PREFACE

Hello, my name is Charlie Jonze. I think it's safe to say I have left no impact on any readers in the past. That's a fact, as my previous story that I posted Symmetry in almost two years didn't really do justice for people (except a couple of critics, who have become good friends), and it has remained untouched by readers. Who can blame them? On the surface, the story appears simple and ordinary, but it isn't. I won't say why, but when I get back to it you'll understand.

So, you may be asking this: Why am I writing a preface to a story here? Well, as you can tell, I'm not like normal "fanfiction users". I'm prone to different takes on introductions, even if a preface is normal for books, but it's not for fan fiction.

I have come here, overjoyed by the Christmas spirit, to give the "Amazing World of Gumball" archive readers something "original". There are stories here that are, for lack of a better word, stupid. I mean, I'm sorry if some of these stories like the bombing of of pearl harbor or Nicole Watterson's Farting Problem, but there's just no attempt anymore for something good and creative. Some stories I have read have tried something different like Family Ties, The Darkness Within, or simply The Loop, which is a clichéd idea, no doubt of that, but Mr. Page's take on it makes the story both funny, emotional, and thought provoking.

While I do enjoy original ideas, and everyone will say how there truly is nothing original anymore or how there really is only seven stories and all we do is create variations of it, I do like seeing someone else's take on a popular idea. For example, Shakespeare's plays have been adapted countless times onstage and in film. But the one's we remember are actually the ones who did it the best and in their own way. West Side Story is basically Romeo and Juliet, but Robert Wise's take on the play as a musical and updated to modern times has been considered both one of the best adaptations from Shakespeare's play and often ranked as one of the greatest films of all time. People can also say the same about remakes or reboots, but most people will say how Hollywood is just ruining out of ideas; however, that's where they're wrong. It's our own unique take on it that can be something original, but if we fail to really make it our own and instead mimic someone else's style, then the art form becomes both repetitive and stale.

All of that aside, I am different, just like everyone else. One likes romance over horror; one prefers movies or books; one draws surrealistic pictures than portraits. We are different people, but we could fall victim to conformity. We could all follow the same thing over and over again, whether it's a trend, catchphrase, or formula to certain things.

I plan to separate myself from doing the same thing or "giving the people what they want". Sometimes it's better to give them something they need, rather than what they want. I am a strange, weird, and often funny guy. It's my voice, and I hope you'll follow me through my crazy stories. Who knows, maybe you'll learn something.

Charlie Jonze
December 24th 2015

The Lover's Paradox

Gumball

The lover's paradox. The lover's paradox. The…Luh…verse…Pah…rah…ducks.

What does that mean? I don't know, but it sounds nice. I found this slip of paper on my desk and had these words written on it: "The Lover's Paradox". I don't know if it was written by Darwin or Anais.

Now, for those of you who don't know who I am and who these guys are, I'll tell you. I'm Gumball Watterson, a blue cat, simple as that, with Darwin, my former-pet-now-brother who is a goldfish with legs, not as simple as you would think. And don't count out Anais, a pink rabbit, who is small for her age but she is smarter than you can imagine. Now that we got that out of the way, let's continue with this mystery.

Both were gone after I woke up, but it seems unlikely it was meant for me. Maybe Darwin was just writing to see what words would fit, but it doesn't seem like he would leave this lying around for anyone to see. It could've been from Anais, but when I've seen her notes and it's always in cursive.

Oh well. The mystery of that note will be the death of me. Oh, woe is me, or something.

I ran downstairs after my mom called me that breakfast was ready. When I got to the table I already saw Darwin and Anais eating some eggs and bacon. Mine had me some eggs, and sausages. I'm not much of a bacon man. I mean, it's just burned ham, to me.

