Student Body - Gibson, Gia - Diary

**From Gia Gibson's Journal**

There's only one problem--this weird girl down the hall. It's like
she has it in for me. I'll be walking to class, and one of her
sorority sisters will look at me funny. Then one of my books will
disappear from my bag. Or I'll get an e-mail with a virus and my
computer will crash. Or some guy will start flirting with me because
she told him I was interested.

It only takes one person to wreck everything. In my case, it's
Jenny
Dvorak--sophomore, Alpha Phi sorority sister, and, unfortunately,
fellow Crane Hall resident. Maybe Jenny picked me because I'm quiet.
Or maybe it's because she can tell how much I really want to fit in.

I just wish she'd stop.

Sigh.

All this stuff with Jenny makes me think of my mom. She and Dad
got married right after high school, so she never had a chance to go
to college. But even though she's proud of me, I know I've
disappointed her in some ways. It's like she pushes me to go out and
do everything she never had the chance to do.

She just doesn't understand that I have to do things my way. I
think it's fun to go to the mall and just hang around and watch
everybody acting goofy. Sometimes I feel like being goofy, too.
Sometimes I don't. My mom doesn't get that. She's "on" all
the time.

I never thought I'd miss listening to her, but I do. At least I
always knew that she wanted the best for me. With Jenny, it's another
story...

### September 21

Another week of Jenny. The new stuff: I made the mistake of leaving my laundry unattended for a couple of minutes. When I got back, someone had stuffed a green sweatshirt into my whites. Now all my clothes look like they've been slimed. Great.

Did I mention it was an Alphi Phi sweatshirt?

I've tried talking to Jenny about it. She just acts like nothing's going on. Then she gives me this fake smile, flips her hair over her shoulder, and winks.

I've got to find a way to deal with her.

### October 4

Almost two more weeks of being Jenny Dvorak's scratching post. I've been talking to this guy named Wally. He's one of the students who fixes computers in the dorms. My hard drive crashed again. (Gee, I wonder why.) I'm so grateful that my roommate, Peggy, hasn't gotten mad at me over this. It's her computer. She's a saint.

Anyway, I like Wally, he's sweet. He's also really shy, though. A lot worse than me. He gets teased a lot. I hate seeing that. He was telling me how he deals with it. There are a lot of on-line chat rooms here at Wintervale. He hits them when he's feeling stressed out. Wally's got all these funny screen names. My favorite is Beaker. It's so cute...

Anyway, I visited the chat rooms. They're really intense! There's one in particular called the Ratskellar. Getting in is next to impossible, but I'm going to keep trying.

### October 11

Week seven of the ongoing battle. Who will win? Who cares? I'm trying not
to let the whole thing get to me.

I'm in a better mood these days. I went to the planetarium the other night.
It seemed like a good place to get away from it all. I noticed this guy
sitting a couple of rows ahead of me. One of Jenny's friends--I recognized
him from the dorm. A big jock named Lee. You take one look at him and think,
yes, a man can survive without a neck!

Lee was sitting there all alone. I know this might seem weird, considering
he's a friend of Jenny's, but I felt sorry for him. I sat down near him,
and we started talking. I couldn't believe how much we had in common. We
went out, got dessert afterwards, stayed up talking until about two in the
morning. The funny thing was, it really didn't feel like a date. Lee and
I were really comfortable with each other, that's all.

I think Lee and I can be friends.

### October 18

Miracle of miracles--Jenny came up to me and apologized. She even invited
me to check out her sorority!

At first, I couldn't figure out what was happening. Then I saw Lee sitting
under a tree watching us. That's when I put it together. Lee must have convinced
Jenny that I wasn't a doormat after all.

So what did I do about good old pom-pom head? For a minute I was just flattered
and actually considered rushing Alpha Phi. Then reality kicked in. The sorority
wasn't for me. They wouldn't want me, and I wouldn't want them. Not
to mention how mean they'd been to me. So I told her, naw, wasn't interested
in Alpha Phi. Sounded kind of boring.

I gave her a smile, flipped my hair over my shoulder, and walked away.

Not real mature. It felt good for about five minutes. Then I started thinking
about the look on Jenny's face when I'd dissed her. She wasn't angry, and
that surprised me. In fact, she looked sort of sad. Like, for a second there,
I was seeing the real person underneath the rich witch sorority girl.

And now I feel like a jerk.

I don't want to talk to Lee about it because he's Jenny's friend. I told
Peggy, and she said it would blow over, to just give it some time. But I
still don't feel right about the whole thing.

I think I'm gonna hit the chat rooms. It's so easy to be myself while I'm
there. I can be funny. I can dis people. I don't feel self-conscious like
I usually do. I can really cut loose 'cause nobody knows who I am.

Maybe tonight I'll make another run at the Ratskellar. You never know who
you might find there...