Chapter 22: ~Chapter 8~ Part 1

"Sixty-eight... Sixty-nine... Seventy..."

I counted my push-ups aloud, and I couldn't help but be pleased with myself. I was following the idea I got yesterday and I found that working out a little in the morning felt surprisingly good. I was also pleasantly surprised about just how fit I was. I was about to reach a hundred push-ups and I wasn't even short of breath yet. Maybe my body was used to this kind of thing?

With one final heave, I finished the last set and sat up on the floor. Basking in the rush of blood following the exertion, I leaned back, supporting my weight on my hands behind me, and let my thoughts wander.

I probably did work out in the past, I concluded. While I wasn't exactly a bodybuilder, some closer inspection in front of the mirror (which in no way or shape involved posing) revealed that I had an evenly balanced, toned body. You don't get one of those without putting work into it.

That made me wonder: just what kind of person was I before my amnesia? Did I train just for the sake of shaping my body, or was there some other reason? Athletics? Some other sport? And if we are at that, what were my hobbies? What kind of movies did I watch? Did I have a favorite band? Did I even listen to music?

I had no answer to any of these questions. During the breaks at school, I tried to interrogate Joshua about myself a few times, but his answers were inevitably the same as the first time: I never really talked about myself, so he didn't know for sure. I tried to covertly inquire from Angie as well, but she seemed to know me even less than Josh. From their point of view, I was always the goofy guy who got Josh into trouble, an image I wasn't entirely comfortable with.

But then again, the more I thought about it though, the less significant the problem seemed. After all, there was a distinct possibility that Leonard Dunning didn't even exist until I woke up on that confusing, headache-filled morning. Scary, but possible.

I waited for a few more minutes in silence, and once my heart rate returned to normal I stood up and headed for the bathroom. I took a quick shower and returned to my room with a towel still draped over my head. On my computer screen I saw that I still had my last observation document open, so I walked over and saved it.

This one was a separate file I had for keeping tabs on the people I knew. It was mostly about the circle of me, Josh, and his three love interests, though I also had a few short entries for the nurse and the three stooges. And then of course there was Judy.

Before I knew it, I already let out a sigh. Even after a full night's reflection, I still couldn't decide where I stood with her. She turned out to be a lot less docile than I expected from a placeholder, and I had a hard time reading her through her perma-deadpan face, but she also seemed enthusiastic enough, and her notes and observations were up to notch...  save for that whole flirting business, of course. That one was dead wrong.

I absently scrolled through the document without sitting down before I closed it, revealing a flood of browser tabs and windows of the same site hiding underneath it. Needless to say, I spent most of my night surrounded by those pages. I specifically focused on the genre I suspected I might've been trapped inside: the high-school harem-comedy. I mostly did so through the mountains of examples I could find online, as I suspected seeing those would give me more ideas than reading some generalized description.

Unfortunately, my research left me with about as many questions as I started with, though not necessarily the same ones.

First, there was the issue of Josh. Was he blissfully unaware of the girls' affections, or was he just keeping his distance in fear of complicating things and possibly hurting them? In other words, did he play the clueless archetype or the indecisive one? Or maybe a combination of the two? At least I didn't take him for a harem seeker, so the third archetype was out of the question. As for the girls themselves, my research had only reinforced my initial impressions of them.

Angie was the childhood friend. They had a Japanese term for it; it was osana... somethingsomething. I will look it up again later. They are a staple of the genre, but at the same time, they are not the most likely to end up with the protagonist. That spot belongs to the first newcomer, the one who shakes up the status quo. That would be the princess in our case, but I was afraid my early, misguided interventions might have derailed her role. In my defense, once I realized what I have done I went out of my way to get her involved with the guy and repair the damage, but only time could tell whether I succeeded.

The class rep fulfilled the role of the third option, the character who would hopelessly pin after the protagonist without much of a chance and who mostly exists to round out the early love triangle.

Finally, the girl who kissed Josh. For now, I will call her Mystery Girl X. She appeared sooner than I would've expected, and if I had to venture I would say it was so that she would kick off the plot since the princess didn't do so already. If my hunch was correct, I would be hearing more about her in the near future. She probably won't amount to much in terms of the love-dodecahedron (or whatever this will end up as); late arrivals seldom win in the relationship-tug-of-war... unless Josh ends up with a harem in the truest sense, that is.

