Where did the teachers come UP with these ideas? The blonde girl wondered to herself as the two different classes filed into a single room. It was something about the sophomore & senior AP English classes being during the same period this year that gave the teachers the idea, but Mindy could not know that. Not without them telling her.

She wasn't even sure the teachers knew what their objective was this time. If her teacher had said anything, Min was afraid she had not been paying attention. Probably thinking about that new passing technique she was working on with the team's center, Beth. It worked well with the petite & smaller blonde. Min's teammate was small but tough, and could weave in and out of the other players like water through a sieve.

Finding a seat Min sat down behind the desk and pulled her feet up in front of her, hugging her bare legs to her chest as she watched the other students with her head tilted ever so faintly to the right. She did not really have any friends in this particular class, though after most of the school year they were on good speaking terms now. Even Min had not been able to overlook how they had shunned her for being so into sports and seeming pretty air-headed -even as they had been trying to get close to her otherwise. Not when a few had straight out said it while others nodded. Their tunes had changed when she had outscored them on a few papers and projects, but it had not paved the way for a smooth transition into friendship. She could only hope it would improve before they were seniors. They weren't all like that... but those that hadn't been part of it were too shy to have shown a reaction one way or the other. She could chat with them with pretty easy casualness most of the time now.

None of the sophomore class was talking to each other though, not right now. Whether that was from insecurity or not wanting to look bad in front of the Seniors would be hard to say. Maybe they just did not want to get in trouble for talking, or were waiting to be told what was in store for them.

Although she was curled up into herself and more than a bit uncertain, there was a bright and warm smile on her clean face. A shirt of robin's egg blue with simple white shorts and her usual white socks and tennis shoes. Most of Min's wardrobe fit into a single simple dresser. The soft waves of her golden ponytail rested spilled onto her shoulder and rested there. Smiling, welcoming, Min watched the other class. Like her own, some of the faces were pretty familiar and she smiled a bit more for them.

((meh... not as good as I would have liked.))

Midway across campus, Charles heard the bell ring. With a high, cacophonic rattle, it signaled the beginning of 4th period.
He had been so absorbed in his thoughts of his new friendship with Besnik that all school-related concerns had drifted from his mind, but now, as he took note of his empty surroundings, it occurred to him that he was late for AP English.
'Ironic,' Charles thought amusedly. 'I was just telling Besnik about how Mrs. Tuttle likes me. Wonder if that'll hold now that I'm late.'

Flinging open the heavy door to the building housing the English department, Charles ran through the threshold and slid into the squeaky linoleum hallways, finally skidding to a stop in front of Room 111.
He bent over to catch his breath and momentarily clutched his stomach. The little sprint across the school campus had left him panting for air, but he remained otherwise untouched by exertion. At times like these, he was glad that he kept in shape by riding his bike to school.

Composed, Charles re-shouldered his backpack and twisted the doorknob to the room.
Mrs. Tuttle, the stern woman who taught the senior AP English class, frowned upon the interruption and turned from the blackboard in preparation to reprimand the student who dared to appear two minutes after the start of class.
Charles smiled sheepishly at her. An improvised excuse was about to escape from his lips when Mrs. Tuttle brightened lifted into a grin. The permanent wrinkles in her face fled from her forehead, and reappeared around the corners of her heavily-painted lips.

"Charles! So glad you could join us."

'Guess the old broad still likes me,' Charles thought.
"I hope I didn't miss anything."

"No, we're just getting started. Please take a seat, if you will. We've combined the sophomore and senior classes today for a special lesson."

She motioned toward the rows of desks, which were almost completely occupied.
Charles' usual AP English class consisted of only 10 people - a fact he attributed to the vast majority of his peers afflicted with "senioritis" - and with the additional unfamiliar sophomores, the classroom suddenly seemed crowded.
As he passed through the rows, scanning the room for an empty seat, several of his senior friends shot him thoroughly entertained looks. They would never dare to call him a "teacher's pet" outright, but their expressions conveyed the sentiment well enough.

'Heh, I'll need to remember to punch them all later.'

