Now, what should come next? Again, there are Lily Allen lyrics in here. The main ones are from the chorus of "Knock 'Em Out". Thanks for reviewing, detectivezelda, and thanks for sticking with this story!
The day I'd introduced my friends to Curly, he said that he'd win me eventually. The thought scared me, although I didn't believe him.

Did I? I didn't think I believed him, at least. I couldn't, no, I wouldn't let him wear me down. I couldn't possibly be labelled as a...a pedophile, just to get the kid to leave me alone. Even one date...

But as a fortnight passed, Curly continued to try everything. That Saturday night wasn't the last time he tried getting through my window. A few times, when I kept it shut, he'd gone into one of the other upstairs windows and given me a scare by suddenly appearing in my doorway. He'd gone to the door once or twice, but every time, I'd refused to even see him and told whoever answered the door to tell him to go away. At school, Lisa reported that nothing had changed in that case.

"He keeps asking about you." she said. "Frankly, it's getting quite annoying. Apart from that, I have a suspicion that he's more obsessed with you than Helga is with, uh, ice cream."

"That thought is actually kind of scary." I shuddered. "I just wish things could go back to how they were, when we were just friends. Even if he WAS still obsessed with Rhonda."

Things went on like this, then I started finding stuff in my locker. I found a folded note one Tuesday. When I read it, I knew it was from Curly, even though he'd left it unsigned. It read:

Ode To Stephanie:

Eyes like jewels, sparkling emerald

Hair soft and black, like the darkest of nights

Lips of a goddess, voice of a siren

I admire forever, I cannot stay away...

My gorgeous darling, please will you meet me by the closet on the first floor? I want to speak to you.

Love forever, your one and only

"Ooh, who wrote that?" Connie asked, looking over my shoulder.

"No one." I muttered. If she kept talking in that grating voice, I was going to slap her.

"Whoever it is, he's pretty sweet." Maria remarked. Cookie nodded with her. She never even talked, but she smiled genuinely, so I didn't mind her.

"You're one lucky girl if he can write like that." Simone added. "Most boys are just idiots, but he actually sounds sweet and devoted."

I wasn't about to tell them who it was, though. They'd make fun of me if I did.

"Which boy?" Ruth McDougal, the bubble-headed sixth grader with the brown-auburn hair, had been listening. There was a reason I hadn't made friends with her – she never had one intelligent thought in her head. Bart had told me that when he was finding out about Arnold's love life, that Ruth had been his first crush, before Lila. But the thing was, everything she said was dumb. Her biggest interest in life seemed to be her hair. But now she was looking interested.

"Steph's got an admirer!" Simone exclaimed. "He left this totally sweet poem in her locker!"

"No one." I told Ruth straight. "Don't you have something more interesting to do, like checking your split ends?"

Ruth scowled at me before nervously rushing off to the nearest bathrooms, probably to check the split ends I'd implied she had. She didn't really have any, but so what?

Later that afternoon, at lunch, I confided in Patty about the note, who was more down to earth and also a lot smarter than the other girls, but didn't really hang out with anyone (sometimes I saw her talking to Harold, and even more occasionally with Rhonda, but that was it). "It's not just the poem. I mean, it was kind of sweet. But I really want to get him to stop pursuing me. And I never wanted to lose him as a friend. I don't know what to do. Sure, he said he just wants to talk to me, but I can't trust that he won't try anything, especially with the cliché closet thing nearby."

Patty nodded. "Yeah, I've heard that's the standard 'makeout closet'. I'd just ignore it. Rhonda used to snub him, and I think responding at all just encouraged him."

I smiled. "Thanks, Patty. I should've really decided to do that before, but..."

I didn't want to admit that I kind of enjoyed retaliating.

That night, I was, again, singing along to one of Lily Allen's songs from a different album. This time, I was lying on my bed. But then, I heard a sound outside the window, so I surveyed the scene outside, still singing along, softly.

