Wonderful

~~~
Nothing much happens after Stevie’s very strange lunch hour. English and Economics pass just as any other day. Her day is turning out to be quite uneventful until her last period.

Journalism had always been her least favorite class.

Really, the name “Journalism” is an apt title for the class, Stevie guesses, but it sounds too formal. The entire period is dedicated to churning out the school newspaper week after week. It’s busy and loud and not all the work gets done in the forty-five minutes they’re there. The staff completes half the work and Stevie stays after school and finishes after her Student Council and Model UN meetings.

That’s not why she hates it, though. She likes the work, she likes the responsibility. The problem comes from her staff. Well, not all her staff, just.

Just two particular members.

Stevie walks into the Journalism room to find absolutely none of her classmates working. Not only that, the lights are dim, there’s loud music playing, and most of them are dancing.

This is not the thing that is ever allowed under her watch. It is completely unacceptable.

A chorus of annoyed hey’s and groans erupt as Stevie turns on the lights. The noise is cut short as soon as they take one look at her. The music stops abruptly.

“What is going on here?” she asks no one in particular. “Where’s Mrs. Golsby?”

“With Mister Golsby,” comes a familiar and dreaded voice from the crowd. Natalia Guzman emerges from the crowd and saunters - yup, saunters - toward Stevie, her best friend, Freddie Blum. “His blood sugar’s a little low and she was worried about him. You know how Mrs. Golsby is.”

If a person didn’t know better, they’d probably think Natalia and Freddie to be siblings. They both have brown hair and eyes of a light shade of brown. Besides that, they’re always together. Like conjoined and very annoying twins. But Freddie has very curly hair that’s always styled with at least one jar of hair gel and is pale as a ghost, and Natalia’s got a sleek and straight head of hair she lets loose all the time that goes really well with her perma-tan.

“Okay, now answer my first question,” Stevie says, surprisingly calm in a situation that would usually make her bite Natalia’s head off. “What is going on here?”

“We’re having a party,” Freddie says, matter-of-fact. “We ordered some pizza, so that should arrive in, what, twenty more minutes?”

“I don’t understand,” Stevie says, honestly confused. “Why aren’t you working?”

“Because,” Natalia intervenes, “we haven’t had one free day in this class since the beginning of the year, thanks to you. We didn’t even have a Christmas party.”

“We have a deadline, Natalia. We can’t just take breaks all willy nilly.” She addresses the rest of the class. “Am I the only one who gets that?”

“Oh come on, Stevie,” Natalia says, dragging the “on” for longer than necessary. “You owe us a Christmas party.”

“Half of this staff is Jewish,” Stevie deadpans. “Besides, we have to have a new issue by Friday-”

“We do not,” Natalia says, dragging Stevie to a chair. “Nobody reads the paper anyway.”

“Oh, that’s not-”

Natalia and Freddie give her a look.

The weird thing, though, is that Stevie doesn’t really care. Usually, she’d shut them up with a withering glare and a “Get to work” but today... today is a weird day.

“Fine,” Stevie sighs. “Just keep it down, okay?”

“Wait, what?” Natalia, Freddie, and the rest of the class say in unison.

Stevie rolls her eyes. Is it really that shocking that she’s on board? The answer is yes, but it’s still annoying. “You can have your party. But you are all staying after school tomorrow to do some work.”

“Hold on,” Natalia says, sitting down next to Stevie. “What?”

“You can have your-”

“No, no,” she says, holding a finger up. “Why?”

“Yeah, you didn’t even put up a fight,” says Freddie. “We had a speech prepared and everything.”

“Would it make you feel better if I did put up a fight?” Stevie says, smirking.

“What is that?” Freddie mutters. “Is that a... Nat, I think that was a smile.”

“Shit, I think you’re right,” Natalia says, looking closely at Stevie’s face. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile before.”

“I’m going to the library,” Stevie says, standing up. “You can just - party or whatever. I won’t bother you.”

“No, no,” Natalie says, pulling her down. “You’re partying with us today. This is probably the only time that we’ll get you this relaxed. You’re not getting away that easy.”

“Hold on a second,” Stevie says, pulling back from Natalia. “I can shut this party down at any second. Let me go or else I’ll-”

“Oh my God, stop,” Freddie says. “Like, what’s wrong with you?”


“What makes you think you can talk to me like that,” Stevie finally snaps. “I’m letting you have this party, okay? You win this one; I’m not fighting you. Now, please-”


“You can’t just expect us to let you go after finally finding out you’re not a robot,” Natalia says, “This is the single most important moment of our young lives.”

Stevie gives her a look.

“Okay, maybe not,” Natalia says. “But this is the beginning of something beautiful.”

They can’t actually mean...

“Wait...” Stevie mutters.

“Stevie...” Freddie says, leaning down beside Natalia.

“Consider us,” Natalia says, a deadly smugness in her voice, “your newest friends.”

“Oh, no.”