Printer-friendly version

~* The Grass Isn't Always Greener *~ “Oh Brittany…” Without thinking, I hugged her, which caused her to cringe fairly hard. I stepped back again. “What happened?” “Like you care…” She responded icily, trying desperately to save face and failing miserably. “Actually I do. Just because you don’t like me, doesn’t mean we’re not still teammates.” “The cops came and pulled me out of class earlier. They held me for like, an hour asking me a bunch of questions.” She looked like she might lose it any second, even as she scowled at me. “What the hell did you tell them?”

---

“Bobby Nelson? Seriously?” I couldn’t believe my ears. How did he even get our home phone number? Margie stood expectantly in the doorway of my bedroom, holding the cordless phone, and Allison and Jennifer watched from the floor. Finally I released Nicole’s hand, standing from my cushy bed and approaching.

“H-hello?”

“Robin, hey!”

“Um… Hi Bobby. How are you?” I answered nervously as I sat down again. We had cleared up our little ‘misunderstanding’ awhile ago, and I had even set him up on a date with one of the girls in our English class. Beyond that we hardly ever talked though.

“Well, I heard that you haven’t chosen an escort for Homecoming yet, and I was wondering if I could escort you? I mean, I know I’m not a star quarterback or anything, but I just thought I’d ask anyway. I mean, I know you’re dating that Nikki girl,” he fumbled nervously, “So I’m not like, looking for a date or anything…”

I giggled a little. “Um, sure Bobby. I don’t see why not. I didn’t know you played football though.”

“Hey!” He laughed, “That was below the belt! Just because I’m on the second string JV.”

“Oh I didn’t mean it like that! I literally mean I don’t know anyone on the team. The girls and I were supposed to talk about it after school, but…” My face fell. Nicole immediately stood and wrapped me in a hug, resting her head on my shoulder. I smiled meekly at her. The incident earlier that day had still been fresh in my mind; Mom’s hot tea helped a little though.

“But what?” he finally asked, making me painfully aware that I’d forced a long, awkward silence between us.

“Er, well… I don’t know if I should say until the police finish their investigation. Somebody put a nasty note in my locker threatening me to drop out of the Homecoming ceremony calling me a ‘lesbian’ bi… Err…witch-with-a-b. Nikki got an even nastier one.”

“Are you serious?” His tone shifted. He sounded positively livid. “If I find out who did that they’re gonna be a big greasy spot in the parking lot. I mean it’d be one thing if you were some stuck up jerk, but I mean come on, you came back and apologized after shooting me down, and things with Becky have been going really well thanks to you. You don’t deserve that kind of crap.”

“What did he say?” Allison whispered as the smile crept across my lips. I wanted to cry at that moment, but held it in for now. That someone I only barely knew would defend my honor like that…

“Thanks Bobby. That means so much to me. I knew people would freak out about this sooner or later, but the notes were just downright nasty. Whoever it is is in deep though because Nikki’s dad’s bringing their lawyer in too.”

“They deserve whatever they get. Like I said, if it was someone like that Stacey chick, y’know, the stuck-up cheerleader? Then I could see it. Anyway, thanks for accepting the offer! I already talked it over with Becky before I called. Well, actually it was her idea.” He paused, adding sheepishly, “She said escorting you would boost my reputation with the guys and maybe get Coach to reconsider me for first string, but at least you know I’m on your side, right?”

I giggled a little as I sat down on the edge of my bed. “Hey, at least you’re honest. I’m honored that you guys think so highly of me though. I’ll tell Victoria first thing tomorrow that I’ve made my choice for escort. See you in class?”

“Totally. See you tomorrow.”

“Oh, Bobby? Do me a favor and don’t mention the notes to anyone yet. Right now you, me, Nicole, Allison, Jennifer, Chelsea, and Maria are the only ones who know about it. I want to keep it low key until they review the security footage.”

“Oh, sure, no problem. Becky’s here right now so I’ll have to explain to her why I was so pissed a minute ago, but our lips are sealed!”

