Forget Green Gables

Tell Him

Tuesday night Danny comes over to cram with me for our science final. My door is wide open, but Felix is upstairs watching TV with our father, and our mother...well...she has not left her bunker in weeks. Review papers, flashcards, and highlighted text are spread all over my bed, and we're pressed all along each other.

"Speed?"

"Distance divided by time," I answer almost immediately, the formulas down cold.

"You think you're gonna pass?" Danny asks.

"I've gotten nothing less than a 95% all semester. I think I'm going to do more than pass. What about you?"

Danny smiles. "We're both going to kill it. What about English?"

I make a so-so motion with my hand. "I'm fine if she asks about the books we've read. It's the grammar that will kill me."

"Cheyanne?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you." I freeze over my book and slowly look up. Danny looks serious, at ease, and happy all at once. This is the boy who sent a dozen red and a dozen yellow roses to me on my birthday, who values my friendship just as much as he values our relationship, and who respects me above all else.

Do I love him?

Hell, yes.

"I love you too," I answer, and he smiles more broadly, kissing me gently on the forehead. Life, as far as I am concerned, does not get any better than this.

"You have two hours to complete your final exam," Mr. Jones intones, handing out tests. "When you finish, raise your hand and I will come and pick up your final. Then you can either study for your afternoon final, read, or sleep. I don't care so long as you're not being distracting to your peers. And, start."

I fly. I know the formulas, the applications, and the theoretical questions that require written responses. Nothing can stop me. When I finish, I check the time: 40 minutes elapsed. Quickly, I scan my answers, finding no errors. All of my answers have unit labels. Boo-ya!

Danny finishes not long after I do. Mr. Jones motions us both to the hallway, where we quietly go with our Spanish books.

"He doesn't want us in his room. Afraid we'll distract someone and make them get nervous that we're done and they're not."

"Pretty much. Any luck talking some sense in to Jamie? Is she still not talking to you?"

"She's talking to me only when she has to. She sat with me at lunch the last few days but doesn't say anything unless I ask her a direct question. She'll talk Felix's ear off on the way to and from school. I don't know what else to do. It's not like I was being mean. This is the first time we've fought for this long."

"He's a creep, and you know it. You're just trying to do what's best for your friend. She'll see that, eventually."

I rest my head on Danny's shoulder. "I hope so. Should we study these Spanish verbs again?" Danny smiles. I know the vocabulary cold, but he knows I want to take my mind off the fight with my best friend more than anything else. He runs me through vocabulary words, grammar concepts, and finally lets me doze off, my head on his shoulder, which is exactly how Mr. Jones finds us at the end of class.