“Excuse me, miss! I’m a star-seeker. Would you like to become a super model?”
“Super model?!”
Henrietta (Henry for short) Lovegood couldn’t believe her luck. She was actually approached by a star-seeker to be asked to become a super model. Henry couldn’t help feeling elated about it.
“Ah, you look so perfect up close and personal,” the star-seeker said, rubbing his chin. “You have a beautiful face, an attractive aura, and you are, what, at least 170 cm, no? You are just the type of girl we are looking for! Where have you been all our life?!”
Henry felt even more elated. Her friend Joannie, who was about as tall as her shoulders, looked apprehensive about all this.
“Would you mind telling me your name, Miss…?” the man asked, handing her one of his business cards.
“Henrietta Lovegood. You can call me Henry!” Henry replied excitedly.
“And how old are you and which school are you in?”
“I’m 12 years old and studying in Pollen Flower Elementary!”
The star-seeker was stunned. He chuckled nervously and said, “Come on, don’t play games with me. Seriously, how old are you?”
But before Henry could confirm her statement, the man caught a glimpse of her name tag and was shocked to see that the name of her school ‘Pollen Flower Elementary’ was written there in bold, bearing the class Grade 6 Amethyst. He stared at Henry in disbelief before backing away and, “Sorry, little girl. I thought you’re a college student. We don’t use small children for models!”
“Wha…?” Henry was stunned at first, but then let out a relaxed laugh and said, “Oh well, being a model is pretty cool, but I’m still a sixth-grader! Ha ha ha~!”
That’s right, ours truly Henrietta Lovegood a.k.a. Henry is a sixth-grader, as in an elementary student. She was born with the physical maturing speed of a speeding bullet, and because of her grown-up look, she was often mistaken to be a grown-up by other men far older than her. It was both a blessing and a curse to her. When the person knew that she was only a sixth-grader, they would immediately have a 180 degrees attitude change, just like before. Many men and star-seekers were captivated by her beauty, yet shocked by the reality of her age.
“Well that’s because he thought you’re a grown-up, so he treated you like one!” Joannie said.”You practically dress up as one, for goodness sake! Now take off that name tag! School’s over and we’re gonna head off to the cinemas to watch LXG! Come on!”
“Well, you can’t blame me for having the body of a grown-up. These are my sister’s clothes, not mine,” Henry said as she took off her name tag. Suddenly she was accidentally knocked down by a passer-by and she was in the verge of falling off the stairs. She was too late to regain her balance and when she thought she was going to break her neck sooner or later, she felt a hand grabbing her wrist.
When she got back to her senses, she realized that she was in the arms of a tall, smart-looking guy. He asked in a deep mature voice, “Are you alright? It would be a pity for a girl as pretty as you to fall and break your neck.”
As she looked up, she was shocked to see that he was the most handsome creature she had ever encountered. He was a head taller than her and was strong and built. He had his hair smartly cut to form the shape of his head and he had sideburns and a tail to match. His eyes were a deep set of black and his left eyebrow was slightly higher than his right, making him look as though he only had one eye. There was something about him that made him look cute and cool at the same time. Her heart pumped hard at upon looking at him. She was taken aback—was she experiencing love at first sight?? She had to get her chance.
“But then, for me to save a beautiful big sister like you, I have to be the luckiest man alive, don’t you think?”
Henry was struck. Before she had the chance to introduce herself, another problem came in. obviously, he had again mistaken her for a woman older than he was, just like the rest of the guys. How could this happen to her?! She liked the way she was prettier than other girls, but to be mistaken as an older woman, that’s just not what she needed!
“Oh, sorry, I gotta go now. It’s nice meeting you,” the boy said as he walked off. Henry was shocked. She can’t let him go now! She simply can’t! She must meet him again! Hastily, she came up with a plan of having a date with him.
“Excuse me, I…” Henry stopped. Just when she caught his attention and was about to tell him who she really was, she began to contemplate the consequences. What if he knew that she wasn’t the woman he thought she was and rejected her right on the spot, just like the other men who approached her? That would be the death of her! It wasn’t always that she could get a date, and at this age too! She had to play along. Putting out a cool, mysterious pose, she smiled.
