Jodi's POV:
I smile at both Mr and Mrs Heffley before turning after my parents. Suddenly, a little pair of arms wrap around my leg. It's Manny, wailing to his mother to let me stay. She sighs, prying him off.
"Remember what we said? She's coming to babysit in two days, honey. She'll be back." She persuades. He crosses his arms, unconvinced. I smile and crouch down to his height.
"Listen little buddy. I'll be at your door by Tuesday afternoon, ok?" I start, before leaning into his ear, "And you're gonna help me make some cookies."
He beams, nodding happily. I smile again, this time to his parents.
Finally, we step outside, the cold wind biting my cheeks, making my eyes water. I follow my parents down the sidewalk, listening to the droning of their conversation. I shoot one last look at the house and notice a curtain snap shut.
The curtains to the right-sided upstairs window.
Rodrick's POV:
About fifteen minutes later, the Grants are leaving. I'm still taking in the impact of my idiotic behavior, my heart almost jumping out my throat if I wasn't laying down.
It feels good to lie down.
I force myself up and take a look out the window. There she is, following her parents with her head down, reddish brown curls blowing in the wind expose her face, raw and probably numb. I snap the curtains close the moment she turns to look up, her eyes narrowed in the dark.
Shit. She saw me.
God, I feel like some kind of creep. First I almost kiss her, then, I stare at her from a horror movie kinda point of view.
Can't I just have a little game around her? Like, a teeny weeny little bit? Cuz I feel like burning myself with complete embarrassment.
Shit shit shit.
That woman isn't normal. She's done something weird to me, I can't explain it, but it's a little itchy feeling in my lungs and chest area, but like, in a whole different dimension.
Weird.
-Monday Morning-
It's lunch time and I'm sitting at my table with the rest of my friends.
"Did ya' see her skirt?" One of the guys laughed, jabbing another guy and pointing to a girl on the other side of the cafeteria. I'm trying so hard not to look over there.
But here I am, accidentally staring with my mouth hanging open. Why doesn't she ever look bad? It's getting on my nerves, actually.
Like bitch, give me a reason to hate you.
She's sitting with the girls the guys were pointing to, explaining some subject with passion. The other two nod, ask a couple questions and listen again.
"Who've you got your eyes on, bro?" Ben whispers in my ear. I turn to him, "Someone that I don't have any kind of interest in."
He rolls his eyes, looks over my shoulder. "Jodi Grant?"
I look at him incredulously. "What's the problem with her?"
"Nothing, man....It's just she's got a pretty face, ok, but isn't she kinda..." he checks her out and I feel this weird violent urge to smash his face in the table. "Kinda what?" I ask, my brow furrowed as I look over at her again.
"Flat? Like, c'mon bro. When you wanna pull a girl, pull one with a little...y'know...curves." he finished awkwardly, waiting for a reply. I frown a little, "She's euphoric. I don't care bout her tits." I shrug.
"She also hates you. Like wants-you-dead kind of hates you."
"That's sexy."
"That's delusional." Ben points out through bites of his food, pointing his spoon at me.
Now I get why Jodi hates it when I eat with my mouth open...erugh...
"But I have to agree with Ben," Chris says, nodding a little, "That girl's a bit flat."
I feel this crazy urge to punch a hole between his eyes. It would suit him better.
"Whatever, man..." I mutter gruffly, crossing my arms. They aren't wrong, though. That really pisses me off. That girl's flatter than I am.
In history class, she's seated in front of me, her auburn hair held up in a short ponytail. I yank at it for fun. She doesn't react. Instead she writes me a note on a sticky note. This is what she wrote:
I will kill you, Heffley.
I smile scribbling back my reply and sticking it on her shoulder blade. She sighs audibly and yanks it off. A few seconds later, she cruples it up and stuffs it in her desk. This is what I wrote back:
Fuck me on the way ;)
She probably wants to kill me now. She would have if Mr. Brown hadn't paired us for the project. I'm getting an A+ already. She visibly face-palms, her shoulders slumping an inch. I yank her hair again. She whips around, a calculating look in her eyes. "What now, Heffley?"
"Should we study at my house?" I ask
"Today? At five?" she offers. I nod, "It's fixed."
"Do you by any chance have a laptop?"
I shake my head.
"A printer?"
"Yeah, my dad's." I answer, picking up my stuff as the bell rings. Oh, shoot. I wanted to ask her if I could drive her home... She's darting between the crowd, throwing around a bunch of 'sorry' s and 'excuse me' s. "Grant! Yo, Grant!" I holler after her. She pauses then starts to speed up. "Grant!" I call again, ramming between a group of freshmen.
She finally stops, after I had dragged myself through a whole sea of students.
"What?" she snaps, her arms crossed.
"Um, uh..how are you going back home today?"
"On foot? Why?"
"It's cold, lemme drive you there." I offer, holding out my van keys.She gives my van a skeptical look, her eyes skimming the logo on the side.
"Are you sure it moves?" she questions, walking around it. "I've seen you drive it, but I'm sure you probably scammed your driver's license..."
I laugh nervously, scratching my arm. "How did you know?"
Her eyes shoot up to my face, face a gorgeous painting of surprise. "Heffley! You didn't actually-"
"I'm joking, just joking." I cut in, opening the driver's door and clambering in. She moves for the backseats. I tisk loudly, waggling a finger. "No seats in the back. Tore them off."
She rolls her eyes, climbing in the passenger seat next to me, putting her bag in her lap. I admit it wasn't the smoothest ride, but she didn't complain. Except once.
"Your van smells terrible, Heffley.." she mutters, pulling out a small, finger-length bottle of perfume. Then she started to spray it on the surfaces. I almost have a heart attack by the time I smell it.
It smells like her. It screams Jodi Grant in all caps. I never want to leave.
"Hey-" she yelps as I snatch it out of her hand and stuff it in my pocket. "No more of that girly shit." I mutter.
"You stink, Heffley. Literally." she huffs before I hit the brake at her place. She jolts forward with the impact before stumbling out and nearly breaking her ankle.
"Five at my house! Don't forget!" I holler after her.
She flips me off.
I smile. That was the sexiest thing ever.
Shit.
