The Girls Next Door

Chapter 36: Rocket Launch Disaster

Chapter 36: Rocket Launch Disaster

Robin pounded on my bedroom door.

"Hurry up!" she yelled. "We're gonna be late for school!"

"Just a minute!" I yelled back as I jumped into my new pair of cargo shorts. "I'm just wearing my pants!"

"Oh, for 5 minutes?!" she said, sarcastically.

I yanked open the door and said, "Done!"

She smiled. "Great! Now can we go?"

"Yes." I said. "Oh wait, I forgot. I still needed to fill my rocket with water."

"What? Seriously? You didn't do that yet?" asked Robin, rolling her eyes.

I ignored her and carried my rocket over to the sink.

I took off the cap and turned on the sink. Then proceeded to fill the bottle.

"How much water are you gonna put in?" asked Robin, peering over my shoulder.

"I don't really know." I said. "I tried googling the amount but nothing really came up."

"Oh."

"I think I'm just gonna put half."

"Okay."

I screwed the cap back on and then we left for school.

***

"I don't get why you were in such a hurry this morning." I began. "I mean, you don't really care if you're late."

Robin stopped at her locker and opened it. "Well, maybe I'm turning over a new leaf." she said.

"Yes, but you're Robin. You don't turn over leaves, you stomp on them until they're a pile of dust."

"No, I don't!" she said, slamming her locker shut. "Geez, have you been living on Mars all my life?!"

"No, I haven't. And you know it." I said. "And, unrelated note, why won't you get a lock for your locker? It is called a locker, after all."

"Wordplay isn't gonna convince me to buy a useless lock." she said, crossing her arms. "Give me 1 good reason why should I."

"Someone might try and steal your things. Ever thought of that?" I said, matter-of-factly.

"Yes, I did. But then I thought, who the hell would want to steal my stuff?"

"Oh, language, Robin!" I scolded, like a parent.

"Oh shut up, stupid."

She turned around and walked away.

"Oh, come on, Robin!" I said, chasing after her. "I was just messing around! Geez, are you PMSing or something?"

She walked faster.

And... I kinda lost her with the swarm of people who happened to walk past.

One of them was Harper.

"Hey, Jar Jar." she said, batting her eyelashes.

Yeah, she's flirting with me.

"Did you remember to bring the rocket?" she asked.

"Um, yeah." I answered. "It's right here." I pulled out our rocket from my backpack.

"Aww..." she cooed. "You took such good care of it!"

She held my hand and led me to the quadrangle, where there was already a bunch of kids from my class

"Jarrett!" called out Cole.

"Sup bro." I responded, removing my hand from Harper's grasp.

She simply rolled her eyes and walked over to Addy and Maddy.

"Hey, so, yesterday, when I was working with Lacey, and... I asked her out." said Cole.

"Woah, really? Well what did she say?"

"She said no."

"What? Really? I'm so sorry for you man..." I said with a frown.

"Nah, it's okay." he said, surprisingly not sad. "She just said it's cause she's too young to date."

"So you're okay?"

He nodded.

"Good..."

"Good morning class!" greeted Mr. Jameson. "Let's get started shall we!"

Mr. Jameson set up a long pipe with 2 parts sticking up.

Then he connected one side with a tire pump and the other side is where we'll connect the butts of our rockets.

"Who wants to go first?" Mr. Jameson asked.

No way am I going first.

"Ooh, us!" squealed a voice from the crowd of students.

I looked at her direction. And... Shit. That's Harper.

She ran over to me and dragged me to the pipes.

I connected our rocket to the pipe.

"Do you wanna pump or hold?" asked Harper.

"Hold what?" I asked.

"The rocket so it won't tip over."

"I'll pump."

We went to our respective stations and counted down.

I started pumping with all my might and Harper held on tightly.

"5... 4... 3... 2... 1!" we yelled together.

She let go and sent the rocket flying.

And... it got stuck on the tree.

We both ran over to the tree.

"Oh crap." I said.

"At least it flew." said Harper.

"Yeah..."

***

"How the your rockets launches?" asked Luke as we walked over to our lunch table.

"It was fine." answered Cole. "Although Lacey wanted to pump so I was the weak ass man who did the oh so hard job of holding the rocket."

We shared a laugh as we sat down.

"Mine was okay." I said. "Well, except for my rocket getting stuck on the stupid tree."

"Aww... Too bad, man." chucked Luke. "I liked how girly your rocket was."

I was about to respond to that when Cole suddenly elbowed me.

"Dude look!" he said.

I looked to the direction he was pointing at.

And you know what I saw?

Robin kissing Bryan. Robin... kissing Bryan!

"What the f..." I trailed off, not wanting to curse in front of my best friends.

"What do you think is going on between them?" asked Luke.

I shrugged and said, "Don't know, don't care."

They both stared at me.

I sighed. "Guys, as much as I want to care, I don't. And you know why? From the 8 years of our friendship, we've never been official. So she has as much right as I do to date, hug or kiss any man or woman she wants."

...

"I don't think she's lesbian..." muttered Cole.

"Let's just... not talk about this... ever..." I said.

"Deal." they both said.