Prologue

Calvin walked down the halls of Hill High School. Until he saw her. Susie Derkins was standing at her locker. Her dark brown hair tied back in a tiny ponytail with her bangs covering her forehead. Her t-shirt hanging loosely around her body, unlike her jeans, which clung tightly to her thighs. Susie had changed over ten years. She became more of a tomboy; she wore men's shoes, her hair never touched her shoulders, and she never wore makeup. She was perfect. And Calvin was in love with her.

Chapter 1

Calvin swiftly walked into Room 34, Mrs. Sherman's history class. Susie was already in her seat, and Calvin was lucky enough that he was seated right next to her and get a good look at her profile.

"Hey Susie," Calvin said as he plopped down in his seat.

"What do you want?" Susie asked, sounding tired.

"Nothing. I just wanted to say hi," said Calvin, taking out a pencil. Susie slumped down on the desk, her head on her arms. "Why does your hair look like it got hit by lightning?"

"It's gel."

Just as Susie was about to respond, Mrs. Sherman got up from her desk and started writing something on the board. Seeing this, Susie lifted her head from her desk and sat up. Calvin sighed and shifted his body so he was facing the front. Mrs. Sherman, now finished writing on the board, grabbed some papers from her desk and began to pass them out. When Calvin received his paper, he quickly glanced at it. The title read "Civil War Project".

Only seconds later, Mrs. Sherman announced," Ok class, for your semester grade, you're going to do a project on the Civil War." The class groaned. "You will be working in partners, which have already been chosen." Yet again, the class groaned. "The partners are… Sophia and Haley…Martin and Emily…Calvin and Susie…" Calvin immediately turned towards Susie.

"So…," Susie said unenthusiastically. "Should I come over to your house or should you.."

"Come over to my house tomorrow. My parents won't be home."

"Ok," Susie said, and then she turned away. Calvin turned back towards the teacher, and smiled.

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Calvin hopped off the school bus and onto the snowy sidewalk. He waved to Susie before walking to his house. When he reached the front door, he opened it and yelled,"I'M HOME!" Before he could take a step forward, a fuzz ball of orange and black tackled him into the snow.

"Thanks Hobbes. Now I'm all wet!" Calvin whined.

The furry head of the tiger popped out of the snow. "You're welcome!"

"Come on let's go inside." Calvin stood up and walked inside the warm house. Hobbes bounded inside, hoping to get some tuna sandwich. Hobbes closed the door behind him and followed Calvin into the kitchen.

"Will you make me a sandwich?" Hobbes hopefully asked as Calvin was digging through the refrigerator. Calvin sighed. "Fine."

"Soo… how was school?" Hobbes wondered, overlooking the creating of his sandwich.

"Great," Calvin responded while spooning the tuna from the can.

"Why was it so great?"

"Because we're doing a project in history and Susie's my partner."

"Why is that a good thing?"

"She's coming over tomorrow to work on it."

"I'm confused."

"I like her, ok?"

"Like her? Or LIKE like her?"

"Like like her."

Hobbes began pawing through Calvin's backpack.

"What are you doing?" Calvin asked, trying to see what Hobbes was doing.

"Looking for weed," Hobbes said.

"I'm not doing drugs," Calvin said.

"Mm-hmm. Last time I checked, you hated her."

"People can change." Calvin handed Hobbes his sandwich. Hobbes took a bite and thought for a moment.

"She has boobs doesn't she?" Hobbes asked randomly.

"Huh?" Calvin responded, trudging up the stairs with his backpack slung over his shoulder.

"I said," Hobbes said in between bites of his delicious sandwich, "she has boobs doesn't she?"

"Yeah," Calvin said as he reached the top of the stairs. "Don't all girls?"

"Yes. Is that why you like her?"

"That's 5% of why I like," Calvin said as he opened the door to his room.

"What's the other 95?"

"Umm… I like her face, her hair, her eyes (they're really intimidating), her clothes, her personality, her body, etc.," Calvin said after he plopped down on his bed.

Hobbes sat down on the floor. "Wow. You gonna make a move tomorrow?"

"I don't know. I'm thinking about it."

"If you don't make a move, the your relationship will go nowhere.

"Yeah. I'll do it. Come on, let's work on my homework."