The New Kid

Ryan

The next morning was the busiest one in her life. She had to wake up two hours earlier than she usually did for Jen to have enough time to work on her. As it was, they still had to rush to get to school on time. But for the first time in forever, Liza felt confident about herself. The way Jen had done her up made her look absolutely stunning; she was awed by her own reflection. “You’re an artist!” she had told Jen when they were all done, to which she replied, “There’s no way that boy can not notice you now!”

She had also borrowed a summery-yellow dress adorned with pink flowers and some pink high heels from Jen, which were a little hard to walk in. But she was getting used to them. Walking down the hallway, she heard whispers around her: “Is that... Elizabeth?”, making her smile with satisfaction. The attention was strange, but felt good. It’s about time someone noticed me, she thought. She glided into class a little before the bell rang, when everyone was already there. The volume in the room died down considerably as she took her seat.

Ryan stared suspiciously. “Wow, Liza, you look really different.”

She laughed. “You said that yesterday!” She turned to face Tony. “Hey Tony. What do you think?”

“I think you look gorgeous! Hey, you want to catch a movie later? Like, after school?”

Liza tried to keep her expression neutral, but inside she was panicking.Tony just asked her out! A boy she’s known for what, three days? That ought to be a record, even for Jen. Should she accept? She didn’t know anything about Tony… but she really liked him!

“Sure,” she replied, acting nonchalant. “See you after school.” In her head she did a little happy dance. Tony liked her back! Turning back around, she glanced at Ryan. He was glaring at his homework and refused to look at her. Shrugging, she figured he did the assignment wrong and decided not to ask.  

In fact, Ryan was fuming. Not at his assignment, but at Tony. What gave him the right to ask Liza out? Tony barely knew her! Now Ryan, he had known her since forever. But he just couldn’t work up the courage to ask. What if she didn’t like him like that? What if he asked, and she said no, and their whole friendship was ruined? He wouldn’t take that chance. Couldn’t. So he stayed the best friend. But still, he wanted to. He tried hinting, but every time he offered a compliment she would just say, “Awww, that’s so sweet! You’re such a great friend.” And now it was just so frustrating to hear that she was going out with this guy she barely met. But Ryan would just have to deal with it and wait for her to come around.