How to Date Alexis Brighten

I sighed as I walked into the school hallway and was immediately met by my group of friends. I forced a smile as they all started to talk at me at once. This was something that came with the territory. I had to pretend I cared, because people expected that from me.

“Alexis, do you think we can meet up for Lunch today?” I heard Lacey ask me.

“Uh, sure,” I said with a flick of my wrist. It had the desired affect and I watched as she hurried off to class.

“See you later!” she called out as she scurried up the hallway.

The other girls chatted excitedly amongst themselves as they all followed behind me. I tuned out their constant chatter as I made my way for my locker, spinning the combination lock and cracking the door open.

I retrieved my Spanish text book and closed my locker, turning to face the girls. They were nice enough, really, but there were times when I just wanted to be left alone. I’d already been labelled as the school bitch and I knew it, so why not act like it?

Because there was something in me that wanted to prove them all wrong. I was approachable, mostly. I was super-friendly. The only problem was, people always took that the wrong way, especially guys. The minute I even said ‘hello’ to them, they assumed that I wanted to have sex with them. It was completely ridiculous and I had absolutely no idea how their minds worked. Obviously, not much.

The girls in front of me said their goodbye's and started to scatter as they made their way to their own classes, and I tightened my grip on my backpack, hitching it further up my shoulder. As I walked down the halls at my own pace, I saw the people looking in my direction. They made no secret of it and openly stared as I passed. It was something you never really got used to. Lacey always said how awesome it must be, how it would be like being famous.

I suppose it was, in a way, but being stared at all day didn’t exactly give you a huge confidence boost like you thought it was. I was constantly thinking about what they were staring at. Did they notice the zit I’d gotten that morning but had managed to cover with makeup? Did they see the slight gap in my front teeth? Did they see me slightly stumble in my high-heels before regaining my composure? Did they know how self-conscious I really was?

That was just it. They didn’t. Lacey once openly admitted that she wished she were me. She told me that most of the girls in our school felt that way. But why would they want to be like me? Lacey had said that it was obvious, but I failed to see my appeal, apart from maybe my looks. I had nothing else going for me, really, and I still wondered why people bothered to befriend me at all.

I groaned to myself as I walked through the classroom door for Spanish. It frustrated me to no end because it was the only class I wasn’t any good at. My parents expected me to get good grades. They wanted me to go to College. My Mum was constantly pressuring me to study, but I just wanted everything to slow down. My final year of high school was going much too quickly and I knew that I wasn’t ready to leave yet.

“Miss Brighten, so nice of you to grace us with your presence,” Mr. Varner said.

I sighed and looked around the classroom, noticing that there was only one seat left. I made my way towards the back of the room to sit next to Daniel Harper. He was completely arrogant and always smelt of chlorine because he was on the swim team. I crinkled my nose as I sat next to him and the smell of chlorine invaded my nostrils.

“Don’t you ever shower?” I whispered fiercely, angling my seat so I could sit as far away from him as possible that the small desk would allow. He stared at me with a smirk on his face and I frowned, turning to face the front of the room where Mr. Varner was discussing verbs.

“Alexis! You can start us off by reading the first passage on page thirty-two,” he said, flipping to the page in his own book.

I found the page and struggled with the reading, stumbling over my words like an idiot. Daniel sniggered beside me every time I messed up and it took all of my will power not to jab him in the ribs with my elbow. When I finally finished reading, Mr. Varner moved on to torture the next Spanish victim and I fixed Daniel with a glare.

“Don’t. Even.” I warned him.

“Don’t even what?” he asked, the face of innocence.

I gnashed my teeth in frustration and blew my bangs out of my face. I couldn’t wait for this class to be over. The double session dragged on for what seemed like forever and when it came for Daniel’s turn to read, he recited the lines perfectly, without a hitch, accent and all.

If he weren’t so arrogant, maybe I’d be impressed. But the smirk never left his lips and I found myself wanting to slap it right off myself. Thankfully, the bell sounded and I pushed out of my chair, planning to leave in a hurry. The only problem was, in my hurry to escape, I’d managed to topple all my books over the top of the desk and onto the floor. I rolled my eyes and dropped to my knees to retrieve them, piling them on top of my folder.

I noticed that Daniel didn’t bother to help me at all. He simply chuckled at my clumsiness and left without another word. Any other guy would have had the decency to help me. Any other guy would’ve asked if he could carry my books for me to my next class, but not Daniel.

His arrogance annoyed me more than anything else. I’d known him since middle school, and hated him since middle school. No one could irritate me more than Daniel, and I hated the way he enjoyed getting under my skin. His smirk was ever present, his scent always invading. I wanted nothing more than to forget him, but he was in half of my classes and he always managed to point out my flaws at every open opportunity.

I finished gathering my books and straightened up, heading out of the classroom to go back to my locker. Because I’d dropped my books, I was the last one out of the classroom and I was running late. The halls were a mess of students and I knew that I would most likely gain a few bruises on the journey to my locker. I stood in the doorway to the classroom as I looked out for an opening in the crowd to slip into.

I saw my chance and ran, slipping into the crowd effortlessly. Even if I stopped walking altogether and just stood there, I’d be moved along by the crowd whether I liked it or not. I clutched my books tightly to my chest and quickened my pace, weaving my way through the bodies.

Suddenly, there was a large break in the crowd as someone fell to the ground. People stopped walking to stare, but I couldn’t see past anyone to catch a glimpse of the person that had stumbled. They must have righted themselves, because the crowd started up again. As I reached the spot where the person must have fallen, I saw a folded piece of paper on the ground. I bent quickly to pick it up and held it in my hand before continuing on my way.

When I reached my locker, I put my books inside before unfolding the piece of paper. I was immediately shocked at what I saw.

Alexis Brighten: Pros and Cons

Pros -
1. Pretty
2. Can talk to you about anything
3. Honest
4. Reliable
5. Really into music
6. Good with advice
7. Her smile
8. Smart
9. Confident
10. Funny

Cons -

1. Impatient
2. Annoying
3. Judgemental
4. Arrogant
5. Talks too much
6. Shallow
7. Over thinks things
8. Only makes time for her friends and ignores everyone else
9. Know-it-all
10. Doesn’t listen

I frowned as I read through the Cons list again. Were all these things about me really true? If so, who would write it down? And why didn’t they have the guts to just say it to my face? I knew that I could be hard to get along with, but there was no need for them to be so harsh. I had my reasons for being distant at times, reasons that this person obviously had no idea about.

I had no idea who had written the list or why, but I was going to find out.