“Crap!” Skylar exclaimed. “I forgot to do my homework! It’s still in my bag! Liv, can I copy yours? Please? Just this once?”
“Oh! You can copy mine, Sky!” a girl named Samantha offered.
“Same here!”
“Copy mine!”
“Oh, shush!” Skylar said. “I’m asking Olivia—anyway, she’s the only one that I know will get everything right.”
Olivia paused. She knew copying was bad, but she also wanted to help her friend.
“Uh, I—”
“Please?” Skylar cut off. “Pretty please? With the cherry on top?”
“Fine, here you go,” Olivia knew she couldn’t resist Skylar’s puppy dog eyes.
“Yes! Thanks bestie! Here!” Skylar squealed as she threw Olivia a fifty dollar bill. Skylar was filthy rich. She always had the new iPhone, at least five Louis Vittion bags, every single color Stanley, and so much more.
“Uh, Sky? Didn’t you mean a five dollar bill? This is a fifty dollar bill,”
“Oh, don’t be silly!” Skylar said while copying down Oliva’s homework. “I’d give you a hundred, but I only have fives and tens right now. Now let’s go, we’re gonna be late!”
***
Once we got there, we were late. A whole ten minutes late.
“Chicas, care to explain why you’re late?” Mrs. Garcia demanded.
“Well, you see, there was a . . . a busy hallway. So me and Liv took a different route.” Skylar explained. At the corner of Oliva’s eye, she saw Skylar drop a ten dollar bill on Tim Anderson’s desk, the linebacker on the football team. Tim had strawberry blond hair that was never tidy.
“Yeah,Mrs. Garcia, Skylar’s right. I saw a crowd starting to gather when I was heading to class. Plus, Sky texted me.” he said, holding up his phone. Olivia squinted at Tim’s
phone, instead, she saw a group text labeled, Football Team.
“Alright,” Mrs. Garcia growled. “Take a seat. Also, Ms. Skylar, it would be Liv y yo. I teach Español, not english.”
Olivia and Skylar made their way to the back of the class. Luckily, there were two open seats in the corner of the classroom. Well, it wasn’t really lucky for Olivia, as she liked to sit in the front. “Why sit in the front? The front has all the nerds and the back has all the boys,” Skylar always says. Olivia liked to sit in the front because then she could pay attention more. She was, after all, a straight A student. The only thing that Sky ever did was talk to all the boys.
***
After “horrible” (that’s how Skylar describes it) Spanish, we head to lunch!
“Oh! I almost forgot to tell you! Do you wanna come to the football game tonight? I can get you really good seats!” Skylar yelled.
“Maybe. What time?” Olivia wondered aloud.
“It’s at six. It’ll probably end at nine or so,” Skylar answered.
“Darn. I can’t. I still have homework to do, wash the dishes, all that stuff.” Olivia said, secretly glad that she couldn’t go. Skylar was the cheer captain, and she loved it.
“What do you mean, ‘wash the dishes’? Don’t you have someone else to do it? Like a maid or a butler?” Skylar demanded.
“No, Sky. Not everyone has a personal maid, you know.” Olivia teased.
“Whatever, you know that you’re missing out on a lot, right? If we win this game . . .”
“I know, I know.” Oliva said. “Where are we sitting today?”
“Well, yesterday it was just us, so how about this time we sit with the other cheerleaders and football players, you okay with that?”
“I guess,” Oliva sighed. She wasn’t a cheerleader, unlike Skylar. She hated eating with them, but she did it for Sky.
“Let’s go, then!” Skylar exclaimed. The table was right in the middle of the cafeteria, so everyone could see them.
Yay.
“Hey guys!” Skylar said. “Are you excited for the game tonight?”
“Heck yeah!” Tim responded.
“We’re gonna crush them!” Stacey Taylor, one of Skylar’s cheerleading friends, yelled. Stacey had long brown hair and offen braided it during class when she was bored.
“Love that energy!” Micheal Jones, the quarterback, said while punching the air. Olivia felt butterflies flutter in her stomach. She had had a crush on Micheal since the third grade. Micheal had jet black hair and tan-ish skin.
“Woohoo!” Skylar cheered.
“Please,” Ms. Mara’s cold voice interjected. “keep your voice down, or else there will be consequences . . .”
“Please, keep your voice down, or there will be consequences,” Skylar mocked. “I mean, honestly, it’s getting a bit old, you know.”
“For real,” Micheal agreed. “The only one who likes her is Elona—”
“—and no one likes Elona!” Skylar finished.
“Exactly!” Micheal exclaimed.
