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I startled awake as I heard my alarm beeping.

“Fox! It’s time to get up. You have school today!”

Ugh. School. That was my mom. Her name is Lili. I slid out of bed, and I went into my closet to
get dressed. I wore my favorite green hoodie, and navy sweatpants. Jumping down the stairs two
at a time, I quickly run my fingers through my short brown hair to get out the tangles. I grabbed a
piece of toast, and hurried out the door with my backpack.

“Bye mom!” I yelled as I walked out the door to the bus stop.

The bus ride was as uneventful as ever, and when it got to school, we all filed off the bus. The
hallways were crowded with people trying to get to their lockers. I got to mine, and put my stuff
in, walking down the hallway to math. *Brrrring! Brrrring!* the school bell went off and I sat
down in my chair. The teacher, Mr. Matthew, comes into the room. He says hello to the class, and
then writes one of our many homework problems on the board.

“Damian, what’s the answer to problem 1?” Mr. Matthew asks,

“3,528.82” Damian says.

He erases the problem, and writes a new one. Mr. Matthew looked around the room, before
finally looking at me and says,

“Fox, why don’t you answer this one?”

My face flushes and I feel hot. I shook my head no. I don’t want to answer in front of the class,
even though I know the answer. My friend Leo, who sits next to me, whispers to me,

“C’mon Fox, you know the answer.”

“Yeah, but you know how I feel about talking in front of people.” I whisper back.

He passes me a note with a drawing of a smiling fox on it. I sigh and draw on the back. I pass it
back to him, and he sees the fox I drew. I drew the fox hiding in a bush. He laughs at this, then
looks at me, and smiles. The bell rings to signal the end of class, and everyone floods out.

I had a few more boring classes, and then it was lunch time. I headed to my normal table where I
always met Leo and Ali. Leo has been my best friend since I was in 1st grade. He has been there
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for me whenever I was down. Ali was my friend since 3rd grade, and she is a very kind person. I
started having a crush on her last year, and my feelings have grown since then. I’m waiting for
the perfect time to ask her. I start eating my mac and cheese, when Ali calls my name.

“Hey Fox! How was your day so far?”

I respond, “good, but it was really boring. Mrs. Keebler talked forever about the civil war. We’ve
been in it for a week now!”

She sits down next to me, and I smell the peanut butter coming from her sandwich. Leo comes
rushing over, with his salad. He always eats healthy stuff. We chat for a bit about our day, and
our plans for after school. I look at the lime, and realize that we need to be getting to class!

“Ali, Leo, come on! We need to go!”

We rush to our final classes together.

I was walking to my locker after lunch, when I noticed a poster on the wall that everyone was
crowding around. I looked at what they were looking at, and it was a poster about the spring
dance. I realized that this would be a perfect time to ask Ali. I took a picture of the poster, and
continued down the hallway.

I shoved my math books into my locker and grabbed my geography and history books. I go
across the hall to my social studies class, and I realize that I left my homework in my locker I run
back across the hallway to grab it and still get to class early. I turn my homework in to Mr.
Goegn, and sit down in my seat. I flip to page 5, and start filling out the worksheets that were
assigned for that day. The bell rings, and everyone rushes out filling the hallways. I get the rest
of my stuff, and go to my final classes.

My science teacher, Mr. Zimmerman, was the strictest person ever. He yelled at anyone who was
even 10 seconds tardy. He demanded that everything be turned in with A-quality work before a
deadline. I slipped into my seat just as he started yelling at people.

“You’re late! You too! And you!”

I’m riding the bus to school when I realize that the spring dance is only in 3 weeks. I have to find
the courage to ask Ali to the ball, before someone else does. I decide that I am going to have to
ask her this week, because most people ask a couple weeks before the dance happens. The bus
gets to school, and I run to my locker. I shove my bag in, and grab my Spanish folder. I run up
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the stairs to the third floor, hoping that I am not late. I get into the classroom just as the first bell
rings. Whew. I sit down in my seat, and realize that I have study time for Spanish right now. I
grab my Spanish notes and write a note to Ali in Spanish. The note reads…

Hola Ali, ¿crees que te gustaría ir al baile de primavera conmigo? Tengo demasiado miedo de
preguntarte en persona, así que decidí escribir una nota para ti. Probablemente vas a
declinar, pero si me dieras una oportunidad, sería genial. -Fox
(Hey Ali, do you think you would like to go to the Spring dance with me? I am too scared
to ask you in person, so I decided to write a note for you. You are probably going to
decline, but if you would give me a chance that would be great. -Fox)

I decide that it looks okay, and go up to Mrs. Martinez.

“I’m not feeling too great Mrs, do you think I could go home and rest? My house is just 5
minutes away.”

“Of course,” she says,

“I hope you are feeling better tomorrow!”

I leave the room, and put my folder in my backpack. As I’m slipping the note into Ali’s locker,
and heading out of the school, I realize that I honestly don't feel so great and I hope I don’t throw
up before I get home.

I’m going to school the next day, with a nervous feeling in my stomach. I head over to my locker
wondering if she would leave a note or tell me herself. I slowly turn the knob on my locker
56-28-05. I swing the door open. There, on the top shelf, is a little blue sticky note. It reads

Hola Fox. No puedo ir contigo al baile. No puedo ir contigo porque no voy. No me

As I read this, it started to comprehend what she had said, I realized that the dance was tomorrow
night. I didn’t really want to go to the dance anyways, I just wanted to be with Ali. I skipped
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towards home from the bus. It smelled like chocolate chip cookies. My favorite! The day seemed
to go by in a blur as I was waiting for my meet with Ali.

I am walking toward Ali’s house, and the walk seemed to take forever, even though it is just five
minutes. I get to her door and stop. I slowly reach up and ring the doorbell. 15 seconds later Ali
comes to the door. We go downstairs, and just have a black playing board games, video games,
and just hanging out.

A few hours later, I decide to ask her.

“Hey Ali,” I say to her

“Yes Fox”

“I had a reason for asking you to the ball, not just being your friend”

“Yes,”

“I-I-I like you” I stutter under my breath

Her face blushes and she starts smiling

“Whew. That’s a relief. I thought I was going to have to ask you. I’ve liked you since about a
year ago, and it always seemed like you liked some other guy.”

*buzz*

“Oh, sorry Ali, my mom needs me home now.”

“Nah it’s good.”

“See you tomorrow”

“See ya”

I walk out the door and go back to my house feeling really happy that I got that done. I open the
door and walk into my house.