they just get to the point?
Brandon's eyebrows shot up. “So you wouldn't be interested in him?”
“Like, seriously. You don't want to
I looking at them like they were growing arms out of their foreheads. “No, I'm not. Look, he's hot, I'll give him that. But I just moved here and I'm not looking for someone to
“Huh, I may just decide not to kill you after all.” She muttered to herself.
“I heard that, you know.”
She waved me off. “It doesn't matter. I'm just shocked you're not slobbering all over him like all the other slut bags around here.”
I rolled my eyes and started to organize some of the products on the counter. “Wasn't it you who used my virgin status as an insult earlier?”
“Oh yeah, forgot about that.”
“How can you forget? That was like, twenty minutes ago!”
She shrugged and started to head back to the storage room. “What can I say? If I'm not battling someone all the good bits of info just fly right out of my mind. My bad!”
I felt like my eyes would pop out of my head. “Did that seriously just happen?”
“What, her being nice-ish?”
“Yeah.”
“Welcome to the Twilight Zone.” He laughed and walked away, humming the theme song.
Chapter Twelve
I sat in 'my' chair, as I began to call it and stared up at the ceiling, waiting to start where we left off. James was once again sitting at his desk, pecking away at his keyboard. While he was busy, I decided to study him and compare him to Gabe. I knew they must be related because the resemblance was uncanny. “Do you have any kids?”
He looked up briefly then went back to typing. “Yes, I have three actually. My oldest, Gabe, is in the same grade as you in school. You should run into him since you're taking a lot of the same AP classes.”
Ah ha! I knew it! I was feeling rather proud of myself until the rest of his sentence entered my mind. “What do you mean AP classes?”
“Oh, your mother didn't tell you?”
“This look of shock,” I gestured to my face, “would lead one to assume that no, she didn't.”
He finished up and closed the laptop, giving me his full attention. “Well, you remember the testing you had to do before signing up for school here?”
I thought back and remembered the test they had me take before the move. “Yeah, what about it?”
“It was a placement test used in our district for transfer students. Because of your scores, you've been placed in the majority of AP classes.”
I lay back with a groan and rubbed my hands over my face. “This is so not good.”
“Why isn't that good? You should be happy that you're intelligent enough to take advanced classes.”
“Yeah, normally that would be a good thing, like say when you've lived somewhere all of your life. But whenever you've just moved, all people are going to think is that you're a huge nerd.” I groaned and hid behind my hands. This would just be another mark against me.
“I thought you didn't care to be popular or what people thought about you.”
“I don't care about being popular, but I've had more than enough of being an outcast.”
“Ah, back to Becca, are we?”
I stiffened and looked over at him. “You know I hate this, right?”
“Yes, I know. But it
I shook my head and stared off into space. “I doubt there's anything in your vast knowledge that could help me.” I thought about my incidents and the most recent one. There was nothing in his bag of tricks that could remove the darkness.
“You'd be surprised.”
“Yeah, well I doubt it.”
He tapped his fingers on his desk. “Well, we won't get anywhere today if we just spend our time arguing. Why don't we go back to Becca and her 'social death' threats?”
I took a deep breath and started playing with my hair. “Since she threw herself so whole-heartedly into obtaining the status that she wanted, it was rather easy for her. I kind of admired her that way.”
“In what way?”
“How she would think of something that she'd want, then go after it with such determination. She always got what she wanted when she set her mind to it.”
“I can see how you would admire that about her.”
“Yeah, but it can be a double edged sword. I mean, it would be great for someone you know to have that whenever they're on good terms with you. But when they turn, it can be a vicious weapon.”
“What did she do?”
I shrugged and tried to keep an off-hand tone. “She made me a social pariah. Had everyone believe that I was a slut and a druggie. It's easy to manipulate people when they're only looking for the worst in others. So she spread a whole bunch of shit around, and since she had all the social standing and I didn't, people chose to believe her. That way they wouldn't lose their place on the social ladder.”
“That must have been difficult for you.”
I laughed bitterly and looked over at him. “That’s the understatement of the year. Within a week I lost my best friend, all my friends from school, and my good name. All that I had left was the life of lies that she had created for me.”
“How did you feel about all that?”
“How do you think? I was furious. Depressed, completely dejected. I thought I'd eventually grow out of those feelings, once the rumors died down or she found someone else to set her sights on, but if anything, it got worse.”
“What got worse?”
“The anger, rage.”
He steepled his hands in front of him, looking off into the distance. “What was it like for you?”
“What do you mean?”
“To go to school through all of that?”
I settled myself further into the chair. “Oh, it was great.” I could feel the sarcastic bite in my tone. “Went to school every day, completely ignored by the people who were supposed to be my friends. The only time they’d talk to me was when they had a nasty comment to say. My favorite day would have to be when they put enough condoms in my locker to fill it up. Then, when I went to open it, they all fell out with a little note on a fake prescription pad saying that my ‘weeks’ supply was in. Then, I got tired of having my lunch tray dumped and food thrown at me, so I started having my lunch in the bathroom. Yes, my life was awesome, and those are just some of the memories.”
He frowned and took a moment to order his thoughts. “I’m not going to baby it and say stuff you already know, like people are cruel and life is hard, because you’ve had firsthand experience. Nor will I placate you and say everything will get better, because that all depends on if you make it better.”
“Thank you, Dr. Phil.”
“Actually, it’s Dr. James.” He laughed and sat back in his chair, studying me. I always felt like he was looking at me under a microscope. Rubbing his hands maniacally while laughing like an evil scientist in some B-rated, eighties horror movie. I tried not to squirm under his direct gaze.
