New Place, New Feelings | Horrid Henry x Rude Ralph

[3] Love, Jealousy And Pepperoni

"Just two more lessons," Henry mumbled to himself as he got a slice of pizza from the cafeteria. The food at Ashton Secondary School was definitely a lot better than at the primary school, though it still wasn't the greatest. Hey, at least the pizza had pepperoni!

He sat in the corner and stared out of the window, slowly eating his pizza. He had been thinking for so long that he didn't even remember what he was thinking about, at least until someone sat down next to him.

"Hey Henry."

Henry turned around to find the source of the voice, and found Ralph sitting in the chair by his side. "Oh, hey Ralph."

"What's up?" Ralph asked.

"Nothing much."

"Well, you sat in the corner of the room for the last two lessons. You're even doing it now! What's wrong?"

Henry paused for a moment, trying to figure out what to say to Ralph. He couldn't just say that he was jealous of the fact that Ralph liked Margaret. Wait- jealous? No, that couldn't be the right word. Jealousy means that you want something that someone else has, and Henry didn't want to like Margaret. He didn't want to like any of the girls in his school, or any of the girls in the world for that matter!

"Just thinking," Henry eventually answered.

"What are you thinking about?" Ralph asked.

"Nothing. Just a weird feeling I had." Henry internally facepalmed. Why did he have to add that last part onto his reply?!

"Oh, well what did it feel like?"

"Er... a feeling," Henry replied awkwardly, feeling his face heat up a bit. Ralph looked confused, but decided to change the subject.

"Well, er, anyway, I wanted to-"

"Hey Henry," Ralph was cut off as Gorgeous Gurinder walked over and took a seat opposite Henry.

"Er... hi?" Henry replied, wondering why she chose to sit with him and Ralph. Gurinder was one of the prettiest girls in the school, making her popular among both the other girls and the boys. Henry, however, wasn't interested in talking to her.

Gurinder giggled, resting her hands on her cheeks and looking at Henry - completely ignoring Ralph in the process. "I was wondering if you wanted to go somewhere after school... maybe the cinema?"

"I have plans later," Henry stated in a disinterested tone. Which was true, though he would have used it as an excuse anyway. He didn't want to spend his afternoon with a girl.

"Oh, maybe Friday then?"

"I have plans then too."

"Well, how about-"

"Look, I'm not interested okay?" Henry said, getting annoyed.

"Oh... that's fine then," Gurinder replied miserably before standing up and walking away. Henry turned to Ralph.

"You can stop glaring at her now."

Ralph quickly shook his head. "Huh?"

"You've been glaring at her since she sat down," Henry told him. "She's not even here anymore!"

"O-oh, I have?" Ralph asked, turning slightly red. Henry nodded.

"I know she interrupted you, but I didn't know you'd be that mad over it!" Henry joked, pretty amused by Ralph's glaring. "Anyway, what were you saying?"

Ralph looked away awkwardly. "Actually it's not that important," he mumbled.

"Are you sure?" Henry asked, concerned. "You can talk to me you know."

"No really, it's nothing," Ralph quickly spoke.

"But you've been acting weird all day!" Henry exclaimed.

"So have you," Ralph said in return. Henry couldn't really argue with that.

"I guess you're right." Henry took a bite out of his pizza. As soon as he pulled it away from his face, a hand reached over and grabbed the last piece of pepperoni off the top. "Ralph!"

Ralph laughed, putting the pepperoni in his mouth. "The pepperoni is the best part!"

"Yeah, and that's why I wanted it," Henry said, faking an annoyed tone. "Hey, aren't you getting anything to eat?"

"Well er, I wanted to make sure you were alright first," Ralph said, which surprised Henry. He and Ralph were best friends, but he didn't think Ralph cared that much. "Besides, I'm not that hungry anyway!"

Henry reached into his pocket and pulled out a chocolate muffin that he got with the pizza. "Here you go."

"Really?" Ralph asked.

"Yeah. I feel like I owe you something for caring about me," Henry replied with a small laugh. Though, he really did feel like he owed Ralph something.

"Thanks..." Ralph mumbled with a small smile. Henry smiled back, looking at Ralph. Something about that moment just felt... right. As if they could sit there forever, and everything would be fine. Wait, what?

Henry turned bright red. What was he just thinking about?! He looked down at the table to hide his face. Ralph, who had already started eating the chocolate muffin, was oblivious to this. "What lesson do we have next?" he asked, his mouth still full of cake.

"Er... history," Henry mumbled. Why did he feel this way?! He didn't know what was causing it, or when it started. But in a strange way, it felt sort of nice. It was awkward, sure, but there was also this warm feeling to it that he had never experienced before.

Henry finished his pizza and looked over at Ralph, who had eaten about half of the muffin. He tried to figure out what was causing the feeling, but he couldn't think of anything. He decided that maybe it would be best to ignore it for now. It could just be a one-time thing, after all.

And if it wasn't, maybe things would become more clear soon.

He started to think about the events from earlier again. Maybe Ralph didn't like Margaret? Then again, why else would he have acted like that?

"Eureka!" Henry thought as an idea popped into his head. He had a plan to find out whether or not Ralph really did like his arch-enemy. It wasn't guaranteed to work, but Henry figured that he could at least get some information out of his best friend.

Henry looked at the clock. Just three more hours before he could put his plan into action...