I was waiting outside the school building the next morning before anyone even was there to unlock the doors. After two hours of hard work, I was finished decorating her locker, then found a spot down the hall to hide and yet stand guard over my decorations so they wouldn't be messed with until Jennifer could see them.

It still amazes me to recall how long I waited patiently before Jennifer finally came down the hall. The time was well spent, however, for not only had I stopped five assholes from messing up my work, I got to witness Jennifer's reaction which was very positive to say the least.

She never saw me of course, and I didn't sign my work, so for the time being she wasn't sure who could have decorated her locker with hundreds of paper hearts and a small box of chocolates which I happily found she liked.

The next morning she found her locker covered with pictures of flowers, filled with the sent of roses, and another box of chocolates inside. I allowed her to catch a fleeting glimpse of me walking down the hall after her initial thrill, but I gave no indication that I was the least bit interested at what was going on at her end of the hall.

I spent the entire night there alone painting roses, butterflies, and hearts on the insides and the outside of her locker, using thick water based paints so it could be washed off and also wouldn't stink the next morning when she opened it.

That caused quite a stir, I must say. All day long, people, albeit mostly girls, were talking about who this mysterious secret admirer some nobody freshman had could be. If I hadn't managed to get some caffeine capsules to keep me wide awake all day at school, I think a couple of people would have suspected me, especially when I noticed a group of girls carefully checking to see if anyone was asleep during lunch.

Suzi of course knew, and I can't tell you how... good I felt from her approval of my methods, and even felt a little tenderness towards her from her affectionate kiss on my cheek just before we split up to go home for the day.

I went home and collapsed, and slept until I got up three in the morning to go to work. After washing off my handiwork from the outside of her locker, I filled it with the real thing this time, but then had trouble fitting the box of chocolates in after getting all seventy-two roses inside, each one I had personally dethorned.

This time after I watched her approach her locker and saw she was visibly disappointed by its external undecorated appearance, I abandoned my hiding place and slowly made my way to her locker for the show.

Her shout followed by her wonderful and giddy laughter told me she had opened her locker, but I waited patiently outside the circle of curious onlookers looking for the right moment.

I was absolutely filled with pleasure listening to her giggle and feeling her joy. She pulled every one of those roses out just so she could hold them all in her arms, several people helping her once she had so many in her arms that she couldn't grab and hold anymore without dropping the ones she had.

The last rose had just been inserted into her out stretched arms when the five minute bell rang and people started to wander away. Her two girlfriends helped her as long as they could to get the roses back inside her locker, but ended up having to leave her with more than half of them still in her arms.

"Oh! I can't just throw them away!" she pleaded with herself, then desperately started to pack them in as best she could. The bell rang just as half of them tumbled out, and I saw it was time to intervene from her frustrated cry.

"It took me four hours to get them all in without them falling down, so stop wasting your time and have a chocolate," I said to her while holding the open box in front of her.

"So it was you," she said, timidly glancing at me before taking a chocolate.

"Do you believe I'm sincere?" I asked her.

"Sincere of what?" she asked cautiously.

"That I... That you.. I just think you're wonderful."

"Why?" she asked honestly.

"Why? Because. You're... I mean, you have.. And..."

I paused to consider telling her the truth or not, finding that for once I didn't want spoil it by showing off my abilities. It occurred to me that it would probably make her think I was trying to trick her if I used my abilities somehow to explain what I could see and feel about her. In fact, I decided right then and there that because I couldn't actually affect her with my telepathy directly, she would probably reject a demonstration as something I had arranged.

"Can't a guy just fall in love with a special girl and don't know why?" I finally said.

"You fell in love with me?" she said with the most embracing and hoping look I had ever seen.

"Ever since I first saw you, I knew you were special. And when I first heard your laugh, I felt like I wanted to love you. And now, after seeing your face light up, hearing you giggle and gasp from my little attempts to let you know how I feel, I honestly can say, yes, I love you Jennifer."

