Tina's Gimmick Read online

Tina’s Gimmick

  By Palvi Sharma

  Copyright 2012 Palvi Sharma

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons living or dead or places, events or locales is purely coincidental.

  Credits

  Images Courtesy of FreeDigitaPhotos.net

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Epilogue

  CHAPTER ONE

  Life can be pretty unfair for a twelve year old, especially when her parents are transferred to a city called Maltclan City and she has to leave her two best friends behind. I mean seriously, what is with parents and transfers anyways? And worst of all, my parents think I am excited to go to a city. Yeah right! Maltclan City citizens are known for their snobbish behavior. I should know because my Grandmother lives there and I have been to Maltclan City a couple of times. Not that I would have anything to worry about. I'll always be popular. Nevertheless, I let out a sigh. No response. I sigh louder this time, hoping to get some attention from my excited parents. My mother turned around to look at me, her green eyes worried.

  "Everything alright back there?" she asked.

  "I suppose so." I said dryly. No its not! I screamed silently.

  "Don't worry. Everything will be all right. You'll really like Maltclan City." I nodded but didn't say anything. What was there to say anyway? It’s not like I could force my parents to stay in Meadowsville. I looked out the window and saw the fading scenery of Meadowsville. The green lush hills, blue skies, and the sweet smelling flowers- it was just like a picture postcard. I was already a few miles away from my birthplace and I was already missing it …and my friends.

  Last night, all my friends came in to say goodbye. It was a really sweet farewell. I got tons of cards and goodbye gifts- useless things like flowers, a letter pad and toffees. I wish they had given me a puppy instead. I completely adore puppies but both my parents are against having dogs in the house. After that, I went with my two best friends- Natasha and Tania- and sneaked into our secret hiding place (an empty barn near my house). There we held our last secret meeting of our secret club. Oh by the way, Natasha and Tania are identical twins. You can't tell them apart! Except Natasha has a preference to wearing shorts- be it summer or winter, and Tania wears skirts with embroidered blouses. However, both of them always leave their hair down, and they have the most awesome dark hair that curls; unlike my pale brown hair that just hangs down and doesn't curl no matter how much I try to curl it around my finger!

  In the front seat, Mom was still trying to engage Dad in excited chatter, but Dad seemed to be upset about something. Probably because it was my mother's fault that we had to leave our beloved Meadowsville in the first place. My parents work in the same firm- but have totally different jobs. My Dad is the accountant whereas Mom is a marketing and sales manager. Mom was transferred to the City and naturally Dad was transferred too so that Mom doesn't have any problems with the relocation. It's really fun watching them bicker about work. They really do get at each other's throats. But I know that they both love each other deeply and adore me because I am the apple of their eyes.

  I looked out the window again. Meadowsville had completely vanished and now I was staring at nothing except a few scraggy trees here and there in an otherwise plain road. I shut my eyes and hoped everything would be fine in Maltclan City.

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  CHAPTER TWO

  A month had already passed by since I came into the City. Time passes really quickly. I had hoped I would start to like living here, but so far it's been pretty…weird. Everyone seems to keep to themselves. In Meadowsville, all our neighbors were our best friends and were always ready to lend a hand. Over here it's been quite lonely. None of our neighbors bothered to help us with our moving. I had to carry a box of my books all by myself!

  And now my first day at a new school had arrived. I stood outside the building and stared at it - shuffling my feet and trying to unsuccessfully curl my hair on my finger. Grassfield School was huge! My previous school was not even half of what this school is like. Not to mention how scary it looked-in fact, the whole building had something arrogant about it. It looked all concrete and glass and no feeling. Not at all like my previous school, which had been quite comfortable looking and painted in reddish-brown.

  Nevertheless, I sighed and stepped inside the school. Once inside I got the shock of my life! That was when I was sure I would definitely not fit in. There were thousands of students rushing here and there. My previous school had about 100 students and I knew each one of them personally; I was popular remember? Over here there were thousands of students, all in a hurry to go to some classroom or another. Everyone was dressed differently and looked real busy. At that moment I just wanted to run away. I actually turned around and walked hurriedly to the door. Oh come on Tina don't be such a baby, I told myself firmly. You'll fit in fine. But somehow I couldn't convince myself. Nevertheless, I determinedly turned back and walked slowly towards the bulletin board.

  I took out the timetable I was given and started to look for my first class, which was Mathematics.

  "Umm…excuse me? Can you please tell me where Room 312 is?" I asked a tall girl. She was a brunette and had nice green eyes- just like mine. I hoped she would be friendly, but she looked at me in disgust, as if I had offended her or something.

  "Why? Are you new here?" she asked, tightening her ponytail.

  "Yeah! I'm from Meadowsville." I replied.

  "Oh…"she said and seemed deep in thought." Room 312 is three flights up. But you better hurry. Mrs. Parker is a really strict teacher. You don't want to be late for her class and get detention on the first day, right?"

  "No! Thanks anyway. I'm…" But before I could introduce myself, she had turned away and left. That's strange. I looked at the time and gasped. It was almost 8 O'clock! I rushed towards the staircase and ran up three flights as quickly as I could. I bumped into several students on the way.

