Girls Like You

*Monroe's POV*

Of COURSE this teacher would ask me to come introduce myself. Why do they have to do that? It’s possible that my theatrical bow was a bit ostentatious but I don’t give a fuck. He should have gotten the hint.

When the lesson finally begins, I hear Charlie whisper to me, “That was so cool.” I look at her and she blushes a little so I give her an encouraging smile and say, “He deserved it.” 

The teacher starts explaining the curriculum for the year and gives us the grading breakdown; typical first day stuff and then gives us the last 10 minutes of class to “get acquainted with our lab partners.”

I can feel the nervousness coming off of Charlie so I figure I should start the conversation.

“So, what does your schedule look like this semester?”

She looks relieved and I’m not sure if it’s because she doesn’t have to start the conversation or because it’s an easy question to answer. Maybe both. She pulls out her schedule and we compare the two. We have every class together except english lit and philosophy. 

She gives me a timid smile and I say, “Well, it looks like we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”

She says, “I guess so, but I mean, don’t feel obligated to sit with me or anything.”

“What? Why would I not sit with you?”

“Well, I mean - I guess because girls like you don’t normally hang around with girls like me.”

I can’t help but feel a bit hurt by her comment. What does she mean by that?

“You know, I’m really not a bad person. I realize that my image puts off a different vibe, so if you don’t want to be associated with me I understand.”

Her eyes widen in shock and she replies “No! That’s not at all what I meant. I meant that around here, I’m not exactly what you would call ‘popular.’ In fact, hanging around with me is basically social suicide.”

My heart clenches. I understand what she’s going through. Not for the same reasons, but I know what it’s like to be a social pariah.  I put my hand over hers and say, “I don’t give a flying fuck about anyone’s opinion around here. We’re gonna be friends and that’s final.” She smiles widely and I know in my heart that I’ve just found my first real friend. 

Charlie and I walk out of class together when the bell rings and when we part ways I tell her, “You had better save me a seat in physics!” She nods and walks off in the other direction. 

As I walk to my next class, I feel surprisingly content, even though I can still feel the scrutinizing gazes of the other students in the hall. I finally make it to english lit, once again choosing a seat near the back of the class. I manage to more or less ignore the stares and make it through the class without incident. Thankfully, this teacher did not acknowledge my existence. 

When I get to physics, I’m happy to find Charlie waving at me with an empty seat beside her. We once again listen to the typical first day of school spiel from the teacher before the bell rings signalling lunch time. 

“Where’s your locker?” I ask her.

“Just right around this corner,” she replies, grabbing her books.

“Okay, so then we'll drop your stuff off, then head to mine since I’m on the first floor and then go to lunch?” I ask.

Once again, a look of shock crosses her face before she says, “You want to have lunch with me?”

“Yeah, of course. I mean, you’re kind of my only friend here. If you have other plans that’s cool though.”

She smiles brightly at me and replies, “No, I don’t. I like your plan.”

I follow her and we both walk in comfortable silence to both of our locker and into the cafeteria. As we stand in line for food, I ask her, “What’s the food like here?”

She snorts and says, “Not good.”

I make a face and as we pull up to the counter but make an attempt to be nice to the lunch ladies. It’s not really their fault anyway. Once we both have our food, we make our way to an empty table. I poke around at the sludge on my plate.

“You weren’t kidding. This looks awful. I’m definitely packing food from now on.” I’m contemplating trying the macaroni salad when I feel someone walk up behind us. I look over my shoulder to see the same blonde haired douche bag from earlier. Brent? No. Grant? Yes, that’s it. His eyes are looking me up and down, the same way they did this morning. God he’s disgusting. 

“Hey Monroe. How is your day going?”

I never told him my name. “Are you stalking me?” I don’t even try to hide my annoyance.

He grins at me and instead of answering my question, he replies with, “Why are you having lunch with this girl when you could be having lunch with me? Trust me, being friends with her isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

He was really pissing me off now. How dare he come over and insult my friend? I glance over to see Charlie fighting back tears. I know his type and I know that physical violence isn’t the way to go because hurting his ego is much more effective. 

I stand up, facing him directly and say, “You know what I’ve learned about you today?” He tilts his head curiously. I raise the level of my voice to maximise the number of people that can hear me. “I’ve learned that you’ve got a tiny dick.”

He goes to cut me off but I continue too fast for his miniscule brain to follow. “You wanna know how I know that? Because you feel the need to prove yourself to everyone else by being the biggest asshole around. It’s called overcompensation. You should look it up some time.”

By the time I’ve finished, most of the cafeteria is silent and Grant has turned a sickening shade of red. It seems he hasn’t quite processed what’s happened so he simply turns around and walks back to his friends who are attempting to suppress laughter. I sit back down, turn to Charlie and ask, “Has he always been that idiotic?” She lets out a laugh and I take that as a yes. 

I turn back to my tray and continue poking at the food. I know people are talking about what just happened, but I can’t shake the feeling that someone is looking at me. I turn to my right in an attempt to find the source but everyone averts their eyes instantly. I look to my left and, once again everyone averts their eyes. Except one. There is one boy watching me. Something I can’t decipher passes through his eyes before he turns his gaze towards his friend. I ignore it and go back to picking through my lunch.

I haven’t actually managed to eat anything when the bell rings.

Charlie and I head to my locker first, then hers before we get into advanced calculus. The class finishes quickly and I say goodbye to Charlie before heading to the first floor and into my philosophy class. 

I choose a seat near the back, once again. Just as the bell rings, the door opens and the boy who was looking at me in the cafeteria walks in. He looks around the class and his eyes halt abruptly when they pass by me. He smirks cockily, making my temper flare, and then strides over and takes the seat to my left. I roll my eyes before opening my notebook and absentmindedly doodling on the first page. What is this guy’s deal?

I can still feel him looking at me and I resist the urge to glare at him. God can the guys at this school be any more obnoxious? My rational side eventually loses out and I turn my eyes towards him. When I do, he grins as though he’s just won some kind of war I wasn’t aware of. “What do you want?” I ask through gritted teeth.

“I don’t think you really wanna know the answer to that sweetheart,” he says with a wink.

Just as I’m about to tear this guy a new asshole, the teacher walks in. How unfortunate.