I took a deep breath and rubbed my face with my palms. Remember, they are still people and not just characters in a story, I reminded myself. They make their own choices, and while they might embody certain tropes, it doesn't necessarily mean they are ruled by them.

With that thought in mind, I saved my tabs and put the computer into standby mode. I was a good twenty minutes early, but I decided to go to school anyway. I put on my freshly washed and ironed uniform (apparently the ninja zombie maids fixed my clothes up overnight if I put them into the wardrobe in the evening, or at least that was my currently preferred hypothesis), packed my bag, checked my wallet, and ultimately left the house a good ten minutes ahead of my usual schedule.

The morning streets were emptier than usual. Apparently placeholders took their own schedules very seriously and would't move around if they had no place to hold in the background. At least that's what I thought until I noticed someone standing by the crossroad. My suspicions about the identity of said person were soon proven to be correct once she noticed me and began walking towards me.

"Good morning," Judy greeted me in all her deadpan glory.

"Hi," I replied absent-mindedly, as my attention was drawn to a certain odd detail. "Are those circles under your eyes?"

She promptly rubbed her eyes with the back of her wrist, and on closer look I also notice that she had bloodshot eyes.

"I didn't sleep well," she told me while conspicuously averting her eyes, an act that was already more animated than what most placeholders were capable of.

"That is an understatement if I've ever heard one. Are you going to be all right? Should I call in sick for you?"

She hesitated, but ultimately she shook her head.

"I'm fine."

I continued to scrutinize her for a while longer, but in the end I simply shrugged with a curt "If you say so," and then started walking, at which point she practically rushed to catch up to me. She really didn't have to. I wasn't about to run away.

We walked in silence for a few seconds before she yawned loud and wide, startling me for a second. I looked at her again and I could only shake my head at the sight.

"I tell you, you look really bad." She didn't give me a reaction, and it made me wonder. "Just why couldn't you sleep anyway? Did something happen?"

She didn't answer right away, but then just as I was getting impatient, she uttered the word, "Insomnia."

"Just insomnia? Out of nowhere?" This time she nodded. I was pretty sure there was more to it, but she didn't seem to want to talk about it and I didn't want her to clam up on me, so I decided to drop the issue. "All right, let's go with that then. By the way, were you waiting for me at the crossroad?"

She hesitated for a while before nodding. "I didn't know where you lived."

"Wait, you wanted to pick me up in the morning?" She nodded once more. "You really don't have to do that."

"I don't?"

"No, you don't."

"Then are you going to pick me up instead?"

I gave her a wry look, but she didn't seem to get the hint and just looked at me with a sincere interest.

"No. No one picks up anyone."

"I see," she stated as she nodded to herself. "So we will meet at the crossing like today."

"No, I meant... Uh. You know what? Fine. Let's do that."

She gave me another firm nod and I just had to wonder why she was so fixated on this. On second thought though, the situation was actually quite handy. I wanted to discuss some things with her anyways, and having company on my way to school didn't sound that bad all things considered.

"Say, I haven't actually told you what you should be looking out for, have I?" She was thinking for a moment and then shook her head. "Okay, here's the plan—"

"A moment." After interrupting me, she fished a small book out of her breast pocket. It was about the size of my palm and had a leathery pink cover with a small pen fastened to it on a short string. She took off the tip from said pen, poked a page a few times, and then directed her gaze at me again. "Go on."

"All right then..." I continued a tad tentatively. She was already taking this way more seriously than I expected. That was a good thing... right? "So, as I was hinting at yesterday, I have a certain hypothesis about the nature of this world." She continued to stare at me without blinking, so I decided to cut the chase and drop her into the deep water in one go. "I believe this world is following the mechanics of a story; a harem comedy, to be precise."

"Harem-comedy?"

"It's a genre where a bunch of girls are vying for the affection of a single guy, but it is mostly played for laughs and only gets serious at the end."

"I see." Whispering so, she began to furiously jot down words into her notepad, then paused directed a critical look at me, or at least one as critical as her poker face allowed. "Is that why you are flirting with every girl?"

"No, and I told you I'm not flirting with anyone. I'm just being friendly."

"U-huh."

‘Why are you looking at me like that!?' I wanted to yell at her incredulous eyes, but I swallowed it and moved on.

"Listen, the guy at the center of attention is not me but Josh."

"'Josh'?"

