Disclaimer: I'm not an owner, I'm just a random shipper.

On The Same Page

Gretchen Grundler was giddy. It was almost time for another study session. Another study session with just the two of them. Her and Vince. In her room. Alone. You'd think that since they'd been doing it on and off for over two years, she'd be over the giddiness. She wasn't.

It all started near the end of 6th grade. Before that, they'd just been two friends among a group of six friends. Nothing special. But then Vince's grades had started falling, and he was in danger of repeating the 6th grade. That couldn't be allowed, it would break up the group. So naturally, the smartest of the group, Gretchen, was assigned/took it upon herself to give him some extra tutoring.

It really shouldn't have been a big deal. She'd done it for all her other friends at some point or other, TJ and Spinelli a little more often than the others. But it was a big deal. It was a very big deal. They had never before spent time together with just the two of them, away from the group, but they took to it instantly. Something just clicked. It made no sense at all, they had nothing in common, but they got along so well that they started hanging out more often with just the two of them even when there was no studying to be done.

Strangely, the more time they spent together, the more nervous and excited Gretchen was to be with Vince. At first she had no idea why, it seemed very counter-intuitive, but with time and the testing of hypotheses, she was able to isolate the cause: She was crushing on Vince. Bigtime. Thus, the source of her current giddiness.

Of course, she had no expectations whatsoever. She did not in any way take the fact that they seemed to get along so well as indication that he might return any romantic feelings she harbored for him. The so-called 'food chain' placed her infinitely far from him on the social ladder. Plus, she thought if he ever showed an interest in dating, which he had not up until now, it would be with a pretty girl, not some buck-toothed, glasses-wearing, stringy-haired, fashion senseless, freckled, no makeup-using girl like her. But even without expectations, it made her happy just to be around him, and to know that he liked to be around her, even if it was just as friends.

The expected knock at the door came. She opened it to see Vince, holding his notebook and textbooks, looking strangely subdued compared to normal. Her heart caught a little, thinking of why he might look that way, but she purposely ignored it and said cheefully, "So, my fellow persuer of knowledge, are you ready for another couple of hours of feeding the neurons?"

"That's what we're here for," Vince responded, attempting to match her cheerfulness, but she could tell something was really bugging him. She hoped desperately it wasn't what she thought it was.

"Well then, let's start with the history homework."

They didn't have the same history class, of course. Gretchen was in the most advanced 8th grade class she was allowed to take as an 8th grader. She refused to skip grades and be seperated from her friends, or she would probably be done with high school by now. However, she did have the same textbook as him. She had worked her way through it when she was in 3rd grade, and of course, she remembered all the lessons from it, so she could easily tutor him now.

"Okay. I did a lot of it, but I had some trouble with questions 3 and 4." Vince said as they took out their textbooks and set up for the study time.

Gretchen thought for a second. "Oh yes, those were particularly troubling questions, as I recall. But, I'm confident you'll find the answers you need if you study page 342 carefully, and pay attention."

"Alright, sounds good." For the next few minutes, Vince poured over the page indicated while Gretchen worked on her own homework and tried not to stare at him.

Eventually, Vince gave a frustrated sigh and pushed the book away from him. "It's no good, Gretch, I can't see the answers here. In fact, nothing here even seems to be talking about the Industrial Revolution at all."

"What? Let me see that." Gretchen took the textbook, and her eyes went immediately to the line she knew would hold the information Vince needed...and it wasn't there. Puzzled, she looked at the textbook, then got up and went to her bookshelf and pulled out her own textbook (she never threw books away) and opened it to the same page. There was the line she wanted. She put the books next to each other. They were identical. Except for a very tiny inscription at the bottom-left of Vince's that said 'maps now at the front!'.

"No wonder!" Gretchen laughed. "It seems we weren't on the same page! Get it?"

"Yeah. Haha." Vince said in a dead tone.

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds. Then Gretchen said, "Well, we should get back to-"

"Gretch, let's stop this now, ok?" Vince cut her off.

Her heart froze, but she tried to deflect. "What do you mean, stop? We have to study-"

"That's not what I mean and you know it." Vince cut her off again. "Look we can't...well, I guess I can't keep doing this. We need to- I need us to talk about this. I kinda get that you don't want to, but I gotta clear the air, or I'm never gonna be able to move on."

"Fine." She was trembling inside, but she didn't let it show. "Let's talk about it then."

"Thanks." Vince gave a great sigh. "So, it's pretty obvious by now what's going on between us here."

Gretchen nodded. She knew her efforts to conceal her crush on him were in vain. Truthfully, she'd given up trying, as she'd never been skilled in subterfuge, and Vince was far more perceptive than his grades would indicate, so she'd figured it was pointless fairly early on. She still kept up the guise in front of other people, but she had no walls when it was just the two of them.

"And," He gave an even bigger sigh, and his face became very sad. "It's also obvious that it isn't going to happen."

Gretchen nodded again. She knew she wasn't in his league. She knew that long before she had a crush on him to begin with. However, knowing it and hearing it directly from the person himself are two very different things. She thought she was prepared for this, but she couldn't stop tears from leaking silently from her eyes.

Vince continued. He was looking away from her. "I mean, it's cool though, right? I don't think either of us would be very happy with a pity date, so-"

At this, Gretchen couldn't hold back any longer. She burst into tears. Vince whipped his head around to look at her in shock. "Gretch, are you...aww no, don't cry Gretch!" He walked over quickly and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her comfortingly. Even though it was humiliating to be comforted by the boy who was rejecting her, Gretchen threw her pride aside and buried her face into his chest. After all, they were still friends.

"Please, Gretch, don't be sad." Vince whispered soothingly, stroking her hair with one of his hands while the other continued to hold her to him. "It's not your fault, okay? This is just what naturally happens when you fall for someone way out of your league."

That was too much. Even though Gretchen agreed with the statement, even though she'd thought the same thing almost word-for-word herself, you just don't say things like that. It's just too arrogant. Her sobs of sorrow instantly became sobs of rage. She struggled angrily to shove him away, but he was so strong and she was so weak that he didn't even notice that she was trying to escape his grip. He just continued to stroke her hair and talk.

"Really, you don't have to feel bad. I'll be okay. Eventually."

"You'll be okay?! Of course you'll be okay! What about me?!" Gretchen's scream was muffled through his shirt.

"That's what I'm telling you, you don't need to feel bad about rejecting me. It's okay, really. I mean, I already knew way before I started crushing on you that you were out of my league, so this isn't even a shock for me."

"You stupid, arrogant-wait, what?" Gretchen finally managed to pull her head away to yell into his face, only to cut herself off as her brain registered what he said.

"I said I already knew I didn't have a chance with you, so it's fine. We can just keep being friends like before, and everything will be cool. I just wanted to get all that off my chest and out of the way."

"No," Said Gretchen, slowly shaking her head. "No we can't just go back to being friends now."

"What? Why not?"

She threw her arms around his neck and gave him a deep, long kiss, like she'd been dying to do for years. "That's why not."

"Oh," Said Vince, a dazed look on his face. "That's a pretty good reason."

"So, are we on the same page now?"

"I'd say so." He pulled her in for another kiss.