Lemony sat miserably in code class next to a horrible smelling boy with one ugly eye brow and yellow teeth. He was supposed to be paying attention to the older gentleman in the chequered jacket, but his mind was only on Beatrice. Somewhere behind him he could hear the tall tanned boy whispering to her, but she did not reply. Lemony wanted to turn around to look at her, but he dared not, and was afraid of making her blush again.

He sat in anguish for about twenty minutes, his brain barely processing the information on codes. Here and there he caught snatches of information on a code named after Gustav someone-or-other.
After twenty minutes, he decided to write her a note. That way she could make up her own mind about whether or not she wanted to talk to him.
Silently, with his eyes on the teacher all the time, he put him hand into his jacket pocket. Feeling inside past a packet of loathsome peppermints and a map of the training school he felt one of the red note cards that he had had printed especially for his new life as a volunteer. It was red and it bore the words "LEMONY SNICKET: STUDENT OF RHETORIC."
He was not an official student of rhetoric yet, but he had always been interested in it and hoped to study it.
He kept one eye on the teacher and the other on the card as he began to write:

3rd Period

I'm sorry I embarrassed you in front of your friends. I only wanted to talk to you. You looked like an interesting person, and I enjoyed very much your report on the history of the sonnet I saw displayed in the head teacher's office. If you would care to spend afternoon recess together, meet me outside the East Gate, where there is a good café nearby that serves excellent root beer floats. I will be the eleven year old boy wearing a green necktie and a pin with the insignia of our organization.

Below he drew a map of the route from the East Gate to the café, that was shaped roughly like an "E." He re-read the note over a few times, to check for spelling and grammar errors, even though these had always been one of his strong points. Finally he re-read it for the last time, trying to imagine it from her perspective. He was just re-reading the second last line for the ninth time when suddenly he heard the old teacher announce, "Now children, if you'd like to get into pairs, where you can do the first exercise."

Lemony straightened up, aghast. He had missed something vital, and now he would surely be expelled from VFD school. He stood up from the desk. All around the room students were pairing up, in fact everyone seemed to have a pair except Lemony and the boy with the single eyebrow.
It was just as he was beginning to fear being partnered with this unpleasant person that he heard the tall boy behind speaking to the Beautiful girl, "I'm sorry Beatrice, I'm going to go with R, but you won't have to go with Olaf. You could go with the other boy, the one who spoke to you before class."

She walked up to him, and stretching up slightly she tapped him on the shoulder. She was smiling, but looked a little awkward, and the same pale blush had returned to her cheeks. "Excuse me sir," she said with the same painful formality, "I was wondering up you would like to pair up with me to work on this exercise on the code invented by Gustav Sebald."
For a moment Lemony was quiet, but then he lost his shyness, "Madam I would love to."

The two stood awkwardly together whilst the old professor explained the exercise. Of course Lemony was only half listening with Beatrice standing next to him, but from what he could gather it was a simple enough code started with the word or sound "ring" and ended the same. Ten words were nonsense followed by the coded word. He looked around the classroom at the other trainee volunteers standing side by side. Most were listening intently. The girl who'd been referred to as "R" was smiling warmly at both Lemony and Beatrice; meanwhile the tall boy had his brow furrowed slightly as he looked at the two together.

It was at the end of the explanation the ugly one eye-browed boy spoke up. "Sir…."he whined to the professor, "I haven't got a partner…."
He was eventually paired with Lemony and Beatrice. Both disliked working with him, but they both found it enjoyable to work together, and very soon some of the awkwardness had melted away. At the end of the exercise the Professor announced for the pairs to shake hands and then return to their desk. Single Eye-brow shook Beatrice's hand first, which made her wince somewhat, and then Lemony shook her hand. This gesture was not the only thing exchanged between the two. Through his hand Lemony slipped Beatrice the red note card, she smiled at him as she felt it.
Then she was walking back to her desk to sit with R and the other boy. As she returned Lemony thought he saw her discreetly slip the note into her dress pocket.

He stood at the East Gate, waiting for her. According to his watch she had been it had been exactly thirteen minutes and twenty nine seconds into recess. Nervously, he straightened his necktie.
As he waited longer, a horrible thought began to play on his mind. What if she didn't turn up? What if she'd just felt sorry for him in code class, and secretly hated him? Of course, she didn't like him- who would choose a slight eleven year old boy over a boy who looked at least fifteen?
He turned around in anguish, away from the crowded playground where students were either in debate or doing homework, and began to walk towards the café. Perhaps he could still enjoy a good root beer float, he thought miserably.

He was just about to do just that, when he heard her voice behind him. "Sorry I'm late….it took longer than I thought to get out of theatrics."
"Beatrice!" he could hardly contain his surprise and joy, but then he formalized his tone. "Thank-you very much for joining me. It's my pleasure to take you to a rather good café that serves excellent root beer floats."
She smiled at him. "Thank-you for inviting me . Tell me, what exactly are root beer floats like? I'm afraid I've never had the pleasure of trying one."
"They are excellent, I'm sure you'll enjoy them very much," he said extending his arm out awkwardly for her to take.
She took it and they began to walk along, round the corner to the café. There was something about her which made Lemony feel as if he had known her for years. He supposed he was being silly….but he couldn't shake the feeling.