Grab N' Go [Robin Arellano]

1: Rushed Relationships

(OC is 15 in this chapter and 16 in the next ones.)

In 1977, you better be able to fight.

Vance Hopper, aka "pinball Vance", is known for his crass and brute personality. He is considered to be the toughest kid in school, possibly in the entirety of Denver, Colorado.

Anyone who went to high school there, knew better than to fuck with him.

Just earlier that year, he had been escorted home by police twice! Once for trying to fight his math teacher, and the second for beating the shit out of some kid who fucked with his pinball score. Hence the nickname.

Its rumored he even carved his score into the kid's arm.

He was known for doing some pretty crazy shit when he was angry, and therefore both feared and respected by the other kids he went to school with. They all cowered when he strode down the hall and listened carefully when he spoke- which wasn't very often.

He never wanted that attention, he really just wanted everyone to leave him the fuck alone.

Maybe that's why he chose to court the quietest girl he could find in school- Valentina Sanchez.

Valentina wasn't popular like Vance, but she also wasn't hated. She was just invisible. No one ever paid her any mind until she started dating Vance, and even then, they knew better than to crowd or bother her.

He was like guaranteed protection from her annoying peers. Thats probably why she agreed without even knowing much about him outside his loud persona.

The bell to lunch had just rung, and Valentina was going about her same everyday routine since school had begun.

This consisted of leaving her 5th period class, going to her locker to leave behind her previous class work and gather the other work for her next 3 classes following lunch, which meant she spent about the first 15 minutes of her lunch period just standing outside her locker in a, usually, nearly empty hallway.

She didn't expect to see Vance Hopper standing on the other side of her locker door when she closed it, it actually startled her quite a bit.

She was even more surprised by what came out of his mouth next.

"Wanna go out with me?"

Though his tone was calm and confident, his stiffened stance and bouncing leg told her he was likely as nervous as her.

"M-Me?" She managed to squeak out in surprise.

"See anyone else around?" He shot back a bit defensively, face turning a slight shade of pink.

Upon seeing her tense up at his words, he quickly stood up straighter and fixed his tone.

"I-I mean, yeah...I was talking to you," he apologetically corrected. "You seem like...cool, or whatever. Look, do you wanna go out or not?"

Valentina, while still very much surprised, couldn't help but giggle a little at the whole situation. Here she thought no one had ever noticed her, that she was invisible, or undesirable, even. Yet, here was the most popular guy in school asking her to be his girlfriend without having so much as spoke to her before.

"I would love to," she finally responded shyly, too afraid to make eye contact with him.

All she could see was his leather boots and the cuffed ends of his jeans. It wasn't until he held his hand out to her that she found the courage to look up into his eyes, to which she found him staring back with a confident smirk.