The Cat That Went to Homecoming (2 page)

Graduating from grade school to high school
did not improve matters at all. You would think high school aged
people would be a little more grown up, but that wasn’t the
case.

On the last day of my sophomore geometry
class, I drifted off into my favorite fantasy. It was about Prom. I
was walking to a limo wearing a beautiful gown and feeling like a
princess. In the misty distance of the fantasy, holding the back
door open for me, stood my date. He was the most popular boy in
grade school who became even more popular in high school.

“You are so beautiful.” John said to me as he
pinned a corsage to my dress.

Before I could respond, Mrs. Johnson burst
the bubble of my daydream!

“Ellen?” she said in an annoyed tone.

I shook away the dream and said, “I’m sorry,
what did you say Mrs. Johnson?”

“I said please come up to the blackboard and
show us how to solve the fourth equation.”

Great! I had to stand in front of the class,
solve an equation, and listen to the snickers behind me while my
big butt faced the class.

I slunk to the front of the room, trying to
be as inconspicuous as possible. I tried in vain to pull my shirt
down as far as I could to cover my butt. My palms were sweating and
I couldn’t concentrate. All I could think of was the embarrassing
comments that would be whispered behind me.

I started to work on the equation, but my
sweaty hands made the chalk a little pasty and I ended up dropping
it. My classmates started laughing so Mrs. Johnson “shhhssshhed”
them. Unfortunately, I had to bend over to pick up the chalk. I
closed my eyes to squeeze back tears as I bent over and waited for
the inevitable screams of feigned horror.

“Cover your eyes!” John Peck cried. He was my
fantasy Prom date. In real life he was the school’s star
quarterback and point guard. Not only did he excel in football and
basketball, but he had dated every cheerleader and excelled in
breaking their hearts.

“John, be quiet.” That was all Mrs. Johnson
said. After all, she never had my back in these situations. Why
would she? Mrs. Johnson was all of 120 pounds, had long blonde
hair, and was very pretty. All the boys in the class were in love
with her, including John Peck. The opposite was true of the girls.
All of the girls in the class hated Mrs. Johnson because they were
all in love with John Peck.

I straightened up with the piece of chalk in
hand and began to quickly and incorrectly finish the math equation.
I wanted to sit back down as soon as possible. I wanted to slide
down in my chair and escape this classroom full of beautiful
people. I scribbled a bunch of numbers on the board, put the chalk
down, and faced Mrs. Johnson.

“Ellen, that’s not correct,” she said shaking
her head in disgust while erasing my work. “John, please come up
here and show us how to do this equation.”

John stood up and walked toward me,
exaggeratingly squeezing between me and Mrs. Johnson’s desk to get
to the blackboard. I returned to my seat, my face flushed with
humiliation and holding back tears. I was accustomed to the tight
feeling in my throat and chest when holding in tears. I did it
daily. There was no way I would let these people see me cry; it was
bad enough they had to see me in gym shorts!

John finished the equation, correctly of
course, and smugly walked back to his seat behind me. As he sat
down, he asked me, “Are all fat people as stupid as you are?”
Everyone within earshot laughed. Then he poked me with his pencil
and made a pop sound. I didn’t respond, I never responded to any
comments they made. I thought that if they thought I was deaf,
maybe they would eventually stop and move on to someone else.

Chapter
Two

The hierarchy of the school bus was always
the cool kids in the back, and the unpopular kids in the front. I
always sat in the seat directly behind the bus driver and no one
ever sat next to me. The beauty of this arrangement was that I
could put my book bag on the seat and not have to hold it on my
lap. It also meant I didn’t have to listen to the beautiful people
discussing the fun things they had planned for the weekend; the
slumber parties I wasn’t invited to, who was going to meet up at
the skating rink, and who was going to the mall to shop at stores
that didn’t have clothes that fit me.

