The enemy duet, p.20
The Enemy Duet, page 20
I don’t think he’s nice.
Fiona’s nice. She’s really pretty, too. She has dark brown hair and nice brown eyes. My mom would call them kind eyes. She said I should make friends with kids who have kind eyes and nice smiles. She told me to stay away from the mean kids.
But how can I stay away from the mean kids if my new friend, Fiona, is going to be friends with them? If they’re her friends, then that means they’re my friends too, right?
I set my book down and watched as Fiona placed the crayons and books in front of the mean boy. Miss Julie said his name was Damien, but I called him Mean Boy in my head. Maybe he wasn’t mean, but he didn’t play with us during recess and playtime. Maybe he’s shy. Momma says sometimes when people don’t talk to you it’s because they’re shy.
Watching Fiona trying to color with him made me want to try to be his friend, too. He was just shy. That’s all. He was just shy.
But then, when I saw him walking away from Fiona, leaving her alone with the crayon bucket and color books, I ran over to where she was because I could see her body shaking. When my body shook it was because I was laughing or crying, and I didn’t think Mean Boy made her laugh.
Fiona was on her knees gathering the color books when I got to her. I got on my knees to help her when I heard her say, “Stupid boy.”
“Fiona…”
She looked up at me and I could see she was crying. “Why did he have to be so mean to me?”
Daddy always tells me I’m not supposed to fight with people because fighting is wrong. But, right now, I wanted to beat up the mean boy for making my best friend cry. “What did he say?”
“I told him I wanted to be his friend, and he said he didn’t like me because I made him feel weird,” she cried.
“How do you make him feel weird?” I’ve never had someone tell me that before, so I didn’t understand what that meant.
“I don’t know,” she said. “But he said I make him feel like the bad guys on Halloween. Do you think that means he thinks I’m ugly?”
No way.
No way was Fiona ugly. She was so pretty with her hair like the chocolate bars Momma says I can’t eat before dinner. Fiona was pretty. She didn’t have ugly orange hair with freckles the way I did.
“You’re not ugly, Fiona,” I told her. “He’s just dumb.”
We stood up together, and she had the bucket of crayons while I had all the coloring books. “If I’m not ugly, then why doesn’t he want to be my friend?”
I was sad.
I was sad because I didn’t have an answer for her. I didn’t know why Damien didn’t want to be her friend. “Do you want me to push him off the swing at recess?” I couldn’t make him be friends with her, but I could show him that he’s not nice.
Fiona shook her head. “No,” she said. “I don’t want you to get in trouble with Miss Julie.”
I shook my head. “I won’t get caught. I promise.”
“Maybe if he’s mean to me again, okay?”
I nodded. Hopefully, he’s not mean to her anymore.
Chapter 1
Jerks!
Victoria – (10-Years-Old)~
The second I spotted Damien blocking Fiona’s path, I started running.
She saw me and smiled, but I had those butterflies in my tummy whenever I saw Damien around her.
Ever since kindergarten, Damien Greystone has made it his personal mission to be mean to Fiona, and we didn’t know why. It didn’t matter, though. There was no excuse for how mean he was to Fiona.
I was almost to her when I watched in horror as Damien pulled a blue bag out of her arms.
What a jerk!
And his stupid friends just stood there and let him. I’ve never seen William Creston or Jake Everol be mean to Fiona, but they never stopped Damien from being mean to her, so that made them jerks in my book.
I got there just in time to hear Fiona beg, “Damien, pl…please, give me back my bag. Please!” Her eyes already filled with tears.
Damien looked at his friends. “Awe…she wants her bag back. What do you guys think? Should I give her the bag?”
I was so mad. “I’m going to tell the teacher if you don’t give Fiona back her bag, Damien!” I yelled at him. I knew he was scary, but I wasn’t going to let him pick on Fiona without a fight.
Damien gave me the ugliest look. He looked at me like I wasn’t good enough to even be talking to him. “Sure thing, Vicky.”
