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The next morning, Jordyn woke up early, got dressed, and ate breakfast. By the time Adrian had woken Lyndsay up with his morning climb into mommy’s bed, Jordyn was completely ready for school. She had decided to walk to school, so she wouldn't have to see Kirk on the bus. Also, she wanted some time to herself to figure out what to do. Kirk was in half of her classes, and the lunchroom table they had shared since 7th grade was a combination of both his friends and her friends. I could find another table for me and my friends to sit at, she concluded, but, our separate groups aren't really separate anymore. They've become one big group of friends. It wouldn't really be fair to split them apart. Jordyn continued to walk in the slightly chilly February breeze, thankful that it wasn't snowing or raining. She had enough to deal with without arriving to school soaked and shivering.

Walking past the bookstore, which was a few buildings before the Coffee House, Jordyn thought she saw the owner of the bookstore in her hometown of Santa Rosalia, Mexico. He was walking into the store, and all Jordyn could see was his back. No, that couldn’t be Mr. Harrison, Jordyn concluded when the man had entered the store. She continued walking down the sidewalk, but when she reached the Coffee House, she stopped. How could I possibly have forgotten? Not only do I have to try to avoid Kirk, but I have to endure Jenna's teasing about what happened at the Coffee House.

Once at school, Jordyn kept a lookout for Kirk or Jenna, as she made her way as quietly and as quickly as she could to her locker. Once there, she grabbed the books she needed for her morning classes, stuffed them into her orange and pink plaid book bag, and safely made it to her classroom before she had a chance to run into Jenna, Kirk, or any of their friends. Neither of them were in her homeroom, nor her first period English class, so she didn't expect to have to worry until second period, when she would have to sit between them in Spanish class.

However, her theory was soon proven wrong. While Jordyn waited for class to begin, and reading “Quotes and their Owners”, which she had stuffed in her book bag before leaving the house, Missy Thomas approached her desk. Jordyn had forgotten that one of Jenna’s many followers was in her homeroom. She braced herself for trouble.

“Good Morning, Jordyn.” Missy smiled sweetly. She’s up to something, Jordyn thought. Our relationship has always consisted of nothing more than Missy laughing at me.

“Morning, Missy.” Jordyn decided to play along with Missy’s charade, while still braced for the inevitable.

“I was wondering if you could help me with number three on the homework we had in Spanish over the weekend. I looked at it for hours and still couldn’t figure out how to translate it.” Missy placed her Spanish textbook on Jordyn’s desk.

Jordyn was shocked. Missy isn’t here to make fun of me; she just needs help on a Spanish problem. Jordyn looked at the book, and read number three. And who can blame her? Conjugating verbs in Spanish is tough. Jordyn looked at Missy’s attempt at the answer.

“Well, I can see how you might get that answer by just looking at the first sentence, but if you translate the next sentence, you’ll see that the verb in that sentence is in past tense, so that means the verb in the first sentence must be past tense also, right?”

“Oh my goodness, you are so right! I never thought of doing it like that, but it makes total sense.” Missy hit her forehead with her palm, “I swear I am horrible at Spanish! Thank you so much, Jordyn.” Missy smiled and picked up her book.

“No problem. Don’t worry, you just need practice. I use to live in Mexico, plus I’m half Mexican, so that’s the only reason it’s easy for me.”

“Oh, you’re being modest. Even if you hadn’t grown up in Mexico or anything, I bet you’d still be a wiz in Spanish. You’re so smart in every subject. How can I thank you for helping me?”

Deep down, Jordyn knew she had to watch out for Missy. Missy was practically Jenna's clone. She was bound to be up to something. However, Jordyn was so excited that someone appreciated her that she let her guard down. “You don’t have to do anything for me. I’m glad I could help.”

“…Oh, I know.” Missy took a carton of chocolate milk from her pocket and set it on Jordyn’s desk. At first, Jordyn was confused as to why Missy would give her a carton of milk, but when she looked around at the rest of the class, she realized the reason. Apparently the entire class had been watching Missy and Jordyn, and now they were all trying their best not to burst out laughing. Missy smiled mischievously and walked to her seat in the back of the room.

