Chapter 12

My eyes settled on the plate of pasta in front of me. This morning, my mother thought it would be completely healthy to make me chocolate chip pancakes. I still am full and have the urge to use the bathroom, and it’s not a number one if you catch my drift. I shifted in my seat, my stomach making an odd noise. Oh no.

“Hey!” Marissa cheered as she approached me, a sandwich on her plate. I smiled, watching her sit down across from me. Her volleyball friends were still sitting together, despite the official ending of the season last week at the game before our three day break. This entire week was filled with festive talk about the next upcoming holiday. I, on the other hand, am not so festive. My mother is already talking about going out and chopping down a tree, an old tradition in which we stopped celebrating a year ago. She decided that she wanted to bring it back, even though I politely refused.

“What’s up?” I asked, a smile pulling the corners of my lips upward.

She looked at me, a mischievous glint twinkling in her eyes. “I was wondering if you want to go shopping tonight? I don’t have to start the drive until eight so I have six hours to kill. I’m already packed. And when I come back from the stupid wedding, I’m going to teach you how to do your makeup, even eyeshadow.”

“Do you ever do anything else? I swear, that’s all we ever do when we hang out!” I told her. “Shop, shop, makeup, shop!”

“Would you rather hang out at my place and stare at my brother?” she snapped, her eyes narrowing playfully. I scowled at her, my cheeks tinging pink. I haven’t talked to Noah since the whole entire music scenario last Wednesday. “But this is a different type of shopping, plus we’ll have two guests.”

“Who are they?” I questioned, a small ounce of hope sparking up in my chest. I furrowed my eyebrows as I assessed the small amount of hope.

“Chloe and Dana!” Marissa happily cheered. I felt the small amount of hope disperse and slowly turn into disappointment. “I wasn’t sure whether or not I should invite Chloe because she’s a little jealous about the whole gala thing.”

I couldn’t help but smirk a little. Chloe, a very pretty girl, is jealous of little ole’ average me. “And Dana was quick to accept the invite. She’s in dire need of some new makeup, too.”

My eyes widened slightly as I looked at Marissa. “Make up? We’re going shopping for makeup?”  

She nodded, smiling. “You wanted a makeover right?”

“Yeah, but I never expected to buy makeup,” I told her.

“So you planned on doing your makeup with crayons?” Marissa asked, leaning forward slightly before biting into her sandwich.

I shrugged. “I don’t know what I expected when I agreed to be your designated driver. I just assumed you’d do my makeup a few times and tell me that I should have gotten the hang of it by then.”

“So you expected me to rip you off?” Marissa questioned, her eyebrows rising as she snorted while I gave her a sheepish nod. “No, I wouldn’t do that.”

“I haven’t been keeping up my end of the bargain,” I awkwardly responded.

“I haven’t asked you to bring me to any parties, have I?” she replied.

I shrugged again. “No, but I’m assuming you’re going to by that stupid smile on your face.”

“What? This one?” she giggled as she pointed to her goofy grin. “Oh, nah, I’m just thinking about going to this awesome Christmas party!”

“Family?” I questioned, my eyebrows furrowing slightly.

She snorted. “Would I call a family party awesome?”

“I’m guessing not,” I retorted.

She nodded. “Yeah, but it’s being hosted by one of the volleyball player’s brother. You’ve probably heard of him. Hector? Hector Lopez?”

I nodded, remembering that I have an AP class with him. He’s a senior, and he’s smart. “I do know him.”

“Yeah, he’s throwing the party and told us to invite our friends. It’s going to be so wild!” She droned, her eyes glazing over in excitement. “There’s going to be drinks, guys, dancing!”

“Guys? What about Eric?” I questioned and she shrugged.

“Eric is going to be there; I just like looking at other cute guys. I mean, just because I’m in a relationship doesn’t mean that I can’t look at the merchandise, I just can’t purchase it," she shrugged and I rolled my eyes.

“That kind of talk makes people single,” I told her, rolling my eyes.

“I love him; I won’t leave him," she told me in response and I stared at her, slightly surprised that she dropped the L bomb. “We’ve been dating for two years on and off.”

I nodded in amazement. “But what about that one time when we first met, you kissed a guy in the hallway?”

She shrugged. “Eric cheated on me once.”

I stared at her, my eyes widened. Remind me to never ask about their relationship ever again. “Okay, so when are we going shopping?”

“Right after school,” I nodded in response. I'll get my homework done next period; I have a substitue. “We can even have you do your own makeup next Saturday when Noah and I meet your mom.”

