"So tell me about you and Ross," Monica demanded, taking a large bag of Skittles out of her overnight bag.
"I thought you didn't want to hear about it. You said it was gross," Rachel lay on her bed looking down at the other girl.
"I don't mean like that," Monica said between crunches of her candy. "No lurid details please. But if you really, really like him, we might be sisters someday!"
Rachel pulled at a loose thread on her bedspread. How had this whole thing gotten so out of hand? She hadn't meant to deceive Monica in all of this, or get her hopes up about someday becoming sisters.
"What can I say?," Rachel answered as honestly as she could. "Ross isn't nearly as bad as I thought."
For the most part, this was true. The night she had shown Ross her fashion notebook had made her see him in a different light. No one had ever before seriously listened to her hopes and dreams without wanting something in return. Something, Rachel thought wryly, like getting her into bed, or the back of a car. All the boys thought she was fast. But Ross was different. He didn't seem to care one way or the other. He was interested in Rachel as a person.
But there were other times, like the next day at school during lunch, when Rachel found Ross simply insufferable. His temporary brush with popularity had definitely gone to his head.
"I'm taking all AP classes this year, as usual," Ross was bragging to all Rachel's friends. They were sitting at the table in the middle of the cafeteria like always. Rachel absently stirred her mashed potatoes as Ross talked. He'd been prattling on like this all lunch period. "I'm getting college credits so I'll probably graduate early."
No one was paying Ross much attention. College wasn't such a hot topic among this group. Most of the guys were going somewhere on a football scholarship and based their decision about which school to attend on how close to the beach it was. The only one who appeared to be listening to Ross was Chip. He drummed his fingers on the surface of the table, glaring at Ross as he spoke.
"Well, maybe you're too cool to sit at this table with all of us dumbasses," Chip growled. Everyone looked up, stunned. A hush fell over the table. Ross stopped talking. His heart pounded in his ears. No one had spoken that way to him since he had started dating Rachel.
Rachel's head snapped up. She put down her spoon and looked directly into Chip's eyes. "If Ross goes, I go too," she challenged him.
Chip crumpled his napkin, threw it on the table and stalked out of the cafeteria. No one was going to tell Rachel Green she had to sit somewhere else. Everyone went back to their lunches.
Ross finally regained the ability to speak. "Rachel, I've never seen you that way before," he said with admiration.
"Maybe I've never had to be that way before," Rachel reasoned. She looked around and saw that no one was listening to them. "But you really shouldn't try so hard to impress everyone. Remember how I took the ring to the party? That was me trying to impress people. It really got me into a lot of trouble."
Ross looked down.
"No offense, of course," Rachel flipped her long brown hair over her shoulder. "This really hasn't been so bad after all, but you need to just be yourself. No more of this fake stuff, okay?"
Ross thought for a minute. Does this mean she actually likes him when he's being himself? "Okay," he agreed.
"Ross!," Will huffed when he finally caught up with his friend after school. "Didn't you hear me calling you?"
The fact was, Ross had heard Will when he tried to get his attention in the hallway after eighth period. He had managed to lose himself in the crowd and duck out the front door of the school and down the sidewalk before Will had finally caught up to him.
It wasn't that Ross didn't want to see Will, exactly. It was true that they hadn't hung out in several weeks because Ross was usually with Rachel, and Will didn't want to go near her. But Rachel had cheerleading practice this afternoon and still Ross found himself avoiding his friend. Ross sighed. He guessed he didn't want to be reminded of his old life. The old life that included sitting around sneering at the popular group, yet desperately wanting their approval at the same time. It all seemed so pathetic now.
"I guess I didn't," Ross answered now, shuffling his feet on the pavement.
"What about poker tomorrow tonight? Can you make it?" Will, Ross and a few of the other boys from the marching band used to play poker together every Saturday night. Before Ross was popular.
"Well, you see. I can't. I have a date," Ross was somewhat smug. There was no use trying to hide it.
"With her again, I assume," Will said stiffly.
Ross didn't deny it.
"That's twice you've backed out of our games to be with her," Will accused. "We had a pact! You are out of the club!" The chubby boy stalked off with as much dignity as he could muster. It wasn't until he was a block away that Ross even remembered what club he was talking about.
Ross was sweating when he arrived at Rachel's house that night for their second (and last) date. The air condition in his father's car didn't work and the temperature had been into the nineties today. It had cooled off a little with nightfall, but the air was still so humid that Ross's shirt was sticking to his skin.
'Just be cool,' Ross chanted to himself as he walked up the cement walkway. Rachel didn't like it when he showed off. She wanted him to be himself, so tonight he wasn't going to try to dazzle her by throwing money around. He wasn't exactly sure what they were going to do, but he wanted to make the most of this one last date.
Rachel was starting to like him better. He could feel it. Not only had she stood up for him at lunch, but she wasn't complaining as much about being forced to go out with him. She wasn't talking down to him anymore, but had begun treating him almost as a friend.
"There's no way I'm getting in that car. What if someone sees us?" Rachel protested when she saw the vehicle Ross had arrived in. He'd washed it before he came over, but the car was still the same old rusted, spray-painted heap of metal. "I'm serious about this Ross. This wasn't a part of the deal."
"Fine, then we'll walk." Ross wasn't letting her out of the date that easy.
