Lucky ~~ All of chapter 7 added 6/1!

by **PugsRock** 1/7/2010, 5:38 pm

Lucky

::Chapter 1::
I wish I was lucky, like Courtney Campellone. I wish every boy in my state of Rhode Island loved me the way they loved her. If only I didn’t have stringy brown hair and straight bangs across my forehead, maybe that dream would become a reality. Maybe one day I’ll wake up and my mud brown eyes will be replaced with sky blue ones, and my thick, caterpillar-like eyebrows will go on a diet and be thin as twigs.
And maybe unicorns will fall from the sky and we can all ride to school on their backs eating fancy fruit. I’m not an idiot. I know there’s no way anything about my ugly appearance will change. My parents are so stubborn; I can’t even get a haircut without them talking to the hairdresser about every exact thing she would do to my hair. Why do I even try to imagine what it would be like if I was beautiful? I shouldn’t get my hopes up, because the world hates me.
I made that realization today, and it started when I walked into History, last period. I was at least five minutes late because my locker door was jammed, as usual. Turns out some of the loose papers in there were stuck in the door. Oops. It’s not my fault the teachers don’t punch holes in the paper; they expect us to stay after class and punch the holes in the worksheets ourselves! Isn’t it bad enough that we actually had to do the work? It’s crazy, what the world is coming to.
So here I am, running into class with these un-hole punched papers that are desperately trying to fly out of my arms, and everyone was staring at me, most people trying to make it look like they weren’t about to burst into hysterics. This isn’t the bad part; this actually happens a few times a week. One pretty bad thing was that I got a detention slip for tomorrow during lunch. I blushed slightly and walked to my seat, far from the doorway I was standing in, and I felt almost 2 dozen pairs of eyes staring at me. I slid into my seat and tried to focus on what my History teacher, Mrs. Kelly, was saying, but instead of thinking about the Supreme Court, I was thinking about how miserable my life was compared to Courtney Campellone’s. Courtney is the most obnoxious, invidious, self-centered person I’ve ever met (except maybe my little sister, Penny), yet all the teachers adore her and boys obsess over her.
Why don’t my teachers adore me?
Why don’t boys obsess over me?
Courtney and I aren’t complete opposites. We both have long brown hair, but hers has tight curls and mine is pin straight and boring. We also share brown eyes, except mine are hidden behind glasses and she doesn’t need any help so she can see. We used to be really great friends, until 5th grade. Back in elementary school, she used to come over my house every day that she didn’t have gymnastics or dance. We would make friendship bracelets and watch cartoons like Spongebob Squarepants. Occasionally, we would even spill secrets about boys and gossip about other classmates.
Then along came Chloe Zarkin, who moved from New York City. Everyone thought she was some superhero, and followed her around constantly, asking questions about her old life. Even though the fascination over her hometown faded, she became one of the most popular girls in school and Courtney’s new best friend. Chloe just got lucky. Other than living in the big apple, she’s a pretty normal person, who would have probably been a LTN (Less Than Nobody), just like me.
I thought about this for the majority of class, in between pretending to take notes and copying off Marcus Greenwald. I was in the middle of a daydream about how Chloe’s last name sounds stupid and mean, when Mrs. Kelly called on me.
“Toni, in court, you are blank until proven blank. Can you fill in the blanks?” She asked, staring at me from behind her huge reading classes. Instead of thinking about the easy question, I thought about my hideous name: Toni-Ann. Most people just call me Toni, but it’s still embarrassing, and I hate it. In the beginning of the year, I try to tell the teachers to call me Nicole, my favorite name, but they think I’m joking and I’m already on the ‘Don’t Listen To’ list.
“Toni? Is anyone home?” Mrs. Kelly asked, annoyed.
I quickly blurted out, “Uh, yeah. You’re guilty until proven innocent.” I bit my tongue after I said it, knowing I had mixed up the words.
Mrs. Kelly laughed, “I wouldn’t want to be in your court!” My classmates joined in her laughing fit, most of them faking it but laughing because I was the one who made the stupid mistake. “You are innocent until proven guilty, Toni. Better write that down.” She winked and walked back to the front of the room. I drew a broken heart on the paper. Mrs. Kelly always makes you write down the correct answer to the mistake you made, but I don’t need a reminder of that accident on my paper.
The teacher took out her clipboard, where she keeps the seating chart. I groaned inside. If we switched seats, I wouldn’t be able to copy off of Marcus instead of paying attention. I could probably do the work by myself, but I tend to daydream, as you know…
Mrs. Kelly told everyone to stand up and move to the back of the room with our books. I walked up quickly, hiding behind someone taller, and stood next to Marcus. One by one, people were brought to their new seats, and less people were standing at the front of the room. After a few minutes of waiting, the only people left standing were me, Courtney, Chloe, and Ryan Brooks. It was obvious that we would sit at the same table, so we all went to the only empty desks in the room without anyone telling us where to go. Once we sat down, Courtney whispered something to Chloe, who giggled into the sleeve of her lime green Juicy Couture sweatshirt.
The rest of class was just a blur or annoying girls whispering and giggling, and me trying to pay attention to Mrs. Kelly. The bell finally rang, and I jumped. Courtney laughed again and someone whispered, “Wimp,” but I was too busy running out of the room to hear and I didn't notice that I left my favorite purple pen on the desk.

