The Cherry Trees

Chapter Twenty- Three: 2013

"Do you have any idea what she is talking about?" Lexi whispered to me, leaning over the desk.

Luckily, me and Lexi got into the same class, again. I am pretty sure out mothers kept recommending to our teachers that we should be together. There were clumps of four desks randomly dispersed around the classroom, and Lexi, me, Luke, and Will all sat in one of the groups.

I shook my head and Lexi rolled her eyes. At the front of the room, Ms. Lenny was teaching us about how to multiply fractions of something. I had no idea what was going on, so I did what I always did, I stared at her and nodded my head everytime she looked up. I had pretty much mastered that trick.

Lexi passed me a note, and I unfolded it. Inside was her messy cursive writing, and pencil smudges from where she had wiped her hand over it.

What do you want to be for Halloween? it read.

I shrugged.

Lexi motioned for me to give the paper back, and she started writing something else.

We should be something together.

I nodded. But what? I wrote in my neat print.

Lexi scrawled something else down. We should be Disney princesses!

I shook my head rapidly. Lexi laughed, a little too loud.

"Lexandra-" Ms. Lenny began, but Lexi cut her off making a puking noise.

"Please I told you a million times, call me Lexi."

Ms. Lenny liked to call us by our full names, no matter how much we protested.

"Lexi, what were you laughing about?" she asked in her nasally voice.

"Um... nothing?" she said.

Ms. Lenny gave her a disapproving look, and then stalked over, snatching the piece of paper off Lexi's desk. Darn, now I was going to get in trouble, too. But Lexi winked at me, and I knew she was up to something.

Ms. Lenny unfolded the note, and her eyes widened. Lexi started laughing, and she said, "Are you gonna stick that on the whiteboard for everyone to  see, Ms. Lenny?"

Ms. Lenny got very angry. What was in that note?

"Lexandra, you are going to the principal's office right now," she said, steam practically coming from her ears.

"Okay! Ever since I got suspended for punching this kid," she said motioning to Luke, "me and the principal are tight," Lexi said, crossing her fingers.

Ms. Lenny was taken aback, and she grabbed Lexi's arm, pulling her out of the room, leading her to the principal's office. On her way out, Lexi winked again, and I started laughing, knowing she would be fine.

When the door closed, Will, Luke, and I all started craking up, and soon the entire class was rolling on the floor, laughing. A few minutes later, Lexi and Ms. Lenny came back in smiling triumphantly, and Ms. Lenny was sulking.

"Sit down, Lexandra," she demanded, and Lexi pranced over to her seat across from me.

"I'll tell you at recess," she said quietly, and I nodded, knowing this was going to be a good story.

"You can't be serious," I said, a grin pulling at my face. Lexi shrugged as if it were all a genious plan that she had just made up on the spot. Will was laughing, and Luke was smiling. He rarely ever laughed, something that kind of bothered me.

Lexi had drawn a picture of a large woman, and had written Ms. Lenny above it. However, when Ms. Lenny grabbed Lexi's arm, the note had been between her fingers and Lexi. When Lexi tried to pry the teacher's hand off of her, the replaced the note with a different picture of a flower. That was just how she rolled.

-

"I still think we should go as ketchup and mustard," Lexi said.

I shook my head. No way was I going out for Halloween as a condiment.

"How about you me Luke and Will all go as fruits?"

"Let's just get this straight, I am not going as a food," I said, giving her a blank stare.

"Whatever. Hmm... we could all be vampires that thirst for eachothers blood."

I scrunched up my face. "First of all, ew. Second, Luke is terrified of vampires."

"Okay. Here we are, the grand idea! We go as the Addams Family!"

I thought about this for a while. It seemed like a good idea, I mean, there were certainly enough people to play it. I nodded. "Let's just check with Luke and Will," I said.

"Okay!"

And it was decided that we would all be the Addams Family.