The Get To Know Me Project. BLACK FEM READERS !!!!

Chapter 7

In a few days another part of the project was due. The only thing Rodrick seemed to do to prep for it was send me tiktoks that we're "just like him". It was the last class of the day and i was putting my books away when i saw this tall figure tower over me in all black. It was Rodrick.
"Sup Lods" grinning from ear to ear. I could say that about him. He was always cheerful when around me. He didn't make me uncomfortable.
"Sup dude. Watcha up to after school. It's Tuesday but the next part of the assignment is due Friday night so i think we should brainstorm what we'd like to do as a shared activity"
"That's actually what i came over to talk to you about." He grabs the last book i had and sit it on the top self of my locker.
"As much as I'd love to sit awkwardly in silence today with you..."
I roll my eyes and a small smile forms knowing it's true
".. but I can't come over today. The rest of the week I'm totally free but just not today" he says
"Oh okay that's fine. It's probably better anyways cause Ang wanted to come over today to study so that's fine" I shrug close my locker
"Wait so you're cool with it? Oh Lods you're the best !" Giving me a huge hug. It caught me off gaurd but I was able to give him a proper one
"Catch ya later dude, I'll text you later" he says before I stop him
"Hey Rodrick random question"
"Yeah wassup"
"How come you can't today is it family are you good?" Asking concerned. I really was though. If there was anything that would prohibit him from being able to work on the project I wanted to know sooner than later.
"Oh nothing to crazy.. just gotta take my grandma to the mall. It's the only time I get to see her one on one without my annoying family. I'm kinda her favorite" saying it with confidence.
"Oh. Okay. Got it. " nodding my head
"Alright see you"
"See you"

~~~***~~~

After school Ang I went over to her house to study.
"Give me the damn bag of chips" Ang snatches the bag from her big brother and closes her door
I smile knowing he loves to pick on her
"He play to much" rolling her eyes and tossing me the bag of chips
"Awww but you know your gonna miss him" I tease
"Yeah I know. But he just so extra sometimes" we both laugh. Ang was the baby. Well not anymore seeing how they have a new baby in the house. Anthony was the oldest out of her and her other two brothers but weirdly they were closer than her other brothers that were closer to her age.
"When does he go back again anyways?" I ask stuffing chips into my mouth.
"Tomorrow. My dad's coming back from Seattle to take him" as she's doing her homework.
"Oh okay"
"Why. You gonna say goodbye"
"OMG BITCH HERE YOU GO"
"Whattt" she says laughing
I was just curious. See for about a month a had an intensely deep crush on Ang's brother. But it was so short lived and yet she still brings it up. To be fair it was all I could talk about at one point. And said she had thought I was a lesbian because I just never seemed interested about guys, which was true. But it never worked cause he was too old for me. He shortly became like a big brother to me. He even got in this one kids face after Ang told him how he would make uncomfortable jokes towards me and be weird. So for that I'd I'll always appreciate him.
And checks the time
"You know it's only 4 and I only got this bottom page of my history homework to finish-"
"Yeah?" I say looking down at my homework
"Yeah. Wanna go to the mall or the arcade after?"
"Mhm sure. I only got a page of math. Mr.Donahue got his tie stuck in his car so we had a sub that let us start our homework in class"
"Wait he got his tie caught in the door us he ok?" She says concerned
"Yeah the janitor cut him out."
"Oh thank god"
"At like 5pm.." I say scratching my head.
Ang mouth drops
"Yeah one more tug we would have had free classes for the rest of the year let's just say that.."
She lets a small chuckle.
In about 30-40 minutes we're all done. So we head the arcade. Which was basically owned by the mall but it was the building next door.
I loved the arcade. Us teens were always here. You know for us teens to always "be in our phones" this was the one place there really wasn't any phone use. Just pizza games and vibes. Even tho for the most part it was just me and Ang and sometimes Miguel that would come with us, it was nice to see all the different friend groups having fun playing around, winning prizes. It was exciting. They had this futuristic neon light vibes going on with the s blaring yellow sign saying "Happys Times Arcade! Were we trap time with fun!".
