Disclaimer: All characters belong to the 'My Life AAT Robot' crew…Enjoy?
Chapter 1: What's it gonna take, to earn a little respect around here?
It wasn't a surprise that Jenny didn't like Sheldon too much. After all, who could even bring up the thought of loving someone, or something, as mutant as him? He always covered himself up with his hoody and baggy pants, his uncombed hair left a wild beast on his head, and – Wah?! – were those pimples?! Yeah, Sheldon was definitely placed at the bottom of the food chain when it came to the school social latter. That's how the game is played.
And this is where our story begins, a somewhat average summer's day that started off with the birds chirping. The sun shone brightly in the trees and the crickets had ceased their noise. The grass was a true green and the sky, a true blue. And walking down the sidewalk was no one other than Sheldon. Today was going to be the same as yesterday and tomorrow. First he would try to get to school before Jenny, hold the door open, tell her she's pretty, maybe ask her for help on something that he could really figure out on his own… Yeah, today was going to be just the same. Sheldon looked down at his clock; just double checking the time, then began to jog a little. He was going to be late to hold that door!
As soon as Sheldon got to school he had to wait a little bit outside – waiting – for Jenny. He stood there, going over tests, quizzes, and anything else that the teachers could whip at him today. It didn't really matter, though, he was a strait 'A' student, OK maybe a 'B' last year…oh, no, wait, that was an 'A-', but it should have been a 'B'. Sheldon looked up at the sky and saw Jenny flying down. What compliment should he give her today? "Hello, Jenny. How are you today?" Jenny looked over at Sheldon. What do you do when someone loves you, would do anything for you, and you feel squat for them? He face had slight annoyance and at the same time, a smile. "Fine, Sheldon, just fine."
As usual, Sheldon held the door for her. As usual, he tried so hard to be a gentleman by walking her to class. As usual, Jenny broke the conversation leaving abruptly. As usual, Sheldon felt horrible and grateful at the same time. He knew that she didn't like him. It was a known fact. He, himself, knew that he was never going to get her to actually like him back. But Sheldon didn't care, it didn't matter. Just as long as he could spent some time with her, which was all he wanted.
The day was going just like any other day until lunch came around the corner. Sheldon usually sat with Jenny and Brad as they ate, but today Jenny had something else in mind. Before Sheldon reached the cafeteria Jenny, manipulating Brad by saying Sheldon knew where they would be, they moved up the study in the library.
Coming strait from his locker Sheldon was always up for eating lunch with his 'friends'. He approached the deserted table and confusion filled his head, but he sat down anyways to begin his lunch. High School in general is known for those tiny 'fights', as you would call them, in the cafeteria. Lately Sheldon hadn't had to worry about bullies because of Jenny, she made him feel safe. But Jenny wasn't here today.
Sheldon had already gotten in the lunch line, collected his tray full of food, and then walked over to sit back down at the deserted table. Oh, no, excuse me, there was the kid with the gargantuan braces on the complete other side of the table. Sheldon look down down at his 3 dollar meal then began to actually construct in a way so that it was actually edible. He heard a few kids whisper behind him, and it wasn't like he didn't know what was coming, not like it never happened before. The whispers became chuckles, and Sheldon was trying his best to ignore them by talking to –but there wasn't anyone at the table but him. Even the brace-face left to go see her friends at the other end of the room. Miserable and alone, Sheldon went back to his lunch, not that he even was hungry anymore. But as soon as he redirected his attention – SMACK – Sheldon never felt a worse pain to the back of his head ever before. It felt as if prickling needles were pricking his cranium. And his face hit something soft and gooey.
A hard slap on the back of his head had Sheldon's face smack right into his food. He lifted his face up only slightly so that he could breathe, but no one else could see his face full of lettuce, tomato, mustard, bread, onion (do you know what it is yet?), green peppers, and mayonnaise. He hadn't put the top piece of bread on his sandwich yet, so things stuck easily. Whoever it was that did it was long gone, now he was left to a lunch room of kids mocking him. He decided to leave the room and go to the bathroom as an escape rout. But the joke didn't seem to be over quite yet, as soon as Sheldon put a foot down on the ground to steady himself to get out of the lunch seat, he noticed that the ground beneath him was slippery. Before he could initially react, he found himself sliding backwards onto his back and then finally hitting his head on the tile. He could feel tears burning in his eyes and he sat up as fast as he could, trying his hardest to ignore the laughter around him. With that, he grabbed as many napkins he had on his plate that were somewhat clean, and headed off as fast as he could into the bathroom that was down the hall and to the left. As he got further away from the cafeteria, he could hear the chuckles and giggles fading and he felt at peace as he slowly limped into the boy's bathroom. He decided to not go back to the cafeteria after he cleaned up. Besides, no body would miss him over there in the lunch room, right?
