Innes had started to nod off. Kahrin saw his nose do half a dozen touch-and-gos over the first twenty minutes of study hall. She couldn’t blame him. It was stuffy in the room, and the school had not yet turned off the heat to adjust to the spring thaw which had hit in full force. It was one thing for Kahrin to not sit still—she seldom could—but Innes was a great big nerd, so she knew things were dire, indeed.
Time to save the day.
“Hey, Pretty Mouth!” she whispered. No response. She cleared her throat with a purpose, watching for the room monitor to come back. “Pretty Mouth!” Still nothing. She leaned way over the side of her desk and poked his side with the eraser of her pencil.
He jumped awake. “What?” His cheeks pinked at the realization he’d been asleep.
“I want ice cream.”
“We can go after school.”
She let a puff of air inflate her cheeks. “No, now.”
“Now? As in right now?” He gestured around the room to their classmates as if they weren’t also screwing around.
“Now now. Yes.”
“Kahrin it’s study hall.”
“So I read on the sign on the door. I still want ice cream.” She slouched down in her seat and kicked him lightly with her sneaker. “Besides, you’ve studied enough. If your brain gets too big it’ll mess up your hair.”
That got him. “Perish the thought. So what do you propose we do?” She nodded to the push out windows. “We can’t go out the window!”
“Not with that attitude.” She picked up her bag and pushed it through, grinning when she heard it thud. Some of the others were watching, but no one said a word. This was hardly her first shenanigan. She wiggled her self out, feet first on her stomach. “Are you coming or not?”
He made that face, the one that she knew both meant he was reluctant to break a rule, but that he would ultimately give in. “Fine.” The pinch of his mouth stretched into a laugh, and his nerd-sized knapsack followed her out the window, and him soon after.
© b.r. hill-mann 2019
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