Sitting in English while Mrs. Knight droned on about adjectives and pronouns on Friday morning was when it happened. Collin Jackson tapped my shoulder, and I glanced behind me. He slipped me a note (as evasive as ever; nudged my hand with his, and slipped the note between the spaces of my fingers). As discreetly as possible, since the note was folded into a tiny square and notes like that always make the most noise, I opened the note and read it. It was from Nathan Parker. It read:
Nataly,
Would you please be so kind as to entertain me tonight with dinner and a stroll? I assure you, it will not disappoint.
Put a smiley face for yes, or a frowny face for no.
-Nathan

My reply was: ?
•

After class, he stopped me in the hallway. “Nataly!” he whispered in my ear on the way out the door, gently grabbing my elbow and pulling me away from the herd of students.
“You put a smile. So, you do want to go to dinner with me?”
“That’s what you were asking? I couldn’t understand with the false accent thrown in.” I teased.
“Oh, yeah, that, well I wanted to make it sound formal I guess.”
“Well, I’ll see you tonight. Pick me up around six?”
“I’ll see you there.”
•


At exactly 6:03, he showed up at my door with a bouquet of white daisies. I set them on a table by the door.
“My mom will eventually come in and put them in a vase for me.”
“Oh okay.” I kissed his cheek.
“Don’t worry. They’re beautiful. Let’s go.” I nipped the daisy in half, tucked it behind my ear, and entwined it with my hair. A pretty shade of pink crept up his neck as he led the way to a black Honda Accord. He opened the passenger seat door for me, and then ran around the other side.
I rolled the windows down, letting it blow across my face until my eyes started to water. I turned the radio up, blasting all the mainstream pop music. He laughed, and soon we were both mumbling the few lyrics we knew.
“Okay, I can’t take it anymore. I’m putting on some of MY tunes.” With the press of a button, a song I had never heard was blasting from the radio. The heavy mix of bass and drums pounded against the car, making it vibrate with every note. “What’s this?” I shouted over the noise.
“Just listen to it.” He shouted back. When the lyrics came in, he started screaming them. I laughed as he yelled the chorus:
“THE NIGHT TURNS US IN TO ANIMALS. I’VE GOT ONE THING ON MY MIND. THE NIGHT TURNS US INTO ANNNNIMALS. I’VE GOT ONE THING LEFT TO FIND.”
“What was that?” I asked. “That, my comrade, was Animals by Sparkadia. They’re a pretty cool band.”
“Well if you don’t mind I’d rather talk instead of listen to the radio.” I turned the radio off.
“No no no, we have to save conversation for dinner.” He turned and winked at me. I smiled back and waited for our destination.
•

He took us to the lake. He was right; he didn’t disappoint.
“You look really pretty tonight.” He said. For most of dinner, we were talking about school. But then, we finished and we started talking about me.
“Do you know what people say? About you?” he asked. I paused. “Yes. I’ve heard.”
“Well…I just wanted you to know I don’t believe anything they say. You’re not stuck up and you don’t try to hold everyone under your thumb. You’re really a great person. But I am curious…you can have any guy you want. Why don’t you go out with any of them?”

I sighed. “Dating causes stress and heartbreak. I’ve never had a crush on anyone, never been in a relationship, never had my heart broken. And I like it that way. I’m free to see whoever I want whenever I want. I just like focusing on my education. That sticks with you for a lifetime. There’s no guarantee that you’ll find that true love that lasts forever. We don’t have time to make our lives a chick flick.”

“I can see where you’re coming from.” He said as we sat along the bank. “But, you shouldn’t limit yourself to education. You’re young; you should be young while you can. I want to have stories that I can tell my kids one day. I’m not trying to be a rebel, but more like an adventurer. And besides, the new motto apparently is yoyo.”
“What is yoyo? Don’t you mean yolo?”
“No, yolo is what people say right before they do something s***ty and stupid that’ll embarrass them later. Yoyo is what you say before you do something fun, because you’re only young once.”
“Yoyo…I like that.” I smiled. He smiled back, and paused. He looked into my eyes. I instinctively knew that he wanted to kiss me. I leaned in, and he came the rest of the way. His kiss was amazing, sweet and slow, and then gradually became more confident and passionate. He moved in, and pulled me in closer to him until I was lying in front of him. He gently caressed my back. Then slowly he pulled away.
“Are you ready to go home?” he asked. I shook my head. We laid there and watched the sun go down. We didn’t realize it, but we fell asleep at the same time.
•

I woke up to the buzzing of my cell phone in my back pocket. I checked the screen- 10 missed calls: Mom. Oh, crap. I quickly redialed my mom’s number.
“NATALY ELAINE HANNA, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?” she yelled into the phone.
“Sorry mom, we fell asleep.”
“ASLEEP? DOING WHAT? YOU BETTER NOT BE DOING WHAT I THINK YOU ARE, SO HELP ME GOD, I’LL-“
“NO MOM. We’re down by the lake. We had dinner in the park and then we fell asleep. We did not have sex.”
“What about sex?” Nathan asked, waking up. I quietly shushed him.
“I’m sorry, Nataly. I should know better. I trust you. But it’s 10 o’clock, and there wasn’t a call. So I panicked. But anyway, are you guys on your way home?”
“Yeah, mom, we’ll head home. Love you too.” I hung up the phone and turned to Nathan.
“S***, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” He said. “It’s cool. Let’s just get home.” He kissed my cheek and helped me up. We blasted Sparkadia all the way home.
•

On Monday morning, back in class, I heard Nathan and Collin talking.
“You didn’t bang her?”
“She’s not like that.”
“You wouldn’t know.”
“I would know more than you, Jackson.”
“Well, at least I’ve gotten some Parker.”
“I’ve gotten something better than sex, you dumbass. I got to have a connection with her. Besides, we kissed. That’s good enough for a first date.”
“Dude, you’re so whipped over this girl. I’m telling you, she has a s***ty side deep down in her.”
“Maybe she does or doesn’t. She’s fine the way she is to me.”
“Aww, Nathan’s in love!”
“Alright, alright.”
It was at that moment that I knew that I had found the person that girls would kill to find and spend the rest of their lives with. I scribbled a note and passed it to Collin. “Pass it to Nathan.” I whispered with a wink.
My note read:

“Thank you for being so wonderful. If you don’t mind, I’d like to be your girlfriend and be young with you. Please put a smile for yes, and a frown for no.
-Xoxo, Nataly Hanna
His response was an ?.