The Diary of a Crazy Teenager

"You're senile" Laura blurted out the moment Betty strode away, dragging her last shred of dignity with her. She held her head high and placed a practiced smile on her face, acting as though the whole school hadn't seen what happened and they still loved her.

More like loved to shut her up, the girl was such a nuisance sometimes. A nuisance with a marvelous fashion sense.

"The last time I checked I was sane but who knows, you might be right" Alice said nonchalantly.

Laura glared at Alice and shook her head. "A few minutes ago, you said you weren't participating in the competition, more like–"hell would freeze before I participate in this competition"–and now, now we are."

"Well my dear friends, it seems hell has indeed frozen. Someone must have left the AC on." Alice said sweetly.

She knew what they were talking about but there was a slight problem. She didn't know why she said it. Yes, Betty was being a pain in the neck, nothing new for it was a second nature to her but that didn't mean she had to stoop to her level.

Veronica chuckled as she replayed the past scene in her head. "As much as I love shutting her up, you also made it clear we're going to participate in that contest so you have to be serious"

"I am serious "

Maybe a little, but she didn't need to know.

Veronica snorted at her reply "Like I'd ever believe that. You were determined that nothing can make you enter the competition..."

"And now..." Laura said, interrupting Veronica while stepping closer. "Now you announced to the school that we're participating in the competition and you're taking Betty down"

"Well I changed my mind, Ronnie was pretty persuasive" Batting her eyelash in the most ridiculous manner and feigning innocence, Alice hoped the conversation would come to an end.

Alice, turned to leave but paused when she began to process everything they were saying. "Wait a second, what do you mean by taking Betty down? I never challenged her."

"Well..."

Erica and, Veronica looked at each other and seemed to be communicating telepathically.

"Well? "

Laura placed her hands on Alice shoulder and shook her head.

"Well, you did"

"It's a shame I can't recall" Alice said.

"Then you must be having memory loss because you legit said you're taking her ass down"

"I must have hit my head on a wall when I made that diabolical statement because I have no desire or whatsoever to challenge her. It'll be a waste of my time."

Alice looked at a watch and groaned when she realized how much time had gone, she had biology in a few minutes and she'd love to get ready for that class.

"Well, we'll talk later, I've got to go"

Alice turned her back and began walking to her class. Hopefully no one had taken her...

"Hold your horses!"

Alice stopped and faced her friends. Veronica tapped her foot impatiently as she glared at her friends.

"You all have been talking about this competition but how are we going to compete if we don't even know what we're doing? Are we forming a group or is it individual? If it's a group, what's going to be the name and who's going to be the team leader?" she stopped to catch her breath and looked at everyone of them as if she were scolding disobedient children.

"...And most importantly, when are you guys signing? You do realize I'm the organizer so you have to sign in and then get ready for the audition to enter the big competition"

"Well, that was a long speech" Laura whispered sarcastically.

"Don't worry Ron, I'm sure you'll figure it all out " Alice said confidently.

"Me? Hell no."

"You're the one that got us into this mess, then fix it. Plan everything and get back to me. "

Now that was a genius plan.

Alice hurridely walked away before they could say anything, she had no plans to be late for class no matter how much she hated school.

As she neared the classroom, she began to question the logic behind her actions.

***

No one was home yet.

Alice placed her hair in a messy bun as she shut the front door of her house. Everywhere was quiet, peaceful and kind of creepy in a weird way. The only sounds that could be heard came from opposite her house and the sound of the song that was playing on her phone.

She strode towards the kitchen in the hopes of finding something to eat. Famished was an understatement of how she felt because if she were given a whole cow right now, she would finish it in one gulp.

She opened the fridge and brought out a carton of orange juice. She opened it and drank right from it, not bothering to use a cup. Her mother, wasn't around to scold her and give her lectures on manners or how to behave like a proper lady.

Like that could ever happen.

She wasn't a tomboy but growing up with a brother, and her male cousins who came over almost every weekend and holiday during her childhood, shaped her life.

At first, her mother had no problem with her male cousins coming over until she began noticing some strange behaviours in Alice. She stopped caring about her disorganized room and her wardrobe was always in a condition that was best left unsaid. She would swing her legs around forgetting that she was a girl and, was meant to sit properly.

After her mother's endless complaints on the aspect of her legs, she decided to come up the solution. She simply exchanged her skirts and gowns for jeans.

Genius right?

Now she didn't have to worry about showing the world her unmentionables but for some strange reason, her mother didn't seem pleased with her 'genius plan'. But after sometime, her mother stopped complaining and asking her father to talk to her.

Alice had felt maybe her mother was beginning to accept her for who she was but boy, was she wrong. Her mother had come up with a strategy to cure her baby from the madness.

Her mother gave her the opposite of what caused the problem. Instead of spending her weekends with her male cousins and her brother, she spent it elsewhere with her other cousins.

But there was just a slightly big difference. They were females, lots and lots of females. She was trapped in a world of glitter, perfumes, and endless talk about boys. The only advantage was that she could get whatever she wanted so she shopped almost everyday.

Deep down, she felt her mother's effort was futile and a waste of time. Nothing could make her change but again, she was wrong.

