A universal truth

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a middle schooler in possession of a boyfriend or girlfriend must be in want of a drink.

(You get bonus points if you can guess my favorite book.)

Or, in modern parlance, the little buggers got a severe case of hormones and spring fever and are now lurking around the drinking fountain hoping for a quick kiss, a hug, or a chance to just see each other.

So, of course, we're having to do extra patrol duty because it seems that about 20 or so of our kids are constantly getting run off by an administrator for goofing off and lurking around the drinking fountain, which just so happens to be on the other side of our team area, so we're not quite able to watch what's going on there. All of which makes it a wonderful place to do things they aren't supposed to do away from prying teachers' eyes.

So Mrs. Language and I decided to turn this into a game and have spent the past few days doing unannounced raids on this area which has turned out to be more entertaining than you can imagine. It's a simple matter to be standing in the hall, where they are used to seeing us, and then, quick as a flash, cut into the guidance office, and take the short cut through the library so we can come up on them from the opposite direction.

The first time we caught them the panic was palable. Mrs. Language lined them all up against the wall and gave them a what for that nearly had me in stitches I was trying so hard not to laugh. There's something about her Southern Twang that really gets going when she's mad and she can let loose with some of the funniest comments. The best was her rant about no Public Displays of Affection, which had some of the kids turning red, red, red.

"Ya'll just keep your grimey little paws off each other while you're here at school, ya hear? I mean, we KNOW what you're doing when you're not here and you're home alone, and you better not be thinking of doing that while you're here!" And she says this while she's staring daggers at Fabio Boy and his girlfriend (the one who thought she was preggers) who are both so red I thought I was going to get a sunburn from the heat coming off their cheeks.

Of course the fact that I caught him trying to hold her hand on the way to the busses made the entire day even more amusing. Nothing like a bellow "Hey, Fabio, hands off!" across the hallway to make a kid jump about three feet and rapidly remove his hand.

Ain't romance grand?