DEAR GISELLE • RODRICK HEFFLEY (CMY SEQUEL)

5th chapter: treehouse

the moment the groovy tune of empire the sun's walking on a dream began to sweep through jerry kowalski's backyard. the five friends all perked up at the sound, hollering and cheering at jerry who was in charge of the bluetooth speaker.

if there was any song that could get them hyped, it was definitely walking on a dream. they discovered it during one of their drives around plainview. zara's spotify was randomly playing a bunch of summer songs and they had stumbled upon this gem. ever since then, it had unofficially became their song.

"is it reaaaalll now," they chorused, as jerry grabbed his pool noodle and began to pretend it was a mic.

"god bless the day we found this song," quinn spoke up, taking a sip from her red solo cup. she didn't know what in the world jerry had mixed in the punch, but it tasted really good and she couldn't get enough of it.

"one of the rare times we were all together," jerry pointed out, taking a seat on the grass beside ben and zara. "because you're all busy and always forget me."

ben rolled his eyes playfully, "oh god, i told you we were busy with work"

jerry put a hand on his chest dramatically, "if you really loved me benjamin, you would've made time"

quinn laughed, pointing at ben. "hah! benjamin!"

"wow, you try working at the roller rink on fridays!" ben defended himself. "it's chaos."

"sure it is," jerry retorted, causing the whole group to laugh.

giselle looked up at rodrick, "he isn't gonna give this up huh?" she said, loud enough for only him to hear.

he leaned down grinning at her, "nope." he replied.

ben groaned, turning towards his girlfriend zara. "babe, help me. my friend's an imbecile."

she laughed, cupping ben's cheeks in her hands and pulling his face a little bit closer to hers. "if you really loved him benjamin, you would've made time."

"benjamin!" quinn interrupted once more, while ben let out another frustrated noise.

this was their usual banter with one another and it always made everyone laugh, which meant good moods all around. after the events of the dance where the boys had almost gotten arrested and rodrick finally confessed to giselle, things began to change and the trio, which once consisted of only loaded diper members welcomed three new members to their friendship circle.

plus, the fact that ben and zara started dating first made them a bit closer too.

giselle smiled to herself just staring around at all her friends. she found herself doing that most of the time, admiring the friends she was close to and thinking about how content she was with what she had. she'd never felt more comfortable in her life.

"whatcha thinkin' bout?" rodrick asked, staring down at his girlfriend who was lying in between his legs. they were all sat on the grass for some odd reason.

giselle looked up at him, smiling once again in reply. "i'm just happy."

"oh yeah?" he grinned. "wanna tell me?"

•••••••••••••••••••

the two teenagers found themselves sneaking away from the rest of the group. they were currently engulfed in swimming in jerry's pool and hadn't noticed the two slip away.

rodrick held giselle's hand leading the way. she had no idea where they were going, but she was just following along waiting to see where they'd end up. soon enough, they'd stop by jerry's treehouse. she remembered ben saying how they used to play there a lot when they were kids, and all giselle could picture was a young rodrick trying to climb up the ladder.