“Hey, Jordyn,” a boy sitting to Jordyn’s right called, loud enough for the entire class to hear, “got milk?” On that note, the classroom filled with cries of laughter and chants of ridicule directed at Jordyn. Just as Jordyn thought she was going to start crying and embarrass herself even more, the teacher walked into the room. Suddenly, the room was a quiet and orderly classroom once more, except for the occasional whisper and suppressed chuckle when the teacher turned her back to write on the marker board.

By the time homeroom was over, Jordyn was ready to leave school, but she tried to stay calm for fear of giving Jenna and the rest of her tormentors the satisfaction of getting the best of her.




During second period Spanish, the Principal’s Secretary, Mrs. Monroe, came into the classroom and asked the Spanish teacher, Mrs. Rodriguez, if she could take someone for the remainder of the period. Mrs. Rodriguez obliged, and Mrs. Monroe looked around to see who she might take. Of course, Jordyn was the first to raise her hand.
“Ok Jordyn, come with me, please.” Jordyn jumped up and quickly followed the secretary out of the room. When they walked into the Principal’s Office, Jordyn was confused.

It was completely free of any personal belongings. All that was in the room was a clutter-free desk, a brand new desk chair, an empty book shelf, and a filing cabinet without anything laying on it. Jordyn wondered where everything was. Where are the usual papers on the desk and filing cabinet? Why isn’t the principal’s calendar on the wall? What about his personal pictures of his family on his desk and bookshelf… and why is his bookshelf completely empty? …Where is he, anyway? Jordyn had been the Principal’s aide during 7th period all year. She hadn’t heard anything about him renovating his office, and definitely nothing of leaving the school. As Mrs. Monroe led Jordyn into her office, Jordyn caught sight of a stack of papers on her desk.

“I would like for you to take as many of these fliers as you can and tape them on the walls in the hallways.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Jordyn picked up a handful of the fliers and a tape dispenser and walked out into the hallway. As she taped the first flier to the wall, she read its contents:


Dear Students and Teachers,

I, Mr. Jones, regret to inform you that I will no longer be your principal. My daughter gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, whom she named Elvira Marie Johnson, and since her husband passed away three months ago due to cancer, she has no one else to help her take care of the baby, as well as everything around the house. Therefore, I am relinquishing my beloved job as the principal at Oceanside High School in order to move to Amarillo, Texas, to help take care of my first grandchild.

Not to worry, I met a remarkable principal while attending my last seminar and the School Board has decided to hire her for the job. I know you will make her feel as welcomed at Oceanside as I have felt over the years.

Your former principal,
Mr. Roger Jones


I didn’t know Mr. Jones left. I wonder who the new principal is. I hope she’s as nice as Mr. Jones. Jordyn hung fliers until the class bell rang. She ran to Mrs. Monroe’s office and grabbed her books she had left in there, and headed to her third period math class, where she was sure she would have to withstand more teasing.



By lunch, Jordyn had honestly had enough. She had discovered that Jenna didn’t just tell everyone she had spilled milk all over herself at the Coffee House, but that, as she was walking out of the building, she became so embarrassed that she wet herself and started crying. Apparently Jenna had spread this information the evening before, because many students, many of whom Jordyn knew to have baby brothers, sisters, nieces, or nephews, had brought diapers to school and handed them to Jordyn when no teachers were around. She could no longer stand it. It had to stop. She found Jenna sitting at her usual cafeteria table surrounded by her many clones and admirers.

“Jenna, can I talk to you?” Jordyn felt like she was going to scream.

Jenna smiled at her group of friends and stood up, “Why sure, Jordyn,” she saw the frustration in Jordyn’s eyes and returned it with an overly friendly smile that made Jordyn even more enraged. “What can I do for you? Are you feeling okay, Jordy? You look kind of… upset,” Jenna pretended to be baffled by Jordyn’s anger, but Jordyn knew she was secretly enjoying the fruits of her labor.