Olivia scrunched her eyebrows. Elona was a girl in their grade. She had crooked teeth and a long oval shaped head. Really short dirty blonde hair and a creepy smile. She was a math nerd like Olivia. Olivia never understood why people hated her, as Elona was always nice to them. Skylar must’ve noticed her scrunched up face because she said,
“Are you okay, Liv?”
All the sudden, in four words everybody was looking at Olivia. Waiting for a response. Olivia flushed bright red. “I-I’m fine. Just . . . Elona’s always nice to me, I guess.”
“Well,” Micheal started. “of course she’s nice to you, no offense or anything, but you’re a nerd!”
Olivia looked down and her lunch tray. Maybe it’s better if I say nothing at all.
***
Olivia was chilling on the couch, feeling content. She had finished all of the stuff she needed to do, so right now she had some free time. Until, of course, Skylar texted her.
Hey girl! Did u finish ur homework? The score’s 32-19!!!! Come! Pls!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, Skylar. Fiiiiiine. As long as u get me a good seat! Olivia responded. Olivia grabbed her coat and texted her mom telling her she was going out.
Once Olivia got to the game, she regretted it. Olivia had ADHD, which didn’t help the situation whatsoever. Olivia spotted Skylar and saw her waving her over. Olivia made her way to Skylar. Once she was there, Skylar yelled,
“Guess what?! My coach just told me: I’m doing a special part! At the end of the game! Sit right over here!” She pointed to a seat right next to all the football players on the bench.
“Cool! Good luck!” Olivia replied.
Skylar had to go back to cheerleading, leaving Olivia to watch boring football games. Lucky her.
The game kept going on and on, until Olivia saw something that peaked her interest. It was Elona Miller, sitting alone on the top of the bleachers. Well, she wasn’t really alone, as a group of boys looked like they were picking on her. Olivia liked Elona, she was nice. She might look . . . strange, but it didn’t keep Olivia from being nice to her and standing up for her. It was nearing the end of the third quarter, so she thought she should have plenty of time to have a talk with these boys.
“Excuse me, are you bothering Elona?” Olivia asked as politely as possible.
“What’s up with you, Davis?” One of the boys demanded.
“I prefer to be called by my first name, thank you,” Olivia shot back.
“Whatever. Now answer his question!” Another boy snapped.
“Well, what’s up is that Elona here is minding her own business, and you start to pick on her! What’s up with that?”
“Well, she’s not doing our homework anymore!” One of the guys said. “I-I mean—”
“You dufus!” Another guy yelled.
“You all are dufus’! You can’t even do your own homework!” Olivia snapped. “Now get away! Or I’m telling!”
So then, all of the boys, while glaring at Olivia, left Elona.
“Thanks,” Elona squeaked.
Olivia kept on talking to Elona, as she thought it was far more entertaining than watching football. They talked and talked, and Olivia was having a great time. Before she knew it— the game was over.
“See ya later, Elona!”
“You too!” Elona called.
Oh, shoot! Olivia thought. I didn’t watch Skylar’s performance! I should go and find her! Once Olivia found Skylar sitting on a bench talking to all of her cheerleading friends.
“Look who finally showed up, girls.” Skylar said while glaring at Olivia.
“Look, Sky—”
“No. Don’t waste your time. You chose Elona, someone you barely even know, to talk to like it’s any other day, over me, your best friend since birth! I told you this was important to me! I wanted you to watch! But no. Once I finished, I looked at your spot to see you gone! And then, to make matters worse, we lose the game! Micheal informs me that Little Miss Perfect has gone to talk with her nerd bff! Ridiculous!”
“Please, just let me explain—”
“No. I’ve had it with you, Olivia. I’ve made plenty of excuses for you. Plenty. This is where I’m drawing the line.”
“What do you mean, ‘drawing the line’? I let you copy my homework! I let you—”
“NO! Do you think I want to always eat lunch with you? Do you think I want to watch a movie instead of going to the school party? NO!”
And after all of Skylar’s yelling, she stormed off with all of the cheerleaders shooting death glares at Olivia.
***
The next few weeks were quiet. Skylar avoided Olivia, occasionally trying to trip Elona in the halls. Olivia and Elona had gotten closer over those weeks, eating lunch together, studying together. She liked it. No one asked Olivia to copy homework, and no one paid her fifty dollar bills for it either. It was relaxing. Olivia thought she’d hate not being friends with Skylar. No. To be honest, it was getting tiresome for Olivia. She didn’t wanna have to know the new “trend,” or have the newest clothes. She just wanted to be herself. And she didn’t wanna have to hate Elona to be friends with Skylar. Being kind is more important than being cool or popular.
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