The loud bell ring woke her from the brain death known as Physics class. Who else would be lucky enough to be put in that class on the period just before lunch, right when hunger gets to be the main focus of your life? But, of course, it really wasn't a surprise to her that she got stuck with the worst possible schedule...in a class where the professor had a striking resemblance to a toad with black plastic glasses. I mean look at him! Who can concentrate on equations when you're just waiting for his tongue to dart out of his mouth and grab some unsuspecting object in the room, shoving it in his mouth while he chews boringly. She smiles at her own mental pictures and shakes her head. Slamming the notebook shut and shoving her pen along with everything else in her backpack, she eases out of her desk feeling overly conscious about her fat ass and making sure her uniform skirt didn't get stuck anywhere. God forbid someone got subjected to seeing her thighs or shorts underneath, being that anything over a size 4 was considered repulsive. What a joke, I mean what can of chances did that give her?? She was at least...she counted in her head and gave up before lunch was ruined, prompting her to become part of the bathroom lunch crowd ... "OMG i had a tic tac let me go hurl".
She pushes her way through the crowd, looking over everyone else...hey being tall had it's advantages. She spots Pini in the crowd, her short boyish hair dyed in black with blue streaks making her look like a cute little fairy...except her ears were more chimp looking, not that any of them would ever point that out to her out loud. The sun is beaming down in this tropical climate, right at noon...who the hell thought of dressing them in polyester plaid skirts and solid polyester vests over a polo and shorts underneath?? They were trying to so hard to give a public school the image of a private one...what a joke. Pini runs up to her and snakes her arms around her best friend. She giggles and screams "GOLDY!", and our girl just sighs and puts forth her biggest smile attempting to feel affectionate after being insulted. See, "goldy" in spanish means "chunker"...and here it is...4 yrs later, and that's all she's known for. She's "Goldy", chunker extraordinare, friend to all, jester, loan giver, willing scapegoat and ....ah, yes, hopeless romantic. Just like that, in the middle of her inner rant...she remembers that she's inadvertedly walking with her group of 'friends' towards the object of her infatuation. Because, this magnificent story wouldn't be complete, unless said Prince Charming wasn't a close member of this dysfunctional circle of hers...and Pini's current semi-boyfriend.
She looks down feeling the blush cover her face and ears, the familiar reaction every time she saw him. Of course this wasn't a secret to him, Pini or the rest of the group...this was just further fuel for the 'burn Goldy at every chance' fire. She walks by him as he puts his arm around Pini's shoulder, acting like she doesn't see him there in all his magnificent glory. She thinks to herself "head up, breathe, don't look him in the eyes...a few more steps until the lunchroom". At this point the hottest guy in existance has a name, Eduardo, and what a name. Eduardo, stands at 5' 11" (only 2 inches taller than her...not that she wants to remember how she found out...), has a tangled mess of black curls, strong mediterranean features set on a beautiful ivory skin tone...accentuated by his permanent sunburn over his nose and cheekbones, with a body chiseled by years of surfing and extreme sports. This, ladies...gentlemen...universe, is what she'd had to endure the past 4 years. Day in, day out, and some weekends at the mall or movie theater. In what realm of reality would she EVER be compatible with something like THAT. He knew it too, he knew that all he had to do was look her in the eye and use his soft voice, and his homework would be done. She was the reason Eduardo had passed middle school, and was now passing high school. She did his homework, projects and tutored him every night over the phone. Whenever she refused, whenever her heart couldn't take it anymore...he and Pini herself would pretend to have an argument, prompting Eduardo to make a few flirty moves towards her...making her eat out of the palm of his hand. This was her life.
