Saturday morning sees Bella with her notebooks about magic all in her knapsack, her medallion safety-pinned by its chain to her bra just in case she trips the wrong way, waiting with Charlie for pickup for the Avalon trip.
"No. I was one of those irritating children who wouldn't even pledge allegiance to the flag in elementary school."
"Well. To be fair the Pledge of Allegiance is kind of disturbing. They make school children recite it all the time! Hello, brainwashing!"
"I actually got over it in fifth grade when it occurred to me that no one actually treats it as a binding loyalty oath, ever, and that I was pretty sure I would notice if it was going to insidiously program my brain."
"I still won't do it. It's stupid. Why say things I don't mean, why make kids say things they don't mean? It's a flag, it's not going to come after me. Now if the teachers had tried to I would have bit them."
"It's intensely stupid, it was just no longer worth my time to fight anybody on it. Also I have a reasonably principled stand against biting anyone who isn't physically attacking me."
"She actually stuck with enraged yelling before moving on to the biting," deadpans Darren.
"Thank you for the completely unnecessary approval," snarks Savannah. (She is teasing.)
Bella has now finished her lunch and will lean on Darren till the bell rings.
Someone with sharp eyes could spot disapproval from another boy in their grade if they were paying him a speck of attention.
Darren smiles at Bella - he is currently not paying a speck of attention to the boy in their grade, so he doesn't notice. Bella is leaning on him and it is cute and he is pleased with this!
Darren is generally pleased with Bella the entire time and keeps smiling at her and being generally sappy.
Arts are made. Off they go their separate ways. She does the hand-brushing thing again.
Hand-brushing thing! It's adorable, Darren continues to be pleased.
Savannah is kind enough to lead him to their next class, since they have it together and he is so obviously distracted.
This time, Darren notices! He is surprised and caught off guard by this. He gives Mike a confused 'What did I do?' look, before taking his seat.
Savannah sits next to him, looking between Mike and Darren blankly. "What did you do?"
"Because he asked her out and she said yes? And finds him comfortable to lean on?"