After I was halfway through my meal, I noticed something odd, but nothing startling. When I looked out the front window I saw Carmen. She's a walking cactus, small and prickly, but nothing bad. She was walking down the street and noticed that she stood still in front of our house. I didn't notice until I looked up and saw her wait around for a solid minute. It really creeped me out, until Alan popped out. He's a blue balloon, and Carmen's boyfriend, and I'm just as surprised as how he's still alive from every kiss they had. Rumors have it she just kisses his string. After he caught up, they went on their merry way.

Like I said, something odd, but nothing startling.

I was talking to Darwin on the bus about yesterday's homework—oh, not about what we had problems with or what seemed to be easy, but rather—

"Who do think came up with those weird names for math?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, who gets to decide what a square is called and why not call it a circle?"

"I think you'd be reading too deep into something that doesn't matter. It's not where it came from or how it came to be, but what you do with it now and what comes later."

"And that's not deep?" Like it or not, he had a point.

"Okay, okay. Maybe someone just looked at some shapes and decided, hey, that's a square, and that's a circle."

"Typical Gumball," he muttered with a smile.

"What do you mean 'Typical Gumball'?"

He paused, probably thinking about what to say without offending me. But I always like to poke fun at him just to see his reaction to think I'm mad because I'm stupid or I'm stupid because I'm mad, if that makes sense.

"It's just that you don't really take things into consideration. I don't feel like I could take you seriously."

"Come on," I said. "Of course you can! I'm always going to be there for you as you'd do the same thing for me. We're brothers, two of a kind." I got a little into the moment and I didn't realize until the end that I was grabbing him close, as if he was my damsel in distress and I the arrogant hero. "We could take on the world and no one would think twice to mess with us. We're as close as we can be, like peanut butter and jelly sandwich!"

"Gumball, you don't even like peanut butter, and you're allergic to jelly."

"You're missing the point! You and I, hand to hand, are an unstoppable duo."

Silence. Until—

"What you just said was super cheesy, dude. I didn't believe a single thing you said and was so forced I think you could work as a writer for a soap opera."

"Is the money good there?" I said sarcastically. He chuckled, but he shrugged me off. "Come on, Darwin! That was one joke. Surely you can't be serious."

"I am serious!"

"But I shouldn't call you Shirley?" Again, a bad joke that I just couldn't resist. He knew, and he laughed a bit.

"Gumball, you are something else. But you can't rely on bad puns or jokes. Some day you got to consider that some things just can't be made fun of."

I heard him, but I also listened. He didn't think I did, but I do care for what he has to say. It's not like I'm just some irresponsible kid or something. I just have a different way of approaching things.

"All right, try me. Just say what you want me to take seriously."

Silence. He really looked serious. Darwin doesn't always look so, but when he does, you really got to pay attention.

"Okay," he began, "I want tell you something, but I got to know if I can trust you with this. And I really mean it. This is a secret, something I'm putting a good amount of trust in you. I know you're my brother and I shouldn't keep things from you, but you have to understand why I can't always tell you some things. You sometimes just pass by it and never talk about it again. I remember when Anais told you about how much her doll meant, but after that you didn't really respond much to it."

"Well, it's not that I didn't care, but I was already aware of how she felt about it. I know how much Daisy means to her, but she didn't have to tell me that. It's like telling me the importance of family, it's already implied."

"I know, and she probably did too. But you don't take things seriously and she thought it was necessary to tell you. You can't blame Anais for it."

"I guess so, but I do listen and care. Sometimes you're just not going to get the response you wanted to hear or expect. But right now, as we speak, I'm giving you my full attention, buddy. Straight on, you got Gumball Tristopher Watterson's attention."

Darwin couldn't hold it, and he had himself a good laugh. "All right, I get it." Before he could tell me his secret, Carrie came up to us. She is a 3-D ghost. Born as one, in fact. Don't ask me how that works, it just does.

"Hey Gumball," she said.