“My name is Henrietta Lovegood. You can call me Henry. To show my gratitude for saving my life, how about a date?”
The boy stared at her with his ‘one-eyed’ cool look. Henry could feel herself trembling and her heart pumping 1000 beats per minute as a million things went through her mind. Is he falling for it? Is this how it feels to be a grown-up? Will he accept my offer? Did I have that chic look? Am I convincing enough? Should I…?
“When do you want it?”
Henry realized that the boy was talking to her. She immediately blurted out, “How about this Sunday?”
Again, the boy fell silent. Henry was beginning to think that he wasn’t going to fall for it when he let out a smile and said, “The name’s Jasper Kensington, Senior 2. If you don’t mind me being younger than you are, we’ll meet here at the subway station this Sunday then, Ms. Lovegood.”
Henry was all smiles. She was actually going out on a date, and with a cute guy at that! She was so glad and lost in her fantasy that it took her a few minutes for her friend Joannie’s voice to reach her ears saying, “What are you gonna do now? He really thinks that you’re older than he is!”
Henry’s world came back to focus as she realized what she had done. ‘Th…That’s right!’ she thought. ‘Although Jasper agreed to go out with me, he did that because he thought that I am a grown woman! I gotta make his impression right! I gotta!’
So as soon as she went home after watching the movie ‘LXG’ with her friend, she approached her sister Melanie and begged her to lend her some clothes that would make her look both sexy and grown-up. her sister was only to willing to do so. Then she started practicing on applying nail polish and make-up. after a whole days’ tedious work, she finally made herself a grown-up. She felt so glad—she couldn’t wait for Sunday to arrive.
Finally, the day came. She stood at the entrance of the subway station waiting for her prince to come. She was a tad early but she didn’t mind. It would be worth the wait.
Her wait didn’t go wasted. Finally Jasper appeared in his body-fit sleeveless shirt and denim vest and his fashionably torn jeans and canvas belt. He looked so handsome and cute that Henry almost drooled looking at him. But she managed to gain control of herself.
“Have I kept you waiting for too long?” Jasper asked in his suave way.
“No,” Henry replied as mature as possible. “I just got here. I’m kinda tired standing around and waiting though. Let’s take a seat on the bench before we go anywhere else.”
“Sure, no problem,” Jasper replied as he led her to the bench. The subway station was somewhere near the park, so the seat was pretty near. Her high-heeled boots she borrowed from her sister was kind of killing her as she stood stock without moving, but that had all gone when Jasper arrived. She sat beside him a crossed her legs in an attitude kind of way and was hoping that Jasper would notice it.
Suddenly she saw a lady who was walking her dog sniggered at her. When she tried to find out what’s wrong, she realized that the mini skirt she borrowed from her sister was so short that it actually revealed her panties when she crossed her legs. Out of embarrassment, she hastily stood up and accidentally trippe din the process, landing face first on the ground. Others present in the park were sniggering, including a pair of couples. She felt so embarrassed; it was her first date and already she had made a wreck of things.
Just when she thought things were not going to get any better, she felt herself lifted up and in a man’s arms. She blushed when she realized that it was Jasper, her prince! His face was so close that she could almost see his deep black eyes. He asked, “Are you alright, Ms. Lovegood? Take a seat, Ms. Lovegood. You ought to calm down. I can see that this is your first date.”
Henry’s heart was filled with bliss. He was definitely someone totally different than all the guys she knew in her school and the other boys that tackled her. She couldn’t help feeling that he was suave and cute and a real gentleman.
“Although I must say, Ms. Lovegood, that your reaction just now certainly seemed like a small kid. You’re really funny, you know that?”
It was like being hit by a 10 tonne truck when she heard him say that. ‘A kid?!’ she thought. ‘I can’t be a kid! I’m an adult! I have to be an adult! I can’t let him know I’m really a kid! He’ll dump me for sure! I gotta try harder this time!’
“So, wanna go get something to eat?” Jasper asked.
“Uh, yeah! Yeah, sure, why not?” Henry stammered as she got up abruptly and walked with him side by side to a coffee house called ‘Café de Rue’.
