Grit | under construction

1.

Mabel's POV

There he was, Joshua Lewis. He was the only fully black kid in this class, as many Hispanics took it since it was an easy A. We already know Spanish, so this was going to be light work. Joshua was perfect: his teeth were straight, his lips were full, and his jawline was-

"Mabel!" The teacher called out, "stop daydreaming about Joshua!" The whole class busted out in laughter, and Josh looked a tad bit embarrassed. I slouched in my seat, "I wasn't daydreaming about anybody" I mumbled. "Oh yeah? Then tell that to the drool on your face" Sami Mason said. Sami, was my worst nightmare. She also just happened to be Josh's ex, maybe current, girlfriend. They're sort of an on and off thing, so I don't stand a chance with him.

Plus, Sami looks like a supermodel. She has bleach blonde hair with banana curls, big amber colored eyes, a thin nose, and round lips. I had short, straight yellowish blonde hair. I thought it would make me cooler if I lightened my hair, but boy was I wrong. On top of that, it refused to curl. I also had dull dark eyes, flat lips and a squid-ward nose. There was no way I'd beat Sami in looks, not even on her worst day.

I shifted my gaze from Joshua, whose back was turned towards me. Ever since the teacher called me out, he and Sami had been occasionally looking over at me. I didn't want to get caught staring by him, or even worse, by Sami.

I'm kind of a nobody here. Everyone has their friend groups, but I only have one friend. Bubba Romero. She and I met last year on the first day of freshman year. We clicked well due to us both being Hispanic: she's Mexican and I'm Cuban. She's never left my side and I've never left hers, despite us barely having class together and both being extremely unpopular.

The one class I did have with Bubba, was math. It sucked because I hate math, and Sami is also in that class. She purposely chose to sit right behind us so that her and her friends could bother us. I understand why Sami didn't like me, she was confident that I was trying to take her man. But it wasn't fair to Bubba, who did absolutely nothing to her.

***

"You wanna go sit under the tree outside for lunch today?" Bubba asked, as she approached me. I smiled and nodded, I loved sitting outside for lunch. It was peaceful and I got to take a million and one pictures of nature.

"I'll take that" Sami's voice said suddenly, as she reached up from behind me and snatched my sandwich. I gave her a blank stare, but I didn't say anything, I knew not to. The last time I did, everybody played 'impractical jokers' with me for a month.

"Dang! You gonna let her take yo food from you?" the hot Cheeto girl said as she came around the corner. It was no surprise that she had a big bag of hot Cheetos in hand. Sami rolled her eyes at hot Cheeto girl's statement. "This place is infested with weirdos" she said to her friend as they began to walk away, "let's beat it."

"Yo girl! You not even gonna give ole girl here her sandwich back? That's cold!" hot Cheeto girl exclaimed. Sami looked back, showed fake sympathy, and tossed the sandwich in the air. If it wasn't for it being bagged, it would've landed everywhere.

"I got it, I got it!" hot Cheeto girl exclaimed obnoxiously as she dropped her hot Cheetos and pushed me aside, even though I wasn't even in the way. She caught it with ease, so I guess I was grateful for that. "Thanks" I said, as she handed me my sandwich back. "Eh, it's nothing" she said, as picked up her bag and strolled away. "Your bag is covered in Cheeto dust" Bubba said laughing. I laughed with her, "I mean it's better than not having anything to eat" I replied.

***

My last period class was gym, and that's where I felt the worst. Everybody in that class seemed to get along well. Whenever somebody was paired with me, or I was the last option available, they made it clear that they didn't want to work with me. Whenever we played games like dodgeball, everyone pegged the ball at me.

"Cano, sit on the side" the coach said pointing at the side lines. I made a face but I didn't say anything, I just slowly made my way to the bleachers. "Why are you making her sit down?" Bethany, one of Sami's puppets asked. This isn't the first time the coach made me sit, and I knew why I was sitting, so did Bethany. She just wanted him to say it out loud. "Well she's pretty nonathletic, she'll just slow the game down."

***

Bubba and I were walking to my house, because usually she'd come over and then be picked up around five. We'd do homework, gossip, watch movies and get ice cream. I was happy when I was with her, but as soon as she left, I was alone and miserable.

"Hey, are you okay?" Bubba asked me as we walked home. I was barely talking and just kept staring at my vans the whole time. I nodded, "of course I am, I guess schools been a little harder lately" I lied. Truth was, gym class was playing on my mind today. I didn't know why though, because this was a typical day. I should be used to it by now.