Slowly the whole group moves into the cafeteria with the rest of the herd, single line inside that oven like building. She's leaning against the wall in this slow-moving caravan, pressing the side of her body against the cool cement. Trying to look anywhere except ahead where Pini and Eduardo are sucking face again, and of course Eduardo has his eye open and looking at Goldy's reaction. He slowly pulls out of his sorry excuse for a kiss (hey, she was jealous ok?), and asks "You ok Goldy? You look sad." Of course he says this with that impish grin he uses when he knows he's being extra snobby and cruel. The line keeps, moving up...she grabs her tray and numbly lets the creepy lunch lady slab stuff on there. Every move is calculated, making sure she can balance the bag, her tray and not look any more uncool than she already does. They all sit at the regular table, doing the normal 'who wants this' or 'give me your that' they do every day...by now they all knew each others eating habits. She digs in to her rice and as she's sliding the spoon into her mouth she looks up and Pini is, yet again, sucking face with Eduardo while sitting directly in front of her. "Oh yeah Eduardo, by the way, she's been with a guy now for a year now. Her REAL boyfriend, you know, the one she keeps telling you is just her cousin? Yeah he's her bf", Goldy thinks while chewing the now tasteless food. Ugh, her stomach didn't feel right as it usually did when it had to see all this PDA. Maybe she would tell him one day when he called on the phone for his tutoring...God, Pini would never talk to her again. Might be a good trade off, she wasn't much of a friend. She shoves another spoonful of mushy rice in, glancing around the cafeteria at all the familiar faces...smiling, relaxed, enjoying what was supposed to be a break from the mind numbing periods going on at that school. She swallows hard and takes a gulp of milk, gah, it was warm. She sighs and pushes her chair back, and has a mission now. She needs to get out of there and just be away from this torture. Everyone stares up in disbelief, as if to say 'fat girl isn't gonna finish lunch??? OH THE OUTRAGE!', she just says she'll be around school and walks away. She walks outside the cafeteria and a baggie of milk lands next to her shoe, exploding and drenching her sock and ivory converse high top sneaker in chocolate milk. She looks around and sees the a group of seniors laughing, of course, and pointing. She laughs harder than them like this is the best joke EVER, and walks off with her squishy milky brown shoe, around the back of the cafeteria...up the little hill and sits under the mango tree. She pulls out her notebook and starts writing her silly untitled love poems, when she hears the leaves behind her rustling with several footsteps. She closes her eyes and wonders if she'll ever have peace. The loud, hyena like laugh only belonging to Pini breaks the silence and then there's moaning and slurping noises. Why fight it, just embrace it, sit there and write she does.
So the day goes on, with extra joy, for all the remaining classes have Eduardo and Pini in them. Guaranteed front row to all the suck fest going on, how can she NOT be happy...blerh. Yet, she would rather see this, than spend a minute without seeing him. Without looking at the wild pattern the curls made on his head, or when he sat sideways on his chair so he could talk to both Pini and her. The way he'd pretend to stretch and lean back on his chair and end up laying on her desk top, while Pini scowled at her...like she could EVER land a guy like that or take him away from her. It was almost a blessing that the guy was a total airhead, and every day at some point he'd lose his pen. Who else could save the day but Goldy? He would make sure to kiss her cheek and she handed the pen over, her favorite one for her favorite guy. Alas, the bell has rung. Time to go home...and he goes to his....and Pini to hers, and to her BOYFRIEND. Eduardo's dad comes by first in his Ferrari, what else, and he acts like his dad just showed up in a donkey. He kisses Pini and looks over at Goldy, gives her a peck on the cheek, and with a swift godlike movement slides in the car and they're soon out of sigh. Pini puts her bookbag on the floor next to hers, they're always the last two to be picked up. They each pull a branch from the tree they're standing under. Their daily habit, clearing the leaves and beating each other senseless with the sticks and laughing like dorks. A honk in the distance, a new minivan, Pini's mom. She grabs her stuff quick and puts the angry face on...sigh she was always at war with her mom so better not let her know she was a happy kid ya know? She gives Goldy a big hug and says 'love you iggy pooh', and hops in the van without a second glance...she too gone. Slowly she leans against the chain link fence, feeling it squeal softly, the cool wire pressing against her bare legs and arms. She looks at her watch...3:45...wow, new record lateness. The town grows quiet, and it slowly starts to sprinkle...when there the old beat up wannabe green isuzu rodeo pulls up, dad looking at her apologetically. How can she be mad? It's just the way things are.
She sits on the bed looking at a picture she's kept since a field trip a few months ago, listening to the rain fall loudly on her tin roof, thankfully drowning her sniffles. Her parents never did understand why she was moping over that silly boy, specially since it was Pini's boyfriend! She was sick and tired of nobody knowing the truth..if only they knew. The phone goes off for half a ring and she's already on it out of breath. "Is Goldy there?", a deep quiet voice asks politely. "It's me, Ed" she almost squeals into the damned thing...earning a quiet giggle from him. "So, Ed, we gonna go over the English vocab ok?", she starts off when he interrupts and asks quickly, "Hey should it's Pini and I's 2 month anniversary, you think she'll like some Billabong shorts?". She bites her lower lip and adds quietly, "She's had a bf for over a year now, you know who he is, Angel? Her cousin? They've been pretty serious for a while. I'm sorry." She covers her face with her hands and hides her tears. All she hears is a quiet sniffle and some fast breathing she recognizes as a sob. She's made him cry, the person she loves the most, she made him cry...oh no. Then, a click. "Ed? He...Hello?" She whispers only to receive a dead tone in return.
