Attention Jade Tate (Rewrite)

Chapter 3

You know what I find not fair? I don't think it's fair that the world thought it would be funny to sit me down at a table filled with extroverts who don't mind yelling over each other. Then there is me, too slow to jump into the conversation, struggling to get a single sentence out. Like who thought sending me to a school filled with extroverts was a good idea? Oh yeah, my mom.

When it comes to social circles Jade is very versatile. She gets along with everyone and can jump into any conversation effortlessly. This means we often change tables we sit at and groups of friends we talk to. I always just follow her around. Lately, as of a few months ago. Jade has taken to sitting next to Archer and his friends.

Demarcus is Archer's best friend, he likes music. He plays drums and the trumpet. He DJ's part-time after school as well. Darleen just joined our table recently, usually, she sits with the track girls or the theater kids, but Archer invited her to sit with us about a month ago and she's sat here ever since. The table is completed by Winifred or Wini for short. She's good friends with Demarcus and Darleen. She's an artist, specifically, she likes sculpting. She's a very passionate person.

As you can imagine sitting at a table with the best of the best in school gives me anxiety. Jade is hard enough to keep up with on her own, now I was expected to keep up with all of their drama as well? Having friends is hard. It gives me a headache. I try to tune them out and just eat my lunch in peace.

Which is what I was doing when I noticed the whole table had gone silent. When I looked up, they were all looking at me.

"What?" I said around a mouth full of food.

"Were you even listening?" Jade frowns.

"No?"

"We were talking about the annual prank."

The annual prank is a thing the students at Lincoln high do every year. Each grade comes up with its own prank. Each grade year is assigned a target by the senior class. As a freshman, our target was the guidance counselors. The next year we got the fine arts department. This year we are assigned the assistant principal. No one ever knows when they will get it, it's always random.

"Oh," was all I said.

"We have a perfect plan; we just need someone they would never suspect to pull it off," Demarcus said.

Once again everyone looked at me expectantly.

"Me!? No, guys come on. I can't do it. I get nervous, plus what if I give myself away? My mom says I have a guilty face, do I have a guilty face. I mean, I'm not exactly cut out for pranks."

"Relax," Jade grabbed me by the shoulders. "You got this."

Everyone gave their own words of encouragement.

Jade gave me her puppy dog look, the face I can't say no to. The face that always gets me into trouble. The face that makes my heart melt.

"Fine," I sighed. "What am I doing?"

"Eee! Yes! This is going to be so perfect," Jade squeals.

Seeing her so excited makes me smile. What can I say? I'm weak for the girl.

"During your office period go into Vice Principal Howard's office and do these three things. First, cover his whole office in sticky notes. Second, unscrew the wheels to his office chair and set up a camera facing the chair. Third, put a bucket of syrup on the door. We can grab the camera later. That's all you have to do," Archer explains.

That's it!? They act like it's no big deal. How am I going to even get away with this? I am so going to screw this up somehow, I just know it.

"How am I going to get him out of his office?" I ask.