Always Forever

Rhapsodic

Again, Ralph repeated the same routine as usual. Get ready for school, go to school, wait for friends, etc...

His friends were less chatty than they usually were. Piggy seemed more peppy however; quite the rarity of the husky teen. The twins seemed worried about something but Ralph didn't see any specifics on what that couldn't possibly be. Until it struck him. 'I have to tutor Jack Merridew again.' Ralph let out a grumble from his throat. That would force him to say something to Jack whether he liked it or not. He was dying just thinking about it, but he couldn't keep getting bullied by Jack in his own wily way. Jack must have had some hint about his little crush, right? So what could he do to finally address it.

Suddenly the anxiety from yesterday's escapade came back spiraling into his brain. His two choices rugged at his skinny arms.

"Is there something wrong, Ralph?" Simon asked. That boy always was there for him, Ralph was grateful.

"Just thinking."

As if Simon could read his mind he replied " oh. I'm sure cherry already likes you, so don't worry about it too much."

Ralph didn't feel all that relieved by his words. He tried to fake a smile though.

Piggy gasped as he was informed about the whole situation.
"Ralph! Why didn't you tell me you had a love life?? I don't care if it's with some greaser, you should've told me!"

Ah. Ralph guesses he didn't care about the fact that his maybe lover was a man. Cool. He supposed.

"I...didn't plan to get any of you involved actually." Ralph sighed.

Piggy puffed and spoke "Hey man, if I got kissed by a girl you would be the first to know!"

Ralph laughed and got his nerves soothed, if only a little. It was only a matter of time before he saw the redhead's gang arrive to the lunchroom. It was a rarity that they came to school on time, but when they did there was bound to be trouble of some sort.

He noticed a shorter noirette glare at him. His pallor was extremely threatening along with his status. How does Jack manage to get along with someone that menacing? It was a mystery.

Ralph focused on his laced up shoes to avoid his cold stare. Simon patted his back.

"Let's head to class, yeah?" Ralph felt a tug at his heartstrings when he didn't see Jack immediately upon eyeing the gang.

They walked to the class where geeks of all sizes hung out to study. He sat at his seat and his friends sat in chairs next to or near him.

"Don't you feel relieved to take a breather from the greasers?" Simon asked, "I know I certainly do."

The blonde shrugged and slumped into his chair. hopefully his half-assed work would be good enough for his teacher. He was just too stressed to focus too intently on it. The boys continued their tedious conversation until a sweaty redhead burst in the room.

"Ah- Hey! Ralph!" He heaved.

"What's up?" He smiles in a charming manner, hopefully he wouldn't mind having an audience again.

"...nothing much." Ralph responded curtly. Rose bloomed on his cheeks and his mind when completely blank. He forgot about confessing, he couldn't say anything, his throat completely closed up.

Meanwhile his friends stared at his crush like weirdos.

"Ah well.. just wanted to tell you I'm.. Looking forward to our next study session."  Jack blushed and looked down to his choppy shoes.

"Yeah, me too." Ralph replied. There was an awkward silence between the two and Jack began to move his feet again.

"I'll see ya in class I guess.." Jack said.

He shuffled away and out the door. That was followed by silent ooohs and ahhs from piggy and the twins. Simon sat there in silence.

"I thought you were going to tell him, Ralph."

Ralph's eyes slid away from Simon's small frame and tried to begin, "I..uh...it's...it's complicated."

The bell rang and his friends who weren't in his class left. The day was followed by silence aside from the teacher lecturing about a tedious topic.  Ralph focused on that, letting his work become the only subject on his mind. He didn't think about Jack. He didn't think about his friends. Just his work and the general ease it brought upon his wrung out mind.

He finished his work ahead of his class and went to ask his teacher for any future assignments, which were easily regarded to him. So he finished that quickly as well. Anything to distract him from the awkwardness. His interaction with Jack. His future confession plan. Simon trying to help out but failing miserably.

He panicked as he noticed he was done with this assignment as well. He looked at the teacher who looked happy with his work and didn't take notice to his distress.

"If you're done with that too you can just go on and help other students." The teacher quipped.

Ralph wiped the sweat from his brow and moved to a student who seemed to be having trouble.

"So....what don't you get?" Ralph managed to breathe out.

The student glared at him and then quickly smiled widely, in an almost creepy fashion.

"Wait a minute! So you're who Jack likes???" The brunette whisper-screamed.

Ralph choked on his saliva.
"W-What?"

"Yeah! You're the blondie he has the hots over." He chuckled

"Ah uh..." he grunted. He couldn't let this guy distract him

"Shouldn't you focus on your work instead of frivolous matters such as that?" Ralph tried to straighten himself out, as to not make his clear stress visible.

"Psshh, that's boring!"

Eventually, much to Ralph's disliking, they began to talk and work. The deal was that Ralph would answer curious questions about him for every section of work he got done. He learned that this peculiar boy was named Maurice. An acquaintance to Jack. Perfect.

On one hand, he was freaking out. On the other hand he was ecstatic to gain such an advantage to his confession route.