2- OMG.

Mindy- “Mandy, oh my gosh we will be in such big trouble...” I panted. “I know,” she said, winking at me.

Mindy

     “Oh my gosh...”

     “I know...”

     Mandy stood in shock and stared me down until the bell rang. Eyes wide and mouth open, she was shocked. For once in her life, she stood speechless.

     “I- I’ll run to Walgreens and pick up some shampoo,” she stammered, taking one step forward, then two steps back.

     “Wait...what happened to you? No, forget I even asked. Ashley’s?”

     A nod gave her the answer she needed to confirm her thoughts. 

     “Okay, first,” she said, braving it up and wiping the food off my head with her hand, “put this on.” Handing me her striped scarf, I took it and began tying it on my head as if it were a headband. It didn’t go with my outfit, but fashion didn’t matter at the time. Besides, I’d seen uglier outfits while on my way to school. Kelly Stoner had been wearing jean on jean, a major fashion crime. Linda Jone tried pulling off a sequined mini skirt, zebra print top, and cheetah print leggings- with green Converse to top it all of.

     “I’m going to Walgreens now, you go hide in a bush or something and wait.”

     “No...Mandy, don’t. I’ll just go to class. We’re already late, let’s not get in any more trouble than we need to be.”

     “Oh, please! I can’t afford to send my BFF off to class and let some hot-sauce boy sniff your hair. Eggs plus whipped cream equals puke fest. Do the math. And if someone gets a whiff of your hair, there’ll be rumors about you flying around school.”

     My thoughts wavered as I considered my two options. Show up for class-late. And get detention. Or skip first period to wash my hair and smell like something just out of Bath and Body Works and then get a more severe detention sentence. I knew what the logical answer would be.

     “Okay, make it quick. And get some lotion, too,” I said to Mandy. At that she smiled and ran off, nearly getting run over by a car in the process of jaywalking. 

     Several bushes decorated the perimeter of the school. Picking a random bush, I squeezed behind it and waited. Spider webs, dead bugs, poop, squirrels, none of that was there to scare me off. 

     “Aren’t you like just so excited?” she had said to me.

     Turning around, I saw Ashley Jenkins with her posse on both sides of her. Sporting skinny jeans, ankle boots with four-inch heels, leather jackets, and extremely cute tops, they looked like the goddesses of high school. I was jealous. They have what it takes to pull off sexy, cute, mysterious, and skinny. God only granted me with slender, nerdy cute, and somewhat mysterious, though it only appears as a dumb, confused look on my face.

     “High school is going to be fabulous!” Ashley Smith squealed in her abnormally, high pitched voice.

     “Well at least for us it is,” Ashley William spit out. “Your four years of high school are gonna suck- because of this-”

     Ashley J. pulled out an egg from her designer hand bag and smashed it right on top of my head. As soon as I had realized what they were doing, Ashley S. began spraying whipped cream atop the egg.

     “And a cherry on top!” laughed Ashley W. She dropped a bright colored cherry on top of the whipped cream and began walking off with the other two, laughing so hard, they nearly peed their pants.

     “It’s too bad we forgot sprinkles,” I heard Ashley J. giggle.

     In all that confusion, I failed to see those staring at me, secretly laughing and probably thinking, ‘What a dork!’ or ‘Loser!’. 

     “P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face...” my Poker Face ringtone shook me out of the flashback. There was a text from Mandy, asking where I was. Like Lightening McQueen, my fingers were fast, and I texted back. Two minutes after texting her back, Mandy found the bush I was behind. Holding a plastic bag in her hand, she smiled and grabbed my hand, lifting me up, then brushing the dirt and leaves off my clothes. Together, we walked to the bathroom inside school, lucky not to be caught by any teacher.

     “Okay, this maybe kinda awkward, but lay down on the counter. Put your head in one sink and your butt in the other,” Mandy instructed. Doing just as she said, I flopped onto the counter and slipped my bum and head into each of the sinks. 

     Mandy squirt a good amount of shampoo into her hand after thoroughly rinsing my hair. It took her only five minutes to wash the guck out of my hair. She then instructed me to use the hand dryer as a makeshift blowdryer. After finishing drying my hair, we both hopped onto the counter and ate the Snickers bar Mandy bought, along with our favorite snack of all time, Nutter Butters. 

     “I know we’re both going to get detention for skipping school today, but let’s go,” Mandy said in between her chews.

     My eyes became wide at the idea. Skipping school? No way! I’d never done that before. In fact, I’d never even been tardy to class one time. If I were to skip school, I’d probably get suspension and trouble with the ‘rents. 

     “You’re insane!” I shouted, louder than I should have.

     “Ssshhh!” Putting her finger to her lips, Mandy shushed me and tried running into one of the stalls when the bathroom door creaked open, faster than I would have wished, because a teacher stood in front of me before I could find a hiding place.

     “You two!” she shouted. Wearing a white button up, yellow cardigan, gray pencil skirt, and dark purple heels, this teacher looked somewhat fashionable. Her hair was up in a high ponytail tied back with a black ribbon that fell along her blond waves. Taking her stance, she placed her hands on her hips and feet shoulder length apart. She pointed at me with a paper and dry erase marker in hand. 

     “You! What are you doing in here! Class is in session! What is your name?” she pointed at Mandy, who stood in front of the stall, trying to appear as if she was coming out of the stall, having finished using the toilet.

     “Haley West. My name is Haley West....ma’am,” Mandy stammered. Haley West...I wondered. Haley West? And then I understood.

     “And you! Tell me who you are!”

     “Andrea Longfellow. Andrea Longfellow...” I, too, stammered. Would she know who we really were...?

     “Why are you not in my class now? Class started thirty minutes ago! You should be there by now!” she shouted at us.

     “We were lost and couldn’t find the class. We had come in a little late, and we’re freshmen and we haven’t even step foot on campus until today...” Mandy lied, very convincing I might add.

     “Wrong answer! Amanda Jenkins and Miranda Klein get in class right now! Detention after school!”

     Oh god, how’d she know? Oh man, Mandy and I would have to work on situations like this. How this amazingly smart teacher tricked us, well I would’ve never known. But this was trouble. I couldn’t stand detention on the first day of high school. Grabbing Mandy’s hand, I led her to the door and next door, to class. But she had other plans, of course. She took hold of my other hand and practically dragged me down the hallway as she bolted towards the door. 

     “You two! Get back here right now!” the teacher called. I could hear the click-clack-tap-tap-tap of her heels as she tried running towards us. But we were out the door and on Park Street before we knew it. 

     “Mandy, oh my gosh we will be in such big trouble...” I panted.

     “I know,” she said, winking at me. “Summer was just too short. Now let’s go.” Mandy smiled, ready to lead me throughout Alameda in our biggest adventure of the first day of school ever.

Author's Note

What do you think? Do you like this chapter? BTW, this chapter is written in Mindy's perspective. The perspectives will alternate in each chapter.