I dropped my head and weaved in and out of the many kids. Way too many kids. The fact that my best friend Jazmine had abandoned me that day didn't help. I don't care if you have a sinus infection, you are not leaving me alone.
Jazmine was pretty much my only close friend at that time. Everyone else was either popular, manipulative, or my parents would kill me for hanging out with them.
I weaved my way around the people crowding the hallways and worked my way to my locker.
I sped up my pace as I passed Allison Jensen, and the six or seven worshippers she liked to consider 'friends.' Man, Ally Jensen was popular. She could easily be the most popular in our grade. Maybe even the school.
She was perfect. Her hair was perfect, her makeup was perfect, her body type was perfect, her voice was perfect, and most people even thought her personality, sweet and passive, was perfect too.
Ally swept a strand of golden blonde hair behind her ear and turned her crystal clear blue eyes to the girl on her left. She was shorter than most of the people around her, and skinnier too.
Our grade was divided into people who were in Ally's inner circle, people who weren't, and people whom Ally didn't know were on the same planet as her, let alone the same school.
I fall into that last category. You know, those geeky, nerdy, dorky, and whatever else you can think of kids who are super quiet and usually only have one or two friends hanging around them? Yeah, that's me. And I'm perfectly fine with that.
I stood by my first-period Science, waiting for the bell to ring. It wasn't ringing. All my books were shoved in my backpack, because, even though we all lockers, no one ever had time to go and grab anything from it in between classes. Great thinking, school. And the money for lockers could've been used for something useful- like the art program.
Ring!
Finally. I slipped into the classroom, taking my place in the third seat on the second to last row. It's not in the back, so I can still see, but it's not up front, so the teacher doesn't call on me too often.
Students began filing in one by one.
Mrs. Adkinson started calling roll. I mentally prepared myself to say 'here' because one just needs to practice that.
Then Mrs. Adkinson smiled and pointed to the board. Written in huge, blocky letters were NEW GROUP PROJECT. Mrs. Adkinson is probably the prettiest teacher in our school. She's young and has caramel-colored hair that cascades down her back and these pretty blue eyes that bore into when you're caught talking during class.
"The school year is almost finished, class," Mrs. Adkinson said. "You must find a question that you don't know the answer to. A question that relates to the human mind or body. I suggest you write this down. This project is due in three weeks. Three weeks, people. If it's not turned in by then, you will be marked down." She surveyed the class quickly, her eyes passing over each of us. "We're going to be doing groups of four." She pursed her lips and consulted the paper on her desk.
She tapped her pencil on the desk as she rattled off names.
Finally, Sierra, Ally, and I were the only ones left.
"Girls, I'm going to put you in a group," Mrs. Adkinson said. "It looks like Miss Jazmine is out sick today, so bear in mind that she'll be in your group tomorrow."
"Yes ma'am," I said automatically.
"Is there anything else?" Sierra asked.
"No, Miss Sierra, I don't think so," Mrs. Adkinson said. She once told us that she couldn't expect us to respect her and the rest of our class unless she respected us as well. I loved Mrs. Adkinson so much.
Mrs. Adkinson walked off, heels clicking, to go check on other students.
Ally smiled, revealing a row of perfectly straight teeth. "I'm Ally. It's nice to meet you."
"Uh-huh," I said, real intelligent-like.
"And you are...?" Ally prompted.
I blinked, snapping back into existence. "My name is Sadie."
"I'm Sierra," my friend said, watching Ally intently.
"Alright," Ally said. "I don't think I've seen you before. Are you new?"
"I grew up here," I said, arching an eyebrow.
"We moved here two years ago," Sierra added.
Ally's brow furrowed. "Hm. I've never heard your names before. Maybe I need to study the yearbooks!" She let out a light, somewhat awkward laugh.
I resisted the urge to sigh. It was going to be a long three weeks.
"What should we do our report on?" Ally asked brightly.
I wanted to vomit. "Maybe we should research what the appendix's use is."
"The appendix?" Ally asked, raising an eyebrow. "Isn't that for finding things in a book or something?"
Sierra snickered. "Wrong appendix."
Ally's brow furrowed. "What?"
I snickered. "No, the appendix in your body. You know the thing that's like..." I touch my gut.
"Um," Ally stammers. "M-Maybe not..."
Sierra snorted. "Can you imagine the noises the boys would make though?"
I shake my head. "I don't even want to imagine."
"What about 'why is the sky blue?" Ally asked.
"That doesn't have anything to do with the human mind or body," I said. "But to answer your question, the sky is blue due to Raleigh scattering. It refers to the scattering of electromagnetic radiation by particles of a much smaller wavelength. Sunlight is scattered by the particles of the atmosphere, and what comes through down to earth is called diffuse sky radiation, and though only about one-third of light is scattered, the smallest wavelengths of light tend to scatter easier. These shorter wavelengths correspond to blue hues, hence why when we look at the sky, we see it as blue."
Ally blinked at me. "What?"
"You didn't get any of that, did you?" I asked.
"I did not," Ally said.
"That's nice," I leaned back in my desk, dangling my arm over the back of it.
