Pizzas & Cubbies | short story

Pizzas & Cubbies

I step out of the high school, only to realize that it's pouring outside. I sigh and decide to stay in the little cubby. Out of the corner of my eye I see a brown haired boy staring at me with his blue eyes. "Can I help you?" I ask.

"I was just wondering if you were gonna leave this cubby anytime soon," he says coolly.

I scoff. "It's pouring right now and you expect me to leave?"

"You can just run home," he replies with the same blunt tone.

I hold onto my backpack straps. "Why can't you do that?"

He points to his backpack. "I got my English project in here. I'm not about to ruin it. It's worth a good fifty-percent of my final grade."

I roll my eyes. He had a good reason, but I'm not moving.

"What about you?" he asks.

"Uh... I got a project in my bag, too," I lie.

He looks at me suspiciously and then holds out his hand. "The name's Ryan. You?"

"Jane," I mutter.

It stays quiet for a little while until Ryan speaks up again. "What do you really have in that bag?"

I glare at him. "I told you. I have a project in there."

"Better question," he quickly says, "why are you at school at this time?"

"Detention," I reply, managing not to stumble over my words.

Ryan laughs. "Funny, because, I had detention, too, but I didn't see you there."

"Fine," I give in. "I didn't have detention. I snuck in. I had to grab something important."

Ryan cocks an eyebrow. "I'm interested. What is this important something?"

"Like I'm gonna tell you," I reply in a snarky tone.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Ryan says, looking at the ground.

"Says the guy who told me to run home in the rain!" I shoot back.

"Hey, if you haven't noticed, this cubby isn't the largest, and I think my project is much more important than you cheating," Ryan says.

I gasp. "Are you accusing me of cheating? You think that I suck into the school to grab a test?"

Ryan shrugs. "Well, if it wasn't a test, what did you need to grab that was so important that you couldn't just enter through the front? I mean, a test would be the most logical answer because you are a terrible liar, so you couldn't lie to the secretary. You wouldn't have to lie if the thing you were getting was a wallet or a phone, and so the only possible way was to sneak in."

I gawk at him. "Wow, OK. And how were you able to figure this out?"

"Sometimes I can be smart like that. Maybe that's why my teachers love me," he replies, making sure that the last part sounded extremely cocky just so he could annoy me.

"If you're so Mr. Golden Boy with your teachers, why'd you get detention?" I ask, feeling proud of myself for coming up with a good question like that.

"I may be on my teachers' good side, but I'm definitely not on the principle's good side." he mumbles.

I tilt my head. "Why?"

Ryan doesn't say anything at first, but then he sighs and says, "The principle's my uncle. He hates me, but I'm sure that it's only because he despises my dad for being able to find love. My uncle is always trying to get me into trouble. Like, my teacher let's me use the washroom without a hall pass and my uncle gives me detention in the blink of an eye, and no one can change his mind."