I turned off the phone, only now realizing Margie had waited the whole time, and smiled a bit as I offered it to her.

“Well?” They all practically asked in unison. I giggled. “Um… Bobby asked if he could escort me next week at the Homecoming ceremony. He seemed pretty upset about the notes too, like, genuinely upset, so I think we can cross his name off the list of suspects.”

Nicole nodded. “For what it’s worth I’m not even thinking about it anymore. There’s like, seven hundred or more students at our school, and any one of them could’ve done it. We just have to wait and see what the police turn up. Besides, if someone actually tries to back up their threat I’m pretty sure you could ninja kick them into next Tuesday.” She giggled, causing Allison and Jennifer to giggle too.

Margie bent down to hug me, adding, “She’s right, kiddo. If you spend all week second-guessing everyone, then you’re just going to let them win, and you won’t have any fun getting ready for Homecoming. You still have to get fitted for your dress and your shoes.”

“Hey that’s right!” Allison chimed in, “Margie do you do this sort of thing too?”

My sister shook her head. “My store carries a limited selection of prom dresses in the spring, but the school’s traditionally had a contract with another shop in town. I don’t take it personally though. They’ve been doing the Homecoming gowns for years.”

As Margie stepped out, Jennifer glanced between Allison and me, grinning mischievously. “So, ladies, have you thought any more about what we’re doing for Halloween? I mean, besides helping plan the party for the Scouts.”

“Wait, what party for the scouts?” I interrupted. At the last meeting in mid-September we talked about the various goings-on in our ‘troop’, gossiped about how our summers had been, and there seemed to be some rumblings about an important birthday in a couple of months, but nothing about a party. It made sense though, being Halloween, that we’d probably do something.

Jennifer giggled, “Sorry, I keep forgetting you and Nikki are new to all this. You know who Juliette Gordon Low is right?”

“Sure. She founded the scouts in 1912.”

“Right. Well, her birthday is October 31, so it’s kind of a tradition for scouts to throw a huge Halloween Birthday blowout in her honor. We dress up in-costume and serve cake and stuff. It’s really fun just to relax and hang out with other scouts of all ages, and just y’know, have fun for a couple of hours.”

“That sounds like fun. We could even do themed costumes.” This time, MY mischievous grin garnered their attention.

“Disney Princesses!” Allison squealed. Nicole outright groaned, falling back into my bed, causing Jennifer to cackle.

“Oh my God, yes! Robin, you could be Belle, Ally you’d make an adorable Cinderella with that hair. I could probably pull off Pocahontas with my skin tone, and Nikki-”

Nikki sat up, staring at Jennifer.

“What? You thought Robin was the only Disney freak in our clique?” She grinned.

“ANY-way, Nikki, you’d make an adorable Ariel.”

“You want me to be a fish?” She laughed.

“Nooo, silly! Ariel has some really pretty dresses in human form. Not just her wedding dress, but also when she and Prince Erik have dinner together, she wore this adorable pink ball gown. It might not be recognizable enough though.”

I giggled. “Maybe if she brushes her hair with a fork?” The entire room exploded into a gigglebomb at that. Even Nicole laughed, rolling her eyes.

“I’ll meet you in the middle and go as Snow White, just this once.”

“ Are we still going to have a second party Halloween night too?”

Nicole nodded. “I talked to my folks about that one last week actually. They said as long as there’s no booze, and as long as it’s chaperoned we can have the back garden for entertainment and the dining hall for food.”

The size of Nicole’s family’s house could not be overstated enough. What they called a dining hall was easily half the size of our school cafeteria, and the garden, full of perfectly manicured (including a few of those weird ‘sculpted to look like an animal/shape/person things), marble statues, fountains, and plenty of places to hang lights and decorations. Nicole’s dad made some very shrewd investments in his younger years, but they remained pretty down-to-earth people for the most part.

“I’m trying to get us some live entertainment too. The band’s agent I’m trying to hire told me they might be in our area for another private party anyway, and since I’m the first person to ask about a Halloween gig, that they might take me up on it.”

