The Worst Way to Spend Your Saturdays: At SIA

Sophia narrates the story as she finds out her crush since the fifth grade goes to SIA also and finally has to courage to tell him the truth.

  I sat up in bed, my mind still in sleep mode. I looked at the clock. 7:00am. I hated Saturdays. Well, I wouldn’t say I hated them, I just hated SIA. (School Institute for the Advanced) It was so boring. The building had four floors, long, medieval tables, and candle chandeliers. I hauled myself out of bed, and changed into a t-shirt and jeans. It was June, but the Institute was freezing cold. The teachers there always wore winter coats and pants. I wondered why they never turned the air conditioning down. Maybe they didn’t know how. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and put my watch on. Ever since sixth grade, I never kept my hair down. It was just to messy, and my hair got tangled. I glanced at my calendar and saw that it was my final Saturday of SIA. I ran downstairs.

  “Morning, Dad.”

  I grabbed a bite of my bagel and ran out the door before my dad could respond. I hopped into my Honda and drove the whole ten minutes to SIA.

  My classes were so boring. My LA teacher talked so fast you couldn’t even understand her. Whenever she wrote on the chalkboard, she wrote perfectly straight and in the same font. Creepy. Math was fairly easy, as always. That’s why it was so boring. The teacher droned on and on about this and that, never stopping until the bell rang. I ran to my locker after Art to grab my writing books. I had just slammed my locker shut, when the “2 Minute Warning to Get to Class” bell rang. I half ran half speed walked to writing class. I was going so fast I didn’t have time to see the bright yellow banana peel right in front of me. All of a sudden, I was on my bottom on the floor, with my books scattered around me. I silently cursed in my head.

  “Great. Just great. Of course I had to slip on a banana peel.” (I had a habit of talking to myself.)I heard a small laugh behind me. My head snapped up. My face was inches away from Cody's.

  “I didn’t know you went here,” I blurted, as Cody helped me up.

  “I didn’t know you went here.”

  “Well, I gotta get to writing...”

  “Me too,” he murmured. 

  “Thanks for helping me up,” I said. I had limped about five feet, and tripped twice, when Cody came up and helped me. This was so awkward.

  Mrs. Alno, the writing teacher, assigned us in partnerships to talk about our school week and what we were planning on doing for the summer. I had no idea what that had to do with writing, but at least it was social. Mrs. Alno liked to pair boys with girls, so I was with Cody, my crush since fifth grade. (I was really nervous around him.) I couldn't believe I'd never noticed we had writing class together until now.

  We sat at the end of one of the very long tables. Alima, a girl who had liked Cody for a two days, came over even though her partner was on the other side of the room. She tried to take Cody's hands in hers. Apparently, she thought they were dating, even though it was obvious he wanted nothing to do with her.

  “Come on, honey, let me take your hands,” Alima purred,

  “No! I told you, we’re not dating!” exclaimed Cody.

  “Please?” Alima begged.

  “No! I’m done with a second grader like you!” His face was scarlet red. Either he was angry or embarrassed. I went with both.

  “I’ll leave you two be.” I got up and began to walk away from them.

  “Finally!” I felt Alima glare at me.

  “Wait! Please stay, Ess,” Cody pleaded.

 “Really. It’s okay. After all, we are just writing partners, right? We can always talk some other time.” He probably didn’t even like me. But I had a small hope, knowing he wanted me to stay with him. On second thought, that was probably wrong. I guessed he wanted me to stay so he could get rid of Alima and finish the stupid talk about our school week.

  “No. Alima, get away from me. I told you I don’t like you. I’m in twelfth grade. If I don’t want you, I won’t have you.” He stood and walked over to me. Alima’s mouth was wide open. She abruptly got up and went to find her writing partner, who was calling her name. I stood there, shaking, knowing I should have grabbed a jacket before I left home.

  “Come here.” Cody held his arms open. I dropped everything and fell into his arms, feeling warmth immediately. He hugged me, and the bell rang. I looked at my watch. Lunch already? I thought. It’s not fair. I wanted that moment to last. Can’t something good happen to me?

  “I’ll see you at lunch?” he asked.

  “Okay.”

  I put my things in my locker and took out my lunch bag. I spotted a sign for the cafeteria and I went happily to the lunchroom.

