What's Meant To Be (4 page)

She knows she has me, even before she wraps up her speech. I can tell by the look on her face. “But if you can’t do that,” she says, “I respect you enough to not push it, ‘cause you’re my best friend, and I love you no matter what.”

I look away from her, not because I’m mad at her, but because everything she just said to me is really hitting home.

“He probably hates me now anyway.”

She looks at me, amused. “He doesn’t hate you, now come here.”

“For what?”

“So I can do your makeup. You can’t get him back looking like that.”

Chapter 7

Twenty minutes later my foundation is freshly applied, my cheeks are bronzed, and my eyes are perfectly lined with a light gray glittery eye shadow. My hair is now full of volume and falling in bouncy layers around my face, thanks to the million hair products Alexa magically pulled out of her bag. “You can never be too prepared,” she told me.

I look at myself in the mirror and I cant help but admit to myself that I look pretty good. “Perfect.”

“Almost perfect.” Alexa pulls her sparkly sweater over her head so all she’s left wearing is a long black tank top, which still looks amazing with her outfit.

“Here,” she says, handing me her sweater.

“Lex…” I start to protest but she shoves the sweater in my hand.

“Take it.”

I slide the fabric over my head and I feel beautiful. The sweater was oversized on her short frame but on me its just right and it hugs my body in just the right way. She hands me her oversized white hoop earrings, and they’re the perfect final touch.

I feel a lot better. And it’s not just because I look amazing, either. It’s because I have a best friend who would skip class just to sit in the bathroom with me and do my makeup and talk to me after I had a really horrible day. Suddenly I feel like I might start crying.

“Oh no!” Alexa cries. “What’s wrong now? You look gorg!”

“No nothing.” I turn to look at her. “I’m just really glad you’re my best friend.”

Alexa smiles, shakes her head, then rolls her eyes. “We can totally have a Disney channel moment later, okay? I promise. But right now let’s go find the guy of your dreams.”

I smile, and let her pull me into the hallway.

“Now all we have to do is figure out where he is,” I say.

Me and Alexa both stop turn to each other. “Karli,” we say at the same time.

“I’ll text her,” Alexa announces, pulling out her phone. “One new text, yay!” Alexa says as she unlocks her phone. “Ugh, its from Shannon Fuller. She’s still chasing me around about that sweater I borrowed at the beginning of summer.

I mean it was so last season, and how was I to know I wasn’t supposed to put it in the dryer, I mean really...” but then she stops in mid sentence and the look on her face is one filled with worry and anxiety.

“What?” I ask her, trying to get closer to her screen so I can see what it says. “What does it say?”

Alexa hits the power button on her phone and the screen goes black. “It says ‘get to the café now, your sister’s in trouble.’”

Me and Alexa stare at each other for a second and then both take off running down the hall towards the cafeteria.

******************

Alexa swings the doors of the cafeteria open and I practically trip over her heels, I’m so close behind her. The door slams shut after us and I scan the room for any sign of Karli. At first I think Shannon must have made a mistake because everything appears to be normal, everyone’s laughing and eating, and I don’t see Karli anywhere. Then Alexa grabs my arm and points down to the very other end of the caf, and I see it. Karli and Melissa standing face to face and whatever words they’re exchanging do not seem to be pleasant.

Me and Alexa rush to Karli’s side. “Um, whats going on?” Alexa asks in a calm voice, a voice that even to me sounds like a voice of reason.

“She keeps throwing stuff at me,” Karli says. “So I came over to tell her to knock off her shit.”

I look to the table next to where we’re standing and notice that it’s all Melissa’s friends. A few seats down I can see Austin out of the corner of my eye.

His presence is enough to send butterflies shooting through my stomach. Suddenly I start to feel nervous, not only because Austin’s here, but because this isn’t even my lunch period, and the last thing I need is my parents getting a phone call saying I’ve been in the principal’s office twice in one day.

“And I was just saying,” Melissa’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts and back to reality, “that I didn’t throw anything at her, so maybe she should stop ACCUSING people of things that aren’t true.” She’s talking loudly and people are starting to look at us now.

Alexa sighs. “Come on Karli, let’s just go sit down.”

“No!” Karli says. “I KNOW it was her. AND I want to HIT her!”

The caf’s getting quiet, and I can see people stretching their necks a little to see what’s going on. I can’t help but wonder where the teachers are that are supposed to be monitoring lunch. I mean, I know it’s the first day of school, but come on, isn’t that why we have teachers? To, uh, monitor things like this?

I sigh and nudge Karli away from Melissa a little. “Come on,” I tell her.

“Trust me when I say it’s not worth the battle.”

Melissa snorts. “What battle is that, Ashley? News flash; you lost. Take a look around, no one in this room really cares if you exist or not. You’re ugly, and if you disappeared, I highly doubt anyone would notice.”

The words are sharp and humiliating. I know everyone in the caf has probably just heard what she said and part of me wants to run out of the room crying, and another part of me wants to slap that smug look off her face. I don’t do either though. I just laugh. I find myself laughing. The look on her face now is one of shock and annoyance but I’m laughing and I can’t help it, I just can’t stop.

Finally, I compose myself and shrug. “You’re wrong, Melissa. I’m not ugly and I have people who care about me. But if I
were
ugly and if no one cared if I ever showed up at this school again, I’d still rather have either one of those things than be like you.” I can feel everyone’s eyes on me, but I don’t stop talking. “I’d rather be able to look at myself in the mirror everyday and know I’m a good person than turn out like you. You make other people’s lives miserable to make yourself feel better. And that must get really, really lonely sometimes.”

I turn and meet Alexa’s eyes for a second before starting to walk out of the cafeteria. Melissa’s response is so loud that it echoes through the entire room. “All the makeup in the world doesn’t change the fact that you’re a freak, Ashley.”

Its not her voice that stops me in my tracks, though. It’s the voice of the person who talks next.

“She’s not a freak.”

It’s a simple statement and if it had come from anyone else I wouldn’t have even stopped, but the sound of his voice makes me turn around to meet his eyes.

Austin.

He’s getting up from his chair now and walking around the table “And you…” he says, stopping in front of Melissa, “are so…so...God, you’re just so annoying.”

Meliss’s mouth drops open like she can’t believe what he just said. But Austin keeps talking. “If I have to hear another stupid story about how you manage to never wear the same outfit more than once I’m going to literally go crazy.”

A few of the boys sitting at Melissa’s table laugh and she shoots them a dirty look.

“I don’t want to be your friend Melissa, I don’t even want to look at you.”

“Oh,” Melissa says “but you want to be HER friend?”

Austin turns and looks at me. “That’s the thing. I haven’t been her friend.

Friends don’t leave one another, or ignore one another, just because of what people say. And that’s on me. But for the record, I think she looks beautiful. Even without the makeup.”

I can’t help the warmth that comes over my body when he says it, or the smile that appears on my face. I take a step toward him “Friends do stick up for one another when someone’s hurting them though,” I tell him.

“So we only have one problem then.” With every word out of his mouth he’s taking another step toward me. “I don’t want to be your friend. I want to be your boyfriend.”

He’s so close to me now I can feel his breath when he talks, he smells like cinnamon and vanilla, and somewhere in the back of my mind I’m aware that the whole lunchroom is still staring at us. “Austin…”

“Don’t,” he says. “Don’t pay attention to everyone looking at us. Only look at me, because you’re the only person I see.” And then in the middle of the cafeteria with everyone watching, Austin kisses me.

And somewhere in the deepest part of my heart I realize that this is the best first day of school ever.