::Chapter 2::

I don’t think I’ve mentioned that I get attached to things really easily, even if it’s only a purple pen. It’s my purple pen that I’ve had since my 7th birthday. My favorite teacher gave that pen to me, and I always keep it hidden in my locker. I doubt anyone would actually steal the pen, but I like to know that know one could take it from me. And now it had been left behind. Heat ran down my back, and I knew that Mrs. Sivon always threw out pens, pencils, and other things that were left behind after class. I wanted to run back, but that would make me sound stupid. It’s not even that special; I can find another. I guess I would just have to move on.
And it was the perfect day for that, because I could use my favorite activity, band, to distract myself.
Well, it’s not really band that I love. I mean, playing the saxophone is cool, but it’s the people in band that make it worthwhile I’m the only girl in the section in the elite band and then there are almost a dozen (cute) boys. Courtney used to play saxophone with me in 4th grade, but she thought it was nerdy (she’s kind-of sort-of really right) and dropped out after almost two months. All the other girls followed her, because it’s Courtney, and that’s the cool thing to do.
I was the first one in the band room as usual and I took my seat in the third row, opening up my music and warming up. As soon as some more people piled into the room, I stopped playing and tried to look cool. I pretended to chew gum for a little while, but I didn’t want to get in trouble and I really didn’t want people asking me for more gum. So I stopped that and just tapped my foot against the carpet and watched the door, saying the names of the people in my head as they walked in, thinking that if he didn’t come in soon, I would puke.
Bradley, Brandon, Paul, William, Howard… and finally, River came in, holding his shiny saxophone in one hand and music in the other. River is a year ahead of me, and much better than the boys in my grade. I smiled on the inside, but tried to keep my bored expression on my face as he walked by and sat down in his assigned seat next to mine.
He turned to me and butterflies flew around inside my stomach. I dug my fingers into my palms, trying not to blush of smile. He said, “Are you okay? You look kind of sick.” I sighed. That wasn’t what I was hoping he would say.
I answered, “Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired.” He turned back to the front of the room and didn’t say anything. I tried to look over at River without him noticing. I pretending I was looking back at the trumpet section behind him, but I was gazing at his blue eyes and perfect hair that is very short but not too short. His shirt is my favorite shade of blue; the color of the ocean, and it had some abstract wave pattern on it. He said something to me, but all that I thought about was how nice his voice is.
He repeated what he had said before, only louder. “He wants us to take out our warm up sheet,” he said, he being the band director. I blushed and mumbled, “Sorry.”
The band director, whose name is so long and complicated that we just call him Mr. M, lifted his arms, signaling for us to get ready to play. We all breathed in and put our fingers on the valves and keys of the instrument, prepared to play the first note of the scale, when the missing saxophone player, Matt Coburn, walked in. He took his seat on my right and said something to the boy next to him.
I don’t really care that Matt ignores me, because there is no way in the world that we could become a couple, for multiple reasons.
The first is that he is older than me, and he doesn’t talk to me because I’m pretty shy around the band kids. It’s not that I’m afraid to talk; I love to talk. The reason I don’t say much is because I don’t want to say that wrong thing and mess things up even more.
The other reason is that my family hates his family, and give me a horrible look if I even mention his name. So even if I wanted to date this guy, there’s no way.
I looked at River’s blue eyes again and followed his stare to some of the flute players. The (girl) flute players are the band students that come the closest to ‘cool’. I tried to find which girl River was looking at specifically, but I couldn’t tell no matter how hard I try.
River didn’t talk to me again for the entire band class, which is nearly two hours long. I took a long time putting my saxophone away, trying to make the path to my parents car intersect his, but it was no use. He had a group of girls his age talking to him, and I would look pathetic trying to compare to them.
I kept on walking to my mom’s green station wagon and I slammed the door as loud as I could.

