In an attempt to mix things up, this happened. I honestly have no idea how I came up with this during a four hour plane ride to California, but I hope you all enjoy! ~Admin Kelc

You pulled Maru through the hallway by the hand, ignoring the stares that you were receiving. 

That's how it always was. Everyone always took interest in the two of you. You never understood why, but apparently dating a boy who was mute would always be "a hot topic for gossip". 

Your female classmates called it romantic, the males: gutsy, and your friends: sweet. 

But you called your relationship normal. A normal girl who simply liked the most awesome-est, most charming boy she had ever met. What was so gossip worthy about that?

Maru tugged on your sleeve and gave you a confused look. 

"We're going somewhere private," you answered his silent question, "Away from watching eyes and listening ears."

He rolled his eyes at your attempt at being poetic and shook his head. But you just laughed and gave him a bright smile, the one that always made his heart beat quicken three times over. 

You led Maru into an empty classroom and sat him down at a desk in the second row. You went behind the teacher's desk and pulled out a box. You placed the box on the desk Maru was sitting at before grabbing a chair and sitting across of him. 

Maru stared at the box fora few seconds before raising an eyebrow at you.

"Scrabble?" he mouthed.

"Mhmm," you modded and opened the box, "But we're going to play my version."

Maru sat up in his chair with interest and helped you unpack the contents that were in the box. 

Two wooden racks, a bag of letters, and a stack of index cards were laid out on the table. 

Maru reached over and picked up one of the index cards.

'Vegetables,' he read your neat handwriting.

"So the rules are that we pick a card and each have to make a word with the letters we have on our holder things," you explained as you reached into the black bag and pulled out seven letters at random, "The scoring is the same and who ever has the most amount of points wins."

Maru nodded as he drew his own letters and arranged them on his wooden holder. 

"But I should warn you," you said, "Some of the categories are a bit ... different."

You picked up the card on the top of the stack.

"Like this one," you laughed, "'Places we went to for dates'. Ready, set, go!"

Maru's eyes widened and he quickly looked down at the letters in front of him.

"Ha! I got mines," you sang as you pulled a few squares off of your holder and placed them on the desk in front of you.

Maru leaned over but you quickly threw you hand over the letters.

"No peeking!" you pouted.

Maru silently laughed as smiled to himself when he found a word out of his letters.

He formed the word in front of him and motioned for you to show yours with his free hand. 

You lifted you hand off of the table, "PARK. I remember we few a kite together at the park once."

Maru nodded with a fond smile.

"Okay, that's 10 points for me. Beat that," you teased as you wrote your score on a sheet of paper.

A smirk appeared on Maru's face and he lifted his hand that was covering his word.

Your jaw dropped when you saw the word ZUMBA spelled out in wooden squares in front of Maru. 

You looked up at your boyfriend in disbelief only to have him simply shrug and point to the score sheet. 

"How do you even get letters like that on the first round?" you muttered to yourself as you wrote an 18 under his name. 

You slowly looked up from the paper when you heard a tapping sound and saw Maru drumming his fingers on the desk, his rack already refilled and an exaggerated bored look on his face. 

You scoffed and reached into the bag.

"It's so on," you said with narrowed eyes. 

---

"And would you look at that!" you smiled smugly, "We're tied now."

Maru rolled his eyes and cleared the desk.

"Okay, so I guess this one will be the tie breaker. Winner takes all."

Mark picked up the car on the top of the noticeably shorter stack of categories and placed it face up on the desk for both of you to read.

'Things you love'.

Your eyes lit up and you laughed as you quickly arranged your letters, "I don't think you'll be able to beat this."

But Maru continued to stare down at the letters he pulled off of his holder. 

With a small nod, he placed his hand over the wooden squares and looked up at you. 

"I'll go first," you sat on the edge of your chair and lifted your hand proudly, "MONKEY."

Maru chuckled at your answer, you really did adore those playful animals.

"Your turn," you said as you wrote you score down, "You need 14 points to beat me."

Maru took a deep breath and lifted his hand.

The two of you sat there for a while, you just staring at the word in shock and Maru carefully watching for your reaction.

It wasn't a seven letter word that would propel him to victory. It wasn't a complex word that you had never heard of before.

It was simple and short but blew your word out of the water.

YOU.

"Umm," you awkwardly looked down at the score sheet, "That's only 6 points."

Maru reached across the table and grabbed your hand. You slowly lifted your head and found him looking to the your eyes, searching them for your inner feelings. 

"D-Do you really mean that?" you whispered.

Maru nodded with sincerity in his eyes. 

Without a second thought, you reached across the table and pulled Maru by the collar of his white uniform shirt, smashing his lips against yours.

Maru froze in shock, his eyes wide open and dazed as you kissed him.

When you pulled away and looked up at him, an embarrassed pink colored both of your cheeks. 

He chuckled and leaned back towards you, pecking you on the tip of your nose.

"Wait!" you cried suddenly, causing him to jolt backwards, "I want to change my answer."

Maru stood up and walked around to your side of the desk as you sifted through the remaining letters in the black bag. 

He leaned over your shoulder and wrapped his arms around you from behind as you pushed the MONKEY away and replaced it with new letters. 

You beamed up at Maru like a little kid when you finished, causing him to laugh his quiet laugh.

He pressed a kiss to your temple and rested his head on your shoulder as he admired your new answer.

YOU TOO.