"Hey Carrie," I replied. I turned over and saw Darwin turning a bit red. It's kind of hard to tell when he's blushing considering Darwin's orange skin, but if you're around with him long enough you can tell. And I saw Carrie looking a bit away, or she's avoiding eye contact with Darwin. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell these two had a thing going on. A while back, we were invited to a Halloween party, but we could see ghost and couldn't touch things unless we were, well, ghosts. We ended up drinking more of Carrie's potion and left our bodies. Our spirits were able to roam free, and also for Darwin to finally do what he wanted: kiss Carrie. I mean, you kind of figure out that Darwin has feelings for Carrie and Carrie doesn't know how to take it. After that ended badly, they haven't really talked to each other in a while. Considering today is Friday and the weekend after is Winter Vacation, I think a talk between the two is a must. You never know, maybe they're a match made in heaven.

"Why don't I leave you two alone?" I offered, even getting up from my seat to let her sit by Darwin. Kind of pointless seeing how we're almost two minutes away from school.

"Actually, I need to talk to you."

That took me by surprise, but I didn't need to say that for you guys to know. "Why? Is it important?"

She looked over my shoulder, probably checking on Darwin (or checking out, but what do I know?). "It can wait," she said and floated away.

I sat back down and turned back to Darwin. "What did you want to—?"

"We're here," he said, already getting off without waiting for me get up.

I saw him walk down ahead of others, passing by Tobias (a multicolored puffball) and Banana Joe (do I really have to say it?) without saying anything else. I saw Carmen and Alan pass by me and Carmen turned to me, probably about to say something, but she quickly went back to Alan.

My safest bet what the secret was: Darwin has a crush on Carrie. And I'm guessing he feels threaten by me. I may look like an idiot, but I'm not stupid.

I finally had to get to class when I couldn't find Penny. I'm sorry I didn't brought her up when I did, and considering she's an important person in my life, I'll give you the skinny.

Penny Fitzgerald is a shape-shifting fairy, from head to toe with bright yellow skin. She's as kind and sweet as someone can be. It also helps that she is my girlfriend. I'm very happy to even be involved in her life as a friend, but now I have the chance to be closer to her. I mean, I'm not saying I'm unlikeable, because if I was I would be alone with no friends, people would really hate me or feel their hatred towards me is a waste of time, and worst of all I would be forgotten. I think deep down nobody wants to be forgotten, but they want to leave something behind for others to move forward from.

And now I'm being seen as a rambling philosopher now, and I apologize for that.

Bottom line: Penny and I are a couple, and we're happy together. Which makes me not so happy to see that she wasn't on the bus here, but there's always a good explanation. It just so happens I haven't gotten one yet. Who knows, maybe she'll come in late for Miss Simian's class and this talk wouldn't mean anything.

Looking around I saw all these familiar faces and think about random stuff that pops into my head: Why does Tobias wear that headband so much? He isn't an athlete, so why bother? He keeps hitting on so many girls here, some with boyfriends, and tries to seem like this ladies' man. He's got to call it quits. For a cotton-ball, or whatever he's supposed to be, he doesn't go anywhere far for a spoiled rich kid. Imagine what I would do with that kind of money? You know, dumb stuff like that.

I know it's weird to say, but I'm going to say it anyway. After all, I'm just saying whatever comes to mind. Sometimes when she's not here, I like to think about other people. Not like what do I know about this person, but rather ask a silly question of what would happen if I was going out with that person. You could say I'm having "cheater" thoughts, like I'm contemplating who I'm going to date behind my girlfriend's back and such, but I'm not. Who can say they haven't thought about the possibility of being with someone else, not because they're unhappy but rather to see what it could have been? I'm inexperienced in the dating word, as I like to call it. I haven't had ten girlfriends in a month or have crazy escapades like those hotshots in TV shows or in action movies where they kiss anything that moves (that isn't a guy). Now, I'm twelve years old and I shouldn't be having those kinds of relationships until I'm older, the adults would probably say. However, take a look from my perspective:

