I've heard girls tell me that my words filled their hearts with song, but I never thought I'd be on the flip side of it. Wow, what a feeling it was! I was so deliriously happy that on impulse I grabbed Zelda and kissed her and then picked her up and twirled her around. The laughter that followed made me happier than I ever dreamed.

"Dobie, what are you doing?" She laughed when I sat her down again as gently as a fallen snowflake. And in response to her question, I couldn't help but grin.

"Something I should have done a long time ago."

After one last hug (and a few more kisses), I headed for home, missing Zelda all the way there.

When I got there the store was dark, and anxiety set in, for I was way past my curfew. Dad would be livid and might even follow through on his repeated promise to "kill that boy". But I was too tired at the moment to explain. I'd tell them the truth tomorrow, but somehow I doubted that they would believe a word of it. Even I didn't believe it and I found myself praying that what I had just experienced wasn't a dream. Because if it was I wanted to sleep forever.

With a yawn, I turned out the lights of the store and made sure that the front door was securely locked. And then I left a note for my dad, thanking him for the money and for letting me use his truck. The fact that I was thanking him for anything would surely result in a trip to the emergency room, but it was worth it, right? To see the look on his face when he read my note? After he recovered, of course.

Wearily I climbed the stairs and in the privacy of my room, I quickly got ready for bed. As I climbed under the covers my eyes landed on the bookshelf where my Central High Yearbook was nestled among comic books and a bunch of other books, most of which I had no intention of reading.

I reached for the yearbook and quickly found my class. And then I flipped through the pages until I found her name: Zelda Gilroy. I remembered one of the first things she said to me, in Science class, about how we were destined to be together because our last names were so close. Perhaps she was smarter than I gave her credit for.

"I love you, Zelda." I said to her smiling image in my year book. Soon I could say it in person and I had a lot of lost time to make up.

I turned out my bedroom lamp, intent on falling right to sleep, but do you think that actually happened? Of course not! All night long I tossed and turned, thinking about Zelda! Now why couldn't I have been thinking about her during school? I mean we saw each other all the time!

I was still pondering this thought when my eyes became heavy and I felt myself drifting into slumber.