Finding Friends

A/N: Beta'd by Aestril!

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I had two hours before my next class would start. I could go to lunch at anytime, but I was waiting for Krissy, who had her lunch scheduled at the end of the period. I wasn't sure what to do or where to go. All I wanted to do was curl up and cry for hours. Well, I wouldn't let myself do that just now. Everyone looked at me strangely enough already just for being new! I didn't want to ruin my reputation right from the start! So far, I only had one friend...the one I had met over the summer! Yet, I had already managed to make three enemies. Karina and Zacharias were definitely enemies. And Daniel . . . Daniel . . . He'd probably never speak to me again.

Why did I have to blow up like that? I wondered. I had always let people rile me up, and it never took much to reach my boiling point. Subtlety was not my specialty! I was just so annoyed with Daniel for teasing me and flirting with me and never telling me what he meant by it! And to think that just as we were so close...so close to finally understanding each other...he was all over another girl, right in front of me! Anyone would have been mad!

I walked out into the courtyard and sat down on a bench. It was mostly empty, except for a few guys kicking a hackeysack around on the opposite end. I buried my face in my hands as I realized how overwhelming everything had suddenly become. New town, new house, new job, new crush, new friends, new school, new teachers, new classes, new heartbreaks . . . I needed to distract myself from these thoughts. I had no one to hang out with and no homework to do yet. I pulled out the script from Theater class and tried to continue memorizing my part, but it only served to remind me of Daniel and Karina kissing in the auditorium . . . Not for the first time today, I had to blink back tears.

"Hello," someone said.

I looked up and saw one of the hackeysack players standing before me. He reached down and picked up the wayward hackeysack and stood tossing it lightly and catching it in his hand.

"Hi," I said.

"Are you new here? I haven't seen you around before," he asked.

"Yes, I moved here from Washington this summer. My name's Janey. What's yours?"

"Oh, nice to meet you, Janey. My name is Timothy. You look a little bored."

"Oh, just a little." I smiled.

"Would you like me to give you the official tour of the school grounds? It comes complete with commentary on everything there is to know around here . . . teachers, students, social activities, and, of course, all the latest gossip! So, how about it?" He smiled and dramatically offered his hand for me to take.

I laughed and took hold of his proffered hand, and he pulled me up. "Sounds fun," I said.

"Hey, guys, I'll catch you later!" Timothy called to his friends as he kicked the hackeysack back over to them. They nodded and continued their game.

Timothy and I walked along the path around the fenced in playing fields. Timothy told me he played football and was planning to attend the local university after graduation to study engineering. I told him I wanted to be involved in the Theater programs this year and that I didn't know where I wanted to go to school, but that I wanted to be an English major and have a writing career. Timothy started to ask about what teachers I had this year and laughed when I mentioned Mr. Siens, my calculus teacher, who Timothy described as being really kooky in an entertaining kind of way. We had circled around the fields and were headed down the path back toward the courtyard. Timothy then started to tell me about all the different student cliques and how they thrived off gossiping about each other.

"Sounds typical. My old school was just the same," I remarked.

"Yes, well, this year, the only juicy news is that Carrie Anne came back from the summer having lost about 30 pounds. I've never seen her with another guy, but she was kissing one this morning."

"Wow! Well, good for her!" I said.

"Yeah, well, that's the best I've got for you for now," Timothy said as he shrugged and grinned at me.

"I've got gossip juicier than that," I sighed.

"Do you? I guess I'm slacking!"

"Yeah, Daniel Pajerty is going out with a girl named Karina." I managed to say this only slightly bitterly.

"Really? Well, if so, that will certainly make waves. Daniel and Karina. I should have seen that coming I guess, but honestly, I thought Daniel had more taste."

I laughed. "What's wrong with Karina? I mean, I don't like her, but I'm wondering why you don't."

"Probably for the same reasons as you. She's very full of herself, and her personality is like an olive dipped in frosting."

"Oh my! That's very funny. Heh! I wonder how many licks it will take for Daniel to get through all the frosting?"

Timothy smiled and said, "For his sake, hopefully not too many. And all this talk about frosting is making me hungry. I think it's time I head into lunch."

I looked down at my watch and realized that Krissy was due for her lunch break very soon. "OK, I'll come with you," I said.

When we reached the lunchroom, Timothy pointed to a table with several people and said, "Why don't you come sit with my friends? I'll introduce you to them."

"That sounds great, but I told my friend I'd meet her for lunch." I then spotted Krissy coming in. "Oh, there she is now."

"Krissy? Well, that's perfect. She's one of our friends too, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind sitting with us. It's been awhile since we've chatted."

"Hey, Janey!" Krissy called. Catching up, she saw Timothy and said hello to him too.

"Hey, Krissy! Did you have a good summer?" Timothy asked her.

"I sure did . . . Saw lots of movies!" She winked at me, and we both laughed.

"I just met your friend Janey here," Timothy said to Krissy. "Do you two ladies want to join us at our table over there?"

