You know what I find not fair? I don't think it's fair that the world thought it would be funny to sit me down at a table filled with extroverts who don't mind yelling over each other. Then there is me, too slow to jump into the conversation, struggling to get a single sentence out. Like who thought sending me to a school filled with extroverts was a good idea? Oh yeah, my mom.
When it comes to social circles Jade is very versatile. She gets along with everyone and can jump into any conversation effortlessly. This means we often change tables we sit at and groups of friends we talk to. I always just follow her around. Lately, as of a few months ago. Jade has taken to sitting next to Archer and his friends.
Demarcus is Archer's best friend, he likes music. He plays drums and the trumpet. He DJ's part-time after school as well. Darleen just joined our table recently, usually, she sits with the track girls or the theater kids, but Archer invited her to sit with us about a month ago and she's sat here ever since. The table is completed by Winifred or Wini for short. She's good friends with Demarcus and Darleen. She's an artist, specifically, she likes sculpting. She's a very passionate person.
As you can imagine sitting at a table with the best of the best in school gives me anxiety. Jade is hard enough to keep up with on her own, now I was expected to keep up with all of their drama as well? Having friends is hard. It gives me a headache. I try to tune them out and just eat my lunch in peace.
Which is what I was doing when I noticed the whole table had gone silent. When I looked up, they were all looking at me.
"What?" I said around a mouth full of food.
"Were you even listening?" Jade frowns.
"No?"
"We were talking about the annual prank."
The annual prank is a thing the students at Lincoln high do every year. Each grade comes up with its own prank. Each grade year is assigned a target by the senior class. As a freshman, our target was the guidance counselors. The next year we got the fine arts department. This year we are assigned the assistant principal. No one ever knows when they will get it, it's always random.
"Oh," was all I said.
"We have a perfect plan; we just need someone they would never suspect to pull it off," Demarcus said.
Once again everyone looked at me expectantly.
"Me!? No, guys come on. I can't do it. I get nervous, plus what if I give myself away? My mom says I have a guilty face, do I have a guilty face. I mean, I'm not exactly cut out for pranks."
"Relax," Jade grabbed me by the shoulders. "You got this."
Everyone gave their own words of encouragement.
Jade gave me her puppy dog look, the face I can't say no to. The face that always gets me into trouble. The face that makes my heart melt.
"Fine," I sighed. "What am I doing?"
"Eee! Yes! This is going to be so perfect," Jade squeals.
Seeing her so excited makes me smile. What can I say? I'm weak for the girl.
"During your office period go into Vice Principal Howard's office and do these three things. First, cover his whole office in sticky notes. Second, unscrew the wheels to his office chair and set up a camera facing the chair. Third, put a bucket of syrup on the door. We can grab the camera later. That's all you have to do," Archer explains.
That's it!? They act like it's no big deal. How am I going to even get away with this? I am so going to screw this up somehow, I just know it.
"How am I going to get him out of his office?" I ask.
"Leave that part to us," Demarcus wiggled his eyebrows.
"Okay, so when am I doing it?"
"Today, everything you need should be in the supply closet."
Today!
"You got this. I know you can do it," Jade assures me.
Easy for you to say. I've never directly been involved with the annual prank. I am more of a bystander girl. But now this year's whole prank depends on me! That's a lot of pressure.
I groan and slam my head on the table.
Darleen giggles at me.
Jade just pats my back.
During my office period, I sat at my post at the front desk and waited for the signal. Demarcus assured me that I would just know. I flinched when over the intercom a loud thunderous beat starts playing. Demarcus was beatboxing over the intercom!
In seconds Vice-Principal Howard was out of his office and in search of the ruckus. All the office aids followed after him in curiosity. Which left me all alone.
I quickly ran to the supply closet and grabbed everything. Then I ran into his office and got to work. I ripped sticky note after sticky note covering everything as fast as I could. So long as the music was playing I knew I was safe. I was going around the room like a madwoman, slapping colorful papers all over everything. When I was satisfied with the coverage I flipped the chair over and loosened the wheels. The bucket was last but I felt like it wasn't enough.
I saw some other thing in the supply closet so I ran back to go check it out. I grabbed some confetti poppers and a box of marbles and ran back. I hooked the poppers up to his laptop so that when he opened it they would go off. Then I scattered the marbles under his chair that way when he fell they would go everywhere.