Jordyn took a deep breath, “You know what, Jenna. This is ridiculous. Why do you insist on tormenting me? We use to be the best of friends, what happened?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I simply told some of my friends what I saw at the Coffee House, that’s all.” She paused to smile back at her friends. “I didn’t mean for it to turn into the entire school laughing at you. I’m so sorry.” Her voice was as sincere and honest as it was in the principal’s office on their first day of High School.

“Jenna, please! Just… just tell everyone the truth. Please?” Jordyn’s anger was dying down. She was tired. Of everything. Now she just wanted her best friend back. She remembered elementary, when she and Jenna would do anything for each other. She glanced at Kirk. He was laughing along with the other members of Jenna’s entourage.

“What truth?” Jordyn could see the wheels turning in Jenna’s head. “Oh, you must mean the truth about how you knew I liked Kirk in 5th grade, yet you went after him anyway.”

Jordyn couldn’t believe it, “W… What? That’s not… I didn’t… Jenna, you never told me. How was I supposed to know?

“Whatever. You knew.” Jenna looked at Kirk’s shocked face. “Yeah, I liked you. I’ve liked you ever since I first saw you,” she paused to think, “but Jordyn never did. The only reason she said yes when you asked her out in 6th grade was because we had just gotten into an argument and she wanted to get back at me.”

“That’s a lie. I would never do that to you,” she looked into Kirk’s eyes. "Jenna, I just wanted you to tell…”

“Oh, was that not the truth you were talking about?” She stifled a giggle. “My bad. Well, maybe you wanted me to tell everyone about your parents.”

“What about my parents?” Jordyn had no clue where this was going, but she knew she wouldn’t like it.

“I just thought that maybe you wanted everyone to know who you really are. How your parents aren’t your real parents. Your real parents didn’t want you, did they?”

“What? How did you…? Who…?” But she already knew that Kirk must have told Jenna about how her biological father abused her, and how her mother took her to an orphanage and left her there. “When did…? Why?” Jordyn was so angry and confused. “Kirk, how could you?”

“Yeah. Can you believe that? You spend four years with a guy, and suddenly he breaks your heart and tells your deepest secret. Oh, by the way Jordyn, your parents don’t want you anymore. Can’t you tell? They haven’t wanted you for years. Kirk told me how they’ve been so busy with Adrian, that they don’t pay much attention to you anymore. They probably just adopted you because they couldn’t have a child of their own, anyway. That’s what Kirk thinks.”

Jordyn couldn’t believe what was happening. I just wanted her to stop telling everyone lies about what happened at the Coffee House, but now she’s telling everyone a whole new set of lies! I loved Kirk; I would never use him. And I didn’t even know that Jenna ever had a crush on him.

And my parents: Is it possible that Jenna’s right about my parents? I mean, of course my biological parents hated me. Anyone that knows the story there would be able to see that, but do Mom and Dad really love Adrian more than me? It certainly seems that way. But, then why did they adopt me? Oh sure! They say that they love me just as if I were their own flesh and blood, but… I don’t believe it. The second they knew about Adrian, I could tell that he was more important than me. And why not? He’s their son. Their son! Not some other child that came from a troubled background. They could teach him things; things that I already knew before they met me. They could watch him grow up. See all his firsts. They had no choice but to accept me for who I already was. Most of my firsts had already happened, and I was just someone to fill in for the role of child in the family, an extra mouth to feed and someone to care about when they couldn’t have a child of their own. I’m surprised they didn’t give me back to the orphanage when Adrian came along.

The entire time that Jordyn thought about the reasons why Lyndsay and Shawn would love Adrian more than her, Jenna was scheming. “Oh, did I upset you?” Jenna decided to take advantage of Jordyn’s silence. “I’m so sorry. Here, you can wipe your tears on this,” she handed Jordyn a paper napkin.

“I’m not crying.” Jordyn still didn’t understand what Jenna’s overall reason for torturing her was, but while she’d been thinking about her parents, Jordyn’s head had begun throbbing and was quickly getting worse. She didn’t know how much longer it would be before she did start crying.

