Monday morning, Lolly was excited and nervous. Her relationship with Trevor had shifted last night. How would that translate at school? Mitzi stood beside her and handed her clothes, she did not even see. The little girl said, "Earth to Lolly, come in Lolly."

Lolly looked at her blankly.

Mitzi gave her a look and asked, "Is something wrong with your brains?"

Absently, Lolly nodded. There was definitely something wrong with her brains. She gave Mitzi a vague smile and shooed her out of the room.

On the way to the bus stop, Max smirked at her. Did he know something? At the bus stop, he went over to Kevin, but Kevin did not even acknowledge her presence. The thought occurred to her, that Kevin might have seen her and Trevor looping the trailer park last night. The air was damp and cold. She pulled up her hooded sweatshirt. It was pink. Had Mitzi dressed her all in pink? She looked down at what she was wearing. Her shirt was pink, her sweatshirt was pink and she was wearing her battered pink ballet slippers. Damn, she should have been paying attention. Mitzi had done this on purpose.

When the bus came, Lolly got a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach. Soon, soon, she would see Trevor. She took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. Instinctively she knew today was going to be different from any day she had ever had at school. As the bus barreled down the road, she did not hear the chatter behind her. She kept her focus out the window and listened to the ever increasing beat of her heart. In the distance she saw Munch. For a moment she debated whether or not she should tell Munch what happened. Not on the bus, maybe not at all.

As soon as Munch got on the bus and plopped down beside her, he leaned over and asked, “So how was your weekend?” He asked it like he knew already.

“Fine.”

Munch grinned at her. “Just fine or did you get a little lip action?”

Had Trevor told him? Or, had Grandma Toady, been peeking through the window and told Pa, who told Mrs. Dutchendorph, while Munch listened in on their phone conversation? She asked, “Who told you that?”

“No one had to tell me, it is written all over your face.”

A wave of embarrassment colored Lolly pinker than she already was. Could it really that obvious or was Munch just jerking her chain? She looked straight ahead. Soon they would be at Trevor’s stop. In the distance, she could see him. Was it only last night since he kissed her? Would it be weird? Trevor saw her through the window and he smiled. That smile. He was no longer a boy she day dreamed about, he was really in her life, part of her life. Day dream boys were super easy to manage. How would a real boy differ? When he passed her on the bus, he winked at her.

It was wonderful and awful at the same time. She wanted to wink back, but her shyness got the best of her again.

Munch nudged her and asked, “Did you see that?”

Not eager to discuss Trevor with Munch, she asked, “What?”

“Trevor Long must'a got something in his eye. IT was twitchin’. You saw that. I know you did. What do you think is wrong with him?” Lolly punched Munch in the arm. He was talking too loud and enjoying it too much. “Ow, that hurt.” He rubbed his arm. “Still, I’m happy for y’all.”

“Thanks.”

When Lolly got off the bus, she was not't sure what happened next. Was she supposed to wait for Trevor? She walked slow, as did Munch, who knew why she was walking slow. He was SUCH a pain. Trevor caught up with her. His hand took hers. Okay. So this was how it was going to be. He leaned close and said, "You look pretty in pink." Maybe there was some method to Mitzi's madness. A bunch of his friends came over, including Jake. Munch left them and went inside. Lolly wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. Trevor hadn't let go of her hand yet, so she guessed he wanted her to stay. After a few minutes of recounting his race, he said, “I need to get my lady to the library.” He just wanted to be with her!

As they passed through the cafeteria, she saw Munch sitting alone at their table. Conflict settled in the middle of Lolly’s chest and it hurt. Did having Trevor in her life, mean she would spend less time with Munch? Deep down she knew it did. She told Trevor, “I forgot to tell Munch something, I will be right back.” She went to Munch.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

He gave her a not so real smile and said, “What are you doing over here? Isn’t your man waiting for you?”

“Trevor is not a man, yet. I just wanted you to know, I will see you at lunch and I want you to tell me, what you overheard last night when my pa was talking to your mom.”

“What? ME, listen in to a private conversation. NEVER!”

“Right. See you at lunch.”

“Okay.” He smiled at her, but it still wasn’t real. He looked worried.

On the way to the library, Lolly saw Spence Drew by the trophy case. He was watching her. When he saw her looking at him, he quickly looked away. What was he thinking? Would he bother her? Time would tell. She prayed he’d stay far, far away from her.