There were two go pros, so I set one up by the desk and another outside the office on an automated wheelchair that he occasionally uses. He doesn't need it, he's just lazy. The music stopped and I quickly set the bucket up on the door and ran back to my post, ducking down to hide.
It wasn't long before Howard came back in, storming straight to his office. Many office aids behind them. I peeked over the edge of the desk and watched as he swung the door to his off open, a bucket of corn syrup raining down on him. He let out a scream in frustration at the sight of his office. Flinging the syrup from his eyes he stomped over to his desk and went to open his laptop.
The popper went off and he stumbled back into the chair which collapsed under him. I couldn't help but snicker as marbles when everywhere. He let out another scream. He tried to leave but instead slipped on the marbles and fell forward. As he tried to regain his balance he landed on his automated chair, sitting on the remote which turned it on. He tried to steady himself but put the chair into full speed. It started driving him around the office going in circles before it went out the door. He was screaming, syrup dripping from his head, confetti on his face, and sticky notes on his hands.
Oops.
I slowly stood up and watches as everyone chased after him.
I used this opportunity to run back into his office and grab the camera. Then I ran after him. He was out of control! Swirling around and round, getting syrup everywhere. Students and teachers all came to look at the commotion. Eventually, he was stopped when his chair ran into the front doors and he was flung off.
I cringed before walking over to him.
"Are you okay?" I asked as I covertly grabbed the sticky camera off the wheelchair.
"Argh! That is it! I've had enough of these pranks. Whoever is responsible for this is getting expelled!" he shot to his feet, nearly slipped again before letting out a huff and marching back to his office.
Expelled! I can't get expelled, mega crud.
The nurse ran after him and everyone looked around at the mess as the bell rang for class.
I quickly ran to my last class.
"Did you do it?" Archer ran up behind me.
I nearly jumped out of my skin.
"Yeah did you?" Demarcus said.
I handed them the cameras.
"Aw yes! You're the best!" He awkwardly high fived me.
I forced a smile.
After practice, Jade drove me home. She was all hyped up.
"I can't believe you actually did it!"
"Why? Didn't think I had it me?" I smirked.
"You, no way. You're afraid of your own shadow."
"Am not," I pout.
"Please, I know you," She says confidently as we pulled into her driveway.
"Do you though?" I challenge as I follow her into her house.
"Don't you have to go home?" she points out.
"I'm feeling wild today," I tease.
"Alright then, show me this wild Skylar Clifton," she challenges.
Okay, I can do this. It's just flirting, no big deal. As long as I don't say something stupid to make her mad, then everything should be okay. I just got to show off or something. I have her attention now, might as well utilize this moment.
"Bet you can't do this," I ran and in one big leap hopped over the fence.
"Well no duh, I'm not a track star," she laughs from the other side.
"Jade admitting defeat, gasp," I tease.
"Alright, you asked for it. Back up, I'll show you." she backs all the way up.
Uh oh, abort mission!
"Jade, don't you're going to hurt yourself."
"No, you challenged me so here I come," she ran.
Oh god.
She leaped up, but instead of clearing the fence, she slammed right into it. I cringed, that's got to hurt. She takes it in stride, brushing off her embarrassment and climbing over the fence and falling on her butt. I can't help but laugh at how ridiculous she looks. Hunched over in pain and rubbing her butt. He bottom lip stuck out in a pout.
"Don't laugh," she whines.
"Sorry," I help her up.
"Oh yeah, well I can do something you can't."
"What?"
Then she strips down to her underwear and jumps into the pool. She's almost naked! Right in front of me! Don't panic. Things are going well, don't back down now. Pull yourself together Skylar.
"I knew it! Chicken, bak, bak, bak," She makes chicken noises from the pool.
"What if someone sees?"
"Oh yeah, my cousin is a real perv, be careful or she'll get you," Jade splashes water towards me.
I flinch back.
Okay, I can do this. No big deal. It's just like wearing a swimsuit. A near see-through swimsuit. Don't panic.
I take a deep breath and in two swift movements my clothes are on the floor and I am running towards the pool. I make a big splash when I jump in.
"Wow look at you. What's gotten into you? I like this wild side," Jade swims over to me.
I did it! She likes it. Hehe, now I just have to keep it up.