"Wow," she breathed. "I've read things like this, but I never.. Wait a minute. Now I know who you are. You're that Tim somebody. The one that was supposed to be..."

"Dead?" I said smiling. "Yeah, but lucky for me I'm not, otherwise I wouldn't be here talking to you. Uhm, I know this isn't the most romantic thing to say, but we both need to get to class."

"Oh my GOSH! I have a TEST!" she said before staring down at the pile of roses.

"Then I'll take care of your roses and clean up your locker while you're taking your test. Don't worry. I won't let a single rose get tossed."

I watched her hurry down the hall, her throwing glances back over her shoulder every few yards and giving me this hopeful look. When she finally went out of sight, I sighed and sunk down to the floor with a smile on my lips.

But once I had given myself a few moments to reflect, I got moving, picking out the best fourteen roses to leave in her locker, then quickly disposed of the rest. Yes, I know I had lied to her, but I had another sixty roses in my car that I could give her to replace them. Of course I didn't know when I would have time to dethorn them.

I treated every morning like it was our anniversary, always finding something new to do while always providing her with a small box of eight chocolates. Every day I felt her get a little closer, every night I dreamed of us sharing our first kiss. I spent hundreds of dollars on the little things that made her gasp in delight. Whether it was jewelry, expensive candies, or one of the several love poems I wrote every night, her response was always the same. Happy and giddy with eyes full of life.

On our one month anniversary, I met her outside her house on the way to her bus stop in a hot air balloon. As the balloon made its descent towards the big open field behind her house, her expression looking up at me filled me up with a feeling of magic, knowing she finally had accepted my love as simply that.

"Need a lift to school?" I said as she ran towards me once the balloon had touched the ground.

"I can't believe you did this!" she exclaimed with a smile from ear to ear.

"You said you've always wanted to go for a ride in a hot aired balloon, and your wish is my command," I said, offering her my hands to help her in.

"Ewwww!" she said excitedly as I picked her up and sat her down on the rim of the basket.

When she turned around and hopped in, she found herself right there in front of me, her face stopping an inch from hitting my chest. I clearly heard her deeply inhale my sent before timidly backing up with her eyes pointed at her feet.

"Hey, turn around and watch the ground as we take off," I said gently while turning her around with my hands.

She was very aware of how closely I was standing behind her while the ground shrunk from under our stare, then once we were high enough in the air, I signaled down to the man waiting by the road below.

"What is that?" Jennifer said when the buzzing noise became noticeable.

"That is our way to get this unsteerable balloon to go where we want it to go," I said just as Midge popped into view.

"It's a little helicopter," Jennifer said over Midge's buzzing sound. "How can that little thing pull this big thing?"

"Don't be calling my baby little," I said defensively. "She may not look like much, but she has it were it count's."

Just like we had practiced the evening before, Brad launched the harpoon like gun through the five foot loop at the end of the tow line, then slipped the other end of the harpoon's rope to the reinforced tie off I had installed.

I inwardly sighed with relief when the balloon jerked under Midge's pull, having actually never tested pulling the balloon under full weight.

"It's not quite as fast as the bus," I said, resting my chin on her right shoulder, "But you have to admit it's a nice change in scenery."

"A very nice change," she said softly.

"Would you like your box of chocolates now?" I asked.

She slipped herself out from under my chin, then turned to face me with a troubled face.

"What's the matter? Don't you like your balloon ride?"

"I love it. I've loved everything you ever done for me. I just.."

"What?" I said, lifting her chin so she would look at me.

"I just don't understand... Why me?"

"Oh, baby," I said, wiping the tear from her cheek. "I know it's hard for you to see, but you are beautiful to me. When you look in the mirror, you see what you think everyone else sees. The larger than average nose, the slightly crooked eyebrows, the freckles plastering your skin, the thin pasty lips...

