The Pretty One(48)

I told Simon I would wait for him (he was having problems with his contacts), so at lunch I take a seat by myself, facing the door. I grab my steno pad and pen and begin drawing my hundredth Batman of the day. It manages to distract me for a while at least, until my stomach growls so loudly it attracts the attention of the freshman techie sitting next to me, who begins to giggle.

I glance at my watch as I gnaw my thumb. (I have tossed in the towel and removed all the No More Nail Biting stuff since I was pretty sure that all the chemicals I was consuming were going to make me grow another head or something.) What in the world is taking Simon so long? I gather up my things and head toward the door to go find him.

“Hey, Megan,” Jane Hitchens says as I grab the door. Jane is one of my sister’s best friends. Like Lucy, she’s a drama major and, like Lucy, is one of the most popular girls in school. “Are you done with lunch already?” she asks.

“No. I haven’t even started yet. Simon got tied up.”

“Have lunch with us,” she says, nodding toward the table where my sister is sitting. None of Lucy’s friends have ever invited me to sit with them before, and Jane’s offer gives me a special thrill. I follow Jane to the table and plop down next to Marybeth, across from Lucy.

“Hi, guys,” I say.

“What’s up?” Lucy asks, obviously not happy to see me.

“Simon didn’t show so I told her she should sit with us,” Jane says.

“Where is he?” Lucy asks me.

I pull out my turkey rollup and apple and set them neatly on my napkin. “Contact problems,” I reply.

“I almost didn’t recognize him the other day,” Marybeth says. “He has really pretty eyes.”

We all look at her, startled by her confession. Does Simon have pretty eyes? They’re brown, I know that.

“Hey,” Marybeth says, pointing from my lunch to my sister’s.

“You guys have the same lunch. Cute.”

Lucy looks from my rollup to hers. I can tell from the expression on her face she doesn’t think it’s so cute. “I have to go,” she says.

“You just sat down a minute ago,” Marybeth says.

“I have some things I need to take care of,” Lucy says. “See you guys later.”

“Adios!” I say, like good riddance. I feel like throwing my apple at the back of her dainty little head.

“What was that about?” Jane asks the rest of us as Lucy walks away.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Marybeth give a discreet nod in my direction. Lucy’s departure has obviously thrown a wet blanket on the atmosphere. Even though Lucy’s friends aren’t exactly known for being quiet or pensive, the table is totally silent, the only sound coming from Marybeth munching on her carrots.

“So, Megan,” Jane says finally. “How’s everything been going for you lately?”

“Um, good.”

More silence.

“You must be totally psyched,” Jane says.

“Because of?”

She gives me a blank look. I can see we’re about to play twenty questions so I begin with: “Because of Drew’s play?”

Maria giggles. “No, silly. Because of your new face. Plus you got all skinny.”

“It’s got to be weird,” Annie says to Maria before I can answer. “I mean, to go to sleep one day looking totally”—she makes a nasty face—“and to wake up all beautiful, it’s got to be totally awesome.”

“It wasn’t quite like that—” I begin.

“I saw this movie once,” Maria says, interrupting me. “It was about this girl who was all sweet and nice but so ugly she only has one friend, a guy who tries to protect her from this group of bullies who are always teasing her and making fun of her. One day she gets in an accident and becomes like, totally beautiful, and the gang of bullies all want to date her but she kills them all off one by one by chopping them up into little pieces and her friend has to kill her to stop her.”

Gee. What a cute story. And so apropos.

Over Maria’s shoulder, I see Simon sitting by himself, two tables away. I’m not surprised to see that he’s wearing his glasses again. His contacts have been nothing but trouble. Our eyes lock and he shoots me a pissed-off look before grabbing his tray and heading toward the cafeteria’s industrial-sized garbage can.

What the hell?

“That’s so funny,” Marybeth says. “Because I was watching TV the other night and I saw this show…”

“I’ll see you guys later.” Angry or not, anything is better than this. I grab the rest of my lunch and hurry to catch up with him.

“Simon!” I call out. “When did you get here? I was waiting for you.”

“Oh yeah,” he says sarcastically. “I noticed.”

“Hey, beeeeeautiful,” I hear George say from behind me.

Simon looks over my shoulder at George and then at me again me, giving me a dirty look like (a) I just invited George over and (b) I did it just to make him even madder.

“I’ll call you tonight,” I say to Simon as he dumps the remainder of his lunch in the trash. He jams his hands in his pockets and walks away.

“I’ve been looking all over for you,” George is saying. “You’re harder to find than a needle in a haystack.”