Allison and I looked at each other, neither of us saying a word until Jennifer cleared her throat. “That sounds awesome Nikki!” she added, breaking the silence and verbally elbowing us, so to speak. Before she could respond, Margie called from downstairs.

“Nikki, your mom’s here!”

“Shoot!” she grumbled, turning to plant a soft kiss on my cheek as she hugged me tightly. “She doesn’t know about the notes yet. I’ll break it to her when I get home though. No sense in her having a freak-out in your living room. I’ll call you later okay? We can get Ally and Jen on conference after Mom calms down. I just know she’s going to have a bison.”

I tried to keep a straight face at that last comment, but failed miserably, giggling as I hugged her, returning the kiss. “Good luck. Call me if you need moral support.”

She smiled wryly as she nodded. She grabbed her backpack on the way out, and after we heard the front door close, I fell back on my bed. I laughed. “So what are the odds she’s trying to book Heedless Despair?”

“Pretty good, actually.” Jennifer giggled. “I mean, her birthday’s like, a week before Halloween so it makes sense they’d still be here. I’m surprised they’d be willing to do two shows here though. Alpine Springs isn’t exactly huge, so when word gets out that they’re here this place is going to be a paparazzi playground.”

“Why’s that?” I sat up again, glancing at the other two.

“It’s because of the theatrics,” Allison explained. “See, HD have never been photographed without their makeup and costumes. They, like a lot of us fans, believe that the magic’s in the mystery. They do these crazy macabre antics on stage, and we all know it’s not real, but we can suspend disbelief for awhile. But some British tabloid’s offering a HUGE reward for photographs of them in street clothes.”

“Ugh. Some people… Why can’t they just accept that they’re doing fans a huge disservice by trying to unmask them? It’s like going up to a magician and saying ‘Dude, your wires are showing!’”

Jennifer giggled. “Worse. If a magician’s wires are showing he’s probably a pretty bad magician, but HD’s stage effects are top-notch. Like the time their bassist and guitarist got into a duel on-stage. The bassist stabbed the guitarist. Fake blood everywhere, and at the end of the song she was ‘resurrected’ as a zombie. It was awesome.”

We talked for quite awhile after that, and eventually parted ways for the night. Allison and Kelly wanted to spend some sister-time together, and Jennifer wanted to get an early start on party planning, now with three separate parties to think about, I couldn’t blame her.

School the next day was thankfully business as usual. I found another note in my locker, and I couldn’t help thinking that whoever left is must have been pretty upset that I hadn’t dropped out yet. The attached picture had been defaced even more, with more ‘colorful’ language. I turned it in to the office, gave them a timeframe, and left it at that.

No one had tried anything physical yet, so I found myself more and more refusing to be bullied like this. Wednesday afternoon things finally came to a head though, but in the absolute last way I had expected.

Just after lunch, I had gone into the Girls’ room to wash my hands. As I touched up my lip gloss I thought I heard someone sniffling. When I stepped closer to the one closed stall on the far end, I saw a pair of sneakers shoot straight up, so I quietly knocked.

“Hey, are you okay in there?”

Silence. Memories of Allison’s refusal to leave me alone in my sordid state all those months ago came flooding back.

“I know you’re in there… Look, if you want to be alone that’s fine, but just tell me you’re not considering doing something stupid and I’ll leave you alone, okay?”

The sneakers slooowly slid down to the floor. To my complete and stunned shock, Brittany opened the door. Her eyes, puffy and red, to say nothing of her mascara looking like she’d just come from a Zombie Apocalypse movie filming added to the comic tragedy.

“Oh Brittany…” Without thinking, I hugged her, which caused her to cringe fairly hard. I stepped back again. “What happened?”

“Like you care…” She responded icily, trying desperately to save face and failing miserably.

“Actually I do. Just because you don’t like me, doesn’t mean we’re not still teammates.”

“The cops came and pulled me out of class earlier. They held me for like, an hour asking me a bunch of questions.” She looked like she might lose it any second, even as she scowled at me. “What the hell did you tell them?”

