By the end of the week, I was extremely sick of school. I gotta admit that the idea of skipping a couple of classes had crossed my mind more than a few times during this last couple of days, but that wouldn't make anything better.
I was counting the minutes left until the end of the Geography class when Beth, my best friend, passed me a scribbled paper.
Are you going to the party today at Gabe's house?
I immediately knew what my answer was.
No, I can't.
I passed her the paper without getting caught by Ms. O'Brien, something that rarely happened. As soon as Beth saw what I wrote, she pouted and, as expected, started begging me to go.
"No, I really can't. I have to study", I whispered.
The teacher heard what I said and glared at me with such intensity that you would have thought that I had killed her cat, Mr. Whiskers.
"Miss Carson, please keep your little chat outside the classroom."
"Sorry, Ms. O'Brien", I said.
I didn't say anything else for the rest of the class, and after getting almost bored to death, the bell finally rang.
This was my last class of the day, but I still had an appointment with the school counselor. I hated going there, but I had to, or else I would get detention.
Only one more month of this, I thought as I got in the counselor's office.
Behind the old desk, sat a bald man in his fifties with a white beard. He looked and acted like a hippie, with such a calm way of speaking that I was more than a little suspicious that maybe he smoked weed.
During the counseling session, I had to endure listening to a huge and boring speach about the importance of having friends, how I should try to meet new people, blah blah blah...
No, thank you. I'm fine all by myself.
I couldn't get out of there fast enough, and when I left school I wasn't in the best of moods. However, it got even worse when Ethan approached me. I could tell he was up to no good.
He started walking side by side with me, and said "What's up with you, Miss Sunshine? You sure look happy today. It makes you look even uglier, if that's possible."
I just wanted to punch that dumb smirk off his face.
"Shut up, Ethan! I'm not in the mood to deal with your stupidity, leave me alone."
"Okay, you don't have to be mean", he said. "I was just messing with you. Admit it, I'm great company."
"Well, I don't WANT your company!", I yelled. "I'm fine on my own, everyone should just ignore me and pretend I'm not here. Can't you see I just want to be left alone??"
Ethan looked stunned for a moment, but then his face softened up and he wiped the tears I haven't even realized I had shed away.
"No, you don't, sunshine. May I be your friend?"
He made puppy eyes at me and I did my best not to smile.
"Okay, fine. But don't call me that."
"What, sunshine? I think it suits you", he said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "Oh, and by the way, because we're friends from now on, you better get me a present for my birthday."
"When is it?", I asked, sniffling.
"I'm glad you asked, sunshine. It's in exactly two weeks from now. I'm going to host the biggest party of the year, if not the century!"
Suddenly, he stopped walking and raised a finger in the air like he had just gotten a great idea.
"Speaking of parties, you need to come to Gabe's party tonight. If you refuse to go, I will carry your nerdy ass there whether you like or not, and I bet you don't want me to embarrass you like that in front of everyone."
Oh no.
