memorable.”
“I hesitate to say this, but … you had me worried toward the end of last year. You look amazing now, though. I guess summer break put things in perspective?”
“Yeah.” More than you can ever know.
“I just want you to know, I had nothing to do with what happened. And I’m really sorry.” That was the most I’d ever heard Jennifer say.
“I survived. For what it’s worth, I know it wasn’t your idea. Talk to you later.”
She wore a pained look as I pushed past her, but I wasn’t interested in her crisis of conscience. For the sake of my sanity, I needed to get away from Blackbriar and marshal my strength for school next week. Bag in hand, I jogged out of the main building and toward the gate. Guys yelled after me; there were whistles and catcalls, but it didn’t make me feel pretty or special. It just made me feel worse, knowing that it didn’t matter what kind of person I was, only how I looked.
Eventually, I collected myself enough to head for the T station. In the city, I bought school supplies, and when I got home, my parents were both out. That was par for the course. Since I turned thirteen, I’d spent a fair amount of time alone. I wished my parents had evaluated the social atmosphere at Blackbriar in addition to the academics, but stuff like that didn’t occur to them. They saw high school as a hurdle to overcome on the way to an awesome adult life, and I should ignore people who made fun of me. I tried to talk to my mom about it once, and she told me a long story about how things were worse for her growing up and I should be grateful for my advantages. That was the end of me trying to make her understand just how bad things had gotten.
Too late now.
Over the next week, I wrote back and forth with Vi, less often to Ryu. I had the impression that he was pretty popular in Japan. It would’ve made me sad if I thought he was seriously hung up on me, but his quick notes were just about back-to-school stuff. In the mornings, I took to running, mostly because it was exercise I could do with the clothes and shoes I already owned. If my parents thought it was weird that I was up at seven every day and racing through the city streets, neither my mom nor my dad said a word. My new interest in fitness came partly from a desire to keep the body I’d sold my soul for—I hoped not literally—and the rest had to do with burning nervous energy.
The night before school started, I talked to Vi on Skype. “So how’s Boston?” she asked, faking a bad townie accent.
“It didn’t change since I left it, so that’s good. How are things with you and Seth?”
Vi went for fifteen minutes about how awesome he was, and the fact that they were planning to hook up next weekend. I probably shouldn’t have asked, if I didn’t want the long, detailed answer. Partway through, I tuned out.
When I checked back in, she was saying, “Anyway, his mom says he can’t drive to meet me every weekend, and they had a big fight, but eventually they compromised, so we’re going every other, and he’s paying for part of the car insurance.”
“Sounds like a fair deal.”
She nodded. “Plus it gives us the chance to make sure we don’t fall behind in school. When I’m not seeing him, I’ll catch up on projects and extra credit.”
Only people from the nerd phylum would say “extra credit” without a sneer or a mocking laugh, but I’d always liked learning what teachers came up with to challenge us. Sometimes it was silly, not hard at all, but it showed you were willing to try. Since I’d had no social life, I was always about a hundred bonus points into A + territory.
“So,” Vi concluded, “I just wanted to tell you to have a great first day.”
“You too.”
She paused. “Were you listening at all? We don’t start until next week.”
Oops . It looked like I wasn’t a great listener, and I’d missed some stuff that wasn’t Seth-relevant, but I’d get better with practice. Except
“I hesitate to say this, but … you had me worried toward the end of last year. You look amazing now, though. I guess summer break put things in perspective?”
“Yeah.” More than you can ever know.
“I just want you to know, I had nothing to do with what happened. And I’m really sorry.” That was the most I’d ever heard Jennifer say.
“I survived. For what it’s worth, I know it wasn’t your idea. Talk to you later.”
She wore a pained look as I pushed past her, but I wasn’t interested in her crisis of conscience. For the sake of my sanity, I needed to get away from Blackbriar and marshal my strength for school next week. Bag in hand, I jogged out of the main building and toward the gate. Guys yelled after me; there were whistles and catcalls, but it didn’t make me feel pretty or special. It just made me feel worse, knowing that it didn’t matter what kind of person I was, only how I looked.
Eventually, I collected myself enough to head for the T station. In the city, I bought school supplies, and when I got home, my parents were both out. That was par for the course. Since I turned thirteen, I’d spent a fair amount of time alone. I wished my parents had evaluated the social atmosphere at Blackbriar in addition to the academics, but stuff like that didn’t occur to them. They saw high school as a hurdle to overcome on the way to an awesome adult life, and I should ignore people who made fun of me. I tried to talk to my mom about it once, and she told me a long story about how things were worse for her growing up and I should be grateful for my advantages. That was the end of me trying to make her understand just how bad things had gotten.
Too late now.
Over the next week, I wrote back and forth with Vi, less often to Ryu. I had the impression that he was pretty popular in Japan. It would’ve made me sad if I thought he was seriously hung up on me, but his quick notes were just about back-to-school stuff. In the mornings, I took to running, mostly because it was exercise I could do with the clothes and shoes I already owned. If my parents thought it was weird that I was up at seven every day and racing through the city streets, neither my mom nor my dad said a word. My new interest in fitness came partly from a desire to keep the body I’d sold my soul for—I hoped not literally—and the rest had to do with burning nervous energy.
The night before school started, I talked to Vi on Skype. “So how’s Boston?” she asked, faking a bad townie accent.
“It didn’t change since I left it, so that’s good. How are things with you and Seth?”
Vi went for fifteen minutes about how awesome he was, and the fact that they were planning to hook up next weekend. I probably shouldn’t have asked, if I didn’t want the long, detailed answer. Partway through, I tuned out.
When I checked back in, she was saying, “Anyway, his mom says he can’t drive to meet me every weekend, and they had a big fight, but eventually they compromised, so we’re going every other, and he’s paying for part of the car insurance.”
“Sounds like a fair deal.”
She nodded. “Plus it gives us the chance to make sure we don’t fall behind in school. When I’m not seeing him, I’ll catch up on projects and extra credit.”
Only people from the nerd phylum would say “extra credit” without a sneer or a mocking laugh, but I’d always liked learning what teachers came up with to challenge us. Sometimes it was silly, not hard at all, but it showed you were willing to try. Since I’d had no social life, I was always about a hundred bonus points into A + territory.
“So,” Vi concluded, “I just wanted to tell you to have a great first day.”
“You too.”
She paused. “Were you listening at all? We don’t start until next week.”
Oops . It looked like I wasn’t a great listener, and I’d missed some stuff that wasn’t Seth-relevant, but I’d get better with practice. Except
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