"Sure," we both said.

We went and got our lunches and sat down. Besides Timothy, Krissy, and myself, we sat with a guy named Jason, a junior named Anna, a girl I recognized from my Speech class named Bethany, and Chris...one of my group members in Theater.

Everyone seemed very nice, and they were interested in learning about me and where I moved from. It made me think of home, though, and of all my old friends, whom I missed like crazy. My best friend, Jen, would have been nice to have around right now. She would have made sure I got through this Daniel business with my head still on straight. Yet, Krissy was great too, I had to admit. It was harder to have to get to know new people, but it was also very exciting to meet them and to build relationships. At least none of my new friends would know that Wally Smith de-pants me in front of everyone my freshman year! I laughed out loud, ate my lunch, and joined happily in the group's chatting. When the bell rang and I had to go to English, I realized I'd spent nearly a whole half hour without feeling stressed or thinking about Daniel.

The next three days of my first week at school went by in a strange fashion. On Wednesday, I didn't have any classes with Daniel, but I had to put up with Karina smirking at me all through our Humanities class. Daniel and I hadn't spoken at all. I had worked constructively to avoid him. However, after Humanities was over, I walked out of the room to see Karina rush past me and into Daniel's waiting arms. As she leaned in for a kiss, I rushed past them and hurried down the hallway, so I didn't have to see.

In Thursday's History class, the next time we were very near each other after the incident two days before, I avoided looking at him. At one point, I could feel his penetrating eyes on me. I stared at the blot of ink my pen had just made. I felt that I had spoken the truth after all, and if he was hurt over what I said, it was nothing to how hurt I had felt. Without looking up I knew he was watching me still. I couldn't stand the tension, but then he looked away again, and I realized I had been holding my breath.

The next period, Theater, had been very awkward as well. We were to be performing our scenes and receiving critical feedback on how to improve our characters and presentation. In the next classes we would continue practicing our scenes until we could very naturally portray our characters. I was very excited about the work. If Ms. Purtkis thought highly of my acting ability, I would be more likely to land a leading role in the spring play. Chris played the character of Algernon, I played the role of Gwendolen, and the other two in our group, Jeff and Sarah, played Jack and Cecily. In the short scene we were performing from Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest," two women are upset with each other because both believe themselves to be engaged to a man named Ernest. When the two men arrive in the scene, it is made clear that they have both been pretending to be the fabricated character of Ernest. We stood center stage with our classmates gathered round. We were holding our scripts in case we forgot our words. I noticed Karina leaning on Daniel's shoulder, her hands clutched around his upper arm. I used the angry emotion I suddenly felt and channeled it into my character's shock that this other girl was laying claim to the man she loves.

Sarah delivered Cecily's line, "I feel bound to point out that since Ernest proposed to you he clearly has changed his mind."

With a supercilious tone covered by pseudo politeness, I gave Gwendolen's response, "If the poor fellow has been entrapped into any foolish promise I shall consider it my duty to rescue him at once . . ."

Before my line was finished, Ms. Purtkis called out, "Wait!" She then turned toward where Karina was standing with Daniel. "Karina Johnson, I will not tolerate you kissing anyone in my class. Kindly pay attention to your classmates' scene, or you may miss something important. And, Daniel, I will be forced to break up your group if you two distract each other from the work." She turned back to us and said, "OK, you guys are doing great! Please resume."

We finished our scene, and our classmates clapped and offered their suggestions. When it was time for Daniel, Zacharias, and Karina to perform their scene, I didn't think I could bear to watch them. I asked to go to the bathroom and did not return until I was sure they had finished.

Each day I had lunch with Krissy, Timothy, Jason, Chris, Anna, and Bethany. And on the "B" days where I had no class during part of the lunch period, I usually spent them hanging out with Timothy outside, occasionally playing hackeysack with his friends, Dirk and Scott.

Friday at school passed without any incidents except one. In Humanities, Karina and Marissa would not stop talking about Daniel. Karina would make very soppy comments about him. "He's such a good kisser, too!" she had exclaimed while briefly glancing in my direction to make sure she had made impact. My insides churned, but I was able to keep that a secret. I acted as if I didn't hear nor care. If I let her get a rise out of me, she would only keep up the game. This class I had with Karina was worse than the ones I had with Daniel. There was no reason I had to interact with him in those classes. I had found that sitting through all that tension I felt when Daniel was so close and having to distract myself from it was easier to deal with than Karina taunting me.

Still, facing classes with either of them was nothing compared to how much I dreaded going to work that night. Daniel and I would be working together the entire shift. We were both scheduled as Ushers and would have to work together to maintain the floors and auditoriums. I became so sick with dread by the end of the day that I nearly would have felt justified in calling into work sick! However, my work ethic was strong and so was my desire to add money to my savings, so I went to work. If I had known how events would turn out, I would have gone ahead and called in . . .

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A/N: The quoted lines from Janey's scene in Theater class comes from the play "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde. I copied them from a book entitled "The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde."