Adapting and Conquering (The story of Bertha's rise and fall)

Chapter Ten

At school, I put on a pair of sunglasses to hide my crackly mascara, and messed up face. No one would ask questions, because it was perfectly sunny today. I stopped outside the main entrance and sent a quick text to Katie. Whr r u guys? Need u 2 fix my makeup.

I got a reply in 3 seconds. We'll meet u in 3rd floor bathroom. 2 many ppl in AC wing.

As I reached the 3rd floor, wondering where the bathroom was, a hand reached out and pulled me into the bathroom. Katie's hand.

The bathroom was dingy and dimly lit, but it was perfect because nobody would come in here.

Heather whipped off my sunglasses, surveying the damage.

"Oh hon!" She cried. "Are you okay? We thought something like this would happen with your mom, since you know-"

"I'm fine, everything's fine" I cut her off. "She said she's gonna give me more freedom from now on, blah blah blah." I purposely left out the part, about sleeping in the bathtub, almost killing an old lady, and my broken mom. They didn't need to know about that.

"Let's fix your makeup." Said Katie, pulling out a ginormous bag. She saw me eyeing her bag. "What?" she said innocently, "We didn't know how messy it was gonna be."

"How much time to we have to work with?" Heather asked.

"15 minutes 'til class, but we can afford to be a few minutes late."

''WHAT?!?" I screeched. Oops. didn't mean to be so loud. "I can't have a tardy on my perfect attendance record!"

"It's time to break that habit." Said Heather softly. "You're a different girl now. Now you're-you're a... go-getter, you're a boy-magnet, and a queen of popularity. Now let's fix you up."

Heather and Katie were about 20 minutes into fixing my makeup and hair, and insulting me, ("How does hair get so knotty in less than one day?!?") when we heard someone push open the door of the bathroom.

Heather and Katie gave each other fearful looks. The dean? Katie mouthed. Heather and Katie got in trouble by the dean quite a lot this year, and he likes to find any excuse to punish them. They loathed him more than the hated Mr. Crowe, the spanish teacher, and that's saying something. Heather and Katie fled into a stall, leaving me with... Delaney!

Her makeup was ruined, and she was sobbing really hard.

"Delaney?" I said cautiously. "What's wrong?" I wasn't saying that to be nice, but rather to find out why she was crying. Hopefully Jacob problems.

"I heard J-Jacob s-s-say to Ernie that he doesn't like it when I'm clingy! And the-then Ernie s-sa-said 'you-you're gonna have to do something ab-b-bout her' and he laughed! And Jacob said 'y-y-yeah!'"

"Oh Delaney" was all I could say. "That's terrible!"

"I know!" She wailed. "What should I d-do?"

"Well, I don't think you should be with him if he doesn't accept you as who you are!" I said, feeling strong and empowering.

"Are you s-saying to break up with him?" She gasped. "I can't! I l-love him!" She broke down again and started sobbing. "B-b-but he doesn't love me!"

"Delaney, it's either wait for him to break up with you or do it first. You want to show him who's who." I said.

"Y-you're right! I'll have to do it today..." she bit her lip looking troubled. Suddenly she squeezed me in a suffocating hug. "Thanks Bertha! I owe you one!" She smiled at me- genuinely this time- and left.

"That was perfect acting!" Said Heather as she and Katie burst out of the stall.

"Th-Thanks" I said, not really sure what I just did.

"Yeah! He'll be happy to find this anonymous love note in his locker after he gets dumped by Delaney!" Exclaimed Katie, whipping out a frilly heart-shaped card. "Great thinking!"

"I wasn't trying-" I said, but I was cut off by Heather.

"Ooooooh!" she squealed. "Did you make that Katie? It's sooo cute!"

"Yeah it's nothing," said Katie looking proud.

"Wait- A love note!?" I asked, the enormousness of their idea finally sinking in. "No way!"

"It's an anonymous love note, that's different. See, if you start flirting very subtle-like with him, he might get the idea that you like him and sent the note, but he'll have no proof! He be intrigued and he will be driven to you due to all of your mysteriousness!" Heather said, her eyes lighting up with a maniacal delight.

"All you have to do is walk with him to his locker after Spanish, and secretly record his reaction on your phone so we can watch it, and give you advice about what to do next!" Katie piped in.

"Why don't you guys just go to your lockers too?" I asked. The thought of being alone with Jacob was unbearable. I'd surely do something to embarrass myself.

"We wouldn't want to ruin the moment." Said Heather with a wink.

"Why don't I just tell him I like him then? Then I'll know whether he likes me or not! This is too much work! At least if he doesn't, I can get over it, knowing that he doesn't like me!" I said. I couldn't believe how much effort had to be put into this!

"Well..." Said Katie, biting her lip. "He might not like you like that at the moment. I mean he doesn't seem like the type to cheat on his girlfriend... If you said you liked him to his face right now, there's a high possibility of him not returning the feeling."

"So we're here to make him like you!" Heather said.

"Isn't that like forcing him to like me?" I asked.

"No! Because we're just giving him a few pushes to realize his true feelings for you!" Heather said. "By the end of this, he will genuinely like you."

"So do you think you can do it?" Katie asked. "Walk to his locker with him, film it, and act surprised?"

"Sure. For Jacob. What does it say?"

"You'll see" Katie and Heather both winked. "Get to Spanish Bertha." Then they both walked out the door.

I checked my watch (which was bedazzled with fake rhinestones, thanks to Katie). 5 minutes until class ends. I wish I could have skipped Spanish, but I had to walk with Jacob to his locker!

Mr. Crowe was probably going to berate me in front of the whole class!

Oh well! All for Jacob...

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I dont know what to write down here anymore...