Part 2: "The Angst"
"You know, Captain Oats, it's really not fair. I mean, I love Summer, but she doesn't even know my name. She's so oblivious... I can't stand it. I was going to start working on her – on the Tahiti plan – but today the captain of the varsity football team asked her out. The captain of the varsity football team. How can I possibly compete with that?" Seth rested his head in his hands for a minute before continuing. "And, of course, she said yes. So now I have to see them in the hallways all the time, cuddling – well, you're right, I guess I don't have to see them, but that would mean not taking the specially designated Summer's locker route, and I don't want to stop seeing her altogether. Even if she is with... Todd or Joe or whatever his name is. He probably has a typical jock asshole name, right?
"It would be so helpful to have a friend right now." Seth sighed.
"Yeah, I know you're my friend, but I mean one who can actually talk back to me and tell me what to do, not just in my head." Captain Oats seemed to look at him, saying Are you saying I'm not good enough? with his plastic eyes.
"Okay, dude, that's a little creepy. I mean, I know you're plastic and all, but, seriously, stop it."
Sandy knocked on his door. "Seth? Are you okay? You've been in there since dinner."
"Fine, Dad!" Seth called, before returning to his one-sided conversation. "I wish he would go away. Parents should not know these kinds of things." A pause.
"No, it wouldn't help. I'm in high school now. I don't need my dad's painful advice anymore." Another pause.
"Well, you're wrong, okay? Besides, they have to break up sometime. I'll keep hanging around and then, when he dumps her, she'll have me to console her." Seth continued talking to Captain Oats until Sandy told him to go to bed.
A month later, Summer broke up with her upperclassman boyfriend.
She never noticed Seth standing there, even though he waited by her locker for at least a half hour every day for the rest of freshman year.