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Chapter 2

LAURA - Tuesday, September 6

Well, this new chick is not a big deal. We arrived home together by accident actually to my home. I was driving and she was walking in through the gates. First I didn't know who it was so I simply just drove by. But when I looked into the rearview mirror I realized that it was the daughter of the cook and she was going towards the garden house: jeans and T-shirt ballerina with no make-up. Just a little gray mouse. All right all right her hair is brown and wavy and her boobs are quite big but that's it. But on the contrary Tun looked fantastic today. He was walking with his friends just in front of us in the school courtyard so I had a chance to stare at him from head to toes without him noticing that I was staring. I'm still convinced that he's a half God. Or a fool. Black leather converse shoes, light torn jeans, black-and-white striped T-shirts with rolled up sleeves. Nothing extra, but still. Oh my God, I wish I had such a good looking boyfriend with six pack abs.

How do I know that he has six pack abs? I saw him run around the football field one day, and when he was stretching in the end he took off his T-shirt. That was a day worth living for.

Well unlike today I had only 30 seconds to stare at him. I had a little fight with Lynn. It was total nonsense, but still she was so weird. She was wearing a T-shirt and a cardigan all day long.

’Aren't you hot? It is 90°,’ I asked her about 100 times.

’No, I'm cool,’ she kept saying.

Well it may be OK inside as the AC is on and it's only 70° but when I'm sweating like a pig out in the schoolyard even in singlets, I jokingly called the front of the card again as I was about to take it off of her. I saw that she was also hot and her face was all red.

Take this thing off, you can fry in the sun.

Leave me alone. Get lost. She yelled at me. I can decide what to wear, OK? And she dashed into the building.

Luckily everybody had to go to class so nobody saw us yell at each other. Otherwise it would've been absolutely embarrassing. Why did she yell at me? Especially in front of all those people? Sure I fell into a very bad mood afterwards, we didn't even speak to each other after that. At the end of the day she came to me and apologized. She says her period was coming, which makes her more upset than usual. Well, I don't know. She shouldn't have got so angry with me. It has never happened before, so I'm absolutely pissed. But at least I have no appetite to eat anything.

ARLENE - Tuesday, September 6

Finished with the first week. It's not a better place after all. It must be the sunshine and the welfare around me but my mood is just getting better. It's still doesn't mean that I think that I belong here. I never will. You know just the mere fact that I don't see miserable people around me and beggars and poverty, my mood is much much better. But this is an isolated world. I bet that if I go to the other part of town, I will definitely find something else there. And also I have my dear, happy and always smiling mom with me too. If somebody else had gone through what she had, or us, there would be no smile on that person's face forever. She's a real angel. She's busy preparing food according to everybody's wishes (as I learnt Laura, the daughter of the host, is on a diet, wow, how trendy). If she has to she makes five different kinds of breakfast-lunch-dinner. She cleans the kitchen, drives to go shopping every day with an old and used Toyota to have fresh ingredients to put on the table. All day long she fulfills the desires of strangers, still she never says a bad word. Oh, how I would love to be as balanced as she is! She tells me that I need to find it inside myself independent of outside circumstances. I hope that one day all the positive genes I inherited from her will suddenly appear in me, and one day I will look at the world as happily and satisfied as she does.

I made a friend today. Her name is Linda. She is an average type of girl just like me, but seemingly much funnier. We agreed that we are both oddballs as we like reading and studying too. This is how we met: during lunchtime, out in the schoolyard in the fresh air, escaping from the air-conditioned building. Instead of elbowing got our way through the busy cafeteria, we settled down on a bench in the shade with our books. There weren't many people out there, to be exact, only the two of us. Then suddenly she came up to me.

Hello, your new in the school aren't you? My name is Linda Laster.

Hi, my name is Arlene Mendez. And yes I have just moved here with my mom.' I answered and hoped she wouldn't ask more questions, but in vain.

Really? And where did you live before?

Shhh, what should I answer now???

We used to live in another town down south. - oh, you idiots! What kind of an answer is that? She will probably keep on asking more. Or will think that I am absolutely lame.

But luckily it happened differently. She was a bit upset, but tactfully pretended that what I had said was normal. And this was the point when I realized that despite what I had thought before, there might as well be a person here worth talking to.

I see. Then welcome here to our school! She smiled. As I see you like reading just like me. She pointed to the pile of books beside me.

