pretty boy // rodrick heffley

sixteen

"Good morning, Puppy," my mom says. I quickly grab a banana and start to walk toward the door. "Woah. Slow down."

"Sorry, Mom," I sigh. "I've gotta go."

"Well, you went on a date two days ago and I still haven't heard any details about it," she smiles. "How did it go?"

"It was fun," I nod. "And then it wasn't fun anymore. But then it was as good as, if not better than, before."

"What?" My mom asks, her eyebrows drawing together.

"I love you," I say, opening the door. "Buh-bye."

"Oh," she replies. "Bye, sweetheart."

"Good morning, Princess," Rodrick says as I climb into his van.

"Good morning, Earthworm," I joke. He leans over and goes to kiss me. I quickly push him away. "My mom is inside."

"So?" Rodrick shrugs, leaning in again.

"So, she doesn't know what happened," I say, pushing him away and looking at the house. I see my mom's outline against the glass door and I wave to her. She waves back and Rodrick starts driving.

"You know," Rodrick sighs. "We haven't really talked about what happened either."

"What do you mean?" I ask, turning my head to him.

"Well, we kissed, we said some stuff, but we didn't really talk about it," he says.

"I don't know," I shake my head. "I guess, I'm a little confused about the whole thing."

"Do you still like Toby?" He asks.

"I don't know," I admit. "I mean, I've liked Toby forever. But that date was awkward, even before the whole puke thing. But aren't all first dates awkward? And then there was our kiss, which was great and I really liked it. But does that mean I have feelings for you? I don't know, because I hated you up until then. Actually, I still kind of hate you. But now I know that you have feelings for me and Toby has feelings for me. So I don't know which direction I should go. Do I do the logical thing and chose the boy I've liked forever, who finally likes me back, or do I chose the boy I tutor and have hated for years, who is totally hot but totally brain dead?"

"You think I'm hot," Rodrick laughs.

"Is that the only thing you heard?" I ask.

"Pretty much," he jokes and I glare. "I'm kidding."

"So what do you think I should do?" I ask.

"The obvious thing that I should say is 'chose me'," he answers. "But I won't say that, because I'm not selfish. I think you should go out with Toby again. First dates are awkward, but if the second date is good then it's just proof that it was first date jitters."

"You want me to go out with Toby again?" I repeat.

"No," he mumbles. "But I think you should. Then you can figure your feelings out without worrying if the first date was just a fluke. And hopefully the second date is also bad so that you come crawling back to me."

"Right," I laugh. "Of course you'd say that."

"Okay, honestly Marleigh," Rodrick says. "I just want you to feel like you did what was best for you. I want you to be confident that you made the right choice. So at the end of the day, if it's not me, it's going to hurt like a bitch, but I'll understand."

I close my mouth and look out the window. That doesn't make my decision any easier.

*****

"Hey, Marleigh."

I peek around my locker door to see an embarrassed-looking Toby on the other side of it. I stick my head back in my locker and sigh before slowly replying, "Hey, Toby."

"I really want to apologize for Saturday," he says quickly. "I just -uh-"

"It's okay, Toby," I cut him off. "My clothes weren't, but -uh-" I pause and check behind me before saying his name. "Rodrick lent me a shirt and gave me a ride home."

"Rodrick?" Toby asks as I turn back to face him. I'm not surprised to see a dark-haired boy rushing toward Toby, a big smile plastered on his face.

"Hey buddy," Rodrick smirks, snaking his arm over Toby's shoulder.

"Oh, hey, Rodrick," Toby replies, giving me 'help me' eyes. "How are-"

"Hey, Marleigh," Rodrick interrupts, tipping his head at me. "Are we studying tonight?"

He knew the answer to that question already. I told him this morning that I was tutoring him after school.

"Actually," I smile. "Toby and I have a group project to work on."

Rodrick gives me a confused look, before taking his arm off of Toby. "But you said-"

"It's really important," I cut him off. "Right, Toby?"

He gives me the same confused look as Rodrick before I playfully punch his arm. "Remember? The thing for science? We're going to your house after school to work on it?"

"No," he shakes his head, looking at Rodrick before looking back at me. "No, I don't. You should probably go with Rodrick."

He walks away, obviously upset before saying anything else.

"Well, that went swimmingly," Rodrick smiles. "I'll see you after school, Princess."