Forgetting Lenny

Chapter 3

The next day, science class-

I walked into science class a little late because I was with Melody and her boyfriend, Henry. Henry's a nice guy, I guess. He treats Melody right and that's all the matters. I ran into science class, quickly apologized to Mr. Pierce and sat down in my seat next to Lenny.

"Thank you for joining us girls." Mr. Pierce said to the whole class as he stood up from his desk "So, today we will be starting a project on biotechnology. You will be researching how biotechnology effects us now, and how it might affect us in the future. You will be working with your lab partner, as in the person you are sitting with."

Lenny ripped a piece of paper out of a green notebook and started writing something. I grabbed his pen from him after he got to about the third word in his sentence. I ran through what I was about to do in my mind, remembering what I had googled last night.

I lifted my hands up and signed "My name is Eliza."

I signed it pretty slowly, but the smile on Lenny's face was worth it. He smile bigger than I've ever seen him smile. He kind of laughed and he signed back,

"Hi Eliza. My name is Lenny."

I thought for a second, trying to remember what I was going to say next. I quickly remembered and signed back,

"How are you doing today?"

He laughed at me this time. I looked at him with a confused expression and he grabbed his pen back from the desk where i set it down. He wrote,

"You signed today wrong:)''

I grabbed the paper and wrote back, "Ugh, can you show me how to do it right?"

He nodded after he read it and showed me how to sign it. I just couldn't get it right, no matter how hard I tried. Lenny laughed and held my hands in his. He moved my hands in the downward motion until I got it right. I put my hand up to my chin and moved it down, signing "Thank you". Lenny smiled and signed back "Your welcome". After he finished signing that, the bell rang, signaling class change.

Melody ran up to me after class and started telling me about a fight her and Henry had last night and how he made it up to her by buying her chocolates. I picked up my backpack and commented about how sweet Henry is to her and I noticed Lenny had left the class. I told Melody I had to go to the bathroom and ran out of the classroom, taking my phone out as I headed into the hallway. I pulled up the contacts app and pushed through the crowd of teenagers rushing not to be late to class. I saw the back of Lenny's blond hair and the sports jacket from his old school he wears all the time. It was a football letterman jacket. I walked up to Lenny and pulled his sleeve. He turned around and looked at me with confusion. I pulled him by his sleeve to the side of the hallway against the lockers. I pushed my phone into his hand and he started to enter his phone number and name. He finished typing in his information, handed my phone back to me and headed down the hallway. He took a few steps then turned around, smiled, and waved bye to me. I waved back and smiled back,

''Bye, I'll text you'' I mouthed to him.

He mouthed something back but I couldn't make it out. I waved and headed down the hallway to my fourth period.