II: Tongue Tied

"Aw, C, how do you always manage to get your hair so pretty," one of the girls sitting behind her in class sighed, tugging at her own dull, brown hair.

"Plus, you're always really early to class, don't you even sleep?" the girl next to her blurted out.

C giggled. "Beauty sleep is a myth girls, it's all about good genetics. Plus, the harder you try, the less pretty you'll be, whoever said pretty girls can't be smart didn't know what they were talking about!" She tossed her blonde curls to the side as the other two girls sighed rather jealously at her.

"Settle down children," Roger announced as he finished writing the day's assignments on the black board, "These are the equations you will be solving, I'll have you pair off please..." he trailed off reading from a list.

"A, B, I'd like the two of you to work on problems 1-17 together," he adjusted the glasses on his face as he paired the rest of the children off. A glanced wistfully at C as B clumsily slid his chair next to him. Roger continued calling out pairs.

"...and L, I would like you to work with C on problems 98-112..." his voice droned on as the children rearranged their seats.

C stood up from her desk, smirked, and brushed her blonde curls back. She felt slightly giddy as she skipped to the back of the classroom, it was only a matter of time until they got paired up in class...now was her time to show him...

She had always been a bit infatuated with him.

"Hey L, guess we're partners this week?" she beamed, sitting down next to him. They looked odd sitting side by side, her white blonde hair done up in a pink bow, and his black bangs barley combed and hanging down in front of his eyes.

"Yeah, I suppose," he mumbled, picking up his pencil by the eraser and examining it. Then, holding it at an uncomfortable looking angle he bent down and started to write. "Look, I'll just start with these, you can, um doodle or something..." he trailed off half-heartedly. He wasn't used to working alongside the other students, especially one as social as C. There was something in her enthusiasm that, deep down, he admired, even liked, but on the surface he couldn't understand why she was so cheerful and bubbly all the time...it made him uncomfortable.

"Doodle? Why? You think I'm not up to this?" C bit back rather scathingly. Of course he'd brush her off and work on his own, that's all he ever did, making excuses to avoid all of the other children and be alone. She'd seen it so often, he never wanted to join in on their games, or sit with them in the dining room...no matter how many times he was asked. Mr. Wammy told her that L was just shy and didn't know how to interact well with his peers, but had always encouraged friendship and teamwork among all the students. C didn't understand...what was he so wary of? Why be shy? They'd all known each other since they were little. Every so often, she was able to engage him in some sort of conversation, but he'd always trail off into his own thoughts. Even so, she was fascinated with him, the way he talked, and that absentminded look he got when he was thinking really hard about something. There was a strange peacefulness about him that she wanted, but could never obtain.

"Well...yes...I suppose," L continued writing without even looking at her.

C rolled her eyes; of course he'd play it off as though she wasn't smart, even though she was one of the few students who actually rivaled him intellectually. "You know, I get top marks in this class too," she leaned over him and snatched the pencil out of his hand, "look, you skipped a step too and now you're off by three quarters of a percent." To his surprise she erased his writing and filled in the correct answer.

L gawked at her, "I didn't think you'd catch that. You are quite clever, C..." he trailed off, unable to speak.

"...for a girl?" she giggled, offering him his pencil back.

L's dark eyes met hers for a moment before he muttered, "...for a girl, or anyone for that matter..." Of course he was impressed, he didn't dislike C, he did like her, but at the same time he was never quite sure how to act around her. She reacted to things instead of analyzing them...and perhaps deep down he was a little jealous of her own popularity among the other students. Giving a small sigh he then turned away and began writing again.

"You know L, you don't have to solve them all yourself, let me at least help..." C nudged him. It was a playful nudge, a lighthearted challenge to their own dual of wits.

L gave another small sigh and held up his paper, he would accept the challenge.

"What do you make of this, then?"

