How To Be A Perfect Girl (18 page)

“Dylan!” Miss Hughes scolded, “That’s quite
enough!”

“Thank you,” Val said, loud enough Miss
Hughes could hear. Dylan stopped making fun of her for the rest of
Homeroom, although on their way out he whispered, “I did not have
sexual relations with that woman,” in her ear.

After a pair of long classes, Val was ready
for lunch; even though the Trio was annoying, she was starting to
get used to their conversation style. And without Jenny, they acted
a lot nicer to her.

Val started to take her usual seat next to
Sophia, but stopped and frowned at the backpack occupying the
space. She remembered seeing it somewhere, but couldn’t quite place
it.

“Jenny’s back,” Sophia
said when she saw Val.
That explains
it;
the backpack was Jenny’s. Val nodded
and moved the backpack from its perch before taking her seat. “So,
anything interesting happen today?” she asked the Trio.

“A junior asked me out,” Ella bragged, “His
name’s Alex. He’s in Student Gov with us.”

“Oh, cool,” Val replied, vaguely curious if
it was the same pimply Alex from her Flag Football class.

A girl cleared her throat behind Val. Val
turned around; it was Jenny. “Hello,” the pig-nosed girl said, “I
was saving that seat.”

“Oh, sorry.” Val tried to look contrite,
“Jenny, I wanted to talk to you about—“

“You’re not even welcome here,” Jenny
interrupted, “Go eat lunch with someone else.”

“No,” Val said simply, “I’m staying
here.”

“Fine. We’ll just go sit somewhere else.
Come on, girls.” She left, only to stop dead in her tracks when
none of the Trio followed her.

“This is where we always sit,” Sophia’s eyes
darted from Val to Jenny.

“Yes,” Val agreed, “This
is where
we—“
she
emphasized the we so it was clear the pronoun did not involve
Jenny, “—always sit. Why don’t you go sit at one of the more open
tables, like—oh, perfect! There’s one right next to Noah.”
Why am I doing this?
She
wondered vaguely,
it’s so mean!

Jenny gulped, her gaze moving from each of
her friends, and finally back to Val. Without another word, she
grabbed her backpack and fled the cafeteria.

Ella whistled, “Daaaarn, that was—“

“—
intense,” Sophia
finished for her. “Who knew you had that in you?”

Val swallowed a bite of her pad thai as she
stared at her plate, “I shouldn’t have been so mean.”

“She started it,” Sophia consoled; Ella and
Zoey both nodded.

They did their best to
return to normal conversation; Val participated as much as
necessary, but in the back of her mind a thought tugged at
her:
Did I just take Jenny’s spot in this
group?
And,
If
they turn on her that easily, what will stop them from turning on
me?

She couldn’t come up with an answer for
either question, even though she thought about it the rest of the
day. Jenny was even colder than usual in Chemistry; Keenan loudly
talked with Val for most of the period, but she didn’t shush them.
Val was excited as the end of the period approached, since today
was the first meeting of Palm Lake’s National Honor Society.

The National Honor Society did not have
anywhere near as many members as Student Gov; they met in a third
floor classroom, and even though the room was a little small there
were more than a few empty seats.

Val walked in and immediately looked for
familiar faces; at first she didn’t see any, but after a moment
Colin stepped into the room.

“Hey there,” the Junior greeted.

“Hey,” Val smiled.

“Are you here for NHS?”

Val nodded; “Yeah, of course. No, actually I
was here for the anime club,” she joked.

Colin laughed, “You don’t seem like the
anime club type. Not nerdy enough. But you’ll fit in just fine
here—let me introduce you to some of the people. We have free pizza
and soda coming.”

Val wrinkled her nose, “Oh, great.”

“You don’t like pizza?” Colin asked
accusingly.

“Nope. Or soda. But it’s okay, I shouldn’t
eat before practice anyway.”

“Yeah, probably not. Anyway—hey,
Addison!”

A tall girl—her hair was brown, except for
the tips, which were dyed pink—turned from the conversation she was
having with a younger-looking boy. “Colin!” she hugged him as both
her and her conversation partner turned to face Colin and Val.

