How To Be A Perfect Girl (15 page)

“You can’t just say something like that and
not explain,” Val pressed, “What did you mean?”

Aiden jumped to his friend’s defense, “I
think he just meant that Alex is nice to you because of how you
look. He may not have chosen the most eloquent phrasing, but he
does have a point.”

“That’s not true,” Val argued.

“Really,” Aiden huffed, “Did you forget that
I was there when Alex first befriended you? And for a while
after?”

“No.”

“Then how can you honestly believe me to
believe that your friendship isn’t based on looks? I mean, he
literally told you that you were too attractive to talk to me—“
Aiden trailed off, his point made.

“Yeah—“ Val swallowed back embarrassment
caused by the memory, “But he’s nice to his friends too—“

Noah laughed; it was a harsh, angry laugh.
Aiden shrugged, “Everyone’s nice to their friends, Val. I don’t
judge based on that, I judge based on how someone treats the people
they see as beneath them. And in that regard, Alex is—well, not the
best person in the world.” A wild look crossed his face, “You are,
though.”

Val was taken aback by the compliment, “I’m
the best person in the world?”

“Well, I—I mean, you still talk to me even
though no one else does, and you’re nice to just about everyone,”
Aiden smiled in a fruitless attempt to smooth over the awkward
situation.

Val sighed, “Tell that to Jenny. Anyway,
I’ve got—some homework to do,” she tried to make it sound like more
than just an excuse to leave the table—and the conversation. She
grabbed her bag and with calm, controlled steps made her way out of
the cafeteria and to the library.

There was only one open table in the
library, right next to the computers. Val took a seat as she tried
to figure out if there was anything she could work on.

“Hey stranger,” Derrick leaned out from
behind a nearby computer. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in a
while.”

Val smiled, “Hey Derrick. Yeah, it has been
a while, hasn’t it?” She got up and moved to sit at the computer
next to him.

“So,” Derrick said, “How’s life?”

Val shrugged, “Normal, I guess. Porter
taught me how to throw a football today.”

“Cool cool. So that’s his game?”

“Huh?” Val didn’t understand.

Derrick smiled mischievously, “Nevermind. So
why haven’t you ordered any salads recently? I know a certain
delivery boy who would love another twenty dollar tip.”

Val giggled, “I don’t really order salads
from pizza places. No offense, but it just never seems like a good
idea.”

“You did that one time though,” Derrick
pointed out.

“Yeah, that’s cause Mckayla and her brother
wanted pizza, and I didn’t want to be rude and not get anything.
Mckayla and I, we—we haven’t hung out in a while.”

“Why not?”

Val sighed, surprised by how sad she still
was over the whole series of events, “Just drama, that’s all.”

Derrick faked a gagging noise, “Ugh, drama.
Thank god I’m not a girl.”

“Tell me about it. If I could just live in a
world where there was no drama or mood swings or emotional
outbursts, I’d do it in a minute.”

“I have a simple solution for that,” Derrick
laughed, “Become a guy. There’s still a little drama, but not
nearly as much as for girls. Of course, Porter wouldn’t like that—“
Derrick frowned as he finished the last sentence.

“Hang on, why not?” Val asked.

“Cause of, uh, Keenan—and you’re dating him
and, um—yeah,” Derrick stumbled.

“Does Porter like me?”

“Of course he does.”

“No, I mean like—like me like me,” Val
clarified.

“Nope. He sees you as a friend, and that’s
it.” He said it quickly; the bell rang before Val could press him
further. “Well, gotta go,” Derrick left in a hurry.

In chemistry, Keenan’s behavior surprised
Val. She didn’t know what had changed, but Keenan sat next to her,
and without Jenny to stop him, kept up a constant stream of
whispering the whole class.

“Have I ever told you how beautiful you
are?”

“Yeah,” Val laughed, “A couple times.”

“It’s so true though—“

Val glanced at the
clock,
five minutes left,
“Keenan, what’s up with you?”

“What?”

“I mean like, why are you suddenly so—I
don’t know, just so complementary?”

Keenan shrugged, “I have a right to
complement my girlfriend, don’t I?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“If you don’t wanna be complemented, you can
just tell me,” Keenan joked.

