“All right, sorry,” you tell her, “but I do really need to talk to you. It’s about the audition.”
“Oh!” she says, brightening up immediately. Suddenly even her blond ponytail seems to have a little more bounce. “Why didn’t you say so? Maria and Lisa had some fabulicious ideas—”
“I’ll bet they did,” you interrupt, sucking your teeth.
Jessie stops and crosses her arms, jangling with her customary armload of bangles. “What’s with the ’tude?”
It’s time to lay it all on the line. She won’t want to hear this, but it’s better that she get the news from you now than to realize the truth while she’s making a ginormous (as she would say) fool of herself onstage.
“Look, Jess, I hate to tell you this, but Lisa and Maria aren’t who you think they are. They aren’t really planning to initiate you into their ‘it-girl’ ranks. They just want you to think they are so that you’ll do whatever they want for the audition and blow it big-time.” As quickly as you can, you fill her in on the whole conversation you “accidentally” overheard by the lockers—leaving out the more hurtful things they said about your bud.
There is a moment of silence when Jessie is just staring at you while kids shuffle past the two of you on their way to class. “Wow,” she says finally. “I don’t believe it.”
“I know! It’s crazy. I didn’t think they would stoop that low either. But now we’ve got to—”
“No,” says Jessie, interrupting you this time. “I can’t believe you. You were too chicken to audition, so now you make up all these lies because you’re jealous.”
You’re a smart cookie, but right now you’re feeling downright dense. Did she just accuse you of lying to her? Even worse, did she just accuse you of lying because you’re jealous? In your mind you work up an intelligent, well-thought-out response to Jessie. “Huh?”
“You heard me,” she says quickly, looking a little uncertain but determined to stick to her guns. “You’re just jealous because I was brave enough to sign up for the audition, and now even Lisa and Maria think I’m cool.” She raises her chin defiantly, so you can almost see straight up her nose.
UNREAL! Not the fact that you can see up her nose. (That you’ve seen lots of times.) But the fact that she doesn’t believe you. You and Jessie have been friends since you were five years old and you’ve never lied to her about something so important. You even told her when her candy dish made out of dried macaroni looked more like a plateful of worms. So how could she think you’d lie to her now?
“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” you cry. “I was just looking out for you, but if this is how you’re gonna be, fine! You’re on your own.”
“Fine.” Jessie shrugs.
“Fine!”
“Fine!” you both shout in unison.
Without looking back, you head off to gym class, leaving Jessie and her wet H&M shirt and thick head behind. The nerve of her! Okay, maybe you do kind of wish you’d had the guts to audition. But Jessie should know you would never sabotage her shot at success, and you definitely wouldn’t lie to her—which is more than you can say for her new so-called friends. But now that she seems to have fallen under the in-crowd’s spell, she’s going to follow their terrible advice and get herself laughed off the stage.
Just as you have this thought, you realize you are passing by the sign-up sheets. You notice that there is one slot left on the student-judge side. You know that if you were one of the judges, Jessie would have a chance. Even if you couldn’t convince anyone else to vote for her, she would at least get your vote, so she wouldn’t suffer the embarrassment of being totally dismissed. But right now, your hand is shaking so hard with anger that you aren’t even sure you can pick up the pen.
There are times you’re a little too skeptical for your own good, but this wasn’t one of those times. For once your instincts were right: Lisa and Maria aren’t really Jessie’s biggest fans. They’re just setting her up for a fall so that Mona can grab the big prize and they won’t have to deal with her sore-loser attitude. Luckily, you were able to find that out before Jessie did anything stupid. But not only didn’t Jessie believe you, she thinks you said those things because you’re jealous. Jealous! Unbelievable. You were only trying to be a good friend and this is the thanks you get? Part of you wants to sign up as a student judge so that you can help her anyway. The other part wants to let her crash and burn to teach her a lesson about who her real friends are. After the way she just acted, you’re tempted to let her go down in flames. You might be too hotheaded to know if you would really do that or not—so take the quiz to find out for sure.
QUIZ TIME!
Circle your answers and tally up the points at the end.
Your favorite band is finally coming to your town and you scored two tickets through a radio contest. You offer your extra ticket to your best friend and she’s totally psyched. But the night before, your crush calls and says he heard about your extra ticket and would love to go with you. What do you do?
Take your best friend, of course! It’s not even a question. You already promised her the ticket and no way would you choose anyone over her—even if he does have the world’s deepest dimples.
Tell him you really wish you could, but you’re already taking your friend, who might defriend you if you dump her for him. But you offer to bring him back a T-shirt.
Agree to ask your friend if she wouldn’t mind backing out. You’ll feel kind of crummy (because, duh, of course she’ll mind!), but surely she’ll understand that this is your big chance to spend some quality time with your crush. If she says no, though, you’ll deal.
Break the news to your friend that you have to take your crush instead. Going to the concert with your BFF would have been fun and all, but you see her all the time. If she’s a real friend, she’ll get over it and be happy for you.
