The Tragedy of Loving Jamie Clarke by Rebecca R. Cohen Page A

it wasn’t the best idea. I mean it was kind of late and I didn’t want to come off a little too forward.”
    “Oh,” God he’s so cute. “It wouldn’t have been too forward.”
    “I know for next time then.”
    Mrs. Honor shoots us an, ‘I know you’re talking over my lesson,’ look and Jamie straightens in his chair. Mrs. Honor could call us out and force us to explain why Jamie is staring at me. Not that I would really mind the entire class knowing that we went on a date last night but I don’t really think it’s any of their business.
    “Mr. Clarke, perhaps you can enlighten us as to why Scout is such an important character in 20 th century American literature,” Mrs. Honor says, rather than asks.
    To Kill a Mockingbird was on our summer reading list and even though Jamie was technically not a student this past summer, Mrs. Honor still expects him to have done the reading. From what I have heard from students who had her in the past, Scout Finch is the character that Mrs. Honor obsesses over the most. She will bring Scout into nearly all of her lessons and always compares her to other characters. Amber thinks Mrs. Honor has a lesbian crush on Scout (but she also thinks that N’sync is better than the Backstreet Boys.)
    Jamie looks like aliens are abducting him as Mrs. Honor calls him out for not paying attention. She gave him a hard time his first day and it didn’t seem to bother him but today his cool guy wall is down. He obviously didn’t do the reading, which doesn’t surprise me since I’m probably one of the only people who always do the summer reading.
    “Sorry. Mrs. Honor. I didn’t get a chance to do the reading,” Jamie stammers.
    Mrs. Honor doesn’t care how lost or pathetic he looks. “Well, then maybe you should pay more attention to class and less on Ms. Marks’ left earlobe,” Mrs. Honor says flatly.
    “Yes, Mrs. Honor.”
    It sounds bad but I am kind of glad that Mrs. Honor interrupted us because I am pretty sure I was about to ask Jamie if he was going to ask me out again. I have a tendency to assume and you know what happens when people assume things. I wonder if Scout Finch were a real person would she have the same fears as I do. Would she worry herself with boys or would she focus on following in Atticus’ footsteps? If she met Jamie, would she be as amazed with him as I am? Mrs. Honor is right, Scout is one of the strongest characters in any of our summer reading books but still, I can’t imagine that even she wouldn’t be weakened by the prospect of love. I can’t imagine many people would be able to fight that off and if they could, why would they?
    Jamie is writing vigorously in his notebook trying to keep up with the lecture and trust me it’s no easy feat. Mrs. Honor talks about as fast as the guy who does those Matchbox car commercials. I knew taking notes would be impossible so after school on Monday, Amber and I drove to the CVS in Kittery so I could buy a hand recorder. It’s not much better but at least I can pause, stop and rewind until I have some idea as to what it is Mrs. Honor is saying.
    “Psst,” Jamie whispers, when Mrs. Honor’s back is turned. He is cupping a triangular piece of paper. “April, take it.”
    He was not taking notes, he was writing me a note!  “No,” I whisper to Jamie.  “We’ve already been caught talking once today and if Mrs. Honor catches us passing notes we’ll have a second date- in detention!”
    I’m too nervous that Mrs. Honor really does have eyes in the back of her head. He glances briefly at the front of the room where Mrs. Honor is standing with her face buried in her notes. “Quick!” whispers Jamie as he tosses the note toward my desk. I watch as it floats through the air and lands just shy of my desk. Now it’s staring at me like a $100 dollar bill. I do a quick re-check to make sure that Mrs. Honor isn’t watching and sweep the note off the floor and throw it into my lap. You know that fist