hey everyone. it's been forever. i know. please dont hate me. school. holidays. the flu. it happens.

"The Kiss"

Chapter 5

Phil considered skipping the day entirely, even though Keely had already gone to school, but he changed his mind. It wouldn't be worth it if she weren't there to share it with him. Plus, he hadn't skipped a day of school in his life. That was Pim's territory, not his. So, after Keely was out of sight, and after he had sat there stewing for a few long minutes, Phil stood, hoisted his bookbag onto his back, and trudged the rest of the way to H. G. Wells. He had missed the Morning Report entirely. Hopefully, Owen had been available to cover the camera duties for him--otherwise he'd hear it for sure from Hackett.

On Tuesdays, Phil had first period senior English with Via. Keely had advanced algebra on the other side of the school building. Phil ran through the door just as the late bell screamed in the hall.

"Cutting it close, Phil," Via said as Phil took a seat next to her.

"Tell me about it," Phil said. He took out his notebook, but couldn't find a pen. Via handed him one. "Thanks," he said. "I was so tired this morning, it's a miracle that I remembered my underwear—"

"Too much information, Phil," Via said, holding up her hand. "That pen's Keely's, by the way, so just give it to her next period if you don't mind."

"Keely's pen?" Phil asked. He looked at it. The pen obviously belonged to Keely. Pink. Glitter. Fuzzy fluffy googly-eyed thing on the end. He sniffed it. Bubblegum.

"Um, Phil, did you just sniff that pen?" Via asked.

Phil blushed. "No," he said. Via looked at him suspiciously. "Okay, yeah. I smelled it. Bubblegum. So sue me."

"Oh Phil, why don't you just get on with it?" Via asked.

"Get on with what?" Phil asked.

"KEELY. You know, I promised myself I wouldn't get involved, but I just can't help it," Via said. "Phil. Get. On. With. It. Do something. Before both of you drive me crazy." Phil turned around in his desk. "Don't turn your back on me, Phil Diffy."

"Via, look, just..." Phil said, turning back to look at Via, squeezing his eyes shut. "I'm trying to get on with it. Trust me. It's not as easy as that. Keely's... she's... I don't know."

Via rolled her eyes. "You don't have to explain. I know... I'm just glad that you're trying... So what happened this morning, anyway?" Via asked.

How does she know what happened? Did Keely already tell her? "What do you mean?" Phil asked, absentmindedly twiddling the fluffy end of Keely's pen on his chin.

"Morning Report. It wasn't on, Phil," Via said.

"It wasn't?" Phil asked. He banged his head on his desk.

"Actually, it was on... sort of. Your sister read the announcements. No Keely though," Via said. "Is she out sick? I hope I didn't give her my mono. The doctor said I was past my contagious stage."

"No, she's not sick. We walked to school together. She should have beat me here," Phil said.

"If you walked together, how could she beat you here?" Via asked.

"Long story..." Phil said. He was worried about Keely. He stood up just as Mr. Turtleneck, the English teacher, walked into the room, dressed in typical English-teacher attire: corudory, tweed, and an argyle sweater.

"Sorry I'm late, class. I hope everyone is ready to talk about last night's Great Gatsby reading," Mr. Turtleneck said, flipping through a worn-out paperback of the novel. Phil was still standing in the middle of the aisle with his backpack on. "Mr. Diffy? Is everything all right?"

"Um, yes sir. It's just that, well, a friend of mine... is missing," Phil said. "I need to go find her."

"If you leave this classroom, Mr. Diffy, I'll have no choice but to give you an absence for the day, and a zero for your classroom grade," Mr. Turtleneck said.

Phil thought about it. He had an A average. He could afford a zero. "That's fine, Mr. Turtleneck, I guess I'll have to take my chances."

"Very well, then Diffy," Turtleneck said. "But can I have a word with you in the hallway first?"

Phil gulped and looked back at Via. She just shook her head. "Um, sure, Mr. Turtleneck," Phil said. They walked through the door into the hall.

"Phil, you're not in any trouble," Mr. Turtleneck said, "I just wanted to tell you that I saw Keely Teslow earlier and she was terribly upset. She wouldn't confide in me, but I have a feeling that she's the one who is 'missing'? I know you two are very good friends."

"Yes sir, we are… Um we walked part of the way here this morning, sir, but she went ahead, and I didn't realize she hadn't appeared on the Morning Report until I got to your class and Via mentioned it." Phil said.

"Well, I saw Keely on her way to the Broadcast Lab," Turtleneck said. "And Phil, to be frank, she looked terrible. Keely's always so put-together… I know it's none of my business, but did you two have a falling out?"

"Um, I, don't know, exactly," Phil murmured, looking at the floor.

"It's just, I asked her if she was okay and she said something about Phil not loving her…" Turtleneck said.

"What?" Phil asked. He slapped his forehead. "She thinks I…" Phil looked at Mr. Turtleneck. "Where would she get something like that?" Mr. Turtleneck shrugged.

Phil ran down the hall. Keely wasn't in the Broadcast Lab. She wasn't in the library. She wasn't in the gym or the cafeteria. Classes were still going on… advanced algebra with Hackett. That's where she was. Phil ran to Hackett's classroom and looked through the narrow window in the door. He scanned the room. Everyone had their heads down over a paper of some kind. A test? Did Keely have a test today? Phil could have sworn it was last week. Keely, where are you? She wasn't in the classroom. He scanned every desk again. No Keely.

