The ice cold milk tasted good, and Martha drank half the carton before setting it on her tray. “Mmm.”

“I've never seen anybody liked milk much as you,” Irene said. “And you know what?”

Martha sighed. “What.”

“I heard that…” Irene's voice faded and her mouth dropped open.

“What?”

“Look! Isn't that Jimmy Joe Ledbetter?”

Martha followed Irene's stare. Her eyes came to rest on a tall, tanned boy who stood holding a tray, scanning the lunchroom. Her mouth dropped open. He was the handsomest boy she'd ever seen. He couldn't be Jimmy Joe, the Scourge of Jones Street.

The boy's eyes met hers and an expression of recognition flicked over his face. He started for her table.

“Hey, Martha. Ain't seen you in a long while,” he said in a slow, melodious drawl. “Mind if I sit here. Looks like all the other tables are full.”

Martha recovered her composure and snapped her mouth shut. “Um. Sure.”

He fastened his dreamy blue eyes on hers, and the sounds of the lunchroom receded from Martha's hearing as she lost herself in those eyes, transported to times past. A series of images passed in succession through Martha's memory.

Jimmy Joe tugging her pigtails…Jimmy Joe snitching the last piece of fudge when he conned his way into her house by being oh, so polite to Mama… squirting her with his water pistol one summer day, wetting her best dress. And Jimmy Joe yanking her feet from under her when she waded into the creek, so that she plunged under the cold water. Everywhere, all the time, Jimmy Joe Ledbetter was the bane of Martha's existence.

Martha's eyes narrowed as she returned to the present. Jimmy Joe had been nothing but trouble to her all her life. She remembered the relief she felt when Daddy announced at supper one night that the Ledbetters would be moving to Atlanta. 

Good riddance!

Jimmy Joe brought Martha back to the present when he said, “You look different, Martha. All grown up. And… pretty.” 

“Um… you …look different, too,” Martha said, as she took in his handsome face and sun-streaked hair.

He grinned, his teeth white and perfect against his tanned skin. Martha heard Irene's quick intake of breath. She almost gasped herself. When he smiled, Jimmy Joe was the best-lookin' thing she'd ever seen. 

“Say, Martha,” he began. “I hear they have a “welcome back” dance to start off the new school year.”

She nodded, seeming to have lost control of her voice.

“Since I don't know anyone here as well as I know you, could I ask a favor?”

Martha cleared her throat. “Sure.”

“Would you go to the dance with me?”

Delicious emotions gripped her, churned in her stomach, tightened her muscles. Jimmy Joe hadn't changed. He still wreaked havoc on Martha. But, instead of pulling her feet from under her at the creek, he'd swept her off her feet with a word and a smile..