Chapter 43

When I get to school I am delightfully surprised by a massive bunch of sunflowers, tied with a purple satin ribbon, sitting on my desk in my first class. How on earth did Gale manage to sneak these into school and onto my desk unnoticed? I love him so much! This is so sweet and I can't believe how many flowers there are in this bouquet; must be at least 20! I have to go see if he's still in the halls anywhere, I have to let him see how happy I am with his surprise. Leaving my books at my desk, I grab my flowers and go back out into the hall. I'm heading down the hall when I spot Gale heading towards me. I smile and hold up the flowers so he knows how much I like them and then he freezes. His whole face drains of color and he just stands there staring at me. And then he turns and goes in the opposite direction. I'm confused for only a moment before I realize what happened just now. These beautiful flowers are not a gift from Gale. They're from Tripp. And I just showed them off to Gale smiling like the happiest girl in the world. This is bad, so very bad. I feel sick to my stomach and I feel my breakfast threatening to come back up. I want to run after Gale but I can't. We can't make a scene in the hall right now. But I can find Tripp and return his stupid flowers. He has to stop this. I've told him more than once that it isn't a good time to be dating anyone. I search the halls but don't see him anywhere and then the bell rings so now I'm late for class too. I sigh and go back to my classroom, unwanted flowers in hand.

My instructor frowns as I disrupt his lecture with my late entrance. He doesn't say anything but I know this will be mentioned to my father. Who will then in turn give me a speech about my role in setting a good example. How on earth will I explain to him why I was late? I suffer through the next hour of class and as soon as the bell rings I go searching for Gale or Tripp either one. Gale so I can apologize and explain, Tripp so I can firmly, but still somewhat politely, refuse his gift and give him this bouquet back. My search is futile. I don't see either of them and I can't risk being late to my next class so I'll have to wait. This brutal routine continues throughout the morning. Class ends, I search the halls to no avail and then out of time must go on to my next class, still lugging around the flowers. The worst part is that it's such a big display of flowers that everyone is gawking and wanting to know who they're from. All I can tell them is that I just found them on my desk, no note attached. The girls all swoon and tell me how romantic it is. It's all I can do to uphold my illusion and pretend to like the flowers. I don't like them at all now. In fact, I hate them. They've completely ruined what could have been a perfectly fine day.

Lunch fails to produce Gale or Tripp. Now I'm worried. This isn't good. Why are they both missing when it's obvious to me that they were both here at one point today? I need to get out of here and find Gale. I really hope he hasn't done something stupid. As I sit here trying to figure a way I can leave school without getting caught when Thom sits down next to me.

"Madge, did you hear what happened?" He asks in a hushed tone.

"No. What happened? Where is he?"

"Tripp Krull was giving Gale a hard time about how he stole you away from him and Gale finally just lost it on him. Clocked him right in the face."

"Oh my God. Tripp is not my boyfriend, we are not together at all. Gale and I…" I start to explain.

Thom shakes his head and cuts me off. "I know, I know what's really happening."

"Where is Gale now?" I say as I nod in relief that I don't have to explain our situation to Thom.

"He left after he took out Krull. As soon as you can get away from here you need to go find him Madge."

"Did anyone see all of this? Is he in trouble?"

"Thankfully no. Only me. But Krull went home after he went to the infirmary and I don't know what he's telling people. You'll need to talk to him too probably. But find Gale first if you can. He'd be even more upset if you went to Tripp before you came to him."

"I will. Thank you for telling me. You have no idea how worried I was getting."

He nods and goes back towards his table. I can't even eat my lunch I'm so sick over this whole thing. What the hell were both of them thinking? Tripp knows full well that I'm not his girlfriend and he has no right to try and make anyone think otherwise. And Gale knows he can't go around punching people in the face over me. I can hardly blame him for cracking though. After seeing me with the flowers, after me having dinner with Tripp, I'm sure he could only take so much and if Tripp was rubbing salt in the wound I can only imagine how much harder that made it for Gale to keep his cool. But still, hit him in the face? He could get in so much trouble for fighting it isn't even funny to think about. And Tripp, well, he better not tell a soul what happened to him. He'd better think up some excuse because if he rats out Gale I'll kill him myself.

