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by Admin

  "Too bad we didn't have you the last couple of years."

  He sighed. "Well, that's when my dad was keeping me busy dabbling in political science, hoping he could change my mind, but an actor's desire is not so easily changed."

  The whole class was entranced as though their hearts and minds were in unison.

  "You see yourself doing this the rest of your life?" Ms. Cass asked.

  "I can see myself here for a long time. It's like I fell into this world almost instinctively." He looked around at everyone, a warm smile on his face.

  Raylee turned away before she lost all sense of rationality.

  Afterward, they did some warm up exercises and then acted out a few lines from a Shakespeare play. It was evident that Billy was naturally talented. Raylee was impressed as she'd never seen anyone perform with such credibility and energy.

  Ms. Cass gave everyone a handout for the upcoming show they would be doing. "Be sure to promote the event to all of your friends and family."

  Turned out that the play they were doing was a comedy, one of Raylee’s favorite genres, second to suspense. Apparently, one of Silver Canyon’s own teachers from years ago penned it.

  "Let's run through a scene, just to get a feel for it."

  Ms. Cass, she quickly learned, didn’t have much of a sense of humor. Every time anyone misspoke their lines and ended up chuckling instead, she blew air through her tightly-lipped curl-of-a-mouth and her caterpillar eyebrows shrugged, causing everyone to laugh all over again.

  But the fun quickly disappeared on her way to chemistry. Normally, she would have PE, but the teacher had called out sick last minute.

  On their way to chemistry, Katy asked if she was going to the homecoming dance.

  "Probably not. Why?"

  In truth, that was because nobody bothered asking her. She actually really wanted to go.

  Her friend pointed to the banner hanging from the ceiling a few feet away. In big letters, the dates of the dance sparkled in bold silver and blue, their school colors." The candidates for queen and king have just been added."

  Raylee hung her head. "Why should I care?"

  She nudged her and Raylee looked to where Katy was nodding. Billy. Her heartbeat ceased for a second.

  "Who's that?"

  "Billy Thurman."

  Katy glanced at her sideways, then slowly said, "Maybe you can go together."

  Raylee shook her head. "He's taking drama with me. I doubt we'll ever speak to each other."

  "True. You can't hold a conversation if one of the parties gets all tongue-tied."

  "Hey!"

  Katy giggled and floated into the classroom. Shaking her head, Raylee followed her in.

  Mr. Rivers, their teacher, was up at the board writing out some kind of foreign language formula. Raylee disdained the sciences. Her brain wasn't programmed to comprehend anything so systematic.

  And it definitely was not happy when Crystal and Gina strode in, their heads held high, smiles of superiority pasted on.

  Raylee groaned and looked back to Mr. Rivers. If she just stayed focus on the lecture, then she would be okay.

  About halfway through the class, Raylee asked for a hall pass and made her way to the bathroom. As she was washing her hands, somebody came through the door.

  Crystal.

  Crystal with her sophisticated looks and confidence about ten years beyond their teens. Crystal with her eyes that burned into Raylee with malice. The girl who'd tormented her since the ninth grade. Immature things, like blatantly ignoring her when Raylee asked her a question or pushing her out of her way when Raylee was nowhere near her.

  Crystal sized her up and down, a nasty sneer forming on her bright pink lips. "Ewww, you're so skinny. Don't you ever eat?"

  Raylee had been so used to the nasty glares and the underhanded games, that she was taken aback at the straight-forward remark. And since no one had ever treated her like this, she didn't know how to respond without feeling nervous.

  "No. I mean, yes," she stammered. With Katy and Paul, Raylee could laugh, share her opinions, feel comforted. But in this girl's presence, her entire sense of being diminished.

  Crystal laughed. Hard and loud.

  Blushing, Raylee faced the mirror, but saw Crystal's reflection next to hers, so she quickly looked down at the basin, watching the water running into the drain.

  "What are you, anorexic or bulimic?"

  Raylee ducked her head down further. Neither. Only the word wouldn't come out.