You are at a school dance that is being chaperoned by some of the parents. When a group of older kids point out the geeky twosome busting some old-school moves on the dance floor, you realize with horror that they’re talking about your mom and dad! When someone asks whose parents they are, you:
step up to claim them right away—and dare anyone to say anything else about them. Your folks may in fact be total dorks (your dad is trying to moonwalk, after all), but they’re your dorks and you won’t stand for anybody bad-mouthing them—besides you, that is.
admit that they’re technically your parents, but you suspect you may have been adopted. You wouldn’t want anyone to think the geek gene had been passed down to you.
sneak away without a word and spend the rest of the night hiding behind the punch bowl. You don’t want to publicly disown them since they are family, but you also don’t want anyone to notice the resemblance between you and the couple doing the robot on the dance floor.
claim that they must be escapees from a local mental ward who crashed the party. If you could, you would have security escort them out before they cause someone (namely, you) to die of embarrassment.
You have moved to a new town and made new friends. When a pal from your old neighborhood comes to visit, she’s a tad overwhelmed by all the new people in your life and acts a little brattier than she normally would. You know it’s just because she’s feeling insecure, but after she leaves, your new friends verbally tear her to shreds. You react by:
defending your old friend and telling your new buds that if they don’t like her, that’s just too bad, because the two of you are a package deal.
acknowledging that your buddy was not her usual charming self, but explaining that it’s hard for her to see you with a new group of people she doesn’t know. If they give her another chance, you know they’ll come to love her the way you do.
changing the subject altogether. Your friend’s oddball behavior kind of embarrassed you in front of your new crew, but that doesn’t mean you want to hear them put her down.
trashing her right along with your new friends. If this is how she’s going to act every time
you make other friends, then she deserves it. Plus, defending her might only make the new girls shy away from you.
Your sister has been dealing with some bullies at school and today she has decided to face them instead of running away. So of course you:
face them right along with her. Whoever has a problem with your sis has a problem with you. You’ll stand by her no matter what happens.
watch her face them from afar and vow to intervene if it looks like she can’t handle it by herself. You want to support your sister, but there’s no need for you to get involved unless you have to.
tell her to let you know if she really, really needs you as backup. Otherwise you’re going home and wishing her the best.
head straight home and urge her to do the same. No way are you confronting those girls. (They’re older, taller, and just plain mean.) If your sister insists on facing the bullies, she’s on her own!
It is game four of the Little League World Series and your favorite team is on the verge of defeat. Everyone you know has started rooting for the longtime champs, who are leading the series. But you’ve always rooted for the team that is, unfortunately, losing big-time. When you find yourself in the stands during what could be the final game, you:
root for your team! Yes, you’re the only one cheering them on, but you’re no fair-weather fan. The other spectators might make fun of you for rocking the losing team’s jersey and doing a one-person wave in their honor, but you want them to know they have at least one loyal supporter, win or lose.
quietly root for your team, but don’t make a big fuss about it. You hope they win, but you don’t want to draw too much attention to yourself. Isn’t it enough that you’re rooting for the underdog?
reluctantly cheer on the winning team. Yes, you secretly hope that your team will score a major upset, but chances are they won’t.
switch allegiances and root for the champs along with everyone else. It gets boring cheering for a team that never wins. You want to be on the winning side for once!
Give yourself 1 point for every time you answered A, 2 points for every B, 3 points for every C and 4 points for every D.
—If you scored between 5 and 12, go to Chapter 14.
—If you scored between 13 and 20, go to Chapter 15.
What a trusting soul you are! Because you tend to be honest with the world, you assume everyone else is too. You don’t see why anyone would lie, so you take people at their word and buy everything you see in the media—hook, line, and sinker. It’s great that you are so open and willing to give others the benefit of the doubt. But watch out! As hard as it is for you to believe, there are some out there who will try to take advantage of your naive nature. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and make sure that what you see is really what you get.
Gym class is usually one of your favorite times of the day. But right now, you definitely feel off your game. Anyone would feel the same if they were seeing the scene you’re watching right now.
Instead of Jessie standing by your side as usual, ready to take on any volleyball challengers together, she’s milling around on the other side of the court chatting with Shawna, Dionne, and Adam. Jessie says something you can’t hear and the other three start laughing like whatever she said is the funniest thing they’ve ever heard in their life.
And just as Adam starts to look your way, you drop to one knee and focus on tying and retying your sneakers. You’ve always thought Adam was pretty cute with his golden blond hair and hazel eyes. Even in his gym sweats, he manages to look preppy but cool. It’s hard to look away, but you just wouldn’t be able to stand having him catch you staring at their little group, or at him. You need some time to process this change of routine. Jessie, apparently, is popular now. That part isn’t really too surprising. After all, you’ve always known how awesome Jessie is; you guess it was only a matter of time before the A-listers caught on. But still, watching them together (and noting that Jessie doesn’t even attempt to call you over to join them), you can’t help feeling left out.
