"Oh, God! Don't tell me you're falling for Megan" Sheila exaggerated her eye roll.
"I just asked about her, didn't say anything about liking her"
"That's what everyone does; they ask, they like, they daydream, and then they're disappointed in the end" Sheila explained as Ronnie followed her to her locker.
"Max made it sound like she doesn't let anyone in" Ronnie stated.
"She doesn't" Sheila agreed, "There's the school slut who let's everyone in if they even ask her what time it is and then there is Megan who doesn't let anyone in, I was even surprised she was at the party"
Ronnie pressured, "Why do you say that?"
"Because…" Sheila slammed her locker door, "Megan never goes out, she's the ideal daughter with going to school on time, never going out, and that definitely means to parties"
Ronnie slowly nodded as he took this all in. This morning, he made sure to drive slowly down the street as he noticed a boy four houses down waiting by a car. It wasn't much to go on but he could only assume that this was where Megan lived. Now that Sheila was all sobered up and complained about the morning after Ronnie decided to ask her about his mysterious neighbor.
"So she's always been like that?"
"Not really… she was kinda normal until 7th grade" Sheila thought for a moment, "She started to be more quiet, lost a lot of friends like that, and caused nasty rumors to go flying around her"
"That must suck" Ronnie mumbled.
Sheila looked over to her new friend before she said, "I'm just trying to save you the sob story of what every guy had to go through with her… but I can tell you're not going to let this slide"
"Which means?"
"I'll let you play this all out" Sheila said, "But don't get mad at me if she rejects your ass"
Ronnie nodded, "Promise"
Sheila stared at him for a while before she scoffed and said, "Alright, listen up then because you might now like it…"
Ronnie let out a low and slow sigh as he looked up to the ceiling, trying to figure out what he was doing here. He wouldn't put in this much effort for a girl in Pretty Lake so why is he doing it now? He can practically hear his cousins laughing at him as Tracey gives off a smart ass comment about what he's doing. Thinking about his sister made him take out his phone and dial his sister's number before placing it to his ear.
3, 2, 1… We're sorry. The person you're trying to reach isn't available at this time-
"Damn it, Trace" Ronnie muttered as he hung up. He's heard that automatic voice so many times that it nearly makes his mind numb.
Ronnie picked up his bag and burst through the door of the arts & crafts room but had to immediately stop from all the chaos that was going around. He didn't expect to see a bunch of kids his age hustling around with so many different tasks that they practically didn't see him. A sinking feeling came in his stomach as every once in his body wanted to leave, but instead he pushed on and searched for the woman in charge.
"Make sure the lights are working in time, Phoebe!" the woman was saying before she turned to her right, "Oh, Jane! Don't let those papers wrinkle!"
"Excuse me-"
"Kyle! I need a restock on the inventory, pronto!"
"Excuse me" Ronnie said loudly.
"Y- Yes" she turned and almost looked surprised to see Ronnie standing there.
"Hi" Ronnie said, "Ms. Maxwell, I was hoping to… volunteer for the upcoming charity event"
"Volunteer?" Ms. Maxwell asked before her eyes lit up, "I never turn down any help but what's your name, young man?"
"Arian" Ronnie smiled.
"Arian" Ms. Maxwell looked over his shoulder, "Are you done with the designs already?"
Ronnie turned around as Megan walked up to Ms. Maxwell. The second she saw Ronnie, she almost looked as if she had seen a ghost. Ronnie smiled and nodded to her as she gave a delayed response before turning back to the teacher.
"Yes, I did, um… here you go" Megan gave the sketchbook to the woman.
"World of Wonder themed?" Ms. Maxwell questioned.
Megan backed up her own design, "I was going to do winter wonderland but since we did that last year I figured it would just be a broken record, plus it already snows here and I'm sure everyone will be sick of the snow by then"
Ms. Maxwell thought for a moment as Megan stood, staring at her with pleading eyes as Ronnie glanced between the two women before the teacher nodded, "It would be a different change, plus we can add to it with different cultures if we have enough space, plus it looks like now we have 25 students on our committee. Have you met Arian, Megan?"
"Yes" Megan turned to him, "I bumped into him over the weekend"
"Maybe Arian can help with the heavy tasks instead of leaving them up to you" Ms. Maxwell suggested.
"I could work with that" Ronnie replied.
"No, it's okay, I got it" Megan stammered.
"Honey" Ms. Maxwell draped her arms over her shoulders, "Never turn down help, especially when it's a young man like him"
She gave a gentle push and said, "Go on!"
Ronnie leaned back to make room for Megan as she walked past him and followed her back to where she was set up. She placed down her notebook as Ronnie took this chance to look around at her corner. He could immediately tell that she's been here a lot with all of her sketches all drawn up on her board. He walked over and peered closely at some of them, admiring how good these pictures were as he noticed some had fabrics on them
"What are you really doing here?"
Ronnie turned to Megan, "What?"
"What are you really doing here?" Megan pressed, "You don't exactly stand out as a helping hand kind of guy"
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that" Ronnie taunted, "But judging by the teacher, you guys need all the help you can get"
"And it just so happened to be this place?" Megan continued, "Where I go and spend my after school hours?"
Ronnie thought for a moment as he wondered if this card will work on her so he stared into her hazel eyes and said, "Because this will help my profile in this foster system"
Megan's mouth hung open as if she was punched in the gut before she gathered up her things and said, "I'm sorry"
Before Ronnie could tell her it was alright, Megan pushed right past him and through the craziness of the crowd.