::Chapter 3::

When we were about halfway home, I realized that this was unusual. My mom never picks me up because she volunteers at the animal shelter and spends most of her time over there. “Why did you pick me up?” I asked. “Erin’s mom was there.” Erin is a percussionist and my neighbor. She drives me home every week.
“Oh, so a mother can’t spend some time with her daughter?” my mom asked. I rolled my eyes, but excitement raced through my body, because that’s the excuse most parents use when they have a surprise and are trying not to hint anything.
We pulled into the driveway and I noticed a new car next to the station wagon. “Did you get a new car?” I asked, looking at the car. It looked fancy.
My mom laughed. “No way.” I noticed that the car was messy on the inside, toys scattered on the bottom of the car. Someone must be visiting.
“My friends decided to come by for my birthday tomorrow. Isn’t that lovely?” my mom said. She was smiling, but her eyes looked the same as they do when she is frowning, and I knew it wasn’t genuine.
I walked through the garage and opened the door into the laundry room. “Hello?” I called, hanging up my coat and leaving my shoes on the rack. I thrust my backpack against the wall, glad that my shoulder was free again. I continued walking into the living room.
“Hello!” said 6 adults. Their kids sat next to them, silent. I didn’t recognize any of the visitors.
I took a seat in the corner of the room. “My mom should be coming in soon.” I looked around at the people in the room. The parents looked like typical adults. They could be pretty, but they don’t try, so they look kind of ugly.
All the children were at least 2 years younger than me, except for a girl that looked around my age.
One of the adults spoke up, trying to break the ice. “I’m Max and this is my wife, Becky.” She smiled and squeezed her husband’s arm. “This is Heather, my daughter. She’s 14, too, Toni.” I was relieved that there would be someone I could hang out with.
The next person, Cathy, introduced herself and her husband, Todd, and I was getting annoyed at how much this sounded like one of those circles where people talk about their feelings.
My sister, Penny, came running down the stairs with a little girl behind them. Cathy said, “This is my daughter, Hilary.” Penny and Hilary had devious looks on their faces, as if they had just pulled a prank, and I made a mental note to be extra careful when I was around them.
One person was sitting alone on the couch without a husband. “I’m Amy,” was all she said, and soon after, a boy came walking out of the bathroom. I assumed it was her son. He sat down on the chair next to mine, but didn’t look at me.
I thought back to this morning, when my mom had been going on and on about some boy named Cole. She was talking about how cute he was, and I guess this was him. I made a curtain out of my hair so I could look at him without him suspecting anything.
Cole isn’t that cute. He’s pretty ordinary, maybe below that. He has freckles all over his pale face and his blonde hair makes him look like a mushroom. A parents’ idea of ‘cute’ is way off.
My mom finally walked in with a huge smile on her face. “Hi, everyone!” she sang, waving her hands quickly. She sat in between Amy and Cathy, putting her hands on their shoulders. “I’m so glad you came. Does anyone want drinks?”
Suddenly, all the adults started talking to each other, and the atmosphere was completely different than what it was when I came home. I walked over to Heather. “Hey,” I said. I cleared my throat.
She looked up, surprised. “Oh, hi.”
I was about to suggest I show Heather around the house, but my mom popped up behind me and asked, “Can I talk to you?” I nodded and we traveled to the kitchen. “So, did you see that boy? He’s Cole, the one I was telling you about. Isn’t he handsome?”
“If you say so,” I replied, trying not to hurt her feelings. I snatched a brownie from the counter, but my mom took it from me quickly. “These are for dessert tonight.” I sighed and looked at the dining room, where luggage covered the floor.
“How long are your friends staying?” I asked, looking back at my mom. I folded my arms over my chest. “And where are they going to sleep?” Our house is pretty small, and we only have on guest room. All the bedrooms are full.
“Well, you and Penny will give up your rooms and you can share a room down here or in the basement. One family can get the guest room, one is in Penny’s, and one in yours.”
That wasn’t going to work. “Penny and I have twin beds. You can’t get a whole family of 3 or 4 in there.”
“The basement is big, and we have air mattresses. Trust me, Toni, it will work out.” My mom looked so happy, so confident that it would be okay that I didn’t argue.
I smiled. “Yeah, it will work out,” I forced my fingers to make a thumbs up sign and walked back in the room. When I got there, I noticed that Cole and his mom were gone.

