Revenge Of A Band Geek Gone Bad (14 page)

It was Josh who kneeled down and took the dust pan out of her grip.  "I'll get that," he said. 

My mom stared back at him as if he were crazy.  "You sure?" she asked.

"You look like you could use a break," he replied.  He held out his hand.  "By the way, I'm Joshua Kowalski."  He handed her the flowers.

"Uh, nice to meet you."
  My mother gingerly took the flowers, gazing at him like she was in a daze.  She then headed for her room, leaving us to take care of the kitchen.  Josh and I worked in silence as we cleared away the rest of the mess.

"I'm sorry," I finally said to him when we were almost done.  "I'm sorry you had to see all of that."

Josh shrugged.  "I've seen worse.  Trust me."

"Seriously?
  We're like the poster models for dysfunction.  Especially me," I added quietly.

Josh gave me a small smile.  "Melinda, you're my friend, okay?"  He gently squeezed my shoulder.  "Don't forget that."

We finished cleaning the kitchen,
then
sat down to eat the food I'd made.  As I munched on the cold potatoes and cranberry sauce, I knew that this was a Thanksgiving I definitely wouldn't forget.
             
             

CHAPTER 10

In the aftermath of the Thanksgiving Plate-Tossing Incident, my parents were unsure of how to act around me.  My dad could barely look me in the eye; Mom spoke to me in hushed tones as if I
were
breakable, or, I realized, as if I were my grandfather.  I hated making them so worried, but I wasn't ready to discuss what had happened.  Instead, I tried to push it into the darkest corners of my mind where I could block out everything.

School wasn't much better.  My work piled up in my classes and in band, Kathy kept accusing me of making mistakes.  I wasn't sure what was causing her bad mood until one afternoon when I saw her gazing over at Ken Samuels.

"Hey, Ken!" 
she
called out, as he passed by the flutes.  He whirled around, and she began to stammer and blush.  "I-you--you did a great job on your solo the other day.  I liked it a lot."  She giggled and tossed back her long hair.

"Thanks," he said, giving her a tight smile.  He began to walk back to the trumpet section.

"Uh, maybe we'll get to play together sometime," Kathy said.  He stopped and looked at her, no longer smiling.  "Um, you know, because we're both first chairs, we might end up having a duet together or something..."

"Maybe," Ken said, shrugging.  He waved to me before heading off.  "See you around, Mel."

After, Kathy buried her head in her music trying not to look embarrassed.  She took out her pink phone, texting "HLP ME W/HIM!" to one of her friends, most likely Tamara.  I couldn't believe it; she'd been dissed. 
By
Ken
.
  In a way it was funny that the girl who could probably get any guy she wants got the brush-off from a guy who could probably get any girl whom
he
wants.  I shook my head in amazement.

Kathy looked over at me and I guess noticed me grinning.  She quickly stashed her phone in her purse and glowered.  "Mind your own business," she snapped.  "Trust me, you don't want to tell anyone about what you just saw or you'll be sorry."

###

Of course, I told Lana.  "It figures she's into the most popular guy in school," she said.  "He's the next best thing after her college boy.  Or should I say,
ex
-college boy," she laughed. 
"But Ken's so into
Dani
Silver.
  It's silly for Kathy to waste her time on him, anyway, when he's such a loser.  Why does she want someone so
dumb?"

"Uh, you should talk," I reminded her.  Seriously, if Lana paid me every time she mentioned her ex, I'd be rich.

"Oh, please.  I'm so over Ken," she sniffed.

But Kathy wasn't and was especially upset that Ken paid attention to me.  Now let's be real, he and I weren’t friends, especially after what he did to Lana, but he knew me through Lana and Josh.  So whenever he'd see me in band, he'd smile and say hello to me ... and then ignore Kathy.  I got some perverse pleasure in watching her fall all over herself while trying to get him to notice her, her face turning as red as her hair.

###

Kathy had these serious-looking meetings with Tamara and their other friend, Clara.  I spied them deep in a huddle one day as I made my way to the band room.  They were gathered in front of Kathy's locker in the main hallway, murmuring in low voices.

"Kath, I heard that Ken and
Dani
broke up," Tamara was saying.  "His status online says ‘Single.’  This is your chance.  Go for it!"

"Yeah!" added Clara.  Short, blonde Clara is the least attractive of the trio and a complete
wanna
-be.  But she worships Kathy and Tamara so they let her hang around with them.

"Tams, I've been trying, but he doesn't even seem to know I'm alive," Kathy admitted.  She looked down at her green blouse and tight jeans.  "What's wrong with me?  Did I suddenly get fat or something?"  She crinkled her face in disgust.  "Ugh, that has to be it; I should never have eaten all that food during Thanksgiving."

"No, Kathy, you're perfect!"  Clara burbled, patting Kathy's shoulder.  "He should be grateful that you even
look
at him."

Just then Kathy noticed me glancing at them.  As soon as she stopped talking, Tamara and Clara's heads turned to stare at me as if the group of them were one of those multi-headed monsters I've read about, a Hydra.

"What do you want,
Smellinda
?"  Kathy called.  She narrowed her eyes.  "Didn't I tell you to mind your own business?"

I held up my hands.  "Hey, I was just walking to class.  It's not my fault that you guys decided to have a private conversation in
the middle of the hallway
."

The trio came closer to me.  "Nice pants, Mel," mocked Tamara as she eyed my brown cords.  "They're dog poop colored, perfect for you!"

I really wasn't in the mood to get into it with them, not after everything I'd been through over the past few days.  Holding my head high, I didn't answer her and kept walking.

Until I felt something
drop
.  I looked down and realized that one of them had unlatched the clasps on my flute case.  Now all three sections of my flute —- the
headjoint
, body and foot -- were scattered across the hard floor.

