Secret Admirer - Chapter One "Brain's Mystery Note"

The bell rang at Lakewood Elementary, as murmuring was audible through-out the hallways and the classrooms.

"Alright class, settle down now..." Mr. Ratburn commanded.

The kids in Mr. Ratburn's class all took to their seats, and quieted down.

"Now, I know you're all anxious about Valentine's Day," Mr. Ratburn said, "but let us not forget why you're here today... you're here today to learn..."

The kids all groaned.

"Leave it to Ratburn to make us work on a holiday." Francine whispered to Arthur.

"Yeah, can you imagine all of that homework he gave us over the winter holidays?" Arthur asked.

"You're telling me," Buster added, "when I said we'd be doing homework through New Years, I was making a joke, now, it's sad, but true."

"Class?" Mr. Ratburn asked, hearing uneccessary talking. "Now then, if you will all open your math books to page 185, we'll get started on graphs today..."

As Mr. Ratburn arose from his desk, and began demonstrating graphs on the blackboard, Francine whispered to Arthur again.

"So, what kind of Valetines did you get for our mailboxes, Arthur?" Francine whispered.

"I got these really cool holographic Bionic Bunny Valentines," Arthur whispered back, "what did you get?"

"I looked all over town, but I finally found the new Judo Kittens Valentines." Francine whispered.

Arthur and Buster both rolled their eyes, and stuck out their tounges in disgust at the thought of Judo Kittens Valentines. Mr. Ratburn continued to show the class the graphs on the blackboard, demonstrating that the differences between positive and negative, but none of the kids were interested. They were too busy thinking about the Valentine's Day party that will be held after recess today. Underneath everyone's desks were decorative cardboard mailboxes for everyone to slip Valentines into, meanwhile, Arthur's Father would be dropping by with special cookies, cupcakes, and punch for the party, and Mr. Ratburn was going to borrow a stereo another of the teachers had. The kids brought various CDs for the party, all of which were kid-friendly, nothing heavy or with a lot of swearing.

Later, when all the kids were in the playground for recess, Arthur sat atop the jungle gyms, looking out for his Father's catering van.

"Is he here yet?" Buster asked, climbing up the bars.

"Not yet, but he should be here any minute!" Arthur said.

"Hey, is your Dad bringing chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting on them?" Binky asked, as he walked over to the jungle gyms.

"I don't know if they're chocolate," Arthur said, "but they do have pink frosting..."

"Well, sorry, Arthur, but I don't eat anything with pink in them." Binky said.

"... but some of them also have red, and white frosting..." Arthur finished.

"Oh..." Binky said, "well, that's okay too."

"Who cares what color the frosting is?" Francine asked, hanging upside down. "How often do we get to eat cookies and cupcakes in school?"

"How often do we have a party in school?" Buster asked.

"Oh, I can't wait any longer... when is that bell gonna ring?!" Buster asked.

The bell rang.

"Whoa... that was scary..." Buster said, "you don't think aliens broke into the school's time system, and re-programmed when all of the bells ring, do you?"

"Nope," Francine said, looking at her watch, "recess is over..."

"Yeah, and there's my Dad!" Arthur pointed out, as he saw his Father's catering van pulling into the faculty parking lot.

Finally, the wait was over. The party was underway in Mr. Ratburn's classroom, as the kids went through a line in front of his desk, where Arthur's Father had the kids help themselves each to two cupcakes, two cookies, and a large cup of punch. Mr. Ratburn made sure each of the kids thanked Arthur's Father when they got their snacks, and returned to their desks, which were now decorated with little pieces of confetti, and their special mailboxes.

"Oh, I could eat a hundred of these cupcakes..." Buster said, as he was shoving them into his mouth, "and a thousand of these cookies... why can't I have your Dad?"

"Because I already have him." Arthur said, with a chuckle.

Francine and Buster were chuckling as well, when they noticed Binky was not quite secretly eating two cupcakes with pink frosting on them.

"I really appreciate this, Mr. Read," Mr. Ratburn said, "Mrs. Powers was going to bring ice cream, but her parlor was short in supply, and she wasn't able to spare any.