  "Skinny Penny."

  Say something. Don't let her talk to you like this.

  She turned from the mirror, determined to speak up for herself, to let her know she wasn't afraid of her, but she knew she couldn't do any such thing, because she was afraid. Even worse, she knew that Crystal could tell.

  Crystal took a step closer to Raylee, her dark eyes pinned to hers. "Raylee Johnson, you're pathetic." Then she laughed, this time a short chortle, and turning, her raven hair whipping behind her, she exited the bathroom.

  Loser. That's what you are. A loser.

  In her reflection, her lips were quivering, her eyes watering, her hands shaking. She couldn't even stand up to a mean girl, lost all sense of self-assurance. Couldn't even talk.

  Crystal wasn’t wrong, though. She was pathetic.

  Tears burned into her cheeks.

  She's just a girl, Raylee.

  But she wasn’t just a girl. She was the most popular girl with the most influence. Normally, Raylee would just stay out of her way, but it was getting increasingly difficult to do so. Every time she turned around, there was Crystal, leering at her. Over the summer, she’d noticed her whispering something to one of her friends and looking directly at Raylee. Though she didn’t want to worry about it, she couldn't escape the terrible feeling that Crystal was plotting something special for Raylee.

  She washed her face, dried it with a paper towel, and hurried out the door only to run into Gina.

  From the shutting swing of the door came a small burst of wind that prickled the inside of her heart.

  "Watch where you're going, Loser." She smirked, being sure to bump into her hard enough as she walked past her so that Raylee's shoulder bounced off the wall.

  She bent her head. The tears flowed freely. She didn't care anymore, didn't care who saw.

  Until someone's hand was on her shoulder and turning her around.

  Billy.

  This time, her heart didn't stop. But her breath shook as she excused herself, walking back to class, though not planning to actually go back inside.

  "No, wait. Why are you crying?" He caught up to her so that he was in step with her.

  What could she say? Why would he listen? Why would he want to listen? The whole thing was so ridiculous. What kind of girl was afraid of another girl because she gave her dirty looks and said mean untrue things?

  She stopped in her tracks and looked away for a moment, embarrassed, wiping her eyes, then slowly looked back at him. "What are you doing out here?" she said in a low scratchy voice.

  He held up a hall pass. "Bathroom break."

  "Oh."

  Then he was pressing a tissue into her hand.

  Slowly, she took it from him and used it wipe her eyes. "Thank you."

  He smiled and nodded. "You okay?"

  All she could do was nod. She was already feeling better, just being near him. He smiled back and made his way to the boy's bathroom.

  She watched him, wondering why he cared. After all, he didn't know her at all.

  THREE

  After math class the next day, Raylee made her way to her locker. As she opened the door to shove her books inside, she had to scoot backwards as a slip of paper toppled to the ground. Frowning, she reached down to pick it up.

  An invitation to lunch from Donald Schwartz.

  Their relationship had been nice, easy, nothing serious. Then one day it fizzled. Poor Donald tripped ov
er his mouth a lot whenever he tried to initiate conversations with her.

  She hadn't been much better. Her hair spread out like a brownish cotton candy cloud that she could never reign in, and she possessed zero style sense; her shirts were slightly large as they hung off her too-thin shoulders and she always wore jeans that were two sizes up to hide her knobby knees. Eventually, they both agreed they should just be friends.

  But two years could really change a person. Now, Donald wasn't the nervous wreck he'd once been. In fact, he was quite popular, best friends with the star varsity football players, Ryan Davis, the quarterback, and David Espell, the tackle.

  Looking at the note, she thought, Why not, but why?

  Donald was waiting for her at a table. Katy and Paul were sitting on the opposite side of the room. Hesitating for a moment, she finally decided to walk over to the window behind Donald, though she remained standing for a moment. He'd ordered two trays of food, which meant he was pretty confident that she'd accept his invitation.

  The air between them was awkward at first. What was there to say? They hadn't really spoken in two years.

  "How have you been?" he finally asked, working his mouth around a tater tot.

