Secrets & Lies: Two Short Stories(19)

Becoming close friends with anyone would be nice. But becoming close friends with Justine Frasier? Being a permanent installation at her lunch table? It was almost too good to even imagine.

Justine was president of the freshman class, a member of almost every club, and the star of this year’s musical—My Fair Lady. She was also really smart—almost all her classes were Honors or AP. I always thought girls like that would be called geeks or something, but not Justine. She was the most popular girl in the ninth grade. She was even dating a junior basketball player named Eddie—and they’d been nominated for homecoming court. Being one of her best friends would be like a dream come true.

I’d just spotted Justine and her friends when I heard someone calling my name. “Bailey!”

Elsie James, a girl I knew from the cheerleading squad, was walking toward me, carrying her tray. “Hey,” she said. She sounded a little nasal, like her allergies were bothering her. “So how are you feeling about that bio test tomorrow?”

“Oh, um. Pretty good. How about you?”

“I’m nervous. I was sick last week, so I’m missing a day’s worth of notes.” She put her tray down at the closest empty table.

“I have notes,” I told her. “You can borrow mine if you want.”

“Really? That would be awesome. Thanks, Bailey.”

“No problem.”

“Bailey.” Justine appeared at my shoulder. “I thought I saw you over here.”

“Hey, Justine.” Elsie brushed some dark curls behind her ear and smiled. “I love your skirt.”

Justine smiled and ran a hand down her fitted black skirt. “Thank you. It’s actually supposed to be knee length, but my legs are a little too long.”

“It looks great.” Elsie gestured to the seats at her table. “You guys can sit down if you want. I’m waiting on Tess and Grace, but there’s room for two more.”

“Oh, thanks,” I said. “That’s really nice—”

“But Bailey and I already have seats,” Justine said. “Thanks for the offer, though. Maybe another time?”

“Sure. Anytime.”

“Excellent. Come on, Bailey.”

I waved to Elsie and followed Justine across the cafeteria to her table. She was sitting with other popular underclassmen, including two sophomore cheerleaders, a freshman football player, the JV girls’ volleyball captain, and the sophomore class president.

“Sorry,” Justine told her friends. “I had to go rescue Bailey from Elsie James.” She rolled her eyes dramatically. “She asked us if we wanted to sit with her. Isn’t that cute?”

“She is so weird,” Melanie, one of the cheerleaders, said. “What kind of name is Elsie, anyway? Sounds like a cow’s name. You’re not, like, friends with her, are you, Bailey?”

“Um…” I looked down at my tray, not sure how to answer. Elsie had always been really nice to me, but I had a feeling that wasn’t the right answer. “I mean, I don’t have anything against her, but we’re not, like, besties or anything.”

“Don’t bother with her,” Justine told me. “Trust me, she’s not worth knowing. You’ll be a lot better off if you steer clear of that girl.”

“She’s so weird,” Melanie repeated. “When she first got on the squad, I thought she was cool, but she’s so weird.”

“Melanie, dear, remind me to get you a thesaurus.” Justine sighed.

“A what?”

“Never mind. Continue.”

“Anyway,” Melanie said. “She’s, like, into those Japanese cartoons or something.”

“Anime?” I asked.

Everyone at the table turned to look at me.

“You watch that geeky stuff?” Ryan—the football player—asked.

“N-No. My brother used to, though. So I know a little about it.”

“Whatever. That’s a stupid reason not to like Elsie,” Justine said. “Lots of people are into anime.”

I gave her a small smile, glad to see she was at least reasonable. And once she said it, everyone started to agree. Nodding and mumbling things like, “Well, sure,” and “You’re right.” It seemed like she was the ringleader here.

“No, that’s not my problem with Elsie.” She sighed. “She’s just so… annoying? And overconfident. She’s always flirting with guys who are way out of her league. And trying to hang out with people who are just cooler than she is. I almost died when she asked us to sit with her. Did she really think she had a chance?”

“I-I don’t know,” I mumbled.

“It’s just sad, you know? She’s delusional. And so, so shallow. She’s such a social climber.”

“She is pretty full of herself,” the other cheerleader, Wendy, said. “She’s constantly telling us how to do our flips at practice. Just because she’s been doing gymnastics since she was five or something. She’s always bragging about it. Like, get over yourself.”

“She does do that a lot,” I admitted. “But she helped me fix my backflip.”

“Bailey, your backflip was always awesome,” Melanie said. “You’re the best underclassman on the squad.”