The next day at school, I gave Thalia her butterfly necklace. She squealed when she saw it.
"I love it," she said, slipping it on. "I thought Peyton's was so pretty, and I can't believe I have one now, too."
However, not everyone was as thrilled with the idea of the matching butterfly necklaces. Tori asked me at lunch why everyone was now wearing those. I shrugged. I didn't want to get into it with her, and I didn't feel like I owed her an explanation after she had apparently told Ericka that Vladi dumped me. It would have been an argument I couldn't win with the he said/she said mess, and I thought it was better just to let it go.
After class, I saw Kyle at his locker. I pretended I had a question about the math homework and started playing with my necklace as I talked so he'd notice it.
"Cool butterfly," he said.
"Oh, thanks. Yeah, a bunch of us have them: Devon, India, Peyton, Ashanti, Thalia, and me."
He snorted. "You guys must have loved Thalia copying you on that."
"What are you talking about? India got me mine, and I bought Thalia's. It was planned," I said.
"Yeah, right."
"Why wouldn't we get her one? She's part of our group, after all," I said. "Well, thanks for the homework, but I think I'll ask someone else. Don't take this the wrong way or anything but…I want to get at least a, 'B.'" He looked shocked as I turned to walk away.
I went over to meet Tori. We walked to the cafeteria together and I picked a bowl of chicken noodle soup and some crackers along with some fruit and a bottle of water.
"You got the last bowl of soup," Tori said.
"There are still cups of it on the tray," I said.
"I wanted the big bowl."
Too bad. Those days of me giving in were over. "Sorry, I got it first."
I stopped to get a napkin and started to move toward the table I usually sat at with Devon. Ashanti and Hana were already sitting with her, and there was only one chair left. I decided that if Tori had nowhere else to sit, I would make room, but when I went to tell her that, I saw her rush past me. She was headed over to the lone chair and sat down between Devon and Ashanti without even looking back to see if I had a place to go. I glanced around. Ericka was at Halle and Maggie's table. I'd have rather sat with a den of vipers than go over there. Then I saw Ashanti get up and drag another chair over. I went over to the table and thanked her for getting me a chair.
"That soup smells amazing," Devon said to me. The fake smile on her face implied Tori must have complained I got the last bowl.
"Doesn't it? Looks homemade," I said taking a big spoonful. "Oh wow, even better than it smells."
Tori shoved her turkey sandwich in her mouth. I guess all those times I let her take the better lunch were lost on her.
Devon started talking about how the first high school information night was coming up. She and Ashanti started talking about all the people they knew from the public school and other private schools who were going to the same high school as us next year. Tori's parents still hadn't decided if she was going to the public or private high school, but my mom told me that both schools had great ratings, so she would let me make the final decision on which one I felt more comfortable going to. Both schools seemed equally terrifying, but in different ways. I knew more people going to the public school, but there were also going to be a lot more students there, so I could get lost in the crowd and there was no guarantee I'd see any of my friends at all.
I had heard so many horror stories about the high school — especially what they did to freshman girls, like putting "F's" in lipstick on their foreheads so everyone would know they were freshman, throwing their purses into the toilet, and if they didn't like you, then they might throw dog poop at your house. The worst part was that the school was notorious for purposely nominating girls for homecoming princess just to humiliate them. Devon knew one of the girls and said she was cute and had friends so she never knew anything was up with her nomination until the day of the parade, and someone filled her float with pictures of ugly clown dolls and wrote "Nice makeup" all over. I remembered seeing her picture in the paper as one of the nominees. Her makeup was a little on the heavy side but not too bad. So if normal-looking girls got picked on, what hope did that leave for anyone? Why did people have to be so mean?
"Landry, it's gotta be so awkward for you to be going to Vladi's school next year," Tori said. "I mean, what if you run into him during the tour?"
"It's a huge place," Ashanti said. "People break up all the time. It's not a big deal."
Tori raised her eyebrows as if to say, "Yeah, right," and went back to her sandwich.
Meanwhile my delicious homemade soup was no longer sitting well. It never occurred to me Vladi might be around during the first pre-freshman tour. I would be mortified if I ran into him and he was with a girl. Or worse yet, running into him, and he was with Yasmin. Plus, I hadn't told my mom about the breakup, so if she saw him, she'd probably go over to talk to him. I could already imagine it: "Landry, Vladi's here! Hon? Why are you hiding behind the garbage can? Your boyfriend, Vladi, is here. Come say, 'hello.' Stop trying to run away. Why is everyone laughing and pointing at you and calling you a 'loser dumpee'? What does that mean?"
Well, maybe the world would end and I wouldn't have to deal with high school or Vladi and my mother running into each other.