Power of Persuasion

Chapter Six:

Monday morning, Jesse and I both walked to school together. I left my right hand dangling by my side just to signal that it was okay for him to hold it if he wanted to, but I don't think he picked up on it. It was almost frustrating. Both our hands were not even 3 inches apart, hanging next to each other, but I wasn't touching him. Part of me just wanted to turn towards him and scream 'Just hold my freaking hand, god dammit!' But, I didn't. Instead our hands just drooped from our bodies and swung pointlessly, only hoping to accidentally brush against each other.

Jesse managed to find me after every class and say a few words to me before the next bell rang. His smile, I couldn't get over it. It was rare, but once it happened you couldn't look away. He always rubs his nose, or looks down at the ground to try and cover it up, but for the spit second I see his teeth show through his lips, I fall for him a little bit more. The minute bell would ring and he would bundle me up in a quick hug and then walk to class.

Instead of eating by myself in the library, Jesse ate with me. We sat a table pushed into the corner and ate pudding cups; because that was really the only thing worth eating on Monday's. I'd like to say that our school didn't have cliques, but we do. Just not as obvious as your cliche popular group, and your freaks and geeks. But, we had them. Terry, Captain of the cool kids, and his girlfriend Abigail James. They were the power couple. Everyone is pretty sure they don't even like each other anymore, they're just together to rule the school. Plus, both of their dying wish is to be prom king and queen for some unfathomable reason. Instead of worshiping the cool kids, everyone hated them. The only people that liked the cool kids, were the cool kids.

We had the strait-laced kids. Valery was I guess the leader of that group. They were prissy, snotty, and unadventurous. They will never experience a party, and they've never missed a day of church. They some how think that high school is the time to figure everything out, when in reality this is the time to fuck up, and make mistakes. If you think you're supposed to have it together now, you're in for a rude awakening.

Next are the radicals. This was pretty much everyone else slammed into one category. If your not cool, and you're not a goody two shoes, then you're a radical. In science, radicals are atoms of different elements which have combined together and cannot exist independently. The radicals at my school are the kids that need titles, but aren't sure what they are. They can't stand alone, they need a group to feel okay.

Jesse and I don't need anyone, we're definitely not cool, and we don't give a shit about church, so I guess you could call us residue. We're like the plastic bits on your shoe laces. You think we're pointless, until you try to lace up your shoes with no plastic bit. No one remembers our name, but we definitely make a slight difference. We're functional.

In Psychology class we were popcorn reading out of our text book before we got our new assignment for the week. After I finished up my little paragraph I called on Jesse. I picked on him to read because I loved listening to his voice.

He laughed under his breath and began reading. "This test consists of fifty statements. Each statement must be rated on how much you agree with that statement on a five point scale: (1) disagree, (2) slightly disagree, (3) neutral, (4) slightly agree, and (5) agree."

My teacher began passing out a sheet of paper.

"Using a technique called factor analysis, researchers can look at the responses of people to hundreds of personality items and ask the question 'what is the best way to summarize an individual?'. This has been done with many samples from all over the world and the general result is that, while there seems to be unlimited personality variables, five stand out from the pack in terms of explaining a lot of a persons answers to questions about their personality."