I watched in horror as Fiona reached out to grab her bag, but at the same time, Damien took both his hands and tugged down the seams of the bag, ripping it in half. “That’s what happens when your mom buys you cheap things, Halloween. They fall apart.”
The bell for class rang and everyone around us scattered to get to class while I stood there watching Fiona crying over her ruined bag.
I wrapped my arm around her and wished I could take it all away. “I’m sorry, Fee,” I said. “He’s such a jerk.”
“I just don’t understand why, Vee,” she said crying. “What did I ever do to him? And what did I ever do to Will and Jake that…that they don’t care that Damien’s mean to me?”
I let my arm drop and walked around to face her sad face. “William Creston and Jake Everol are jerks, Fiona, just like Damien. And jerks don’t need a reason to be mean to people. They do it because they’re-”
“-jerks. I get it,” she mumbled.
We stood there not worrying about class when I finally asked, “What was the blue bag for?”
Her eyes were still watery, but she had stopped crying. “My mom bought me a new art bag, and I was so excited to show you, I forgot to look out for Damien.”
That sucked.
“Maybe…maybe, she can-”
Fiona began shaking her head. “No, Vee. I don’t want my mom to know about the bag.”
“What are you going to do when she asks about it?”
“I’ll just tell her I’m saving it in my locker, so I don’t lose it on the bus.” She looked up at me hopeful that her lie was a believable one. “I...I think she’ll believe me, right?”
I wrapped her arm in mine and walked us towards our classroom. “I think you should tell on Damien,” I told her. “He shouldn’t be able to treat you like this. It’s bullying, and we’re not supposed to bully people. The teachers say so.”
“Look how he treats me when I’ve never done anything to him, Vee,” she yelped. “Can you imagine what he’d do to me if I did get him in trouble?”
She had a point.
We got to class without another word about Damien, but I couldn’t just let it go. Fiona was a good person. I was not going to let them treat her this way.
At lunch, I had told Fiona to meet me in the library during last recess because I wanted to show her an art book I had discovered last week. That part was true, but I also wanted to help my friend.
I waited near the backside of the cafeteria where the basketball courts were because I knew Damien and Jake liked to hang out on the benches, but Will liked to play basketball. He always played it during one of our recesses and I didn’t see him playing during this morning’s recess, so I knew he’d be playing during this one.
There’s no way I’d talk to him in front of Damien.
Will came around the corner and I grabbed his arm and yanked him behind the cafeteria. “What the-”
He was standing in front of me, his words cut off by his surprise at seeing me. I put my hands on my hips like my mom does when she’s yelling at me and said, “You better listen to me, Will Creston, or…or, or I don’t know what, but you better tell Damien to leave Fiona alone.”
Will leaned back on his feet and gave me an ugly smile. He twirled the basketball in his hands. “What Damien does with Fiona is none of my business.”
What. A. Jerk!
“How can you say that?” He was making me so mad. “How can you just stand there and let him be mean to her? What has Fiona ever done to you?”
“What did she do to make Damien hate her?” he asked me. “She must have done something to make him hate her.”
Where me, Fiona, and Damien have been going to school together since kindergarten, William Creston had moved to Smithtown two years ago. Jake Everol moved here this summer, and he made friends with Damien and Will during football sign-ups. Now they were Damien’s jerk friends.
“She’s never done anything to him,” I answered. “Tell him to quit being mean to her!”
“I’m friends with Damien, not Fiona,” he said.
I could see Will wasn’t going to help me. He really didn’t care if Damien was mean to Fiona or not. As long as he got to be popular like Damien, he didn’t care. “You’re such a jerk, William Creston!”
I moved to march past him when he said, “Hey, Vicky?”
I stopped at looked at him. “What?”
He stepped towards me until we were really, really close. I wasn’t tall for a girl, and Will was way taller than me, so he had to look down at me as he said, “Leave Damien and Fiona alone, Vicky.” He said it like he was telling me a big secret. “Damien…well, Dame won’t like it if you cause problems for them.”
My eyes got big like they do when I’m surprised. “I’m not causing problem for them. I’m trying to get him to leave my friend alone.”
