Still tired, I leaned back in the hard seat that I was sharing with a brown-haired boy with glasses. My light blue bookbag kept my head from touching the seat. Most of the other kids on the bus weren't as tired me, since there was loud talking all around me. That and all the bumps in the street made it hard to get back to sleep. Before I knew it, the bus stopped and School 13 was outside the window that I was sitting next to.

Two rows of rectangle windows reached from side to side of the building made out of bricks. The roof was black and shaded a lot of the sidewalk. Two red doors with windows in their middles were inside a white doorway. "SCHOOL 13" was written on a sideways line that was above the doors. A whole bunch of students were by the doors, anxious to escape the outside cold.

When the fat bus aide told us to, we stood up. In a crooked line, we left the bus and joined the kids who were waiting for the guys to open the doors.

Six groups of four metal desks put together were placed all over my almost-empty homebase classroom. The walls were made out of big, white blocks. Blue wallpaper covered them from the ceiling to my stomach, and was surrounded by pictures of school stuff like notebooks and pencils. In front of the room was the blackboard (Why do they call it a "blackboard" when it's green?). Sitting in front of the greenboard was the gray teacher's desk.

My desk was in the first group on the left side of the door. Nobody in my group came yet. I put my bookbag on the wooden floor and went into the coatroom in the back of the class.

One ceiling light brightened the whole coatroom that looked like a little hallway. Two doors on either side let us in and out. There were only five coats hung up.

"Hey," a classmate named Greta greeted me. She had brown hair down to her shoulders. Her oval-shaped face had little, green eyes and a big nose. A purple coat covered her from neck to knees. Black sweatpants were on her legs and black sneakers were on her feet.

"Hi." After taking it off, I hung up my black coat, which was white on the inside. I wore a dark green sweater that my dead father gave me. Also, I wore a pair of blue jeans and black sneakers. Then I went back into class. A few more students were walking into the coatroom.

By the way, my name is Gabriel. I have black eyes and a little nose. Short, black hair covers my head. I'm 9 years old and I'm in the fourth grade. A lot of teachers say I'm their favorite, but I'm not one of those geeks. I'm not good at sports, so I hate gym.

On my desk was a purple, rectangle card. As I got to my chair, then sat down, I picked up the small card and looked at it. Princess Jasmine and "Prince Ali" were sitting on the magic carpet with his legs folded and her legs stacked on her right side. White fireworks were blowing up in the cloudy, nighttime sky. The bottom of the card read "Happy Valentine's Day" in the Aladdin letters.

I turned the card over and looked at its white back.

To: Gabriel

From: Sera

I turned around to look for Sera. Her red bookbag with Pikachu on the back was on the floor by the desk across from mine. More students were in class now, but I couldn't see her. Wow. She really gave me a Valentine.

Me and Sera first met when I got transferred here last month. I got transferred 'cause I skipped mad days of my old school. Sera and two other girls sat by me in lunch, probly (probably) 'cause they felt sorry for the new kid. Since then, we been following each other in hallways and recess, and sitting by each other in lunch and classes that don't have assigned seats. Out of the three girls, Sera talks to me the most, so we're the best friends.

I know, it's weird for a boy and girl to be best friends. Still, she's just as fun as the guys in my class. She even likes Poke'mon as much as I do; most girls only like the cartoon, but she likes everything. We talk about the Poke'mon cartoon and trade cards a lot, even though we have to play cards during recess 'cause we'll get in trouble. Plus, she's really cute and funny.

You see, I really like Sera. Ever since the day I met her, I liked her as more than a friend. I don't know if she likes me back, though.

Sera and her other best friend, Greta, were coming out of the coatroom together, not looking at me. Sera must have went into the coatroom just when I left. They came toward me until Greta had to walk to her desk on the other side of the room, by the window.

"Heeeeeey, yo," Sera greeted with a wave. She sat in the chair across from me and folded her hands on it.

"Hi," I smiled.

Sera was a Chinese girl with a round face. A red scrunch held her black hair into a big ponytail that touch her back. She was wearing a red shirt with tiny, white polkadots.

