For Always Read Free Page B

beating harder, quicker. Jordan walked our way. Decked out in a pair of jeans and a nice shirt, he was in no manner dressed to hang out with a bunch of girls covered in gook. Still I had hope.
    He acknowledged us briefly with a smile and a quick wave of his hand before disappearing into his house.
    “See, he doesn’t want to hang out with us,” I said.
    “Yes he does. You’ll see,” Beth assured me, widening her eyes for emphasis.
    I couldn’t believe her. Could she be any more obvious? And in the condition we were in? I certainly didn’t want him to see me with egg yolk frizzing up my hair. I wondered how Beth could be so confident. And then I realized she didn’t look that bad. She wasn’t covered in nearly half as much junk as the rest of us.
    I started up the ruckus again spraying Maria, knowing she wouldn’t mind. And even if she did, she’d get over it. A flock of sheep, the rest of the group followed and then my moment of glory came.
    “Look, Beth’s still clean,” I announced, wishing I had opted for the menthol.
    I wonder what he’ll think of you now, I laughed to myself, an evil menacing laugh sounding in my mind. That is, until I felt a tap on my shoulder.
    I turned toward the touch, surprised to find Jordan standing behind me, a smirk on his face. Reflexively, as our eyes met, my lips drew up into a smile. And then I saw it. His hand attached to a large white, shaving cream filled paper plate, closing in on me. There was no time to duck or move before it hit me square in the face.
    He stood, holding his stomach, laughing, a deep belly jiggling laugh. It was pretty funny. I didn’t mind half as much as I pretended to because he came to me first and spent the rest of the day by my side.
    Poor Beth, she didn’t have a chance.
    Halloween proved to be a nice break from my usual routine. Every school day since, like every school day before, I woke in the morning dreading the new day.
    “Call in now for your chance to win two tickets to . . . ” I hit the snooze button and closed my eyes.
    “Today’s weather, a beautiful fall day with winds ranging . . . ” I shut off the alarm.
    I let out a long tired breath and threw the covers off, knowing that was the first and most important step. My eighth grade teacher used to say, getting out of bed was the hardest thing to do each day. Not certain I believed him, I slowly lumbered out of bed, stretched and yawned until my mother came in.
    “Why aren’t you dressed yet? You should’ve been up ten minutes ago. Let’s go.”
    I moved in slow motion in the morning, chewing each bite of breakfast twenty times, and doing my best impression of a snail while getting dressed.
    A reason to procrastinate was never hard to find. A form I forgot to have signed, homework I didn’t finish, a discussion on why I couldn’t quit school and go to work.
    “Mom, can I stay home today? I have a headache.”
    “A headache, huh?”
    I nodded.
    “And yesterday, it was a sore throat, and the day before that you were certain you had appendicitis.”
    I didn’t mean to be difficult. I just hated school. Hated it. Not because it was hard. I knew if I stayed awake while my teachers droned on, I could make honor roll without studying. Academics, not a problem. The trouble with school came from socializing. I hated the other kids. Mostly because they hated me, at least the ones I went to middle school with. The others didn’t even know I was there.
    I didn’t look like the popular girls with their perfectly sculpted bodies. I wasn’t fat. Just meaty, actually, “zaftig” is how my mother described me. She told me I was full figured like Marilyn Monroe. Great. That gave me a lifetime of unhappiness and a premature death to aspire to.
    Maria was part of the popular crew. Everyone flocked around her. It didn’t matter that she was a freshman. She walked in on the first day as if she were crowned queen of the school. And it worked. Guys swarmed around her, and surprisingly,