  I held my lunchbox and looked for anyone I knew. Not that I had met anyone in the past five Saturdays.

  “Ess!”

  I looked around.

  “Over here!”

  I saw Cody waving at me.

  I walked over to his table, and saw familiar faces and unfamiliar faces.

  “Hey, Collin. Hey, Jack.” I greeted them as kindly as I could, not wanting them to think this situation was awkward. (It was VERY awkward.)

  “Hey, Sophia. Sophia, Ellie. Ellie, Sophia,” said Jack. I was very glad he introduced me to his girlfriend. At least, I think it was his girlfriend.

  “Nice to meet you.”

  “Nice to meet you.” I returned her handshake.

  “Hey, Sophia. Penny, Sophia. Sophia, Penny,” said Collin. He had a girlfriend too? Was I seriously the only one in SIA that wasn’t dating?

  “Nice to meet you.”

  “Nice to meet you, too.” Her handshake was firm, like Ellie’s.

  “Hey guys. This is my girlfriend, Sophia.”

Oh my gosh. Did Cody just say girlfriend? Okay. This was seriously the best day of my life. Well, besides the banana peel part.

  “Hi,” I said, not knowing what else to say. Did he seriously like me? Seriously? I know I say seriously a lot. There! I said it again!

  I sat down next to the boy of my dreams.

  After the last day of SIA ended, Cody came up to me and asked, “Want to take a walk with me?”

  “Sure!” I exclaimed. This day was getting better and better. We held hands on the bridge over the pond and he walked me home. Best day ever!

  One and a half weeks later...

  I was still thinking about that day. I have no regrets whatsoever about going to SIA. I was officially dating my crush since fifth grade! Cody's friends (besides Jack and Collin) still didn’t know we were dating. It was only one week before prom, and Cody had asked me to go with him. I was at the store, looking for a fancy dress with my friends. I would rather go to prom with jeans and a t-shirt, but my friends wouldn’t let me. All of them had found their dresses and I still hadn’t found mine. I was panicking. I had no other time to go shopping! So far, all of them liked one dress on me, but I thought it was just okay. The dress was just below-knee length. It was white with a little bit of sequins on the top. It was also strapless.

  “Come on, just buy the dress! You look awesome in it!” Karen, my best friend, exclaimed.

  “But it looks better on you!” I complained.

  “No, it doesn’t. Besides, I already bought my dress.” She made a sad puppy face.

  “All right, I’ll buy the dress.”

  “Yay! Will you wear fishnets?”

  “No!”

  “Aw. Please?” Karen begged.

  “No!”

  “Fine.”

 

  I ran out the school doors on Friday afternoon, when I ran straight into Megan and Grace. Grace spoke before I could make a run for it. 

  “Who’s your date to prom, Essa?”

  “Grace, she doesn’t have a date! She’s a loser!” said Megan.

  “Even if she has a date, it would probably be a loser just like her!”

They both laughed at Grace’s nasty comment. “Loser! Loser! L-O-Z-E-R!” they chanted. They turned their backs to me and left. The stupid girls couldn’t even spell.

  At 8:00pm on the night of the prom, I sat in Karen's “Hairstyling Chair” as Karen worked on my hair. I expected her to be done in two hours, but she was done in half an hour.

  “Can I look at myself in the mirror?” I asked.

  “No.”

  “Meanie.”

  “Ha. That’s what you get for not wearing fishnets.”

  I groaned. After she was done, I drove back to my house. There was no mirror in sight.

  “Ess, I have lipstick if you want it,” Mom shouted to me.

  “I don’t want to wear make up!”

  “Okay, but you should still take it.”

  “No!”

 I looked at myself in the mirror my mom had brought me two minutes ago. I gasped. Karen had made my thick, dark brown hair into an elegant swirl on the top of my head. I never knew my hair could look so pretty, I wondered what Karen had done with her hair. The dress was still just okay. My opinion hadn’t changed.  Maybe I really did need make up. It was my first week with contacts, and my eyes looked tiny. Cody was picking me up in 5 minutes, so there wasn’t enough time to put make up on. I pulled on a long sweater that almost went down to my ankles. It was my favorite sweater, and I figured the school would blast the air conditioning, like they did at my brother’s prom.

  “Ess, Cody's here!” He was early. Just like him.