At last he found an empty seat toward the back of the central section of desks. Sliding in, he noticed that the seat next to him was occupied by an attractive girl with beautiful, silken blonde hair that caught the sunlight streaming through the classroom windows.
Charles flashed her a warm grin instinctively; it was as if the sight of a pretty blonde were hardwired to his facial muscle reflexes.

"Hey," he smiled, somewhere in between a whisper and a standard greeting.

Immediately, he imagined her sitting at a table in the cafeteria, throwing her head back in unconstrained laughter as a group of imaginary cheerleader friends watched on. That image was proceeded by another of her sifting through racks of clothing at the mall.
The final image involved her sitting barefoot under a tree, running her fingers through her hair as an orange sunset set her feminine eyes afire.

Mrs. Tuttle's dry voice jolted Charles back into reality, and he mentally slapped himself for daydreaming.
'I don't even know this girl! And I love Jane!'

Guilt thickening in his gut, Charles directed his attention toward more pertinent matters, namely extracting his notebook and pencil from his backpack.

Min looked up as the door opened after class had begun to see who was entering late. Along with probably the rest of both classes. He was breathing heavily… running? Hazel eyes focused slightly, looking for tell-tale signs. This boy could be a runner, but he certainly was not on the track team. She would have remembered, knowing each member of her team well. Something was familiar about him though. Min knew she had seen him around school. What IS his NAME?

Having already copied what the senior AP class teacher (Mrs. Tuttle, was it? And why did she have so much stuff on her lips? Wouldn’t it taste funny?) had put on the board into her notes in her tiny, precise hand, Mindy watched the interchange with casual observance as she tried to remember the boy’s name.

Charles, her mind repeated as Mrs. Tuttle said it. Now she recognized it. Her teammates had been talking about him. Both teams, and both girls AND boys. Something special about who he was dating. Mindy knew she knew the girl too but couldn’t seem to place her either. Not just yet. It was a simple name. Something from a child’s reader. Spot, Dick and… Jane! Jane! That’s it!
That was not the only thing she knew –he was pretty well known through the school- but it was the newest thing about him. For some reason people liked to talk about things like that. Mindy usually did not, though it did make her happy that they were happy. That was about all she thought about dating and ‘going out’ –that it was nice as long as it made people happy.

A warm smile blossomed on her face just as instinctively in response to the one Charles gave her as he sat beside her. No schoolgirl ‘ohmygosh a senior smiled at me!’ or any other type of surprise touched her face. Just warmth and friendliness, and the pleasure of seeing a smiling face. “Hey.” She whispered back, smile never faltering. She of course had no inkling of the thoughts in the senior’s head just before he turned to get his things out of his bag. Not like she ever did even when such thoughts were clear on a boy’s face. “Far run?”

Yes… this close she knew he had run for sure. Little things, like the way the muscles of his leg flexed faintly. Unnoticeable unless one knew what to look for and had seen it a lot. Like he had been through a dash. A dash he had not had to push or strain himself running. Hazel eyes glanced at him thoughtfully, while still paying attention as Mrs. Tuttle returned to the board.

Min looked up as the door opened after class had begun to see who was entering late. Along with probably the rest of both classes. He was breathing heavily… running? Hazel eyes focused slightly, looking for tell-tale signs. This boy could be a runner, but he certainly was not on the track team. She would have remembered, knowing each member of her team well. Something was familiar about him though. Min knew she had seen him around school. What IS his NAME?

Having already copied what the senior AP class teacher (Mrs. Tuttle, was it? And why did she have so much stuff on her lips? Wouldn’t it taste funny?) had put on the board into her notes in her tiny, precise hand, Mindy watched the interchange with casual observance as she tried to remember the boy’s name.

Charles, her mind repeated as Mrs. Tuttle said it. Now she recognized it. Her teammates had been talking about him. Both teams, and both girls AND boys. Something special about who he was dating. Mindy knew she knew the girl too but couldn’t seem to place her either. Not just yet. It was a simple name. Something from a child’s reader. Spot, Dick and… Jane! Jane! That’s it!
That was not the only thing she knew –he was pretty well known through the school- but it was the newest thing about him. For some reason people liked to talk about things like that. Mindy usually did not, though it did make her happy that they were happy. That was about all she thought about dating and ‘going out’ –that it was nice as long as it made people happy.