  "OK. You?"

  "Good."

  Awkward, just like the good old days.

  A blast of sun slapped Raylee smack dab in the face. Squinting, she wobbled away from the window. When she looked back, Donald was staring at her.

  He touched her hand and she was surprised at how excited it made her feel. She thought she was over him, but something in the touch told her otherwise. She remained quiet, unsure what to say.

  Crystal and Gina waltzed in just then, calling almost everyone's attention to them with their high-styled hair, glossy makeup, and ritzy wardrobe that could only come from a high-priced department store.

  “Join me for lunch?" he asked.

  “No."

  His elated face quickly changed to one of disappointment, and he removed his hand.

  She nodded in the girls' direction. “I kind of lost my appetite."

  He glanced over, a look of understanding crossed his face. “Crystal."

  “Yeah."

  “You know what? Let’s have lunch. A good old serving of our lovely cafeteria’s tater tots will surely redirect your attention."

  Biting her lip, she hesitated. But her eyes caught on the two trays, and not wanting to make a scene, she sat down across from him, the plate of cafeteria food awaiting her.

  Katy stepped up to the table a minute later. “So, how about the four of us?"

  “The four of us what?" Raylee asked.

  She gestured over to Paul, who was looking around for somewhere to sit. " 'You've Got a Friend'."

  Raylee frowned at Katy, who smiled as she swung her fingers back and forth like a choir director.

  "Oh, speaking in song titles again." Raylee turned toward the entrance. “Paul!" He squeezed in next to Katy, across from Donald and Raylee.

  Raylee turned back to Donald. "So, I see you hanging out with the 'in crowd'."

  Donald chuckled. "Weird, huh? Yeah, I made varsity. I'm playing wide receiver and safety."

  “Oh." Because she didn’t know what else to say. She didn’t even know what those positions involved doing. She made a mental note to attend one of the games.

  "What about you?"

  "What?"

  "Anything exciting happening in your life?"

  "Well, I'm taking drama, so I'm glad about that."

  She bit into her hamburger and thought of another question that had been tugging at her.

  “Why did you invite me to lunch?"

  “You really want to know the truth?" he asked, a sly grin on his face.

  Oh boy, here it was, the truth. He’d only asked her out of pity.

  “Because I thought it was cute how you blew milk out of your nose yesterday."

  Her mouth dropped open. He laughed.

  “Other girls would run out of the room, make a scene of some kind, but you. . ." His eyes remained on hers. “You didn’t need to run."

  “Wow, maybe I should spit milk out of my nose more often."

  He chuckled and leaned over to give her a friendly kiss on her cheek.

  Raylee felt hot air rush through her body, reminding her a little of what they once had, though this kiss was not of a romantic nature. But she couldn’t also help but notice that he had bad breath, really bad breath. Didn’t this guy ever brush his teeth?

  Not nice, Raylee. Funny, but not nice.

  When he pulled away, she noticed that Crystal was eyeing her. She suddenly felt sick.

  “Hey, you okay?" Donald asked.

  Raylee couldn’t shake the insecure feeling that was building inside of her.

  Crystal was gorgeous with dark beautiful hair like a Disney princess, and eyes that could enchant any guy. But that's not what bothered her the most. Crystal was in her math, chemistry, and history classes, and she was always looking her way, not because she wanted to be friends, but because she obviously didn’t like her. This wasn't anything new. Ever since freshman year, she’d caught Crystal glaring at her from across the room more times than she could count. What upset Raylee so was that she still didn't know why.

  Raylee looked down and concentrated on eating her hamburger. She didn’t want to give Crystal any more ammunition to hate her.

  He leaned over again, closing the space between them. “Will you go to Homecoming with me?"

  A piece of meat fell from her mouth. “Seriously?"

  He sat back and smiled nervously. His fingers were even restless as they twitched like tiny little crabs.

  She noticed Katy's hand was frozen in mid-air, a piece of cheese melting off her burger and dripping onto her plate. Paul had gone still too.

