As I throw myself a mini pitty party she just continues on and on about how great this year is going to be for her, completely oblivious to the fact that I'm miserable.
"I'm sorry, but my soul has been sold to the devil for the length of an entire course." I huff, slamming my head into the sofa cushion for good measure.
"Stop being dramatic Val!" She says, while rolling her eyes at me.
"Seriously? Slade- freaking- Sawyer is my partner, for a whole semester Allison! Do you have any idea what this is going to do to me?" I shriek. "Ugh, he better not think I'm doing all the work, because he's got another thing coming."
Just as I'm having my little melt down, my mother glides into the room, and when I say glide- I mean she literally glides. Martha Withers does not just walk into a room, no no no, she has to be perfectly poised at all times.
"Hello girls." She drawls as Allison throws a pillow at me.
"Hi Mrs. Withers!" Allison chimes perkily.
"Why hello Allison- Valerie, how was school?"
"Fine." I mumble, picking at a stray thread on the pillow that was just launched at me.
"Psh- Don't let her fool you Mrs. Withers, she's all bent out of shape about her partner in photography class."
"Is that so?" My mom asks, raising an eyebrow at me.
I shoot my supposed best friend a death glare. "No, it's nothing." I say, pinchingher leg to shut her up.
"Ow!" Allison squeaks, jumping off the couch.
"Allison was just leaving, I have a lot of homework to do." I say, shootingmy friendanother look.
"Oh yeah, um- see you later Mrs. Withers!" She says with a smile, before turning to scowl at me.
As soon as the front door shuts with her departure, I stand up slowly and stretch. "Well, I better go make a dent in that homework."
"Valerie." My mom says sternly, causing me to drop my arms to my sides in a slump.
"I had to take an elective course or I would have had two free periods." I shrug.
"But really honey, photography? You could have picked something a little more relevant. You're not going to get into a great college because of a photography course."
"I know mom, but I think all the high honors classes I'm in will do the trick."
"You better hope so sweetie." she says, not sounding so sure.
Whatever.
"I'm going upstairs now." I mumble.
*oOoOo*
Today seems to be going alot smoother than yesterday. I hadmade it to school early, and it is almost lunch period already. The only bad thing that has happened so far is I'm out of my favorite lip gloss, no 'heavenly pink' lips today. I'm in the girl's bathroom digging around in my purse, trying to at least find some chap-stick to apply to my bare lips, when the door opens. I look up and watch in the mirror as Lily, the goth girl from home room walks in. I give up my search, and check my reflection one last time. I guess I look fine with out the gloss really. My skin is pale, and I have been told on occassion flawless, like porcelain. My eyes are big and blue, which I always hated because I wanted golden brown eyes, like my dad's. My hair is naturally this pale shade of blonde, which nobody ever believes. It falls to my waist, not a lock out of place, because I flat-iron it meticulously every morning.
"Hey." Lily grunts as she stands beside me at the mirror, most likely to apply more of that black crap she thinks is makeupto her eyes.
"Uh- hi." I say, not sure what she could want from me.
"So, do you want to see about switchingpartners in photography?" She asks casually, as if we are best friends.
"Huh?" I blurt dumbly, feeling slightly confused.
"I'm in your photography class- I know you and Slade got paired together-." She offers the information to me as if I am slow.
"Oh- OH!" I exclaim, her words finally making sense. "Well, yeah sure- if Mr. Ventrella is up for it!"
"Whatever.." she mumbles in response, rolling her eyes at me before walking out of the bathroom.
Hopefully "Elvira" will be able to convince Mr. Ventrella that she is a better partner for Slade.
God knows those two look like a match made in heaven!
*oOoOo*
I walk into photography later that afternoon with my fingers crossed, hoping that Mr. Ventrella will be down with the switch off. "Elvira" is already at his desk, and it doesn't look too promising. I walk over toward them, and catch the tail end of Mr. Ventrella's rejection of the idea.
"I want people to learn to work together, whether they are in the same clique, social status, or whatever else you want to call it." He says firmly.
I sigh and walk over to my table with out argument. When I sit down Slade doesn't so much as acknowldge me.
Whatever.
"Alright class, today I'm going to be passing out the cameras. You will be taking a look at them, and getting a feel for them. I want you guys to be comfortable with them, and know how to operate them properly. Also, for the duration of this course the camera will be yours and your partners, but in reality they belong to the school, so please be respectful of these expensive pieces of equipment."
I sit there, bouncing my leg up and down irritably as Mr. Ventrella puts a camera on each table. When he places one on our table, Slade automatically swipes it up possesively.
"Jeesh, relax." I tease, raising an eyebrow at him.
He turns and looks at me, with nothing less than disgust. "You weren't even smart enough to be a cheerleader, I wouldn't expect you to be able to operate anything this complex." He snarks.
"Oh fuc-"
"Ms. Withers, Mr. Sawyer." Mr. Ventrella warns.
"Whatever." Slade says, turning his attention back on the camera.
I decide it will be best to just ignore him. So I start picking at the chipped pink nail polish on my fingernails. At the rate I'm going all the polish will be gone by the end of the period. I let my thoughts wander as I work on scraping at the polish. Earlier that day during lunch Connor had tried to put his arm around me, I shudder a bit at the memory, he always makes me feel super uncomfortable. He's almost obsessive when it comes to me. Ever since last year when he had asked me to go out with him every single day for the last month of school, never taking the hint that I just wasn't into him.I wonder ifit's like some sick game to him, and I'm the prize.
"What are you doing?" A husky voice brings me back to the present.
I look down at the table top, that is now covered in small pink particles. "Oops." I say with a shrug, hoping that it is bugging him.
"That's disgusting." He says, staring at me with those dark eyes through pieces of his even darker hair, and then back downat the mess I am making.
I take a moment to study his face before I respond. "No, that's disgusting." I say, pointing at the hoop piercing through the flesh of his bottomlip. I can't be sure, but I don't remember it being there yesterday.
He sticks his tongue out at me, which also has metal through it, and smirks wickedly when I cringe.
"Didn't that hurt, what would posses you to do that?" I ask, genuinely curious. I have always wondered why people would want to pierce and stretch various parts of their body.
-And now I'm wondering what other parts of his body Slade has pierced...
He leans toward me slightly, causing me to lean toward him in return, and just when I am getting weirded out by his dark stare he whispers "The devil.", and then laughs at my obvious idiocy for believing he might actually have a normal conversation with me.
This class is going to be hell.
