𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐢 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼

come run away with me .ᐟ

( a )

REPORT CARD DAYS WERE USUALLY AN EXCUSE for arielle to brag the whole day - but the way she paced back and forth on the bedroom floor indicated the opposite.

she bit on her nails 'til all her nails became short and bumpy. her skechers shoes thumped against the floor over, and over, and over again. she held onto the report card so tight that matt was convinced it was now a part of her. the paper crumpled and her palms sweating.

as much as matthew sturniolo understood the importance of good grades to his best friend, he knew he had to say something eventually. anything to stop the madness unveiling before his blue eyes.

"your grades aren't even that bad, ari."

the worst words someone could utter to an academic perfectionist.

arielle's head snapped towards matt, lower lip bleeding from the amount of times she bit on it.

"it's horrible, bernard! absolutely unacceptable! i got a c+ for maths, and a b+ for english! it's horrible, i should just disappear from sommerville at this point! take me out from this town this instance, matthew. i don't deserve to-"

"you got a's on all the other subjects ari," matt sighed, "stop being too harsh on yourself. you're going to get wrinkles and become ugly at seventeen."

"i don't care if i become ugly," she argued, "i don't care much about maths, i know i suck at it but english? can you believe it? i swear mrs jackson has some sort of personal vendetta against me. how could i get a b+ in english? it's like the world stopped turning and the ocean is pink. it doesn't make sense," arielle paused to take a deep breath, "it's english? when has arielle lorelai porter ever not gotten an a+ in english? ridiculous, seriously. i think i'm going to throw up just thinking about this."

matt blinked. how arielle could go on and on with her rambles without getting tired, matt had no idea.

"why do you think she gave you that grade though? must be a reason."

"she said she didn't like my essay! too political, according to her. well i beg to differ! mentioning the double standards for women isn't political. in fact, it's a social issue, it's humanities! men get praised for the bare minimum that women do daily and frankly, it's unfair! totally unfair! so i'm sorry for mentioning the issue, sorry that i felt the need to rant about it in my essay. she's ridiculous, i swear. how could she, a woman, think that's too political? it's a common social issue!"

ah. arielle had gone and used her english essay as a way to vent her emotions and thoughts - again. nothing out of the ordinary.

"okay ari, you need to calm down. you sound like jaden smith right now," matt joked.

arielle's face contorted into pure horror as realization hit her hard. she gasped, clasping her palm onto her mouth with both her eyes widened.

"oh my god. . . matty. . . i sound like jaden smith talking about wanting to talk about the political state of the world, don't i?"

matt chuckled, "yeah, and it needs to be stopped."

the teenage girl slumped herself onto her bed, frowning out of disappointment. others may say arielle was being a total baby, that she was being ridiculous — but matt understood.

"do you reckon there's something i could do for her to bump up my grade?"

"you know people usually sleep with their teacher right? considering it's just one grade, maybe you only need to kiss her."

arielle huffed and playfully smacked matt on the arm, earning an "ow" and a fit of laughters.

"this isn't a fucking abba song, matt. miss me with that bullshit."