Foreward from Nine:

Ironic that I’m posting about Ky having a sick day when I’m feeling sick myself. Anyway, this is part of a three-part thing, so be sure to read the first one, and then the third that’s coming next week.  

“Nelson’s Sick Day”

“The concept of the ‘unreliable narrator’ is done wonderfully in the 1950 Kurosawa film ‘Rashamon.’ Has anybody in here seen it?”

I didn’t wanna groan out loud when Mrs. Shipley asked that question, but come the fuck on. What high school kid in the 2000s is watching 50s movies about radishes or some shit? It sounded Japanese, so I bet Ky’s weeb ass would have seen it. I looked to my side, to where Ky would normally be sitting… if that slacker weren’t faking sick and staying home that day. On the other side of Ky’s empty desk was Lisa’s, Ky’s new girlfriend. I saw she was looking at me with just the shittiest expression, but I did my best to play nice with her, for Ky’s sake. I gave her a little smile, trying to be friendly, but she rolled her eyes at me and just looked back toward the teacher. Bitch.

I felt that rage rising up in me – I really had to keep control. Ky was with Lisa, and that was something I’d just have to accept. To ground myself, I wrapped my fingers around the pendant Rain gave me and immediately felt some of that anger ebbing away. It was about that time that Mrs. Shipley realized nobody had seen that Pokemon movie or whatever, so she kept talking.

“The film is the same story several times, but done through multiple perspectives. Each iteration causes the story to change in different ways, with the retellings being subjective to particular characters. As such, we can’t discern the actual truth; only what each character perceives to be the truth. Another example would be Fight Club, if that’s more to your liking than Japanese films from the 50s.”

I liked Mrs. Shipley. She was grinning at her own cheesiness, and it was honestly something I could relate to. It was about that time the bell rang, at which Becky Davenport – little Miss Fucking Perfect Pink Princess – jumped out of her seat with a grunt, like she had better places to be. The teacher wasn’t having any of that shit, though. 

“Miss Davenport! The bell does not dismiss you – I do!”

I swear to God, Becky slammed back into her seat so hard her desk scooted back a few inches, almost slamming into mine. Even though all I could see was the back of her head, I could tell she was gritting her teeth all angry-like. That made me feel better, at least; she caused me all kinds of grief. She called me “Terror Norwood”, like it was the most clever fucking joke in the world.

“Whatever,” was all Becky said in response to Mrs. Shipley.

Lunch was the next thing for most of us, so we were pretty antsy to go, for sure. In my case it was different; I had to talk to the teacher privately. She stood quietly for a bit, as if daring anybody else to “pull a Becky”, before at last saying: “Alright, you can go, now.”

“Finally!” Becky cried out, and she fucking booked it out of that room. Becky was a prissy little bitch, but I’d never seen her quite that agitated at the end of class before. It was none of my business, though – I had to go see Mrs. Shipley! Though as I was walking up to her, so was Lisa. I thought that was kind of weird, but as soon as she opened her mouth I knew exactly what she was doing.

“Excuse me, Mrs. Shipley,” she said in that sweet fake timid voice that just pi–no, no, she was probably a sweet girl, I was just being jealous. 

Then she looked at me out of the corner of her eye with a real malicious smirk. Maybe she was being spiteful…

“Since Ky is out sick,” Lisa continued, “I could take homework or study materials or whatever. I’ll be going over there, anyway, you know?”

Why did she have to point that out? Because I was standing there, that’s why. Not only that, she very likely knew that’s what I was going to Mrs. Shipley about, and wanted to one-up me. She wanted to make sure Ky and I wouldn’t be friends anymore. I don’t think she knew about my crush on Ky… though I also doubted everyone was as oblivious as Ky, so she could have picked up on it.

“Oh, how gracious of you, Miss Harrison!” the teacher said, and I barely suppressed my own eye roll, “though there’s no work to take home tonight. Just send my well wishes along and enjoy your weekend.”