The downside to this arrangement was that the
bus driver would try to strike up conversations with me. Since she
was always shouting at the cool kids to sit down, or stop hanging
out of the window, she was not very well liked. I didn’t want
anyone to harass me for being friendly to the bus driver, so I put
on my deaf act with her too. She eventually stopped trying to
engage me in conversation, and for that I felt guilty.

Every day at 3:45 p.m. the bus would drop me
off at the end of my driveway. A few stops ahead, I would make sure
to gather my belongings together so they were ready in my arms and
I could escape the bus as quickly as possible. The bus driver would
tell me to have a good night, but I always ignored her. I would
step off the bus and look to my front window where I’d see Hershey
waiting for me.

The black cloud lifted from above me at that
moment every afternoon and if I hadn’t been afraid the kids on the
bus would see me, I would have run up the driveway. Instead I just
walked, smiling at Hershey, watching his fully erect tail flick
back and forth and seeing his mouth open as he meowed at me. When I
neared the door, he would jump down from the window and seconds
later, as I opened the door, there he would be to greet me!

My mom was usually working when I got home
from school. In two hours she’d be home to cook dinner, but I
couldn’t wait to eat something. I hadn’t eaten lunch at school for
two years. I was usually all alone at the lunch table, but one day
in eighth grade, a group of kids sat around me to watch me eat.

“You shouldn’t eat that Watermelon, you’re
already too fat.”

That was John Peck, and that was the last day
I ate lunch at school. Instead I waited until I got home and
stuffed myself with whatever I could get my hands on. Hershey
especially liked it when I ate a bowl of cereal because he got the
milk when I was finished.

After sharing my snack with him, I would plop
down on the couch and turn on the TV. Hershey sat on my lap purring
and kneading while I rubbed his chin and stroked his back. Once he
was content, he would flop into my lap and roll onto his back,
allowing me to pet his soft tummy. This action is the greatest gift
a cat can give a human, for offering the belly means the cat has
complete trust in you.

After our petting and purring session,
Hershey would race me to my bedroom; he always won the race! He
jumped onto my bed and positioned himself at the head of the bed
waiting for me to lie down, pull the pillow beneath my chest, and
lay out my homework in front of me. Then he would climb onto my
back and start kneading while I worked on my assignment. This was
my reward for enduring the grueling day at school, a massage from
my best friend!

If I was taking too long to finish the
assignment, Hershey would grow impatient and begin walking back in
forth in front of my face on my papers and books, rubbing my face
with his cheeks and cooing at me for attention.

“Okay, my little Hershey Kiss!” I would say
as I shoved my paper into the book and pushed them aside. I would
gather Hershey into my arms for kisses and hugs. He would rub my
face some more and snuggle his nose into my ear. Hershey’s love
made my heart burst with joy.

Chapter
Three

The last day of school is a joyous day for
everyone. The teachers were glad to get rid of the current group of
students and looking forward to a long break from kids. The
students were happy that they were about to embark on a three-month
break from homework. Some were going to summer camps while others
were taking family trips to destinations like Disney World and
Myrtle Beach.

For years, my summer vacation plans had
always been the same: I was going to lose weight and go back to
school in the fall a new person. Every summer I had failed.

This summer would be different. This summer I
was going to get plenty of exercise and eat sensibly. I was going
to be the hot new girl in the fall!

I often daydreamed about the new me walking
onto the bus for the first day of the school year. I would finally
be able to wear a pair of super skinny jeans and a snug graphic tee
without a muffin top! I would be wearing bubble gum lip gloss and
walk straight up to John Peck in the back of the bus. The spot next
to him would be empty, but not for long! He would pat the seat
motioning for me to sit next to him. I would flip my hair over my
shoulder, letting my perfume waft at him.

I would sit next to him, making sure my thigh
touched his. He would blush and shift a little, seeming
uncomfortable to have such a lush, beautiful girl sitting next to
him. Darcel the Dreadful would be seated in front of him and she
would give me the dirtiest of looks. John would tell her to turn
around and mind her own business. She would start to cry and
everyone would laugh at her. I would laugh the loudest because I
loathed Darcel.

