Page 106 of It's in the Contract
We’re almost to Suzy’s locker when I hear a wail coming from the girls’ bathroom.
Suzy looks at me with a raised eyebrow. “Does that sound like . . .?”
“I think so,” I say. “I’ll be right back.” I kiss Zeke on the cheek.
“Take your time, beautiful,” he says, standing there with an armload of my o-chem and calculus textbooks.
I walk into the bathroom. Brielle is crying on the tile floor, leaning against the wall, clutching her pink designer purse to her chest. Her blonde hair is perfectly curled, and she’s wearing a sequined white top and miniskirt that looks like it belongs more at the Homecoming dance than a regular day at school. Her head is lowered, so she doesn’t see me at first. I sit down next to her, ignoring the germs and other ick that we’re most definitely touching.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
Brielle jolts and looks up through her layers of blonde hair. Her face immediately screws up into a scowl. She quickly pushes her hair out of her face and scrubs her fingers under her eyes. “Ugh. What do you want?”
I shrug. “I heard someone crying and wanted to make sure you were all right.”
Brielle scowls and pulls out a compact mirror and tissues from her purse and dabs at her eyes. “That’s the problem with you, Callie. You’re just too freakin’ nice. It’s too hard to hate you.”
“Are you sad about Homecoming?” Maybe I’m probing too much, but I want her to know that I don’t have any hard feelings towards her. If she is angry at me, that’s her problem, not mine.
Brielle’s eyes well up with tears once more. She sighs and puts the mirror and wad of tissues back in her purse. “It’s just that . . . my mom won Miss America in her day, and she expectsso much of me. She expects me to want the pageant life just as much as she does, but I’m not sure if it’s what I want to do anymore. And she always looks down her nose at me and makes snide comments about how being in plus-size pageants isn’t real or isn’t as hard as pageants for “normal-sized people” and . . . and . . . it hurts so much.” Brielle’s voice rises in volume, and she chokes on a sob. “She makes me feel like I’ll never be good enough.”
“That . . . that’s awful.”
Brielle looks up at me, her mascara smeared, her face wary.
“I mean it,” I say. “And I get it. My mom puts a ton of pressure on me, too.”She used to,I mentally add, and I believe it. I really believe that things are going to change. “It’s incredibly hard to feel like you’re not good enough, to constantly be comparing yourself to her. To feel like you always have to put on a perfect face or the world will tear you apart. I understand.”
Brielle’s expression turns half-suspicious, half-hopeful. “You do?”
“Completely.”
Brielle’s eyes well with tears once more. Her voice is barely a whisper. “Thank you, Callie.”
I smile and stand. “You’re welcome. If you ever want to talk about it more, I’m here.” I wave a hand in front of my nose. “Also, why does this bathroom always,alwayssmell like someone just took a giant poo?”
Brielle laughs and stands next to me. “You’re right. It really does.” Then Brielle does something that utterly shocks me. She extends her arm, like she wants me to link elbows with her, and I do. We leave the bathroom together.
Suzy and Zekeare leaning against the lockers across the hall, Zeke still holding my armload of books. They’re talking and laughing, and I love that my best friend and my—eeep!—boyfriend get along so well.
Brielle waves goodbye with a smile, and the shock on Suzy’s face makes me laugh. I fill Suzy in on the surprising development that conversation took as we walk toward the lunchroom.
“I feel sorry for her,” I say. “I understand what that pressure is like.”
Suzy nods. “I know you do.”
“Hey, Callie!” Tom Sheppard waves from across the hall, where he’s standing with a group of his friends, holding a skateboard in one hand.
“Yeah, Tom?” I call.
“You were awesome at the dance! The way you stood up to Brielle even when she trash-talked you. So inspiring.”
“Thanks.” I turn to go.
“So how about asking your dad to get me that movie part?” Tom high fives one of his friends.
I turn back to him. “Not a chance!”
Tom’s mouth drops open. I walk by with a smile, Suzy and Zeke following close behind. Suzy covers her mouth to hide a laugh.