“Sure thing, Mrs. Shipley! Good class, today!” Lisa replied, with just a huge smile on her face.

Ugh. This bitch.

I was so stunned by this fake ho that I didn’t notice when she made to leave the room, and ram her shoulder against mine by “accident” on her way past. I couldn’t help but channel just a little bit of my power so that she was basically ramming herself into a brick wall. She acted like she didn’t notice me not budging, just fixing me with an evil smirk. “Oops, sorry Tara. I forgot you were here.”

The teacher was still watching us, so I did my best to smile at her. “It’s okay. I barely felt it.”

Lisa’s smirk turned into a scowl when she didn’t get the rise out of me that she wanted. She tried to be petty and I took the high road, and it pissed her off. I think Mrs. Shipley noticed, though – when I finally looked at her she had her eyebrow up.

“Miss Norwood – did you need anything?”

At that point, I realized I was standing there like an idiot, and my one reason to even be there was now gone. “Ah,” I began, rubbing at the back of my neck, “nah, I’m good. I’ll see ya Monday!”

I had to hit the potty before lunch, so I made my way into the ladies room. As soon as I stepped in, I heard growling coming from one of the stalls. This wasn’t a situation like with Jerkoff Jerry the year before – someone was pissed about something.

“Fuck. Fuck you. Ugh.”

The voice was familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it. I didn’t wanna be in there for whatever awkward shit was going on, so I stepped back out and hit the water fountain nearby, just waiting for that bathroom to clear out. As I did, I noticed Lisa go right in. I could help myself, I had to stand outside to hear what was going on in there.

I was surprised when I heard Lisa talking with genuine concern in her voice. “Um… are you okay?”

“Psh. Whatever,” came the reply, and suddenly the bathroom door flew open and out stepped none other than Becky Fucking Davenport. 

It kinda made sense now; she probably wanted to rush out of Mrs. Shipley’s class because she was dealing with some emotional shit. A breakup, from the sounds of it. While the door was still swung open from Becky’s exit, I popped into the bathroom. Lisa was standing at one of the mirrors, checking her hair or makeup or whatever. Hearing her actually try to be nice to Becky – when the cheerleaders and the dance team had such a nasty rivalry – made me think twice about Lisa. Maybe she really wasn’t so bad and I was overreacting.

I know, it’s weird for me to overreact, but sometimes it happens.

“Hey,” I began, at which point Lisa turned her head to stare me down. 

Maybe it wasn’t such a great idea, but I continued. “That was a good thing you did, Lisa,” I said quietly, giving her another smile.

She narrowed her eyes at me, snapping back. “What?”

I cringed, stepping back before ducking into one of the stalls. Sure, I had to pee, but it was mostly just to get away from Lisa a that point. 

So then came lunch. It’d always been weird since Ky and Lisa got together. I sat with Ky, naturally, but then Lisa would be joining us and she just made it… tense. But with Ky there, she didn’t openly do anything shitty at me, so I had to act normal or I’d look like the bitch in the situation. Lisa was at our usual table, but she gave me a glare that let me know that any peace treaty we had was null and voice if Ky wasn’t there. I heard some giggling from nearby – the table with the cheerleaders, Becky Davenport among them. They were looking my way for some reason, but I just ignored them.

“Tara!” 

I looked around to see who’d called me, only to see Jodi Nelson waving me over. Jodi was Ky’s cousin, so she’d known me about as long as Ky had. She must have noticed I was having trouble finding a seat, so I took her invitation and slid up next to her at the table. 

“Thanks, darlin’,” I said with an exhausted sigh, “today just ain’t my day, I reckon.”

Jodi had a notebook and one of those big-ass nerd calculators out. The notebook had some kind of really complicated drawing or something in it. Whatever Jodi was working on, she was doing that instead of eating it seemed. She took a moment away from her work to pat me on the hand, though.

“It’s high school,” she said, squeezing my hand before going back to her work, “I’m so glad I’m out of here next year.”