So now, let us fast forward into the winter of that year.
I was smitten with Brad. We passed notes and were one another’s solace in the hell that was health class.

Still, it happened.

I was walking toward the band room when suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a brightness. A mirth. I did a double take and saw the boy! A ninth grader, I knew right then. I stopped right in the middle of the hallway, clutching my band folder and gawking.

Somehow, I couldn’t get his face out of my head all that day.

Later, I had finished my math homework and was enjoying some classical music. I had recently repapered my pre-alg book and started doodling faces. Girl faces. I wondered…can I doodle a guy? When I tried, there he was. It was difficult, though, to capture his mien. It was so elusive. In the end, I was satisfied and let it be. And thus, he became “Math Book Guy”.