In my classroom, I have a couple of possible romantic interests. The most obvious is Sarah, a walking yellow ice cream cone. She's nice and means well, but she resorts to being a stalker. I know this because I have encountered a couple of nasty situations with her in the past. She even confessed that she likes both Darwin and I. It seems pointless to say, going by my guess of Darwin's secret, that he isn't interested. I have a girlfriend, so it's logical to say I don't either. But, then again, why shouldn't I? I'm young, yes. I haven't had that much experience, also yes. But that doesn't necessarily mean I have to stay with Penny the rest of my life. I don't know how Sarah truly is, and given what's on the surface, it isn't fair to say she doesn't have a shot with me or anybody. I don't know, maybe it's me at my most sympathetic or having pity. Still, I can't deny and say that the thought of Sarah and I being more than friends hasn't cross my mind more than once. She's nice, sweet, and kind of cute (but don't you DARE TELL ANYONE!) if you take the chance to know her.

The same can be said about Carrie. I only see her as a friend and nothing more. Sometimes when I walk to classes, people think Carrie and I make a cute couple or something. It usually comes back to bite in the butt because of that incident at the cafeteria. When Carrie was down about how she wants to eat but can't because she's a ghost, Darwin has the most brilliant idea (that's me being sarcastic and vengeful) to let Carrie borrow my body to eat. People saw that as me being nice because I like Carrie, but not in the friendly kind of way. First off, it was Darwin's idea and he probably would have volunteered for it if I wasn't around. Second, the idea of Carrie and I being more than friends only comes up when someone says she and I would "hypothetically" make a cute couple. I think, yeah, what would have been? But only out of curiosity. I can't say I don't think Carrie is not the dating type. There's always someone out there who would love you the second they see you. That just isn't in the cards with Carrie and I. Besides, I can't even touch her, so how would I even…touch her that way? Well, thankfully, that's Darwin's problem to figure out.

And now there's thing with Carmen, I think. I remember when I had to help her out when she and Alan were having some relationship problems. That didn't end so well for me, but we're past that (and how painful it was), I think. Honestly, I think Carmen is sending me some weird signals, or maybe it's just me reading too deep into the symbols. It could mean nothing, and just like this means nothing.

My thoughts aren't my actions and they don't define who I am. On the surface, I'm just Gumball Watterson, who is dating Penny Fitzgerald, and we're happy together. But at the moment, we're technically not together.

Miss Simian has finally started class after ten minutes of her so-called coffee break and began teaching, at least that's what she thinks she's doing. Penny didn't come to class this period.

Passing period is, depending where you're coming from and where you go, can be a pain. Worse case scenario: You have four minutes to get from one end of the building at the first floor to getting across the other end of the school (say one is the North Pole and the latter the South Pole) at the third floor. And getting up from the stairs is the real challenge. If you can get through a crowd going up from the DOWN stairs and people going down at the UP stairs, where security guards are constantly reporting students to Principal Brown, you have yourself a video game level that becomes the single hardest thing to accomplish. But that doesn't happen to me, and it's hard to watch people suffer through those kind of things.

I just thought that deserved some attention. Move along.

Physics is, for lack of a better word, more about math than science. I mean it's boring and really makes you feel dumb when the teacher decides to reveal the answer and you ponder why you couldn't get it the first time. In other words, I'm not a fan of this class.

Today I got paired up with Molly, who, according to her, is a sauropod (which means, for me, a small dinosaur of sorts), for our assignment. I would have chosen Penny as my partner because a) she's my girlfriend, and I'm not going to pass up the chance to work with her and b) she's really smart and actually helps me understand the work better than Mr. Fletcher, who more or less reminds me of a washed up porcupine. I mean, he has this loft of long white hair with his claws desperately needing a manicure, but it's really unclear what he is. Heck, he needs thick glasses to see and when he takes it off his face is wrinkled and looks as if his skull is eating his skin, if that makes sense and is not that graphic for a description.

