Chapter Seven- Happily Ever After

Dustin awoke the next morning, feeling groggy and tired. He rubbed his hand against his forehead and groaned, closing his eyes to try and get rid of his headache. When he opened them again, they fell on the clock. It read 6:00 AM.

'I'm up early,' he though. Lying still for a minute, he decided to get a head start in the day and scrambled out of bed and grabbed his toothbrush. He left the room to go to the bathroom. He yawned and rubbed his eyes. Then- WHAM.

"Whoa!" Dustin had stumbled backwards and fell on the ground, toothbrush scattering away from his hand. He moaned as he attempted to get back. He knew already that today was not going to be his day.

"Oh, my gosh I'm so sorry!" said a flustered voice. Dustin glanced up to see Katie frantically looking for Dustin's lost toothbrush. Once again they had bumped into each other. Dustin felt his cheeks grow warm like it had several times since he had met Katie.

"That's ok…" Dustin said, not being able to take his eyes off her. She finally looked up at him and it looked as if all the colour had drained from her face.

"Uh…" She leaned over and grabbed Dustin's red toothbrush. Thrusting it in his hands, she got up and ran away, feeling very embarrassed. Dustin stood with his toothbrush in his hand, feeling sad.

Later in class, Dustin took his seat next to Katie without saying anything. She turned to say hi to him, but then when she opened her mouth no sound came out. She just stared at him, heart thumping loudly in her ears.

That's the moment she realized something. Dustin was her first love. You hear these things in books and on TV's about how your first love is the one that you never forget. Well this was it. Katie suddenly grew nervous. She fiddled her fingers and accidentally knocked her book clean off her desk.

As if it was a reflex, Dustin bent down to help her pick up her things. He gave her book back to her and quickly turned away. Katie stared at the back of his head, knowing that this was her chance.

"Uh… Dustin," she said, clearing her throat slightly.

Dustin turned. "Yeah?"

Katie fidgeted and took a deep breath. "I…"

She was interrupted by the loud shrill sound that was the bell. Dustin turned his attention to his notebook. Katie stared at him with sadness before turning away from him as well.

At lunch that day, Katie was eager to get a seat next to Dustin. To her dismay, she couldn't find him anywhere in the cafeteria and ended up sitting by Sonya again. She had much to say about Dustin.

"So you like Dustin, eh?" Sonya said, snapping loudly as she chewed a piece of strawberry bubblegum.

Katie dropped her sandwich. "How did you…?"

Sonya waved her hand in the air, brushing away the matter. "I'm telling you, I know everything. So when are you going to tell him?"

"I'm not," Katie said glumly. "I've tried and I just don't think we're meant to be. I mean, how many times can a girl be interrupted?"

Sonya shrugged.

That night, Katie was sitting on her bed, reading a novel when someone knocked on the door. She got up to answer it and saw Zoey standing on the other side.

"Hey," Zoey said, smiling.

"Hi…" Katie grinned and stepped away so Zoey could enter. She did.

"Nice room you got."

"Thanks…"

There was an awkward silence between the two. Finally, Katie decided to ask what was both on their minds.

"So how's Dustin?"

Zoey looked relieved. "Oh, Dustin's… Dustin's good. That's kind of why I'm here. I guess you could tell, huh?"

Katie smiled and nodded.

"Well…" Zoey sighed. "Can I sit down?"

"Oh sorry," Katie said quickly. "Go ahead." She motioned to a chair where Zoey seated herself, looking very tired.

"Okay… so about Dustin. He has been acting really weird and I think that you should talk to him…" Zoey glanced up at Katie's face. "Maybe give him a confidence boost?"

"You're his sister," Katie said. "Why don't you…?"

Zoey stood up, looking angry. "You don't think I've tried?" she cried. "Every night I-" She took a deep breath to calm herself. "Nevermind. Can you just please…?"

Katie crossed her arms and looked at the floor. "Actually I have something to tell him myself. I will talk to him. No worries about that." She glanced up and grinned at Zoey. "Tomorrow morning."

True to her word, the next morning, Katie stood outside the bathroom, waiting for Dustin. She was bouncing on her toes, feeling very nervous. Finally she heard footsteps and spotted him coming toward her.

"Dustin!" Katie said, running towards him.

Dustin stopped and frowned. "Oh… hey, Katie."

Katie shuffled her feet, unsure of what to say. Finally she decided to just dive in and take a chance. "So, Dustin, I've heard some… uh… rumours that you… and me… and uh…" She felt her tongue twist together.

Dustin's heart started beating wildly. "H-huh/"

"Okay well…" Katie was now so nervous she was looking around everywhere but Dustin's face. "Okay… I just want to say that… I really… really… okay… I just want to say… um… that if you like me… well I think you like me… you know, in that way… well… then…"

"What?" Dustin said looking straight at Katie. "What is it?"

"Ireallylikeyou," Katie said, speaking so fast it sounded like one word.

"Sorry, what?"

"Ireally likeyou."

"Huh?"

"IreallylikeyouDustin!"

Dustin frowned.

"DUSTIN BROOKS, I REALLY LIKE YOU!"

People poked their heads out of the bathrooms to see what the commotion was all about. Katie spotted Sonya watching joyfully with a toothbrush sticking out of her mouth.

Dustin gaped at Katie for a second. Then he leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. Katie felt her whole face flush as people watching started hooting and clapping. Dustin was also pink in the face.

"I like you too, Katie Anderson."

They grinned at each other. Both of them had experienced their true first love and they felt the best feeling in the world, standing there in front of the school bathrooms. Hand in hand, they walked off to get some breakfast.

The End

Lol oooooooooookay, interesting ending, yes. If you did realize, Dustin did NOT brush his teeth and neither did Katie (well I didn't write that part anyway). But love can make you do crazy things and I didn't want to stop the ending by going 'oops, wait a second, gotta brush my teeth before we kiss!' By the way, the kiss on the cheek- hey, they're young, they'll get into more kissing later! Anyways, hope you liked this one. Keep on reviewing!