I sat in math class and doodled on my paper while Mr. Laurinaitis talked about something. A crumpled piece of paper landed on my desk and I looked up to see Francis glance at me. I smoothed it out and read the note.
I overheard Mei saying that she wants to talk to Alfred after class~
At the bottom, I wrote So? Maybe they're gonna make a date or something
A moment later he tossed it back with the note Or perhaps she'll propose! With a little drawing of a heart.
Do people get married after dating for less than a year?
Usually, no
So . . . she's probably not gonna ask him to marry her
wink wink o_^
I glanced at him and he winked twice at me.
"What're you guys talking about?" Al muttered.
"Nothing," Francis whispered, winking again. Al stuck out his tongue and turned away. I shrugged and went back to drawing.
After math class Francis told me to follow him and be quiet. We quietly followed Al until he met with Mei. When that happened, Francis pulled me into the bushes.
"What are we doing?" I whispered.
"Sh!" he hissed. "We're practicing the fine art of eavesdropping."
I frowned at him, but I was curious, so I stayed. Al and Mei moved farther away from the crowds, so we couldn't hear them, but we saw what was happening.
First Mei said something and then Al looked really sad and really mad. Then she said something else and he grabbed her hands and kissed her and said something while smiling. Then they walked away holding hands.
We climbed out of the bushes, attracting stares from some people.
"So . . ." I said. "What happened?"
He shrugged and looked like he was thinking. "It looked like whatever Mei said first upset Alfred . . . but the next thing she said clearly made up for it."
"Yeah, that part was kinda obvious."
We turned to see Gil and Toni coming towards us covered in twigs and leaves.
"I mean," Gil continued, brushing off some of the plant stuff, "anyone could see that, right?"
"Oh, so you two were spying on them too?" Francis asked. Gil and Toni nodded.
"We saw them going off together and I thought 'Hey, let's follow them' so I grabbed Toni and we hid in the bushes," Gil explained cheerfully.
Toni laughed. "So what did you guys think they were saying?"
I shrugged. "We couldn't hear them, so I dunno. Hey Francis, why were we listening to them in the first place?"
Francis smiled. "I told you, it's eavesdropping practice."
"Um . . . okay," I said. "Well . . . we couldn't hear them, and I gotta go to second period, so I'll see you guys later!"
Later, in third period, I sat next to Lovi.
"Hi, Feliciano," he said, getting his stuff out. "You read the book, right?"
"Oh . . . um . . ."
He rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you watched the movie."
I looked up at the ceiling. "Well . . ."
"Goddammit Feliciano."
When class started, Ms. Kim asked us how many of us had finished the book. Everyone raised their hands.
"Good, good," she said, smiling. "Now, keep those hands up if you remember when Dorothy received the ruby slippers."
I kept my hand up, along with a few other people, but most of the class (including Lovi) put their hands down.
"Keep your hands up," she said, taking out her clipboard and writing something down. "And . . . all of you with your hands up? Your grades just went down a point."
"What?" I exclaimed. The others made similar sounds.
Ms. Kim frowned. "I warned you that if you watched the movie instead of reading the book, your grade would drop."
I sighed and looked down.
"Can't say I didn't warn you," Lovi muttered. "By the way, the shoes were silver in the book."
Yep, Francis actually wrote "wink wink" on the paper.
