Authors: Lauren Shelton
When she finally found her class on the second floor of
the main building, Gertrude quickly entered the room
and sat down in the same brown desk she had chosen the
day before, and waited for the bell to ring. Gertrude hated
waiting, but at least she wasn’t lost, and anything was
better than that. Other students slowly made their way
into the room, chatting and laughing, as she watched,
feeling slightly out of place with no one to talk to.
The class went by in a rush. The teacher, Mr. Kushner
⎯ Gertrude fumbled through her mind trying to remember his name⎯ talked about politics and the stock market. He asked her a question she pretended not to know
the answer to and then ignored Gertrude for the rest of
the period. She returned the favor, copying down notes
written on the whiteboard, remaining silent in her seat all
while he turned to call on the raised hands of other students.
Gertrude instantly gathered that Mr. Kushner was the
kind of teacher who had favorites, the ones he always
called on because they knew the answers to every question. She was glad she had just narrowly missed becoming
one of those students. Gertrude didn’t like being a suck
up ⎯ a teacher’s pet⎯ and she definitely never liked being called on when she hadn’t raised her hand. It made
her feel as though she was put on the spot with every single person staring at her like a caged animal at the zoo.
Second period was English. Again, Gertrude managed
to arrive pretty early to class, getting her first choice on
where to sit. She was the only other person in the room
besides the teacher. When the passing bell finally rang
and the rest of the students piled into the classroom, Gertrude watched them in silence as they found their seats
quickly. This class also happened to be the first class
where someone besides a teacher decided talked to her.
“Hi, my name is Bethany,” said a lanky, blue eyed,
blonde-haired girl as she sat in the seat to Gertrude’s left.
To her surprise, she had actually recognized the girl.
Bethany was the girl who had sat in front of Gertrude
the day before, completely ignoring her. But for some reason, Bethany felt compelled to sit next to her today. Gertrude
looked
over
at
her,
watching as
she
fumbled
through her small pink Coach purse, pulling out a small
tube of sparkly pink lip-gloss.
Bethany was wearing a strappy pink tank top with a
white cardigan over it. On the bottom, she wore a blue
denim mini skirt, and a pair of white lacey wedges. It
seemed odd to Gertrude that she was wearing something
more suitable for warmer weather, but she thought maybe Bethany’s body was acclimated to the chilling temperature, assuming she had grown up here.
“What’s your name?” Bethany asked, enthusiastically,
holding out her hand, waiting for Gertrude to take it.
“Gertrude.
Gertrude
Mason,” she
replied,
grabbing
Bethany’s open hand. “But I prefer Tru.”
“Where are you from?”
Bethany released Gertrude’s
hand and then applied her lip-gloss, still staring at Gertrude intently.
“San Diego.” It sounded like a disease the way she had
said it, but it was only because of the way Gertrude had
felt when she was living there. Gertrude anxiously looked
at the clock on the wall behind the teacher. Barely five
minutes of class had passed.
“Why did you move here?” Bethany badgered. “Of all
the places you could have moved to.” She pushed the tube
back into her purse, replacing it with a mechanical pencil.
Woodcrest Hills was not exactly a tourist hotspot. It
was located about half an hour north of the Montana and
Idaho border, high in the mountains, completely surrounded by forest. It was cloudy and rainy, with the occasional sun during the summer, and snowstorms during
the winter. It was a small town, there couldn’t have been
more than three thousand people that lived in the town
year round, but it was old and had a personality of its
own.
“I needed to be away from my mom for a while.” Gertrude turned to look at Bethany with a blank stare on her
face. Bethany quickly looked away, embarrassed that she
had brought up what was obviously a touchy subject for
Gertrude. But Gertrude wasn’t embarrassed. She wasn’t
afraid of telling people the truth. She had never lied before, so why start today?
But
before
Gertrude
could
finish
her
explanation,
Bethany spoke again. “Oh, I see.” Her voice was a little
quieter than before. But after a few minutes of silence,
she continued on. “So do you have any brothers or sisters?” she asked.
“No,” Gertrude replied. “Just me.”
“I have two brothers,” Bethany said slightly boastful.
“They’re
jerks sometimes,
but
I
love
them.” Bethany
looked up at the white board, copied down a few lines,
and then looked back at Tru. “So do you like it here?”
“Yeah, I mean, it’s definitely different.” Gertrude didn’t
know how to answer the question. She
was
happier now,
she just wasn’t sure if she would ever
truly
like Woodcrest Hills.
