“Oof!” Alex half dropped, half threw the tuba case onto the floor, leaning against a wall to rest. He felt like he was going to die—he’d had to walk a mile with the tuba because he’s missed his bus.

As he was recuperating by the wall, Isabel and her friends walked in. Tess and Maria nudged Isabel and giggled.

“There he is, Isabel,” teased Maria. “Your geeky little love-connection!”

“Shh! He’ll hear you!” said Isabel.

“So, you’re going to ask him out now, anyways. Just go for it!” Tess and Maria walked away, leaving Isabel to go through with her dare.

‘Here goes nothing,’ she thought, walking up to Alex. She tapped him on the shoulder, which obviously scared him, because he screamed loudly.

“Are you trying to give me a heart attack? I-” He turned around and realized who he was yelling at. “Oh, Isabel Guerin, right?”

“Yeah, that’s me. And you’re Alex Parker. Now that the introductions are out of the way, let’s talk.”

“Talk? To me? Are you cra—I mean, why? I’m not exactly…um…popular.”

“Yeah, um, that’s not important right now. I need to ask you something.” Isabel looked around, realizing that anyone could walk by and hear her asking Alex out, which she didn’t want to happen.

“Well, what is it?” asked Alex. “I have to tune my tuba.”

Isabel tried her hardest not to burst out laughing at Alex’s comment about his tuba—it was just so stupid! Who played the tuba, anyway? “Um, Alex, why don’t we go somewhere more private?”

Alex gave her a skeptical look and said, “Ok…whatever you want. Where do you recommend we go?”

“The eraser room.” Then Isabel realized what she had just said and instantly regretted it. How could she have been so dumb? Everyone would see her and Alex go in there together and totally get the wrong idea!

“Ok,” said Alex, who had no idea what the eraser room was known for. “But, uh…can you maybe, like, help me carry my tuba?”

“Sure,” said Isabel, wanting to be polite, but wishing she didn’t have to. It would just make her and Alex walking together more obvious.

They both picked up an end of the tuba case and slowly shuffled sideways down the crowded hallway.

“Excuse me. Pardon me. Let me through please. Tuba coming through,” said Alex, not realizing that Isabel was blushing.

They finally reached the door of the eraser room. They set down the tuba case and Isabel opened the door. They picked up the tuba case again and slowly carried it into the room. Alex tried to close the door, but the tuba was in the way.

“Oh, um…here, move a little. Yeah, like that. Ok, now pull the tuba towards you. Ok…ow! My foot! No, it’s ok. I’m fine, here, just hold this up…and-” Alex finally shut the door, and he looked around for Isabel.

“Where are you?” he asked. “I know you’re in here.”

“Yeah, behind the tuba case.” Isabel had been pushed behind and under the tuba in Alex’s attempts to close the door.

“Oh…um…there you are. If you wanted to sit on the floor, you should have said something,” said Alex, plopping himself happily down next to Isabel. “So, what’d you want to ask me?”

“Alex, I would like to know if you’d want to go out with me sometimes. Like, go to dinner and a movie or something.” Isabel looked blankly at Alex, not really caring if he said yes or no. She had been dared to ask him, which she just had. No one had said she had to make him go out with her.

“Sure!” said Alex, making his eagerness just a little too obvious. He blushed. “Sorry I sound so eager. It’s just that, well, I don’t exactly get asked out very often. In fact, no ones ever asked me out before.” Alex looked down shyly at his feet.

Isabel was a little shocked. Sure, she had known he was one of “The Geeks of Roswell,” but she wasn’t expecting to have him tell her she was the first girl to ever ask him out. She felt a little bad, she didn’t want to hurt his feelings later on. He was a nice guy.

“Ok,” said Isabel. “How about tonight? I work at the Crashdown with your sister, but I get off at 8:00. We could go then.”

“Sure,” said Alex. There were a few moments of silence and then he said, “Well, I should go now. You know…the tuba…tuning…”

“Oh, yeah. The tuba. Sure. Go ahead. Have fun,” said Isabel. They stood up and walked out of the eraser room. Alex walked down the hallway, dragging his tuba behind him.

“Oh man!” Isabel cringed at Tess’s voice. “Isabel, were you and Alex in the ERASER ROOM?!”

Isabel whipped around to face her giggling friend and said, “Geeze, Tess, announce it to the whole damn school. Yes, we were in there. But nothing happened, so wipe that stupid smirk off your face. I just asked him out in there, I didn’t want people to hear, I thought we needed privacy.”

“Sure,” said Tess. “If you say so. So, did he say yes?”

“Yup. Tonight at 8:00, after my shift at the Crashdown, we are going out for dinner and a movie.”