"Joshua... Umm... A moment..." I floundered for a second while looking for my phone. "It's... Ugh... Where is my contact list when I need it?"

"You don't know your friend's name?" she asked with the incredulity in her eyes swelling to unseen proportions, which in her case meant ‘barely visible, under the right lighting conditions, if you squinted hard enough'.

I awkwardly cleared my throat and tried to smile.

"Oh, right. I guess I haven't mentioned yet, but I seem to have an itsy-bitsy case of retrograde amnesia."

"I see," she responded and just wrote a few more lines into her little book.

That was a... slightly underwhelming reaction. I was about to move on when, just as the whole name-business was about to settle, a brand new question reared its head in my mind.

"Speaking of which Judy, what's your name?" At first she only blinked at me in mild confusion, so I decided to reiterate. "I meant your surname. You never told me."

I was expecting her to lock up, but instead she just blinked again and her brows furrowed into deep crevices like she was thinking hard about a math problem.

"Sennoma," she told me at last.

"Sennoma?" I repeated after her, and she nodded in confirmation.

"Yes. What's yours?"

"Mine?"

She nodded again, and I couldn't help but raise a suspicious brow at her question. Shouldn't she already know that?

"Well, it's Leonard..." I began, only to then flounder again under her inscrutable gaze. "Erm... Give me a second, it's on the tip of my tongue."

"You don't know your own name?"

"Hey!" I protested a touch louder than I planned. "You had to think for a moment too! I have amnesia, what's your excuse?" In the meantime I had a sudden moment of revelation and I snapped my finger. "Wait, I remember now! It's Dunning. Leonard Dunning."

"I see," She nodded to herself for the umpteenth time while jotting down something. "What are the names of the others?"

"I... well, we kind of only call each other by nicknames, so I honestly don't know," I grudgingly confessed. "It never came up since I lost my memories."

"Nicknames?"

"Yes, like how I call the princess princess, or the class rep class rep."

She paused to ponder for a while, which in her case involved tapping the back of her pen to her lips... which frankly looked ridiculous, as she had to place her notebook right under her chin for the string to reach that far. Anyways, after a few seconds, she glanced up at me again.

"Can I have a nickname too?"

"Excuse me?" The question came out of the blue so hard it dazed me for a moment.

"A nickname. I think I should have one too."

I slowly narrowed my eyes to slit and scrutinized her face from up close for any sign of a joke, but she looked entirely serious. Though again, she always looked completely serious, except when a few microscopic expressions broke to the surface, so maybe I shouldn't have even tried. Eventually I slowly shook my head and told her, "Normally you don't just up and demand a nickname, you know? It kind of has to come about naturally."

"I see."

Was she... was she actually disappointed? It was hard to tell from her expressionless face, but she definitely felt crestfallen... which in turn made me feel guilty for some mysterious and thoroughly annoying reason. However, before I could say anything, she suddenly perked up and pointed her pen at me

"I will call you ‘Chief'," she declared in her usual monotone, though she still looked fired up, by a certain sense of the word. More importantly though...

"Wait a moment! Wasn't this about you wanting a nickname?!"

"Yes, but I decided I will let it come about naturally, Chief."

I blinked once, twice, and then promptly buried my forehead in my palm.

"Please don't tell me you are going to stick ‘Chief' to the end of all your sentences."

"No. Only when the situation demands it." She paused for a few seconds and then added, "Chief."

"You did that on purpose!" I borrowed a page from the princess' handbook and pointed an accusatory finger at my assistant, but she only looked blankly at me, though her eyes once again betrayed the wicked grin she was suppressing... Or maybe I was just seeing things. Either way, I dropped my finger in defeat. It was time for a tactical retreat. Commencing the shift in topics in three, two, one...

"Anyways, we were talking about your part in my research before this whole conversation got hijacked by nicknames, right?" She let out a soft grunt in agreement, so I told her, "Okay, here's the deal: I already have a set of notes with the outlines of my initial observations." I reached into my bag and handed her a couple of bound pages I printed out last night. "If you give me an e-mail address I will also link you a few sites useful for gathering references and tropes to look out for."

She carefully took the notes from me and glanced over them.

"Fascinating."

