My Little Mind Reader

19. Kissing Booth

Ming's POV

The Freshman Games kicked off with the Moon and Star Competition on Friday night and then ran through Saturday and Sunday in the form of a giant festival. Each faculty ran their own games and booths, manned mostly by the freshman. It was a way to earn money for their faculty and also allow the freshman to work together and build team spirit.

The Engineering Faculty built a huge marble race that ran throughout the entire building. There were several places where marbles could be dropped to join the race and bets were placed on which marble would run the course fastest. There were several games throughout our faculty, and signs indicating where to go. Each booth offered tickets as a prize and tickets would be used in place of money to make your bets for the marble race. I was in charge of the booth where you could control little robots that would run an obstacle course. I have to be there from noon to 2 PM.

At around 1:30 I received a text from Yo, asking me to meet him at the Science Faculty. I had planned to be there anyway. I spent the morning walking around the other faculties and had left the Science and Arts events until last, knowing that Yo had been assigned to work in the afternoon.

Yo hinted that Kit would be there, which left me with a strange feeling, like butterflies in my stomach. It wasn't a feeling I was used to, kind of a cross between nerves and excitement. I wasn't sure I liked the feeling, but I was willing to live with it for Kit. His smile and adorable dimple made my heart race and I desperately wanted to get closer to him. I hadn't needed to ask for Yo's help. As usual, he knew exactly what I needed.

As soon as my time in the robot booth was up, I ran to the Science Faculty to find Yo. It wasn't hard to find him, he wasn't the Most Popular Moon without reason. Every one loved him. Kao watched from the sidelines with a deep frown as Yo worked in his assigned role. Apparently, someone from the Biology department decided that Science could be showcased by having a Kissing Booth.

Yo's face was a deep shade of pink as a huge line of both girls and boys had formed on his side of the booth. Nate sat next to him with a long line of her own. Each participant paid for a ticket and stood in line for their turn to give or receive a kiss. Luckily, kisses were expected to be on the cheek.

"This isn't exactly what I expected," I said, walking up to stand next to Yo. "I thought you were going to help out in the petting zoo."

"They asked for my help," Yo said as he leaned forward to give a girl a kiss on her cheek. "I didn't have any idea what kind of booth they were running. Fortunately, I only have to be here for 30 minutes. After that I can go to the petting zoo like I planned."

"Where's Pha?" I asked. Apparently, last night Pha had finally worked up the courage to ask Yo to date him. That lunatic was going to go ballistic when he saw this.

"Kit was running late, so Pha said they'd meet me here later," Yo said as he leaned forward to place a kiss on a tall man who was too old to be a student. Creepy old man. Professors should definitely not be allowed to buy tickets at the Kissing Booth.

It was already 2:20, maybe we could get out of here before Pha saw this? Just then I saw Pha and Kit walking around looking at all the games and booths. I was hoping they would be distracted for awhile when another guy moved up in Yo's line with a handful of tickets.

"I bought twenty tickets," he said, smiling. "I'll give them all for one kiss on the lips."

Yo's face turned a deeper shade of red, but he shook his head no. He pointed to the sign in front of the booth that read, "One kiss per ticket, cheeks only. No exceptions!"

The guy sighed and leaned forward in good humor. Unfortunately, Pha had seen where Yo was working and was stalking forward with murder in his eyes. Kao must have sensed the impending doom, so he helped me intercept Pha and pull him to the side. Kit followed, looking between Pha and Yo while trying to hide his grin.