TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU! | R. HEFFLEY

―TWO: THE SOUP OF THE DAY IS LOBSTER BISQUE!

"GREG? GREG, ARE YOU OKAY?"

Greg Heffley jerked his head up to see a worried look on his friend, Chirag Gupta's face. Chirag had become his closest friend since Rowley had moved away during the summer before freshman year. They were currently sitting under an oak tree on the school quad during lunch, supposed to be working on some homework. 

"Yeah, I'm fine," assured Greg, going back to the focus of his attention. 

Athena Sawyer.

Athena was one of the new girls at Evergreen High School and a fellow freshman. She was currently sitting on of the stone tables, eating lunch with some of her friends. The new girl had gorgeous brown wavy hair and- 

"So Greg, I think the correct answer for problem number six is that x is equal to-  Greg! Are you still staring at Athena?" he sighed.

"Huh?" asked Greg, still not really paying attention.

"Why do you even like her? There's not much to her," said Chirag.

"What? No way! What do you even mean? Look at her smile! And her eyes!"

"Oh please! Do you hear what she and her friend are talking about?"

Greg and Chirag leaned slightly closer to hear Athena talking to her friend, Chastity.

"So I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you be just plain whelmed?" wondered Chastity.

"I think you can in Europe.." said Athena.

Chirag rolled his eyes.

"So what? She's still gorgeous," Greg retaliated.

"Well, she's still way out of our league. Look at her group of friends," commented Chirag, pointing at her sitting at the popular table. "It reminds guys like us can't ever get girls like her. And either way, look at Joey Del Campo."

The two boys looked at the mentioned boy. Joey was a junior notorious with the ladies, having loads of cash, a low IQ and being a douchebag, which somehow made him extremely attractive to girls in their school- for which reason Greg had absolutely no idea why. Joey sat with his similarly douchey friends on a stone bench with a smirk on his face as he eyed Athena.

Chirag scoffed. "Well, it's not like he'll be able to date Athena. Like he'll ever manage that."

Both boys nodded, knowing the reason why.

Despite being new to the school, people already knew Athena's incredibly strict father and his beliefs and fears when it came to dating. Though Greg and Chirag hadn't seen it themselves, apparently Eric Schuyler, a decently popular kid, had made the mistake of asking Athena out at one of the school basketball games last month in front of her dad. Eric had gotten an earful from Mr. Sawyer and apparently his hearing abilities hadn't been the same since. Somehow, this incident has only elevated Athena's popularity and made guys want her even more.

Greg and Chirag got up to walk back inside when their path was cut off by a brunette girl with an icy glare.

"Well Greg, that's your beloved Athena's sister. The shrew herself," Chirag whispered, in fear that the mentioned girl might look back and bite.

"Huh? How can Athena be the sister of someone like.... that?" asked Greg incredulously.

"I don't know, but I know that's Athena's sister. Her name is Hestia Sawyer. She's one of those rock music listening angry girl feminists," Chirag said. Sighing, he added, "It's not like you can even walk past Athena without your legs starting to quiver and you go beet red."

"What? No way! I bet you that I can walk over past her table just fine!" Greg claimed.

"Go ahead," said Chirag, not really believing.

On their way over, Chirag murmured "I wonder what the cafeteria's soup of the day is."
Greg took slow steps towards Athena's lunch table, trying not to stare at her too much. He could hear Athena and her friends laughing at some joke or something and found his legs only slightly shaky. He carefully concentrated on his legs until they stopped shaking or quivering as he walked.

"Yes! I did it, Chirag!" Greg said. He looked back to show to his friend that he was perfectly capable of walking past Athena and her table, but did not see Lila Dawson's oncoming lunch tray, which he found himself knocked over by.

Greg found himself falling.

Onto his butt.

With the contents of Lila's lunch tray onto him.

Laughter among the onlookers and those nearby erupted at the sight of the clumsy boy covered in half eaten soup and salad.

By the time Chirag rushed over there, everybody, including Athena, was laughing at the boy.

"Well, I think I know what the soup of the day is now," said Greg. He stuck out his tongue to collect a drop of the soup and swallowed it and answered after a moment.

"Lobster bisque," he said.

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WORD COUNT: 816

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