Over the course of the next week, she had straightened things out with Ryan, he agreed that Laura was not overreacting at all and that what he had done was uncalled for and that he was, in fact, sorry. Which made Laura feel heard and she recognized it was just a matter of miscommunication.
She wasn't going to go far with him until she felt that it was something that both of them wanted and she wanted to take things slow.
Given this new information of mutual consent, Ryan became quite annoying about asking if she wanted to be kissed nearly every time they did. She told him he could be more subtle if he wanted, and he just whispered, 'can I kiss you?' It was cute, but also annoying because in the back of her mind she felt it was insincere, and made her feel belittled, though she didn't admit this to Ryan. It seemed as though the warm feelings she once felt for Ryan were becoming cooler as the days marched on. The annoyance quickly became contempt, and she often had to remind herself that he in fact was the boy she had fallen in love with.
Todd became more of a constant in Laura's life. Rather than flat out ignoring her at school, he was almost always beside her, whether it was after math class, walking together before, and after classes, days where they had no interaction, were slim to none.
Since his popularity had slipped due to Elise breaking up with him, he had stopped hanging around with his other friends as often. That did not stop the judgment, however, that he received for hanging out with Laura, someone who was lower on the high school food chain than him or anyone else for that matter.
Laura often noticed looks in the hallways when she was talking to Todd, mostly from popular girls who most definitely were confused as the why Todd would be talking to her. In their eyes, it was as if Todd was speaking to his imaginary friend in the hallway. Laura was after all practically invisible. The looks were never too obvious, but just obvious enough to spot. Some were of confusion, some thought it was humorous to see her and Todd together, and some just scowled. Todd assured Laura that these looks were all in her head. Though that opinion of his was misleading, Todd had no idea of the attention he garnered from the female sex. He was clueless about the power he wielded as the 'attractive popular guy.'
"You don't see it because you are you," Laura said flatly, they were at her locker at the end of the day, usually she met up with Ryan after school, but he had a music lesson. He always seemed to have music lessons. It was odd because he typically didn't have lessons on Fridays, but he explained his instructor was gearing them up for the big show.
"So what if girls look at us and are confused? I am sick of pretending to like the people I hang out with if you're the only one I like talking to, what does it matter? And I need to talk to you they are so dumb, it's like talking to a wall with them, football this, cheerleading that, look what Daddy bought me!" He rolled his eyes, Laura just smiled, she appreciated that her friends were not loathsome. She patted his shoulder comforting him.
"This is what you get for being attractive, you get to hang out with attractive people, who didn't have to forge a personality in order to have friends. Not sure why your different exactly, hey, how come your interesting, Todd? You don't fit into my narrow worldview," she said sarcastically. He just took her words in stride and held a tight smile on his face.
"Oh, Laura you simple girl, you simple homely, troll-like beast who eats children in her sleep," he chided; showing her fake affection. Laura felt attacked, yet humored, "You will never understand."
"Shut up, you," Laura teased.
Laura knew why he was different anyway, he didn't care about anything they did; the latest fashion, showing off their wealth, celebrities, gossip, scandals, sports, and elitism. All his friends wanted was drama, whereas all Todd wanted was to be liked. He was simple, and simple people are so underrated.
"You know for someone who constantly complains about his friends, you sure don't seem to want to do a thing about it. Why stay with them?" she asked, her question was a bit prying, but she had to bite the bullet and come out with it.
"Well, it's not a time in my life that I like to talk about, but I suppose you already know more than I've told you on purpose, so this one is for free. I suppose I am scared of what happened at my old school to happen to me at this school. One day, at my old high school in the inner cities, I actually did come out as gay to my then friend and guy who still is my boyfriend, Mark, you know about him. One day we were caught kissing, the whole thing was blown out of proportion. I received death threats, I was beaten up while walking in the parking lot once, I received a lot of seriously brutal verbal abuse from my classmates, and because the school was so large and it was also a private school, the teachers paid in no mind until, my parents decided that it was too much to see me cry every day. Even so, I never could tell them why, I know what they think about gay people."
While Todd vented, Laura listened unquestioningly, the way he had expressed his true feelings broke her heart.
Not even being accepted by your own family sounded like a terrible burden to live with. Through no fault of Todd's own he had felt this burden every day. She felt tears start to form, and wiped them away quickly, feeling uncomfortable about crying in public and she didn't want to make Todd feel sorry for what he had admitted.
"Wow, I am really sorry that happened, do you ever hear from these bullies again? Do you think you'll take legal action. This bullying and beating you up, that's gotta be grounds for some kind of punishment, right?" Laura asked curious as to why he remained unscathed at his time at Rutherford High School.
"You could say I've been careful not to let them track me, I've blocked all of my former bullies on social media, this is where they threatened me, I've created a new less available Facebook." Laura had to agree with that one, few friends, and few pictures, "Now you can't even comment on them, I blocked that function. And I don't have any other social media to speak of, it looks odd for me, an otherwise 'popular' student, to have nothing, but that's the way I get by."
"Mark is the only one I keep in contact with. But my bullies are still free and have never faced consequences, which is disheartening, but it's really a problem of the administration." Laura nodded, the situation was unjust and seemed to plow into her ears like a train off its tracks. It caused a lawyer part of her to want to solve the problem, she figured there was a lawyer in everyone waiting to get out, to fix it. Perhaps it was a part of her mother.
"Maybe, one day we can look into doing something, my mom's a lawyer maybe she could help us," Laura said offering up her support, he looked a bit nervous before he said.
"I'd prefer it if I keep a low profile, for now, but yes, thank you, that would be nice."
They quickly ended up in the parking lot. Both of the teens looked over at the carefree park job at the end of the lot, they laughed joking about how they couldn't believe they managed to get to school without causing an accident. Laura then noticed that the car was Ryan's and instantly shut her mouth, feeling bad for making fun of him.
She pulled her eyes from the beat-up van getting into Todd's car. She remembered where they would be headed, first, they would pick up her dress from her house, then they would be headed to Todd's so he could get ready as well, then they were headed to the party in Minneapolis. Quite an exciting day she had to admit.
Once they stopped at her house, she noticed both of her parents were not at home, she wanted to ask Todd to hang out at her house for a bit, but she knew they really had to be going. They weren't traveling a great distance, however, Todd's parents distinctly told him they wanted him to be there early.
Laura grabbed the dress from her closet and threw it over her head, she straightened the bodice glancing over in the mirror as she went, red all the way down her hair, skin, and dress all had a hint of the color. She quickly strapped on her black choir concert shoes.
She went to the bathroom where she grabbed her makeup bag and hairspray, her face wasn't doing her any favors that day, the lack of sleep was starting to show in the purple hue under her eyes. She removed herself from the house taking care to lock the door on her way out.
Laura ran haphazardly to the car before jumping in, she could barely buckle her seatbelt before they were off again, this time to Todd's house in order for him to get ready.
At first, Laura noticed the gate to Todd's house. It was a coiled metal gate, that stood grandly against the backdrop of foliage.
She then noticed the wide expanse of land before them, the square hedges and plants guard the estate with their large stature. The manor was one of prestige, the colonial-style house had at least four floors and a large circular driveway. She wouldn't have been surprised to see gargoyles in the window. The stately silver plated door and the finely trimmed lawn told her all she needed to know about the Jones's. Todd gave her a nervous look as her mouth was still mid gasp, wide-eyed she looked at Todd.
"Your house is nice," she said dumbfounded.