On this last bus ride for the school year,
Darcel Simmons’ voice broke through my daydream and killed the
fantasy completely.

“I tried to find you on Facebook Watermelon,
but you probably don’t have a computer at home.”

She was right; Mom and I did not have a
computer. I did have a cell phone, but the only people who ever
called it were my mom and my grandma. I didn’t even know if my dad
knew my number.

I ignored Darcel, pretending I was deaf again
but wondering why she would look for me on Facebook. I guessed she
wanted to cyber bully me now!

“Shut up Darcel!” Cindy Haskel said, “Don’t
you ever get tired of being a bitch?”

Cindy Haskel and I were good friends up until
we hit seventh grade. That year I began to distance myself from
everyone. Cindy and I were classmates and she lived up the street
from me. Her family had a swimming pool and all of the neighborhood
kids became close friends with her in the summer. Even though they
teased her for being friends with me, she kept on being my friend.
On rainy summer days when no one else was interested in hanging out
with her, we played with our Bratz dolls and our stuffed animals.
We played hopscotch in her garage, we played board games, and
watched TV shows together. We admitted to each other that we each
thought John Peck was the cutest boy in the class, our deepest
secret we’d share with no one else. We giggled like best friends
do.

In seventh grade I decided to let her off the
hook and blossom into the popular girl she was meant to be. I felt
I was an anchor holding her back. It broke my heart to give her up,
but I thought it was best for her.

Darcel was a grade ahead of us, and for some
reason she constantly picked on me. She was a very popular girl,
probably the most popular girl of all time! She lived next door to
Cindy in the rich end of our subdivision. Her father owned a car
dealership and they were wealthy. She was one of those girls with
hairdressers and Nikes. She was also one of the many girls who
swooned over John Peck. In fact, she and John had dated a few times
when he and I were in eighth grade. She was a freshman and she took
him to homecoming that year. Boy did he think he was hot stuff,
going to homecoming as an eighth grader!

Darcel and I were not in any classes
together, and after seventh grade I never ventured to her part of
the subdivision so the only time our paths crossed was on the bus
or in the hallways at school. I didn’t know why she hated me so
much, but her teasing was relentless. She would trip me. She would
pretend I was taking up too much room so she had to slide against a
wall to pass me. And she would loudly ask me about my ‘love
life’.

“Who’s taking you to homecoming,
Watermelon?”

“Watermelon, was that you I saw under the
bleachers with Roy Wilson? What was I thinking? Of course it wasn’t
because the two of you wouldn’t fit under the bleachers!”

Roy Wilson was an outcast like me for the
same reason, he was overweight. You would think we outcasts would
ban together, but that isn’t how it works. Since we already
received so much negative attention, we avoided adding fuel to the
fire.

Darcel was going to be a senior next fall,
the top dog of the school. I had to really work on myself over the
summer to keep from being chewed up by that pit bull!

Oh no! My daydream had distracted me and I
was not ready when the bus stopped at my driveway! I scrambled to
get my book bag in my arms, and during the struggle I dropped my
cell phone. Darcel squealed in laugher.

“Oh, my God, look at her phone! It’s not even
a Smartphone! It looks like my grandma’s Jitterbug!”

The entire bus laughed at me as I exited. The
bus driver told me to have a great summer, but once again, I
ignored her.

Chapter
Four

It was nearly a week into summer vacation and
I hadn’t done a thing! Hershey and I spent the days watching game
shows, soap operas, and Jerry Springer. I kept telling myself as I
ate my ice cream that next week I’d get on the stick and start a
diet plan. I needed access to the internet to look up healthy
recipes and eating plans. I planned on riding my bike the three
miles to the library to use one of their computers, but every day I
would sleep until noon and didn’t feel motivated. Truth be told, I
was more afraid of being seen riding my bike than anything else. I
came up with one excuse after another.

One evening, a week into summer, Mom called
and said she had to work late to cover another person’s shift and
asked if I could handle making dinner myself.