Everybody Hates First Girlfriends

Chapter 1 "I can't believe you missed the game of the season. It was incredible!" I said, as Greg and I walked toward our lockers. I started reenacting the last moments of the game for him. "Ten seconds left. The Knicks are down by three. Bernard King has the ball. He fakes, turns, and hits a three-point shot." I threw my hands in the air like I'd just made a basket. "All net. Ties the game. "Two seconds left," I continued. "Knicks have the ball and now they're down by two. The crowd is on the edge of their seats. It's so intense." "The ball is passed to King. He does a quick fake, runs down the clock, and boom, he lands another three-point shot. The crowd roars and the Knicks reign supreme!" As I released my air ball to shoot the winning basket, I rammed right into the school bully, Joey Caruso. "Oof!" When I turned around, my archnemesis, the redheaded terror whose life's mission was to torment me, was on the floor. He was stunned. My mouth was hanging open, and Greg looked like he was about to wet his pants. This was not the way I wanted to start my week. Then, just as I was about to mutter some sort of apology to stall the butt-kicking that would be coming my way, Teresa Johnson ran up to me and gave me a big hug. I managed a half smile as she nearly squeezed the life out of me. What was she doing here? Usually I'd welcome this type of attention from a girl, but this was Teresa Johnson, and I cringed. Since we were children, Teresa has had this thing for me, and I have never been sure why. Maybe I'm some sort of challenge. But she has always followed me around Brooklyn, pops up at my house unexpectedly, and calls me all the time. She definitely tops Tonya in being the most annoying female I know. There are many days when I hide behind garbage cans to avoid her. And I thought I was going to be free from her when I started going to Corleone Jr. High, on the other side of Brooklyn, far away from our Bed-Stuy neighborhood. But somehow she's managed to find her way here, too! "You saved me," Teresa said. "You're my Prince Charming." Obviously her version of what had happened was quite different from reality. She thought I'd knocked Joey down on purpose. Then, before I knew it, a crowd started forming around us. Uh-oh. This was bad. "You saw that guy harassing me and you came to my rescue," Teresa went on. "You were jealous, weren't you? I always knew you liked me. You were just playing hard to get." I couldn't believe what I was hearing -- and that half the school was hearing it too! Could this day get any worse? Then a voice came from the floor. "Chris, you're dead meat. I'm going to get you for this." Oh, yeah. I still had to deal with Joey. Usually I would be up and running by now, but that would be pointless. If I admitted that I hadn't been protecting Teresa, everyone would know that defeating Joey was a fluke. And for the first time, it felt good to be the one in control instead of the other way around. I decided to take advantage of being in the position of power. "Yeah, sure you're going to get me back," I told Joey in a fake brave voice. "You don't want any more of this." The crowd roared, and I felt like I really had made the winning shot, even though I was shaking inside. I looked desperately over at Greg, and he cocked his head toward the classrooms. It was probably a good idea to move on before Joey got up and called my bluff. Teresa whispered in my ear that she'd see her cute prince later. I was never so eager to get to class. During my next three classes, all I could think about was how Teresa managed to follow me to this school. I started to see her face in the strangest places. When I opened my history book, there she was grinning back at me. When I looked at the poster of the planets in science class, there was her face in place of Saturn. When I screamed, Mr. Burke yelled at me. I knew it was a sign of bad things tPride, Felicia is the author of 'Everybody Hates First Girlfriends ', published 2007 under ISBN 9781416937982 and ISBN 1416937986.