  “Coming!” I ran downstairs. There he was, in a black tuxedo with a red tie. He looked much better than I did.

  “Bye!” I yelled to Mom, as I ran out the door and into Cody's car.

  “How come nobody except Josh and Jack know I’m your date?” I asked.

  “I wanted it to be a surprise, and I made them swear they wouldn’t tell anyone.”

  “Oh.”

  “Can I ask you a question?” asked Cody.

  “Ask away.”

  “You’ll be honest?”

  “Of course!”

  “Do you love me because I’m popular?”

  “No.”

  “Then...”

  “I love you because you’re smart, respectful, funny, responsible, handsome, honest, kind, loyal, caring, reasonable, and not to mention, a good driver. I can come up with more if you’d like.”

  “Thanks. I was just asking because-”

  “I know why you asked. It’s okay.”

  As we pulled up into the parking spot, I spotted Grace and Megan, the most popular girls in the twelfth grade. I hated them so much. I looked away and followed Cody to the school.

  Cody opened the door, and we walked into the gym, hand in hand. The gym/prom room was transformed. There were blue streamers everywhere, shells on the walls, fake pearls in fake oysters at the doorway, and fish hanging from the ceiling.

  “Why don’t you take your sweater off? It’s not that cold in here.”

  “No. I look terrible.”

  “Come on.”

  “No.”

  “Please? For me?”

  “Fine.” I reluctantly let him help me take my sweater off.

  “You look gorgeous.”

  I blushed at his remark. No one called me THAT before. “I usually don’t wear stuff like this. It’s too fancy for me.” I fingered the dress absentmindedly.

  “Hey, you want a drink?” Cody asked.

  “Sure.”

  “What kind?”

  “Um, ginger ale, please.” 

  He walked towards the refreshments table as I trailed behind.

Grace smiled and batted her eyelashes when she saw him. “Hey, Cody. Who are you getting that drink for? It’s for me isn’t it? Such a sweet boy.”

  “And popular,” Megan murmured. 

  “You’ll dance with me, right?” Grace asked.

  “Actually, my date’s coming now.” He held my drink out to me.

 I took it, knowing it was the only thing I could do besides screaming at Grace and Megan.

  “I believe we’ve met before.” I looked Grace and Megan. Their mouthes were open.

  “How come you’re going with her, an L-O-Z-E-R, when you can go with me, the most popular girl in twelfth grade?” Grace cried.

  “Because number one, I love her, number two, you can’t even spell, and number three, you’re a selfish idiot.”

  Cody and I walked off. I spotted Karen with Sam, and pulled Cody with me over to them. Karen had left her hair down. She never did that. It was only the second time I’d seen her with her hair like that.

  I was surprised with myself. I didn’t step on Cody's feet with my white high heels once. I guess I wasn’t that bad of a dancer after all. My white dress spun out like a silk, flat cloud as I whirled around. My hair stayed tight and neat in it’s elegant swirl on top of my head. I was quite impressed with Karen's work. The swirl didn’t fall apart, and my head didn’t feel as if I had a twenty-ton weight on it. Cody spun me in his arms as if we were one person. I had never seen anyone this graceful, and it seemed so beautiful to me. He seemed to sense that, and smiled.

  “You are an excellent dancer,” he whispered in my ear. He was probably the only person in the gym who could talk and dance at the same time while not making it look awkward. 

  “Not as graceful as you, though,” I responded, knowing it was true. We danced song after song, with seven minute breaks in between. 

  Grace danced with Cole, a boy she had met in 8th grade. He really did suit her. Same mean personality, same “bored with the non-populars” look, same spelling issues. Megan was the same way. She danced with Kyle. I saw the pain in Kyle’s face every time she stepped on his poor feet, which was almost twenty times. I guess she kind of forced him to go with her, because he didn’t look too happy.          

  We switched dancing partners every five songs, always going back to our original partners afterwards. Cody seemed pained to leave me, but I assured him I was going to be fine. Every time he came back to me, he seemed relieved to see me in one piece. For once, I was glad someone was a little over protective about me. During the instrumental version of “Here Comes the Sun,” I spotted Grace and Megan slowly dancing their way over to us, knowing we were going to have a partner switch after this. I silently thanked Karen for being right next to me and Cody. After “Here Comes the Sun” finished, Karen danced with Cody, and I danced with Sam. He wasn’t as graceful as Cody was, but almost. He swung me in his arms like Cody did. Maybe that’s why they were such good friends. 