Will shook his head. “Leave it alone, Vicky,” he said again before he took off towards the basketball courts.
I wanted to run after him, but I knew it wouldn’t do me any good. He was right. Damien was his friend, not Fiona.
I ran towards the library and, as soon as I got inside, I saw Fiona waiting at one of the tables for me. I looked at my friend and felt sad for her.
Bad things shouldn’t happen to good people.
Her pretty face looked up and, when she noticed me, she started waving her arm for me to go over there. I smiled and quietly made my way through the library. When I reached the table, I sat down. “Hey,” I whispered.
“Hey,” she whispered back. “Everything okay?”
I wanted to tell her about talking to Will, but I didn’t want to make her feel bad because I hadn’t fixed anything. “Yeah,” I said. “I just had to stop and go pee really quick.”
Fiona smiled, and I wanted to beat up Damien Greystone. Only, this time, I wanted to beat up Will Creston and Jake Everol up, too.
“So, do you want to show me the book?” she asked.
I nodded. “How about we check it out for the weekend?” I liked drawing and making up things, but Fiona was the one who really knew how to draw. I loved all her pictures. “I can ask Momma if you can stay the night Friday, and we can use the book to help draw new things.”
Fiona looked excited and that’s when I knew what I had to do as her best friend. I couldn’t stop the boys from being mean to her, but I could try to make her happy every time they made her cry, right? If I could make her laugh…well, then…she could forget all about stupid Damien Greystone.
“Oh, that sounds like fun,” she whispered-yelled. “When I go home on Saturday, I could even pretend to my mom that I left my art bag at your house. I could tell her that I’m keeping it there for when I stay the night at your house.”
And just like that, I was mad at Damien, Will, and Jake all over again.
But I had to make my friend laugh. I couldn’t let those jerks make her sad. “That sounds like a great idea, Fee,” I said. “She’ll never know and…and maybe we can save up our allowance money to buy a new one.” I didn’t get a big allowance because I didn’t do a lot of chores, but I would start now.
For my friend.
Chapter 2
It was just a dance.
Victoria – (13-Years-Old)~
I was so nervous.
I was trying to act cool, but this was our first dance, and I was fairly sure Tommy Granger was going to ask me to be his girlfriend tonight.
After Christmas break, he started talking to me more and walking me to my classes; things like that. We even texted after school sometimes.
He’s also extremely cute and tall. I’m only 5’2”, so to me he was tall. He’s blonde with blue eyes, and he’s just so cute. He’s really smart and plays football. And I see him play soccer, sometimes, when he’s not playing football.
“How do I look?” I asked Fiona for the bazillionth time. I was really nervous about possibly having my first real boyfriend.
“You look gorgeous, Vee,” she said, but I knew she’d say that no matter what. She was my best friend; she had to say things like that.
Fiona and I were the same height, but while she had beautiful chocolate-colored hair with bright brown eyes, I had dark red hair. My mom called it auburn, but I called it red. And with my hazel eyes and freckles, I was officially a Ginger, no matter how much Fiona said I wasn’t.
I played soccer and basketball which kept me skinny, but I secretly wished I had the neat boobs Fiona already had. Fiona looked like a pretty girl, while I looked like a Ginger tomboy.
I even tried to dress girly tonight. I picked a deep green summer dress with tan strap-wrapping sandals. My red hair was loose around my shoulders, but I didn’t have any makeup on. My mom said I couldn’t wear any yet. I had to wait at least one more year.
Fiona was dressed in a light blue, short-sleeved blouse that fit loosely around her body. I think she did it to hide her shape, even though she didn’t need to. She had matched it to a light pair of jeans and a pair of sneakers. Her hair was up in a fancy clip with loose curls all around. She wasn’t allowed to wear makeup either, but she didn’t need it. Fiona didn’t have freckles she needed to hide.
We picked on of the tables closest to the gym exit. It was close to the restrooms and not right up next to the DJ. Sarah and Juanita were sitting with us, and they were both nice girls, so I knew we were going to have a good time.
