Love Tap

*Scribble* *Scribble*Pause.

I can see her hand’s stutter-stop motion from the back row. The note only half hidden under a binder, there are two boxes so what’s there to write?

I’d consulted cootie catchers, pulled petals from daisies, made bribes to friends and gifted candy to enemies, but still I’d shuddered when I dropped the note on her desk in passing as I got up to sharpen my seventh pencil.

The clock was mocking me, jittering hands under cracked glass frittering away seconds, waiting on the answer of the only girl in school that called team captain for kickball.

*Scribble* *Scribble*Pause. *Scribble*

I’m stuck, waiting on the girl who only half smiles, because she pulled out all the baby teeth on one side, “to get it over with.”

I touch my sore face, the shiner on the right side from kicking sand in her hair.

I think I love her.