Chapter Six: At the Curly Slide
Olly was good at trap building. The dude literally showed me pictures of a miniature car he built with his dad, using a mousetrap as its motor. The guy's a genius. But soon enough, I started to become less interested in Olly and Liam’s increasingly absurd plans to trap the roll kids. I mean, my teachers tell me to brainstorm and just think of ideas, but literally rolling up the roll kids in dough like mini hotdog rolls at the Super Bowl was a little too absurd for my taste. Dropping a net from a tree after luring them with a pile of cash was a little unrealistic too.
Dressing up as zombies for Halloween in a few weeks and kidnapping them felt a little… err… illegal.
Also, while Liam and Olly started talking about dressing up as skeletons like the mean guys in Karate Kid, I had a different vision in my head. I was thinking about the posters that had recently gone up around my school. There was going to be a Halloween choir performance and dance in a few weeks. They were going to have smoke machines AND, I happed to know from careful observation, Stella was part of the choir.
“You’re what?” Olly said as Liam’s mouth fell open. We were standing together at recess behind the twisted slide, which wasn’t used very often, and I had decided to tell my friends about my plan to ask Stella to go to the dance with me. Well, I hadn’t really planned to, but somehow Stella’s name kept casually finding ways into my conversation whenever I was talking.
“So, you like Stella?” Liam said. “And you’re just going to ask her to be your girlfriend?"
"Dude,” Olly said. "You’re just learning now that Adam likes Stella? Of course Adam likes Stella." Then he turned to me… “Um… Adam? It’s not even a partner dance.”
“Good.” I said, my face turning red. “Easy. I don’t know how to dance anyway.”
“Oooh,” Liam crooned. “Adam’s got a girlfriend. That he’s taking to a dance.”
“Shut up.”
Liam started looking all around and I was sure he was trying to spot Stella somewhere at recess.
“Well, you can go befriend Mr. Kong,” I said, because I was pretty sure he would stare at Stella and make her suspicious if he spotted her.
“I like Kong,” Liam said. “He’s friendly and he waves. Stella tries to run away from you.”
And now my face turned VERY red. Stella hung out with her friends at recess, but that hardly counted as running away from me. I tried to raise my eyebrows but still could tell I was blushing.
"We don’t know that," Olly said kindly.
“Who are you going to pick as your girlfriend?” I shot back at Liam defensively.
“Shh.” Olly said. “You don’t want other people to know before Stella knows. Adam, go ask her.”
"Go ask her if she runs away from me??"
"No, ask her to the dance."
“Now?” I said, suddenly startled. There was no way I wanted to ask her with Liam and Olly goggling at me. “Not in front of all her friends.”
"Early bird gets the worm." Olly said, shrugging. "Do it, my man."
Liam leaned against the slide and sighed dramatically, staring at me not moving. "Well, ah well, I guess you won’t go to the dance after all.”
Then, Liam screamed and jumped, as if a bee had stung him.
Olly and I both automatically jumped too.
“Liam! Are you alright?”
But Liam was looking toward the slide where Ash had just sat up from within the twist. “Ash, what the— she poked me!” Liam said.
Ash had a little pink sketchpad and a matching sparkling pencil. “It was a cool angle to try to sketch.” We all knew, even if Ash had started off started laying in the curly slide to sketch, that she had been eavesdropping.
I stood there petrified. Surely Ash had heard everything. The only question was, would she tell others?
Maybe Ash would keep the information with her, keeping it dormant…
Maybe…
But nope.
The story blew up like a gargantuan, Mt St. Helens volcano. BOOM.
Even as we lined up for recess, I started to hear the mutters.
I looked around and then quickly looked back. For the briefest second, I had seen Stella, a little pink in the face, standing in line with her friends, who were all staring at me even as Stella tried to look away.
I saw heads turn and heard mutters and whispers. And by the end of the day, the entire school seemed to be echoing with the news: Adam likes Stella.
Dressing up as zombies for Halloween in a few weeks and kidnapping them felt a little… err… illegal.
Also, while Liam and Olly started talking about dressing up as skeletons like the mean guys in Karate Kid, I had a different vision in my head. I was thinking about the posters that had recently gone up around my school. There was going to be a Halloween choir performance and dance in a few weeks. They were going to have smoke machines AND, I happed to know from careful observation, Stella was part of the choir.
“You’re what?” Olly said as Liam’s mouth fell open. We were standing together at recess behind the twisted slide, which wasn’t used very often, and I had decided to tell my friends about my plan to ask Stella to go to the dance with me. Well, I hadn’t really planned to, but somehow Stella’s name kept casually finding ways into my conversation whenever I was talking.
“So, you like Stella?” Liam said. “And you’re just going to ask her to be your girlfriend?"
"Dude,” Olly said. "You’re just learning now that Adam likes Stella? Of course Adam likes Stella." Then he turned to me… “Um… Adam? It’s not even a partner dance.”
“Good.” I said, my face turning red. “Easy. I don’t know how to dance anyway.”
“Oooh,” Liam crooned. “Adam’s got a girlfriend. That he’s taking to a dance.”
“Shut up.”
Liam started looking all around and I was sure he was trying to spot Stella somewhere at recess.
“Well, you can go befriend Mr. Kong,” I said, because I was pretty sure he would stare at Stella and make her suspicious if he spotted her.
“I like Kong,” Liam said. “He’s friendly and he waves. Stella tries to run away from you.”
And now my face turned VERY red. Stella hung out with her friends at recess, but that hardly counted as running away from me. I tried to raise my eyebrows but still could tell I was blushing.
"We don’t know that," Olly said kindly.
“Who are you going to pick as your girlfriend?” I shot back at Liam defensively.
“Shh.” Olly said. “You don’t want other people to know before Stella knows. Adam, go ask her.”
"Go ask her if she runs away from me??"
"No, ask her to the dance."
“Now?” I said, suddenly startled. There was no way I wanted to ask her with Liam and Olly goggling at me. “Not in front of all her friends.”
"Early bird gets the worm." Olly said, shrugging. "Do it, my man."
Liam leaned against the slide and sighed dramatically, staring at me not moving. "Well, ah well, I guess you won’t go to the dance after all.”
Then, Liam screamed and jumped, as if a bee had stung him.
Olly and I both automatically jumped too.
“Liam! Are you alright?”
But Liam was looking toward the slide where Ash had just sat up from within the twist. “Ash, what the— she poked me!” Liam said.
Ash had a little pink sketchpad and a matching sparkling pencil. “It was a cool angle to try to sketch.” We all knew, even if Ash had started off started laying in the curly slide to sketch, that she had been eavesdropping.
I stood there petrified. Surely Ash had heard everything. The only question was, would she tell others?
Maybe Ash would keep the information with her, keeping it dormant…
Maybe…
But nope.
The story blew up like a gargantuan, Mt St. Helens volcano. BOOM.
Even as we lined up for recess, I started to hear the mutters.
I looked around and then quickly looked back. For the briefest second, I had seen Stella, a little pink in the face, standing in line with her friends, who were all staring at me even as Stella tried to look away.
I saw heads turn and heard mutters and whispers. And by the end of the day, the entire school seemed to be echoing with the news: Adam likes Stella.
Next: Chapter Seven
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