Chapter 3

Unaware of the turmoil occuring within the Kong household, Pauline boarded the bus as she shivered a bit, entering the warm atmosphere of the bus in from the blustery winds and the cold that chilled her. Looking around the bus as she tried to find some place to sit, her dark brown eyes flickering over the seats as she gave a soft smile, having difficulty finding a seat to her liking. Her eyes finally lit up as she managed to find an empty seat across from Mario Mario. Apologizing softly as she made her way through various people as she nearly tripped, finally slumping into an empty seat as she gave a sigh of relief.

As she set her backpack and purse onto the seat next to her, the bus rumbled on and the usual early morning chatter on the bus resumed. Mario sat there, stealing a quick peek over at Pauline as he was busy working on a last minute homework assignment. As Mario looked over, he was surprised to see she was frowning and in fact, seemed to be fighting back tears.

Mario looked around, eyes widening a bit as he felt his stomach turning a bit as he blushed slightly, cheeks tinging red as his tounge felt super heavy. Mario always felt this way around Pauline, and wasn't exactly sure why. Luigi always told him, laughing of course, that it was love and that was when Mario threw a plate of pasta at him. Deep down though, Mario suspected Luigi was right.

Somehow, despite all this, Mario managed to get out the words, "Morning, Pauline."

As if suddenly noticing Mario for the first time this morning, Pauline gave a slight giggle at being caught crying as she wiped back a tear and faced Mario giving a brave smile, "Morning, Mario."

Giving her a reassuring smile to match her brave smile, Mario decided to go ahead and ask, "Are you, um, are you ok, Pauline?" as he put down his homework assignment, forgotten. In fact at this moment, Mario really couldn't focus on anything but Pauline.

"I'm fine, Mario." Pauline said, her own cheeks flushing for a reason. Mario didn't know whether it was just because she was crying or Mario couldn't even dare to hope that it was because of him as Pauline added softly, "Thanks for asking."

"Well, I was just wondering." Mario added quickly, "Because, well you don't look okay." Mario gazed at her, mustache bristling nervously as he peered over his large nose.

Running her hand through her dark, brunette hair as Pauline smiled, leaning back in her seat as she looked over at Mario, "Well, I guess since you had to be nosy, maybe things aren't as good at home as I'd like them to be." Pauline gave a soft grin at Mario to let her know she was just joking about the nosy comment.

"I wasn't trying to be nosy or anything." Mario said, flashing her a smile back, "But, I'm sorry about your home situation, Pauline."

"Don't." Pauline said suddenly, "Don't apologize. It's not your fault, Mario." "I know," Mario responded.

"In fact, I'm pretty sick of hearing people tell me how sorry they are", Pauline said with a sudden smile, her face lighting up a bit, "Do you know what might really help me out?"

"What?" Mario responded, almost afraid to find out but wanting nothing less to find out at the same time.

"Do you know any good jokes?" Pauline asked.

Mario didn't answer right away. This definitely caught him off guard. A few years at high school with only a few general conversations between them, here she was confiding in him and counting on him to cheer him up. To say the least, Mario felt overwhelmed. In school, Mario was generally regarded as an easygoing guy, fairly popular with a good sense of humor. Typically, Mario always had a joke that he could tell but in this case he was speechless. Absolutely without speech. Finally, one joke came to mind.

"Well, one day there was this grasshopper. This grasshopper walks into a bar and the bartender says, "Hey we have a drink named after you." Surprised, the grasshopper responds, "You have a drink named…"

"Doug?" Pauline finished with a chuckle.

"Well, I was gonna use Phil," Mario said with a laugh, "But, I guess Doug works too."

"That is a terrible joke." Pauline said, laughing openly as she grinned, "Why don't I try telling you a joke since you're so terrible at it?" Pauline gave a wink at Mario as Mario nodded.

"Let's see if you can do better." Mario said, shocked at how easily Pauline and he got along.

"Once upon a time," Pauline began in the tradition of every great story or in this case, joke, "There was a guy building his house. The guy wanted his house to be perfect. So, he measures everything, gathers up all the bricks, counts them up and has just the right number. So, he builds the house up and when he's done, to his surprise, he has one brick left. Confused, he decides to tear the whole house down. Then, he remeasures, he recounts the bricks and then goes ahead to rebuild the whole house house. Once again, there is one brick left. So, he repeats the process a third time and still one brick remains. So, he throws the brick into the air."

The bus came to a halt in front of Brooklyn High School as Pauline began to gather up her bookbag and purse as Mario sat there, thinking about it for a second as he chuckled, then frowned, "Hey! Where'd the brick go?"

Stuffing his homework into his bag as he looked over at Pauline to supply the answer as she gave a smirk, "I'll have to tell you later."

Mario laughed, smiling as he got out of his seat, getting ready to file off of the bus, "That's the punchline, Pauline?" as he gave her a quizzical glance.

Pauline gave a look of mock surprise as she looked at Mario, "What's wrong with it?"

Grinning, Mario looked over at her, "Nothing. That joke was much better than mine."

With a giggle, she gave Mario a playful punch on the shoulder as she went to make her way off of the bus. Mario felt like he was going to faint as he walked a few steps behind Pauline, shocked as Pauline stopped right before she got off the bus as she looked at Mario, flashing him a big smile "Thanks for cheering me up, Mario." Then, just like that, she was gone.

Mario might have collapsed at the moment if Luigi hadn't stepped behind him, grinning as he said with a laugh, "Way to go, bro." Together, the Mario brothers stepped off the bus and made their way towards the steps of Brooklyn High School.