Because I'm a Girl

Chapter 7

"Only three people joined my club," I told Barbara, staring down at her desk that separated us. "I tried promoting and everything, but no one wants to take my club seriously. I don't know what to do."

"It's only been two weeks," Barbara said calmly, her eyes gentle. "Your club is new. No one knows if it's worth joining yet, so you need to draw people in. You need to show them your club is cool."

"How?" I asked. "How am I suppose to do that when no one will even listen to me?"

Barbara didn't say anything for a moment. Her eyebrows furrowed as she thought about my question, and I stared at her, hoping she had a solution. I didn't want to give up on my club, but I was growing hopeless. After the cafeteria situation, my confidence had taken a hit.

"You should recruit someone popular," Barbara finally said, her eyes brightening up. "High schoolers always follow the cool kids. They want to be like them, so if you have one in you club more people will be willing to join."

I saw where Barbara was coming from, even though the idea made me uneasy. My club was filled with nobodies. None of us were well-known by our classmates, which I realized was why no one took me seriously.

"Who should I recruit?" I asked, frowning when I couldn't think of anyone.

"Hmm, what about Josh Petrov?" Barbara asked. "He's a good kid and he's popular. He'll be the perfect addition to the club."

Immediately, I scowled at the mention of Josh. Barbara's eyebrows rose at my reaction and I quickly smiled, pretending I wasn't annoyed with the idea. There was no way I would recruit Josh. He didn't deserve to be a part of my club.

"He hates me and he's... insensitive," I said. "Who else would you suggest?"

"Josh is the only one I can think of. Most of the other popular students have a bad record, which would negatively impact your clubs reputation," Barbara said.

Once again I scowled and Barbara smiled awkwardly. Although I really wanted to recruit more members into my club, the idea of Josh joining my club made me sick. He didn't think girls had problems, so I doubted he'd be open to joining anyways.

"Josh would never join," I said, sighing. "He's close-minded. He told me my club is pointless.

"Well, it's your job to educate people with your ideas," Barbara said. "That means educating a few difficult people, as well."

Her eyebrows rose as they challenged me to question her, which left me sighing because she was right. If Josh was my best bet for having more people join my club, I was going to have to educate him on the issues girls face and then hope he would join. But, thinking about the way Josh seemed uncaring of everything, I knew it was going to be hard.

"Fine," I said. "I'll think about it."

Barbara smiled. "Good."

*****

"Do you think we should let Josh join?" I asked Aria, biting into my sandiwch.

"I think we should," she replied, her eyes soft. "I think that's the best way to approach recruiting more people."

"But Josh... is Josh. He's a jerk."

My eyebrows furrowed as I thought about Josh and all of our encounters. He had been nothing but rude. He seemed to care about nothing, which made me never want to interact with him. But if I was going to have to recruit him, I would be forced to spend more time with him, which I wanted to avoid.