It had been a normal day in the office of Third Street Elementary School. Well, about as normal as it had been lately. Menlo glanced up at Randall who was sitting quietly in a chair, keeping to himself and kicking his feet back and forth. Menlo didn't know why Randall had been coming into the office for the past week or so, but he knew what started it.
It was an absolutely horrible day. Why, you might ask? Menlo's alarm didn't go off and he woke up an entire seven minutes late! He had never been so late before. His day didn't get any better from there. When he got to class he realized that because of his rushing that morning he had forgotten to pack his homework. And then later, the coffee maker wasn't working correctly and he had to make it several times to get it right. All of this made it hard for Menlo to organize his mind. And by the time he was told to fetch Gelman and take him to the office he was in a bad mood.
Menlo walked briskly across the playground. Gelman wasn't hard to find; he was a large boy after all. It also helped that he was currently holding Randall up by his shirt off of the ground and shaking him. Randall was struggling and he seemed terrified. He seemed to be trying to convince Gelman to let him go, but it didn't seem to be working. Menlo felt sympathy for him, but he had to shove it away. He needed to get this over with. Every second spent out here was another second he was off of his schedule.
"Gelman, put Mr. Weems down. Principal Prickly wants you in his office right now. Come with me please." There. Short, formal and right to the point. Gelman couldn't possibly argue.
"No way! I'm not going with you! I'm busy. Get lost, dweeb!" That was the last straw for Menlo. His whole day had been a complete mess and he wasn't going to let this disorganized brute ruin it even further! All he wanted was for one thing to go right today. The frustration and anger that had been building up all day was coming to a head. He tried to keep it in check. He grabbed Randall's wrist firmly and glared at Gelman.
"Put Randall down, Gelman. You're coming with me to the office. Now." Menlo did his best to keep his voice calm. Gelman glared back at him for a moment, but something in Menlo's expression must have told him that arguing would be a bad idea because he actually put Randall down and let him go. Menlo was delighted that something was actually going right for him today, but that didn't mean he was about to let his guard down. He pulled Randall away from Gelman and behind himself. He didn't want Gelman changing his mind and trying to make a grab for him again.
"Now, please go to Principal Prickly's office." Gelman hesitated for a moment before finally walking towards the school. Normally, Menlo might talk to Randall now, but with the day he'd had he felt he shouldn't push his luck. It was better to just go back to the office. He could always talk to Randall later. So, he released Randall and followed Gelman. He wasn't going to take his eyes off of Gelman until he was in the office.
The next day, Menlo kept getting the feeling that someone was watching him. He got that feeling a few times in class and even once in his office. It never lasted long, but it was annoying. It didn't escape his notice that every time he looked around to see who was watching him he saw Randall nearby.
Then, the day after that, Randall came into the office. This wasn't unusual in itself. Randall would occasionally come in to get something out of the lost and found. And usually he'd talk with Menlo then. The two of them were friendly, but they never really hung out much. Randall was usually busy out on the playground and Menlo stayed in the office a lot and didn't really schedule times to hang out with anyone. Randall couldn't have come into the office more often, but Menlo thought that he may have still been sore about the time Menlo broke up their partnership that one time. Either way, Randall really only came in for a reason, but this day different.
Randall seemed to just kind of wander into the office a few minutes before the end of recess. This already wasn't normal for him, but then he didn't even go straight to Menlo like he usually did. That was really weird. Instead of asking for the lost and found box or whatever he wanted, he started talking about Miss Finster. It soon became obvious that he didn't know what to say and was just talking because he was nervous. After all, he never came in just to talk to Menlo. Menlo didn't really understand why Randall would be nervous and he would have told him right then that he was ruining Menlo's focus on his work, but it was so close to class time that there didn't seem to be much of a point. Besides, Randall's weirdness wasn't his concern. If Randall was nervous about something he'd say it. The next day was different, however.