Up in the lunch room, Jenny and Brad were having a good time talking about nothing and pretending to study for World History. They, and everyone else in the library, could hear the laughter from the cafeteria. Curious, Jenny and Brad stood and raced over to the doors of the library and walked down the stairs to the lunch room. The library was right above the cafeteria, so it wasn't a long walk or anything. Brad smiled in the excitement and turned to the person next to him who was sitting down and eating with his friends. "What happened?" The kid turned around and said, "Some loser just got his head slammed into an open sandwich! Man, you should have seen his face!" He turned back to his friends and they continued to gossip. Another piped up and giggled, "And then – he got up – and randomly slipped on a hotdog wrapper!" With that the entire table burst into tears of laughter. Jenny then looked over at the table they normally sat at. There she saw the open sandwich on a messy tray…and Sheldon was nowhere in sight.
The first thing that hit her was guilt. She should have known better than to leave him there like that. He was the biggest bully target at the school, everybody knew that. Poor Sheldon, poor Sheldon. Jenny was now angry. He can't even take care of himself for half an hour. He needs to get a life because he is gonna be the death of me. She then turned around and grabbed Brad's wrist. They were going to finish this lunch period happily; she was going to make sure of it.
Sheldon was finished wiping off the last of the mustard off his nose as he threw the napkin into the trash in the hallway and was on his way to his locker. He remembered that things like this would happen daily, before Jenny came. He remembered coming home one day with a black eye. His grandmother, who he lived with, had poor vision and never noticed a thing. He remembered the countless times asking her it they could move…just move away from the chaos. But he knew that even if they did move, it wouldn't matter. He would just get the same reputation for a punching bag like he did here. Then Jenny came. Things changed then, and he felt it was all for the better. Bullies would leave him alone when he was around her, he had someone to talk to, someone to like, and someone to lo… But there was one problem. He knew what it was, and so do you. Jenny couldn't stand him. If anything, she wanted him to leave her alone for the rest of eternity. Today just proved that he was right. She was tired of him, wanted him to leave her alone. He could respect that.
He continued to walk to his locker as he passed by the library. Jenny looked up to say something to Brad but saw him out of the corner of her eye. She decided she was either going to end this now or later… Now is better. She stood up, interrupting Brad, and walked out of the library. Brad turned to see her following Sheldon down the hall. Not wanting to get involved with what he knew was coming up, he turned back towards his work and began to really study.
"Sheldon," Jenny said, just loud enough for him to hear. He turned and smiled. "Hello Jenny. You look very nice today." Jenny stuttered, now what do you say? "Thanks…" she mumbled, trying to think about how to put what she wanted to say, to refrain herself from really hurting his feelings. Sheldon stood there with a hopeful look on his face, he was always hopeful. "Is there something you need to tell me?" Jenny looked back at him, but the look on her face wasn't the look he was hoping for her to have. "Yes, Sheldon, look, you need to stop this." Sheldon just looked at her, no emotion what-so-ever. "You annoy me so much! You never leave me alone, you never shut up, what do you want?!" She then lowered her voice, trying to gain some control. "No more holding doors, no more compliments, I wish I never met y-" "I love you." There it was. Everything was out in the open. Both parties had their statements floating in the air. An awkward silence filled the air. "You don't have to like me back," he continued, "but you could at least try to be my friend." The bell rang and Sheldon grabbed a book out of his locker and shoved it into his backpack. He zipped up his bag, threw a strap over his right shoulder and began to walk away. Jenny then turned to see him begin to walk away as he shoved past her. Jenny didn't hear him too well, though. She could still hear the way he said it to her. Desperate, sad, and wanting. She knew he had nobody, but she never thought that it could really affect anybody like that. After a thought she saw Brad come out of the library with his and her backpack. Brad handed hers over the Jenny and then asked what had happened. Jenny took her bag then said flatly, "I think, made things worse," she said still in her daze.
Author's Note:
OK, I'm not really exaggerating when I put in Sheldon's cafeteria moment; I actually saw it happen at my school the other day. And I also hope that the horrible beginning doesn't throw you off the story, it will get better, I promise. Sheldon's life is taking a turn for the worse here people, I wonder if Jenny's ever gonna do anything about it. Please Read and Review!