Yes and contrary to all the general thinking, I have no problem studying either, I shrug my shoulder. But I can't stand the crowds that's why I'm not in the cafeteria.

I usually eat towards the end of lunchtime. There are fewer people then, but less food too by the time I get there. It's time to go. Will you join me or will you satisfy your stomach with the sentences in the book?

Oh no, I'm as hungry as a wolf. Then I got off the bench and we left for the cafeteria together to look at the remaining choices.

We chatted throughout the whole meal and also rode the same school bus home. She goes by bus or sometimes her boyfriend drives her. She just got off a couple of stops before I did. She has a driver’s license, but she is a bit afraid to drive. I was just so happy to meet an ordinary person. (Well, mom has told me that I'm not alone.) The fact that Laura was just coming through the gates with her shiny car when I was walking in could not make my mood bad. It was quite humiliating how she looked through me, but I decided that I wouldn't care. I won't let her ruin my mood. It is just so good to be happy. I really envy my mom. So this is how she feels all the time. Maybe I should listen to her more often.

ARLENE - Friday, September 9

I was hanging out with Linda whenever I could. We have a bunch of classes together but she also tried to convince me to take up Drama too. I said no. It actually sounds fun but I just wouldn't like to compete with the future stars of Hollywood for the roles. I would rather stick to math. I'm good at it and I will need it for my SAT as well. There are a couple of things Linda and I have in common. We both hate hypocrites and we both try to be more realistic. Also we have no problem buying shoes, bags, jeans or anything else below 200 bucks. I never thought that I would write this down, but I may have found a new friend. Linda has a boyfriend, Myron, and she talks about him a lot. She says that since they have been together, she hasn't had a girlfriend, because they all just want to use her to get to know Myron's friends. I told her that's not the case with me. She showed me some pictures of them on her cell phone. He looks pretty. I think I've seen him before in the schoolyard with his friends. They looked like the cool guys of the school who every single girl wants to date. Linda says that they are really nice and don't really like empty headed chicks. They usually hang out together and do the school radio too. But now they have all kinds of sports meetings with their coaches, so Linda is left alone during the breaks, and this is the reason why the school radio starts later too. I tried to pretend that I understand her boyfriend stories. Besides that lame fling that I had with Raul last year, I have no experience. I just happen to have some more serious problems than that, but now I feel a bit awkward. I am 16 already. Linda is almost a year older than me, but I gathered from what she told me that she has ALL kinds of experience in this field...

Of course we talked about other things too. I learned that she has twin brothers who can be really naughty at times. Sometimes they give her a hard time, but she still loves them. Her mom is at home with the boys and her dad is a lawyer just like our host. So what else could I do except tell her what we are doing at the Brooks'. I was really curious about her response because I am just simply not willing to feel ashamed because my mom is a cook and that we live in a garden house. But Linda passed the exam as her face did not show anything negative.

Does that mean that you just have to tell your mom that you want to eat something really good and it's there? My mom is just so busy with the twins that we usually just order a pizza. She laughed and we never talked about this topic later. She is so cool!

LAURA - Monday, September 12

Today everything at school was about the 9/11 attacks. Strange since all the kids at school were little children at the time, we still saw lots of pictures and videos so it was like we had lived through it all.

There was another reason why this day was a disaster for me too. Ashley and her friends humiliated me right in front of Tun!!!! It was so embarrassing, I can't even believe it. And it was because of those frickin' Prada shoes. A couple of months ago Ashley wanted to buy them, but by the time she made up her mind, I bought the last pair just when she arrived at the shop. And since we have the same shoe size it was obviously me who stole Adrienn’s shoes. I didn't do it on purpose, but she doesn't like me since then. She barely says hi to me and she usually talks behind my back with her friends. Mom says that I should have my head held high when I walked by as if I didn't see them, And this is what I've been doing so far. But today we arrived at the cafeteria together. Ashley and the chicks we already seated, Tun and his friends were behind me in the line. I almost had cramps in my butt as I was trying to make it look more round in case he looks at me. Lynn was saving my seat for me at the usual table, from which everything can be seen. I had to pass Ashley's table as ours is way in the back. One of her friends, Jess was just standing up as I was walking by. She knocked the tray out of my hands with her shoulder, so my complete lunch landed on the floor. She pretended that she didn't do it on purpose as I was coming from behind her back, but Ashley could not help making a remark.

‘Watch out with those high heels! You can stumble easily,’ she said scornfully while I was trying to clean up the mess with a red face.