"Thanks for the Valentine, Sera." I held it up to her.

"You're welcome," she said with a really, really, pretty smile. "I asked my mother to buy me one so I could give it to you."

I felt a little bit disappointed. "You didn't have to. I wish I could have made one for you."

"It's okay. Friends don't really have to give each other valentines. I did just 'cause I wanted to."

The bell rang. Mrs. Angeles walked in wearing black pants, shiny, black boots, and a brown coat. She took the coat off and put it on the back of her chair; she was wearing a white shirt. Curly, brown hair covered her ears and went down to her back. Her face had freckles on the cheeks. Green eyes were by a triangle nose.

"Good morning, class."

"Good morning, Mrs. Angeles," most of the kids, including me and Sera, said over the chatter of others.

The rest of our homeroom/Social Studies class, then second and third periods, went by as normal.

The bell signaled the end of third period. I dropped my Language Arts workbook into my bookbag and tossed the bag over my back. Sera, Greta, and Jan were talking while walking down a side line of desks. I stood at the end of the row of seats, near the line of some of my classmates, and waited for them.

Jan was Sera's other other best friend. She had a bun of black hair. She wore a green turtleneck shirt with blue jeans and white sneakers. Green eyes and a little nose were on her rectangle-shaped face.

All four of us walked out of the room and joined to the line that was in front of room 216. The walls were white and the room numbers were on green posters by the doors. Other kids were lined up by the doors of their next classes.

I turned around to look at Sera. "So... are you ready for the dance tonight?"

Her eyes grew with excitement, which happens a lot. "Yeah! It'll be so cool!"

"You're going with somebody?" I felt myself get worried as I waited for her to say something back.

The line marched into the classroom where we learn music (The stupidest class ever). I turned and followed it. Colorful mats were stacked on top of each other, made to look like three stairs. I sat on the green bottom mat that was closest to the door. The girls sat next to me. Sera, Jan, and Greta to my right.

"No. I'm just going for fun. I like parties." She raised her fists and moved them like she was playing a drum. With her mouth, she made cymbal sounds.

"Oh."

"Are you going?"

"Um, yeah. I-I'm going."

Sera dropped her jaw in her sign of excitement. "Cool. Maybe we can dance together." She broke into a big smile.

Her face was so cute that I had to return my own smile -- even though it was a sloppy, stupid-looking one. That, and the thought of what she just said. Sera actually wants to go to the dance with me!

"Cool."

After lunch, -- we had triangle-shaped slices of grilled cheese, half oranges, and potato wedges (They're gross. They don't taste like fries to me!) -- me and the girls went outside. The four of us sat in our favorite spot -- right outside the windows of our homeroom. I sat on the ground and Sera, who was wearing a pink jacket, sat in front of me. Wearing a green jacket, Jan sat on my left, and Greta sat on my right.

Recess was right behind the school building. Windows to classrooms were on the building. Metal fences were spaced really far apart, giving four homerooms worth of kids a lot of room to play. The ground was made of that black stuff that they use to make parking lots.

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a bunch of Poke'mon cards. Sera did, too. She had a little more than me. I put most of my stack down and held the rest up like I was playing cards, but I was really looking through them. It was cold out, but not windy enough to blow them out of my hands.

"I traded my Wartortle yesterday," I said. "I got a Geodude." I showed it to Sera.

Geodude's picture was on a brown card with yellow on the edges. He looked blacker than on the show. He was punching his way out of some red lova (lava).

"Wow," Greta said. She and Jan don't have Poke'mon cards. They just watch me and Sera battle and trade ours.

"Wanna trade it for my Gastly? I have doubles of it, and I don't have Geodude."

"Yeah." I picked out my Geodude card and held it out to her. She gave me her Gastly card.

Gastly was flying in a building with brown walls.

"Hey, imagine if there were more than a hundred and fifty Poke'mon," said Sera.

"A hundred and fifty-one," I corrected her. "Don't forget Mew."

