t h i r t y ;

The group went to get dinner at Granny's and it was nearly eleven o'clock at night. Yamilla and Jai had been the first to order their food, then Moira and Clarisse, until the last ones were Louise and Dieter. He had paid for her food, which she was thankful for, and she excused herself to use the restroom to wash her hands after a long night hiking up in the mountains. On the way down, she had gotten thrown into a thorn bush by Yamilla, but she had no way to prove it. She just knew, she could feel it, that Dieter's friend didn't like her. Neither did her older sister Moira. Yamilla clearly wanted both boys to herself--her boyfriend Jai and her friend Dieter--and her sister was supportive of that behavior. 

Louise would have to spend a couple of hours when she got back to Logan's pulling thorns out of her arms and legs. It hurt to walk and even to sit down. But again she held back because she didn't want to start a fight. This was a group of friends who knew Yamilla and were likely to take her side. The only one who might defend her was Dieter. Louise would have to be sneaky if she wanted to get back at her.

As she left the restroom and walked out into the dining area where the others were seated, she could feel her heart drop. They were all sat at the big round table in the back. Dieter was trapped towards the middle, in between Moira and Yamilla. And one crucial detail Louise realized all too quickly was that there was no space for her to sit. It was just enough for them to sit without her. Instead of taking two long tables and pushing them together, they preferred to exclude her. Louise felt a prick in her chest because no matter how hard she was trying to fit in and to get Dieter's friends to like her, it seemed they were always taking Yamilla's side.

The girl with dark blonde hair grinned a victorious grin. "Looks like there's not enough room for everyone."

Louise laughed, trying to make it seem like it didn't bother her. "I don't give a fuck. I'll just sit over here by myself." It wasn't so much what Yamilla did to her, but rather the fact that Dieter seemed to be going along with it. She locked eyes with him for a moment to see that he looked like he felt bad and he tried to get out of the booth, but he was held there by the evil sisters. 

She went to find another two person table nearby and plopped herself down as she could hear Dieter calling after her. "Louise wait!"

That was when she realized he had paid for the food and they were going to take her food to their table. But Louise Belcher was so prideful that she got up and went to go order her own food. If they were going to play mean jokes like that on people then she wanted nothing to do with them. Maybe Dieter hadn't been a part of it, or maybe he was tricked into participating. But if she showed them that it bothered her, then Yamilla would win. Louise Belcher would be damned if she was going to let a bully win.

Instead she ordered her food and got her phone out of her pocket. She unlocked it and the first person she thought to text was Logan.

louise: can you come pick me up at granny's diner pls?
read.

The reply to her message came almost instantly.

logan: i thought your friends were brining you back?

louise: i don't want to explain rn but i need you to 

come get me pls. i just dont want to be here.

Given how vague she was in her text, she was surprised by just how quickly Logan arrived at the diner. He was dressed in a grey t-shirt and black sweat pants like he had either been in his bed or was getting ready to get in his bed for the night. His blonde hair was messy and in a disarray because he left his house in a hurry, thinking that she needed help. 

As he entered the diner, he looked towards one side where the group of teenagers were sitting and having their meal. They were all talking and laughing like they were having a wonderful time. He saw Dieter sitting there, smack dab in the middle of the round table, both sides blocked off to him. If he needed to get out for something, at least four people needed to move to give him some room. There was a sulk on his face and his plate of food seemed to be untouched. Logan was surprised and then concerned when he didn't see Louise next to him, although he was a bit glad. Seeing them together made him upset for some reason. 

His blue eyes scanned the restaurant to find her at the other end, picking at the fries on her plate and her gaze down, shoulder slumped. Logan Bush was used to seeing the strong Louise Belcher who never cried and nothing bothered her. As he slowly approached her and she looked up from her food, he saw her eyes were red and glassy. But there were no tears. She was trying so hard to hold it in. Even for him, she forced a small smile onto her face. "What took you so long? Did you walk here or something?" She asked teasingly, and her voice shook like she was about to start crying any moment. 

Logan could feel his heart breaking for her. It took a lot to make Louise Belcher cry. But she was still just a kid, seventeen on the verge of turning eighteen. It was perfectly normal for her to be heartbroken over some boy who didn't deserve her. He looked to her and then he looked towards the table full of teens with a glare. They did something to her, he just knew it. Louise wasn't one to take things personally like that. So it meant it had to be something pretty cruel to get underneath her skin like that.

"What happened?" He asked her, and he pulled the chair across from her back so that he could sit on it. "What did they do to you?"

Whatever it was, if he was being honest, he was ready to march over there and scold them. They were bullies and he knew bullies well because he had been one himself. Because he knew them well and he knew how they think, he also knew hundreds of different ways to make them pay. All she had to do was say the word.

She pretended like she didn't know what he was talking about. "What do you mean?" She got up from her place at the table, leaving her uneaten meal there. "Can we just go? I want to go sleep."

When he saw her get up, Dieter once again tried harder to get out of that table. Logan got up and followed her towards the door. He had pushed it open and held it for her when Dieter came up to them running. "Louise wait." He called after her.

