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'I knew I shouldn't have had that mocha before school!' Sharon thought to herself after her first morning class the next day. She had left the classroom for the bathroom as soon as the bell had rung. 'I could barely sit still during that test!'
As she bent forward at the sink to finish washing her hands, she found herself catching a conversation in the background…
"I mean, come on!" She recognized the voice as Kari's. "You think Damon and I would make a good-looking couple, don't you? Just look at the pictures!"
"I saw the pictures and I agree. What guy wouldn't want to go out with you?" Sharon heard in the undertone, however, the girl's exasperation and sarcasm, as if they'd stayed on the topic one minute too long.
"Exactly!" Kari replied, apparently not hearing the same thing Sharon had. "I mean, what can any other girl have that I don't have? Especially that new girl, what's her name."
"Oh, I don't know… Sharon seems to be nice. A little quiet maybe, but that's certainly nothing to go crazy about. Besides, maybe Damon's just not interested in you."
"You did not just say that! The next thing I know, you'll say he probably likes that new girl. Yeah right! Again, what does she have that I don't?" Kari was laughing, not taking the other female seriously.
Sharon smiled as she left the bathroom. 'How about a real personality?'
"You're in a good mood."
She turned her head to the left and noticed Vin walking next to her. "Well, I think I did pretty well on my first government test, and I just heard something highly amusing."
"What?"
"I can't say. Have you seen Ana around?"
"Oh I see how it is. This is one of your girl things," he rolled his eyes and laughed.
"You're quick to assume," she pointed out, smiling.
"Am I wrong?"
"No, you're not," she conceded.
Again, Vin laughed. "Anyway, to answer your question, no, I haven't seen Ana, at least not since before school. She's in my next class though. Do you want me to pass along the message that you're looking for her?"
"No, don't worry about it. It's not important. I'll just ask her later.
"All right. Anyway, I want to ask you something."
"Sure. What's up, Vin?"
"Well, I was just wondering if you were free tonight."
"What's going on?"
"I just thought it might be nice for you to come along and cheer for us at our game tonight."
Sharon smiled. "I'll keep it in mind and ask my parents if I can go. Same time as always?"
"Yup, and we're playing against a team in the next town, so it's not far away at all."
"Sounds good." Sharon waved bye to Vin as she ducked into her next class and he made his way further down the hall for his own class. She moved easily to her seat towards the back of her calculus class and pointedly didn't look up when Kari entered just a few moments later. Sharon was still smiling and she didn't want Kari's scowling face ruining her morning.
Halfway through class, she was still in good spirits. She could care less that Kari often glanced her way to glare at her for who knows what and end up scribbling notes to her friend in front of her. Sharon brushed it off – there was no reason to go and worry about what Kari thought of her really. Still, she did find it a little distracting and more than a little annoying and so, she resolved herself to do something about it after class.
As soon as the bell rang, Sharon quickly gathered her things, rushing to catch the girl. Within a few strides, she had easily caught up with the blonde. "Hey, Kari."
Kari turned to her, surprised. "You're talking to me?" she asked as if she couldn't believe Sharon had had the guts to talk to her after their little incident towards the beginning of the year.
"Yeah. Listen, I was just wondering, what do you have against me?"
Kari looked at her as if she were the idiot. "Are you that stupid?" she laughed.
Sharon fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Humor me."
"No. If you haven't figured it out, you're just hopeless, princess. Hopeless and pathetic. Now listen, I don't ever want to talk to you again. I don't like you."
And with that, Kari stalked off, eager to dissociate herself from Sharon as quickly as possible. 'So much for making things better. Oh well. At least I tried.' Sharon shrugged it off and turned back the way she had come to get her lunch from her locker.
Damon cocked his head a little at the sight in front of him down the hall. He just couldn't believe that Sharon and Kari were talking. Riley couldn't believe it either. "What do you suppose they're talking about, Damon?"
"I have no idea." The memory of Kari snubbing Sharon during Homecoming came to mind and he couldn't understand why Sharon had bothered to initiate a talk with the other girl.
"Maybe they have a project together?"
"In calculus? I doubt it."
"How'd you know they were in math?" Riley turned to his friend.
"They walked out of Ms. Davison's class," he returned easily, ignoring the fact that he also knew Sharon's schedule by heart. "Anyway, come on." He and Riley ducked out of the main doors to go claim their table for lunch just as Sharon was turning their way.
