Pepito was still anticipating Madeline's response to her present. She finally stopped being speechless.
"You got this for me? That's so nice,"
"Of course. I thought you deserved something special," Pepito replied. "You wanna go for a walk? Just the two of us?" he asked.
"Yeah… sure," Madeline said a bit quietly as the other girls were whispering and gossiping.
They went outside, initially just walking through the gardens of attached to the school. Pepito walked at Madeline's side and often looked at her and smiled but didn't say anything yet. Is he preparing to tell me something important? Or does he just want to reconnect? He was never this quite. Maybe… I can talk with him about…
Madeline hesitantly started talking. "Hey Pepito, about that time that we were kidnapped,"
"Yeah, thank you for coming to help me, even though I had been rather annoying at the time. That was really cool off you", Pepito said.
"Well… for all the good it did. I got kidnapped and tied up alongside you,"
"Yes but it was still really nice of you to come and help me and besides, we escaped together remember?"
"You drove the cool little bike. It was just luck that they left those juggling knives there and that we could cut ourselves lose. If they hadn't been such idiots, we…,"
"You're too hard on yourself. I think you're really cool. You always speak your mind, you're so energetic and outspoken. You even made sure the school was kept open that way. That's really cool. You're not like most other girls,"
"Oh… thanks,"
"In fact, that's why I was hoping to do something together…. Just the two of us… Get to know each other more,"
"Yeah… sure. Why not right?"
"Great. Let's go for a real walk first. See more off Paris,"
"You mean sneak off?" Madeline asked.
"Yeah. Adventurous right?"
"Yes, I suppose,"
"You're not scared… are you?"
"No! Of course not! Just miss Clavel and I have gotten really close and I wouldn't really wanna upset her,"
"But she knows you right? She'll understand,"
"…true, let's go," Madeline said trying to sound confident as they walked off unto the street.
Pepito took Madeline's hand. It surprised her at first but she quickly began to hold it firmly.
"I got quite a bit of money. We should go to a candy store. I can buy you a whole bunch of sweets. We just need to find it. Probably somewhere deeper in the city," Pepito said.
As they walked across more and more people into unfamiliar streets, Madeline began to feel a bit hot and dissy.
"I am sure the store must be somewhere near here. Sorry that it is taking me so long," Pepito said.
After a few more minutes they reached a candy store and Pepito spent over 30 Franc buying huge bags of candy.
"Here are sweets for you sweetie," Pepito said to Madeline's surprise as he handed her the bags.
"Thanks. You're really nice," Madeline said. "Can we got to a more quite place? Where we can get some fresh air?"
"Yes, of course," Pepito said as they looked for a small river where they said down and started gulping down the candy.
"Why… why did you call me sweetie?" Madeline asked awkwardly.
"I learned that that's something you say to a girl you like," Pepito responded.
"You… you like me as…"
"As… you know, how a boy likes a girl. You're funny and brave,"
"Thanks,"
"Do you like me too?" Pepito asked.
A thousand thoughts went on inside Madeline's head. Why is he bringing this up know? Do I like him? Will I hurt his feelings if I don't like him? Will miss Clavel be upset about this? Will I be able to discuss my nightmares with him? I shouldn't… I shouldn't give in to fear. Everything will be fine… just say yes!
"Yes!" Madeline said to Pepito whose eyes widened with joy.
"Great," he said as he took her hand again. It started to get dark.
"The moon is beautiful isn't it?" Pepito said.
"Yes," Madeline replied as she tried to hide her nervousness. Eventually she tried to open up to him. "You said it was cool how I tried to help you… have you thought back a lot to the kidnapping?"
"Mainly to our great escape and also the conversation we had… when you told me about how you no longer had parents… I think that really made me understand you. Why? Have you been thinking back a lot to it? To us?"
"I… I have been having dreans about it," Madeline said shyly.
"Dreams about us? That's… that's wonderful," Pepito replied.
"Yes… totally," Madeline said.
She waited for a while before asking him. "Do you think we should be getting back?"
"I guess so yeah," he said as he moved his lips towards her to kiss her. She didn't move away and closed her eyes, then their lips touched. She wasn't sure how to feel. She hadn't really kissed a boy before. Pepito was nice. There was just so much on her mind right now.
Pepito took her hand again as they tried to go back to the school. It kept getting darker. Madeline was worried that they would get lost. Pepito tried to use places they had come across previously to find their way back.
"Should I ask for directions?" Pepito asked.
"No, we cannot let any adults know we're lost! They might be kidnappers," Madeline said.
"I… guess, you're right to be cautious. Well I will just keep searching," Pepito said. They kept walking through Paris as Madeline tried to hide that she was getting more and more scared.
Eventually they saw the school at a distance and she sighed of relief. Then she started to think of how miss Clavel would react when they got back.
"I had a lot of fun", Pepito said which snapped Madeline back to the present.
"Me too," Madeline said.
"Let's do this more often," Pepito said as Madeline shivered.