Free Pride & Princesses by Summer Day

know, I think I heard the sentiments in Little Women .’
    ‘Oh, I love that story.’
    ‘Me too.’
     There aren’t very many people who swim and as luck would have it, Mark and Jet and Alex and Tom are riding the bus as well.
     ‘I’ve often noted that swimming tends to do beautiful things to shoulders. You can see the results in the broad arm muscles of the boy sitting in front of me, his face slightly obscured by the headrest of the seat,’ I whispered to Mouche.
     Of course, I’m describing Mark.
     When he turns his head Mouche stifles a giggle as I unwrap some gum, offer her some and innocently observe the world outside the bus windows.  
      ‘He’s very uptight,’ Mouche scrawled on the side of her note page, shoving it in front of me.
       ‘He still hasn’t spoken to me but earlier today, he offered to help me lift my bag when the locker door was stuck,’ I said softly.  
      ‘Chivalry is so not over yet,’ Mouche added, ‘Oh, fabulous, Tom Allen just glanced my way. Guess what?   Teegan and Tory have decided to flirt with all the boys on our behalf. Don’t they realize none of us are ready for the approach since we’ve barely had time to read the copious quantities of old-fashioned dating literature we found in the closets of our slummy mommies?’  
     ‘I loved it when you used to jokingly answer the telephone with those immortal words, Hello this is Mrs Mouche’s brothel…’
      ‘I was only twelve…’
      ‘Our mothers weren’t quite as fond of the introduction as I recall...’
     The bus had stopped at a red light by this time. Suddenly Teegan crawled out of her seat and made her way to the back of the vehicle.
    ‘Hi Pheebs,’ Teegan said as if she was my best friend.
     I smiled tepidly. Mouche had her ears blocked with music.
    ‘Hi Mark,’ Teegan continued. ‘I can’t wait for you to pick us up Saturday tonight.’    
     Mark looked over at Jet as if Teegan had gone nuts, and then gave her a reluctant smile. Both Teegan and Tory smiled back and I was embarrassed for everyone and pretended to be writing, but the road ahead was bumpy so after a few minutes I stopped.
    ‘I forgot to tell you, Freya and Brooke are Jet’s neighbours. They’ve been ‘noticing’ him for years and Freya even spread a vicious rumor that she has webcam images of Jet doing it with an ex!’ I whispered.
     ‘So possibly illegal, to spread publicity unasked, but Brooke doesn’t care. She thinks she’s above the law. No doubt the footage is inspired because Jet is very sporty and buff. I’m not sure if Teegan and Tory realize just how popular Jet could become,’ Mouche added with a smile.
   ‘He’s good natured, too,’ I whispered after Jet had helped Mouche with her jacket and bags. ‘It seems like nothing is a trouble to him.’
    ‘Brooke and Freya act like eager fans when Jet is around. Although they are as obsessed with Mark as everyone else, he has blatantly ignored them and even the Princesses get a little hurt when boys like him look down on girls like them.’ Mouche said.
    ‘They treat Jet with the reverence of a fan base and look up to him. Brooke was once overheard in the cafeteria saying, ‘of course we’re lucky to be his neighbours but we could be totally torn apart if it came to fighting over Jet.’
    Thankfully, Mark and Jet had their earplugs safely in their ears by this point.
    ‘Girls like the Princesses learn to be nice to boys at a young age. Perhaps their mothers teach them,’ Mouche whispered, ‘Brooke and Freya have loads of money and their walk-in closets are twice the size of Teegan’s and Tory’s who make up for this slight disadvantage with extra stylish ensembles.’
    The two other Princesses had waved us goodbye from the pavement wearing today’s furry back pack slung over their shoulders.