Confessions of a Not It Girl Read Free Page B

thinking of...Providence."
    "Hey, now that you mention it, Providence is a great town." Rebecca just happens to be applying early to Brown.
    "So I've been told," I said.
    At the corner of Clinton Street, Rebecca grabbed my arm. "Wait a minute. Don't you have French now?"
    "I 'have' French in the sense that I am scheduled to be there," I said. "I do not 'have' it in the sense that due to a pressing obligation, I will be unable to attend."
    "So you're cutting French to work on your application," said Rebecca.
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    "Precisely." French class is so humiliating, I'll take any excuse I can think of not to go. I know almost no French, but each year I do just well enough on the final to advance to the next level, thereby ensuring yet another year of misery. Every day is exactly the same. I walk in; the teacher greets me with a big smile; she says, "Bonjour, Jan"; I say, "Bonjour, Madame"; and it's downhill from there. Each time she calls on me I stammer out some totally wrong answer that has nothing to do with whatever she's asked, until finally, she gives up completely and ignores me for the rest of the period, which is pretty much a huge relief for everyone.
    Right outside of school we ran into Richie, who's also in my French class. Richie lived in Paris for a year when he was in junior high, so it's a complete joke that we're supposedly at the same level. He's helped me a lot over the years, but lately even Richie has stopped promising me that "anyone can learn French."
    "Tu vas au cours de Français?" he asked.
    "I have no idea what you just said, but I'm not going to French." Richie was too nice to say anything, but I feel like everyone must be pretty relieved when I don't show up to class. It's like, hey, now we can actually learn a foreign language.
    "Do you want me to call you about the homework later?"
    "Not especially."
    "Aren't you going to take French in college?" asked Richie. He tried to sound neutral, but I think I heard concern in his voice.
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    "Richie, my friend, after June twelfth, you won't so much as catch me sipping a glass of Perrier."
    "Well, maybe that's for the best." He turned to head to class. "Hey, do you know that new guy, Josh?" he asked over his shoulder.
    Sometimes when I'm nervous or embarrassed my face gets kind of flushed, and I was pretty much sure that was happening now.
    "Ah, kind of. He's in my English class."
    Rebecca snickered and then patted Richie on the shoulder.
    "Well, Cupid," she said, "I gotta dash." She waved good-bye to me. "Call me later."
    Richie shrugged as if to indicate that he had never had any idea what girls were talking about and didn't see any reason to try and figure it out at this point.
    "He's in my math class," he said. He didn't seem to notice I was having a mild heart attack. "I think I'll invite him for next Saturday. He seems cool." Richie was having a party the weekend after next because his parents were going out of town. Even though Rebecca and I had sworn not to go to any high-school parties now that we were seniors, we were making an exception for his.
    "Uh, I think he is," I said. "I mean, I think he's, you know, cool." Richie was already walking into the building. "I mean, I don't know him that well," I shouted at his back.
    "Okay," he called over his shoulder.
    "Well, I gotta go," I yelled at him. Considering Richie was already inside the building, it wasn't exactly clear why I was telling him this.
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    I didn't hear what Richie said as he disappeared, but it sounded like, "Bonne chance."
    "Ha ha," I yelled back, even though he was gone.
    Then I headed over to the computer lab, trying not to think about all the insanely dumb things I had said and done in the last two hours.
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    CHAPTER THREE
    I could hear Mandy Johnson giggling even before I walked into English class the next morning. Rebecca and I were standing in the hallway right outside the door, trying to decide where to meet for lunch, when all of a sudden there was this squeal from inside the room.