Mean Girls

I recently bought THE LIST, by Siobhan Vivian.  I'd seen it on the shelf in Target a few times, but I get most of my reading material from my local library, so it took a few times walking past (and that 20% off sticker) to finally pick it up*.

Just after the title page, we're given a list of eight girls who won the rank of either prettiest or ugliest in their high school class that year.  I'll admit, it was a little overwhelming at first, but it was easy enough to refer back to so I could put the characters together in my mind.  Then I got sucked in and didn't need to refer to the list anymore to know who was doing what.  Vivian put together a heartbreaking look at how the list affects both the girls on the ugly list and the girls on the pretty list.

Then yesterday, I made a new friend.  As we walked the halls of the school, pulling kids out of class for the annual hearing and vision screening, she spilled much of her life story to me, and I thought how sad it is that we all have stories about the "mean girls" in our lives.

So in honor of my new friend and for Siobhan Vivian, the prompt for this week is: Mean Girls.

Enjoy!

*Believe me, as an aspiring author who wants people to buy her books one day, I realize I ought to patronize other authors ... but I also need to feed my kids, y'all.  And we have a great local library.  I do buy books when I fall in love with them, like THE PALADIN PROPHESY, by Mark Frost, and Jennifer Nielson's Ascendance Trilogy, just to name a few I've picked up lately.

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My response:

I didn't get a chance to eat after swim practice, so by time I sat down for lunch, my stomach was roaring.  I could smell the bacon even before I unwrapped my sandwich, and it was almost to my lips when I heard Skyler's voice.

"You're not going to eat that, are you?"  She slipped her lunch cooler onto the table and perched on the edge of the bench.

I froze.  My eyes darted up and down the table.  Why was Skylar sitting next to me?  Sure, we usually sat at the same table, technically ... but she sat at the very end, with the high maintenance girls and football stars.  The table stretched the length of the cafeteria, actually a row of tables latched together.  It was like a sliding scale of who's who in school.  I was usually in earshot of Skylar and her gang, a spot I earned by dominating the girls' swim team, but in four years of high school, she'd never spoken two words to me.

"I'm starving."  I didn't put my BLT down, but I couldn't bring myself to take a bite, either, without knowing what she was up to.

She smoothed her pencil skirt and brushed an imagined speck from the table before pulling a bottle of water and an apple out of her cooler.  My mouth watered at the sight of the apple.  I was so hungry, I could eat anything.

"So much mayo.  And the bacon grease will make you break out."  Last, she pulled out a plain, greek yogurt, arranging her lunch carefully in front of her without meeting my eyes.

My mind buzzed with responses.  Why do you care?  or I've never had that problem before.  Or, My skin is so fried from the chlorine that the bacon grease will probably do it some good. 

I hesitated too long, and she took it as an invitation to offer more. 

"I don't mean to put you out, I was just thinking, since Denton asked you to Winter Formal, you'll want to be looking your best.  He's such a catch!"  She finally met my gaze, eyes sparkling as she giggled, but she wasn't that good of an actress.  The twinkling stars fell like daggers, and I knew exactly what she was getting at.  Denton was supposed to be hers.  I didn't know what her plan was, but I wasn't about to play her game.

I opened my mouth and took a big bite of bread and bacon, then returned her frown.  "Ummm.  That's good."