Beautiful Mess(36)

She had eaten lunch with Layla and her friends all week, and Jess had indeed saved her a seat in English. And while Bri had been preoccupied with all the crap with Cole all week and hadn’t made much of an effort with them, Layla and her friends still tried to include her and make her feel welcome. Bri decided she needed to do better. It was time to start making friends, some real friends. So when Layla called on Saturday morning and invited Bri to go shopping with her and the girls, Bri eagerly accepted.

“Perfect!” Layla replied. “We’re meeting at 1:00 at the food court. Gotta fuel up before hitting the shops. Trust me, you’ll need your stamina!”

“Sounds like my kind of shopping,” Bri laughed.

“Yep, bring your credit card and some comfortable shoes. We take no prisoners!”

So Bri spent the afternoon shopping with Layla, Jess, and Maddie. They talked and laughed and joked as they hopped from store to store. It felt good having some girl-time, and it was fun getting to know her new friends better. And while her first week at Santa Monica High had been a disaster, at least one good thing had happened. Thank goodness for Layla, Jess, and Maddie. They were just what Bri needed to put the whole Cole thing behind her, and get her life back on track.



Monday morning, Bri walked into dance and was assaulted by more glares, and even a few open sneers. She wasn’t sure what she had done to earn the extra hostility this morning, but it felt really good to wipe all those smirks off her teammates’ faces as she started teaching the team their new dance routine. It was fast, complicated, and difficult, and by the end of practice not even Natalie had the energy to glower at her.

Bri smiled to herself. There were going to be a lot of sore muscles tonight.

The day only continued to get stranger, as Bri noticed more and more smiles and waves from guys in the hall and in her classes. She also noticed more than her fair share of dirty looks and scowls from the girls. Great. It seemed like not only had Bri managed to piss off the girls on the Dance Team, but also the majority of the female population of SMH. Things just kept getting better and better.

She also noticed that Trey was obnoxiously attentive to her. He was blatantly gawking and leering at her all through French class.

Doing her best to ignore all the extra attention she was getting, Bri took a deep, bracing breath before walking into History. It was by far her least favorite class, Ceramics coming in a close second, and it had nothing to do with the subject, and everything to do with the two arrogant jerks watching her walk in. Not even acknowledging their presence, Bri took her seat and waited for class to begin.

“Hey Cole.” Trey was whispering, but he was about as subtle as a blow horn. “Are you in?”

“No, man. I’m sitting this one out,” Cole replied.

“Less competition for me! Hey, what do you know about her?”

“Bri? Not much, why?”

“Just trying to find an advantage. I’m trying to get all the info I can. You were talking to her the other day, what’s she like?”

“I really don’t know, we weren’t really talking. But, I do know that she’s way too smart for you. And, unfortunately for you also, she’s too smart to fall for any of your crap. If I were you, I’d forget about it.”

“What?” Trey’s voice rose incredulously. “I have yet to meet a woman who can resist me. Not when I put my mind to it. I’m relentless.”

“Well, you’re going to have to up your game for that one. Seems like too much work to me, and not really worth it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Thankfully the bell rang and class started. Bri was beyond furious that Cole and Trey were talking about her. If Trey thought she’d ever give him the time of day, he had another thing coming. She knew his type way too well.

In Ceramics, Bri noticed Cole watching her as she attempted to make a pinch pot, but luckily he didn’t try and talk to her. By the end of the day, she was really tired of all the attention she was getting.

The next morning at dance, the hostility seemed to have drastically increased since the day before, and Bri decided to throw down. Walking up to Natalie’s group of sneering lackeys, she barged right in. She’d had enough of this crap.

“Alright, “ she began. “I don’t know what your problem is, or what I’ve done to piss you all off so thoroughly, but if you have a problem with me at least have the guts to say it to my face. Don’t do the whole passive-aggressive thing.”

“Okay,” Natalie took the bait and stepped up into Bri’s face. Erica, Natalie’s number two, flanking her. “You want to know what our problem is? It’s the fact that you waltz in here, demanding your own personal audition, because apparently you’re too good to try out like the rest of us. Then Belinda all but names you dictator-in-chief, and we all have to do whatever you say. And, if that wasn’t bad enough,” Natalie leaned in even closer, “you’ve got every guy in this school chasing after you with their tongues hanging out. So yeah, those of us who have been here for a while kind of have a problem with that.”