When he studied the Revolutionary War and its causes, music drifted into his mind. And not some fife-and-drum march leading Washington's troops toward Valley Forge, either. No, Ricky's attempts at studying were being sidetracked by love songs.Plain-looking, shy, quiet Ricky was falling in love with Annie Whitman, and he was terrified. A large part of the terror was that Annie seemed to be interested in him, too, even though Ricky found it almost totally impossible to believe.Annie Whitman was beautiful. Annie was a great dancer. Annie had a million boyfriends. How could he, a little nobody who was nothing to look at and practically tongue-tied with girls, ever bring himself to speak to Annie about anything, well, romantic? Totally idiotic!Ricky Capaldo summoned every bit of hisresolve and banished all thoughts of Annie from his mind."The three major causes of the Revolutionary War," he noted in his book, "were a denial of basic rights, the Stamp Act, and Annie Whitman."Ricky threw down his ball-point pen.Not only was it impossible for him to believe that a dazzling beauty like Annie would be interested in him, but there was also the problem of all those stories about her.
