"Yes!" I exclaimed. "I'll definitely do it!"
My friend Kristin Seltzer stopped walking and turned toward me, her hands on her hips. "But Jessica," she said with a laugh, "you don't even know what I'm asking you yet."
"I don't care. Whatever you need me to do, I'm there," I answered. "I want to be in on whatever's going on at school. I'm tired of being the
new girl."Kristin narrowed her bright blue eyes. "So you'll do anything I ask?"
Her voice was serious, but I knew she was joking. Kristin had just been elected Sweet Valley Junior High's eighth-grade class president and was majorly popular. You'd think she'd be really conceited, but Kristin isn't like that--she's the best.
"Well, not
anything," I disagreed. "But I have a feeling you wouldn't ask me to do something too, too terrible. Right?"
"Why not? You're just a lowly new girl." Kristin gave me a little bump with her elbow, and we continued walking down the crowded hallway toward the school exit. "Actually," she went on, "it must be hard, starting a new school in the eighth grade, when everyone has their group of friends that they've know since forever."
"It
is," I insisted. "At SVMS I could have run for class president. But here no one even knows who I am. It's depressing."
I know it sounds kind of stuck-up, but it's true. At Sweet Valley Middle School, I, Jessica Wakefield, was one of the most popular girls in the class.
And I had a really tight group of the coolest friends--we were inseparable! Plus SVMS only went through the eighth grade, so I would have been part of the ruling class.
But then I was the victim of a terrible tragedy. I was transferred.
I mean, did they
have to go and rezone the school districts over the summer? Just in time for my last year of middle school? It was totally unfair. Not to mention rude.
SVJH had a ninth grade, so eighth-graders didn't have as much clout. Now I was just some average, semi-accepted new girl. Sure, I had made a couple of friends, but I wasn't part of a really tight group like I was used to.
"At least Elizabeth got transferred with you," Kristin pointed out as she pushed open the door and stepped into the sunshine. "That's like having an automatic best friend."
Elizabeth is my sister. Well, not
just my sister--she's my identical twin.
And Kristin was right. I was glad Elizabeth was at Sweet Valley Junior High with me--it made transferring a whole lot easier. But it's not like Elizabeth and I run with the same crowd or anything. Elizabeth is kind of serious and a bookworm. Not my scene at all.
Of course she can be cool when she wants to be, and having her around had definitely made me feel less alone. Even during those times when I was sure I'd never have any friends at SVJH
besides her.
For some inexplicable reason Elizabeth didn't seem to have nearly as much trouble as I did getting used to our new school. She'd made two fast friends right away--Anna Wang and Salvador del Valle--and started a 'zine with them. My start at SVJH had been a little more . . . rocky.
"Elizabeth is great," I said to Kristin. "But her friends? Please. They're so annoying and uncool. I don't know how she can take them." We jogged down the school steps and headed for my bus stop.
"Agreeing to be on my Homecoming Day poster committee isn't exactly the coolest thing in the world either," Kristin said.
"Sure, it is," I insisted. "You're the chairperson, and you're cool. Cool chairperson equals cool activity."
Kristin smiled and shook her head. "Whatever."
"Kristin, think about it," I pressed on. "You were just elected president! Everyone likes you. You're pretty. You're smart. You're--"
"Pudgy," Kristin cut me off.
I stopped short. "No, you're not," I said.
She shot me a look as if to say,
Give me a break, Jessica."Okay," I relented. "So maybe you're not a stick. But who cares? You
are pretty."
I meant it. Kristin has great blue eyes and the best wavy light brown hair. I guess she's . . . curvy, but she wears the coolest clothes, and she has a really cute, really sweet boyfriend--Brian Rainey. Well, they're not officially going out, but almost. In fact, when I thought about it, Kristin had just about everything going for her. I was really lucky to have her for a friend.
"So, anyway, would being on the committee mess up your track meets?" Kristin asked, changing the subject.
"No way," I replied. "Track is usually over by four, so I can make posters then. Besides, I'm sick of only doing track. I want to do more school activities and meet more people." Just then my bus pulled up, but I let it go--I could take the next one.
Kristin grinned. "All right, all right. If you're really in, I need four posters by tomorrow morning. Can you handle that?"
"Absolutely. What should they say?" I asked.
"Just the basic information," she said. "We're playing the Redwood Middle School Dolphins at Homecoming three Saturdays from now. The game is at noon. After that, add a lot of team spirit. You know, 'Go, Sweet Valley, go,' and 'Yay, Wildcats,' kind of stuff."
"That sounds easy," I told her. "Anything else?"
"Nope. That's it."
"These are going to be the most amazing posters you've ever seen," I promised. "I am
so into it."
"Great. Thanks, Jess," Kristin said, turning to go.
"See you tomorrow--with four awesome posters," I called.
Kristin waved. "See ya."
I waited anxiously for the next bus, psyched to get home and work on my posters. I really wanted to do a good job. Being on Kristin's poster committee would mean getting to know more people. Which meant more friends. Which meant
finally being accepted at SVJH. Which was what I wanted more than anything.