Chapter 4

“Where did Cole and Amy go?” I asked the room. There was a loud rumble of people mumbling, “I don’t know.” I looked behind Penny, out the window. Cole was out there and it looked like he was arguing with his mom. Her hands her on her hips and her lips were pressed together. I raced to the front door and stepped into the cold winter air, putting my hands into the pockets of my sweatshirt. I hid behind a pine tree and listened to their conversation.
Cole yelled, “I don’t want to be here, Mom!”
His mom replied, “Why, Cole?” The color was drained from her face.
“You said it would be fun, but this place is so boring. I mean, we’re in the middle of nowhere!” Cole shouted. “You said that girl… Toni-Ann, would be pretty but she’s worse than ugly! She’s barely even a girl!” I gasped and felt my big nose, insulted.
“Don’t say that, Cole! You enjoy the time here. At least you’re not in the basement of our house eating Pop-Tarts anymore, not socializing with anyone.” I knew it. Cole is a loser. “I don’t know how long we’ll be here, but try to have fun.” His mom started to walk into the house, so I sprinted back inside and sat down on the couch. When Cole walked past me, I put my foot out and tripped him. I mouthed, “Oops!” and smiled.
He shook his head, confused. “So, guys,” I said, popping up from my seat. “Let’s put on some music!” I walked over to the stereo and put the Lady Gaga CD, dancing like an idiot. I looked up and no one was dancing with me. I grabbed Penny’s hand and made her dance, but she stepped on my foot and stormed out of the living room.
I turned the music off and sat back down on the couch, very embarrassed. I glared at Cole and he shrugged. It made me feel a little bad; I was acting like such a jerk and he didn’t even know why. But he had said that I was worse than ugly, and it hurt. I so need to talk to this guy.
My mom sat down next to me, and I lied, “I need to do my homework!” I jumped up from the couch and speed-walked out of the room. Once I was in the kitchen, Penny tugged on my sleeve and stood on my sneakers so she was tall enough to whisper, “I know you were spying on Cole,” into my ear. “You totally like him!” She jumped up and down.
“Ow! Get out of my face and get off my feet! You’re heavy!” I snapped, pushing her away. “No, I don’t like Cole and he doesn’t like me. In fact, he thinks I’m worse than ugly. But it’s okay, because he’s just as bad.” I turned around, pouting, and Cole was standing in front of me.
I gasped, “Oh, Cole, I didn’t mean it. I was just really upset and you know, I’m a teenager! A teenaged girl! We’re like that, you know?” I punched his arm gently. His face crumpled.
“Mom?” he called. “I want to go home.”
Cole took his headphones out of his pocket and stuffed them in his ears. “Cole!” I yelled. I took out my cell phone and sent a text saying, “CODE RED. COME OVER ASAP!” to my best friends. In minutes, Lucas and Brooke walked through the front door. I hugged them and yelled, “Finally! I’ll meet you upstairs.”
I took the popcorn out of the microwave and dumped its contents into a big bowl. “Here you go- some snacks to nosh on!” I giggled, setting the bowl on the carpet. I sat down next to it and stuffed my fist into it.
“So, what’s the Code Red?” Brooke asked. She stuck her manicured nails into the bowl.
I frowned. “Everything. It’s all wrong.”
Lucas said, “Great.” I knew I shouldn’t have called him to come over; he hates drama. I threw some of the popcorn kernels at him, and he laughed.
Brooke said, “Come on. We have time to hear everything.” She narrowed her eyes at Lucas.
“Okay. Number one, I lost my purple pen.” Brooke looked sympathetic, but Lucas fake-gasped and pretended to act like he cared.
Lucas mumbled, “Easy solution- get a new one.” I shifted around on the purple bean bag I sat on.
“It’s never that easy, Lucas. That purple pen is special to me and when I have it, no one can ever take it. And now I left in it Mrs. Sivon’s class, and I’m never getting it back.” There was silence. “Number two, as you know, I have this huge crush on River from band, and he doesn’t pay any attention to me.”
Lucas turned away, distracted by my lava lamp. “I don’t want to hear about your guy problems.”
“But you would be so helpful! I need your advice. And that’s not the only boy problem. That guy with the mushroom haircut downstairs, Cole, hates me. I was spying on him and he said I was worse than ugly, and then he was listening to me say that he was just as bad!”
Brooke’s mouth turned into an ‘o’ and her eyebrows raised up. “That is bad. And I did see that guy. Ew.” She moved her bean bad closer to mine. “About the pen- maybe Lucas is right. I mean, there’s nothing you can do about it. And there are things more important than your pen.” She winked. “And you have to talk to Cole soon, before it gets worse. He should know that you didn’t mean what you said.”
I never mentioned anything about not meaning what I said. But now I was wondering if I meant it. No, no way. I’m a nice person. I didn’t mean it.
“You’re right, Brooke.” I looked at Lucas, waiting for him to say something about my problems.
He just said, “Yeah, she’s right.” But I noticed something strange in his eyes. He’s been acting really weird lately.
“What do you want to do now?” I asked. It’s always hard when I have Brooke and Lucas come over. I want to paint nails, but Lucas would run away screaming, and I would love to kick a soccer ball around, but Brooke would be disgusted. “Pillow fight?”
Brooke and Lucas nodded and grabbed some pillows from my bed, smacking each other with them. I joined in, laughing and smiling, but that doesn’t mean I was happy.