I almost stumbled when I heard her. This might have been the first time I've heard her express overt emotion, and being in awe over the rough outlines of my various hypotheses and their supporting evidence was the last place where I expected it to happen. She flipped over the pages one after the other, and before I knew it she was handing it back to me. I only looked blankly at her extended hand before I remembered that she had a crazy memory. I took my notes back and put them away, though at the same time I couldn't help but wonder why she was using her own notebook if she could remember everything anyway. Maybe it was for my benefit?

"That's the gist of it. What I really need is a second opinion, so I want you to be around me and observe the same things that I do, then at the end of the day we compare notes and see if our interpretations match."

"So you are telling me that I should stand by your side for the whole day."

"Yes, as much as possible."

She nodded hard and gave me a look full of determination before stepping right into my personal space, followed by the words, "I can do that."

"Easy there," I said to her with a smile and a raised hand. "Just act natural."

"I can do that too."

"... Okay then."

I took half a step away from my unusually fierce assistant, but she didn't get the hint and just closed the distance anyway. I was about to ask her to for some space, but then all of a sudden something hit my back.

"Morning!" I was greeted via blunt force trauma by my best, by default, male friend.

"Same to you," I replied with a pointed look while theatrically stretching my back.

Josh let out a merry chuckle, but then abruptly fell silent when he noticed Judy. He gave me a look that said ‘Dude, what?' (Josh's expressions were rarely eloquent), at which point I felt obliged to introduce her.

"You remember Judy, right?"

"Of course I do," Josh sounded as if I just insulted him. "She is in our class. You even asked me about her yesterday."

Now it was my assistant's turn to look at me, her expression saying ‘What is he talking about?'... Or maybe ‘They have a sale on beef in the supermarket?' With her, it was a wee bit harder to tell.

"It was after we met on the roof," I told her, and she nodded in response, at which point I returned my attention to Josh. "So you see, we kind of had a chance meeting yesterday."

"I get that, but why are you two walking to school together?"

"We live close to each other," Judy supplied the answer, yet he seemed less than satisfied by it.

"Just like that?"

"Well, there are some other circumstances—" I answered tentatively, but then I was suddenly interrupted.

"What's your surname?" Judy interjected with her notes in hand.

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"Excuse me?" Josh fixed her with an incredulous stare, but she didn't seem to care.

"What's your surname?" she dutifully repeated before pointing at me with her pen. "The Chief can't remember because of his amnesia."

"Whoa!" Josh raised his hands in a ‘T', the universal sign of ‘time out' and turned to me with a scowl. "Why does she know you have amnesia? Wasn't that supposed to be secret? And who the hell is this chief?"

"She is a special case. She is helping me with collecting info to recover my memories. She is an assistant of sorts." I paused to scratch the side of my jaw, then added, "As for the 'chief' question, that's me..."

"I thought we were observing people to pffffpfh..." Judy sputtered through my hand hastily clasped over her mouth.

"A moment," I smiled at my friend before I dragged her a bit back, leaned closer to her, and then whispered directly into her ear.

"He doesn't know that part. In fact, I want to keep even my amnesia a secret from everyone else. If anyone asks, you are helping me with a school project. Got it?"

She nodded and I let go of her with a sigh. That was way too close to my liking.

"What was that?" Josh asked with one of his highly proficient skeptical expressions.

"Nothing, just a little tactical discussion."

"Don't you think that was a tiny bit suspicious?"

"Nah, there is nothing suspicious here, right Judy?" I looked over my shoulder at her and found her rubbing her jaw with a grimace. For a moment I almost panicked. "Oh crap, did I hurt you?"

She shook her head and replied, "I just bit my tongue a little."

"Oh crap, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to... I mean... geez."

She looked at me floundering in front of her with her usual expressionless visage and then raised two fingers. I, in turn, looked at her with mild puzzlement.

"Two what? Or is that a victory sign?"

She shook her head again and moved her fingers closer to my face.

"I want two extra sandwiches and you are forgiven."

"Sandwiches? Since when did I agree to pay you in sandwiches? Not to mention, I have none. That lunchbox from yesterday was an exception, not the rule."

"In that case, you are not forgiven," she stated as matter-of-factly as if we were talking about the weather. "Now I will hold a grudge and then plan an elaborate and needlessly complicated revenge against you. It will probably involve sharks."

"Ugh... You know, it's hard to tell if you are joking when you are saying everything so seriously." Her usual poker face somehow seemed more intense than usual, so I had no choice but to give up. "Fine, fine! How about something from the cafeteria?"

