[Pretty Rave Girl]

Two weeks later, Deryck awoke to Mrs. Elmwood poking him with her metre stick, “Am I boring you, Mr. Whibley?”
Avril and Tammy laughed and Rich rolled his eyes.
Deryck blushed, “Um, no, Mrs. Elmwood. Sorry.”
“Hmmm, no smarty pants response this time? What’s gotten into you, Deryck?” Mrs. Elmwood raised her eyebrows at him.
Deryck shrugged and Rich mimed little hearts popping up around his head.
“Shut up, Rich!!”
“Sorry!” Rich shook his head, “You’re so angry these days.”
Looking up from his paper, which was about rules of poetry, Deryck spotted Avril whispering something to Tammy, who looked at him and giggled.
“What?” whispered Deryck, a bit annoyed.
“Oh, nothing.” Avril tried to smother a smile as she went back to underlining adjectives.
“What?!” he hissed at her.
“It’s just, well, you’ve got my name spelled wrong and mirrored on your cheek.”
Deryck looked down at his desk. Rich’s attempt at spelling Avril’s name, “Avrul”, was written in marker there.
“Rich!” exclaimed Deryck, exasperated, as he got up to go to the bathroom.
“And just where do you think you’re going, Deryck?” inquired Mrs. Elmwood.
“The bathroom. I need to wash off my cheek.”
Mrs. Elmwood spotted the righting and glanced at his desk, “The only thing you’re washing right now is your desk.”
“But it wasn’t--"
“Now.”
Deryck scowled and went to the sink at the back of the room to get a wet rag.
He left without Rich when he set off to walk home.

About halfway home, he heard feet patter behind him on the slushy sidewalk and then come to a sliding stop too late. The person slid right into him. Assuming that it was Rich, he walked away and the person who was in the process of steadying themself by holding onto him fell to their knees.
“Ow!” a familiar voice that was not Rich’s yelled.
Deryck flipped around. Avril was pushing herself back to her feet.
“I’m sorry!” he said, rushing back to help her up.
“What was that for?” Avril said angrily, moving out of his reach.
“I thought you were Rich.”
“I see,” Avril’s voice was as cold as the air. Despite her anger, she walked down the street silently beside him.
“Avril!” Tammy called from behind them. Avril stopped and turned around and Deryck slowly halted.
“Do you want to come to my house? My mom’s making hot chocolate and brownies!”
“Sure!” Avril turned around and ran to meet Tammy.
Deryck watched her go, then pulled up his hood and continued down the street. He hated it when Rich was right.