We walk in and ask the hostess for a table. She then gives us two menus and shows us are table that was next to the pinball machines.
"Oh L, Miguel said heyyy"
"Tell Miguel I said heyyy" I say with a big silly grin on my face
"Okay babe I love you bye"
"Bye I love you to babe" then she hangs up
"Ang I told you , you could have invited Miguel I don't mind." And I really didn't. He was a good boyfriend and he didn't go out of his way to make me feel uncomfortable or like a third wheel. And I appreciate him for that truly.
"I knoww but I wanna spend time with you it's okay"
I small and nod before opening a menu
"Beside his practice doesn't end til 8" she smirks indicating she did try to invite him
We both laugh and open our menu. I already know imma order the mushroom and bacon slices and Ang is gonna get the delicious double meat chef salad with their house ranch while we wash it down with two chocolate milk shakes. The waiter comes and we place our order. She leaves.
All of a sudden we hear a crowd cheer over by the Pop a shot game.
We curiously try to see what's over there but we quickly lose interest because we couldn't see who was playing or there points.
"So, how's the project with Rodrick going?" She smiles
"Oh it's cool. I mean we really only came over that once. He has to cancel today cause he said-"
There's another cheer from the pop a shot game"
"They must going crazy over there" Ang says trying looking over at the game
"Yeah..." I say also intrigued
"But go on"
"Oh well.. he had to cancel to go take his grandma to the mall" I say playing with my straw
"Wait he cancelled on his future wife for his grandma? Why could the dad take her" she questions
"First off we're not a thing. And secondly he said something about him being her favorite and that this was the only one on one time they would get with each other so I don't mind"
"Oh okay. I'll let him slide today"
I scoff
"Here you girls go. Do you need anything else before I go" the waitress says as she puts our food and drinks down
"Oh can I have some extra ranch. Also could you make sure it's cold"
"Yeah sure thing darling" the waitress goes back into the kitchen
We dig in and eat for about 30 seconds until we hear an even louder cheer field with "let's go boy" and "hell yeahs".
"Okay dude I have to see what's going on" sang says motioning over to the basket ball game
"But we just got our food" I pout
"Come in it'll only be a second. Plus you know Leanne will always reheat it for us". Yeah we knew the waitress personally cause of how much we be in here.
"Okay fine I wanna know to" I say grabbing my phone. Ang hops up and we go over. As I get closer though I can't help but think I'm tweaking. Very faintly it's sounds like ...
"FUCK YEAH BABY YOU ALREADY KNOW. The RAINING CHAMP OF THIS HERE POP A SHOT GAME. PAY UP TO THAT BEAUTIFUL LOSER IN THE CORNER WITH THE LONG HAIR"
John was in the corner
"Is that-?" Ang starts to say
"-Rodrick?" I say.
I sprint over to him and sang trails behind me.
I tap his shoulder.
"Hey just pay... WOAH. LODDY?!"
He says startled
"What are you doing here I thought you were studying?"
"What are you doing here? Lemme ask were you getting your grandma normal shoes or those space shoes if you win 10000 coins?" I say in a sarcastic manner. I wasn't mad per say. I just wanted him to be honest. I mean how would this partnership work?
"Loddy I can explain"
"Oh I'd love to here this" Ang chimes in
I smile a little.
"Listen I shouldn't lied. But my peeps wanted another sick shot to try to beat me at pop a shot and I couldn't say no. I already had this planned"
"Rodrick I wouldn't have cared. I'm not made of stone we all need to unwind but you could be honest. I mean how is us partnering up gonna work if you don't be honest. I could have improvised."
"I'm sorry Lods. I won't lie to you again
"It's okay." I say forgiving him
We both smile and shake hands.
