The Other Girl

Chapter V

Freshman year of high school, dating someone became "cool" so—of course— everyone found someone to hook up with. The goal seemed to be to make it look like you were the one tied down in the relationship— then you "won" the dating game.

"Ew. Chad? No way," Stacey Tussaud had said, wrinkling her nose when we asked her thoughts on the boy. "Not my cup of tea."

"Then who? Darrien?" Quinn asked, intent on proving her matchmaker skills by pairing the new girl with someone worthy.

"Darrien... Why not?" Stacey replied nonchalantly, smirking. "I wouldn't say no to him, if that's what you mean."

And sure enough, the two were dating a few days later. Quinn was ecstatic having proved her ability, turning on me.

"Now what do you like in a man, Stell?" she had asked, trying Stacey's nickname for me since the letter 'a' seemed to be too much to type on a phone. "I would have paired you with Calum, but you stubbornly refuse to admit your love so the next best thing..."

A week later I had hooked up with Chad and we were going to the dance together. I know— the idiot was as pompous and arrogant then as he is now, if not more. The key words would be "hooked up"— Chad Lasker had his sights set on me since the beginning of the year and he was relentless, so when he asked me to the homecoming dance that year I didn't turn him down.

"We didn't click" was the excuse we gave to everyone, and it was true. Chad must have felt it too— the awkward distance I held him at, the hesitance before every kiss. He was to full of depthless compliments and unfounded hubris, and he wisely didn't pursue me again. He's better now, with Stacey's critical personality to keep his ego from swelling too much, but they had dated more out of mutual need than of actual feelings. Stacey had broken down after Darrien abruptly dropped her.

"Like trash," he had said smugly as he walked away, another girl on his arms. "'cuz you're not good enough for me."

Chad, a sophomore at the time, had been her prince charming, swooping her off the ground and away from the crowds. Although he wasn't always reliable, the two try their best to make things work even through the flings and failures.

Quinn went to two dances with Jeremy, a sophomore, that year. They had continued their shaky on-and-off relationship through high school, but I think it was more a mutual need for a date then there was actual feelings. The fiasco ended when Jeremy graduated and went abroad— Britain, I think, although I could be wrong. There was just too many problems and so little commitment for it to drag on, so the two of them let it fizzle out.

Karen wisely didn't hook up with anyone. She led our group to the dances that we chose to go stag to, little social rebellions or whims that we had on some days. Calum actually asked her to most of the dances freshman and sophomore year, but more so sophomore year. There was a mutual understanding between both groups— Calum and mine— that they had no affection for each other and both were willing to stand in for each other when need be. Calum told me that she was "down to earth," shrugging when I asked him what hehad meant.

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The deafening roar of heavy beats greeted me as I entered the club. It was Sunday night, and I had nothing better to do, so here I was.

None of the girls had finished studying, but they came along anyways. In fact, most of the crew had— excluding Tim, the last-minute studybug, Hunter and Whitney, who were both unavailable for unknown reasons, and Calum who was also studying.

Quinn screamed something at me, grabbing me and Karen. I couldn't hear her clearly, but it was clear from the way she was trying to drag us down to the dance floor that she wanted to dance. Stacey was already down on the floor with Chad, grinding and swaying to the beat among the masses as we made our way down.