As Adil wandered off in Jenna's direction, Arthur, Francine, and Sue Ellen looked at each other in disbelief.

"He thinks Jenna's beautiful and Fern's not?" said Fransue. "He's not from another country, he's from another planet!"

"I've seen bowling balls more beautiful than Jenna," Suefran remarked. "And I'm saying that as her friend."

When Adil reached Jenna, the girl stopped talking to Rodentia and regarded him with curiosity. "My name is Adil," he introduced himself. "I am from Turkey."

Jenna smiled. "My name is Jenna. I am from Elwood City."

"My name is Miss Ratburn," said Rodentia. "I like fudge."

When Arthur and the girls caught up with Adil, they found him stammering and stumbling over words in Jenna's presence. The boy was obviously infatuated. Arthur wondered what he saw in the girl, whose hair looked as if someone had drawn a few wavy pencil lines over her head.

"I...I think you are...I..." was all Adil could manage to say.

Jenna, meanwhile, was delighted that the strange boy was showing an interest in her. "Do you have a speech impediment?" she asked him. "That's so cute."

Adil finally sighed in despair and turned away from Jenna. Arthur followed him as he walked back toward the classroom, his head bowed. "Why didn't you ask her to be your valentine?" he asked his foreign friend.

"I...I am afraid..." Adil wrung his hands anxiously. "She is so beautiful..."

----

"Valentine's Day is a week away," Miss Cosma announced to her kindergarten class, which included, as usual, D.W., Nadine, the Tibble twins, Emily, Dallin, and Vicita. "Can anyone tell me what we do on Valentine's Day?"

Tommy raised his hand and bounced in his seat. "Oh, I know! We eat lots of little heart candies!"

"And we write mushy letters and send them to giiiirls," Timmy added.

"My answer's better than your answer," Tommy shot back at him.

"I know, Miss Cosma," said Emily, who was more sedate than the twins. "I choose a boy to be my one true love."

"Ewww!" groaned Tommy and Timmy in unison.

"Choose someone else," Timmy urged.

"I don't want to be your one true love," Tommy protested.

"Okay," said Emily as she brushed a few cookie crumbs from her skirt. "I choose Dallin. He's the only boy left."

"No way, Emily," D.W. retorted. "Dallin's MY valentine."

"Yeah," said the duck boy. "We have it in writing. See?" He held up a small sheet of paper with the words DW ANB DALN R VALUNTINS written on it. "It's all legal."

"Dallin and I saw Mary Moo Cow together," D.W. related. "That's when we knew we were meant for each other."

Emily began to squirm in her seat. "Miss Cosma!" she whined. "There's no more boys!"

The teacher, who was wearing a loud blue sweater with a large pink heart embroidered on the front, gave the Tibble boys a warm but stern smile. "Tommy? Timmy? Are you sure you don't want to pick a girl to be your valentine?"

"Girls are icky," said Tommy. "I pick Timmy to be my valentine."

"Yeah," Timmy concurred.

"It doesn't work that way," Miss Cosma informed them. "You have to pick a girl."

"Do I have to kiss her?" asked Timmy with disgust.

"No, you don't," Miss Cosma answered.

"Okay." Timmy thought for a second. "I pick Vicita. She's cute."

"I pick Nadine," said Tommy. "She's got a tail, and tails are cool."

Emily once again started to squirm and whine. "Miss Cosma, nobody picked me!"

"You'll have to find another boy," said the Romanian chipmunk woman.

"I don't know any boys!" Emily began to cry and pout.

"It's okay, Emily," said Miss Cosma wearily. "I'll find you a boy."

As she dried the little rabbit girl's tears, Nadine came up with a suggestion. "Maybe you can find a boy on the Internet, Emily."

"I hate Valentine's Day," groused Emily when she had calmed down a little. "I wish it was Christmas again. I don't have to find a boy for Christmas."

Emily sulked throughout the morning's activities. When playtime arrived, Dallin came up to D.W. as she was constructing a block fortress.

"I made this for you," he said, pulling a small, slightly crumpled paper card from his pocket.

D.W. took it from his hand. The front of the card was covered with paper hearts, and the inside bore the message, ROSSES R RED, VIOLTS R BLU, MARY MOO COW LOVS YOU, AND I DOO TOO.

"This is so sweet!" D.W. gushed. "Dallin, you're my best valentine ever!"

"You're my only valentine ever," said Dallin gleefully.

----

In the meantime, all the kids at Lakewood who hadn't been matched up (and weren't all right with not being matched up) were hunting anxiously for someone of the opposite gender who they could call their own for a week.

In a corner of the playground, Prunella was dispensing advice to Van on how to approach Marina, who was sitting on a nearby bench, her cane resting next to her. "Just go up to her and say something," the rat girl urged him.

"What do I say?" asked Van nervously. "What if I say the wrong thing?"

"There is no wrong thing to say," Prunella told him. "There's just the wrong girl to say it to. Now go on." She patted him on the shoulder encouragingly.

Still uncertain, Van set his wheelchair to minimum speed and slowly rolled in Marina's direction. The blind rabbit girl, upon hearing the familiar motorized whine, said, "Hi, Van, how's it going?"

"Uh, I'm fine," Van answered as he stopped his chair in front of Marina. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, too," was the glib reply.

Van racked his brain, trying to come up with a valentine pick-up line that couldn't possibly offend. Finally he settled on one.

"Hey, Marina, are you...seeing anybody right now?"

He slapped his forehead when he realized his mistake. "D'oh!"

Inside the school building, Arthur and Adil were standing nonchalantly next to a pillar, observing Jenna in the act of opening her locker. The girl, to her delight, found that someone had dropped an envelope through the slots. She quickly opened it and called her friends to witness the blessed event.

"It's a valentine card!" she rejoiced. "And it has my name on it!"

Her friends, which included Fern, Binky, and several kids from her own class, looked at each other as if none of them could remember a previous occasion when Jenna had received a valentine greeting. Arthur and Adil strolled up to the group, acting as if they knew nothing of what was transpiring.

"Dearest Jenna," the cat girl began to read. "I think you are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Will you be my valentine? Signed, your secret admirer...Adil Faruk."

Arthur suddenly felt as if his brain was trying to burst out of his skull. As he gasped and wheezed, the smiling Jenna walked over to where the terrified Adil was standing. "Why, yes, Adil," she said sweetly. "I'd love to be your valentine. Thanks for the card." Then she gave him a swift peck on the cheek, and skipped away.

Adil rubbed his hand on his cheek where Jenna's lips had made contact. He felt a warm sensation of relief flooding his body, driving out the fear and unease. His first impulse was to chase after Jenna and further enjoy the pleasure of her company, and he followed it.

Arthur couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. Adil had completely missed the point of being a secret admirer...yet he had succeeded nonetheless.

(To be continued...)