Chapter 5

I walked downstairs holding a Hershey’s bar, ready to apologize to Cole. Every time I apologize to Brooke or Lucas, I always give them a Hershey’s bar, and they always forgive me. I doubt it’s actually the Hershey bar that makes them forgive me, but chocolate just makes everyone happier.
“Knock, knock. It’s me, Toni!” I exclaimed, sitting down quickly. “Hi, Cole!” He ignored me and looked down at the table. “Okay. Look, I’m really sorry about saying that. I didn’t mean it and I was just mad because I kind of overheard what you said about me, and I was so upset so I just blurted anything out! I’m sorry and I didn’t mean it!”
He didn’t reply, but he did look up at me and give me a half-smile.
“So you forgive me?” I asked, smiling back.
Cole sighed, “Not really, but my mom told me to be nice to you, so I’m doing the best I can.” He changed to a different song on his iPod. I frowned and walked closer to him, pounding my hand against the table.
“Look, I tried to be nice to you, and you just put your headphones and you’re so… I don’t really know, but I don’t like it. I really don’t like it. I would be so happy if you just left our house today!” I screamed, snatching the chocolate from the table. I unwrapped it and took a huge bite. “Buh-bye.”
My mom looked up at me from behind her thick James Patterson mystery novel. “I heard what happened. Why, Toni? Cole is only here for a short time, so why can’t you be nice to him?”
“I’m sorry, but you don’t understand!” I squealed, my voice cracking. “You never understand.”
She frowned. “I know what you said, Toni. And I’m going to have you be Cole’s… maid while he’s here,” she said simply.
“What?! But that’s not fair. Why can’t you do it? You have so much time on your hands since you got fired!” I was pretty sure that smoke was coming out of my ears.
“You know we’re not supposed to talk about that. Go to your room. I’ll be up there to talk to you later.” She went back to reading her book, and didn’t look at me again.

I woke up the next morning with a sore throat, probably from screaming at Cole and my mom so much. When I told my mom, she thought that I was trying to avoid doing chores.
“Even if you do have a sore throat, it won’t keep you from making the bed and bringing Cole some breakfast. Brush your hair and then start your chores,” my mom explained.
I didn’t want to waste my breath trying to argue with her so I did what she told me and went into the bathroom. Once I was finished, I went to Penny’s old room- Cole is staying in it for now. I knocked on the door and exclaimed, “It’s Toni!”
Cole shouted, “Don’t come in unless you have food. I like croissants and some bacon.”
“I’m supposed to clean your room and make your bed. And you have to actually leave your room if you want breakfast. There’s no way I’m bring you breakfast up here. We’re having cereal.” I rolled my eyes.
After a long silence, I heard, “You know what, I’m not hungry anymore. And I was still trying to sleep until you came, so leave.”
“Of course, Prince Cole,” I mumbled softly, but purposely loud enough for him to hear.
He quickly replied, “It’s King Cole.”
I turned and headed for the stairs without saying anything. “Good morning,” I said to no one in particular.
“How did it go?” my mom asked. “Where’s Cole?”
I gave her an evil look and said, “King Cole isn’t coming. Because he’s an conceited, egotistical jerk.” I took a box of Honey Chips cereal from the cupboards and poured it into the bowl, along with some milk and banana slices.
“I don’t really care what he’s like; I’m still having you do the chores,” my mom stated. Everyone at the table nonchalantly ate their cereal and took a sip of their drink.
“You’re a heartless person,” I murmured. My mom shrugged and turned the page to the next page of the newspaper.
After everyone left the kitchen, I looked at an object at the table I didn’t see before- a scrapbook that said, “Amy and Me -- Ages15 to 40” I silently walked over to it and slowly opened the cover. A newspaper clipping fell out- an obituary. I didn’t recognize the man’s name, but he looked a bit like Cole. A piece of the clipping was cut off, so all I could see was the picture and his name, but I was pretty sure it was recent.
My mom glanced over at me. “Are you reading my scrapbook?” she yelped.
I closed the book quickly, but kept the picture in my right hand. “Who is this?” I asked quietly. She walked over and studied the picture, as if she had never seen it before.
“That’s Cole’s dad. He died last year, right around the time I lost my job, and that’s why I want you to be nice to him. Life’s been really rough for him lately, with switching schools and losing friends and… of course, his dad,” she explained solemnly. “I should have told you this before he came. Can you try to apologize one last time, Toni? If it doesn’t work out, we can just give up.”
“Okay. But you really should have mentioned this before I went all werewolf-y,” I sighed.
My mom actually whispered that she was sorry, but then she went back to reading the newspaper. “Go on. Talk to him before it gets worse.” I nodded and she handed me the comics, my favorite section, and waved me away.
I took a bar of chocolate from the counter and walked upstairs. “Take three,” I whispered.

