Chapter 36: The New Girl

Dessie had excused herself at lunchtime, practically begging Ron to meet her for their first afternoon class. Ron agreed then went to his usual table, where he met up with the usual bunch: Oscar, Cindy, Monique, and Felix. He frowned again; as of Friday, Kim had quit sitting with the usual group and had started sitting outside, where she met with Eric. Ron unpacked his lunch and distributed the mandatory samples to his four closest friends and a few, other nearby students. He had just started to dig in when he noticed that his four companions were all staring at him with large smiles.

"What?" he asked them all in general. They all giggled at him.

"What do you think, Ron?" Monique answered. "You just spent most of the morning with a beautiful, mystery girl. Spill! What's the story with you two?"

"There isn't any story. She, quite literally, ran into me this morning. She's new and nervous and we share most of our classes. No big." All four of his close friends laughed out loud.

"Ron, she's blowing off everyone but you." Cindy pointed out. "You made an impression on her. Are you going to do something about it?"

"I've only known she exists for about four hours." Ron protested, "don't you think doing something about it is moving a little fast?"

"You're not asking her to marry you," Felix chimed in. "Just ask her to do something after school. Trust me, she'll appreciate it. I remember you inviting me to shoot baskets after my first day here. I really appreciated someone making me feel welcome."

"Ron you didn't!" Oscar demanded.

"Didn't what?" Ron was confused.

"You touched a basketball! How could you? Here I thought you were a decent sort but you touched one of those…things. And you do…that." Oscar buried his face in his hands. Then he perked back up. "But that was before I introduced you to the true sport, wasn't it? Please tell me you haven't done…that…since."

The rest of the group chuckled and shook their heads. Like many serious wrestlers, Oscar jokingly considered basketball to be the most repulsive activity on the planet. Cindy punched him on the arm and told everyone, "now you know what I put up with every day."

"You don't really seem to be suffering much." Monique contradicted.

"No, I'm not." Cindy replied with a warm smile at Oscar. The couple quickly glanced around and seeing no faculty nearby, shared a quick kiss. The other three teens smiled at the couple.

"Let's get back to figuring out what Blondie here's going do about Dessie." Monique interrupted the musings. "What are you doing after class, Ron?"

"I've got two hours in the Weight Room, after which I have a hot, steamy date with the shower. Then it's homework time."

"There you go. Didn't you say the two of you share most of your classes? Invite her over for a study session. Heck, cook dinner for her and knock her socks off."

"No can do, Monique." Ron answered. "My folks are out of town and I've promised no girls over without a chaperone."

Monique understood, as much as he might be tempted, Ron always kept his promises. "That's too bad. If you had unleashed 'The Chef' on her she'd probably be ready to marry you after the first taste."

"I sure was." Oscar chimed in. Cindy punched him again.

"So your place is out, why not a meal at BN and off to the Library?" Monique persisted.

"BN really hasn't been the same since they started giving out those Lil' Diablo toys, but why are you all pushing me to make a move of some sort?" Ron asked. "She just got here and I'm sure she'll find someone a lot better than me."

"You really want to know?" Monique asked. Ron nodded. "It's because you're a genuine good guy and we'd all like to see things work out for you. And if we can all have a little fun at your expense along the way, so much the better." The others smiled their agreement. And maybe you'll get over the way Kim dropped you without a second glance, they all thought.

"Okay, fine, you all win." Ron threw up his hands. "I'll ask her for a casual dinner and a study date. Happy?"

"Not as happy as we hope you will be." Felix chimed in. The rest of them laughed at a furiously blushing Ron.

Ron and Dessie met up after their last class, Algebra, and started walking towards his locker. Most of their fellow students were practicing what seemed to be the latest fad, which was staring at the two. Ron could understand the guys looking at Dessie; she was stunning. What he didn't understand was the number of smiles, nods and small waves directed at him. Sue, walking with her new boyfriend, gave him a quick wink.

"So," he broke the silence, "how was your first day at Middleton?"

"Not bad, Ron. I'm really lucky that I met you this morning. You've been a big help."

"The pleasure was all mine." She beamed at him. "How does it look for you in your classes? I mean, I know that it's late in the year and you might have some work ahead to adjust to them."

"There is a little adjustment to take care of but I'm sure I'll catch up."

"Would you like some help with that?" She looked up at him. Ron plunged on. "I mean…I'm free later tonight and if you'd like to meet up at the library or something…"

"Ron," she interrupted. "Are you asking me for a date the very day we met?"

"No…well, yes…well, kinda," Ron stammered while her smile grew. "I mean I know that you've got to be busy just moving in and fitting into the new classes and I really do want to help and you're really…"

Her finger on his lips silenced him and bugged out his eyes. "I hope you're asking me on a date, because the answer will be yes if you are."

