My Girl

I failed at using my chopsticks for dinner, and instead speared a sweet and sour chicken with my fork, breaking it off into pieces before putting them into my mouth.

My legs were thrown over the back of my computer chair, and I was leaning up against my wall watching TV. Sylvia had tried to call me at least three times in the past thirty minutes, but I instantly sent it to voicemail, not wanting to deal with her.

A small knock came from outside my door and my mom let herself in without my consent. She had her own box of food in her hand, and she nodded toward the stairs. “Sylvia is here.”

Of course she seemed excited about it, but I just rolled my eyes and pushed past her, wiping my greasy hands on the back of my jeans as I walked down the steps. Sure enough, there was Sylvia, applying her cherry lip gloss onto her full lips as I turned the corner into the main room of our house.

“Hey.” I said in a low voice, suddenly feeling self conscious in my Winnie-The-Pooh pajama pants and white t-shirt. It was only 9:30, and I was ready to go to sleep. It didn’t help that Sylvia was all dressed up in her usual designer clothing. Her eyes seemed to burn through my clothes, she was giving them that much of a disapproving look.

“What are you doing in…that?” She questioned, nodding toward my slippers.

“I don’t know. I was just hanging around the house, it’s not like I’m walking down a runway.” It was my turn to nod toward her. She took it as a compliment, of course, and flipped her long red hair across her shoulders. It wasn’t in the bobby ponytail anymore, but instead her bangs were pinned up onto her head, and it was straight. Naturally, of course.

“I’m guessing you forgot about Shane’s party then.” She said in the same low voice as mine. I looked at her until I remembered what she was talking about.

“Oh my God. Totally forgot. I’m sorry, Sylvia. Go without me.” I said, glancing at myself in the mirror that was on the other side of the room. She was totally right, I looked pathetic. And she didn’t even have to tell me that.

“Whatever. He isn’t that great anyway.” She shrugged it off and plopped down on my couch, staring at the muted TV in the living room. My mom had been in here, but she had left since Sylvia decided to intrude. “So what were you planning on doing, this glorious Friday night?”

My stomach flipped. Friday. Then came…Saturday.

“Erm, nothing.” I lied. I had planned on watching the entire third season of Gilmore Girls, to get my mind off of things. But Sylvia hated that show, so it looked like we were stuck to either doing something stupid.

“Can I crash at your house tonight? I told my mom I was going to, anyways.” She asked, well…decided. You see, she could seem semi-tolerable around people, especially guys, but when it was just her and I, she was a major…well…bitch.

“Uh-” Tonight. Tomorrow morning. Nick and I had planned on waking up early, since that is obviously the best time to go, it’s not as hot in the mornings as it is in the late afternoon. “-I have plans tomorrow morning.”

Sylvia laughed. “With who?” I cracked my fingers nervously and moved into my living room, sitting down on the rocking chair in the corner of the room.

“Nick.”

Sylvia’s composed, semi-scowling, face turned rigid and red. “I thought you guys just exchanged phone numbers.”

“We did. But I called him later today-”

“Desperate much?” She laughed again, rolling her eyes at me. I stayed quiet, ignoring her rude comment, partially. “That’s like a rule, Elise. You never call a guy the first two days you get their phone number. You play hard to get.”

I shrugged my shoulders and stood up, walking into the kitchen. Sylvia followed me.

“Maybe I don’t want to play hard to get.” I took a poptart out of the cabinet and offered her the second one. She ignored it and glared at me.

“So now your just a slut?” I dropped the bowl I was going to put the poptart in onto the counter.

“How does that make me a slut? I like him, and I want him to know that.” I argued, taking off the outer edge of my poptart. Once again, my appetite was gone.

“How can you like him? You have known him for not even a day.” Sylvia sat down at a chair at my dining room table and pulled her Sidekick out of her purse, typing on the keys furiously.

“You seemed to be into him, A LOT, this afternoon.” I retorted, ignoring the gurgling noise in my stomach and putting part of the poptart into my mouth. Sylvia watched me in disgust.

“I thought he was cute. And he seemed nice. But…those things are going to go straight to your hips.” She said, turning away from me as I chewed.

“But what?” I asked, continuing to eat the food. My stomach felt full, but when I got stressed…I ate.

“He said mean stuff about you, Elise. That’s why I walked away.” Hearing this, I put the pastry down.

“Your lying.” I accused her instantly. Sylvia shook her head and stood up, pressing her phone to her ear. She still talked to me.

“Whatever, El. Believe who you want. But I have known you since sixth grade, he has known you for a day. Who do you think is lying?” With that, she started talking to the person on the other line.

“It’s nothing, Shane. Can you come and pick me up? My ride bailed.” She glanced at me through her hair and waved goodbye, walking out my back door. I watched as her body disappeared into the twilight, and I instantly ran into the bathroom.

I pulled my hair into the elastic that was wrapped around my wrist and pulled my hair away from my face, feeling my entire body start to heat up. Tears burned my face.

My breath started to shorten, and I closed my eyes, rocking myself back and forth as the familiar dizziness occurred.

“I’ve got sunshine, on a cloudy day.” I started to hum, imagining my dad singing it above me as he tucked my covers into the side of my bed. “When it’s cold outside, I’ve got the month of May.”

Closing the door with my foot, I heard it slam loudly. I turned on the faucet of the sink as I got up off of the floor, splashing the cold water onto my face as I continued to sob.

I gathered myself and exited the bathroom, cleaning up my mess in the kitchen. Walking past my mom, who was back in her spot in the living room, I tried to go back up to my room as quietly as possible. But she heard me.

“How was Sylvia? She looked like she was going out somewhere.” My mom asked, turning around in her chair. I ran one of my hands through my hair and shrugged my shoulders.

“We were supposed to go to some party…but, there was going to be alcohol there, I didn’t want to get involved.” I lied. Shane was one of the most goody-two-shoes kids at Green Oaks. He would never do that, or invite people that would, bring anything illegal.

“Well, I’m proud of you then.” My mom smiled, turning back around. I continued to walk up the stairs and closed my bedroom door quietly, plopping down on my bed. I reached out for my phone that was on the floor and slid it open when it read ONE NEW TEXT MESSAGE. It was from Nick.

Hey. So is it cool if I pick you up tomorrow morning?

I smiled and felt my hands start to tingle. A date. With a hot guy. And a car. My eagerness was soon ended, since I remembered what Sylvia had said. He said some mean stuff about you.

I started typing back a reply, staring down at the screen unhappily.

Actually, I totally forgot. I'm busy helping my Mom...

I stopped. I couldn’t let this happen. Sylvia was most likely lying, and Nick seemed to be way to cool and considerate to even talk about someone behind their back. I hit the clear button and restarted my message.

Yeah. That would be really awesome. See you tomorrow