Luckily, today is an easy day as he only gave us group problems we just need to solve. And they're simple enough. When we got the paper, Molly passed it down to me first to write my name. A nice gesture as I signed it, but when I passed it back to her she just stared at it, almost as if she was hypnotized by it.

"Molly?" I said. I waved my hand in front of her and she came back.

"Sorry," Molly said in a sort of a nasally voice, but she could have a cold. "Sorry, I wasn't acting like myself."

"No problem, let's just finish this up so we don't have homework over break."

"I know what you mean," she said. I thought that would be the end of it and we could get to work, but she kept going. "One time, from Miss Simian's class, I had to return my essay on German literature, but she kept an hour after school when she said I never turned it in, only for her to find out that I did turn it in. I ended up missed my cousin's thirteenth birthday party and it was such a disaster. I mean, this one time when we were little we—"

Oh my word, I have let open a chatterbox, and not a very interesting one. Either way, I completely screwed myself over with this. I mean, she kept on going and going and wouldn't you know it, ten minutes had passed and we haven't even started on one problem.

"—I also found out that my dad, who was secretly—"

"Molly," I interrupted and she stopped. Silence. I had forgotten how that sound like. "We really need to finish this. And I'm sure what has happened in the past is very intriguing, but we do need to finish this."

"Of course, Gumball," she said with a smile. "Anything for you."

I didn't know how to take that, so I tried wisecracking: "Well this is for Mr. Fletcher, so you'll do anything for him."

She started laughing so hard, I swear a rib must have broken. I would feel good about this, but it wasn't that funny of a joke. I just said that to, well what else, say something witty. It just came out awful.

I checked the time again and saw that according to the clock three minutes had passed. And she's still laughing!

"Molly," I started, but she didn't hear me. I would have thought by now that Mr. Fletcher would have something to say about this, but little did I know he fell asleep. I mean, I don't know how that happened. This man just knocked out when I needed him the most to shut someone up. I guess this man was bored from Molly's stories that he couldn't take it anymore. Heh, heh.

Looking back a year ago, I now realize that I regret telling Darwin to take Earth & Space Science instead of Physics. It was a time when I felt we were getting a little too close, and I felt a little space during some classes could do him some good. I mean this was during a time when I thought kids could decide who they can be classmates with and such, but that came to bite me in the rear more than I can remember.

Finally, with all this going through my head, I decided to stop her. "Molly!" I said, but maybe a bit too loud. I saw that everyone else in the room was looking at me. Not the first time that has happened, but not for the same reason. I tried to do this as gently as possible. "Molly, could we please get some work done? We really need to finish this or else we have to work on this during break."

She paused for a bit, and I thought she was finally registering this into her head. I was wrong. "Is that a bad thing?" There a hint of sadness in her voice, but a hint in school doesn't mean the same thing as subtly. Everyone could hear and tell she was sad.

"What do you mean?"

"You say it like it's a bad thing," she said, softly now.

"Well, I mean, you don't want to have homework over days-off. I'm not saying it's a bad thing to have homework, but—"

"But you don't want to work with me. Is that it?" I could see the water building up in her eyes. I was so confused.

"Where are you going this?" I bluntly said.

Her cheeks were turning red (and honestly, why does that have to be the biggest hint of all), and she began looking at her hands as they were circling each other going up and around. Did she have a crush on me? I asked myself. Now, you could take this as me having an ego to assume every girl likes me that way or think I'm extremely paranoid about these things. I'd choose the latter in this case.

"Molly," I said, and suddenly I felt myself getting hot. My chest seemed like it was on fire and when I turned around I felt numb. I was embarrassed, no way around it, but the look in Molly's eyes when she saw that my cheeks were turning red was a bad sign. A very bad sign. "We have to get to work on this," I said putting back the main focus on what should have been it anyway.

She bit her (Oh crap) and quickly took part in this.

"Yes, Gumball. I'm sorry," she finally said. She cleared herself of any sign of tears, but the damage was done. I touched on some personal ground, and obviously that's not what I had intended.

