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Greg sat in his last period class, idly doodling on the worksheet they’d been handed. As the teacher droned on, his mind wandered. Today was, in Greg’s opinion, a good day. Rowley was taking him over to hang out with their friend, Holly Hills. Well, currently just a friend. Greg wanted to be more than that, but only time would tell whether she felt the same, especially since she broke up with Bryce only a few weeks ago and still was moving on. Greg didn’t get it. Bryce had always obviously been a jerk, but Holly still dated him. Maybe she always saw the best in people. Or maybe she just refused to see the bad.
Gregory was like that sometimes. He still remembered when Rodrick tried to explain how their father had hurt him. At the time, Greg thought he was exaggerating or just not understanding where his dad was coming from. Now though, having seen what Frank had done to his brother, even just the thought of him made a pit form in his stomach.
He pushed the thoughts out of his mind. He was going to Holly’s in less than an hour, anyways. Best not to worry about such things right now. He’d taken extra care in his appearance today. As soon as he woke up (earlier than usual, to accommodate the new additions to his routine) he took a shower, gelled and combed his hair, and even wore his collared button up. This time he wasn’t bringing any flowers, but it was a casual hangout, so hopefully it wouldn’t matter.
As soon as the bell rang, Greg collected his stuff and did his best to find Rowley in the sea of kids that was the main hallway. He stood on his toes to see over the heads of the kids who might as well be giants compared to him. Seriously, how were they so tall? In Greg’s opinion, anyone over 5’ 5” shouldn’t be allowed to be in middle school. Unless he got a growth spurt and finally caught up to some of the other boys in his grade.
Eventually, he found his blond-haired friend amongst the crowd.
“C’mon Rowley, let’s get going.” Greg tugged on his arm.
“Why are you always in such a hurry to see Holly? You never are this enthusiastic about me.”
“Well, we’re close friends, right? Like brothers. So we know each other so well it’s not exciting anymore. It’s not like I’m dying to go home and see Rodrick every day.”
“Yeah. Brothers.” Rowley seemed to deflate slightly, but Greg didn’t notice.
“Anyways, can we go now?”
-
Greg practically raced down the stairs down to the sidewalk, Rowley following close behind.
Holly’s house wasn’t too far away, within walking distance of the school, but Greg was still in a hurry. He was in such a hurry, Rowley, who was walking at a normal speed fell behind.
Greg turned around. “Rowley! Hurry up!”
“I’m doing my best, Greg! My mom says to not over exert myself and I already ran a lot in PE.”
“Okay, if you insist,” Greg sighed.
As they were talking, they failed to notice Drew, rapidly approaching them from the direction they had been heading.
“Not too late, am I?”
“Ah!” Rowley jumped.
“Drew!” Greg’s face lit up. “What’re you doing here?”
“Rodrick was worried about you guys, after what happened with Bill and his pals trying to beat you up and all. And, because he’s in detention, yet again, I’m here to escort you home.”
The two younger boys looked at each other, then back at Drew. He was wearing one of his AC/DC shirts, as usual. His brown hair was tucked behind his ears, showing off his various piercings. He wore a bored expression on his face.
“I forgot to tell you thank you for saving us then. You were super scary and cool!” Rowley suddenly exclaimed.
Drew lifted his eyebrows in surprise. “Of course kid. Don’t mention it.”
“Alright, let’s get moving.” Greg turned the corner and kept walking.
“Dude, your house is that way.” Drew gestured behind him.
“We’re going to a friend’s house,” Rowley explained.
Drew scowled.
“Is it far?”
“Not really. Not at all, actually, compared to the distance to our houses.” Greg shook his head.
“Guess I’ll escort you, then. Not like I have much else to do anyways.”
As they walked, they stayed quiet. Every once in the while, Drew’s look to his side to see Rowley staring at him, starry-eyed, but every time, Rowley would immediately look away. Drew smirked slightly. Rowley reminded him of himself, in a way. Back in his middle school years, he’d been pretty shy too. He used to follow Rodrick around, just like how this kid followed around Rodrick’s brother. But then again, Rodrick and Greg were pretty different, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Drew was making comparisons between their friendships too quickly.
-
As they walked up to the Hills’ front door, Drew furrowed his brow.
“Who’s the friend you’re visiting, again?”
Before Greg could answer, the door swung open. Instead of Holly, her older sister stared at them expressionlessly. She looked them all up and down, then turned to Drew and smirked.
“Hey loser. What’re you doing here with Holly’s boyfriend and the other kid?”
“He’s Rodrick’s brother and that’s his friend. I took them here as a favor to him.”
They locked eyes and talked without conveying much pleasant emotion, but it still wasn’t a necessarily hostile exchange.
Eventually, Heather looked away. “You guys can come in, I guess. I don’t really care.” She held the door open for them. Greg nearly tripped over his own feet in his excitement to go see Holly. Rowley seemed more hesitant.
“Go.” Heather made a shooing motion with her hand. “Hurry up.” Rowley moved out of view much faster. She let out a breath and looked at Drew.
“I assume you don’t wanna come in?”
“Not really.”
“Fair enough.” She stepped out and closed the door behind her. “So, how’s it been, with Rodrick, and stuff.”
“Pretty good, I guess.”
Suddenly, her eyes lit up.
“Drew!”
“What?”
“Your mustache! It’s grown so much more since I last saw you! Testosterone’s been going good, yeah?”
“Oh.” He put his hand up to feel his top lip. “Yeah. I’ve been noticing a lot more changes lately. It’s pretty cool.”
“Aw, I’m so happy for you!” Heather grinned.
“Thanks, Heather.”
“Anyways, are you ever going to come back to the queer teen support groups?” Heather looked at him with a jokingly sad look.
“Nah. My mom has decided I don’t need to do that anymore, since I’m practicing with the band twice a week now.”
“Dude. You can’t leave me like this. My parents won’t let me stop until I start ‘making more queer friends’ and you know I’m not doing that.”
While Drew had been entered into the group for help with his transition, in middle school Heather’s parents wanted her to find more queer people to talk to and help her understand herself more. While it was definitely well intentioned, Heather despised being told what to do, and naturally would be a troublemaker in the group. Drew suspected the only reason he had managed to bond with her was because at the start, she thought of it as a rebellion to make friends with an awkward nerdy kid instead of a popular one, like her other friends.
“Your lesbian rage always gets in the way, huh?”
“Yup.” She leaned against the wall. “Wanna come in? I’ve got food if you want a snack.”
“No, I gotta get going anyways.” Drew said. “Thanks for the chat, see you around.”
“Yeah, of course. Remember to stay in touch!”
“Sure thing, Heather.”
Heather went back inside. She went to the kitchen, grabbed a bag of chips and headed back to her room.
“Hey, how do you know Drew?” The Heffley child asked her.
“Hm? We’ve gone to school together since middle school.”
“Oh. Okay.”
She sat down at her desk and opened up her laptop.
“Damn. That kid really does look like his brother. Can’t believe I didn’t notice it before.”