"Well, whatever that was about, Kari sure didn't look too happy about it. Did you see how she stomped off like that?"
Damon indicated that he had seen and turned to get his lunch out of his backpack. 'Well, you did say she had her secrets, D,' he thought. 'We'll just wait and see what that was all about later, I guess.'
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Ana making her way down the hall and out to lunch. Sharon quickly finished at her locker and slammed it shut before racing over. "Hey, Ana. I have a question for you."
Ana looked over to Sharon and smiled. "Oh hey, Sharon. Vin mentioned that you wanted to talk to me. What's up?"
"It's just that, well, what's the deal with Kari?"
Ana looked over at Sharon out of the corner of her eye. "Deal?"
She shrugged. "She doesn't like me, even though I don't think I've given her any reason to think or act like that. I actually just tried asking her about it during break, but she just brushed me away. Have I done something to her to make her act like that?"
Ana smiled. "You're a lot more patient and nice than I thought. Honestly, I'm very surprised you even gave her the time of day. Kari…" She paused for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to put this. "I'll give you the condensed version. She's the center of her universe. Her parents spoiled her like crazy since she's an only child and they still do, so she has this strange notion of living in a perfect world where the only opinion that matters is her own and her needs are more important than anyone else's. That being said, she only wants the best for herself, and that includes getting Damon to call her boyfriend. Thankfully, he's not interested in her and has the brains to realize why she's not his type. Kari, however, just doesn't get it.
"As for where you come in, I'm assuming that because she's been seeing you guys talking more with each other than she does with him, she thinks you're probably after him too and that's a threatening thought to her." Was it her imagination or did Sharon blush slightly just then? Ana kept that observation to herself as she continued.
"Don't worry about her. She's really harmless. She just gets insanely jealous when she doesn't get what she wants. That's why she won't speak with me either. A, I'm too close to Damon for her comfort, and B, I'm head cheerleader and she isn't," she smiled.
Sharon just shook her head. "That's so stupid though. It's like elementary school or junior high all over again!"
"What can I say? As much as I hate stereotypes, I honestly believe she's just blonde through and through, and definitely nothing to lose sleep on."
"I guess…"
"Anyway, are you going to the game tonight?" Ana asked, changing the subject.
"I don't know. Maybe. Vin invited me to go."
"You should go! It'll be fun. Hey, I can even drive you if you want."
"Really? But I thought you had to ride in with the guys."
"Sometimes we do, but usually not. It's not pleasant riding with a bus full of guys, especially after a game when they're all hot and smelly," she laughed.
Sharon had to agree, the thought of it was definitely not a good one. "Well then, if my parents agree and you really don't mind driving, I don't see why not. I'll talk to my parents after school and give you a call later today."
"Okay, that's fine by me," she answered as the two sat down at the table the guys had found and saved this time.
"Ladies," Riley acknowledged them as they sat down. "How are you doing this fine, Friday morning?"
"Just fine," Ana answered for the both of them, before leaning in to give Riley a quick kiss. "Your morning going okay so far?"
"But of course," he smiled, wrapping an arm comfortably around Ana's shoulders.
Sharon smiled a little at the sight the two made. Ever since Homecoming night, it'd become more and more clear that Ana was dating Riley and not Damon. Ana and Damon definitely acted more like siblings – close, but not in love with each other romantically. With Riley, Ana was definitely more affectionate, and Sharon found it absolutely adorable how those two kept on surprising each other with the littlest things. Today, he'd found a purple flower of some kind and Ana was now wearing it, tucked behind one ear.
She looked up and found Damon walking in their direction with a tray of food in hand. She grinned at him, but inwardly, she sighed a little. 'Ana and Riley look so happy together. Will I be able to share that happiness someday with Damon? We'll see…' she thought as Damon walked closer.
Damon caught Sharon's smile and instantly grinned back. He set his tray down and took the empty seat next to Sharon as she turned to answer a question one of their other friends had just asked. He ignored his food for a moment to reach into his backpack. Without pulling it out, he fingered the object he sought and debated whether or not to give it to Sharon then and there. Taking a quick look around the table though, he decided that this wasn't the right time. 'Next period, in art,' he thought to himself, knowing much less fuss and attention would be given then.