"Yeah, what if there was more than that? I know I'd still catch 'em all."

I laughed. "A hundred and fifty-one is already mad Poke'mon. Why would they make more?"

"But in the Poke'rap, they say, 'At least a hundred and fifty, or more to see.' Sounds like there's more to me," Greta said.

"And to be a Poke'mon master is my destiny!" Sera smiled. "I'll get all the cards even if I have to carry them in my bookbag!"

Sera's so funny. 'Over a hundred and fifty-one Poke'mon.' What a Poke'maniac.

After another homeroom, art was the next class. A brown cabinet with yellow doors was on one side of the room, and a green cabinet with blue doors was on the other side. Both of them had a wooden sink next to them. Posters about paints and drawing were hanging everywhere. For some reason, the six long tables that were all different colors were moved so three were on opposite sides of the room.

Mrs. Carlin had frizzy, brown hair. Giant glasses covered her brown eyes. She was a skinny, old lady with wrinkles everywhere. Her yellow shirt was inside her white pants, and she wore brown shoes.

"Okay, class," Mrs. Carlin said, "today, we're going to make valentines. You can give them to your friends, moms, dads, brothers, or sisters. I want all boys to sit on this side," she pointed at the tables on the left side of the room, "and the girls to sit here," she looked at the other tables. "Plenty of supplies are here for both groups, so you don't have to borrow from each other and ruin your surprise."

The boys and girls went to their own sides. Brown counters were against some of the walls. crayons, papers, colored pencils, and stuff like that were on top.

Knowing how much Sera liked, no, loved Poke'mon, I knew exackily (exactly) what to draw. Her favorite Poke'mon was Rapidash. Rapidash ain't easy for me to sketch, but I'll try. I think Scyther is the coolest, by the way.

Standing by the supplies, I picked up a yellow crayon, a white crayon, and an orange crayon. Then I got some red paper and some scissors with a purple handle. Holding everything, I went to the green table and sat in the blue chair. Two other boys were sitting by me. I turned around to look for Sera. She had her back turned and was picking through a Crayola box.

I sat back in my chair and looked at the red rectangle. Picking up my white crayon, I drew an unfinished oval, then put the crayon down. Then, I dragged the crayon down the other side of the oval. Well, that's his (Is Rapidash a boy or a girl Pokemon? Well, only a boy would have fire all over him, so I guess it's a he) neck and head. I went to the end of the neck and drew a straight line for his back. Sigh Where's the eraser on this thing?

Turning around again, I looked for Sera. She was scribbling with a green marker. Since she was smiling, she couldn't have been having as many problems as I was. Digging into my pocket, I found my pencil. The eraser looked almost brand new. Picking the shavings off, I flipped the pencil over and rubbed the eraser over Rapidash's crayon-colored back. *Sigh* It didn't work!

Holding the paper in both hands I tore it so I could try to draw on a clean part. Like a dummy, I ripped it wrong, leaving a big, pointy piece in one hand, and a little piece in the other. I balled both papers up and tried to throw them in the big, gray garbage can by the door. I missed. On the way to get more paper, I picked it up and dropped it in.

After a bazillion mess-ups, like mixing the tail with the fire on his back, and making the body too fat, I was done. The white horse had really straight legs; each pair looked connected. His circle eye (He was standing sideways) was big and had a dot in the middle. Orange and yellow triangles were all over him; they were supposed to be fire, but looked more like one of those things that cover cartoon characters when they get alectracuted (electrocuted). The tail looked the same as the rest of the fire. All I had to do now was cut the paper into a heart shape.

I put the bottom of the scissors on the top of the paper. I cut a straight line, making a triangle shape come off. Next, I pointed the scissors down and cut downwards. I kept cutting until I made a heart that was pointy and straight, but not round at all. The two top parts were flat squares. At least I did the bottom right.

The top left part was shaped like a triangle. The right part looked like a skinny rectangle. Sera's valentine ended up being a lot littler than I wanted it to be; now, it was barely big enough to cover both of my hands. I didn't want to start all over again, so I left it like that before I messed up again. Since I didn't have anyone else to give valentines to, I cleaned up and waited for the bell to ring.