The next day, Randall came in a whole seven minutes before the end of recess and started meandering around the room and talking nervously again…
"…So, then Miss Finster said—Hey! I never noticed this befo—OW!" Menlo's ball-point pen skidded out of the small square on the form he was working on. He glared down at the offending mark on his otherwise perfect form. Now the whole thing was ruined! This was the third time this had happened. He scowled up at the other boy who had his finger in his mouth and was putting the small cactus back in its place.
"Randall! Must you chatter and wander around and—and touch things?! I can't concentrate!" Menlo's glare melted at the sight of Randall. He looked as if someone had slapped him in the face. He looked hurt. Menlo suddenly couldn't look at him, so he sat back down and stared at his desk. He hadn't even known that he had stood up in the first place. Menlo hadn't meant to hurt Randall; he merely wanted to do his work. He shouldn't have lost his temper. "That is…I would be perfectly glad to let you stay here if you'd sit down and be quiet while I work…Please." The office was silent for a precious few seconds before he finally heard Randall walk to the chair and sit down. Menlo let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding. He realized that he didn't want Randall to leave. At least, he didn't want Randall to leave because he was upset at him. He glanced up at Randall and gave him a small smile before getting out a new form and starting on it again.
The next days were more of the same. Randall would come in for longer and longer periods of time and he would sit down in the chair, letting Menlo work. They'd greet each other, but the rest of the time the office was fairly silent. The nervous energy that had surrounded him was disappearing more and more each day. Menlo still didn't know why he kept coming to the office each day, but he was getting used to the other boy's presence. It alleviated some of the loneliness he felt occasionally.
The only downside to Randall being in the office was that the last couple of days he kept fidgeting in his chair and looking out the window. He was worried about something. Menlo could only assume that he was worried about his job with Miss Finster. The more time he spent in the office, the less time spent finding people to tattle on. And now he was staying for nearly half of recess. That confused Menlo even more. He didn't completely understand why, but he knew Randall enjoyed snitching on people for Miss Finster. Why would he rather stay here with Menlo than doing that?
Menlo stopped his work for a moment to study Randall. The red-headed boy was sitting in the chair, kicking his legs back and forth. He was looking down and he seemed to be lost in thought. About what, Menlo wasn't sure. Ms. Lemon didn't seem to mind his being in here. The couple of times she came to give him more work she hadn't said a word about him.
He glanced at the clock and nearly gasped. It was a whole minute later than he thought! He was late! Menlo quickly grabbed his school books off of the floor and placed them on his desk. Unfortunately, he didn't get ahead of his schedule and never got a chance to do some extra studying.
"It's time for us to go back to class, Randall." Menlo turned to tidy up the papers he was working on. He was glad he didn't have anything extra to do and that he didn't have to stay during class. He bent over to grab his bag.
"H-hey, those books look heavy. Um…W-why don't you let m-me carry them for you, Menlo?"
"Wait…What?" Menlo looked up, but it was already too late; Randall had already grabbed his books and was heading out the door. Menlo didn't even know what to think. He thought he was confused by Randall's behavior before, but now he was completely baffled. All he could do was grab his bag and head out the door after him.
The hall was fairly empty. There were a few teachers talking and several students were busy walking to their classes. None of them were paying attention to the two fourth graders. Still, there would have been fewer people if Menlo had been watching the clock more closely.
He caught up to the shorter boy, but he didn't know what to say. What could he say? Why did Randall want to carry his books? There was nothing of interest to him in them. He would have argued with him about it, but they were already behind schedule. And, for whatever reason, he didn't want everyone in the hall's eyes on them. Finally, they were there.
Menlo opened the door for Randall since his hands were full. The other boy gave him a nervous smile and walked into the classroom. Menlo lowered his head and looked away. He still didn't know how to react to Randall's odd behavior. As Menlo followed him into the room he realized that his face felt a bit warm. He cleared his throat and fixed his tie in an attempt to distract himself from whatever was going on. Hopefully, whatever was causing Randall to act so strange wasn't catching. Thankfully, it seemed like they were the first ones here.
