It all started with a smile. In fact, I bet that if you wanted to, you could trace just about anything in the world back to that little smile. It was a Monday morning when it happened. Just your regular get–out-of-bed, think the world is okay and then you realize that it’s Monday. No flying pigs or blue moons appearing out of nowhere. The only thing that I could have known about this Monday was that I, Imogene Greene would go to school and have a test. A science test on solubility, on a crisp spring morning and I can assure you the one thing I was most definitely not, was happy.

I walked into the science room and took my usual seat, the one farthest from the board and in the corner. After putting my books underneath my desk, I looked up to find that the teacher had yet to enter the room. At first, I thought this meant extra time to study-but I soon found out that this would not be the case. I glanced around the room to see what other people were doing and I happened to catch the gaze of Jack Singer, the most beautiful guy I have ever seen. His jet-black hair was styled in the kind of way where it looks as if the person has just rolled out of bed, but actually takes a whole lot longer than you would think. The blue eyes on his face seemed even deeper than usual and they had two just barely noticeable sparkles in their corners, but I saw them. His strong, muscular arms rested on the desk as if he had no cares in the world.

What I would have expected of him would be for him to look away without a second thought, but he didn’t! He smiled. At me. At that moment I knew he saw me. He saw me for what I really am. His smile wasn’t just some counterfeit smile, but a full-tilt teeth showing award-winning smile that could make anybody’s day. That courage and bravery gained from The Smile got me through the test. I aced it, 76 questions out of 75, totaling 101%, and an all time high score for me. Upon walking out of the classroom I walked up to Jack and said, “Thank you for smiling at me.” He quickly walked away from me with a puzzled look on his face and I in return scurried away in the opposite direction. This was the start of what I would later refer to as the “Smile Game”. A search for another smile that would make my day as the first one had.

One and a half weeks later, I had my next test in science, and it was on lab equipment. I don’t know why, but for some reason I expected another smile. When it didn’t happen I knew I had to take action. I waited two weeks until the next science test-this one on photosynthesis and this time I had a plan. I arrived to class even earlier than I usually do and placed a note on Jack’s desk. It had only one word written on it-SMILE. As one could guess, he didn’t know who to smile at-a difficulty I had not foreseen when creating my master plan. The following events that took place in the Boys’ Locker Room did not come to my attention until the following year, but I will recount them for you so you will get the full story:

After soccer practice, the boys were all changing back from their uniforms. Jack, the captain of the soccer team, was talking to Harrison, one of his close friends, instead of participating in the heated discussion about the girls in his grade.

“Hey Harrison-“

“Yeah?”

“I don’t know what to do. I got this note on my desk that said “SMILE” and I don’t know what to make of it! I mean, who am I supposed to smile at? There wasn’t any name on it.”

There was a silence as Harrison, the normally silent, but surprisingly clever soccer player, thought.

“Hey I got an idea. You could make a list of all the girls in your class and smile at all of them on different days. Then you could see which ones react and figure out who wrote the note!”

Jack proceeded to follow Harrison’s idea and began his quest for a return smile the next day. Each day he smiled at a different girl, but he got the same reaction from each one-a slightly embarrassed smile in return to his own and a blushed look as they turned away from him.

I noticed his plan and planned to react differently from all of the other girls in the class. However, when my day came I was helpless to the natural reaction that I had seen pass across every girl’s face in the past 23 days. This proved useless to both of us, though. He could not find the smile and I remained unknown in his eyes. I had to try again. I came into class the next day, not caring that there was no test and placed yet another note on his desk. This one read “SMILE AGAIN”, but after putting it on the desk I realized I had to try harder, so I scribbled another word at the bottom-please.

Jack also had to regroup and devise a new plan. He returned to the locker room after practice one day, and went to Harrison’s locker to talk to him.

“Harrison, your idea didn’t work. I still don’t now who wrote the note, and today I got another one! What should I do?”

This time Harrison was a bit distracted so he just threw out an idea, “You could start a club.”

“Hey, that might actually work! I could make a club and see who signs up. I could call it the...Smile Club! Nobody would sign up for a club like that if they didn’t write the note!”

When the club’s sign-up sheet appeared on the bulletin board, though, I wasn’t on the same thought train as Jack. He thought the note-writer would sign up, but I just thought it would be too obvious. I wanted him to find me, not me to find him. Only one person signed up for Jack’s club, Abigail Smythe. Within the next two weeks, Jack and Abigail were dating. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. I’m not the type to weep in my bedroom with a box of chocolates, though. When I reach a roadblock I don’t stumble, I jump. I keep going, because in the end, I tend to win the races. This does not mean I was not completely unaffected, because in this particular case I did stumble a little. I did cry a little, but mostly, I was just thinking about how I could get him back.

I came up with a plan the next day and decided to try it out the day after, not wanting to waste any time. I would leave a note on Jack’s desk that said “You’ve got the wrong smile, Jack, try to remember which girl talked to you about a smile. Please try”. It only took him a day to figure this one out. Science was the last period of the day he found out. I went into the classroom and found a note on my desk. This one said “I FOUND THE SMILE :)”. After class I left and walked back to my locker, smiling the entire way. I was packing up my homework and I felt two hands over my eyes. I heard a “Guess who” coming from behind me and I whispered “The Smile” back. He turned me around and kissed me. We’ve been together ever since. Don’t think a smile is just a smile. A smile can be the most wonderful thing that will ever happen to you. Trust me, I know all about smiles.