A Diary Of Two Losers

Chapter 2

                8/15/2017

Thoughts start to whiz around my head, flying here and there, crashing against my brain. Me, Cayenne, popular? What an impossible feat. I wouldn't have to worry anymore. When I drop my books and papers people around me will help pick them up for me and not step on them, leaving muddy footprints on my homework. I wouldn't be Clumsy Cayenne anymore. I wouldn't be called Calves.

But I wouldn't be myself either. I would lock my inner geek behind bars.

I sighed and grabbed Raven's arm, pulling her away from Beanie Girl and Raccoon Eyes. But Beanie Girl grabbed her other arm while Raccoon Eyes tried to tempt us into giving in. "No more teasing, your crushes will actually like you, and you don't even have to be sprayed with pepper spray! You just have to complete some very-well, uh, a few tasks to get in!" The word hazing flashes in my mind. The school handbook listed hazing as something that was inappropriate. But then the words goody two shoes flashes in my mind. I swallow. I don't want to be known as Calves. I don't want to be known as a goody two shoes either. "Um, what are the tasks?" Beanie Girl smirks. The first task is to hug James-in front of Laina." Dead silence. Raven and I exchange looks. We can't go around breaking people's hearts. That would be immoral. But before I have a chance to think about the deal, Raccoon Eyes thrusts something in our faces. The recording. She smiles evilly and presses play. We watch a video of ourselves. Our silly, foolish selves. We stand there awkwardly. Raven fidgets with her hair while I tug at the collar of my sweat-stained shirt.

Then she pulls up her Twitter account and raises her eyebrows. "There's really no choice now," she says with a big grin. We either make a fool of ourselves or break Laina's heart. I don't like the sound of the latter, but I'm just so sick of the bullying and teasing. I look at Raven with a frown. I can't decide! She looks over at me, tucking her hair behind her ears. With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I state our decision. "Um, we'll hug James in front of Laina." Beanie Girl chirps happily. "Oh, speaking of James and Laina, here they come!" James was talking to Laina, and it seemed that they were engaged in a very personal conversation. I nudged Raven with my elbow and whispered fiercely in her ear. "Um, Raven, you know him better than me! Hug him!" Raccoon Eyes, who is right behind me, chuckles cruelly and waggles her eyebrows at us. "Oh go on, the both of you, hug him!" I blink hard, and then start walking to them. "Hey, James!" I say, faking a smile. Raven and I walk up to him and hug his sides. He is very surprised but doesn't hesitate to hug us back. Laina steps back, a mixture of shock and something else on her face. She turns around and starts walking swiftly away. James looks back at her one time, then looks at us.

"That was exhausting," he says. "Pretending to like someone..." With anger written clearly across her face, Raven says,"Why the heck would you do that?" She shoves James away. He lifts his red ball cap, straightening his posture and ruffling his sweat-covered hair that had been sticking to his scalp. "Uh..." He drawls softly, his voice irritating me. "It's hard trying not to hurt Laina's feelings. I care so much about her but I hurt her so easily. It's not easy when you're like me. I can hurt others so easily and at the end of the day, it's better being around happy people than feeling so much guilt."
I look down at the tiled floor, sliding my shoe up against a dented red locker. I hear squeaking and I stifle a smirk as I see James, out of the corner of my vision, pull his lips back(so that I can see his purple braces)and wince. Raven clenches and unclenches her hands into fists repeatedly, and then turns around, grabbing my shoulder and twisting me around. She turns her head to face him, and stiffly says, "Well, bye." We walk silently down the hallway, our footsteps echoing throughout the empty walls. We're late for class...

Mr. Carpenter turns his head just as the door creaks open. His loud, deep voice is projected at our faces. "Girls...you're both very late," he says, a hint of anger in his words. "You're, what? 12 minutes and 30 seconds late." I sigh loudly, my face warming up. "I know, I know. Sorry, Mr. Carpenter." He leans in slowly, then yells. "Sorry for what! State the reason why you're sorry!" Spittle flies in both of our faces. He leans back, not breaking eye contact with us. His bright green eyes and receding hairline aren't intimidating, it's his temper that shatters like glass. He's notorious for his temper. Some students even think he should be fired. I mutter a few words. "Beanie Gi-I mean, Macie Fox told us to-" Mr. Carpenter rolls his eyes. "Ha, my niece? I know her. She definitely wouldn't do that." Raven and I exchange glances. Um, when would Macie Fox not do that? "I don't want to hear a word from you, you-you two liars!" Mr. Carpenter screams, slamming a hand down on the table. The whole class is silent, just staring at us. I feel heat creeping into my face.
We scramble to our desks; our faces are bright red. We stupidly chose seats right in front of Mr. Carpenter on the first day of school - we wanted every teacher to like us. Ironically, it just so happened to be that this particular teacher - who we chose to sit right in front of - hated us.
Mr. Carpenter slammed the door shut and walked slowly back to his seat. He sighed, glared once more at us, and yelled,
"Take out your assignments!"
Raven and I searched through our folders and pulled out the assignment from the day before.
Mr. Carpenter stood up and said,
"Kayla, number one please."
As Kayla spoke the answer aloud, I felt a sharp poke in my side.
Trying not to scream as a natural reflex, I turned to Raven and saw her homework was blank. She gave me a pleading look with her eyes and I pushed my completed homework in front of her for her to copy down.
This wasn't an unusual thing for us. In fact - we cared so little about Algebra II that we rarely bothered to look at the homework. We managed to squeak by on the tests, but Algebra was still our worst class by far.
She scribbled the assignment down as fast as she could, but Mr. Carpenter called on her.
"Raven. Number 8 please."
She sighed and looked at her paper.
"Um, sorry Mr. Carpenter, I didn't get that one," she said, still looking down.
"I have the answer Mr Carpenter -" I started to say, but he interrupted me.
"Well no, that's ok Cayenne. Let me see your work Raven, and we'll work it out together," he said, a knowing glint in his eyes.
He snatched the paper off of Raven's desk and took in a breath.
"Well class, it appears Raven didn't do number 8 at all. In fact, she didn't do anything after number 5. We all should learn from her mistakes," Mr. Carpenter said.
"Raven, see me after class." He slammed the paper back on his desk and continued calling on people. Raven buried her head under her arms for the rest of class.

Hi, guys! It's Raven and Cayenne, @thisisnotacat  .We know it's been a while since we updated, but we're trying to get better at that (Specifically me, Raven, because Cayenne ) has been way better at updating this story than I have. Props to her ❤️)
Anyway, see you all in the next one!

Love,
Cayenne 🐱 and Raven 🌙