School was canceled the next day because of the snow, and Mom decided to go into work late. We had chocolate chip waffles with whipped cream for breakfast, and I watched talk shows until Peyton called. She asked if I had talked to Mom about my dad yet. I told her what Mom said during breakfast about hoping he’d be able to move in before spring.
“Cool. Have you written any new stuff lately?” she asked.
I told her about a story I started in science class last week when Devon was ignoring me. It was about an alien, which was weird because I never wrote science fiction-y stuff.
“What happens?” she asked.
“It’s about this alien who comes to earth and pretends to be human, but she can’t fit in. It sounds stupid, I know,” I said.
“No, I want to read it when you’re done,” she said.
I almost never let my friends read my stuff because I had read part of a story to Tori last summer. She had seemed bored and all she said when I got done was it didn’t sound like it was finished. I reminded her it was just the beginning, but she acted like it wasn’t any good. It hurt my feelings and I never showed her any more of my writing.
****
I was hoping for another snow day the next day, but some moron decided the roads were clear enough for us to go to school. However, they weren’t decent enough for the bus to be on time. Tori and I were the only two idiots waiting for the bus, and I could see Mrs. Abrams’s car running in their driveway. I could have walked over to see if she would give me a ride, but I was afraid to ask. I watched Mrs. Abrams back out of the driveway and hoped they would turn right and come pick Tori and me up, but they drove off without looking back. Tori and I got to school late, and I walked in with a bright red face and my hair sticking up because I had put my scarf around my head. I tried licking my hand to pat my hair down, but it didn’t help.
Later, as I was going to lunch, Mr. Ivanov came up to me. “I got your bracelet back. It was stuck down there good,” he said.
I followed him to the janitor’s closet. I had never been in there before, and it was filled with all kinds of overhead machines and stuff. He picked up an envelope off the table.
“The clasp seemed loose so I tightened it. It shouldn’t fall off your arm now,” he said.
I slid it on.
“I can take off some of those links to make it tighter,” he said. He took a pair of pliers, removed three of the links, and then put it back together.
“Thanks, Mr. Ivanov,” I said. I went to the lunchroom and got a slice of pizza and a drink box. Devon was already sitting with Hana, and I showed her I got my bracelet back. She didn’t say much. She just picked the pepperoni off her pizza.
“Guess what? I got an eighty-three percent on my math quiz,” I said. “Ashanti’s been helping me. Can you believe it?”
“Great,” she said. She didn’t sound too excited.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. She shrugged and leaned on her arm.
Later, when I saw her in science class, Devon seemed interested in her paperback. She’d answer me if I asked her a question, but we didn’t have a conversation. Still, she was talking to me, so I was happy. Mrs. Tamar wanted us to do the chapter questions, and Devon opened up her textbook.
“Did you see Halle’s makeup today?” I asked. “It looks like her mascara smeared—”
“What did you get for number one?” she asked.
“Oh, I didn’t do it yet. Anyway, Kyle was flirting with Arianna in math. I bet Yasmin will dump him again,” I said.
“Don’t care. Is it five?” she asked.
“Huh?”
She sighed and blew her bangs up. “Is five the answer to number one?” she asked.
“I guess. What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing. Can’t you give it a rest?” she said.
“Are you mad at me?”
“No, but I’m gonna be if we don’t finish this and I have to take it home,” she said.
I couldn’t focus on any of the questions. I just flipped back and forth in my book like I was trying to find the answers. I tried to pull my bracelet off because it was pinching me. I was used to it being loose, but now it was almost too tight since Mr. Ivanov had fixed it.
I called Peyton after school to see if she knew why Devon was acting weird.
“India told me Devon thought you were bragging about getting an A on your math quiz when she found out she’s getting a D in math,” she said.
“What? First of all, I haven’t gotten an A in math since the third grade, and I didn’t know she was getting a D. Why didn’t she just tell me?” I stopped to catch my breath.
“Don’t worry about it. Devon’s always mad about something. And I don’t think she’s over not getting picked for the next round of the American Ingénue thing. Hey, did you see Vladi’s picture in the paper? It’s in tonight’s sports section. He’s moving to the varsity team,” she said.
I told her we didn’t get the paper delivered, so she said she’d bring it for me. I took my bracelet off and threw it toward my dresser. I missed, and it fell on the floor. I thought about calling Devon to apologize, but for what? Getting an eighty-three percent wasn’t exactly bragging, and I didn’t know she was getting a D in math. I just hope she didn’t hold the Ingénue contest against me.
I missed the bus the next morning, and Mom had to drive me to school. I could tell my day was going to suck the second I saw India at Devon’s locker. They were standing two inches apart and stared at me when I walked down the hall. I tried to smile, but I had no control over my facial muscles so I think I just twitched or something.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hey,” Devon said.
India stood up straighter like she was Devon’s bodyguard and gave her a knowing look. That’s the thanks I got for helping her pick up those stupid colored pencils she dropped. I should have stepped on her hand while she was down there.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. Did I get your hand with my shoe?” I’d say, and then I’d find a way to “accidentally” cut off about two feet of her hair. I hated the way India always wrote down her hair color as “honey.” It was light brown, maybe dark blond. Honey. Maybe bees would attack her.
Peyton told me later Devon thought I was throwing my “Croatian boyfriend” in her face. First of all, he was Russian, and second, she always talked about Doug and I never got upset over it. Peyton said I shouldn’t let it bother me, but it’s easy to say when no one is mad at you. I decided to confront Devon when we got off the bus, so no one would see me grovel. I told Devon I was sorry, and I would never try to make her feel bad. I ended up saying Vladi would never like me and how I just got lucky on the quiz because I sucked at math. She said it was okay and gave me a hug. We were friends again, but I still felt like crap. Ashanti thought I was crazy for kissing Devon’s butt.
“What did you do? Promise you’d never do better than her on a test as long as you lived?” she asked. “And did she expect you to walk away from the American Ingénue thing just because she didn’t make it?”
“No, I’m just glad she’s speaking to me again.”
Peyton was also surprised when I told her I apologized to Devon.
“For what? You didn’t do anything wrong,” she said. “You’ve gotta stand up for yourself.”
I’d rather have everybody like me than to prove something. Peyton asked if I wanted to do something this weekend, and we made plans to go to a movie on Friday. I was happy I had plans for the weekend, but it was kinda depressing knowing the modeling agency hadn’t called with any jobs for me. At this rate, I’d never get famous.