20People often ask me how I became friends with Tiara Jaspers, and sometime I even wonder myself. Tiara and I were complete opposites when we met, from our appearances to our personalities. We were thirteen. It was the first week of summer vacation when I watched out my bedroom window as the big moving truck pulled up across the street and the movers began moving Tiara and her mother into their new house, directly across from ours. I'd lived in the same house all my life, my parents had bought it right after they got married, when they found out they were pregnant with me. There were very few kids in our neighborhood, except for the Van Hiltons, who had five children, three of which were triplets. My mother encouraged me to go over and meet the girl, who looked my age, who sat on the front steps of her new home.
"She could become your best friend, you never know."
My mother's words rang in my ears as I left my house and walked slowly across the street, dragging my feet like I always did. It was a very hot day, even for the early afternoon. My jean shorts were too short, according to my mother, and my pink tank top hugged my stomach. My dark hair was thrown up into a messy pony tail which swung back and forth as I crossed the street. I stopped in her front yard, ten or so feet in front of her. She looked up and smiled.
Her short blonde hair was held out of her eyes with a clip or two and her bright blue eyes glistened in the sun. She wore a tank top, white with colorful flowers, and blue shorts. She looked a lot taller than me; I was short and had already stopped growing. I was stuck at five foot, two inches for the rest of my life.
"Hi!" the girl shouted, waving me over, "I'm Tiara."
"I'm Dominique, I live right there." I point across the street, but realized that she had probably seen me leave my house just minutes before. Feeling uncomfortable, I forced a smile.
I sat down on the step next to Tiara, and we began to talk. We found out that we shared the same birthday; we'd both just turned thirteen that past April. Neither of us had any siblings and we both loved rock music, namely Bon Jovi. We had a lot in common even though we were so different. Tiara was loud, outgoing and had already had and broken up with three boyfriends. She'd been the most popular girl at her old school, back in North Carolina, but wasn't scared to move out to Nevada that summer; she told me she loved change. So did her mother, apparently, who had been married three times since her divorce with Tiara's father. Tiara had had a very different childhood than me, which consisted of my boring parents, my twelve year old dog, Snoopy, and the same boring, old house. I was quiet, shy even, and had never had boyfriend. I wasn't extremely popular at my school, either; I was just that girl who hung around with everyone. I didn't have any really close friends, not until I met Tiara.
Tiara and I were inseparable that summer, which was the best summer of my life. Her mother, Joanne, was hardly ever around so the two of us spent most of our time alone, sun tanning and swimming in their backyard pool.
My mother was skeptical of Tiara, and her mother, but saw how happy I was with her. I never gave my mother a chance to say that I couldn't be friends with her, and if she had, I would've told her that she was the one who had told me to go and meet her in the first place. There was no way she could have argued with that.
When September rolled around and we began the eighth grade, Tiara was "the new kid" at our junior high school, but she wasn't new to me, she was my best friend. The two of us met new people, made new friends together, but Tiara and I had a special friendship and we both knew it. I came out of my shell a bit, that year, thanks to Tiara, and yet she calmed down a little as well, thanks to me. We just rubbed off on each other.
Three summers later, Tiara and I were closer than ever. In two months we'd be entering the eleventh grade, which, I felt, would be the perfect high school year. Grade nine and ten had been awkward, long and boring. Grade twelve would be our senior year when we'd be thinking about college and planning our futures. Grade eleven was in between; the perfect year. We'd celebrated our sixteenth birthdays that April, having a party at my house with my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. But Tiara didn't feel left out, she'd become almost part of our family. We had a second party that weekend, at Tiara's house, only after I told my mother that Joanne was going to be there, which she wasn't. Tiara had invited practically our whole school and lots of teenagers from other high schools, kids she didn't even know. I was surprised that my mother didn't come over and send everyone home, but I suppose she "trusted" me. That's what she'd said, anyways.
It was at that party where Tiara met Aiken Gorgeson, a seventeen year old, who she fell head over heels for. Aiken was a complete sweetheart, to her and to everyone around him. He had actually asked Joanne if it would be alright if he took Tiara out for dinner, a week after they'd met, and I swear Joanne almost died of shock. She, of course, told him that he could, and later told Tiara not to let him get away. That was the first time I wished I had a mother like Joanne.
You'd think that Tiara having a boyfriend would change our friendship, even just a little, but she didn't let it happen. Tiara, Aiken and I spend that summer together, growing up, maturing and just having fun. I wasn't jealous of Tiara's perfect relationship with Aiken, like most girls would have been, and were. I was happy for her, and I cried tears of happiness the night she told me that she loved him, two weeks before we went back to school to start the eleventh grade. Aiken would be starting his senior year, and had decided to transfer to our school for his last year, to be with Tiara.
