Kandace.
Ugh. I still can’t believe that Mr. Johnson put Collin next to me so that his grades would improve. As if! My grades are worsening anyways, I just don’t see the point of doing any homework. It’s not like I’m gonna use history in my future. If I ever make it that far…“Alright, you may pack up. The bell will ring in about a minute.”
I pack up my stuff and watch Thomas pack up his. I wonder what he’s thinking about? Just then, some new girl walks over to his desk.
“Hey, I’m new here.”
“Oh nice, I hope you feel welcome.”
Wow. Thomas isn’t just hot and popular, he’s also very kind.
“Yeah I do, name’s Emily, but you can call me Em.”
“Alright cool, my name’s Thomas.”
That girl is pretty. And Emily? That’s a very pretty name.
“See you around, yeah?”
“Yeah sure.”
He’s very nice. A little too nice. I bet Emily thinks that he’s hot and single. He is. I’m not his girlfriend. Wish I was though. Maybe he’ll ask me. Probably not. Anyway, since history lasts the length of two classes, it’s time for lunch. I walk to the cafeteria, not really in a hurry. I steer clear of Collin and his gang. Finally, when I arrive at the lunchroom Alexis waves me over to the table she’s at.
“Hi Kandy!”
“Hey”
“You’re smiling! What happened?”
She’s right, I am smiling.
“Well, I went to class early and you’ll never guess who was already in the room!”
“Who?”
“Thomas!”
“Oh my gosh really?”
“Yeah! I sat down and he said he liked my drawing.”
“That’s great!”
“Yeah, and its not even the best part! He gave me his number!”
Her whole face lights up.
“Really? That’s awesome! Are you gonna text him?”
“Yeah, I will when I get home.”
“Oh my gosh Kandy! I’m so happy for you!”
We talk and laugh for a bit and Alexis gets out her lunch.
“You want some?”
“Nah, I’m not hungry.”
Alexis looks at me.
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
“Kandy, you haven’t eaten anything all this week!”
“I know.”
I turn around trying to spot Thomas. I don’t see him so I turn around. He’s sitting on the other side of the table.
“This seats not taken, is it?”
I try and say no, but the words don’t come out. Thankfully, Alexis has my back.
“No, it’s not!”
“Cool”
He sits down. This is too much in one day. First he likes my drawing, gives me his number, and now he’s sitting at my lunch table? I start ticing so hard. Oh yeah, I think I forgot to mention that earlier. But I have a disease called Tourettes. People like me get made fun of for it. Thomas looks at me weird, probably because I’m blinking so hard.
“You okay?”
Shoot. He’s definetly noticed.
“Yeah. Why?”
“You keep blinking.”
“Oh. Yeah. I-”
I look at Alexis for help.
“She’s got Tourettes.”
“Oh. Isn’t that the disease that makes people swear?”
“For some people, yes. Kandy doesn’t usually have that tic though.”
I look at her gratefully. There’s no way I could have explained that to him.
“Kandy usually just blinks, or snaps her fingers. Sometimes it’s worse and she hurts someone, or herself.”
“Oh.”
I hope he doesn’t think I’m weird now. It would ruin everything. I don’t want him to be all worried about me. We eat lunch in silence. Or, THEY eat lunch. I’m not going to eat today. Not hungry.
“You sure you don’t want anything to eat?”
Dang it! Alexis shut up! Thomas doesn’t need to know-
“You’re not eating anything?”
Alexis looks down and doesn’t answer, she realizes what she’s done.
“I’m just not hungry today.”
He shrugs. Phew, I was worried he’d press the topic and find out that I haven’t been eating. I actually broke my record today, now my record is 13 days, instead of three.Now tomorrow I’ll break my no eating record again.
BRRRRRING
There’s the bell, signaling the end of lunch. My next class is ELA, and I don’t have Alexis or Thomas in it. You wanna know who I do have in it? Collin.
“Bye guys”
I bid them goodbye quickly and then rush to my next class. ELA is my least favorite class, not because of the subject, but because of the people. Collin bullies me, and the teacher does nothing about it.
“Nice to see you again, loser.”
Here’s Collin again. We’re alone in the classroom with just him, his buddies, and me. Yay.
“You don’t have anything to say? Good. I like it that way.”
I just sit there. Can’t do anything about it, so why try? Instead of listening to class, I think about what I’ll do. Because I’m daydreaming, class only seems to last a few seconds. The bell rings, and I head to the last class of the day. Math. I walk into the classroom to see an extra desk. Do we have a new student? Is it that Emily girl? Turns out I was right, because just then Emily walks in. She just joined today, and already she’s got a gang of girls worshiping her. Brat material.
“And who are you?”
Emily walked up to me.
“Kandace.”
“That’s literally such a long name, don’t you have a nickname?”
“I do have a nickname.”
She stands there for a moment.
“Well? You gonna tell me what it is?”
“No. Only my friends call me by my nickname.”
She just stands there in shock, refusing to believe that anyone had rejected her friendship.
“You’ve made a wrong step. You’ll regret it.”
I agree. I’ll probably regret it, but what does it matter? What’s one more bully going to do to me? Class starts and everyone sits down. In this class, you can choose where to sit. It can be a different spot everyday, if you like. I always sit in the back where no one is looking at me. We start learning about calculus and other confusing topics. I daze off, thinking about what it’ll be like to have two friends, instead of just one. And about how one of them is a guy. More specifically, the guy I’ve liked since sixth grade. This class passes even faster than the last one. Before I know it, the bell rings and class is dismissed. I pack up my things and walk toward the door. Emily and her gang are by the door. I try to slip past them, but Emily stops them.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Um, home?”