"It's no trouble, Mr. Ratburn," Arthur's Father said, "business has been a little slow as of late, so I had quite a bit of free time to work on the party preparations... besides, nothing quite like seeing the smiles on children's faces... for me, that beats a hefty paycheck any day."

"Yes, indeed." Mr. Ratburn said.

After a short while, the desks were rearranged into a circle, which made delivering Valentines relatively easier. Most of the kids were up and around, though Binky still sat as his desk, with his feet propped up, thanking each kid who dropped a Valentine in the slat in his box.

"Binky, why aren't you passing out Valentines?" Arthur asked, as he dropped his into Binky's box.

"Come on, Arthur," Binky said, "passing out Valentines is for little kids!"

"That's not very nice," Sue Ellen said, passing by, with Valentines in hand, "we all made you Valentines."

"I know, thanks..." Binky said, as he gestured for Sue Ellen to drop her's into his box, which she did, before rolling her eyes.

Binky wasn't the only kid who didn't pass out Valentines, though, a few other kids didn't bother as well, including Fern and George, both of whom didn't feel like they were liked by the other kids, and figured the other kids wouldn't care if they got Valentines from them. Most of the kids did, however. As mentioned, Arthur passed out Bionic Bunny Valentines, Francine passed out Judo Kitten Valentines, Buster's were alien themed, while both Brain and Muffy designed their own - Brain designed his on his computer, and were outer space themed, meanwhile, Muffy had her picture on all of her's, much like anything she designs, such as invetations and such.

At the end of the day, the kids helped move their desks back to their original positions, as well as straighten up the classroom.

"Now class, I'd like you all to thank Mr. Read once more, for bringing us our snacks and refreshments for the party, today." Mr. Ratburn instructed.

"Thank you, Mr. Read!" All the kids said, in unison.

"You're more than welcome, kids, I'm glad you liked them!" Mr. Read said, with a smile, as he loaded up his dishes, and left the classroom.

"Okay class," Mr. Ratburn said, silencing the room, "before school is dismissed, I want to go over tonight's homework assignments..."

Arthur sighed. "Well, some things never change."

Francine and Buster giggled again.

After school had ended for the day, Arthur, Buster, and Francine gathered in their treehouse, overlooking Elwood City, all going through the Valentines that were left in their boxes.

"This is so cool, Buster!" Arthur laughed, as he showed Francine the Valentine Buster gave him, which had an alien, writing 'Happy Valentine's Day!' on the side of a barn, with a ray gun.

"Did you this one?" Francine asked, showing off her's, which had a cartoonish alien pulling hearts out of his mouth, saying 'Hearts For Valentine's Day!'

Arthur and Francine chuckled.

"You picked out some great Valentine's, Buster!" Francine said.

"I know," Buster said, "there was only enough left for everybody in class, I think I'll have to get a box for myself before they're all sold out!"

"Look at Muffy's..." Francine said, with a laugh, as she showed Arthur and Buster the homemade Valentine, with Muffy striking a glamorous pose, holding a heart shaped box of candy in one hand, and a bunch of heart shaped balloons in the other, with fancy red captioning reading 'Have a happiest Valentine's Day, from Mary Alice Crosswire'.

"That's funny, but Brain's are pretty cool, too..." Arthur said, looking at the customized card he got from Brain, which had stars spelling out 'Happy Valentine's Day, Arthur!', with a comet passing by at the bottom.

Francine showed off her's from Brain, which had the planet Mars in the middle, which stars around it spelling out 'Have a red planet for Valentine's Day', which Francine liked a lot, as red was her favorite color, and Mars was her favorite planet.

Buster's had an alien crusing by in its little space ship, pulling a banner reading 'Hope your Valentine's Day is out of this world!'

"I think Brain made the best Valentine's this year!" Francine said.

"Yeah, me too!" Buster agreed.

"Say, where is Brain, anyway?" Arthur asked.

"Probably already went home," Francine said, "he was acting a little strange after the party today..."

