Althena Book 2

13. Girls

Lila and I sit by the pool.

"Seems like you and Cyrus are good now. Did you talk to him?"

"No. I kissed him."

"What?" She laughs and lays back on a chair.

"I keep having vivid dreams. He was in some of them. When I woke up, he was standing in the hallway. I thought I was dreaming, so I went up and kissed him."

"What did he do?"

"Kiss me back. Then he said, what's happening? After that, Mike and Conner came from different directions. They didn't see though."

"You're lucky."

"So lucky. I would have been in so much trouble."

We glance at each other and giggle. "At least you're not pretending he doesn't exist now. You're talking a little. That's something."

"Yea, maybe we can be friends eventually."

Mike pokes his head out the door. "GIRLS, COME HERE."

"What the hell? We didn't even do anything."

We get inside, and the boys are standing there with a woman. "Girls, this is Mrs. Kayode. She leads the girls group you were interested in." My eyebrows shoot up. I forgot about that. "We know you would panic, so Drogon has them meeting here today. You can see what it's about and meet the girls. Then decide if you want to keep going with it."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Thena."

"I'm Lila." She shakes her hand.

"It's nice to meet you as well. This is such a big place. Do you have a meeting area?"

Mike nods. "How many girls?"

"5 additional girls are coming. And my assistant."

"I'll show you the basement. That might work."

"Or this." I run to the kitchen. "It has its own living room and the not formal dining room is right there. We could use this area."

"The help will be cooking here during the meeting time. It's fine if you want to do it here, but if you need the kitchen, you're not going to get it."

I give Mike a dirty look, and we get into the elevator.

Lila spins in a circle in the basement. "This is a lot nicer with furniture."

The room is nice. It's huge with doors that go out to the pool area. Then half of it is empty for our cheer practice. Drogon put a living room set up with a big tv. Then there are 6 tables set up with chairs beside the kitchen.

"This kitchen will be empty. Feel free to use it. There's a theater down the hall to the left. Bathrooms are kind of across the hall to the right. There's a room for coats somewhere. I doubt if you'll need it. But it's there if you want it."

"Nobody else will be down here?"

"Not usually. Occasionally, the hockey team will use the theater. But they can use the living room if you're down here. The help may roam through to see if you need anything."

"This is perfect. Thank you. The meeting will last about an hour. I would like to talk to the girls before we start."

"Sounds good. Hit 1 on the number pad by the door if you need anything."

"Thank you."

We sit at a table with her and she gets out some papers. "I see you go to Green Valley. Do you go there as well, Lila?"

"Yes. We're cheerleaders."

"Activities are important. I'm sure that's fun."

"We're in choir too."

"Do you like to sing?"

"Yes, and it helps keep the gpa up."

"That's very smart. Do you understand what our group is?"

"Not really. I was looking through papers and trying to find things I could do. I don't know many people at school."

"All 5 of the girls do go to Green Valley as well. There are 4 juniors and 1 senior. What grade are girls you in?"

"We're juniors."

"Same age. That will be nice. I'll let the girls introduce themselves and talk about what kind of groups they're in. They are different. And that's kind of what we do. Anyone can join the group. We like having people who are in a variety of things. The more people, the better. We focus on self-respect. Respect for others. Making friendships that are different from our normal groups. Like, you're probably friends with other cheerleaders, but do you have friends in the academic leagues?"

"I don't even know what that is."

"Perfect. One of the girls is in a lot of that stuff. The goal is to learn about respecting each other and enjoying your differences. People you wouldn't normally meet, you'll meet here. We treat everyone with respect and make friendships that are out of the ordinary."

"That sounds fun. I like meeting people."

"I'm glad. The meetings will last around an hour. We'll have a snack and do something crafty or fun. Sometimes we take trips to see different places. It depends on what the girls want to do. We should probably go upstairs before they show up."

We get up to the main hall and the omega brings the girls in the front door. They spin in circles with their mouths open. I guess walking in does have a shock factor.

"Girls, this is the home of Thena." She points at me so I wave at them. "And her friend, Lila. They go to Green Valley with the rest of you. We're going to have our meeting in the basement today."

Conner and Drogon come in carrying about 10 boxes of condoms each. The girls look at them, and they turn and throw the boxes back into the entry at the same time.

"The elevator is this way." Mrs. Kayode glares at them.

Lila leans towards me. "What did they have?"

"Later." I try not to laugh.

A lady stands up by the head table. "My name is Elaine. Feel free to call me that. I am Mrs. Kayode's assistant. At our last meeting, we were told about the potential of making a new friend. So, the girls put together an introduction. They're each going to introduce themselves. Who wants to go first?"