A few seconds later, Jordyn could no longer comprehend what Jenna was saying. All she could tell was that everyone was still laughing at her, and Jenna was the cause of it all.



The next thing Jordyn knew, she and Jenna were sitting in the principal’s office, and Jenna was holding a blood-stained paper towel under her nose. They were waiting in silence for the new principal, who had apparently arrived right before lunch and was currently visiting with the teachers in the Lounge.

“Wha… what happened?” Jordyn asked before she looked over and saw Jenna’s bloody nose. “Oh crap, did I punch you?! Jenna, I am so sorry! I can’t believe I did that. It’s just… I had a major headache… and you…”

“Save it, Jordyn. You’re gonna get it now. I hope you get expelled,” Jenna smiled from ear to ear.

“Wh…” Jordyn finally understood, “This was your plan all along, wasn’t it? To get me to hit you, so that I’d get in trouble.” She paused. “But… why?”

“Oh my gosh, Jordyn, are you really that dense? I’m not going to let you steal Kirk away from me. He’s mine now. You had your chance.”

“What? You think I would try to steal him away from you?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, he was your boyfriend for four years.”

Just then, the principal walked into the room. Upon first glance, Jordyn was sure that she knew this woman, but with her splitting headache, she was unable to think of who she could be.

“My name is Mrs. Chavez, and I’m your new principal. Now, I understand that there was an incident in the cafeteria. Care to explain?” She looked at Jordyn, but Jordyn couldn’t bring herself to respond; she had realized who this woman standing before her was; Jordyn’s headache disappeared, but she suddenly felt very ill.

She glanced down at one of the files laying out on her desk, “Jordyn? Care to explain why you hit…” she looked at the other file, “Jenna?”

“Ma’am, let me explain…” Jenna started to say, but Mrs. Chavez quickly stopped her.

“No. Thank you, Jenna, but I asked Jordyn. I’d like her to explain the reason for her immoral act,” she returned her gaze to Jordyn, who was still sitting in silence.

“Jordyn, I really didn’t want to have to be the bad guy on my first day, but if you don’t cooperate, I’ll have no choice but to suspend you.”

Jordyn opened her mouth to speak, “I… Jenna… she… she humiliated me… in front of everyone,” she finally managed.

“That’s no reason to hit her. You could’ve just talked to her, calmly and rationally.”

“I tried that!” Jordyn’s speech had definitely come back, “That’s why I was even at her table in the first place! She was spreading rumors about me, and I asked her to stop. I even said please. But no! She started spreading even more lies about me right there in the lunchroom!”

“Well, I’ll need more evidence of these lies in order to deal with Jenna, but you… I think that the rest of the school day in the In-School room will help teach you not to hit. You may go to your locker and grab any homework you may have, but then I want you to go straight to the In-School room. I’ll call Mr. Lawson and inform him that you’ll be there shortly. Jenna, why don’t you go to the nurse and have her look at your nose.”

Jordyn was baffled as she walked to her locker. Did she recognize me? She must have, why else would I be sentenced to half a day of In-School while Jenna is considered the victim? Mr. Jones would have called in a witness to figure out the truth of the matter, before sending someone to In-School. He would have listened to both sides of the story, not just punished the first person to cause physical harm.

When she entered the In-School room, Jordyn signed in and took a desk in the back of the room. She reached into her book bag, took out “Quotes and their Owners,” and began reading. ‘Everyone is a friend, until they prove otherwise - Author Unknown.’ Well, Jenna has certainly proven otherwise, she thought.

For the rest of the day, Jordyn sat in the In-School room, thinking about how stupid it was to hit Jenna; about how unfair it was that Jenna hadn’t been punished as well; about what her classmates were doing; about what Jenna and her cronies were saying; about her Spanish and Math homework she really should be doing, but didn’t really want to. Whatever Jordyn thought about, she tried her best not to think about the fact that Camille Chavez, her biological mother, was now the principal of Oceanside High School.