But, as Bethany continued to ask, Tru continued to
answer each and every single one of her questions, without hesitation, as she waited for the class to finish and the
passing bell to ring. If Bethany felt it was odd that Gertrude hadn’t asked her a single question in return, she
didn’t show it. She just listened intently as Gertrude divulged her entire life story.
“So, what’s your next class?” Bethany asked when the
bell finally rang.
Gertrude quickly packed up her books and slung her
backpack over her shoulder. Bethany, too, picked up her
own belongings, shoving her pencil back into her purse,
as Gertrude followed her out of the classroom with her
books tightly pressed against her chest.
“Math with Mrs. Stubs.” Tru replied when they made it
out into the crowded, enclosed hallway.
“Oh! I thought I had seen you in another class!”
“You’re in that class, too?” Tru asked. She immediately
felt bad that she hadn’t even noticed Bethany was in another class with her.
“Yup,” Bethany said with a smile on her face. “Well, I
guess we can walk there together.”
Gertrude was slightly happy she had suggested it, that
way she wouldn’t have to embarrass herself by pulling the
folded map out of her back pocket. Tru could follow Bethany, casually pretending she already knew the way.
As the two girls walked to class, two more girls quickly
joined their sides. They looked like they belonged to part
of Bethany’s posse based on what they were all wearing ⎯
miniskirts, flowery spaghetti-strapped shirts, and pink
headbands in their hair. Gertrude instantly felt out of
place in her plain white, loose fitting t-shirt, dark colored
hoodie, and faded blue jeans.
And the minute they started walking with them, Gertrude felt as though she had been transplanted into the
middle of a classic teenybopper movie.
The three girls glided across the glossy linoleum floor,
in unison, in their strappy heels, waving at the other students as they passed by. Their hair flowed through the air
as they walked on their long, fake tanned, bare legs, making it slightly harder for Tru to keep up. Her shorter fivefoot, seven-inch stature looked even shorter next to their
Amazonian-like figures. Tru watched them walk on either
side of her, realizing how invisible she was to everyone
else when she was in their presence.
When the four of them arrived to their next class, they
sat at the back of the room so the girls could spend the
entire hour and thirty minutes asking the same questions
Bethany had asked, and then some. These girls were
much more curious than any other girls Tru had ever met
before. But then again, she had never really hung out with
girls before. Tru kept to herself usually, spending most of
her spare time in the library, reading, finishing homework, doing anything to keep herself occupied.
When Math was over, along with another long and boring interrogation, Bethany, pulled Tru toward the back of
the room as the rest of the class emptied through the door
at the front of the room. The other two girls stood behind
Bethany, smiling creepily in Tru’s direction.
“We want you to eat lunch with us today.” Bethany
looked back at the two girls before she continued, “don’t
we, Ladies?”
Tru slightly laughed. Bethany reminded her of a modern day ⎯ and definitely perkier⎯ Rizzo, with the
lessbadass
Pink Ladies, standing wide eyed behind her.
They shook their chins up and down in unison, so that
their heads looked like bobble toys, with smiles on each of
their rosy, overly made-up faces.
“Oh, okay, sure.” Tru replied, with a moment of hesitation.
Sandra-D, watch out, ‘cause here I come.
“Okay, we’ll see you in a few hours!” Bethany said as
the three of them walked to the front of the room, heading off to their next classes. When they were out of sight,
Tru exited the room, and made her way to her next class.
She slyly removed her map, glancing at it quickly before
placing it back in her pocket.
As Tru meandered through the hallway full of students,
she
thought
about
what
had
just
happened.
She
was
shocked that they would actually want
her
to sit with
them at lunch. She had sat alone the day before, with her
back shoved in a corner of the great room, facing the rest
of the cafeteria. The school was so small that people were
bound to notice that she wasn’t very social.
So why did they choose me? I definitely don’t fit in
with them. I look nothing like them! They are
Barbie
dolls
, and I am
G.I. Jane
.
Realizing she was overthinking the whole situation,
Tru walked silently down the hall. Even though the school
was small, she still managed to get shoved every now and
then. The students around her were in such a hurry that
they didn’t even think twice about the fact that they had
almost completely knocked her to the ground, more than
once.
Tru sat in both of her Science and Spanish classes
alone, listening to the teachers drone on. The classes that
had been selected for her were much too easy, and the
school lacked any form of advanced placement classes.
Tru gathered that there weren’t enough advanced students at the school to take them, so having classes like
that would have been pointless.
Finally, the lunch bell rang. As Tru walked out of the
main building and across the open, circular quad to the
cafeteria, she could see Bethany and her friends waiting
for her by the bright red, open cafeteria doors.