She nervously puts the phone back down and looks out the window...this is going to be a long year.
She pushes her way through the crowd, looking over everyone else...hey being tall had it's advantages. She spots Pini in the crowd, her short boyish hair dyed in black with blue streaks making her look like a cute little fairy...except her ears were more chimp looking, not that any of them would ever point that out to her out loud. The sun is beaming down in this tropical climate, right at noon...who the hell thought of dressing them in polyester plaid skirts and solid polyester vests over a polo and shorts underneath?? They were trying to so hard to give a public school the image of a private one...what a joke. Pini runs up to her and snakes her arms around her best friend. She giggles and screams "GOLDY!", and our girl just sighs and puts forth her biggest smile attempting to feel affectionate after being insulted. See, "goldy" in spanish means "chunker"...and here it is...4 yrs later, and that's all she's known for. She's "Goldy", chunker extraordinare, friend to all, jester, loan giver, willing scapegoat and ....ah, yes, hopeless romantic. Just like that, in the middle of her inner rant...she remembers that she's inadvertedly walking with her group of 'friends' towards the object of her infatuation. Because, this magnificent story wouldn't be complete, unless said Prince Charming wasn't a close member of this dysfunctional circle of hers...and Pini's current semi-boyfriend.
She looks down feeling the blush cover her face and ears, the familiar reaction every time she saw him. Of course this wasn't a secret to him, Pini or the rest of the group...this was just further fuel for the 'burn Goldy at every chance' fire. She walks by him as he puts his arm around Pini's shoulder, acting like she doesn't see him there in all his magnificent glory. She thinks to herself "head up, breathe, don't look him in the eyes...a few more steps until the lunchroom". At this point the hottest guy in existance has a name, Eduardo, and what a name. Eduardo, stands at 5' 11" (only 2 inches taller than her...not that she wants to remember how she found out...), has a tangled mess of black curls, strong mediterranean features set on a beautiful ivory skin tone...accentuated by his permanent sunburn over his nose and cheekbones, with a body chiseled by years of surfing and extreme sports. This, ladies...gentlemen...universe, is what she'd had to endure the past 4 years. Day in, day out, and some weekends at the mall or movie theater. In what realm of reality would she EVER be compatible with something like THAT. He knew it too, he knew that all he had to do was look her in the eye and use his soft voice, and his homework would be done. She was the reason Eduardo had passed middle school, and was now passing high school. She did his homework, projects and tutored him every night over the phone. Whenever she refused, whenever her heart couldn't take it anymore...he and Pini herself would pretend to have an argument, prompting Eduardo to make a few flirty moves towards her...making her eat out of the palm of his hand. This was her life.
