Behind Her Smile

Chapter Three

Chapter Three: Bee's Knees

It took Dex all of a minute to explain what she wanted to do. Ro just gets more worried at each passing second.

"Dex, you know if they catch us, we will be suspended. Possibly expelled!"

Dex waves her arm about as if to wave away his words like a pesky fly. "Only if we get caught, which we won't. Now on your knees."

"What?!"

Without waiting for him to register her words, she kicks the back of his knees. "Oomph!" Ro falls hard on the soft grass, almost head slamming into the fence outlining the boundary of the school. "Hey! What was that for?!"

"Stay still." Dex gently pushes his shoulders down and climbs upon his shoulders. Ro instinctively grabs her ankles to stabilize her so she doesn't fall. Dex tries to climb the fence, but he tugs her back down in resistance. She huffs as she pulls at her feet.

"Ro?"

"Yes?"

"Let go."

"Oh sorry." He whispers. But he still refuses to let her go, knowing they were going to get into trouble if they do what she is planning. He had to stop her. As if hearing his thoughts, Dex rolls her eyes, kicking away his fingers as she climbs to the top and hops down the other side.

Ro hold his breath as she gently lifts his chins with her finger through the fence. "You coming, Ro?" Her smile taunting in a way that drew him crazy.

"Y-yes? I mean sure." He blunders, cursing himself for sounding so pathetic. He coughs awkwardly and stands up. "I'm coming." His head tilts up regarding the fence, his throat suddenly dry. When did the Fence get so tall? It had looked so easy when Dex was climbing it.

Ro tries to follow Dex's example, but the hem of his jeans snagged in the fence and he would have fallen face first into some mud if Dex hadn't given him a hand, much to his embarrassment. "Shut up."

Dex laughs even louder. "What? I didn't say a thing."

"Take that stupid grin off your face." Dex tries, but with his hair all mussed up and his red face, she couldn't help but poke fun. He's usually so composed and stoic, well until she comes in and messes with his life.

Ro dusts off his clothes of imaginary dirt just to have an excuse to not look Dex in the eye. He could imagine those brown eyes that are most likely laughing at him. "So why exactly are we here?"

Dex rolls her eyes again at him. "How many times do I have to tell you?"

"How many times do I have to remind you this is a bad idea?"

"Don't be such a worry wart. No one's here. More importantly the Professor is not here. All we have to do is go in, mess up the classroom a bit and BAM!" Ro jumps in surprise at the suddenly loud sound, "test cancelled."

Ro face palms himself, "Dex, why can't you just study like a normal person."

"Now where is the fun in that?" Dex calls over her shoulder as she makes it on to the sidewalk leading to the school entrance. Ro glances around to see if there were any cameras around. If there is any, it is too dark to see them, so hopefully no one can see them anyway. Dex walks out in the open taking no care for any type of hiding or secrecy, while Ro decides to stay concealed behind a bush. He swats away a bee who flew a little close to his ear.

"Dex." He hisses, "I'm pretty sure this is trespassing"

She whirls around. Ro can see from her expression she was definitely not backing down. "Ok. First of all, we are dos people, not tres. Second, when do I ever listen to rules and third well..." Dex holds her third finger up trying to think of a third reason, "...I just wanted to say third, so stop trying to convince me differently. Now I'm going in with or without you."

Ro watches as she makes her way farther into the school. Realizing she was really serious about leaving him behind, he climbs out of the bush, brushing away a few ants who decided to climb up his pants. He follows her grumbling to himself.

"I might not be a law student, but I know that's definitely not how trespassing works."

...............

It wasn't until hours after the midnight limit, did they finally finished the prank. It took much longer than Ro thought it would to put sticky notes on all the desks, which was his task as Dex did the other things. Dex mostly did the hard work, while Ro mostly watched and stopped her before things went really too far.

"No."

"Please!"

"No."

"Pretty fabulous please!" Dex says with a hair flip, "I'll only put a little bit."

"You're not putting glitter on the lab coats that is final." Ro says firmly, but Dex just pouts not letting it go.

"But why?" She whines.

Ro crosses his arms refusing to look into her puppy dog eyes. "Because I have to wear it as well. "

"I promise I won't put it on yours!" She says hugging him around his torso. He got distracted by the citrus notes wafting from her hair and he had to regulate his breathing.

He snaps out of it when she shows him her glitter canister. Pink. Of course it's pink. He snatches it out of her hand and puts in his pocket. "And what if I say all of them are mine." Ro raises an eyebrow at her.

She steps away from him, crossing her arms. "Then I'll say you are a greedy meanie!" Ro laughs a deep belly jiggling laugh. Ro was about to retort when they both froze at the unmistakable sound of footsteps. Coming in their direction!

"Oh no." Ro panics running about the room. "No. No no no no no! Oh no! Oh no! What are we going to do?! We are dead! So dead! You're dead! I'm definitely dead!" Ro had ran about the whole room, practically hyperventilating.

Dex rolls her eyes, cutting off the lights. She easily locates Ro in the dark room with him breathing so hard. She grabs his hand shocking him into silence. "Ro stop it! We are not going to get caught. Ok?!"

Ro nods numbly. "Good. Now follow me and do what I do." Dex smiles satisfied at how complaint he is, especially when his favorite word in her presence is no. She takes advantage of that and takes hold of his hand. She didn't even mind that his hand is a little clammy.

Ro is glad it is so dark so she didn't have to see his expression as he tries to act cool, but he knew he is failing. But she is holding his hand! Her small dainty hand besides his own much larger one is the best feeling in the world. He would follow her wherever he took her. He almost forgot about the impending doom.

And now he's thinking about it again.

Dex end up leading them behind the projector. She crouches down, pulling Ro with her, just as the jingling of keys meet their ears. They hold their breath as the lights are flicked on. Maybe in retrospect, Ro should have chosen the hiding spot because Dex completely forgot the fact that the projector screen is see through and they definitely can be seen when the lights turn on.

They hear the loud outraged gasp of the professor. "What the heck happened to my classroom?!" Dex covers her mouth to avoid laughing too loud. Ro didn't have the same inclination. This situation is not funny.

"Hey! Who's behind there? Come out right now!" Ro looks at Dex with wide eyes as she yells out one word.

"Run!"

Before Ro could stop her, Dex stands up. So, Ro watches helplessly as Dex runs out of the classroom with a red faced Professor chasing her. "What did you do to my classroom?! Come back here you ingrate!"

As the voices faded away, Ro had one thought repeating in his mind.

He had to save Dex.

11/5/2017