When they had reached a rectangular table ⎯ almost
perfectly center in the large, white and red themed room
⎯ Tru pulled out a chair, took a seat, and unzipped her
backpack to reach for her wallet. But when she inserted
her hand, Tru felt something papery against her fingertips. She pulled the paper out of her backpack, realizing
that her
grandmother
had
slyly
packed
her
a
sacked
lunch. As the girls continued talking around her, Gertrude began slowly munching on her peanut butter and
jelly sandwich.
Tru wasn’t used to girl talk. Fashion this, boys that, it
just didn’t make any sense to her. Most of the boys they
talked about had been boys they had crushes on, the same
boys they had known since kindergarten, and Tru was
completely out of the loop. She still didn’t really know too
many people, but she sat there anyway, listening, and
hoping she might possibly learn something.
The blonde girl continued, “well, Mark heard from
Zach that Christine told Justin that Hailey was single, so
Justin grabbed his brother ⎯ who you know has had a
crush on her for like ever⎯ so they are going out now.”
She rambled on, hardly taking any breaths as she spoke.
“Oh my God,” Bethany said.
“Yeah, I know right?”
Tru watched the three of them as they continued. She
felt like she was in a new episode of
Laguna Beach
, listening to a bunch of gossip. She almost wanted to yank
out her hair, but she resisted the urge, smiling and nodding along as she ate the remainder of her lunch.
Tru had only two more classes after lunch, and sitting
through them, waiting for the day to end, was like waiting
for grass to grow. She hardly liked school, and remembered the days when she used to beg her parents to put
her into home school, away from the students, away from
the teachers.
When school
had
finally ended, Tru decided to save
her grandmother the trouble of picking her up, so she
pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed the
house number.
“Hello?” Tru’s grandfather had been the one to answer
when the ringing had finally stopped on the third chime.
“Hi, Grandpa. It’s Tru.” She spoke slowly, hoping the
old man’s hearing wasn’t starting to fail him yet.
“Oh, Gertrude! Are you ready to be picked up?” It
sounded like he had lost track of time. Tru imagined him
staring down at his watch wrapped tightly around his left
wrist.
“Actually, I think I’m going to walk home today, if
that’s alright. Can you let Grandma know?” Tru had already begun walking down the sidewalk before taking the
time to wait for an answer.
“Okay, Sweetheart. We’ll see you here in a little bit
then.”
“Okay, Grandpa, bye.”
“Bye.” Then, the line went dead.
Tru closed the small grey cell phone, and then slid it
gently back into her front pocket as she continued walking down the sidewalk. Without noticing, she came to a
stop at an intersection that looked like a
T
. If she had decided to turn to the left, and walked a bit further, she
would reach the house. If she turned to the right, she
would head into the main part of town. If she walked
straight ahead, crossing the street, and then over the other sidewalk, she would head right into the forest. It was so
close, just feet from where she stood, and just a quarter of
a block from the house. Tru looked toward the direction
of her grandmother’s house, and then back at the trees.
“Tru!” Bethany called from behind her. “Wait up!”
Tru turned around and saw Bethany running down the
sidewalk toward her. Bethany looked funny running in
her wedged heels, providing more evidence to the fact
that she reminded Tru of a Barbie doll. Her legs looked
like she had never run in heels before. They were stiff, not
even bending at the knee with each stride she took.
“You walk this way too?” Tru asked, surprised.
“Yeah, I live just down the street.” Bethany pointed in
the same direction Tru would soon be heading. But Tru
quickly turned her head back toward the forest when
Bethany was done speaking.
Tru could see Bethany’s face out of the corner of her
eye as she looked at the trees in front of them. Bethany
was looking at Tru with curiosity, and then turned her
head back to the trees.
“So the myth has you spooked too?” Bethany asked.
Tru looked back over at her, confused.
“What myth?” she asked, intrigued. Tru had been coming to visit her grandparents a week out of every summer,
for the past five years. The statement was completely new
to her.
“You haven’t heard the myth about the people that live
in the forest?” Bethany turned around to look at the forest
again. “They say that fairies live in there somewhere.” She
had a spooky tone to her voice. It was the kind of voice
adults used to tell scary stories to children.
“Fairies? Seriously?” Tru stared at the girl standing
next to her. She was fascinated, and also a little startled.
“But, there’s no such thing as fairies.”
“Well,” Bethany laughed, shrugging her narrow shoulders, “maybe, maybe not. From the stories I’ve heard,
these ones definitely aren’t like the ones you see in Disney
movies.
Apparently
fairies
and
humans
used
to
live
peacefully here. It was like, forever ago.” She flipped her
hair off her shoulder as she spoke.
Is she being serious?