Secret Keeper

Going through school and stuff, well I guess you could call me the “Secret Keeper” because for some odd reason people were kind of drawn to me. Like in fifth grade this boy that was popular and cute, well he came up to me at lunch…

“ Hey you!” Luke Falster walked up to me.

“ Oh, my name is Giovanna,” I said, as I licked the extra cupcake off my fingers.

“Yeah… you. Well, you know that girl over there,” Luke pointed to Mandy Walker, the blondest girl in school. She waved to us then resumed eating.

“ Yep, what a blond,” I said then, stuffed three grapes in my mouth.

“ Well, I sort of have a crush on her,” he said, now sitting comfortably on the table.

“That’s cool,” I said and shrugged my shoulders.

“ It is, so you think I should ask her out?” Luke considered. I shrugged my shoulders and he smiled, “ Yeah, she’ll be my first girlfriend.” He walked over and asked her, and long story short, she said yes. Why Luke walked up to me and told me his secret, well, I had no idea, so a few days later I decided that I would ask him.

“ Luke, my ole buddy how’s basketball going?” I sat down across from him, and watched Mandy sitting on the swings eating her sandwich, she was surrounded by her friends.

“ Hey…you,” Luke said, in a very familiar way and bit into his pizza, getting sauce all over his mouth.

“It’s Giovanna.”

“ Oh, yeah my secret keeper,” Hhe said this nonchalantly and I looked at him curiously.

“ Well, it was hardly a secret. Oh never mind, can I ask you a question?”

“ Sure,” he spoke with his mouth full and he might have spit on me, either that or it was raining pizza sauce sporadically.

“Why did you tell me your secret?”

“ Ha, that’s easy, you’re-”

“What?”

“ A nobody, and nobody talks to a nobody. So, I could tell you that my dad hit me, or that I cheated on the math test, and you wouldn’t say a word,” Luke wiped his mouth on his sleeve and left, leaving his tray on the table for me to clean up. I sat there greatly disturbed, for a ten year old this news was awful, and heartbreaking. I pondered it for a while then the bell rang and I collected his trash, threw it away and went through the rest of the day pondering his words.

“ I’m a nobody?” I whispered to myself while I collected my books and shoved them into my old hand-me-down gray backpack. Then, Tiffany Newman came up to me holding her brand new, red leather backpack with her name embroidered on it, which made her look more like a CEO than a student.

“ Hi,” Tiffany waved to me. I waved back and smiled, feeling embarrassed that I was so cheap,” Your Giovanna?”

“Yeah, but some people call me Jo,” I tried to act normal and cool.

“ Cool, hey, Luke told me that you, well, you keep secrets.” At that I rolled my eyes, I knew she wouldn’t talk to me unless there was something she wanted.

“ No, actually I just don’t have a life,” I explained this, but she smiled happily.

“ Well, today the teacher, Mr. Wilcox sat on a pie, and I was the one that put it there,” Tiffany laughed, barely able to control herself.

“ Okay...”

“ Well, no one knows who did it and I just had to tell someone,” Tiffany’s shoulders rose in relief as she explained, then she walked away, happy as a… privileged girl. I walked home sadder than usual and ran into Buddy, my buddy.

“ Hey sis, how was the school today,” My fifteen year old brother put his arm around my shoulders. I shrugged them off and looked down,

“ Jo what’s wrong? I mean you're usually quiet, but-”

“ Luke, said I was a nobody and that nobody talks to a nobody. I don't know why he would be so rude to me Buddy?” I told him quietly, for even if I was angry I never rose my voice, actually I didn’t know I even could. Buddy didn’t say a word, we walked three blocks together and I looked at him curiously, but he just looked down. He didn’t speak until we reached our front steps, then he sat on the second step and looked up at me.

“ You know Luke is kinda right,” Buddy said this frankly. I looked at him for five seconds ( I know I counted) then ran up the stairs, past the kitchen (where I normally go right after school), up the stairs, past my sisters room, and into my room where I threw myself onto my bed and wept. How could he agree with Luke? How could he say something so mean to me, his favorite sister, how? Then I heard a faint knock on my wide open door.

“ Jo, I’m sorry, maybe I should have explained,” He sat down on my desk chair, which didn’t fit him and looked at me. Buddy was a big guy, he eats way too much of anything my mom or grandma makes, but he still had a handsome face and dark brown eyes that seemed to be sensitive and loving. “ You are a quiet, smart, nice girl and that’s not enough to be a "somebody" in that school or in any school, what people thrive on is drama, and you don’t have drama. I am not telling you to go get a boyfriend, cheat, steal a car, start a food fight, steal answer sheets or talk back to a teacher, though I did all those things. What I am saying is that though people don’t know you and don’t want to get to know you, you in the end will be the only sane person left, and...most successful. Someday, they’ll be begging for your life-”