If only she had a Wizard. Then I could track her… Phil thought. But wait. She doesn't have a Wizard, but she's got a cell phone. Phil took his Wizard out of his backpack and after checking around the hall to be sure no one would see, he punched in Keely's cell phone number. The Wizard buzzed and lit up. A tiny screen no bigger than a postage stamp popped out of the end and started beeping. Phil held the Wizard out in front of him, following the beeping sound as it grew stronger. It reminded Phil of his dad's metal-detector searches in the backyard. The Wizard was sort of a Keely detector. The beeps led him outside the school doors, across the street, and into Pickford Park.

Phil found Keely sitting on a bench overlooking the pond. Quietly, he walked up to the bench and sat down next to her, their shoulders barely touching. Keely didn't acknowledge Phil or say anything for a few moments. She just continued gazing out over the pond. A couple ducks paddled around in the water. Far away a dog was barking. Phil sat there a minute, contemplating his actions. The air was a little chilly, so Phil took off his backpack, set it on the ground, and then put his hoody over Keely's shoulders.

"How come you brought your backpack out here?" Keely asked quietly, looking at Phil for the first time. She slid her arms into the hoody's sleeves and zipped it up, snuggling down into the baggy warmth. Keely loved wearing Phil's jackets or sweatshirts. They always smelled like Phil. She never could put her finger on what that smell was, exactly, but it was comforting, and always made her feel better. She breathed in. It was an outside smell. Fresh air. Fabric softener. Then the sweet soapy clean scent of Phil's aftershave. Phil could tell she had been crying, but her face was dry now and only slightly red.

"Well, I just left Turtleneck's English class and went looking for you," Phil said. "I guess I didn't even think about my backpack."

"How'd you know I was gone?" Keely asked.

"Via said you weren't on Morning Report…" Phil said.

"Oh, right. Morning Report," Keely said. "I completely skipped it." She shook her head and continued staring out at the water. "I've never skipped Morning Report."

"I know," Phil said. "That's why I figured you were pretty upset." Keely didn't respond. She kept watching the ducks. Phil hesitated. He wanted to explain, but he didn't know what to say. Slowly, he covered Keely's clasped hands with one of his. "Your hands are so cold, Keels," he whispered.

"It's colder out here than I thought," Keely murmured. Still watching the water, she slipped her hand inside his and squeezed. Phil smiled to himself and squeezed back lightly.

"Keely, I'm really sorry…" he said. He rubbed his thumb across the back of Keely's hand. "I just… in the kitchen…"

Keely looked at Phil. "It's okay," she said. "But thanks for saying it."

Phil looked at Keely. "So…here we are again, Phil and Keely."

"Yeah, I know," Keely said. She sighed.

"Well, um, I guess…" Phil started. "I guess we should go back inside."

"Probably," Keely said.

Phil looked at Keely's profile. She still seemed let down… As though she'd been expecting something really amazing from Phil but hadn't gotten it. Phil stood. He grabbed Keely's other hand and pulled her up with him. They faced each other, Keely wearing a puzzled expression. Phil slid their clasped hands into the hoody's front pocket and tried to smile. His heart ached, being this close to Keely. The chilly air made Keely's face rosy. He leaned toward her and kissed her cold cheek. Then he shut his eyes and rested his forehead against hers. He didn't want to rush this, as long as it had taken him. He didn't want to kiss her just to make himself feel better, but he didn't not want to kiss her either. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled Keely into the warmest, strongest hug he could manage. He loved this girl but he didn't know how to make that love change—from the kind of love he'd always had for her to the love that made him short of breath and fidgety whenever he thought of her. "Hey, Keely," he whispered after a few long seconds of holding her tightly to his chest, "What if…?"

"Yeah?" Keely asked hopefully. She pulled away so she could see into Phil's eyes.

"Well, I was wondering, maybe, if sometime we could maybe go out together or something…" Phil said, grinning nervously. "Like to eat, you know, somewhere nice, and I'd pay for it, and we could, you know, like go watch a movie or something. I mean, I know we do stuff like that already, but maybe we could make it, you know, sort of more like a girl-and-guy thing… not just friends, kind of…" Phil smiled a wobbly smile and scratched his head. He didn't know where that had come from. He hadn't planned it. But seeing her out here sad like this was too much for Phil. He no longer cared about himself. He only wanted to make Keely smile again. At whatever cost. If he looked like a fool, so be it. He was going to make that girl happy.

"I'd love to go out, Phil… like on a date," Keely whispered, to Phil, glancing at him quickly and smiling.

"Yeah, a date, I guess that's what I meant. We'll, uh, do that," Phil said. He felt his face burning. "That's right. On a date." They stood in silence for a couple beats. "So…"

"Maybe we should go back to school?" Keely said.

"Well, yeah… But when are we gonna have this date?" Phil asked.

Keely blushed. "I don't know… this weekend?"

"Saturday night?" Phil suggested.

"Well, that's movie night," Keely said. "Which is weird now, huh?"

"How so?" Phil asked.

"Well movie night as friends isn't weird… but now…" Keely said.

"Yeah… um," Phil said. "I don't know…"

"How do you know when something is 'friends' and when it's not?" Keely asked.

"I'm not sure…" Phil said. "We'll figure it out, though, right?"

Keely smiled. She felt a little shy all of a sudden. Phil was looking at her differently somehow. She was aware of herself more now than she ever had been when Phil was around. Phil felt the same way. He was conscious of his haircut, his jeans, his t-shirt, his breath.

"Um, why don't we just go back to school like normal and you know, worry about it later?" Keely said.

"Sounds good," Phil said. He grabbed his bag and lifted it to his shoulder. Then, with one arm around Keely, the two walked back across the street to H. G. Wells.