OK, let's see...thanks for reviewing, detectivezelda and Sideshow Cellophane 26.

Friday seemed to take ages to come. Curly was over every single night, getting further every time. He kept experimenting without warning, seeing everything I liked, but keeping the promise to let my clothes be. Even worse, it was still working. Every night after he'd left, I found out after I undressed that I had actually been aroused momentarily. I took fleeting comfort in the fact that there was only a very little damp patch that didn't affect the other side at all, but it was still scary.

Finally, Friday arrived, and two weeks had gone by. I had the permission to break up at lunchtime, and so I approached him in the cafeteria, and said it all out loud for everyone to hear.

"Remember what day it is?" I said, smiling. "It's Friday. We've been together for two weeks."

The look on Curly's face was so expectant and hopeful that I felt instantly guilty.
"This isn't working out." I forced out. "I've told you before, I only like you as a friend, and I still do. Curly, you're a great kid, but...you're still a kid to me. I need to be with people that are more my age. I still really want you to be my friend. But you need to see that I can't be your girlfriend. There's a lot of great girls out there that would love you." I was probably lying about that, but who cares.

Then the finishing touch so no one would make me a pariah. I gave Curly a quick hug and whispered "Come over tonight and we'll hang out, OK?"

He gave me an unsure nod, but turned up that night anyway.

For the rest of the afternoon, I observed the reaction of everyone. A few of the fourth-graders gave me reproachful looks, but those who knew my dark secret smiled when I looked at them. Lisa gave me the thumbs up, although Rhonda made a point of scowling at me. I figured that she was jealous that everyone ostracized her when she was in the same position. However, I'd been nice as could be about the whole situation, which she hadn't. Most of the other kids remained neutral, with the usual "smile-when-someone's-watching-me" smile when I looked at them (although Helga had a "scowl-when-someone's-watching-me" scowl instead of a smile).

That night, I was painting when I heard a tap on my window. I immediately opened it and Curly jumped in, a 'kicked puppy' expression on his face.

"Come on, don't be like that." I said. "You didn't really think I wasn't going to break up with you? Believe it or not, kid, you still mean a lot to me...just not romantically."

"But...but I really love you." Curly said seriously. "What did I do wrong? What made you want to break up with me? I was so sure you were starting to like me-like me this week."

I sighed. "You were mistaken. I broke up with you because dating you would get me in a lot of trouble for taking advantage of a younger boy, no matter whether it was the other way round or not."

Curly looked back up, and suddenly a smile appeared back on his face. "So does that mean I can still do stuff with you?"

I cursed Cupid and Venus to the fiery pits of Hell. The thought of the 'stuff' he was referring to genuinely made me feel excited. But, I reminded myself, if being in a relationship with Curly was wrong, being his friend with benefits, even if it was on a small scale, was even worse.

"No." I said firmly. "No way. That's just weird. I keep telling you, you're way too young for me. If I've told you once, I've told you ten times! And," I added, as Curly was about to speak, "Even if you were the right age for me, I'd still say no."

"Are you sure about that?" Curly asked slyly. "You know you liked it only yesterday. Are you sure you don't like it now?"

I would have to lie, I knew it. "I was acting. It's method acting." I said by way of explanation. "I was being your girlfriend, and that meant letting you touch me in that way – and no, I don't mean literally, as such, you know what I meant." Then a light bulb came to me. "Curly, do you even understand love?"

It's not every day a girl can surprise someone like Curly, so I was pretty glad to get that reaction out of him.

"Cause love means wanting whoever the object of love is to be happy, even when it hurts you." I continued. "Love means sacrificing your own happiness for someone else's. If you really loved me, you'd let this go, and you'd just be my friend again."

"But...but Stephanie, I can't let you go!" Curly exclaimed. "You're my shining star in the sky, the light at the end of the tunnel, the one that makes the world magical. How could I live, knowing that your heart belonged to another?"
"Stop it." I ordered.

I didn't like the expression on Curly's face, now. It was sly again. "I could not stop! To stop would be to give up all hope, to resign to this menial existence, to go through life alone! I do not wish to resort to what you are about to make me resort to, but if I must to make you understand the bond between us -"

"I understand that." I interrupted. "You think you're hopelessly in love with me. I don't feel the same way, and I never will."

I could have sworn that Curly's whole demeanour darkened at that moment. "Final future warning, my princess. I can and will resort to anything to make you understand." Although there was a note of threat in his tone, it still remained melodramatically loving. "I really, truly, honestly don't want to do it when it's not on your terms, but I will, if you continue to be stubborn."

I crossed my arms. "Either stop trying to get me back after I already broke up with you, or leave the house. If you don't, I will push you out the window. That's a promise."

Curly turned to look straight into my eyes. "I'm sorry for this." he murmured quietly. And suddenly, he was kissing me, one hand stroking my hair, the other sliding up underneath the back of my T-shirt to keep me close.

The forced kiss was only broken when Curly moved to my earlobe, remembering exactly which spots got the reactions he wanted, starting with the earlobe, and continuing.

"Don't deny it, you like this." he murmured against my skin. "You haven't even tried to pull away."

That instinctively spurred me on to do so, but he was prepared, manically chuckling as I made a weak attempt to get away from it.

"You know that this is your paradise. Wouldn't it be nice to have this every day?" he whispered. "Just us...no one else in the world, just for a few moments?" I tried to ignore it, closing my eyes in an obvious attempt, but then he reached further up under the front of my T-shirt – he'd definitely been reading his parents' more adult books and knew that for girls, that was a majorly sensitive area.

My eyes flew open at the new sensation. I wanted to push Curly away, but at the same time, I didn't ever want it to stop. It was obvious that although I claimed I didn't want this, some part of me was yelling at me to stop lying and to let this happen.

When I finally gathered up some power, trying to think straight, I opened my mouth to protest, only to have Curly kiss me again, doing everything he knew I liked.

It could have been ten minutes or two hours when he finally let go of me, and I tried hard to restrain myself from clinging on.

"I knew you adored me." Curly said, laughing at me. "Admit it, you love me."

"That was manipulation." I said, gathering my original mindset together. "Didn't you get it the first time? No matter what you do to me, you can't force me to love you!"

Curly left soon after that, and I went downstairs. But that night, when I came back up, a post-it note was tacked to the other side of the window:

Keep it a secret relationship if you wish, but just admit that you're Curly's girl.

Stephanie's in trouble. Sorry if you're finding this a little weird, but I figured that the kids in this story are way too mature for what they should be, so it might make sense that Curly is stepping up his game to win Stephanie's heart. Please review!