Unthinkable

September ***Part 3

Dear Jesse —

Somehow, I seem to have adopted the nerdy freshman. At first, we only talked at school and rehearsals. One day he just started coming by my locker after school and we started walking to rehearsals together. Now he's started calling me at night.

The premise for his first call was some bullshit that happened at rehearsal, but it quickly turned to Noelle. He's mad crushing on her. And, he can't talk to any of his friends about it. Anymore. They are sick of hearing about it. I guess I'm his latest victim.

He's been pining after her for years. Apparently elementary school crushes die hard. They are friends, even though she is really popular and he is decidedly NOT. He's made up some rom-com fantasy about their future and how the cheerleader and the geek get together. It's a nice fantasy.

Today, he's up in arms, he heard a rumor that Oliver, my Oliver, unthinkable Oliver, was going to ask Noelle to the Back-to-School Dance and he just about lost his damn mind.

In all fairness, as a freshman who you go with is critical. This is the dance that separates the cool kids from the rest of the class. He really wants to ask Noelle but he's terrified. Blah, blah, blah.

He's probably still talking as I write. He's blissfully unaware of the dagger he's just planted in my heart. Okay, okay, he's not really 'my Oliver.' I guess it makes sense, they're both freshman, and he's super cute and popular, not as popular as Noelle, but definitely has a seat at the cool kids' table. Noelle's an idiot if she doesn't say yes.

Rucci started rambling on about Noelle, looking for advice about what to do — and whether or not he should make a bold declaration of love — whether he was better than Oliver and on and on. Why he thinks I can help him is beyond me. I've never had a boyfriend. Hell, the only time the boy actually liked me back was in kindergarten, and his parents decided to move back to Italy. I would not go to me for advice. Just sayin'.

Rucci is a stress case. Kid's gonna give himself a heart attack before he turns fifteen.

Xo

Sammy

PS. I wonder what ever happened to my little Italian boyfriend, Rico?

***

"Hey, Shiv, do you care if Rucci comes to the movies with us on Friday?" I ask during our nightly call.

She groans loudly into the receiver, "Do we have to?"

"Well, you know how he's got a crush on Noelle." I've been keeping her up to speed on the Freshman Class drama, way more interesting than our own personal lives. "Well, Noelle's going to the movies with Nora and her minions tonight. And he just wants to 'bump into them.' Nora, Shiv's sister, is a junior version of Shiv, but with cool kid status, athletic ability, and minions.

I continue, I can tell she's not really buying it. "Look, it's not like you have to talk to him, we're gonna be watching the movie. We just have to give him a ride."

"Whatever." Okay. Taking that as a win tonight.

At first, Siobhán was curious about "the Rucci project," as she refers to it. She thought the idea of molding an impressionable young freshman was a fun game, especially because her sister was one of them. Even though they've never officially met, she would devour all the rumors and dirt about "The Ruch" from her sister and relay it back to me, then we'd figure out how to use that information to steer, no — guide, young Michael onto the right path.