She couldn't have waited five more minutes.

    It was just my luck that as soon as I was going to ask Nia out Dean Nelson would appear out of nowhere and ask for her to come into her office. I walked down the hall in a huff. I'm starting to think the world is against me.

    As I turned down a hallway I spotted Whitney down the hallway. Before she could see me I turned in the opposite direction. I'm putting off interacting with her for as long as possible. Entering class I expected to see Sam, but he wasn't there. Odd he's always here before me.

    He's probably in the nurse's office. I've never seen anyone get as many nose bleeds as he gets.

But it might be for the best that he wasn't here yet. I still haven't figured out what I'm going to say to him about Nia yet. I've gone over it again and again in my head, and it almost never ends well. In the first scenario, I tell him and he stops speaking to me. And in the second scenario he gets angry and tries to fight me. That one gets really ugly.

    I sighed sitting back in my chair. I just need to get it over with, worst thing is I have to beat the shit out of him and apologize later.

    Sam came to class late with a red nose and a shit eating grin on his face. His red nose confirmed my suspicion about a nosebleed. He handed Mrs. Stanfield his late pass before sitting down in his seat.

    Mrs. Stanfield looked down at his note with a slight grimace. Setting the note down she went back to droning on about Reconstruction. I didn't want to risk getting detention so I just shot Sam a look.

    He smiled at me like the cat that ate the canary. Strange.

    Stanfield held Sam after class to talk about his test score, so I walked into the hallway alone.

    "Hey, Garrett." Nick leaned against the lockers a coffee cup in his hand.

    "Hey," I said coming up to him. "Did you finally put Red Bull out of business?"

    He laughed taking another sip. "Not yet, the gas station by my house was out of stock, so  Crystal brought me this Starbucks bullshit."

    "Do you have more energy?"

    "This isn't going to give me anything except a case of the shits," he said bluntly. I wrinkled my nose at the visual. He threw the cup in the trash. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he said, "I'm going to order a few cans from Post Mates."

    Despite just getting chewed out by Mrs. Stanfield Sam came up to us with a smile.

    "What are you so happy about?" Nick asked him taking another sip from his coffee cup. He frowned looking down at the lid. "Didn't Stanfield just tear you a new one?"

    "Yeah, but who cares," Sam replied crumbling his test in his hands. "I won't need U.S History to become an engineer anyway. But guess  who just scored a study session with Nia?" he exclaimed excitedly.

    "There's a lot of those going around," Nick said under his breath. I should knock that coffee cup out of his hand.

    I cleared my throat ignoring Nick's comment.  "Did she ask you to tutor her?"

    "No, Dean Nelson did," Sam explained. "The best thing she's ever done for me. I'm definitely going to score a prom date now."

    I began, "Actually, Sam about that...."

    "Shit," Sam interrupted me. "I forgot my chem textbook back in trig. I'll catch you guys later." He disappeared down the hallway.

    "Welp, I would say that went a lot better than I thought," Nick said. I banged my head against the locker with a groan, I just cannot win today.

    "I didn't even tell him anything," I complained.

    Nick pushed off the lockers tossing his cup in the trash. "Just tell him at lunch," he advised. "Preferably before the girls get there. You know how Whitney likes to start shit." He clapped me on the back.

    "Fuck," I exhaled.

Nick through his arm around my shoulder, "I know, I know." 

***

"Nia's so pretty," Sam said as he stared at her.

My back was turned towards Nia and Lavender's table but I didn't have to turn around to know what he was saying was true. Sam had chosen his spot at our lunch table, so he could gaze at her. Nick sat next to me he had been silently urging me to tell him.

"I can't believe she doesn't have a boyfriend, but I guess that'll change soon enough," Sam said cocky. Nick gave me a firm nudge under the table.

    Taking a deep breath, I said, "Hey, Sam, I have to tell you something about Nia..."

    "What about her?" Sam replied. Nick looked between us expectantly.

    "Well, I'm going to--" I started to say, but Whitney and the girls came.

    "And she totally messed up the tailoring on  my dress," Whitney complained sitting next to Sam.  "It's safe to say that she doesn't have a job anymore."

    "You've got to be fucking kidding me" Nick said vocalizing my thoughts.

    "What's wrong, baby?" Crystal asked concerned.

    "I just--I just forgot ketchup for my fries," he covered for himself. But I could feel him tense next to me.  Whitney paid no mind to Nick's outburst she just went on about how she made a poor woman lose her job.

    She tucked her pin straight hair behind her ear. "Do I spy a budding romance?"

    Crystal and Stacy turned in the direction that Whitney was looking. "Thomas and Nia, who would have thought." I then turned towards Nia's table. Thomas and Nia were talking at her lunch table. He was smiling down at her, and I couldn't help the envy that spread through me. He looked clean cut for once, and as ridiculous as it seemed, I thought it might be because of her.

    "Wow, she moves fast," Whitney said taking a sip from her green juice.

    Crystal said still looking over at their table. "Thomas is so much cuter now that he cut his hair."

    "Excuse me," Nick said to her. 

    "I mean, not as cute as you, of course," she said placing an assuring hand on his shoulder. She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "No one is as cute as you."

    "Damn right," he agreed.

    "Marcus have you heard anything?" Whitney asked catching me off guard. The question itself was innocent enough, but I know she was trying to get a rise out of me.  "She is your lab partner."