“Brit, I didn’t ‘tell them’ anything. Someone’s been leaving nasty, and I mean brutally venomous notes in my locker threatening me. I gave them a list of everyone that’s given me crap since I came here, including yours, but I made sure to tell them I didn’t think any of you would be stupid enough to actually try something.”

“You’re right. I didn’t, but I know who did.” She shifted back defensively, as though she expected me to strike her.

“Did you put them up to it?”

“No, of course not! It was…” she sighed. “I was pissed off, okay? I was upset that you made Homecoming maid and not me because a bunch of Scrub freshmen decided to vote for you after what happened at our first practice. I was blowing off steam, ranting to my boyfriend. He told me not to worry about it, that everything would be okay… I… I had no idea he’d do something this insanely stupid!” At this point she practically fell backwards onto the vacant toilet seat behind her, completely losing it.

“Now I’m probably gonna get thrown out of school as an accessory. I mean who in their right mind would stand up for me now? God it’s just not fair. You get everything handed to you, and all I do is say something to vent about it and I get this!”

I stood dumbfounded. Did she honestly think my life was so easy?

“Brittany… My life is pretty damn far from easy,” I tried to maintain an even tone, but the more her words echoed in my mind, the more infuriated I felt. “At my last school I was the least popular person there. EVERYONE hated me, or wanted a piece of me because they knew I wouldn’t fight back. Then this past summer, when I thought I finally escaped it, I had some psychotic sex offender try and kidnap my friend Allison and me. He even broke into a guy’s house trying to chase us down after I tried to pepper spray him.

“I still sometimes have nightmares about that freak. I started taking self-defense because of it. Then when I started school, that Jason creep tried to attack me, not once but twice. People like you and Stacey Peterson are constantly riding my ass because you think I’m some kind of threat to your popularity, and now I’ve got your boyfriend threatening my life if I don’t drop out of the Homecoming thing. To top it off, I’m not even allowed to change with the rest of you, which wouldn’t bother me except that it gives people like you even more ammo to use against me, so no, my life is NOT easy!”

I exhaled finally and took a few steps back, staring at her. “I… I’m sorry.” I turned to walk away, bumping right into, of all people, Maria. She frowned, turning to watch as I moved to the sink to splash some water on my face. I could only assume Brittany was talking to her.

“Save your breath. Robin already yelled at me, my boyfriend hates me now, and I’ll probably get thrown out of school, so just don’t say a damn word!”

“So-rry… For what it’s worth I’d stick up for you though. And Robin will too once she calms down.”

“I doubt that. I wouldn’t if I were her,” she sobbed.

I breathed a long, drawn-out sigh, slowly turning to walk back toward the two. I offered Brittany my hand. “Be glad I’m not you then. I’ve been telling Maria and everyone else who’s asked me why I put up with you the same thing every time. It’s not worth my energy to be upset. I know all of this is supposed to be one big game, a power play. It’s what girls DO in high school. Your boyfriend doesn’t understand that, and he took it way too far, but I will stand up on your behalf if you can look me in the eyes and tell me you didn’t mean what he wrote.”

She hesitantly took my hand, pulling herself up. We stared at each other in silence for several long seconds, before she finally nodded. “I didn’t mean what he wrote. I didn’t even know he wrote it until the police confronted me about it, and claimed that since my name was dropped, I could be ‘liable as an accessory’ or something. I swear, I never meant for any of this to happen. I was just jealous… I thought that maybe, if I won Maid this year, my dad might finally remember he has a daughter, not a future cash cow for the talent scouts to check out.”

“Brit… I’m sorry. For what it’s worth I don’t even have a father,” I offered softly. “My dad… left us when I was little, and got himself killed in an industrial accident a few years later.”

“Sorry I gave you so much crap before. I guess the grass really isn’t always greener on the other side huh?”

Maria smiled, “Walk a mile in another’s shoes before you judge them. That way you’re a mile away from them and you have their shoes.”

Brittany and I stared at Maria for a moment, then each other, and finally started laughing as what she said slowly sunk in.

