Gabrielle-Helena, the ‘popular one’ of this place, strolled right by me. Her painted red lips reflected the fluorescent lights so brightly I though I was blind for a second. She was chewing her gum like a cow with a trail of about twenty guys following right behind her. I bet they would even clip her toe nails if she so much as looked at them oddly.

But then again, that is my sister we’re talking about. Me? You want to know my name? Oh, well hi; my name is Alice-Marie. Yes, I know, our parents have a weird fetish with hyphens, but look at who I am and compare me to Gabena. Oh, Gabena is Gabrielle-Helena’s nickname by the way. Me? People just call me Alice. My sister and I are so cliché. Of course, she’s the popular girl with the snobby friends and the jocks after her, failing everything in school but not caring because she has a date. I am, of course, the sister that acts like a voluntary Cinderella. I don’t leave the house much, unless it’s for school or I have to run an errand. My sister is full of crap.

She dyes her hair an obnoxious shade of blonde and puts globs of make-up on everyday. I just dress in our uniforms, after I iron the skirt because she wrinkles it by rolling it up all of the time, and I put my dull brown hair in a ponytail before high tailing it off to school while Gabena waits for her friends so they can be late by half an hour.

I don’t have that many friends, nor do I want any. I’m content with our little siblings and their mindless chatter. At school, I try to avoid people since normally they just talk to me so I can tell them something about Gabena.

But then there’s him.

His name is Alexandre, and he’s a creeper. At least, that’s what I call him. He follows me a lot, especially since we have the exact same schedules! He sits either next to or behind me in every class and he sits next to me at lunch, no matter where I eat. I figure that he must really like Gabena. I see him now, walking and smiling at me. Oh great, I can’t turn to look at my locker. I already packed and he knows it, he sees my math book, and he has his as well. What do I do!? This would a great time for a black-hole to come and swallow me now.

“Hello Alice,” He spoke. Great, now I’m stuck for now. Did I mention that he came to America from France when he was eleven? Well, he did so he has a slight French accent, which I find nice sometimes.

“What is it now Alex?”

“Would you like to accompany me to math class?”

“No, but since we’re going there,” I left the rest of my sentence in the air as I got ready to walk. He held his arm out and I gave him a flat look.
“Put it down before I break it off,” I growled softly, I could tell that I must have looked peeved because he paled suddenly and almost threw his arm down.

“Oui Mademoiselle,” he whispered hoarsely, reverting back to his native language. I smirked and picked up the pace to get away from him while he was slightly dazed. I heard him give a quick shout before he ran up beside me again. “Tu n’es pas sympa!”

“Shouldn’t that be ‘Vous n’etes pas sympa’? After all, we aren’t familiar with each other.”

His green-gray eyes glared at me for an instant. “That is what you think, but you think wrong.”

I ignored him and proceeded to slam the door in his face just as the bell rang. He ran inside and took his place next to me up front. I could hear Gabena in the back, still chewing that gum, giggling with her friends. Our teacher came in and the longest class in the world began.

Old Mr. Kirkland Linwood was your classic math teacher. He was short, fat, had a mustache and a balding head to match. He also had two little beady dark brown eyes that seemed to move a thousand times a second, shifting across the room non-stop. He also picked at his face a lot, like there was some zit he could never pop.

“Alright everybody, pass up your homework,” He had a very soft voice that sounded like he was scared but there was always that feeling that he was evil. I don’t know, he just gave me the chills sometimes. Anyway, I reached into my blue binder and pulled out a massive wad of paper, about ten sheets thick. Oh yeah, I do know why he was evil…he assigned at LEAST fifty problems every night! Yesterday, he assigned ninety six for us to do. Thank goodness that I write so small. Alex also pulled a slightly thicker wad of paper out of his folder handed it to Linwood. In the corner of my eye, I saw Gabena panic slightly as she raised her hand.

I adjusted my glasses so the light reflected off of them and covered my mouth to hide my smile. I knew that she didn’t do it. With ninety six problems on a chapter she had no clue even existed, she was begging me the whole ride home yesterday to do it for her or at least, let he copy my answers. I am evil, yes I know. As soon as we got home, I ate a quick dinner in my room and did my homework before taking a shower and hiding my work before I went to bed. I knew that if I didn’t, she would have looked for it.

“What is it now Ms. Radding?”

“I didn’t do the homework sir. I was really tired yesterday because of ‘you-know-what’ so I just went to bed. Can I give it to you tomorrow?”

“And what about the other homework you said that you would give? I have nothing in my grade book for you but zeros and Fs. Why can’t you be more like your sister? She’s one of the Top Five students in this school and you don’t even rank in the Top Thousand.”

“But sir,” She cocked her head in confusion, “There are only five hundred people here.”

Linwood opened his mouth, but closed it with a heavy sigh and shook his head. I turned back around so she wouldn’t see me laughing her expense. Alex was lucky enough to have the liberty to laugh. His light brown hair fell into his eyes as he bent over his desk, his shoulders shaking and…was he crying?

“Hey, that’s my sister! Don’t laugh at her!” I whispered to him.

“But she’s a genuine dolt!” He snorted lightly as he laughed a bit more. I frowned deeply, trying to hide my smile, he was right.

The rest of math was spent with Alex being a show-off. Like Linwood said, I was one of the top students, number two to be exact, but Alex was number one. It was guaranteed that we’re the valedictorian and salutatorian once the graduation comes around.

But that’s something for another day.