Chapter 11-Needing A Friend

On Monday, all of the students were talking about how good Felix's party was. During lunch, Ralph and Vanellope were sitting together at a table by themselves as usual. While Ralph was eating his lunch, Vanellope took out posters that she was making for her student council president campaign.

"You know, I can't seem to figure out a slogan for these things." Vanellope commented.

"Maybe you can tell them you're one real guttersnipe." Ralph sarcastically replied.

"Come on, Ralph, this is serious." Vanellope replied back "I need something that really speaks to me and-"

All of a sudden Vanellope heard the notification ringtone on her cell phone and checked it to see that she got a text from Rancis.

"Hold on, I've got a text." Vanellope interrupted before answering her text.

A few seconds later, Rancis replied back and Vanellope answered that. Ralph was curious on the matter.

"I've noticed that you have been on your cellphone all day." Ralph commented "Who are you texting?"

"Rancis Fluggerbutter." Vanellope answered "We met at Felix's party last weekend. He's really nice. We've been sending each other texts all weekend."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Ralph curiously asked.

"Why didn't you tell me about your make out session with Samus at the party?" Vanellope asked back "I had to hear about it from Chris Thorndyke. Apparently, Samus has been talking about how you're so good at kissing."

"I'm sorry, but I didn't know how to tell you." Ralph answered "I've never done that before and I wasn't able to describe how I felt at the time and—Wait a minute, she really said that?"

"Yeah, and apparently now a lot of people here know about it." Vanellope replied "Next time, make sure you tell me something you have done before I hear it from someone else."

"I didn't know gossip could travel so fast." Ralph commented.

"So, what was it like, you know, kissing Samus?" Vanellope curiously asked.

"I felt a bit strange, but in the end, I secretly enjoyed it." Ralph answered "It's one of the notable seven minutes I've had."

"What do you think of her?" Vanellope continued asking.

"Well, I—I think she's very…strong and…beautiful." Ralph continued answering "Why do you ask?"

"Maybe you should ask her out on a date." Vanellope suggested.

"Maybe you should shut your mouth." Ralph suggested back.

"Ha-ha. Nice joke, Ralph." Vanellope replied sarcastically "Now can you please help me with my posters? I need to come up with a good slogan."

Vanellope proceeded to take out her markers from her backpack, but as she dug through them, she realized that they weren't inside.

"Damn! I left my markers in my locker." Vanellope complained "Ralph, do you have any markers I can borrow?"

"Of course, I have some." Ralph answered.

Ralph took out his backpack, and tried to open it. However, as he unzipped it, the zipper got stuck partway through.

"Can you help me open this?" Ralph asked.

"Alright, you big Stinkbrain, I'll help you." Vanellope answered in a complaining tone.

Vanellope then tried to help Ralph get the zipper unstuck on his backpack, but in the process, she ended up having some of the stuff inside all fall out. As they went down to pick it up, Vanellope noticed that Ralph had a paper-sized envelope inside and opened it to find sheets of paper inside.

"No! Please don't read what's inside!" Ralph exclaimed.

Vanellope looked at the papers and skimmed all the way down to only read the final pages and spoke out one of them.

"Ralph Smith's LD is the result of a quantitative knowledge and executive functioning deficit." Vanellope said while reading "Ralph, what is this?"

"Don't tell anyone this, but I've taken a few 'tests' from one of the teachers here named Mary Marquez." Ralph explained "She said this is the main reason why I'm failing Mathematics because that was where she found my…learning…disability."

"Who else knows about this?" Vanellope continued asking.

"My teachers are the only ones that know." Ralph answered.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Vanellope continued asking.

"I was already freaked out the moment I read this, and I didn't want you or anyone to feel strange around me." Ralph explained in a tense tone.

"Ralph, you're already strange…in a good way." Vanellope replied "Do you really think of yourself that dysfunctional?"

"This is why I didn't want you reading through my stuff." Ralph commented as he took the papers and put the rest of his stuff back in his backpack before walking away.

Vanellope later walked through the hallways to find out where Ralph went, and later found him in the corner parts of the hallways sitting down on the floor feeling upset. Vanellope ended up sitting down right beside him.

"How did you enjoy your hissy fit?" Vanellope asked.

"Leave me alone, please!" Ralph replied sounding upset.

"Don't be such a baby." Vanellope replied "You're getting all worked up over nothing."

"You don't get it." Ralph angrily replied "Every time I try to do something right, I end up colossally fucking something up. I'm told all the time that I'm worthless, even my own uncle Gene says so. This just makes me feel more incapable than I already am."

"First of all, I don't ever want to meet your uncle Gene." Vanellope replied back "Second, so you have a disability. You do know a lot of people have those, right? And they have websites on that stuff. And third, you're looking at this the wrong way. Take me, for example, my eccentric behaviour is too overwhelming for…some people, but I take this flaw and make it my superpower."

"Thanks for the advice, but it's going to be strange that I'm going to do certain things much differently than the other students now." Ralph commented in a worried tone "They have set up accommodations for me and everything."

"It'll get better, big guy." Vanellope commented back as she elbowed him.

"You'd better be right." Ralph smirked before smiling.

As they left, Ralph and Vanellope were walking back to their lockers.

"So, what are you doing this weekend?" Ralph curiously asked.

"I'm hanging out with Rancis." Vanellope answered "We've decided to go miniature golfing. What about you?"

"I'm going to be in my first football game." Ralph answered back "I got to say, I'm a bit nervous."

"Come on, the coach said you've got skills." Vanellope replied.