"Oh, what about sibling dynamics?" Ally asked. "I think it has something to do with what goes on in the mind of someone growing up with siblings and someone without. Would that work?"
I glanced at Sierra to make sure she was okay with that. She seemed fine. She shrugged. "I mean, that would work if it is related to the mind. If it's not then we need to have a backup."
"What about bullying?" I asked.
"That works," Ally nodded. "Could we work on this at someone's house?"
I shrugged. "Mine would work I guess."
"You guess?" Sierra arched an eyebrow.
"Do you want to do it at your house?" I asked.
Sierra shook her head vigorously. "I have the twins. Remember?"
"You have twins?" Ally's eyes go wide. "That's so cool!"
"Not when they gang up on you all the time," Sierra replied.
"Well, maybe they could help us," Ally insisted.
"No way," Sierra said. "That's not happening. Sorry."
Ally cocked her head. "But if they feel left out-"
"Then they can deal," Sierra answered. "Can we get back to this?"
"Right," Ally said. She shook her head and blinked a few times. "The project. Whose house?"
"How about no one's?" I ask, my eyebrows raised.
"How's it going, girls?" Mrs. Adkinson asked, walking over. She held a blue folder with one arm and a pencil with the other. "Everything going smoothly?"
Ally beamed at her. "Yep!" Man. Ally didn't even have to kiss up to the teacher to act like a teacher's pet. I don't like teachers' pets anyway.
"Do you have your question?" Mrs. Adkinson asked.
"Yes," Sierra cut in before Ally could answer. "Our question is: How do sibling dynamics work and how do they differ?'"
Mrs. Adkinson nodded slowly s she took this in. "A worthy topic. I hope you do well with it." She gave us a firm nod and walked off.
We had just been assigned jobs when the bell rang. Kids started filing out of classes and filling the hallways.
"Sierra! Sadie!"
My head darted around until, finally, I found Ally jumping up and down, waving her arm like it would fall off any time soon.
I glanced at Sierra, and we walked over.
Ally turned to Chiara Lancaster, who, in fourth grade, I remember, had claimed she was next in line for the throne of England. The sad thing was most of them believed her.
"This is my Science group," Ally said, grinning. "Sadie and Sierra, meet Chiara, Kaily, Amonie, and Ruby." But no, it didn't stop there. "And Hanna, and Izzie, and Emmy, and Maddi."
Kaily, Amonie, Ruby, and Emmy blatantly ignored us. Hanna, Izzie, Chiara, and Maddi stared at us repulsively.
"Uh, I think I'll be going now," I said, turning around.
"No, wait!" Ally protested. "I haven't-"
I was already gone. I wanted to get away from that.
I flopped back on my bed, dropping my backpack onto the floor. I let out a sigh of relief. Ally had been trying to say hi to me all day. I had to work hard to avoid her.
"Sadie?"
I look up at my doorway and see Richelle standing there, crutches under her arms. "Hey."
"Hey," Richelle said. "Can we talk real quick?"
I shrug and sit up. "Sure."
She moved over to the bed, sitting down next to me. Silence followed. We stared at the floor for a while until we broke the silence at the same time.
"I'm sorry," we said in unison.
"I'm sorry for snapping," Richelle said.
"I'm sorry for pushing," I said. "I shouldn't have."
"You're fine," Richelle shrugged. "I shouldn't have snapped. I'm sorry." She sighs, running a hand through her short, dark hair. "I'm just stressed. But that's not a good excuse. I'm sorry."
"Stress is a good excuse," I replied. "Especially the stress you're under."
Richelle sighed. "I guess."
"How's your leg?" I asked.
Richelle shrugged. "Dunno. Doesn't hurt now that I'm forbidden to put weight on it." She sighed. "But the cause of it scares me." She swung her blue cast out in front of her and stared at it. It didn't have anyone's signature because Richelle wouldn't let anyone draw on something she'd have to wear for a month or more.
"When does the chemo start?" I asked.
Richelle sighed. "Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" I asked incredulously. "That soon?"
Richelle nodded, dropping her head. "I'm excited." I could hear the sarcasm layered on thick in her tone.
"I can tell," I replied.
"Yeah," Richelle muttered. "So today is pretty much my last day of school until chemo is done and my last day of feeling like a normal human being."
"Wait, so if that's the case can we do something fun?" I asked, my excitement level rising.
Richelle narrowed her green eyes suspiciously at me. "Like...?"
"Think we could get our hands on Mom's makeup?" I arch an eyebrow.
Richelle snorted. Then she paused. "Wait, you're serious?"
I nodded.
Richelle shrugged. "I don't know. I'm kind of tired."
"Please?" I pleaded. "Just this once?"
"I really just want to rest today," Richelle said quietly. She sighed. "But I mean, we could, I guess. I'll ask Mom. You go get Gabby."
"Are you sure?" I asked, my tone laced with concern.
Richelle took a deep breath and nodded. "This is going to be the last day I can for a while. So let's do it."
I nodded vigorously. "Got it. That'll be awesome."
Richelle's face suggested otherwise, but she got up and limped to the living room.