I woke up that morning, torn. I was happy that we'd be back at school, back to a regular schedule, but I bit sad that the summer was over. That was our last summer as kids without responsibilities. I had a shower, got dressed and put on the small amount of make my mother allowed me to wear. She'd become much more strict over the past year, as she realized I was becoming a young woman. I wasn't allowed to wear much make up, my curfew was ten o'clock, even on weekends once school started, and worst of all, I wasn't allowed to date. Not until I was eighteen and mature enough to have an adult relationship with a person of the opposite sex, my mother repeated over and over, drilling it into my head. She didn't even like me hanging around Aiken, who was the sweetest guy in the world, and he was Tiara's boyfriend.
School started again and everything was back to normal. We had new teachers, new classes, which I only had three out of six with Tiara, and new classmates. But everything else was the same. Tiara and I ate lunch at the same spot we'd eaten lunch every day for the past two years, but now it including Aiken and often a friend or two of his. At the end of the day, the three of us got into Aiken's truck and he drove us home, sometimes taking a drive around the city first. Aiken loved to drive, and he loved Tiara.
When November began, we'd been back at school for two full months. The morning that changed everything started out like any other day. I went downstairs to eat breakfast with my parents. I'd always eaten breakfast with my parents, since before I can remember. My father was a dentist and his clinic didn't open until nine, meaning he didn't leave the house until eight-thirty, which was when I left the house for school. He drove me to school often, whenever my mother was in a bad mood and decided that I couldn't get a ride with Aiken and Tiara. On those days, I watched out the kitchen window, finishing up my breakfast, as Aiken's truck pulled up outside Tiara's house. She always waved and then the truck sped away down the street. I hated those days. My mother was a manager at a daycare downtown, called A.B.C. Daycare Centre, and her day didn't start until nine either. She left the house just after my father and I did, every day.
After breakfast, around quarter after eight, the telephone rang and I knew it was Tiara. My mother answered and handed it me to, giving me the same look she gave me almost every other day. I said hi to Tiara, ignoring my mother.
"Dom, you have to come with us today. Aiken and I are picking up his friend, Ben." Tiara's voice rang in my ear and I looked back at my mother.
"Hold on, T." I told her and covered the phone with my hand.
"You're going to school with your father today, honey." My mother said right away, without letting me even ask.
"But Mom, Tiara - " I began, but didn't even finished my sentence because of the look on my mother's face.
"Dominique." She said plainly and I looked over at my father who was reading the newspaper and didn't even look up.
My father liked to stay out of our arguments; he hated picking sides so he just kept quiet altogether, which made both me and my mother mad. I made a noise at him and then glared at my mother, who wasn't going to change her mind. I put the phone back to my ear and could hear Tiara talking to someone in the background, and I assumed it was Joanne.
"Tiara, I can't." I told her, not saying why because she already knew.
"Oh, that sucks, Dom. Sorry. I'll see you at school, okay?" Tiara questioned and I sadly agreed and then hung up the phone.
My mother seemed to enjoy making me mad, just for the fun of it. There was no reason that I couldn't get a ride to school with Aiken and Tiara, it was, like, six blocks away. She didn't trust me, even though she said she did. There was no way.
I practically threw my bowl into the sink and ran back up to my bedroom, so that I didn't have to watch as Tiara climbed into Aiken's big truck and the two drove away happily, without me. I lied on my bed for ten minutes until my father called; telling me it was time to leave. I pouted all the way to school.
As I got out of my dad's Honda, he smiled and told me to have a good day. I just nodded at him and slammed the door shut, and a moment later he sped away, leaving a cloud of smoke where'd he been. I turned and walked towards the school, dragging my feet like I always did, even three years later. As I entered the school along with a bunch of other teenagers, I spotted Tiara and Aiken down the long hall, and I sped up to meet them before they disappeared. I walked up behind Tiara and poked her back and she knew it was me, smiling as she spun around.
"Dom!" she shouted and hugged me.
"Hey guys, I can't believe how horrible my mother is." I told them and they both nodded.
"You didn't meet Ben." Aiken told me as if I knew who he was talking about.
"Who's Ben?" I wondered out loud, looking up at Aiken.
"A buddy of mine that I just know from, you know, well, I just know. He just transferred here from, well, I don't know what school. Anyways, he called me up last night and said he was coming to our school and asked if I could pick him up." Aiken explained, although it didn't make much sense.
"Where is he?" I asked.
"He had to go to guidance to get his schedule and everything." Tiara told me and I nodded.
Why would he be transferring to a different school in November? I felt a bit anxious about meeting this "Ben" character, but just a minute later the bell rang and the hallway was filled with scurrying teenagers trying not to be late for first period. Or make they were trying to be late, I don't know. I said goodbye to Aiken and then to Tiara, since we weren't in the same first period class; and then I left them, and headed upstairs to my Biology class.