“What’s wrong, Vee?” Fiona asked so only I could hear her.
I leaned into her. “I think Tommy might try to kiss me tonight.”
Her eyes widened. Fiona knew if he did that this would be my very first kiss “Oh, my God, what makes you think that?”
I shrugged my shoulder. “I don’t know. It’s just a feeling. He’s been getting more affectionate lately. I don’t know.” And I really wasn’t sure. Maybe he wasn’t going to kiss me tonight, and I was just feeling hopeful. It would be my first kiss.
We were 13-years-old and neither of us have had a boyfriend yet. Boys talked to me, but it only ever seemed like friends. No boys ever spoke to Fiona though, and I couldn’t understand why. Fiona was so pretty, and she just kept getting prettier the older we got.
And now she had boobs.
Why wouldn’t the boys want to talk to her?
“Wow. That’s just…wow,” she said surprised.
“I’m so anxious, Fee,” I admitted. “What if I’m a bad kisser? Or what if it’s a boring first kiss? Ugh!” I couldn’t believe how nervous I was.
“No way, Vee! You’re going to be an awesome kisser. You’re good at everything you do, this will be no different.” She reached over and squeezed my arm. “I promise!”
I was about to make her promise me again when a shadow covered our table. We both looked up to see Phillip Jansen standing next to Fiona’s chair. “Hey, Fiona,” he said, then darted a look over at me. “Vic.”
Phillip had always been nice to us, but sometimes he came across as too serious. He needed to loosen up in my opinion. “Hey, Phillip,” Fiona said.
He started tapping his feet side to side like he was nervous or something. “Yeah, I was just…uh, wondering if you’d like to dance, Fee?”
I could see Fiona start to panic. Well, maybe not panic, so much as I’d bet she was surprised. No boys ever spoke to her, so I bet she was feeling nervous that Phillip asked her to dance. Phillip was a cutie, too. I’d dance with him if he asked.
She was just staring at him like a weirdo, so I kicked her under the table and gave her a look. She jumped up and took his hand. “Yes…uh, yeah…yup. I mean…” Yep, she was panicking. “Yes, Phillip, I’d love to dance with you.”
I had the biggest smile on my face as I watched my best friend walking out onto the dance floor for her very first dance. I knew once Phillip got to know her, he’d want to be her boyfriend. I mean, I knew it was just a dance, but if he took the time to get to know Fiona, he’d fall in love with her. She was such a beautiful person, inside and out.
“Hey, Vicky.”
I looked away from the dance floor and up into the cute face of Tommy Granger.
Oh, my God!
He looked so cute in his green button-up shirt with dark blue jeans. Tonight, he wasn’t wearing his baseball cap like he always does. No. He looked like he styled his blonde hair to look nice and neat. I even noticed his dark sneakers; that’s how bad I was crushing on him.
“Hey, Tommy,” I greeted back. “Ho…have you been here long?” Ugh! I was stuttering.
“Not long,” he replied. “Can I sit down?” I nodded, and he said hi to Juanita and Sarah as he took a seat. “How long have you been here?”
I shrugged a shoulder, trying to act cool. “Not long,” I answered.
His swiveled around. “Where’s Fiona?”
“Dancing with Phillip Jansen,” I said, a huge smile on my face.
Tommy looked behind him and his brows snapped inward. “Uh, Vicky…”
I turned in my chair just in time to see Damien Greystone dragging Fiona out of the gym. Tommy forgotten, I jumped up out of my seat and ran across the dance floor. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen Damien put his hands on Fiona, and I was not having it.
Halfway across the dance floor, I was suddenly grabbed around my waist and yanked towards the back of the bleachers. Once I was underneath the bleachers, I went full-blown ninja. I started kicking and punching and giving my captor everything I had. I didn’t care if I was wearing a dress.
“Goddamn it, would you stop?!”
I knew that voice.
“Get your hands off me, William Creston, or I swear I will kick you in your nuts!”
