nerd / yourpalross au

i.

butterflies flutter in my stomach as my mom pulls up to the school. actually, it could be nausea, i'm not sure. i hate switching schools, i typically don't make any friends because i end up moving every six months.

"so, am i allowed to make friends? no more moving, right?"

"yes, make all the friends you want. we're staying here now. i already interviewed for a new job. i'll let you know tonight if i got the spot," i smile a bit, i haven't had friends since fourth grade. hopefully i still remember how to talk to people.

"alright, bye mom, see you later," i grab my backpack and get out of the car.

"bye, sweetheart!" she says back as i close the door. i approach the school nervously, regretting all of my life choices then and there. other students flood into the school as the bus dropped them off. once i entered the building, i took in my surroundings. the hallways were busy with people greeting their friends or trying to make their way to class. the ceilings were high and the school's impressive awards and trophies, portraits and fliers lined the walls. students sat around in the front of the school playing handheld games to kill time, twiddling their thumbs on their phones or asking their friends if they had any homework from last night. i pulled the folded schedule i had printed off of the school website out of my pocket. i scanned it over for the fifth time and stuffed it back in.

the bell finally rang after what felt like hours and i made my way from class to class. the first half of my day was full of awkward introductions and many questions. eventually, the bell for lunch rang in harmony with the growl of my stomach. i followed the map i had also printed out to find the cafeteria. after standing in a line for nachos for fifteen minutes, i received my food and searched the room for an empty table. unfortunately, all tables were full. i saw a table in a far corner with two innocent-looking nerds, so i made my way through the maze of tables to their's.

"is this seat taken?" i asked, startling one of the boys.

"oh, um, i guess not," he blushed and i took the seat across from them. the boys looked at me as if i was a monster. one boy had brown curly hair with wire-frame glasses. he wore a simple blue shirt and he had a gameboy color sat in front of him. the other boy, who has yet to say anything, had red hair that was pushed up a bit and a faint beard growing. he wore a shirt that had a cartoon skeleton on it and he had a gameboy on the table, too.

"well, i'm olivia, what are your names?" i try to spark up a conversation while i attempt to stick three chips in my mouth.

"i am ross," he chuckled a bit and nudged his friend. the redheaded boy winced a bit.

"i-i'm max," he muttered. he tucked his head back into his game.

"nice to meet you two. sorry if i'm intruding, i'm new here so i have a total of zero friends," i scoop up some cheese with a tortilla chip and take a bite. "hopefully, after this lunch it'll be two," i say, glancing up at them to see if they got the hint. ross giggled while max tried to hide his smile. i took a gulp of my water while subtly scooting my seat closer to them to see what they were so indulged in. after one scoot, they didn't notice. two; nothing. three; nothing. on my fourth scoot, the chair squeaked against the floor. max glanced at my chair, then at me, noticing that i had just moved about a foot closer.

"do you want to, uh, see what i'm playing?" he offered.

"wow, i'd love to," i say as i switch into the chair right next to him. he flinches a bit but soon relaxes. i saw on his screen that he was playing an older pokemon game.

"i'm playing pokemon blue, ross is on pokemon red," ross looked up at the sound of his name but soon went back in his own world.

"i haven't played that in forever," i look in amazement at this ancient fossil. he was wandering in some tall grass when he encountered a pokemon. i stood to look over ross' shoulder to see that he was in the middle of a gym battle. it's been so long since i've played my pokemon games, i should get back into that. i finished off my nachos and snacked on my baby carrots while watching the boys game until lunch ended.

"hopefully i'll see you guys again," i said before heading off to my next class. the last thing i wanted was to be late.

--

i stepped off the bus and walked down my driveway. this morning, it seemed humid and tired outside, but now it felt warm and huggable, if that makes sense.

"hi, liv. how was school?" she asked while watching the home phone in the center of the table.

"pretty great, you'll never believe this. i think i made friends. two of 'em!" i say excitedly.

"wow, now this is news. forget my possible job, someone call up the paper, this is real news!" my mom said while laughing.

"what's all this noise?" my little brother harrison comes bouncing down the stairs into the kitchen.

"you'll never believe it, olivia made friends!"

"no wonder there's a party down here! this is a miracle!" we all laugh along. i grab the bottle of apple juice out of the fridge and pour a cup.

"so i guess you're waiting for the call?" i sat down next to my mom and took a sip of my juice.

"yep," she said, followed by a bored sigh. "they should be calling any minute now," she tapped her fingers against the table anxiously. we all sat watching the phone, even harrison. we watched and watched.

"i think i'm gon-" harrison started before he was interrupted by the phone ringing.

"shh!" my mom yelled before grabbing the phone, cooling down and answering it. "hello? this is her... mhm... really!... this is just... thank you... okay!... will do... thank you again," she said before hanging up.

"so?" i said.

"i got the job!" she said excitedly. we all danced around the room happily. this is kind of how my week went. the next day, i sat with max and ross. and the following day. on thursday, ross let me play a bit of his game. my mom started going to work regularly and harrison and i were keeping up good grades. i felt like i could call this place my home for once.

a/n

this here is the first chapter of many !! i hoped u all liked it, if you did, please vote and share it with your friends. i hope u get the gist of how this story will go down now