Wrecking Ball

Charlotte parked her car in the student parking lot outside Mountain Pointe and rolled her eyes as Cassidy slammed the door as she got out. As if Mondays weren’t bad enough, Cassidy was still mad at Charlotte for not defending her more the day before and had given her sister the silent treatment the entire ride to school. Charlotte thought she was being overdramatic as usual but knew better than to tell her.

Charlotte got out of the car and locked the door as she followed her sister’s retreating figure into the building. She walked towards her locker and began making a mental to-do list of everything she needed to accomplish this week. She had to have to-do lists to keep herself sane. Charlotte was incredibly busy between school, tennis, and the three clubs she was in and would forget to do something if she didn’t have a list of everything she needed to accomplish. Charlotte hated to let people down; in her eyes letting people down was unacceptable. Even more unacceptable was letting herself down, so she made to-do lists to make sure everything got done and no one was let down.

Charlotte did her locker combination and quickly grabbed a notebook after she opened the door so she could begin writing her list down before she forgot something.

“Stop making to-do lists and have some fun. It’s your senior year for crying out loud,” A voice said from behind her.

Charlotte turned around and saw her best friend Madelyn, who also happened to be Eric’s cousin, standing behind her. Madelyn and Charlotte had made Eric cry numerous times throughout the years. Eric would deny that they had ever made him cry but he was just trying to save face. He didn’t want to admit that two girls had made him cry because they wouldn’t let him play with them when the three of them were five years old.

Charlotte rolled her eyes, “As if you’re one to talk. You’re almost as bad as I am.”

“Yes but almost is the key word,” Madelyn smirked. “I stop studying every once and a while to have some fun.”

“I’ll have fun once I get into Northwestern. Plus I did go to a party Friday so you can shut up about me always studying.”

“First of all, you’ll get into Northwestern, no problem. Secondly, you went to a party?!”

Charlotte nodded. “Yeah, your idiot of a cousin had his car taken away again for speeding so I took him and Cassidy to the Kirch’s party.”

Madelyn smiled. “Dang it, of course my parent would make us have a family night the one time you go to a party… so did you have fun?”

“No, everyone was either drunk or desperately trying to get it in with someone. Plus, John wouldn’t stop hitting on me.”

“John? Like John O’Callaghan? He’s attractive.”

“Seriously Mads? Attractive is not a word I would use to describe John. I think annoying or arrogant is a much better fit. Anyway, I thought you were in love with Kennedy.”

“I am, but that boy won’t make a move,” Madelyn sighed. “We’ve been talking and flirting for a while and I keep waiting for him to take it further but he won’t. You can’t deny that John’s attractive though.”

Charlotte groaned. “Fine, he’s attractive. Happy now?”

“Yes. I love when you admit I’m right.”

“I’m not going to date him though.”

“Who aren’t you going to date? I know you couldn’t possibly be talking about me,” Eric said as he came up to the two girls.

“We’re just talking about your best friend hitting on my best friend,” Madelyn informed him. “You need to keep your friends on a leash.”

“I have no control over my friends,” Eric said.

“We know. You barely have control over yourself,” Charlotte laughed.

“That’s not nice Charlie J,” Eric pouted.

“Aww, is poor baby Eric going to cry again?” Madelyn mocked and burst out laughing as Eric flipped her off.

“That was thirteen years ago. Can you guys just forget about it already?” Eric asked.

“Nope,” Madelyn shook her head. “I like knowing that I can blackmail you whenever I want.”

“I hate you two,” Eric said as he turned around and started towards his classroom.

“You love us,” Charlotte yelled after him.

The warning bell rang and Charlotte quickly grabbed her book before following Madelyn to their classroom. Madelyn and Charlotte were both taking mostly AP classes this year along with being in the top ten of their class. Charlotte was currently Valedictorian while Madelyn was number six. Even though Charlotte was currently number one she knew she couldn’t slack off. Thomas McKay, the salutatorian, was close behind her and she didn’t want to lose her spot. Her biggest worry was that Northwestern, her dream school since she was ten, would reject her if she fell to second.

In all honesty Charlotte just wanted to get out of Tempe. She had gone to school with the same people since kindergarten and knew almost everyone in town. She felt as if Tempe was suffocating her and Northwestern was the perfect escape since it was located in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. If Northwestern rejected her she would probably be stuck going to ASU and that thought scared her. The thought of moving all the way to Illinois also scared her, she knew she’d miss her friends and family, but she saw college as her one chance to escape the confines of Tempe.

