Sunday, August 18, 2013

POPULAR by SUMMER DAY (chapter ten: pop girls and princesses)


Chapter Ten
Pop Girls & Princesses     
    Tyler and Jessica had already started their portraits. Hilary, Flynn and I were yet to begin. Our friends were doing some photo collage project with alienation themes, and needed the morning light to catch their first images of each other. They’d gone to the library to fix their sepia portraits in quiet contemplation. I later found out Jessica kissed Ty then – so it’s starting to happen. Everyone’s in love. I’m so excited. Ty and Jess are about to become our first couple. I hope it doesn’t change the group dynamic. My records have shown for months that their combined skills and star signs make them a nearly perfect match.  
    Just as I was thinking about this, Flynn was smiling his devastating smile straight at Hilary. I could tell he was taken with Hilary’s new look. I’d convinced her to curl her hair with tongs and wear the shoes I’d suggested.   
     Flynn pulled off his sunglasses (after Ms Dash asked him to) and smiled winningly.
  Meanwhile, I’d just finished aggregating Hilary and Flynn’s matchmaker resume:
Hilary (New girl) Jones
  Age: fifteen
  Height: petite
  Weight: average
  Hair color: brown
  Looks: recently made over (cute image overall)
  From: mid-west
  Likes: art class, smiling, a few awesome bands that I am familiar with
  Hobbies: music, art, hanging with The Princesses

  Flynn (New boy) Elton
   Age: turning sixteen
  Height: way tall
  Weight: lean and muscular
  Hair color: brown
  Looks: like a Levis model
  From: Upstate New York – ejected from some boarding school – badge of honor?
  Likes: art class, smiling,  a few awesome bands that I am familiar with, clearly Hilary
  Hobbies: (so far), looking cool, being hot
  On a scale A Plus being the highest: I’d give him an A as there is always room for improvement.
  Perfect Match: once I have more scientific data, let you know. At the moment, it’s definitely Hilary – I mean, they look so sweet with their heads together peering at examples of awesome 1930’s photography.
   Prospects of a successful match: High

   Look at them, I mean, just look at them. They are like Darcy and Elizabeth or Bella and Edward or Chuck and Blair or…the girl with the red hair and the boy from Gossip Girl in Easy A. This is what I love about Ms Dash’s art class. The creative environment allows us to do more than just work towards finals. Ms Dash totally trusts us to work independently. For example, there are peeps working in corners, halls, cupboards, darkrooms, and even outside.
   Our group has opted for outside at Flynn’s suggestion. We’ve decided on a retro, Edwardian theme. Flynn says calling the portrait ‘Then and Now’ would be, “sort of cool.” I think it’s an inspired title, don’t you?
   “Guys, I need to make a phone call while you set up,” was all he said. Then, he was absent for at least ten minutes. It was apparent Flynn was part of an even cooler, extended school posse – something Ethan would never understand.  I mean, who is he kidding? Popularity is important. Ethan is proof of that, and so much more.
   As Flynn walked off, I wondered if the rumors were true. Did Flynn pay for his homework?

 Was that all he paid for? No way. Drugs are not cool, ever. Then I remembered, he’d told me 

he wanted to help out at the animal shelter but he never showed up. That wasn’t cool either, but 

it didn’t mean he was a wastrel. It just meant he was busy, something came up. After all, 

nobody’s perfect.