I've Got a Crush on a Girl.

She came into the bakery yesterday. I was working the counter because Stuart was in the bathroom and Mr. Valenzetti was at the bank getting change because we were out of dimes because I took all the dimes to put in my piggy bank.

You can't put a 10 dollar bill in a piggy bank.

She smells like flowers. Lilacs, I think. I don't know anything about flowers, so it could have been like roses or daisies or something. Do daisies have a smell? I bet the smell like summertime. But then again, summertime smells like sunshine and daisies probably smell more like flowers than they do sunshine. I don't think she smells like roses, now that I think about it. Dandelions. Do they have a smell? Maybe she smells like dandelions do if they had a smell, but if they do have a smell, and she smells nothing like that, I think I'd be disappointed.

I smelled her before I saw her. Whatever it is that makes her smell like that, it's strong, but not like WAY strong. It's like, when you walk past a house with a lot of flowers planted out front. It like, hits your nose on the wind and you're like, "Wow! Flowers! Hot dog, that makes me feel good!" So it's not like a bad strong smell, but a good one. Totally different from when I met one of my sister's teachers in Iceland a couple years ago and she smelled like perfume WAY BAD. I was dying! "Come on, open a window or something! My eyes are watering!" but I don't think she knew what I was talking about, or else she did and was mad at me because she thought she smelled good. Her perfume didn't smell like flowers, though. It was more like chemicals and spices.

I think that particular teacher was a diabetic. She had this weird box under her shirt down clipped to her belt, but it could have been a pager or a cell phone instead of an insulin pump. She only spoke Icelandic, and I forget the Icelandic word for diabetes, so I just asked her if she was sick. She told me she was feeling fine and that my sister is REALLY SMART. Totally way smarter than other kids! Wow! Good job, Hotaru!

Woah, hang on. Sidetracked.

She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail and she smiled at me (The girl who came into the shop that I was talking about. Not my sister. My sister wears her hair down most of the time). She was wearing a t-shirt with the Batman logo on the chest, and that's cool because girls aren't supposed to like Batman. Girls like Wonder Woman or, I don't know, Superman or something. She had on jeans and she was carrying that old army backpack she's got.

I don't think she's in the army. She has asthma because I saw her use her inhaler once before coming into the bakery, and I don't think they let you in the army if you have asthma, but I could be wrong.

"Kojiro," she says, and my fingers go numb. That happens when I'm nervous sometimes. I'm nervous because she remembered my name! "Do you have any pumpkin bread?"

"I don't have any!" I told her, "But I made some this morning. I'm going to take some home with me when I leave, but I don't get off until four."

We make really good pumpkin bread.

She laughed, "No, I mean here. For sale."

"We have lots of pumpkin bread for sale, Ramona." Her name makes the rest of my hands go numb and I know I'm blushing.

I blush when I get nervous, too.

I sold her the bread and when I handed her change over, my fingers touched the palm of her hand and when I did I think she smiled! She smiled! She thanked me and left.

About that time, I realized Stuart was standing behind me.

Stuart likes to tease me because I've got the hots for Ramona a whole lot. I want to take her on a date.

"Do you want to take her on a date, Kojiro?" He's doing that creepy smile he does when he knows I've been talking to Ramona. "Did she give you a peck on the cheek? A little smooch on the cheek, yes?"

"Shut up, Stuart!" I tell him, "Shut up!"

"Oooh! She's your girlfriend isn't she? Isn't that what she does?"

"You're crazy, Stuart! You're crazy!"

Stuart teases me and talks in a high voice, and I ran off into the back to check on the doughnuts.

Stupid Stuart.

Stupid and Stuart have the same first three letters.

I just noticed that.

When I got home, Enid was doing the dishes and I tried to talk to her about how to ask a girl out, but she was talking to Chuck on her cell phone and wasn't listening to me.

"I've got a crush on a girl!" I yelled. "Hey, hey, can you hear me!?"

"I can hear you," Enid said, "But Kojiro is yelling and it's kind of hard to make out what you're saying.

"Tell Chuck to shut up a minute!"

"What, Chuck?"

"I give up! Here's some PUMPKIN BREAD!" and I dropped it on the counter and ran off to my room.

I doodled little pictures of me and Ramona in my diary. In one, she's kissing me on the cheek.

She's never kissed me on the cheek.

But I want her to.

Stuart was right.

Stupid Stuart.