"I'm sorry too," I said, "so let's just get this done and over with."

"Sure." That was the last word I heard from Molly until the bell rang.

This was getting very uncomfortable for me, considering what I'm going through today. It's not something terrible or anything, but it's enough to take notice. I met up with Darwin at the lockers and we proceeded to our next class. I told him about what happened in there with Molly.

"Wow," he said, taking it all in. "That's rough."

"I know. Worse yet, I don't know why she did that. I mean, yeah maybe she has feelings for me, but I don't know."

"It sure seems like it."

I sighed. "Yeah, but it sounds crazy. Molly and I aren't even good friends. You know this too."

"Well, can you blame her? Molly doesn't get around that much, so maybe she's looking for a friend."

He could be right. "True, but why me? I mean, there's definitely people she could be friends with. Bobert could be her friend. Those Eggheads can be too. Heck, why not rejoin the cheerleading squad after being gone for a while."

"I don't know, but it's a lot to take in."

"Yeah, but…"

"Look, maybe she's going through some tough things right now. This backs up what I said earlier about needing a friend, and she probably thought you could be her friend."

"I know, but it all just sounds weird and it confuses me."

"Well great! Life is confusing! And here I thought winning the lottery had a one in ten chance to win, not one in a million."

I chuckled a bit. "For a fish who deems me for having way too much of a sense of humor, you got yourself being sarcastic."

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. But hey, at least I'm taking you seriously."

"That's true. Oh and by the way, your shoelaces are untied."

"What?" Darwin glanced down and knew he had been fooled. "Come on! Have one decent moment of weakness."

"I'm sorry, but you made it too easy for me not to resist."

"Well, try to take this seriously: Molly is heading right towards us," Darwin pointed out.

She was walking in our direction, and I did feel I owed her an apology. It's not every day you have to say sorry for an awkward moment. But I had to give her something to at least make this an open-and-shut case.

"All right, I'm going to say sorry."

"What! Why?" And before he can say anymore, I left walking towards Molly.

I waved right at her and said hello.

She waved back, "Hello Gumball! Nice to see you!" Still with that nasally voice, but it will pass, hopefully.

"Yeah, listen, this is not easy to say," I began.

"Well, please do hurry, I'm going to miss art class."

I guess it makes sense you want to hurry someone up with their words for fearing you'd be late for class, but it's almost like she didn't care what just happened last period.

"All right. I just want to apologize for what happened in Physics."

She kept her smile, cheerful and upbeat, which wasn't what I expected. "What do you mean?"

I was at a loss for words, stuttering or mixing them up, but it was so strange. Finally it came out. "You don't remember what just happened last period?"

"Well, I do remember Physics being boring and Mr. Fletcher falling asleep, but I guess I fell asleep too. I don't recall him giving any homework assignments. Did he give something out?"

Now I was truly confused, puzzled even. "What about your breakdown?"

"What breakdown?" she asked, but saw what time it was and knew she had to leave. "Listen, could we talk about this later? I really can't have another tardy pass this month, or I'll get a call to my parents. See you later." And with that, she was gone, leaving me more dumbfounded than anything you could possibly imagine.

The warning bell went off and I ran as fast as I could to Psychology and barely made it with five seconds to spare. Darwin was waiting for me, and when I came in he immediately went up to me and asked how it went.

All I could say before the bell rang was: "It was like it didn't happened at all!"

I was trying to do this brain worksheet Mrs. Miller assigned us, but I was far too distracted with what just happened. It didn't make any sense. Finally I asked Carmen who was next to me if I could copy her paper, just this once, and she did. That was a first. I told her I would repay her the favor with anything she needed, only I hope this won't result in the last favor I did. I don't think I need to go into more detail than that.

After I copied her paper, I turned it in and went back to my seat.

Darwin was halfway through, but I have to tell him. Mrs. Miller, a scaly crocodile wearing a red vest and nothing else, which sounds bad but not as what you would think, said after we were done we could talk to our "neighbor", a phrase teachers say to mean students around us, which still makes no sense to me, if we were done and if we remain below a #2 speaking level.