My face immediately heated up and I glared at her. “I’m not wearing makeup. My mom will assume that I like Noah.”

“Well, she’s not wrong.” I tossed my finished juice container at her and she laughed, catching it in her left hand.

“I don’t like him,” I told her, pressing my hands against each other. Do I like him? No, of course not. He’s a jerk. But he’s a cute jerk. Yeah, there are several other cute guys out there who aren’t jerks.

She shrugged. “Say what you want. But did you ask Noah? Or do I have to cordially drag him out of our house and to yours?”

I snorted. “I asked him.”

“How’d that go?” Her eyebrows rose as she bit into her sandwich.

“It went okay. He asked me why I even asked him to come at first and after I explained, he agreed,” I told her and she nodded, her mouth slightly parted.

“I think he has a weak spot for you or something because one time I asked him to grab me a bag of chips on the counter and he scowled at me before storming up the stairs," she told me.

“I doubt it, I just think he knows that I won’t quit,” I responded.

She shrugged. “That or he has a weak spot for you. I’m going with the weak spot theory, it’s more romantic, don’t you think?”

<<>><<>> 

“Get out of the shopping cart or we’re going to get in trouble!” Dana hissed at Marissa and Chloe, who were piling into our shopping cart. I’m surprised it didn’t tip yet. Chloe’s so tall that she didn’t even have to stand on the tips of her toes as she swung her leg over the side as she got in. If I were to do that, I’d need a stepping stool and a good night’s rest.

Dana seems to be the only sensible one among the three girls I’m forced to be here with. “Then we get in trouble! They’ll never catch me alive!” Marissa cheered as she pointed upwards.

Dana looked at me before motioning over her shoulder. “We don’t know you two.”

We walked away, in the direction of the makeup while the girls struggled to get out of the carriage without flipping it. It’s going to take them awhile. We approached the foundations and bases. I stood there in silence, watching as Dana tried to match the makeup to her skin tone. She frowned, holding up two of the small bottles. “Which one matches more?”

“That one,” I told her, motioning towards the one in her left hand. She nodded, grabbing two of them.

“Now you," she spoke, reaching out and grabbing the lightest possible foundation. I gave her a flat look and she laughed. “I’m kidding, but you’re going to need a lighter color.”

I rolled my eyes at her, laughing lightly. “I’m not that pale, you know?”

She nodded, grabbing another color and holding it up against my face. She kept doing that until she grabbed one that matched me the most. Once she found it, she grabbed two and put them into our small little basket that we found sitting in the middle of an aisle. I noticed that there was a two for one deal, which is pretty cool, I guess. It’d be better if I was actually into makeup. I just like it because it makes me look better, whereas Marissa generally enjoys applying makeup. I see it as a hassle, but it has a good outcome.

We moved on the blushes and we did the same thing, looking to see which one would look better on us. We did the same with the eye shadow and a few other things; I wasn’t even sure what most of them did. I was glad that Dana was here and she knew what she was doing. When we reached the lip product area, she grabbed a few light pink ones and a few reds before grabbing a bright orange. “Uh, why are you getting that one?”

She shrugged. “Sometimes we have crazy makeup games at our sleepovers. We haven’t had one in a while, but I think we should. I suggest you get a few crazy colors as well, you’ll need them in order to win the competition.”

“What does the winner get?” I questioned curiously as I picked out a few attractive colors and a few loud shades. Beside me, she plucked a yellow color, which reminded me of a bee, from the array of shades.

“It’s what the winner doesn’t get; the losers have to do a dare each. It’s pretty fun, or at least it was until Chloe started daring us to lick our own feet. Yeah, that wasn’t pretty.” Dana wrinkled her nose at the memory. Chloe still hasn’t gotten over her small amount of anger towards me so I really wouldn’t want to play that game with her.  

“That doesn’t sound too pleasant.” I muttered as I shivered. I can’t imagine licking my own foot and I don’t really want to.

“Yeah, but other than that, it was fun. We’d dare each other to run outside at night or throw pebbles at a window until someone comes, and then we run. Or we’d dare each other to play ding dong ditch,” she explaine with a grin. “I’m going to bring it up to Marissa later on, though.”

“That sounds like fun,” I told her. It would be my first official sleepover with the three of them, not counting the ones I went to before where I was a chauffeur.

“So…how are things between you and Noah?” Dana asked me, her eyebrows rising twice as she giggled.

