Cross My Heart

More Than Looks

BECKETT 

"Stop," I sighed, "passing me notes. We're not in junior high."

If there was anything I regretted, it was having accepted his challenge. It had been less than a day and he was already getting on my nerves. 

Without bothering to read the note, I crumpled it and left it on the far corner of my desk. 

"Beckett," he whispered, "you have to read the note. It's funny. You have to read the joke." I could hear the laughter in his voice. I smoothed out the note and read the joke. 

What's the difference between a dirty bus station and a lobster with breast implants?

One's a crusty bus station and the other is a busty crustacen. 

I internally rolled my eyes and was about to crumple the note again when it was pulled out of my hands. 

"What's this?" Mr. Finch said. "A love note?"

"It's a joke," I responded. I'd rather get a detention than sit through an hour of this torture with this boy.

"And was it funny?" he asked.

"It was barely intelligible," I said.

Mr. Finch looked at the note for a few seconds before he smiled and said, "Mr. Drake. This was a poor joke. And it's quite embarrassing but you misspelled 'crustacean.'" A few people laughed. He folded the note in half and handed it to Jeremy. "If you're going to interrupt my class with a joke, at least make it of high standard." 

Jeremy lowered his eyes and scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. 

"It's a note, Mr. Finch. Who cares about the spelling as long as the message gets across?"

"Well said, Mr. Drake. But, if the reader is someone like Miss Tavora or myself, spelling does matter. Especially if the author of the words wants to be taken seriously. Looks fade with time Mr. Drake, but knowledge...knowledge is eternal."

"Wow, Mr. Finch. That was deep." A girl swooned. 

"Beckett found my joke funny, didn't you?" Jeremy looked to me with hope.

"Barely," I replied. "I think I lost a few brain cells."

His jaw dropped. More laughs.

"And here I thought we were friends." He shook his head. "What happened to the phrase 'That's what friends are for'?"

"There's only so much a person can bear in the name of friendship. And our friendship is only a day old. And if you're gonna pull something like this the next day, I find it hard to have your back. Friend." 

He narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to say something before Mr. Finch interjected. 

"Since you both mentioned friendship, it's a perfect segue way into our group projects."

Boos erupted across the room. 

"I love you guys, too," Mr. Finch said. "Now quiet down." He walked to the front of the room and started passing out instructions for this project. "This will be a partner project in which we will be working around the themes we've been learning about this past week. Our theme this week has been love. And as Miss Tavora was nice enough to tell us on the first day, there are many forms of love. That between friends, between family, and etc. 

"As we learn more during these few weeks, you and your partner or partners will choose a certain representation of love and document what encompasses that love, evidence of it, and your take on that form of love. At the end of next week, you and your partner will present your findings to the class. This is also a way for you to get to know your classmates which will help you for your final project at the end of the year. So, choose your partners well."