by Palvi Sharma
name, she passed the marker to me. I quickly told her that Mom and Dad were calling for us and took her hand.
I said goodbye to Mark and felt like such a coward. But what else could I do? Imagine if Shelly saw my name on his cast!
At this point I can only hope she doesn’t see Nina’s name and makes the connection. Hopefully Shelly forgot about my little sister.
Oh please let her have forgotten the name of my sister!!!!
Dear Diary
Shelly hasn’t said anything to me yet. I guess that means she has either not seen Mark or didn’t make the connection.
Oh how I wish Nina hadn’t signed the cast. My parents talked about going to see Mark and his parents again. They’re at home now and Mark will be attending school next week. I’ll have to tag along again and talk to Mark.
I’ll have to tell him not to say anything to Shelly.
Dear Diary,
Guess who opened the freaking door????
When we reached Mark’s house, it never occurred to me that Shelly would come visit him. And of all the days, she had chosen that very evening!
Shelly opened the door and turned a sweet smile to my parents while completely ignoring me. Nina ran to Mark and gave him another flower, this time a real one…from his garden.
Mark accepted it and called me over. I glanced at Shelly who was talking to my parents. My parents thought we were still friends and Shelly didn’t say how we weren’t anymore. Who knows what she’s playing at.
I walked over to Mark and asked him how he was feeling and then when I saw Shelly still being polite to my parents, I shooed Nina away and told Mark not to tell Shelly that I’ve been visiting him.
He obviously asked why and I realized his “perfect” girlfriend had told him nothing about me. Or what she’s been doing to me. He didn’t know that Shelly hated me. I thought the first thing she was going to do when she got into a relationship with Mark was to poison his mind against me.
I told him I would explain later and then walked away when I saw Shelly come over. Throughout dinner, I ignored Mark and Shelly and pretended to be really interested in what the adults were saying.
Once when I looked towards them, I saw Mark staring at me while Shelly prattled on to Mark’s parents about how exceptionally well she was doing at school. I turned away and saw Nina yawning at whatever Shelly was saying and then rolling her eyes.
Thankfully someone didn’t believe Shelly’s bullshit. I’ve never been so proud to have Nina as my sister. She sees through Shelly’s façade too!
After dinner was over and Shelly went over to charm Mark’s parents. He asked me if he could talk. I saw that he was walking with crutches and he wouldn’t be able to get far enough from Shelly and if she heard what I was going to tell him, she would be so mad.
I told him that Shelly and I weren’t friends anymore and that it didn’t seem right to be friends with someone who was friends with an ex-friend. He looked confused because I was just babbling on and then he smiled and said I was being childish.
I didn’t say anything because I realized for the first time that I was actually a little scared of Shelly now. She had the power to turn my whole class against me. If she even saw me talking to Mark, she would think the worst and make my life hell.
All I wanted for now was to graduate high school and go far, far away from Shelly- my best friend who had become my bully.
I hated that I was letting Shelly get to me, but I was done being humiliated in front of the whole school every day. If she would leave me alone of I stopped talking to Mark, then so be it.
When we said our goodbyes, I ignored both Mark and Shelly and thankfully no one noticed this. While riding back home, all I could think about how Shelly had won and how I could do nothing but fear her.
Dear Diary
Apparently, last night while I was lost in my thoughts about Shelly and Mark, my parents and his parents had made plans to meet again for lunch.
I decided not to go. I complained about how much homework I had and when Mom and Dad still insisted, I pulled out my latest test scores and that silenced them at once. After receiving a speech about how I wasn’t concentrating on my studies and was being distracted by social media, they grounded me.
On the downside, that means no TV and laptop. On the upside, I could stay home!!!
Nina popped into my room and went on and on about how much fun she was going to have because Mark’s parents had a pool. I told her to shut up and remember that the family had been through a terrible ordeal.
Sure, his parents had escaped without a scratch, but Mark hadn’t. I told her to be sensitive and not bother him too much. Nina showed her tongue and said I shouldn’t interfere in their friendship.
