Invitation to a Better Life (A Plot Begins to Unfold Part Five) (standard:drama, 3461 words) [5/8] show all parts
Author: Siobhan	Added: Sep 30 2002	Views/Reads: 2576/1917	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Jessica turns down an invitation to a party for a date with Joey which causes Rhonda to begina devious plan to get back at Joey and his friends. But to add to Jessica's worries, she finds out that her mother has a fatal tumor has little chance to surviv

The moment she had parked and wandered into school, Rhonda pounced upon
her, “Hi Jessica, so how's life treating you?”  She didn't want to deal 
with her, not now.  She was too fake and pretense and Jessica just 
didn't have the time or effort for it.  She rolled her eyes and let out 
a heavy sigh before replying. 

“Sh*tty.  You?” her voice dragged and her steps seemed as if they were
loaded with weights.  Each step was torture, each smile she saw made 
her want to punch a hole in a wall, and Rhonda's overly cheerful and 
friendly voice stabbed into her brain like a pair of hot needles.  She 
didn't want her to stay around and try to be happy.  But, Rhonda did 
not hear her or pretended that she did not hear her. 

“Brandon's having a party this Friday, do you want to go?” she inquired
and Jessica sighed.  The whole group was so artificial that she could 
not stand it.  Couldn't Rhonda see that she was not in the mood?  Was 
she really that insensitive or was she just trying to ignore it?  Well, 
at least she had a date with Joey to use as an excuse. 

“No, I can't.  I have a date with Joey, sorry,” she replied and gave a
small sigh of relief.  Rhonda's eyes squinted for just  a moment, and 
then she smiled brightly.  Jessica felt as if she should turn her back 
upon her grinning companion and just try to ditch her, leave her 
standing in open mouthed shock, being the one to be dismissed for once. 
 It was so tempting that she almost acted upon it but she resisted, 
aware that even though she was upset and moody, she might still want to 
be friends with the popular group when she finally got over it. 

“Joey who?” she asked, feigning innocence even though Jessica was well
aware that she knew exactly who she was talking about. 

“The Joey I was goofing around with that you didn't want me to,” she
reminded with annoyance in her voice.  She felt as if she should go and 
bang her head against the wall, or maybe pound Rhonda's head into a 
wall a couple of times.  She couldn't remember the last time she felt 
this testy, it was like pmsing though three times as emotionally 
challenging as her worst time.  It was a miserable feeling and she 
wished that she could make it clear to Rhonda that she was unhappy. 

“Oh, that Joey, well, have fun,” Rhonda walked off quickly and Jessica
wondered what she was going to do, so she followed her down the hall.  
She had a funny feeling about her, like she should go warn Joey to 
watch out for her.  But, that was silly of course, why should she warn 
Joey?  Rhonda wasn't really a threat, was she?  But then again, Jessica 
thought of feeling threatened when in the presence of the whole group.  
Maybe Rhonda was more dangerous than she was portraying and Jessica had 
put Joey right into the face of danger. 

Rhonda raced to Brandon and his little group, she exclaimed something
with a strange intensity and excitement.  Brandon's face fell with 
disappointment then flushed with rage.  He gave a couple of very strict 
statements, his face darkening with every word.  Jonathon rose up and 
he and Rhonda scurried off towards the food court.  Brandon turned and 
slammed his fist heavily against the pillar before Jessica hurriedly 
ran after them and got close enough to hear what they were saying. 

“She's drifting towards the others, we've got to take care of it,”
Jonathon groaned, his voice apologetic and worried. 

“Oh we are,” Rhonda announced, a little too confidently, her eyes glued
with deadly focus against the food court doors.  Jessica looked up to 
see Joey and his friends walk out of the food court, and her heart 
jumped with fear.  She suddenly wished that instead of following the 
two lovers, she had just gone straight to Joey and warned him, but now 
it was too late.  Rhonda immediately trapped them, her face appearing 
to Jessica as that of a hunter but really warm and seductive. 

“Hi guys,” she cheerfully greeted them. 

“Woah, are you being nice?” one of the guys, Marshall, questioned. 

“I am only because Brandon asked me to be.  He knows that Jessica likes
you guys and since he approves of Jessica, you guys have to be approved 
of.  In fact, he wanted me to ask if you guys want to go to a party on 
Saturday?” Rhonda inquired, her voice sounding as if she were sincere.  


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