A warm smile blossomed on her face just as instinctively in response to the one Charles gave her as he sat beside her. No schoolgirl ‘ohmygosh a senior smiled at me!’ or any other type of surprise touched her face. Just warmth and friendliness, and the pleasure of seeing a smiling face. “Hey.” She whispered back, smile never faltering. She of course had no inkling of the thoughts in the senior’s head just before he turned to get his things out of his bag. Not like she ever did even when such thoughts were clear on a boy’s face. “Far run?”

Yes… this close she knew he had run for sure. Little things, like the way the muscles of his leg flexed faintly. Unnoticeable unless one knew what to look for and had seen it a lot. Like he had been through a dash. A dash he had not had to push or strain himself running. Hazel eyes glanced at him thoughtfully, while still paying attention as Mrs. Tuttle returned to the board.

At the sound of the blonde girl's voice, Charles peered up from the depths of his cavernous backpack, and was met by brilliant, hazel orbs that momentarily stunned him into silence.
Her eyes emanated a nearly palpable warmth, contrasting greatly with the cold, yet comforting azure of Jane. They seemed to confirm Charles' preconceptions; the girl was surely the peppy, outgoing type.
He swallowed his guilt and resolved to proceed with relations.
'After all,' he reasoned silently, 'It's just a casual conversation.'

"Yeah, you could say that," Charles replied.
He chuckled under his breath.

Placing his notebook and pencil atop the desk, he sneaked another glance at the girl.
Her eyes were flickering down the length of his bare calves. Faint heat rushed to the tops of Charles' ears in response.
'Is she...checking me out?'

He turned away, torn between flattery and awkward discomfort, but tending much more toward the former.
Charles leaned his head against his hand casually in a disguised attempt to hide the red of his ears.

So he had run! Min grinned to have concluded correctly and nodded almost imperceivably as she glanced down at her notes to write the latest thing from the board. New red out of the corner of her perception caught her eye and with a confused flicker in her own she looked back at him. Now why were his ears red? Was he embarrassed about having to run to class? Sympathy touched her. "It's okay." She whispered gently, giving another smile. "Lots of kids have to run to class, time to time."

Checking him out? Maybe. But only in the way one checked the competition or chose a winning horse.

Although she had leaned towards him slightly to whisper, Mindy was sitting back upright in her seat by the time the teachers turned back to the class. She was almost at attention in her seat when her teacher -Ms. Merkle- addressed the combined classes. "Before we get any further into this special lesson we're going to split you off into pairs." Her rather plain features showed the mild furrowing of her brow as she realized there were a few more of her class than the senior class. Very faintly her sigh could be seen -disappointment in herself at not seeing this as a potential complication. Why did she always forget about senioritis? It was probably that she had inwardly hoped it would not effect an AP class. "Mostly pairs, with a few groups of three where needed. One Senior in each group please. You will have two minutes to form groups on your own." The implication that she had faith that AP students should be able to do something like this on their own fairly evident in her otherwise no-nonsense voice. "If groups are not ready in that time Mrs. Tuttle and I will designate groups for you.

Mindy looked surprised, along with many of her classmates. This was certainly different. She did not see as one of the senior boys she knew casually looked her way with intent. Nor did she see how a fellow classmate in seeing that glared daggers at her. Mindy had turned her head with innocent questioning and easy smile to the latecomer whose name was Charles. Somewhere deep in her subconsciousness he had been dubbed 'safe' -because he had a girlfriend. It would cause no waves in her class or with her friends.

A decision Min did not even know she made, and did not even know she thought of that played a firm part in her next action (though the reasons she would give played a good part too). "Charles, right? What do you think: want to pair up?"

Charles absently picked at the corner of his notebook with his left hand as he scribbled down the notes on the board with his right. It was all a bunch of superfluous nonsense regarding the structure of haiku.
'Really, there's not that much to them,' he thought to himself.
'Guess they're letting us off easy for the end of the year.'

