New Girl: Chapter Nine

Lucita was doodling his name again. Sitting in Algebra I was boring the hell out of her. She already knew this, and had the school just accepted her homeschooling paperwork, they would know she was smarter than this. She needed to get out.

But late, this was her life. Every day was filled with complaints, another day of doodling his name over and over in the margins of her notebook. Even though it made her feel a little pathetic, it helped ease her pain of missing him.

Inspiration always hit her when she least expected it to. Fishing out a piece of paper, she began to write another lovesick poem expressing how she felt about him, her feelings flowing over the pages through the spill of blue ink.

“Lucita!” someone called from the hallway. Lucita looked up and almost laughed out loud. She knew it was her friend Paul. Paul was a friend of Lucas’s who made Lucita smile. He had those eyes that made her swim.

Her friend Ashley who sat beside her, snorted. She knew about Lucas and how Lucita had the teeniest little crush on him. Lucita asked about him a lot and always felt a little bad. She didn’t like annoying her, but the need to ask was like a compulsion for her. It was like middle school all over again, minus the following and stalking.

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. Lucita groaned inwardly. She would rather stay in the unchallenging indoors than go out into the heat that was PE.

On her way to class, Lucita swerved when she saw Blake. If she could just walk fast enough, she could maybe avoid him.

But Lucita was never that lucky.

“Lucita, hey, what’s up?” he asked, swerving in front of her. How did he even get there so fast?

“Hey Blake, not much, just heading to class. Can’t be late, or else they’ll lock the gate.” Oh hey, that rhymed, she thought to herself.

“Cool, hey, I heard you were invited to Cecilia’s Valentine’s Party.”

Lucita stopped walking. “Yeah, how’d you know?”

Blake shrugged in response but otherwise ignored her question. “Are you going?”

“It totally depends on my mom. So I don’t know yet.”

“Cool, well, I hope you can make it.”

“Yeah, well, I gotta go to class. See ya around, Blake.”

Silvia watched Blake walk away and follow Lucita to her class. But, of course, everyone was always sneaking into PE, so it didn’t matter that she was about to follow Lucita.

Lucita thought that someone was following her. She hoped that it wasn’t Blake. That would just be creepy. She walked a bit faster and hoped whoever was following her would stop.

“Hey, Lucita!” called Silvia. Lucita was walking too fast to keep an eye on her. Finally, Lucita stopped walking and let out a breath of relief. So it was Silvia who was following her.

“Hey, Silvia. How long were you following me?”

Silvia looked at her, startled. “How’d you—”

“I have my ways.” Lucita smiled at the confusion on Silvia’s face. “So why are you here? You don’t have this class seventh period?”

“Skipping, obviously.”

“Obviously.”

“Hey,” began Silvia warily, “can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” said Lucita continuing on her walk.

“That guy Cyrus, how long have you known him?”

Lucita stopped walking briefly, and her heart skipped a beat. Hearing his name always did this to her.

“I’ve known Cyrus since sixth grade.”

“Was he serious about the stalking stuff?”

Lucita yanked open her locker, scaring Silvia in the process. She kicked her bag in.

“Yes.”

“Oh, well, it looks like he likes you.”

Lucita smiled sadly, changing into her gym clothes. “Yes, it would seem like that, wouldn’t it.”

“He doesn’t.”

“No, he doesn’t.” Saying it aloud always broke her, reminding her she was nothing.

Silvia stared at her moment, watching her. She felt terrible, like she was imposing. The look on Lucita’s face was a solemn one.

“Are you okay?”

“Not really, but no worries. I get like this.”

“Is that healthy?”

Lucita shrugged, and she tied her shoelaces. “Wouldn’t really know.”

Silvia laughed, and from the corner of her eye, she saw Elizabeth headed their way. Her hair was pulled back as usual in a tight ponytail and slicked back with gel. Silvia couldn’t understand why she consistently put so much gel in her hair. Silvia looked at Lucita in her white T-shirt and red shorts. She simply tied her hair back, leaving her bangs to hang over her face. There was no product in her hair or makeup on her face. Silvia couldn’t take her eyes off her, enamored by her plain Jane beauty.

Lucita adjusted her glasses and almost felt like blushing at the way Silvia was looking at her. She hoped that nothing was on her face and touched it self-consciously.

“What’s up?” said Elizabeth stepping next to them. “You’re so lucky we have a sub today.”

“We’ve got a sub,” asked Lucita.

Elizabeth nodded, pulling out iPod. Lucita loved to listen to it. Elizabeth had all her favorites.

“We should go out and see if Michael is out there,” said Lucita.

“Who’s Michael?”

