Wednesday morning brought another maths lesson- I couldn't wait. I just wanted to see the look on Dimmock's face when he worked out he had been tricked. I was actually grinning as I walked into the maths class, my satchel swinging on my shoulder. How Dimmock was in top set maths anyway confused me- then I realized it was probably through a lot of cheating.
The maths teacher, for some reason, handed out the marked work in reverse-alphabetical order, so I got my homework back first. Full marks. Dimmock breathed a sigh of relief- I had to keep myself from laughing.
When Dimmock got his paper back, he stared at it, his mouth forming an 'O'.
"But...but you got full marks!" he gasped. "How did I...?"
"Do I have to spell it out for you?"
"You...you little shit!"
I laughed, unable to stop myself. "Nice of you to catch up." I said, looking at the giant zero on the top of his paper. "You said to do your homework- you didn't say to do it right."
I described the scene at lunch, animatedly- John was crying with laughter, Molly was clutching her sides and laughing silently, and Greg spat Coke all over me when I told him how Dimmock had called me a little shit. That made Molly and John laugh more, and I laughed too, although I was covered in sticky brown liquid.
We had games next- rugby for me, John and Greg, hockey for Molly. I missed her- her company, her smile. I had to remind myself that it was only for a double lesson.
After running a lap of the field- which killed- we had to get into pairs. Greg partnered Andy, I partnered John. I was terrible at rugby- I couldn't get the ball to fly straight, or even, really, in the right direction. My hand-eye co-ordination was pretty good, it just somehow didn't apply to rugby. After that came an hour of matches, which I was terrible in. My teammates- except John- hated me by the end of the lesson.
"That," I panted "was terrible."
John laughed in response.
I had German next; German meant Molly. I had to hold back my grin when the teacher announced we would be doing partner work that lesson with the person we were sat with.
It was a simple pronunciation exercise, based on what we were learning about- houses.
"Wo wohnst du Sherlock?"
"Ich wohne in ein einfamilienhaus auf dem Großstadt . Wo wohnst du, Molly?"
"Ich wohne in einen Dopplehaus auf dem Stadt." and so on. But it was nice to work with her. She laughed at my failed attempts at a German accent, and laughed even harder when I forgot what a bookcase is called and accidentally called it a snail.
The end of German brought the end of the day. Molly and I walked to John and Greg's Spanish classroom- they had opted for Spanish rather than German lessons- but their whole class was being held back by the teacher. I was almost happy; it meant time alone with Molly.
"I still can't believe you called a bookcase a snail!" she said laughing.
"It wasn't a hard mistake to make!" I said, laughing back.
"Yes it was! Regal is completely different to schnecke, and even after I corrected you, you pronounced it ree-gal rather than rey-gal."
"What's the difference?!"
Molly laughed. "I think you should stick to French."
I shrugged, grinning. She looked so pretty, her small, rounded features catching exactly the right amount of autumn sun. I pushed a stray hair back from her face and behind her ear; I didn't even know why, I suppose it was the desire to touch her. She didn't pull away or tell me not to touch her, so I assumed it was okay. She was smiling, and before I realized what I was doing, I leaned in to kiss her. She was leaning in too, closing her eyes, but before we could actually kiss, a swarm of Spanish students came out of the door. She looked at me, blushing but smiling. I grinned back. A minute later, John and Greg came through the door.
"What took you so long?" I asked, tearing my eyes away from Molly. She turned around to face them, too.
"Dimmock got us all held back, basically for acting like an idiot for the whole lesson."
"Now why doesn't that surprise me?" I said sarcastically.
All four of us walked back to the boarding house, Molly telling John and Greg about how I thought snails were the same thing as book cases. I laughed, a little embarrassed. I felt happy, but I was disappointed too; I had almost kissed Molly. I sighed. Next time we're alone, I promised myself.