Final Friends

THE PARTY - Chapter 1;page 1

[Jessica Hart's picture above^]

I should never have gone vacation in Europe , Jessica Hart thought. After climbing the Matterhorn, starting high school again feels ridiculous.

The day was Friday, the last day of the first week of school, but Jessica's first glimpse of Tabb High.

Less than twenty hours earlier she had been enjoying the crisp,cool air of Switzerland's Alps. Now she had Southern California's worst to breathe; the morning was as snoggy as it was hot. Plus she had a terrible case of jet lag.

She probably should have skipped what was left of the school and rested up over Saturday nad Sunday, but she had been anxious to see her friends and check out the place where she was doomed to her one ad only senior year.

So far it had not impressed her.

'I want to have a party', Alice McCoy was saying to her as they wove in the crowds in the outdoor hallway towards Jessica's locker room. 'We could get,say, thirty kids from Mesa, with the thirty kids from Tabb'.

Mesa High had been their alma mater until midsummer, when those in power had decided that the district could not afford two partially full high schools. Tabb had absorbed perhaps three-quarters of Mesa's students. Although Tabb was older than Mesa,it was far bigger. The other twenty-five per cent had ended up at Sanders High, five miles further inland.

Fortunately for Jessica, the majority of her friends had moved with her to Tabb, not the least of whom was Alice McCoy. Two years younger, she was-in Jessica's unbiased opinion-the sweetest girl in the world.

'You mean as a get-to-know-each-other sort of thing?' Jessica asked. 'Yeah. I think it would help break the ice between us'. ''I wouldn't worry about any ice today,' Jessica said brushing her dark hair off her sweaty forehead.

On hot days like this she wished she had Alice's bright blonde curls; they seemed to reflect most of the sun rays.

'Does this joint have air conditioning?' Jessica asked.'In some of the rooms' 'some?'

'The teachers's lounge is really cool. I was in there yesterday. They want me to paint a mural on the wall'. Alice laughed. They want a mountain glacier'. 'It figures. You're charging them?'. 'I'm not'. 'Fool. Back to this party business.

How would you know which thirty Tabb kids to invite?'. Alice nodded. 'That's problem. But maybe in the next week we'll meet some nice people. Have you run into anyone that you like yet?'

Jessica shook her head. 'No, and I've been here all of thirty minutes. But maybe by lunch I'll get some guy to fall in love with me'.

The words came out easily,but were accompanied by a slight feeling of uneasiness. She had gone on few dates while at Mesa High. Guys didn't ask her out much.

Her best friend,Sara Cantrell,said it was it was because they were intimidated by her beauty.

'You're right,Sara , that must be it. All those guys watching me from across campus and thinking to themselves that there's a babe beyond their reach. Really, they have a lot of nerve even looking at me'

Actually Jessica knew she was pretty. Enough people had told her so for enough years, and they couldn't all be wrong. Besides, she had only to look in the mirror. Her face face was a perfect oval, with a firm chin and a wide, full that she trained to smile even when she didn't feel much like smiling.

Her hair and eyes matched beautifully. The former was dark brown,long and wavy,with a sheen that had stayed with her from infancy;the latter,an even darker brown, larger and round,giving her either a playful or nasty look,depending on her mood.

And with a carefully controlled diet and daily jogs around the park,she kept her figure slim and supple. She'd even picked up a tan this summer.

I sound practically perfect!