Dibs! (Chapter 1)

"What is that?" asked Andrea, looking at Madeline pick her sandwich. "Baby spinach?"

"Yes," Madeline answered. "Why?"

"You can put that in a sandwich?"

"Yeah, it's a green and you can put greens in sandwiches."

"And it makes it healthy?" asked Lizzie.

"Yeah. Whatever green is healthy."

"Like green skittles?"

"No, I mean vegetables."

"Ew."

"What do you mean 'ew'? You eat vegetables."

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean I like it."

"My dad puts ham in his sandwich," noted Skye.

"So?" inquired Madeline.

"So ham is less healthy than turkey. Don't you know that?"

"Of course. I know everything."

"I don't believe that," Andrea commented.

"Don't you know me at all?"

"What do you know that we don't know?"

"I know all the presidents of the United States."

"I find that hardly true."

"Well, I do."

"Then list them."

"Fine. George Washington; John Adams; Thomas Jefferson; John Quincy Adams; James Madison; Ulysses S. Grant; Andrew Johnson; Abraham Lincoln; George Bush; Ronald Reagan; Richard Nixon; James Monroe; Jimmy Carter; John F. Kennedy; Millard Filmore; Andrew Jackson; Rutherford B. Hayes; Franklin Pierce; James Buchanon; Dwight Eisen--"

"Okay, I get it! You win."

"Yay."

"I don't know half of those people," admitted Lizzie.

"Do you know something, guys?" questioned Skye.

"Madeline knows something."

"No, I mean something weird is going on. Like don't you feel a draft in here? As in a spiritual draft."

"Are you trying to say that there's a ghost nearby?"

"No. I just feel like something happened today but I can't put my finger on it."

"Speaking of fingers," said Andrea, looking behind herself, "I would like to put my fingers on that."

The girls paid their attention to an unfamiliar boy who was entering the cafeteria. He was tall, had brown hair, peachy skin, a leather jacket and black sunglasses. The girls were so dumbstruck by his good looks that they all imagined him walking in slow motion. Once he walked past them, the girls gradually stopped paying attention.

"That is what I was trying to talk about," said Skye.

"Is he new?" asked Lizzie.

"Yeah. I saw him for the first time in my English class."

"Well, I never seen him before thus he has to be new," said Madeline.

"He's so hot that the sun can't compete with him," Debra commented.

"He's so hot that you can cook scrambled eggs off his back," Andrea added.

"I bet those eggs would be delicious," said Lizzie.

"Dibs!" shouted the girls at the same time. They groaned and moaned right after.

"I saw him first," said Skye.

"Well, I saw him second," Andrea responded.

"I deserve to have him because I know all the presidents of the United States," Madeline decided.

"What does that got to do with this?"

"Maybe that guy prefers smart girls."

"Oh, and we're not smart?" Debra asked.

"That's not what I'm trying to say."

"Then what are you trying to say?" asked Andrea.

"If the shoe fits, put it on."

"For you to know, I own thiry-four pairs of shoes that are hidden away from my parents," said Lizzie. "And they all fit so I guess that boy is M-I-N-E, mine."

"Touch my man and you'll be G-O-N-E, gone." said Andrea.

"Girls, we don't even know his name to possess him," noted Skye.

"His name is Charles," Madeline jumped in.

"You don't know that," said Andrea.

"I predicted it."

"Just because you're smart doesn't mean your predictions are true."

"But I don't have to be smart to know your predictions are false."

"Oh, you little--"

"Girls!" Debra called. "Can we not fight over a guy? I mean we barely know him; this is getting a little silly."

"Debra's right," Lizzie sighed. "We're not going to let a guy get in the way. We're best friends; we make it work."

"Oh, yeah," Madeline agreed.

The girls concurred and began giggling. Later, their friendly giggles turned into perturbed scowling and spurious smiles.