My face heated up as I blinked a few times. “What? There isn’t anything going on between Noah and me. He’s Noah and I’m me.”

“That’s not what I heard,” Dana sang girlishly as she skipped away from me. I had to jog to keep up. Curse tall people with long legs.

“What did you hear?” I questioned, my eyebrows furrowed.

“You went to the gala with him, right?” she asked me, smirking. I nodded. “That’s something.”

“Not really, I mean, he agreed to show up to a party with me. We didn’t do much else,” I told her.

“Showing up with you is enough. You obviously don’t grasp that he hasn’t gone to one of those in two years! And he shows up with a girl! I think you’re aware that Chloe has asked him once or twice and he declined her. He’s known Chloe since ninth grade. He barely knows you; you ask and bam, you’ve got him wrapped around your pinky finger.”

“He’s not wrapped around my pinky finger,” I told her, annoyed that people keep bringing up the fact that he hasn’t been to one in a while. Do they not understand that people can change? “He doesn’t obey my every command. He was just…being exceptionally nice.”

She snorted. “Yeah, because Noah is nice.”

“He is!” I told her and she raised her eyebrows at me. I had the sudden urge to defend him. “He isn’t as mean as people make him out to be.”

“I know firsthand that he’s mean,” Dana told me.

“I know firsthand that he’s capable of being nice,” I responded. She gave me a challenging look and she sighed. “He agreed to come to the gala with me, right? At the gala, he agreed to go with me to the store so I could get some food. He politely turned down Agatha last week after the volleyball game.”

“Well, you’re lucky to have experienced him during his kind streaks; I can’t help but feel as if he’s only nice when he’s around you.” She muttered.

I shrugged, not bothering to continue the conversation. Everyone assumes I have Noah under some stupid spell that binds him to me.

<<>><<>> 

We were sitting at a table in the fast food restaurant, the tension among us thick enough to be cut with a knife. We obviously haven’t discussed the elephant in the room, which is the whole entire Noah scenario that has to do with the gala. I think that Chloe is being petty about it. She refuses to look at me and when she does, it’s either a glare or a swift glance, as if she’s measuring me up to see how hard she’ll have to hit me in order to make me fall. To answer her unasked question, not hard at all.

“Okay, are we going to talk about this or what?” Dana asked, her arms crossed over her chest.

“Talk about what?” Chloe responded stupidly.

Marissa sighed. “Noah.” I know why she’s annoyed. Even when he’s not here, Noah is constantly a topic of discussion. Maybe what drunken Marissa said was true. I couldn’t help but feel bad for her.

“What is there to talk about?” Chloe snapped.

“For one thing, the fact that he rejected you but agreed to attend the gala with Kenna,” Dana announced with annoyance in her voice. I cringe at the bluntness in her tone.

“I’m not mad that he rejected me. Everyone needs to face a little rejection in their lives. I just don’t know how she managed to get him to say yes,” Chloe all but snapped. I wanted to say something but refrained, knowing that it would just ruin things among us.

“When you asked, he was probably young and stupid,” I told her, trying to think of anything to say to calm her down. “I asked more recently, so I guess he had time to mature.”

“Noah was never young and stupid,” Marissa butted in. “If anything, he matured too quickly.” Her eyes were layered over as she stared at Chloe. Not helping, Marissa. I’m trying to get on good terms with your friend here and you’re shutting down my only argument that comes to mind at the moment.

“W-well, maybe he was in a good mood when I asked,” I shrugged, biting my lip.

“I asked him on his birthday,” Chloe snapped bitterly.

My eyebrows shot upward. So the year mark of her rejection is coming up. “Maybe he wasn’t feeling so good. You know, just because it’s your birthday doesn’t mean you’re happy.”

“He wasn’t sad, I remember it clearly. Before Chloe came to the door, he made a joke about something that was on television. I forced him to make a birthday cake, but after Chloe came, he refused to eat it,” Marissa continued to blabber.

Instead of everyone glaring at Marissa, they all turned their attention to me as if the words were spewing out of my mouth. “You’re not helping," I muttered to Marissa and she shrugged.

“I’m just saying it as it is,” she told me.

“How’d you get him to say yes?” Chloe asked me, as if he was a level in a videogame and I had the cheat to complete it.

“I don’t know! I just asked!” I replied, my anger rising.

“Maybe he just wanted to say yes to Kenna," Marissa butted in. Dana looked between the two girls. “Maybe he didn’t want to say yes to you.”

