In the Know

Oh, I know all about Marty and her ex-boyfriend; I'm one of her friends, y'know.

They were tight, like this. Marty and Rod went everywhere with each other. The two of them were always touching, so much so that Mrs. Ratzlaff said they were an example of magnification...or was it magnetism. I dunno. The only time you saw Marty alone was when she used the restroom, and that was only between lunch and third period. Even then Rod was waiting right next to the door.

Sure, their schedules didn't always match up, but the two of them sure tried. Rod spent a week in the counselor's office trying to get his classes changed, but they told him it was too late. The semester was already halfway done, like doughy cookies. So Rod swore that he would skip that class every time that Marty couldn't skip hers. Their teachers didn't seem to mind; their grades only dropped two letters. After all, the two of them was science at work.

The day after Marty and Rod broke up, half the sophomore class wore black. I mean, geeze, the two of them breaking up was like a natural disaster. It was like a forest fire that destroyed fifty homes. It was like a hurricane that flooded a town, or the earthquake that left a crack down the middle of the football field. Football players on the other team still trip over it every once in a while, and every time Rod sees it happen he flinches a little, like someone punched him in the arm.