“Good to see you,” Colin gestured to Val,
“Val, this is Addison. She’s our vice president. Addison, this is
Val. She’s the freshman class President. And this,” Colin nodded
towards Addison’s conversation partner, “Is her brother—Wes?”

“Yup,” Wes affirmed, “Nice to meet you,
Val.”

“Likewise. It’s good to know someone here
other than Colin.”

Colin waved at another boy, and went over to
speak with him, leaving Val with Addison and her brother.

“He’s—interesting—isn’t he?” Addison
commented.

“Yeah,” Val smiled, “Yesterday he told me to
have a happy Columbus Day.”

“Yesterday was Columbus Day?” Wes asked.

“Nope, he said he just liked using unusual
farewells.”

“Oh, cool.” The conversation stalled for a
few seconds.

Addison was first to break the silence, “So,
class President. That must be fun.”

Val shrugged, “Hopefully it will be. All
I’ve done so far is win the election.”

Addison nodded, “But the freshmen are in
charge of the homecoming dance this year, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Better not mess it up,”
Addison joked, “Everyone’ll blame you, and some of the girls here
take their dances
very
seriously.”

Wes laughed, “The horror! If the homecoming
dance isn’t perfect, I won’t be able to land a man!”

Val frowned at him, “Oh, are you gay?”

Wes’ face turned crimson, “No. I was making
fun of the girls here.”

“Oh, okay.” Something bumped into Val’s
elbow. “Hey, oh—Derrick!” Porter’s friend had entered the room
carrying a stack of pizza boxes so high that Val could barely see
his face over it.

“Hey!” Derrick raised his voice to address
the rest of the room, “Pizzas here! Does anyone want to clear off
some space so I can set it down?”

A lectern was set on the floor, beside the
table at the head of the room it normally sat upon; Derrick
deposited his pizza stack on the open table. “Have at it!” he
returned to the room’s entrance.

“I’m so glad to see you here!” Val
exclaimed, encircling him in a hug.

“Oh, me too,” Derrick looked more than a
little confused, “Why are you so glad to see me, though?”

Val shrugged, “I don’t really know anyone
here, except for Colin. And now you. And this is Addison, and her
brother Wes.”

“Yeah, I know,” Derrick laughed. “Hey
Addison,” he coughed.

Addison worked her tongue around in her
mouth before replying, “Hello Derrick.”

“Hello Derrick,” her brother echoed.

“Sorry Val, I have to go get the soda,”
Derrick left before Val could say anything.

“You’re friends with him?” Addison
asked.

“Uh, yeah. I mean, we don’t know each other
very well, but—“

“Good. Keep it that way,” Addison
warned.

“Why?” Val couldn’t help but ask.

Val didn’t get an answer; Derrick reappeared
with the drinks, and Val left Addison and Wes to go talk to
him.

“You should meet some more people here,”
Derrick said. He gestured for her to follow him, and joined a large
group of five people who were busily conversing.

“I’m telling you, you
don’t actually
have
to do the service hours. It’s more of a recommendation than a
requirement.”

“That may be true, but if you don’t want to
do any service, why are you in the club?” Derrick asked.

“Good point,” one brown-eyed girl
responded.

The boy who’d spoken before shrugged, “I’m
not saying I don’t want to do service, I just find it interesting
that it isn’t a requirement. That’s all I’m saying. I just—oh,
hello there,” he blinked, apparently noticing Val for the first
time. “Derrick, who’s your girlfriend?”

Derrick held up his hands as if someone was
pointing a gun at him, “She’s not my girlfriend, just a friend.
Guys, this is Valentina.”

“Cool,” the boy winked at her, “You look new
here. Let me show you around.”

“Greg!” a blue-eyed girl clucked, “You’re
gonna scare her away. Don’t be creepy.”

“Oh alright,” the boy—Greg—relented. “I was
just trying to be funny. She knows she’s too young for me
anyways.”

“I am?” Val asked in surprise.

Greg laughed, “Yes. No offense, but I’m not
interested in getting hit up with statutory charges. Especially
with the police chief’s son in the same school as us.”

Val giggled, “Alex? He wouldn’t tell his dad
about something like that. Heck, he’ll probably be the one doing
it, in a couple of years.”

They all laughed; “Too true,” Greg agreed,
“So, Valentina, what do your parents do?”

