ADD IT UP ✰ RODRICK HEFFLEY x MALE! OC

CHAPTER 10

The crisp, May air would be any other student's dream; the sunlight beamed down into the Language Arts room, drawing the students of Crossland High outside. However, for now, every second closer to June made me tense. Over a month ago, I would have been excited for summer: Susan Heffley invited Bonnie and I to come over whenever and as long as we wanted to. But now, without that sanctuary, the break just meant busking in the hot sun— that, or living in our air condition-less apartment, which was equally as awful.

The only thing keeping me from applying for a normal job was the fact that I make double the amount of money busking over the summer than any job would ever bring me— but then again, I was certain that I wouldn't die of heatstroke working at a gas station. With busking, there was no guarantee.

It was riding this train of thought that caused my Language Arts teacher, Ms. Nguyen, to take notice of me. She was a tall, young woman, with jet black hair down to her waist, and an outfit reminiscent of Ms. Frizzle. "Miles, what's happening on this wall that's more important than this lecture?" She sighed, and continued on with whatever she was talking about initially. "Now that I have everyone's attention, I would like to have the pleasure of announcing that...the end of the year test is canceled, and the remainder of the classes we have together will be free periods!"

The entire class went up in cheers. Normally, we would be skeptical of such a bold statement, bur Ms. Nguyen had a reputation for holding exceptionally enjoyable classes. "Instead, you and a partner will be doing a presentation on one of the books we read in this unit! The presentation will be on June 14th."

"What? But that's the day of prom!" a boy with dreadlocks exclaimed.

My stomach bubbled up in jealousy as I noticed Rodrick and Heather catching each other's eyes.

"Aaron, it isn't the end of the world. The partners will be of my choosing, seeing as this classroom quite literally went up in flames last time I allowed you to pick partners." Ms. Nguyen stared down at Rodrick, who grinned sheepishly. Rodrick and Ben set a firecracker off in class, but the sprinkler system didn't go off in time, and school was canceled for two weeks to repair the damages.

"Ava Anderson and Gracie Ziegler," she continued, picking out her supposedly "random" groups. "I almost forgot to mention—" she interjected. "These groups are who I feel you would be the most...productive with." Ms. Nguyen smiled mischievously at me, to which I gawked at her, confused. "So, no changes."

"Heather Hills and Victoria Buckley."

Victoria gave Heather a lighthearted wave, as Heather trudged, slightly disappointed, to where Victoria sat.

"Rodrick Heffley and Miles Macey."

I froze, almost getting ready to interject. Part of me wanted to make up some silly excuse to get out of working with Rodrick, but the other part of me theorized that Ms. Nguyen knew exactly what she was doing. I shot Victoria a look of remorse, praying that she would permit me to trade partners with her, but she just shrugged, smiling at my hopelessness.

As Ms. Nguyen went through the remainder of the list, I once again allowed my mind to wander back to Rodrick. He had cleaned up his act— the dollar store cologne he donned during our first and only date was now replaced by Heather's flowery perfume. Button-ups and slacks replaced what used to be band tees and skinny jeans, and doodled on, beat up Converse became polite, neat dress shoes. He lost a lot of weight; his shirts sagged where they used to be comfortably-fitting, and what were once heavily eyelinered, well-rested eyes became bare and ridden with heavy eye bags.

Despite this, he sauntered over to my desk, his dorky grin looking out-of-place on top of his unusually preppy getup. "So, Miles!" he began, "Long time no talk! How have the guys been without me?"