Class began like usual; I sat at the back with a friend name Spencer O'Neil, who was one of those ditzy, blonde, popular girls. She and I had known each other since kindergarten, so we remained friends all through elementary school and junior high, as well as high school. She wasn't someone who I'd call on the phone to hang out with at the mall, but she was a friend. Spencer's boyfriend, Trey Brown, sat next to her and some other friends of his sat around him. Biology was boring, very uninteresting, and long. Our teacher, Mr. Tanner, was a young guy, maybe thirty at the most, and he was nice enough, but was not that good of a teacher. The whole class was just writing notes and listening to him ramble on and on. Within half an hour, I looked over and saw Trey and his friend Paul, both asleep with their heads on their desks. Spencer was painting her nails, and I was watching her, only half paying attention to Mr. Tanner.
At nine-thirty, just twenty minutes before the end of class, the door opened and our vice principal, Ms. Gallo, walked in and the clicking of her high heels woke up Trey and Paul. The whole class turned their attention to Ms. Gallo, who was motioning at someone in the hallway to come inside. A second later, a tall, slim guy, with shaggy blonde hair and sunglasses covering his eyes stepped into our classroom.
"Mr. Tanner, class, this is Benjamin Kushner, he just arrived at our school today and I want you to welcome him to your class. Benjamin, this is Mr. Tanner, our Biology teacher." Ms. Gallo informed us, and I suddenly couldn't take my eyes off of this guy.
Mr. Tanner shook his hand and offered him the seat by the window, practically all the way across the room from me. I watched as he walked over to the empty desk, dropped his bag on the floor and sat down, slouching and everything. Something about him intrigued me at that moment. He didn't look around the classroom, didn't check out his classmates. He just stared at the desk or at his hands on the desk, silent. Mr. Tanner and Ms. Gallo talked for a few more minutes, and then she left, leaving us alone with the new guy.
"Benjamin, welcome to Biology 103. Don't worry about anything right now, I'll get your caught up at the end of the class." Mr. Tanner told him and he nodded slightly, only looking up for a second and then back down at the desk again.
The rest of the class went by quickly, and when the bell rang and I didn't move. Spencer nudged me and then practically yelled,
"Earth to Dominique, girl, let's go."
I snapped back to reality, looking over at Spencer who gave me a weird look. I got up and followed her out of the classroom, looking back for a second at Ben, who still sat at his desk, waiting.
"Dom!" Tiara called to me, from the end of the hallway, waving her hands in the air as if I could miss her.
"Hey T, guess who I 'met'?" I asked her, and she shrugged, not figuring out what I meant.
"Who?" She questioned, with a silly look on her face.
The two of us began our walk down the long hallway and around the corner to our next class, math, which we had together, "Ben." I told her and she grinned over at me.
"You did? How?" she wanted to know right away.
"He's in my first period class." I said plainly, not adding that I thought he was gorgeous and I had an instant attraction to him.
"Really?" Tiara asked, and I nodded, "He seemed really cool this morning."
"He didn't say a word, he seems kind of quiet." I filled her in and she gave me a confused look.
"That's weird. He didn't stop talking the whole way here this morning."
"Weird." I said and then turned into our math classroom.
Tiara and I sat at the back; my desk was beside the window, hers next to mine on the other side. Callie Walter sat in front of me. Callie Walters was one of mine and Tiara's few enemies. We'd only just met her when we began high school, but she'd done everything she could since then to piss us off. She flirted with Aiken constantly, and even though Tiara trusted him, it still made her mad. Callie always had some rude remark about our hair or our clothes, or anything that she knew would upset us. Callie was a bitch. Math usually went by quickly as Tiara and I worked together and got our homework done in class. Our teacher liked us both, more so than he liked, say, Callie. No one liked Callie.
When the bell rang to end the class, Tiara and I hurried out of the classroom and made our way back downstairs to our lockers, which were next to each other. Aiken was not there like he usually was, but we didn't think anything of it. I grabbed my lunch and Tiara grabbed her money and we headed to the cafeteria. I refused to each cafeteria food, yet Tiara loved it. She'd buy pizza, subs, wraps, salads, a different thing everyday. After she'd paid for her lunch, the two of us headed out the back doors of the school and out across the field. We always ate lunch out by the student parking lot, under a big oak tree. Living in Louisiana, even in November we could eat lunch outside. As we neared our usual spot, we saw Aiken and his buddy, Marco, along with someone else. I crossed my fingers behind my back, hoping it was Ben. A moment later, Tiara sat down next to Aiken, giving him a kiss, and I sat beside Marco, who grinned. Marco was one of Aiken's closest friends, although guys were afraid to say that they had "best" friends. They were "buddies", according to them. I glanced over at the other person, recognizing it to be the same kid that slouched in the desk during first period. I didn't know if I should say anything to him, so I kept quiet.
