"She can teach a melody to the birds,
And problem solving without a word
She can tell the richest man how to need,
Oh right after telling him about me."
—Perfect by Jon McLaughlin

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As we were leaving the church, Leslie faced me. She was wearing a strapless white dress and a blue denim jacket that she'd customized with sequins and other girly stuff, and white flats. I also saw something glittering on her lips: lip gloss. Leslie looked sexy this way. Then again, she looks sexy and charming in whatever she wears.

I frowned inwardly. Looks like she's ready for her date.

"You sure you don't wanna come with me, Jess?" she asked for the umpteenth time. "I'm sure Nigel won't mind."

Yeah, right. I shook my head. "It's okay, Les. I still have to water the plants in our greenhouse, anyway." And I don't want to disturb you two, I added in my mind.

Leslie sighed, defeated, though she was giving me a look that I couldn't define. "Well, if you're sure, then..."

"Leslie, dear, you're not coming home with us?" Mom asked when she overheard our conversation.

She nodded. "Yes, Mrs. Aarons. I still have to tutor my classmate in geometry at the pizza house. I hope you don't mind."

"Do your parents already know 'bout this?" Dad asked as he started the engine of the truck.

"Yes, Mr. Aarons," Leslie kindly replied.

"Well, we don't mind, if that's the case." Mom smiled. "As long as you take care, all right?"

Leslie returned Mom's smile. "Thank you, Mrs. Aarons. Good-bye, Mr. Aarons, Joyce Ann, May Belle."

Dad nodded, and my two little sisters hugged Leslie. The heck? They were making it look like she'd be going on a vacation far, far away for many months.

She hugged them back. "Hey, I'll bring home a box of pizza for you all. The cheese special, family size."

The two cheered and happily climbed onto the back of the truck.

"You don't have to, Les," I said.

She waved a dismissive hand. "I don't mind, Jess. 'Sides, it'll be my treat."

I put my hands up in surrender. "Fine. You win. Well, you better go now, or you'll be late for your tutoring session."

She was about to say something, but suddenly decided against it. "Yeah. See you later, Jess," she said eventually.

I smiled a little and waved good-bye as she walked away. I wondered what she'd been supposed to say in the first place. Then I headed for the truck and noticed Dad was looking at me with raised eyebrows.

"What?" I asked, perplexed.

"You sure you're not coming with Leslie? She invited you many times," Dad said.

Rolling my eyes, I said, "Yes, Dad. 'Sides, I'd just be a hindrance in their tutoring session if I went with Leslie."

Dad hummed to himself. "I'll wager Leslie was insisting you to come with her because she's not comfortable with the guy she'll tutor."

I blinked. "How come you know it's a guy?"

Dad showed his rarely-used grin. "I just know."

I looked at where Leslie had been standing a while ago with a frown, squinting my eyes. Who the heck cares that she's going to the pizza house with that Nigel Groban? I mean, we're just best friends. I don't have the right to be jealous, right?

Right.

    ╪ ╪ ╪

"Fred!" I hissed at the tall brown-haired guy a few steps away from me while I was hiding behind a signboard.

"Hey, buddy," Fred greeted after dumping the garbage bag into the dumpster. "How come you're not with Leslie? She's inside with a cool-looking guy—not that I'm saying you're not a cool-looking guy. By the way, why're you here at the back of Pizzalicious?"

Fred was a waiter here at Pizzalicious for who-knows-when. He was a funny guy and always made Leslie and me comfortable whenever we ate here. That's why we liked him as our friend.

"Um, thanks...? And that's why I'm here—to check on Leslie," I explained.

"Huh? Why don't you just use the front door, then?"

"I can't. She doesn't even know I'm here!"

"Wha—oh, I get it. Spying." Fred grinned wickedly. "You're gonna spy on Leslie."

My cheeks were starting to get hot. "Whatever, Fred. Just don't let her know that I'm here, all right?"

Fred laughed and opened the back door. "No prob, and come in!"

Pizzalicious was the pizza house that Leslie had been talking about. Well, this was the only pizza house in Lark Creek, anyway.

As Fred pushed me into the kitchen, I smelled the fresh scent of spices and dough. The three cooks gave me their hellos, and I greeted them back. That's what you get if you're a loyal customer and nobody thinks entering through the back door is weird.

"They're at booth four," Fred informed me. "And they're sitting on the left side of the table, which is a good thing. They can't see you if you sit at booth five."

My eyes widened in realization. "So you're telling me that they're sitting next to each other?"

"Er, yeah."

"Oh, I forgot. Leslie's tutoring Groban, that's why. Anyway, my order is pasta and iced tea."

