"Hey I need to ask you something.. it's kind of important"

He looks really serious.

"Yeah what is it?" I ask him.

"So uh, do you know how I could get Heather Hills to like me" he asks me nervously.

ouch.

It feels as thought I can no longer breathe

"Oh uh.." I say quietly as I try to find the right things to say. "Honestly man, I don't get what you see in her. She may be pretty but she's not the nicest person around" I tell Rodrick point blank.

He smiles. "She wasn't always like this, you know. Back in 7th grade she had just moved to town. She didn't have any friends and I decided to talk to her. We became best friends instantly and were really close up until 8th grade when she realized that girls her age were all focused on getting boyfriends and caring about what kind of clothes they wore rather than their actual friends." he tells me.

"We stopped being friends after that but i've had a crush on her ever since 7th grade." He explains. "I really should've made a move on her in 7th grade because back then I actually had a chance."

I know this shouldn't affect me but i'm honestly hurt. I desperately want to go home and forget about everything that just happened. I want to forget about thinking I even wanted to be with a guy like Rodrick.

"That.. sucks.." I tell Rodrick not knowing what to say. "It does, I'm going to try and ask her our next week though." He tells me.

I hate how hopeful his voice sounds. I hate how he still likes her. I hate this.

"Good luck with that.., I hope you get the girl man. Oh look it's my house, bye" I say as I get out of the car and run inside as soon as possible.

I head straight upstairs to my room. I slam the door closed and I drop my bag onto the floor. The picture from the photo booth with me and Rodrick slips out which makes things worse. I shove it into a random drawer but I can't help how tears start to from around my eyes.

I've only known him for a week. Getting over him should be easy. Especially since I now realize I had absolutely no chance with him anyway.

By the time Monday came around my plan was to just ignore Rodrick and hope he gets the hint. I wasn't that attached to him yet, I'll be fine.

I walk into the large halls of school on Monday and I see Rodrick putting stuff into his locker I quickly run past him and head straight to Kim and Madison.

"So Kim was telling me you went out on a date with Rodrick?" Madison teases me. "He's in love with Heather Hills, there's no chance" I tell them.

"Aww, I can go kick him if that'll make you feel better." Kim tells me half jokingly. "Me too" Madison says. I love my friends so much.

"While I hate his guts, killing Rodrick wont do much good" I laugh.

The day goes by very slowly. It was hard for me not to go up to Rodrick because I always used to tease him or smile at him in the hallways. We may have only known each other for a shot period of time but he was one of the nicest and funniest people once you get to know him.

My heart nearly broke when he was standing next to me waiting for me when I was getting books out of my locket. I just slammed the locker door shut and walked away ignoring him.

Eventually weeks pass by of having little to no contact with Rodrick. He tried texting me a few times and I either ignored it or game him dry responses. I think he took the hint and stopped talking to me all together.

On a Saturday morning, right as I had just opened up my textbooks to start studying for the midterm exams coming up, I get a phone call from Mrs. Heffley.

"Hey y/n, I wanted to ask you something. Do you happen to be free tomorrow?" She asks me.

"Yes I am, do you need me to come babysit?" I ask her. I haven't babysat since that time at the arcade but I was still willing to do it, despite trying to ignore Rodrick.

"Not to babysit, I want you to help tutor Rodrick for the exams coming up" She says. I'm shocked by what she just said. "I uh-" I say as I try to form a sentence. I haven't talked to Rodrick in so long.

"You guys are friends right?" She asks me.

Not anymore. "Yes" I lie to her. Rodrick must have not told her and I didn't want to hurt Mrs.Heffley.

"Thank you so much y/n! Please come over tomorrow at anytime. I'll make sure Rodrick is ready." She says. I can tell by her voice that she's really relived.

How did I get myself into this situation?

I spend the rest of the day cramming all the study material because it looks like i'm not going to have that much time tomorrow.

The next day I find myself staring at the Heffley's front door with my backpack on. I hesitantly knock twice on the door and Rodrick opens it immediately.

"Hey" he says.

"Hey.." I reply.

Mrs. Heffley comes and gives me a hug which I honestly wasn't expecting. "Thank you so much y/n , Rodrick only agreed to study if you tutored him." That sentence took me by surprise.

I accidentally make eye contact with Rodrick after that and we both immediately look away from each other.

"Now, I know you guys are friends but I do expect you to be studying so you'll have to study here in the dining room so I can check up on you"

we both nod in agreement as we make our way to the dining room. She hands me and Rodrick a glass of water and leaves us both alone to study.

"So what subject do you want to start with? The math and biology exam is—" I get interrupted.

"Come on y/n, you're just going to pretend like nothing happened? a few weeks ago we were having so much fun together and now you don't even look at me in the hallways." He confronts me.

There's a long pause.

"Look, im sorry. I just.." I trail off

"You just what? Please tell me why you just suddenly decided to pretend I didn't exist." He tells me angrily.

"Look, it's just I cant believe you'd like someone like Heather Hills. I'm sorry but she's been nothing but terrible to me ever since I got here and I didn't want to see you end up with her." I tell him which was sort of true. The other truth I was forgetting to mention however was that I liked him.

"Well you don't have to worry about that. Heather rejected me." He says we his tone of voice change from anger to sadness.

"Oh, i'm so sorry" I say in attempts to comfort him.

He jokes "Well obviously you aren't but you know, maybe it was for the best anyway. I'll admit she was a bit of a bitch." We both start laughing. It seems like everything has gone back to normal.

I open my backpack and pull out the Math textbook. "So we actually do have to be studying for the exam" I tell Rodrick. He groans "I didn't actually want to study, I just wanted to talk to you" he says obviously regretting his poor choices.

"They were other ways to contact me. You brought this on yourself now study." I tell him jokingly. "I only did it like this because I knew you're too lame to tell my mom no. You're like obsessed with getting her to like you but i'll be honest. She talks about you to her friends more than she does her own kids." Rodrick tells me.

That made me smile. Getting parents approval was always really important to me.

"We're still going to study Rodrick, I have to be studying too so it's a win-win" I tell Rodrick who looks as if I just shot him. He's so dramatic.

___________________________________

[[ authors note ]]

I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far!

Last night at 3am I just mapped out where I want the story to go so now all I have to do is make it make sense,,, Thank you for much for reading my story tho 🥺🥺