C laughed, "Oh that one is easy, it's just straight deduction, see," she scribbled an answer on a scrap of paper and handed it to him. He gave her an incredulous look, this hadn't been the first answer he would have deduced...but it certainly wasn't wrong...but it was reckless and hasty...like C. Still though, he found himself impressed by her bold way of reasoning, it was different, and interesting. But he was still puzzled, this girl was so giggly, so bossy and emotional all the time, didn't that negatively affect her deductive skills? One must always keep a level head, and yet C's emotions were constantly changing, perhaps she was purposely hiding her intelligence to make the other boys pay more attention to her?

"Here, take these problems and I'll finish these, you may check my answers if you see the need to," he pushed the paper between them and went back to writing.

C watched him for a moment before turning to her own paper. She'd accomplished it, a smidge of acceptance from the most unaccepting child in Wammy's. But the brevity of it annoyed her. She'd come this far in getting his attention, but her goal wasn't momentary acceptance and acknowledgment of her own intelligence, no, it was a longing for friendship and camaraderie. C truly believed that, even though she wasn't in line for the future that awaited L, she had more than enough of her own brains to stand as one of his respected peers. It was true her social skills and linguistic prowess were meant as an aid to the children such as B, whom she had been specially designated to, but C knew that she would serve a purpose more than this and that in time Mr. Wammy and the others would realize it.

The two of them worked quietly. C paused every now and then and glanced over at L, writing lightly on his paper. Only his writing hand moved and the rest of him seemed frozen in an attempt to focus all his intellectual energy into one place. C squirmed a bit, not even tricky deduction could make her sit that still. Turning her focus back to her own piece of paper her mind drifted in search of the right path of deduction and quick scribbling. A sudden nudge brought her back to reality. L had pushed his finished pieces of paper towards her and was now watching her with a curious look on his face.

"Well," he whispered, barely audible, "You wanted to compare answers, didn't you?"

"Oh, yeah," C felt a twinge of blush and meekly passed him her messily written notes. "Sorry if you can't read all my writing, my thoughts come out faster than I can write them."

L picked up the paper gingerly between his thumb and pointer finger, letting the light hit the paper at the right angle.

"You follow a fascinating route of reasoning, you know," he muttered, "Some of these conclusions are almost so ridiculous..." he paused and looked back at her apologetically. "Not that they're wrong, I'm just impressed with the boldness of it, that's all."

C blushed. "Well, I figure its up to someone to take the bold path sometimes."

"No, it's very interesting, I've gained an interesting perspective," he flashed a small smile. Just as the bell rang and Roger called to the students to the front of their class to collect their papers.

"Well done L and C," he nodded as he looked over the answers, "It looks like the two of you work well together as a team, you've completed the most problems during class today."

"Of course we did!" C smiled. L did not answer but nodded slightly.

As the two of them left the room with the other children, C grabbed L's sleeve and whispered, "hey, come hang out with all of us later, we're hanging out in my room after dinner, A and B will be there too. We've got a stash of snacks and candy from the pantry!"

L cocked his head at her, confused, as he always was by her outward friendliness

"Well, uh, I..."

"Be there at eight!"

Her eyes had a fascinating sparkle to them

Mr. Wammy's voice echoed in L's head, "L I do wish you would interact with the other children more often, you need to learn to cooperate with others if you are to fulfill the tasks set before you someday...they only want to be your friends." For a moment, he pondered and then decided to give C's own boldness a try for himself.

"Alright, I guess I'll see you then."

"Well, good!" C giggled, then turned and skipped off, waving after him.

As the clock in the front hall chimed eight, L plodded slowly up the staircase to the third floor, lined with rooms that belonged to the various wards of Wammy's House. Of course, he'd rather be alone in the library, studying or reading, but he had told C that he'd come say hello...and Mr. Wammy had told him he needed to play with the other children more. He didn't want to, but something, deep down, drew him to at least try and befriend them. After all, even C's socialness didn't seem to impair her intelligence, it couldn't hurt his either. As he reached the top of the stairs he could hear faint laughter coming from the end of the hallway, and followed the sound until he reached the only door that was cracked half open with a sliver of light dancing out onto the hallway carpet. Before L could even reach for the door it flew open and the cheery voice of A remarked,

"Hey! Look C it's L! You're right, he did come by!"

L sheepishly poked his head through the door and was met by the smiling faces of A, B, and a few of the other older children sitting cross legged on the floor, surrounded by bags of candy, chips and a few bottles of soda pop.

