cuter."
"Still."
"What? Somebody's gotta tell her she looks nice, and it's not gonna be you."
YOU ARE READING
One Of The Girls
Teen FictionJosh and Beatrix have been best friends all their lives. Bee has been in love with him since before she can remember, but it's terribly unrequited. He's never seen her as one of the girls. It's senior year, now, and Beatrix decides it's time for a c...
