Kayley sprang up so fast, I almost had a heart attack. Without explanation, she grabbed her notebook and began to scribble furiously. 

I'm proud of myself for waiting a full twenty seconds before asking,

"Um... what are you doing?"

"It wasn't supposed to be this easy!" she exclaimed, pen scratching across the pages. "Your limited relationships with others should have made you slower to agree to this... I counted on that. I planned for it! It was supposed to be at least another 2 weeks before-. Argh! This throws off my entire time table!"

She sounded so distraught at being wrong that I couldn't stop a stupid grin from breaking over my face. 

Finally she snapped the notebook shut and slumped onto my bed, looking deflated. 

"So... what was the next step of your master plan?" I asked. 

She shook her head, glancing at one of her watches. 

"I can't tell you here. Your mom should be coming back up in approximately three minutes, and there's next to no chance she won't hear us."

She got up, tucking her notebook into a small backpack. 

"Tell your mom you have a date tonight and won't be back until past 9.... Or to lower suspicion, maybe you should tell her you're going to the library to study."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" I said indignantly. 

"Do I really have to explain it to you?" Kayley sighed. But her eyes twinkled in a way that said she was joking. She climbed out the window and turned back to me. 

"Bring a jacket and some candy if you have any," she said. 

"Oka-... wait, candy? Why?"

She smiled and dropped out of sight over the railing. I slumped into my desk chair, heart feeling like a 2 cent balloon that a kid let go of at the fair and wouldn't stop whining about. This was definitely love.