ADD IT UP ✰ RODRICK HEFFLEY x MALE! OC

CHAPTER 2

         Lyndsey's room was filled to the brim with trinkets. Pictures of her friends and family lined the walls—

among them Lyndsey and Miles at Six Flags New England,

four beaming children, Heather, Lyndsey, Melissa, and Victoria, with ice cream cones in hand,

and the Crossland girls' soccer team at a banquet, Lyndsey in crutches and a cast on her right foot, but still beaming a smile bigger than the sea.

Trophies of achievements filled a glass-front shelf beside her bed, everything from dusty perfect attendance awards to honor roll certificates, all the way down to a signed "get well soon" card from her teammates.

She would be every parent's dream, if it weren't for the fact that she was in love with the girl that every student wanted to be.

A light filled the small, yet cozy bedroom when the screen of the Motorola Razr on Lyndsey's bedside table began to buzz.

"Hello?" she asked the unknown caller.

"Lynz!" an achingly familiar voice exclaimed. "It's been awhile!"

"I told you to never call me again!" Lyndsey exclaimed, exasperated. "I'm not into guys, Rodrick, and I thought you understood that. There was never, never anything between us, I don't care what Heather fucking told you but-"

"Wait." Rodrick responded. "It isn't-"

Lyndsey sighed, getting ready to hang up.

"It isn't like that! Do you know Mia Macey? The girl that used to live on our street? She's really hot now, by the w-"

"That's my best friend, actually," Lyndsey said, "But he goes by Miles now." She shifted uncomfortably in her bed, not wanting to hear her ex-boyfriend's fantasies about a guy she knew since childhood.

"Okay, okay," Rodrick began. "I just wanna ask her out on a date. Promise."

Lyndsey paused for a moment. "Him, you dimwit. If you're so infatuated with him, at least be respectful. But what's in it for me if I help you?"

"Dimwit?" Rodrick chuckled. "What are you, a dictionary?"

Lyndsey was unamused.

"Your best friend's overwhelming happiness is at stake. Doesn't she look down sometimes?" Rodrick's voice softened. "I could change that."

"I don't buy it. They're going through a family thing, no shit she looks down. But I have heard your speel a thousand times— I know when you want something from me. You can't fool me anymore, Heffley."

"Okay," Rodrick responded. "If you wanna play that game— if you help me get to know Macey, I'll tell you everything you need to know about weaseling your way into Heather's heart."

"She didn't even like you." Lyndsey spat, scathingly. 

"Come on," Rodrick replied. "We dated eventually. Besides," he lowered his voice down to a whisper.

"Maybe you'd be able to get into more than just Heather's heart."

"Ew!" Lyndsey exclaimed, a disgusted look on her face. She laughed, but the prospect of having a better chance with Heather Hills, the queen of Crossland High, still marinated in her brain.

Lyndsey considered everything at stake. Everything could work out well with Rodrick, and Miles would end up happy, Rodrick would leave her alone, and she would finally get her slice-of-life ending with the girl she loved most— or Miles would discover her betrayal of trust, her crush would turn on her, and Rodrick would never stop pestering her about it.