Mean Girls

Bend like Plastic

"And they have this Burn Book where they write mean things about all the girls in our grade."

"What does it say about me?" AJ asked.

Bayley hesitated to answer, "You're not in it."

"Those bitches."

"Will this minimize my pores?" Chad came up opening up a jar of face cream.

"No." AJ snatched the jar away from him and set it by the register. "Bayley, you gotta steal that book."

"No way!" she argued.

"Oh, come on. We could publish it, and then everybody would see what an ax-wound Charlotte really is." AJ encouraged.

"I don't steal."

Chad came back up to the girls rubbing lotion onto his hands. In which AJ snatched the tube away from him again, "That is for your feet! Bayley, look there are two kinds of evil people. People who do evil stuff, and people who see evil stuff being done and don't try to stop it."

"Does that mean I'm morally obligated to burn that lady's outfit?" Chad whispered to them. "Oh, my God, that's Ms. Del Ray."

"I love seeing teachers outside of school. It's like seeing a dog walk on its hind legs."

The math teacher walked up to them, "Hey, guys, what's up? I didn't know you worked here." she pointed at AJ.

"moderately priced soaps are my calling." she chuckled.

"You shopping?" Chad asked.

"No, I'm just here with my boyfriend." she pointed over towards some old dude with a biker jacket on. The three students exchanged an awkward glance. "Joking. Sometimes older people make jokes."

"My nana takes her wig off when she's drunk." Chad added with a smile.

"Your nana and I have that in common. No, actually, I'm just here because I bartend a couple nights a week down at P.J. Calamity's. Bayley, I hope you do join Mathletes, you know, because we start in a couple weeks and I would love to have a girl on the team, just, you know, so the team could meet a girl."

AJ and Chad scrunched their faces at each other. Ew, Mathletes. They thought.

"I think I'm gonna do it." Bayley answered with pride.

"Great.'

Chad tried keeping his mouth shut but couldn't for any longer, "You can't join Mathletes. It's social suicide."

"Thanks, Chad." Ms. Del Ray thanked sarcastically.
"Well, this has been sufficiently awkward. And I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Bye."

"Bye."

"Oh, man, that is bleak." AJ stared at the woman as she walked out of the store. "So when are you gonna see Charlotte again?"

"I can't spy on her anymore. It's weird."

"Come on, she's never gonna find out. It'll be like our little secret." AJ gave her a puppy dog face.
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Bayley picked up her ringing phone, "Hello?"

"I know your secret."

Bayley's eyes nearly bulged out if her head. Oh, God, busted. Just start apologizing and crying. No, play it cool. "Secret? What are you saying about?"

"Becky told me that you like Finn Bálor." Bayley could almost feel Charlotte smirking through the phone. "I mean, I don't care, do whatever you want. But let me just tell you something about Finn: All he cares about is school and his mom and his friends." she listed in disgust.

"Is that bad?"

"But if you like him... Whatever. I mean, I could talk to him for you if you want." she offered.

Bayley couldn't help the large smile growing across her face. "Really? You would do that? I mean, nothing embarrassing, though, right?"

"Oh, no, trust me. I know exactly how to play it." she leaned back on her bed and twirled her hair around her manicured finger. "But wait. Aren't you so mad at Becky for telling me?"

"No."

"Because if you are, you can tell me. It was a really bitchy thing for her to do."

"Yeah, it was pretty bitchy, but I'm not mad. I mean, I guess she just likes the attention."

"See, Becky? I told you she's not mad at you." Charlotte chuckled to herself. The secret three way call went according to plan.

"I can't believe you think I like attention!" Becky held her chest in an offended manner.

"OK, love you. See you tomorrow." Charlotte sang before hanging up.

I had survived my first three-way calling attack.

And with Charlotte's blessing, I started talking to Finn more and more. But I wanted things to move faster. So I followed my instincts.

I leaned over in my desk and asked him for help on my math assignment. "Hey, I'm totally lost. Can you help me?" - But I wasn't lost. I knew exactly what Ms. Del Rey was talking about.

"It's a factorial, so you multiply each one by N."

Wrong.

"Is that the summation?" I asked.

Finn paused, looking unsure. "Yeah, they're the same thing."

Wrong. He was so wrong. "Thanks. I... I get it now."

The bell rung and Bayley started packing up her supplies. Finn turned in his desk and hesitated to talk to Bayley some more. But he took a chance. "We're having a Halloween party at my friend Luke's tonight. You wanna come?"

*internally screaming* "Yeah, sure."

"Great." he smiled, "Here's where it is. It's a costume party. People get pretty into it."

"OK."

"That flier admits one person only, so don't bring some other guy with you." Finn winked.

"Grool." I meant to say "cool" and then I started to say "great". Bayley felt her cheeks burn after her crashing of words. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

"Right. Well... grool. See you tonight."