I pulled out my homework. “Alright! Time to work on some school related stuff!”
“Good luck,” Andy said, patting me on the back.
I looked over the first question and frowned. “What the hell is advection?”
“Are you really that stupid?”
I looked up at Etienne. He was holding a tissue in his hand and raising an eyebrow at me, annoyance on his face.
“Hi new friend Etienne!” I said cheerfully.
“We’re not friends. And advection is horizontal heat transfer. It’s a lateral motion,” he said.
I turned to Andy. “He just used really big words.”
Andy turned to Etienne. “Big words confuse Nino.”
“I didn’t use any big words. How dense can one person be?” Etienne asked, the annoyance leaking into his voice.
“Oh, I know! You can tutor me!” I said eagerly. “We can hang out and you can teach me big words and stuff.”
“No. I’m not your babysitter. You can use a dictionary. I’m sure you can afford one,” he said. He blew his nose and threw the tissue out, starting back towards his desk.
“Etienne!” I said.
He sighed and turned around. “What do you want? Stop annoying me, Nino.”
“Parker is having a party on Friday. You and your brother should come!” I said with a friendly smile.
“No. We’re not going to a party where you’re just going to do something to make fun of us,” he said.
The smile slipped off my face. “Why would we make fun of you?”
“Because that’s what you popular assholes do. I see it all the time, especially from people like Parker,” he said, hooking his thumbs in his pockets. “And you’re no different from him. Well, aside from the fact that you’re even dumber than he is.”
“I’ve just been stereotyped,” I said to Andy and Drew with a frown.
“We’ve all just been stereotyped,” Drew said with a sigh.
“I’m surprised you even know what stereotyped means,” Etienne said.
“We’ve explained it to him a few times,” Drew said. Andy laughed and nodded.
“You’re really pathetic,” Etienne informed me.
“Thank you for your kind words. Anyways, you should really come to Parker’s party. They’re fun!” I said.
“I don’t think watching a bunch of slutty popular kids get drunk is fun,” he said.
“Not everyone gets drunk,” I said.
“I doubt that,” Etienne said, quickly losing interest with our conversation. “Anyways, my answer is no. Now if you could leave me and my brother alone from now on, that would be fantastic.”
“But I like talking to you guys,” I said with a pout. “Even if you can be grumpy.”
“If Pierre wants to talk to you, then fine. That’s his choice. But leave me alone. I don’t like you,” he said.
“See? I told you he’s grumpy,” I said to Andy and Drew.
Etienne glared at me. “Just leave me alone, okay?”
“The powers of friendship shall prevail,” I said.
“You’re weird, obnoxious, and stupid. Quit talking to me,” he said.
“So, do you want to help me with my homework?” I asked with a smile, gesturing towards it.
“I’d rather walk across a floor made of legos,” he said.
Andy’s eyes widened in horror. “You wouldn’t even have feet anymore.”
Drew had a similar expression of horror. “Nino, this kid hates you.”
“At least your friends have enough intelligence to get the point,” Etienne said with a grin before walking away from me.
I watched him as he sat down and picked his book back up. As he lost himself in the book yet again, the annoyance drained from his expression, leaving him looking cute again. He had a curious expression on his face now, his head slightly cocked to the side, apparently baffled by whatever he was reading.
“See? Now he doesn’t look mean,” I said to my friends.
They glanced over at Etienne before turning back to me with shrugs. Andy folded his arms over his desk and rested his head on them.
“I think you should let it go, Nino. He obviously has a thing against anyone labeled popular,” he said.
“But he doesn’t even know us,” I whined.
“That doesn’t matter to him. He’s judgmental,” Drew said with a shrug.
“I want to make him not judgmental!” I said.
“Nino, you need to learn how to pick your battles. Etienne is a lost cause. He’s not going to get along with you because he doesn’t want to. He thinks you’re just some idiotic, mean, popular bitch,” Andy said. “Just be glad his brother likes you and move on. You’re outgoing. You’ll find someone else to socialize with. You always do.”
I frowned though, my gaze returning the curious looking Etienne. I didn’t want to make peace with the fact that he didn’t like me. I wanted to change that. I wanted him to put away the stereotypes for a few minutes and understand that I wasn’t an asshole. At least, I didn’t think I was an asshole.
There was something different about Etienne. Whatever it was, it attracted me to him. It made me want to get close to him and figure him out.
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A.N.- I was going to put the story description along with this but, ugh, it's so bad I need to revise it like 438503405734 times before it's acceptable to post it. Anyways, this is just a little teaser for the new story I'm working on. I asked you guys for a main character's name, and you all gave me wonderful names, but in the end I decided to go with "Nino". I wrote a story (that I never posted, only let a friend read) with a character similar to Jude whose name was Nino, and I was so fond of him, I decided to name this character Nino (no, he's nothing like Jude, I promise).
So, do you guys like the way this story sounds? I can post a few more teasers as I write it. I don't know when I'll post it. Or even if you guys want me to post it, haha. So let me know if you want more teasers, and if you want me to eventually post it!
~Jen