I told her not to be such a baby and she stuck out her tongue at me again. I turned back to my books and ignored her. That was when she tapped on my shoulder and asked why I was looking so sad and if it was because I had been grounded.
I told her no. She persisted and I finally told her that it was something at school. My little sister is apparently very perspective because she straightaway asked me if it had to do with Shelly.
I said yes and told her not to tell anything to Mom and Dad yet. She asked why and I told her to shut up again. That girl just wouldn’t leave me alone!!
Anyway, Nina patted my back gently and said she’ll take my advice about Mark. If she wanted to agree to it then why be a brat in the first place? Sheesh!
Then she said that she didn’t like Shelly and I hugged her. Apart from me, there was someone else who didn’t like that sociopath!
Nina looked at me weirdly after I had done that and she had that shrewd look on her face- like she was planning a prank. I didn’t think much of it and told her to get out of my room.
She left with my parents and now here I am, all alone with my boring textbooks. Why are textbooks so dreary looking? Why can’t they have a splash of color on the covers at least?
Dear Diary,
Apparently I should have guessed Nina was up to something and stopped her. I know her looks so I should have told my parents to keep an eye on her.
Because guess what she did? Shelly had come too, apparently dressed in a very expensive dress. My little sister not only pushed her into the pool, but when she got out, Nina poured her fruit juice all over her.
Shelly screamed at what a brat Nina was and my parents were so upset when my sister refused to apologize. Then when my parents came home, they asked me if I had put Nina up to this. I refused while Nina continued on and on about how terrible Shelly was.
When my parents finally decided that I had nothing to do with it and grounded Nina as well, I went over to her room and hugged her tight.
My little sister is the best!
If only I had been there to see Shelly’s humiliation. I would have pointed and laughed and laughed and laughed!!!
Dear Diary
I’m kind of dreading going to school today. What if Shelly decided to make me pay for what my sister did?
And Mark! I have history in the first period and he’s supposed to be back school.
Oh man! I just realized that talk I had with him might have been too dramatic. OMG OMG OMG!!!
Aaaaannd Mom is screaming at me to come and have breakfast or I’ll be late. I desperately need an excuse to not go to school today!
Dear Diary,
Do you know what being tongue-tied means? I mean, yeah, you’re a non-living thing, but…
Okay, so if you want to see a live demonstration of that, you should have seen me in history class today. I was the definition, the epitome of tongue-tiedness.
After Mom and Dad refused to hear my alibi for not going to school (and I had a good one- I had a stomach ache), I went to school and hoped that I wouldn’t run into Mark or Shelly. In fact this was the first time I didn’t want anyone to talk to me.
So what happens? I run into Mark AND Shelly. I walked past them without a word and ran to the bathroom
where I considered hiding. Unfortunately, the bathroom was a hot mess ball of stink. It was reeking. I guess one of the girls had some stomach issues going on.
Ugh, anyway, I went out and found them nowhere in sight. I made my way to the history class and took my seat, hoping that Mark wouldn’t come. He did. With Shelly who helped him to his seat. When Mark told her where he usually sat, she got so red in the face I thought it would burst- her face I mean.
She started to lead him away from me but Mark said something to her that made her turn a brighter red. Suffice to say, she helped him sit next to me and then went away.
Mark didn’t say a word to me, which was not weird considering the Professor was lecturing about something. I think I have some test coming up….?
All I was aware of was Mark. I kept wondering if he was in pain and I wanted to help him with the entire syllabus he had missed. And then I started to think about how cute he looked in his bluish-grey long sleeved shirt and dark jeans. His leg was in a cast and I could see Shelly’s scribble on it alongside Nina’s flower drawing and name.
‘To my Love. Get better soon- Shelly.’
YUCK!
And it was all in bright red and I’m guessing- permanent marker. She does know that Mark would probably discard the thing right? Did she expect him to keep a reminded of his accident and frame it and put it over his bed?
Well whatever Mark intended to do with it, throughout the lecture, I kept staring at his leg and at that stupid message. When class was over, I grabbed my books and