Chapter Four – Stalkers, Outsiders, and Tampons

“There’s a party tonight. You wanna go?”

I had only known Jordynn for two days, beginning the third, and she was all ready inviting me to a party. I wasn’t quite sure whether to feel flattered or afraid. Jordynn was somewhat of a celebrity around Hammett; although not a very good celebrity.

What I mean is that everyone knew her, but everyone hated her, too. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure why she was hated so much but it was obvious how people felt about her. After just those couple of days, I had heard people in the hallways call her things such as ‘skank’ and ‘whore’. And I was all ready labeled as ‘the skank’s friend.’ Or I was called ‘the girl who lives with them.’

We were only three days into the school year and I was a celebrity, just like Jordynn, at my new school. I was hated. Again, I wasn’t sure whether I should feel flattered or afraid. The entire female population was envious and loathed me for sleeping just across the hallway from where they took their showers. I met angry glares in the hallway, especially from Dannielle and the small group of girls she constantly kept around.

Speaking of Dannielle, she hung on Jonathon’s arm like a leech; never letting go, and always jabbering away about something un-intelligent. I had all ready heard two of those conversations where she was doing all of the talking. And after school that day there was sure to be another one. Why, you ask?

Because she stalked him.

Each day after school Devon, Travis, Derrick, Jonathon and I met at their Suburban to go back to their house together. And each day after school we were all forced to wait as Dannielle made her appearance and talked to Jonathon for a good twenty minutes. Now, twenty minutes may not seem like that big of a deal, but listening to that girl talk for that long was just pure torture and it felt like a good twenty hours.

“Kailea?” Jordynn snapped her fingers in my face. “Are you listening to me?” Her voice made my thoughts shoot back into the present. And it was definitely a place that I did not want to be.

The locker room. The cold floor and cold walls uninviting to me. The lockers lined in long rows across the room where many girls were changing for P.E. whether they had dance or weight training (yeah, right!), they were right there changing into outfits that were taking a heavy beating from all the girls complaints.

It was my third day of dance class but everyone’s first day of doing the actual dancing. I was going to die. I was absolutely positive of that.

“So, how about that party?” Jordynn asked.

“Um, well, I think that I have something to do tonight,” I said, folding my jeans to that they were nice looking and then stored them in my P.E. locker.

“Are you sure?” When I nodded she just shrugged and said, “Fine. But you’ll be missing out on a whole lot of fun! And you could have met Kevin, too!” At the mention of Dillon’s boyfriend, I couldn’t help but smile. Dillon talked nonstop about Kevin. It was just too cute.

“There’s always next time,” Jordynn said when I didn’t say anything. I was too busy trying to put my hair into a ponytail like Ms. Kiernan had instructed just the day before. My wavy red hair was being a bit difficult and was refusing to be pulled into a nice ponytail.

Jordynn went into a very detailed talk about how funny Kevin was and how she only got to see him at parties like the one she would be attending that night. But I wasn’t paying her the least bit of attention. I was worrying too much about falling flat on my face during dance class. That would be embarrassing and I would probably break something, too.

“Are you ignoring me?” Jordynn asked me, pretending to be hurt.

“Wha-? No, I’m just thinking…,” I said, my voice trailing off as the bell rang, warning us that class was starting and we were supposed to be in class all ready. Jordynn stood up from the bench near our lockers, and I followed quickly. After meeting me that first day, Jordynn decided we were friends automatically and she moved her locker close to mine so we could socialize while changing for dance.

Together we entered the dance room. It was a large rectangular shaped room with mirrors on all four walls. A table was pushed into the corner with a large stereo sitting on top of it. Other than the table, the room was bare. The hardwood floor was scuffed up in a few places from people wearing certain shoes and many spots were worn down from the years of use by the dancers.

As soon as we entered the large room, Jordynn started up a conversation with Ms. Kiernan and a couple of the girls from the class. She was a social butterfly, always bouncing from person to person looking for a good conversation, even if that person didn’t like Jordynn very much. She was just too bubbly for some people to ignore her.

I waited patiently for Jordynn to finish up her talk, and believe me that it could take a long time for her to do that. I didn’t know anyone else in the class besides Jordynn, since she was really the only person who was actually willing to talk to me. Really, she was the only person in the school that was willing to talk to me. Plus Dillon. And… um… nope. That was it. None of the Pattersons were willing to talk to me. What a lovely thought, right? I was at a brand new school and I knew two people. And they were the talk of the school. I was hanging out with the supposed school slut and the gay guy who dates gay college guys.

What a reputation I had gained myself. But I guess I really didn’t care about the whole reputation thing. I just wanted to survive that year. That week! And maybe I wanted a few people to actually talk to me, too. That might have made those first days better. Maybe. No, I doubt it.

