What a bitch! Cassandra Scott is stuck up and thinks she’s a princess and can get everything she wants just because her Dad is the Mayor. Well guess what. She’s not gonna get Jake Weiland. If I could just get him to notice me…

It’s not like I haven’t tried! I’ve gone to every gig his band, Computer Anarchy, has played and I’m always in the front row, but he’s too focused on the music to notice. You should see his face when he’s concentrating on a tricky chord change. For the briefest moment he furrows his brow, and then when he gets it he smiles this secret smile to himself, and I’m positive I’m the only one seeing it, and it’s almost like he’s sharing that secret smile with me.

I’ve known Jake for two years. Well, I know him but he doesn’t know me… yet. I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to make it happen. I could follow him to the grocery store and pretend I can’t reach something on the top shelf, and then of course I see him and ask him to get it for me. Or I could wait for him outside a class and pretend to be going in when he’s coming out and make him bump into me so he’ll have to apologize. I have lots of plans like that, I just can’t figure out which one is the least stalker-y.

Look, I know I act like a stalker about Jake. I looked through all the cameo shots in the yearbook and made a list of all the pages he’s on. I looked up his Facebook page but it’s private, but the band’s page is public so every time they put up a picture he’s in I save it on my computer so I can print them for my Jake book, which is where I put the photo list for the yearbook and I put in his band photos and I make lists of everything I know about him, and what his class schedule is, and I write down every time I see him and where it was and what happened… but I would never hurt him. I can’t even bring myself to talk to him!

Except one time, but he probably doesn’t remember. The band was packing up after playing at a bowling alley, and I went and told him I loved the show. He looked right in my eyes, smiled, and I can still hear his voice in my head, he said: “Thanks.” But then Milo asked him something about a pizza delivery the night before and they started laughing and I lost my nerve and ran away straight to the girls’ room and just stood there a while trying to catch my breath. He talked to me! For that one second, he knew I was alive. He probably still doesn’t know my name, but he looked right at me. It was amazing!

Last night Computer Anarchy played at the homecoming dance. Cassandra Scott was there, and I saw her talking to Jake between sets. It looked like they knew each other, they weren’t just meeting each other. I am so jealous, she’s so pretty and of COURSE guys notice her all the time. And she clearly has no self-confidence problems – she was talking to him like it didn’t terrify her just to be standing that close to him. Maybe that means she doesn’t like him as much as I do! If she did, wouldn’t she be nervous around him? Yeah, that’s it, she’s not into him. They’re just friends…

Unless she’s beyond just being into him and they’re already dating! Oh no, that can’t be true. That would be disastrous! After all the time I’ve spent getting to know him, she can’t just swoop in and snatch him away from me. He’s so perfect for me, we have so much in common, and what do THEY have in common? He plays the guitar and she doesn’t even play an instrument. (I play the clarinet.) She’s the captain of the Cheerleaders and he’s not even on the football team… or ANY team. I just don’t see what they could possibly have in common.

According to the band’s Facebook page, their next gig is next Thursday night at a bar. I guess they let underage bands in, bu I can’t get in because I’m not 18. Then Saturday afternoon they’re playing a mexican restaurant. Now THAT makes no sense – Computer Anarchy is alternative, and not one member of the band is remotely hispanic. Jake and Milo are Italian, Johnny is black, and Haywood is as white as you can get, with super blond hair. It’s the same time our football team will be playing, which means Cassandra will be busy cheerleading and won’t be able to go. Maybe nobody else will come and I’ll be the only one there. Then Jake will know I’m his biggest fan.

This is an exercise written as part of NaNoWarmUp, a personal writing challenge in October to write 25,000 words as preparation for writing 50,000 words in November. This year I’m using the daily writing goal of 800 words to write ABOUT my Cassandra story from the point of view of other characters. In November, I hope to be prepared to start writing a new first draft of Cursed from Cassandra’s point of view, a more complete story after figuring out how other characters perceive Cassandra, her prophecies, and the Trojan War.