The New Kid

The Rumor

At lunch, Liza sat next to Ryan. She still felt awful about rejecting him.

“Listen, Ryan, I’m really sorry I couldn’t be your partner today. It’s just that Tony…”

He flinched at the name “Tony”. “It’s okay” was all he could get in before Jen came running up to the table.

“Bad news, Liza,” she panted.

“What? What happened? Did someone break an arm or something?”

“What? No. Worse. I just heard that Tony was using you to get a good grade in Spanish, and he was just pretending to like you so you’d help him.”

Liza looked torn. “That can’t be right. Listen, I’ll just find him and set things straight.” She shook her head to dispel her doubts and started walking around looking for Tony.

She quickly found him. “Tony, I need to talk to you,” she said. Tony gave her a weird look, but followed her away from the lunch tables.

“What’s up?” he said casually.

“So I heard this weird rumor that you were just using me to help you in Spanish and you never actually liked me. I know it sounds absurd--”

“Wow, that was fast. I didn’t think you’d find out so quickly. Yeah, I knew I was horrible at Spanish, and I needed someone to mooch work off of. Mr. Mason had told me about the project when I first got here, so I knew I’d have to have a good partner too. You’re so good at Spanish, I knew our project would be an A-plus. But our partnership never meant anything.” He shrugged, as if what he had said didn’t just completely crush her whole world.

“How could you?! And why are you telling me this? You know I’ll never help you now.”

“Oh, yeah, well, I found someone else. A nerd, who doesn’t have any friends interested in gossip. Or friends in general. He thinks he’ll be cool,” he scoffed.

“Wow. I can’t believe I liked you. You’re such a… jerk!!” Liza stomped back to her table. She plopped down next to Ryan, and suddenly her anger dissipated. Now all she wanted to do was cry. She leaned into Ryan, and he put his arm around her shoulder.

Jen shook her head. “I’m going to beat some sense into that little jerk, show him he can’t just use people like that! I’ll be right back.” She ran off in Tony’s direction.

“I just can’t believe he did that. I’m so stupid to fall for that,” she sniffed.

“No, you aren’t stupid. You just… have a difficult time seeing through people, that’s all.”

“Thanks, Ryan. You always know what to say to make me feel better.” She smiled a little. “You’ve always been there for me.”

“And I always will be,” he murmured into her hair. “I’m sorry Tony didn’t like you. But…” There was a long pause. “I do,” he said quietly.

Liza pulled away from him, wiping a tear from her cheek. “You do?” she asked, even quieter.

“Yeah. And it’s okay if you don’t like me back. I just wanted you to know that there is someone that values you.”

In that instant, she realized with a start that she liked him, too. She smiled a little. “But I do like you back, Ryan.”

“You do?” He grinned.

“Yeah. I do.” She sunk back into his arms. They sat like that for a minute, then Ryan spoke up.

“Do you… do you want to go on a date with me?” he asked tentatively.

“You know, Ryan, I’d love to.”