“You are so weird… I guess I should apologize to you for that ‘speak American’ crap before too.”

Maria shrugged. “I’m not even an immigrant. I’m an exchange student from Guadalajara. You’d know that if you asked first, but… if you want to know more you know where to find me.” A genuine smile crossed her lips. “Let’s just all start fresh, okay? You guys can have your political stuff. I’m just here to play basketball and have fun.”

“And I’ll talk to the Principal right now. If I have to I’ll go to the police too. I’ve dealt with the policewoman who took my initial report before, so if I just explain it to her… maybe I can convince her that it was all a misunderstanding. Your boyfriend’s up a creek though… I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do about him.”

She heaved a sigh. “It’s my fault for dating a pig-headed jerk. And I hear Bobby Nelson’s off the market thanks to you too.” She managed a quiet, sincere laugh at that.

“Hey, if I meet anymore eligible guys that aren’t total pricks I’ll send them your way.”

I left Maria to help Brittany clean up, while I made my way to the school office. As I stepped inside, Principal Rochelle immediately stepped in front of me. “As you well know Ms. Gale, our school’s policy remains the best interest of its students foremost. Furthermore due to the ongoing criminal investigation, and in the best interest of all students involved, the district is not at liberty to release any names without parental consent. Now if you’ll please kindly leave, I have a school to run.”

Tina Gale, Channel 2 Action News New Haven, scowled at his response. “I know you’re hiding something Matt. Come on, off the record, what’s really going on here?”

“Off the record, Tina, what’s going on here is a student’s personal privacy is at risk of being violated by a nosey ex-girlfriend. Please, I’m asking you as a friend, respect these kids’ privacy? If the court decides to release any names to the public, that’s one thing, but you’re asking me to throw myself to the ACLU here.”

She sighed, slowly nodding. “Alright, Matt, alright. You win. I’ll drop it for now, but you still owe me something.” She gave me a peculiar glance as she passed, but continued on out of the office.

Principal Rochelle exhaled slowly as he turned to me. “Please, please tell me you didn’t find another note?”

I shook my head. “No, but that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“They have one suspect already and they’re investigating another, and with MISS Gale,” he emphasized the ‘Miss’ callously, “snooping around too… I need a vacation.”

“Sorry sir,” I offered. “I realize this hasn’t been any easier on you than it has on me. The thing is their second suspect is innocent.”

“Do you have proof?” I heard the office door open behind me, but didn’t look to see who had entered. I shook my head. “No, but I talked to her. Look, Brittany is a lot of things, but she’s not vicious enough to cross this boundary either.” I tried to explain as best I could what Brittany had told me, how it was all just a misunderstanding that her boyfriend took too far. Admittedly I was still learning how these power struggles worked too, but I really owed my sister and Kelly for explaining it to me, or I never would’ve believed her myself.

“So I’m asking that no action be taken against her. If it comes out later, and I mean absolute proof that she was involved, then I’ll press charges against her myself, but until then, she’s still innocent until proven guilty just like everyone else.”

A weathered, older male voice spoke up behind me, “Well said, Ms. Smith. It is Ms. Smith right? Or are you Ms. Morgan?”

I spun around to come face to… well… chest with a man in a dark brown suit. His thick, graying mustache and glasses made me think of the police commissioner from those Aria Blade comic books I’d become so fond of recently. He produced his badge for me to inspect as he continued.

“I was just coming to discuss with Mr. Rochelle the outcome of our findings, and while it’s true that Ms. Scott’s apparent boyfriend did act alone, at least insofar as we can tell from surveillance footage, he claimed she told him to do it, and she claimed she never said any such thing. If you would be willing to sign a statement to the effect of what you’ve just told Mr. Rochelle, I’ll wrap things up and turn everything over to Juvie.”

I nodded. “I’ll have to get my family lawyer involved before I sign anything, sir, but I’ll stand by what I’ve said. Brittany was upset and jealous, but she didn’t mean for it to go this far, and I can’t sit by and watch her get punished for having poor brain to mouth impulse control.”