Trevor and Lolly entered the library still holding hands. Lolly want to pull her hand free but she was conflicted. Honestly she did not want to let go. When Mrs. Stanton saw her, she said, “Miss Phelps, you know the rules.” Immediately, she tugged her hand free. Trevor gave her a hurt look, but didn’t say anything. Did he really think she was going to break one of Mrs. Stanton’s cardinal rules right in front of her eyes? There was no way, not even for Trevor, that she would risk losing her library privileges.

At the table he tried to sneak her hand back. She shook her head.

Frustrated he said, “Well, can we just go wait in the hall?”

It was not what she wanted to do, but she said, “Sure.”

The instant they were out of the library, he grabbed her hand again. In the hall, other couples stood. Various degrees of public intimacy were being committed. If the principal walked through, some people were going to get pink slips. When the bell rang Trevor walked her to her Lit class. He gave her hand a quick squeeze before he released it and then he smiled. That smile. Lolly could not believe this was real.

Unlike Mrs. Stanton, Mrs. Beasley didn’t see any harm in handholding. She gave Lolly a knowing look when’s he crossed the threshold. At the pencil sharpener, Jake was grinding away at his pencil. When he saw Lolly, he smiled and waved. She was pretty sure his sudden friendliness had more to do with Lisa than anything else. Still, she waved back and took her seat.

When everyone was quiet and seated, Mrs. Beasley read the poem of the day, One line stuck with Lolly, “Will my tiny spark of being wholly vanish in your deeps and heights?” * She was not sure what it meant, but sounded like a warning to her.

After class, Trevor managed to see her ever so briefly in the hall as they dashed to their separate classes.

At lunch she was ready to see Munch. Her whole world seemed off kilter. The adrenaline rush she got every time she saw Trevor was exhilarating but also exhausting. At their usual table, Munch was scribbling away in his sketch pad. Lisa was beside him talking. She smiled when she saw Lolly. Lolly sat down beside her. Lisa said, “Oh my God, you are not going to believe who called me last night?”

Lolly could guess, but she asked, “Who?”

“Jake Peterson! He wants to go out Friday night and he has even agreed to see The Other Side of the Mountain.”

Still focused on his sketch, Munch said, “Man, he must really be into you.” He shook his head.

Lisa smiled so big, it had to hurt. “I know right.”

Though Lolly had enjoyed the movie, she did not see how Lisa expected to sit through that cry fest again, with a boy.

*

It had been a day of Trevor sightings and near misses. It had been the best day at school she had had in a very long time. If only Trevor would be on the bus, but he wouldn’t. The manager for the basketball team had quit and the Cross Country Coach had recommended Trevor for the job. So, he had taken the position. It meant he had to stay for practices and go to all the games.

As she was getting on the bus, she saw Drew Spence drive by in his white truck. Country Music blasted from his speakers. Merle Haggard loudly sang , “I turned twenty one in prison doin’ life without parole.” Was that Spence’s goal? She sincerely hoped not.

Munch climbed on the bus and flopped down beside her. He asked, “Did you have any trouble with the SOB today?”

“No, but he was watching me.”

“Yeah, he was watching me too. It makes me nervous. I don’t want either one of us to get hurt.”

“Pa reported him and he can’t get anywhere near me.”

Munch nodded. “At least you don’t have to use the boy’s restroom. He has punched a few guys in there and I don’t want to be one of them.”

This knowledge hurt Lolly’s heart. “I don’t want you to be one of them either. Is there anything you can do?”

The bus took off with a rumble. Munch said, “Yeah, Mademoiselle Petite is letting me use the bathroom in the art room. It just makes me so angry and embarrassed. Why did God make a bully so big and me so little?"

Lolly had no answer for this question.

Munch continued. "I talked to Mama last night and told her I wanted to do Martial arts like Bruce Lee. The only thing near here is a Karate class in Lake Jackson. Mama says I can go. This world is never gonna be kind to a scrawny half breed, and I got to learn to do my own fighting.”

This stung. Had he been humiliated by her intervention on that terrible day? He had seemed grateful, but he was a guy and according to Max, guys liked to fight their battles.

His hand closed over hers. “I know what you are thinking. I am really glad you did what you did for me, but hell, it was hard to see you bleeding when it was supposed to be me.”

Lolly bit her lip, she hadn’t even thought of things from his perspective. She told him, “I think the Karate is a good idea. I bet you will be good at it.”

“I hope so.” He squeezed her hand and let go.