"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.” Marilyn Monroe
After study hall, Elizabeth walked to her locker to drop off her backpack and head outside for lunch. Just as she passed the B Hallway, Bob grabbed her arm, pinned her against the locker and planted an unexpected kiss on her lips. “Come on,” he said pulling her arm down the hallway.
“I’m going to lunch,” said Elizabeth not wanting to go with him.
“I know,” he answered. “We’re eating together today.”
“Bob, that’s really sweet but I usually eat outside by my favorite tree.” Elizabeth looked forward to her peaceful lunches alone.
“Where?” asked Bob. “Never mind, today you’re eating lunch with me. We don’t have any classes together. It’s the only time I get to see my girl.”
Elizabeth began following her boyfriend down the hall towards the cafeteria. The A-listers always sat in the back corner at three different tables. Bob was back in his routine. He had his arm around Elizabeth in a death grip. She tried to walk side by side with him but he was trotting along, ignoring everyone that he didn’t know along the way. Elizabeth spotted Angela and Kate at a table along the windows with a few other friends of theirs.
“I should go say hi to my friends,” suggested Elizabeth.
Bob looked at her as though she had just spoken a foreign language. “Do you know how much I had to beg just to get you a seat at my table with me? If you walk over there, you’ll never get a second chance.” Elizabeth didn’t want a first chance. She was content with her old life. “That’s my girl,” he encouraged as she gave in. The couple made their way across the cafeteria to the popular section. Elizabeth felt that all eyes in the cafeteria were on her. “Jamie, what table do you want us at?”
Jamie forced a smile. “At my table, of course,” she said picking up her tray and moving to the other side next to Jack. “We haven’t had a newcomer at our table since Liam Coyne transferred last year, isn’t that right, Liam?” Liam shook his head while chewing his cheeseburger. Jamie picked up a French fry and swirled it around her Ketchup before finally eating it in three bites. “Elizabeth, I haven’t heard anything about your collegiate applications. Where did you apply next year?”
“I applied to Duke,” she answered pulling out her bag of carrots.
“Wow,” said Jamie smiling. “Duke is a good school. I applied to Yale. I’m not worried. I have a 4.0. I’ve been class president all four years. I’m captain of the varsity cheerleading squad. I’ve been part of the National Honor Society, and Model United Nations. What about you? What extracurricular activities do you have to boost your chances of getting into Duke?”
Elizabeth swallowed. Jamie Johnson didn’t care where she was going to school. Jamie was trying to humiliate Elizabeth by pretending to be nice. “I played golf and I do forty hours of community service every year.”
“You didn’t play golf this year, though, did you?” Elizabeth shook her head. “I’m sorry. I hope it doesn’t hurt your chance of getting in. Was it because of all the issues you’re having?”
“She doesn’t have issues, Jamie,” interjected Jack.
“I like that you’re so protective of her,” smiled Jamie. “You guys would make a cute couple, don’t you think so, Bob?” Bob threw one of Elizabeth’s carrots at Jamie. “Oh, come on Bob, don’t be such a poor sport. After all, we could do a swap for a night. You and me and Jack and Elizabeth, what do you think? You’ve always wanted me,” she bit her lower lip.
“I have to go,” said Elizabeth throwing her carrots back in her lunch bag. “Thanks for sharing your table.”
“Where are you going?” Bob shouted after her.
Elizabeth ran down the hallway, out the back doors where she could find solace under her favorite tree. She couldn’t believe she had voted for Jamie Johnson as school president four years in a row. Elizabeth closed her eyes once she got to her beloved spot. The warm sun reflected off her face despite the sixty-degree December temperature.
“I’m sorry,” said Bob taking a seat next to Elizabeth. “I had no idea she was going to act like that.”
“It’s fine,” lied Elizabeth. She knew Jamie would try to humiliate her. She should have never agreed to eat lunch in there. “I don’t think I’m very welcome with your friends.”
“No, my friends are cool. They all like you.”
“Bob, if you ate lunch with my friends, they would never try to humiliate you. They would ask you questions, but not make you feel bad. They would be excited for you no matter where you wanted to go to school. They wouldn’t try to one up you by talking about their own accomplishments. Everyone gets it. Jamie is gorgeous, smart, and talented, she’s everything. She doesn’t need to point that out.”
“Did you give Jack the same speech when he brought you to the party when we met? I was just trying to show you off. They honestly like you. They don’t like losers, but you’re not a loser, you’re my girl.”
“What about my friends? Are they losers?”
Bob stood up. “You know who your friends are. There is nothing wrong with them, but they don’t belong on our world.”
“What world is that?” snapped Elizabeth. “There is no our world Bob. Don’t you understand that? Everyone belongs in the same world. The only difference is you think you exist in a superior world because of the way you treat people. You have exclusive parties, and you exclude people from your lunch table, and you walk around school only talking to people inside your own clique. The truth is most people don’t want to be part of that. Did you ever consider that maybe you’re not alienating people, they are alienating you?”
Bob started laughing. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard! Can they get into bars? Can they buy beer? Can they throw a party without the nerds finding out? Can they get laid whenever they want? Can they even get laid at all? Elizabeth, you don’t belong with them. You belong with me. I can give you that world if you just let me. Alienate me? That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all year.”
Elizabeth buried her face in her hands. All she wanted was to put her mistakes behind her and be respected by everyone for who she was, not what she had done. She didn’t want to exist in a world where people were squashed like cockroaches.