  When the song ended, Collin and Jack sauntered over with Ellie and Penny. No one had to introduce, since we all knew each other.

  It seemed like Collin and Jack were jealous of one another, because they kept bragging about how good Ellie and Penny were at dancing. I felt sympathy for the two girls, but they didn’t seem to mind. Instead, they just blushed and smiled up at their boyfriends. When Karen and Sam started talking, I shot Cody a quick, one-second glance. He seemed to get it, and told them we were leaving. We said our goodbyes and left. I shut the car door, put my seatbelt on, and Cody pulled out of the parking lot. After a moment or so, I broke the silence.

  “That was a very pleasant night,” I said, not knowing what else to say.

  “It sure was. Thank goodness I didn’t see Megan and Grace again. They're really annoying sometimes, right?”

  “Yesterday, they called me a loser and asked if I had a date. Then they said I didn’t have a date because I was too stupid, and walked off.”

  “Oh. Well, I know they’re wrong because you’re not a loser and you’re not stupid. You are the best girlfriend a guy could ever have, and they just don’t get love like we do. They think it’s fun to just go out with a guy, dump him, then go out with another guy. They’re too stupid to know that love isn’t like that. You’re smart.”

  “Thanks. I just hope that...” I trailed off. What was I supposed to say to that?

  We came up to the park. Cody parked the car, and we both got out. He was as good a parallel parker as he was a driver.

  “Hey, do you happen to have a flashlight?” I asked as I kept walking. I couldn’t see where I was going. So this is what it’s like to be blind, I thought. It’s terrible.

  “Yeah, here.”

  I stopped to turn the flashlight on.

  We were standing in the middle of the park.

  “Does my hair look messy?” I asked, suddenly aware that he could see me now. For some reason, I never thought my hair was perfect. My friends always complained that I worried too much. Maybe I did worry too much. I probably looked like a lion right now. Ugh.

  “No. It looks fine.”

  “Are you sure? Because I think I have a brush in the-” Suddenly, I was kissing him. My eyes went wide, and after a couple of seconds, I closed my eyes. He put his hands on my cheeks, and I put my arms around his neck. I will never forget this moment, I told myself

  “You’re beautiful even if your hair is messy.” He smiled and kissed my forehead.  I rested my head on his chest.

  We stood there for what seemed like a long time, but it was probably only two minutes. I wished this night would last forever, but eventually we had to walk back to the car. I gave him back his flashlight, and he put it in his pocket. “I wanted to do that so badly that last day of SIA, but I wasn’t sure you liked me.”

  “Of course I liked you! I didn’t say anything about you calling me your girlfriend, did I?”

  “Good point. I have a confession to make.”

  I braced myself for this.

  “I’ve liked you since fifth grade. I’m sorry I never had the guts to tell you. I guess I never thought you liked me.”

  “I’ve also a confession to make.”

  I heard him suck in his breath. 

  “I’ve liked you since fifth grade, too. It’s okay that you never told me. I certainly never had the guts to tell you.” I responded, feeling all warm inside. For a moment, I thought he had cheated on me.

   He backed out of our parking spot and drove back to my house. We talked for the whole five minutes. It seemed like a really long conversation, but it wasn’t. Five minutes can seem like a long time if there are a lot of thirty-second breaks in between the conversations. I guess none of us knew what to say. I broke the silence first, like I did in every conversation. I said the first thing that came into my crowded mind.

  “So, where are you going to college?” I asked.

  “MIT.”

  “Oh.”

  “Where are you going?” he asked.

  “Yale. What are you going to study at MIT? Do you have any idea?”

  “Math. I want to become a sports agent, so I’m thinking it’ll help me.”

  “Oh.”

  “What are you going to study?”

  “I don’t know yet. I have to think about it. Didn’t you want to be a sports agent in fifth grade?” I asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, I hope you get your dream.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome. I’ll try to call you often.”

  

 He handed me my purse, kissed me goodbye, and drove away. My first kiss on prom night. I certainly wasn’t expecting that. This was the best day ever! Well, just as good as the last day of the SIA. I guessed SIA wasn't the worst way to spend your Saturday after all.

Author's Note

This is my second post, hope you like it!