The Cupid Effect, part 2:
Dear Diary,
I made my wish. I can’t wait for school tomorrow. I’ll find a time to show him it and when he
sees it’s Craftkin, he’ll
put it on and maybe fall in love with me.
I’ll be happy if he just wants to be friends. Love is my first choice, but friendship is my
second. P.S. I must remember to lock my
diary and hide it from my big, know-it-all sister. P.P.S. I don’t want
Adrianna to choke on anything anymore—just for someone to sew her yappy-little mouth
shut.
Sealing
the diary and engaging the lock with the key, Alyssa zipped it into its pouch, hiding
it under her bed. As for the necklace
she kissed the string and carefully tucked it into the front pocket of her pink
backpack. She went to bed fantasizing
about the necklace, enchanted by her wish, really working and she pictured
walking down a winding path along a meadow, holding hands with Ethan Rodgers,
giggling the whole way while Adrianna pointed at her all jealous. Finally, Alyssa fell fast asleep and woke up
at the sound of her kitten alarm clock.
There
was the entire class with all the students fervently completing all the
independent seat work with a quiet murmur.
Alyssa had the necklace firmly in her grasp when Ben noticed it. “Hey, what’s with the necklace?”
Alyssa
held it up and muttered, “It’s all Craftkin
pictures.”
“Cool. I didn’t know you liked that.” Ben had used this opportunity to take a break
from his assignments, when Ms. O’Brien noticed he was off-task.
“Ben,
are you done with your work? You should
be on your vocabulary.” The teacher had
every student’s attention wondering if Ben would be in big trouble. “I don’t think you have time to talk with
other students.”
Reluctantly,
Ben refocused on his work, but Alyssa had hoped that Ethan, sitting a few rows
over, might have heard about the Craftkin necklace in
her hand. Ethan remained completely
unaware of anything over on Alyssa’s side of the room. Thinking really hard, Alyssa struggled with
an actual plan that would get this necklace around Ethan’s throat. It looked like the only opportunity would be
lunch.
Finally,
lunch came around and Alyssa had already been nibbling at the food on her
tray. Ethan went to the far end of the
table and seemed to be a mile away from her.
She would have to get up from her spot to give the necklace to him. If she was discovered by any of the lunch
room supervisors, she would get in trouble and stand against the wall. Alyssa had never been in that position
before. The risk of receiving a
consequence weighed against her desire to present her special gift to
Ethan. Eying her environment, she
realized all the adults in the room were busy dealing with the usual
troublemakers. Alyssa sucked in a breath
of bravery, and pushed against the table, maneuvering away from it. Now she stood and expected for someone to say
something to her. So far, she went
unnoticed. Her eyes locked onto Ethan as
he laughed with the other boys around him.
With her hundred pound feet, so it felt, she stepped towards the boy she
just couldn’t take her eyes off of, and her heart thumped in her chest. The palms of her hands sweated as she inched
closer and closer. Alyssa rounded the table
on the other end and had nearly made it to him, when Adrianna shot her hand in
the air, shouting to any adult who could hear her, “Alyssa got up from the
table.”
Oh no! Her mind screamed. Although she knew her heart was in fine
shape, she thought she was experiencing a heart attack as Adrianna began
snitching on her. Fortunately, no one
had noticed and Adrianna struggled trying to get an adult’s attention. Alyssa continued striving towards Ethan, and
he had noticed her approaching him. She
was a quivering girl in a flower patterned short sleeve blouse with lacing
around the edges, and Ethan was unsure of what to make of her.
“Hey…you’re
not supposed to be out of your seat,” Ethan cried. “You’re gonna get in trouble.”
His
friend Ben, black hair, mahogany skin, recognized the necklace in Alyssa’s
hand. “Hey, Ethan. Check it out.
She made a necklace with pictures from Craftkin.”
“Oh, yeah. Can I see
it?” Ethan extended his hand, and Alyssa
imagined her chest exploding from the unexpected interaction from this boy she
so admired.
