Lucky I know where your spare key is, hey? Anyway, hope you enjoy your evening. Uh yeah, bye.â
4.
JESS WAS WAITING BY MY locker when I came into school the next day.
âMorning, sunshine. How are you feeling?â
âUm,â I replied, trying to ignore the glares of everyone passing us. âNot brilliant.â
âI thought you might say that, which is why I bought you some of these.â She reached into her bag and pulled out some gummy bears.
âThanks, but Iâm not sure even gummy bears can help this time.â
âLook, donât worry about these guys,â she said, gesturing to a group of sixth graders who giggled as they walked past. It looked like the whole school knew. âIt will all blow over.â
âI donât think it will somehow. Iâm destined to be the girl who set Josie Graham on fire for the rest of my school career.â
âDonât be silly. It was an accident; everyone knows that.â Jess shrugged.
âReally?â
âOf course. Danny said he overheard Brendan Dakers saying it was an accident.â
âWhat?â I said in utter shock. âBrendan Dakers said that? Are you sure?â
âYes. Try not to swoon too much. Itâll probably work in your favor, considering for some unknown reason people in this school tend to hang on his every word.â She rolled her eyes. âApparently he also said it was hilarious to watch.â
âSomething tells me that Josie wonât have found it so funny.â The first bell rang, and I sighed. âI wish I didnât have to go to class.â
âJust laugh about itâno one was hurt.â Jess gave me a friendly nudge. âItâs like I said last night.â
âSpeaking of which, Dad wanted me to thank you again for coming over and rescuing me. Who knows how long I would have been in that closet for.â
âNo worries. Right, I better go, otherwise Iâm going to be late, and Iâve already been given a warning about my tardiness.â Jess swung her bag over her shoulder.
âJess, you canât leave me. Sophie Parker is in this class.Sheâs going to kill me. You donât get away with setting fire to her best friend lightly.â
âHow could she kill you? She doesnât have any weapons.â
âIâm not sure that would stop her.â
âI think her sister had a black belt. She used to go to school here. She might have taught Sophie how to karate-chop you.â
âA lot of saliva is building up in my mouth right now.â
âCalm down. Sophie is not going to kill you. And if she was, then she would definitely wait until after school so as not to make it look suspicious.â
âGreat. Thanks for that.â
âI hope she doesnât kill you.â
âYouâre a good friend.â
Jess gave me a cheerful wave and walked off into the direction of her class.
I stood there wishing I could be more like Jess. Sheâs beautiful, super cool and confident, and never seems to worry about anything. She has long, blond dip-dyed hair and always paints her nails loads of different colors. Sheâs good at every sport she plays and captain of the volleyball team, which made Sophie Parker really mad.
Sophie expected to be captain since she is pretty much in charge of everything else that goes on, being the most populargirl in our grade. Apparently her sister was the most popular girl in this school when she was here and was captain of all the sports teams. When Sophie wasnât appointed captain of the volleyball team, her parents were very upset about it and came in to speak to our PE teacher, while Sophie cried behind them.
Dad has never had this sort of problem with me. I peaked in physical education when I was eight and was forced to join a soccer activity at school. I was distracted by a pigeon, the ball came my way, deflected off my butt, and bounced into the goal. My