In a way, he was disappointed. Charles had been hoping that his high school English career would end in a dramatic flourish, like with a complex creative writing project or an in-depth research paper. Not that he had ever told anyone about these hopes, except his mother.
His friends accepted him for his intelligence and good grades, but he knew he would never hear the end of it if he divulged his love of poetry to them. Or perhaps this was merely another preconceived notion based upon his father's standards of "manliness".

But before Charles could think to continue along that line of thought, the gentle whisper of the blonde girl called him back into the present moment. When the significance of her words finally registered, he chuckled softly once again, humored by their incongruous perceptions of his words.
He had thought - or rather, hoped - that his cryptic "yeah, you could say that" would stir her interest. However, it appeared that he had come off as embarrassed instead, thus provoking her sympathetic comment.
'At least I know she isn't a snob,' Charles mused.

He shrugged at her in response and turned his attention back to the task of scribbling down the remainder of the notes.
Ms. Merkle's instructions barely penetrated his awareness, and when the blonde girl proposed that they pair up, Charles fleetingly assumed that she had meant something other than pairing up for classwork. Looking through the room, however, he saw that many of his peers were milling around and chatting excitedly; a clear indication that some joint assignment was taking place. Subsequently, he recalled Ms. Merkle's guidelines of "one senior for each group".
It also dawned upon him that the girl had addressed him by his name.
He was relatively well-known among his senior peers, due in part to his relationship with the wealthy and delightfully girlish Jane, but it still came to him as somewhat of a surprise that some lovely, unfamiliar sophomore had heard of him before.

"Ahaha, sure!" he laughed.
Lips curling up and eyes compressing, Charles fell into his trademark little-kid smile.
"Sorry, I don't think I know your name?"

His words had not needed to stir her interest, that he was a runner of some type already had. Perhaps not in the usual way a girl was interested in an attractive and athletic boy but still interest. Even so, curiosity about the senior would not keep Mindy from attending her studies. She might hear the gossip but she was not one to spread it. A soft smile and nod because she liked haiku, her eyes glancing to see that Ms. Merkle had joined the painted lips teacher at the board. Hmm? Sonnets too?

All while she had her head cutely tilted, waiting for Charles’ reply. On her own she might have been slower putting his name and his face together like that, but Mrs. Tuttle had called him by name when he arrived late to class. Min’s smile warmed and brightened as he agreed to work with her –oblivious of course to the innuendo her phrasing might have brought to mind- then giggled softly at the boyish smile. Even though she often was known, Min never minded when she was not. Really… she did not seem to notice either way around people she herself did not know. “Mindy. Mindy Dawkins.”

Her smile said there was no reason to be sorry & she gave her name without any air that once he heard her name he should know who she was. Though he might. She had placed top in a few of the meets this past year, and had even scored a few times for her soccer team –which being a halfback was not too shabby. That she had done this her Sophomore year was what usually impressed people. Not that Min seemed to notice. In fact… she did not. She would be no less thrown off that he did not recognize her name than if he did.

Setting sneakered feet to the floor Min moved her desk closer to his as some of the other pairs & groups were already doing. She caught sight of the girl who happened to glare at her earlier to see her and a friend of hers circling up with the senior male Mindy had not noticed looking at her. She knew him –football team? Min tried to place- and gave the cat-grinning girls a smile of ‘good for you!’ that they were so happy with their group. A flicked glance to the board… another form of poetry? This one Min was unfamiliar with which showed a little on her face as her eyes came round to meet Charles’ eyes. “Any clue what they’re up to? Looks like some sort of poetry review, but if that’s all it is I don’t know why the mixed classes. Unless it’s supposed to be fun too? Some sort of bonus?” Other groups were talking too so Min was more willing to chat than she usually would in a class setting.

"Mindy?" Charles repeated. "Do you play soccer, by chance?"

He had heard the name mentioned before in various conversations with his good friend, Zander. Apparently he had seen her at a soccer game once, and had fallen hard for her on the spot, drawn in by the agile way in which she wove through the grass. She was "a dancer in cleats", as Zander called her.
However, he had never dared approach Mindy due to his severe lack of self-confidence; he felt that he, the class hippie, could not compete with the many other attractive junior and senior boys who had also set their eye upon her.
'Never would have guessed that she's the girl Zander was talking about. She doesn't strike me as the athletic type at all.'

