A Funny Thing Happened in Spanish Class

Notes in Spanish

Savannah Carmichael stood five feet and four inches tall, and had dirty blonde hair that ran down her back in a long ponytail that swayed from side to side as she walked. She wore a pink crop-top and jean shorts, and Arno van Keef could hardly take his eyes off her. He had worked for the last 36 hours on the plan to insert himself into the gorgeous Savannah's life, and today was the day he activated it.

Spanish class was letting out, and Arno would move quickly through the hallway to cross paths with Savannah as they entered science class. Arno knew they were doing a group assignment that day, so he would arrange for he and Savannah to be project partners. Once the forced introduction was complete, Arno would rely on his smooth talking abilities to win Savannah's affection and make her his romantic partner.

Arno himself had messy golden blond hair and stood 5'10 (though he prayed the old growth plates would give him one or two more inches before he hit 18). He wore jeans that were a little long on him and a dark blue hoodie that had 'The one and only' printed on the front. Let's do this, Arno thought as he stood up, preparing to initiate his brilliant plan. There was nothing that could stop him—

"Excuse me," said a girl's voice.

Arno turned around and saw a short girl with curly brown hair and brown eyes wearing a blue sweater and black jeans looking up at him. "Arno?"

"Who are you?" asked Arno, slightly irritated.

The girl stared at Arno incredulously for a moment. "Beckie," she said. "Beckie Applebaum. We've shared two classes since the start of 11th grade."

"Oh," said Arno, shrugging and turning around.

"Wait," said Beckie quickly. "Sorry to bother you, but... I lost my notebook and couldn't take today's notes. Mind if I copy yours?"

Arno closed his eyes. "Sure," he was supposed to be 40 feet down the hall at that moment, but he couldn't leave a classmate without notes (he'd been helped out of the same predicament too many times to count, so Arno felt he owed it to God to return the favors). He reached into his book bag and pulled out his Spanish notebook.

Beckie likewise took out a notebook with 'Spanish' written on the front in neat handwriting and opened it to a page about halfway through and began copying down Arno's notes. As Beckie did this, Arno glanced down the hall. He should have been 10 feet from the science room by now!

Arno grew antsy, glancing back and forth from Savannah's swinging ponytail to Beckie's quick pen work. Arno gritted his teeth. This stupid girl's gonna throw off my plan!, he though grimly. Arno began trying to formulate a contingency plan, when Beckie clapped her notebook closed.

"Thanks!" she said cheerfully.

"Yeah, anytime," said Arno nonchalantly as he took off, sprinting down the hall. He reached the science room in a quarter of the time it normally took, and stepped through the door, trying to play it off cool.

"Arno, you're late," said Mr. Joliett, the science teacher.

"Uh, I, uh..." Arno stammered, trying to put together his best used car salesman speech, when Beckie came in behind him.

"Sorry, Mr. J," she said breathlessly. "Arno was just helping me with some notes. My fault."

Mr. Joliett looked at Arno and Beckie and shrugged. He had a raging caffeine headache and didn't have time for student nonsense. "No matter," he said. "Everyone else has already paired up for the project, so you two can work together."

Arno's eyes burst open in horror. "NO!!" he cried out before catching himself. Mr. Joliett, Beckie, and the entire class glared at Arno.

"I don't bite," said Beckie after a painfully awkward silence.

The group project involved students going to the pond behind the school and retrieving water samples in eyedroppers to examine under microscopes. Apart from a couple of the boys tried to show how 'tough' they were and the stoner kids in the back of the class, most of the students pulled their samples from a foot or two into the pond. Beckie, on the other hand, put on a pair of rubber boots and waded 10 feet out, to the point that Mr. Joliett had to order her back.

"Beckie, get back here!" the longsuffering science teacher shouted. "There's a steep drop off right where you're standing and you'll plunge 10 feet into the—"

Preston Gillard took a wrong step and plunged into the swampy depths, causing Savannah to shriek like a banshee in horror. Beckie turned and looked at the spot where Preston had stood only seconds ago, then glanced down at the water. "Oh..." she muttered, before cautiously making her way back to the shore with her precious sample.

"Got it!" she said triumphantly to Arno.

"Oh yeah, great," he said, still longingly eyeing Savannah who was on the edge of a breakdown as Preston was fished out of the pond.

For that particular batch of students, science was the last period of the day. When the bell rang and the students returned to their lockers to retrieve their bags before departing for the day, Beckie came up to Arno, books clasped tightly to her chest.

Arno was deep in thought, orchestrating his next plan to attract Savannah's attention, so he didn't notice Beckie standing there. She coughed, but Arno continued fishing through his locker.

Beckie snorted a loogie this time. Arno pulled his head out of his locker, looking bewildered.

"What the heck?" he asked, looking at Beckie.

"I was trying to get your attention," she said with a slightly embarrassed chuckle.

"Why?" asked Arno.

"Um... I just wanted to say," Beckie began nervously, "that... that I really appreciate you letting me copy your notes, and... I really enjoyed working with you today."

Okay... Arno thought, baffled. "Uh, anytime," he said awkwardly. "Good working with you, too."

Arno and Beckie stood there for a moment, staring at each other. It was only a few seconds, but to them it felt like 10,000 years.

"I... better get going," said Arno.

"Right," said Beckie. "Don't wanna miss the bus."

God, this is painful, Arno thought to himself. "Well... bye."

Beckie gave a pained smile. "See ya!" She turned and began walking away, but then suddenly turned back around and returned to a thoroughly confused Arno.

"By the way, I just wanted to tell you you're really cute," said Beckie, before turning and sprinting down the hall and out of sight.

Huh?

Arno had seen a lot of things and talked to a lot of girls in his day, but being called cute by a one out of the blue was definitely a first. He wasn't sure what to make of it, and didn't much care. Savannah was his target and he had his eyes set on her.