The writing juices have really been flowing, so I've been writing a ton. This is just the first of many installments to follow soon hereafter. Again, as always please rip this piece to shreds. Any and everything that needs correcting, PLEASE point it out. And I apologize, I've been struggling with my punctuation (especially with the dialouge), so please bear with me. Thanks for reading!
“You told him no?” Delilah was incredulous. They were standing before a row of mirrors in the girl’s bathroom. “Were you even thinking when you told him no?”
“I’m grounded! I couldn’t go out with him even if I had said yes,” Veronica countered, throwing her hair up into a messy ponytail. Frustrated, she ripped out the hair tie, running her hands through her hair.
Kayla had perched herself on the bathroom counter, playing with her earrings. They were miniature unicorns, one purple and the other green with glittery tails and manes. She had a matching necklace and a graphic t-shirt that said Conserve water, drink chocolate milk. “You could just sneak out.”
Veronica stared hard at herself. Kayla could sneak out, she had the guts to do something like that. But not Veronica. She was as courageous as a mouse. “I can’t sneak out.”
“Why not?” Delilah rummaged through a huge bright green tote bag and handed Veronica a tube of lip gloss. “Veronica, think about it, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Who knows when a cute guy is going to invite you to a party?”
“Gee thanks.” Veronica ripped the gloss from her friend’s hand. “You know my self-esteem really appreciated that.”
“Whatever, get over yourself,” Kayla said. “Delilah’s right, the only time you’ve ever gotten a guy’s digits is when Nathan cornered you in Biology. You have a chance to not only go to a party with a guy, but an attractive one at that. I say sneak out.”
Veronica didn’t say anything as she applied a layer of the strawberry scented goop to her lips. She smacked them audibly, having made her decision. “I swear if I get caught, I am blaming you,” she said this directly to Kayla. Kayla smiled as she hopped off the counter.
“Better not get caught then!”
Veronica was surprised when she arrived to first period and Keith was already sitting in the back next to her desk. Holly Hadley was propped up on the corner of his desk, unabashedly flirting with him, her cleavage practically Velcroed to his face. Her courage fading quickly, Veronica felt silly with the little make-up Delilah had convinced her to wear.
Plopping into her seat, she pulled out a notebook and started to invent a new recipe. It would have chicken and a cheesy rice pilaf. She jotted down ingredients like shallots, mushrooms, garlic, fontina cheese, and thyme. Delilah was turned around in her seat, chatting incessantly but Veronica hardly heard what she was saying. Feeling a presence next to her, Veronica looked up, surprised to see Keith staring right at her.
“What are you writing?” he asked, Holly already sitting in her desk at the front.
Veronica grinned, closing the notebook on her recipe. “It’s nothing, just doodling.”
“Hey, I wanted to apologize if I came on too strong yesterday. You just seemed pretty chill and I just thought,” he trailed off as the late bell sounded.
“Yeah about that,” Veronica felt her intestines twisting themselves into a maze, “I can go to the party with you after all.”
“I thought you were grounded?” He looked pleased.
“We worked out an agreement.” Veronica was surprised how easily the lie slipped off her tongue.
“Awesome, when can I pick you up?” He asked.
Veronica panicked. She couldn’t have him pick her up at the house but she didn’t want him to know she was sneaking out either. Veronica ransacked her brain, trying to come up with a solution and was graciously saved by the arrival of her English teacher.
“Heeello class!” He glided into the classroom, holding a big cup of steaming coffee. He placed it on his desk and began to remove his gloves. “Poor Miss Muffet, she is being kept at the Kitty Hospital until she gets better. They are administering antibiotics, but there is no cure for distemper. Hopefully, she pulls through all right. Make sure you get all of your pets properly vaccinated, you do not want to deal with this kind of headache.” His scarf was baby-poop-green today. “Today is Tuesday, so we all know what that means!” He smiled even as several students groaned in protest. “Vocabulary quiz!”
As he was passing out the worksheets, a piece of paper landed on her desk. Veronica unfolded it and read what Keith had jotted down. Be ready at seven, we’ll get a bite to eat before we go over to the party. Even though she had no idea how this was all going to work, Veronica couldn’t help but feel excited at the prospect of going on a date. It was a date, right? Inviting her to dinner and a party sounded like a date. Veronica shoved the note into the pocket of her jeans as Mr. Draper handed her a worksheet.
“Don’t worry Mr. Seidel,” she overheard him address Keith “I’ll give you the vocabulary words and you can make-up the test on Friday.”
There were three sections to Mr. Draper’s vocabulary tests and they were so easy a third grader could do it. She flew through the test and was done before anyone else. She turned in the quiz and returned to her cheesy chicken dish. She decided it definitely needed bacon. Everything was better with bacon. When the period was over she had finished her recipe and had even come up with an excuse why Keith couldn’t pick her up at her house.
This time when the dismissal bell rang, she managed to gather her things in an organized fashion. Keith was already halfway down the hall when she caught up to him.
“Hey,” she said breathlessly, “can you pick me up at the library at seven instead? It was part of the agreement with my parents. You know, go to the library, work on my grades, all that garbage.” She was getting really good at lying.
“Sure.” he grinned and Veronica had to restrain herself from becoming a puddle at his feet. “See you later.” He waved as he disappeared into a classroom.
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