"But have you ever seen what you look like when you smile? Have you ever seen how just a simple wink <wink> makes your face light up like it was the sun? You have such incredible beauty within you, and when you smile, that beauty leaks out and outshines your little imperfections. You are beautiful, Jennifer. My lovely Jennifer. Beautiful on the inside and out."

She was staring in my eyes, her tears dripping out of hers, finding herself drawn towards me without fear or doubt. I felt that feeling form, that familiar loving feeling, then confirmed its formation as her lips touched mine.

Our first kiss was there, floating above the earth in a hot air balloon, something which she had never read of before, but had known it was the perfect place for it to happen if ever there was to be.

The kiss was short, but I knew it would only be the first of many, so I didn't feel any need to rush into getting another one. She turned around to watch the landscape float on by, then accepted my arms wrapping around her after I saw her shiver in the late November air.

I still recall the feel of having that fourteen year old girl snuggling under my nearly eighteen year old man's grasp. She was so innocent, and everything concerning the relationship we had been building was an entirely new experience for her. The idea of sex never even crossed her mind, and that was perfectly fine with me. She was a romantic, something I wanted to be more of myself.

We stood like that in complete silence the rest of the trip, surprisingly ending up only a half hour late to our first class. Brad missed more than that because he flew around in Midge after letting the tug line go. I knew I would regret transferring the experience to fly Midge into his head. He was hooked on Midge as much as I had been when I had flown Beany the first time.

I had it really bad for her. I met her between classes, sometimes giving her a flower or a little paper figurine I had made in class, having found it easier just to memorize what the teacher did or said without having to write it down.

No matter whether I brought her something or not, she always greeted me with her best smile and happy thoughts. Then on the day before Thanksgiving, she switched things around by surprising me.

"Hi," she said cheerfully when I picked her up from her house.

"Good morning," I said. "You look very pretty today."

"You always say that," she said as she buckled up. "Sometimes I think I could stop combing my hair in the mornings and you'd still say I look pretty."

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were getting tired of hearing it. I'll never say it again."

"Oh, don't do that!" she said grinning. "I don't mind it at all."

"What did your mom say about us going out Friday night?" I asked.

"She's said... no."

"Oh? Why?" I said suspiciously, feeling her excitement rising.

"Because... She wants you to come to Thanksgiving dinner so she can meet you first!" she exploded.

"I see," I said reservedly.

"Don't you want to meet my mom and dad?" she said, seeing I wasn't necessarily thrilled with the idea.

"Of course I do," I lied. "I just.. Oh, never mind. As long as you're there, I don't care where I am."

She sighed a moment later, not a happy sigh, not a contented sigh, just a sigh.

"What's the matter? Did I say something wrong?"

"No," she sighed again. "I just feel.. Forget it. It's silly."

"Tell me anyway," I insisted.

"I feel like... Like this is all a dream or something. But I'm not the one dreaming, you are. I'm afraid you'll just suddenly wake up and... And then I'll be just plain old me again."

"Tell me something?" I said after thinking a moment. "When you get up in the morning, what's the first thing that comes to your mind? The truth now, don't be shy or modest."

"I guess I wonder what you're going to do to surprise me again that day," she admitted.

"Do you know what I first think of in the morning?"

"No. What?"

"The same thing as you."

She laughed, then said, "I thought you planned them days in advance."

"Well, some of them I do. Like the balloon ride. That took two weeks to get ready for."

"Tim?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't.." she said before choking up.

"What? Don't cry, honey? Please?"

She watched out the window as she recomposed herself, then once she had her sniffs under control she said, "I don't deserve you, you know."

"Why? Tell me one good reason why?" I said, pulling into my parking spot.

"Because," she said, getting emotional again. "You give me things, you make me feel like I'm someone really important, and I can't think of a single thing I've done to deserve... you."

"I don't know how to answer that," I said after considering her words and drawing a blank. "I never expected you to give me back anything but one thing."

