The Same Mistakes Club

Chapter Seven

I got into World History class and was completely surrounded.

Mrs. Mandarin, our teacher, did the seating assignments boy-girl (how original!) and I was placed between Gabriel and Jacob, with Derek Simpson sitting two rows behind me, and Matthew Willikers (Margaret's main obssession) and Jack Wolfe (lower on the list) close by.

There were only three other girls in the class, and they ended up seated as far away from me as possible.

"Hey there, Senorita Alissa," Jacob welcomed me to my seat. We'd had Spanish together that morning and (much to my displeasure) had been assigned to be conversation partners. Jacob had spent most of the time making up words by placing an o at the end of them - el chairo, el sandwicho, el footballo.

Gabriel sat down next to me. "What a surprise," he said.

Jacob leaned over to my desk. "Hey, Alissa, what are you going to have your Spanish name be?"

I shrugged. I'd never really thought about it.

Jacob continued, "Because I was thinking of using Nacho and figured you should pick Pina Colada, so when we have projects together Senor Solorzano will have to call on Pina Colada y Nacho." Jacob laughed, then leaned forward and lifted up his hand.

I did my best to ignore him.

"What's this?" Gabriel asked. "Madison, are you two-timing me with Valadict? Seriously, I thought you had better taste."

Yeah, like I'm the one two-timing. I'm not the one with the girlfriend.

Jacob made a rude gesture to Gabriel aand then the two of them started trash-talking about who was going to do more laps at practice that night.

I wondered if there were any all-girl schools in the area.

*****

I'd never been so relieved to hear the last bell of the day. I jumped from the classroom like it was on fire and headed straight to my locker. There I found Maishely waiting. Not for me. For Gabriel. Of course.

Still, she waved.

Did she even have her own locker?

"Hey, Alissa!" she said when I got closer. "Are you going to the game on Friday night?"

"Yep." I tried to seem busy finding my Biology textbook. I didn't know why she was all of a sudden so interested in my social calendar.

"Like anybody would want to miss that ass-kicking," Jacob said, coming over with Gabriel, then stopping to give him a high five. "Even Smithers' dad is going to be there! So that alone is something to show up for. That, like, happens about as often as, what, a lunar eclipse or something..."

Gabriel glared at Jacob and slammed his locker shut. I'd known Gabriel since since grade school, and I'd never seen his dad. His mum and stepdad, sure. But not his dad. All I knew was that he was some hotshot lawyer in Labelle.

There was an awkward silence in their group - a group that I didn't want to get involved with. I reached for my phone and my stomache dropped when I saw I had another text waiting from Kevin.

You can't ignore me forever.

I hit the Delete button. I was sure going to try.

"Alissa?" It was Maishely's voice.

"What?" I looked up and noticed that she was alone. I hadn't heard Gabriel and Jacob leave. Why was she still here?

"Oh, um, I was just wondering..." She started nervously bending down the corner of her notebook. "I mean, I feel like we haven't really spoken in so long, and I'd love it if we could go out sometime - to a movie, or dinner, whatever you're up for."

She can't be serious, I thought.

"Oh, well, um..."

Why don't you tell me what you want so we can get this over with?

"Are you free tomorrow night?" she asked.

"Um," I stalled, trying to think of a reason why I couldn't go out with her.

"I was thinking we could go to the mall and then grab a bite to eat. Wouldn't that be fun?"

No, not really...

I looked at Maishely. Her eyes were wide, and it seemed like she genuinely wanted to spend time with me. That, or she was so desperate to become the first junior to ever win Homecoming Queen that she was willing to take her campaign past enemy lines.

Wait a second, I thought. This is Maishely Creston. The same Maishely who cancelled on me a million times. Who would never put a friend before Gabriel. If I agree, she'll no doubt cancel to do something with Gabriel. Some things never change.

"I think that could work," I said. I knew I could always make up an excuse (like that I needed to work at my dad's dental office) if she didn't cancel on me first.

Maishely did a little jump. "Yay! I'll stop by tomorrow after class!"

I wasn't going to hold my breath.