Disclaimer: I do not own El Goonish Shive. If I owned it, it would probably be nowhere near as great as it is now.

Please also note that the last name given for Rhoda is not her official last name. I did do a lot of searching to find the perfect last name for her, the one I found meaning "modest and temperate; prudent".

The Shy Girl Effect

Prologue

A rude buzzing awoke the young woman from her dream, and it took her a moment to realize that she was no longer fighting against the fearsome dragon, alongside her faithful prince. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and turned off her alarm clock. Rhoda was excited today, as it was the first day of the new school year, and more specifically the first day of high school.

She grabbed her glasses off the night-stand and looked at the clock, "Still only six o'clock," she said to herself. She thought for a moment about how much time she had before she had to get to her bus stop, still an hour and a half. Rhoda went through her normal morning routine, a breakfast of cereal and toast, a hot shower and brushing her teeth.

When she was done she still had forty-five minutes left before she had to be anywhere. This was time she usually used for homework she hadn't finished the night before, but for a while it seemed that she would have nothing to do during that time. She picked up a book from the coffee table, and opened it to the marked page.

Rhoda had dreamed about being in this book not even an hour ago, a world of magic, romance, and adventure. She escaped into books often, and could easily lose track of the time; so she set the alarm function on her watch to go off when she needed to be at the bus. The story was about a young female warrior, fighting to save her family from the cruel tyrant that took over their village. She wished that her life could be like that, that she could be a bold and strong warrior with no fear.

She had become so immersed in her book that she barely heard her watch alarm go off, she finished the paragraph she was on and set the book down on the table.

"Bye mom, bye dad, I'll see you after school," Rhoda called as she left the house. It was a chilly morning, and wind blew her hair in front of her eyes. She walked to the bus stop and waited, she was the first one there as usual. She grew a little self-conscious as the other students arrived, and she hugged her backpack close to her chest, as if it would somehow make her more confident or protect her.

Rhoda's eyes darted back and forth, looking at each new face. There was one that caught her eye, she had seen him around school before but never noticed him riding her bus. He was a tall boy, with light orange hair, wearing a shirt that made her think of Charlie Brown. She smiled a little at the thought, picturing him shrunk down like a character from Peanuts.

She may have talked to the boy, but just as she was about to speak, a girl with the same hair color as him walked up. "Hey Justin. How are you this morning?"

The boy, Justin, looked over at her. "Oh, hi Melissa. I'm doing fine, what about you?"

The look on Melissa's face changed from happiness to irritation almost instantly. "We haven't seen each other in over a week and that's how you greet me? "Oh, hi"... Honestly Justin."

Rhoda continued to watch the scene unfold as inconspicuously as possible. Justin turned to Melissa, "We just talked on the phone last night, and the night before that. I know everything that happened while you were on vacation, is there really any need for me to get all excited just because I'm seeing you face to face?"

"Shouldn't it be enough that you're seeing my beautiful face for the first time in so long."

Justin laughed, and looked her right in the eyes. "You are a beautiful sight for these sore eyes," he rolled his eyes. "Are you happy now?"

Melissa nodded and clung to his arm. Just like that, the drama was over and Rhoda decided to check her watch. The bus was late, but it was to be expected; when she looked up the bus was just turning the corner. 'Well, it could have taken even longer,' she thought to herself. She got onto the bus, and found an empty seat near the front, most students sat further back; they wished to be further from the driver she assumed. Rhoda had nothing to hide as she never spoke to anyone on the bus.

She sat quietly the whole ride, not speaking to anyone except once, allowing another student to sit next to her when he saw that all the good seats were taken. She hugged her book bag close the whole ride after that, partially because it made her feel secure and partially because she had nowhere else to put it.

The bus stopped in front of the school and she stepped off, looking out among the sea of new faces; kids that had gone to other schools were now going to become her new classmates. She held her bag close and made her way to her first class, there was still almost half an hour before class started, but she had nobody to go and talk to in the halls or and no reason to go to her locker.

Rhoda took the time to get to know her teacher a little and get herself ready for class. By the time the other students started arriving and locating their seats on the chart she had already set out her stuff on the desk. She didn't even notice when someone sat down next to her until he spoke up.

"Wow, you put a lot of detail in getting organized considering we'll be done with this class in an hour." Rhoda looked up at him and blushed a little, it was the boy from the bus stop earlier, Justin. "My name is Justin Tolkiberry, it looks like we'll be sitting next to each other in this class for awhile."

Rhoda spoke up in a weak voice, "Rhoda... Rhoda Sophronia. I saw you at the bus stop this morning."

Justin grabbed his notebook out of his backpack and looked back at her, "So you saw that whole thing with Melissa then?" She nodded, the redness in her cheeks not going away. "I'm sorry you had to see that. She did get a little nuts, but that's just who she is."

"You shouldn't feel the need to apologize, it was a little entertaining even if it was short-lived." She laughed softly as he looked embarrassed.

The bell rang and the teacher took his place in front of the class, introducing himself and a bit about the course they were to be studying under him. Finally he gave out the assignment for the day, "I want you all to just look at the person sitting at your table next to you. I want you to take these note cards and fill out things about them, like their name, birthday, and what their interests are. It'll be just like filling out a profile on one of your internet websites." He handed a stack of index cards out to the people sitting at the end of each row, and sat down at his desk again.

Rhoda and Justin went about their doing their assignment, getting to know each other pretty well over the course of the hour. As class let out, Rhoda started to put her stuff away, and was just standing up when Justin spoke up, "Hey, um... Do you have anyone to sit with at lunch?"

She shook her head, the blush on her face returning after a brief escape, "No. I don't really have a whole lot of friends. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to join me and Melissa at our table for lunch."

Rhoda nodded her head happily and smiled, "I'd be happy to join you Justin."

The rest of Rhoda's morning was spent looking forward to lunch, paying little attention in her other classes, her mind preoccupied with her new friend. This seemed like the first really good friend she might make here, when lunch finally came she stood by the door to the cafeteria waiting for Justin to show up.

She stood there for the whole lunch period, waiting for him to show up, the brown paper bag in her hand going unopened for the whole time. How could he not show up, he seemed so genuine earlier in the day. She went the rest of the day still preoccupied with Justin.

The school day finished and she got back on the bus, taking the same seat that she had earlier in the day. Justin and Melissa came on the bus, and he barely looked at Rhoda as he passed by, to her nothing more needed to be said. It was clear that she had been deceived by him earlier, he was a smooth operator and only want to make her feel bad, just like all the other boys who had ever shown a remote interest in her.

Luckily they had no homework, it being the first day, because she would not have been able to focus on her work. She ran to her room when she got home and booted up her favorite Final Fantasy game, she wasn't going to let herself worry about Justin anymore, she was just going to escape into a world of adventure and romance.

She wasn't going to let what happened today bother her tomorrow, she was just going to forget about it all and ignore him the same she would anyone else. Everything about that day seemed wrong, except for meeting Justin and even that was screwed up. Tears began to roll down her cheeks, no matter how she tried she couldn't get it off her mind.