Laura had often dreamed of Joshua falling in love with her, and the best part of her brother’s band was that Joshua came to her house often. Even though she typically didn’t talk to him at all, the thought of him being in her house was exciting. A few years back, Jack had been furious with Laura – he’d found out she had a crush on Joshua. He had shouted and threatened to beat her up if she ever came near his friend. She figured that it was because Jack was afraid she would come between him and Joshua. If that happened the band would fall apart, and the band was everything to Jack.
Finally, the sound stopped, and Laura could hear the other band members leave the house. She stayed in her room and looked out the window to see Joshua, Kevin, and Dylan get in their cars to drive away. Joshua looked up and saw her. He smiled and nodded his head; she smiled back and felt her heart race.
The sound of her brother coming up the stairs outside her room made her open her door. “Can I get a ride to school tomorrow?” Laura asked.
“Mmm,” he mumbled as he passed her. His face had an artic expression of “Leave me alone.”
Jack wasn’t happy about his sister starting high school. In fact, he wished he didn’t have a sister at all. She was their parents’ darling; everything she did was oh-so-fantastic, and everything he did was wrong. Sometimes he felt true hate in his heart. At other times, he felt a prick of protectiveness towards her. Even though she was fourteen and old enough to start high school, he still thought she was way too young. He thought about how he and his friends had just talked about fresh flesh in school, and the thought about anyone talking that way about his sister bothered him.
It was ironic that he didn’t want anyone to be mean to her when he was close to abusive sometimes. Their parents had told him to be nice to Laura a million times, but the mere sight of her could trigger a reaction in him that felt out of his control. After being hard on her, he often felt bad. He just wished she wasn’t so damn provocative with her I’m-the-perfect-child-in-this-family attitude. She was their parents’ pride, with her talent for school, and he would get cold inside when he heard his parents brag about Laura being part of the program for gifted children. Jack had never been even close to being part of the gifted program. He was dyslexic and a slow reader. He used to like math. Once, one of his math teachers had told him that many smart people, including Einstein, had been dyslexic. That inspired him. Unfortunately, his parents did not think of him as any Einstein, and one time they had been so mad at him for failing in English that his dad had shouted, “Why can’t you be more like your sister?” It just made Jack hate Laura even more, and he thought to himself that without her, his life would be perfect.
* * * * *
Laura sat in her room thinking about her first day of school. In English, a girl had really bothered her: too sweet and pretty, with the perfect answer to anything the teacher asked. Laura had always been the top student in her class, but this girl was amazingly smart. It was going to be hard to be the best in class with that girl around, and Laura had never tried anything but being the best. It wasn’t hard to compete academically with her brother Jack, who had never received an A in his life. Jack had a bad attitude with their parents and would argue with them about everything. Laura had learned not to get in his way. Sometimes the rage in him was so powerful that she felt intimidated, but mostly he would just call her names or push her aside if she came too close.
Laura had been part of the program for gifted kids in middle school, and it gave her a special position among her friends. Being the sweet, good, gifted girl was her identity, and it worked for her. Who was this strange brunette, this girl who had challenged her position? She had seen her friend Victoria wave at the brunette as if she knew her. Laura had known Victoria for years and decided to call her.
“Hello?” Victoria answered on the third ring.
“Hi, Vic, it’s Laura, how are you?”
“Great, and you?” Victoria sounded happy to hear from Laura.
“Fine, how was first day for you?” Laura asked casually.
“Fine, I guess, how was yours?”
“I saw you said hi to Miss Know-It-All in English class; who is she?” Laura couldn’t disguise her mocking tone of voice.
“Who?” Victoria sounded confused.
“That Indian girl with the brown hair who constantly had her arm up.” Laura specified.
That was a moment of silence as Victoria was thinking. “Oh, that’s Sara. Why?”
“How do you know her?” Laura inquired.
Again Victoria was silent for a moment – she didn’t like Laura’s tone. “We took dance classes together a few years back.”
“How is she?”
