Battling Hearts and High Scores: A Teenage RomCom

Battling Brains and Bruises

I sat there, staring at the cafeteria doors, my mind racing. How in the hell did the Queen Bee of Havenview High know about Steel Reckoning III? It didn't add up. With her schedule, it hardly seemed possible. She's a cheerleader, on the debate team, involved in Model UN, and part of the chess club. Why doesn't she just stick to what she clearly enjoys most? Cheerleading. She's Havenview High's most gorgeous girl, at least according to all the fan pages dedicated to her. If she focused on that, it'd definitely take some of the pressure off having to be little Miss Perfect all the time.

"Stop scowling, man," Max said, patting my shoulder as we began gathering our stuff.

"We'd have figured it out eventually. How about we come over today and finally advance to the next mission?" Greggory added, putting on his crossbody bag on which was probably filled with a new romance series of books he's been reading.

I rolled my eyes as I stood up. "Can't. The big doofus wants me to do his homework again."

"Ugh, you can't keep letting Finn push you around like that. It only shows him you're weak and—"

"He's paying me 200 bucks," I cut in interrupting Greggory, heading toward the cafeteria doors.

Greggory immediately shifted gears. "Sounds reasonable to me! Maybe this weekend we'll work on advancing. Right, Max?"

But Greggory's attention was already on Max, who was eyeing Izzy as she packed up her things. Max and Izzy were an inseparable duo outside of school, but here, it was a different story. Ever since Izzy joined the cheerleading team back in freshman year, she barely acknowledged Max in public. He acted like it didn't bother him, but the way he looked at her made it clear it hurt. Especially since their moms practically grew up together, and Max and Izzy have been close since they were born. Back in middle school, when Max got teased for his height and his huge glasses at the time, Izzy was always by his side, standing up for him. Maybe that's why he grew to have a bit of a crush on her.

Shalom's posse headed straight toward us—or rather, toward the doors—but Max's face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning.

"Three... two..." I began counting, awaiting the inevitable.

"Izzy! Wow, I didn't expect to bump into you here! What a small world," Max said, smiling goofily.

"What a small guy," Finn, my twin brother, retorted, giving Shalom's short-haired blonde friend a kiss on the cheek before walking through the cafeteria doors not even acknowledging the rude comment he just gave my friend.

Max immediately turned to me, as if I'd said the insult. "He's not even six foot either. We're literally the same height."

Someone cleared their throat, making it obvious that Max was wasting their time.

"Look, I know you always say I'm not supposed to talk to you during school or whatever, but here—" Max fumbled with what appeared to be a crumpled sticky note from his pocket, handing it over to Izzy.

"And you thought passing me a sticky note would be better?" she asked, giving him a judgmental glare as she unraveled the balled-up note. "It's...empty."

"Well, I thought if you wanted to talk, you could write whatever down on there," Max said, clearly impressed with his own idea.

Izzy and the rest of Shalom's friends dismissed him by walking straight through the doors, not even willing to hear his explanation.

"I swear you guys, there was a valid reason for doing that. I just can't explain it here yet," Max huffed, storming through the doors and down the hall.

Greggory and I exchanged looks before heading our separate ways to class. Max was surely acting strangely today—but when is Max not strange? Still, someone else piqued my interest today, especially after their comment about Steel Reckoning III.