It all began on a random day, in the middle of the year, the middle of nowhere. Miss Terry was droning on about the rules of sine, cosine and tangent, while I was doodling on the back of my workbook and Chelsea was practically falling asleep. I like drawing - Art is my favourite subject, or at least one of them. I always put a lot of effort into my Art coursework, more than anything else. So.
There was around a quarter of an hour left for the end of the lesson when there was a knock on the door and Mrs. Durham, our Head teacher, came in. Behind her came in... Like, who? "Who is he? The director would never accept a boy like him into WHIZZ. What is he doing here?" I enquired silently, and my questions were about to be answered.
"Hello, class," called the Head.
"Hello, Mrs. Durham!" the whole class responded as one, as usual.
"Well, class, I am eminently glad that you still haven't forgotten your manners, because today you have a new student joining you. This is Ash. Unfortunately, a few months ago, he lost both his parents in a car accident. He is an orphan, like most of you are, so you must understand how he currently feels. I hope you will all be genteel and show Ash the love of our school," she turned to the teacher, "Miss Terry, I will leave Ash to you from this moment. Good luck."
The "good luck" part didn't sound very genteel. I had a feeling that our Head agreed with me that Ash would only cause problems. Wow! I had certainly never before coincided opinions with Mrs. Durham, certainly never before. But everything once happens for the first time, so here he was - Ash. The name suited his black hair and long fringe that covered almost half of his face. And his clothes. And even his sullen morose eyes that contemplated the class with a fearful expression. I turned away in disgust. I knew at once that I wasn't the only one to dislike him. No one was going to be nice to him. No one was going to show him the love of our school. No one. I looked again, scrutinizing his fragile figure, and my sight fell on Lola. I had never underestimated her before, so I knew by the smirk on her face that she was not going to leave the miserable boy alone. Ever. That started to scare me.
It took me a while to realize that everything around me was silent. Everyone was examining the new boy, attempting to figure out the reason for why the director let him into W.H.S.I.S. I looked at Chelsea; maybe she would make this silence less awkward than it was already? But she didn't. In fact, the expression on Chelsea's face contained more positivity than ever. She seemed to be in awe of the mysterious new student. "Why?" I asked myself.
Miss Terry broke the silence.
"Well, Ash. Welcome to West High School for Impressive Students. I hope you like it here. Now, if you just sit next to..." she looked around the classroom to try to find a spare place for Ash to sit. There was one, next to Lola, but Miss Terry obviously wasn't stupid. She tried to ignore the seat, but it was the only one left. Miss thought for a moment, and then announced the verdict: "Carolina, could you please move to sit next to Lola? Ash, you can sit next to Chelsea for now."
I scowled at the teacher, not only for making me sit next to my arch enemy but just for calling me by my real name. Stupid cow. I always asked everyone to call me Mitchie, even the teachers. Probably the only person who called me Carolina was Lola, to wind me up a little. She would always do that. But I had learnt to keep control of myself.
So I sat down next to the bitch and decided to make it the opposite this time. I wanted to get her angry. So I started talking to her.
"The new boy is a little bit weird, don't you think? He doesn't really belong here. Why do you think they let him in?" I whispered.
To my surprise, Lola answered and didn't even flinch.
"He really shouldn't be here. You're right. Maybe his parents left him a whole load of money, so the director decided he wanted it all. But I can assure you that he won't last long," she winked at me, "If the teachers don't drive him mad through bad grades and detentions, I will."
I looked at her with mock admiration. Lola was certainly proud of being the most annoying bully in the school that even the teachers couldn't get rid of.
"Have you realized your friend is an Emo-lover?" she startled me with her question. An Emo-lover? No. Chelsea's likes and dislikes were similar to mine. She couldn't. She wouldn't. "She's just usually nice to people," I told myself. But was that true? It didn't look to me like I would ever find out, but when I stole a look at my best friend, I understood that Lola was right. Chelsea was in every way attempting to start a conversation with the boy, who didn't seem like he wanted any company.
The bell rang just a little too late; I had already begun to feel queasy about the presence of that new boy Ash in our class. If Chelsea liked him, she could dump me for him. However, he didn't seem to really like her. Would that break her heart? Should I be on her side or shall I stay on my own? Is this what love is about? Poor Chelsea. Love could change her so much that she could become worse than Lola. I wouldn't bear that. So what should I do? Talk to her?
*
"Chelsea, you were circling around the new boy all day," I whispered to my best mate cautiously, "What about me? Am I not your best friend anymore?"
She was contemplating the dark sky, watching it magically make the stars appear and disappear. Usually she slept at night, like normal people. But that night I was surprised to see her sitting on her bed, thoughtfully looking out into nowhere. Without even turning, she responded.
"Of course you are, but..." she broke off.
"What?"
"Mitchie!" she turned to me with a desperate expression on her face, "Help me! I think I have fallen in love!"
I stared at her, my face expressionless. What was I supposed to say to that? I had mentioned earlier that our teenage years were about learning to be independent and making our own decisions. So, it was Chelsea's choice whether she wanted to carry on falling in love with a boy, or not. At least that was what I expected. Was I supposed to tell her what I thought? Was this what she was waiting for me to say? I stared at her helplessly. I was drowning in my own fears just then and I couldn't even help myself.
"He doesn't really like you. He doesn't really like anyone."
"He has a name, Mitchie!"
"I don't like his name. It doesn't sound right. It sounds dark and helpless."
"Don't be so insulting!"
"Sorry. I was just telling the truth!" I sighed, letting us both fall into silence.
After a minute of that, Chelsea finally spoke.
“Mitchie, since you like to tell the truth so much, tell me something… Am I pretty?”
I laughed out loud. Then, seeing the look on my best friend’s face, I pretended to contemplate her face while I tried to figure out why she had to ask me that question. Seriously, didn’t she already know? Her massive blue eyes and little piggy nose looked quite good together, in my opinion, and I’m being serious. I had always thought she was better looking than me. Besides, I would have always rather had her curly gingery-blonde hair than my simple brown waves. I had nothing special in me and I couldn’t help it. But Chelsea…
“Of course you are pretty! Chelsea, what are you on about?” I finally answered her inquiry.
“I just thought, you’re probably right when you say that Ash doesn’t like me. Why doesn’t he like me, though?”
“Maybe because he has a bad taste and he is horrible and… Chelsea, he doesn’t deserve 0.000001 per cent of you. I really don’t understand what you see in that… That… That heartless animal. There.”
"Mitchie! It hurts me that you have become just like everyone else! You judge people without even observing their character. That's not the way you used to be!"
"He doesn't even talk. How am I supposed to get to know him?" I defended myself.
"Look into his eyes and you will find out his whole life story. Try it. Ash's eyes are deep. They won't lie to you. And don't dare insult him again; otherwise you will lose your best friend, as in me. Goodnight."
Without saying another word to her, I closed my eyes and reviewed what Chelsea had said to me that night. Look into his eyes. That's stupid. No one's eyes can show you all their life and feelings. Plus, I have my own opinions. I'm not heartless, but I still thought that this Ash was just another idiot. He was probably lying in his own bed just then and trying to figure out yet another way to have a laugh at a girl. For instance, Chelsea. She'd be caught on his hook and that would break her heart. People would laugh at her at school. Stupid, stupid Chelsea.