::Chapter 6::

I ran into Heather on my way to Cole‘s room. “Hey,” she said. “Can we talk?” I looked longingly at Cole’s room, but replied, “Okay. Make it quick, though.”
She smiled and walked into the room she was staying in along with the rest of the family. “Can you guys go downstairs, please?” she tapped her mom’s shoulder. “I think Toni’s family is waiting for you.”
Heather’s dad said, “Of course, Heather. Have fun. Have you eaten breakfast yet?”
“Not yet. But I will soon. Bye, Dad!” She closed the door behind him. “Hi, Toni. You can sit down.”
I know I can sit down, I thought to myself. This is my room.
I took a seat on the corner of the bed, and looked around, studying the things she had added to the room. There were plenty of new pictures covering the dresser. How long will the guests be staying here?
“So, what happened with that Cole guy? He seems like a freak,” Heather said. It was quiet, but I still jumped because I wasn’t expecting her to talk. I was too busy looking at the room. It still had the baby blue walls and my junk still covered the dressers and shelves, but Heather had changed it a lot. She had shoveled everything off of the shelf above my bed and now there were pictures covering it of young girls, adults, teenagers, and boys. My junk was on the floor.
“He’s not that bad,” I lied. “He’s just kind of sensitive, and not really social. But I think if you get to know him, he can be a really nice guy.” I said each word slowly. This time, my words were jumbled together, and I hopped off the bed and knocked on Cole’s door again.
There was no answer, so I assumed that he had gone downstairs. I slowly opened the door and sighed with relief when I saw the empty room. I tip-toed out of the room to look downstairs and into the kitchen, which I can see from the hall. He was sitting at the table, waiting for his breakfast. I had time.
I made his bed first, and while I was putting the nice pillows- the ones we use before bed- on the bed, I discovered a cell phone. It was an inexpensive silver flip phone. I held it in the palm of my hand while the other hand lingered over the phone, waiting to open it. I slowly flipped the phone opened and pressed the center button. A new text popped up and I nervously opened it.

