I knew it would push her over the edge, and by rubbing salt into the wound with little well-placed rumors about Cody and I, she spent the whole week cursing me up one side and down the other, so there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that she hated my guts, so why would she be invited to my party? I’d covered all the bases where Miss. Susie was concerned.
I knew Cody had been sweating bullets leading up to tonight, worrying about whether or not she would be here, I also knew he wouldn’t mention it to me if she wasn’t, and the way he sighed in relief when she wasn’t among the guests more than made up for his days of angst, I hope.
“It is, isn’t it? Everyone looks happy, even you in your new suit.” He’d grumbled and moaned about the tux, which I could only get him to rent and not buy since he swears he’d never have use for it again; little does he know. As soon as I get my ring on his finger, I’ll be taking over that department anyway.
“What’s that smile on your face Lisa?”
“Who? What?” Mr. Suspicious gave me a look that said he was watching me, so I just had to push him off kilter. “Oh, I was just thinking about making babies.” Poor Cody choked on his lemonade. That’ll teach him to stay out of my business.
SUSIE
“Did you see this?” I looked up angrily at the interruption as Belinda rushed into my room without knocking or so much as waiting to be allowed entrance.
“Since when do you barge into my room unannounced? What if I was doing something?”
“Oh, sorry!” She turned to leave again like the idiot that she is. How come I never noticed before just how stupid my friends are?
“What was it that you came for, stupid?”
“Oh, it’s not important; sorry to disturb you.” She made a hasty retreat out the door closing it gently behind her. That’s more like it. Even though I know I’m the one who’s been short-tempered and out of sorts lately, shouldn’t they realize and accommodate me? They always have before; why change now?
I hate feeling like this, so out of control and not in the know of what’s going on around me. I can pinpoint exactly when it started, too, when that bitch showed up on campus to disrupt my well-laid plans. It’s as if fate was messing with me. How else do you explain the past three and a half years of diligence going up in smoke just like that?
Had I not been steering clear of Cody when she showed up, she never would’ve had the chance to get close to him, so it was my own stupid mistake for putting the stuff in his drink that night. I only did it because I was desperate; it’s not like I go around doing that sort of thing often. But Cody hasn’t even looked in my direction since then, and it’s all because of her.
Before, when I’d do something he didn’t like, he’d still at least glare at me when our paths crossed or speak, if only to tell me to get lost. Even that was better than what I get these days. It’s as if I don’t exist like I don’t matter, and it all started with her. This week has been the worst so far, mostly because of all the hoopla surrounding the two of them. That, and the fact that people seem rather willing to talk about her in earshot of me, something that never happened before.
It’s the combination of these two things that’s making me feel like I’m losing control. First, that someone got that close to Cody, and also, the fact that no one seems afraid to do certain things in my presence anymore. Even the mousy little bitches who used to run and hide when they saw me coming now hid secret grins behind their hands and whispered to each other when they saw me coming, but not before making sure I saw those grins, of course.
Now it seems like even the sisters in the house are on her side because they’d gone from blabbing about her every chance they got to radio silence in the last few days or so. They probably realized that I was getting all of my information on the new couple through them, but how? I’ve been very careful not to show my anger when they’d mention that Cody and Lisa did this or that and how cool they are blah-blah-blah.
No one knows that I’d destroyed my room in anger that one time I’d gone looking for Cody where they’d said he was going to be without her for a change, only to end up on a dead-end street that led to a landfill. I’m still not sure if that was purposely done or if I’d got the address wrong, but still, it was humiliating. What’s worse is that she was here when I returned, laughing and having a joyful time with the others while I felt like shit.