Chapter Five: School

Emily goes to school with her friends.

Next day was first day of school. To say I was nervous was an understatement. I had begged Dakota and Tennessee not to say anything about the whole modelling business and they had reluctantly agreed. But although I had a lot of faith in my friends, I knew they wouldn’t be able to keep the secret if Ashley started teasing me. Ashley was the stereotypical blonde Barbie-cheerleader at my high school. She had crowned herself the Queen of the school. She didn’t exactly hate me, but she wasn’t my best friend either. She had tried to get me on her side, but I stuck by my friends, of course. Duh. Who would choose Barbie over Dakota and Ness? Yeah, you had to be crazy to do that. Back to the topic, Ashley always teased me for not becoming one of her ‘minions’. It wasn’t bullying, far from it, but she was very annoying.

I waved as Dakota pulled up beside my house, in her new red Chevy Cruze. She had gotten it after passing her driving test. I had my license, but the car I had yet to get. I was saving up and all, but I wasn’t quite there yet. I didn’t know what car I would want, but it wouldn’t be expensive, that was for sure.

‘’Bonjour Bae!’’ Dakota shouted, rolling down the window. You could almost see the excitement rolling off her like heat waves in the summer. ‘’Hurry up! I want to show off my new car and model friend!’’

I laughed, slung my school bag over my shoulder and ran down the porch steps into the car. Ness was already in there, in the back. I always sat in the front, because I got carsick really quick. It was very annoying, and the girls always teased me about just wanting to sit in the front. I plonked my school bag next to me and glanced at Dakota. We both burst out laughing. 

‘’Are y’all ready to kick some *ss?’’ Dakota yelled, pumping up her fist and driving out of our driveway. I’d always been jealous of her slight twang. Her grandfather had been one of America’s very own cowboys, and her mom had grown up in the country, on a ranch. One summer Dakota had taken Ness and I there, and we had some blasting fun times. I’d sat on a horse for the first time ever since my riding classes when I was 5. I’d even learnt how to gallop.

‘’Yeah!’’ Ness and I cheered, laughing along with each other. I reached out and turned on the radio. ‘Last Friday Night’ by Katy Perry blasted through the speakers and we all started singing along. Neither of us could sing, but that didn’t matter. We were just happy, which was weird, since it was the end of the summer holidays and we were going back to school again. 

We arrived at the school grounds and managed to actually get a good parking spot. I turned the radio down and we got out. People were staring at us, a few guys wolf-whistled. Dakota and Ness giggled, but I felt a little uncomfortable, which they straightaway noticed.

‘’You okay?’’

‘’Yeah, this is just weird. We never got so much attention last year,’’ I explained. Dakota nodded. ‘’Must be because we actually look a lot better this year. I mean, I finally got rid of those pimples, and Ness is finally wearing nicer clothes, and you… well, I hate to break it to you, dear, but you always got a lot of attention. It was just because of us that boys never asked you out.’’

‘’Of course not!’’ I cried out, getting some strange glances because of the outburst. I saw some girls whispering among themselves, pointing at us. Could they be more obvious? I felt like flipping them the bird, but decided that wouldn’t be very wise.

Self-consciously, I glanced down at the white skinny jeans and ruffled top I was wearing. I looked neat, but it was nothing extremely fashionable. I had decided against wearing the dress I had bought in the shop the day before yesterday, thinking it was too obvious and wannabe for school.

‘’Wow, is that the Golden Trio?’’ someone suddenly asked.

We looked up at the two guys standing in front of us in surprise. They looked back at us, smirking.

‘’The Golden Trio?’’ I asked skeptically. I didn’t know what they meant but we weren’t in Hogwarts here, more’s the pity. I would have loved to be a witch.

‘’Yes, because you’re always getting high marks and being the ‘good girls’,’’ one of the guys explained, the smirk never leaving his face.

‘’Are we?’’ Dakota asked, confused.

‘’Yes. And we were so surprised because you actually look hot now. What happened?’’

I looked at them, angry and offended. What the hell were they thinking? Just because we had a little change of outer looks people were starting to pay attention. This was why I hated high school. Kids here were so shallow.

‘’Well, if that is the only thing you were thinking, then F you!’’ I said. I started walking away, when I realized Dakota and Ness weren’t coming. I turned and looked. They both looked at me with a pleading look.

‘’They didn’t mean it that way. I’m sure they’re cool. Let’s hang out with them?’’ Ness begged. I stared at them in surprise. 

‘’Guys, honestly? You’re making me look quite stupid here,’’ I said disbelievingly. I couldn’t believe my friends would actually take that and fall for those boys’ tricks. Had their brains disappeared together with the pimples and braces?

‘’Come on, they just complimented us! I mean, you always looked hot, so you’re probably offended but-’’ Dakota started.

‘’Whatever,’’ I cut them off. ‘’See you in class.’’

I stormed off angrily, ignoring their calls for me to come back. What a great start of the day, my best friends ditching me for guys. Seriously? I was probably overreacting, but this wasn’t what friends did. How dare those boys!

‘’Look who we have here,’’ a smooth voice spoke from in front of me. I groaned, knowing who it was before I even saw the person.

‘’What do you want, Ashley?’’ I sighed.

I looked up to see the smiling blonde in front of me. She hooked her arm in mine, her pearly white teeth gleaming. I’m sure she bleached them. Oh well, it was none of my business anyway. I was in a really bad mood right now. For other people’s sake, I tried not to show it all that much.

