February 3rd (Trigonometry Class)

Dear Diary,

I feel so horrible...I don’t even know how it happened. I mean, it seemed like just yesterday when I was first accepted in the team for CressVille. And now, that jerk Sandra is telling me that I have to leave the squad because I stole her boyfriend! I mean, come on, he dumped her and then asked me out. It’s that simple...right?

This is how it all started...I was walking in the hallway with Rex (Sandra’s ex) and then Sandra came up to me and was all like, “Hey, Cristina…we need to talk about our cheerleading situation.”

Automatically, I thought about how we are short on time to be practicing our cheer because everybody was sick last month and finally made it to yesterday’s meeting. Of course, I was all serious and said, “Rex, I’m sorry but I have to go...this is a serious thing...I’ll see you later?”

“Sure, how about I pick you from your trigonometry class and walk you to lunch?” said Rex with a smile of pure sympathy. It was like he understood what was going on, and he felt sorry for me….I didn’t want him to feel sorry for me, so I gave him a quick smile and hug and said, “Yeah...see you later!”

So then Sandra pulled me into the staff lunchroom and gave me a serious look. I said, “So what are we going to do about the cheers? I think that we should meet everyday this week until the Cheer-Off. What do you think?”

Sandra gave me a look of mock pity. “Cristina, you don’t have to worry about this...I guess what I’m trying to say is that you’re kind of off the squad. The rest of the girls felt so bad that they said that you could pretend to be one the squad...you know...if you’re too embarrassed to tell anyone.” Sandra smiled sweetly. “I hope you understand.”

No! I don’t understand! Do you think anyone would understand? What have I done? All I have done is be real nice to you and you repay me by kicking me off the squad? Thanks! I totally understand. That is what I wanted to say, but of course, being brought up right by Mother, all I could say was, “Sandra, I guess I understand…”

Sandra gave me another Colgate commercial smile. “You really don’t get it, do you? Cristina, you don’t steal someone’s boyfriend and then expect to still be on the squad...? Of course, all the other girls think that you are off the squad because you’re too ugly. I couldn’t tell them the real reason why I—excuse me, we—kicked you off...that would be too shallow.” And with that, Sandra flipped her hair and walked off. No, that’s an understatement. Let’s say that again. And with that, Sandra flashed her hair in my face and sashayed off.

I couldn’t help it...I ran out of the staff lunchroom and bounded towards the bathroom. Of course, I ran smack into Char! Of all the people in the world, I had to run into Char! I was so embarrassed. Being one of my two best friends she automatically asked me, “Hey, Crissy, what’s wrong?”

Of course, I couldn’t bring myself to tell her, so I said, “Oh, my contact lenses were bothering me and the pain was so bad, I was crying.” I offered a weak smile. “Pretty pathetic, huh?”

She inspected me for a while and then said, “Yeah...it is. Well, we’ll see you at lunch, right?”

I almost said yeah, when I remembered what Rex had said. “Oh...about that. I can’t; Rex said he’d sit with me today...you know how big that is, since Rex is always hanging with his friends. He finally put in some time for me.”

Char nodded knowingly. She and her boyfriend Sean had had a really big fallout two months ago—about spending time with each other, so she knew what I was talking about.

“Well, I’ll see you after school! Oh yeah! Can’t; you have cheerleading practice until four! Well, me and Claire will meet you at Burgerlicious at 4:15pm as usual. See ya!”

“Yeah...4:15pm as usual.” was all I could say. And with that, we went our separate ways.

When I finally reached the bathroom, I realized that I was 15 minutes late for Trigonometry class with my favorite teacher (sarcastically speaking), Ms. Nornstock. She’s like sixty years old and not married and she was sent on this earth to bother teenagers like me! Of all the classes I could be late to!

So I quickly freshened up with my makeup and ran to class. Ms. Nornstock was just about to start teaching about the concept of an angle. When I had slipped into my seat, next to Claire (my other best friend), Ms. Nornstock called my name, “Cristina! I see that you are trying to avoid detention with your favorite teacher! How many have you accumulated this year because you had to freshen up?”

Everyone in the class except for Claire snickered. “Having a rough day, Crissy?” she whispered.

“Yeah…” that was all I could say in fear of pouring my heart out to her.

“So Cristina,” Ms. Nornstock said. “Can you answer me this, ‘What are the two commonly used units for when measuring an angle?’’”

“Well, Ms. Nornstock,” I began. “I sure can’t answer you that considering that I was thinking about how many detentions I have received on account of freshening up...but I can answer you this; Claire knows the answer.” The class snickered and I smiled confidently although I knew I was in for an hour’s worth of detention.

“That is so not good, Crissy. Don’t you have cheerleading practice today?” that was good old responsible Claire for you.

“Yeah, but I really don’t care. It has been so stressful for the past couple of days, I would rather go to detention.” It scared me how easily I could lie to my best friends. If I could like this easily to my friends, how easily could I lie to my enemies...like Sandra?

Claire gave me a sympathetic look and then said to Ms. Nornstock, “The answer is degrees and radians.”

All Ms. Nornstock said was, “I’m glad someone read and took notes on section 13.2 like I had assigned.” With that she started the lesson.