Polar Opposites

Maybe It Won't Be So Bad

Alyssa is standing in the door frame, mascara smearing and running down her cheeks along with her dark eyeliner. She looks like the Corpse Bride from Tim Burton's movie. 

There is a very still silence as she stands there with her hands balled into fists and taking heavy dramatic deep breaths in between sobs. Me, Tess and Miranda just look at her, waiting for her to speak. Finally, she does. 

"I can't believe you would think something like that about me... you have no idea how hard it is. People say that about me all the time and it HURTS." Alyssa gasps, another dramatic sob. What a faker. I roll my eyes.

"Alyssa, you have a boyfriend almost every single week" I argue, taking two bites of my cookie. 

"Actually, I've been going out with someone for quite a while." she says, her eyes glued to the ground. 

"For how long?" I ask, crossing my arms. Tess and Miranda cautiously wait for her response. 

"Three months" 

Three months? That's absolutely lame. 

"That's nothing Alyssa" I say, making her turn beet red and glaring at me. 

"You never had a boyfriend so you shouldn't be talking!" Alyssa hisses, shaking a fist at me. I laugh. 

"I don't need a boyfriend, unlike you. You practically live off of dick Alyssa" I reply, smiling in victory. 

Tess and Miranda gasp in response while Alyssa's mouth drops. I expect half of her jaw to fall to the ground. I laugh and smile menacingly. I was being rude, but she started it first. 

"You know, Summer... you got some nerve to talk like that" Alyssa growls, grabbing the door knob and slamming the door so hard that my entire room shakes. Tess and Miranda exchange glances, then look at me. I can tell they are really disappointed. 

"What?!" I exclaim. "She started it all guys. You know this!" Tess and Miranda just shake their heads. 

"I gotta go Hannah, I'll see you in school" Miranda speaks up, taking three more cookies and walking out of the room. I stare at her with my mouth open in disbelief as she walks out the door. 

"Those cookies are poisoned!" I call out, huffing in the process. I look at Tess. At least she's staying. 

"I'm gonna go too Hannah..." she whispers. I throw my hands up in the air in frustration. 

"Tess! You know how I feel about Alyssa! I told you almost everything she did to me as a child! Don't you get it? Are you gonna be exactly like Miranda and walk out that door?!" I'm practically screaming but I don't care at this point. My friends are walking out on me just because of ALYSSA. 

"Sorry Hans.. but Miranda has a point. Just go and talk to Alyssa. Even though you two are opposites, I am sure you can find something that you two enjoy. Honestly Hannah, have you even tried talking to the girl without insulting her today?" Tess crosses her arms and takes three cookies just like Miranda did. 

"I-" I start but Tess cuts me off. 

"Hannah... it wouldn't kill you to try" that's the last thing she says before walking out with the cookies. I sigh loudly, flop back on my bed and grumble a few curse words. Great! Now my friends probably won't even talk to me for the rest of my life just because of the truth! 

There's a knock on the door.

"What?" I snap at the person on the other side. 

"Hannah?" It's Alyssa. I wish it was Tess. I growl in response to her voice and I wait for her boots to walk off to the guest room. She doesn't budge. 

"I'm gonna stand here till you open this door" she says, tapping her boot. 

"Go ahead. Stand out there for days, you're not going to come into my room." I shove my face into my sheets. She opens the door and I peek an eye at her as she comes in and sits on my bed. 

"Contamination. Contamination" I say in a robotic monotone voice. She just laughs and smiles at me. Surprisingly, her smile seems genuine so I decide to smile back at her. That's right, I smiled back at Alyssa Greenfield. It felt weird at first but it also felt good. I sat up and looked her in the eyes. She looked back. 

This was a weird feeling but I actually felt BAD. I guess this is the time to apologize. I cleared my throat. 

"Um... Alyssa..." I started to say. She crossed her legs and waited for me to talk. 

"Um.. er... I... I'm..." I stammered, scratching the top of my head. 

"You're...?" she asked, coaxing me to keep going and finish my sentence. I took a deep breath and said the words that sounded like a foreign language. 

"I'm sorry" I finally said it. It sounded like Japanese or Mandarin to me. But, I said it. Alyssa's expression changed. She smiled at me again and grabbed my hand. I didn't pull away, but I did flinch. I relaxed when she interwined our fingers together. 

"I'm not going to contaminate your body with my toxic. I'm only human Hannah" she said, still holding my hand. Surprisingly, I suppresed a giggle then the giggle turned into a real laugh. She started to laugh along with me. Next thing I knew, we were both cracking up and slapping our knees, throwing our heads back. Just then, I realized our laughs were almost exactly the same. They sounded the same. After a few minutes of laughing, we took deep breaths. 

"What happened to us Hannah?" she asked, her expression turning solemn again.

"I don't know... but I sure want things to go back to the way they used to be.." I replied, looking at the ground. 

"Yeah, the way they used to be..." she echoed, staring off into the distance. 

"Let's say we... start over?" 

She smiled. 

"I'd like that very much" we both sat on my bed in silence before she held out her hand. 

"I'm Alyssa" 

"I'm Hannah" we both briefly shook hands but then I pulled her into a hug. Yes, I pulled Alyssa into a hug. I could hardly believe myself either but I did it. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tight. She hugged me back tighter. We swayed back and forth like trees in the wind. Then, we let go and the wind stopped. 

"So... what do you want to do?" I ask. She puts a manicured finger to her chin and thinks, pouting her lip slightly. She looks cute. 

"How about the mall?" Alyssa suggests. 

"That's not a bad idea..." I say. "Let's do it. You got a car!"

"Actually, YOU should drive" Alyssa advised with a twinkle in her eye. 

"You must be nuts" I exclaim, laughing. "I don't even have my permit yet.." 

"Oh..." Alyssa pouted. "Okay then, looks like I am driving. Let's go!" she grabs me by the arm and drags me out of my room and down the stairs.

"We are going to the mall mom!" I yell into the kitchen.

"Don't cause too much trouble girls!" she calls after us. 

As me and Alyssa get into the car, I get a rush of adrenaline as she starts the car. 

"Let's rock!" I scream. 

"Wooooo!" Alyssa screams louder, backing out of the drive way.

Maybe this won't be so bad.