Soon enough, she started finding her male cousin's attitude irritating and surprisingly developed a love for skirts, really short skirts that got her mother worried.

Soon, she stopped going to her cousins place, her treatment was over and now she was beginning to gain some characteristics that was deemed unholy in the sight of all.

If being in love with short outfits was a sin, then she was a sinner.

But things changed when she got back home, she had lost her bond with Alex. They used to be inseparable when they were younger with him being a year older than her.

They did everything together and shared secrets like how he had bed wet himself during a sleepover at his friend's place with some other guys and exchanged the blanket for another boy's own. Till date the boy was still called; "Pee boy".

Or the time when she had farted in the classroom and it just had to diffuse. She was nicknamed fart girl and when Alex found out, he punched the boy who started the name. In their opinion, it was just a slight punch but that opinion wasn't shared by the boy's parents and the school because they were suspended and the boy began using glasses. Luckily, they moved into another town and it was never mentioned again.

But things were different. Yes, they still talked but not like how they used to. At first she felt the loss of connection with Alex and it broke her heart but after some time, she got used to it. As the years went by, they got closer although not as close as they used to be.

Alice smiled as more memories came into mind. She remembered being 11. She had contested in a beauty contest and she had won. Her mother had made the dress that she'd used to win and she cherished it with all her heart.

The gown was her most valuable asset when she was younger out of all her belongings and she had gone as far as framing the gown in her room. Alex thought she had gone crazy and assured her that he would cure her from such madness. So she being wise, hid the gown before he could do anything detrimental. It seemed to have altered his plan until something happened.

She met a boy who later became her boyfriend in the future, Eric. When they were little, she found him annoying and deemed him as having too few brain cells. But after his persistent disturbance for sometime, she decided to say something to him.

"Get lost you pest!"

Oh, such sweet innocent memories.

As time went on, they became friends although the only downfall was that he was also friends with her brother even though he was older than Alex.

She and Eric would always talk in school and each day, it seemed as if his brain cells kept increasing, he wasn't so bad after all.

Soon enough, they became close friends, really close and she began to trust him up to the extent she told him where she hid her gown. He had smiled that day and his eyes twinkled like he had just won a life time supply of chocolates but she brushed it off, it wasn't a big deal.

She should have known that Alex would never stop until he had gotten what he wanted. How he'd use any way necessary or any person at his disposal to win.

That fateful evening when her walls came crashing down, she was making pancakes with her dad. She was happily mixing the batter and whistling while her dad put the pan on the fire when the smell of something burning filled the kitchen. It wasn't the pancake because they were yet to put it in the oil so she ignored it and continued with her mixing. But when the smell grew stronger, she couldn't ignore it anymore and then she had a feeling that something was wrong.

Her dad told her to check what was happening at the back of the house and what Alex was up to again. She walked lazily up the stairs and down the corridor but stopped when she got closer to her room. Her room door was open.

Hurriedly, she walked into her room and crawled under her bed to bring out the box that she had hidden. She gently removed the straps that she used to fasten it but the straps were already loosened. She brought out the box and kept praying silently that her gown was intact. When she opened the box, she turned cold for it was empty.

Without wasting another minute, she flung the box across the room, and ran down the corridor and down the stairs. When she reached the back door, she flung it open. She kept running but stopped when she saw Alex dancing around a bon fire with something burnt, brown and ugly in his hand. She released a scream when she realized what it was, her gown.

And did that stop him? No!

He looked at her and smiled cruelly as he threw the gown into the flames. And her legs gave way as she fell on the ground, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Yes, she used to over dramatic

A pair of arms engulfed her in a hug but it didn't belong to her brother. She looked up and was shocked to see Eric. She was about to ask him what he was doing there until the truth dawned on her. He had betrayed her. He was pretending all along and didn't care about her one bit, it was all a perfectly planned out scheme by the brother.

She pushed him off and punched him in the face. She had been a fool to trust him. After that day, she refused to even look at him and that was how their friendship was broken.

As for Alex, she swore to herself that day to get her revenge on him, even if was the last thing she did.

Alice chuckled as all the memories came flashing back. Such blissful childhood.

Alice, shook her head and stopped the train of thoughts. She picked up her discarded bag and walked up the stairs to her room.

She took her phone from her bag and dropped it on her bed, dumped her bag somewhere in the room and jumped on the bed. This was what she needed after a long day, a very long day of happenings.

She imagined herself in a far away land, fighting dragons and beheading gigantic sea monsters. She smiled contently and closed her eyes as she began drifting off to sleep.

But her sleep was cut shut by the ringing of her phone. She opened her eyes angrily and glared at her phone for disturbing her.

The ringing soon stopped and she closed her eyes, ready to continue from where she stopped. But her phone rang again, and again, and again.

"Fine!" she shouted to no one in particular and took her phone, answering the call without checking who was calling her.

"You have thirty seconds to say whatever the hell you want to say before I haunt your soul!"

There was a familiar chuckle on the other side of the line. "If haunting my soul means I get to see you this night, then you might as well go ahead, bambi."

She stopped breathing as she heard the familiar melodious voice, the voice that gave her shivers.

"Eric?"