I manage to fume silently through the remainder of the school day and then I rush to the lower grades building to find Prim. I see her right away and quickly explain that we can't garden today. I tell her I have to talk to Gale right away. She walks with me through the Seam which is good because at least this way I look like I'm just visiting with Prim. As we walk, I realize I'm still lugging around the dumb flowers. I cannot let Gale see these again; it'll just make it worse. I tell Prim they were a gift and that I don't want them and ask if she'll take them. She happily accepts them and I'm pretty sure she can tell the flowers are the reason I need to see Gale and that they aren't from him. She walks me all the way to his house but continues on to her own house as I climb the steps to Gale's. I deep a breath and then I knock on the door. I wait for what feels like forever before Gale finally opens the door.

"What are you doing here? You can't be here and you know that." He says when he sees me.

"And you know you can't go around hitting people in the face even if they absolutely deserve it. If you can risk getting in a lot of trouble, so can I." I say coolly.

"Get inside before too many people see you standing here." He says with a sigh.

I enter the house and he shuts the door behind me. I can tell we're the only ones here. I fold my arms across my chest and look at him, waiting for him to explain. He just takes my hand and pulls me into the bedroom, shutting that door behind him.

"Gale, I didn't know the flowers weren't from you. Had I known they weren't I most certainly wouldn't have been happy about them. I'm sorry that I was wrong but I had no way of knowing. It never even occurred to me that they were from anyone other than you."

"Because I always give you gigantic bouquets of flowers in public." He says sarcastically.

"That's not fair and you know it. Those flowers were just sitting on my desk without a note. You are the only person who has ever given me flowers so obviously I thought you left them secretly on my desk somehow." Tears are stinging in my eyes and I'm furious at how mean he's being right now.

"Fair? You want to talk about fair? How fair is it that I have to sit back and watch some creep hit on you? How fair is it that he can give you extravagant dinners and fancy bouquets of flowers when all I can do is sit in the woods at night with you? Do you think it's fair for me to have him bragging about how he stole you away from me? Is it fair that I can't tell him that you're mine, that he can't have you?" He shouts angrily.

The tears stream down my face and I stand to leave. "I'm sorry. I know it isn't fair."

My hands are on the bedroom door pulling it open when he reaches over my head pushing the door shut with his hand. I don't turn back around to face him. I just lean my forehead against the door and cry. He sighs and wraps his arms around me from behind and pulls us to the bed. His fingers tilt my face up to his and I'm surprised to see tears on his face too. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I shouldn't talk to you like I just did. I shouldn't take out my anger on you of all people. I'm just so mad. I hate him Madge and he gets under my skin so easy when it comes to you. But I'm sorry, I really am. Please don't cry."

"I love you Gale but I understand if you don't want to be with me anymore. I know it isn't fair to you how things are right now. I won't blame you if you walk away." I tell him tearfully. I hate even saying these words to him but I need him to know that I understand if this is too much for him.

"Are you crazy? I don't want to break up with you or walk out on you! I want to be with you! I want to kiss you, to hold you, to make love to you every day for the rest of my life! I intend to marry you Madge Undersee and no amount of fairness will ever change that!" He cries out as he grabs my shoulders and pulls me to him in an emotionally fueled, passionate kiss. We fall back onto the bed and I find myself overtaken with desire for Gale. I'm on lying on top of him, my lips furiously kissing his neck. Both of us pulling at each other's clothing, desperate with need for each other. Within moments we're writhing, tangled in the sheets, fulfilling that need.

When we're finished, we lay, breathless and naked in enveloped in each other's arms. "We need to get out of here. My family will be home any minute and my mother will kill me if she sees us like this."

We quickly dress and fix the blankets on the bed. Before we leave the room, Gale kisses me one more time. "I love you." He says as he embraces me tightly. "I love you so much."