Episode III - The Most Delicious Story in the World

"A love letter would have been great, though. They must be all sweet and tickly and taste like happiness. Andy, what do you think the most delicious story in the world is?"

"I dunno."

She smiled. "I think it's a love letter, the person you like poured his or her heart into writing for you. I mean, that would be the only copy in the world, a precious treasure that was just for you."

Her face turned sweetly shy as soon as she said that.

"Oh, but then it would be way too precious to ever eat. Wow, I don't know what I would do. How could you have the best food in the world right in front of you and not be able to eat it?"

She tapped a finger to her temple and looked seriously conflicted. I thought it was so funny; I burst out laughing.

"Oh, you know you would eat it! I'll bet you the collected works of various famous writers you wouldn't have the letter a full night before the whole thing was in your belly."

"That's so mean! Really awful! You really are the one with no delicacy!" She whined, spinning around in her chair to turn her back on me. She didn't forgive me until after I'd written her snack for her.

"I'll show you! I'm gonna write your name down a million times, then I'm gonna tear it up into tiny pieces and gobble up every single one. Then you'll be cursed!"

"Geez, you are so immature, Alice."

At lunch the next day, Janella came skipping to my classroom and chimed, "Excuse meee, is Andy here?"

The class was instantly abuzz. I stood up quickly.

"Oh, there you are!"

She waved at me. And oh man, the stares.

"Uh, come with me."

"Huh? Uh, all right."

I practically ran into the hall and around a corner and kept going until there was no one else around. When I asked her what she wanted, she looked up at me, a grin splitting her face.

"I waited for Anthony outside school this morning, and I gave him that letter you wrote for me."

"Really!"

She's quick. I was listless, if anything, so her energy levels really impressed me.

"My heart was beating so fast! Bump-bump, bump-bump! I gave the letter to him and asked him to read it, then I made a break for it. I didn't hear a word my friends or the teachers said after that. All I could think about over and over was, 'I wonder if he read my letter! I wonder what he thought!' "

"Th-then what happened?" I was practically on the edge of my seat.

"I couldn't think about anything else and I could barely eat my lunch, so I went to the archery practice hall. And he was there, and—"

"Whoa! And then what?"

Janella flushed with happiness and threw out a peace sign.

"He thanked me for the letter and said he really appreciated it! He said it was too sudden to be girlfriend-boyfriend right away and we should start slow."

"That's great!"

I felt like I could jump for joy right along with her.

"Yeah! Anthony said he's never gotten such a cute letter before and it made him really happy. This is all thanks to you, Andy. You really deserved to win that love competition!"

"Ahaha… all I did was throw something together at lunch, really."

"No, I mean it! I think that letter really cheered Anthony up. So I promised I would write him letters every day from now on."

"What?" I asked stupidly.

Every day…?

Janella grabbed my hands, and when she spoke, her voice was bubbling over with trust and reverence. "I know you can handle it, Andy! You can just throw something together at lunch."

Starting the next day, she would run to my class as soon as the first period was over.

"Good morning, Andy! Your letter was a huge hit with Anthony yesterday! You really are amazing. You're a genius. I bet you wind up being an author!"

"Ha… um, you're too kind. Here's the one for today."

"Oh wow, thank you! I'll copy it in math class next period. I hope it makes Anthony happy."

"Yeah…"

My smile was a little strained.

Alice giggled and informed me, "You had it coming. Now there's no choice but to stick with little Ella to the very end. Right, Mister Distinguished Author?"

She was straddling the fold-up chair, a paperback in one hand, looking up at me crookedly with her clear, teasing black eyes.

The book was The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

"But you were the one who forced me to work with Janella in the first place. And you were the one who set up some weird mailbox in the school courtyard without permission, too."

"I didn't force you, I recommended you. I said you would write wonderful love letters for her and listen to her seriously. Besides…" Alice flopped her thin body forward and the chair screeched. Her pink lips cracked into a smile. "I wasn't the one who told her you wrote the letter in your spare time. That was you."

"Urk."

Alice closed her eyes rapturously. "Oh, I hope little Ella's romance goes well! I wonder what kind of report she'll write for me. Will it be like a fluffy strawberry shortcake smothered in whipped cream? Or will it taste like chocolate infused with a dash of orange liqueur? I wouldn't mind something like a mille-feuille with loads of custard packed into crispy pie crust, either…."

She never thought about anything but her treats. Her fantasizing must have made her hungry because she tore a page from The Great Gatsby and started to crunch on it.

"Mmmm, so good. Fitzgerald has a really snazzy flavor. I feel as if flamboyance, glory, and passion are dancing the waltz in my mouth like I'm eating glittering caviar with champagne at a party. When I bite into it, its delicate skin-pops and a fragrant liquid spill into my mouth. The main character Gatsby is so innocent, I can't stop rooting for him."

Wasn't that story about Gatsby getting jerked around heartlessly by Daisy, his former lover, and another man's wife, until it destroyed him? I wouldn't call that "snazzy." More like running over with pathos. But I suppose everyone interprets literature differently.

"Oh no!"

Alice suddenly cried out as if the world were coming to an end. She twisted her face into a frown, her forehead crinkling.

"This is awful! I borrowed this book from the library, and I just accidentally ate it!"

I went to the library with Alice to apologize for "accidentally dropping the book and it just ripped!" (Alice said she was too scared to go alone and forced me to go with her). The day after, Janella came to my class just as she always did.

"You making any progress with Anthony? Has he suggested going out or anything yet?"

We'd gone into the hall and stood there talking.

"Oh gosh, thank you for worrying about me! You're sooo nice, Andy. I'm touched!"

