Shadows and Popularity

Chapter 15: Third Day

 Chapter 15: Third Day

Maya had the worst day of her life.

By the end of the day when she just couldn’t hold it in anymore, she was ready to lock herself in her dorm room at the Nerd Hangout when she bumped into Clarisse. The musician was graceful enough to help her to the Musician Hangout where her favorite studio was and talk about her troubles. Maya didn’t bother holding anything back anymore. She let it all out through sobs, her apologies were as vehement as her tears. Maya knew she had gotten the girl’s tank top all wet by then, but since Clarisse didn’t seem to mind too much, Maya went on her merry litany about how awful her day was.

Just as she walked out of her room that morning, wearing her bright red school blazer and skirt, with DDA’s official knee-length socks and black shoes, all eyes went to her the moment she got out of the building. Well, they weren’t blatantly staring at her, they were whispering to each other and occasionally stealing glances and pointing. It seemed that even though she weren’t noticeable herself, the uniform really was an eye-catcher.

Her classes were no better. Her first subject had its teacher absent, and without a sub, students were free to roam around the room. Two guys wouldn’t stop pestering her, one named Oliver and another named Aaron. They have been classmates in literature since freshman year but only introduced themselves to her that day. They kept asking her questions on how she even managed to get Nathan’s attention, but no matter how many times she’d insisted that she had nothing to do with any of their accusations, the two just wouldn’t let up until the bell rang and she had snuck out under their noses.

Second period was free, so she decided to hide away in the school library. Even there she wasn’t safe. A class of juniors were in study session, and the ‘keep quiet’ policy was shattered when a storm of questions rained down on her. She got away just as the bell rang for her third class before lunch.

All of math, lunch, biology, and P.E. were heck. She realized half way through that the uniform really was the cause on why so many noticed her, but just as she was about to take the blazer off and settle for the blouse alone, a student government noticed her in the comfort rooms and gave her a good lecture on how to wear the school’s uniform properly.

“Clarisse, she called the thing the school’s face!” Maya whined that afternoon as she continued to sob on the musician’s outfit. “She said that if I were to distort it in any way possible, I’d be destroying the school’s face!”

“Shhh…” Clarisse soothed. “It’ll be all right. Come on, just let it all out.”

Maya was happy to oblige. She went into another tirade on how her day went, and once that was over, Clarisse almost thought her shirt was done too. Unfortunately, Maya seemed to have only gotten started. She started giving Clarisse a lecture on how important privacy was, how impolite it was to ask someone such crude questions so blatantly in public and without even the slightest bit of softening. The wallflower kept lowering bluntness in her eyes, but Clarisse merely listened and didn’t take everything she was saying to heart. The musician was, after all, blunt herself, so she couldn’t be contrite since her personality wasn’t that easy to change.

By five o’clock, Maya had a cry good enough to last her the rest of the school year. She let go of Clarisse then, apologized sincerely for ruining the musician’s outfit, then asked politely if she could have her guitar. The musician girl seemed more than gallant when she accepted Maya’s apology and handed her the old instrument.

Maya was tuning up its strings when Clarisse asked out of curiosity. “Where’d you get that piece of junk, anyway?”

Maya didn’t look at her when she answered nonchalantly. “My dad used to play when he was in college. His playing got my mom to say yes when he asked for her hand in marriage.”