"Are you crazy?"  I yelled, quickly gathering them.  I turned each part over to see if there were dents or any other types of damage.  Thankfully, the pieces seemed to be in decent shape.  "I can't believe you just did that!"

The girls stood over me snickering and wearing triumphant expressions.  Kathy giggled the loudest.

"How can you laugh about this?"  I asked, standing up and getting so close to her that our faces practically touched.  "You know how expensive flutes are, and how fragile.  I know you don't respect me, but I'd have figured that you of all people, Miss I'm-so-great-now-because-I'm-first-chair would have respect for the instrument. 
Especially when you're section leader."

Tamara rolled her eyes.  "God, Moo-
linda
," she said, shaking her head.  "It's just a
flute
.  And I mean
,
it was just a joke.  You're so intense."

"Yeah!"
 
said
Clara.

"Seriously, Mel, why do you carry that thing around with you all the time anyway?" Kathy added.  "That's what our band lockers are for.  Really," she told me, "When you're lugging that flute around, you look like a total dork."

That did it.  I was sick of everyone making me feel like crap.  I was sick of everyone getting in my face.  I was sick of putting up with Kathy and her stupid friends.  As I stared into their trio of smug faces, I was overcome by the same feeling I had at Thanksgiving —- that urge to punch something.  Before I knew what was happening, before I could even try to stop it, my hand took on a life of its own.  It reached out and slapped Kathy across her cheek with a satisfying "
Thwak
!"

"Oh my God," Kathy whispered, her eyes wide.  She backed away from me, but I couldn't move.  I still didn't believe I'd just done that.  "Oh my God," she repeated a little more loudly, putting her hand up to her cheek.  A bright red hand-shaped blotch was forming on it. "
Ow
!" she wailed. 
"
Owwww
!
  I can't believe you hit me!"

By now, a crowd of students had gathered around us, but I was oblivious to them.  I numbly stood and stared at Kathy, who was now in full-on freak out mode.  "It HURTS," she sobbed, waving her arms around and shrieking. 
"
Sh
-she h-hit me
haaaarrrrd
."

A few seconds later, Tamara and Clara arrived with Principal Muller in tow.  In all the excitement, I hadn't even realized they'd left the scene.  "There she is," Tamara said, pointing at me.  "She hit Kathy.  If you don't believe me, we've got plenty of witnesses."

The principal turned to me, not quite able to process that quiet, studious Melinda Rhodes would do something like this.  "Is this true?" he asked, sounding slightly puzzled.

"Yep," I replied, noticing the pride in my voice.  Now that I'd realized what I'd done, I was beginning to think it was worth it, especially if it got Kathy and her posse off my back.

"Well, I don't know what to say, Miss Rhodes," Principal Muller said quietly, "but we have a zero-tolerance rule against violence on this campus."

"Come on, you must have some idea how awful these girls are," I replied.  "I can't be the only person who’s wanted to hit one of them."

I could've sworn I saw a trace of a smile appear on
the his
face, but his expression quickly returned to neutral.  "I can't have you hitting people," he repeated.  "I'm afraid you're going to have to be suspended for a week."

I shrugged.  "Okay."  By now I was so keyed up, I didn't even care about getting into trouble or dealing with my parents.  Screw them!  Come to think of it, I could use the break from school.

"Let's go then," he said, beckoning me to follow.  "We'll handle the rest of this in my office."

###

The next few days passed by in a blur.  My parents’ reaction, well, could’ve been worse.  My mom grounded me for two weeks and regaled me with endless lectures about my recent behavior, and how I needed to see a counselor.  Dad went along with her, but I think that he was actually proud of me for standing up for
myself
.  "I don't condone fighting but hey, I got into a few fights during my day," he told me when my mother was out of earshot.  He then added a stern warning. 
"Just don't do it again.
  Violence is
wrong
."

Meanwhile, I got about a million e-mails, Facebook messages and texts,
mainly from
bandmates
who were checking up on me.  I’d never had this much online action!  "Are you sure you're okay?" Maya wrote.  "I can get you your homework."  "Band's not the same without you," Ken told me.  "I think even Francis misses you; he's been extra mean this week."

I couldn't believe that smacking someone could suddenly make me so popular, but apparently it gave me some kind of street cred.  "Everyone's talking about it," Lana informed me when she stopped by to deliver my work.  She laughed.  "But by now, you've done much more than just hit her, according to the grapevine.  Rumor has it that you slapped her and knocked out a few of her teeth ... and then punched her in the stomach for good measure."

"Wow," I said, shaking my head.  When it comes to gossip, people really like to embellish.  Still, one thing bothered me. "Do people think I'm crazy?"  I asked.

Lana smiled.  "Are you kidding?  Everyone thinks you're a hero.  Kathy and her crew may be 'popular,' but not too many people like them."

I grinned back.  "You're right, but it makes no sense."

She shrugged.  "What part of high school does?"

###

The one person who was not impressed with my debut as a bad girl was Josh.  "I'm worried about you, Mel," he said one evening as we were hanging out.  My parents let him visit under the assumption that we were doing schoolwork, but we were mainly relaxing in my room, talking.  "First, you break a bunch of plates and hurt your hands, and now this.  It's not good that this is how you're handling stress."

I giggled.  "Okay,
Mom
.  Look," I assured him, "there's nothing wrong with me.  I'm just finally standing up for myself.  Is that so bad?"

"No," he hedged, "but let's face it, you're being pretty extreme.  I don't want you to end up getting hurt."

"What, do you think I need help?  Do you also think I need to see a shrink?"  I stared at him in disbelief.

Josh faced me.  "I think we need to quit it with this whole Kathy thing.”  His tone was serious.  "Just let it go.  It really doesn't seem to be doing anything good for you."