Chloe gaped at Marissa as if her friend was possessed. “Maybe he just doesn’t like you," Marissa stated. My eyes widned and I stared at the two of them.

“What?” Chloe asked Marissa, her eyebrows knitting together tightly. “What are you talking about?”

“Maybe Noah likes Kenna. Or maybe he just likes her more than he likes you,” Marissa retorted.

“Alright! I think that this has been a nice dinner. Now, it’s almost five thirty. Marissa, don’t you have somewhere to be? We’re pretty far from your house, so let’s all part ways now.” Before it gets worse. It’s easy to see that those were the words on the tip of Dana’s tongue.

“I think that’s a great idea!” I agreed and Dana nodded quickly. Chloe just stared down at her meal with an upset look.

“Come on, Chloe; let’s get back to the car. See you girls later!” Dana smiled at us, sending me a thankful look. I smiled back, watching as the girls got up and left the table before turning to Marissa.

“What was that?” I asked her. “You threw me under the bus! And then you suicide dived under it yourself! For an ex dancer, that wasn’t very graceful!”

“I’m an ex dancer, doesn’t that say enough about my gracefulness?” she shrugged as she finished off her drink, leaving it on the table for the waitresses to get. “Besides, she’s been acting different. It’s probably her new boyfriend. I can understand why Dana has been gone. She’s been studying hard for tests and is actually taking a college class, while Chloe has been dating some guy, Brett or Brent. They haven’t made it official yet, but she’s already gone off the deep end.”

“And do you know what she goes and does today?” she asked me. “When we were leaving school, she tried to kiss Noah! I finally thought she was done with her flirtatious behavior towards my brother. I thought that she was serious about this boyfriend but I guess I’m wrong. She just doesn’t get that Noah doesn’t like her. After hearing about how he’s been treating you, she decides to go off on a whim and test the waters by nearly kissing him!”

I bit my lip as I listened to her ranting. We were walking towards our cars, which were parked next to each other. “We were walking together and Noah was behind us. She just stopped walking and turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck.”

“What?” I asked quicker than I could control. I surprised myself but Marissa didn’t seem to notice.

“Yeah! That’s what I’m saying. Noah quickly grabbed her arms from around his neck and dropped them. He was going to come with us but after that, he decided he’d rather take his chances fighting my mother.” She shook her head.

“When I befriended Dana and Chloe, the first thing that I made clear was that they weren’t supposed to bother my brother or try and flirt with him. Chloe has done both. By trying to flirt with him, she’s effectively bothered him. I just don’t understand what runs through her mind.” Marissa shook her head. “I feel bad, now. Should I apologize? I’m going to apologize.”

She went to jog in the direction that Dana and Chloe walked off in as I grabbed her arm, yanking her back. “Give it some time. Maybe Chloe will realize what she’s done wrong. If you apologize now, she’ll think it’s a get out of jail free card and use it to her advantage; which means she’ll be kissing up on your brother as often as she wants and you can’t say anything about it.”

Marissa nodded before grinning. As she walked over towards the driver’s side door of her car, she laughed quietly. “If you ask me, you sound a bit jealous.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not, really.”

<<>><<>> 

I think this is the first Saturday I’ve spent without Marissa (and Noah) to bother. After showering, I walked downstairs to be greeted by my mother who was typing away on her computer, a familiar sight. I patiently made breakfast, making sure not to create any noise. Deciding that the quietest breakfast to prepare is cereal, I grabbed a bowl from the cabinet, having to practically climb onto the counter.

Sitting down in the seat across from my mother, I ate in silence aside from the clacking of the keyboard. My mother stopped and smiled in satisfaction, cracking her knuckles after a few moments. That’s where I got my bad habit from. Clicking the save button, she turned off her computer. Turning her attention to me, she smiled. “Hey.”

I smiled in response. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

She nodded. “What is it?”

“So next Friday is Noah’s birthday, and I want to get him something that he’ll like and actually use,” I told her. “He’s quite blunt and I don’t doubt that he’ll say something snarky if he doesn’t like what I get him.”  

“I don’t see why you like this boy—," she corrected herself quickly. “I don’t see why he’s your friend, you complain about him a lot.”

“It’s not complaining. I do like a lot of things about him, too,” I told her. “Anyway, I want to get him something good.”

My mother nodded, curious as to where she comes in during this equation. “And why are you asking me?”

“Do you still have the first five copies of The Espineli Trilogy?” Technically, there are fifteen copies, but five sets of the trilogies.

My mother nodded slowly. “Yes, why?”

