Hello!

Since I asked Lani to the dance on Tuesday morning, a couple things happened.

First, she started sitting with me and Jeff at lunch, so we had to find a bigger table. We had never sat at a different table before, so that was something new. During lunch, I ended up asking her some questions to try to know her better. Since I knew she didn't want to talk, I started with some simple yes/no questions. It felt slightly awkward, but I ended up figuring out that she liked animals, ice cream, and Mountain Dew. She also doesn't have a cell phone or a computer at home. Then, I made the mistake of asking her this: "So, how do you do your homework without a computer?"

She stared at me for a while, unable to answer such a question. Then, she jumped a little as an idea popped into her head, and she began looking through her bag for something. Finally, she brought out a sketch pad and flipped through to find an empty page. While she was flipping through her pad, I happened to see one of her sketches. The sketch showed a squirrel eating a pop tart on a park bench. Not only was it funny because the squirrels in the park downtown will eat anything, but the sketch was also extremely detailed and seemed perfectly realistic. The texture of the squirrel's fur looked so real and the squirrel's little eyes seemed to shine through the paper. The scenery and background were simple and clear, and they didn't get in the way of the main focus at all. Her sketch was so good that it could have been drawn by a professional illustrator.

"Whoa!" I said, "You're drawings are so beautiful! I didn't know you had such a cool talent!"

She smiled.

"So, is this what you like to do outside of school?"

She nodded. Then, she found an empty sheet of paper among random half-finished drawings. Carefully, she ripped the sheet out of the pad and took out her pencil. Tilting the sketch pad against the table, she started to write something. After she finished writing, she took the piece of paper and flipped it for me to read.

It read:

I go to the library every day after school to work on homework. I don't have a phone or anything, but I do have an email account.

As soon as I looked up after I finished reading, she handed me a smaller, folded sheet of paper. Her email address was on it. I pulled out my phone and entered her email into my contacts.

That night, I sent her an email. I said Hi.

The next day, when I got to school, Lani was already at her desk with her sketch pad in her hands. As I entered the classroom and made my way over to my desk, she ran up to me and gave me a surprise hug. Because she was significantly shorter than me, her brunette hair brushed up against my nose. She smelled like strawberries. Then, she, obviously excited about something, grabbed my arm and pulled me over to her desk. She opened her backpack, pulled out two sheets of paper, and handed them to me with a smile.

I unfolded the paper and looked down at the first sheet. It was a beautiful hand-drawn picture of an Umbreon playing with an Espeon. They were in a tree house near a lake, and the Espeon was looking out the window. The Umbreon was pulling on Espeon's tail, trying to get her to play chess. Their expressions were so well-drawn. It was one of the cutest things I've seen in my life.

"Wait," I said when I suddenly realized, "How did you know I liked Pokémon?"

She pointed at the second sheet of paper.

I unfolded it and began to read.

Good morning, Steven! I remember that yesterday you said you liked my drawings, and that really meant a lot to me. I thought you would like a sketch as a gift, so I asked Jeff about what you liked. He said that you loved to swim and play Pokémon. I don't really know how you 'play Pokémon', but I have no idea what swimming looks like. I hope you like my little gift as much as I enjoyed drawing it!

"Wow…" I said, unable to figure out what to say next. "This is really amazing," I managed to blurt out, "Thank you very, very much!" She probably didn't know what Pokémon were at all before this, yet she took the effort to figure out who Espeon and Umbreon were and draw them with so much detail in just one day. To think she would do all that just for a gift for me…

"You must have worked so hard to draw this," I said, a little speechlessly. "Thank you so much! And, have you really never seen anyone swim before?"

She nodded.

"Well, our first home meet is next Monday, and you could come if you would like, I guess?"

She smiled. Then, she grabbed the sheet of paper with the letter and wrote underneath it, I'll be there for sure!

Wow! I couldn't believe she went through all that trouble to draw this for me. She must be a really dedicated friend! Or maybe… well, that couldn't be the reason. She definitely didn't like me that way. After all, we only started getting to know each other yesterday. Anyways, I should make sure that I got her a gift in return, preferably before the dance, which is on Friday. Although… I didn't really know what I could get her, considering I don't know much about art. I didn't want to get her something that she would never use or something that she didn't like, especially after she put in so much hard work for my gift.

Throughout morning classes, I tried to listen to the lessons, but I could not take my mind off Lani and her gift.

It was after school, and I was about to head down to the pool a little earlier, when I received a text message from Jeff.

hi steve can you meet by classroom I have serious question, it read.

Considering Jeff, who usually never had anything serious to say, this must have been something important. Turning around, I walked towards the classroom, where I met Jeff eating ice cream.

"Hi Jeff, did you want to talk about something?"

"Yeah, actually. I was just wondering something. Are you and Lani dating?"

"What?"

"Well, I was just wondering. If you guys are dating, well, I don't want to be a bother. It's really rude being a third wheel, you know?"

"No, no, it's not like that! You're my best friend," I said, caught off guard. "You'll never be a bother. I'm really sorry I made you feel that way. And besides, I don't even know if we're dating technically… because you know, I don't know if she just thinks of me as a friend. It's complicated!" I said as I waved my hands around, exaggerating my confusion. It was true that based on the way she acted, that she probably believed that we were dating, and I truly hoped that she felt that way, but we definitely didn't make our relationship status explicit. And besides, if she just thought of us as friends, I didn't want to ruin our relationship by assuming too much.

"It doesn't seem so complicated to me," he said. "She seems like a pretty straightforward girl, anyways. If you're confused, you could just ask her, you know?"

"But that's such an awkward question to ask!"

"It's not awkward. Just go up to her and say, 'Hey, I was just wondering, are we going to the dance as friends or as a couple?' It's that easy!"

"Well, I guess I could do that tomorrow morning. Anyways, she drew me a really cool picture as a gift, so I was wondering what to get her in return. Have any ideas?"

"You know that she likes to draw, so try getting her something she might need?"

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking too, but I don't know anything about art. Hey, you're sister is an artist, what does she like?"

"You know…" he said, before pausing for a while. "I have just the idea! Why not get her a whiteboard? That way she doesn't have to keep tearing sheets out of her notepad when she wants to talk to you. Also, I know my sister carries one around sometimes when she's working on her art."

"That's a great idea! Thank you very much!" I said gratefully.

After swimming, I walked to the drug store near my house and bought a small red whiteboard. I would give this to her tomorrow morning.

Hello! I originally planned for more content in this chapter, but I wanted to post this by the end of the week and I found a good place to end. I've been getting lazy, but hopefully I'll write more next week. Thank you everyone for following and favoring, and thank you mocksteveh for reviewing!