"hey nerd" "hey doofus" -rodrick x reader

Chapter Sixty-Nine: Highlighter

The next few days of school were hard to adapt to for Y/N and her classmates. It felt like they had just gotten back from a holiday. It was now the middle of the school week and Y/N was finally starting to ease back into her routine. It seemed as thought everyone else was too because they were all back to their usual behaviour. Ben and Barry were back to doing pranks —minor ones because they were still on edge about the fire alarm— Lexi was back to being mean to everyone but Y/N and Brad and his idiotic friends were back to being complete douchebags.

The only person who didn't seem like themselves was Heather.

Y/N noticed that everyday, Heather distanced herself from her friends and she wasn't wearing her usual 'glamorous' outfits anymore. Instead, Heather was typically seen wearing sweatpants and hoodies. And she didn't stand out like how she used to. She just blended in with everyone else. Which Y/N thought was strange since Heather normally liked to be the centre of attention.

"When are you free again?" Y/N heard Lexi ask. She faced her friends who were all sitting at their regular table in the cafeteria.

"My parents say that they'll 'unground' me on Friday," Ben replied.

"No fair. I'm still grounded until next weekend," said Barry who folded his arms.

Lexi rolled her eyes. "Why did you guys have to do that?" she asked.

Ben and Barry hung their heads in shame.

Y/N shifted her gaze from her friends as they continued to talk about the fire alarm incident and looked to Heather who sat at a table by herself. She wore a black hood over her head as if trying to obscure her face. She was looking down at the lunch tray in front of her which had the lunch lady's special soup. Heather didn't touch her food.

Y/N furrowed her brows as she continued to gaze at Heather. Something was wrong.

"Hey, are you okay?" She turned to see Rodrick looking at her with concern. She nodded slowly. "Are you sure? You seem worried," he said, keeping his voice down so their friends couldn't hear them.

"I'm sure," Y/N whispered. Rodrick nodded before reaching under the table to hold her hand. He gave it a gentle, comforting squeeze.

"I still have to practice before we can look for gigs," Lexi said. Y/N glanced at her friends, trying to piece together the context of their conversation. "But I can't do that if you're stuck at home."

"We can always practice in the music room at school," Barry suggested.

"True," Lexi said. She looked down at her phone to check the time. "Do you think Ms. Lia would let us in the music room for a bit?"

"She should," Ben replied. "Do you wanna go check and see?"

"Yes," Lexi said as she got up from the table. Ben followed her movements.

"Hey, I'm coming too!" Barry exclaimed as he got to his feet.

"Y/N, are you coming?" Lexi asked.

Y/N shook her head. "I'm going to go to class in a few minutes."

Lexi nodded. "Okay, see you in English," she said as she started to walk away.

"Rodrick, are you coming?" Ben asked.

"No, I'm staying here," Rodrick replied as he pointed to Y/N. Ben nodded before he and Barry followed Lexi out of the cafeteria.

Y/N directed her gaze back to Heather. Her food still looked untouched.

Y/N frowned in sympathy as she studied Heather who didn't move. She stayed rooted in place, eyes trained on the tray in front of her. Her stare was so blank and empty.