You're My Hardest Project
Problem
I rushed quickly down the sidewalk and pulled out my phone to look at the time; I didn’t wake up on time this morning so I slept in… for an extra few hours… So, now, here I was, running like an idiot at about noon so I could get to school and be there for at least my last two classes of the day.
The school came into view as I rounded the corner and I immediately stopped running, hoping that no one would see me running to class. A few students were walking from the building or in the parking lot, making their way to their cars. I pushed past people and walked into the cafeteria, looking around for Luna. After about a minute I saw her at a table with a few of her friends.
“Luna!” I yelled and ran toward her. She looked up confused then smiled as she saw me.
“Hey, girl!” She said and hugged me. She then pulled away and looked at me with a raised eyebrow, “And now may I ask what you’re wearing?” I raised an eyebrow then looked down at myself; I was wearing Rodrick’s shirt again. It was the first thing I could grab before rushing out the door.
“Oh… this is Rodrick’s…” I said and Luna immediately widened her eyes along with the other people at the table.
“You mean the guy you’re doing your project on?” She asked and I nodded, “Okay, are you two dating now?” she said loudly and I blushed while laughing.
“No! We’re friends and I borrowed his shirt!” I replied as she laughed too.
“How are you even friends with him?” Arthur, one of Luna’s best friends, asked me. I shrugged.
“Trust me, not even I know; he may be a lazy ass but he’s a handful, I don’t know how I deal with him.” I said putting my bag on the table.
“So, where were you?” Luna asked, taking a seat and picking up her fork.
“Neither of my parents was home and I woke up late.” I replied, “Hey, do you have a hair tie.” Luna pulled one off her wrist and I quickly pulled and tied Rodrick’s shirt so it wasn’t hanging loosely on my body. I took a seat next to her and grabbed an apple out of my bag, “And I had to be here today; I have a test next period and I wanted to work on my project.”
“How much do you have for it?” Luna asked as everyone seemed to be going back to their own business.
“A boatload; I think I have taken more pictures in the last few weeks than I have in one year.” I replied and took a bite of my apple, “And you?” Luna grabbed a notebook.
“I already brought my camera to Mr. H, but I filled up almost half of this notebook.” I raised an eyebrow a little surprised.
“Is the writing in it big?” I asked, knowing that Luna had a tendency to write much larger than people would like.
“Only a little.” She said and flipped through a few pages, “But I’m actually having a lot of fun; this chick is kinda cool.”
“Who woulda thought we’d enjoy this project so much?” I was smiling wide as Luna and I continued to talk about our multimedia projects throughout lunch. Her other friends (seeing that I wasn’t a very sociable person, I didn’t consider very many people friends) didn’t talk to us much at all, which I thought was a little odd, but ignored it until the end of lunch when I made my way to fifth period.
“Hey, Andi,” I raised an eyebrow and looked to my left as I entered my history classroom to see a girl named Rachel talking to me, “I heard something… interesting that I want you to clarify for me.”
“Okay… what is it?” I asked wondering what on earth this ‘interesing’ thing could be.
“Well, my friend said you were… dating Rodrick Heffley…” my eyes immediately widened.
“No, no, no, no, I’m not dating Rodrick!” I said a little louder than intended but continued, “We’re just friends.” Rachel stared at me confused for a moment.
“Is that his shirt?” I facepalmed slightly and sighed.
“Yes, it is his shirt, but it means nothing.” I began walking to my seat near the front of the room, “Can’t a guy and a girl be friends without everyone thinking they’re dating?” I asked myself but someone replied with a ‘no’ and laughed. I sighed loudly again and sat in my seat.
This was just great.
****************************
Luna stood over my shoulder as I finished uploading all my photos to the computer; and let me tell you, there were A LOT. I didn’t even know that I took this many… but I think Rodrick took almost half the pictures…
“Ugh…” I groaned as I opened a picture of myself and was about to delete it.
“Hey! What did we say about deleting photos?” Luna stopped me.
“I know, we said we would never delete any, but just look at that.” I said in a disgusted tone and pointed at the picture of me; let’s just say it was one of those times where I wasn’t even caring so the picture was one of me looking ugly.
“You look fine, don’t stress, I think it’s kinda cute.” Luna replied with a smile, “Who thought Rodrick would be good with a camera…” Luna began clicking away on my computer looking at all the pictures, “Why was he taking so many pictures in the first place?”
“On multiple occasions he stole the camera from me…” I said with a slight smile.
“He sure liked taking pictures of you…” Luna said with a hinting tone. I rolled my eyes and put my head in my hands for a moment.
