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And then I heard Michael say, “No, that’s okay. I have a special one for her.”
Then the screen in front of my eyes flickered. I sighed. Okay, I thought. Here goes the stupid teacher thing. Be sure to laugh so they think you like it.
So I was sitting there, and I was actually kind of depressed, because I really didn’t have anything to look forward to, if you think about it. I mean, everybody else was all excited, because later on they were going to the dance, but no one had asked me to the dance—not even my supposed boyfriend—so I didn’t even have that to look forward to. And everyone else I knew was going skiing or to the Bahamas or wherever for Winter Break, but what did I get to do? Oh, hang out with a bunch of members of the Genovian Olive Growers Society. I’m sure they are all really nice people, but come on.
And before I even leave for my boring trip to Genovia, I have to break up with Kenny, something I totally don’t want to do, because I really do like him, and I don’t want to hurt his feelings, but I guess I sort of have to.
Although I have to say, the fact that he still hasn’t so much as mentioned the dance is making the idea of breaking up with him seem a lot less heinous.
Then tomorrow, I thought, I’ll leave for Europe on a plane with Dad and Grandmère, who still aren’t speaking to each other (and since I’m not speaking to Grandmère either, it should be a really fun flight), and when I come back, knowing my luck, Michael and Judith will be engaged.
That’s what I was sitting there thinking in the split second the screen in front of me flickered. That, and, You know, I’m not really in the mood to see any of my teachers in funny outfits.
Only when the flickering stopped, that’s not what I saw. What I saw instead was this castle.
Seriously. It was a castle, like out of the Knights of the Round Table, or Beauty and the Beast, or whatever. The picture zoomed in until we were over the castle walls and inside this courtyard, where there was a garden. And in the garden, all these big, fat, red roses were blooming. Some of the roses had lost their petals, and you could see them lying on the courtyard floor. It was really, really pretty, and I was like, Hey, this is cooler than I thought it would be.
And I sort of forgot I was sitting there in front of a computer monitor at the Winter Carnival, with like two dozen people all around me. I began to feel like I was actually in that garden.
Then this banner waved across the screen, in front of the roses, like it was blowing in the wind. The banner had some words written on it in gold leaf. When it stopped flapping, I could read what the words said:
Roses are red
Violets are blue
You may not know it
But I love you, too
I screamed and jumped up out of my chair, tipping it over behind me.
Everyone started laughing. I guess they thought I’d seen Principal Gupta in her leather catsuit.
Only Michael knew I hadn’t.
And Michael wasn’t laughing.
Only I couldn’t look at Michael. I couldn’t look anywhere, really, except at my own feet. Because I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I mean, I couldn’t process it. What did it mean? Did it mean Michael knew I was the one who’d been sending him those notes, and that he felt the same way?
Or did it mean he knew I was the one who’d been sending him those notes, and he was trying to get back at me, as a kind of joke?
I didn’t know. All I knew was that if I didn’t get out of there, I was going to start crying . . .
. . . and in front of everyone in the entire school.
I grabbed Tina by the arm and yanked her, hard, after me. I guess I was figuring I could tell her what I’d seen, and maybe she’d be able to figure out what it meant, since I sure couldn’t.
Tina shrieked—I must have grabbed her harder than I thought—and I heard Michael call, “Mia!”
But I just kept going, lugging Tina behind me, and pushing through the crowd for the door, thinking only one thing:
Must get to the girls’ room. Must get to the girls’ room before I start bawling my head off.
Somebody, with about as much force as I’d grabbed Tina, grabbed me. I thought it was Michael. I knew if I so much as looked at him, I’d burst into big baby sobs. I said, “Get off,” and jerked my arm away.
It was Kenny’s voice that said, “But Mia, I have to talk to you!”
“Not now, Kenny,” Tina said.