"Walk where? There's nothing that way!" Rachel shouted as Ross began strolling towards the end of the street. They lived on a dead end street, and beyond the cul-de-sac was just some woods in front of a large clearing. She, Monica and Ross used to play there as children, but so much time had gone by that Rachel had almost forgotten that the place existed.
Feeling very much like the victim in a horror movie, Rachel had no choice but to follow Ross through the woods.
"Isn't this amazing?" Ross exclaimed when they'd made it to the clearing, waving his arms around. Nature made him hyper.
"What part of it is amazing, Ross? The part where you dragged me here against my will on a Saturday night? Or the part where you want to drive me in that ugly, old car in the hundred degree heat?"
"Just trying to make the best of things," Ross was subdued.
Rachel's expression softened. If she were with any other boy right now, she'd be suspicious of why he'd brought her out here like this. But Ross was so different from the other guys. He was so sweet and gentle and dorky that it probably wouldn't even cross his mind to try to put the moves on her.
"So what now?" Rachel asked. She looked off into the dark, hilly distance dotted with lights. You could see most of the town from here.
"Why don't we just sit and look at the stars?" Ross suggested. He sat on the ground and looked up at Rachel expectantly.
"The stars, huh? Nice line," Rachel snickered, although she knew Ross was sincere. "Sit on the grass?"
"Yeah, why not?" Ross held up his hand. Rachel took it and hesitantly lowered herself onto the dry grass.
She opened her purse and took out a stick of cherry chap stick. As she smoothed it over her lips, Ross couldn't help staring. No matter how awful Rachel could be, he was undeniably mesmerized by her.
Rachel caught him looking and gave him an apologetic smile. "I'd offer you some, but I'm almost out."
"Oh, that's okay," Ross mumbled.
"So you wanted to look at the stars. What's there to see?" Rachel lay back on the ground and folded her arms behind her head. "Isn't it true that the stars we see today are actually thousands of years old?"
"Actually only a few are that far away. I don't really know a lot about astronomy, though. Maybe I should. I might find my home planet." Ross chuckled to himself, but it was obvious that he didn't think it was very funny.
"Oh Ross, you're not that bad," Rachel rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.
"I'm really not?" Ross asked, lying down too.
"No. Everybody really seems to like you. Even with all the dinosaur and college talk." As Rachel spoke, some crickets began chirping in the background. For a few minutes, that was the only sound while Ross let Rachel's words sink in.
"But that's only because I was with you. After today things will go back to normal." Ross was not looking forward to reclaiming his geek status.
"Not necessarily. You're my protégé after all. I must have taught you something."
Ross grinned. He couldn't help it. He slowly leaned over Rachel. He felt her breath on him as he neared her. Her eyes widened in surprise as Ross came closer. Suddenly she shoved him back. "Ross, remember the rules!"
"What? I wasn't going to kiss you. I needed chap stick!" Ross quickly came up with an explanation. "Man, it's a dry day! Are you hot?"
"Never mind, Ross. Let's just stay here for a little while, okay?" Rachel edged over a little just to be on the safe side.
Ross was elated. "Sure!" Rachel wanted to be with him. She had volunteered to prolong the date. Maybe Ross's plan had worked out after all.
"We need to talk about how we're going to break up," Rachel said after a while. She leaned on one elbow.
Ross's heart sank. How could she? Yes, their deal included a break up after one month, but he'd thought they were making progress. Being himself wasn't so smart after all.
Ross sat up so Rachel wouldn't see how upset he was. "How do you want to do it?" he asked in a resigned tone. He might as well give in.
"I think we need to make a big public spectacle at school so everyone will hear," Rachel answered as if she'd been thinking about it for a while. She'd probably been counting down the days, Ross thought ruefully.
"So you're going to dump me in front of the whole school. That sounds like fun," Ross said sarcastically.
"Let's make it more of a mutual thing," Rachel replied.
"Yeah, like anyone will believe that," Ross muttered. He had to face it. The jig was up. Being Rachel's boyfriend had been nice while it lasted.
Being with a nice, normal boy like Ross had been nice while it lasted, Rachel thought as Ross walked her home. But she was tired of lying to everyone. She and Ross could certainly never be a real couple. They were too different.
"Look, I know this month has probably been like a nightmare for you," Ross said once they had reached Rachel's front door. "But you've probably guessed that it was a dream come true for me." Ross was unaccustomed to being so transparent about his feelings for Rachel, but he figured they would go back to the way things had been before after Monday anyway, with Rachel barely acknowledging him when she was over to see Monica or when they saw each other in the school hallways.
"It hasn't been so bad." Rachel wished she could find other words to use to describe the experience, but "not so bad" were the best she could come up with.
Rachel suddenly had an idea. She dug into her purse and took out the tube of chap stick. "Here," she said quickly, shoving it into his hand. "A souvenir." She opened the door and quickly disappeared inside the house.
Ross stared at the empty tube of chap stick. He felt like a real jerk. All that effort into getting Rachel to like him had come to nothing. Ross walked towards his car with his head down and his hands in his pockets. Then suddenly a happier thought occurred to him. He'd lost Rachel, but at least maybe he could try to hold on to his popularity.
To the guest who was asking if I'm planning to continue/finish the story, I've got half of the next chapter written and am just looking to make time to finish it. THANKS for your interest...it really motivates me to write.