The next day was hell for Ned and Moze. While everyone was happy, singing and dancing, Ned was hiding from Moze and Suzie. Suzie would kill him if she found out about the kiss and he may have ruined his friendship with Moze forever. But he couldn't dwell on that now, he had to keep Moze and Suzie from talking, and they were both coming his way! Without thinking, he sent Cookie to distract Moze while he talked to Suzie.
"Hey Suzie!" he said, trying to be nonchalant.
"Hi Ned, I had a great time last night, considering what happened…" she said.
"You know!!!" Ned panicked. How could she know?
"Yeah Jennifer told me. It's ok, everyone gets sick sometimes, you just have to make it up to me, we'll go on another date soon. I'll see you later, ok?" she said and walked off. Ned breathed a sigh of relief. He thought he was dead for sure. Now all he had to do was find Moze.
Moze had a different problem. She didn't know how she felt. She felt sorry that Jock had seen them, she was starting to like him again, or so she'd thought. But she knew she'd have to tell Suzie. Suzie was her best friend, she'd never trust her if she didn't. But how? And what about Ned? How did he feel about everything that had happened? Did he care that he had kissed her instead of Suzie? It was too much, she needed advice. She went back to her locker to get some books, but Mr. Chopsaw was there, taking pictures of it. She decided to ask him for advice, after all, he was her favorite teacher.
"Mr. Chopsaw, I need your advice. Say a piece of balsa wood and a piece of maple are together but the balsa accidentally kisses the oak. Should the oak and the balsa tell the maple?" she asked, thinking as she did how ridiculous it sounded.
"Well that's a problem you see, because trees can't talk" he said with a smile.
"I kissed Ned when he was dating Suzie!" she said impatiently.
"Oh, well the oak should tell the maple, or else the maple wont trust the oak and they would never be friends again" he said metaphorically.
"You're right! Thanks Mr. Chopsaw!" Moze said as she hurried off.
"You're welcome, though I have no idea what I just said" he replied.
But Ned had needed advice too, so he went to none other than Gordy.
"I need help. Should I tell Suzie what happened?" Ned asked, a little nervous.
"Yeah, if she finds out from somebody else, you're dead in the water. But if you tell her, it lowers the anger rate and you two will be happy couple before long" he said, using dolls for visual effects.
"Ok, you're right, I'll tell her. Thanks Gordy' Ned said before hurrying off to find Suzie.
They both saw her at the same time, walking down the hall towards her next class. Then they saw each other.
"I want to tell her!" they both screamed.
"No I want to!" in perfect sync.
"SUZIE!" they cried before covering each others mouths. Walking with their hands still covering each others mouths, they started mumbling about the kiss in incomprehensible gibberish.
"Is this about you two kissing at the dance last night?" she asked bemused.
"You know!?!" they both yelled.
"Yeah, Jock told me last night. I was just trying to see if you'd make a trustworthy friend and you'd make a trustworthy boyfriend. You passed" she said nonchalantly as she walked away. "See you tomorrow!" she called over her shoulder.
"I can't believe we let this ruin our last day" Ned said as they boarded the bus.
"Yeah me neither. I mean, who'd've thought that a little kiss would mean so much?" Moze said.
"Yeah I didn't feel a thing; it was like kissing a wall!" Ned exclaimed.
"Yeah, kissing a wall that couldn't kiss!" Moze laughed.
"We could do it again and it would mean nothing" Ned said. Suddenly the two leaned forward and kissed again.
"See, nothing…" Moze said uncertainly. Cookie who had seen nothing, sat between them and talked about how great grade eight would be. That is, if they survived the summer.