Baton Rouge.

Chapter 13 - Under Surveillance.

When Melissa got home, she was in a daze. A good daze. She was as happy as she could be. She had those "corny" butterflies still buzzing around in her stomach from the date that she had with Jionni. Since she was so sheltered, this "first time possible boyfriend" thing was something new for her. She didn't know if she was a tad bit too obsessed or if she was just going a little off the deep end. One thing she knew for sure, is that she felt good.

And for the next three weeks, Melissa and Jionni snuck around and hung out more and more. Since they were starting to peak interest in each other's interests, they spent their time doing each other's activities. One day the two did nothing but read Shakespeare, the next Melissa dressed as Melrose and attended some of the small parties that were thrown around Jionni's neighborhood. One thing that they established is that just because they liked each other, didn't mean that they had to do sexual things to have fun. Jionni established that because of Melissa's protective barrier, so this also taught him how to take his time. And with Thanksgiving break approaching for school, this gave them more time to sneak around.

On a Tuesday, Jionni was excited to get to his English class. He loved going to the class due to the Shakespeare section they were reading. He took notes and remained focused, even passing two of the pop quizzes that they took. Now that they were ending Macbeth and moving to another book, the class had to take a 20 question quiz on the entire book. The answer was fill in. As the teacher started handing out the quizzes, she decided to ask everyone if they had any questions.

"Do anyone have any questions before we take the quiz?" The teacher asked.

"Who did Macbeth kill in act 1?" One of Jionni's classmates asked. "Was it Fleance?"

"Well that's a question that you should've had known answer to by now, Melanie." The teacher said. "This is what happens when you don't stu-"

"Nah, Fleance got away lata in the book." Jionni answered as he lifted his finger up. "Banquo was the one that Macbeth killed because Lady Macbeth convinced him to do it."

The teacher turned to Jionni as Jionni's friends also turned to him as well.

"You actually read this shit, Jionni?" One of them whispered to him.

Jionni turned to the teacher as she folded her arms at him.

"Let's leave that to your classmates to ANSWER, Jionni." The teacher said in a serious tone as she looked at the other students. "Let's start our tests!"

Jionni winded up finishing his test in 10 minutes. He walked up to the desk and placed his test down, watching his teachers face light up.

"Wow!" She gasped. "You uh...finished fast?"

"Yeah..." Jionni grinned. "I'll just uh...wait at mah desk."

Once class was over, Jionni grabbed his Spider-Man backpack and prepared to walk out of his class. [It was the same backpack he's used since 8th grade.]

"Don't forget that parent teacher conferences is coming up in a week!" The teacher chanted. "And Jionni, can you come here for a second?"

Jionni walked up to the teacher with his bottom lip puckered out, wondering what was the problem. The teacher handed back his quiz. He received a 100%.

"A......a hunned?" Jionni scoffed in excitement. "Wow! Thanks, mane!"

"Y'know, you've passed your last three quizzes." The teacher nodded, smiling at him. "What have you been doing?"

Jionni thought of the flashbacks of Melissa getting him into Shakespeare, then shrugging his shoulders.

"I.......ion know." Jionni lied, keeping his smile on his face.