Thankfully, the phys ed teacher, Mr. Nocera, walks in then, carrying several volleyballs in his arms. Ordinarily, Jessie would choose that moment to whisper in your ear for the millionth time about how Mr. Nocera looks like a slightly older Taylor Lautner. And you would say no way. He looks more like the guy who plays Damon in The Vampire Diaries. And you’d debate about it until it was time to start kicking some volleyball booty. You’re sure Jessie will remember your routine…any second now. Yep. She’s about to come over to you right…now! Um, now?
Okay, she’s not coming over. Instead, she’s whispering into Shawna’s ear and Shawna is nodding enthusiastically. If you didn’t know Jessie better, you’d say she was sharing your special routine with someone else. But that can’t be—can it?
Before Mr. Nocera chooses the captains for the day, Shawna raises her hand with a big grin on her face while Jessie stands next to her, wide-eyed and horrified.
“Yes?” Mr. Nocera says smoothly to Shawna while bouncing one of the volleyballs to make sure it isn’t flat.
“Sir, Jessie and I were just wondering if you’d seen the Twilight movies by any chance. You know, the ones with Taylor Lautner?” Shawna says, holding back a huge smile. Jessie hides her face behind Shawna’s back.
Mr. Nocera’s eyebrows knit for a moment; then he starts tossing volleyballs to various kids around the gym. “No, can’t say that I have. Why, should I?” he asks.
“Definitely,” Shawna says. And finally she and Jessie are unable to hold back their giggles. It is the closest anyone has ever come to telling Mr. Nocera Jessie’s theory. Looking over at Jessie, you can tell she is both embarrassed and in total awe of her new friends. So much so that when Mr. Nocera chooses Dionne as one of the captains and she picks Jessie to be on her team, Jessie actually squeals a little in delight.
For the first time, you’ll be playing against your best friend.
To make matters worse, her team is stacked with most of the strongest players, while your team…well, Mary and Holly are your best assets, and only because they sometimes manage to hit the ball by accident while complaining about having to take gym class in the first place. (Sigh…)
You are five minutes into the first game (and losing badly) when your turn to serve comes up. You toss the ball up into the air in a perfectly straight line and execute an expert overhand serve. You pride yourself on being able to deliver a serve that other teams have a hard time returning, mostly because you’re good at spotting the places on the court where the other team doesn’t have any players, and aiming right for those spots. Jessie always hailed you as a volleyball goddess for being able to pull that off.
Unfortunately, this time Jessie is on the opposite team, and when your serve makes its way like a bullet over the net, Jessie is there with her arms outstretched, moving quickly into the space that was completely empty just a second before. Without even batting an eyelash, she bumps the ball up right next to the net, where Dionne sets it like a pro for Adam, who then smashes it over the net for a killer spike.
Since you’ve got kneepads on, you dive, stretching out your arms in a desperate attempt to dig the ball away from the floor. But you’re a second too late and the ball goes rolling out of bounds. Holly shrugs at you without moving a muscle to help you up. “Nice try,” she says flatly and goes back to staring at her nails.
“Psst! Hey, you all right?” comes an urgent whisper from across the court. It’s Jessie, having the decency to look concerned.
You nod, less hurt than mortified. “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” Jessie continues. “That looked pretty bad.”
“I said I’m fine!” you answer, barely hiding your annoyance. Bad enough your best friend in the world has defected to Planet Popular, but now she’s drawing attention to your humiliation. For some reason, though, she doesn’t pick up on your irritation at all. Instead she just says, “Okay, good!” She waves happily and then rejoins her team huddle to plan out their next play.
Needless to say, her team creams yours with a score of 15 to 3. (And one of those points happened only because Mary blocked a spike with her head—not on purpose—and it flew back over the net before the other team had time to react. Mary left right after to go see the nurse.)
Jessie, meanwhile, is celebrating her team’s easy victory over your team of…well, let’s just say your team won’t be going for Olympic gold anytime soon. Since Jessie was able to return each one of your killer serves, they are hailing her as the MVP, and Adam and Kevin even attempt to lift her onto their shoulders before Mr. Nocera orders them to stop. (Can’t have a girl cracking her head open on the gym floor.)
You are unusually quiet while you change back into your school clothes in the locker room. But Jessie chatters away excitedly. You’re still adjusting your shirt when Shawna comes back into the locker room, having changed already, and says, “Hey, Jessie. Adam is waiting for you outside. He says he still needs to talk to you about…that thing?”
“Oh! Right, the thing!” Jessie says with a wink. When Jessie looks at you and your puzzled face, she explains quickly, “Audition stuff. I have to head out to the music room. I’ll catch you later, okay?”
“Sure, okay,” you submit, as if you have a choice.
“’Kay, later!” With that Jessie rushes off, shouting, “Hey, Dionne, wait up!”
Maybe you’re being overdramatic, but you have a terrible feeling in the pit of your stomach that you are losing your best friend. Auditioning is one thing. But playing on their team? Sharing private jokes and flirting with one of your secret crushes? She didn’t even wait for you to finish changing after gym like she usually does. You hope you’re wrong, but this feels to you like the beginning of the end.
Your Life, but Cooler Page 7