Rodrick x Reader

Chapter 5 - Topsy turvy

When you walk through the door, even your usually oblivious mother notices the change in your demeanor.

"What are you grinning about?" she asks, with an amused smile.

"Oh, nothing," you say deliberately secretively, and slip past her and up the stairs to your room. That night you go to bed turning over and over what he'd said in your mind - about how he'd 'explain everything' at the party. But that was a whole three days away, how were you supposed to wait that long? Eventually you force yourself to go to sleep so that the when you wake up you'd be closer to Saturday evening.

The next morning Rodrick arrives to take you to school as usual. When he sees you leaving the house and walking up to the van his face lights up into an adorable grin. Boy, what a dork! You have to admit though, his smile was pretty infectious. Today he's wearing a short sleeved black t-shirt with the words 'löded diper' written on it over a long sleeved white t-shirt. On the way to school, you talk about meaningless things like the weather and your homework, but somehow every other sentence you find some way of gently teasing or flirting with one another. You both stumble over your words a little, which you both seem to find inexplicably hilarious. When he sees you smiling he looks so happy, as if you laughing at his stupid jokes really meant something to him. Of course, by this point it was obvious that you felt something for Rodrick, but could it be possible that he thought the same way about you? Before now, it had just seemed like he was having his fun with the new girl, and he'd soon get bored and move on to someone more exciting - his flirting always sounded suspiciously rehearsed and fluent. You hadn't dreamed that he was in any way serious about you. But now, you dared to think that maybe something could come of all this, maybe he could really like you. You felt a strange sensation in your stomach thinking about all this. It was like butterflies, but instead of feeling nervous, you felt warm and excited. You try to suppress them and not get your hopes up, but it was no good. Nothing could bring you down from this high.

When you get to school you tear yourself away from him at the lockers and meet up with Evelyn. She doesn't look too happy about the time you're spending with Rodrick, but she doesn't say anything. She already knows her advice would be falling on deaf ears after you defended him yesterday. As you chat to each other by the lockers, you see Heather Hills approaching out of the corner of your eye. Heather Hills. Almost everyone called her by her full name as if she was some kind of celebrity. Maybe Hills was the name of some famous company, after all it was common knowledge that her dad was rich beyond belief, but you couldn't say you'd heard of it. As she draws closer you can see Evelyn tense up. Before now you'd thought that Evelyn wasn't afraid of anyone, but now you weren't so sure.

"What's your name again?" she demands.

"I, uh..." What was wrong with you? How could you have forgotten your own name?

"Whatever. I just want you to know that you might think you're hot shit, being new around here and all, but everybody thinks you're an awkward little freak."    

You're stunned. You wish you could make some witty comeback, but you'd never been in a situation like this before. Heather Hills was like somebody who only existed in movies, you'd never imagined encountering someone like her in real life.  Before you get a chance to say anything, she struts away, joined by her friends who are all laughing like she made the joke of the century. How could somebody be so blatantly evil? She might as well have had horns poking up out of her bouncy blonde hair. You wanted the ground to swallow you whole.

"That bitch!" yells Evelyn, loud enough for Heather to hear. You swear you can hear her laughing even louder in the distance.

"I know. And I didn't even say anything back!" You look down at the ground, fists clenched and cheeks blazing.