Call Me Crazy

By the time Friday rolled around, Alexis had already figured out a way to gain me more votes. And it involved the rodents. I let another evil grin appear on my face as I walked to Chemistry. I stepped into the room and walked to my desk. I was about to sit down, when I remembered, I needed to talk to Mike. I walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

“What,” he said, a bit harshly when he turned around.

“Can I talk to you?” I asked hesitantly. There was a hostile silence before he sighed.

“Ok, what about?” he said, trying to pull of the I-Don’t-Care voice. He failed at it.

“I’m so sorry. I cant say that enough,” I paused and he huffed.

“We’ve already discussed this,” he said, shrugging it off.

“Yes, but not enough,” I pushed, “You have no idea how this is eating at me. I want to be friends with you again. You and Ashleigh.”

“Of course, you want to be friends with the one who made you ditch me,” he scowled.

“I know, ok! I’m sorry! I wish that would have never happened and that I would have never moved, but what’s past is past!” I said, raising my voice slightly, “I just want to be your friend again.”

“I guess, the past is the past, you’re right,” he said after a long sigh. “It’s the future that matters, right?” he added with a small smile appearing on his face. I let out an elated shriek and engulfed him in a hug. I heard him let out a stifled laugh, followed by some incomprehendable words.

“Huh?” I asked, pulling away.

“I said, ‘I can’t breathe’ but that’s no longer a problem,” he grumbled. I let out a laugh and walked back to my desk. Up next was Ashleigh. It might be harder to win her over, since she was under Mackenzie’s control. Halfway through class, I remembered that I should start collecting more signatures. I had already gotten them from Kevin, Alexis, Ben, and John, and a few other people in my homeroom, but I needed more.

When the bell rang I ran to catch up with Mike again.

“Hey,” he said causally.

“Hey, yeah, um, I’m running for homecoming queen,” I let out quickly.

“Really? You’re kidding, right?” when I shook my head, he burst out laughing.

“I’m serious, Mike! Can you please sign this?” I asked him, bringing out the nominee form. He shook his head, but took the sheet and the pen.

“You’re in way over your head, Niki,” he said after he had signed, “You know you’re running against Mackenzie, and it will be hard to win.”

“Yeah, I know, that’s the point,” I told him.

“No. Fucking. Way.” I laughed at his choice of words and walked off to PE, leaving him standing in the hallway.

I entered the gym and spotted Kevin. I made my way towards him, bringing the signature form with me. As I approached him from behind him I decided to have a little fun. I stood on my tiptoes and gently blew on his neck. Kevin just shuddered a bit and rubbed the spot where I’d blown with his palm. I rolled my eyes and pricked him with the paper I was holding.

“What the hell?” I heard him mutter, bringing his hand, once again, to the back of his neck. I stifled a laugh and blew again, this time not so gently.

“Shit!” he exclaimed, this time turning around. I put on an innocent smile and observed his face. It changed from annoyance, to realization, and then a smirk appeared on his face.

“Shoot,” I muttered and turned to run away, but Kevin was faster, he had grabbed me around my waist and pulled me back into him.

“You can’t run from me, missy,” he whispered in my ear. I giggled and slipped out of his grasp.

“How’d you do that?” I heard him yell from behind me.

“I don’t know!” I exclaimed while still running. I passed Mackenzie and her friends, who were deep in gossip, but looked up, confused, as I passed. The rest of the class had once seemed oblivious to our games, but had tuned in after our yelling.

I ran until I realized that I was going to be cornered. How do I always get myself into these messes? I asked myself. I huffed and turned around to see Kevin charging at me. I braced myself for impact as he neared, but instead he slowed down, and stopped a foot in front of me. I looked at him skeptically.

“Poke,” he said, poking me hard in the arm. He raised his eyebrows up and down a few times, before turning on his heel, and running back off the way he came. What the hell? I rolled my eyes yet again and charged after him. What a child.