“Okay, I am done with everyone being like this.” I replied and she raised an eyebrow, “I have been pestered a couple of times about Rodrick today, and I’ve only been here for a couple of hours.”
“Then I should just shut up.” Luna said with a laugh, “But you shouldn’t exclude any of these pictures of yourself from the project; you never know when you’ll find a really good one.” Luna walked back to her seat in front of me as I continued looking through the different pictures I had. I can admit that Rodrick took a few good ones but I really don’t like having my picture taken.
After another few minutes I began outlining on paper what I would do for the project; I had a few ideas but didn’t exactly know where to go with them. I was thinking a simple PowerPoint presentation, but then I wasn’t completely sure.
I looked up when I heard turning wheels and Luna was turning around to look back at me.
“Can I ask why people are asking me if you and Rodrick are dating?” my eyes widened at this question.
“What the hell!?” I yelled and many of the people in the class looked at me confused. I gave a sheepish look at Mr. H before I began whispering, “How is it that the rumour that the two of us were together got around?” She shrugged and held up her phone.
“No idea, but someone sent me a text asking; I can only guess that if they heard it from somewhere else that other people have heard.” I groaned in annoyance.
“Of course something stupid like this is happening to me…” I said, “Why wouldn’t it?”
“Hey, we can easily get people to shut up about it; I got connection.” I giggled slightly at her last statement.
“You got connections?” I asked between laughs. Luna nodded while she laughed with me.
“You know what I mean; we can get the rumour cleared up.” She replied and I gave her a lopsided smile.
“Well, you should get to that, then.” I said as Luna rolled her eyes and turned in her seat.
“Yeah, yeah…” I could hear her typing on her phone before I went back to all the pictures I had. I began scrolling through them before I came to a stop on a picture that Rodrick had gotten of the two of us and stared at it. A rumour that Rodrick and I were dating? It was just so weird…
***************************
Luna and I walked alongside each other through the hallway as we began making our way toward the parking lot.
“So, are you still gonna be able to give me a ride home?” I asked her as she stopped at her locker. She gave me a shrug.
“I don’t know…” I frowned slightly and gave her a confused look.
“Why? What do you do after school?” She opened her locker slowing and began putting some stuff in it.
“Well, today I was gonna go somewhere…” She trailed off and I raised an eyebrow, asking her to go on. She let out a sigh, “Last night my mom called me,” I gave Luna a slight smile; her parents were separated and she hasn’t seen her mother in over a year, “she came out here to visit me.”
“Aw, Luna!” I said and gave her a hug as she smiled at me, “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Luna shrugged slightly and I rolled my eyes at her, “Well, that’s fine than, I can probably get a ride with R-“
“Andi!” Luna and I both turned to the person who yelled my name at me to see Rodrick a few feet away and walking toward me. Luna and I stole a glance at each other.
“Bye.” She said quickly and started walking off.
“Hey!” I yelled at her and glared; of course she ditched me. I turned back to Rodrick who had an expression I couldn’t read, “Hi, Rodrick.” I gave him a smile. He looked down at me a moment before looking back up at my face.
“So, who spread the rumour?” I slapped the palm of my hand to my forehead and sighed; the rumour still hadn’t been fixed.
“I have no idea,” I responded, “I don’t even have any guesses.”
“Well, now half the people I know are asking who this new girlfriend of mine is.” Rodrick replied in a bit of a bothered tone.
“Does it bother you, me being called your girlfriend?” I asked with an annoying smirk. Rodrick’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“A little bit.” He responded and leaned on the lockers.
“Oh, hurtful.” I said sarcastically, “Look, it’s bothering me just as much as it’s bothering you, but I can’t really do anything about it right now.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t really help the cause.” He said and I raised an eyebrow, confused. He pointed at my torso with the drumstick he held in his right hand and I looked down.
“How do people even know this is your shirt? It could just be some random guy’s t-shirt that I happen to have.” I responded.
“Well, somehow people figured out it’s mine,” Rodrick said and stood up straight again, “and now we’re in this situation.” The two of us were silent for a few moments.
“Rodrick, are you mad?” I asked. Rodrick shook his head.
“No…” I raised an eyebrow, just to be sure, “a little mad, but this isn’t something I should be mad about.”
“Would you like to talk about it?” I asked with a mocking grin and pretended to be holding a notebook and pen in my hands, “How does it make you feel?” Rodrick smiled and rolled his eyes as I laughed lightly.
“Not as bad as before, at the moment.” He responded. After a few seconds we began walking down the hall toward the parking lot.
“Hey, I know its last minute, but could you give me a ride home?” I asked. Rodrick looked as if he was thinking about it.
