first romance

she screamed. the sound cut a swath across the playground. everone fell silent and looked over. swings stopped and balls bounced low. if oliver had been paying attention, he would have seen out of the corner of his eye mrs. Swetnam's round mid-life body bouncing toward them.

"but i saved you."

leona knew this was a plea.

"well," as tears slid over her freckles, "i'm saving myself this time."

the moment that mrs. Swetnam grabbed oliver's arm and dragged him stumbling acress the kickball field, the whole of the third and fourth grade population that had been standing staring ran toward the scene. "i heard he kicked her." "where's the blood?" rumors flew as the children crowded round to see what remained of the fighters. the kids and mrs. Swetnam were equally dismayed with what they found. neither of the combatants said a word about what happened. leona had a steel trap expression while mrs. Swetnam couldn't seem to get oliver to keep his jaw from sagging open.

they didn't speak or even look at each other until the ice cream social a full two and a half months later, and by that time their thoughts of each other were as flavorless as the imitation butterscotch topping that dribbled down oliver's chin.