Another update!!!
Slight recap:
Mike walked upstairs to his room and signed online to his computer. He saw Sydney was online, but away. When he read her away message, his heart sank.
“I have to make this better…” he thought out loud.
Chapter 8
I woke up the next day, less than thrilled to go to school but I figured it would distract me from thinking about Mike.
When I got to school, I noticed all my friends whispering and looking at me.
“Great,” I thought. “Kyle probably told them I wouldn’t hook up with him after school yesterday. Ugh, I don’t even care anymore.”
I walked into homeroom and sat down in my seat. I saw Mrs. Vaughn looking at me so I attempted to smile.
“Are you okay Sydney?” she asked.
“Yes, fine. Just tired.”
Suddenly Jill walked over and thrust a paper onto my desk and walked away again. I sighed and looked down. “Bathroom, 12:30. We need to talk.” I looked up and stared at Cari, Jill and Lindsay, who were all glaring at me from across the room. Wonderful, a girl intervention. Just what I needed today.
Well, 12:30 rolled around so I made my way to our designated bathroom on the second floor. As soon as I walked in, Jill locked the door.
“Okay, Syd. What has been going on? You’ve been weird for the past three days and we are sick of it.”
“Nothing, okay? I’ve just been thinking about some stuff.”
“Thinking about what? Max?”
“Yeah, a little, okay? I could have been in that car and died too. It just made me think about my life a little.”
“Don’t tell us you are going to become a straight edge loser Syd.”
“Just because someone chooses not to kill themselves doesn’t make them a loser!” I said firmly.
“Whatever Sydney. Think about what you really want. Do you want friends or do you want to be a loser? When you make a decision, let us know.” Cari said and unlocked the bathroom door to leave.
Jill also gave me a dirty look and walked out. Lindsay remained and gave me a sympathetic look. “Come on, Sydney. You don’t really want to lose your friends, do you? I know what it is like when you are on the outside…” Lindsay was referring to elementary school when she really wasn’t the most popular. Something changed in the summer between sixth and seventh grade and Lindsay became an IT girl all of a sudden.
“Well, I also have my little sister to think of and if I was gone she would be alone with my party freak parents. I just need to think.”
“Okay Syd, it’s your funeral.” Lindsay said and also left the bathroom.
“Ugh, this is ridiculous!” I said as I kicked at the wall. I didn’t want to have to choose between my friends and my sister. And then there was Mike. Not like Mike even cared about me that way anyway.
This was too much to deal with so I did something I actually never did before. I took out a cigarette in the bathroom, lit it and just stood there smoking, not caring about the consequences.
As I was finishing my cigarette, I saw the door start to open so I quickly dropped the stick out the open window and made it look like I was innocently brushing my hair.
I almost dropped my brush when I saw the principal walking in the door.
“Miss Bristow…hello there. Have you been smoking in here?” she asked, sniffing the air.
“No. Doesn’t it smell horrible in here? I had to hold my breath since I’ve come in here.” I tried to act innocently.
The principal stared at me for another minute so I put my brush away, washed my hands and picked up my bag.
“Excuse me, lunch is almost over. I need to get to earth science.”
The principal let me pass but I knew she’d be watching me now. Eh, whatever.
The rest of school was a blur as I tried to avoid the people who I called my “friends.” Finally the last bell rang and I debated if I wanted to see if Mike really would wait for me like he said.
Curiosity got the better of me and I made my way to the west parking lot. I gasped when I saw the silver car in the lot.
I walked over to his car and looked in the window. “You really came.”
Mike looked at me with those awesome green eyes. “I told you I would. Do you want to come?”
I stood up straight again and glanced back toward the school. I saw my group gathering and staring in my direction. That made my decision quickly. I opened the door and got in. “Sure. Why not?”
Mike looked at me but didn’t say anything and we drove off.
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Mike’s POV
Mike could smell the scent of nicotine on her and figured she was smoking again today but wasn’t in the mood to start a fight. “Rough day?” he asked instead.
Sydney looked at him. “How did you know?”
“You don’t look very happy. Wanna talk about it?”
Sydney sighed and leaned her head on the passenger side window. “My friends pretty much told me that unless I keep partying with them, they’ll forget about me forever.”
“Those don’t sound like real friends Sydney.”
She looked at him. “Are you saying if your good friend suddenly started drinking a lot, you would stay friends with that person, even though you are not into that?”
“Well, first I’d want to find out why he changed and then I’d try to help. But I wouldn’t just stop being friends with that person.”
