look of glee on Claudiaâs face was similar to that of a cat who had cornered a mouse and was getting ready to pounce. âDonât forget to bring your boyfriend,â Claudia added. âB-b-bring my boyfriend?â Jennifer said. âThatâs right. Youâre a couple, arenât you?â âYes.â âYouâre not going to leave him home alone on a Saturday night. Everyone can meet him!â âEveryone?â Jennifer gasped. âYou know how big my parties can be! Most of North Ridge High will be there.â Claudiaâs green eyes narrowed and Jennifer felt like she was being examined under a microscope. âYour boyfriend will be able to come, wonât he?â âOf course!â Claudia smiled smugly. âGood! I canât wait to meet him.â As soon as Claudia disappeared around the corner for her first class, with Eden and Natalie right behind her, Violet grabbed Jennifer by the arm, shaking her. âAre you crazy?â Violet asked, keeping her voice low so no one could overhear her. âHave you lost your mind? What are you doing? You donât have a boyfriend!â Jenniferâs racing heart slowed down. The panic was subsiding and she was starting to think rationally again. âNot yet, I donât,â Jennifer said with determination. âBut I will.â âBy Saturday night?â Violet asked in disbelief. âBy Saturday night,â Jennifer vowed.
âCan you believe the way she was lying to me?!â Claudia exclaimed as she slammed down her lunch tray. Natalie slid into the seat next to Claudia, while Eden took the seat across from them. Natalie knew Claudia didnât expect an answer. Ever since seeing Jennifer that morning, Claudia had been ranting and raving between classes. And now she had the whole lunch period to do the same. Usually when Claudia ranted, Natalie just listened. But she was tired of this conversation and dared to ask a question. âHow do you know she was lying?â Claudia looked up from the salad she was drizzling with honey mustard dressing. âCome on! Donât tell me you bought her story? It was so obvious that she was making it up on the spot.â âWhy would she do that?â Eden asked as she opened a container of milk and popped a straw into it. âSheâs jealous,â Claudia said smugly. âSheâs always been jealous of me. It goes all the way back to grade school.â Natalie didnât know what to say to that. She had always seen Jennifer as being nice . She didnât seem like the kind of girl who would be jealous of someone else. But maybe Claudia was right. After all, sheâd only been friends with Claudia since freshman year and Claudia had known Jennifer a lot longer than she had. And it really wasnât like she knew Jennifer. Over the years theyâd had some classes together and they sometimes crossed paths when they were outside school, but it wasnât like they were friends the way she was with Claudia and Eden. They hung out with their group, and Jennifer hung out with hers. Sometimes there were days when Natalie still couldnât believe she was friends with Claudia and Eden. Natalie was considered one of the most popular girls at North Ridge High and it was all because Claudia and Eden had asked her to have lunch with them the first day of school freshman year. Talk about luck! Often Natalie wondered if Claudia and Eden would still have asked her to have lunch with them if she were the old Natalie and not the Natalie they had met three years ago. Natalie hated thinking about her life before moving to North Ridge and starting classes at North Ridge High. Inside, she had always been the same person. But on the outside . . . On the outside she had been fat. And that was how her old classmates always saw her. As the fat girl. It hadnât been so bad in grade school â junior high was