“Well, Noah is a fan and—,”  I was cut off quickly.

“I like this boy," my mother grinned and I rolled my eyes, fending off a smile.

“As I was saying, those are his favorite books by you,” I replied. “I don’t know him all that well but I think he’ll appreciate an original set of books. And because you have five, I doubt it’ll hurt you to spare one. So may I please have a copy of the set to give Noah for his birthday? With your signature?”

My mother looked at me and pursed her lips. “Why?”

“They’re my first two real friends, even though Noah doesn’t want to admit that we’re friends. They don’t look down on me because of my social status and because of dad’s death. They like me for me,” I explained to my mom who sighed.

“Okay, fine," she responded. “I’ll let you give a copy to your crush.” I shot her a glare and she grinned at me, pinching my cheek.

“My baby’s got a crush," she cooed as she patted my head. I glared at her as I chewed a mouthful of cereal.

“I don’t have a crush on him,” I growled.

<<>><<>> 

The weekend was quiet, which was unfamiliar but calming. I didn’t have any contact with Noah, but I texted Marissa on Saturday. She was complaining about her stupid cousins who were too loud and kept her from getting a good night’s sleep. She had to go to the wedding though, so she could only talk for a small amount of time.

Sunday rushed by, too, and when Monday came, I was exhausted. If you didn’t know, my mother has an obsession with Monopoly and urged me to play all Sunday. I was up until midnight finishing a game with her. Once she lost, she banished me from her lair, also known as the living room. When I tried to go back downstairs where she was getting ready to write another chapter of her book, she kept muttering “You love Noah” under her breath until I went back upstairs.

When I saw Marissa, she embraced me with a hug that nearly cut off my circulation. I wasn’t expecting the hug, so I was quite shocked. I stepped into the building and walked towards the gym. Only seconds away from my destination, I was being bear hugged by a tall, thin girl. “Kenna! I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever!”

Once she let me go, I tiredly nodded. “Yeah, Friday was forever ago, wasn’t it?”

“Guess what?” she piped. I looked up at her and she continued. “I called to apologize to Chloe yesterday night and she told me that she was sorry. We’re okay now, in case you were wondering. I also brought you up and she told me that she didn’t mean to come off as snobby towards you. She hopes that you can forgive her.”

I shrugged. “All is forgiven.”

She grinned. “Great! Because I’m planning a sleepover one of these days! I was thinking of next Saturday, because this Saturday we’re busy with meeting your mom and—.”

“Do I ever get a break?” I muttered jokingly and she nudged me.

“Hey! You willingly came over my house! Besides, Noah will be there!” she grinned at me, winking childishly.

“Noah will be where?” Noah’s voice entered our conversation and I sent her a glare before turning to see Noah standing outside of the gymnasium, only a few feet away from us. His hand was on the door handle.  

“At our house, you idiot; where else do you go?” she retorted and he shook his head tiredly. “Now get to class, we’re trying to have a conversation—," she was cut off by the shrilly bell.

“Get to class or I’ll tell your mother about your misbehavior.” Noah chided while Marissa snorted.

“Like you’d willingly spark up a conversation with my mother.” She laughed and Noah shrugged, swinging open the door to the gymnasium. I quickly rushed into the gym after him, avoiding the slamming door. I couldn’t help but feel accomplished. You managed to slip into a wide open door; you deserve six cookies for that grand act of ninja-ness. 

“Long time, no see, small boy,” I greeted Noah who groaned. I bravely followed him up the bleacher steps as he walked to his usual seat.

“Not long enough, that’s for sure. There is no such thing as too much time away from you,” Noah retorted as he sat down. I plopped down beside him, not taking too much offense as he scooted away.

“Guess what I did this weekend?” I asked him and he sighed, rubbing his temples. A few seconds later, he turned his attention towards his bag.

“What did you do this weekend that I couldn't care less about?” he asked as he dug through his bag, taking out a black case.

“I got you a birthday gift,” I told him, crossing my legs. I have a few minutes until gym class starts up. People are supposed to be changing now. 

“I might hate it," he told me.

I didn’t have an ounce of doubt in me. “You won’t.”

“Oh really?” he questioned. I nodded my head, even though he wasn’t looking at me. He was unzipping the black case, revealing a shiny camera. “I’ll try my best to hate it.”

“That’s impossible because it’s an amazing gift,” I retorte. “If you’re a true fan, you won’t be able to hate it.”

He just shrugged as he pressed buttons on the camera, clicking through a montage of images. “So what did you do this weekend?”