Rofl that toni chick sounds like a loserrr I bet she has no friendz

I quickly looked at his sent folder, which was filmed with texts about me- and not one positive one. They all said something like, “there’s this stupid girl here + I hate her” or “freakish girl-thing screamed @ me 2day… shes such an idiot”
“Hey!” said a boy’s voice. Cole. I dropped the phone on the bed quickly, closing it as I did so. “Were you looking at my phone?”
I stuttered, “N-no. I was making your bed and it… fell out so I picked it up and I… was just about to put it away when you came.”
He extended his hand. “Give me the phone.” I took the phone from the bed and threw it to him. He caught it with one hand and opened it. After pressing a few buttons while I stood there, he announced, “You were looking at my phone. You opened a new text.” His face got red very quickly.
“I’m sorry. But I saw what you wrote. You were gossiping about me. I may scream at you a lot, but I don’t go around texting people about you and saying, ‘Oh, she’s not even a girl.’ I know that you’re dad recently died, and I came her to say sorry, but I’m not going to because even though you lost him, that’s not a good reason to gossip about me and be mean to me,” I growled.
Cole retorted, “You say the same things about me!”
“But I’ve only said bad things about you to my little sister, while you told everyone on your contact list about me!” I grumbled.
“You went through my phone!” Cole yelled. “That’s even worse.”
“No, it’s not. And I’m leaving, so go clean up your own stupid room,” I said, slamming the door behind me.
Cole shouted, “Don’t come back!” but he didn’t need to. Even if he didn’t say that, I wouldn’t have come back.

~~~

“Hi, everyone,” I grumbled when I got to the kitchen. My mom stood up quickly and gestured to me to come into the laundry room.
She whispered, “Did you apologize to Cole?” I didn’t meet her eyes and instead looked at the pantry and laundry detergent bottles. My mom sighed. “What do I have to make you do so you’ll treat Cole like a normal person and not a sandwich? He’s such a nice boy.”
A sandwich?
“Cole is not a nice boy,” I whispered, gritting my teeth. “Please believe me. I don’t really want to talk about it right now. Can I take a walk?”
“I don’t know. Can you?” my mom asked, smirking.
I groaned, “May I take a walk?” My mom nodded and went back to the kitchen table, smiling to her friends. I grabbed my Minnie Mouse sweatshirt and walked out the garage door, shivering as the wind blew my hair into my mouth.
The wind stung my eyes, nose, and cheeks, and tears formed in my eyes. I walked around the development until I was at Lucas’s house. I rang the doorbell and waited, looking at the plants that lined the walkway. We never have flowers growing at our house. We forget to water them, rabbits eat them, Penny stomps on them…
Lucas looked through the window to see who it was then opened the door. “Hey, Toni,” he smiled. “What’s up?”
The tears escaped from my eyes. I tried to hide my face, but it was no use. “What’s wrong?” Lucas asked. I tried to talk, but all I could say was, “This is so embarrassing.”
“What’s wrong?” Lucas repeated, brushing a strand of hair out of my red face. “I mean, you can get another purple pen. I might have one in the house…” he laughed to himself, but I pouted.
I snapped, “It’s not the purple pen.”
“Then why are you crying?” I tried to talk, but I stuttered the words between gasps of air. I sounded like a 6-year-old. The thought made me cry more.
In a soothing voice, Lucas said, “I’m going to find out why you’re crying.” I looked up at him, confused. “You would have waited to tell me if it was the death of a relative- for pets, you would have waited longer. Heartbreak crying involves screaming…” I wanted to punch him. There was a long silence, and I could tell that Lucas was thinking. “It was Cole,” he announced. Lucas can read me like a book. He’s kind of amazing that way.
I started to go down the porch steps, but Lucas grabbed the wrist of the hand that was closest to him and pulled me close, hugging me. One hand ran its fingers through my hair and the other rubbed my back. He said, “Shh, it’s okay.”
I knew that he was ready to break away, but since I wasn’t, he waited until I pulled back. We both looked at each other. He was blushing and I could feel my face getting hotter. He walked inside the house, but came out again soon after with a carton of chocolate milk.
“You told me your mom used to give you Hershey’s chocolate milk when you cried to calm you down.” I giggled and took the carton while Lucas opened another one for himself. We sat on the steps stuck the straws in the carton. I felt like a Kindergartener, but I was still happy. I smiled when I finished my milk, long after Lucas finished his.
I drummed my fingers on my knee. “Why do you bother?” I asked sadly.
“What are you talking about, Toni?” Cole gave me a confused look, and I realized it was a bad question.
“Like, why do you put up with Brooke and I? We’re just annoying girls and you just wasted a whole carton of milk on me. Why don’t you spend time with guys?” I bit my lip and a lump formed in my throat as I thought back to last year, when I never left my room. I didn’t talk to anyone unless I was asking my mom for food, I didn’t do my schoolwork, and my grades were worse than ever. My grades were pretty bad before I became depressed, but this was an all time low. I didn’t think I mattered, I didn’t think anyone cared about me. Most of it was about my family- paying attention to Penny and never thinking about me or being bossed around my mom. Another reason was boys and girls like Chloe and Courtney, and also teachers and friends.
Brooke and Lucas had started spending a lot of time with each other and I was really jealous (they ended up dating for a week or two). Courtney noticed that I was left all alone and made her insults worse. When I looked in the mirror, I saw an extremely overweight girl, even though I’m pretty skinny, and I focused on all my faults and flaws.
Then there were guys. It seemed like everyone had a boyfriend except me, but I thought I could deal with that. The thing that made me crumble was the school dance.
My mom spent at least an hour and a half curling my hair and picking out an outfit. I wore a teal tank top with ruffles in the center of the chest and a black shrug over it, and I actually wore a skirt. I arrived ten minutes early, the only one there. It was a little embarrassing, but after everyone came in, I felt comfortable. Courtney and her group were the last people there, and they strutted out to the center of the dance floor. A large group of boys formed a circle around them, and I noticed that Courtney was wearing the same shirt as me. She noticed, too.
