To Be Or Not To Be:

                                  Lucky

                                                          By Keri (Schenectady)                                                          

Chapter One: Nervous

 

            When I woke up the first thing on my mind was school. Yes, I know school. I couldn’t help myself to think about it. Ever since I lost weight over the summer I couldn’t help but to think what other people would think. School was only two days away and I felt like I was going to have a panic attack. I had to wake up early so my mom, my sister and I could go shopping. She is going to treat us to a manicure, a once in a lifetime chance. If we weren’t living paycheck to paycheck, I bet I would get one all the time. Before we got the manicures we had to go school supply shopping and get me a whole new wardrobe. Like I said I lost over a hundred pounds so none of my clothes fit. I’ve been sharing clothes with my sister since then. As I got dressed my sister was just getting up. Luckily I was mostly dressed when she truly woke up. Even though I had lost a huge amount of weight, I still had insecurities about my body. That is why nobody has seen my body except for me.

 I waited for Kylie to get dressed and then we both walked out to the living room. My dad was putting away the dishes and my mom was on the couch with the dog, Marli. My mom was already ready to go.

     “Bye dad, love you,” my sister and I said as we walked out the door.

     “Bye love you too.”

     “Don’t forget to let the dog go out to the bathroom.”

      “I won’t, Bye.”

          When we got to the store I felt like a kid in a candy store. I am a fifteen year old girl that can now fit into normal clothes that other fifteen year old girls wear. After we got our school supplies and got six new outfits, we went to the cash register. As we waited in line I flipped through magazines. Then I looked over at the cash register and noticed the price was over three hundred and twenty-five dollars. My mouth hit the floor. When we walked out the door my mom told me that we're going to have to get manicures some other time. My sister was really disappointed because it would have been her first manicure. After shopping I fell asleep in the car. The next night I was laying my clothes out for school the next day when my cell phone rang. It was Angie, my best friend, she was super nervous about her first day at my school. So was I. My dad and I were picking her up in the morning for school, so we could ride together. When I answered she nervously said

“You’re still picking me up in the morning right?”

“Yes we still are, now stop worrying.” Reassuring her.

“I know just nervous and excited at the same time, bye.”

“Bye and don’t forget to relax,”

          After we hung up I wondered why she was so nervous. She’s never like that. She’s the more outgoing one out of the two of us. I’ve known Angie since I was four. We met when my mom would watch her for a friend of hers on the weekend. Her dad was my mom’s friend; they had met at her work. My mom then called Kylie and me.

“Girls are your bags packed and do you have clothes picked out?”

“Done and done,” Kylie bragged.

“Me too.” I said blissfully

          I was still nervous before I went to bed. I lay in my bed trying to clear my thoughts until I fell asleep. I had a dream about me kissing someone but I couldn’t see his face. Just as I got to see his face my alarm clock went off. “Oh, man!’ I yelled out. Kylie glanced at me like I was nuts. After breakfast, we got dressed and I put my makeup on. We left home at about seven twenty to pick up Angie. When we got to school we walked around and showed Angie where everything was. Even though I’d known Angie since we were four, she was new to the school. This would be the first time we had ever been in the same school to together. Since because our last names were so close in the alphabet we had the same homeroom. Our lockers were close together too. When we walked into homeroom there were desks paired in two’s. Angie and I were sitting in our seats talking, when Jake walked in. He sat in the seat across from me and I just sat there and gazed upon him in awe.

“Go say Hi.” Angie nudged me

“I don’t know”

“It doesn’t hurt to try”

“Ok fine then,”

          I got up and scurried over to him. When I got to him I froze. It took me a second to blurt something out.

‘Hi”

“Ahhh, Hi,” he said with an enormous wave.

“You might not notice who I am, but I’m Katy Palmer.”

          The look on his face was worth a thousand dollars. His big green eyes grew large. He smiled from ear to ear. He even stirred in his chair.

“Wow, you look great” he body scanned me at the same time.

“Yes, I know I worked really hard over the summer. So how was your summer?”

“Great but not compared to yours!”

          The teacher walked in right after. She told us to take a seat. I waved to him then sat down. Just as I sat down she told everyone to stand back up. Then she explained that everyone would get assigned seats and partners for projects until she knew everyone’s name. As she called out names Angie got worried and tensed up.

“You know a few people here already, don’t worry.”

“Katy Palmer and Jake St. John!” the teacher called out.

           I then looked at her then at him. He was staring at me with a massive smile.

At that moment I knew it was meant to be. It was fate that had the teacher sit us next to each other. I never had felt my heart beat so fast, so rapidly. Angie gave me two thumbs up and pushed me towards him.

“I guess we’re partners,” I blubbered

“Guess so.” He said thrillingly.

He melted my heart in that very instant. I felt like I was going to faint with the way he was looking at me. I think he was too.        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Two: Friendship

        At lunch we ran into Lara, my best friend at school. She looked like she had a growth spurt. She was now about an inch taller than me and I was pretty tall compared to the other tenth graders.

“Katy!” she screamed

“Hi Lara. How did you know it was me?”

“Well if it weren’t for your birth mark on your face I wouldn’t have recognized you.”

          She was talking about the small round brown dot high up on my left cheek.

“You look amazing. Hi Angie.”

“Well thanks”

          Lara had met Angie last year when I had brought her to a dance with me.

“Did you hear about the dance at the end of the month?”

“Yeah, we’re thinking about maybe going as a group. Like You, Angie, Me and some other girls.” I said while watching Lisa and Gloria walk by. Their bombshell blonde hair was straight with fear. I bet it was because they saw me, the gorgeous perfect new me. Instead of giving them the evil eye, I smiled and waved. They still just gave me an annoyed smirk. Lisa was a little shorter then Gloria. Lisa had been in an on and off relationship with Jake for a few years now. Gloria had always wanted to date Jake and flirted with him all the time. Over the summer she finally got her chance to date him. Although I heard it ended about a week before school started. That was good news for me.