"What is it?" he asked, struggling to what appeared to be the frontal lobe, but was actually…you know, I actually forgot the right answer. I got up and went back to check my sheet and it was the frontal lobe. Good for me, I actually didn't know that. Anyway, I turned my seat towards Darwin's desk, whose was just behind mine. I told him I couldn't wait after class and I explained what happened in the hallway.

"What do you think?" It wasn't necessary to ask, but then again nothing really is.

"Look," he began, putting his paper aside, "despite what you may think, it could just be Molly denying what happened so she doesn't have to confront her problems."

He had a point, again. But there still could be possibilities. "Maybe, but why would she do that?"

"Come on," he sighed. "Molly, if my theory is correct, is going through a lot and this incident at Physics would only make things worse. What better way to just forget the problem? You deny it ever happened. Case closed."

"Yeah, but Molly didn't look like she was troubled. She looked at me and thought I was crazy."

"Well, maybe you are crazy. I mean, people like to gossip and I haven't heard anyone talking about what happened in Physics."

"True, but it's only been an hour. Plus, I don't think word would circulate over a girl who possibly got a little emotional. Plus, they don't even know her name. You can't get much if you don't know the person's name." It was true, but then again I barely knew people in Physics. The only other people that I knew that were in class were Tobias and Idaho, who is a just a walking potato. (So imaginative!) Those two would have said something, but they sat in the back while Molly and I were in the front. I didn't know people well there, so I can't vouch for any of them to have spread around something like this, you know?

"Yeah, but can anyone else back up what happened there?"

I sighed. "Besides Mr. Fletcher, who even then was knocked out, I can't think of anyone else that I know of who could back me up."

"Exactly! So maybe it's just nothing and if it is, we just have to wait it out. Until then, there's nothing we can do, Gumball."

"You're right," I admitted. I'm man enough to say I was wrong. But—

"Oh by the way, your—"

"—shoelaces are untied?" Darwin interrupted, holding on that cocky grin. "Really?"

"Hey, can't fault a guy for trying." And with that, I went back to my seat and just stared at the clock, waiting for the bell to ring.

With only five minutes left, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I thought it was Darwin trying to tell me something, hopefully that he was wrong. But it wasn't. It was Carmen.

"Yeah," I said.

"Can I tell you something after this period ends?"

Amused, I said sure. Although I did wonder why she couldn't tell me right now what she wanted, but I guess she wanted to say it to me privately… All right, that doesn't sound too good to me, but too much has happened for me to really be bothered by this. She's a friend, and I can't be paranoid for what could just be good conversation.

The bell rang and I packed up my things and went out the door. I almost forgot about Carmen when I saw she was still putting things away, so I decided to wait. I told Darwin I would talk to him later as he passed by, and when the room was empty Carmen came up to me as she got out.

As she was coming up to me, I said what did she wanted to talk about.

"Huh?" She looked confused.

I reminded her, "You know, you just tapped my shoulder a few minutes ago and said you wanted to tell me something after this class ended."

"I did?" she said.

This was getting annoying. "Yeah, don't you remember? This was just a few minutes ago."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about."

All right, maybe it's just me. "My bad. I'm just going through some stuff and maybe I mistook what just happened in there."

She looked pleased, as if this was over and done with. "Yeah, I guess so." But before she could add anything else, she turned and realized she left her bag on the table. Feeling bad I took enough of her time, I told her I would get it and walked into the room.

She followed me and said, "Still, it's no big…"

I turned back to her and saw her standing still. "No big what?"

She started laughing a bit, "Sorry, it' nothing."

"What is?"

"Well," she began, giggling a bit—giggling!—"you know?"

I didn't want to know. I quickly grabbed her bag and gave it to her and I bid her good day and left. I think you could safely say I'm going a little crazy here.