“Jesus, Stems, calm the hell down,” he muttered.
Fiona’s nice. She’s really pretty, too. She has dark brown hair and nice brown eyes. My mom would call them kind eyes. She said I should make friends with kids who have kind eyes and nice smiles. She told me to stay away from the mean kids.
But how can I stay away from the mean kids if my new friend, Fiona, is going to be friends with them? If they’re her friends, then that means they’re my friends too, right?
I set my book down and watched as Fiona placed the crayons and books in front of the mean boy. Miss Julie said his name was Damien, but I called him Mean Boy in my head. Maybe he wasn’t mean, but he didn’t play with us during recess and playtime. Maybe he’s shy. Momma says sometimes when people don’t talk to you it’s because they’re shy.
Watching Fiona trying to color with him made me want to try to be his friend, too. He was just shy. That’s all. He was just shy.
But then, when I saw him walking away from Fiona, leaving her alone with the crayon bucket and color books, I ran over to where she was because I could see her body shaking. When my body shook it was because I was laughing or crying, and I didn’t think Mean Boy made her laugh.
Fiona was on her knees gathering the color books when I got to her. I got on my knees to help her when I heard her say, “Stupid boy.”
“Fiona…”
She looked up at me and I could see she was crying. “Why did he have to be so mean to me?”
Daddy always tells me I’m not supposed to fight with people because fighting is wrong. But, right now, I wanted to beat up the mean boy for making my best friend cry. “What did he say?”
“I told him I wanted to be his friend, and he said he didn’t like me because I made him feel weird,” she cried.
“How do you make him feel weird?” I’ve never had someone tell me that before, so I didn’t understand what that meant.
“I don’t know,” she said. “But he said I make him feel like the bad guys on Halloween. Do you think that means he thinks I’m ugly?”
No way.
No way was Fiona ugly. She was so pretty with her hair like the chocolate bars Momma says I can’t eat before dinner. Fiona was pretty. She didn’t have ugly orange hair with freckles the way I did.
“You’re not ugly, Fiona,” I told her. “He’s just dumb.”
We stood up together, and she had the bucket of crayons while I had all the coloring books. “If I’m not ugly, then why doesn’t he want to be my friend?”
I was sad.
I was sad because I didn’t have an answer for her. I didn’t know why Damien didn’t want to be her friend. “Do you want me to push him off the swing at recess?” I couldn’t make him be friends with her, but I could show him that he’s not nice.
Fiona shook her head. “No,” she said. “I don’t want you to get in trouble with Miss Julie.”
I shook my head. “I won’t get caught. I promise.”
“Maybe if he’s mean to me again, okay?”
I nodded. Hopefully, he’s not mean to her anymore.
Chapter 1
Jerks!
Victoria – (10-Years-Old)~
The second I spotted Damien blocking Fiona’s path, I started running.
She saw me and smiled, but I had those butterflies in my tummy whenever I saw Damien around her.
Ever since kindergarten, Damien Greystone has made it his personal mission to be mean to Fiona, and we didn’t know why. It didn’t matter, though. There was no excuse for how mean he was to Fiona.
I was almost to her when I watched in horror as Damien pulled a blue bag out of her arms.
What a jerk!
And his stupid friends just stood there and let him. I’ve never seen William Creston or Jake Everol be mean to Fiona, but they never stopped Damien from being mean to her, so that made them jerks in my book.
I got there just in time to hear Fiona beg, “Damien, pl…please, give me back my bag. Please!” Her eyes already filled with tears.
Damien looked at his friends. “Awe…she wants her bag back. What do you guys think? Should I give her the bag?”
I was so mad. “I’m going to tell the teacher if you don’t give Fiona back her bag, Damien!” I yelled at him. I knew he was scary, but I wasn’t going to let him pick on Fiona without a fight.
Damien gave me the ugliest look. He looked at me like I wasn’t good enough to even be talking to him. “Sure thing, Vicky.”
