How to Be a Perfect Girl

by Mary Williams

  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 y
ear. 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.”

  “Yeah, exactly,” Val agreed.

  “Just don’t cause any drama, and you’ll be fine. Now, how about you finish a couple of laps and we’ll call it good?” It was a fair deal; the fastest girls had only just finished their first lap, and Val followed Scarlett for their final two times around. When they finished, most of the other girls were panting—Val wasn’t, but she didn’t feel too proud of herself, since she’d only run two-thirds of what they had.

  The rest of the practice went well; Coach organized a scrimmage that lasted nearly the entire practice, but he was fairer about the team division than Avery. As a result, Val was able to score a point and a couple of assists.

  “Thank you for your time, girls,” Coach said at the end of practice, “You showed me a lot of heart out there. I’ll make my mind up about who to bring on over the weekend, and post a list outside my classroom on Monday.”

  They all headed for the locker room; Val found Scarlett and asked her, “Where’s his office?”

  “Who? Mr. Swinn?”

  “Yeah,” Val nodded, “Or whatever our coach’s name is.”

  Scarlett laughed, “Yeah, his name’s Mr. Swinn. He’s an English teacher; his classroom is the corner one in the English department.”

  Val frowned, “I’m not sure I know the one you’re talking about.”

  “Ok. Then how about I just text you saying whether you made the team or not?” Scarlett pulled her phone free from her gym bag and offered it to Val.

  “Thanks!” Val’s fingers worked over the touchscreen as she entered her information. “Do you mind if I send myself a text, so I can save your number?”

  Scarlett shrugged, “Go for it.”

  Chapter 14

  “I’ve decided today’s quiz will be a partner quiz. That means you can help and receive help from one person only,” Miss Andrews glanced around the room, a stern look on her face. Val had known the quiz was coming; she’d studied for it the day before, but like everyone else she breathed a sigh of relief when Miss Andrews announced it was going to be a partner quiz.

  As their teacher handed out quizzes, Val turned to Sophia, who was sitting across from her, “Hey, you wanna partner up?”

  “Sure!” Sophia walked around the table and pulled up a stool next to Val. “I hope you studied,” the girl said, “Because I heard the first quiz of the year in this class is always really hard.”

  “I did. How about you?”

  Sophia smiled, “You know me.” In other words, you pretended to study while doing your hair or something else ridiculous, Val thought. Sophia was always bragging about getting good grades on tests she “hadn’t really studied for”; as far as Val could tell, however, she’d practically been raised around the color wheel, since her mother was a professional artist.

  Miss Andrews gave them a copy of the quiz; “Put both your names at the top,” she instructed.

  “Yes ma’am,” Val looked at the quiz and her heart sank. There were all sorts of questions that she wasn’t even sure had anything to do with art. “What color do you get if you mix one part yellow with two parts blue and two parts white?” she read aloud.

  Sophia frowned a moment. “Torquoise?” she guessed; Val shrugged and wrote the answer down. The first section involved several questions like the first, and that was followed by some more general questions covered in class.

  Partnering with Sophia proved to be a good decision; the dark-haired girl answered several of the questions before Val could even piece together what they were asking. “Wow, you’re really good at this,” Val praised.

  “Thank you,” Sophia smiled, “Yeah, it helps that my mom talks about this type of stuff a lot.”

  Wow, that sounds really boring; instead of voicing her thoughts, Val laughed and continued working. They made good progress—or rather, Sophia made good progress and allowed Val to feel like she was being helpful—and finished a little over halfway into the period.

  “Done already?” Miss Andrews asked when Sophia and Val tried to turn their quiz in.

  “Yup,” Sophia replied.

  Their teacher nodded, “Okay. You can just hold onto that, and I’ll collect quizzes in a bit.”

  Val and Sophia returned to their seats; a bit ended up being fifteen minutes, and they quickly got bored. Val tried to
go over their answers, but Sophia argued against it.

  “We’ll probably just end up talking ourselves out of the correct answers.”

  “Maybe, but what if we see something we missed before and we get a better grade because of it?”

  “That won’t happen,” Sophia seemed supremely confident in the assertion, “And I’d rather go with what we have than start changing answers and get like a B or something.”

  “Alright,” Val frowned, “Then how do you want to spend the rest of the time between now and when everyone else finishes?”

  “I dunno. We could just talk.”

  “Talk? About what?”

  Sophia smiled conspiratorially, “I hear you’re dating Keenan. How’s that going?”

  “Pretty well. He’s nice. The one thing that gets kind of annoying, though, is he’s always hanging out with Alex. Like on our first date he was there the whole time; it hardly even felt like a date.”

  “Oh, yeah, I know how that is.” Sophia glanced at the clock, “Just be thankful you only have to deal with his friend; parent chaperones are about ten times worse.”

  “Parent chaperones?” Val grimaced, “That would be horrible.”

  “Tell me about it. When parents get involved, it seems more like a playdate than a real date.”

  “Has that actually happened to you?”

  Sophia nodded, “Yup. His Dad was there the whole night—he got really mad when I didn’t know the directions to get back to my house. And then he—the guy I was dating, not his Dad—tried to kiss me goodnight, and it was like the most awkward thing ever.”

  “I can imagine.” Val thought a moment, and then asked, “Who was it?”

  “Alex.” Sophia laughed, “He’s gotten a bit—smoother—since then.”

  Before Val could reply, Miss Andrews cleared her throat, “Time’s up.” To Val’s left, Miro cursed.

  “Why didn’t you give us some kind of warning?” A sophomore across the room from Val asked.

  “Anyone who’s not done by now is never going to finish. I gave you plenty of time.” Miss Andrews gestured to Val and Sophia, “Miss Hunter and Miss Reed finished fifteen minutes ago.” Miro and the boy who’d spoken up shot glares Val’s way. Miss Andrews segued into a short lesson; when the bell rang, Val was one of the first ones out the door. She didn’t want to be in that class any longer than she had to, with the sophomore and Miro obviously angry with her; also, next hour she was supposed to have lunch with Porter, and Val was excited to see him again.