"Yeah? Maybe I've been this way all along and I've just been holding back," I gently push her against the wall of the pool.
"Is that so?" she smirks.
Her lips are centimeters from my own, she looks so beautiful with her wet hair sticking to her face. I have to swallow the lump of rational thought in my throat. It makes a loud gulp sound.
"Maybe there are things about me that you don't know yet," I lean in closer.
"Like what?" she says softly.
I can feel the mood shift. The air thickens and my heart rate increases.
"If I told you, you wouldn't be able to discover those sides of me all on your own. Where's the fun in that?" I put my hands on her hips.
Her eyes shift down to my lips and I swear my heart starts doing the cha-cha.
"I guess you're right, but mark my words. I will figure you out. No matter what it takes" she smirks.
For a moment we just stand there in silence. Then she meets my eyes and I look into hers, without a word she leans in. My mind goes blank as her lips graze my own. It's almost as if she's afraid I'll reject her. Maybe Jade's not as straight as I thought. I lean in just a little bit too.
My heart pounds so loud I swear it will pound right out of my chest. I can feel these invisible hands reach inside of me and turn off the valve to my airways. My chest tightens with the lack of air.
"What are you guys doing?" McKenzie call.
Jade flinches and quickly pushes me away before our lips could fully meet.
What was that!? We almost kissed! She almost kissed me. Gah! Stupid Mackenzie!
"Nothing," Jade says too quickly. "What are you doing hmm?" she fires back.
"Were you two about to kiss?" Mackenzie narrows her blue eyes.
"Ew, gross. I'm not a lesbo Kenzie. We were just messing around," Jade rolls her eyes.
Ouch.
McKenzie meets my eyes, raising a brow in question.
"Yeah... what she said," I force out.
My face feels hot with fresh embarrassment and rejection.
"Right... Well, mom wants you inside. She's making dinner. You are welcome to stay Skylar," she smiles at me.
"Okay, you can go now!" Jade wraps herself around me.
They share a glare that I don't get and Mackenzie walks inside.
"She's such a pest," Jade grumbles.
To get rid of the awkwardness lingering in the air I grab Jade and lift her into the air before slamming her back into the water. She was totally caught off guard.
"Hey!" she laughs before dunking me into the water.
I giggle and we wrestle around a bit before her aunt calls us in.
"Hey Skylar," she smiles at me.
"Hey Aunty," I smile back.
I was once told to call and treat them as if they were my own aunt and uncle, so I do.
"Why don't you girls get dried off first," her uncle says.
"I call the first shower!" Jade runs up the stairs, I follow after.
We go to her room where she grabs a change of clothes.
"Sorry, if I made things awkward earlier," I say.
"What?" She turns to me.
I stare at her in silence.
"Oh that, we were just playing around. God, you're so adorable sometimes." She kisses me on the head before walking out of the room.
I smile after her.
Maybe, maybe there's a chance she likes me back. Is it possible? How do I know?
Mackenzie clears her throat from the doorway. I flinch and turn to look at her.
"You should put some shorts on," she averts her eyes, her cheeks turning pink.
I look down and myself and feel mortified that I'm just in my underwear and bra. I quickly pull on my shorts from earlier and slip my shirt over my head.
"Sorry," I get up to go back downstairs.
"She's just messing with you; I wouldn't take it too seriously," She follows after me.
"What are you talking about?"
"Your crush on Jade. She doesn't feel the same, she's just messing with you," she says it like it's obvious.
"What!? Crush on Jade, psh. Who has a crush on Jade? Not me. I can't crush anything. I'm not even that strong. You need upper body strength to crush stuff. That is unless you have like a crushing machine to crush it for you. In which case you should steer clear of the crush."
Why am I like this?
She laughs.
"Okay," she drags out the word. "If you say so. I'm just warning you, she's only messing around. Don't take it too seriously."
She then walks downstairs.
I feel my self-esteem dwindle to nothing. If this isn't a setback, I don't know what is. How did she know I have a crush on Jade? Am I that obvious? Does everyone know? Is it like some inside joke I'm not a part of? Is Jade just messing with me?
What should I do?
How do I know if she likes me back or not?
That's it, time for the internet, you can always trust the internet.
Let's see, how to get an extrovert to like you if you are an introvert.
Ah-ha, you can always count on the internet to have the answers you need.
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