“Huh.” Sydney stared out the window for the remainder of the ride.
Before they knew it they were pulling up to the center and Sydney saw someone walking in that she knew.
“Hey – I know that girl. She is in my social studies class,” she said, pointing to the girl walking inside.
“Oh, you know Francie? She’s a nice girl.”
Sydney looked down in shame. “Well, I don’t KNOW her really, I said she was in my class.”
Mike laughed. “OOHH, I see. She is not popular enough for your crowd.”
“Shut up Mike. I can’t go in there now. She’ll see me!”
“So what? Afraid to do damage to your reputation?”
“No…”
“Let’s go, chicken butt.”
“Okay, you did NOT just call me a chicken butt.”
“Maybe I did.” Mike grinned and Sydney knew she couldn’t resist that smile and those eyes.
*******************************************************
“Oohh, he’s GOT to stop doing that to me,” I thought as I watched Mike grinning at me. “Fine, I’m coming inside. But I am not talking.”
“I didn’t say you had to.”
Mike started walking inside so I followed. All of a sudden I heard my name behind me. I whirled around and saw Francie.
“Oh…hi Francie,” I said, giving her a weak smile.
She gave me an odd look. “Why are you here and not with your crowd getting high or having sex or whatever?” Her words stung and I cringed, knowing Mike heard it too. I dared not to look at him.
“Yeah…um… I’m trying something new…why are you here?”
“I’ve been coming for a year now,” Francie said simply. “I needed a place I could go to talk about stuff. I used to witness my dad beating my mom constantly when he was drunk or high and it just really got to me. So I can talk about it here with other people like me and it just helps to know I am not alone.” She stared at me for a second. “You know…if you ever want someone to talk to…”
“Thanks,” I said quickly and rushed inside to the group room and took a seat in the back. A few of the kids who were there yesterday smiled at me but I just sat in silence.
The hour passed quickly and again I didn’t share my story. Somehow I just couldn’t. Not after Francie announced in front of Mike that I got high and had sex. And I didn’t know if I wanted him to hear what I had to say.
Once the session was over I grabbed my stuff and planned to make a quick exit and take the metro home. I was still embarrassed from Mike not kissing me back anyway and I had only gotten in his car before because the girls were staring at me and I wanted to disappear.
I was halfway out the door when I felt a hand grab my arm. “What the f…” I turned and saw Mike looking concerned.
“What’s your rush, Syd? Where are you going?”
“Home…” I stared down.
“Don’t you want a ride?”
“Uh, no, it’s okay…”
Mike gave me a strange look. “Seriously, I’m taking you home. Stay there. I know where you live so if you disappear I’m just going to drive to your house and wait for you.”
I didn’t say anything but made it clear I would wait. Mike grinned and grabbed his stuff and we headed out the door.
While we were walking to his car, he looked at me. “Are you avoiding me?”
“Maybe.”
“Why?”
“Do you have to ask??” He gave me a strange look. “I am MORTIFIED about yesterday, and what you heard Francie say to me today.”
“Ohhh.. Syd, come on. No big deal.”
Easy for him to say. He is not the one who made an ass of himself. I turned my head away from him and kept walking. We got to his car and drove to my place in silence.
When we pulled up to my house I mumbled thanks and went to get out of the car.
“Hey, Syd?”
“What?”
“I was wondering…do you have plans Saturday? I thought maybe I could take you to Cold Stone in the afternoon…”
I stared at him. “Seriously?” He nodded. “But… why?”
“Because I want to get to know you better!”
I looked at him and finally gave in. Those EYES. “Sure, I guess that would be okay.”
Mike smiled widely. “Great. I’ll pick you up around three?”
“Okay.” I smiled back. “See you!”
I watched Mike drive off. “Okay, so is THIS a date?” I smiled happily and went into my house. I wished my friends weren’t being such idiots right now so I could call Jill and squeal about this but they’d never understand why I liked Mike since he was “uncool” in their eyes. So instead, I went to my sister.
“Hey Naddy,’ I said, walking into the TV room where she was watching something on Nicktoons.
“Hey!”
“So, remember that boy from the ice cream place?”
“The annoying one? He walked you home the other night.”
“That’s him. We’re going to get ice cream on Saturday.”
“Like a DATE? Can I come?”
I laughed. “Sort of… and noooo you can’t.” Nadia pouted. “But maybe I can bring you back some.”
“YEAHHHH!!!”
TBC
