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

Chapter Fourteen

And Katie did agree with her. Our next meeting was at Heather's house on Wednesday, two days after Jacob hugged me, which was Monday.

"I don't know why, but Jacob's been avoiding me!" I said, huddled in the corner of Heather's room, hugging a pillow pet to my face.

After algebra on Monday, the only other class I had with Jacob was lunch and Technology, 5th and 6th period. During lunch he was surrounded by a group of his friends, playing table football. A few girls came over to his table during lunch and hugged him since Delaney dumped him, but none were as good as mine with him. I smiled at the thought of it.

Jacob must have skipped tech on Monday, because I didn't see him, which worried me a little.

On Tuesday in Spanish (we had a sub, by the way) I tried to make conversation with him, and he barely responded, only occasionally saying "mhmm". Eventually, he just stopped listening and put in earbuds.

After that he ignored me completely, and I relapsed into old Bertha, worrying about him, what I did, and if he would ever like me. That hug in the hall was now just a distant memory, almost a dream. With the way he treated me now, that hug meant nothing in our relationship, which was now our nonexistent relationship.

"Cheer up Bertha..." Heather said tentatively. She had been repeating that whenever I said something about it, unsure of what else to say.

Katie, who always knew what to say, was avoiding my eyes and scribbling furiously on a piece of paper. "I just don't get it..." she muttered.

We all just sat there, in a cloudy gray mood.

The doorbell rang. "He's here!" Yelled Heather.

"Who?"

"My cousin Paul. He's a geek. He can help us hack the security cameras." she left and returned with Paul a moment later.

Despite Paul apparently being a nerd, he was pretty cool. He had curly brown hair, tan skin, and a slightly crooked nose. He wore a football jersey and jeans, with burgundy converse high-tops. He was obviously a jock as well. According to Hannah, he was in 8th grade at the academic center.

"Hey Katie." he said.

"Hi Paul." Kasia said, still scribbling on her sheet of paper.

"...Hi...Heather's friend." He said, noticing me.

"Bertha." I said, getting up to shake his hand.

He smiled warmly. "Pau-"

"Bertha, this is Paul. Paul, this is Bertha. We need to hack the security cameras by the dean's office." Heather interrupted.

He gave Heather a look, almost as if to jokingly scold her for interrupting him."Sounds cool. Give me quiet and about half an hour." he replied.

Katie, Heather and I relocated to the basement in order to provide Paul with the peace and quiet he asked for.

"While we're waiting, we need to empty that backpack of yours out." Heather said.

I dragged the backpack to her, and she dumped everything out. Then she tossed all my books in the trash, and left me with a couple of notebooks.

"That's better." she said. "Now-"

"My books!" I cried. "You threw them out!"

"Oh hush," Heather rolled her eyes. "Reading for entertainment is for the old Bertha. Calm yourself. You can live without Gandalf and Edward Cullen."

She busied herself with spraying me with a bunch of perfumes saying "Maybe he didn't like your smell..." and "He seems likes the 'paris bliss' kind of guy..."