Life Of A Bitch

Epilogue

The black marker in my hand glides on the whiteboard as I solve the question rapidly. When the result comes a negative one, my eyes scan the board for any possible mistakes.

Aha! There you are!

I correct it and quickly glance sideways at Jonah, who's solving the same question with equal speed and higher accuracy.

Goddammit, I mutter in the process of re-doing the whole sum.

"And we see Jonah making it to the end faster than Jennifer," I hear Aaron announce, somewhere behind me.

"It seems Jonah will win this round," Brenna shouts. "What do you think, Ryan?"

"Impossible!" Ryan yells. "That girl's got fire in her!"

"I agree," Nora shouts, banging her fist on the desk.

Exactly, I mutter. I. Cannot. Lose.

With that, I finish the whole sum, write 'hence proved' at the bottom of the board and turn around. 

"Mic drop," I say, dropping the marker, glowing in the sound of applause from everywhere.

"That's my girl!" Brenna shouts, dramatically wiping away fake tears of happiness and motherly pride. I look at Jonah and shake hands with him.

"My five bucks," Brenna barks at Aaron, who grudgingly gives her the money. I smile and look outside the door to see Brandon coming in.

"We should stop placing bets against Jen," Aaron complains to him. "It always backfires on us. Gimme my two dollars."

"You placed money against me?" I ask Brandon, chuckling. "That is so dumb of you!"

"I like doing it," he says, approaching me, grasping my wrist.

"No holding hands or kissing in public," I snap at him, twisting my hand out of his. "You know that's cringe and overwhelmingly sweet."

"Got it," he says, raising his hands up in mock surrender.

He leans in closer and whispers into my ear, "How long do you think it will take BrenRon to get into a relationship?"

I eye them closely, at Brenna counting the notes in her hand, with shining eyes and Aaron smiling goofily at her. "Two weeks, tops."

"One week."

"You bet?"

"Totally."

As our gang exits the classroom, I spot Michelle walking past us, with Stephanie. We look at each other and I make a gagging face at her outfit. She mouths 'You too', which makes me laugh. I smile at Stephanie, who smiles back at me and continues to talk to Michelle. Stephanie and I are civil and on good terms with each other now, though we'll never become friends.

In the future?

Probably.

I walk arm in arm with Brenna and Nora out of the hall, while eavesdropping on the ridiculous asking-out tips that Ryan and Brandon fill in Aaron's head.

High school is the shittiest period of one's whole life. It really is. But once you get the right companions to stick with you, it doesn't seem shitty anymore. It actually feels nice.

I'm no more the most popular girl in the school, but that's okay. I don't care as long as I've got my wise men with me.

Ten more months for our high school life to end.

Ten more months to laugh at Brenna's snarky jokes and Aaron's clumsiness.

Ten more months to be with Brandon.

Ten more months to be a nice, loved-by-all bitch. 

Finis.