When it did, we lined up at the door. I walked up to Sera. She was giving valentines to two of our friends, and one friend gave her a white, square paper. I felt sad at first, but held my heart-shaped card out to her. Turning her attention to me, she looked at it, and then at me.

"For me?" she asked. Her eyes grew and she smiled real big.

My face felt hot. I nodded and said "Yeah."

"Ooh, thanks, Gabriel!" She took the card. "Wow! You drew Rapidash! She looks really cool!"

Rapidash is a she?

The line began to move into the hallway.

"I would have made a valentine for you, but I gave you one this morning."

"That's okay, now we're even. Can't wait for the dance."

"Me, neither."

After that, we went to Spelling. Why are Spelling, Language Arts, and Handwriting all different classes?

Dad dropped me off at school later that day. It felt weird to be in school in the almost nighttime, but at least we weren't doing work.

I put my coat on top of the pile that was by the door. I was wearing a shiny, red shirt with long sleeves. Black pants barely covered the ankles of the white thermals that I wore underneath them. My black sneakers from earlier were still on.

The party, which was inside the gym, was huge. Lights shined off the wooden floor, where black basketball lines were painted. Two white basketball hoops were hanging in the air sideways.

The silver-legged table that sat beside the open gym doors was topped by a large, clear bowl of juice, stacked plastic cups, and a bunch of snacks like chips and donuts. Rows of black, soft chairs were against the walls. A large, red banner reading "Happy Valentine's Day" in pink letters that had white outlines hung above the stage. On top of the stage, four black speakers were playing YMCA. A white table that had CDs on top was in between the two groups of speakers.

Mad kids from second to fourth grade were dancing; mostly, the YMCA dance. Others were talking and eating. Of course, grownup teachers just had to be there, too. Most were dancing, but some were just standing around like they were waiting to give somebody detention (They can't do that, can they?).

I looked a little bit to my left and shook my head to look again. In front of the wall of pushed bleachers, Sera was raising her hands like she was making the letters Y, M, C, and A. Her ponytail swished from side to side as she did C and A. I could feel my face turn red as my breath left me.

Sera's hair was the same as earlier, now swishing from side to side on the short, ruffled sleeves of her light blue dress. The little collar barely showed the top of her chest. A lighter blue skirt reached down to her shins. White stockings went down to her light blue shoes with ribbon bows. She looked like Cinderella.

Fighting to hide the smile that fought me back, I walked past a lot of students, teachers, and parents. Sera saw me when she was doing a 'C', and smiled. She only gave my lips more energy and made me grin back. Her hands went to her sides and she stopped dancing.

"Hey, Gabriel," she said over the loud music.

"Hi." We gave each other fives. "Did I miss anything?"

"No."

I danced beside her until the song was over. Some song I never heard before replaced it. It went like "Blue da ba dee", or something, over and over again. Sera went to the snack table and I followed her. Reaching into a white bowl, she pulled out a handful of pretzels and put them in a napkin. I got Doritos from another white bowl. Then we sat in chairs that were against the walls.

We sat there talking like we would on any other day. We shared our snacks. Later, the song went off and the 'Pokemon-mon-mon-mon' song was on. Kids were dancing and jumping around wildly.

Oh, yeah! Pokemon-mon-mon-mon

Pokemon-mon-mon-mon

"I really like this song," Sera told me while moving her head up and down to the fast music.

"I bet you do," I smirked. "You really like singing anything with Pokemon in it."

She copied me in a funny voice while shaking her head from side to side. We both bust out laughing. "Wanna dance?" She stood up like she was gonna dance even if I said no.

"Yeah."

By now, mad kids were dancing. Me and Sera found a spot and danced. I didn't know all of the words to the song, but I sang what I could. Sera jumped around in circles with her hands up. I was moving my raised arms from side to side.

Another fast song I never heard began. They kept saying "We like to party", so I guess that's what its called. Sera moved her arms up and down like she was running. She moved her head crazily, making her hair fly all over the place. It was kinda funny, and I think she did it just to be funny.