  "Hey!" a boy yelled.

  "Sorry!" I replied and kept on running without sparing a glance. I could be friendly later on and check out the scene. Now if I was able to reach class in time, I could catch a nice desk somewhere at the back where the teacher wouldn't notice me and call on me a lot.

  But as I reached the top floor I quickly realized something. There were no rooms here except for a storeroom, a janitor's room and a kitchen for the staff. I felt tears of frustration brimming in my eyes. How could I be so stupid? I should have known- after all I used to rag the new students too in my previous school. But then where were the classrooms? I was hopelessly lost! And the worst thing was that I couldn't trust any student to give me the right directions. Just then the janitor came out of his room with a broom. He took one look at me and snarled.

  "Don't cha know, no one's allowed up 'ere?"

  "I…I…where's Room 312?" I asked, wiping my tears.

  "On the ground floor." He grumbled, and then left before I could thank him. I rushed downstairs as fast as I could- even though I was tired from running up the stairs bef
ore. But it was no use. I was late for my Math class on the very first day!

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  CHAPTER THREE

  "LATE! You can't walk in late in my class young woman!" she bellowed. I stared at Mrs. Parker and nodded dumbly. She was in her mid-forties and really angry looking. Her gray hair seemed to bob every now and then as she spoke and her glasses were dangerously perched on her head. I kept wondering if they were going to fall on the floor and break into a million pieces. As soon as I had entered class, she had begun screaming. I was gasping for breath and most of her screaming was lost on me because I kept hearing the loud thud of my heart beating against my ribs and I was sure my ears had turned bright pink. I had never been so embarrassed in my life!

  "I…I'm sorry," I said timidly. She stared at me and I was pretty sure she was going to hit me right now. But instead she nodded her head.

  "Detention after school. Now go to your desk," she said and turned back to the board.

  "But…but?" I started to say but it was a big mistake, for she turned around sharply to glare at me, her face now turning to fuchsia.

  "Do you want to stay after school every day for two months?" she asked

  "No." I said in a small voice.

  "Then go to your desk," she roared.

  I literally ran to an empty desk near the back of the class and plonked down but not before I caught a few amused glances from my classmates. Oh great! Just what I needed! I had hoped to make tons of new friends on the very first day and now I was just a joke. I hid my blushing face behind the Math textbook and wished no one would look at me.

  The class seemed to go on for hours and I didn't understand a word Mrs. Parker was saying. The syllabus was completely different from my previous school. We hadn't even begun algebra, and over here, we were already doing complex algebra sums. Finally, after I couldn't take those complex sums anymore, the bell rang. I picked up my books quickly and dashed for my next class, which was Science. But this time I checked the school map and made sure I was going to the right class.

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  CHAPTER FOUR

  It was finally lunchtime and I walked to the cafeteria determined to make new friends. The first few periods had been awful, and although I hadn't embarrassed myself by walking in late, I had subjected myself to further embarrassment by dropping my pencils and books on the floor with a loud thud and falling down flat on the floor as I had tried to pick them up. And don't even ask what happened in gym class! Let's just say that I was pretty lucky to have a needle and thread ready to stitch an embarrassing tear in my shorts. I walked into the cafeteria, all ready to show my classmates what a great person I am, when a girl bumped into me and I got smeared with some kind of pudding. Just my day!

  "Oops! Sorry!" she apologized.

  "It’s okay." I replied, trying to wipe the stain with my handkerchief. It was just going to be one of those days when nothing goes right.

  "Hi, I'm Nina. I'm in your math class. Pretty tough break you got from Mrs. Parker huh?"

  "Yeah I guess. But it's okay. Its just one class anyway." I said, while still trying to rub the stain. But it was of no use-the stain had spread even further.

  "Not if you're taking Art. Are you?"

  "Uh-huh." I nodded.

  "Oh, you poor dear! Mrs. Parker teaches art too!" she said. I groaned. So far the day was getting from bad to worse to terrible.

  "Hey! Do you want to join me for lunch?" she asked. I looked up at her and thought real hard. Nina seemed like a nice girl, but I doubt if she was that popular. She was pretty with hazel eyes and dark hair. She wore jeans and a bright yellow sleeveless top. She looked kind of sweet too, but was she really that popular? I mean she just asked a new girl to be her best friend and already invited her for lunch. Was she that desperate? I wanted to become popular as I was in my previous school and if I hung about Nina…

  "Can I ask you something?" I asked casually.

  "Sure." she said but I knew she was probably wondering what that had anything to do with joining her for lunch.

  "Who would you say is popular in our grade?" I asked.

  "Sonia, definitely." she replied without hesitation. "There she is sitting with her friends on that table near the window."

  I looked to where she pointed and smiled. Sonia seemed really popular. She had tons of friends around her and she was gossiping and laughing. Everyone seemed to like her and who wouldn't? She was pretty, had her auburn hair tied into the most awesome hairstyle and wore the trendiest clothes.

  "So are you coming?" Nina asked.

  "Er…maybe some other time. Keep in touch!" I said and walked towards Sonia's table.

