Chapter Twelve
In the second term, I vowed to myself that I would get the scholarship for my mother. I started studying a lot and I never even went anywhere. I used to lock up my room and study from the afternoon till midnight. Board exams were in June and I needed the scholarship for next year that is if I get straight A's.
A new girl enrolled in our class. Her name was Becky. She had thick red hair, a milky white complexion, and a beautiful face. She was prettier than me. I knew boys would go after her. I felt hate and jealousy. She sat beside Abby and me. She started talking to Abby. Whenever Becky would come and sit beside us a hue of the fragrance of perfume would overwhelm us. Becky didn't need any make-up. She was a natural beauty. Soon Abby and Becky would start being together and talk like anything. I felt a little left out.
One morning, as I was heading to school in the minivan, I saw a Mercedes Benz stop at a signal beside our minivan. Who could afford a luxurious car in this small town? Whoever it was, was filthy rich. After some time the car stopped in front of the school gate. I quickly recognized who came out of it, it was Becky. I felt devoid. Right now I didn't have that kind of money like before. I wasn't as rich as I was, after dad. I was poor and I was a loser.
Soon Becky came out to be a showboat. She would talk about how her mother worked in the fashion industry and had connections with show hosts and supermodels. How she spent her weekend partying with friends and watching movies at the cinema. She even had a tablet where she watched Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl. Becky said that she had so many connections in the rich world that she even made an offer to work in television.
"Have you ever been on TV?" she asked me once. I didn't feel like replying to her and telling her my history so I said no and then she told me that she had been on TV too. I deduced myself to be substandard in front of her. If I had started to tell her about my spectacular life in Beaufort, then she might have known then that I had had a better life than her. She had lived in Clinton all her life. Her dad was working here for the town. He was controlling the government in the town. How had she been familiar with splendor and extravagance? Becky started interacting with the seniors and becoming the gossip girl of our school. I wanted to be popular, I wanted such reputation. I wanted to talk to Matt. Somehow Becky came to know about him. She told me that he already had a girlfriend. She was a senior and they had been together for three years now. I didn't want to believe her but I was perplexed. Maybe he did have a girlfriend. I grew doleful and more wistful. I had nobody to share my feelings or my conversation with. Abby started being with Becky and hanging out with her senior friends. I was left alone and even the teachers started noticing that.