While Mindy glanced about the room, Charles took the opportunity to give her a subtle once-over. The shape of her forearms and calves suggested that she was engaged in some sort of rigorous physical activity, and her casual clothing hinted at a disregard for fashion. Not that she dressed out of good taste; it was merely that her simple attire clashed with the frilly, well-coordinated dresses that Jane always wore, the kind of dresses that Charles had assumed she would wear.
It certainly appeared as though his earlier judgment was lacking in accuracy.
She was proving to be quite a curious girl.

He noticed Mindy glancing at the board. He followed the path of her eyes, and saw that the sophomore English teacher had added an additional assignment to the board, one involving sonnets, with which Charles was all too familiar.
Months ago, Jane had insisted that he write a love sonnet for her in the spirit of Valentine's Day, and being the sucker that he was, Charles had stayed up half the night to research them.

"Huh, it does look like that," Charles responded after he had finished reading the notes on the board. "I think they want us to review the sonnet and haiku forms, and then work together to create a 'haikunet'."

He gave her a sideways look and smirked.

"I can see why they'd put the two classes together for this. Seniors wouldn't be willing to shift their butts into gear for something so challenging at this time of year, yeah?"

In all honesty, the idea of combining the sonnet and the haiku into one poetry form excited Charles more than the prospect of being able to slack off in class, but he was hesitant to reveal his enthusiasm.

Charles could have blatantly checked ‘checked her out’ and Min would be none the wiser. However subtle was probably wiser for him in his own situation, and seeing as he did so out of curiosity more than anything else none should find fault with it. Not that there would not be those that would –this was high school after all. “Yes I am.” The love of the sport and the joy it gave to her bright in her eyes and tone. Min looked close to bursting, ready to talk about it –to ask if maybe he had seen a game or even if he played on a team (she felt he should by the look of him but could not recall that he did or if he did what)- but was restraining herself from getting too off topic. Though her eyes hinted that should they have time after finishing whatever the teacher’s had cooked up she would very much enjoy some casual conversation to fill in the gaps. Maybe hear from him how he got together with Jane too. Min loved stories of romance. Even if she did not believe in many aspects of love.

Hazel eyes flickering towards blue blinked in mild surprise. “Why wouldn’t they?” Min was at a loss why anyone at anytime would not give there complete and total all for anything. But other than that confusion she seemed excited and even eager for the challenge. “I’ve never combined poetry styles before. Not intentionally.” She gave a small laugh. Hazel eyes flicked over the notes just taken on sonnets, mentally comparing them to what she had and knew of haiku. “Could there be two more different? What do you think, try a sonnet comprised entirely of haiku?” Her expressive face drew together as Min pursed her lips thoughtfully. “They’re both so structured…” Eyes lifted up to the senior’s expectantly, waiting attentively on his opinion. Min was completely ready to do her part to the best of her ability. Past that, if she could.

At the mention of soccer, Mindy visibly brightened before Charles' eyes, glowing in an even greater excitement than he thought possible of any student stuck in class the period before lunch. He could tell, even before she uttered her affirmation, that she was indeed a soccer player. The spark in her eyes spoke volumes.
Charles peeked at the other groups and found that they had already begun reading the assigned selections. Now would not be the best time to discuss sports or social matters. He made a mental note to bring up the topic later, perhaps after they had finished the assignment. Mindy's eyes appeared to mirror his desire; he smiled again in anticipation of that particular conversation.

Mindy's question caught Charles by surprise as he reached into his backpack for his dogeared poetry book. He could not tell if she was simply naive and unfamiliar with the ways of high school seniors, or if her apparent ignorance of senioritis indicated something deeper on the level of her mental capacity.

"Er...Well, most seniors get senioritis near the end of the year. They figure that once they've been accepted to a college, there's no need to work for good grades anymore."

He took a long look at her face. True, she did resemble those chatty, air-brained cheerleaders with which Charles had first associated her, but there was the fact that she had been placed in an AP class. Only the bright and motivated were able to pass through the rigorous first semester.
'Heh, this girl is full of surprises,' he thought.