Hesitantly Victoria answered, “She’s cool. Why are you asking all these questions, Laura?”
Laura could feel Victoria’s tension. “No reason! See you tomorrow, okay?” She tried to calm things.
“Okay, bye,” Victoria answered, more relaxed.
Laura tasted the name Sara. For some reason, she didn’t like the sound of that name.
CHAPTER 5
Horrible thoughts
The following day, Laura found herself observing Sara in class. Even though she didn’t know Sara at all and she was knew it was irrational, everything about Sara just bothered her. The way her brown hair fell over her shoulders so perfectly, the way she kept focus on the teacher and seemed to get everything he said, the irritating way she raised her hand every time the teacher had a question, and the way some of the boys in class were looking at her with awe… without her even noticing.
Laura never attracted much attention from boys. Her girlfriends told her she was a bombshell because of her long blond hair and her big bluish-green eyes, but no boy had ever dared to ask her to be his girlfriend. She didn’t show guys much interest anyway, and she was planning to save herself for her future husband. One thing that Laura was great at was smiling. She had learned to smile in every situation, no matter how she felt inside. Her mother had always told her, “Put on that pretty smile, Laura!” And she did.
It almost felt to Laura as if Sara was intentionally trying to destroy her life by taking over the top-student role that had been Laura’s since kindergarten. She felt angry, and for a short while, she started to fantasize about what it would be like to get back at Sara. She could sneak in at night and cut off her pretty hair while she slept. The thought of Sara’s scream the next morning made Laura smile. She could poison Sara’s food in the cafeteria to make her puke in front of everyone; she could steal her homework and make her look bad in front of the teacher. It took a lot of willpower to push away the horrible thoughts. For a moment, her own thoughts almost disgusted her.
At lunch Laura was sitting with friends at a table as Sara and Benjamin walked over. “Can we sit here?” Benjamin asked.
With a cold look at Sara, Laura snapped. “No, these seats are taken.”
Sara and Benjamin looked with confusion at each other and then back at Laura before they continued to another table.
Laura’s friend Lisa looked at Laura, marveling. “What was that about?”
“I just don’t like her.”
“Why?” Lisa questioned.
“I just don’t!” Laura felt full of anger inside and couldn’t help it.
Benjamin kept looking over at Laura. He didn’t know her, but he wondered what her problem was. “Do you know that girl?”
“She’s in my English class,” Sara answered. “But I haven’t talked to her.”
“What is her problem, anyway?” Benjamin frowned.
“I don’t know.” Sara glanced discreetly in Laura’s direction.
“Well, as good old E. Burke says: rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.”
“Just leave it, okay?” Sara hated any sort of confrontation and wanted to change the subject. “So how is school so far?” Sara smiled at Ben. She didn’t want him to know how humiliating the experience had felt to her.
“Great… no detentions so far. My
parents can be really proud.” He smiled.
“Wow, that’s an achievement.”
“Hey, do you want to go to the movies on Friday?” Benjamin asked.
“Sure. I would love to,” Sara said with a smile. “What are we seeing?”
“A really scary movie that will make you cling to me all night.” Benjamin made sounds of horror.
“Ha, you should see your smirking face right now. It will be you clinging to me! Just you wait and see,” Sara challenged.
“Never! I’m a total macho man. Don’t you know that?” Benjamin made tough facial expressions, and once again he had Sara doubled up in laughter. Laura’s rejection left her mind.
Her sweet laughter attracted much more attention than she even realized. Laura looked over and felt a hard stone in her stomach. She was sure Sara and Benjamin were laughing at her and that Benjamin’s funny faces were an impersonation of her. Her hate for Sara exploded in that moment.
Over at the other end of the cafeteria, Joshua looked in the direction of the laughter. He recognized the helpless girl from yesterday. She was leaning her head back, laughing with the most amazing laughter he had ever heard. She didn’t look helpless anymore. She looked like she was on top of the world and as if no other person in the whole world mattered – just the one guy sitting in front of her. Was he her boyfriend? Even from a distance, he could see how she was glowing, and he could feel a physical reaction in his body. “Who is that girl?” he asked, without even realizing he’d spoken out loud.
