I snatched the magazine from her hand. "Stop flirting with him!" I commanded.
"What do you care? You already have a boyfriend."
"I feel sorry for you" I shook my head sadly, as if she were the most pathetic thing on Earth.
"Do I detect a hint of jealousy?" There was a wry smile on her lips. I wanted to scratch it off.
"You're the one who's jealous."
"No, I'm happy for you and your boyfriend. Be happy for me. I think I found someone."
What could I say? She was obviously baiting me.
"Okay. If you want Baron he's yours. We'll have to double date sometime," I added sweetly.
"Yes. I hear there's a new zombie flick coming to the Cine-plex. I'm sure Dirk will eat it up," she replied with equally sweet venom.
We smiled in each other's faces. There would be more to come.
Later that night, as I lay in bed, my mind drifted back over the evening's events: the trip to Dirk's house, meeting his mother, being attacked and nearly killed by his sister. But the event that played out over and over in my mind like something out of the movie Groundhog Day was Baron and Sybil holding hands and caroling down the street.
He called her "Cute Stuff."Hypocrite.
Without thinking, I got out of bed, opened my closet door.
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and looked at myself in the mirror. Back in the eighth grade I'd had the mirror moved from the outside to the inside of the door so I wouldn't have to look into it all the time. I didn't enjoy mirrors the way I'm sure Amanda Culpepper did. They'd never been a great friend to me. But tonight 1 couldn't help myself.
I peered at myself in my shorts and tank top PJs. My fleshy arms, my large thighs. The tiniest ripple of fat peeked out from under the top. I sucked in my tummy and pulled the top down over it.
I imagined I saw the reflections of Sybil and Baron standing behind me, holding hands and singing "0 Come All Ye Faithful" with great joy. She was rosy-cheeked and thin; even in her bulky winter overcoat she appeared svelte--no fleshy arms, no large thighs.
"Fools," I said out loud. "Beauty and the Geek. They deserve each other." With an angry chuckle, I closed the closet door and went back to bed. I could still hear them singing.
SES) Sybil had gone strange on me. There was no other way to put it. Now that she had a boyfriend of her own she'd become distant. When we traveled around the school she wore a perpetual frown on her face. And the moment she was in the cafeteria it was as if she'd entered her own private domain.
Zombies were no longer allowed to sit with their cliques. She patrolled the cafeteria like a demon possessed, thumping her gum foil badge and forcing Goths to sit with emos, jocks with nerds.
"Keep it down over there," she called to me one day as she patrolled. I'd been laughing--not too loud, there were zombies around, but obviously too loud for Deputy Dawg. "What's so funny anyway?" she asked. Okay, I admit I was laughing at
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her. But I just couldn't get over how seriously she took her role of lunchroom monitor.
"Dirk just told the funniest joke ,"I said.
"Dirk is a zombie!" She practically spat the words at me.
"I know. That's what made it so funny. The punch line was 'Mmmmmmaaaargh!' Hysterical." I laughed freely, pretending I was laughing at the ridiculous punch line. She rolled her eyes and zombie walked away.
On another day she brought her iPod docking station to school. She set the speakers up on a table at the front of the cafeteria. Then she put in her iPod and cranked the music all the way up. Tom Jones' "She's a Lady" filled the air.
The zombies were suddenly jarred from their stupor. They began growling and twitching. I got up and zombie walked over to her.
"What are you doing?"
"Adding a little joy to this gloomy lunchroom. Who can resist Tom Jones?" Sybil replied. She began swaying to the music.
"They can," I replied, pointing at the zombies, who were growling. They shook their heads and swatted at the air around them. I snatched Sybil's iPod from the docking station. The music abruptly stopped.
"What did you do that for?"
"They were going to attack us."
"No, they were not. They were enjoying themselves, unlike some people who seem to have forgotten how."
"Why are you trying to get under my skin? Isn't it enough that I let you