Alyssa
slowly reached out to him and he took it, and Ethan enjoyed the pictures on
it. “Wow. You even got Fred on here. I didn’t know you liked Craftkin. Will it fit me?” Ethan poked his head through and the gift she
made for him was snugly around his neck.
Instantly, he completely turned to look at her, and his Grand Canyon of a smile met Alyssa’s shy grin. “This is so cool. Can I keep it?”
As
she nodded in response a voice came booming across the lunch room from Ms.
Wendi. “What are you doing up? Are you done eating?” Alyssa shook her head in deadly fear. “Take your lunch to the corner table and you
can just stand against the wall when you’re done. You’ll also have to stand against the wall at
recess, too.” Alyssa noticed Adrianna’s
gleam in her eye, happy that she was able to get another classmate in trouble.
Shuffling
back to her lunch tray, Alyssa plucked it off the table and headed to the
corner table for rule-breakers such as her.
Ethan, she saw, was now unable to take his eyes off of her, and the
other boys around him teased him that he liked her, nerdy Alyssa. Unhappy over the consequence, she was
delighted that Ethan took to the necklace right away, and it appeared her wish
had come true. Now, it was Ethan’s turn
to leave his seat and he approached her, a serious infraction due to Alyssa’s
status as a rule-breaker. However, he
didn’t care if he got in trouble.
Suddenly, he was compelled to go over to her and he wondered if this was
what happened when people fell in love.
His brain screamed, No, I hate
love and girls, but I am suddenly in love with Alyssa.
Alyssa
was so thrilled that Ethan had come so near to her. Despite shouts from Ms. Wendi to go back to
his place at the table and threats of wall-standing time, Ethan stood inches
from Alyssa and said, “So, hey. That’s a
pretty shirt you have on. Maybe we can
be boyfriend and girlfriend, which is crazy since I
thought I hated girls.” The necklace
string started to irritate the back of his neck, and Ethan went to scratch it
at the slip knot. Instantly, it dropped
to the floor, and a white athletic shoe came out of nowhere and stepped on it,
ripping some of the pictures on it. Alyssa
was quietly horrified that her special gift now lay in tatters. Tears welled up and she pushed her tray out
of her way and cried into her arms.
Ms.
Wendi, infuriated that Ethan would not respond to her voice from across the
cafeteria, grappled his right bicep.
“Hey,” she barked in his face.
“Excuse me. I’ve been calling
your name. Are you done eating?” Ethan denied being finished with his food, so
she sent him to the opposite side of the room.
Before he went, he noticed Alyssa’s emotional outburst and knew that her
necklace was all ruined on the floor. He
attempted to bend down to retrieve it, but Ms. Wendi again grilled him, “I
guess you’re gonna owe me two days.”
“Well,
Alyssa made a cool necklace, it dropped off my neck, and you stepped on it and
ruined it. It’s probably why she’s
crying.” As the lunch room supervisor
added another day of consequences for back-talking her, Ethan set the necklace
next to Alyssa. “I’ll make you a new one
if you want.”
Lifting
her head, Alyssa questioned, “But why?”
Shrugging
his shoulders, he stated matter-of-fact, “That’s what friends are for. Duh. Girls are so weird.” Ethan went to get his food to serve out his
punishment at the corner table on the other side, as Alyssa rubbed the stingy
tears from her eyes, contemplating what he just said to her.
Dear Diary,
Even though I got into big trouble at school
today, my necklace got ruined, and Ethan fell in love with me, but stopped, at
least I know he is my friend. At least
it’s a start. P.S. I’m never gonna take off
the replacement necklace he made for me.
Alyssa
locked her diary, sealed it in its case, and tossed it under her bed. She pulled her princess blanket and sheets
over herself, and happily drifted to sleep while clutching the Craftkin necklace Ethan gave to her, soaking up the reality
it came from him…the one she loved.
Before she fell asleep, she fantasized walking hand-in-hand with Ethan
all throughout the world. “Not a bad
deal for this nerdette,”
she whispered to herself.
No comments:
Post a Comment