Slowly the whole group moves into the cafeteria with the rest of the herd, single line inside that oven like building. She's leaning against the wall in this slow-moving caravan, pressing the side of her body against the cool cement. Trying to look anywhere except ahead where Pini and Eduardo are sucking face again, and of course Eduardo has his eye open and looking at Goldy's reaction. He slowly pulls out of his sorry excuse for a kiss (hey, she was jealous ok?), and asks "You ok Goldy? You look sad." Of course he says this with that impish grin he uses when he knows he's being extra snobby and cruel. The line keeps, moving up...she grabs her tray and numbly lets the creepy lunch lady slab stuff on there. Every move is calculated, making sure she can balance the bag, her tray and not look any more uncool than she already does. They all sit at the regular table, doing the normal 'who wants this' or 'give me your that' they do every day...by now they all knew each others eating habits. She digs in to her rice and as she's sliding the spoon into her mouth she looks up and Pini is, yet again, sucking face with Eduardo while sitting directly in front of her. "Oh yeah Eduardo, by the way, she's been with a guy now for a year now. Her REAL boyfriend, you know, the one she keeps telling you is just her cousin? Yeah he's her bf", Goldy thinks while chewing the now tasteless food. Ugh, her stomach didn't feel right as it usually did when it had to see all this PDA. Maybe she would tell him one day when he called on the phone for his tutoring...God, Pini would never talk to her again. Might be a good trade off, she wasn't much of a friend. She shoves another spoonful of mushy rice in, glancing around the cafeteria at all the familiar faces...smiling, relaxed, enjoying what was supposed to be a break from the mind numbing periods going on at that school. She swallows hard and takes a gulp of milk, gah, it was warm. She sighs and pushes her chair back, and has a mission now. She needs to get out of there and just be away from this torture. Everyone stares up in disbelief, as if to say 'fat girl isn't gonna finish lunch??? OH THE OUTRAGE!', she just says she'll be around school and walks away. She walks outside the cafeteria and a baggie of milk lands next to her shoe, exploding and drenching her sock and ivory converse high top sneaker in chocolate milk. She looks around and sees the a group of seniors laughing, of course, and pointing. She laughs harder than them like this is the best joke EVER, and walks off with her squishy milky brown shoe, around the back of the cafeteria...up the little hill and sits under the mango tree. She pulls out her notebook and starts writing her silly untitled love poems, when she hears the leaves behind her rustling with several footsteps. She closes her eyes and wonders if she'll ever have peace. The loud, hyena like laugh only belonging to Pini breaks the silence and then there's moaning and slurping noises. Why fight it, just embrace it, sit there and write she does.
So the day goes on, with extra joy, for all the remaining classes have Eduardo and Pini in them. Guaranteed front row to all the suck fest going on, how can she NOT be happy...blerh. Yet, she would rather see this, than spend a minute without seeing him. Without looking at the wild pattern the curls made on his head, or when he sat sideways on his chair so he could talk to both Pini and her. The way he'd pretend to stretch and lean back on his chair and end up laying on her desk top, while Pini scowled at her...like she could EVER land a guy like that or take him away from her. It was almost a blessing that the guy was a total airhead, and every day at some point he'd lose his pen. Who else could save the day but Goldy? He would make sure to kiss her cheek and she handed the pen over, her favorite one for her favorite guy. Alas, the bell has rung. Time to go home...and he goes to his....and Pini to hers, and to her BOYFRIEND. Eduardo's dad comes by first in his Ferrari, what else, and he acts like his dad just showed up in a donkey. He kisses Pini and looks over at Goldy, gives her a peck on the cheek, and with a swift godlike movement slides in the car and they're soon out of sigh. Pini puts her bookbag on the floor next to hers, they're always the last two to be picked up. They each pull a branch from the tree they're standing under. Their daily habit, clearing the leaves and beating each other senseless with the sticks and laughing like dorks. A honk in the distance, a new minivan, Pini's mom. She grabs her stuff quick and puts the angry face on...sigh she was always at war with her mom so better not let her know she was a happy kid ya know? She gives Goldy a big hug and says 'love you iggy pooh', and hops in the van without a second glance...she too gone. Slowly she leans against the chain link fence, feeling it squeal softly, the cool wire pressing against her bare legs and arms. She looks at her watch...3:45...wow, new record lateness. The town grows quiet, and it slowly starts to sprinkle...when there the old beat up wannabe green isuzu rodeo pulls up, dad looking at her apologetically. How can she be mad? It's just the way things are.
She sits on the bed looking at a picture she's kept since a field trip a few months ago, listening to the rain fall loudly on her tin roof, thankfully drowning her sniffles. Her parents never did understand why she was moping over that silly boy, specially since it was Pini's boyfriend! She was sick and tired of nobody knowing the truth..if only they knew. The phone goes off for half a ring and she's already on it out of breath. "Is Goldy there?", a deep quiet voice asks politely. "It's me, Ed" she almost squeals into the damned thing...earning a quiet giggle from him. "So, Ed, we gonna go over the English vocab ok?", she starts off when he interrupts and asks quickly, "Hey should it's Pini and I's 2 month anniversary, you think she'll like some Billabong shorts?". She bites her lower lip and adds quietly, "She's had a bf for over a year now, you know who he is, Angel? Her cousin? They've been pretty serious for a while. I'm sorry." She covers her face with her hands and hides her tears. All she hears is a quiet sniffle and some fast breathing she recognizes as a sob. She's made him cry, the person she loves the most, she made him cry...oh no. Then, a click. "Ed? He...Hello?" She whispers only to receive a dead tone in return.
She nervously puts the phone back down and looks out the window...this is going to be a long year.
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