Charlotte made it through the day without much excitement until after the last bell of the day rang. She was standing at her locker organizing everything she needed to bring home when John showed up by her locker. Bothering her at the party obviously wasn’t enough for him.

“Hello Charlotte. How was your day?” John asked as he leaned against the lockers next to hers.

“It was fine,” she answered as she gave John a wary look.

“You know this is the part where you usually ask me how my day was. Isn’t that the polite thing to do? I mean everyone always talks about how nice you are.”

“I usually am nice but if I ask you how your day was you’ll answer which means you’ll stick around longer,” she said slamming her locker shut before she began walking towards the front doors of the school. She was hoping John would take the hint to leave but instead he followed her.

Charlotte glanced over at John as they continued walking. “Aren’t you going to grab your book bag?”

“Nope, I don’t need it.”

“Are you not going to do your homework?”

“I don’t believe in homework,” John smirked.

Charlotte rolled my eyes. “Of course you don’t.”

They had walked through the doors by this point and were outside. Charlotte could see her car from where they were standing and saw Cassidy waiting by it. She figured this was her chance to get rid of John.

“Well it was nice talking to you John but I have to go,” she said as she started to turn away. John was too quick for her though. He reached out and grabbed her arm to pull her back towards him.

“Actually Charlotte, there was something I wanted to talk to you about. The baseball team is doing a fundraiser and,”

“Why are you guys doing a fundraiser? It’s only the beginning of September and baseball season isn’t until the spring,” she interrupted.

“We want new uniforms this year so we’re getting an early start on raising money. Anyway, each guy is selling raffle tickets and on Friday we’re having a drawing. They’ll draw names and the winners get to go on dates with the guy they bought tickets from.”

“Oh, so you guys are whoring yourselves out to raise money?”

“We’re not whoring ourselves out. The tickets say that the baseball players are not required to do anything physical with their dates.”

“Whatever. So why are you telling me about this?” Charlotte questioned.

“Well I figured you’d want to buy a ticket from me,” John smirked.

“I think I’ll pass.”

“Charlotte,” John started but he was interrupted by Macy Jenkins running up to him.

“John, I’ve been looking for you all day! I want to buy one of your tickets,” Macy gushed and Charlotte rolled her eyes.

“Of course, Macy. Here you go. Good luck. Hope you win,” John easily smiled as he handed Macy her ticket stub and took her money. Charlotte had to admit that he was a charmer but there was no way she was going to fall victim to his spell.

“I’m down to my last ticket, Char. You better buy it before someone else does,” John said as he waved the ticket in her face.

“That’s okay. Anyway I just heard you tell Macy that you hope she wins. I wouldn’t want to disappoint you if I win instead of her.”

“Believe me, Macy Jenkins is the last person I want winning.”

“Why? She’s ditzy and has big boobs, just your type.”

“I already went out on a date with her last year and one date was enough,” John grimaced. “You’re the one I really want to go with on a date.”

“I’m sure you’ve told that to all the girls who bought your tickets,” she retorted.

“True, but you’re the only one where I really mean it.”

“I still think I’ll have to pass,” she shrugged.

“Support your fellow athlete then. Baseball and tennis are both in the spring so I feel as if we should support each other. If you buy from me I’ll buy from you when tennis has their fundraiser.”

“That’s a weak argument, John. I’m sure you’ll find some other girl to buy your last ticket,” Charlotte said as she finally walked away.

“You’re missing out!” John called after her.

“I’ll survive!” she yelled back.

As soon as she made it to her car Cassidy began interrogating her.

“What were you and John talking about?”

“He wanted me to buy some stupid ticket from him so I could win a date with him.”

“Did you buy one?” Cassidy asked hopefully.

“No,” she replied as she put her car in gear and began driving home.

“Why not?”

“Because going on a date with John O’Callaghan is one of the last things I want to do.”

“I think you should, and anyway, you owe me for getting me in trouble last night.”

“I did not get you in trouble. I tried to help but it didn’t work, end of story. What is your obsession with me going out with John anyway?”

Cassidy shrugged. “I just think you guys would make a cute couple and that you’d be really happy with him.”

“I think you’re delusional.”

“But Charlotte,”

“Cassidy, drop it,” Charlotte demanded.

“I just don’t understand you sometimes,” Cassidy grumbled.

Charlotte ignored her sister and just kept her eyes on the road.

It seemed as if the entire universe was trying to get Charlotte to go out with John O’Callaghan and she was quickly becoming annoyed. There was no way she’d ever go out with him…even if his eyes were an intoxicating shade of green.