“Okay, okay! Everyone shut up!” Ms. Kiernan shouted across the room. It made me jump but Jordynn continued to chat away at my ear, despite what Ms. Kiernan was saying. I had learned by that third day that Ms. Kiernan liked attention and she liked telling random stories that pertained to absolutely nothing that we were doing. On the first day of school she walked in talking to herself and then proceeded to tell us about her boyfriend who got drunk over the weekend and threw her cell phone out the window of a moving car on the highway at night.

“So what have we learned from this lesson, ladies?” she had asked us after finishing her story. “Absolutely nothing other than choose your boyfriends wisely. I’m stuck with this moron for the rest of the week since he set his apartment on fire and has no place to go. This Friday, I’m kicking his ass out.”

We had all sat there just kind of staring at her. The woman was insane. A complete lunatic. But she was also pretty entertaining in that sense. Ms. Kiernan was pretty young, maybe twenty-six years old at the most.

Anyway, that day, she took command by yelling at us to shut up. But she wasn’t in a bad mood, I could tell that much.

“Ladies, today we start our modern routine! Be excited!” she said, walking to the front of the classroom.

Modern. Not hip-hop. Jonathon had told me hip-hop.

Liar.

Or was it the same thing and I was just totally stupid when dance was involved?

For some strange reason, I thought modern would be easier that hip-hop. Boy, was I wrong about that. Every single person in that room had taken dance 1-2 and dance 3-4 before getting to the advanced class. So they all knew the main modern dance routine that Ms. Kiernan was having us do. I kind of just stood there, amazed at the fact that they could all do their routines in perfect unison.

I felt like an outsider, as usual. I was an outsider at the Patterson house and an outsider at Hammett and an outsider in the advanced dance class.

Yipee.

Ms. Kiernan wasn’t paying any attention to me as I moved off to the side of the room, dodging around the other girls as they rolled across the floor to a slow song.

I would just sit that round out. No point in trying something that wasn’t right for me. There was no point in trying something that would make me feel and look like a fool. So for another class period, I was the outsider.

“Mmhhmm! Timmy Dean, you are looking good today!”

I was sitting at the same lunch table with Dillon and Jordynn as the first day, watching as Jordynn commented on nearly every male that passed the table. Well, not really every male, considering it was impossible for them all to be good looking at Hammett.

I wasn't paying Jordynn any attention. I was just a little too busy watching Derrick Patterson tell an animated story to a group of people. He used his hands and arms for emphasis, I noticed early on, as he waved his hands just like Travis had on the first day. His long-sleeved school uniform was pushed up to his elbows, showing off his nicely toned forearms.

Realizing that I was staring, a blush crept onto my face and I turned back to Jordynn and Dillon who were arguing about something. I wasn't too interested in their conversation to bother joining in. In fact, I wanted to get out of the cafeteria. It was too loud to even think in there and I needed to finish reading through an assignment for the next class period.

"Hey, um. I'm going to get to class a little early," I said, interrupting their arguement. "I'll see you later."

I grabbed the paper bag that had held my lunch and tossed it into a garbage can as I left the cafeteria, heading towards the library. I was pretty sure I had the map of the school down pretty well by then. I got lost enough that first day to memorize where everything was.

As I passed the locker hallway, I stopped for a moment, contemplating about whether I should get my book then, or when the bell rang. I didn't have much time to think, though, because there was the sound of footsteps coming from around the corner behind me. Thinking it was a teacher, I hurried to my locker which wasn't very far away. I had gotten into trouble with a teacher just the day before about loitering in the hallway, so I didn't want to risk it again.

I spun the locker dial and swung open the locker door, reaching for my history book. The footsteps got louder and I looked up to see Derrick passing the hallway, hands deep into his pants pockets and a look of concentration on his face. I watched him curiously for a moment as he passed before shutting my locker and following.

I was feeling daring at the time, I guess.

So the person (me) who complained about a stalker (Dannielle) suddenly became the stalker. Well, maybe not a stalker. Just a person that followed someone else and watched their every move? That sounded a little better... No. Just creepy. Great. I was creepy.

Whatever. I didn't bother with how wierd I probably seemed; I just followed him as he made his way through the hallways. I was curious. Where would he be going if he just had a group of people around him to talk to? What was with look of concentration and almost... regret?

Derrick wasn't paying any attention to me. Maybe he heard me, maybe he didn't. I wasn't sure until I tripped over my shoelace which had come untied and was sent sprawling on the floor. The thud of my body hitting the tile floor was what he heard, all right.

"Kailea?"

I sighed, picking myself up from the ground. Once again, I blushed fiercely and brushed off the dirt from my pants as he walked towards me.

“Oh. Um, hi,” I said, looking at the ground.

Oh, Lordy how embarrassing was that. Was I just caught stalking? I mean, following and watching.

“Are you okay?” he asked me as he reached where I stood.

