Helps the A/V nerd

Tanya feels pretty good about the second day. Everything seemed fairly normal with the exception that she found herself going out of the way to help people out more than she usually would. She didn't really start wondering if something might be wrong until one of the nerds, Kyle, who she'd typically completely ignore, called out "hey, Tanya, sorry, can you help me push the A/V equipment to class."

She tried to keep walking but instead, her body turned and she obediently started pushing the cart like a damn pack animal. "I don't know why I'm helping you," she said sincerely confused. Kyle, unsurprisingly, took it as "Ugh, I can't believe I'm helping you, loser" which is what she probably would have normally said.

"I-I know," he said pushing the second cart alongside her, "I really didn't expect you to but I appreciate it. Everyone else was ignoring me."

Tanya really just wants to get to lunch but her feet keep pushing the equipment. "What the fuck?" she says looking down at her feet.

Kyle smiles at her taking it as a rare moment of sympathy for his lowly status at school. He feels a rare moment of confidence. "Yeah, I mean, it only takes a couple minutes to help someone out. Gosh, Tanya, don't take this the wrong way but you were the last person I thought would help me." He pauses and blushes. "I'm glad you aren't going to ignore me this year."

"I'm not going to ignore you this year," Tanya hears the words come out of her mouth but can't believe it. Frankly, neither can Kyle. His heart skips a beat.

"Well, here we are," Kyle says as they push the equipment into Ms. Donahue's room. He turns to thank Tanya but she's already out the door and heading to lunch.

"what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck" she whispers to herself as she walks toward the cafeteria. It's nothing, she thinks, she's just feeling excited about school and had a brief moment of empathy for a nerd. No one saw her helping or talking to Kyle. It wouldn't hurt her finally crafted reputation. She'd be fine.

She takes a deep breath, holds her nose up, and pushes open the door to the cafeteria. She eyes the room and makes note of where all of the cliques are sitting. She finds the popular girls table where she'll make her perch and places her bookbag before getting in the line for food. After paying for her salad she starts walking toward the table.