Windows of the Soul

Monday mid-morning I slammed my locker shut, groaning inside at the thought of the remainder of school. I dumped my History, Art, and English notebooks in my locker and pulled out Algebra and Biology. Nothing was happening in any of my classes, so I was utterly bored. Well, besides Algebra. We were taking notes, and I was really confused.

“Why are you so upset?” Penny asked, taking my side.

“I’m not,” I said defensively. I was hoping I didn’t look upset. Not wanting to be a pushy girlfriend - was it girlfriend? I honestly didn’t know - I didn’t call Jace on Saturday or Sunday, and he hadn’t called me. I thought we really connected, but maybe I was wrong. I didn’t know. He also wasn’t in any of my morning classes; Study Hall was a bust, I don’t have History with him, he wasn’t in Art, and English we were in separate rooms, planning a presentation, so I didn’t get to see if he had made it to school or not yet. Maybe he was sick?

“You can’t lie from me, girl. I know all your secrets,” Penny laughed. I glanced at her and said, “Like what?”

“I know when you were in seventh grade at Amanda’s sleepover you were laughing so hard you peed,” Penny shot back. Instantly my face reddened, and I looked around to see if anyone heard that.

“Quiet down!” I hissed. “I don’t want everyone to know.” Penny erupted into a fit of giggles, so I pulled her to the side and said, “In my defense, Amanda had a very funny impersonation.”

“Apparently it was funny enough to make you wet yourself.” Penny finished laughing then said, “Well, I gotta go to Home Ec.” Penny’s Algebra class was while I took Art, and she had Home Economics when I have math. We had all the rest of our classes together, though, and I was eternally thankful for having gym seventh period with her.

“See ya,” I said. As I was walking towards the Algebra room Bel approached me. I so couldn’t handle this right now.

“What is it?” I asked before she stopped in front of me. She looked me up and down; I self-consciously looked at my worn light-gray jeans, brown, rust-colored flats with leather bows on top, and the purple, flutter-sleeved purple short-sleeved shirt I was wearing. I looked at Bel’s get-up: a tight black skirt that hit way above the standard fingertip-length dress code requirement, a low-cut grey long-sleeved shirt that showed way to much cleavage, and sky-high stilettos. Who wore this stuff?

“Glad to know you broke up with Drew.” She twirled a piece of her loose black hair around her finger and looked me right in the eye. “Now that’s he’s not with you, though, he’s not as fun to play with. After all, it’s you I like to mess with.” That was new. I always thought her obsession was with Drew, not me. That made things difficult. I thought when I left Drew I left my issues with her.

“Have Drew. He’s yours. At least, he was on that night. Or maybe he was just too drunk to realize he was with a slut like you.” Anger flashed in her eyes.

“Maybe now I’ll just have to go after Jace.” She took a couple of steps until she was next to me and whispered in my ear, “God knows he won’t refuse me.” I turned to look after her, confused. She sauntered the opposite way I was going. I watched as most of the guy’s looks followed her. I wasn’t sure where all of them were looking, but I had a good guess.

Did Bel know something I didn’t? I shook off the feeling and entered Algebra. I scanned the room, and my eyes fell on Jace. Now he gets here. I rushed over to him; luckily we didn’t have assigned seats, so I could sit away from Drew. I didn’t even look in his direction; if he was there, I wasn’t sure.

“Where were you?” I asked. I put my bag on the ground and turned around in my seat. The teacher wasn’t back yet.

“Just a little late.” Jace leaned forward and kissed me lightly on the lips. I smiled at him, everything well again.

“Do you want to come over after school today?” He nodded at the whiteboard. “Looks like we’ll have plenty to do.” Page number and problem after page number and problem dotted the board.

“Sure,” I said. As I turned in my seat Jace whispered in my ear, “That’s not what I want to do, though.” I blushed and pulled out my notebook. I couldn’t wait until later.