"L! Come in! We're gonna start playing games you're just in time!" C's blonde head appeared from behind A's shoulder, her huge smile flashing pretty little white teeth at him. "Come on haven't you ever played charades before?"

A reached out and tugged L into the room before he could protest and the next thing the shy boy knew he was sitting, cross legged on the floor between A and B watching the other kids act out charades as the room filled with childish giggles from all the others. At first, he wanted so shrink away into the farthest corner of the room but as the first few children gawkily acted out their impressions of giraffes, stock brokers, and the Queen of England even L couldn't manage not to giggle at how ridiculous some of the portrayals were. These other children were his peers, and beyond the classroom he was included as much as any of them, without regard to level of intellect or ranking within Wammy's.

After a while one of the older kids exclaimed "Alright guys, now that the little kids have left, let's play another game!" One of the kids next to A chimed in, as A grabbed an empty, glass soda bottle and suggested, "Spin the bottle anyone?", which was met with a chorus of nervous giggles and laughter.

"Alright, you guys know how to play right?" A's green eyes darted between C and the other girls who remained in the room. "Who ever spins, has to kiss whoever the bottle ends up pointing to! Doesn't matter if its a girl or a boy!" A chorus of giggles ensued as the girls exchanged glances with each other. As L tried to get up to leave, A grabbed his arm and whispered, "Come on stay, it's not that bad, there's enough girls that they pretty much out number us." Before L could retort that he didn't want to spend his evening kissing random students, one of the boys had already spun the bottle and had it land on the girl opposite them. As he leaned over to kiss her on the cheek the other students giggled and whispered among themselves. A few more rounds proved the same as the girls' whispering became louder and each of the boys tried to keep a straight face as they were chosen or as they chose.

"Alright," C put her hands up, "it's my turn now SHHHHH!" The rest of the girls giggled as the little blonde focused on the empty bottle before her. Of course she knew who she wanted it to land on, but the odds were around a dozen to one seeing that the amount of children in the room was more than usual. Even with this, she trusted she could at least garner a little of the good luck some of the other girls had and use it in her favor. Glancing over at A, she giggled to the girl next to her and grabbed the neck of the bottle between her fingers and spun it. The rest of the group watched breathlessly as the bottle wiggled and spun around the group, wondering who it would land on.

L had slunk as far back as he could from the rest of the circle, luckily missing the other girls' (and boys') spins by a couple people or so. As they watched with baited breath the bottle slowed its dizzy spin and came to rest. The entire group drew a sharp inhale of breath and L looked shocked as the bottle came to rest facing...him, as he sat across the circle from the giggling, blonde C.

"Well," one of the girls from the other side of him spoke first, "You gonna chicken out or not?" The comment was apparently directed towards C, rather than L, who giggled nervously as she stared across the circle at him. A slight blush crossed her cheeks as she leaned across and came face to face with the cowering L.

"So, I guess we have to kiss, huh?" she mumbled, her forehead almost touching his. L's eyes widened, mildly horrified that he had let himself get into this kind of activity with the other children. C batted her long eyelashes twice, and looking nervous, closed her eyes, leaned forward, and pushing her blonde forehead against his dark bangs she kissed him directly on the lips.

The rest of the girls gave a collective gasp of horror and L almost reeled back as in pain but C put her arms around his neck to keep him from falling backwards. Her lips were soft and tasted strangely of cotton candy and strawberries and as much as L wanted to pull away, he couldn't seem to. A flush of heat filled his cheeks and though his dark eyes were wide open in a mixture of horror and surprise, he could feel C's long eyelashes against his cheeks. The softness of her lips was less repulsive than he thought it would be.

After what seemed like an eternity, though it was only a few seconds, C pulled away, and looking thoroughly embarrassed, sat back down next to a rather jealous looking A and surprised looking B. The other girls muttered and whispered to themselves as A announced that they would play another game now. L's gaze lingered on C who had turned her face away from him, looking blushed and embarrassed. They would both remember that silly little kiss for years as it hung in the back of their minds.