I blushed. I was just sick of writing letters and wanted them to hurry up and get together already.

"Actually, thanks to your letters I've gotten tons closer to Anthony, so I'm thinking maybe just one more little push…"

"You have to keep ramping things up like that," I said with conviction.

She nodded, rapt.

"Okay! I'm gonna take it to the limit! I've been keeping notes for my report, you know. Look!"

She gleefully held up the notebook she'd been hugging to her chest. It was about half the size of a school notebook, and it had a picture of a yellow duck on the cover. Janella had sworn she was an awful writer, but she was sure gung-ho about it.

"It's a little embarrassing, but it's actually so much fun writing about someone I like. Oh, but I'd feel so dumb showing you my notes. I wrote such lame stuff. I have to reread them and make a clean copy."

"If that's how you feel, maybe you should try writing the letters yourself?"

She hid behind her notebook and shook her head fiercely.

"Oh, I couldn't do that! I'd be so embarrassed! But you're right. I'd like to write for Anthony myself eventually. But until then, Mister Adrian, I know I can count on you!"

Sigh. I would have to keep ghostwriting these things after all.

Just then, she looked at me uneasily.

Cheeks flushed, peering over the edge of her notebook and looking completely unsure of herself, she hesitantly asked, "Um… do you think I'm annoying?"

I jumped. "What? N-no, not at all! I think it's kind of fun writing these love letters, too. Ha-ha!"

Before I could stop myself, I'd told an outright lie.

But she smiled innocently at it, like a little puppy. "Great! I can't wait to see tomorrow's letter!"

She'd cheered up instantaneously and, waving her hand instead of the tail she lacked, she ran off, looking like she might tumble over at any moment.

Sigh… I'm such a fraud.

When I went back to class, my shoulders slumped, the boys started teasing me. "Your girlfriend is over here every day," and "Way to go, scoring one of the new girls so fast! I didn't think you were the type."

"Geez, guys, it's not like that," I retorted weakly, laughing.

I didn't want to draw people's attention or hear their reactions. I was done exposing myself to unnecessary risks by standing out. If heaven dropped an extravagant gift into my lap, I wasn't strong or shameless enough to act as I deserved it.

As I was sitting down, I felt someone's eyes on me. I turned around and saw a girl staring at me.

Abegail Rossi

She had crimson hair like a tomato and a knockout figure. She was one of the girls in our class whom everyone noticed because of her flashy, cosmopolitan style and her tendency to say exactly what she thought.

Boys were always gossiping about her. "Abegail's so harsh, but I'd still go out with her."

I was under the impression that she hated me. That's because ever since classes had started in April, she would sometimes grace me with this same frosty look.

I don't remember doing anything to deserve the glares, though. Oh, wait, maybe yesterday…

I was zoned out when Abegail came toward me with a haughty expression pasted on her face, stuck her hand out at me, and brusquely demanded, "Five hundred and Sixty Franc"

"Wha—?"

"That's how much it's going to cost to replace the book you dropped that 'just ripped' yesterday. We collect fines for books that are lost or damaged."

"Hey, hold on! Yesterday you told us not to worry about it!"

When I'd gone to the library yesterday with Alice to apologize, Abegail had been the one at the desk.

I'd thought to myself, Ack, why did it have to be Abegail's shift? I'd prepared myself to get out through the wringer, but despite her severe expression, she released us without a fight. "You didn't do it on purpose. Try to be more careful next time."

So why this thing with the 560 francs? And why ask me? Alice was the one who'd ripped (or rather, eaten) the book.

Abegail's eyebrows hiked dangerously higher.

"I can't exactly send Ms. Granger a bill. She pulls a lot of weight at the library. She can find books better than the librarians. Plus, a lot of the student aides owe her favors. When I was a first-year student and didn't know where a book went, she helped me out, too. So you have to pay for her, Barringer."

"Um, Abegail… don't you think that's a little unorthodox?"

"Not at all," she replied crisply.

Man, and she didn't hesitate at all when she said that. I didn't want things to escalate, so I got out my wallet and placed a 600 bill in her hand with a sincere apology.

"I sincerely apologize for any trouble my club's president may have caused."

Closing her fist around the bill, Abegail frowned. "I'll give you your change later. If you tell Ms. Granger, I'll hit you."

Geez, how come I had to clean up Alice's messes?

I'd expected Abegail to be done with me, but she still didn't go away. Instead, she just kept glaring at me.

"So that first-year student who keeps coming to see you all the time… is she your girlfriend?"

"You mean Janella? No, we're not going out."

"Oh, really? She works at the library, so I know a little about her. She strikes me as clumsy but totally natural, and it seems like she could be the victim of some guy's Lolita fantasy pretty easily. Are you sure you're not dating?"

Victim of a Lolita fantasy? What a horrible thing to say. But since arguing would encourage her, I smiled instead. "I'm just helping Janella out since Alice asked me to."

Abegail's eyebrows went up even farther, and a look of rage came over her face.

Er… did I mess that up somehow?

She sucked in a breath, then frigidly replied, "I don't actually care who you're dating. But if you're not going out, you should lay off the lovey-dovey meet-ups in the hallway. It's pathetic how blatant you're being."

She let loose what venom she had, then left.

I had a history class next. While I was copying the notes on the blackboard, I thought about how badly I needed to shove Janella off on Anthony, and fast.

I was still thinking about all the harsh things Abegail had dumped on me, after all.

How was I going to get out of this? Maybe I should stand up for myself and write a letter full of real passion….

The clear sky had clouded over, and drops of water began to spatter the window.

It's raining… I wonder if I left an umbrella in the club locker.