Look at how tiny the print is. Iâll go blind reading this.â
I laughed. âYeah, that one doesnât seem like a lot of fun. This one here has pictures in it. Pictures make everything better.â
He laughed. âDefinitely. This whole time period is so boring to me. My history teacher last semester was super interesting. Sheâd bring in movies about whatever we were studying or sometimes sheâd read from a novel that was from the same time period. I liked her class. This guy is so dull that people fall asleep in class, and he doesnât bother to wake them up anymore. I think itâs because heâs embarrassed it happens so often.â
âWow, public school must be different. I canât imagine anyone at Hillcrest falling asleep and living to tell.â
Vladi cracked up. âI have heard your school is a lot stricter. This guy, Jason, fell asleep last week. He actually drooled onto the desk, and Mr. Oxford acted like he didnât notice. I felt bad for the person who had to sit there the next hour. I mean, Jason wiped the drool with his sleeve, but come on â thatâs gross.â
âDo I need to bring antibacterial wipes with me next year?â I asked.
He cracked up. âSo youâre definitely coming to Central then?â
âI think so. There are a lot of people in my class going to St. Faustinaâs. I havenât made up my mind though.â
âWhy not? What does St. Faustinaâs have that Central doesnât?â
I shrugged. How did I say St. Faustinaâs, a smaller private school, seemed safer â more structured, like Iâd be protected there â whereas Central, a big public school, seemed like being thrown into the deep end of the pool without floaties.
âItâs a little smaller and seems like you get to know the teachers and students better with the class sizes,â I said.
âYeah, but itâs missing a major thing.â
âThe dress code?â I asked.
âAh, no.â
âItâs not as laid back as Central?â
âMe. Itâs missing me,â he said.
âOh well, yeah, thereâs that,â I said as my face got warm.
âOh, so you donât care if Iâm not there,â he said, putting a book back on the shelf.
I couldnât tell if he was teasing or not and I didnât want to jump in and say, âOh, of course I do!â and look dumb if he was just joking around. So I played it safe and just shrugged.
âSeriously? I donât factor into your decision at all?â he asked. He seemed hurt, and I could tell from how serious his tone was that he meant it.
âOf course, but I dunno. Itâs a hard decision to make. My friends havenât all decided where theyâre going yet and itâsâ¦â I paused and tried to find the right words. âWell, Central seems so huge and I feel likeâ¦â
âLike what?â
âLikeâ¦â
âLandry, you can tell me anything,â he said.
Um, no, no I couldnât. I couldnât tell him how sweet I thought he was or that I started my period two days ago or that I knew I wasnât supposed to kiss him in the library, but I kept hoping he would try anyway. However, it was cute that he wanted me to share everything with him. I was super scared about starting high school, but I wanted him to think I was this confident, sophisticated girl who had it all together. Problem was that I wasnât. But if he and I were going to work out as boyfriend and girlfriend then I guess heâd have to like me as I was because pretending would get old fast. I wasnât even sure I was that good of a pretender and letâs face it â once I got to high school and wet my pants from fear on the first day (or had other bathroom issues), heâd figure out real quick I wasnât exactly Miss Self-assured.
âI feel like I could get lost there and I donât mean
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