Hailey's surprise
The pristine looking package had come early that morning, and Brooklyn couldn’t wait to deliver it to Hailey. She could barely contain her excitement as her sleepy sister drove her into school. When she arrived at her rundown school, she spotted Katy and walked cheerfully over to her.
“I have the gift in my backpack,” said Brooklyn excitedly.
“She’ll love it!” Assured Rhonda as she walked up to them. They walked slowly into school together, and immediately located Hailey. She was chatting with her friend Peyton next to her locker.
“I’ll go give it to her,” offered Brooklyn. Peyton walked away as Brooklyn timidly came up to Hailey.
“Hi.” Said Brooklyn as she greeted Hailey with a smile.
“What do you want?” Snapped Hailey coldly.
“I know this is kind of random, but I found a really cool gift that I ended up buying for you,” mumbled Brooklyn awkwardly. Hailey rolled her eyes carelessly as Brooklyn meekly handed her the large package. Brooklyn stood in front of her in patient expectation of Hailey’s excitement. As Hailey leisurely unwrapped it, she tried to conceal her happiness, but wasn’t completely successful. She covered up her joy with a dark glower. Slowly, Hailey pulled out a brand new Spyder racing suit. Hailey would have been thankful if the gift had come from anyone other than Brooklyn and her friends.
She huffed at the speechless Brooklyn, and stalked off without even saying, “Thank you.” As Hailey stuffed the suit into her locker, she tried to contain her anger. She was furious towards Brooklyn for stealing her popularity, and didn’t like how no one seemed to notice her anymore. Ever since Brooklyn had become popular, she had thought she was being kind for attention. Now she wasn’t so sure. But if she was truly a kind person, then she would remain popular unless Hailey did something about it. Brooklyn had pretty much ruined her life, and one gift wasn’t going to change her hatred towards her.
Rhonda and Katy sat in language arts class and whispered to each other. “Do you think Hailey liked Brook’s gift?” Asked Rhonda.
“Maybe. She definitely likes skiing,” responded Katy.
“I’m not going to tell Brooklyn this, but I don’t think anything is going to change Hailey’s personality,” whispered Rhonda.
“You’re probably right, but knowing Brooklyn, she’s not going to give up,” stated Katy. Rhonda shrugged but looked slightly nervous.
In a dreary classroom downstairs, Hailey was getting excited about her gymnastics meet later that day. Finally somewhere where Brooklyn wouldn’t be hovering over her constantly. As she was thinking this, she remembered that a new girl had joined the team. This new girl happened to be Brooklyn’s friend Rhonda. She groaned as she remembered the incident that caused Hailey’s sudden dislike of Rhonda. Being tripped in a cafeteria full of kids who had nothing else to look at, certainly wasn’t fun. Whether it was an accident or not, Hailey would resent Rhonda for a long time.
When she arrived at her meet, she saw her friend Peyton and traipsed over to her cheerfully.
“I’m so excited!” Exclaimed Hailey with a rare burst of energy.
“Me too,” agreed Peyton.
Hailey glanced over to her right and spotted Rhonda. She promptly scowled in her direction, and spun around. Rhonda grinned and let out a small laugh. The frown on Hailey’s face darkened even more.
When it was time for the floor routine, Hailey got up and walked over to her coach. Her routine was almost perfect, but she slipped once or twice trying to do a backflip. When it was Rhonda’s turn for her routine, she eagerly hopped up onto the floor. She started with five flawless backflips, and went over to the edge of the floor. Hailey gazed in astonishment as Rhonda got a perfect ten for her routine.
After the floor routine, Rhonda prepared for the uneven bars. When Rhonda got up on the uneven bars, Hailey glowered even more. Rhonda made a flawless transition from the lower bar to the upper bar, and after many flips, she stuck her landing without wobbling. Hailey was now green with jealousy at how good she was at gymnastics. She wouldn’t look Rhonda in the eyes as she passed by her.
As Rhonda rode home that night, she talked to her mom about her first gymnastics meet with sparkling eyes.
“I think I actually did an okay job!” Commented Rhonda joyfully.
“I’m happy for you,” said her mom, Grace.
Hailey rode home that same night and didn’t talk to her mom. She was very grouchy after her meet, and nothing at all was going to change that. Her mom sensed that she didn’t want to talk, so she kept quiet. When she got home, Hailey huffed away to her room and slammed the door. She was mad at Rhonda for being such a good gymnast, and mad at herself for not being as good as she used to be in sports. And besides that, she wasn’t nearly popular as she had been before Brooklyn had infected her school.
She quickly checked her phone, but already knew that there wouldn’t be any texts or snaps from the few friends she still had. Hailey crawled into bed noiselessly, but didn’t go to sleep for a long time.
