The Art of Advertising

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"-and then he asked for my number!"

"..because you are partners, Ro. Don't get too ahead of yourself."

Rowan had been gushing to Adam all lunch about her pairing with Levi.

"I know, but I have to start planning things now. This project is only going to last a few weeks, that's not very long to seduce a suitor."

"I forget why I put up with you sometimes."

Adam lightly punched Rowan in the arm.

"I have study hall with him last, so we might get to work on it some later today." Rowan munched on some carrots.

"Do you have any ideas for the project?"

"Well, we have to create an original project and advertise it to the whole class. So far we don't have anything, but we are going to ask some other groups just to see where everyone's head is at."

We. Rowan never thought she would get to refer to herself and Levi as we.

"He mentioned something about prosthetics? But that's a bit too smart for me."

Rowan felt the novelty of the situation starting to wear off, so she quickly changed the topic.

"So... any updates on Ellie?"

Ellie Wu was another one of Rowan and Adam's classmates. She moved to RGH during Rowan's sophomore year, where Adam was assigned to be her student guide. She had been hopelessly in love with him ever since.

"Well, she's in my first block, and she won't. Stop. Staring. At. Me."

Adam had never shown Ellie any interest, yet she still persisted.

"Adam, you've never dated or even talked about liking anyone the whole time I've known you. There's got to be something you like about her."

He thought for a minute.

"Her hair is pretty cool?"

Rowan let out an exasperated sigh. She shouldn't have been surprised. Adam was never really a romantic guy, which is partially why they managed to stay best friends for this long. He had never liked her in that way.

"It's hard to believe you've never had a girlfriend when you are this good at smooth talking."

"I know, right?"

They talked for the rest of lunch about random school gossip: A group of seniors got busted for selling vapes to freshman, Casper Schmidt got ISS for punching a guy who was harassing one of his friends (sounds familiar), and the school is considering removing the railings on the front entrance stairs due to a group of kids constantly skating over them.

"Man, having last lunch sucks. There's never any good food left."

"I know, right? I'm tired of cold pizza every day."

With that, the bell rang. Adam and Rowan walked back to class together, got their stuff, and went their separate ways to 4th block.

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"We could..."

"How about..."

"Maybe..."

Rowan and Levi had been unable to agree on any invention. They went through it all: no-smudging pens, pillow case that tracks how long you sleep, glow in the dark sunglasses... and none of the ideas stuck.

"We should really ask some other groups for inspiration."

Rowan didn't mind all of this back in forth because it just mean she got to talk to Levi more. She noticed the small things about him, like that he was left handed, and that he bit his lip when he got confused.

"Hm. Casper's in that class, we could ask him." Levi offered.

"Casper Schmidt?"

"Yeah, he's on the robotics team with me."

"Oh, right. I forgot you were in that. Didn't you guys get first at a big competition or something?"

Rowan regretted her words the second they left her mouth. Levi winced and responded.

"Yeah, near the beginning of the year. It came with a 40,000 dollar grant for the school."

"That's amazing! Why are you acting ashamed?"

"I'm not ashamed, it's just... I don't know. I feel like people only know me at this point as the 'robotics club leader' or the 'guy who helped get us a new computer lab'. Like, I'm also on the track team. I'm not just some random nerd. It's kind of frustrating some times. It's stupid, I know."

It's not stupid, Levi. I know you are so much more than that.

"The people who don't take the time to really get to know you don't deserve your attention."

Dang, that was.. pretty true? I did not expect something like that to come from her.

"That's actually... really true. Thanks, Ro."

ohmygodhegavemeanickname

"No problem, Levi."

They sat in awkward silence for a few seconds.

"Anyway." Levi cleared his throat and changed the subject. "Maybe we are thinking too physical about things. What if we made an app?"

"Hm.. what type of app?"

"Maybe a game? That would be easiest to market."

"That's true. She never said it had to be a useful product."

"Boom. Exactly."

"Levi.. I think we just got ourselves an idea."

Levi grinned. "I think so too, Ro. Look at us!" Levi raised his arm for a high five.

Rowan smiled back and returned the high five.

Look at us.

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Author's Note: Should I start doing author's notes?