Present Perfect(11)

Besides, I knew I wasn’t the right girl for him. There was nothing special about me. I was average height. My features were okay. I had been told I was cute. It was probably my round face and puffy cheeks. As a kid relatives always wanted to pinch my cheeks for some reason. I was slightly curvy. A few months ago my boobs decided to make an appearance all of a sudden. They had been developing slowly and steadily. Then one day, ta-dah, I had ta-tas. They weren’t huge, they weren’t small, they were average. My shoulder length hair was dark brown, like Emily’s, but not silky and shiny like her hair always was. My skin was pale, unlike the year round golden tan of my sister’s complexion. And then there were my freaky teal colored eyes that caused a lot of stares to be directed my way.

Noah deserved perfect because he was, and I was as far from perfect as you could get. Plus, we were best friends and I never wanted that to change.





The first week of high school was a blur. I was intimidated by the new classes and new teachers, but after the first day jitters were gone, things seemed to fall into place. I had two classes with Noah, three with Beth, and we all shared the same lunch period. High school life was going pretty well until, The Interloper invaded.

It was almost the end of lunch. Noah was sitting beside me studying notes for his next class. Across the table from us sat Beth, who was rambling on about every cute guy that walked by when she wasn’t stealing glances at Noah. I don’t think this girl ever shut up about anything, especially guys.

Every school has their version of her. Our version had just walked into the cafeteria. The Interloper was a walking cliché’. She was tall, blonde, blue eyed, very curvy, and to my surprise, headed straight to our table. Her eyes immediately zeroed in on Noah. A big Cheshire cat smile slowly crept across her overly glossy lips. I instinctively knew she was trouble and we would be mortal enemies.

She was well aware of what her assets were and displayed them shamelessly. Her shirt and jeans were tight and low. Her heels and boobs were high. As she walked, every part of her body bounced.

I read an article in Cosmo one time that said guys like girls with bouncy parts. The Interloper was extremely bouncy. No part of my body bounced. There were a few parts that jiggled. I’ve never read an article about guys liking jigglers. I glanced over at Noah and wondered if he liked bouncers or jigglers.

I continued to watch as her hair, boobs, and ass bounced their way across the cafeteria. The closer she got to our table, the tighter the knot in my stomach twisted. I felt like there was a vise clamped around my lower intestines. As she sauntered up, I felt an icy chill run up my spine.

“Yay, I found ya’ll!” She said.

“Hey, Brittani, I saved you a seat,” Beth said, pulling out the chair next to her for The Interloper to sit.

What the shizzle?! Had Beth lost her mind?

The Interloper, or TI for short, slid into the chair next to Beth, and positioned herself directly in front of Noah. She stared at him, trying to get his attention. When that didn’t work she cleared her throat loudly, hoping he would look up at her. Noah finally did look up from his notes, surprised that someone was sitting in front of him, staring.

She extended her hand, palm down, like she expected him to kiss it. “I’m Brittani Monroe.”

She introduced herself as if she were making an earth shattering announcement. Her southern drawl was so thick and sweet I felt my teeth rotting with each word.

A confused Noah took her hand by the fingers and shook it. “Um…hey. I’m Noah Stewart.”

He looked over at me with eyebrows raised, like he was checking to make sure he’d done what he was supposed to do. Pursing my lips, I returned his look, without uttering a word.

I started drumming the fingers of my right hand on the table while chewing my left thumbnail. This chick was unbelievable. She hadn’t acknowledged me at all, and hadn’t looked at or said another word to Beth since sitting down.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Noah. I’m so glad Beth asked me to join you for lunch.” Noah kept glancing back and forth between me and TI.

I stopped drumming, and chewing long enough to shoot Beth my DEFCON 1 evil eye. I could tell she got the message from the look of fear that crossed her face.

“Um…Brittani, this is my friend Amanda.” Beth’s voice was shaky.

TI never took her eyes off Noah. Her voice was flat when she finally acknowledged my existence. “Hey.”

She shifted her position forward and propped her boobs up on the table revealing the Grand Canyon of cleavage. “What ‘cha studying, Noah?”

She squirmed a little in her seat squishing her boobs together even more. Noah’s eyes landed right where she wanted them to. The Grand Canyon must have had hypnotic power because Noah couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from it.

Unable to tolerate the sightseeing trip any longer, I elbowed him in the ribs. “Ouch! What was that for?” He said, rubbing his side.

“You mentioned that you needed to get to class early.” I smiled innocently at him.

“Yeah, I guess I better go.” He closed his notebook and shoved it into his backpack.

TI tilted her head to the side, gave him her best pouty face, and whined, “I don’t want you to go yet. I’ll miss you too much.”

Unbelievable.

Noah stammered, “Yeah, well…um…maybe later.” He stood. “I’ll see you in Algebra, Tweet.” I gave him a slight smile. “See you later, Beth and um…”