Food, Cats, and Being Lazy

It was kind of a big deal. It was—not pretty. I tried to tame it first thing in the morning, but I couldn’t get enough of my hair to straighten it. So it still just kind of stuck up in all directions. Curls and parts that weren’t curled. And parts that were too stubborn to stay straight. When I got to school, I’d gone from being invisible to being absolutely hideous. No one liked the haircut. Not even Laura. She said I looked even more like a poodle.

But I didn’t care. Even though I’d given up on straightening it halfway through and would probably never try again, it had taken me all of five minutes to wash and comb through. Also, I was pretty sure Collin wouldn’t recognize me now that I was no longer the girl with crazy curls who’d stared at him at Paige’s house. I still felt like I looked older and more mature. Maybe not a pretty, popular sixteen-year-old like I wanted to be. But not a baby anymore.

Then, when I walked down the hall on my way back to my math class after a bathroom break, I ran into Collin. There were stairs at the end of the hall, and I could hear someone coming up them when I turned the corner. I almost had a slight panic attack, but I knew he’d definitely notice me if I went running in the other direction. He was digging through his backpack and not paying attention. So I walked just a little lighter on my feet and prayed that he didn’t look up.

So, of course, he did. Oh God, he looked up. He looked right at me. His blue eyes sparkled in the fluorescent lights. His dark eyebrows rose in recognition. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

“Hey, what’s up?” he said with a nod. I nodded back but didn’t respond. Then he passed me and continued on his way.

And in that one moment, my life had been made almost complete. Collin acknowledged my existence. Not only did he acknowledge me, but he also said, “Hey, what’s up?” He recognized me. He was nice enough to say something to me.

Okay, so my life wasn’t really complete yet. I hadn’t met Ringo Starr, I didn’t have my own cooking show on the Food Network, and Collin and I hadn’t gotten married and had babies yet. But at least we were on the right track. Now that he knew I existed and thought I was worthy of a “what’s up?” who knew? Maybe in a week or two, he’d realize how much better I was for him than Hannah, and they’d break up so we could be together. Then we’d get married, have our own couple’s cooking show, and then invite Ringo Starr to our first baby shower.

See? I had it all planned. And my mom said I lacked ambition.

Even though my hair was so much of a disaster that Paige refused to ride in the same car to school with me, I was in a really good mood for the rest of the day. Sure, a few people called me names behind my back (and some right in front of me), but Collin had looked me in the eyes and said, “Hey, what’s up?” Like we were old chums or like he was possibly considering dumping his girlfriend for me. Like that movie with Hilary Duff. Except those sporty girls were still probably more likable than—me. Plus, she was already pretty before he noticed her. So maybe that wasn’t a good example after all. The point is, we were getting there.

My parents didn’t believe in buying cars for their children. One common misconception about wealthy people is that they shower their kids with luxury gifts. And maybe that was true for other families or families that had been wealthy for generations. But my parents were kind of cheap asses. My mom bought nice things for herself, but when it came to us, we only got them for Christmas and only if we “worked for it.” Or when we could convince them we needed money. I was never any good at it. Paige was a pro because she had friends and always needed money for girl’s dates or whatever. My extra money always went to cat toys and collectible Garfield memorabilia. And food. Because the school cafeteria had really good curly fries. So my mom didn’t like handing me cash. And every time she did, she’d say “No Garfield,” and I’d use it on hot pretzels.

But since we didn’t have our own cars, my mom picked us up at school every day. Or, what I actually mean is, she picked me up since Paige was able to get rides with her friends or boyfriend. My mom pulled into the driveway, and I had to jump out and check the mail while she pulled the car into the garage.

We always had a lot of mail. Glossy packaged magazines, bills, checks, my mom’s candle pyramid scheme stuff, more bills, junk, and then at the very bottom of the pile, I found a little squared jewel CD case. It wasn’t in an envelope. And it hadn’t gone through the post. But it had my name on it. Right there. “To Piper Finnegan.” There was a shiny CD inside but no more markings. Like someone had shoved it into the mailbox just for me.

I was a cautious person. I never believed people when they said they liked me. Usually, because they were just messing with me. So I didn’t take gifts well. I was always under the impression that it was a prank. One time on Christmas Day, I got a call from a boy who said he was my secret admirer. I didn’t believe him, but I stayed on the phone with him anyway. He said he liked me but never said who he was. He even had me talk to his “sister,” but it was really just him making a dumb voice.

I knew it was a prank already, so it was no surprise when he never called back and no one approached me at school. I never figured out who it was. But there had been a tiny moment of real hope.

Either way, I didn’t trust the CD. It was obviously burned, and I would put it into my computer just to find some hurtful messages or an embarrassing video or pictures or something. Maybe it would be porn. Another cruel prank. Something for everyone to laugh about. Perhaps it was even a computer virus. But the person had to who where I lived. And the name on the cover was stenciled, so there was no way to track handwriting. Not that I knew how to do that anyway.

I nervously carried it upstairs to my room and sat down at my desk. I had my own computer because I asked for one for Christmas and my parents gave me their old one. It was bulky and white and took forever to connect to the internet. Paige had a really nice Apple laptop that was purple. But only because my parents thought a laptop was cheaper than a desktop, and she had been more specific about what she wanted.

I waited for it to load the main screen, and then I shoved the disk in. It took forever to come up, but it wasn’t a movie or pictures. It just said “Play all?” so I pressed play and waited for the music to start.

It had five songs. Just five. And they weren’t anything special. No love songs or anything. Just five songs by five different bands. The music was good. And I liked it. But I didn’t pay much attention to the lyrics beyond realizing they weren’t about secret crushes or anything. Then I was just baffled. This person obviously went through a lot of trouble to make it and get it to me. And I just couldn’t figure out why.