13 going on 30 (lauren lopez edition)

chapter one

It was March eighth and she was in seventh grade. The year was more than halfway over. There were only three and a half months left in the school year and third quarter still had a month to go. Lauren liked seventh grade. She was learning pre-algebra in math and in English they were reading The Outsiders. Earlier this year they'd read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and her English teacher had stopped them at chapter twelve, saying that no one was actually interested in it and it would be no use to continue. Lauren read the whole book anyway. Books actually interested her more when they weren't assigned for class. Of course, the whole rest of the seventh grade class had read the entire book, so she didn't know what to make of that teacher. 

She liked The Outsiders. Her teacher was strict and had taught high school before (oh jeez high school, my god), so she always went on and on about "preparing the young minds for the terrors of high school English teachers". Lauren kind of zoned out through the lectures. It was the same damn thing every single time. In fifth grade, the teachers had droned on about junior high and in sixth grade about seventh. So far, she hadn't not been prepared, so Lauren didn't really get what all the fuss was about high school. And anyways, it was almost two years away.

The one thing about junior high that she didn't like was the whole "if you like books, you're a nerd; if you're a nerd, you're uncool". She wasn't one of those people who had no friends and shut out the entire world and just read, but she also wasn't one of those slack-offs who acted like they owned the school. My god, they were only in junior high, wait until at least your first part-time job to act like the boss. Some of the "slack-off bosses" were nicknamed the "six-chicks". There were six of them (surprise, surprise) and they were the girls who had big boobs and had probably gotten their periods at nine. Lauren would've felt bad for them, but the "six-chicks" were the type of people that no one felt bad for. They would walk down the hallway and if you had to actually get to class, well too bad. Like an ambulance, making everyone drive into the shoulder. 

The "leader" was Denise. Okay, storytime:
When Denise and Lauren were three years old, Denise had moved in next door to Lauren. They'd become fast friends and no one would stand between them. They'd sit together in the sandbox and make castles with moats and dragons and no one, no one, would ever defeat the Denise-Lauren duo of knights. Sometimes, they'd even be princess knights that fought off evil princes and made sandpies. By five, they'd progressed to being Princess Jasmine and her tiger, chasing "Aladdin" around the playground (and beating him at math). By ten, they were introduced to Ebay. They started to make crafts and (try to) sell them. (They only made about three dollars but to ten year olds, that's gold). But the day before Lauren's eleventh birthday, March seventh, 1997, Denise made friends with five other blondes and they formed the "six-chicks". It had been two years.

Today was March eighth, 1999. It was a Monday. Mondays are always bad. Sometimes, they masquerade as holidays, but no matter what, they're still Mondays (they're manic, like that Bangles song). March eighth, 1999, Monday, Lauren's birthday. Mondays coupled with birthdays are just recipes for disasters. You can't have a sleepover birthday party that night and if you have it the weekend before, you're not actually that age at the party, but if you have it the weekend after, it's long after your real birthday, so your friends forget your actual birthday. For this party, Lauren was having it tonight with Meredith and Joe. It was going to be the smallest party she'd ever had because now she was "thirteen and responsible and too old for parties". She would have invited other friends but her parents had said only two friends or no party. 

It was March eighth and still only ten in the morning. The transition time between classes was five minutes, which was longer than her parents said they had gotten. It was still pretty damn short, and with math being on the second floor on one end of the school and drama being on the first floor and the other end, five minutes was not enough time. Which was why, at ten in the morning, two minutes before she had to be in class, still on the second floor, Lauren was completely pissed when she ran into the "six-chicks". They were walking (more like strutting) her direction, and the crowd of (not so) adoring fans was parting to let them through. Lauren decided to brave it. Binder in hand, head down, left hand in a fist, she started to power walk down the hall, directly toward the "six-chicks". She was on the right side of the hallway, so technically, she should be able to make it past six girls. But these were not any six girls.

"So, Lauren," Denise said, and everyone in the hallway looked at her. "Fancy seeing you here. Any particular reason you bumped into me?"

"Get off my back, Denise. I'm just trying to get to class. Unlike some slack-off bitches," Lauren said, muttering the last sentence under her breath, and once again tried to make it past the "six-chicks".

"What was that? Was that an insult? Did you just call me a bitch? I wonder what Ms. Harrison would think."

"Of course I didn't call you a bitch," Lauren said, and struggled to find some way to make it so Denise wouldn't tell the drama teacher. "Actually, I was just about to invite you to my birthday party."

Denise looked disgusted, so she added, "I could help you with the math homework, too."

"Alright, I'll think about it."

Lauren sighed as the "six-chicks" moved on to their next victim, and kept walking. Meredith came up behind her. 

"Did you seriously just invite Denise to your birthday party?" she asked Lauren.

"Well... yes?" Lauren said, and shrugged. "That or have Ms. Harrison thinking that I called Denise a bitch."

"Well did you?"

"Yeah."

"Good for you. She deserves it."

Meredith had stepped into Lauren's life when Denise had stepped out. She'd become a constant in the past two years, always making Lauren laugh and smile no matter what. She was also in Lauren's drama class, which was about to start in - she checked her watch - fifteen seconds. Crap. The bell rang as soon as they got to the stairs.

"Don't worry, I got us late passes from Mr. Rodriguez."

"Oh my god, you are the best, thank you so much!" Lauren said, and hugged Meredith.

"I know, I know, thank you for the appreciation though. Now come on, class."