The Alphabet Game

Anderson Williams opened her locker. Her best friend, Jimmy, was at her side. "Look at her." He muttered, in fake awe. Anderson looked over her shoulder, where Ashley Robinson was making her way down the hallway. Her boy toy of the week had his arm wrapped around her waist. She flipped her brunette hair over her shoulder and a satisfied smile formed on her face when she realized she had the attention of the whole hallway. Anderson rolled her eyes.

"Is she really that entrancing?" She asked, grabbing Ender's Game and putting it in her bag. Jimmy smiled and turned towards her.

"Of course not And. She's just hot. Every guy wants a piece of her, no matter what. It's all lust." Anderson sighed as she took a notebook and a calculator out of her locker and put it into her bag.

"Yeah, every guy but Zack." Brian said, leaning on the other side of Anderson's locker. Anderson glared up at him.

"Leave my boyfriend alone."

"You know, that probably means he's getting it from you." Brian sang, looking at the ceiling. Anderson looked over at him.

"Do you have to be so disgusting?"

"Eh, no, but, I choose to be."

"Which is why I wonder why anyone ever chose to be friends with you."

"You're cute And, you really are." Anderson smiled and shut her locker.

"Where's my boyfriend?" She asked, pulling her bag up on her shoulder.

"Waiting for you by the stairs." Anderson look over at Brian, who shrugged. "He told me to tell you." Anderson shook her head.

"That boy. I'll see you guys in about a half hour." She said, giving each boy a hug and making her way to the staircase in the middle of the school. She smiled as she saw Zack leaning against the railing, a smirk on his face. When he saw Anderson, he smiled.

"Hey you." He chuckled, wrapping his arms around her as she practically walked into him.

"Hey." Zack stuck his hands in the back pockets of Anderson's jeans.

"How was Economics?"

"Really, really boring." Zack smiled and kissed the top of Anderson's head.

"You wanna head to English?"

"I'd rather just stay here."

"Me too." Anderson sighed and looked up at Zack.

"You need to shave."

"You probably do too." Anderson glared at him and he pulled his hands out of her pockets.

"I do not, I shaved yesterday." Zack smiled, amused. The couple started their way down the hallway to their English class.

"You're cute when you're mad." Andserson shook her head.

"You are something else, Baker. I like your tactic."

"What tactic?"

"Your tactic of touching my ass by putting your hands in my back pockets." Zack chuckled as he opened the door for Anderson. Anderson sat down in front of Micah and Zack sat next to Anderson.

"I'm clever, you have to admit." Anderson nodded as she pulled her notebook, a pen, and Ender's Game out of her backpack.

"That you are." Zack pulled his backpack off and set it on his desk.

"You know, Zack, you really aren't."

"You know Micah, you should mind your own buisness." Micah laughed.

"Hey Mike." Anderson said, smiling at her over her shoulder.

"Hey And. What are we doing this this weekend?"

"Partying, what else?"

"That's the kind of answer I'm looking for." Anderson and Zack shared a look, as Micah pulled out her phone. "Ah, shit. Brian texted me." Micah said, using Anderson as a sheild for her phone.

"You gonna take your stuff out?" Anderson asked, looking over at Zack, who shrugged.

"When Jake tells me too." Anderson laughed.

"That's why he hates you."

"He doesn't hate me, we just have creative differences." Anderson laughed.

"I love you." Zack smiled widely.

"Awe, I love you, too, cutie."

"Keep your comments to yourself Baker, the bell rang." Mr. Adams said, walking in the class. Zack rolled his eyes and looked at Anderson, who grinned. Mr. Adams took roll and then looked around the classroom, his eyes stopping on Zack and Anderson. "Baker?"

"Jake?" Mr. Adams couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Why can't you be more like Anderson?" Zack looked over at Anderson, who was smirking.

"Because then she wouldn't love me. She'd think that I was just trying to impress her, like Joe, over there." Mr. Adams rolled his eyes.

"Alright," He started, clapping his hands. "Let's get started on Ender's Game. Who read it?" A few hands in the class shot up, including Anderson's. Zack smiled at his smarty pants of a girlfriend. He loved that she cared about school, but was still a little rebel. How the girl could multitask like she did was amazing to Zack.

"Hey Jake?" Mr. Adams looked at Zack.

"Yes Baker?"

"What if you had it read to you, does that count as reading it?" Anderson rolled her eyes as Mr. Adams looked at her.

"I'll give you half-credit." Zack shrugged.

"Better than none." Mr. Adams answered questions about the book and then discussed the chapters that had been assigned. He then broke the class into partners for an assignment. Anderson looked at Zack, who was digging through her bag for an extra pencil.

"Didn't I give you a pencil this morning?" Zack smiled.

"I don't know what happened to it." Anderson sighed.

"You're something else." Anderson grabbed her bag from Zack and immediately found a pencil and handed it to him.

"You're amazing." Anderson laughed and grabbed his hand, making him focus.

"C'mon, now, look at question number one." Zack's eyes followed to where Anderson's finger was pointing and read the question. "Do you remember me reading it to you?" Zack thought hard for a minute, his tongue sticking out like it always did when he was concentrating hard on something. Then he nodded.