He genuinely laughed at that and nodded, smiling a little. “Fair enough. I’ll have everything drawn up and sent to your contact address, then you can take it from there, but I’ll need that statement returned in seventy-two hours, whether or not you sign it, alright?”

“Yes sir. Thank you sir.”

I left out of the office with a new spring in my step. It’s amazing what the threat of criminal charges can do for someone’s outlook. Brittany had gone from Queen of the School to simpering pile of emotional slop over the course of one day. I couldn’t blame her though, and in truth I did feel kind of sorry for her. I didn’t expect we’d just magically be friends now, but at least I could move on with Homecoming plans with a clear conscience now.

Speaking of Homecoming plans, the Homecoming ‘court’ met at lunch the day before to discuss fittings for this afternoon! Mom gave me a ride after school to the dress shop. As we pulled into the parking lot, I suddenly felt a wave of emotions wash over me. A mix of unease and excitement felt almost to surge through every fiber of my being at once.

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” Mom’s concerned tone carried over my thoughts.

“I just realized I’ve never been ‘fitted’ before. I mean, there’s a reason I don’t change for gym or basketball with the other girls…”

She smiled as she squeezed my hand. “Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. I looked into it a few days ago, and they use completely private dressing rooms. You’re completely safe.”

I breathed a deeply relieved sigh at those words. “Thank God. I thought I was going to pass out for a second there.”

“I noticed!” she replied with a laugh. “Really, you need to just relax and have fun. Do you want me to come with you?”

“Someone has to embarrass me by taking a ton of pictures. It may as well be you,” I teased.

Her face absolutely lit up at that. She reached under the driver’s seat, pulling out Margie’s digital camera. “One step ahead of you honey.” She gave me one of those patented cheeky Mom grins as we stepped out and entered.

In truth, the fitting itself was pretty anti-climactic for the first half. They took our measurements and had us each stand barefoot on a stool in our street clothes while they evaluated us. There were ten girls involved in total – junior high maids for seventh and eighth grades, and Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior Maids, although the term ‘maid’ may have been a bit misleading. More like Ladies of Court, but it’s so much easier to say ‘Maid’, I guess.

We all started to get excited once we finally saw our gowns, though! Keeping with the tradition of our school colors, purple and gold, the Ladies of Court would wear long, flowing purple evening gowns that almost looked like something out of Victorian England, minus the ridiculous frills, hoops, corsetry and stuff, and our Queen, a gorgeous gold silk gown of a similar style with rich, purple embroidery, though truthfully, at first I thought they’d mistakenly picked out a wedding gown. It truly was a magnificent dress, and Victoria wore it well, with very few alterations needed.

Mine, on the other hand, had been made for someone a few inches taller, and poor Julie, our seventh grade Maid, looked like she might completely get lost in hers! With the pins for our alterations in place, we were finally allowed to step down, and on entering my private changing room I had to stop and stare. It wasn’t until I actually, physically saw my reflection that it finally sank in for me. My peers voted me as their representative, over someone like Chelsea or any number of other, to my mind prettier girls.

With the fitting behind us, and many, many embarrassing photos with promises to pass copies around to parents later, we finally started home. I couldn’t help reflecting on the events of the last couple of days. Two chances to see an apparently hot Euro Goth band, THREE parties to plan, including two Halloween parties on the same day, and the situation with Nicole’s and my apparent stalker settled remarkably painlessly. I wondered how many kids had to suffer for the system to be willing to react so quickly, or if it was because Max and the ACLU were so closely watching, waiting like one of those mother eagles on a nature show to swoop in and peck someone’s eyes out.

At least for the Girl Scout Halloween party, there would be more than just a handful of CITs to help with the planning. And now I could dress up as Belle for that party, while still enacting my other planned costume for Nicole’s party that night. Mwa ha ha.

---

If you liked this post, you can leave a comment and/or a kudo!
Click the Good Story! button above to leave the author a kudo:
And please, remember to comment, too! Thanks.