That assembly was the launching point of a very strange day. Chloe maneuvered her way from class to class in silence. As a whole, the student body may have been keeping clear of her, but it was painfully obvious that she was still the subject of conversations everywhere. Even in the ladies’ restroom, they would see her and suddenly have to walk away giggling about something - - as if she did not know. She had considered pretending to be sick just to go home.
Billy was having an equally strange day. At first, he was avoiding people. He naturally assumed that people were going to tease him for that video that Chloe set up on the internet. She sure did make a fool out of him. And now with their house gone, he was in no mood to be messed with. But he was surprised at the reception he received. People were greeting him and asking how he was doing. Even seniors were giving him high fives. This behavior was beyond his comprehension. He had heard that they were the subject of that morning’s announcement, but no one had said anything to him about Chloe’s apparent guilt. He honestly did not understand it, but he did not question it either. He was too busy enjoying his skyrocketing notoriety.
Billy’s sudden rise in popularity certainly did not escape Chloe. She saw everything and it was making her furious. His swift acceptance seemed to be at her expense. She had been the trend-setting force of the sophomore class. Perhaps she overestimated her importance in the minds of the juniors and seniors; but as they moved on, she would naturally move up. It was the natural order of things as time had proved in the past. But what was all this? Why was she being treated this way? And why was Billy suddenly Mr. Popular? He was just the hopeless son of a nerd teacher. Pathetic really.
At lunchtime, she sat alone facing the wall. She was not in any mental condition to look at anyone while she ate. Billy, on the other hand, had invitations to sit with every table in the room. The whole thing was surreal. He had arrived at last. This was great. Now all he needed was a sweet car, some spending money,
… and of course, Clay.
On this particular Monday, Wesley had opted to get the lunch offered in the lunchroom: square pizzas, corn, green beans, lemon cake, sweet tea. He lifted his tray and was about to go sit with Mike and the guys until he saw Lauren. He rushed over to where she was and asked if he could sit down. She agreed.
“Well, well, well. Lauren, it’s cool to see you again. I haven’t seen you around at all lately. In fact, I don’t think I have seen you since the night of the reading over at Billy’s house.”
She smiled. “Yes. I have been out of town. You’re Wesley?”
“That’s right. Did you and your family go on a vacation?” Wesley asked as he took a bite of his pizza.
She shrugged. “No. My great-grandmother was sick so we went over to be with her. She lived over in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She died while we were there and so we stayed to take care of the details.”
Wesley regretted prying so much. “Oh, I’m sorry.”
She smiled back at him. “Don’t be. She lived a long, happy life. She knew the Lord, so I know that I will see her again one day. The service was beautiful. After her funeral, she wanted us to go to the top of Lookout Mountain and have a singing service. It was awesome. So peaceful and cool. And all those fall colors were perfect.”
Wesley picked up his fork and stabbed at his green beans. “Well, I’ve got some news myself.”
“And what’s that?”
“I accepted Jesus while you were gone.”
Lauren’s face lit up. “You did? That’s the best news ever. Welcome to the family.”
“Thanks. The funny part is that it was actually Mike that led me to the Lord.” He ate some green beans from his fork.
“Mike? You mean that guy that was so mean to you that night?”
“The very same.”
“HA! God arranges funny things. Well, that’s awesome. That is so cool.”
“Yeah. We’ve become pretty good friends since then.”
“That’s excellent. It is too bad about the Harris’ house though. I guess we won’t be having more of those reading parties – if you can call it a party.” She took a bite of her chicken wrap.
“Actually Mike is going to take care of that too. Today, he said that the next one will be at his house. The only problem is that his folks have like a dozen Pomeranians and they bark constantly. At times, I can even hear them from my house.”
“Oh no! Pomeranians hate me.” She laughed.
“Well, let me correct myself. One of them doesn’t bark. Lillehammer will just lick you to death. She’s the only sweet one.”
“Lilly Hammer? What sort of name is that?”
“Yeah, Lillehammer. All these dogs were named after cities that have hosted the Olympic Games. Isn’t that funny? Mike says that it all started with Munich and Mex.”
“Mex?”
“Yeah. His name is Mexico City, but they shortened it to Mex. They also have two Angora cats: Sochi and Nagano.”
Lauren laughed. “That’s so weird.”
“Yeah. I thought so too. Anyway, they have a detached garage and Mike says that he is putting all those dogs in there until after the party. I don’t know what his parents are going to say about it though. This should get pretty interesting.” The both of them began to laugh.
Lauren was still laughing when she added, “They could name one Salt Lake City and call it Salt for short.”
“Salt-For-Short? That’s a funny name.” He began laughing a bit harder.
Instead of laughing, Lauren’s face dropped and became rather serious. Admittedly, the joke was not especially funny. Wesley noticed that she stopped laughing, so he looked up. He noticed that she was staring at someone or something standing over his head. She silently pointed directly behind him and he turned to see who it was.
Like something right out of a horror movie, he leaped back when he saw Chloe – no more than twenty inches behind him. His tray and silverware made a loud noise as he jumped. His drink nearly tumped over (that’s a Southern term). This action drew the attention of everyone in the room.
Chloe’s eyes were wild and pained. “So. This is your type.” She pointed at Lauren and started to look her over. “How cute. You seem to have simple tastes. I’m very happy for you both.” She took two steps back and turned. As she walked by where she was sitting, she shoved her food tray off the table, against the wall, and onto the floor. She cared nothing about the mess she made. Her pace increased. Walking turned into running. She grabbed her things and made a dash for her car and sped off. She did not even swing by the office to check herself out; she just left and did not return for the rest of the day. To her, it must have felt like diving off of a tall cliff – once you commit yourself to the idea and jump, you could not stop. She certainly did not try to reschedule her Geometry test - - she was probably not ready for it anyway.
The rest of the students in the lunchroom were stunned. They instantly threw themselves back into full gossip mode. Justin’s girlfriend was totally in her element. Billy, for one, was very glad not to be romantically attached to her; she generated way too much drama for his liking.
Wesley apologized to Lauren for the awkwardness of this episode. He made it clear to her that Chloe’s objectives have never been especially discreet. And he certainly had no intention of dragging everyone’s focus into what was supposed to be a nice private conversation between two people. Lauren was most understanding and cool about the whole thing. After a few minutes, they were back to laughs. Who knew that two people would enjoy a lunch over their mutual disdain for some demonic-eyed Pomeranians and their ear-splitting bark?
Justin quietly began to make his way over to Billy. But Billy saw his advance, held up a stopping hand, and said, “Not today, Justin.” The floppy-haired boy did a silent U-turn back to his girlfriend and was probably in trouble deep with her for his lack of information. Her icy look would be his companion for the remainder of the day. Things were not looking good for Justin.
You, the reader, may begin to feel a bit sorry for the lad in question.
… or not.