Miko: My first attempt at ASP. This is my all time favorite book (I think I've read it about once a month for five years) but this is my first attempt at writing anything for it. This will be a collection of short ficlits from Finny's point of view. There are eight I plan on writing so far. Eventual (in like two chapters) FinnyxGene. Also, it'll stick with the book pretty closely.

Inspired by Gene's realization that Finny lives by his own set of rules. These are those rules.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Rules of Friendship

i. Don't Lie About Your Height

Something about my roommate bothered me from the first moment I met him. It might have been the pencil he was tapping on the desk, or the book balanced precariously on the edge that he didn't seem to notice. Or maybe it was just that he didn't look up at me when I spoke, even though everyone else did. I had to find something, just one thing, that we had in common.

He hated sports; I loved them. He could read books by the cartload; it took me a week to finish half of one. I was outgoing; he wanted to stay in our room.

All my efforts to make him take notice of me were in vain. He would walk next to me in the hallway, sit by me in class, be on my team in gym, but he never had to say a word. I don't think, in the week since I'd met him, that he bothered to ask me anything not related to school. Couldn't he see I didn't care about that?

Then, standing in the hallway outside class, I saw it. Everyone was bragging about how tall they were. Brinker and Leper and Brownie all towered over me and Gene. We were the exact same height. Our eyes met on level ground. I smiled. Then Gene muttered something about being 5'9. I was shocked out of my realization and the words left my lips.

"No. You're the same height as me. We're 5'8 ½" We're on the short side." He looked at me, shocked and upset, but I smiled. For the first time, he noticed me.