The Tomboy Chronicles

Chapter One

        As usual, Mariah won’t stop talking my ear off at the moment. She always has something to talk about. Whether it’s the latest fashion on who’s wearing the newest shoes or the newest clothing, about the celebrities who got caught smoking a joint and is now plastered on the front cover of the magazine and the newest celebrity who is now with child, or even the pointless drama and or rumors that have now blossomed in our very own hallways of our school.

                “Fantastic, Mariah.” I replied, as I slammed my locker shut and rolled my eyes, preparing to walk away from her to find some peace and quiet. I heard her high heels clicking, as she followed after me. I groaned and turned around to meet her eye sight again. “Apparently,” she began, as she clicked away on her phone, “There’s a new guy coming to our school in a couple weeks. Everybody’s talking about it. I heard he’s a combination of sex mixed with like puppies or something. He’s like… a God… or something.” As she finished talking she looked up from her phone and smiled at me. I smiled back, figuring if I feigned happiness, she would leave me alone.

                After class, the bell rang signaling that it was now lunch time. I grabbed my cash from my locker and shoved it into the pocket of my khaki shorts. I walked towards my normal table in the café and waited for my friends to arrive. Clayton, Mariah’s boyfriend, came first. Clayton was on the football team. He was super funny and really sweet. He could never be a jerk to anyone.         “Kris! Sup, dude?” We did our hand shake before he sat down beside me and we started talking about the game on TV last night. “Wasn’t the touchdown Brady threw last night sick?” He asked, beaming at me with his bright green eyes. I nodded excitedly, eager to respond to him, when I noticed his gaze averted from me to someone else.

“Mariah! Hey babe.” His cheeks flushed, as he stood up from the table to greet his perfect little girlfriend, who happens to also be my best friend. “Hi baby.” She pecked his lips. But that wasn’t enough for Clayton, he went back in for another and soon enough they were into a full blown make out session. Here I am, third-wheeling as usual. “Hello, I’m still here.” I waved. They ignored me, so I got my money and went into the lunch line to get some food. Mashed potatoes, no. Broccoli, no. Spinach pies, no. Ravioli stuffed with spinach and mozzarella cheese, no. 4-cheese pizza, hell yes. I quickly grabbed a slice and put it on my plate. I grabbed a slice of cheesecake and 2 sugar cookies and placed them on a separate plate. Then I grabbed a Dr. Pepper and paid for my meal.

                When I got back to the table, my other friend Fletcher and his twin brother Grayson were already sitting down laughing at something Clayton had said. It probably wasn’t even that funny. I laughed mentally. I dropped my tray of food between Fletcher and Grayson and started digging in. The table fell silent. “Damn, slow down, it’s not like the food is going to get off your plate and run away.” Grayson mumbled. I slowly turned to face him, my eyes narrowing as I did, and I opened my mouth and showed him my food. Then I swallow quickly, and stuck my tongue out at him. He looked at me in a repulsed way before turning back to face Clayton and Mariah. “That’s disgusting Kristen. And you know, one day all those empty calories are going to catch up to you.” Mariah said, eyeing my food and I with disgust. I stopped chewing and looked her dead in the eye, “Don’t freakin’ call me Kristen.” She immediately looked apologetic and sunk down in her seat.

                Once the bell rang I cleaned up my spot and walked towards the trash can to throw away my stuff. “Hey, Kris…” I heard feet shuffling behind me and I turned around to see Fletcher standing there, rubbing his neck. I raised an eyebrow waiting for him to speak, then he did, “I was wondering if you wanted to shoot some hoops tonight with me and the guys around 8.” I thought about it for a second and thought, why not. I nodded before leaving to go to be last class of the day.

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I pulled up to the gates in front of my house and pulled up to the “guard quarters”. I smiled as he opened his window and greeted me, “Hello Ms. Parker. Hope you had a nice day at school.” I nodded in response as he opened the gates to let me in. I drove down my long stone driveway and stopped in my parking spot. I slammed my door and ran inside to find the house silent. “Mom! I’m home!” I shouted. No response. I ran up the long spiral staircase until I landed on the top floor, where the master bedroom was located. I ran into her room to find her lounging on her bed, headphones in her ears and laughing at something on her iPad. “Mom. I’m home.” I said for the second time, before plopping on her bed beside her. She looked over to me and inhaled deeply before her eyes widened. She ripped the headphones out of the iPad and smiled at me. “Sweetie, it’s your father! Say hello.” I grabbed the iPad out of her hands and looked on the screen to very well find my father sitting there, waving on the screen. I smiled, “Hi daddy.”

                Once we were done face-timing my father, I made some food and took a quick nap. When I woke up, it was 7:56. I got up, pulled my dark brown, slightly red tinted hair into a high ponytail and took off my light makeup I wore today. I replaced my khaki shorts with a pair of boys’ basketball shorts and put on a zip up sweatshirt. I found my Nike sneakers and slipped them on before racing down the stairs, grabbing my keys, and going straight out the door to my car. I drove quickly and finally I was in front of Fletcher and Grayson’s house. 8:09. Perfect. I got out and slammed my car door before racing through the Waters’ backyard. Rap music was blasting in their backyard and the boys were all hustling around the court. I dropped my cell phone on the grass before heading onto the lawn.

                “We’re playing skins and shirts, and somehow you got accidentally put on skins and nobody wants to trade teams. Hope you’re okay with that.” Fletcher spoke uneasily. I scanned over the guys, who’s on skins? Bobby, Fletcher, Mason, Chris, Brice and Liam.  I mean, I have a sports bra underneath my sweatshirt, so I could go skins. My team is great, anyway. “It’s whatever.” I said, unzipping my sweatshirt and throwing it onto the grass, beside my cell phone. Let’s go. Fletcher and Grayson tipped off the ball and Grayson hit it before Fletcher did, the ball went flying. Tristan caught the ball and I immediately guarded him. I whacked the ball out of his hand and dribbled to the other side towards my basket. Before I knew it, Grayson was all up in my face. I kept my eyes locked on his, not even daring to move them for a slight second. I kept moving, strategically across the court. I got closer to the basket and I took a shot. I got in and screamed. Chris, Fletcher, Mason, Brice and Liam all high-fived me. Bobby smacked my behind and pointed at me while winking. He jogged to the other side of the court. I jogged up beside him and glared, “You do realize we’re not playing football. Hands off.” He chuckled and went to defend Grayson so that he would have no chance to get the ball.

                Once the game was over, I drove home and jogged up to my front door. I tried to escape up to my bedroom but my mother was waiting there. “Where have you been?” She asked, angrily. Then all of a sudden, she looked as if a skunk had just trailed on past us. I raised an eyebrow just as she said, “You stink?” My mouth formed a small ‘O’, then I got an idea. I grabbed my mother into a hug and she shrieked, trying to remove herself from my grasp. “Goodness Kristen, you need to start acting like a girl,” She said, flustered and her cheeks red. “Sorry mama.” She rolled her eyes and closed her robe up, “It’s 11, take a shower and get to bed.” I nodded, racing up the stairs.