The Girl With OCD

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

     I pull my pink and beige knit toque over my head, and then I don the matching mittens. I'm going back to school. My messanger bag is loaded with books, and my mind is loaded with thoughts, good and bad. I'm determined not to let the kids at school give me glares. I'm changing the way they think about me. I'm changing the way I treat people (a.k.a. ignoring) into something nicer. I'm going to be friendly. But it's only because my mom thinks that I spend too much time with just Jesse. She wants me to make some friends that are girls! Too bad Catherine or Iris don't got to my school. That would've been great.

     I sip my tea as I walk to the bus stop. A girl that goes to my school, but I've never made friends with, is standing with some of the younger kids. She looks kind of snobby, but hey, I could make her into a friend.

     "Hi, I'm Rosie. I go to your school. I've never really met you before, and I thought I would introduce myself," I stick out the hand that is not holding my tea mug. People still shake hands, right? 

     She raises her eyebrows in a perfect imitation of a cathedral roof, "Uh, Meredith," she looks at my hand, "Do you really still shake hands? That was done with in 1997. At least, for the new generation." She looks at me quizzically, and then it's as if she's figured out the puzzle, "Oh, you're the one that's dating Jesse."

     My jaw drops open, "I am not dating Jesse, thank you very much. He's my only friend. Everyone else thinks I'm weird," I shake my head, "But I'm trying to make friends and... nevermind."

    Just then Jesse runs in, "Hey, Rosie. Phew," He stops and catches his breath, "I didn't know if I'd make it out of there alive! I put tinfoil in the microwave by accident and then the baby started crying and Dad wanted me to change his diaper, but by then I was late and I hadn't even eaten breakfast and..." he stops, looks and Meredith, and then inquires, "Uh, who are you?"

     "Meredith. Meredith Coolridge. I'm in your science class."

     "Ah, right. So you are. Sorry, didn't see you standing there. Didn't mean to ignore you. I'm Jesse," he sticks out his hand and it takes every ounce of my power not to burst out laughing.

      She looks at his hand, takes it, and then says, "Nice to meet you. You know, handshaking is really in recently."

      I shake my head. I know her type. The fickle kind of high-school girl that treats everybody differently. An outcast like me, with disdain. A popular football player, like Jesse, with respect.

     This is why I don't make friends with girls, for Pete's sake. 

     The bus then drives up, and Meredith turns her back to us, "See you in school," she says, and then moves to the back of the bus, sitting with a girl I'm assuming to be part of her posse. I don't want to talk to them anyway. How come all of the people that are friend-worthy are guys? Or dead?

     I sigh. Jesse, since I have been home, has tried to get me to stop believing that I killed Cody. I told him to stop talking about it, that I was not going to discuss it further, and that I could not be convinced otherwise. I look over at Jesse's wrists. They're getting worse. I'm going to have to tell someone about it... but I told him I wouldn't. He wants to deal with it on his own. I guess we both have our own problems that we don't want to talk about.

     My life isn't perfect (obviously), but Jesse's isn't all candy and nuts either.  I make a mental list of things that could cheer Jesse up, and later, after school, I transfer the mental list to a physical one:

     Notions to Nourish Jesse's Feelings, in a Favorable Fashion:

1. Bake him cupcakes

2. Take him to a comedy movie

3. Have him help bake cupcakes and then watch comedy movie

4. Take him to church

5. Medication??

     I cross medication off of the list. Who wants to take meds voluntarily? But going to church is a good idea. He needs some spiritual help. I'm not the most sound faith wise, and I still have some rants about God, but I have hope. Jesse, on the other hand, has no hope whatsoever.

     "Jess! Jess-ee! JESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" I yell as I run across the side walk. He looks at me as if I've sprouted a flower pot atop my head.

     "Well, you seem chipper this morning. How are you?"

     "Just ducky, thank you," I pause, "Um, would you like to go to church with my family this Sunday? And bake cupcakes?"

     Obviously ignoring my last invitation, he address the inquiry of him accompanying us to church, "But... I've never gone to church before."

     "You don't have to have gone before! It's church! Everybody's got a first time! And it's not an early morning church. The service starts at one in the afternoon."

     "Well," he scratches his eyebrow.

     "Pleeeease?" I make my best puppy-dog begging face.

     He shakes his head, "Okay, I'll come. I don't have anything fancy, though."

     I smile, "No problem."

     My mitten-clad hand scoops up snow and delicately forms it into a ball. I want it to be hard enough to fly right, but soft enough not to hurt. I scan the crowd bustling in front of the school, sight my target, and throw the snowball as hard as I can. It lands squarely of the back of my principal. The annual snowball fight has begun!

     I run, dodging balls of fluff, and prance over to an uninhabited part of the school grounds. All of a sudden, I feel a strange sort of sensation, one that you get when someone is right... behind...

    Uh-oh.

     I turn and whip an unusually large snowball at the person behind me, and I realize that I do not know this person. She wipes the snow from her jacket and laughs.

     "Well, I know to strike 'ninja' off my list of what I want to be when I grow up," she says, her eyes twinkling.

     I grin, "Maybe you have a career in snowball making," I say, "That is one exceptionally nice snowball."

     She turns it over, grins evilly, and I duck. Soon, I realize that she shot at someone else. She helps me up.

     "I'm Bonnie. Well, my whole name is Bonnie Francesca Alexandria Smith, but I just stick to Bonnie. And you are?"

    "Rosie. Well, Rose Edith Larson. But I go by Rosie," I say, laughing, "Nice to meet you."

      The snowball fight ends with a bang, as the teachers pelt us with snowballs from on the roof. As well, I finally get a friend that's a girl. Bonnie is the most cheerful, happy, hyper person on planet Earth. I think her personality is rubbing off on me, seeming as I am now even more cheerful then before.

     On the way home, Bonnie gets off at my stop, as well as Jesse. He's coming over for supper, but I have no idea what Bonnie is doing.

     "Bonnie, do you live near here? "I've never seen you before!"

     She smiles, "Oh, I just moved. My house is just down there," she points towards the white house that's a flipped version of mine. After dinner, Jesse and I go sledding. I come home soaking wet and chilled, and my mom has already popped an old chick flick into the VCR player, and has popped some popcorn and made tea. I take a whiff of the pale green liquid.

     Mmm, peppermint, my favorite.

     Jesse suffers through the movie with us, and then goes home. My mother has seemed to take a liking to him. I'm glad. I've always wanted a sibling, but my father died before I got one.