“No, it’s fine. I just—you’re complementing
me a lot.”

“Well there’s a lot to complement. Like your
hair, your green eyes—“ Keenan paused—Val could feel his breath on
her cheek, “and don’t even get me started on your lips.”

Val blushed as their table-mate looked up
from his notes at her. “I think we’re disturbing Travis.”

“Oh well,” Keenan move in closer, “He’ll get
over it.”

Val wondered what he was trying to do; did
he seriously expect her to kiss him in the middle of class?
“Still—let’s press pause on this for now.”

“Ok, whatever you want,” Keenan conceded,
“You do look very beautiful, though.”

“Thank you.” Mr. Phillips wrote the homework
problems on the board; Val copied them down, and finished just
before the bell.

“Are you done for the day?” Keenan
asked.

Val shook her head, “No, I have to give a
speech in Student Gov.”

“Ewh,” Keenan put his nearly-empty notebook
away, “You sure you wouldn’t rather hang out with me?”

“I would,” Val admitted, “But this is kind
of important. Maybe we can hang out Friday—“

“Why so long?”

“Cause I have soccer on Wednesday, and
hopefully Thursday too.”

Keenan sighed, “Then I’ll wait. You’re worth
it. Friday?”

“Yeah,” Val bit her lip, “I think my parents
are supposed to be gone at some point, so we won’t have to pretend
to be studying or anything.”

“Cool. I’ll text you to figure out an exact
time.” Keenan pecked Val on the lips before disappearing into the
crowd of students filing out of the building.

With a start, Valentina
realized she hadn’t even thought about what she was going to say in
Student Gov; she was planning on running for Freshman class
president, and that meant she would have to give a speech. Based on
what the speeches in Walker had been, it would be an exercise in
promising things that everyone knew would be beyond her
power,
maybe I could tell them I’ll hire a
personal limo for every student,
Val
thought as she entered the cafeteria. She giggled quietly at the
thought as she found a place to sit next to Alex.

“What’s funny?” the blonde boy asked.

“Nothing,” Val replied.

“Gotta be something,” Alex reasoned. “Oh
well. Do you know what you’re going to say yet?”

“Unh-uh. I guess I’ll just have to make it
up as I go.”

Alex smiled, “I have a better idea. Be
completely honest. At the very least, we should get a good laugh
out of it.”

Val frowned; that would be tantamount to
throwing away the election. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Alex gestured to their friends sitting
nearby, “Val, do you realize just the five of us are almost a
majority? Voting for class president is only done within the
class.”

“Oh,” Val nodded, “Is there even anyone
running against me?”

Alex laughed, “Yeah. Check out who finally
started showing up again.” He pointed to Aiden, who was wearing an
oversized suit that he had definitely not had on at lunch. “Fierce
competition,” Alex smirked.

“I thought Jenny was gonna run too,” Val
said. She glanced at the Trio; they surprised her by flashing small
smiles.

“Nope. Can’t run if you’re suspended,” Alex
smiled, “I think it’s safe to say you’ve got this in the bag. So
why not have some fun with it?”

“Ok.” Avery had taken the stage; she stood
motionless while everyone else stopped talking.

“Hello again,” Avery started once the
cafeteria had fallen quiet, “I feel like I’ve seen more of you all
in the past week and a half than I’ve seen of my own parents.”
Everyone laughed. Avery shook her head and sighed, “The sacrifices
I make for you people.” More laughter. “Anyway,” she continued,
“It’s that time of year again—time to elect our officers. I’m sure
by now we all know how it’s done—well, except for the freshmen, but
you’ll catch on—so let’s get to it.” The following forty-five
minutes were filled with speeches from the class president
candidates, in descending order from seniors to juniors, and on
down. Finally the final sophomore candidate—they’d had
five—finished, and returned to her seat. “And who wants to
represent the freshman class?” Avery asked.

Val and Aiden stood up. Val thought she saw
Avery shoot an angry glare her way, but the look was gone before
she could be sure that it wasn’t just a trick of the light. “You
are--?” Avery pointed at Aiden.

“Aiden Clarke,” his voice was a little
weak.

“And—?” Avery pointed to Val.

“Valentina Hunter,” Val was proud that her
voice didn’t betray any of the nervousness that washed over her
like a sudden tidal inrush.