"Uh…there!" Randall placed the books on Menlo's desk before giving him another nervous smile and going to his own seat on the other side of the room. Menlo swallowed and walked over to his desk.
"Thank you," he mumbled before putting his books away in their proper place and taking his notebook and pen out. What else could he say? His mind was a jumbled mess. It felt like there was this swirling, confusing mass of emotions in his head. The thought of such a disorganized thing made him feel a bit nauseous. Part of him felt…delighted?...flattered? that Randall wanted to carry his books. But that just added to his overall confusion. He wanted to sort it all out, but he wasn't sure if he should. The thought frightened him for some reason. Soon, he felt too nauseous to think about it further. He pushed it to the back of his mind and focused on the more organized parts as he watched the other students come in to the classroom.
The relative silence of the room was broken as their classmates came in. Menlo ignored the others, instead searching for the girl with the blonde hair who always wore pink and gray and who he loved to see every day. He was practically on the edge of his seat as he watched each person come in. Every time, he'd expect her, but then someone else would come through the door. Finally, he saw her and he sat up as straight as he could.
Ashley A. was a vision of beauty. Her hair didn't have a single knot or split end. Her nails were perfectly manicured. Her clothes didn't have a single wrinkle. Everything about her was perfect. Menlo smiled at her, but she was too enthralled in a conversation with Ashley B. to notice. Instead, she walked past him and sat in the next row three seats back.
Menlo's shoulder's slumped. Would Ashley A. ever like him? She tended to ignore him or even stay away from him. The only time she willingly had anything to do with him was the one time she let him carry her books…
Then everything snapped into place. Randall wanted to carry his books just like Menlo wanted to carry Ashley A.'s. Did that mean he… The swirling mass seemed to right itself. It fit just about perfectly with everything else.
But…he just…he couldn't…could he? Was it even possible? His stomach felt like it was twisting and turning at the thought of having to deal with something like this. No one had ever had a crush on him before. At least, that he knew of. He wasn't really sure what to think about it yet.
Menlo thought back to movies and shows he'd seen. The people who were together were always a boy and a girl. And when he heard about people having crushes it always seemed to be a boy and a girl. He knew didn't make it impossible, but maybe this…thing with Randall was different. His stomach calmed down.
"Menlo! Class has started. Pay attention!"
Menlo nearly jumped out of his seat. He looked up and saw that Miss Finster was here and that, indeed, class had started.
"Yes, ma'am," he muttered as he slid lower in his seat. How could he let himself get so distracted?
He needed to deal with this thing with Randall. But how could he? He wasn't very good with these kinds of things. He didn't even know how to get Ashley A. to notice him. What was he supposed to do about…this? He needed help.
Menlo scanned the playground. Swinger Girl was the only one on the swings, two 2nd graders were playing in the sandbox, and a couple of 6th graders were playing tetherball. Unfortunately, none of them would be helpful to him.
"Hey, Menlo!" Menlo turned to see Randall running up to him, grinning. Menlo gave him a small smile back. He felt nervous and his stomach was flipping and flopping too much for more than that. He hoped that, if Randall did like him, he wouldn't want to know how Menlo felt right this second. Randall took off the headphones to his listening dish before he continued. "So…um…You're taking a break?" Menlo hesitated for a moment, shifting his weight.
"Yes, I am, but—"
Randall! You two had better be talking about the ne'er do wells you've caught!" Miss Finster came out from around the corner. She was several yards away and she was tapping her foot angrily.
"Sorry, Miss Finster." Randall turned back to him. "Uh, I guess I'll see you later." He ran over to her before Menlo could say anything. It was just as well; he needed to find someone who would help him.
He didn't really know who he could go to. He didn't really have any close friends he could talk to. He did once, though…And he thought he knew just where to find him. Menlo quickly walked over to the climbing dome.
Just as he thought. TJ and his friends were on it, talking and laughing amongst themselves. He hoped TJ would help him. If not, he wasn't sure who else he could go to. They quieted down as Menlo approached them.
