The Look Book

TEN

"Tyler! You've got to help me!" Patrick shouted eagerly as he came into classroom.

Tyler eyed him strangely. "Help you what? Before I agree, I need details."

"I need you to help me figure out whose diary this is! It might be someone here!" Patrick shook the book at him.

"Ask your girlfriend or another girl. Why do you need my help?"

"Tyler, you know more about the girls that go to this school more than any guy here."

He smiled confidently. "This is true." He jumped to his feet. "Let's go hunting."

First, they went to the library to find a yearbook from last year and scanned the photos for all girls named Maggie. There were only two.

"I'll go ask this one and you take the other." Tyler advised.

"Ty, this one moved away this year." Patrick huffed frustrated.

"Ok, so what about the other one?"

Patrick looked across the room. "Isn't that her over there?"

Tyler turned to see a small girl reading at the table. "Do you recognize her?"

Patrick shook his head. "No but we have to be sure." The two of them walked over to her. "Uh, excuse me," Patrick began.

The girl looked up from her book annoyed. "What?" she snapped.

"Um, are you Maggie?"

"Of course I am. Why?"

"Did you lose a diary?" Tyler asked but his tone sounded demanding.

"Who keeps a diary nowadays?" she snapped while scowling at them. "Now let me study. I have a test in twenty minutes."

The boys walked away. "Well it's not her." Tyler rolled his eyes. "What next?" Tyler asked.

He shrugged. "Don't know. I didn't think it be this difficult."

"We can go social. Ask every girl in school if they lost a diary." Tyler suggested.

Patrick sighed. "That'll just get us unwanted attention. Like Maggie said, who keeps a diary these days?"

"Hey man, we can't give up now. We just got started."

Patrick turned to walk out the library disappointedly. "I don't know man. Maybe this was a waste of time."

As Tyler watched Patrick leave he noticed he left the book on the table. Tyler picked it up and started reading.

 

March 8th

Dear Diary,

I'm afraid the time has passed for Patrick and me. For months I've thought about him. I couldn't get him out of my head. He is so cute and so smart. He's even an extraordinarily talented musician. But all my admiring has finally ended.

Patrick's found himself a girl who is, in my opinion, a selfish brat. Now he spends most of his time with his new girl and spends less time on his music, which is really a shame.

I guess it's my fault really for waiting so long to talk to him. I kept my feelings a secret for far too long. Milly used to say love must never be kept secret. If you love someone it should be said, out loud and daily. But if you wait and the moment just passes you by, you may never get another chance.

Sincerely Maggie

Patrick suddenly hit Tyler's shoulder. "Tyler! Stop reading! Come on! We gotta get to class."

"Just a second Pat." Tyler stared him in the eye. "I got to do something."

Tyler gave Patrick the book and walked directly into the cafeteria to Callie. When he saw her the words seemed to jump out of his mouth. "Callie, let's get one thing straight! I like you okay!"

"I like you too Tyler." She smiled.

"You do?" he stared at her blankly.

"Yea."

~

A moment later, Tyler returned to Patrick whistling and grinning. "Man, am I feeling good."

"That's great Tyler. Now if we can get back to my problem. Help me feel good and find Maggie!"

Tyler thought. "Maybe we're barking up the wrong tree. Her name might not even be Maggie at all."

Patrick turned to him shocked. "I hadn't even thought of that. So then how do we find her?"

"Well what do you know about her from this thing?"

Patrick quickly thought. "If she knows me she could be in one of my classes!"

"Okay. What else?"

"She can play the piano."

"Now that's a step back. No one here plays the piano except for Ms. Fields." Tyler told him.

"Oh yeah." Patrick said. "Then maybe she's not in band?"

"Can you remember anything else? Like when you got the book?"

Patrick thought back. "The day I left my backpack in" he snapped his fingers. "Mr. Simons class! I went back to get it."

"So whoever wrote this is in Mr. Simon's class!" Tyler announced.