Hes about to speak but before he can a tall boy with long hair and tan skin with a large scar on his chin taps Rodrick on the shoulder aggressively.
Rodrick turns to the guy
"Ben Sternly. Fancy to see you here" he says
"Rodrick "Punk ass" Heffley. Crazy to see you trynna hustle on my turf." He says poking his chest
"Okay first off all I know that "punk ass Heffley part took you a while. And secondly dude this is literally public domain like there literally six years old over there." He says pointing to the ball pit that was across the room that had a sign saying "AGES 8 AND YOUNGER"
Ben rolled his eyes.
"I told you never to show your face again here after the last time"
"Oh what when you cheated" Rodrick got a little closer to his face and everyone who was in the original crowd started to look over at them.
"Cheat? What the hell does a Star Quarter back who's getting a full ride to UCLA have to cheat for"
"I'd clearly his jock strap is so tight that the last time he stepped on my feet just ass I was taking the game winning shot?" Rodrick tits his heads
Ben scoffs
"That never happened. Your just afraid I whooped your sorry ass"
"Actually no Ben I'm upset that EVERYTIME you breathe in my direction my eye brows start curl up into my skin" Rodrick scrounging his face up
Everyone starts to laugh even me and Ang. It was cool to see Rodrick being all witty. I can tell by his comeback to Mr.Paxton that he was quick on his feet.
"Alright me and you right now. Your best guy and my best guy." He points to his two slightly smaller yet still buff friends that were standing behind him. I can tell they went to our rival school Marian. They had a big silver M on there letterman jackets.
"Fine your on. If you win. I'd give you all my earnings I made today from getting and if you win... you shave your head"
Ben's eyes widen.
"Oh no. I'm not getting something that crazy and you get something easy like giving me what 100 bucks? Plead my dad makes that every 15 minutes." He rolls his eyes
"If you lose ..." he pauses
"You have to run around campus your campus in only your underwear saying "Marian is the best" for 20 minutes" everyone one in the crowd lets out "ouuus"
Rodrick eyes sink a little. But he looks around then eventually to me for a second. I look lost cause no way he's about to agree to this.
"Alright turd burglar.. your on" he extends his hand and they shake on it.
"Nick with me"
"Chris with me" Rodrick motions his head to the corner. Me and Ang follow Rodrick were we meet in the corner with Chris, John and Rodrick.
"Okay guys what the fuck did I just agree to"
"I don't man but I'm kinda mad you didn't pick me to be your partner." John says folding his arms.
"John, no offense but I once saw you lose a fight with a folding chair because you didn't wanna pin your hair back. Now are willing to put your hair in a ponytail?" Rodrick turns to him
"Oh hell no, and mess up these curls? No way" he shakes his head
Rodrick rolls his eyes
"Don't worry Rodrick everytime me and you go against these clowns we take they ass home." Chris says proudly
"Hell yeah" Rodrick gives him five
"You guys think you can really win" I ask concerned
"Oh yeah" Rodrick scoffs
"It's just these guys are like tremendous cheats so we just gotta keep a look out. John your on look out duty. These guys are so shady they'd push a blind kid into traffic if it means they get to where ever there going" Chris and John turn to me and nod
"Man yall crazy as hell" Ang says shaking her head
"Look don't worry we got this" Rodrick says
Chris looks over at me and gives me a small smile
"Hey Loddy" Says in a manner that was uncertain if he was nervous or constipated
"Hi chris" I say awkwardly with a wave
Rodrick rolls his eyes and grabs Chris and pulls him the game.
We all follow after and Ben starts speaking
"Okay first to 30 wins. We each get 15 shots. One shot equals one point and back board is two. When they go to wrangle yo the basket balls that's when we switch players. Deal" he says confidently
"Your on." Rodrick says poking him in the chest
"Yeah for your sake Heffley I hope it isn't breezy tomorrow" him and his friends laugh
Rodrick rolls his eyes and take a deep breath.
Rodrick puts a coin in and the game stars.