"Was there something you needed, Menlo?" TJ said from the very top of the dome.
"Y-Yes, if I could have a moment of your time TJ…Alone, that is…" Menlo shifted his weight nervously. TJ frowned and turned to his friends before jumping down from the dome. Menlo let him lead the way across the playground.
They stopped at the edge of the old abandoned part of the playground, behind some bushes that separated the area from the rest of the schoolyard. Menlo turned and started scanning the playground before TJ could say anything. He must have looked over it at least ten times before he finally found Randall skulking around the Ashleys' clubhouse. Too far for him to overhear them. Perfect. He sighed and turned back to TJ.
"So, what did you want to talk about?"
Menlo took a deep breath. "Crushes." TJ frowned.
"Well, I know you like Ashley A. — "
"No, no. I mean Randall." TJ's eyes widened. That came out wrong. "No! I…I mean…" Menlo quickly launched into telling him everything that had happened. TJ looked pensive by the end of it. So, was it a crush or was Menlo just misinterpreting it?
"It sounds like a crush to me." Menlo wasn't sure how to feel about that. The thought that someone would feel about him the way he felt about Ashley A. was mind-boggling. None of that really mattered though. "So, what are you going to do?"
"I suppose I'll have to figure out a way to let him down gently. I don't have time in my schedule for anything like that." The other boy's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"Menlo, schedules shouldn't keep you from being with someone!"
"Maybe you can say that! But I need to keep my schedule immaculate! I have many important things I need to do—" TJ placed his hands on Menlo's shoulders to calm him down.
"Come on, Menlo. That's not a good reason to not give it a try. I know you can change things around in your schedule and still be able to do everything you need to. If anyone can do it, it's you." TJ gave him a big smile and Menlo couldn't help but smile back.
"Well, I am good at scheduling." His smile quickly disappeared. His stomach felt like it was twisting in knots again. "But then what should I do?"
"That depends on whether you like him back." TJ dropped his hands from Menlo's shoulders.
"I don't know…" Menlo bit his lip and started to fiddle with his tie to distract himself from the pain in his stomach. He didn't want to tell Randall he didn't like him back and possibly lose his friendship, but he also wasn't sure if he should say he did like him back either. He didn't know what would happen then, if they got together. How would things change? Then part of him was still concerned that he was wrong about the whole situation and Randall didn't like like him.
"Then I can't really help. I think you need to figure that out first. But I promise that whatever you decide I'll help you if you need it." Menlo smiled. Just hearing that made him feel much better.
"Thanks, TJ." TJ smiled back at him. Menlo was glad that he and TJ could still get along on days other than his birthday.
"Promise me one thing, though… Please don't try to take over the whole playground again." Both of them chuckled.
"Don't worry. I have no plans to do that again."
Menlo firmly pressed the rubber stamp on to the form before putting it with the other stamped forms and moving on to the next one. He looked up at Randall as he pressed the stamp into the ink pad.
The other boy was currently at the filing cabinet, looking for just the right place in the M section. Menlo was keeping close track of which papers Randall had already done. When he found it he put the paper in. normally, Menlo wouldn't trust anyone but himself with the files, but he really hated seeing Randall so worried about possibly letting Miss Finster down while he was in here and not outside. And he had been quiet and let him work when he asked him to. So Menlo decided to trust him and gave him a few easy to file papers that weren't too important to keep him busy. Nothing had gone wrong yet. And Randall didn't appear worried either. Menlo deemed his plan a success and he smiled to himself as he stamped the last paper.
Still, he needed to figure out what to do. He hadn't thought about it since his talk with TJ. It wasn't like him to put off something important like that—he hadn't even set aside a time to think about it in his schedule—but every time he thought about it he'd get nervous and his stomach would hurt. Even now he could feel it twisting. But he had to deal with this. He'd have to tell Randall he didn't like him that way and hope he'd still be his friend. Menlo sighed and put the last paper in the pile.
