Becoming Somebody

Chapter 4 - Nothin' on You

"And that's why I want you to pick ME as your Homecoming Princess!"

Charlie observed the scene unfolding in the hallway incredulously. A raven-haired girl had just finished a speech. People were actually lightly applauding her as she smiled and looked around. Charlie had only caught the end of it, but it was clear that this was what Mary had meant when she mentioned campaigning last week.

She checked the girl out. Her hair was long, so long it reached her butt, and pin straight. She was short and curvy, and had a great smile. She had on heavy eye makeup, but she was beautiful, no doubt about it.

"Hi, vote Rachel Ibarra for Sophomore Homecoming Princess!" the girl said, reaching out to shake hands with the people she passed by as she headed down the hallway.

Charlie avoided a handshake and ducked in the other direction. This was too much. She pulled out her phone as she walked away and texted Taylor.

Why didn't you tell me about Rachel yet?

Taylor responded, Who's Rachel?

She's a Sophomore girl who apparently really wants to be Homecoming Princess?

Taylor sent back several eye-rolling emojis. Well she must be a new transfer, because I don't know her.

Charlie sighed as she walked up the stairs to her locker. It looked like she wasn't the only Sophomore transfer at Saint Peters with a plan. She didn't know what Rachel's was, but obviously it included winning the first popularity contest in sight. Charlie knew if she wanted to be popular, she should keep putting herself out there to meet all her classmates and taking initiative, but if winning Homecoming Princess meant acting like that? Oof. That was too much for her to wrap her head around. 

She kneeled down to open her locker and she saw the pair of Adidas that belonged to her favorite Junior appear.

"Hey Charlie, how's it going?" Tony smiled down to her.

"Oh, it's going," she responded, still too thrown off by high school politics to be fully engaged in the conversation.

"What's on your mind, kid?" he asked, noticing she was distracted.

She looked up, narrowing her eyes slightly. "We've been over this, I'm not a Freshman, I'm a Sophomore. What's with you calling me 'kid'?"

He laughed, but not in a mean way. More like she amused him. "Sophomores are still underclassmen."

"Well, my sixteenth birthday is next month, so I'm definitely on the older side for being an 'under'classmen," she informed him.

"And is being so much older and wiser than your Sophomore classmates stressing you out?" he teased.

She realized that finally, for the first time since she first met him, he was alone. Seizing the opportunity, she stood up and leaned against the wall casually. Playing it cool had worked so far, but now she wanted to actually talk to him. She had crushes on two guys at this school, Tony and Cassius. Since she might never actually talk to Cassius, she figured she should try to get to know Tony.

"No, but I am still getting used to how things work around here I guess," she said with just a hint of flirtation. She was new at this, after all. 

He nodded, "Anything I could help you with?"

She smiled, glad that her plan seemed to be working. "Do you want to maybe walk me to my next class?" That was what girls said in movies all the time. 

He smiled back, held out his arm and said, "Where to, kid?"

She was nervous, but she hooked her arm in his nonetheless, hoping he wouldn't feel how fast her heart was beating from her pulse. As they walked, they chatted. She found out he lived in the same neighborhood as Taylor, The Heights, which was where a lot of kids from Saint Peters seemed to live. She told him she just moved back to Bridgeport, but didn't give too much detail other than saying it was her parents' idea. She also learned that he wanted to go to college on a Soccer scholarship, and was planning to be captain of the Varsity team next year. She told him how much she was starting to hate cross-country, which he found hilarious. After their walk ended, tragically short, she was laughing at some joke he made like they had known each other awhile. She noticed other people noticing, but was too excited about connecting with such a cute guy to care. She lingered outside her next class to keep the conversation going a little longer. He didn't seem to mind.

"So, you think you're going to win Homecoming Princess?" he asked, throwing her off slightly.

"Uh, I hadn't really thought about it that much," she lied. "I do know some other people are trying pretty hard to win it though."

He started to walk away, walking backward so not to break eye contact. "A try-hard has got nothin' on you, kid."

She smiled, realizing that "kid" was not so much an insult from Tony, but a cute term of endearment. She kept smiling for a long time after she sat down in her next class, guaranteed not to hear a word her teacher said for the next twenty minutes, at least.