The Tick Game and First Love — The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Tom cannot focus in the hot, sleepy classroom. The noon bell feels hours away. He and Joe Harper play a game with a tick on a divided slate, each boy steering the insect on his half with a pin. They fight over whose turn it is until the teacher sneaks up and whacks them both while the whole school watches.

At noon Tom and Becky slip back to the empty schoolhouse while the other children go home to dinner. They share chewing gum, talk about circuses and rats, and Tom explains what it means to be engaged. Becky whispers that she loves him, they kiss, and Tom makes her promise to marry only him and walk with him when nobody is looking and choose him at every party.

Then Tom ruins everything by mentioning Amy Lawrence. Becky cries because she is not his first sweetheart. Tom begs forgiveness and offers his brass andiron knob, his greatest treasure, but Becky throws it down. Tom storms off into the hills and skips school for the rest of the day, too proud to apologize again. Becky calls after him, then sits alone crying through a long, miserable afternoon while the other children stare.