What's His Secret?

(Warnings: mild swearing and ableism)

To say Logan was pissed that he shared an Honors class with Roman was an understatement. Roman was popular amongst the drama kids and was never seen picking up a book or going to the library, so Logan always suspected that Roman cheated his way to the top. Unfortunately, Logan was well aware of the businesses where bosses made like scum and cheated their way into positions of authority, so it wasn't too out of the ordinary for Logan to think Roman was accomplishing the same thing. The only ones that knew of his suspicions were Patton and Virgil. Since Patton told him to relax and Virgil's response to Logan's claims was "Can't you just hate him for his big headness like a normal person?", Logan decided to catch Roman in the act on his own.

From what he was able to gather from blending into the background, he heard boasting from Roman to his friends about how "books were for nerds" and "I don't need the script, this prince is going to slay". Logan decided that it was enough to prove he wasn't serious about school, but he didn't hear anything about Roman cheating. Logan looked online for various ways to cheat to see if Roman would attempt any of the tactics and even left a bait pile of papers with the claim that it was an answer key, but nothing helped. During the times where they had in-class work, Roman and a teacher would leave the classroom and they'd be out there until a few minutes before the bell rang. Logan was frustrated more by his inability to figure out the prep. What was Roman's secret? What was he hiding?

Logan went to extreme measures to put his suspicions to rest. He placed a camera in the tree outside Roman's window and went home to connect his laptop to it. Logan could spot Roman dancing around to some musicals and sing some Disney, but nothing too suspicious. Soon enough, it was around the time where Roman was working on his homework and studies. Logan zoomed in and noticed that his homework habits included emailing voice recordings to the teachers and studying using videos on Youtube. After some time that left Logan confused, Roman walked up to the window and stuck his head out before muttering, "First time seeing a dyslexic study?" and causing Logan's eyes to widen. As he closed his laptop, he was unsure of if he was more surprised by the supposed airhead finding the camera or by the possibility that he spent a portion of the school year hating someone for accommodating for dyslexia.

After awkwardly glancing at Roman in class the following day, Logan felt knots in his stomach as he approached Roman while on their way to their lunch period.

"Roman, wait! I need to talk to you!" he proclaimed.

Roman showed a somber look before reaching into his backpack to retrieve the camera.

"We all know that you don't like me. If you're going to blackmail me, you're going to need this," Roman muttered while handing the camera to Logan.

Logan took the camera and stared at it before looking at Roman.

"I just want to know...do you really have dyslexia?" Logan asked in a volume that could only be heard by the two of them.

"Yes, it's true, but it's not something I'm proud of. My parents figured there was something peculiar about me, but my dad had this idea that getting a diagnosis would only manifest a disorder, so my mom got me and my brother checked out without his knowledge. As crappy as he is, I'm glad he defied the odds of himself having dyslexia, too. My mom talked with the teachers and, since my father would get suspicious if he saw my struggle reading and writing at the time, we agreed to let me try some different study methods as long as I remained on task in school. I don't know if anyone else would accept me if they found out, but I'm sure you'd love to find out," Roman explained.

Logan felt his stomach drop as he heard Roman's story and something about the prep's eyes confirned that he was telling the truth.

"I never wanted to blackmail you. I just didn't know how you became an honors student. No offense."

"None taken. I guess compensating for self esteem issues can making me look look like a dick."

"You know, I would've congratulated you sooner if I knew you didn't cheat."

"If you want, I could give you a better view of how I study."

Logan gave a small smile and shook Roman's hand. As he spent more time around Roman, he was more convinced that his unique study habits are actually helpful and he was able to see that spending time with Roman didn't take away who the prep is, but rather shine a light on all that Roman had kept in the dark.