Hello! I am back with an update! I want to thank you for the feedback given, and I'm glad you liked it. Here are some more shenanigans from your favorite gang of nerds.
Enjoy!
Thankfully, the weekend was soon upon everyone. Even though school had only started three days ago, the teachers assigned tons of homework, almost all of it due Monday.
At the moment, Tedros sat on his desk, struggling through the 30 page reading for AP US History. He had never been a fan of American history, but these pages made focusing nearly impossible. Sader had really outdone herself this time.
This has to be the worst thing I've ever read…
He leaned against his chair, taking off his glasses in the process. It was a beautiful day out; there were barely any clouds in sight, and the sun shone brightly. The usual calm was upon his neighborhood.
As he readied himself to go back to read, his phone buzzed. He quickly took it and checked it.
Would anyone be willing to hit the new milkshake place downtown?
Tedros smiled to himself. God bless Hort for always having an excuse to see everyone. Tedros typed a reply.
When?
Today in the afternoon?
I'm down.
Beatrix replied. If anyone texted Tedros, it usually came from their little group chat with all four of them.
What time exactly?
Rafal texted. Tedros waited for a response from Hort.
Would 4 work?
They eventually agreed to meet there at four. Hort said he'd find the address and text it to them.
Tedros made his way out of his bedroom and headed downstairs. He found his dad in the kitchen, trying to make lunch. Tedros decided to ignore the smoke coming from the pan, hoping it wasn't something too bad. Arthur still had some mishaps in the kitchen from time to time.
"Dad, is it okay if I go out today at four?" Tedros asked. Arthur turned around and faced him.
"Sure, where are you going?"
"Hort asked if we could meet at some milkshake place at downtown. He'll send the address later." Tedros replied.
"Sounds good, just don't come home too late. Oh, you can take the car; I don't think I'll be going out today, just drive safely." Arthur requested. Tedros grinned.
"I always do."
"Always a good thing to say…" Arthur mumbled to himself.
By 4:05, Tedros was making his way into the little place. The door had a little chime that announced any customer entering. It looked like the typical 50's diner: black and white tiled floors, a bar with bright red seats, even the waitresses were dressed up like women from the 1950's. It had a certain charm to it.
Tedros saw Hort signaling him from a booth. Beatrix was sitting opposite of him, but she turned around and waved at Tedros. He walked over them and sat next to Hort.
"Hey, glad you made it." Hort said, grinning.
"Yeah, how did you find this place?" Tedros inquired curiously. Gavaldon's downtown was full of little restaurants like this one, but Hort rarely came to this part of town.
"Oh, you know Hester Ravenswood? She was talking about getting a job somewhere, and Anadil Bakshi proposed this place. Hester didn't sound too excited about the prospect of working here…" Hort told.
"Well, she does seem pretty…um, pretentious, for lack of a better word." Beatrix said. Hester was the Capitan of the Varsity Cheerleading squad. She had a reputation of not really doing any dirty jobs.
The chimes ringed pleasantly, revealing Rafal crossing the door. He immediately saw his friends sitting at the corner and went there.
"Hey, sorry I'm late. My dad just came back from Europe and I actually needed to tell him where I was going. He also wanted to talk to me and stuff." Rafal explained, while rolling his eyes.
"Well, at least he's here again." Beatrix expressed positively.
"Yeah, although I'm getting used to being on my own…" Rafal said. His dad was pretty high up the ladder in his company, and he frequently traveled out of the country, leaving Rafal on his own. It was a strange arrangement for a seventeen year old, but Rafal was used to it. He thought the amount independence was good for him
"Anyways, do you know if this place is any good?" Beatrix asked Hort. He shrugged.
"If not, we can blame Hester and Anadil." Hort suggested. Rafal raised his eyebrows.
"Why would we do that?" Rafal questioned, confusion showing on his features.
"We'll fill you in later." Beatrix dismissed. Rafal shrugged.
A waitress promptly showed up to their table. She had copper-colored skin adorned with colorful makeup, while her dark black hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she had a little notepad on her hands. The foursome eyed her for a second.
"Hester? You work here?" Hort asked in disbelief. She rolled her eyes.
"What do you think?" She answered sarcastically, "Do you guys know what you want?" They all looked at each other and shook their heads.
"Alrighty then, I'll be back in a couple of minutes." She swiftly left them alone.
