Sophmoronic: Chapter Four

Cyrus sat next to Tiffany in World History AP. She smiled at him, fixing her hair over her shoulder. Her green eyes seemed to light up when she met his gaze. Or maybe that was just his imagination.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Not much. Just chillin’.” Smooth Cyrus, very smooth. He tried not to roll his eyes. Why couldn’t he just talk to her like she was a normal girl? Why couldn’t he talk to her like he talked to Luci?

Don’t think about Luci, he scolded himself.

“Cool.” She looked down at his key ring, where a box braid of nylon string was. “That’s pretty cool.”

“Huh?” Cyrus looked down at the purple-green string. Luci had made it for him as a going-away present. Purple for him, his birthstone, and green for her. “Oh yeah, my friend made that for me.”

“Bit arts and crafty for a guy, isn’t it?”

She was fishing; he knew she was fishing. “It was a girl. She has a bit of a crush on me, and this was her going away present to me.”

“That’s cute. What’s her name?”

Moment of truth. “Lucita.”

“That’s a nice name.” She didn’t even flinch. So it wasn’t her. He let go of the weight on his shoulders. For a moment, he thought Luci was right to be paranoid and that maybe this girl he was crushing on was the girl who also had it in for Luci.

“Hey Tiff.”

“Yeah?”

“Would you like to grab a bite to eat with me at the café?”

“I’d love to.” Her smile widened, and Cyrus smiled back. He wanted to be happy, but when the teacher called their attention, no longer distracted by Tiff, his thoughts fluttered back to Luci. An uneasy feeling filled his stomach.

***

Tiffany sat in class, unable to believe her luck. Here she was, thinking private school would be so dull, and there, taking a fancy to her, was none other than Lucita’s precious Cyrus. The guy she was hopelessly in love with.

Oh, what sweet revenge, thought Tiffany as she scribbled down her notes. Tiffany was going to take away everything Lucita cared about. Well, just the main thing she cared about. She was going to make Cyrus hers; there was nothing Lucita could do about it.

***

Cyrus walked Tiffany to her next class. Luckily, it was in the same building as his next class, so he didn’t have to get out of his way. Walking with her like ehty were in some huigh school drama was nice. Cyrus hated to think it, but he hoped he had left all the drama behind with Lucita. As much as he cared about her, there was no denying that she was the epicenter of drama. It seemed to follow her everywhere she went, wrapping her up.

And after everything that happened last year, not to mention all of middle school, he wanted to keep it all in the past. He felt bad for her and wished he would be there for her, but a large part of him was glad to be away.

“So, Cyrus, what was your last school like?” She held her bag over her shoulder tightly. Her nails were painted a bright yellow. Lucita never wore bright colors. In fact, she ran far away from them and avoided them like the plague. It didn’t work for her. Pastels, yes, brights, no. But Tiffany seemed as though she was the complete opposite. Happy, light…stable. Oh, that was a bad thought, he told himself, wincing. He wasn’t one to talk.

“It was boring. I was in the school band.”

“Cool, are you gonna join the one here?”

“Yeah. So, what about you? What was your last school like.”

“Dangerous. People were awful. The place was toxic. I had to get out.”

“What happened?”

“Oh, you know. Rumors here and there. Just stupid drama. This one girl brought a knife to school and threatened to stab me! I was tutoring her boyfriend when he broke up with her.”

“Shit.” Cyrus took the thought about the drama back. At least nothing like that had happened to Luci.

“Yeah, but I’m just happy to be out of there.”

“Cool, yeah. I mean, that doesn’t sound like a cool place to have been.”

“It wasn’t.” It was subtle, but Cyrus noticed it. He noticed how her mouth tightened and heard the bitterness in her voice.

“I’m sorry.”

She looked at him, shocked, eyes wide. “For what?”

“Making you talk about it.”

“Don’t be; I wanted to talk about it. I hadn’t realized how much I had been holding it in. It was nice to talk about it.” Tiffany smiled up at him. It was warm and sweet. He was so distracted that he barely registered her hand slip into his. She took a step closer to him. Was she wearing perfume? What was that? Jasmine?

“See you later, Cyrus.” Her lips touched the side of his face, halfway between the ear and the corner of his mouth. The perfect little kiss. As she walked away, he hoped he didn’t look too red.

***

“And you’re saying he believed that bullshit?” Said Caroline, Tiffany’s equally shallow roommate.

“Yup.” Tiffany rummaged through her closet for something school-appropriate to wear. She hated this place. Almost everything was forbidden except the uniform. The stupid blue and white uniform, knee-high socks, and plain black shoes. It was god awful. Thinking about it made her hate her idiot friends back at South Broward.

“So what are you going to do. Do you even like him?” Tiffany looked at Caroline, lying lazily on her bed, sucking a lollipop. It was starting to turn her lips blue.

“He’s good-looking enough, but I wouldn’t say I like him. I just want to piss off that bitch from back home.”

“You know this place, it’sn’t that ad. My boyfriend is well-connected, and we always sneak off campus. He’s also the school’s biggest pot dealer. His brother grows the shit back home. With that, you can’t go wrong.”

“Except I bet you could. No thanks, I can’t risk getting kicked out. Who knows what my parents will do to me then.” Tiffany didn’t even want to think about it. All she wanted to do was think about Cyrus and Lucita and how she could break her heart from here.

For all her parents knew, she had been good. Her grades had been good. Nothing was wrong. Just that stupid fight, that one stupid fight, had been enough for them. Oh, and stealing one of her father’s cell phones.

All that had been enough for them to pack her up and ship her off to her aunts in the summer, then to boarding school. And it was all because of Blake. Blake and Jason had set her up and made a fool out of her. And for what, for a stupid girl named Lucita.

“You really hate those people, don’t you?”

“You have no idea. Now, how does this look?” Pulling out a yellow spring dress, she held it up in front of her alongside her school’s blazer that she was required to wear.

“Acceptable. Not slutty in the least.”

“I’m never slutty.”

“Sure, girly,” she said, sucking on her lollipop. “Sure.” Tiffany glared at her older roommate and slipped into her outfit, complete with white flats. She needed to go home. She had to prove she was okay. That she was good.

But, more importantly, she had to tear Lucita’s heart out.

On her way to the courtyard, someone began to walk alongside her.

“Where are you going, Tiffany.”

Who was this guy? “I’m going on a date.”

“With me?”

“As if loser.”

“Oh, come on, that’s not cool.” Tiffany stopped walking and looked at him. He looked familiar, with his leather jacket over his school uniform. He was attractive, but such a bad boy cliche.

“Who are you again?”

“Wow, am I that forgettable? I’m Ryan. We have PE together.”

“Right.” Tiffany looked at him again. He wasn’t unattractive. In fact, he was very attractive, even if his black hair was obviously dyed. But the leather jacket is obviously such a cliche in this weather.

“So who’s the lucky guy?”

“None of your business.” Offering him a tight-lipped grin, she spun on her heel and continued on her way. No bad boys, no bad grades, no trouble. Picking up the pace, she heard him call after her.

“Let me know when you want to have some fun, Tiff!” She looked back briefly down the path behind her. There was something incredibly attractive in the way he smiled. Maybe it was the dimples. Maybe it was the obvious charisma he had. Whatever it was, she knew she had to stay away.

Stick to the plan, she told herself. She couldn’t mess up again.