Chapter 5: Brit Lit

I block my mother on all social media platforms. My I*******m account has been deleted, all thanks to Jeremy. He deleted it for me at Sammy's Sub Cafe.

Our friendship lasted for a day. One day of friendship, and now I miss it. Have I really deprived myself of human contact for no reason? Oh well, I will do better in college. It's only a year of loneliness, and then I will graduate at the top of my class.

I wish I had a reputation to protect. But it's been destroyed by my lack of fashion and having the world's most embarrassing mother.

The only friend I remember having was Maria Arby from Ashmore elementary school. Our friendship lasted for two years, from the fifth to the sixth grade. When middle school started, she got her period before I did. Her social status and popularity grew overnight. She outgrew her training bra, and by the end of sixth grade, she looked like a high school student.

Maria's inner circle was the KAT trio. When Maria became a woman, she didn't need My Little Pony anymore. She needed boys, spin-the-bottle, and dating. Sixth graders dated back then, and here I am, a senior who hasn't been kissed yet.

And the period I never got finally appeared in my junior year of high school. Womanhood blesses girls in the sixth grade or later to losers like me. It's a good thing I read a lot of books. I like libraries and hope to work for one as a librarian someday.

Jeremy and I ignore each other for the rest of the week. I'll take his secret about burning down the church to my grave. But, there's more to the story than he lets on. What motive would he have for burning down a well-loved church in a small American farm town? It just doesn't add up to me. It just doesn't seem right.

The scars on his forearms haunt my memories when I think of him. I don't have friends by choice, but Jeremey doesn't have friends because he is dangerous. Or so the KAT trio and vulture club claims.

If Jeremey is so dangerous, why did he understand me more than anyone during our one day together? I suppose we will never hang out again, and I will never get to find out the answer.

My Brit Lit class is awfully slow this morning. I usually enjoy references to Shakespeare. However, today's topic is Geoffrey Chaucer, the famous fourteenth-century writer. He observed people, watched them, and put them into his stories. It reminds me of Jeremey Davis and how he people watches from the perch of his big tree in Harris Park.

"Lily, tell us what you would do if you were Geoffrey Chaucer?"

Crap, I wasn't paying attention. I sure hope I can wing this.

"If I were Geoffrey Chaucer, I wouldn't write about people I know. Watching them is creepy enough. But adding them to his books without their permission bothers me."

My teacher, Mr. Cronkwright, lowers his spectacles and smirks.

"Are you calling Chaucer a creepy man?"

"Yeah, he is a creepy old man. Who does he think he is commenting on people's lives and acting like he knows who they are from a single conversation?"

My eyes find Jeremey's eyes. We both know I am referring to him and his comments about me in the park the other day.

"Did you enjoy reading the Wife of Bath?" Mr. Cronkwright asks me.

The truth is that story bored me to tears at the beginning of the summer. I might be a good student and get my work done. But if a piece of literature doesn't interest me, I don't retain the content.

"Not really. I found it rather dull."

Maybe I wasn't supposed to be so honest with my Brit Lit teacher. But I am eighteen, and I'm entitled to an opinion.

"Mr. Davis, if you were Geoffrey Chaucer, how would you use social media?"

Jeremy stares into my soul. I know he is plotting an embarrassing comeback for me.

"Well, for one thing, I wouldn't let people notice that I am observing them. I would do it from a high place. Maybe he would take a video of people and post it later on social media. As for me, if I were Chaucer, I certainly wouldn't let my mom post photos of me online next to my school bus driver."

The KAT trio claps and praises Jeremy for his comments about me. Ironically, he's the one who suggested I deleted I*******m, and now he's being an ass about it in front of all of them.

Jeremy has joined the vulture club. They will lend him a pair of wings and let him soar with the assholes until feeding time is done, and there are no scraps of me left for them to humiliate.

Mr. Cronkwright has no idea what's going on. It's clear by the confusion and blank stares on his eyebrows.

"I am not sure what you're saying. But thank you for sharing, Mr. Davis. Tomorrow we will begin reading Sir Gawain and the Green Knight."

I've read about the Green Knight so many times. Jeremy is like the Green Knight. He challenged me in front of everyone. When I accepted, he made me look like the bigger fool.

The bell rings. The first few weeks of school have been slow, friendless, and shitty.

"Lily, can you stick around for a minute? I need to ask you something?" Mr. Cronkwright says.

"Sure."

Being held up by a teacher is a blessing today. It means the KAT trio will leave me alone in the halls, and I can avoid Jeremy. I can't believe my almost only friend turned on me for the vultures.

"The peer tutoring program is starting up again soon. You were the Vice President of the club last year. With college around the corner, I was wondering if you'd be interested in leading the peer tutoring program this fall?"

The last thing I need is to be more involved. I used to think involvement was my ticket to friendship, but it never happened. Maybe I wasn't pretty enough, or perhaps I was too shy.

"That's nice of you to ask. But I'm not really sure if I want more responsibility this year. I'm already in charge of the anime club and creative writing club."

No wonder I don't have friends. I sound like a dork. But I love manga and stories. I wouldn't be me without them. High school sucks all the balls.

"Please, Lily. We need a senior with your grades and expertise to run this program successfully. The principal and I have also decided that the club needed a little change as well. The tutoring club will help tutor the detention kids. That won't be a problem, will it?"

"I haven't agreed to run the club yet, Mr. Cronkwright."

Mr. Cronkwright takes out a dry erase marker and writes the names of the regular detention students on the board. And there as broad as daylight is Jeremy Davis' name. I don't need more time with that Geoffrey Chaucer wannabe.

He's lucky I don't go turning his ass in for burning the Vineyard church down. Why did he have to tell me that? Is he testing my loyalty? Crap, what if he made the whole thing up? Am I that gullible?

"Okay, Mr. Cronkwright. You've won. I'll do it. I'll be the club president. My only request is that you allow me to assign the partners for the semester."

"Of course. I can allow that for the President of the Peer Tutoring Club."

He pats my back as I turn to leave. I can't help but feel like I've just been conned into a terrible semester of tutoring hell. I guess only time will tell if tutoring the detention rejects is a good idea. I guess one more distraction is all I need to hide the fact that I have no real friends in Ashmore Highschool.