“Well I got go find Kim. I think she got lost, Bye”

“Ok tell her I said Hi.” I yelled after her

Kim was another one of our friends. It had been Lara, Kim, and me last year. Now Angie could be added to the group.

“Let’s go get lunch. I’m Starving!” Angie begged

          I think she was getting used to the school. She knew some of the other students already, which made it easier. The rest of us were just getting used to our new teachers too. So we were all on a level playing field.

          Angie came over after school. We both told my mom how our day went except about the whole Jake melting my heart bit. Since Angie's parents were divorced, my mom was like a second mom to her. We felt like sisters to each other. We shared every secret, every memory, and every thought. She was an only child so she was glad to have Kylie and me.

“So what’s for dinner mom?” Angie joked

          Angie would call my mom many things, like Mom, Aunt Lucy, or Mrs. Palmer.

“Are you staying for dinner? If you are we’re having grilled chicken and rice.”

“I think so, let me call my dad.”

           Angie went off to her backpack and got her cell phone out and dialed her dad.

“So really how did your day go?” my mom said not convinced of the story I had told her.

“It really went well. Lara was really excited to see Angie and me. Lisa and Gloria were jealous too.” I gleefully said

“Well good then. I'm glad everyone took it well.”

“Me too,” remembering the way Jake looked at me in class

          Angie walked over after hanging up with her dad. She was all smiles while bouncing over to us sitting at the counter.

“My dad said I could stay the night since it is Friday. As long as it's OK with you.”

“Sure anytime. Do you have any clothes with you?” My mom asked.

“All I have is a sweater with me.”

“Well you can just wear some of my clothes and not have to go home to get some.” I blurted out.

“OK, sure that's a great idea.”

          Now that we wear the same size we can share clothes. Before, when I was big I couldn't share clothes with anyone. I used to be so jealous when Lara and Kim would share clothes. Now Angie, Lara, Kim and Me could all share clothes together. That night Angie and I talked until it was so late we fell asleep. We talked about my clothes, Jake, our teachers, and even Lisa and Gloria. She was my best friend, my sister. If anything ever happened to one of us, I know we would be there for each other, good or bad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter three: Calling

 

        He held me and wrapped his arms around my body. Just as he leaned in for a kiss, Angie woke me up.

“Katy! Katy! Wake up, your cell phone has been going off like crazy for an hour!” Angie yelled.

        I looked at the clock it was twelve o' two. Angie had my cell phone in her hand. We must have over slept because we were so tired from staying up so late. I could smell the sweet smell of syrup and grease from bacon roaming in the air. She handed me my phone.

“You've gotten like 10 messages in the last hour!” she said with a thrill in her voice.

I looked at my phone and notice it said “10 new messages.” When I looked to see who it was it said there were eight from Facepage and two text messages. I checked Facepage first. They were all compliments from friends about how I looked and how I did it. Then I checked my texts. It said unknown number. Then I read the messages

 

“Hey Katy, its Jake.”

        Oh. My. Gosh. Its Jake I couldn't believe it. Jake texting me! Wait, how did he get my number? I then remembered that I had put my number out on facepage when I first got my phone.

“Hello you there?” the second one said.

“Yeah I'm here, hey Jake.” I typed back.

        He quickly texted back. Wow, he must really want to talk to me.

“Just wanted to say hi and see what you’re doing.”

“I just woke up actually.”

        After that I didn't get anything back. I sat there and waited until my phone rang. It was Jake again but this time he was calling. Now he's calling. What do I do? I answered my phone.

“Hello?”

“Katy. It's Jake.” The sound of his voice made my heart flutter.

“Hey, Jake.”

“I thought we could just talk for awhile.”

“Sure, I guess we could.” I had no idea why he wanted to talk to me.

        We talked for an hour. We talked about our summer, family, and school. He had never shared so much with me before. We never had ever talked for more than five minutes. Now he was spilling his whole life to me,trusting me. When he made jokes      I couldn't help but to laugh; he was funny. Then after a half hour my mom came in and said she wanted take car ride. I asked her for another half hour. She agreed. We talked for as long as we could.

“I got to go.”

“Bye, try to call me again later.” There was a sound of disappointment in his voice.

“OK I'll try later, I think Angie is getting a little jealous, bye.” he chuckled after I said that.

        When I got off the phone I went to my mom.

“When are we leaving?” I asked

“In a few minutes, we might not be able to take a long ride; we don't have enough gas.”

        When we got back we had lunch and went in the pool. I wore a one piece bathing suit with a t-shirt over it. I still didn’t want anyone to see my body. That is not now; I wasn’t even used to my body yet. When we got out, Kylie, Angie, and I sat on the deck while drying off. My phone started to ring on the bench next to me. When I answered, it was Jake again.

“Hey Katy, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the movies tonight.”

        I wanted to scream I was so happy. But wait Angie’s here I can’t go.

“I can’t go, Angie is staying over.”

“That’s ok, Bring her along, I’ll bring someone with me too.”

“Ok then, when do you want to meet?”

“How about six thirty.”

“That sounds great, see you then!” I agreed

        I turned toward Angie. She was licking an icicle my mom brought out for us a few minutes ago. She had red all around her mouth. She was such a sloppy eater.

“We’re going on a double date!” I yelled

         She dropped her icicle and screamed. Her eyes had grown wide. By now she had been jumping up and down. I was jumping with her, full of excitement.