Inside the café, as they were looking at the menu, Henry’s eyes sparkled when she saw a great hunk of display of sundaes flashed before her eyes. She was tempted to get one but she had to keep her grown-up figure. So when Jasper ordered coffee, she did to the same. She didn’t add any sugar as she wanted to impress him more with her grown-up attitude by drinking dark-coffee.
Her plans to be mature and with attitude backfired when she almost choked with the horrible bitterness of the coffee. She didn’t think that dark coffee would be so strongly bitter. She was mortified. Looks like she might swear not to touch coffee ever again. As she tried to gather herself, Jasper’s question struck her cold.
“Ms. Lovegood, are you alright?”
“I’m cool, I’m cool. I just choked a little, that’s all!” Henry forced a smile while she mentally cursed the cup of coffee for being so bitter.
Jasper stared at Henry for a while, then turned to the waitress and said, “Excuse me, miss. Can you get me a chocolate sundae, please?”
Henry stared back at Jasper in surprise. ‘Now that’s something new,’ she thought. ‘I didn’t think he would order a sundae.’ When the sundae arrived, Henry looked at it secretly with longing. How she wished she was eating the chocolate sundae instead of forcing down the dark coffee into her gut. That’s when Jasper did something unexpected.
“Ms. Lovegood, if you don’t mind, would you like to exchange your coffee with my sundae?”
“Huh? But…But I thought you ordered it for yourself?” Henry was even surprised.
“Yeah, I did order it for myself. But…well, let’s just say seeing is believing. The more I look at it, the more I feel full. Yet if I don’t finish it, it’ll be a waste. So if you would be so kind as to finish it for me, I’ll be very much happy.”
Henry was at lost of words at first. She didn’t think that Jasper would be such a cool and sweet guy. ‘He must’ve guessed that I’m forcing myself to drink coffee,’ she thought. ‘Oh well, guess I have to go with the flow.’ She let out a sweet smile and said, “Well, I don’t usually have a sweet tooth and all, but it is a waste if I don’t eat it. Well, bon appetite!”
After their snack they did a little window-shopping together. They passed by a man selling jewelry at the road side and they both stopped to take a look. Henry, the sixth-grader she was, was fascinated with the jewelry.
“Do you want a ring?” Jasper asked. “I’ll buy one for you as a gift.”
Henry was elated. She loved receiving gifts as much as she loved giving them, and this time she was actually receiving it from a man! But then the words of her sister when she asked for clothes that day struck her, “I wear nothing but branded stuff, like from Cardio or Guess or popular brands like these.” She assumed that that’s what grown-ups wear all the time, she put up an attitude pose and repeated the same thing her sister told her. Jasper looked slightly disappointed.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. You’re a grown woman; you wouldn’t want to get involved with jewelry from the road side stops.”
Henry almost wept inwardly. She wanted so bad to have one of the rings displayed there. She didn’t think being a grown-up would be so hard.
“Wait, you stay here, Ms. Lovegood,” Jasper said as he left slowly. “I’ll be right back.”
Moments later, Jasper came back with a small piece of paper strip. Henry looked closely and saw that it was a strip of nail stickers complete with every different kind of shapes and sizes available and fashionable to the nails. Henry was about to ask why the sudden gesture but Jasper answered first.
“I was kinda thinking what kind of gift I could give you to remember this fateful day and of course I can’t afford a Guess ring, so, uh, how’s this?”
“I like it! Thank you so much,” Henry said, smiling sweetly and in genuine. She was so happy that she liked Jasper even more. To avoid losing the sticker strip, she slipped it into her daily planner. When she looked up, she saw that Jasper was incoming closer and closer towards her. She realized that Jasper was actually going to kiss her! She mentally told herself not to panic and go with the flow.
Ignoring the sniggers and staring eyes of passers-by, they kissed…
When they parted, Henry could feel her heart thumping wildly, like about more than a 1000 beats per second. They decided to chill out and sat on the pavement. Then, almost suddenly, Jasper popped out the big question.
“I like you, Ms. Lovegood. Will you be my girlfriend? I mean, I know that you’re older than me and everything, but you wouldn’t make that a barrier, right?”
