“Uh, I don’t know Madison. Jason and I usually hang out near the field,” I said.
“It’s okay, Krista. I can go watch the basketball game at lunch,” Jason said. I looked at him to figure out if he was for real. He hated basketball.
“Great,” Madison said. “See you there. Don’t bring anybody else. It’s by invitation only.” She turned around on her shiny ballet flats and walked away.
“Oooohhh!” Jason said. “You’ve been invited to the tree. They must have really liked your dress this weekend.”
I stared down at my beat up running shoes and wondered why. My red nail polish from this weekend had already chipped away. I certainly didn’t look like I fit in with those girls today. I was dressed like my normal self.
The rest of the morning I couldn’t concentrate because I knew lunchtime was coming soon. I tried very hard to pay attention in math, but I wasn’t doing a good job of it. When lunch finally did come, my tuna wrap was tasteless and my tortilla was kind of wet and gooey. Not my mother’s best lunch effort.
We packed up our lunch kits after we heard the bell that Jason and I referred to as the get-the-heck-out-of-here bell. That meant it was time to head outside for the rest of the lunch hour. Madison stopped near me in the cloakroom and said, “Coming?”
“Uh, sure,” I said as I put on my jacket.
I looked at Jason and he said, “I’ll see you later.” He smiled awkwardly as he put his hand on my shoulder. I watched him walk away and I didn’t feel good.
I was feeling totally nervous. I tried to tell myself I was being silly, but as I walked next to Madison, she was soon surrounded by her usual group of friends: Emma, Cassie, and Arden. Halfway down the hall, Emma noticed that I seemed to be tagging along behind them. She stopped talking and stared at me before Madison noticed and said, “Oh it’s okay. I invited her.” Emma shrugged and continued talking as we reached the bottom of the stairs.
I took a deep breath and followed the girls to the tree.
CHAPTER 10
After lunch our class headed to the library to continue working on our Heritage Month projects. I didn’t have too much research to do, but I decided it would be a good idea if I pretended to be busy. Some people headed to desks, but most went to a computer.
Once we were settled at our table, Jason leaned over and whispered, “So what really goes on at that tree?” We hadn’t had a chance to talk since lunch ended, and I was so thankful he came over to talk to me.
I smiled and whispered back, “I’ll never tell.”
“Oh come on!” he said.
“Okay, okay, I’ll give you a hint.” I looked around to make sure nobody was listening. “It’s actually pretty boring. They talk about their favorite singers and who’s cute and who’s not.”
He stared at me in disbelief. “That’s it?” He sounded disappointed.
“For real, that’s it.”
“I’m underwhelmed,” he said. “I thought for sure they hid voodoo dolls under their jackets and cursed people they didn’t like.”
I smiled. “I wish I had a better story for you. They are actually okay. I didn’t know some of the singers or actors they were talking about, and they found it hard to believe that I didn’t have my own phone, but it wasn’t terrible.”
I looked around before I continued. “But, I will let you in on one very interesting fact.”
He leaned in. “Tell me!”
“Arden has a huge crush on Marcus,” I said with eyes wide open.
“Ew,” Jason replied, looking repulsed.
“I know!” I said. It felt good to talk to him this way again. Just one lunch break away from him had felt weird, especially because I knew he was there at school, not home sick, but we both seemed fine. Turns out we didn’t have to spend every minute at school together.
The next couple of days at school were pretty normal. Madison and her friends were talking to me more, and trying to include me in things. They asked me to come hang out with them again at lunch on Tuesday, but I had a good excuse this time, because Jason and I were office monitors and I couldn’t join them. It felt nice to be included. I hadn’t ever really noticed that I wasn’t included before. I mean I wasn’t a social outcast, people were never mean to me, but I just wasn’t ever considered.
The next time we were in the library, I ended up next to Emma on a computer and she started to talk to me about very random things. She told me about her older sister, who apparently knew Tori. I was just listening to her talk, when Mrs. June walked by so Emma stopped. That was okay because I had to really think about how to make my presentation work. I needed to stop gossiping and start working. How did these girls get anything done? They talked endlessly!
I stared out the window for a while wondering how I could make my random ideas for my project come together. Grandma had already taught me how to make kimbap, but how was I going to hand that in? I was staring at a blank sheet of paper next to my computer screen when Madison walked by and passed me a note. I opened it very slowly. It said, “Can you come to my house after school Wednesday?”
Actually I could, kind of, but it was a Wednesday and usually Jason and I hung out at my house on Wednesdays. It had been like that for years. It was just understood. I
