A/N: Hey, guys, I have here the next chapter of A Love Conflict for you guys! Let me know what you think, and thank you so, so much for the reviews on the last chapter! It means the world to me! Hope you enjoy this one!
Liesel barely got any sleep that night. Mama woke her up the next morning with a screech.
"SAUMENSCH GET UP! DID YOU FORGET ABOUT SCHOOL?" Mama practically shook Liesel out of bed.
"Sorry, Mama, I'm getting up," mumbled Liesel. Here comes another day of school, she thought.
Liesel couldn't concentrate one bit throughout class. And it was all the fault of that stupid saukerl and his girlfriend.
All day, Rudy and Stefanie had been passing each other notes discreetly when the teacher wasn't looking. Every time Stefanie would read Rudy's note, she would glance at him and smile. The worst part was when Rudy would smile back in that stupid little smirky way of his.
No, Liesel thought, he only smirks at me like that.
Immediately, Liesel was repulsed by her thoughts. Rudy had a girlfriend now. He would be spending time with her now, obviously. Even so, Liesel couldn't keep her eyes off the couple the entire day.
There was a knock on the door of 33 Himmel Street. Liesel, who was busy reading from a new book Papa had gotten her called The Dead Man, opened the door. Standing there was none other than Rudy Steiner.
"Hey, saumensch," he said. On his face was his stupid smirk again.
Though Liesel didn't want to admit it, she was glad he didn't just smirk for Stefanie now.
"What do you want, saukerl?" Liesel was losing patience. She had just gotten to the good part of her book, and she wasn't too happy with Rudy right now because of the Stefanie situation. Also, she hadn't had a good night's sleep.
"You wanna come play soccer? We're organizing teams."
"Sure," she said. She might as well get rid of her anger by kicking a soccer ball. "Just let me get my jacket."
"Okay," said Rudy. "I'll go get Stefanie to come play, also."
Liesel, who was about to reach for her jacket, stopped in her tracks. Stefanie was coming? Suddenly, she didn't want to play anymore.
"Sorry, Rudy, I just remembered. I have...to help Mama with the cleaning."
"Oh. Okay." said Rudy with slight disappointment. "Tomorrow then, huh, saumensch?"
"Yeah, sure." Liesel desperately wanted Rudy to leave now. She wanted to be alone.
"Okay, bye, saumensch!" He turned around and ran off into the distance.
Though Liesel's back was turned, she knew his thumping feet were headed in the direction of Stefanie's house.
Before she knew it, Liesel was upstairs in her room. The tears came before she could stop them. Hours went by and the tears wouldn't stop.
That night, there was yet another knock on the Hubermanns' front door. Papa and Mama were fast asleep. Liesel, however, couldn't get to sleep for the second night in a row. When she heard the knock, she went downstairs and opened the door.
It wasn't Rudy, much to Liesel's surprise and dismay. Instead, standing in her doorway, was the saukerl's girlfriend, Stefanie.
"Um...yes?" said Liesel. What the hell was she doing at her house so late at night?
"Hi, Liesel." Stefanie was smiling. The book thief hated that smile. It was creeping her out.
"I only came over to talk to you about Rudy. Do you have a minute?" said Stefanie. Liesel, nodding, sat down with her on the front steps leading to her house.
"So what do you wanna talk about?" Liesel was genuinely curious. She and Stefanie had never actually had a real conversation before - mostly because the only times they talked was when Stefanie insulted her.
"Well, you're friends with Rudy, right? You know him well, don't you?"
Liesel nodded. She had no idea where this conversation was headed.
"Well...I think Rudy is going to kiss me soon. He almost did today, but we got interrupted, so I think he'll kiss me tomorrow. I'm nervous, though, because...Hey, you don't look so good." Stefanie was staring at Liesel while the latter sat there, fuming.
It's true that Liesel didn't look good. Her face was brick red and she could feel the tears fighting to get out.
Rudy. Kiss. Stefanie. Rudy. Kiss. Stefanie. Those three words were the only things she could hear. She felt like throwing up.
Stefanie got up abruptly. "Sorry, I should probably get going. You look...tired and should probably get some rest. Besides, I only came here to tell you that I'm nervous about kissing Rudy because I don't know what kind of a kisser he is." Liesel could barely hear Stefanie talking through the thoughts that were going through her own head.
"It doesn't matter, anyways, because you've never kissed Rudy, either. Obviously you haven't. Rudy only likes pretty girls." Stefanie laughed. A short, harsh sound that hit Liesel's ears with a bang. With that, her best friend's girlfriend ran away, back to her own house.
Liesel stood there for a few more moments, shocked. She should have known. She should have known. Stefanie was just as rude and nasty as she she had always been. Rudy was wrong. She hadn't changed.
Liesel tried to get some sleep that night after Stefanie left. She couldn't. There were a lot of old, jealous thoughts bouncing about in her head, but a new one emerged, too.
Maybe she was right, Liesel thought. What if I'm not good enough for Rudy after all?
A/N: Hope you guys liked it! As I was writing this chapter, I realized that I hate Stefanie even more than I thought I did. Let me know if you hate Stefanie as much as I do, too! Again, thank you guys so much for the reviews and feedback, and I hope you guys liked this chapter, too! Thanks, guys!