  "I haven't dated anyone since you."

  "Seriously?"

  He arched an eyebrow and crossed his arms, and now the corner of his mouth even twitched as he studied her. She couldn't decide who was more nervous. “You know, you say ‘seriously’ a lot, but you never mean it in the same way. That makes you even cuter."

  Raylee felt herself blush, wondering where this was going. But she couldn't help but notice how obvious Crystal was being. She wanted to make sure that everyone saw her.

  Ryan was sitting at the table next to Crystal's looking so cool in his letterman jacket, like he hadn’t a care in the world. He was running a hand through his blond hair as he glanced down at something.

  Unbeknownst to him, Crystal stood to his side, her hands tucked behind her back as she cleared her throat to get his attention. When that didn't work, she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and tilted her head as she tucked her hand under her chin, giving him her sweetest look. But he was strangely focused, his nose stuck inside his math book.

  Katy was talking about something, but Raylee was zoned in on her nemesis. She hadn't seen her like this before, vulnerable, desperate.

  Crystal picked up a number 2 pencil next and let it slip from her hand. It made a soft tapping sound as it landed on the floor and rolled across the pathway behind Ryan. She cleared her throat again, louder this time, and finally, he looked up. She nodded at the floor, his eyes followed, and he stooped to retrieve her pencil. Handing it to her, he formed a small smile as he said, “Looks like you dropped this."

  “Why, thank you, Ryan." She stuck the pencil between her teeth, trying to draw attention to her face, especially to her brightly painted lips.

  He didn’t say anything, just stared at her, but apparently that was good enough for Crystal. She removed the pencil. “You know, I’m not so good at this subject, but you seem like a real math genius. Maybe you could tutor me sometime."

  An obvious trick with the sole purpose of starting a relationship.

  Ryan had never dated anyone, and so he seemed surprised and at a loss for words. Whether he was embarrassed by the attention or by the fact that she was t
alking to him, Raylee couldn’t be certain.

  “Well, um, yeah, I could do that. We could start today, if you’d like."

  She gave him her biggest smile. “That would be perfect. Thank you, Ryan."

  How did she do it? How did she just go up to somebody and tell him what she wanted? She looked so fearless, so sure of herself.

  She first came across Crystal during freshman year. Crystal and Gina were taking their trays to a table where some cute guys awaited them when Raylee accidentally knocked into Crystal, spilling the opened can of diet soda all over Crystal's new white top.

  Raylee proceeded to stumble over incoherent words, apologizing, and unable to look away from the annoyed look that quickly transformed her face. Then all of the guys laughed at her.

  Now, Crystal glowered at Raylee with unconcealed annoyance. Gina must have picked up on her sour mood because a moment later, she slipped Crystal a note. Crystal flashed another smile. Raylee didn't know how to respond. She only knew that whenever Crystal smiled at her, it wasn't a good thing.

  The nervous beating of her heart accelerating was enough evidence.

  Raylee shook her head as though shaking the memory away. Prying herself away from Crystal, she addressed Katy. “So, Katy, when do you think—"

  “Donald, when will you ever learn? She’s beneath you." Crystal was suddenly stopped next to their table, her eyes locked on Raylee.

  Donald cleared his throat, clearly a little intimidated by Crystal, though he sat up in an attempt to show her he wasn’t.

  Before he could even get a word in, Crystal placed her hand on his shoulder and smiled, one of those nasty insincere smiles that took pleasure in hurting others.

  “Don’t bother." She slowly looked around at Raylee and her friends before resting her eyes on Donald. “Maybe someday you will figure it out."

  Gina wore the same smile as Crystal as she shot a look at the table before following her friend out of the room.

  Katy patted Raylee’s arm. “Ignore them. I do."

  Raylee managed a faint smile but pushed the rest of her food away.

  FOUR

  Raylee unexpectedly found herself longing for Billy. It made sense, really. After all, he'd been there when Crystal humiliated her in the bathroom. Apparently, he had first lunch. The coldness from Crystal's icy smile sunk into her heart.