The jock hung his head down as one of the most popular girls, and hottest, walked away. You'd have to be living under a rock to not know who Cindy Traynor was. That blond-haired, blue-eyed, pink-faced girl was in every man's dream, even mine. All of the popular girls were in my dreams, and most of them were on the cheerleader squad.
"What are you looking at, dork?" Jenna Marble, one of the cheerleaders said as she brushed past me to walk with the others.
The brainless jocks followed closely behind them, each one of them tossing me dirty looks as they went. Their fancy green sports vests gave them all the power they needed to undermine me. I didn't let it get to me though because in the coming months, I'd be wearing the graduation cap, and they would be unjustly complaining about how they deserved to pass last month's math test.
***
The cafeteria was crowded as always. The jocks, cheerleaders, and popular people in general sat at the very back where the stage was. Some of them were braced against the stage and some of them were on it. Although they looked and acted differently, they still ate the same cafeteria food as we minorities did.
"You're staring again, Matt," Gretchen Bernadette said.
"Where is this law saying we can't sit there?" I turned to face Gretch.
Gretchen Bernadette was my best friend. We're both what the cliques would call geeks or dorks. Gretch certainly was never afraid to dress the part. She had black hair that she rarely combed, wore thick black glasses over her brown eyes, was white skinned, and had the regular amount of pimples like everyone our age. She always had a smile on her face, even when being mocked by the other, more popular girls. I never understood why, maybe because I never got past how.
"You know there's no law... It's just a rule; and if you break it, the jocks will break you," she spoke with seriousness.
"That's very poetic," I sarcastically remarked.
She laughed. "I try." I raised a spoon filled with green beans to my mouth with my right hand but came to a dead stop as Gretch placed her hand on my left. "Why do you even care about them?" she asked.
"Wouldn't you rather be them?" I said as the spoon of beans found its way into my mouth.
I chewed the microwave food as she spoke, "But we're not them."
Gretch snatched her hand away from mine when we heard a familiar voice. "I don't see you guys all day and already Gretch is proposing to you." Tyler Fargus laughed and sat down to the left of Laura.
Tyler Fargus. An asshole, but not all the time. He was my friend and became friends with Gretchen through me. I could tell she didn't like him too much, but I have no idea why she never told me. I don't blame her, since he dresses like a fool. He might very well be the definition of dork. I mean, nobody in the present day wears turtlenecks anymore!
Gretch rolled her eyes before Fargus spoke, "So, what's the deal after school? We chilling?"
"Y--" I tried to speak but clamped my mouth shut as Gretchen tossed me a zip-it kind of look. "Yeah," I continued as Gretchen's eyes widened, "I don't think I'm feeling up for it. I've got a lot of homework to do anyway."
Gretchen hid a smile from Tyler as he spoke, "Shit, oh well. Leaves me time to finish my overdue research assignment."
***
"I don't hate him. It's just that he's just really annoying sometimes." Gretch opened her history binder.
"Oh, you don't need to tell me what I already know." I laughed as I glued a picture of the Pyramid of Giza onto the white bristol board that laid on the floor.
I'd been in Gretchen's room so many times, I could vividly picture where everything was and how everything looked from the angle of the electronic pencil sharpener that sat on her wooden white desk to the stainless light pink wall. Her room was smaller than mine. I don't even think her parents intended her to sleep here. Maybe they did to spite her, but I never believed so because they were really nice people. At least her house had those generic carpets that were stapled to the floor. The downside to them was that they were hard to clean.
I cursed under my lips as I propped the liquid glue back up from the carpet. A bit of glue now covered my hand and I tried my best not to let it drop on our history project or the carpet.
Gretchen giggled and got up. "Hold on."
She walked barefoot over to her night table before she returned to my side and wiped the already dried adhesive off my hand. Her hands lurked longer than they needed to on mine and she smiled into my eyes. I smiled back a thanks and innocently pulled my hand from hers and back down to our project.
Relief rushed over my body as Gretchen's mom, Helen, called both of us from downstairs.