When that song went off, "Bye Bye Bye" came on. Our Language Arts teacher came out of nowhere and said:

"Come on, Mrs. Silvermane, let's show these kids how to do it." Mr. K (He has a really long and weird name, so we just call him "Mr. K") was wearing a dark green shirt that was tucked into brown pants, and black shoes. He had dark brown hair that was cut into a square, and he had little dots where his beard would be. A nose with real big nostrils was on his rectangle-shaped face. He's the funniest teacher I ever had.

Mrs. Silvermane was a fat lady with gray hair that was wrapped into a bun. She was really tall and had brown eyes. She was wearing a dark red shirt with long sleeves. Her pants and shoes were black. Arm in arm, she and Mr. K went to dance.

"It ain't no lie, goodbye, goodbye, goodbyyyy-yyye!" Mr. K sang.

The kids, including me and Sera, laughed at him. Some told him to sing it right.

We danced through two more songs and gave up. By now, Get Ready was playing. My dad listens to a lot of really old songs, so I know The Temptations sing this song.

"Having fun?" Sera asked me as we walked toward the snack table.

"Yeah." I picked up a clear cup and gave it to her. Then I picked out my own.

"Me, too."

I poured both of us some fruit punch and we went to stand against a wall, since all of the chairs were taken.

"All Star" came to an end. Some dancers left the floor to stand or sit against the walls or in the chairs. The DJ pulled the CD out and replaced it with another. After a moment of silence, "I'll Never Break Your Heart" came on. A lot of kids left to sit down. There were only nine dancing now, plus a bunch of parents and teachers.

I looked at Sera. She was watching everybody else dance. I wanted to get up and ask her to dance with me. But she's kinda wild, so I don't think she'd like to dance to a slow song like this. Slowly, her head turned to me.

I turned mine and watched two grownups dance together. They were holding hands while the other hands were on each other's backs. I wish that could be me and Sera someday. Before I knew it, the song was over.

"I had a really good time at this party," Sera told me. She then made a face that made me laugh. "Eww, I never thought I'd say that in school." Her unzipped jacket was on. It looked weird with her skirt under it.

A teacher had told us when Sera's parents had called. Since I had no other reason to be here, I called mine. We were sitting in the main office with Mrs. Carlin, who was sitting behind the counter, where we couldn't see her anymore. She was wearing an orange sweater with light blue jeans and white shoes.

The carpet was dark blue. A line of seven gray chairs was against the wall that faced the secretary stuff and principal door. Me and Sera sat together by the office doorway. A brown counter was in front of the chairs. Behind us were big, square windows that let us see the brown exit doors in the hallway.

"I had a good time, too," I said. She kept smiling at me. "Um, I like your dress... it... looks nice."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks. I wore it for Halloween last year. It was fun dancing with you."

"Thank you."

We sat quiet until her parents walked in. Sera's father had really short, black hair. He was wearing a red coat with dark gray jeans and brown shoes. Her mother had a white winter hat with black hair coming out of the sides and on her shoulders. She was wearing a brown coat with black pants and shoes. We said "Hi" to each other.

"Bye," I said with a wave.

"Bye," Sera said. Her parents turned and headed for the exit. She began to walk out of the office, but I held her hand to keep her from leaving. Then she turned her head and looked at our hands. I stood up and she looked at me. "What?"

I swallowed spit and opened my mouth. Fast, I got closer to her and put my lips together. My kiss barely landed on her left cheek before I flinched. Sera looked through a window, then at me. She had this sort of surprised look on her face. I didn't know whether she was mad or not.

My heart was beating mad fast, and my head was hurting, and it suddenly became hard to breath. I can't believe I just did that! She looked into the hallway again and left the office. Before she went through the open exit doors, she looked at me again while walking.

I slumped back into my seat and thought about what happened. To me, the kiss felt good, but how did she feel about it? I gotta talk to her about it. I really hope she doesn't hate me for what I did.