“I guess, but I’ve never been to your house before.” He replied and I smiled.
“I don’t think that’s a problem.” I replied as we got to his van.
The school came into view as I rounded the corner and I immediately stopped running, hoping that no one would see me running to class. A few students were walking from the building or in the parking lot, making their way to their cars. I pushed past people and walked into the cafeteria, looking around for Luna. After about a minute I saw her at a table with a few of her friends.
“Luna!” I yelled and ran toward her. She looked up confused then smiled as she saw me.
“Hey, girl!” She said and hugged me. She then pulled away and looked at me with a raised eyebrow, “And now may I ask what you’re wearing?” I raised an eyebrow then looked down at myself; I was wearing Rodrick’s shirt again. It was the first thing I could grab before rushing out the door.
“Oh… this is Rodrick’s…” I said and Luna immediately widened her eyes along with the other people at the table.
“You mean the guy you’re doing your project on?” She asked and I nodded, “Okay, are you two dating now?” she said loudly and I blushed while laughing.
“No! We’re friends and I borrowed his shirt!” I replied as she laughed too.
“How are you even friends with him?” Arthur, one of Luna’s best friends, asked me. I shrugged.
“Trust me, not even I know; he may be a lazy ass but he’s a handful, I don’t know how I deal with him.” I said putting my bag on the table.
“So, where were you?” Luna asked, taking a seat and picking up her fork.
“Neither of my parents was home and I woke up late.” I replied, “Hey, do you have a hair tie.” Luna pulled one off her wrist and I quickly pulled and tied Rodrick’s shirt so it wasn’t hanging loosely on my body. I took a seat next to her and grabbed an apple out of my bag, “And I had to be here today; I have a test next period and I wanted to work on my project.”
“How much do you have for it?” Luna asked as everyone seemed to be going back to their own business.
“A boatload; I think I have taken more pictures in the last few weeks than I have in one year.” I replied and took a bite of my apple, “And you?” Luna grabbed a notebook.
“I already brought my camera to Mr. H, but I filled up almost half of this notebook.” I raised an eyebrow a little surprised.
“Is the writing in it big?” I asked, knowing that Luna had a tendency to write much larger than people would like.
“Only a little.” She said and flipped through a few pages, “But I’m actually having a lot of fun; this chick is kinda cool.”
“Who woulda thought we’d enjoy this project so much?” I was smiling wide as Luna and I continued to talk about our multimedia projects throughout lunch. Her other friends (seeing that I wasn’t a very sociable person, I didn’t consider very many people friends) didn’t talk to us much at all, which I thought was a little odd, but ignored it until the end of lunch when I made my way to fifth period.
“Hey, Andi,” I raised an eyebrow and looked to my left as I entered my history classroom to see a girl named Rachel talking to me, “I heard something… interesting that I want you to clarify for me.”
“Okay… what is it?” I asked wondering what on earth this ‘interesing’ thing could be.
“Well, my friend said you were… dating Rodrick Heffley…” my eyes immediately widened.
“No, no, no, no, I’m not dating Rodrick!” I said a little louder than intended but continued, “We’re just friends.” Rachel stared at me confused for a moment.
“Is that his shirt?” I facepalmed slightly and sighed.
“Yes, it is his shirt, but it means nothing.” I began walking to my seat near the front of the room, “Can’t a guy and a girl be friends without everyone thinking they’re dating?” I asked myself but someone replied with a ‘no’ and laughed. I sighed loudly again and sat in my seat.
This was just great.
****************************
Luna stood over my shoulder as I finished uploading all my photos to the computer; and let me tell you, there were A LOT. I didn’t even know that I took this many… but I think Rodrick took almost half the pictures…
“Ugh…” I groaned as I opened a picture of myself and was about to delete it.
“Hey! What did we say about deleting photos?” Luna stopped me.
“I know, we said we would never delete any, but just look at that.” I said in a disgusted tone and pointed at the picture of me; let’s just say it was one of those times where I wasn’t even caring so the picture was one of me looking ugly.
“You look fine, don’t stress, I think it’s kinda cute.” Luna replied with a smile, “Who thought Rodrick would be good with a camera…” Luna began clicking away on my computer looking at all the pictures, “Why was he taking so many pictures in the first place?”
“On multiple occasions he stole the camera from me…” I said with a slight smile.
“He sure liked taking pictures of you…” Luna said with a hinting tone. I rolled my eyes and put my head in my hands for a moment.
“Okay, I am done with everyone being like this.” I replied and she raised an eyebrow, “I have been pestered a couple of times about Rodrick today, and I’ve only been here for a couple of hours.”
