How to Date Alexis Brighten

I couldn’t stop thinking about the list as I made my way to the cafeteria for lunch. I’d stuffed it into the front pocket of my jeans, and with every step I took, I felt it there. It was like a burning reminder of all my imperfections. I couldn’t even consider the Pros list for one second. All the Cons had been so irritatingly accurate and insulting at the same time.

I wondered who would take the time to write down such demeaning things about me. Why would they do such a thing? Why was it even worth the effort? It wasn’t, really, at all. This just left me even more confused.

“Alexis!” I heard Lacey call out. “Over here!”

My eyes searched the room for her and I spotted her on the other side, seated at a table in front of the huge windows with Amelia and Melody. We always got one of the tables in front of the windows. The windows spanned from the roof to the ceiling and overlooked the green lawns at the front of the school. It was easily the best spot in the cafeteria and only the popular kids got to sit there. Everybody else was too scared to challenge their dominance.

I weaved my way through the tables until I reached the girls and placed my backpack on top of our table. Melody and Amelia were busily talking to each other and Lacey was texting. I pretended I didn’t care that they were all too busy to notice my presence straight away and sat down next to Lacey. I looked over at her, but her face was obscured from by vision by her choppy blonde hair.

She’d just recently had it cut so that it hung just above her shoulders and she was extremely proud of it. She’d said that she needed a ‘new look’ because her previously long hair was ‘boring’. I wondered what this said about me, as my dark brown hair hung in loose waves almost all the way down to the centre of my back.

Did Lacey think my hairstyle was boring? I told myself that I didn’t care if she did, which was a complete lie. Especially after the list I’d found had so perfectly pointed out more things to hate about myself. I sighed and retrieved the compact mirror from my bag, flipping it open to scrutinise my face.

I peered into the small, circular mirror and frowned. My hazel eyes were average, my cheeks a little too rounded for my liking. My lips were too big and I hated my nose. My eyelashes were too long and my earlobes were weird. I attempted a smile, but it came out as a grimace, revealing the slight gap inbetween my front teeth. I snapped the compact shut and shoved it back into my bag. I only felt worse about myself.

“What’s wrong with you?” Lacey’s accusatory tone cut through my thoughts of self-loathing.

“Nothing,” I muttered, uncrossing my arms in an attempt to appear less agitated.

“If you say so,” Lacey sighed. Her phone buzzed on the table and she picked it up excitedly.

“Oh, hey Alexis,” Amelia said. I stared across the table at her. She was lazily inspecting her nails.

“Hey,” I nodded curtly. I was trying my best to pleasant, but it was extremely difficult, considering how ignorant my friends were being.

“How was your Spanish double?” Melody offered to the conversation.

“Terrible,” I admitted. “I had to sit next to Daniel Harper and I kept messing up.”

“That’s too bad,” Melody offered unsympathetically. I almost scowled at her, but restrained myself at the last minute. I didn’t want to start a fight. Melody was pretty, certainly far more attractive that I was, in my opinion, with her pretty auburn hair and pale brown eyes. Melody always insisted that she hated the light splattering of freckles across her face and covered them with inches of makeup, but I thought her freckles suited her.

Amelia played with the salad on her plate, shifting it around with her fork.

“This is vile,” she said, pushing the plate away from her. Amelia had been trying to ‘broaden her vocabulary’ lately, to impress the new exchange student from London, but she hardly needed a few new words to make him take notice of her. He was just as shallow as any American boy, so of course he would’ve noticed Amelia by now. She was a pretty blonde, with vibrant blue eyes and skin that appeared as though it were porcelain. She wore two much eye makeup, but still looked pretty nonetheless.

I mentally slapped myself as I thought this about her. I was being so judgemental, and hadn’t that been one of the things mentioned on the Cons list? I hated the person that had written it for being so right, even though I still had no idea who they were.

“How can salad be vile?” I asked Amelia now.

“I can so tell it’s not fresh,” Amelia complained.

I sighed and pushed out from the table.

“Where’re you going?” Amelia asked.

“To get something to eat. Want me to throw that out?” I offered, reaching for her tray.

“Sure. Thanks, Alexis,” she said, almost sounding grateful.

I picked up her tray and walked over to the trash, dumping the salad and placing the tray back on the rack above it. I then walked over to join the line at the counter. People started to move out of my way and I was let into the front of the line. I wasn’t marvelled by this, like I should have been. It was just what everyone had always done. When I needed to get somewhere, people moved out of the way. That was just the way it was.

The middle-aged woman on the other side of the counter loaded up my plate with lasagne at my request, moving the tray along to where the next woman asked me what desert I would like. I declined any offers of desert, knowing full-well that the lasagne contained enough fat and sugars on its own. I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and placed it on my tray as the cashier rang it all up. I handed her a ten and told her to keep the change as I picked up my tray and walked cautiously back to where my friends were sitting.

I managed to make it back to the table without dropping anything, which was completely amazing to me. I could be so clumsy sometimes.

“That looks good,” Amelia commented once I put my tray down on the table. I uncapped my bottle and took a sip of water, before placing it back down on the table.

“Don’t even think about it, Mia. You already turned down your salad. This is mine,” I joked with her, a genuine smile spreading across my face.

“Aw, c’mon! Just one bite?” Amelia asked me.

I sighed and pushed the tray towards her. She smiled and loaded up her fork. I couldn’t just say no to Amelia. She was my friend, and apparently, friends shared food.

“This is to die for,” she commented, attacking the lasagne with her fork for a second time.

“Just have it,” I said, standing up and picking up my backpack in one hand, slinging it over my shoulder.

“Where’re you going?” Melody asked me absent-mindedly.

“I’ll see you guys around,” I said in leaving, purposely ignoring Melody’s question.

“Bye, Alexis,” Amelia called after me.

“See you later,” Melody offered.

Lacey never looked up from her phone.

______

I didn’t really know where I was going; I was just walking around for the hell of it. I ended up in the aquatic centre, sitting on one of the benches beside the pool. The strong smell of chlorine reminded me of Daniel, and I scowled as I recalled his behaviour in Spanish earlier. I kicked off my heeled shoes and rolled up my jeans, before making my way over to the edge of the pool.

I dangled my legs in the cool water and leant back on my hands, closing my eyes to relax for a moment alone. It felt good to sit in the large room by myself. It was refreshing to hear nothing but the gentle lapping of the water against the tiles. The silence was almost soothing and I found myself forgetting what I had been so stressed about earlier.

I was broken out of my trance when water was suddenly splattered all over me. My eyes flicked open and I quickly scrambled away from the edge of the pool. I looked down at my pale pink silk top, that was now covered with water. I squealed and frantically tried to pat it dry, but it was no use. My top was definitely ruined.

I looked over at the pool in search of the culprit. Daniel’s head popped out of the water and he swam over to the edge.

“You jerk!” I screamed at him. “You’ve ruined my top!”

His eyes crinkled at the corners as he laughed out loud.

“Perdón,” he said in a perfect Spanish accent. I scowled at him before picking up my shoes and bag and stomping out of there.

“Hey! Where are you going?” Daniel called after me.

“Away from you!” I yelled back at him.

His obnoxious laughter echoed around the high-ceilings as I marched out the double doors.