I was the first down the stairs with Gretchen following behind.
"What's up, Mo-- Oh! Hi, Mrs. Magnetti!" Gretchen waved a hello at my Mom as she turned from Helen.
"Hi there, Gretchen! Oh, it's so good to see you again!" My mom got up and hugged Gretchen.
I felt bad for Gretchen, but was amazed to see her smiling and it wasn't one of her fake ones either. Mom finally released Gretchen before she spoke, "Your mom and I were just talking about how close you two are to graduation."
"Yeah, and there's that prom coming up too," Helen told Mom.
A blush appeared on both of Gretchen's cheeks, and she looked down at her red toe nailed feet on the tile flooring of the kitchen. Helen and my Mom continued to make small talk for several minutes as Gretch stood braced against the kitchen counter and I against her glass table.
"Well, it was nice catching up with you, Helen," Mom said.
"You too, Jess," Helen replied and walked Mom towards the front door.
I followed suit behind them but stopped at the door as they went outside to admire Helen's garden. Gretchen walked beside me and I spoke, "Good thing we finished the project in time."
"Yeah, Mr. Kestner would be heartbroken if his only pupils who actually listened in class didn't get their work done."
I laughed and nodded my head, "Wonder what he'll do when we're gone."
Gretch giggled.
"Come on, Matthew!" Mom yelled as she walked around her car as Helen tended to one of her sunflowers.
"See you tomorrow, Matt," Gretch spoke and hugged me.
"Bye then."
Before I turned to leave her house, Gretch kissed me on the cheek to my surprise. I felt the frame of her glasses on my cheekbone and her slightly chapped lips on my cheek. She waved her goodbye as I headed toward the car.
***
Math class was boring, as usual. The only amusing thing was the way people resented Gretchen and I because we were the only ones who actually listened and took notes. If becoming part of the top clique meant failing every course, then maybe it wasn't such a cool role after all. Was the attention and glory worth it?
I placed my books into the locker, and pulled out my back-pack. Before I closed the locker, I spotted Tam Cramer, the red-headed cheerleader, at her locker. She was probably the only cheerleader who actually did her homework. The perfect figure and the perfect mind.
I jumped as my locker door went shut. Gretchen stood beside me with a book held to her chest by her hands. "Everything okay, Gretch?" I asked her as she looked saddened.
"Nothing," she replied, "want to watch the practice with me?"
"Sure," I replied.
We walked off towards the door that lead to the high school football stadium. Forest High's Rangers. The mascot was a fucking dartboard. Gretchen and I always joked about it while Tyler acted uptight about it because, well, he was the mascot. Tough luck, pal. Gretch's arm found its way around mine as we walked up the stadium stairs before we found a seat. Gretchen was acting strange. She never did that, not around me anyway.
My eyes found their way back to Tam Cramer who was just five rows beneath us. My eyes didn't stay fixated for too long as I could feel Gretch's body pressed up against my left side. Her right arm found its way around my back and her head snuggled up against me.
"Everything okay, Gretch?" I asked once more.
"Yep," she replied.
"Since when do we watch football practice and Tyler getting pushed around?" I asked.
"Don't forget the cheerleaders, they're hot, aren't they?" My head jerked back in shock. "You look at them at all the time, Matt." she continued.
"Yeah, there's no use hiding it. Jocks can't see me looking from here though." I laughed.
Cheerleaders was the only reason Tyler put on the sweaty mascot costume. They were far out of his league; further than me.
"Matt?" Gretch looked at me.
"Yeah?" I replied.
"Am I pretty?"
I was taken back. Out of the five years of our friendship, those words or anything like them never came out of her mouth. And so she sat beside, with her arms around my waist, and expected me to answer that question seriously.
"You're Gretchen..." I rumbled.
"Oh, I'm Gretchen?" She sounded annoyed as well as hurt.
Her arms went back onto her sides and I spoke, "Gretchen, we've been friends for five years. What do you want me to say?" I sounded annoyed but I didn't mean it.