Moonglow by Michael Griffo Page B

then I get a little lost. “I . . . I really don’t know what came over me, Jess. I just got so . . . angry, really, really angry at not being able to comprehend what I was reading, angry at . . . just everything, and I needed to take it out on someone, and you were right there.”
    Jess hasn’t stopped looking at me, and I can tell that she’s been listening to every word I’ve said. She doesn’t understand it any more than I do, but she wants to. That helps me reach across Nadine’s lap to grab her hand. “I’m sorry, Jess; I didn’t mean to hurt you. I would never do that.”
    My vision is blurry from the tears stinging my eyes, so I only feel Jess’s arms embrace me. It’s enough for me to know that she believes me, but it feels even better to hear her say it.
    â€œI know you wouldn’t,” she says, her voice muffled because she’s crying—even harder than me naturally—and her mouth is buried in my hair. “I know you didn’t mean it. You’re my simai! ”
    â€œYou’re my sister too!” I cry.
    â€œLadies!” Archie shouts. “I feel like I came in at the tail end of the movie. What’ve I missed?”
    We’re both crying like fools, so Nadine speaks for us. “I think they had a spat.”
    Shaking my head, I disagree. “It was a more than that. I pushed her, Archie, for no reason. I threw her right out of my bedroom because I’m an idiot when it comes to math.”
    Archie makes a joke, but he isn’t smiling. “Dudette, mathematically challenged doesn’t equal spontaneously violent.”
    Despite his comment, Archie doesn’t appear to be as surprised as I think he should be. But I guess I’ve given him reason to expect this of me.
    â€œSeriously, you really need to fine-tune your Roller Derby skills,” he jokes. “You can hip check your aggressions out on total strangers and wear cool, retro mini-shorts. We’ll film it, and you’ll be an online sensation.”
    We’re all laughing so hard that we don’t notice Nadine hasn’t joined in until she speaks. “I know exactly how you feel,” she says, staring down at her feet, at the very spot I was fixated on a few moments ago.
    â€œYou have a video that went viral too?” Archie asks in a totally serious voice.
    Just as serious as Nadine’s. “I lost a parent too.”
    Yup, she could teach Gut Instinct: 101. She’s comparing her father’s dying with my mother’s being in a coma because she knows exactly how I feel.
    â€œI know how hard it can be,” she tells us. “The day starts off and you’re fine, endorphins are flowing and you’re perfectly happy, but before you know it you’re angry, filled with rage that you can’t control or deny, and you don’t feel better until you hurt someone in order to bring them down to your level.”
    It’s like she’s reading my mind.
    â€œIt doesn’t matter if you hurt them with your fists or your words, as long as you make them feel some of your pain,” she continues. “Even if that person is your best friend.”
    At that very moment Nadine Jaffe, basically a stranger to me, knows me better than anyone on the planet. She has one more thing to add. “Truce?”
    Jess and I reply as one, “Truce.”
    Our hug is interrupted by Caleb’s arrival. I don’t want him to sever our physical connection, so I hit Archie’s knee with mine and he moves over to let Caleb in.
    â€œWhat’s up, Winter?” Caleb asks Archie, holding out his fist.
    â€œNot much, Bells,” Archie replies, bumping his fist into Caleb’s.
    By the time the first race begins the air surrounding us is tension-free and filled with chatter and laughing. Jess is back to her old self, talking quickly in both English and Japanese and jumping randomly from thought to