"Not now Dieter." She said, not even looking at him.

She continued out the door and he reached for her, grabbing her upper arm to stop her. He held onto her for a fraction of a second before Logan stepped in, wedging her arm out of his hold. "Back off. She doesn't want to talk to you." Placing a palm on the boy's chest, he pushed him back lightly, but the intention was there. He didn't want him getting anywhere near Louise. His friends watched from afar, Yamilla still wearing her satisfied smirk, feeling as though she had accomplished her goal, to break them up before they were even a thing. "Whatever you did to make her upset, you should be ashamed of yourself. She trusted you and thought you were a good person. Coming from Louise, trust is something special."

Louise turned only slightly to reach for Logan's hand and pull him out of the restaurant. He followed her without a second thought and he led her through the parking lot to where his car was waiting for them. They got into the car silently and he drove her to his home. She was quiet the whole way and he didn't try to ask her if she wanted to talk about it. 

When she finally did tell him about it when they arrived at his place, his hands balled into fists of anger. He wanted to go right back to that diner and give them a piece of his mind. But he knew that wouldn't solve anything. Louise even knew it too and told him that it wasn't a big deal. She would get over Dieter and go back to thinking boys are just stupid, except for Andy and Ollie. Well, she definitely thought they weren't very smart. But they were a special kind of stupid--in a lovable idiot sort of way. Other than them, she really had no real interest in talking to boys anyway. Her first and last crush before Dieter had been that gorgeous idiot Booboo from that stupid band Boyz4Now. 

Then there was her brother Gene. Though he was definitely an idiot, he didn't count because he was her brother. The other guy in her life was Jimmy Pesto Jr. But he was Tina's boyfriend and childhood sweetheart. He was handsome but Louise had no romantic feelings towards him either. He was also definitely an idiot. Last there was Logan, who she had to admit was probably tied with the Pesto twins at the moment in the running for her favorite idiot. Especially given that he had said all of those embarrassing things to Dieter at the diner. But it was the thought that counted and it really had been sweet of him even though it made her feel like she wanted to whack him in the head with a shovel.

Since this seemed to be her first real breakup, Logan went all out. He left her alone in the house for a moment and went to the pharmacy in town--which happened to be owned by Dieter's family. On some weekends it was open twenty four hours and he had gone to get ice cream, candy, and chips for them to binge on all weekend. They were going to watch movies together for the remainder of the weekend and he even offered to let her copy off the answer sheet for the homework that was due in his class that Monday. 

He was really making an effort and Louise genuinely appreciated it.

Back at the diner, Dieter walked back to his table angrily. He glared at Yamilla who was now having a conversation with her sister at the booth. "What the hell, Yamilla? Louise was really upset when she left here and its because of what you did." He accused her, venom seeping through his words.

Yamilla tried to play innocent. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He pointed an accusing finger at her as he continued. "You said we were just waiting here for a moment and then we'd all split up into two tables so no one would be left out." More than being mad at her, he was also mad at himself for believing her. He felt stupid for falling for it. He knew that Yami didn't like Louise, she told him herself. 

"And that's what happened." The blonde insisted, acting as though she had done nothing wrong. "No one important was left out."

"I don't understand why you're bullying Louise." Dieter said. 

Yamilla was complicated. When Dieter wanted to date her, she chose his best friend Jai. But every time Dieter showed any signs of moving on and liking someone else, she always had to come in showing some sudden interest for him. It was insane the way she only wanted him whenever he seemed to be unavailable to her. 

"Hey, chill out." Jai said when he thought Dieter was raising his voice at Yamilla. He didn't think what Yami did to Louise was right, or even remotely funny. But Yamilla was his girlfriend and he thought she had her reasons for disliking the new girl in their friend group. 

Dieter stood before them without a word for a minute before he turned on his heel and stormed out of the restaurant. He would still need to wait for the part of the group that got a ride with him, but he needed a moment outside to cool off. He was only alone for about five minutes before Yamilla walked out of the restaurant. 

He was sitting on a bench outside by the entrance and he looked up at her with annoyance. "What do you want?" He asked her. "I really don't even want to look at you right now."

"You know," She confessed with a sigh. "It just makes my blood boil when I see you with that preppy rich girl."

Without another word, she sat next to him on the bench and pulled him in for a kiss.

-

a pretty filler-ish chapter again so that i can try to get into the swing of things. honestly for the next few chapters i will feature more of the aimee x logan thing, as well as annie and andy. also i dont know yet if she will patch things up with dieter. i kinda also wanted to see if i could make ollie x louise a thing for a while. 

but we'll see how things go from here. let me know what you think, guys. maybe i'll throw some tina x jimmy jr in there since the winter vacation is coming for louise in her senior year of hs. she'll most likely go back home to help bob and linda at the restaurant. its canon that louise wants to take over when she grows up. so maybe i'll keep that in there as well.

a lot of ideas.

thank you all loads for reading and supporting me. i hope that you all like the update. i promise they won't all be this boring from here on out.

-clary