"What?" she said cautiously.

I didn't say anything, just kissed my finger tip, then touched her nose with it before reaching into the back seat to grab my books.

When I looked back at her, she was turned away from me, shaking with what I thought were sobs. But then she turned back to me with this strange look of fear, hope, and of all things humor, and it struck me she was laughing for some reason I couldn't even wonder at.

"Jennifer? What is it?" I said, instinctively reaching over to wipe away another tear.

"I don't know!" she sobbed and laughed at the same time. "I've never been so happy in my life, but I'm scared of..."

I stared in her eyes, seeing she was holding back something that was causing her misery and aiding to the fears concerning our relationship.

"You're scared if you give me what I want, I'll lose interest in you. You dread thinking what you'd feel if I left you. Am I getting close?"

"Sort of.." she said somberly, my frankness having shocked her into a more rational frame of mind.

"Then... what?" I said very gently.

She sighed, then surprised me by taking my hand in hers and examining it using both hands. I could tell she was stalling, trying to work her courage up to tell me something she feared I wouldn't care to hear.

Finally she said, "My mom... She thinks you're just... She asks me why you are so nice to me, why you like me so much that you do... everything you do.. I can't answer her because I don't know myself.. And she keeps telling me you're just..."

When she didn't continue and just sat there holding my hand without moving, I said as gently as I could, "I'm just what?"

Slowly she lifted her eyes to mine, and as her eyes probed mine for my true feelings, I was severely tempted to form the empathic connection I was struggling to prevent.

"She say's you're just going to take advantage of me," she said with eyes full of fear and hope.

"And sometimes you think she could be right," I stated, not knowing how I should react from this. "Hmmm. This certainly will make Thanksgiving dinner a bit more interesting. Jennifer, if at any time you think I'm trying to take advantage of you, or push you in any way into doing something you feel is wrong, just say so and I swear it will stop right there without any hard feelings, okay?"

She dropped her gaze down onto my hand still held inside hers, silently fidgeting with my hand for several long moments.

Finally she said, "We better get to class," let my hand go, and opened the car door without another word.

I sensed she was still deeply troubled by the way she kept her back to me while we made our way inside. So once we were in the door, I took her arm and pulled her aside into a nook in the wall where we could talk somewhat privately.

"What?" she said a little agitated by my actions.

I took a quick look around, then took off my coat and pulled my shirt out of my pants. Jennifer's eyes started to get big when I started to unbutton my shirt, but before she could fully react, I took her right hand, had her flatten it out, then placed it on my bare chest right over my heart.

"You feel that?" I asked.

"What?" she said in a tiny and nervous voice. "Your heart?"

"It's not my heart anymore, Jennifer. For the past month it's belonged to you. Please... Don't let your mother or anyone else make you give it back. I only want it back if you don't want it any more, if that ever happens. I love you. I'll never purposely hurt you or take advantage of you. I don't know what else I can do to prove that to you besides ripping my heart out and handing it to you myself."

I hadn't meant it as a joke, but she giggled at it, and I couldn't help but smile. And then we had one of those truly special moments. We stood there looking at each other's smiling faces, then without any warning we found our faces getting closer, our smiles slowly draining away until we had our second kiss with her hands against my bare chest.

The thing about Jennifer was she really didn't like physical contact. She didn't have a complex about germs or getting sick from other people's diseases or anything. She just didn't like to touch other people, or to be touched by them. Sometimes I couldn't keep myself from displaying the frustration I felt when she shied away from my instinctive hugs or other physical forms of expressing my affection for her.

So I kind of expected her sudden retraction of her hands once the kiss had ended, but after I buttoned up my shirt, I nearly broke down in tears of joy when she gave me a hug before leaving me to tuck my shirt back in.

I was on cloud nine the rest of the day, and so was she I think. And after school while I drove her home, she was back to feeling at ease with me, maybe even a little more than before.