Drawing back to the task before them, Charles flipped to the sonnet section in his paperback text, and absently skimmed a sample as he nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, you're right. They are really structured."

He raised his head up from the text and Mindy's hypnotic eyes bombarded him once again. His heart skipped a beat when he realized that she had been watching him, waiting for him to speak. Had it been any regular girl - or guy, for that matter - Charles would have thought nothing of it. It was clearly bound to happen when working together, and that was what he told himself in order to quell his excitement.
But Mindy's appearance made all the difference.
With as much self-control as he could muster, he pulled his eyes away from her face. There was sure to be trouble if anyone saw him staring at her and got the wrong idea. He certainly found her highly attractive and intriguing, but Jane occupied the space in his heart.
Plus, there was Zander to consider.

"Haiku don't have any rhyme scheme," Charles began, directing himself back to the assignment. "So we could compose a haikunet by using the 5-7-5 syllable structure of the haiku and the a-b-a-b/c-d-c-d/e-f-e-f/g-g rhyme scheme of the sonnet. I think that's what you were saying, right?"

The look of it being incredulous only returned anew upon Min’s features at the senior’s explanation but following it closely was a determined look that like anything she wanted to talk about of soccer it would have to wait until after they had finished their assignment. Even if the sophomore could not understand why anyone would not give their all with or without grades being involved. Besides… it was still learning! Why PAY for college if you would not take advantage of free or already paid for teachings?

A faint frown creased her pretty features just before she pushed the thoughts aside for later with a slight shake of her head. Back into full thoughtfulness on the subject at hand she went like she had flipped a switch inside. A clearly made decision. She leaned over to look at Charles’ book since he already had it open to sonnets –which being what she did not know as well were the thing Min knew she needed to work on more. Nothing in her face or body language showed she had noticed her partner looking at her overly long or short or otherwise having been uncomfortable with how she had been looking at him. Which would be completely honest display in Min’s case. Easily she nodded, finger on the haiku notes she had recently written down while looking at the rhyme scheme of the sonnet in Charles’ book so she could see better what he was explaining even though she had just jotted down notes for that as well. The book’s imagery was a little clearer than that what Mrs. Tuttle had put on the board. Her fingers tapped the haiku’s structure while she mouthed a few rhyming words in possible locations.

“Yeah. That’s what I was thinking. Actually… maybe this won’t be as difficult as I thought because of the structure. The two together tell us what to do.” Still tapping out the syllables with one hand Min glanced between the two structures. “Maybe a haiku per sonnet line? It would make it really long, but the usual 3 line format of haiku won’t go into the 14 lines of a sonnet as well.” Without waiting for an answer Min pondered a moment, then started writing a few lines down. The haiku she separated with a ‘/’ between to indicate the meter. It seemed to be about wind or running –perhaps both. With a head-tilt Min looked at Charles then lightly tapped his hand, the same finger directing his eyes to her page rather than expecting him to look at her. She was not the important thing. This was not one of those cases where eye-to-eye contact showed the best listening. The visualization was important too. Softly she spoke the words aloud, pausing for the meter and checking that the end rhymes. If he did look at her, Charles would see a twinkle in her hazel eyes for the subject matter, which besides being something she loved also gently teased about his having had to run to class. Or maybe if it was that if the subject was not running, she would have him write about his girlfriend. “I don’t think the second flows as nicely, but maybe as we get further we can come back to it with something that fits better?"

"Hmm, I see what you mean," Charles replied.
He flipped his pencil between his fingers as he considered Mindy's suggestion.
"So I guess we could have either one haiku per line, or we could cut off the last two lines of the sonnet - the g-g couplet - and have four haiku fit into a twelve-line sonnet."
His eyes flicked back to his notes on sonnets. A thought then occurred to him.
"But then again, the ending couplet is one of the defining features of a sonnet. I wonder if..."

Trailing off in mid-thought, he felt a light finger touch the back of his hand. The sudden contact startled him; he was much accustomed to people addressing him verbally to gain his attention. When he looked at Mindy, he saw a teasing gleam in her eyes, which he at first misinterpreted as a sign that her gesture had contained flirty intentions. Ears flushing light red, Charles gave her a sideways smile and slowly slid his hand back across the desk to fiddle with his notebook.

