18"Miiiccchhheeellle," I not so femininely whined, "The mall is getting so boring. Can we go now, please? I want to go back home and talk to Matt." I huffed crossing my arms over my chest childishly.
Michelle looked over and rolled her eyes. "God Ivey, you're so boring. Live a little." It was funny she was saying that, considering we were at the mall. "Matt isn't the most amazing boy in the world you know. You should meet someone here." We were walking over to the pretzel stand, when Michelle stopped to a halt.
"Whoa," Michelle muttered, "I guess you don't need to be getting home to talk to Matt…" She rubbed the back of her neck. Huh? What was she talking about? I craned my neck over her 5'10 frame, and my eyes landed on what she was talking about.
"Isa-fucking-bella told me her grandmother died!" Michelle cried. "If she didn't want to come to the mall with us, she should have just said so!" She was right. Instead she lied to Michelle, to come to the mall with –gulp- Matt. Ew, does that mean he's been commenting me about the Yankees, while on his quote unquote 'date' with Bella? Whaddajerk.
"Michelle, he's been talking to me from his Blackberry." Michelle looked disgusted. I could tell she was also hurt, seeing how Bella told her that her grandmother died.
"Maaan! I even bought her a Hallmark card!" Michelle whined producing a card from one of her many bags. "See? 'Sorry you grandma died'! I wasted six bucks on this thing!" Realization dawned on her face.
"What. A. Bitch," she mumbled, "We had this discussion about Matt the other night! When you first told us you liked him, remember? So she no doubtabley knew that you liked him. You told her yourself. This. Means. War." She whipped out her cell phone warped speed.
"Wait, I just remembered- I even showed her his Myspace! I don't think they were friends before I introduced them!" I made a disapproving noise.
I glanced over at my former other best friend. How could she seriously do something like this to me? We've been best friends since grade 7, when Clayton Jacobs snapped my back with my bra, and Bella punched him the face. It was like I didn't even know her anymore. I looked longingly at Matt. Well there goes my infatuation with him. I'm not sending him anymore comments, that's fer sher!
My thoughts were interrupted by Michelle's voice.
"Bella, how're you? Since… you know…" Michelle said looking heartbroken.
We looked over at Isabella, her whole demeanor changing. She flashed Matt a pearly white grin, and signaled with her hands she'd be right back.
"Mischa, it's been horrible. I miss her so much. We were sooo close." We watched as Bella produced a handkerchief and patted her eyes and blew her nose. Michelle rolled her eyes at me.
"Again Bell, I'm so sorry. I know it's probably been so hard for you dealing with all this crap. Hey, why is it so like, talkative? Where are you?" I could tell Michelle was trying to snap the rat in the trap.
Bella look apprehensive. "Umm, I'm in, uh… Buckhead," Me and Michelle tried not to laugh at Bella's obviously bad lying skills. "Yup, I'm in Buckhead at my cousin's mansion. We're having a pre-funeral get together for her."
Matt stood up and walked over to her, "Babe, you're grandmother died?" Her eyes bugged out as he said that into the phone. Michelle smiled evilly.
"Bell, who was that?" She asked innocently.
"Um… uh, no one. No, well it was my cousin. Cousin, uh… Henry. Here, talk to cousin Henry Mischa." She thrusted the phone towards Matt, "Pretend to be cousin Henry." He shot her a 'WTF' look, and accepted the phone.
"Uh… howdy," he said dumbly. "How're all y'all doin'?" Michelle laughed at him.
"Wooow, you sound exactly like this boy I know. Matt Jenkins? Maybe you've heard of him. Bella talks about him alllll the time."
"Really?" He asked, his eyes lighting up.
This was it, I knew what was coming next. "Yup, she says things like, 'Oh, Matt is so annoying. I wish he would just leave me alone', and 'Man, Matt is so disgustingly ugly, how could I ever date him' and things like that. She really doesn't like that boy."
Matt looked as if he was slapped in his face. He practically threw the phone at Bella's head, and grabbed his baseball cap and strode out of there.
"Fuck you, Bella." He grumbled. She looked dumbstruck. "WHAT DID YOU SAY TO HIM?" She bellowed angrily at Michelle. "MISCHA, TELL ME RIGHT NOW."
"Hey, all I said was you didn't like Matt Jenkins. Because you don't, right? Because Ivey likes him." Michelle looked at me and grinned. I knew she was having too much fun with this.
"Y-Yeah, that's right. I don't like him. He's Ivey's, strictly off limits." She said sadly sitting on the bench.
"That's right Isabella. Only you're wrong. He was Ivey's, until we just saw him here at the mall with some slut under his arm." Bella looked like she was going to cry.
"Aw, and poor bitch is about to cry too," Michelle said to her.
"I know you know I'm here Mischa, I'm not that dumb. But I'm sorry. I really liked Matt, and I knew I had to do it behind you and Ivey's back."
I looked at Michelle. "Michelle, maybe we should just let her go." She nodded.
"Yeah, whatever Bella… goodbye," She said hanging up the phone.
I don't know why, but I feel a bit of guilt running through me. Yeah, Bella was a bitch, and tried to steal Matt away from me, but on the other hand, I never had Matt. He wasn't mine and Bella probably really, really like him.
"C'mon I, let's go get something from Olive Garden." Michelle said gesturing toward the sit in restaurant in the mall. I nodded slowly. I just couldn't shake the guilt. We had made our best friend cry. Not something to be proud of.
We waited 15 minutes for a seat, and another 5 minutes for the waitress to come.
"Sorry guys, we're kind of busy, thank you for waiting," said the women. She was quite short, with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. "I'm Kerry, and I'll be your waitress. Hey, y'all look familiar," She said cocking her head slightly.
I shrugged. We probably did. Michelle, Isabella and I were all over last year's year book. We were in just about every club in the school. Well except the Asian club, they wouldn't let us in that one.
"What school did y'all say you went to?" Kerry asked in her Georgia accent. That's what I get from moving from the north to Georgia… everyone says 'y'all'.
"Uh, we didn't," I said, "But we go to Westview." I was kind of surprised at myself for actually having a some-what conversation with someone, other than on the computer.
"Hmmm… what grade?" She asked. What was this 20 questions?
"God, we're going to be juniors, okay lady?" Michelle spat, getting annoyed.
"Michelle! Stop it, but she's right. We're going into grade 11." I said trying to cover for my best friend's rudeness. I hated when she was mean to people she didn't even know.
"Well… my son goes there. Same grade too. Maybe you know him?"
"Well that depends," I said, "What's his name?"
"Derek Silverton. You know him?" She asked. The name didn't ring a bell. "Hey! I have a picture." She said pulling out her little notebook and showing me a picture. There I was, looking at the most gorgeous boy I had ever seen in my whole life. He did look familiar; I've probably seen him around somewhere. I think he's one of Matt's friends.
"Yeah, he does look familiar. Hey wait, is Brooke Messerschmitt your niece?" I asked enthusiastically. This was fun convorsationing.
"Yes! She is. Small world, huh? Now, what would you ladies like to drink?" She asked going back to waitress mode. Michelle and I ordered our soda's, and eventually our dinner. I was too busy concentrating on Derek, and how perfect he looked in that picture. From the light brown hair, and amazing blue eyes just like his mother, I would probably die if I ever saw him up close. This should be my goal for the year. Have a whole conversation with Derek Silverton, and not be jittery.
Hey, maybe I could break the ice over, say, myspace? (Insert goofy grin here)
Author's Note: Well I don't know where this story will go without readers. It sure got a big number of hits, but no reviews :-/ If no one responds, I guess I'll just have to cancel it if no one's gonna read…
-ashlee