28 Things Guys Don't Know

Secret #4: Life was so much easier when boys had cooties

Siri awoke to the annoying sound of her alarm clock going off. She groaned and grabbed her pillow, pulling it over her head to drown out the noise. After a minute or two, she sighed and dragged herself out of bed to get ready for school. She took a shower, got dressed, did her makeup, and grabbed her things for school; all the normal things people do before school. She didn't, however, bother to go up stairs to eat breakfast or say goodbye to her parents before they left for work. She simply walked out the door that lead to the backyard and hopped in her car, making sure to grab her favorite purple notebook before she left the house.

When she arrived at school and reached her locker, it was more crowded than usual and nosier too. She pushed her way through to get to her locker, noticing only then that there was a heated arugment underway. Siri quickly got her things she needed for the morning and shoved them in her backpack. She grabbed her purple notebook remembering it right before she closed her locker. It was the notebook she doodled in, and when she felt up to it wrote poems in. It got filled up quite quickly, so she usually got a new notebook each new semester.

She stood on her toes so she could peer around the crowd to find Kelsey. Kelsey usually brought Siri something to eat since Siri didn't bother to eat before she left the house. Kelsey was standing just across hall, leaning against her own locker, her eyes wide. She was obviously not enjoying this fight. Siri rolled her eyes and pushed her way through more people to get to the center of the ciricle that had formed around the arguing people, Jett and Zane. After a moment, another guy joined in, trying to het Jett and Zane to stop fighting, but to no avail. Siri rolled her eyes and walked towards them. She smacked Jett and Zane as hard as she could with the hardcover purple notebook she had in her hand.

"You're both stupid! Now, stop fighting," she shouted, as it seemed that a certain someone's stupidity was what they were fighting about.

Siri held out her arm for Kelsey, who then linked arms with her. The two began walking away without another word, but a voice called for them to stay.

"Hey!" Zane called. "Where do you think you're going?"

Siri shrugged and said simply, "To class, perhaps."

Zane walked up to her, towering over her small figure, "And you think you can just run along like nothing happened?"

"I sure can try, darling," Siri said, devousily sweet.

Zane's eyes flickered with angrily, "What did you just call me?"

"Darling?" Siri's eyes feigned innocence. "Does that upset you? Does that make you seem girly? That's really odd y'know, coming from a guy who wears nail polish."

Siri's voice turned sharp and bitter at the end of the sentence. She was done playing around. She just wanted to get him out of her hair now. She glared as threateningly as she could from her short height, and he glowered angrily back. They stood there for several moments, as if daring the other to make the first move. As the moments ticked by, the tension built, and Kelsey began to fidget nervously. She stared with wide eyes at Jett , urging him to do something.

Jett sighed and put a hand on Siri’s shoulder. “C’mon,” he said, “Let’s go.”

Siri’s acid gaze shifted to Jett. He met her eyes, not even flinching, and gently led her away. Siri grudgingly turned and walked away with him, Kelsey trailing closely behind.

“What’s wrong, Siri?” Zane taunted. “Are you going to give up just like that?”

Even though Siri must’ve been ready to explode with annoyance, she replied coolly over her shoulder, “No, I’ve just decided to be more mature than a five-year-old and not start a fist fight. Because we all know that such fighting is an immature reaction to discontentment, my dear child.”

Zane narrowed his eyes, but one of his friends, the same one who had tried to stop Jett and Zane from fighting earlier, held him back.

“Let it go,” he told Zane, “It’s not worth it.”

Zane roughly shook his friend’s hand off of him and stalked away irritably. Siri rolled her eyes. This was a horrible way to start the day.
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“Ew, what is this?” Siri asked in disgust, poking the gelatinous mass on her plate with her fork. She stuck her tongue out and dropped her fork, pushing her tray away.

Kelsey giggled, “I think that’s supposed to be macaroni and cheese.”

“Well, it’s disgusting,” Siri made a face. “I’m not eating this junk.”

“You have to eat something,” Kelsey said. “You’ll starve.”

Siri sighed and grabbed her brownie off of her tray. Dessert was the only thing the lunch ladies could make well. The two continued to eat their lunch in a companionable silence until a familiar voice interrupted them.

“Mind if we sit with you today?”

Siri and Kelsey looked up to find Jett and that guy who’d stopped the fights earlier that morning standing by the table. The guy with Jett had straight black hair and amber colored eyes. His skin was quite pale, and the hood of his black hoodie was pulled up over his head. They each had a tray of food and were looking at the girls expectantly.

Siri rolled her eyes and turned back to her food, uninterested, but Kelsey smiled kindly and said, “Sure. Just sit wherever.”

Kelsey leaned across the table and whispered to Siri, “Be nice.”

“Yes, mommy,” Siri mocked.

Jett raised an eyebrow as he sat down at the table, “‘Mommy’?”

Kelsey giggled and explained, “Her parents don’t really look out for her, so I do. I always kind of have. I keep her out of trouble, for the most part. So, she calls me her ‘teen mom’.”

Siri stuck her tongue out at Kelsey and looked across the table at Kelsey’s tray. “Can I have your muffin?” she asked.

Kelsey sighed, “I guess.”

“Yay,” Siri cheered, grabbing the muffin. “Thank you, my darling.”

Kelsey smiled. She turned to the other guy who sat down with Jett. “You’re Reese, right?” she greeted. “I think I have fifth period History with you.”

“Oh, yeah, you’re,” Reese thought for a moment, “Kelsey.”

“Yeah,” Kelsey nodded. “Did Zane kick the two of you out of your usual table?”

Reese chuckled, “Yeah. He’s a little mad about this morning.”

“He thinks we stood up for Siri too much,” Jett added.

Siri rolled her eyes, “That’s so stupid and immature. Zane really needs to just grow up.”

Kelsey nodded in agreement, “He hates basically anyone who associates with us.”

“I know,” Siri said. “It’s pathetic. I have no idea how he stays so popular.”

“He comes from just about the richest family in town,” Kelsey pointed out. “Of course people like him.”

Siri sighed, “People are so materialistic these days.”

Kelsey chuckled. “And you’re not?”

“Of course not,” Siri said innocently.

Kelsey laughed at Siri’s tone. “Oh,” she said suddenly, turning to dig through her backpack. “I burned the CD you wanted.”

She pulled out a thin CD case with a shiny CD in it. She handed it across the table to Siri.

“Ooh,” Siri smiled. “Thanks. I’ll put the songs on my iPod tonight so we’ll be able to listen to them on your speakers tomorrow.”

Siri grabbed the CD and stuck it in her backpack. She turned back to the table and took a bite of the muffin Kelsey gave her.

“So,” Siri said, her eyes scanning around the table. “Is this lunch table going to be a permanent thing?”

Jett shrugged and looked at Reese. “I’ll probably be sitting with you guys from now on since Zane pretty much hates me for asking you out,” Jett told Siri.

“I’ll probably keep sitting here too,” Reese said, glancing over at Kelsey and smiling softly.

Kelsey smiled shyly back and blushed ever so slightly. Kelsey was the type of girl who rarely blushed at all. She obviously had something of a crush on Reese, and it seemed like he might like her as well.

“Well, well, then,” Siri raised an eyebrow. “This could be interesting.”
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