Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better

Chapter 4

A rattling

from underneath her

as she flies down the hill

her grip tightens on the handlebars

and she hopes and hopes

but to no avail

the chain pops off the gears of her bike

the girl skids to a halt

jumping off the bike

she fixes the chain

quickly

expertly

but she was already late

no

she can't be late

not today

The boy watches the door. His gaze sliding back and forth between it and the teacher. She's late. She's never late. Then the door opens and the boy feels the waves of relief crash over him.

"Sorry ma'am. Bike trouble." The girl holds up her hands, smudged with oil. 

The boy sees she has a little black smear on her cheekbone, from touching her face.

The teacher nods in understanding and hands the girl a wipe. After cleaning up the girl slides into the seat in front of the boy, her backpack at her feet.

"Mornin'." The boy whispers, and the girl returns the truncated sentence in a quiet voice. A ritual of theirs. 

"As I was saying," the teacher continues, "today is the field trip."

The class' ever-present chaos nearly spills over. The field trip had been talked about for weeks now.

The boy and the girl exchange a glance, one filled with excitement.

"Just start dating already." The boy's friend mutters. The boy's' ears turn pink, and he hopes the girl didn't hear. She didn't, and that leaves the boy relieved... but also, at the same time, slightly disappointed. What would she have done?

Soaked his friend, most likely, as she did to Oscar Delancy. Twice.

The teacher droned on as the class wiggled in their seats, barely contained. "If we can all make our way to the buses..." Finally.

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The chatter is loud

as usual

as the bus is boarded.

The girl

and the boy

and a few others