I watched in horror as Fiona reached out to grab her bag, but at the same time, Damien took both his hands and tugged down the seams of the bag, ripping it in half. “That’s what happens when your mom buys you cheap things, Halloween. They fall apart.”
The bell for class rang and everyone around us scattered to get to class while I stood there watching Fiona crying over her ruined bag.
I wrapped my arm around her and wished I could take it all away. “I’m sorry, Fee,” I said. “He’s such a jerk.”
“I just don’t understand why, Vee,” she said crying. “What did I ever do to him? And what did I ever do to Will and Jake that…that they don’t care that Damien’s mean to me?”
I let my arm drop and walked around to face her sad face. “William Creston and Jake Everol are jerks, Fiona, just like Damien. And jerks don’t need a reason to be mean to people. They do it because they’re-”
“-jerks. I get it,” she mumbled.
We stood there not worrying about class when I finally asked, “What was the blue bag for?”
Her eyes were still watery, but she had stopped crying. “My mom bought me a new art bag, and I was so excited to show you, I forgot to look out for Damien.”
That sucked.
“Maybe…maybe, she can-”
Fiona began shaking her head. “No, Vee. I don’t want my mom to know about the bag.”
“What are you going to do when she asks about it?”
“I’ll just tell her I’m saving it in my locker, so I don’t lose it on the bus.” She looked up at me hopeful that her lie was a believable one. “I...I think she’ll believe me, right?”
I wrapped her arm in mine and walked us towards our classroom. “I think you should tell on Damien,” I told her. “He shouldn’t be able to treat you like this. It’s bullying, and we’re not supposed to bully people. The teachers say so.”
“Look how he treats me when I’ve never done anything to him, Vee,” she yelped. “Can you imagine what he’d do to me if I did get him in trouble?”
She had a point.
We got to class without another word about Damien, but I couldn’t just let it go. Fiona was a good person. I was not going to let them treat her this way.
At lunch, I had told Fiona to meet me in the library during last recess because I wanted to show her an art book I had discovered last week. That part was true, but I also wanted to help my friend.
I waited near the backside of the cafeteria where the basketball courts were because I knew Damien and Jake liked to hang out on the benches, but Will liked to play basketball. He always played it during one of our recesses and I didn’t see him playing during this morning’s recess, so I knew he’d be playing during this one.
There’s no way I’d talk to him in front of Damien.
Will came around the corner and I grabbed his arm and yanked him behind the cafeteria. “What the-”
He was standing in front of me, his words cut off by his surprise at seeing me. I put my hands on my hips like my mom does when she’s yelling at me and said, “You better listen to me, Will Creston, or…or, or I don’t know what, but you better tell Damien to leave Fiona alone.”
Will leaned back on his feet and gave me an ugly smile. He twirled the basketball in his hands. “What Damien does with Fiona is none of my business.”
What. A. Jerk!
“How can you say that?” He was making me so mad. “How can you just stand there and let him be mean to her? What has Fiona ever done to you?”
“What did she do to make Damien hate her?” he asked me. “She must have done something to make him hate her.”
Where me, Fiona, and Damien have been going to school together since kindergarten, William Creston had moved to Smithtown two years ago. Jake Everol moved here this summer, and he made friends with Damien and Will during football sign-ups. Now they were Damien’s jerk friends.
“She’s never done anything to him,” I answered. “Tell him to quit being mean to her!”
“I’m friends with Damien, not Fiona,” he said.
I could see Will wasn’t going to help me. He really didn’t care if Damien was mean to Fiona or not. As long as he got to be popular like Damien, he didn’t care. “You’re such a jerk, William Creston!”
I moved to march past him when he said, “Hey, Vicky?”
I stopped at looked at him. “What?”
He stepped towards me until we were really, really close. I wasn’t tall for a girl, and Will was way taller than me, so he had to look down at me as he said, “Leave Damien and Fiona alone, Vicky.” He said it like he was telling me a big secret. “Damien…well, Dame won’t like it if you cause problems for them.”
My eyes got big like they do when I’m surprised. “I’m not causing problem for them. I’m trying to get him to leave my friend alone.”