"Dlb ylb," she took her finger off of his lips. "Do you mind killing two birds with one stone?" He asked. "We could catch a quick meal at Bueno Nacho then hit the Library for some studying. I know it doesn't sound like much of a date but I really need to keep up in my classwork."

"That's just fine for a weekday," she replied. "My folks would get mad if I let my classes suffer. To be honest we don't have all of our kitchen stuff unpacked, so some fast food action would be welcome. Want to meet there at, say, seven?"

"That would be great!"

"See you then."

Ron floated all the way to the Weight Room.

Ron held the BN door for Dessie, like a proper gentleman. She smiled as she stepped inside. "Your favorite hangout?" She asked him.

"I guess so. I mean, I used to really like the place but it changed a few weeks ago."

"The kid's menu and the toys?"

"That was irritating but what really got to me was the heavy handed management. By the way, what can I get you?" Ron had seated his date and took her order. A few minutes later he returned with their food.

"You were saying something about heavy handed management?" She asked between bites.

"Yeah, see the little guy behind the counter?" Dessie nodded. "That's Ned and he used to be the manager. He was a friendly guy, knew most of the regulars by our first names. When he ran the place it was a regular teen hangout, a real friendly place. He always let us do school things here, like have celebrations for the Cheerleading Squad winning an award. It was really friendly and I liked it."

"I take it that things have changed?" She asked.

"Yeah, it's become more corporate. See the big guy next to Ned?" Another nod from Dessie. Ron noted that she could be quite cute while doing that before he continued. "He's the new manager. He showed up when the parent-corporation got bought out and he laid down the law. No more 'Hi Ron' or 'Hi Kim.' It's now all sir and ma'am. We can't have our functions here anymore. You know, two months ago we could have done our homework right here with no problems. These days he'll ask you to leave once you finish eating."

"So it's become less personal?"

"That's part of it. The other problem is that the food just isn't as good as it used to be. They used to use real ingredients in the food: real cheese, real refried beans, fresh veggies, and the whole works. Sure it wasn't the best but it was real. The food quality has suffered because of it. I've been on a few chat sites and the change seems to be universal."

"Why do you think this all happened?" Dessie asked.

"I really don't know. I mean I'm just a dumb sixteen year old kid but at first I thought it was some sort of grab the money thing. You know, buy a franchise with an established customer base and drop the cost of each meal by a small amount. You would still have at least a couple of weeks of high sales and you would really rake in the money. I thought that the new owners probably wanted to make a lot of money, really fast, and not worry about the future. Then came the thing with the signs."

"The signs?"

"Yeah, every Bueno Nacho replaced the sign out front. A friend of mine managed to find a copy of the specifications for these new signs and they don't make any sense. He says that while the façade thingy looks like a giant taco the internal metal components are put together like some sort of signal repeater. But the layout won't support any known signal, AM, FM, microwave, anything. To top it all off the mass of the metallic components will support a signal strength well beyond any known use, even for a radio station!" Ron shook his head. "It's almost like someone trashed the franchise's reputation to make some quick money, then blew it on weird signs. It's beyond me, maybe it's some sort of tax or insurance manipulation thing."

Dessie smiled at him and leaned forward. "So you're just a dumb sixteen year old?"

Ron noticed that she unleashed her dimples when she smiled. He had a weakness for dimples. "Hey, I'm just repeating what a lot of very smart people have said. I don't even know if it's true or not." He smiled back. "But since we have defeated the evil combination meals, shall we walk down the street and fight the malicious Algebra beast?"

She laughed at him. "Lead on, my noble champion."

The couple walked to the Library, found an empty table and went to work. Ron soon came to the conclusion that Dessie was at about the same academic level as he was. They spent two hours of fairly intense study. At the end of this time Ron had finished his homework and she was pretty much 'in tune' with her Middleton classes. Finished, the two teens left the Library.

"Would you like me to walk you home?" Ron offered. He told himself he was being gallant but he knew that he was trying to stretch out the time he could be with her.

"That's very polite of you, but no. I have to catch the bus and you're going to be late enough as it is." She smiled at him. "This wasn't a real date but I hope that we can take care of that this weekend. Can I catch you at your locker tomorrow morning?"

"That would be badical."

"It only seems fair, you caught me there this morning." The two shared a laugh. "Ron, do you keep a diary?"

"I've got a journal but I don't write in it every day."

"Tell me, are you going to make an entry today, and if so, what will it say?"

"I will make an entry tonight and it will say that I met a new girl today, that she is both smart and pretty, we had a study date and that I did my best to be a gentleman." Ron replied.

"Well I keep a diary and do you want to know what I'll be writing?" Ron nodded. "I'll say that I met a really cute, sweet guy who showed me around school and helped me with my homework. Then he kissed me goodnight." Her deep blue eyes smoldered when she looked at Ron again. "Now which one of us is going to lie to their diary tonight?"

Ron was in a very, very good mood when he made it home that night.

But later that night his alarm bells started to ring.