"I thought she wouldn't take the job…" Hort muttered, looking at the menu.
"I hope she didn't hear me say she was pretentious…" Beatrix said. Tedros shook his head.
"She probably didn't."
After looking at their menus, Hester came back and took their order, furiously scribbling on her notepad.
"I'll put those in quickly." She told, but before she could leave, Hort asked:
"So, what made you take this job?"
"I need money, duh. But they hired me half time three days a week, so that should be a schedule flexible enough for Cheer practice." She briefly explained. "Are you doing track this year?"
"Yeah, I always do." Hort smiled crookedly at her. Hester grinned back.
"That was a dumb question. It would be like asking me if I'm doing cheer. Well, gotta go put these in." Hester quickly left and headed towards the kitchen.
"How do you even know Hester?" Rafal asked him.
"Ravan. That's all you need to know." Rafal grinned. Ravan Maharaj was another of the popular kids. He used to be friends with Hort, nut somehow they stopped hanging out. He still invited Hort to some of his parties, though.
"Right, you ditch us sometimes to hang out with Ravan." Rafal teased. Hort rolled his eyes.
"I literally do it less than once a month. Chillax." Hort rolled his eyes, but Rafal sniggered.
"Tedros, are you with us?" Beatrix asked, suddenly changing the subject. Tedros snapped from his trance.
"Yeah, yeah." He said distractedly. His three friends shared a glance.
"Is it me, or have you been more distracted lately? Is something up?" Beatrix queried. Tedros sighed.
Ever since Wednesday, his dad's words about taking risks had stayed in his mind. He knew it was silly, but he couldn't feel like his dad had a valid point. He felt as if he should act on those words.
"It's something dumb." Tedros replied.
"If you're this spacey, it's clearly not dumb." Rafal insisted. Tedros sighed again.
"Alright, I'll tell you." He felt his friends hunching over to listen. "My dad simply gave me a little spill about how I should…technically do more stuff, I mean, socially. Maybe take more risks, and ever since Wednesday, his words have been stuck in my head."
His friends remained silent, unclear as to what to say next.
"I mean…it never hurts you to leave your comfort zone. But I don't know how to do that…" Beatrix broke the silence.
"'Don't you feel we should...I don't know, stop playing it safe?" Tedros asked them. They all stared at him.
"Regarding what?" Beatrix inquired.
"High school." Tedros said. Beatrix and Rafal shared an uneasy look. "My dad talked about me going to more social events, but the more I thought of it, I came to a conclusion: we might play it too safe. What if we dared to do something different?" Tedros asked, earning more fidgeting from them.
"Look, I'm sorry this is heavy, I really am. But maybe we should all do something…not so safe, maybe?" Tedros suggested.
"So like, all of us pledge to do something we've never done?" Hort questioned, his black eyes twinkling with curiosity.
"Maybe…I don't know, these are just thoughts I've had." Tedros explained.
"Oh, I know what you should do." Hort announced, smirking maliciously. Tedros sighed, knowing what was coming.
"You should ask Aga—' Hort started saying, but Tedros shushed him. Beatrix and Rafal held back a laugh.
"Don't say her name so loudly, especially when Hester is around." Tedros whispered. Hort sighed.
"You should ask Agatha Woods to Prom." Hort whispered. Rafal and Beatrix vehemently agreed.
"Yes. I swear, you've been in love with her for way too long." Beatrix complained. "It's about time you do something about it."
"I know, I know. It's just…intimidating. I really do want to, though." Tedros confessed.
Agatha Woods. The girl he had been in love with for…a really long time. Unfortunately, he was too much of a dork to even talk to her about their English class.
"Oh, I can put in good word about you with her! She said she's running for VP this year." Rafal offered.
"…alright, do it." Rafal grinned, while Hort clapped Tedros in the back.
"Oh, and what are you going to do that's out of your comfort zone?" Beatrix asked Rafal. He shrugged.
"I'll figure it out later. No problem." Beatrix narrowed her eyes, and smirked evilly.
"You should open up to the possibility of actually liking someone." Beatrix suggested.
"No, I don't do crushes. Or any type of romantic feelings. I don't have time for that!" Rafal objected.
"I gotta agree with her. Come on dude! A lot of girls have a thing for you, stop being so narrow minded. It'll be lame if you don't go to Prom with a date when there's at least five girls willing to go with you." Hort chided. Rafal sighed.
