"Will you go out with me?" He lowered his head slightly, still looking up at her, lip pouting, giving him an almost pitiful look.

She turned her head towards him slowly, a look of slight surprise and disgust etched on her face. "Why the hell would I go out with you?"

He smiled, and sat up straight again, stretching his legs. "Ah well, it was worth a try. But since 'we've known each other for so long, your heart's been aching, but you're too shy to say it-'"

"Oh shut up already." She rolled her eyes and thrust his textbook at him.

"All right, I'll give up for now, but for this week, I'm 'never gonna give you up-'"

"SHUT IT, RICK!" The rest of the class hissed. He turned towards them and bowed slightly apologetically, a sweatdrop on his face. Denise smirked at his foolishness before going back to reading.

"Will you go out with me?" Rick sat with his hands clasped together, arms supported on his legs, and his face staring at Denise, his expression unfathomable.

Denise put down Shakespeare's Hamlet that she had in her grip. Turning around slowly, eyebrow twitching, she growled, "I told you yesterday, NO!".

"Ah, but you are the Juliet to my Romeo!" He kneeled down before her, his arms in a dramatic fashion, his left hand placed on his chest and his right hand raised in the air.

She gritted her teeth; she was losing her patience. "Look, I'm busy right now trying to learn Hamlet's soliloquies, so I don't have time for your antics."

He recoiled at her bristling slightly as part of his acting, then grinned. "Ah, but to go out with me, or not to go out with me? THAT is the question. Whether 'tis nobler…"

Denise reached beside her and threw a cushion from the floor at 'Romeo'. Rick threw himself backwards in a comical fashion as the missile collided with some force. Denise repressed a groan of disgust. "He tries way too hard…" But she couldn't help smiling. Even for a second.

"WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME?" She read the words from the graphing calculator in front of her.

She immediately glanced up and saw Rick's smiling face in the seat next to her's.

"Where'd you find my calculator? I've been looking all over for it!" As the shock wore off, relief washed over her face. The calculator, as nerdy as the device might be, was the last gift from her mother before her parents' divorce and her departure from the family.

Rick took his time answering; he was savoring her bright expression, something that he didn't get to see very often. "After a long series of unfortunate events. It was a lot of hard work, so I hope you do appreciate it."

Denise didn't stop her grin. "I do. But the answer's still no. Nice try though."

Rick sighed, "Hey, it was either this, or trying to make up some mathematical formula that'd spell out that question."

She laughed cheerfully.

Denise sat down warily in her Chemistry class. How in the world is he going to ask me out this time using chemistry…?

Her phone unexpectedly rang; she jumped as the noise echoed shrilly in her ears. Cursing herself for not setting on 'Vibrate', Denise quickly glanced at the caller, intending to hang up before the teacher arrived, until she saw the name 'Rick'.

She flipped open her phone, but right when she opened her mouth, she heard a raspy voice. "Will you (cough) go out with me?"

Denise chuckled underneath her breath as she saw the teacher approaching the classroom from the hallway. She snatched up a scrap piece of paper from her book bag and crumpled it. "Sorry, reception's a bit crappy here; are you okay? Hope you get better soon, class is starting, I'll talk to you tomorrow." She clasped her phone closed again and stowed it in her pack. Denise couldn't stop feeling cheerful throughout the rest of the day.

Rick sighed as he threw himself in his seat. He caught Denise's eye as she sat down next to him. "Don't worry, I won't ask today." He sniffed, still not 100% recovered from his bout of a cold. But he was always a fast healer.

Denise smiled at him. Although light-hearted, he could still be considerate when he wanted to be. She grabbed his arm, "No, ask me."

Rick raised an eyebrow at her reply, and glanced down at her hand still gripping his arm. He grinned slightly, and shifted towards her hesitatingly, "Will you go out with me?"

Denise laughed now, her tinkering voice soothing in his ears. "Yes, I will."

Rick pumped his fist in the air victoriously. "What made you say yes?"

Denise looked around the classroom now. "Well, this IS social science. And aren't we always taught to learn from our past mistakes?"

Rick laughed cheerfully.