An Exchange

Chapter Thirty-Six - Ray's News

Giles

Ray texted me to let me know he was coming over to talk to me. I gladly welcomed him and we went into my room to talk. We started off covering some questions he had about doctrines, until I noticed he seemed absent. “Ray, you're not interested in talking church stuff right now, are you?”

He shook his head and placed his Book of Mormon on my bed. “Something has been bugging me for a while now.”

I turned my desk chair around to face him, concerned. “What?”

“Since getting to know you, I feel like we've become pretty tight.”

“I agree.” I watched him closely, wondering where he was going.

“So, I've noticed how you look at Penny, and how much you care about her.”

I sat back, embarrassed. “Oh, I'm that obvious?”

He shook his head, smiling. “No. As I said, it took me getting to know you first.” His smile then faded and he glanced away. “But I've begun to feel badly about helping Ryan with her. I was such a big part in that whole assembly exploit, that I know now probably made you feel pretty crappy. At the time, I thought the whole things was great—he liked her, and she liked him back—and I thought it would be awesome for the both of them. But since she introduced me to you, I feel like maybe I was premature with helping Ryan, because you would be better for her and you would never do what Ryan did.”

I stared bewildered at him. “I'd forgotten you were part of that assembly thing.”

He raised his eyebrows. “I had the main part—”

“Well, I didn't really know you then, and I was so focused on everything else, it kinda didn't stick in my memory.”

“Hmm.” He leaned forward, grabbing his knee. “You know I helped him a lot in the beginning. I told him he needed to be nice to you or she would end it. I told him you’re her best friend and he was very bothered by it. As much as he gives you, he's afraid of you. You're not the nerdy little runt you used to be, and you're one of the most popular Mormon kids at school, which to him that means you're almost untouchable. And with Penny so close to you, you're his biggest threat.”

I scoffed. “Me, a threat? He's much stronger than me. He could easily take me down.”

Ray shook his head. “Giles, I was in with that group all through middle school and up until that whole incident with Maria. Even now they keep me in the loop with them because I'm cool I guess, and one thing I know is that they may be bullies and tough guys, but people like you and Marty Nelson scare them because you're smarter than they are, and girls like you because you're nice to them instead of just using them.

“So, since Penny’s a Mormon, she's a real effort to keep hold of because she’s different from their normal skanks. She's smart, and has standards, and she won't just give herself up to Ryan, so he has to try and win her over emotionally instead of physically. But, he can see you've already done that. She has given you her loyalty where he's still working on it, and now he's managed to make it harder on himself by being his old moronic self.

“You’re his biggest threat because if she doesn't give him her loyalty over you, it will damage his social standing, because you are a loser to them. And for her to pick a loser when he has pinned her as his queen, it would pretty much dethrone him.”

“Seriously? That so ridiculous.” I shook my head.

He shrugged. “It's high school.”

I huffed. “I thought he supposedly cared about Penny.”