Fred wrote my order on a paper. "Discounted, as always. Your order will be ready in ten minutes. Now, go out there and have a fun time spying!"

I stifled a laugh and said my thanks.

Well, here goes nothing.

I opened the door and saw the colorful orange and yellow tiles and walls of the pizza house. I stealthily dashed to booth five. Thank God there weren't many customers right now. But an old lady, who was sitting on a bar stool near the counter table bar while drinking her coffee, looked at me with a puzzled look on her face. I just smiled sheepishly in return and took a sit on the right side of the booth.

I had successfully entered Pizzalicious without Leslie and Groban seeing me.

Taking deep breaths, I thought, Calm down, Aarons. You're here now. No time to back out. Just don't let them know that you're here. Know what they're talking about. You're sure that they're not just going to talk about hyperbola and other geometry-related stuff. Simple as that.

I leaned into the seat of the booth and heard them laughing.

Laughing.

What on earth were they laughing about?

"Here's another one, Leslie: what do you call a crushed angle?" I heard Groban ask.

Leslie giggled. "What?"

"A rectangle!" he beamed. "Get it? Rectangle. Wrecked angle."

They both laughed out loud like they owned the pizza house. Why was my queen laughing so much? It was just a lame joke! And Dad had been wrong about Leslie not being comfortable with Nigel Groban.

She sniffed. "Okay. Enough with the jokes, Nigel. I haven't even started tutoring you yet."

"Well, how 'bout we eat first? Like I said, it's on me as payment for your tutoring service, since you won't accept money."

I had an ugly feeling this wasn't just a tutoring session for the blond-haired guy.

I could feel Leslie rolling her eyes. "My tutoring services are free. By this, I'm helping mankind take a step for a brighter and higher education."

Groban chuckled. "I believe you should be the next president of the United States of America. So, what do you wanna order?"

I heard Leslie respond, "Your choice." Though I knew full well what she wanted to order. We usually came here to eat her favorite, after all.

"Oh, okay. Hmm, does Hawaiian Delight sound good?"

"Actually, that's my fave, so yes."

"Really? Mine, too!"

My jaw tightened. Really, Groban? If not, you just had a lucky guess.

Groban called for the waiter, who was Fred, and told him their orders.

"Hey, Fred," Leslie happily said.

"Hello, Leslie, and to this young man here," Fred replied casually. "Say, where's Jesse?"

What the heck, Fred!

"Oh, I'm sure he's already at his house right now. I was inviting him to come with me, but he declined my offer. I guess he was just shy."

"Ah. An unfortunate event."

"What do you mean by that?" Groban asked. "And besides, Leslie will tutor me after we eat."

"It's just that Leslie and Jesse are, like, two peas in a pod," Fred stated. "It's alien for me not to see them together, and that Leslie is with another cool-looking guy."

"Fred!" Leslie exclaimed. There was a hint of embarrassment in her voice. I wanted to see Groban's reaction at what Fred had said.

Fred coughed. "Moving on. Would that be all?"

"Yeah. Oh, and also a liter of iced tea," Groban said flatly.

Now I wanted to laugh out loud. Fred, you're the best waiter in the world!

He went back into the kitchen, and then Groban asked Leslie," So, what's your play for Literature Day? Ours is Cinderella."

"Sleeping Beauty."

"What's your role?"

"Secret. You'll know when our play starts," she said, chuckling.

"What?" Groban whined. "Not even a hint, Leslie?"

"Nope. My lips are sealed."

"Very well, then. I won't tell you my role, too. But just to let you know that we'll win the competition."

"Don't let your hopes get too high, Nigel. We'll win for sure."

Yeah, I thought, agreeing with Prince Phillip. Our section will really win that competition for sure.

When they continued talking about the upcoming Literature Day, I went to the restroom to wash my hands. After I was done, I opened the door and froze. Leslie and Groban were heading toward the restroom—to wash their hands also, no doubt.

Right. This was a unisex restroom.

I suddenly closed the door and looked at the two stalls inside. Unfortunately, the first one was occupied, and the other one was locked and had the sign "out-of-order" hanging on the knob.

I knocked on the first stall loudly. "Are you not done yet?"

"What do you think? And I just got in here!" a lady's voice hollered back.

I cringed, panicking deep inside. They hadn't seen me, right? If they had, then Leslie would've had come barging in here already. And they'd been facing each other while walking. Yeah, surely not.

For now.

I gazed at the door with frightened eyes. Any moment now and Leslie would discover that I'd been spying on her. I was one hundred percent positive she wouldn't like it if she found it out.

Then, I saw the door knob turn.

Oh crap! I'm trap!