NOVEL NEXT Chapter 30: The Sidekick and the Favor (Part 1)
My gaze had been drawn more and more to Rika over the course of the week to the extent that my notes in our shared classes had become almost incoherent, making it easy to tell when I was staring at her. My teachers also kept having to reprimand me, and I would have to duck my head, mumbling a sheepish apology. The poor souls would go on with their lessons, fully expecting to have to scold me again. I felt bad, but I couldn’t help myself.
At least I was doing better today because she was out of sight and out of mind. Although, I doubted that applied much to Rika. It felt like recently, she was the sole thing on my mind. I couldn’t get her out of my thoughts. Not even for a minute it seemed.
I glanced at the doorway once more as if she’d magically appear and burst through it. Such a thing obviously didn’t happen, and I averted my gaze back to my phone settled on the edge of the desk. Our final period of the day, homeroom, had ended. Everybody else had vacated the room, including our teacher, leaving Nora and me to pack up in relative peace.
I couldn’t help thinking about Rika some more, about the trip to the aquarium and everything that came previously. Looking back on it, she had really drawn me out of my comfort zone in the few months I had known her. I went to the mall for the first time in forever, temporarily joined the cooking club after school, made friends with everyone in Monster Slayer, got stuck on the death trap called a ferris wheel, confronted Sara during a volleyball game, and hung out at the aquarium.
My phone shook on my desk, but it wasn’t an update from Rika about how she was feeling so it went ignored until I realized it was a notification from the website where I posted my web novel. I paused shoving my books into my bag to check the comment on my latest chapter. A chapter that may have or may have not been influenced by what transpired last Saturday.
‘It’s obvious that the MC is in love with Erika, but he’s acting so dense about it. Like c’mon! Quit thinking so hard about it. Love is messy and irrational. Don’t try to shove it in a box and be all factual about it.’
Those were quite the deep musings for a guy going by the username of BallsDeep69. Their message confirmed everything I had already figured out during the week though. That spark I had felt wasn’t a figment of my imagination. The experiment with Amelia had helped to prove that. Plus, me constantly staring at her and wanting to be around her was a dead giveaway as well. Even I wasn’t that dense to deny it any further.
I liked Rika.
If I was being truthful, I probably had a small crush on her ever since she sent me that picture and text after our trip to the mall. It had only grown from there, as I discovered more and more to like about her. Rika was always teasing me, but, when push came to shove, she had my back.
There was only one question remaining. What was I going to do about it? It’d be easy enough for me to safeguard my secret. Why risk ruining our friendship? But, I wasn’t sure I would be satisfied with that. And besides, it wasn’t as though she had a crush on anyone, so I was in the clear there. Damn it! I had no idea what to do. Maybe I could enlist Ethan’s help later if I pleaded my case.
“What are you going to do about this?” Nora asked. “I’m cashing in the favor you owe me.”
I glanced up from my phone screen I had been blankly staring at. “Huh?”
The growl she released made her sound like a feral dog. “Sometimes I think you ignore me on purpose just to piss me off. Now I don’t care whether today works for you or not. I’m coming over to your house to study for finals.”
That was the first I’d heard of this idea. It wasn’t like I had plans. No surprise there, but I did like to believe I had a little bit of dignity left. Bringing her over would ensure the last of that was stomped into the ground over the relentless teasing of my sister and mom. This very well may have been her way of cheering herself up about losing her volleyball game. It was a close game on Wednesday, but the other team had been a smidge better. Nora acted like losing hadn’t bothered her, but her tears were obvious even from the tops of the stand.
“That’s fine with me. I need to study anyway. Did you drive today?”
She answered by twirling her keychain around her pointer finger. “You can sit in the back. Front seat’s reserved for people I can tolerate.”
So, that was how it was going to be.
____________
“Are you Rika?” Bonnie asked, practically pouncing on us the moment we entered the house.
Nora looked like she wanted to hit me. Which seemed unfair, considering it was my sister who dared to make such a comparison. With the most forced smile I’d ever seen, she crouched down to be eye level with her. “I’m not. My name’s Nora. It’s very nice to meet you.”
“I’m Bonnie. Oh, you must be my brother’s girlfriend!”
“Not even if someone paid me,” she muttered.
“That’s a shame.” My mom found herself standing behind Bonnie, pulled away from whatever recipe she was cooking up in the kitchen. “But it’s understandable. You’re so cute and polite, while all my dear son has going for him is his personality. And even that could use some work.” A dramatic sigh escaped from her lips. “Terribly gloomy that one.”
Nora didn’t seem to know how to handle my mother. On one hand, Nora could easily get caught up in her pace and add a smarting comment at the cost of some more of my dignity. On the other hand, she now had this polite persona to keep up. She settled on maintaining her phony smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”
“Ma’am makes me feel so old. You can call me mom. It’s what everyone else does around here.” She laughed at her joke before placing a hand on Bonnie’s shoulder, guiding her away from the entrance. “Let’s give those two a minute to put away their shoes and get situated.”
I pushed on the heel of my shoe, slipping them off and aligning them beside one another on the welcome mat. Nora did the same, and we headed deeper into the house. We had to be careful to avoid stepping on discarded stuffed animals lying around. My sister had a bad habit of dropping stuff in her wake. Managing that, Nora and me went into the living room where the blinds had been drawn back. The sun had already started to set, bathing the otherwise pastel room in a soft orange glow. Bonnie flicked off the overhead light, then sat back in the chair. She had the table cluttered with so many textbooks and loose pieces of paper that someone may have mistaken her for a college student, despite her age.
I reached out a hand to ruffle her hair. “You writing a thesis there, squirt?”
Pushing my wrist away, she huffed. “I told you not to call me that! And don’t mess with me right now. This assignment is life or death!”
Eleven-year-olds sure had it rough these days, huh? I didn’t remember getting that much homework back then, but maybe I was blocking out those memories. Either way, I figured it would be best to leave it to her. I motioned for Nora to follow me, but she took no notice.
“Anything I could help you with, Bonnie?” she asked.
My sister bit her lip but nodded. “Do you know anything about the difference between mitosis and meiosis?”
“Of course! You’re talking to the girl with one of the best science grades in the entire school.”
“Really? That’s so cool! So, you’ll be able to help me?”
“Sure thing. Let’s see what you’ve got going on,” Nora said, leaning over her and perusing the paper in front of my sister. “Ok, that’s not so bad. Do you have to get the definitions directly from your textbook or can I explain them to you?”
“She said we could also look them up, but I’d prefer you to explain them.”
“Let’s keep it simple for now. The first thing to remember is that mitosis creates two identical cells. This is way different from meiosis, which creates four non-identical cells.”
Bonnie scribbled down what Nora said as they delved into more specific information the further they got down the worksheet. Chuckling, I silently excused myself, deciding to wait in my room until they finished. I was glad she decided to come over.