She paused with a thoughtful gleam in her eyes and nodded after about five seconds.

"That should do. You are on probation until then."

"How gracious of you," I smiled a touch ruefully as I was turning back to Josh. "Where were we?"

My friend remained silent for a while, and then simply uttered, "Nothing. I don't even want to know anymore." With that, and a small shrug, he started walking again. I rushed after him and Judy was sticking to me like my own shadow.

Once we were in line, I turned my head to the side and whispered to her, "You see what you've done? You totally put him on guard! I told you to act normal!"

"I was."

"You were? Then from now on act like how it would be normal for someone else."

"I see." She jotted this down, and then looked up to me again. "How do I do that?"

"Ugh." I grimaced at the question, and then with a defeated expression I told her, "Just follow my lead and improvise."

"Got it."

With that concluded, I took a deep breath, renewed the smile on my face, and addressed the grumpy guy walking on my other side.

"So, how did yesterday's date go?" A single look at his rapidly darkening face was enough to tell the answer. "That bad?"

"Worse!" Josh exclaimed in righteous indignation. "First Angie ate my entire allowance for the month in the form of a giant parfait I'm pretty sure couldn't even fit in her frame. Then we went on window-shopping and Elly insisted on going into a jewelry store and gawk at wedding rings of all things! And then, on top of all that, that girl showed up again"

"Mystery Girl X?" My friend gave me a questioning look, so I hastily explained myself. "The white-haired one?"

"Who else? She tried to drag me away while the others weren't looking, but then Elly noticed her and tackled her out of the shop!"

"Wait, this was still in the jewelry store?"

"Nah, it happened later. It was a phone shop. They were looking at straps or something. Anyways, she did a flying tackle on the girl, and by the time Angie and I got out to help, she ran away."

"The princess?"

"No, the white-haired girl! Then on top of that, the prin... Elly, sprained an ankle..." I nearly exclaimed ‘Again?', but held it down. "...so I had to take her home on my back, and of course Angie was nagging me all the way about inappropriate touching like I had any time to even think about such things, and then once we arrived at Elly's mansion, her butler scolded me, like any of it was my fault!"

I waited a few seconds for Joshua to regain his wind.

"... So it was an unmitigated disaster?"

"Yes!" He yelled out so loud even some of the placeholders on the street looked at us.

"... Do you feel better about it now that you got it off your chest?"

"I... Huh." With a puzzled look in his eyes, Josh raised a single eyebrow. "I actually do."

"Good." I patted him on the shoulder with a smile and he tentatively returned the gesture. The smile part, I mean. There was no reason for him to pat me on the back after all. "No more triple dates for a while, I suppose?"

"It wasn't a triple-date, we were just hanging out," he insisted with a sour look in his eyes. "But no, no more of those for a while."

"And what if Mystery Girl X shows up again when you are on your way home?"

Josh gave me a wry look. "I think I will be able to deal with a pretty girl chasing after me, thank you very much. I will ask her name, make small talk about the weather, school life... maybe invite her over to a coffee or something..."

I held his gaze for a while and it took me a lot of effort to keep my face still.

"You are going to run away, aren't you?"

Josh broke out into a grin and gestured with his hand as he exclaimed, "Like the wind!"

We held it in for a second or two before we both laughed out loud, but even while doing so there was something else on my mind. I waited for him to stop chuckling before I brought it up.

"Hey Josh, maybe there is a third option."

"Oh?" He looked surprisingly intrigued, though also a little on guard. "I'm listening, but I warn you: If you tell me it's another triple-hangout but with the other two girls, I will punch you."

"Nah, maybe tomorrow." He gave me a flat look, which I promptly disregarded. "I actually wanted to go out and buy a new phone. You mentioned you were at a phone shop yesterday..."

"... and so you want me to take you there?" he finished my thought, and I nodded in the affirmative.

"Yup."

Josh didn't hesitate for long.

"Fine by me. We haven't hung out for nearly a week. I was just about to miss it."

I smiled at the comment and couldn't help but notice that my assistant was busy making notes by our side. I leaned in her direction and, using my height advantage, peeked over her head. To my surprise, there were barely any words on the page, though those were written in the same impeccable penmanship as her other notes. She looked up at me and for a moment I swear I saw a tiny flush on her cheeks, but she averted her face so fast I couldn't be sure.

"It's hard to write while walking," she stated with a distinct sense of sulkiness to her voice.