    "No, she hasn't said anything to me." I replied my hands clenched into fists under the table. .

    "You don't think she's into him though," Sam worried. It's a good thing Nia had her back turned to us or else she would have seen all of us staring at her. .

    "I mean it's possible," Whitney answered with a shrug. "He is older. But Nia is a relatively pretty girl, a little rough around the edges, but I'm sure she has plenty of guys to choose from." 

I exhaled trying to let her condescending comments about Nia go, but it was becoming harder and harder not to want to throttle her. So to prevent any outbursts I excused myself from the lunch table.

    "I've got to go," I said standing from the table.

    "Why?" Whitney asked sweetly, a small smile playing on her lips. Her smile let me know that she was trying to get to me.

    "I have to go to the library," I lied.

"Oh, have fun," she told me batting her lashes.

    "Thanks."

I hate her.

    My parents always taught me not to hate anyone, but I can't help it. I hate Whitney. Not having anywhere to be, I sat on the floor in front of my locker. I relished the silent hallway. Closing my eyes I rested my head against my locker.

    I was lost in thought when I felt someone nudge my foot. I prayed that it wasn't Whitney, because I may not be able to control my actions.

    Peeking through my lashes, I looked to see who was disturbing me. To my surprise it was Stacy. She had dyed her hair again, now it was dark brown, it almost looked like Whitney's, but instead of being pin straight it fell in waves around her shoulders. There was a small smudge of paint on her skirt. When she's not following Whitney around you can find her in one of the art classrooms.

    "Hey, did I forget something?" I asked straightening my shoulders. Stacy doesn't talk much. The only reason Whitney gets away with treating her like shit is because she's too shy to defend herself.

    "Uh, no," she said.

    "Oh," I said. "I'm surprised Whitney let you get away." I didn't realize how rude that sounded until after I had said it.

    "I'm sorry, Stacy I didn't mean it to come out like that," I apologized. "I just meant..."

    "It's okay," she laughed slightly. "I understand. I told her I was going to the bathroom."

    "I still shouldn't have said that," I said regretfully.

    "No worries. Can I sit down?" she asked.

    "Yeah, sure." Stacy sat down on the floor next to me she smoothed her skirt down.

    She said. "It's not true, you know?"

    "What's not true?"

    "What Whitney said about Nia being rough around the edges," explained Stacy. "It's not true."

    "I know." There's nothing rough about Nia--anywhere. She's soft and kind, unlike Whitney.

    "She's jealous of her," she went on. "She doesn't have all of the attention anymore, and she's intimidated by that. You should have seen her when they mentioned nominating Nia for junior prom queen."

    "Prom queen? She just got here." As beautiful and great as Nia is it seems fast to nominate her when she's only been here a week.

    "I know. Crystal was only joking when she suggested it, but Whitney flipped out," Stacy explained.

    "I'm not surprised," I said. Whitney has always hated competition.

    "Neither was I," she agreed. "Marcus if I tell you something will you promise not to tell anyone."

    "Uh, sure," I replied. Where is this going?

    Stacy took a deep breath. "I think I hate Whitney."

    I snorted. "Me too."

    She exhaled, placing a hand on her chest. "I'm so glad it's not just me."

    I laughed. "Don't worry, I feel the same way. She's awful."

    "Isn't she," she laughed. "She just seems to get worse by the day. If I didn't know her parents I would think she was the spawn of Satan."

    I snorted. "Isn't she?" Whitney's parents are just as evil as she is, her mother especially, her Dad just throws money around in hopes that it'll get him whatever he wants. They're just better at hiding it. Cassandra, Whitney's sister, is nice enough, she was smart enough to escape after graduation.

    She shrugged, "I guess you're right. I almost ninety-percent sure that her mom is planning to take over the tristate area."

    I propped my arm on my knee. "God, why do we still put up with her?"

    "I don't know out of habit, I guess." Stacy leaned her head against the lockers. "I remember when I first moved here and everyone made fun of me for having two moms. It wasn't until I started hanging out with Whitney that they stopped, and I guess I always thought I owed her something for that."

    I remember that. There weren't any gay couples in the neighborhood until Stacy and her moms moved here in the third grade. It wasn't everyday that you saw a kid with two moms, and some of the kids in our grade used that against her calling Stacy weird and a lesbian. Not that there's anything wrong with being a lesbian. But it wasn't normal at East Chapel Academy so she was automatically considered an outsider. She was made fun of for weeks. Well until Whitney decided she was friend worthy and then suddenly Stacy was one of the coolest girls ever. Shitty private school politics at its best.

    "You don't owe her shit, and neither do I. If you don't want to be friends with her you shouldn't be."

    "But then who will force me to wash the paint from under my nails?" she asked sarcastically.

    "No one," I answered confidently. "You'll only wash the paint away if you want to, and if you don't want to you'll walk around with paint covered fingers."

    She smiled looking down at her nails. "Thanks." Then she stood up smoothing her skirt over her legs.

    "Where are you going," I asked looking up at her.

    "I have to go back to the cafeteria. I was only supposed to be going to the bathroom, remember."

    "Oh, yeah." I had completely forgotten. "Well, good luck then."

    "Thanks I'm going to need it." Dealing with Whitney she was going to need more than a prayer.