≪ slowly ≫ (rodrick heffley) ✓

no. 3

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As I walked to my next class I had with y/n, I noticed her standing at the lockers with Jack. Jack, the most handsome and popular boy in school. Ugh. I don't really like him but I still walked up to them.

"Hey, Rodrick." Y/n smiled at me. Jack looked at me for a second. "Hey," I said back. It looked like Jack needed to figure out who I was. "Heffley?" I nodded with an awkward smile. I just wanted to be nice. "You're in my English class, right?" He chuckled showing his shiny straight teeth and dimples. I actually never talked to him but he just gave off weird vibes. "Yeah..."

"Well, we gotta go. See you, jack." Thank god y/n ended this brief yet uncomfortable conversation. We walked to our classroom and sat on our seats. "Not to be rude or anything but you're new here?" I felt so dumb and rude but I couldn't remember seeing her face before. Luckily, Y/n giggled at my question.

"I moved here last year." I didn't notice my confused expression as she started explaining it furthermore. "...so, I've been learning at Crossland Highschool for a year now."

"Yeah. Sorry..." I nodded and thought about what to say. "You coming over tomorrow?" I nervously played with my pen. "Yeah, I'm actually kinda excited." A smile crept on my face. "I wonder if you guys really suck that bad." Y/n grinned sneakily while I chuckled. "We are good, girl."

At the end of the lesson, I told her to join me and my friends at lunch. "I'd like to meet them but my best friend will come with us." It was fine for me since I wanted to expand our friend group a little bit.

I was sitting at a table with Chris and Ben as I saw y/n and another girl approaching us. "Guys, there they are..." I whispered excitedly. "Hey..." y/n and the girl sat down in front of us. "Hi, so y/n, this is Chris and this is Ben," I said while pointing to both in turns. "Hey, guys." She smiled and introduced herself. "...and this is my best friend Olivia." I notice Chris looking at her intensely. "You can also call me Oli." Olivia smiled at him.

We got to know each other pretty well during that short lunch break. I suggested that Olivia should come with y/n to our band practice we had the next day. They agreed and we finished our school days.

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I nervously sat at my drum set waiting for Chris and Ben to come. I hope I won't fail in front of the girls. That would be embarrassing as fuck. I look at the black screen of my phone to see my reflection so I can check my eyeliner before the boys arrive.

I heard some kid giggling and figured it was Ben. He walked into the opened garage with Chris. "Where the girls at?" He instantly asked. "Man, what happened to hello? How are you?"

We prepared our instruments and played a little. The two girls walked in as we were rehearsing. I stopped as soon as I saw y/n. Chris and Ben did the same. "Hi, guys." Y/n greeted us and sat down on a small couch in front of the stage place. "Y/n, Olivia, glad you could make it." I winked at y/n. "Of course, I mean, we have front row tickets." Olivia giggled why sitting down beside y/n. We chuckled at her joke and I noticed Chris laughing a little too loud. And weirdly.

As I counted down with my drumsticks I felt nervousness kicking my butt. At first, I was hitting the drums sloppily but I managed to get over my nervousness and just feel the rhythm. I knew we weren't the best band, looking at Olivia's facial expression.

But as I looked over to y/n I realized she's been analyzing my movements for the whole time. I suddenly lost my steadiness and dropped a drumstick. I can't handle attention so well. I'm always stage-frightened. We stopped playing and Chris looked at me confused. "Sorry guys. Let's take a short break."

I took a seat on a wooden box near y/n offering them sodas. Ben also sat on a box in front of the couch while Chris acted like he was busy tuning his guitar. "Guys, I don't wanna lie, you're not good. But you're also not bad. You could do better." Olivia suddenly speaks catching everyone's attention. "How?" Ben asked like a little child.

"Well, Rodrick, you were a little out of sync but it's totally fixable." Yeah of course Olivia. I got nervous and dropped a drumstick. "Chris, your guitar isn't tuned correctly, and Ben..." Olivia looked at Ben for a second before continuing. "...just keep on singing, we can not change that."

Y/n came closer to me. "Sorry, but that's Oli..." she whispered while smiling apologetically. "It's okay. Constructive criticism, we need that." I sounded so smart saying that, but it's the only smart-sounding word I knew tho.

"Wait, can't you play the guitar?" Ben asked y/n. She looked at him nervously. "Since you guys know so much, help us getting better," Chris added. "I kinda exaggerated when I told Rodrick..." she looked at me angrily but in a funny way. "...that I could play, but Oli actually taught me how to play a little bit. It's all her to be honest." Y/n seemed a little embarrassed so I mouthed 'sorry' to her.

I sat at my drums again watching Olivia and Chris tuning his guitar. Ben was drinking a soda as y/n walked over to me. She sat down on a box beside me. "They're so flirting." Y/n quietly giggled looking over to Olivia and Chris. "Yeah, Chris likes badass girls who play electric." Y/n looked at me. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" I turned my head to look at her face. "You seemed shocked when you looked at your audience." She chuckled which made me somehow feel better. "Yeah, I just got nervous. You know, stage fright." I scratched my neck with the drumstick still in my hand. "No need to be, you are good." That's one of the first compliments I got about my drumming. "Thanks." I got a little shy.

After band practice, we all hung out in my garage listening to some of my favorite songs. While Chris, Ben, and Olivia were chatting I tried talking to y/n. "Is it just you and Olivia?" She turned to me and thought for a few seconds. "Umm, we had a little friend group but it didn't really work out. Now it's only me and her."

"We could hang out more often." Y/n smiled widely. "That's a good idea." I smiled too. "Look at the lovebirds." I turned to look at Chris and Olivia. He was flirting with her really hard. Y/n and I looked at each other, had a moment, and burst out laughing. Adding her and Olivia to our friend group is a really good idea.

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