"So what do I pledge? That I will ask out a girl to Prom? That I will go on a date with at least someone?" Rafal mocked. They nodded their heads.
"Both. Both are good. I mean, as long as you actually like them." Tedros said.
"Fine, I just don't think I should be forced to like someone but whatever. Beatrix needs to do something big, too." Rafal warned. Beatrix rolled her eyes.
"I will, relax. I just don't know what." Beatrix confessed. The three boys thought for a second.
"Well, it's weird, because you have Reena and you guys hang out with Dot sometimes, so you already have more friends besides us." Rafal stated.
"How about not going to Homecoming or Prom with Hort?" Tedros suggested. Beatrix frowned.
Every year, Hort would ask her to Homecoming. He said it worked, since it eased the tension of asking someone he didn't know, while not disrupting their routine. Beatrix always accepted because 'no one would care to ask her' besides him. It raised many questions among people about the nature of their relationship.
"But I like doing that! We always have a good time!" Hort cried. Beatrix agreed vehemently.
"But this whole thing is about leaving your comfort zone." Rafal reminded them mockingly. He obviously was still irritated at his end of the bargain.
"Wait a second, that's more on Hort's end; see, he's the one that asks me. So, technically, this is his dare. Besides, if Tedros is going with someone, and Hort probably too, because he's like, popular, that just kinda leaves me like the dateless sore thumb." Beatrix argued.
"No, it leaves both of us as the dateless sore thumbs. Is okay though, I can take you." Rafal offered.
"That sounds like a good plan, but technically I still need something." Beatrix objected.
"Yeah…true…why are all of our things related to dates? I actually had a good one for myself." Hort sighed in defeat.
"What was it?" Tedros asked.
"I want to start my own graphic novel!" Hort revealed.
"Oh, that's exciting! I mean, is pretty challenging and all, but, is it out of your comfort zone?" Beatrix asked. Hort wordlessly thought for a second.
"I mean, artistically speaking, yes. However…I guess I need something socially challenging, don't I?" Hort said.
"Just take what we said earlier." Rafal suggested. Hort sighed again.
"Fine. We will all probably regret this." Hort agreed.
"Look, I know is…sudden, to say the least, but, we might get something rewarding out of this experience." Tedros argued.
"Easy for you to say, you could possibly get the girl of your dreams to be your girlfriend." Rafal scoffed. Tedros rolled his eyes.
"I wouldn't go that far. I don't even know if she'd like me enough to even talk to me."
"She would. Just ask her. Dude, sometimes, you just have to do it without giving it much thought to it." Hort said.
"I would listen to Hort, seeing as he is the only one out of us that actually has gone out on dates recently." Rafal commented.
"Yeah, and you should listen to me too. Some girls have the hots for you, really." Hort told Rafal. The latter fidgeted.
"I would need to see that to believe it…but alas, are we seriously doing this? Are we seriously going to try to be more…socially involved? Dang, I don't even have a word for it." Rafal expressed.
"Guys, I don't want you think you're forced to do this. I was just explaining how I actually see the logic in my dad's words. You don't need to do some pact or bet or whatever you want to call it just because of something I said." Tedros rambled. His three friends all shared a look.
"…You know what? I will do it. It might be good for Beatrix and I to not go to Homecoming together this year." Hort smiled.
"I don't really know what I'm doing, but hey, why not?" Beatrix grinned. They all looked at Rafal. He sighed, but smiled.
"I'll give dating a try. Only if I like someone, though."
"We get it. So Tedros, are you gonna do it?" Beatrix asked curiously. Tedros nodded.
"About time." Rafal muttered.
"Is this when we say 'we're going to make great memories' or 'this is going to be the best year ever!'?" Hort joked.
"No, people usually say that when they're at the beach. Or something. I don't know, we're not a teen movie from the 2000's." Tedros grinned.
"We're better than that." Beatrix assured. "We may not be the cool kids, but we're pretty unique."
They may disagree on many things, but they couldn't agree more with Beatrix.
So, their little conflicts have been established. The question remaining is, are they actually going to do it? Oh, and comment if you have some idea of what Beatrix's little challenge could be. I want to see if you have any ideas. Also, if you know of anyone that could be in being an editor/beta, please tell them. Or if you're interested yourself, please PM me! I'm looking for a beta to see if they can help me with some grammar issues I have (read: accidentally switching tenses)
Please do review! A review keeps an author writing!