"Can't knock him out, can't walk away,

Try desperately to think of the politest way to say..." Sure enough, I saw a small figure climbing up the usual tree, and his glasses caught the moonlight.

I raised my voice and sang the next words right at him: "Just get out my face, just leave me alone!

And no you can't have my number, cause I lost my phone!"

This had an effect, though not the desired one. Curly only got to the tree-house, and then stopped. "Why didn't you reply to my letter, my love?" he asked in a hurt tone. "I waited for an hour."

"Yeah, by the usual makeout janitor's closet." I scowled. "Did you honestly expect me to turn up, or to believe that all you wanted to do was talk?"

"Just give me a chance, my darling, please."

I sighed, and shouted "I'm not your anything! And for the last time," I sang the next part "Believe me when I tell you that I never wanna see you again." Without waiting for an answer, I locked the window, but I could still hear Curly yelling through the glass.

"Please, my stunning goddess, all I want is a chance! Just one date, please!"

I ignored him. The calling stopped after ten minutes, but two minutes after that, Bart knocked on my door.

"Steph, Curly's at the door, and he says that he's not leaving the house until he can see you. Well, he asked Mom if he could stay over because his parents are out of town for the night. I think you'll have to see him, since he'll still be here in the morning."

"I'm not about to come out of my room." I snapped. "Tell him to give it up. At the very least, tell him to stop calling me weird names all the time." Yet again, I barricaded my door that night. Mom didn't try to come in, but she did try to get me to come out that night. I still hadn't told her what had happened, and she still seemed to think that the problem between Curly and I wasn't impossible. "You need to talk to him to resolve whatever happened. You don't want to lose him as a friend, do you?"

I groaned. "I never wanted to in the first place. It's him who lost me as a friend for pushing me too far." I wasn't going to tell Mom how he'd kissed me – not because I was trying to protect either of us, but who would want to tell their mom that the last person who kissed them was a nine-year-old that they thought was the perfect kid and a good influence on their own kids.

I wouldn't leave my room at all that night, and I slept little, expecting for my door to open at any moment. However, it didn't, that night, as far as I knew.

I had to leave my room in the morning, of course, but I ignored Curly completely, apart from making a point of avoiding him.

Lisa pulled me aside just before we got to the bus stop. "Listen, you can't just keep doing this." she hissed. "Even Dad knows something's going on. You've got to find a way to get him to listen to you, otherwise Mom and Dad will start asking why you're completely blanking Curly when he's so obviously desperate to get your attention."

I shrugged. "What am I meant to do? Set the Pink Tsundere on him?" Lisa nudged me as we got to the bus stop, since said tsundere was already there.

"Hey, Hells, how's it going?" I greeted her brightly. Helga just gave me a sign of acknowledgement.

Curly actually did try to share the seat with me on the bus (I could tell by the way he was gesturing and looking at me) so I quickly squeezed into the backseat with most of the "geeks". By that time, I'd learned the names of the ones in Lisa's class. Eugene, the jinx, was one of them. Then came Sheena, his squeaky-voiced friend.

The other main one was Helga's asthmatic stalker, Brainy. Just for entertainment, I tried to get him to talk, but that wasn't too easy. Our conversation went like this:

Me: So, what's up?

Brainy: Uh...nothing...

Me: Do you always give one word answers?

Brainy: Uh...no...

Me: Can you tell me something about yourself, at least? Like why you hang around Helga all the time? My little sister was telling me that she's always punching you in the face.

Brainy: I...like her...

Me: Yeah, I got that. Do you actually like being punched in the face?

Brainy: Uh...I dunno...

See? It was impossible to get more than three words out of that kid at a time. But it was better than having a kid make melodramatic confessions of love, at least. I hoped Curly staying over wouldn't get out at school, and it would never happen again.

But the event was far from over.

As long as I don't completely copy "Curly's Girl", I should be fine...so, what do you think Curly's actually done now? Please review!