She smiled at me, and her eyes shined. “Hey, you look thirsty. Want a drink?” She began her trip to the punch bowl. “Look, I’m really sorry about what I did to you, back when we were… close. And I want to make it up to you.” She handed me a cup that was already filled with punch, sitting at the back of the table.
I brought the cup up to my lips, but the drink didn’t go into my mouth. Courtney had made a hole in the cup, and my shirt was soon ruined.
“OMG! How did that happen? I’m going to get some napkins!” She disappeared into the crowd and didn’t come back. I sat down on the bleachers and cried, thinking about the expensive shirt I was wearing that I would never be able to wear again.
That night, everything changed. I almost never smiled, and if I did, it was forced. I had to strain myself to get out of bed and go to school, and on weekends, I slept until the afternoon. I became anorexic. I made excuses for why I didn’t eat (I don’t like that, I already ate, blah blah blah). If someone actually got me to eat, it would be a spoonful of rice or some kernels of corn on the cob. And then I would just throw it up.
Penny was the one who found out, and she told my mom. My mom told my dad and my dad told my guidance counselor, and before I knew it, I found myself talking to a therapist. I don’t know why Brooke and Lucas stayed friends with me- I was a volcano and I could explode at any second.
Lucas frowned and I stopped thinking about the past, came back to real life. My therapist told me that’s the best thing to do. “Maybe you’re a little dramatic and really sensitive and horribly honest, but you’re still one of my best friends.”
“Liar.”
Lucas laughed. “Whatever. I gotta go. Bye, Toni.” He stood up and started for the door.
“Bye, Lucas.” I left quickly, smiling.

::Chapter 8::

Brooke walked through the bus aisle and chirped, “’Morning, Toni. Who are you texting?” She grinned, setting her backpack down in the seat between us.
“No one,” I said quickly, stuffing my phone into my backpack. It vibrated, signaling a new text, and I groaned.
Brooke taunted, “You better check to see what the person wants! It could be the most important text ever and you just ignore it. Why are you being all suspicious, Toni?”
I took the phone out and slid it open. “Fine. I’m texting Lucas.” I pressed the center button and waited for the message to open.
“Okay. So why didn’t you want to tell me?” Brooke’s smirk turned into a frown, and her eyebrows curved downwards. I passed the phone to her, and she read the messages out loud.
“You wrote: Hey, Lucas. Yesterday didn’t mean anything, right? We’re just friends.” She turned to me and smiled. “Ooh!” Then she tapped the touch screen and continued reading. “Lucas replied: Of course. I only hugged you because you seemed so upset. But yeah, we’re just friends.” She closed the phone and gave it back to me. “Aw, you guys hugged?! That’s so cute.”
“Don’t talk so loud,” I hissed. “It’s nothing. Lucas and I are just friends, and we’ll never be more than that. You know that. And you also know that I like someone else.”
Brooke laughed. “I was just kidding. I won’t bring it up again.” She held up her hand. “I promise.
I smiled. “You better not tell anyone or I’ll like, set your house on fire.”
“Woah, calm down. Is it that big of a deal?” Brooke raised her eyebrows.
I didn’t say anything. “Did you write your persuasive essay draft?” Brooke asked, taking her essay out. My jaw dropped.
“I completely forgot! I was so busy dealing with Cole and River drama. Do you think I have time to write it now?” I asked, my heart beating faster.
Brooke replied, “Not really, but you can try to put a few words on the paper and then tell Mrs. Gladstein that you didn’t understand, but at least you tried.”
“I guess.” I ripped a paper out of my binder, not bothering to open the rings. “One more missed assignment and I get a letter and a call home. I don’t want to have to deal with that.”
I brought the pencil to the paper, but my mind drew a blank. I had nothing to write. “Why aren’t you writing? You know you have like, 10 minutes,” Brooke said.
“What do I write? Why my mom and Cole are ruining my life? Why my love life is pathetic?” Brooke gave me a sad, sympathetic look.
“You were supposed to have your essay planned out. We’ve been working on it the whole week. Where have you been?” Brooke looked concerned.
The bus pulled up the school and the doors opened. “There’s no way I can finish this. I can’t even write the first sentence. Do you want to write it for me?”
“Sorry, but I have my own problems to deal with.” I’m pretty sure Brooke doesn’t have any problems. The bus’ doors opened and the students ran off the bus. I crumpled the paper up and left the pencil on the seat, then followed everyone outside.
When I got into homeroom, I took out another piece of paper and wrote any word that came into my head. Nothing made sense, but Mrs. Sivon doesn’t have to know. All she has to do is see that I wrote the essay, and it’s fine. I heard high heels walking toward me, but I was so busy writing that I didn’t look up until fingers tapped on my desk. I dropped my pencil quickly.
“Doing homework in class, Toni-Ann? Just because ‘home’ is in ‘homeroom’ doesn’t mean you can do your homework.” She put her hand over her mouth while she giggled. “Funny, right?”
No. Not funny at all.
The teacher continued. “Anyway, you better give me that paper.” She took it and ripped it up. “This deserves a detention. I’ll be seeing you after the bell rings today.” She turned away and threw my essay out. All I could see was watch my work disappear.
The teacher, Mrs. Gladstein, walked back, this time holding a detention slip. “I’m sorry, Toni, but you have to learn your lesson. You’re not usually like this. Is something wrong?”
Nothing is right. “Um, just some problems at home.”
“Oh, I understand,” she whispered. “I get it.”
No, you don’t.
She faced the rest of our homeroom and announced, “I almost forgot. We have a new student in class. He may only be here temporarily, but we should still be very nice to him. I’m going to have Toni show him around. He can sit at this empty desk next to you.” She didn’t ask if I was alright with that. She just looked at me and smiled.
A boy walked through the door- blonde, pale, and freckled. I recognized him immediately.
Cole.

If you want to help me out and don't care about spoilers, read this:

Spoiler:

by **PugsRock** 1/7/2010, 5:43 pm

News:

Part 1 of Chapter 4 Added 2/9/10!
The rest of Chapter 4 Added 2/15/10!

Writing Status:

I'm currently writing chapter 10 and Lucky has 9109 words. Smile

I added more to some chapters and wrote more to chapter 10. Lucky has ~~9900~~ 9969 words.
Lucky has over 11,000 words. Switched from Word Works to Google Docs so I can continue writing.

What To Look Forward To:

A horrible gym class (written)
A football game that ends with disaster (Chapter 11-written)
Secrets (dundundun)

Not written:

A boring game of bingo (Chapter 12?)
A heartfelt talk
A long-lost friend for someone