“Wrong! You’re going to stay here until I’m done with you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I am the prettiest girl in school, and therefore, I deserve the hottest guy. That would be Thomas.”
She prods me in the chest with her finger.
“YOU are not going to get in my way. Stay away from him.”
“You don’t have to worry about us, we’re just friends.”
“Friends today, lovers tomorrow. Now go before I hit you.”
I leave, eager to get away from her. She’s definitely brat material. She’ll probably try out for the cheerleading team. I grab my backpack from my locker and head out the doors. It’s about a ten minute walk home, I only ride the bus in the mornings. As I’m walking home I try to think of a story that Mom will believe. About why I have a black eye, and whether or not I ate lunch. I think she’ll believe the same stories that I told Alexis and Thomas. I ran into a door, and I wasn’t hungry. I let myself into the house using my key, and see my brother sitting in the living room playing video games.
“Mom left you a snack on the counter.”
“I don’t want it, you eat it.”
“Alright, cool.”
I head upstairs to my room, throw my backpack on the floor, and flop onto the bed. It’s been a long day. I pull my phone out of my sweatshirt pocket, play some music, and then took out the drawing I’d done earlier in the day. Up in the left corner was Thomas’ phone number. I added him as a contact. All I had to do now was text him. I could say “Hey.” or “Hi” or “Hello.” or so many other things. Which should I choose? I’m overthinking things again. I decide to just play it cool.
Hey
Yo, sup?
Kandace?
Yep, that’s me.
Cool. How you doin?
Pretty good
Your eye feel any better?
No, not really.
Aw, that sucks.
Is there anything I can do?
Nope.
U sure?
Positive.
Alrighty then
Hey, you busy rn?
No, I’m just in my room doing homework
Same!
Which class?
Math
Same. I just don’t understand any of this
You wanna meet up?
And work on it together?
Yeah sure
Where at?
Oh idk, maybe the park?
Alright, I can be there in 10
See you there
Well, that didn’t go as badly as planned. It was actually Thomas, and not some random number. I go back downstairs, where my brother, George, is still playing video games.
“I’m going out.”
“When will you be back?”
“I don’t know. Just heat up some pizza for supper, mom won’t be home until late.”
He nods and I walk out the door. I bring my backpack, because it has all my homework, pens, pencils, and… other things. Sharp things.
“Kandace!”
That’s Thomas shouting. He’s seen me arrive at the park and is now waving me over to the bench he’s at. I walk over.
“Hey, how are you?”
I shrug.
“Tired.”
He looks at me sympathetically.
“Maybe you should get some sleep tonight.”
I know he’s right. I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night.
“So did you find the answer for question 3?”
He looks at me. I think he knows that I’m changing the subject.
“Yeah, it’s the only one I could find an answer for.”
“Seriously? I’ve done it at least five times, and I still can’t get an answer.”
He leans over and looks at my work.
“Oh, I see what you did. You missed this negative!”
“Oh yeah, you’re right.”
I erase the mistake and fix it. Now I have x=9.
“Is this what you got?”
I show him my paper. He nods.
“I can’t figure out problem one though.”
“Here, let me see.”
He shows me his paper. The margins are filled to the brim with doodles. There’s one in particular that catches my eye. It’s a stickman. Hanging from a rope.
“Nice doodles.”
“You like them? Usually everyone thinks they’re silly.”
“No, I like them.”
I continue to examine his paper, looking for any possible mistake he could have made. Then I found it. He’d not forgotten a negative, like me, but a positive!
“Here. You forgot this positive.”
He slaps his forehead.
“Oh, yeah I see it now.”
We work like this for a while, maybe half an hour. We talked and laughed. It was probably the most fun I’d had in a while. Just as we finished up all of our homework, Thomas’ phone gave a chime. He picked it up.
“Ah shoot. My mom’s wondering where I’m at. I gotta go.”
“M’kay.”
“See you tomorrow?”
“For sure.”
But was it really for sure? Was I going to school tomorrow? Did I want to suffer through another day of endless teasing and bullying? The answer was no, I didn’t.
“Alright then, see ya!”
“Bye.”
Thomas stood up, got to his bike, and rode in the direction his house must have been. My mom probably wasn’t back yet, but I should head back anyway and make sure the George hadn’t burned the house down. I walk over to where my bike is, put on my backpack and helmet, and then ride home. Good news, the house is still standing. Bad news, mom’s car is in the driveway. I walk inside.
“Where’ve you been?”
“At the park.”
“Doing what?”
“Homeowork.”
“You could have done that at home!”
“I needed help with a problem!”
“Wait, so you were with someone? Was it Alexis?”
“No, not Alexis.”
She pauses.
“Who then?”
“A guy from school.”
A grin spreads across her face.
“Ooo, what’s his name?”
“Thomas.”
She looks at me with a twinkle in her eye.
“Mom, it’s not like that! We’re just friends.”
“Did you meet today?”
“Yeah.”
“Let me see your phone.”
I give her my phone and I know she’s looking at my contacts. She smiles.
“You just met him today, and he’s already given you his number?”
“Well, yeah…”
“Kandy, there is no way he doesn’t like you.”
I snatch my phone back and roll my eyes.
“Whatever.”
She laughs.
“Supper is gonna be ready in a few. Hot dogs.”
“Nah no thanks. I had a big lunch today.”
Almost instantly, my stomach knows that’s a lie. I haven’t eaten anything for a while.
“Alright.”
“I’m just gonna be up in my room.”
***
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