FicWad

The next day after my long shift, my mom woke me up for school.

"Jemma Lillian Summers! It is Tuesday not Saturday; you have to go to school!" This was her fifth pursuit this morning. Let's just say I'm not a morning person.

"Ok Mom!" I sat up in my bed and threw the covers off. I hopped into the shower, dried my hair, and decided for some reason, that


I wanted to look better today. Not that I hadn't looked good before, I mean usually I just wear jeans and a polo or T-shirt or something, but I just wanted to look......special today. Maybe it was seeing Scott last night or maybe not.

Either way, I felt an urge to look good.

I searched through my closet. I looked at my clock to see how much time I had.

6:48

School starts at 8:00, so I always leave at 7:35. I think this will work.

I searched for anything better. I put on a pair of light wash jeans, (my favorite pair) and my favorite shoes, which were my green flats. They had cute little bows on them. God, I sound like prep. Oh well.

I found a green laced tank top in the back of my closet. I put it on and found a white quarter length shirt that buttoned up. I put it on and buttoned it up half way so that you could see the tank top underneath. Wear did all these clothes come from? Must have been some sub-conscious shopping trip with mom. I dug through my hair stuff. I found deep, deep, at the bottom of the bin, an unused curling iron. I hope I can work this thing. I read the instructions, (it was still in the box for Pete's sake.) and figured it out after a few tries. I curled my dark brown hair until it was bouncing with beautiful shiny curls. Make-up. God, I hardly ever used make-up. I found some brown eye-liner, put it on, as well as some mascara, and some pink lip gloss. I took a deep breath and looked in the mirror.

Oh My God. I didn't think it was possible. I actually looked pretty. This was the prettiest I'd ever seen myself. I just stared at myself for a few minutes in pleasant disbelief. I grabbed my book bag and walked out of my room. My mom was on the phone.

"Sure....ok.....right.....you to......bye," She said hanging up the phone.

"Jemma! You better hur...." She began to yell, still thinking I was in my room. Then she saw I was standing there. She looked at me, and then grinned. "Jemma! You look beautiful!" she said excitedly.

"Thanks mom." I said smiling back.

"You better get to school."

"Ok, bye mom." I said grabbing my bag and walking out the door.

"Bye sweetie, have a good day."

I got into my car, and as I put the key into the ignition I realized how hard some of the girls at school had to work to look like this everyday. I drove to school listening to the radio. I pulled in to the parking lot. I thought about Julia, what would she say? Julia was always pretty. She had long brown hair that went to the middle of her back. It was wavy and always shiny and gorgeous. She had good bone structure and sometimes wore make-up.
Her wardrobe wasn't that different from mine, but unlike me, she got a few looks or whistles in the hallway.

"Make 'em stop and stare." She would always say. She was a big flirt, and she got a few boyfriends now and then. What would she say about me today?

Only one way to find out. I stopped the car, took in a deep breath, grabbed my book bag, and exited the car. I walked up to the door and entered the building. I noticed some people looking at me as I made my way to the table me and Julia sat at before school started. When I got there, Scott was there too. He looked over at me and then so did Julia.

"Hey guys." I said putting my bag on the table.

"Oh, my god!" said Julia putting away her ipod that she had been listening to. "Somebody looks hot today." She said grinning with her hand on her hip and raising her eyebrows.

"Thanks, but I'm beginning to think it's too much." I said looking around.

"No, it isn't you look great." She said. I looked over at Scott. He seemed to be staring at me. Was he? Oh my god he's staring at me!

"Hey Scott." I said carefully, sitting down with them.

"Uh, bu ga?" he said. What the heck?

"Huh?" Julia and I both said at the same time.

"Uh, hey Jem, you look nice." He said, rapidly shaking his head before saying this as if you shake something out of his head. I look nice.

"Take it easy there captain hormone." Said Julia with a laugh. I hit her in the arm.

"Julia!" I said in a hushed tone. Scott just laughed and turned red. He turned red! What the heck does this mean?

"Did you get science last night?" he asked suddenly after a few minutes of awkward silence.

"Yah, it's easy, it's over polar and non polar bonds. And by the way, how did your mom like that survey?" I said.

"She approved. And screamed." He said shamefully shaking his head.

"She screamed?" I asked laughing. Scott just started laughing and nodded.