Henry didn’t expect that to happen. She loved to be his girlfriend but she couldn’t continue to lie to him like that. She was about to blurt out the truth when a few small kids—about first or second graders, maybe—passed by and chanted naughtily “Boy loves girl! Girl loves boy!” Jasper let out a chuckle.
“Kids will be kids, don’t you think, Ms. Lovegood?”
‘But the truth is I’m just about like them…’ Henry thought sadly. She decided to give him a hint, “Uh…Jasper. If I were to be like them, say, a sixth-grader…would you still want me to be your girlfriend?”
“What kind of joke are you pulling?” Jasper let out another chuckle. “I would never date an elementary school kid. Think about my offer, OK? I’ll go get us some juice.”
As Jasper left, Henry’s eyes began to well up. How could this be? This has always been like the last few times. She was back to Square One all over again. How could she ever let him know that she was really a sixth-grader when he already said that he would never date little girls like her? If he were to know, he’ll regret ever agreeing to date her today…It would be better if she disappeared from his life right now…
The next day at school, she went over a pool of tears to Joannie when she mentioned about the date that Sunday. She told her everything that had happened, from the good to the bad.
“I see,” Joannie replied. “No wonder you’re so blue. So what are you going to do?”
“I have no choice!” Henry replied. “I have to let him go! The only thing I’ll ever remember him by would be those nail stickers he gave me!”
As she rummaged through her bag, she realized that her daily planner which kept her nail stickers were gone. She couldn’t find it anywhere in her bag. She must’ve left it on the pavement when she was running away from Jasper after his respond to her question. Now that the stickers were gone, everything was gone as well. She realized that everything was lost for good this time: the date, the memories, the smile on Jasper’s face, the kiss…Was she really going to just sit there and let it all go without explaining to Jasper about her sudden departure? Was she really going to let everything go and forget that she had ever liked him?
“Henry, where are you going?” Joannie asked when Henry stood up abruptly.
“I have to go and look for Jasper! I have to tell him the truth!” Henry said as she ran out of class.
“But where are you going to find him??” Joannie called after her. Henry did think about that when she ran out of the school compound and towards the gate, but she had to try anyway. She will find him, and tell him the truth about her age, and also tell him how much she liked him for everything he had done for her…
As she was about to reach the school gate, she saw a figure standing outside in waiting, and lo and behold! It was her prince charming with the one-eyed look Jasper Kensington, waiting for her with that look on his face that was simply irresistible. She knew right now that she had been found.
“You dropped your daily planner at the pavement and you just left, and there’s the name of your school written on it. I thought it could be your younger sister’s or something and you were just borrowing it but…I never thought that you would really be a sixth-grader…”
“I’m so sorry,” Henry replied. “I should’ve told you earlier, but I was afraid that you would reject me just like the other older guys who tried to tackle me. I wanted to be with you so much…’coz it was love at first sight…and I didn’t want to lose you. I wanna be with you forever…”
A long silence hung between them. She had finally said what she wanted to say and she ready for the consequences. Finally, Jasper said, “Close your eyes and hold out your left hand.”
Henry obliged, not sure what he was going to do. When he ordered her to open her eyes again, she was shocked to see that one of the nail stickers was on her ring finger. She was speechless. Why did he do that? What does this mean?
“Actually when I found out that you’re an elementary student, I was pretty shocked and pissed and I had a mind not to come here or see you anymore…” Jasper admitted. “But then again, when I thought back…none of that ever matters anymore, ‘coz the person I love is not the grown-up you or the child you, but you and you only. The Henrietta Lovegood you is what I’m asking for.”
“Jasper…I can’t believe it…! You’re too kind…” Henry was at lost of words and in the verge of breaking into happy tears.
“So this sticker will be a sort of reservation spot. When you finally grow up to be the lady you are, I’ll let you wear a real ring, and this will be our only promise…” He was about to kiss her, but then realized that they were still in Henry’s school compound, so instead he took her hand and kissed the sticker instead.
“Guess I’ll have to be patient then for the time being,” Jasper said with his usual cool and cute smile.
Henry longed for the day that she would grow up and become a real lady.
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