"You shouldn't write while walking at all. It's dangerous. You are going to—"

Just then, as per the unwritten laws of ironic timing, we reached an intersection with a high curb, which she magnificently missed. With practiced girl-catching reflexes (it's weird that I even needed to have such a skill) I managed to grab her shoulders before she stumbled and fell flat on her face. In fact, I grabbed her so firmly that I left her feet tangling on the other side of the curb.

She blinked at me, then glanced down at her airborne feet before returning her eyes to me, and at last she muttered a short "Point taken," in her customary monotone.

Hearing that, I carefully let her down and then told her, "You need to be more careful. It's important to make notes, but you can do them later; there is no sense in endangering yourself. What if a car was coming down the road just now?" While I scolded her, I proceeded to straighten her uniform on her shoulders where I crumpled them, and once I was satisfied with my handiwork, I concluded with an emphatic, "Safety first."

She nodded to my words, so I let her go and we followed after Josh. We didn't have to go far, as I found my friend standing still and directing a pair of scrutinizing eyes at me from under knit eyebrows.

"What?" I asked, and he cocked his head to the side in response, his gaze becoming even more suspicious than before.

"What did you say, what was your relationship again?"

I raised a single brow before glancing over to Judy.

"I told you, she is my assistant."

"Aren't you a little too unreserved for just that?" Seeing my confused expression Josh pointed at Judy. "People don't just casually touch each other like that in public. You didn't even hesitate."

"We do that too." I pointed at him in turn, but he only shook his head.

"That's guy stuff. She is a girl."

"How does that make a difference?" I was not just confrontational there; I really didn't see the difference.

"It just is!" came the heated reply. "There are different rules for these kinds of things!"

Was Josh a bit of a prude, I wondered? Anyways, at the end of the day I simply shrugged my shoulders.

"Well, it was an emergency. Also, it wasn't anything inappropriate, so I don't see any problem with it. How about you?"

Judy immediately shook her head and stated, "No. I get paid extra for it."

"Whoa there! Hold on a minute! You are not getting paid extra for that."

"I'm not?"

"Nope. You get the standard rate."

"What is the standard rate?"

I paused with my mouth half open, and then murmured, "Now that you mention it, we never actually figured out the finances, have we?"

"I want three sandwiches," she proposed on the spot, and then she also amended, "Plus dental."

"You seriously want to get paid in sandwiches?" She gave me a nod, so I had no choice but to play along. "Fine, but only normal ones. And no super-sizing; it's bad for your health."

Judy raised a hand. I nodded to her to indicate that she can speak.

"Chief, I want a raise."

"What!? You've been only working for a day!"

"But in that day I was a model worker. I should get promoted, but I am willing to compromise."

"Absolutely not! We have rules at this business, young lady!"

Judy tried to fold her arms, but her notebook was in the way, so she put it away first before she crossed them in front of her chest.

"In that case, if our demands are not met, we will strike."

"'We?'"

She gave me an uncharacteristically enthusiastic nod. "I unionized."

"When?"

"Just now."

I lightly stomped my feet in response, then a second later I melodramatically hung my head.

"Argh, fine. Three sandwiches and a soft drink, but not a french fry more!"

"Sir, you have a deal."

We theatrically shook hands and then I turned back to Josh.

"Oh, sorry. Business negotiations can creep up on you like that. What were we talking about?"

Josh looked at me with a slew of fourteen different flavors of bafflement sprinkled with a generous dose of flabbergastedness (I don't think that's a word, but it should be), and in the end he just threw his hands into the air.

"Fine, I give up! Sorry for asking! Geez!"

With that, and some stomping, he began walking up the hill leading to the school gate ahead of us. I fell back to Judy's side with a smile and whispered:

"Great improvisation."

"Thank you," she answered as stoically as ever. "I would prefer coke."

That threw me on a loop for a moment, and I tentatively asked, "Wait, you were serious back there?"

Instead of answering she looked at me and... was that... Yes, I could actually see the corners of her mouth twitch upwards in a cute little smile. It was barely there, but from her, that might as well have been a giant, ear-to-ear grin. By the time I got out of my surprise-induced stupor she also skipped ahead to Josh's side and I could only sigh.

"I have to figure her out, and do it fast, or one day that girl is going to be the end of me..." I grumbled as I picked up the pace as well, ready to begin yet another decidedly non-average school day.

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