𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐁𝐀𝐆 ✷ rodrick heffley (✓)

10. unlearning

❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜
chapter ten: unlearning

[a/n]: okayyy, so this one's a doozy of a chapter, so buckle your seatbelts! get excited, though, nothing particularly horrible will happen in this one.
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━━━ CRACK! A SMOOTH PEBBLE HITS the glass of Haley's windowpane, dragging her sluggishly out of the comfort of her slumber. She blinks drowsiness from her eyes and slowly gets out of bed. She peeks out the window to see Rodrick, which is a surprise to say the least.

She laughs quietly to herself, the scrapes the window open, wincing at the rusty screech it elicits. She pauses to listen for any stirring from her parents' room, then turns to Rodrick and gives him a look. "Are you absolutely deranged?"

"Can't answer that," Rodrick quips. "Got no idea what that means."

"Are you stupid?" Haley rephrases, rubbing the side of her face with her hand, rolling her eyes.

"See, that I understand," Rodrick says. "And I think we both know the answer to that question." He rocks back and forth on the heels of his sneakers before raising an eyebrow. "So, what's it going to take for you to let me in?" He grins, switching to a higher octave before reciting, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"

"Ha," Haley coughs, crossing her arms and leaning her face out of the window, her brown waves flowing into her face with each passing breeze. "Fat chance, Heffley."

"Please? I really don't want to be at home right now," Rodrick pleads, looking up at her window.

Haley's eyebrows knit together as she takes on a more serious and somber tone. "You don't want to be at home? Rodrick, is something wrong?"

"Let me in and you can hear all about it," Rodrick says, shrugging his shoulder meekly.

Haley snorts at his sad attempt, making a move to close the window. "I'm really not in the mood to hear about 'The Sad Ballad of Rodrick Heffley: Performed on the World's Tiniest Violin.'"

"Buxbaum, seriously! Please?" Rodrick says, kicking his shoe into the pebbly gravel beneath his feet. A piece of concrete flies above the hedges surrounding the stucco wall and hits the living room window, making a loud sound.

"Goodness gracious, Rodrick! If you broke my Mom's precious bay window, I swear I'm going to ki--" Haley hisses, craning her neck to inspect any damage that might have been inflicted on the glass.

"Let me in and I promise I won't do it again."

Haley sighs, putting her hand on her forehead and rethinking her life decisions. "Fine. Grab that construction ladder over there and climb up here."

Rodrick follows her instructions, propping the sturdy ladder against the wall and making the ascent towards the window. Once he gets there, he pokes his head through the large window, and Haley drags him into her bedroom.

"You're not staying the night, that's for sure. If my parents come in here tomorrow morning and see you, they're going to think we were doing something very wrong," Haley says, raising her eyebrows to insinuate something.

"What's wrong with that?" Rodrick asks suggestively.

"Shut up, you little perv!" Haley groans. "I'm still holding your shoulders, so I could push you out right now into my mom's rosebushes. Don't push it."