The Marriage Wars

Chapter One

October 1999

Southside High School

Sarah came out of the bathroom stall and headed to the sink to wash her hands. Looking in the mirror, she could see that her reddish hair had frizzed again, despite the product she had used on it before she left home that morning. She rummaged in her purse for her brush. It was her senior year, and she still snuck into school bathrooms during class when she was reasonably sure no one else would be in there. This way, she didn’t have to worry about the mean girl group who lived to torment her. The whole lot of them had made her life a living hell since the 9th grade. Suddenly a toilet flushed in one of the stalls. Sarah jumped. She had thought that she was alone in the bathroom.

The door to the stall opened, and there she stood, Riley Brown. Petite, exotic, head cheerleader, Riley Brown. Sarah flinched. She avoided Riley at every opportunity. She didn’t know why Riley hated her so much. Riley would do hateful things like flick food at her in the lunchroom. She called Sarah, who was chubby, names like Porky Pig. Riley also did stuff like pushing Sarah’s books out of her arms in the hallway, or she would “accidentally” knock into her and push her against the lockers. Riley was Sarah’s own daily school nightmare and the ultimate mean girl. Now they were alone together in a deserted school bathroom. Sarah tensed. She was in for it. The worst being name-calling, and the best scenario, well, Sarah couldn’t imagine. She’d never been in a fight before, but she’d heard that Riley had and was the one who came out on top.

Their eyes met in the mirror as Riley approached the sink. “Hi Sarah,” Riley said sweetly.

“Hi,” Sarah cautiously replied. Her eyes flicked around the bathroom, looking to see if there were other members of the mean girls club, aka cheerleaders, hiding in the stalls. Was this a setup?

“So, Sarah.” Riley began. “I’ve meant to congratulate you on your good grades in algebra.”

“Yeah?” Sarah said. She was amazed. Riley had never complimented her before, and she was surprised that she knew about Sarah’s algebra grade.

“You must be really smart,” Riley continued.

“Umm, not really,” Sarah replied. “I just work hard.”

“Well, ahh, I was wondering. You know I could use some help. I’m not doing too well in algebra.”

“You mean you want me to tutor you,” Sarah said. She was certainly surprised at this turn of events.

“No, not exactly,” Riley smiled. “I was wondering if you could umm, well, loan me some of your homework assignments? You know, just to get my grade back up. And then there’s the test on Friday. You sit in front of me. You could make sure that I see your answers.”

Sarah was shocked. “That’s cheating. You don’t want to cheat. If you would study a little harder, then you can do the work on your own!”

Riley rolled her eyes. “I don’t have time to study harder. I need good grades right now. Otherwise, I’ll lose my spot on the cheering squad. You don’t want that to happen to me, do you?”

Riley looked at Sarah. The smile on her face was sweet, but the expression on her face and the tone of her voice sent chills down Sarah’s spine. Sarah had too much integrity to cheat, but her fear of Riley outweighed her integrity.

“I’ll tell you what,” Riley said. “I’ll invite you to the homecoming party that I’m having after the game. It wouldn’t be the same without you.”

Against her better judgment, Sarah agreed to do as Riley wished, and the two of them made plans for how the cheating was going to go down. Little did she know that her decision to cooperate with Riley would have lifelong consequences.