"Happy Valentine's Day, Claire!"
Claire stiffened, tightening her grasp on the school lunch-tray. It wasn't too late to give the jocks a collective heart attack by sitting at their table.
Jesse grinned and waved the cartoon box of cheap valentine candy under her nose. "You know you want it, Claire," her best friend teased.
Claire put down her tray and made a grab for the chocolate.
"Nuh-uh-uh," Jesse snickered, hiding it behind his back. "You have to open the card first."
"What card?" Claire asked skeptically. Jesse blinked, and then dove underneath the table for his book-bag. Like he couldn't just snap it into her hands. Claire rolled her eyes and gave him an 'accidental' kick while he was down there.
It was like kicking a brick wall.
"Aha!" Jesse appeared again on the other side of the table brandishing a homemade red envelope. Jesse was big on do-it-yourself stuff. "Got it."
Claire reluctantly reached for the offering, and split the envelope neatly. Other than the flashy envelope, it was a very untraditional valentine—not unlike the ones you might pass around in Elementary School. The dinosaur surfing in heart-covered trunks advised her that the Surf's Up! And underneath was written Happy Valentine's Day in Jesse's blunt handwriting. "What is . . . ?"
"Godzilla surfing," Jesse informed her proudly.
"Stylish swim trunks," Claire snorted, and squinted at the tiny city drawn in under Godzilla's monster tidal wave. "Is that Tokyo?"
Jesse flushed a color not unlike the noxious holiday red. "C'mon, it survived twenty-nine movies, four TV shows, and the rest of the Godzilla franchise."
He would know. He had them all.
"Godzilla doesn't have real superpowers," Claire hissed, then blanched. "At least he didn't have real superpowers. Does Godzilla have real superpowers now?"
Jesse rolled his eyes. "I'm fifteen. I think I have a grasp on reality now, Claire."
Claire dropped his drawing on the table, and poked him hard in the chest. "You brought the tooth-fairy to life, Jesse. The evil tooth-fairy. I'm allowed to be paranoid."
Jesse shook his head in exasperation, and stole her fries. "Tokyo's fine, Claire. Eat your lunch." Claire reluctantly reached for her burger, and Jesse continued. "Or we could skip lunch, skip next period, and go check on Japan." He grinned. "If it'd make you feel better . . ."
Claire looked around hastily. No one was paying them any attention. "One hour," she decreed, reaching out to take his hand.
Jesse nodded, snapped his fingers, and they were gone.