CHAPTER THREE

Third Chapter of "Phoenix Parker"

3  

When we were in 8th grade, it was like we were royalty, we were popular, everyone wanted to be us, and everyone wanted to be with us. We had a small group of friends though, but it was always me and Danny that were the closest of friends. We sat together at lunch, side by side, on the bench connected to the lunch table. It was me, Danny, Olive, Lizzy, and Ted, Lizzy’s current boyfriend. She goes through them like The Golden Girls go through cheesecake.   

Olive was very pretty, she was 5’2, fair skin, blue eyes, and shiny, wavy, black hair. We were friends for a long time. Since 5th grade when she tried to steal my sandwich.

Once we were Freshmen, it was like we were ants again, but we recoiled to high school sure enough, like fire ants. All the seniors wanted to hang out with us, they thought we were the coolest freshmen there, so naturally, we moved up the food chain, back to being lions, and of course, Lizzy caught about 12 new boyfriends on our way up. I guess guys just adore tanned girls that are 5’5 with long, curly, light, brown hair and big brown eyes. Who knew?    

Halfway through senior year, Lizzy starts hanging out with my nemesis Lisa, Miss “always-thinks-she’s-better-than-me”. I saw them together one day and couldn’t believe my eyes. They were smiling and laughing through their whole conversation. Liz looked over and saw me, her eyes grew wide with shock. Then, all of a sudden, she narrows her eyes towards me and plasters a smug smile on her face. What did I do to you? I thought to myself. Lisa sat there with a confused look on her face. Then turned her head in the direction Lizzy was looking at and saw me.   

Four eyes were narrowed at me, so, obviously, I narrowed mine back, and snarled. Giving Lizzy a “you’re dead to me” look. She knew that look all too well; she’s seen me give that look to thousands of people before. That’s what made me and Danny so popular. My famous “you’re dead to me look” and his . . . well, unavoidable charm.

Everyone just likes everything about Danny. He’s my complete opposite. He’s sweet, caring, and outgoing. I’m . . . caring but only for the people I love. The Dan Man just happens to be one of ‘em. I’m not sweet. Sometimes. Dan’s got that covered. It’s like . . . I’m the decision-maker. If I like you, you’re in, If I don’t, you’re out. I’m what keeps our group so small. We’re like a popular dance club. Everybody who’s anybody gets in, and so far, 3 new people have gotten in, 2 have left and now we were left with 4 people in the group. Me, Danny, Olive, and a new girl, who wasn’t aware of how popular she was by hanging out with us.    

Eve. She’s about an inch taller than me (I’m 5’7), with long, silky red hair and light green eyes. We didn’t keep in contact for long, she ended up moving to Napa Valley, across the country. We live in Georgia, right now, as adults, we live in Blairsville, but when we were in high school, we lived in a small town. Where everybody knows everybody (and that’s not always a good thing). In our time together we went to parties and shopping, Olive and Eve were my girls, while Danny was my right-hand man. High school was a breeze being able to spend it with them. I was at UGA for two years and graduated early. I’m kinda smart. Well, “kinda” is a bit of an understatement. I work part-time as a barista in a dance club in Athens. I don’t need to work right now, I have lots of money stored away in the bank from Maw Maw and Mom and Dad’s deaths, but it just felt nice to work in a club. After everything, Danny is basically the only family I had left.

Reviews

[Ballpark Frank]

You are an excellent story writer Nix. Some can do it and hold my attention, most can't. Well done.

[millennial leo]

Your characters are very personable and relatable! And again I love your descriptions. I'm curious as to how they will relate to the story as a whole. One note on your writing as a whole- you include a references to a lot of other media including Maximum Ride, Forest Gump, and The Golden Girls. This is not a bad thing but it could be isolating to readers who may not be familiar. So it may be something to reconsider.