Elm Creek: A Readymade Family, Volume 2

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TEN

The next day, as soon as Charity walked through the school gates with Missy and Jake, Matt came up to her. Grabbing her hand, he tugged on it. “Come with me for a bit.”

Aware of every eye on them, Charity flushed but nodded and let him lead her away from her friends.

He didn’t stop walking until they reached a corner where they were mostly alone and unobserved. “Will you come see a movie with me?”

Faced with his sparkling eyes and blinding smile, Charity’s heart pounded and her stomach fluttered. What this new reaction to Matt was, she didn’t know. “A movie?” she managed to ask, conscious that he still hadn’t let go of her hand.

He nodded. “My brother and parents are coming, too. But I’d really like it if you’d come.”

“I’ll have to ask my mom,” Charity reminded him.

Matt nodded. “Ask her.” He added, “Are you coming over to my house today?”

Charity nodded, certain her mother would allow it. “I’ll get permission when I go home.”

“I’ll come get you after school, then.” Suddenly, without any warning, he kissed her on the cheek and scurried off before she could react.

Heat spread across her face as she watched him hurry away. When she finally turned, she found Missy standing just a few feet away, staring at her. She knew then that she’d witnessed the moment and her next words would be embarassing.

“He kissed you!” she exclaimed in a too-loud voice that carried across the schoolyard. “Matt kissed you!”

To her horror, many pairs of eyes turned in their direction at Missy’s loud exclamations. While boys laughed and made teasing comments, girls surrounded her asking questions.

By the time the first bell rang, everyone in the sixth-grade class—and probably in seventh and eighth, too—knew Matt Kelly had kissed Charity Williams in the schoolyard.

Charity filed into the classroom with the rest of her classmates, including Matt, trying to ignore the embarrassment of having the entire class know a boy had kissed her. Her face still flamed and she kept her eyes fixed to her feet until she reached her desk. Once she sat down, she kept her gaze firmly on the teacher, who was the only one unlikely to ask about the kiss.

A warm hand touched her shoulder and the familiar scent of chocolate and vanilla reached her nose. She didn’t need to look to know who it was. Matt always smelled like chocolate and vanilla—probably because he always had treats on him.

“You’re not mad at me, are you?” he asked worriedly in an almost whisper.

“No,” she replied, though she found she couldn’t raise her eyes to his—at least not yet. She was embarrassed, but she wasn’t mad at him. She wasn’t sure how she felt. The chaos that had followed Missy’s announcement hadn’t given her the time to process and examine her own feelings.

“Matthew Kelly, go to your chair,” Mrs. Brooks called from her desk.

“In a minute,” he called back. In a lower voice, he asked Charity, “Are you sure?”

Charity forced herself to look up at him. If she wasn’t brave enough to even look at him, it would probably seem like she was upset with him. His face was just as flushed as hers felt, but there was worry in his eyes.

“I didn’t think anyone would see,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

Charity noted he wasn’t apologizing about the kiss; just that their private moment had been turned into public entertainment. “It’s okay,” she said, looking straight into his eyes so he’d know she meant it.