him spout words like "responsibility" and "fitting
in" and "taking a joke." I didn't even try to explain what
happened because I knew he'd assume, just like Mrs. Jordan did, that those
wonderful, perfect girls hadn't meant to hurt me.
My foot
tapped up and down, jostling my knee against the chair until I thought I'd have
a bruise.
I
nodded. I agreed not to use my lethal limbs on anyone at school ever again. I
guess he'd heard about my little thing with Alex the day before too, but I wasn't
being punished for that. It wasn't until his last sentence that I really perked
up. I held myself in a slumped pose and kept the scowl on my face.
Mimi
nodded and left without saying a word to me.
As I
skulked out of his office, I couldn't help but smile. I'd been kicked off the
cheerleading team, effective immediately. I had three weeks to join another
club or sport to fulfill my requirements.
No more
cheerleading? Best news in a long time.
I
slipped into health class, hoping to be unnoticed, but immediately Becky
accosted me.
"I
can't believe Kailey tried to hurt you!"
I shot
her an angry glance. Seriously? My one friend doubted me too?
"I
don't mean it like that. Keep your crazy face to yourself. I just can't believe
you got in trouble for defending yourself. This place is whack. I mean,
seriously. They only got special treatment because Kailey's mom is sleeping
with the therapist." Becky glanced around to make sure no one heard her.
"Seriously?"
I asked. "I mean, he's really disgusting. I haven't met her mom, but
wow."
"That's
what my mom heard and my mom hears everything and she's almost never wrong. You
just got shucked."
“Shucked?”
“You
know…” Becky glanced around. “Screwed, shafted, the f-word all mixed together.”
“Nice
word.” A huge smile broke out on my face. I just couldn't hold it inside
anymore.
"Why
are you smiling? Did he brainwash you? Or did you hit your head when you fell
because I can't think of any other reason why you'd be smiling so much."
I held up
a hand, cutting her off. "I have the best news ever. You won't even
believe it."
"What?"
Becky bounced on her butt in her chair. Her braids danced around her shoulders
and she had to keep pushing her glasses back up her nose. "Tell me before
I burst!"
"I
got kicked off the cheerleading squad!" I whispered it, hoping no one else
would overhear how excited I really was. They didn't need to know. Let them all
think I'd been broken. Becky and I low-fived under our table.
"So
now what? I wish you could join band, but you don't know how to play an instrument."
She pouted, then smiled. "Hey, I could teach you! I play clarinet and it
isn't that hard. It is kind of squeaky when you first start and if you bite the
reed you'll break it and need to buy about a billion more before you learn how
to control yourself while playing, but it would be so much fun and we could
hang out more."
"I
don't know what I'm going to do. Does the school have a website with all of the
organizations listed? I could check that out and decide for myself instead of
letting another teacher choose for me."
"There's
a website, but it only has the school calendar and a picture of the school
from, like, 2002. It's ancient. I don't know if anyone keeps it up
anymore." Becky pulled her health book out of her backpack and opened it
to the assigned page. A huge picture of Fallopian tubes stared at us.
"Lovely."
I got mine out too. "Don't they separate the boys and girls when they go
over this stuff?"
Becky
shook her head. "They used to, but then there was one class where five or
six girls got pregnant. The school board decided everyone needed to know
everything. They thought tossing us all in a class together would make it hard
for any of us to look each other in the eye afterward."
"Has
it worked?" I asked, really curious. In most of the places I'd lived no
one hid sex. It was just a part of life, especially in the remote villages.
Procreation was the difference between life
in" and "taking a joke." I didn't even try to explain what
happened because I knew he'd assume, just like Mrs. Jordan did, that those
wonderful, perfect girls hadn't meant to hurt me.
My foot
tapped up and down, jostling my knee against the chair until I thought I'd have
a bruise.
I
nodded. I agreed not to use my lethal limbs on anyone at school ever again. I
guess he'd heard about my little thing with Alex the day before too, but I wasn't
being punished for that. It wasn't until his last sentence that I really perked
up. I held myself in a slumped pose and kept the scowl on my face.
Mimi
nodded and left without saying a word to me.
As I
skulked out of his office, I couldn't help but smile. I'd been kicked off the
cheerleading team, effective immediately. I had three weeks to join another
club or sport to fulfill my requirements.
No more
cheerleading? Best news in a long time.
I
slipped into health class, hoping to be unnoticed, but immediately Becky
accosted me.
"I
can't believe Kailey tried to hurt you!"
I shot
her an angry glance. Seriously? My one friend doubted me too?
"I
don't mean it like that. Keep your crazy face to yourself. I just can't believe
you got in trouble for defending yourself. This place is whack. I mean,
seriously. They only got special treatment because Kailey's mom is sleeping
with the therapist." Becky glanced around to make sure no one heard her.
"Seriously?"
I asked. "I mean, he's really disgusting. I haven't met her mom, but
wow."
"That's
what my mom heard and my mom hears everything and she's almost never wrong. You
just got shucked."
“Shucked?”
“You
know…” Becky glanced around. “Screwed, shafted, the f-word all mixed together.”
“Nice
word.” A huge smile broke out on my face. I just couldn't hold it inside
anymore.
"Why
are you smiling? Did he brainwash you? Or did you hit your head when you fell
because I can't think of any other reason why you'd be smiling so much."
I held up
a hand, cutting her off. "I have the best news ever. You won't even
believe it."
"What?"
Becky bounced on her butt in her chair. Her braids danced around her shoulders
and she had to keep pushing her glasses back up her nose. "Tell me before
I burst!"
"I
got kicked off the cheerleading squad!" I whispered it, hoping no one else
would overhear how excited I really was. They didn't need to know. Let them all
think I'd been broken. Becky and I low-fived under our table.
"So
now what? I wish you could join band, but you don't know how to play an instrument."
She pouted, then smiled. "Hey, I could teach you! I play clarinet and it
isn't that hard. It is kind of squeaky when you first start and if you bite the
reed you'll break it and need to buy about a billion more before you learn how
to control yourself while playing, but it would be so much fun and we could
hang out more."
"I
don't know what I'm going to do. Does the school have a website with all of the
organizations listed? I could check that out and decide for myself instead of
letting another teacher choose for me."
"There's
a website, but it only has the school calendar and a picture of the school
from, like, 2002. It's ancient. I don't know if anyone keeps it up
anymore." Becky pulled her health book out of her backpack and opened it
to the assigned page. A huge picture of Fallopian tubes stared at us.
"Lovely."
I got mine out too. "Don't they separate the boys and girls when they go
over this stuff?"
Becky
shook her head. "They used to, but then there was one class where five or
six girls got pregnant. The school board decided everyone needed to know
everything. They thought tossing us all in a class together would make it hard
for any of us to look each other in the eye afterward."
"Has
it worked?" I asked, really curious. In most of the places I'd lived no
one hid sex. It was just a part of life, especially in the remote villages.
Procreation was the difference between life
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