Will shook his head. “Leave it alone, Vicky,” he said again before he took off towards the basketball courts.
I wanted to run after him, but I knew it wouldn’t do me any good. He was right. Damien was his friend, not Fiona.
I ran towards the library and, as soon as I got inside, I saw Fiona waiting at one of the tables for me. I looked at my friend and felt sad for her.
Bad things shouldn’t happen to good people.
Her pretty face looked up and, when she noticed me, she started waving her arm for me to go over there. I smiled and quietly made my way through the library. When I reached the table, I sat down. “Hey,” I whispered.
“Hey,” she whispered back. “Everything okay?”
I wanted to tell her about talking to Will, but I didn’t want to make her feel bad because I hadn’t fixed anything. “Yeah,” I said. “I just had to stop and go pee really quick.”
Fiona smiled, and I wanted to beat up Damien Greystone. Only, this time, I wanted to beat up Will Creston and Jake Everol up, too.
“So, do you want to show me the book?” she asked.
I nodded. “How about we check it out for the weekend?” I liked drawing and making up things, but Fiona was the one who really knew how to draw. I loved all her pictures. “I can ask Momma if you can stay the night Friday, and we can use the book to help draw new things.”
Fiona looked excited and that’s when I knew what I had to do as her best friend. I couldn’t stop the boys from being mean to her, but I could try to make her happy every time they made her cry, right? If I could make her laugh…well, then…she could forget all about stupid Damien Greystone.
“Oh, that sounds like fun,” she whispered-yelled. “When I go home on Saturday, I could even pretend to my mom that I left my art bag at your house. I could tell her that I’m keeping it there for when I stay the night at your house.”
And just like that, I was mad at Damien, Will, and Jake all over again.
But I had to make my friend laugh. I couldn’t let those jerks make her sad. “That sounds like a great idea, Fee,” I said. “She’ll never know and…and maybe we can save up our allowance money to buy a new one.” I didn’t get a big allowance because I didn’t do a lot of chores, but I would start now.
For my friend.
Chapter 2
It was just a dance.
Victoria – (13-Years-Old)~
I was so nervous.
I was trying to act cool, but this was our first dance, and I was fairly sure Tommy Granger was going to ask me to be his girlfriend tonight.
After Christmas break, he started talking to me more and walking me to my classes; things like that. We even texted after school sometimes.
He’s also extremely cute and tall. I’m only 5’2”, so to me he was tall. He’s blonde with blue eyes, and he’s just so cute. He’s really smart and plays football. And I see him play soccer, sometimes, when he’s not playing football.
“How do I look?” I asked Fiona for the bazillionth time. I was really nervous about possibly having my first real boyfriend.
“You look gorgeous, Vee,” she said, but I knew she’d say that no matter what. She was my best friend; she had to say things like that.
Fiona and I were the same height, but while she had beautiful chocolate-colored hair with bright brown eyes, I had dark red hair. My mom called it auburn, but I called it red. And with my hazel eyes and freckles, I was officially a Ginger, no matter how much Fiona said I wasn’t.
I played soccer and basketball which kept me skinny, but I secretly wished I had the neat boobs Fiona already had. Fiona looked like a pretty girl, while I looked like a Ginger tomboy.
I even tried to dress girly tonight. I picked a deep green summer dress with tan strap-wrapping sandals. My red hair was loose around my shoulders, but I didn’t have any makeup on. My mom said I couldn’t wear any yet. I had to wait at least one more year.
Fiona was dressed in a light blue, short-sleeved blouse that fit loosely around her body. I think she did it to hide her shape, even though she didn’t need to. She had matched it to a light pair of jeans and a pair of sneakers. Her hair was up in a fancy clip with loose curls all around. She wasn’t allowed to wear makeup either, but she didn’t need it. Fiona didn’t have freckles she needed to hide.
We picked on of the tables closest to the gym exit. It was close to the restrooms and not right up next to the DJ. Sarah and Juanita were sitting with us, and they were both nice girls, so I knew we were going to have a good time.
