She strode confidently to the doorway of the drawing classroom and did a slight doubletake. All the tables and chairs were stacked against the wall in one corner, leaving the floor clear and open. (The end of the year was nigh and we'd already cleaned up the room.) Recovering quickly, she searched the room with a sweep of her eyes, which finally alighted upon me, sitting on top of a table in the corner and reading a fantasy novel. She crossed the four or five yards between us quickly and with resolve. I smiled and was about to say hi and ask jokingly why she was storming around the school when she answered my unspoken question quite clearly.

She leaned in and put a hand on my neck—and everything froze for a second, my heart pumping out pure adrenaline. The kiss was chaste, but not a mere peck either; both of our eyes fluttered shut for the moment the kiss took. When we separated, I saw that her face had barely changed. It was still set and determined (and pointedly ignoring my classmates, who must've been staring at us), but had a fierce blush invading it.

I had too much trepidation about the meaning of the kiss to show any emotion, whether it be my true excitement, or false disgust, so I controlled my face to present a bemused expression.

"What was that?" I asked. I could've sworn the blush intensified when I spoke, but she did not break eye contact once.

"I wanted to," she said.

The hypotheses I'd formed about it being a dare or a joke went toppling down as though they'd had a rug pulled out from under them. I mustered up every ounce of sincerity I had and injected it into one word, which was spoken while I stared down at her from my vantage point on the table:

"Really?"

She nodded.

An involuntary but not unwelcome grin took over my face. I put the book on the table and hopped down, advancing on her smoothly. Guiding her with one hand on her shoulder, I walked her backwards towards the door she had just come through, with all of the students and our teacher watching gapingly. As her first foot passed the threshold into the hallway, I kissed her again, feeling her smiling just as wide as I.