The bell rang, and we all went to our homerooms.

I noticed some guys were glancing at me and whispering. One of them caught my eye and grinned, then nodded his head as if to say 'sup?' I did the same gesture. This was weird.

After a few more classes, it was time for lunch; I was walking to the cafeteria with Julia when I heard a whistle. I expected for it to be for Julia, but then I saw a couple guys coming up on my side! It was at me!

"Wink at him." said Julia, barley moving her lips so she wouldn't be noticed.

"What?" I asked in a whisper. I don't wink. I don't.

"Do it!" she whispered back. I did it. As I winked at the random sophomore, I even did the thing that those girls do on the movies; I opened my mouth a little when I winked just like the popular girls do. The guy smiled at me and walked on.

"Ahhhhh! Nice work!" said Julia.

"Make 'em stop and stare." We both said at the same time and laughed. We got to the cafeteria, got our lunches, and sat down. A few minutes later so did Scott. We talked, the whole time Julia gave me looks and nudges whenever he gave me a complement.
Finally, it was time for English at the end of the day. Mrs. Lamburt told us to get with our partner and decide what poem to analyze.

"So, what do you want to do, what genre?" Scott asked me.

"It doesn't really matter, maybe nature."

"That's good; we could get a haiku or maybe a quatrain."

"Or, a sonnet."

"Definitely, one of those will work. Over Nature."
We decided to analyze a poem about nature. We picked

"Nature the gentlest mother" by Emily Dickenson. It goes like this:

NATURE, the gentlest mother,
Impatient of no child,
The feeblest or the waywardest,-
Her admonition mild

In forest and the hill
By traveller is heard,
Restraining rampant squirrel
Or too impetuous bird.

How fair her conversation,
A summer afternoon,-
Her household, her assembly;
And when the sun goes down

Her voice among the aisles
Incites the timid prayer
Of the minutest cricket,
The most unworthy flower.

When all the children sleep
She turns as long away
As will suffice to light her lamps;
Then, bending from the sky,

With infinite affection
And infiniter care,
Her golden finger on her lip,
Will silence everywhere.


"So folks, we are out of time today," Mrs. Lambert was now saying.

"But tomorrow you can begin to analyze your poems and start you reports." The bell rang a few minutes later.

"Bye Scott." Julia and I said at the same time as we were walking out the door.

"Bye Jules, bye Jem girl." said Scott with a playful smile as he started to walk the other way down the hall.

Jem girl.

"He called you Jem Girl." Said Julia..

"So, he called you Jules." I said back to her as we got out our book bags out of out lockers.

"Whatever, are you working tonight?" said Julia.

"No, Rachel gave me tonight off." I said. I actually get to go home and relax.

"Oh, ok. I'll call you later and maybe we can hang out."

"Cool, I'll see you later." I said. I walked out to my car and drove home.

"Hi honey, how was school?" asked my mom as I walked through the door.

"Good, in math we had to take notes over integers and equations, in science we did a lab over bonds, and in history we had a quiz over the Trojan war. Not much else happened."

"What did you do in English?" she asked intently.


"Oh, we're doing partner projects over analyzing poems." I said.

"What poem did you and Julia chose?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm not working with Julia, she's working with Taylor, I'm
working with my friend Scott Harrison, he's new and I sometimes see him in Barnes and Noble."

"Scott Harrison. He just moved here?" she asked.

"Yah, he's cool. I only have English with him though. We are doing a poem by Emily Dickenson."

"and what poem would that be?"

"Nature the gentlest moth...." I began, but I was cut off when mom
was on a roll.

"Nature, the gentlest mother, impatient of no child.....that one?"

"Yah, you know it?" I asked.

"I love Emily Dickenson, and I love poems about Nature too. Why do you think I'm a florist?" she asked me, smelling one of the potted Gerber Daisies she put in our window sill a few days ago.

I later got a call from Julia asking me to go to the mall with her. I accepted. We shopped a little bit, she got a new book, a hair clip, and some film for her camera.

I got a shirt, a book, and a candle that smelled like cinnamon.

I went home that night and as I went to bed, I thought about Scott. I thought about how he had just stared at me when I walked in. I thought about how he called me Jem Girl. I thought about how cute he looked in that blue button up shirt, and about his smile. I thought about how I was falling for Scott Harrison. I smiled as I fell asleep.