“What’s wrong, Vee?” Fiona asked so only I could hear her.
I leaned into her. “I think Tommy might try to kiss me tonight.”
Her eyes widened. Fiona knew if he did that this would be my very first kiss “Oh, my God, what makes you think that?”
I shrugged my shoulder. “I don’t know. It’s just a feeling. He’s been getting more affectionate lately. I don’t know.” And I really wasn’t sure. Maybe he wasn’t going to kiss me tonight, and I was just feeling hopeful. It would be my first kiss.
We were 13-years-old and neither of us have had a boyfriend yet. Boys talked to me, but it only ever seemed like friends. No boys ever spoke to Fiona though, and I couldn’t understand why. Fiona was so pretty, and she just kept getting prettier the older we got.
And now she had boobs.
Why wouldn’t the boys want to talk to her?
“Wow. That’s just…wow,” she said surprised.
“I’m so anxious, Fee,” I admitted. “What if I’m a bad kisser? Or what if it’s a boring first kiss? Ugh!” I couldn’t believe how nervous I was.
“No way, Vee! You’re going to be an awesome kisser. You’re good at everything you do, this will be no different.” She reached over and squeezed my arm. “I promise!”
I was about to make her promise me again when a shadow covered our table. We both looked up to see Phillip Jansen standing next to Fiona’s chair. “Hey, Fiona,” he said, then darted a look over at me. “Vic.”
Phillip had always been nice to us, but sometimes he came across as too serious. He needed to loosen up in my opinion. “Hey, Phillip,” Fiona said.
He started tapping his feet side to side like he was nervous or something. “Yeah, I was just…uh, wondering if you’d like to dance, Fee?”
I could see Fiona start to panic. Well, maybe not panic, so much as I’d bet she was surprised. No boys ever spoke to her, so I bet she was feeling nervous that Phillip asked her to dance. Phillip was a cutie, too. I’d dance with him if he asked.
She was just staring at him like a weirdo, so I kicked her under the table and gave her a look. She jumped up and took his hand. “Yes…uh, yeah…yup. I mean…” Yep, she was panicking. “Yes, Phillip, I’d love to dance with you.”
I had the biggest smile on my face as I watched my best friend walking out onto the dance floor for her very first dance. I knew once Phillip got to know her, he’d want to be her boyfriend. I mean, I knew it was just a dance, but if he took the time to get to know Fiona, he’d fall in love with her. She was such a beautiful person, inside and out.
“Hey, Vicky.”
I looked away from the dance floor and up into the cute face of Tommy Granger.
Oh, my God!
He looked so cute in his green button-up shirt with dark blue jeans. Tonight, he wasn’t wearing his baseball cap like he always does. No. He looked like he styled his blonde hair to look nice and neat. I even noticed his dark sneakers; that’s how bad I was crushing on him.
“Hey, Tommy,” I greeted back. “Ho…have you been here long?” Ugh! I was stuttering.
“Not long,” he replied. “Can I sit down?” I nodded, and he said hi to Juanita and Sarah as he took a seat. “How long have you been here?”
I shrugged a shoulder, trying to act cool. “Not long,” I answered.
His swiveled around. “Where’s Fiona?”
“Dancing with Phillip Jansen,” I said, a huge smile on my face.
Tommy looked behind him and his brows snapped inward. “Uh, Vicky…”
I turned in my chair just in time to see Damien Greystone dragging Fiona out of the gym. Tommy forgotten, I jumped up out of my seat and ran across the dance floor. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen Damien put his hands on Fiona, and I was not having it.
Halfway across the dance floor, I was suddenly grabbed around my waist and yanked towards the back of the bleachers. Once I was underneath the bleachers, I went full-blown ninja. I started kicking and punching and giving my captor everything I had. I didn’t care if I was wearing a dress.
“Goddamn it, would you stop?!”
I knew that voice.
“Get your hands off me, William Creston, or I swear I will kick you in your nuts!”
“Jesus, Stems, calm the hell down,” he muttered.