"Yeah, the Jewish boy, he, he's the leader of the little team thing and he's kinda nice to Ender. Right?" Anderson smiled and nodded.

"Now, write it down." She said, handing him a piece of paper.

"Baker?"

"Yes Jake?"

"What would you do without Anderson?" Zack leaned back in his chair and looked from Anderson to Mr. Adams.

"Honestly, I really don't know."

"You two getting married?"

"One day." Zack said, looking at Anderson, who was blushing slightly. Zack smiled and sat up, nudging her shoulder. "Let's get this done, so we'll have less homework and more time for fun." Zack said, winking. Anderson shook her head.

"You're ridiculous."

Anderson walked into her house, welcoming it's warmth. It was extremely cold outside for Southern California, even if it was December. Her mom walked into the living room. "Hey And, how was your day?" Anderson shrugged with a smile.

"Interesting."

"Zack tends to make your day more interesting, doesn't he?"

"Mom, I-" Anderson paused, trying to decide how to tell her mom she was fifteen years old and in love.

"And, I know you're in love, sweetie. I can tell just by looking at you." Anderson smiled.

"Thanks Mom."

"You have any homework?"

"Nope, got everything done in class today."

"Good. There's clothes I washed up in your room. Put them up and pick up all the dirty clothes off your floor and put them in the clothes hamper please?" Anderson nodded and headed upstairs. She dropped her bag on the bed in front of her and emptied her jacket pockets before taking it off. She pulled out a piece of paper and smiled. She quickly shed her jackets and tossed it on the bed with her bag. She unfolded the sheet of paper quickly and narrowed her eyes. Written on the sheet of paper in Zack's handwriting was,

'I know it's December and I gave you the binder over the summer, and you still haven't gotten your first letter yet, but listen. It's supposed to be spontaeous, right? You hate me right now, I know, but today might be it. Keep looking, babe, I love you.

-Zack'-

Anderson sighed and like she always did, cleaned out her bag, looking for scraps of paper. Finding nothing she sighed and grabbed the binder from the empty drawer in her bedroom. She had cleaned the drawer out a few days after she received the binder, deciding that the drawer's sole purpose would be to hold the binder. She pulled the binder out and couldn't help but smile. She flipped it open to stick the note from Zack in the pocket when she noticed that behind the first original note, it seemed like there was another piece of paper. She grinned excitedly and stuck the note hurridely in the pocket. She took a deep breath, hoping it wasn't gonna be another 'keep looking' note. She flipped the first piece of paper and it the neatest cursive she'd ever seen Zack's handwriting display , she found the words,

'A is for Anderson. You'll always be my Andie girl.'

"Awwwwe," Anderson cocked her head, smiling at her boyfriend's brilliance. He'd already stuck the note in a plastic paper protecter and everything.

"I knew you'd find it." Zack's voice said from her doorway. Anderson rolled her eyes and turned around.

"You're amazing." She said, as Zack walked into her room and kissed her. He shook his head.

"No, you're not allowed to match letters and words. That's my job." Zack said, grinning.

"You're dumb." Anderson answered, leaving his arms and picking clothes up from her floor and tossing them in the clothes hamper. Zack sat on her bed and watched her.

"Hey Andie?"

"Zacky?" Zack smiled smally.

"I'm sorry."

"What did you do?" Anderson asked, dropping the last piece of clothing in the hamper and grabbing some folded clothes off her bed and shoving them in her dresser.

"You got me all this amazing stuff for our anniversary. This t-shirt," he said, pulling at the Angels shirt he was wearing, "The hat, the baseball card, and that cute little stuffed baseball with the andry face and the black eye. I mean, it must have taken you forever to find that." He sighed. "I just went to the dollar store, bought a binder, a Sharpie, a pack of paper, and some pens. Which I lost all but one." Anderson threw the last articles of clothing in her dresser and went to sit beside Zack on her bed, where he was looking at the binder, almost disgusted.

"You're ridiculous." Anderson said, taking the binder from him as he slung an arm around her shoulder.

"Name calling is not gonna make me feel better." Anderson sighed and looked up at Zack.

"Zachary, I- I wouldn't have loved anything else you could have gotten me as much as I love this cheap binder." Zack rolled his eyes. "No, really, listen to me." Zack looked at Anderson. "This is the best present, do you want to know why?"

"No."

"It's because you thought of it. You came up with this idea, because you wanted to show me how much you love me and how much I mean to you. You're the most clever person I know and you're using that brilliant mind of your's to make me feel special. I-Zack, this is the best thing." Zack sighed and kissed Anderson.

"I suppose if you like it, I can pretend that I do." Anderson shook her head.

"You're too good to me."

"You're too nice to me."

"That's where you are incredibly correct sir." Zack chuckled and the couple sat in silence for a few.

"Andie?"

"Hmm?" She asked, her head resting on Zack's shoulder, eyes closed. Zack smiled at her tired response.

"Thank you for being my Andie girl." Anderson laughed lightly.

"Anytime."