He liked Ashley A., so he couldn't like Randall, right? And he did like Ashley A. Even just her name was beautiful. It was an alliteration and her's was the first name in the file for 4th grade. Menlo had checked it against the other grades and her name was second out of the whole school. She looked beautiful too. Her hair was perfectly silky and straight and the ends were cut evenly. It never had tangles. Her clothes were equally perfect. They were always neat and clean without a single thread out of place. Even her shoes were clean and never had scuff marks.
Randall Weems wasn't an alliteration and was nowhere near the beginning of the alphabet and thus was lost amid all of the other files. Randall's hair was nothing like Ashley's either. It was a short mess of red curls. And while it wasn't a complete mess there were usually a few split ends. He didn't keep his clothes in as great a condition as she did either. Though not lately, Menlo would occasionally see stains or dirt on his shirt and pants from Randall spying in bushes or jumping in puddles. And while they weren't a wrinkled mess they didn't look as nicely ironed out as Ashley A.'s outfits always were.
Menlo got up and grabbed the pile of papers, making sure they were all straight and facing the right way. He looked out the window and watched the other kids play for a moment. He could even see TJ playing four square with his friends. TJ promised to help him…
Okay, Menlo knew he wasn't being completely fair.
While Ashley A. was beautiful and he really liked her, he was pretty sure she didn't like him back the same way. He didn't miss the fact that she had to wrap her books in plastic before she'd let his even touch them. She never talked to him unless she had to. And making her write that note that said she liked him may not have helped matters any. Even Menlo knew it wasn't very likely that she'd burst into the office and say that she liked him back any time soon. She hadn't yet and nothing had really changed.
On the other hand, he was pretty sure Randall liked him, even if he didn't understand why. He liked hanging out with Randall and talking to him when he came into the office. And, aside from the first couple of days, he liked having Randall keep him company while he worked. He even stayed quiet so Menlo could work.
Menlo looked over at Randall who was still in front of the filing cabinet. He looked bored and vaguely frustrated trying to find the right place to put the papers. He didn't want to tell Randall he didn't like him. He did like him. Randall was the closest thing to a friend he had. Or maybe they were friends. And TJ was right. He could fix his schedule so he'd have time for Randall. They could hang out during his breaks. And he could get to school earlier and talk with him then. There were other things he could do. It would be a pain, but it would be worth it.
Suddenly, the decision he had to make seemed much simpler and his stomach relaxed. But he still wasn't sure what to say. Maybe he didn't have to say anything. Randall didn't.
Menlo placed the papers into the basket and he was done for the day. A quick glance at the clock told him that there was plenty of time until recess ended. He turned and watched as Randall put his last paper into the J section, right where it was supposed to go.
"Well, Randall, I think it's time for a break." Menlo walked out from behind the desk and over to him.
"Huh?" Randall pushed the cabinet closed and looked up at him.
"It's time for a break. For both of us." Randall's eyes lit up.
"Really?!"
"Yep. We finished everything for the day." Menlo looked over at the desk and mentally checked everything off of his list. They were definitely done.
"Boss!" Randall grinned and jumped up in excitement. It seemed that filing those papers had really really bored him. Menlo laughed and they walked out of the office. Any nervousness enlo may have still been feeling had vanished completely.
"I'm willing to do whatever you want to do for the rest of recess. As long as it doesn't involve hiding out in garbage."
"Really?" Randall said, even more excited than before. Menlo nodded.
As they walked down the hall together Menlo suddenly had a very strong urge to try something. He bit his lip as he felt his face heat up. He kept his vision aimed straight ahead of him, at the doors, hoping that Randall wouldn't notice. It quickly escalated until it felt like the whole hall was hot and he was sweating. His fingers even began to twitch. He had to try it, even if it might ruin everything. Menlo took a deep breath and took the plunge. He grabbed Randall's hand and held it firmly in his own. There was a terrifying moment where everything seemed to stop and Menlo was sure he had destroyed everything. But finally he felt Randall squeeze his hand back. He let out a breath he hadn't even known he'd been holding and they both grinned and they walked out onto the playground.