“Michael is our friend who has a crush on Lucita.” Elizabeth put her arm around Lucita’s shoulders.

Silvia saw the look on Lucita’s face and compared it to the face she made when she talked about Cyrus. She only cared about Cyrus.

“Let’s just go sit down,” said Silvia. Lucita gave her a thankful smile.

***

Rebecca sat in class next to Blake. He had been late and not because he was making out with some girl . . . for once. Instead, he looked like he had actually tried to run to class, sweat glistening on his forehead, his face red and splotchy. She watched him from the corner of her eye.

Blake had an unusual look on his face. He just sat there, slouched back, staring up at the board as though he was paying attention, but Rebecca knew better. He was distracted. In fact, he looked defeated. He looked like . . . Rebecca wanted to laugh. He could get any girl he wanted, but the one girl he wanted wouldn’t take him, wasn’t even into him. He made it obvious that it bothered him. She had to remember to thank Lucita for the gift.

Blake suddenly looked at her and smiled. It was a regular smile. His honey eyes didn’t glisten or sparkle the way they did when he looked at other girls. Rebecca smiled back and returned half of her attention back to class. The other half she devoted to texting.

Becca:

Hey what’s up? How’s PE?

Lucita looked at her phone as she sat there, bored out of her mind.

Luce:

Not much. Silvia is here, she skipped.

We’ve got a sub. Kind of cool.

I don’t really care for the school-oriented workout.

Rebecca laughed. Since they had hung out during lunch, she continued to notice more things about the girl. Right now, it was the way Lucita talked.

Becca:

LOL

well, I need to say thank you.

Blake is all down, and I think it’s all because of u.

Lucita laughed, feeling a bit bad. Nonetheless, she showed the text message to Elizabeth and Silvia. Liz just rolled her eyes while Silvia laughed.

Luce:

Silvia is laughing right now.

I kind of feel bad though.

I’m just not into him, like, at all.

Rebecca already knew that and bet Blake did too. Sadly that didn’t stop him from trying. Rebecca said as much in her next text message and asked if she had seen him before class, wondering if that was why he was late.

Luce:

Yeah, I did.

He came by 2 ask if I was attending a party.

want’s 2 hook up with me there.

I don’t even know if I’m going.

“What party?” asked Silvia peering over her shoulder.

“Some Valentines Day party,” she said, shrugging as though it were no big deal. “Turns out he was invited as well.”

“I wanna go.”

Lucita looked at her strangely and shrugged. “Cecilia said I could bring people. I’ll show you the invitation, and you can show it to your mom. I’ll invite Becca too.”

Luce:

It’s kind of a long story.

I’ll tell you all about it later.

Now, do you wanna go to a Valentine’s Day party.

Blake will be there. We can try to work that charm you’ve got on him

Becca:

LOL okay.

We’ll talk about it later at your place.

Lucita looked at Silvia, who was laughing her butt off. Probably from the text she had sent before.

Luce:

Kk, Silvia is laughing, btw.

“Hey, why’d you tell her I was laughing?”

“Because you are. Come on, it’ll be fine to screw with Blake.” The light bulb went off in her head, and she snapped her finger, her eyes wide with enjoyment. “I just had a brilliant idea.” Lucita flipped her phone back open and bit her lower lip.

Luce:

Hey Cyrus, wanna go to a Valentine’s party with me.

Lucita grew anxious with every passing second.

“You’re inviting Cyrus? Blake will go nuts.”

“Exactly.” Her phone vibrated. Silvia leaned in closer and peered over her shoulder.

Cyrus:

Depends, Lu.

Why?

Another soft rejection, she thought angrily. Silvia saw the hurt look all over Lucita’s almost poreless face.

Luce:

What do you mean why?

I just wanted to invite you for protection.

If you don’t wanna go then just say so.

You don’t need to be around the bush.

Cyrus:

I didn’t say that, so chill out, okay.

And what do you mean by protection

??

Luce:

Blake is going.

He’s been extra stalkery today.

Cyrus:

I’m going if you’re going.

Call me later, okay.

ttyl

Shutting her phone, a strong sense of satisfaction filled her. Oh, she was good. But manipulating was always crucial for her.

“How’d you know that would work?” Silvia was dumbfounded. Cyrus and Blake had met once. There wasn’t enough ground for them to hate each other.

“I just did.”

“Does he not like Blake?”

Lucita smiled. “He warned me to stay away from him. He was strange that day.”

“How so?”

Lucita shrugged again. “He just was. It was strange.” Lucita remembered that day. She just hoped that maybe Cyrus did have some feelings for her. He agitated her . . . a lot, but thinking of him always (well, mostly) made her smile.