Abercrombie & Bitch

Monday, April 20, 12:31pm – 5th period Lunch, Cafeteria

When I told Donelle and Riley what Bryce had done, they freaked.

“How could he just do that to you?!” Riley demanded, slamming her fist down onto the flimsy, light purple cafeteria table. “I mean, you went out for over a year!”

I examined the barely-edible peanut butter and jelly sandwich my mom had decided to make for me this morning, after watching one of those TV shows that tell you to “bond with your kids” and “become a better housewife” and other crap like that. My youngest sister, Meg, certainly had a fun time coating herself in peanut butter this morning, and guess who was stuck cleaning her up?

I glanced up at them over my food. “Your point?”

“Miranda,” Donelle said, almost incredulously, “that’s a long time for a high school relationship. And you’re just going to let it go?”

I smirked. “Oh, I never said I was going to let it go.”

Riley nervously fiddled with her lip ring. She’d tried to convince me to get one with her, but I put my foot down after getting my ears pierced twice. “Uh-oh. I don’t like that look on your face, Mi. Donelle, doesn’t that face make you nervous?”

Donelle nodded furiously, her mass of curly, red hair bobbing up and down.

“You guys know me so well.” I smiled and sat back, putting my hands behind my head and propping my feet up on the table. “In five. Four. Three. Two.”

Right on que, Bryce came running into the cafeteria with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist and an angry frown plastered on his face. The whole room erupted in laughter as he stomped over to our table, his hair dripping wet and splashing all over the cheerleaders, who, in turn, squealed and ran away.

“Miranda, what did you do?!” he yelled, gesturing behind him and toward the hallway where the boys’ locker room was located. “Where are my clothes?!”

I didn’t say anything, but instead glanced over at the back of the cafeteria. There hung banners in purple in gold, saying “Redford Royals!” all over them, and a whole bunch of years which I assumed were the rare ones in which our school actually won something.

And right were the football team’s banner should be? All of Bryce’s clothes, including his Care Bear boxers. Dude, seriously, they even make those?

His jaw dropped and face started to turn a dangerous shade of red, whether from anger or embarrassment I wasn’t sure. Probably both. “What the – How did you – You did this?!” Yeah, probably both.

I put on an innocent face. “What ever are you talking about, Bryce?”

Riley snickered behind her curly blonde hair, but she shut up when Bryce glared at her. “Why would you do that?! First my cell phone – which is totally ruined, by the way – and now this?! God Miranda!”

Does anyone else notice how much he sounds like a chick? “What are you talking about, Baby?” I cooed, loving this situation much more than I thought was humanly possible. Bryce was still clutching his towel to his skinny-ass body and he was shivering so much I swore his lips were turning blue.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about! Just because Ashley asked me to break up with you, you become some heartless, cruel-”

“I wouldn't do that.” I stood up, my hands firmly clenched around the table’s edge.

Bryce smirked. “Bitch.”

And that’s when Ginger came tearing through the cafeteria. Girls squealed and guys cheered as she bolted toward Bryce. He backed away as fast as possible, but he was no match for Ginger. She tore his towel away from him and left the cafeteria, leaving Bryce completely naked in front of the entire school. He tried desperately to cover himself up (not that there was much to cover), but failed.

“Sorry, Bryce. Ginger’s a little sensitive.” I smirked triumphantly as the guys started whooping and the girls continued to squeal.

He ran from the cafeteria without another word, and toward the school’s parking lot. Just like I knew he would do. But then about a minute later, his car alarm started shrieking and I could barely hear him cursing over it.

“’Cause I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped-up four wheel drive, carved my name into his leather seat,” I sang, quoting Carrie Underwood, “I took a Louisville Slugger to both headlights, slashed a hole in all four tires, and maybe next time he’ll think before he cheats…”

Riley burst out laughing, along with everyone else who heard me. Okay, so maybe I didn’t have the best singing voice, but they all got the point. Donelle gave me a condescending look from behind her glasses, but laughed along anyway. I just smiled triumphantly and started munching on my surprisingly tasty sandwich. Then I looked, and saw that either Meg or Andrea – my oldest sister, who’s already almost out of college but was staying with us for the weekend – had put marshmallows in the peanut butter. I giggled. At least they knew what my favorite food was.

“That was awesome!” Riley announced, slumping back into her chair. “I’ve never seen him so embarrassed!” She brushed some of her wavy blonde hair out of her face, smiling.

Donelle nodded. “I can’t believe you managed to-”

She stopped abruptly, her eyes widening at something behind me. I raised an eyebrow in question. Riley stared at whatever was behind me, too. I glanced behind me.

“Hey, Miranda,” Zach greeted awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck.

I turned to face him better. “What do you want?”

He shuffled on his feet and clasped his hands behind his back. “Can I…? I need to talk to you.”

“Then talk.” I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at him expectantly. My friends had gone completely silent behind me.

“Uh… In private?” he added. Seriously, what was his problem?

I shrugged and gathered my things, getting up from my seat. Lunch was almost over anyway, it’s not like it made much of a difference to me. I said good-bye to my friends and started after Zach, who by that point was already in the hallway that led to the art rooms.

“So what’s up?” I asked, looking through my bag for my lip gloss.

Zach cleared his throat. “I heard about… your grades, and stuff.”

My head snapped up at him and my eyes narrowed. No one was supposed to know about that. Not even Riley and Donelle knew about that yet. I had only told them about Bryce. So why did Zach know? I certainly didn’t tell him.

“Who told you?” I demanded quietly, checking the hallway to see if anyone had heard.

It was no secret that I wasn’t doing so well in my classes, sure, but no one could find out. You see, I have five – yes, count them, FIVE – sisters. One of which is a sophomore, two years younger than me. Lindsey. And she’ll do anything to get Mom to forbid me from seeing Paramore. Or maybe she just doesn’t want me to graduate. Who knows? But she’s the biggest gossip in the school. If one person knows something, she’ll know by the end of the week. Especially if it’s from somebody like Zach, the popular senior that she’s been crushing on since, I don’t know, seventh grade?

“Ms. Weber.” He stared at a poster for an upcoming football game, trying not to make eye contact. “She told me you could probably use my help with the talent show.”

I rolled my eyes. “Tell her thanks, but no thanks. I can handle myself.”

I started to walk away, but Zach caught my arm. “The show’s in a week. You have an act yet?” My eyes widened. “That’s what I thought. Look, I can help you get ready.”

“Why would you want to help me?”

His eyes narrowed. “Because I need the credit, too, okay? You either have to compete with me or against me. What’s it gonna be?”

“This is insane,” I muttered, glaring up at him behind my bangs. “Alright, look, come over to my house tonight. We’ll see if we can make this work.” He smiled. I went to walk away to look for Ginger, but I stopped and turned around at the last second. “But I still don’t trust you.”

“I never asked you to, Miri.”

Ladies and gentlemen, the real Zachary Sinclair is back.