Stolen First Kiss

Part 1

“Oof!” Giselle Ploningko threw her hands up as someone bumped into her on her way out the private cubicle. It was the last day of school at Luna East Arts Academy, and almost everyone had already left to celebrate the start of summer. However, she had to stay behind with some other scholar students for a meeting later in the afternoon.

The door closed with a loud bang.

She stared at the newcomer. A part of her wasn’t really surprised at all to see him since he was famous, or rather infamous, for his antics in school; the other part was panicking at finding herself in a bathroom stall with a guy. “Tom? What are you doing here?”

Tom Costia, one of the school’s notorious troublemakers, stared back without replying, his eyelashes fluttering as he blinked.

On any normal person, Tom’s cute physical appearance at five feet eight inches, beautiful brown eyes, short curly locks, and charming smile, would have turned Giselle into one of his admirers. But, as she kept telling herself, he was far too mischievous for her taste.

“This is the girl’s bathroom! What are you doing here?” Giselle asked again. “Get out!”

“Calm down, calm down,” Tom finally said. He held out his hand. “I’m leaving.” He tried not to let his nervousness show, but this was Giselle, and ever since they became classmates that semester, he couldn’t keep his eyes off her—something his friends unfortunately noticed.

He jiggled the lock on the door but it wouldn’t budge. He said a silent prayer before he tried again but it still wouldn’t open.

“Come on, let’s get out before anyone catches us! We might get expelled for this!” Giselle hissed.

Tom bit his lip, mentally going over their options. Then he said, “It’s locked. I think you have to call one of your friends.” He gestured helplessly to her hand.

Which was empty.

He looked around the tiny space and realized she didn’t have her bag with her.

“My phone is inside my bag, which I left in the library,” she snapped. “Why don’t you call one of your friends whom we can trust to keep this quiet?”

He shook both hands. “I left my phone in my bag, too.”

Her eyes widened as the reality of their situation sank in.

Tom clasped his hands as if in prayer. “I’m so sorry! It wasn’t supposed to be like this. But the guys dared me to go to the girl’s bathroom, and I thought this cubicle was empty and—“

“A bet?!”She stomped her for in frustration. “If we get caught, I’m going to be suspended, or worse, lose my scholarship because of a stupid bet?!”

He held out his hands in surrender. “I’m so sorry, Giselle.”

“You never think of anyone other than yourself, do you?!” She breathed deeply, as if gathering strength to let loose a barrage of curses.

But Tom heard someone approaching the bathroom, and there was no time to shush Giselle, whom he suspected won’t simply shush. He did the only thing he could think of.

He pressed the lock button right before someone jiggled the doorknob. Then he grabbed Giselle by the waist, and laid his lips over hers, effectively silencing her. Their eyes were both open, and he saw the shock in hers. He hoped to God she didn’t notice his lack of finesse, or even suspected that this was his first kiss. He expected her to push him away, knee him in the groin even, but he didn’t expect her eyes to slowly flutter close, her hand slowly clutching onto his arm, her lips softening even further.

His eyes closed, too, without much conscious effort, and he leaned into the kiss, all thoughts if he was doing it right, and thanking God their noses didn’t clumsily bump into each other, fading away.

They heard the footsteps walking away from the door, which brought them back to earth at the same time. He took a deep breath, then released her lips. He waited a beat before he opened his eyes. He found himself staring into her questioning eyes, and he wondered if the same confusion was reflected in his.

She stepped away from him. “That was a close call,” she muttered shakily.

“Giselle, I—I—“ he started, but someone knocked on the door.

Giselle didn’t seem to notice that she had reached out and grabbed Tom’s hands, her nails biting into his skin. But Tom, instead of jerking away or easing from her grip, found himself wondering if he could get away with holding her hand for a few more minutes.

“Giselle?” The voice sounded strangely familiar to both of them. “Giselle, it’s me, Jannie, are you there?”

“Jannie!” Giselle hurried to the door and pressed her ear against it. “Are you alone? I…I have a situation,” she half-whispered.

“Is—uh—Tom there with you?” came Jannie’s hushed voice.

“Are you alone?” Giselle whispered again.

“Yes, I—“

Tom unlocked the door. They heard Jannie fiddle with the knob again and the door finally opened.

“Thank God! How did you know?” Giselle asked, embarrassed.

Jannie was not one of her close friends, but they had been classmates and had paired up for an academic paper for one month in one of their subjects, and they got along pretty well. She was not part of the scholarship meeting, but she was, in fact, the person whom Giselle left her bag to before she went to the private cubicle bathroom in the far wing.

Luna East Arts Academy didn’t lack for suitable bathrooms, but the private cubicle was the one very few people bothered to go to since it was on the other side of the school, well away from the classes and the gym, but nearer to the library.

“Aidan asked me to check if Tom was here. Some sort of stupid dare, I suppose?” Jannie asked.

Tom reached out and kissed Jannie’s cheeks then ran out of the bathroom without looking back.

“What happened in there?” Jannie’s eyebrows had both shot up when Tom kissed her, and they still haven’t gone down.

Giselle blushed. “I’m not sure myself.”

Jannie peered closer at her friend. All year long, she had never seen Giselle blush, but she was positive she could detect a hint of red on her cheeks. But she decided not to push it; she didn’t know her very well but Giselle always seemed the shy type.

When Jannie turned away to walk back towards the library, talking about one of their exams earlier that day, Giselle absently reached up and touched her still-tingling lips.