Brain was already home, like Francine thought, but the reason he was acting strange was because he found a strange note in his mailbox. Unlike the other cards, the note was on a piece of folded, plain white paper, and instead of having a classmate's sloppy signature on it, the note was typed. The text was relatively elegant, and purple. Just reading it made Brain feeling stranger, and stranger, as the poem went on.

How I wish my nerves were of steel

to tell you exactly how I feel

I have admired you for quite some time

I think about you at the drop of a dime

if only I could let you know

my fondess for you continues to grow

as witty and intelligent as you are

I know one day you will go far

a lot of cards say 'will you be mine'
how I wish you could be my real Valentine

I write you now, I write you true

I am always thinking of you

Brain smirked as he finished reading the note for the fifth time, growing more and more confused each time he read it, as the poem was simply signed 'Your Secret Admirer'. Like the poem itself, the signature was typed, so Brain had no way of figuring out who wrote it, based on handwriting. He wondered who could have possibly sent him such a note, he wondered, and how long has he such this secret admirer? Is this secret admirer in his class, let alone the same school? With the phrasing, and grammer, could the secret admirer be someone from a higher grade? He couldn't think of any of his friends who could write like this. Brain felt strange, and somewhat paranoid, and seemed rather nervous at school the next day.

"Hey guys?" Brain asked, as he walked over to Arthur, Buster, and Francine's table.

"Brain!" Arthur said. "Those Valentines you made were so cool!"

"Yeah, Brain, thanks a lot!" Francine added.

"Cool alien!" Buster said, still looking at his.

"Glad you guys liked them..." Brain said, looking over his shoulder.

"Is something wrong, Brain?" Arthur asked.

"Huh? Oh, no... well... listen, can I talk to you guys at recess today?" Brain asked.

Arthur, Buster, and Francine looked somewhat confused, but shrugged it off and agreed to meet their friend over recess.

Later that afternoon, the four of them took to a secluded areas in the trees behind the playground, for a little privacy, while Arthur, Buster, and Francine read over the note Brain found in his box. One, by one, they grimmaced at how mushy the note was.

"Ew!" They all said.

"This is possibly the grossest thing I ever read!" Francine said, sticking her finger in her mouth, and gagging.

"Do you know who left you this note, Brain?" Arthur asked.

"I don't have a single clue, and it's driving me crazy!" Brain said, holding his head, in distress.

"You know what you need, Brain? You need a private detective!" Francine suggested.

"A detective? For this?" Brain asked.

"Sure," Arthur agreed, "and I know the best detective to do this job!" Arthur placed his hand on his best friend's shoulder.

"Just leave it to me Brain, I'll help you track down your secret admirer in no time!" Buster boasted.

"A detective..." Brain pondered, "you know, it's so crazy, it just might work!"

"Great! We can get started after school today, we'll meet at the treehouse, and..." Buster began.

"Thanks, Buster, but... I'm not sure if you're the best detective for the job..." Brain said.

"What?!" The other three gasped.

"Well... why not?" Buster asked, his feelings almost hurt.

"Sorry, Buster... but this note was obviously sent to me by a girl..." Brain said.

"So?" Arthur asked.

"So, in order to figure this out, I need the assistance of someone who thinks like a girl." Brain said.

"Well, I can think like a girl!" Buster said, so wanting the job. "Uh... I can say that, uh... shoes are my best friends, and, uh... those tube tobs are so outdated..."

"Buster... you're scaring me." Francine said.

"I could wear high heels, wear a dress, paint my nails..." Buster continued.

"That won't be necessary..." Brain began.

"I'll even play with dolls, please let me have the job, Brain!" Buster pleaded.

"Sorry, Buster," Brain rose to his feet, "but, I just don't believe you're the right detective to help me solve this case... maybe next time..."

Brain walked away, while Buster called out to him.

"I'll even put lip stick on!" Buster pleaded.

"Come on, Buster, give it a rest..." Arthur said, trying to calm Buster down.

"I can think like a girl, I can!" Buster insisted.

"Forget it, Buster." Francine said.

Next to Buster, Brain only knew of one other detective in his class. He knew for a case like this, she would be more logical to help him. After all, she is a girl, and as such, she can naturally think like a girl, and have a better understand of who could've possibly sent him the note, and why.