Generally speaking, Joel liked to hear girls giggling.  It was one of those sounds that made him smile every single time.  Unless it was directed at him in an awkward way, like today.  He wasn’t entirely sure that this sort of giggling should be allowed.  In fact, he was starting to feel a little impatient about the attention.  It seemed that somebody had noticed him passing the note, and had found it entirely too exciting.  Joel had always been under the impression that sharing notes was an expected activity when sharing a double desk.  He didn’t see what was the point of giggling about it from behind.  Whoever was giggling was probably passing notes to somebody else at the same time, anyway.  

Hadley didn’t want to pass notes, though, or so she said.  Joel found that hard to believe when she kept on writing to mock his innocent little wink.  Here he had just been trying to be friendly and break up whatever tension there was and she was complaining about it.  Was there something in his eye?  The better question was, would he take the hint, or would he not?

“Yes,” he wrote.  “Can you see it?”  Joel pushed the parchment closer to Hadley and looked more directly at her, winking his eye a few more times in an exaggerated manner.  If he was going to sit in a mysterious girl-trap, he might as make it a good show for whoever was watching.  Besides, there was something about the way she kept blushing that was just way too much fun.  


JOEL WATKINS