Caught in the Middle - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

         “Excuse me missy, but this happens to be our Senior year,” Kendra’s voice said as the tape continued. “Am I not allowed to be a little nostalgic?”
Janelle shrugged. “Whatever.”
“What are you reading?” Tori said, grabbing the book from Janelle’s hand. “’Jane Eyre’? Since when did we have to read this? Oh my god, is it gonna be on the Midterm?”
Janelle jumped up and took the book back. “Relax. It’s not assigned, I’m reading for pleasure.”
Kali smirked. “Geek.”
Janelle leaned down to pick up her bag, and smirked back. “Trophy wife.”
“I’m sorry, was that supposed to be an insult?”
“Peace and love y’all, peace and love,” Kendra’s voice said. The camera panned up and down Janelle’s body. “What brought on this ensemble?”
Janelle moved her hips slowly from side to side, causing the long and loose white skirt she was wearing to swirl around her ankles. Her light brown skin shone in the early morning sun, and her long dark hair rested lightly on her shoulders. “I don’t know…I woke up this morning feeling very mellow, flower child…hippie.” She smoothed her hands over her croppedwhite peasant top and brown undershirt, the thin brown bracelets on both of her wrists tinkling. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s cute,” Kali said. “And good call about not cluttering it up with a whole lot of jewelry.”
“That’s exactly what my mom said!” Janelle said, leaning down to pick up her bag and then threading her arm through Kali. “She also takes credit for every ounce of fashion sense I have, says it’s a legacy to pass down through generations.”
“I concur,” Kali said, and both girls giggled.
Tori shook her head. “Sometimes I wonder how you two can possibly be friends,” she said as a loud shrill bell rang.
“Ugh. Have I said how much I hate Calculus?” Janelle groaned.
“Not since Friday,” Tori said with a smirk.
“You’d think that if Mr. Lewis was such a mathematical genius, he’d calculate the circumference of his head and use it to choose the right sized toupee.”
The tape went black as the girls cracked up, then came back on in a very loud, very crowded cafeteria. “Okay,” Tori said to the camera while holding it, “We’re at lunch right now, and this is Janelle in her natural habitat.” She turned the camera around and focused in on a close up of Janelle, who was sitting on top of a circular lunch table. She was surrounded by people, including the twins, all talking, laughing and occasionally throwing Cheetos at each other. Zac could barely breathe. His heart constricted every time she tossed her hair over her shoulder, or smiled and laughed at her friends’ antics. He couldn’t even explain the feeling deep in his stomach when some guy she was hanging out with made her laugh. It was like he was…jealous or something. Snap out of it. You haven’t even met the girl, he thought to himself. The tape faded to black once again and then lightened on what looked like a hallway. It was crowded, and Tori’s voice said, “Coming through, coming through, hot coffee, hot coffee… Oh, there’s our girl…”. The camera focused in on Janelle coming down the hallway from the opposite direction. She was talking to a different girl, but she was constantly interrupted by people calling out to her.
“Hi Janelle!”
“Hey, girl!”
“Hey Janelle!”
At that point, Janelle had said goodbye to her friend and drawn close enough to see Tori with the camera. “Oh my god, again with the camera?” she said, opening a locker and shoving a few books in.
“Nostalgia, remember? Now be a good girl and blow me a kiss.”
Janelle closed the locker and turned to the camera. Zac’s breath hitched as she smiled, blew a kiss, and finger-waved. The screen went black, and then re-opened once again in the bedroom, this time with all three girls seated on the floor.
“Okay, so now you’ve seen a few clips of Janelle, but we couldn't tape everything,” Kali said. “There’s a lot more stuff that’s really cool about Janelle. Like 3 days a week, she teaches children’s and intermediate dance classes at the Community Center after school.”
“And she’s brilliant! If she hadn’t helped me through Chemistry last year, I would’ve been held back,” Tori said.
“The point is,” Kendra said, “Janelle is a totally amazing person. And let’s be real, she‘s not exactly lacking in the looks department either. We read up on what kind of girls you like, and Janelle seems to fit the bill,” she said with raised eyebrows.
“Man, she is the bill,” Corbin said.
“Anyway, we just wanted to send in this tape because we think you and Janelle could have a lot of fun together, even if it’s only for one night.”
The other two girls were silent with confused looks on their faces, then burst into giggles. Kendra rolled her eyes. “Okay, that came out wrong, but you got what I was saying right? Right.” She picked up a tiny black remote. “We only showed you a glimpse of Janelle, and we didn’t even show you the best things. I guess you’ll just have to wait and see.” She finger-waved with a smile. “Later.”
“Bye!” The other girls said, and the tape went black.
No one said anything for a few moments, then Carol stepped forward and took the tape out of the VCR. “Well, that was definitely the most original of the bunch.”
“Where are they from?” Vanessa asked.
“Carol scanned the label. “Houston, Texas. Zac, it’s up to you. Whaddya think?”
Zac blinked, and then slowly grinned. “Yee haw.”