“Then I should just shut up.” Luna said with a laugh, “But you shouldn’t exclude any of these pictures of yourself from the project; you never know when you’ll find a really good one.” Luna walked back to her seat in front of me as I continued looking through the different pictures I had. I can admit that Rodrick took a few good ones but I really don’t like having my picture taken.
After another few minutes I began outlining on paper what I would do for the project; I had a few ideas but didn’t exactly know where to go with them. I was thinking a simple PowerPoint presentation, but then I wasn’t completely sure.
I looked up when I heard turning wheels and Luna was turning around to look back at me.
“Can I ask why people are asking me if you and Rodrick are dating?” my eyes widened at this question.
“What the hell!?” I yelled and many of the people in the class looked at me confused. I gave a sheepish look at Mr. H before I began whispering, “How is it that the rumour that the two of us were together got around?” She shrugged and held up her phone.
“No idea, but someone sent me a text asking; I can only guess that if they heard it from somewhere else that other people have heard.” I groaned in annoyance.
“Of course something stupid like this is happening to me…” I said, “Why wouldn’t it?”
“Hey, we can easily get people to shut up about it; I got connection.” I giggled slightly at her last statement.
“You got connections?” I asked between laughs. Luna nodded while she laughed with me.
“You know what I mean; we can get the rumour cleared up.” She replied and I gave her a lopsided smile.
“Well, you should get to that, then.” I said as Luna rolled her eyes and turned in her seat.
“Yeah, yeah…” I could hear her typing on her phone before I went back to all the pictures I had. I began scrolling through them before I came to a stop on a picture that Rodrick had gotten of the two of us and stared at it. A rumour that Rodrick and I were dating? It was just so weird…
***************************
Luna and I walked alongside each other through the hallway as we began making our way toward the parking lot.
“So, are you still gonna be able to give me a ride home?” I asked her as she stopped at her locker. She gave me a shrug.
“I don’t know…” I frowned slightly and gave her a confused look.
“Why? What do you do after school?” She opened her locker slowing and began putting some stuff in it.
“Well, today I was gonna go somewhere…” She trailed off and I raised an eyebrow, asking her to go on. She let out a sigh, “Last night my mom called me,” I gave Luna a slight smile; her parents were separated and she hasn’t seen her mother in over a year, “she came out here to visit me.”
“Aw, Luna!” I said and gave her a hug as she smiled at me, “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Luna shrugged slightly and I rolled my eyes at her, “Well, that’s fine than, I can probably get a ride with R-“
“Andi!” Luna and I both turned to the person who yelled my name at me to see Rodrick a few feet away and walking toward me. Luna and I stole a glance at each other.
“Bye.” She said quickly and started walking off.
“Hey!” I yelled at her and glared; of course she ditched me. I turned back to Rodrick who had an expression I couldn’t read, “Hi, Rodrick.” I gave him a smile. He looked down at me a moment before looking back up at my face.
“So, who spread the rumour?” I slapped the palm of my hand to my forehead and sighed; the rumour still hadn’t been fixed.
“I have no idea,” I responded, “I don’t even have any guesses.”
“Well, now half the people I know are asking who this new girlfriend of mine is.” Rodrick replied in a bit of a bothered tone.
“Does it bother you, me being called your girlfriend?” I asked with an annoying smirk. Rodrick’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“A little bit.” He responded and leaned on the lockers.
“Oh, hurtful.” I said sarcastically, “Look, it’s bothering me just as much as it’s bothering you, but I can’t really do anything about it right now.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t really help the cause.” He said and I raised an eyebrow, confused. He pointed at my torso with the drumstick he held in his right hand and I looked down.
“How do people even know this is your shirt? It could just be some random guy’s t-shirt that I happen to have.” I responded.
“Well, somehow people figured out it’s mine,” Rodrick said and stood up straight again, “and now we’re in this situation.” The two of us were silent for a few moments.
“Rodrick, are you mad?” I asked. Rodrick shook his head.
“No…” I raised an eyebrow, just to be sure, “a little mad, but this isn’t something I should be mad about.”
“Would you like to talk about it?” I asked with a mocking grin and pretended to be holding a notebook and pen in my hands, “How does it make you feel?” Rodrick smiled and rolled his eyes as I laughed lightly.
“Not as bad as before, at the moment.” He responded. After a few seconds we began walking down the hall toward the parking lot.
“Hey, I know its last minute, but could you give me a ride home?” I asked. Rodrick looked as if he was thinking about it.
“I guess, but I’ve never been to your house before.” He replied and I smiled.
“I don’t think that’s a problem.” I replied as we got to his van.