His friend Kevin turned his head. “I don’t know, but she is hot!”
CHAPTER 6
Movie night
After a long discussion, Sara and Benjamin finally decided on a romantic movie. They’d planned on a horror movie called “The Dark Corridor,” but Sara had heard from friends that it wasn’t worth seeing. While they sat in the darkness, Benjamin took Sara’s hand and leaned his knee against hers. She smiled and whispered: “Can I have some popcorn?” The romantic movie, called “Forever” was about finding your soul mate, and Benjamin thought it went on and on, but finally, the movie was over. He walked Sara home.
“You know that girl, Laura, who was being a little… cold to us the other day?” Sara said.
“Yeah. Is her name Laura? What about her?”
“Today in class, she was mean again.”
“How?”
“The teacher asked us to write a quick poem, and I wrote one about my grandmother. It wasn’t my best poem, but it was alright. The teacher had some of us read our poems out loud, and when it was my turn, I saw Laura rolling her eyes and shaking her head, acting like my poem was ridiculous. She was the only one not applauding; instead she just sat there with her arms crossed, and the worst part was that she tried to convince the teacher that I made a mistake – saying ‘who’ instead of ‘whom,’ but I didn’t...” Sara ended her long complaint, looking at Benjamin for support.
“Well, you know what they say: if people are trying to bring you down it must mean that you are above them, right?” Benjamin was trying to cheer up Sara, but it didn’t seem to be working. He tried another direction. “Sara, honestly, who cares about her? What’s her problem, anyway?”
Sara sighed. “I have no idea.”
“Hey, don’t let that stupid girl get you down. I’ll be happy to come by and hold her down while you punch her… just say when!” Benjamin laughed out loud and made boxing fists. As always, he had Sara laughing in a second, and soon enough they moved on to talk about friends and parents. He held her hand, and they felt completely happy.
“Hey, thanks for walking me home, Ben. See you.” Sara planted a kiss on his lips and sent him a big smile.
As Benjamin walked home, he thought about the film. His and Sara’s love was different. He didn’t recognize that “electric” feeling someone in the movie had described – it wasn’t like that with Sara. He just really liked being near her. She felt safe and good, and he was really proud to be her boyfriend. He realized that the first three weeks of school were over, and so far he had done really well. Life was good!
CHAPTER 7
The new girl
It was almost incredible how something as exciting as starting high school soon became just as normal as going to middle school. After two months with the same students, the same teachers and the same dull cafeteria food, Sara was beginning to feel a routine setting in. Still, the situation with Laura was getting worse. Sara could see Laura whispering things about her to other people, and it felt like a knife in her heart whenever they looked at her and laughed. She could tell she was being excluded, made fun of, and bullied. It was beginning to wear on her.
English had always been her favorite subject, but now, she didn’t look forward to English at all. Laura would be there – her presence was like a frosty breeze from across the room. Sara had tried being nice, but it didn’t go well. One day, she ran into Laura in an almost empty hall, and Sara tried to be kind, saying “Hi!” as they passed. Laura completely ignored her; she didn’t even look at her, and it felt so harsh to be rejected that way. Am I not even worthy of a simple hi? Sara wondered. Benjamin told her not to take it personally, but it was difficult not to.
Sara wondered what she had done to provoke this anger from Laura, but she couldn’t think of anything. As she entered English class one day, she saw a new girl sitting in her usual spot. The girl had the most beautiful copper-colored hair and pale skin. Her blue eyes darted around nervously. “I’m sorry, am I in your seat?” the new girl asked when Sara approached her.
“Don’t worry about that, there’s no name tag on it. I can find another seat.” She smiled. “I’m Sara. Are you new to the school?”
“Yeah, I just moved here with my mom. My parents got divorced, so we had to move here because of my mom’s new job. I’m Amber.”
Sara smiled. “Welcome, Amber. I hope you’ll like it here.”