“Oh, yeah. Yes, I’m fine,” I said, finally meeting his gaze. Cue inhale of sharp breath. What amazing eyes… From a distance, they looked so plain. But up close… oh it was a whole other story. A dark blue circle surrounded the edge of his iris and inside that circle, his eyes were green with strange cracks of orange.

“-you to the nurse's office,” he was saying. Oops. I wasn’t really paying attention to his words.

“I’m sorry, what?” I asked, looking away again.

"Do you need to go to the nurse's office?" he asked me with a small smile. "I can take you, if you want me to."

Oh...That's what he had been saying. "Oh. No thanks," I said. "I think I'll just be on my way."

I started around him, urging my little feet to move just a bit faster.

"Well, where are you going? I'll go with you. Maybe you could help me with chemistry homework? You seem to know all the answers for that class," he said, following after me. Chemistry. One of my favorite classes.

I kept walking though, taking a detour towards a bathroom. Hadn’t I wanted to get to know him? Or know more about him? “Um, right now isn’t a good time. Maybe later?” I asked, scurrying into the restroom, and leaving him standing in the hall very confused.

Less than three hours later, I was waiting with Devon and Travis near the SUV, for the third time that week. The one difference, though, was that it was starting to lightly rain. Derrick was walking towards us with an impatient expression on his face.

“Hey,” he said when he reached the large car. I gave a tiny smile before looking at the ground. I was still a little embarrassed about leaving him in the hallway earlier that day.

“Does anyone have the keys?” he asked, looking at the three of us.

“Do you think we would be standing out here if we had the keys? I don’t want to be freezing my ass off out here but I guess we have no other choice, do we?” Travis snapped. He had been in a bad mood since arriving at the car to find that once again, we would be waiting for the Queen Bee to make her appearance with Jonathon.

After just a short time of waiting, Jonathon hurried out of the double doors in the front of the school and jogged over to the car. With a quick click, the car was unlocked and we were all climbing in, surprised that we wouldn’t have to wait again. The SUV started up, and Jonathon peeled out of the parking lot, with me clutching the seat for dear life.

Only a few seconds of silence had passed since we had left the school when Derrick smirked and said to Jonathon, “You ditched her, didn’t you?”

“Sure as hell did. Now shut up, you moron,” Jonathon replied angrily when Travis started chuckling.

We arrived at the Patterson house in record time. Let me just say that I was scared out of my mind and I didn't think I would let myself get into that car the next day.

The rest of the family was home except for Henry and John, who were both at work. Just like that first day, the house was filled with hectic noise and it only seemed to get worse when the high school boys entered.

Gregory immediately latched onto my leg and I smiled down at him, taking his hand in mine. With Gregory next to me, I made my way to the stairs and went as fast as I could up them to my bedroom.

Why was the door open? I thought I closed it when I left that morning. But I figured out the real reason as I stopped dead ion my tracks in the doorway.

Thing One and Thing Two.

Both of them were standing in front of my dresser looking at a box of –you guessed it- tampons.

“Dude. This looks like one of those things from that movie mom made us watch. What was it called, again?” one of them said.

“Ooh! She’s The Man! Yeah. They stuck one of those up their noses. What’s it for?” the other asked.

Both of them were oblivious to me standing there.

And I was oblivious to the footsteps behind me.

"You've got to be kidding me," Jonathon said, stopping in the doorway next to me.

The twins turned around, a tampon shoved in each nostril. "Hey!" they said simultaneously, surprised that they had been caught going through my things.

"Hey, stupids? Get those out of your noses. That's disgusting," Jonathon said before walking away. Of course he couldn't have left without grinning at me.

I thought I was going to die right then and there. And I definitely did not think that things could get worse.

"Kailea!" Teresa shouted from downstairs. "You have a visitor!"

'A visitor? Now? Why now?' was all I could think, letting a tiny groan escape my lips. The twins grinned at me before leaving my room and I walked over to the window, which overlooked the driveway. Immediately, I recognized the beat up blue-ish grey car in the drive.

Aaron.

Author’s Note: I’m so not going to even bother listing everything that got in the way of this update. I want to apologize for any errors since I typed this as quickly as possible to get it out for all of you. Just tell me if you find anything that needs some fixing! I also want to apologize for the long wait and the short chapter! Anyways, Happy 2009 everyone!

So, I don’t have much experience in dance, but a friend of mine is taking dance at school and she was telling me about the most absurd dance she has to do. She was saying that rolling on the floor was a main point of the dance. This chapter’s for you, QUEETE! :) And if anyone knows anything about dancing and you want to yell at me for getting something wrong, go ahead. I won't be offended. :)

By the way, I love the movie, She’s The Man. :) It makes me giggle.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

Thanks to everyone for all of your reviews!

2SweetSunshine – Gregory is cute, isn’t he?

That’s all for now!

-Emily

PS: Track has now started soo… WOOO! :) I'm so excited!