Be a Good Girl, Sandy Jones

I finished the last of my cigarette and turned to see Dani watching me do so. I pulled my upper lip back in a sneer, then went the opposite way, going to my art class.

The art room was beautiful, the best classroom in the whole school, ironically, it was the subject that was given the least amount of money for supplies, so what we did in that class was limited. I loved to paint, and I was actually really good. I had tried to paint my mother a portrait but she didn’t like it, said that it was a waste of time and that I shouldn’t waste my life on it. I never painted her anything ever again.

I also had the best grades in that class, on every assignment, I got an A, the only class I got anything higher then a C.

Today, we were drawing portraits, of friends. I laughed to myself, I didn’t really have any, just people who I got high with, and they were only my friend when we were lighting up a joint.

I went to my little corner of the room, the walls were glass, as well as the ceiling, so no matter what, the room was lit up by the sun. It was really nice in the spring, when there was sun and all the flowers were about to bloom. My teacher, Mrs. Salancho, always gave me my own corner, I set up my drawing table, and from any angle in the room, you couldn’t see what I was drawing, unless you actually came over to look.

Before I knew it, I began to draw the outline of a face, placing the eyes, nose, lips in the right places, then the ears. I drew the hair around it, long and wispy. The eyes were a light shade, the drawing done in black and white, so I wasn’t sure what the color of eyes they were. I gave my portrait life, shading the lips and nose, then began the torso. I kept drawing until I was done, the bell about to ring. I finally looked at what I had drawn, it looked like Dani in a way, but the lips were wrong, too small, and the nose was too round, but I could see the resemblance. I glared at it, but passed it in anyway. Mrs. Salancho paid no mind to the obvious resemblance, she didn’t like Dani much, Dani was rude to her constantly. Dani was rude to a lot of people constantly.

I left the classroom, because you were allowed to leave the room once you finished your assignment, and walked to my next class, to wait for the bell.

The bell did ring, and Dani walked out, not even seeing me as she walked by. She wasn’t flanked by any of her minions and she wasn’t in a rush to go anywhere, but she looked deep in thought. I remembered this morning and was instantly angry at her, she was always a bitch towards me, and her friend Taylor, yeah she’d be getting a nice bruise if she tried anything else with me. I put my foot out and caught Dani’s toe with my heel before she was out of range, and she tumbled to the ground, giving a quick cry of pain and surprise as a book jammed into her stomach. She looked back to see who it was, but I was already inside the classroom, too short to of been seen over the heads of my peers.

This was English, one of my worst subjects, I wasn’t good with what they gave me, I wasn’t good with putting my thoughts down on paper, but in general, I was really good with spelling and grammar.

That class passed in a blur, so did the next one, French, then it was lunchtime.

The courtyard, that most students went to during lunch, was filled with Dani’s group, and a few other small groups, so I knew I wasn’t going to sit out there. I instead went out to the football field, and laid down on the bleachers, the sun coming out from behind a few clouds to warm my face. It felt good.

“Hey, Sandy, why don’t you come play Flag Football with us?” A couple boys that I had hung out over the summer yelled over at me. I sat up and looked at them. They were all really cute, in sweats and tank tops, showing off tanned skin and muscle. Nothing sparked inside me, and I frowned slightly. Don’t girls usually get all hot and worried over boys like them?

“Sure,” I yelled back, and got up, jumping down the bleachers.

I shook off my hoodie, revealing a tight black tank top. I kneeled and took off my boots I had decided to wear, the socks came off next, and I stuffed those inside my boots. I stood up straight and ran a hand through my hair, squinting my eyes to look at the 5 boys, who gaped back. They must’ve forgotten what I looked like.

“Alright, who’s team am I on?” I asked and smirked as they tried to decide, did they want me on their team or the opposite team, so they might get the chance to tackle me. This was flag football, no one would be tackling anyone.

“Defense,” Tommy, one of the darker skinned boys said and set up the ball. I stared down the opposing team of boys and smiled at them. Someone blew a whistle and everyone started to move, they swarmed like bees, trying to find a good way to get the ball or to defend it.

A boy, named Sam, flew past me, going for the ball. I ran after him, gaining speed, and grasping his flag between my fingers between my fingers and pulling. It came off of him into my hand and I tripped, tumbling into the ground. I winced as I rolled onto my back, and I heard, over the concerned murmurs of the boys, laughter. I looked to my side and saw Dani and her friend, Taylor, sitting on the bleachers. I hissed in pain and slapped away hands trying to help me up. I got to my feet and checked myself, just bruises and a scrap on my cheek. I was going really fast, I was surprised I hadn’t broken my wrist, I had landed on that first. I held up the flag, and pointed to Sam.

“You’re out,” I said, and threw his flag down, and walked back to the middle of the field. Sam walked off the field, and we were up against 2 more boys that were after our football.

We played again, and I showed off a bit, running faster, working harder, showing Dani that I wasn’t just the dirt beneath her shoes. Why I even cared what she thought was beyond me.

Once we were done, I was panting and covered in dirt, though the dirt was easily removed with a simple brush of my hands. Dani and Taylor were leaving, but of course, Taylor had to say something about me being a butch bitch.

I glared, and in my bare feet, walked over to her, and took a fist full of her hair and yanked, hard. She squealed in pain and I brought her face down and kneed her roughly in the face, then threw her to the ground, ruining her pair of jeans with a grass stain. She was bawling her eyes out from the pain and Dani looked as if she didn’t know what to do. So, she decided on slapping me across the face. I stared at her, and Taylor got up from off the ground. She pounced at me and clawed at my face, throat and arms. I rolled us, so that Taylor was on her back. I trapped her arms under my knees, so she was defenseless. I glared down at her, and by now, not only was Dani watching with a gaping mouth, but so were the five boys, not sure if they should pull me off or encourage it.

“Listen to me, you selfish snobbish bitch,” I began, wiping blood away from my cheek, where her nails had caught me. “All I want is to go through my day, be antisocial and smoke cigarettes, and if you keep fucking that up, I’m going to shave off your head of hair. I’m sure that’s the only thing you have thats important to you, since people aren’t a significantly important thing in your mind.” I growled, and she didn’t respond, but her face was contorted in pain, so my knees must be going the job of bruising her arms, like I thought they would.

I got up and stepped back, and Dani helped her up quickly.

“See you in History,” I said to Dani, going over to slip on my socks, boots, and my hoodie. I laid down the bleachers, and dozed off. I woke up when a bell rang, but I didn’t know what time it was or what period it was. I looked at the digital clock on the score board at the end of the football field and yawned, it was my last period, it just started. History with Dani. I thought about skipping that class too, but thought against it, and gathered myself enough to go into the school. Before I did however, I had half of a cigarette, calming my nerves before I faced Medusa.

I walked into the room and all eyes were on me. The history teacher, Mr. Wallen, didn’t seem to care however, just motioned for me to take a seat.

“Today, my lovely students, we will be starting a project on the Civil war. You will be paired up and create a booklet, a poster and an essay on what happened during the war, who won and why, and what could’ve happened.” He said with a smirk. Several students groaned, but the excitement of choosing your own partner was fresh in the air.

“I will be choosing your partners for you,” he said, instantly dampening the mood in the room. That was apparently a big thing, working with your friends, and since Mr. Wallen was choosing the partners, there was no more excitement about the project. It was the Civil war, why should there be any excitement about it?

He began to read the list of partners, and when he got to my name, my heart fell to the floor.

“Sandy Jones will be partnered with Dani Worthington.”

We locked eyes and I knew it was going to be interesting.

We just don’t work good together, fire and ice, oil and water, he was setting us up for war.