How To Be A Perfect Girl by Mary Williams

I’m standing next to the tall blonde
guy.” Porter frowned.
    “Ok, I’ll look for you,” Jaxton replied.
    “Sounds good.” Val hung up. “Well, it was
nice seeing you, Porter.”
    “You too, Val. See you Tuesday.”
    “Yeah.”
    A quiet cough to Val’s right alerted her to
Jaxton’s arrival. He held out a plastic cup, “Who was that?”
    “That’s—he’s—Porter.” Val took a moment to
figure out how she wanted to summarize her relationship with him,
“He’s my boyfriend’s brother.”
    “Oh, cool.” Jaxton nodded, “You have a
boyfriend?”
    “Uh, yeah,” Val gestured to a pair of empty
seats they could sit in. She took the closest one and Jaxton
plopped down opposite her.
    “I thought your parents didn’t let you
date,” he looked at the ground, “At least, that’s what I always
heard.”
    “Well they don’t know about it, strictly
speaking.” Val frowned, “You can’t tell them. Please.”
    Jaxton glanced up at Val; their eyes met
briefly. “Valentina, I don’t even know your parents. By the way,
have I told you how stunning you look?”
    Val shook her head.
    “Well you look like an angel. That’s a great
outfit for you.”
    “Really?” she looked down at her skirt, “I
just threw it on.”
    Jaxton shrugged, “It still looks amazing.
Valentina, I was wondering—why’d you text me? I didn’t even know
you had my number.”
    “I didn’t,” Val admitted, “But Tyler gave it
to me. To be honest, I don’t know why I texted you.” She looked out
the window, “McKayla and I aren’t friends anymore.”
    “I heard,” Jaxton nodded, “She was pretty
broken up about it.”
    “Why would she broken up about it?” Val
asked, “She was the one who said she didn’t want anything to do
with me.”
    “All I know is there were a lot of people
talking about it. I was surprised at first, because you two were
such good friends at Walker. But you didn’t answer my
question.”
    “What question?”
    “Why did you text me?” Jaxton repeated.
    “Well, like I said, I don’t know. I just—I
dunno, I felt like talking to someone from Walker and I thought of
that letter you wrote and how I hadn’t talked with you about it all
summer—“
    Jaxton blushed, “Yeah, sorry about
that.”
    “Don’t be. It was sweet. And hey, I wouldn’t
have texted you if you hadn’t written it.” She smiled.
    “Well then I’m very glad I did. I meant
every word of it, Valentina.”
    “I know,” Val whispered, “And you were
right—about everything. I was kind of a b-word to you.”
    “No you weren’t—I was just beneath your
notice. It happens all the time; even at Gentry, half the people
act like I don’t exist.”
    “Well you have to make them notice you,” Val
said.
    “Easy for you to say,” Jaxton looked at her,
“You walk into a room, everybody notices you just because of how
you look. I walk into a room, it’s a different story.”
    Val coughed into her hand, “It’s not all
looks, you know. I like to think at least part of it is my
personality.”
    “Perhaps. But I don’t have as much energy as
you.”
    “What do you mean?”
    Jaxton sighed, “You’re always so—alive. I
don’t know if that even makes sense.”
    “Not really, but oh well. I bet if you
wanted to, you could be—alive—too.” Val’s phone buzzed; it was a
text from Keenan, “Hey, you wanna go get some lunch?” She looked
back at Jaxton, “Well, anyways, you have my number now, so we
should do this again sometime. Just text me if you wanna hang
out.”
    “Will do,” Jaxton smiled, “Good luck with
school.” He left the restaurant, pausing only to wave before his
footsteps carried him out of view.
    Val frowned at her phone
for several minutes; I’m already out, might
as well get some lunch. “Sure, I’m at the
Starbucks at Palm Grove.” She sent the message to
Keenan.
    “Great! You know the Italian place across
the way from that? Why don’t we just meet there?” It was an
expensive