‘’Can’t I say hello to an old friend?’’ Ashley asked, putting on an innocent look. Her hair was immaculate: blonde and straightened, and she wore an expensive designer dress with Louis Vuitton shoes. Of course she'd look like she came straight out of the magazine. 

‘’I’m not your friend,’’ I said, unhooking my arm. She sighed, inspecting her perfectly manicured nails.

‘’Come on, Emily. You could do so much better than those two nerds. I saw how they ditched you for a guy! I mean, come on! Who does that?’’

‘’They didn’t ditch me!’’ I defended, although I sort of agreed with her. ‘’They asked me to stay with them!’’

‘’Yes, but they didn’t take your side. Friends do that, remember?’’ she pointed out.

‘’How would you know, you only have minions,’’ I spat, feeling guilty straight after. I saw hurt flash across her face, but she composed herself quickly.

‘’Whatever, Em. Remember, my offer still stands. You could become popular and wanted if you hung out with me. All the guys would be after you,’’ she smirked and walked away.

I sighed and shook my head. As if I wanted that. I don’t know why I really disliked Ashley. She had always been quite nice to me. It’s just, she was continually talking about popularity and how I shouldn’t hang out with Dakota and Ness. She was also mean to everyone else. It was horrible. 

I punched in my locker combination and took out my geography books. I slammed my locker door shut, turned around and nearly walked straight into my two friends.

‘’Oh my gosh, could you not do that?’’ I almost yelled, putting my hand on my heart. ‘’I almost had a heart attack!’’

They didn’t even smile. Finally Dakota stepped forward, putting a hand on my arm. ‘’Look, we’re sorry, Emily. We didn’t mean to ditch you for two jerk-holes. Okay? I guess we just wanted to know what it all was about, you know, the popularity and being liked by guys. We’re just- you’re what counts, not them.’’

‘’Please forgive us?’’ Ness pleaded. I stared at them, not saying anything. I actually wanted to grin and hug them. Of course I’d forgive them, duh, I had already. It’s not like what they had done was so bad. I had overreacted anyway. But me, being the cruel (heh heh) me, wanted to see them beg. And I knew they would.

Dakota saw my flint-like face and sighed, rolling her eyes. ‘’Seriously, Emily? You’re making us beg?’’

I still didn’t speak, keeping my face stony and emotionless. Ness sighed deeply and got to her knees, as did Dakota. They folded their hands in front of them and begged me for forgiveness.

‘’Please, dear good and gracious Emily, forgive us, your humble beggars, for the wrong we have wrought on you,’’ they both pleaded. I couldn’t keep it in, I had to laugh.

‘’You idiots. Come on,’’ I laughed, and we all hugged.

‘’Honestly, I overreacted. It wasn’t that bad, I just was in a bad mood. I’m sorry too, we’ll forget it, okay?’’ I said, feeling a trifle ashamed of myself. 

‘’What are you talking about?’’ Dakota asked dumbly, showing she had ‘forgotten’ all about it.

‘’You got it,’’ I smiled and walked off to class with Ness, while Dakota went to her Music class.

Author's Note

Please leave your opinions below, it means so much to me! I edited the chapter and I hope it's better than the previous version!

Reviews

[Lavorther]

This is much better! I'm glad you're back to your usual level :)

I did notice some small mistakes that I don't remember being there before, so they are probably the result of your editing. Somehow while editing making small mistakes seems to happen much more often. At least that's my experience.

"I looked at the, angry and offended."
You probably meant "them" instead of "the".

"You could become popular, smart and wanted if you hung out with me."
It could be just me, but "smart" seems a bit weird in this sentence. I mean, as far as I know smart doesn't have a whole lot to do with who you hang out with, as opposed to the other things she mentions.

"I punched in my locker combination and took out my books for Geography, I slammed my locker door shut, turned around and nearly walked straight into my two friends."
Because this is a list of events, you should probably remove the "I" in "I slammed my locker door shut" to make it flow better. Or you could break it up into two sentences, right after Geography. Then you can keep the "I". The latter seems slightly better to me.

"They didn’t even smile.."
You've got two periods at the end of this sentence.

[Cass Morgan]

Thank you again for the review!
- You're right, I have no idea why I put smart in the list. :D
- Oops! That comma was meant to be a period :D Typo. I'll change that right away.
- I didn't even notice that- thank you for pointing it out!

Thank you again!

[Lavorther]

Haha, that's a lot of "thank you" in one message :P
But no problem, I'm happy to help wherever I can :)

[Lavorther]

Although it's still a pretty good chapter, I can see why you're not really happy with it. It does feel a bit different than the previous ones. After looking it over once more, I noticed you barely included any details, as opposed to the rich and detailed writing you usually post. No offense, but this feels more like a script than a chapter, only describing who did what, what they said and occasionally a facial expression or description of their body language.

While you do focus on Emily's thoughts and feelings, you could add a lot more details to the environment, like clothes, hair, colors, etc. While this chapter is by no means bad, it does feel less immersive than the previous ones.

[Cass Morgan]

Thank you so much. I read the chapter again, and you're totally right as usual. I'll edit it over today, and hopefully by this evening I'll post it again, but the better version. Thank you so much for your constructive criticism, Lavorther. I can always depend on you :D

[Lavorther]

I'm glad you appreciate my feedback. :)

If you send me a read request after editing, I'll be happy to read the improved version and give you my opinion on it :)

[Cass Morgan]

Okay, will do :D