A girl runs up and takes her spot. "I'm Ami. I'm a junior at Green Valley. I play trumpet in the band, and I'm on the varsity track team. I run the 200. I've been in the girls club for 6 years. I love it here. My favorite meeting was when we rode horses. Oh, and my favorite weird topping on ice cream is caramel corn." She drops a bag on the table and runs back to her seat.

The next one goes up. "My name is Haddy. I'm a junior at Green Valley. I play the flute in band. I am on the yearbook committee and the school television channel. You may see me in the mornings sometimes, on the news. I've been in the girls club for 3 years. The best meeting was when we went camping in a cabin. We made smore's on a fire. My favorite weird topping for the ice cream is marshmallows." She puts a bag of marshmallows down.

"Hi, I'm Fay. I'm also a junior at Green Valley. I am all about performance art. I am in the dance and poetry clubs. I would be in the high school theater group, but the director will not put me in. So, I'm in the Green District Community Theater instead. Our best meeting was at the theater and my favorite weird topping is peanut butter."

The next one is so shy I can barely hear her. "I'm Saray. I'm a junior at Green Valley. I've been in the girls club for 1 year. My favorite meeting was the water park. My weird topping is bananas."

"I'm Hanorah. I'm a senior at Green Valley. I'm in every science club I can get into. Science is life. I'm also in the science and quiz bowls. The robotics club. Electronics club. Math league. I have won these last two spelling bees and last year's history bee. I love anything that pushes me to learn something. My parents made me join the girls group 13 years ago. They wanted me to talk to people instead of staring at books. At first, I thought it was something that was in my way. But I love it now. I have met so many nice people. I enjoy the connection I have with other people here. Our best meeting was when we stayed overnight at the museum of history. That was the best day of my life."

Fay cracks up laughing. "She did not sleep. She read every plaque they had."

Hanorah laughs with her. "I did not want to miss anything. And at the theater, you're the one who nearly fell over the rail." They burst out laughing. "My favorite weird topping is French fries. They're better warm though. We may have to warm them up."

Kayode stands up. "We'll figure it out. Thank you. That was perfect, girls. Would you like to tell us a little about yourselves?"

Lila smiles. "I'm Lila. I'm a junior at Green Valley. I am a varsity cheerleader for the hockey team. I'm also in the choir. I would love to be in the school play, but yea, unless your parents are friends with the director, you are not getting a part."

"Exactly." Fay rolls her eyes. "It's ridiculous. And the people they cast can't even remember lines."

"So many people won't even try."

"I'm Thena. I'm a junior at Green Valley. I'm also a varsity cheerleader for the hockey team and in choir. I don't know about the play. I wanted to audition, but all I've heard are horror stories about it."

Hanorah smirks. "You're the queen. Just order him to give you a part."

I crack up laughing. "Drogon would be there so fast. He would not let me get away with that."

They laugh and Kayode smiles at me. "Now, did you and Lila set up your schedules to be in the same groups? Did you know each other before?"

"No. We met through the cheer coach. Lila joined us and spent some time showing me some jumps. Then we figured out we were in choir on the first day."

Lila nods fast. "Choir keeps the gpa up."

Saray smiles. "Yes, but then you have to sing in front of people. I would die."

Ami nods. "Band does the same thing, and you don't have to sing."

"Yea, but then you have to learn how to play something."

Kayode puts the french fries in the microwave. "That was enlightening." We giggle. "Out of curiosity, do you 5 sit together at lunch?"

"No. I sit at the brain table." Hanorah chuckles.

Fay shakes her head. "I sit with Haddy. We share some friends."

Ami puts her hand up. "I sit wherever. I have friends in a few different groups."

"I sit with the cheerleaders."

Fay nods. "Popular table."

I smile at Lila. "We're popular."

"Yea." Lila looks at everyone. "She's new."

Kayode puts some other stuff on the table. "Line up over here. Let's let Thena and Lila go first. You're going to try each person's favorite thing on some ice cream and tell us what you think. There are little cups of ice cream."

Lila makes me go first. I grab the tiniest bowl of ice cream and dip a french fry in it. Then my eyes about pop out of my head. "This is actually good."

"Told you so."

Turns out I like all of them. Then Elaine gives us each a real bowl of ice cream, and we can put what we want on it. I get peanut butter and bananas covered with chocolate. I put a few french fries on the side though. I'm going to make my boys try that later.

We sit and talk for the rest of the hour while we eat.