Upon glancing at Mindy once more, however, Charles noticed that she was pointing her finger at the haiku she had just written, and was presently reading it aloud. The gesture had been completely innocent after all.
He internally chastised himself for thinking otherwise.

"I like it," Charles nodded. "The 7-syllable line might need a little revision, like you said, but we can play with it when we figure out the line that rhymes with it."
He leaned back in his seat, and the metal joints creaked under the force he exerted as he pushed the desk onto its two hind legs. Sitting unbalanced helped him to think more clearly; it was as if the risk of tipping back and falling heightened his awareness. In this precarious position, he ran the three lines over in his mind. The theme appeared to focus on running.
'Huh, maybe she's on the track team, too. Or maybe the poem will start off with running, then narrow into soccer?'

"So this haiku will be one of the sonnet lines?" Charles asked. "That's 17 syllables, isn't it? Won't it be kinda hard to establish a rhyme within the alternating lines?"

Blonde head bobbed almost absently. Good –they were on the same page about what she saw as options for this assignment. That was also her concern about lining the styles up the other way, at least according to the notes. Sonnets seemed tough, but Min was not about to let them dissuade her. As usual there was no notion that her innocent intentions could be interpreted as flirtation. Focused on the haiku-net Min barely noticed her partner’s ears reddening.

She did noticed how he went back on two legs on his chair. Min pulled back, watching him in concern and pondering whether she should push him back down. How did he know to catch his books like that? Does he do this a lot? What if he falls and bangs his head? Hazel eyes flicked with worry as Min forced herself back to the poem . It was not too terribly difficult except that her concentration was now distracted. “Yeah, that was pretty much the idea.” Glance. Worry. Back to paper. “Maybe it would be easier to come up with the rhymes for the alternating lines and ending couplets first and then fill in the haiku to fit…”

Her eyes flicked back to Charles and his desk. “Do you have to do that?” Her voice was hushed and anxious, with more than a note of worry. “What would I tell Jane if you fell?” For whatever reason Min’s voice didn’t carry throughout the classroom.

Min still wanted to ask what he wondered, but for the moment it was definitely on the backburner.

The front legs of the chair banged back onto the floor with a rattle, causing Charles' notebook and pencil to slide across the desk welded to the seat. With his free hand he deftly caught his belongings.
Charles was used to the nervous looks adults gave him when he assumed his "thinking pose", thanks to his experience with his mother and the school librarian, but was caught by surprise when Mindy was so worried as to voice her concern. Jane had never said anything regarding his habit apart from that he looked like a circus act, a comment that secretly hurt Charles to the point that he avoided performing the feat in her presence. It was not that he felt insulted; he merely balked at the thought of Jane labelling him as some sort of freak.

"Er, sorry. Just a habit," Charles laughed. "But if I did fall, you could always tell her that it was because Mrs. Tuttle pegged me with a piece of chalk for being insolent. She'd like that."

He smiled again, somewhat relieved that Mindy knew he was taken. Surely that would remove the potential for any romantic tensions. And yet, part of him was disappointed by the prospect. As guilty as he felt when a girl flirted with him, the self-confidence boost was still invigorating. He realized now, however, that Mindy had not been intentionally flirting with him in the first place. Her concern for his safety gave Charles a sisterly impression.

"Ahaha, what were we talking about?"

“Well that’s better than: ‘oh yeah I was your boyfriend’s partner for English when he bashed his head leaning back on his desk.’ Maybe I could say that.” She was teasing a little, relief washing away her worry. Of course she would be concerned! Still her smile had returned. “Wouldn’t want her to lose such an attractive guy.”

The twinkle was back in her hazel eyes. Just because Min did not think the way other girls her age might did not mean she was blind. She always felt herself quite lucky that her friends were pleasing to look at. Her definition might be slightly skewed towards athletics and with the appreciation of an artist to a work of art, but Min could still appreciate attractiveness. Even if she did not think on it for long. Nose and eyes crinkled lightly and she tapped the page in her notes. “Haikunet. Maybe choosing rhyming words for the couplets first then making the haiku to fit?” Min grinned teasingly. “Remember now?”