Dreaming of Cheers (Standing Up to Life Book 3)

Chapter 9:

FRIDAY MORNING, I dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt... and just hoped I would be able to disappear into the wood work. I so didn't want to go to school and face everything, and everyone, after last night's abysmal performance. I had just left my hair in a ponytail as I waited for Amy and her mom to pick me up.

As her mom's car pulled in the driveway, I walked out slowly while making sure I locked the door behind me. As the icing on the cake to yesterday, my parents had told me I forgot to lock it when I left yesterday, and nicely chewed me out about it. I didn't want to hear about it today.

"Hey Tiff," a fairly downtrodden Amy greeted me.

"Hi Amy..." I said to her. She and I sat in silence for a few minutes before I told her, "I'm really not looking forward to this."

"I'm not either... There are going to be so many kids that make fun of all of us for last night..." She replied to me.

"It won't be that bad girls," her mom said to us.

We both shared a look and said, "Yes it will," in unison.

She sighed and said, "Just make sure you two stick together and everything will be fine girls."

I think she resigned herself to not getting through to us any more than that though, because she let us continue the rest of the ride in silence. Amy went with me for my morning run to the band room, and then we caught up with Kristina just before the bell rang. She gave us a weak smile and went towards her own class as we walked down the hallway.

Lindsey and Ashley looked to be feeling about the same way as we got to our first hour class, and weren't helped out when one of the girls that failed to make the team was talking loudly across the room, "Did you see how awful our so-called dance squad did last night...?" I felt like melting into the desk that I was sitting in. Any time we weren't working on something during class I could hear her and a couple other kids talking about us. They all seemed to enjoy poking fun at me in particular. I watched them pantomime my fall more than once as they looked at me and laughed.

By the end of class I wanted to do nothing other than go to the bathroom and cry – something I started to do with Amy at my heels. Without a second thought I walked quickly into one of the girl's restrooms and sat down in a stall. I felt my chest heave, and sobbed for a moment or two before forcing myself to get it together and going to the sink to make sure it didn't look like I had been crying. Amy gave me a hug as we walked to our second hour class.

"Tiff, where's your backpack?" She asked me suddenly as we walked in the door.

"Oh No! I left it in Mr. Randolph's class!"

"Uh-oh," Amy said.

I pulled Amy along with me as I walked up to Mr. Grainger who was standing in the doorway, "Mr. Grainger, may Amy and I go Mr. Randolph's class to grab my backpack? I left it there..."

He looked at me with that look that said, 'if you were anyone else...' "Okay ladies, but please hurry."

"Thanks Mr. Grainger!" I said as I hurried down the hallway with Amy by my side. The bell rang when we were half-way back there. We both looked at each other a little sheepishly... we weren't exactly the rule breaking type so it seemed strange to be out in the hallway after the bell rang.

"What are you two doing back here?" Mr. Randolph asked as we came into the classroom.

"I left my backpack here; did you find it?" I asked him.

"No, I didn't see it. What does it look like?"

"It's purple and..." I gave him a description of it as we looked where I'd been sitting. As far as we could tell it wasn't in his room.