Rags to Riches

"So do you like school?"

I had been interrogating Kenny since we sat down at our table and ordered food. We both looked pretty awful, but I had managed to put on a little lip gloss and fix Kenny's hair for him before we left. We didn't exactly look like royalty, but at least we didn't look homeless. Kenny had been pretty good about listening to me though per usual, I just couldn't shut the hell up.

"It's okay," he shrugged. "I don't know, I'm a pretty good student for the most part."

"Yeah, but do you like it?" I pressed. "Like your friends and stuff.”

He kind of just played with the hash browns on his plate, a look on his face that I couldn't quite read. "My friends are... Well, it's different. They won't come out for breakfast like this with me."

He gave me a half smile and went back to picking at his food, eventually abandoning his fork and just sipping at his tea. I didn’t eat much, either. I normally skipped breakfast or grabbed a granola bar on my way out the door, so the big bacon and eggs dinner really only made me feel sick and too full. I kicked my feet a bit, trying not to pester him with more questions, but I couldn’t really help it. I was just very, very curious.

“So, what’s your type?” I asked.

“My type?”

“Yeah, like the type of person you’re attracted to,” I explained.

He shifted uncomfortably a bit, but I pretended not to notice. I really did want to know. It seemed like the closer I tried to get to him, the more he pushed away or got nervous. And yet, he’d never give me the clear answer I wanted: Whether or not he liked me the way I found that I liked him.

“I’m not really sure what my type is,” he shrugged.

“Sure you do, there’s a certain kind of girl you’ve gravitated towards when it comes to dating and stuff, isn’t there?” I said. “Come on, you know I’m not going to let you be this shy.”

“Yeah, I guess,” he muttered, thinking for a moment. “Honestly, none of the girls I’ve really known have been the sort of people I was interested in being in a long term relationship with. I mean, yeah, there were some things going on here and there, but nothing too serious.”

“Girls like… me, maybe?” I asked, lowering my voice a little bit so he might start catching my hints.

“Girl like you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, a girl like me,” I nodded.

“Gosh, I’d date a girl like you in a heartbeat,” he smirked. “I don’t even think I’d think about it first.”

“Really?” I said, perking up a bit.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “It sucks, since girls like you are way, way out of my league. It’s nice to think about though.”

And there it was. Kenny being totally clueless again. If there wasn’t food in front of me, I probably would have face-desked. I gave him a look, and he frowned.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing,” I sighed. “You just overthink things. A lot. Anyways, it’s getting late. We should grab the check.”

Kenny still seemed really confused as I waved over the waiter and paid the bill, obviously unsure of what he had said that was so wrong. He still seemed like he was trying to figure it out as I directed him towards my school. Poor Kenny. Poor, clueless Kenny.

When he pulled up to the curb in front of my school, he seemed pretty shocked, looking out the window at the campus. There were some students floating around, chatting away as they waited for class to start. Some stared at me and Kenny, not so much because I looked like hell, but because a boy was dropping me off at school.

“This is a school?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I nodded, pulling my hair back into a tight bun to hide how frizzy it was.

“There is a lot of… estrogen…”

“Kenny, it’s an all-girls school,” I told him, giving him a weird look. “What did you think?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I just didn’t think it would look like a Britney Spears music video. If that music video took place at a military base.”

“That was probably the most accurate description of Rothenberg Prep I’ve ever heard,” I laughed, grabbing my things out of the back seat and getting out of the car.

I moved over to the driver’s side, opening the door so I didn’t have to talk to Kenny through the window like a hooker.

“Well, I guess this is it,” he said, eyes still flitting around the school. “I’ll see you later, I guess.”

“I was thinking,” I started hesitantly, “Maybe, when you’re done at TechNet later today, we could hang out again. Maybe go somewhere?”

“Go somewhere?”

“Yeah, anywhere,” I shrugged. “Something fun, you know? It’s Friday. We could go to a museum or an aquarium or something.”

He gave me a confused look when I brought up my date ideas, which I realized may have been boring as hell to someone who didn’t take as much of an interest in it as I did.

“Or, anywhere, really,” I said quickly. “If those places are lame…”

“No aquariums are great,” he said, surprising me. “It’s peaceful, dark, quiet, and overall-”

“-an amazing stress reliever?” I finished.

“Yeah, a stress reliever,” he said, laughing at my enthusiasm. “Sure, why not? Let’s go to the aquarium.”

“Sounds good,” I grinned.

I was about to just walked away, but decided to brave another step towards him to pull him down and kiss him goodbye. I could tell how surprised he was from the way he tensed up at first, but he didn’t pull away from me. I lingered there for a bit, trying to see if I’d scared him away, but I really couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“I’ll see you later,” I said, closing his door for him and heading back out onto campus.

I could feel some girls staring at me in shock as I walked away, heading to my locker to get my spare uniform. It clearly wasn’t something anyone expected from me. I didn’t mind the stares. I quickly got the spare uniform and went to the bathroom to change, spending what little time I had left to try and fix my raccoon eyes with water and toilet paper.

“Need a hand?”

I glanced up in the mirror to see a sweet, familiar face behind me, holding up a little makeup bag. It was the girl I’d met in the library. Nicole. I turned to look at her, unsure if she was serious, but she was already digging through the bag to fish out some eyeliner and mascara, and a bit of makeup remover to clean me up a little bit.

“Here, you can use whatever you want. I’ll get started on your hair,” she said, waving around a pocket sized foldable brush.

I wasn’t sure why she was helping me, but I didn’t deny it. Soon, I was looking like myself again. I was a bit surprised at how high-end the brands in the makeup bag were. In a way, they put mine to shame. And the quality didn’t disappoint, either. Nicole had combed through my tangled hair until it was smooth and shiny, and french braided it down my back. I barely looked so neat on a regular day.

“Thank you so much,” I told her, handing back the makeup. “My hair looks incredible. You did this is five minutes?”

“I want to be a cosmetic artist,” she admitted shyly. “You know, in Hollywood. For the big superstars. Or for brides. I love weddings.”

“I seriously doubt that you won’t be able make it,” I told her. “You’re really talented.”

“Thank you!” she grinned.

At that moment, a few other people joined in the bathroom, Avia being one of them. She looked me up and down, then glanced at Nicole. I wasn’t sure if she was hurt that it looked like I’d replaced her as my best friend. Behind the glare on her face, I really couldn’t tell.

“I heard you fucked some plumber for fifty bucks and I wanted to see if it was true,” Avia said flatly.

“Wow, rumors travel fast,” I mumbled. “No, that’s not true. I didn’t fuck anyone for any amount of money. But I did spent the night with Kenny, and he dropped me off this morning. You remember him, don’t you? Yeah, that guy. Well, that’s all I’m going to say. You can figure out the rest on your own. Come on, Nicole, we should head to class.”

“Oh… okay…”

Nicole trailed after me as I moved past Avia, who looked utterly shocked from my sudden outburst. I knew she wasn’t going to leave it at that, but still, I was feeling pretty great about myself.