“Well, my mom invented this clasp for
necklaces that is supposed to—“ Val decided she didn’t care to go
into details, “—it’s just better than like a traditional clasp. And
so she spends most of her time working on and promoting that, and
my dad helps her.”

“That’s cool. My mom wears the pants in my
parents’ relationship too,” Greg joked. Val and a couple others
laughed.

“Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your
attention?” Colin stood at the head of the room; he waited as
conversations stopped and the focus moved to him. “I hope you’re
all enjoying the buffet,” he grinned, “that Derrick was so kind as
to provide for us, free of charge.” There was a whoop and cry of,
“Yeah, Derrick!” from someone behind Val. The senior raised his cup
of soda in acknowledgement.

Colin continued, “But this is more than just
a mixer. You are here—well, I’m sure some of you just came for the
food, but the rest are here—to ring in a new year of the Palm Lake
National Honor Society. Now, I’d first like to talk about what we
accomplished last year. As you know, last year was a big one for
us; we started a new program of outreach to our community, through
an entire month devoted to collecting funds for the World Health
Organizations. I am happy to remind you that we raised over thirty
thousand dollars!”

Everyone in the room, including Val,
cheered. Colin moved his hands in a “quiet down” motion, and when
the cheering abated he resumed his speech, “I know. My goal for
next year is, perhaps, a little more enthusiastic. I think, if we
really push, we can reach six figures of donations.” He let the
message sink in; “The vision that Addison and I have for this is
that it might become the major event of the year for NHS, every
year. Now, as your President and Vice President, we are always
available if you have suggestions; and since there are five months
between now and ‘Charity February’, I expect a lot of ideas.” He
turned to Addison, who was standing diagonally behind him, “Is
there anything you want to add?”

“Nope. I think you covered everything.”

Colin nodded and turned his attention back
to the audience, “In the meantime, I think that’s about all the
time we have for today. Enjoy the rest of the pizza; take a couple
of slices home with you if you want. And I will see you all next
week.”

Val checked the time on her phone. Colin was
right, it was actually five minutes past when the club was supposed
to end; if she didn’t get changed and onto the soccer field soon,
she’d be late for practice.

“Where are you going?” Derrick asked as Val
made her way towards the room’s exit.

“I’m late for practice,” Val explained.

“Oh, I was hoping we could hang out. It
seems like every time I’ve run into you this week we’ve barely
spoken.”

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow though,” Val
said, “I’m going to lunch with you and Porter.”

“You are? Great!” Derrick laughed; Val
wasn’t sure why.

“What’s funny?”

Derrick smiled mischievously, “Nothing. Have
fun at practice.”

“Thanks,” Val rushed to the locker room and
changed quickly, praying she wouldn’t show up late. When she
arrived on the soccer field, Val was relieved that only two thirds
of the girls were already there.

A bearded man was speaking with Avery in
hushed tones. Val couldn’t hear much of their conversation from
where she was, but from what she could gather they were discussing
the events of yesterday; she realized the man must be the girls’
soccer coach.

Once a respectable amount of time had passed
since practice was scheduled to start, the coach held up a hand to
silence Avery and addressed the nine new girls—it took a moment to
realize the girl who’d wanted to be a defender hadn’t shown up. The
coach smiled, “Avery tells me we have a very promising crop of
young women this year. Some may be more promising than others, but
don’t worry; I’ll give playing time to every girl that deserves it.
Now, let’s do some warm ups and get this show on the road. I want
everyone—yes, even you Avery—to give me three laps around the
field. Go!” he blew on the whistle hanging around his neck.

Val was about to fall in line with the rest
of the girls when the coach waved her over. “Yeah?” she asked,
approaching the bearded man.

“I wanted to talk with you; Avery told me
you have—well, the common phraseology would be you ‘have an
attitude problem’.”

The obvious response was a complete denial,
but Val didn’t feel like she should directly contradict the older
girl’s words. “Avery and I—she says I annoy her, and when I asked
why, the things she listed weren’t really things I can change.”

Coach laughed, “I wouldn’t expect you to.
Don’t worry, I get it. Sometimes girls don’t like each other, and
there’s not really any reason for it.”