He sighed. “I went to a wedding.”

“And how was that?” I asked him.

He shrugged yet again. “It was okay.”

“Was it fun?” I asked him and he shook his head. “Boring? Cool?”

“Like I said, it was okay," he provided as the gym teacher blew the whistle that hung around his neck. I stood up and dusted off my pants before a question came to my mind. We’re good enough friends, right? So it wouldn’t be intrusive of me to ask, right? I decided to just go for it.

“Noah, what’s your grade in this class?” I asked as I craned my neck to look at him.

He continued flipping through the pictures as he replied. “Better than yours, that’s for sure.”

I scowled at him. “How? You don’t do anything.”

“Says the one who can barely hit a ball,” Noah retorted, earning a glare from me.

“Are you admitting to watching me play?” I smirked.

“No, I’m admitting to being a victim of your bad aim.” The smirk dropped off my face and was replaced with my earlier scowl. Idiot.

<<>><<>> 

When Wednesday rushed by, I was shaking in my nonexistent boots. When I entered creative writing, a class I share with Noah, I sighed loudly. One more class until I have to perform my piano piece in front of my judgmental classmates. “For the opener, write a short story with these words.”

Mr. Abraham pointed to the white board, where a list of twelve words was scribbled in his chicken scratch. I opened my notebook and got to work, noticing Noah only a few rows away. Unlike most of my classes, this class is large. Mostly every other class that I have with Noah is nearly empty. I continued writing, trying to focus on the words I was putting on the paper rather than the performance I have to give in a little more than an hour.

Once I finished the short story, I put my pen down and looked around. A few other students were working, but most of them were finished. Noah was still working. I could tell because his shoulders were slightly hunched over and his left hand jotted words across the page. A few seconds before he finished, the teacher announced that the time was up. Noah continued writing before slowly putting his pencil down. I turned my attention back to the teacher, trying to calm my shaking leg as it was drawing attention from my classmates.

A little more than halfway through the class, Noah came over to sharpen his pencil. I was glad that I was seated near the sharpener, even though I usually hate being near the noisy device. I was tapping my pen anxiously, reading over the prompt in front of me. As well as my pen tapping, my leg was bouncing up and down. Before I could tell what was happening, my pen was snatched from my hand and placed on the table. I noticed Noah, who was still sharpening his pencil, placing his hand back at his side. “Are you nervous or something?”

“Very, I have to play that stupid piece next class,” I told him.

“Well, did you memorize it?” he questioned with his back turned.

“Yeah, but there’s thirty kids in my class,” I responded.

“Break a leg,” he responded, “preferably the one you’re using to shake the floor.”

Did he just call me fat?

Idiot.

Once the bell rang, I walked out of my class with shaky hands. Even though I have the song memorized, I can’t help but panic a bit. I’m not good in front of crowds, especially in front of crowds who can do exactly what I can do. That makes their criticism that much more painful.

“Ms. West, I’m assuming you’ve memorized your piece?” Mr. Durante stated as he walked in front of the class. We didn’t have the usual tables set up. Instead, there was the grand piano in front of the class, facing the students. There were three rows of ten, all of the seats filled. Most of the students already went, aside from two who said that they didn’t memorize their piece. Mr. Durante offered them disappointed looks. Because my last name starts with a W, I’m the last person to perform.

“I have, sir,” I told him as I walked towards the piano. My hands were coated with sweat and I wiped them vigorously on my jeans before I placed them on the keys that the song starts on.

“Whenever you’re ready,” the teacher told me, his eyes falling towards my nervous posture.

Deciding that I’d rather get this over with, I began playing at the normal pace. I tried hard not to speed up and even harder not to mess up. Once I finished, a few claps sounded throughout the classroom. I didn’t expect any claps, so those who did clap made my heart smile a bit. “Nice job, Ms. West.”

I nodded at Mr. Durante before heading over towards my seat. Thank God that’s over.

<<>><<>> 

“So how’d you do?” Marissa asked once she took a seat opposite to me. The cafeteria was buzzing. All of the talk about the upcoming Christmas dance has got students planning.

I shrugged. “I guess I did okay, I at least got a B on the performance.”

“Why not an A?” she asked.

“I didn’t bow or look up from the piano,” I shrugged, moving the chicken around on my tray.

“Well, a B is good enough,” she smiled.

“So how was the wedding?” I asked her, allowing her to dive into conversation about the happenings at the wedding.

As she continued to talk, I smiled to myself, happy that I have a friend.