“Did you get that?” Avery asked Raelyn; the
other girl nodded. “Alrighty then, if you’d like to go first
Aiden—“ Avery sat down next to Raelyn as Aiden delivered his
ten-minute speech; it was nothing Val hadn’t heard before. Aiden
promised every classic student government promise in the book, “And
I’ll make sure our homecoming is great this year. And work to build
a better relationship with our community.” Val had a hard time
focusing on the specifics of how he planned to implement his
promises; it didn’t help that Alex kept distracting her by
whispering jokes.

Finally, it was Val’s turn
to speak; she took a deep breath and walked to the head of the
cafeteria, where the stage was. She’d decided to follow Alex’s
advice and be honest;
it’s not exactly like
I’m going to lose the vote to Aiden.

“My fellow student
government representatives,” she began, “I have to be honest: I
didn’t prepare a speech.” Some students nodded, Val hoped in
appreciation of her honesty; Alex grinned widely. “I don’t have any
promises prepared. I won’t tell you that I’ll clean oil off baby
seals or whatever else,” a few laughs; it was an awkward joke, but
the laughter bolstered Val’s confidence. She smiled, “And I can’t
promise that homecoming is gonna be the
best dance ever,”
she repeated
Aiden’s excited claim. More laughter emanated from the crowd; even
the upperclassmen seemed to be joining in, although Avery sat
stone-faced in her chair. “So what does that leave me with?” Val
realized as she said it that she didn’t have an answer. “Um, I’m
easier to look at?” was the first thing that came to mind. The
crowd was quiet; Alex’s call of “Damn right!” moved them to more
laughter. Val could see Aiden gritting his teeth, and felt bad for
a moment; she hadn’t meant to say something so mean;
but it’s true.
“And I’m
really nice,” Val continued, “I mean, except for that thing that
happened yesterday.”

There weren’t as many laughs—Val supposed
that might be because not everyone knew what had happened
yesterday—but the freshmen were clearly enjoying her speech. She
decided to sum up, “So yeah, vote for me and I’ll be nice, even
though I may not have a plan to cure cancer or save the world from
laser-shooting sharks or whatever.” She rushed back to her spot
next to Alex, glad that it was over; in a way, her speech had gone
better than planned. At any rate, it was different enough that even
Avery didn’t know how to respond.

Avery’s eyebrows were at least a half-inch
higher on her head as she ascended the steps to the stage. When she
reached the center, she spoke, “Thank you, Miss Hunter, for
that—illuminating speech. Well, that concludes our meeting for the
day. We’re casting ballots online this year, so think about who you
want to vote for, and if you haven’t joined our group on Facebook
yet talk to Raelyn or myself, and we can invite you.” She descended
from the stage.

Val turned to her friends, “So, how’d I
do?”

Grant grinned, “That was one for the ages.
Best speech I’ve ever heard.”

“Agreed,” Alex said, “The honesty definitely
worked.”

Val nodded, glad that at least Alex and his
friends thought her speech had gone well. She turned to the Trio;
to Ella, who was closest, she asked, “What did you think?”

Ella shrugged, “Not the most formal speech
ever. But you made several good points.”

“Yeah,” Sophia agreed, “Plus, you win by
virtue of being a girl. Like Aiden mentioned, helping with
homecoming is one of the most important things our class president
does—and I’d much rather have a girl in charge of that than a boy.
Especially, if that boy is Aiden.” Ella and Zoey laughed.

“It’s cute how he thought he had a shot
though,” Alex joked, “I bet he spent all night writing that
speech.”

“I hope not,” Val grimaced, “I just spent my
whole speech making fun of his.”

“So?” Grant said, “It’s
not your fault he took this
way
too seriously.”

“Plus, you didn’t spend
your
whole
speech
talking about that,” Alex added. “You also made a couple of good
points on why we should vote for you.”

“Yeah, I guess—“

Logan cracked his neck, “No, you definitely
did. I mean, when it comes down to it, we have to listen to and
watch the class president during a lot of the assemblies; I’d
personally prefer you to the four-eye card shark.” Everyone but Val
nodded in agreement.

“I still feel bad about tearing him down
like that,” Val admitted.