Opposite Day

Deciding to Downgrade

Thankfully, my plan actually seemed to work when my body let me follow it. Saying as little as possible had left me practically mute until lunch time, but I certainly wasn't complaining. As I sat with my usual group at our table in the bustling cafeteria, I was mainly just thankful the curse didn't seem to have any issue with me eating.

"So Quinn, who ended up taking you home Saturday? Or did you Uber?" Lexi asked, twirling a forkful of the pasta in front of her. 

I wasn't really interested to hear all about another wild night they'd had, especially since as usual, they hadn't even bothered to include me in their plans. I turned my attention to the large room and its crowded tables to silently search for the tall, tan-skinned boy I couldn't stop thinking about.

Their conversation faded into the background as I spotted him. Kalvin was leaning one broad shoulder against a vending machine near the entrance, somehow looking like even more of a heartbreaker than usual. I watched him run a hand through his hair as he talked to the group of people surrounding him, the girls looking up with adoring eyes, the guys all trying to one-up each other for his approval. Wherever Kalvin went, people followed. I wasn't the only one at school wishing for an ounce of his attention.

"He was there, you know," Diana's voice drew my attention back to my table, and I shot her a confused look. "Kalvin was at the party on Saturday."

"He talked to us for a bit." Quinn smirked. "You should've come."

"Maybe you should've invited me," I snapped, my heart rate rising as soon as the words left my mouth. I'd been thinking that, but I hadn't planned to say it.

Lexi's eyes grew wide and Diana's jaw dropped slightly, but Quinn just leered at me, giving me a disapproving once over. "Well I guess it doesn't matter, since it seems like you got tired of pining after him anyway. I heard you gave in and finally said yes to Drop-out Derek."

I rolled my eyes, letting out a short laugh. "He didn't even drop out."

"With the amount of school he missed last year, he may as well have," Diana said, grabbing a fry from the tray in front of her and taking a bite.

"I could say the same about someone with a solid one for their GPA," I retorted. I wanted to clamp a hand over my mouth— I wasn't meaning for these thoughts to come out.

"What is your problem?" Lexi snapped, her brows furrowed in anger.

"Don't take it out on us just because you finally realized Kalvin's out of your league," Quinn retaliated. "You deciding to downgrade has nothing to do with us."

"Having nothing to do with you sounds pretty nice," I fired back, standing up against my will and grabbing my bag from the back of my chair, hoisting it onto my shoulder. I gathered my unfinished lunch and turned on my heel, walking away from the table and out of the cafeteria.

My mind reeled as I thought over what just happened. The things I'd said weren't meant to come out, and yet I felt like I could breathe now that they did. I had so much pent up aggression towards my "friends," but I was too scared of not having anyone to hang out with to ever snap at them. 

I figured that was a justified worry once I realized I was walking aimlessly through the halls— I didn't have anywhere to eat.

I passed numerous groups of teens sitting on the linoleum floors, backs against the white walls as they ate and talked, not even noticing me as I stepped over their splayed out legs. I continued down a few corridors, finally finding an empty space a few feet down from three guys, who were hunched over a small video game console in the hands of the girl in the center of the group.

I placed my bag on the pale beige floor and sat down next to it, my legs crossing as I unwrapped my sandwich. My phone buzzed in my back pocket and I reached for it, sighing when I saw the notification.

A text reading, "Hey, it's Derek, you still on for our date tonight? If so I'll need your address :)"

I set my peanut butter and jelly in my lap, trying to think of how to conduct a soft denial, my fingers hovering over the keyboard. But then, they weren't hovering— my fingers started moving over the screen, typing up a message and pressing send before I could even try to stop them.

My eyes widened as I read the message that appeared on the right side of my screen: An excited "Can't wait!" followed by a smiley face and my address.

"No, nonononono," I mumbled, frantically trying to stop it from sending, my thumbs hitting the screen in a panic, attempting to cancel it. But it was too late-- the message went through, despite the poor signal I was getting in the hall and all my efforts it stop it.

I groaned, thumping my head against the wall behind me. It was going to be a long day.