"Dom, you're looking hot today," Marco whispered to me, and I giggled, "Want to go hang out, alone, with me?"
I burst out laughing, knowing that Marco was only joking. He was attracted to me, and I won't say that he wasn't good looking, but he knew that I wasn't allowed to date and he was terrified of my parents, even after only meeting them once. We were really good friends, anyway. Aiken, Tiara and Ben all looked over, wondering why I was laughing, and I looked up at Marco, shaking my head. He laughed and took a bite out of his sandwich.
"Ben, how are you classes so far?" Tiara spoke up, looking over at him, who looked up and didn't look over at me.
"Well, I have Biology and Physics, how do you think they're going?" Ben let out a laugh and Tiara laughed as well, nodding.
"Dom has biology first period. Are you in her class?" Tiara asked Ben, pretending I hadn't already told her about it.
He looked up again, glancing over at me for only a second. He looked back at Tiara and shrugged, "Sorry, I didn't really notice who was in the class."
Marco grunted and wrapped an arm around me, and I leaned against him. I shrugged at Tiara a second later and she just went back to eating her lunch. When the bell rang indicating that lunch was over, Aiken, Tiara and Marco packed up their stuff and stood up, but I was too busy staring at Ben. Marco cleared his throat, bringing me back to reality, and I stood up and gave him a quick hug. I guess Marco and I were kind of "together", but only at school. I didn't talk to him on the phone or see him out of school, hardly ever.
"Aiken and I have to get to third period a few minutes early today," Tiara told me, and I nodded, "see you in English, okay?"
"Yeah, see you in English." I repeated and watched her and Aiken walk away, back across the field to the school.
Marco smiled at me and motioned for me to go with him, as he picked up his binder off the ground. I thought for a moment before I replied,
"You go ahead; I'll see you in a few minutes."
Marco and I had third period together, which was physical - education, a class I didn't mind but didn't adore, either. It was just one of those classes I had to go to, but Marco and I skipped once in awhile and just hung out under the big oak tree. It was co-ed class, meaning guys and girls, and we spent entire classes just hitting a volley ball around or running around the gym. Marco enjoyed it, I could tell, and he loved spending time with me.
He gave me a weird look and then glanced at Ben, who didn't even look up, but knew what was going on. Marco stomped away a moment later, obvious peeved that I'd chosen to stay back with Ben. I watched him until he was out of sight, and then I looked back at this stranger sitting against the tree. His hair was falling into his eyes, which were still covered with sunglasses, and he wore a backwards baseball hat, with the Toronto Blue Jays logo on it. I smiled.
"So, are you from Canada?"
"What?" he looked up, shocked, shaking his head 'no', "Why would you say that?"
"Your hat," I answered plainly and he smiled, reaching up to take off his hat. He studied it for a moment, letting out a laugh,
"It's not even mine; I didn't even know what was on it." He told me and I smiled, shrugging.
"Oh, sorry,"
"Don't apologize. I'm Ben, you're..?" he asked me, and I wondered why Tiara and Aiken hadn't told him my name. Maybe they had.
"Dominique. Everyone calls me Dom. You didn't look too happy to be in class this morning." I changed the subject.
"Well, I just haven't been in school for awhile, it was a bit weird." He replied and I was confused.
"Why haven't you been in school? How old are you?" I asked and suddenly felt like I was being a bit pushy.
"I'm eighteen." He replied, ignoring my first question altogether.
"Cool. What do you have third period?" I asked, changing the subject again.
"Phys-Ed, it should be fun, I guess. I'm badly in need of exercise, so it should be good for me." He answered and my heart skipped a beat for a second.
"Really? That's my class, well, Marco and I. Want to walk back with me?" I asked him and he looked like he was going to stand up, but then he didn't.
Shaking his head, he replied, "I don't want Marco to think I'm trying to pick you up or anything. You go on; I'll be there in a bit."
I was going to argue and tell him that it didn't matter what Marco thought, but I just nodded and went ahead, walking back through the field alone. Marco wasn't my boyfriend; I wasn't allowed to have a boyfriend. Ben was intriguing, interesting, and secretive, and I wanted to get to know him better.
I met up with Marco in the gym. He'd already gotten changed into his t- shirt and shorts, and he was tying up his running shoes as I made my way over to him. He smiled and I smiled back and continued on my way to the girls' change room to change into my gym clothes. When I went back to the gym a few minutes later, Marco and Ben sat next to each other on the bench, and I watched them, wondering what they were talking about.