Ki$$ & $ell

Ki$$ & $ell: Chapter Six

 

“Okay, pencils down,” Mrs. Glass called out from behind her desk, before I was able to get any further. “Now, I want you all to pass your papers to the person beside you. And that person will write back in the same voice.”

            “What?” I nearly shrieked. If I’d known anyone else was going to read my note to myself, I would’ve talked about food, or the weather, or Miley Cyrus. “Mrs. Glass, are you sure you wouldn’t rather just read our papers instead?”

            “I’ll be reading them at the end. It is my writing assignment, you know,” Mrs. Glass answered coolly. “Unless you have a better exercise in mind?”

            As far as I was concerned, any exercise had to be better than having one of my classmates read my paper, but I held my tongue.

            “No,” I answered, finally. I looked to my left to see who I’d be sharing my embarrassing, personal thoughts with and felt myself grow faint. Passing out would’ve just been icing on the cake, given the circumstances.

            Of course, of all the people I could exchange papers with, it had to be a popular like Dan Stevenson. I so didn’t want him reading all about my freak out. I might as well stand up now and say, “Hi, I’m not only a member of the geek squad, but I’m also the club president.”

            “You ready to switch, Sawyer?” Dan asked, holding out his paper, and smiling at me.

            “Uh, yeah,” I said, even though I felt like doing anything but. “Just remember, it’s totally fiction, okay?”

            “Sure. Of course. Mine too,” he said, smiling easily again. I found myself grinning back at him, despite my growing anxiety, and noticed how his hazel eyes crinkled in the corners.

            The sound of shuffling papers around me snapped me back to earth, and I reluctantly broke my eye contact with Dan to begin reading his letter.

Dear Dan,

Yo, man, how’ve you been? Long time, no talk. Anyways, let’s cut to the chase. Dude, have you heard about that chick at your school, who’s selling a kiss on the Internet?

            I felt myself begin to blush for about the tenth time that day. Did everyone know about this kissing thing? So much for fading into the background.

You should definitely think about asking her out. She’s totally cute, sweet and obviously has some balls, since she was able to put all that right out there. You’ve clearly been blind for not having noticed her before. So, buck up, man, and ask the girl out—before I do.

 

Peace out, dude,

 

Stan

 

            I was confused—and totally flustered. Was this some sort of joke to play on the girl who had no play? Or was this his way of…flirting?

            Glancing at Dan out of the corner of my eye, I saw that he was scribbling all over my paper, but still had that goofy grin on his face. Turning my attention back to Dan’s paper, I quickly wrote some B.S. answer to his letter and then turned it upside down on my desk and waited—impatiently—for Mrs. Glass to collect it.