After class, Amber flashed Sara a big smile. Just as Sara was going to ask Amber if she might want to meet for lunch later, Laura cut in front of her. In a soft, sweet voice, Laura asked, “Would you like me to show you to your next class?”
“That would be great, thank you!” Amber gratefully replied and walked away with Laura.
Sara watched Laura chatting happily with Amber as they left.
“Why can’t Laura be that nice to me?” Sara asked, exasperated, as she was telling the story to Benjamin at lunch.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged his shoulders.
“Hey, there she is. Amber, over here,” Sara called and waved at Amber, who looked a bit lost with her lunch tray. “Come sit with us.”
“Thanks!” Amber came over with a grateful smile.
“Amber, meet Ben. Ben, meet Amber.” Benjamin and Amber smiled at each other.
“So how do you like Larva High School so far?” Ben asked Amber.
“It’s okay,” Amber said with a nod.
“Where are you from?”
“I’m from Hudsonville, Michigan.”
“So, Amber, what brings you to our humble school?” Ben asked.
“My parents got divorced, and my mom decided to take a job here in Seattle, so here I am.”
“Well, both Sara and I were born and raised here, so we are perfect tour guides. We know all the cool spots.” Benjamin winked. “So, do you know what daylight savings time means in Seattle?” he asked Amber.
Amber shrugged. “No.”
“An extra hour of rain!” Benjamin grinned.
“What about your dad, then?” Sara asked, ignoring Ben’s attempt to be funny.
“He stayed back in Hudsonville. He didn’t want to move to the west coast, and he is furious at my mom for moving me across the country.” Amber rolled her eyes.
“Oh, that’s a bummer. I bet you miss your dad, then?” Sara looked at Amber empathetically.
“Mmm.” Amber was taking a bite of her sandwich and nodding her head.
“Well, I hope you’ll like it here, anyway,” Ben interj
ected.
“Yeah, me too.” Amber smiled a polite smile without any real joy.
It was cool to have a new friend, and soon Amber was hanging with Sara and Benjamin every day at school. But Amber always seemed sad. The whole situation – her parents fighting, changing schools, and everything – wasn’t easy, but she and Benjamin seemed to share the same love for the strange and unnecessary wisdom that Ben called “common knowledge.” They could all get excited about the political situations in foreign countries, and Amber fully understood Ben’s passion for the human rights movement.
Sometimes their discussions became so zealous that Sara felt completely left out. It wasn’t that she disagreed with them; she just couldn’t relate as much, as she had never been anywhere outside of Washington State. Her father didn’t have a lot of vacation time, and although he dreamed of taking his family back to India where he and Sara’s mom were born, they had neither time nor money for that. Sara was happy to see Ben connecting to a person other than her at school – it was good to branch out, especially since none of the three had many friends at school yet.
Based on their geographic locations, both Benjamin and Sara technically belonged at a different high school, where all their friends from middle school had gone. But Sara and her family had chosen Larva High School because it was the highest-ranking school in the district and the only high school offering an international baccalaureate, which was important to Sara. Ben had come along with her. She knew it had been a hard choice for Ben, and she was very grateful that he had decided to choose Larva. She had been terrified of starting high school, but with Ben by her side, everything was much easier. And now that Ben was on the Larva High School Baseball team, Sara was convinced that he would soon have a ton of new friends. Ben never complained about it, and he often mentioned that he hung out with his old friends outside of school, playing video games or skateboarding in the park.
A few weeks later, Ben and Amber were rambling on and on about the industrial exploitation of third-world countries, and Sara turned her attention to the other students around her in the cafeteria. She looked around and noticed a table full of girls, all giggling and writing on a paper. In between the giggling and the writing, they kept looking over at the table to their right. Sara let her eyes wander in that direction and met Joshua’s eyes: he was staring right back at her. She immediately froze and stopped breathing. His look was so intense that it filled her whole body with a whirlwind of butterflies. They stared at each other for what seemed an eternity before his attention flitted to one of the giggling girls, who was asking for his autograph.