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  CHAPTER FIVE

  "Hi! I'm Tina," I said cheerfully. Sonia looked at me as if I had lost my marbles.

  "So?" she asked.

  "Well I was wondering if we could become friends. I'm from Meadowsville and just got transferred here!" I said, chattily. Sonia cocked an eyebrow and looked at me from top to bottom, taking in my old shoes, faded jeans and stained blue shirt, a zit that was getting ready to erupt on my nose, and my boring pale brown hair that just hung down loose to my waist. Well, I probably didn't look to appealing like her, but all my friends in Meadowsville thought I looked cool and calculated- sort of a rebel. I have no idea why.

  "Why would you think that?" she asked finally.

  "Well…"at that moment I seriously couldn't think of anything to say. I was surprised. I wondered if it was a rhetorical question and needed an answer. I looked at her friends and saw that they were all staring at me as if I was a creature in a zoo.

  "Well I just thought…" I began and then I suddenly noticed a girl sitting across Sonia. It was the same tall girl who had given me the wrong directions. "Hey! You're the one who sent me to the wrong class and it was because of you that I got detention."

  The tall girl looked at me and smiled. "So?" she said. Again I was surprised. I had expected an apology. Sonia started to laugh.

  "Ohhh! So she's the one!" she laughed. She gave the tall girl a high five.

  "Hey!" I said but Sonia got up and stood before me.

  "Look! I don't want to hang around with a total Dweeb like you. I mean seriously whatever gave you the idea that you could ever become my friend. Have you ever looked in the mirror?" she asked, while her friends started to cheer. I stood there embarrassed as ever and felt hot tears roll down my flaming cheeks. It seemed that the whole school was laughing at me. I turned around with as much dignity as possible and walked towards Nina's table.

  "Can…can I…?" but before I could say anything, Nina gave a short laugh.

  "Sorry but I don't think I'm POPULAR enough for you." She sneered. I could hear everyone laughing even harder now. It seemed that I was the center of the attention, but in a totally embarrassing way. I ran out of the cafeteria, before I embarrassed myself even further.

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  CHAPTER SIX

  "Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!" My family was singing loudly, but I didn't feel any happier. My life was miserable. I was on a mid-term break and I still hadn't made any friends. But I was sure talked about a lot; people just couldn't stop gossiping about me. I know Nina felt a little bad for me, but she never said anything and I cursed myself for not being her friend. She had wanted to be friends-no questions asked, and I had turned her down because of my rotten attitude.

  And now here I was, spending my thirteenth birthday with my Grandmother and just this morning I had discovered another zit on my chin. I had hoped to have made tons of friends by now and being able to hold a big party and make my thirteenth birthday special, but so far I had received only two cards from Natasha and Tania.

  "Blow out the candle and make a wish!" my mother said excitedly. I closed my eyes and wished that all my problems would end.

  "Come on, I'm getting hungry!" Grandmother said. I grinned as I blew out the candles. The cake looked lovely. It was chocolate, my fa
vorite, and it was decorated with icing sugar and marzipan. The neat lettering on the marzipan read: Happy Birthday Tina. But I still didn't feel any happier-in fact I felt gloomier than ever. It seemed that so far, nothing was going right in my life.

  "Finally!" Grandmother said, startling me from my thoughts.

  "Always impatient!" Dad muttered.

  "What?" Granny demanded.

  "Now both of you stop. Its Tina's special day so let’s not argue, okay?" my Mom said.

  Dad and Granny nodded and sat down. We ate some of the chocolate cake, and everyone toasted me with sodas. All through the party I plastered a smile on my face, and hoped that no one noticed how sad I really was. But I noticed Granny looking at me a couple of times. That's the thing about my Granny. Somehow she's always been able to read my mind. After a few happy hours, my parents had to leave for work. As soon as they left, Granny quickly pulled me to the den and made me sit beside her on the couch.

  "Spill." she said. My Granny isn't much with words, but that single word was enough for me to pour out my whole sad story. She listened attentively as I told her about my new teachers, Sonia and everyone else. As soon as I finished, Granny handed me a glass of water, and I gulped it down fast.

  "I guess it’s time!" she said. I hiccupped and looked at her with a frown. But Granny didn't notice and seemed distracted by something.

  She took my hand and led me upstairs to her room. I followed her wondering what she was up to.

  "Sit!" she ordered and I promptly sat on her bed, while she walked over to the chest of drawers and started to rummage. I grinned as she threw one thing after another out of her drawer. Ribbons, stockings, scarves, you name it and it was all there in Granny's drawer. Everything looked yellowed and old as if the drawer hadn't been open for years. But that's another thing about my Grandmother-she isn't really fond of cleaning. She leaves all the cleaning to the house-help lady who comes every week to clean up the house. But I guess even she had missed out the drawer because it was in serious need of cleaning and sorting out.

  "Here's your present," she said finally, handing me a dusty old box. I took it tentatively, blew the dust, and opened it with great anticipation. Granny always gave me the best gifts. She travels a lot too, and always brings me back something or the other. I have a huge collection of dolls she bought for me from Paris, Hong Kong, China, Egypt and every single country in the world. So I was completely surprised when I opened the box.