I Love You

I have...

One Thing
To Say
Three Words
For You...

I LOVE YOU.

These are the lyrics to a popular new song by Plain White T's. It's a catchy little tune that I often find singing to myself. It's a cute little love song of a man telling his woman that he loves her.

Sigh.

Tear.

Bitterness.

Ha, just kidding. I'm not crying. I'm not bitter. I'm not getting close to 30. I'm not sad I'm single and ALONE.

I've never had those three precious words spoken to me from a boy...that is until today. Today was my last day with my students. It's always a bittersweet day. While I'm ready to have some time off from my students, I'm also sad to have to say goodbye. I've gotten pretty good at developing relationships with my students in a short time and then having to say goodbye.

I've been with my last group of kids for three months, and I've learned to really like (most) of them. One boy in particular has been a big goof ball (and a distraction at times), but he always makes the class laugh. I enjoy having him in my class, and he's one student who always has an enthusiastic, "Hi Ms. Nichols," every time he comes into the classroom. For sake of this blog, I'll call him D.

Today, the students had their final exam, and they had to use a scan tron (the bubble answer sheet). There was a spot for their student ID, their name and their telephone number. I told them I didn't need their phone number, but they needed to make sure to fill in their name and ID. As everyone was filling in their bubble, D said, "Hey Ms. Nichols. I put my cell phone number on here. I expect you to call me this summer so we can hang out."

I laughed and thought nothing of it. He's a big goof ball, and I really didn't believe that he had put his number on the test. As they began their test, I roamed through the room making sure everyone was on task. Upon reaching D's desk, I saw that he had in fact put his cell number on the test. He pointed to it, grinned and whispered, "Call me."

Once everyone was done with the test, D then asked me out on a date.
He said, "Ms. Nichols, I want to take you out on a date. I'll take you to Burger King for lunch."
"I don't like Burger King," I replied.
"How about Taco Bell?"
"Well, that's certainly better than Burger King," I said. "And then after our date, you can find me in jail for dating a 16 year old."
"I'm actually 18, Ms. Nichols. So we're ok!"
The entire class was laughing at D (which is what he was going for), and I couldn't help but laugh, too. D meant no harm, and I know him well enough to know he was totally joking.

D then wrote his cell phone on a piece of paper and handed it to me, telling me he expected a call from me this summer. Then he drew a picture of the two of us at a concert. I asked him if I could keep the picture, but he was embarrassed and didn't want me showing people. Once the bell rang and D was leaving, he gave me a high five and shouted as he walked out the door, "I love you Ms. Nichols. See you next year. Thanks for being such a cool teacher. Call me this summer so we can go on our date."

It's funny, but those three little words don't have the same effect coming from the mouth of a 10th grader.