Dad smiled at me. “Oh, a club for coding games! That sounds fun!” Dad was a lawyer, but also a bit of a computer nerd. He was whogot me into gaming when I was little. Dad cared about my academic achievement, but he wasn’t near as pushy as Mom.
Mom ignored him. “Joining the physics club would be better for your scholarship applications.”
I frowned. Mom knew Devin was the president of that club, too. He was the school’s golden child. And she should have known that I wouldn’t want to be in the club with him.
Maybe mentioning the physics club did remind her of Devin, though, because she suddenly grinned and said, “Guess what I saw on Facebook! Preeti Kapadia posted their vacation pictures from India! Did you see them, Samaya?”
No, I had not seen my ex-boyfriend’s mother’s Facebook. Everyone I knew had been shielding me from any news, or pictures, of the Kapadia family since June. Everyone except my mother. She didn’t seem to have any qualms about mentioning the taboo family, despite the fact that it had been Devin who caused the derailment that required me to “get back on track” in the first place. Which meant family dinners had been a bit of a minefield for me during the last two months.
“The pictures from Preeti’s cousin’s wedding!” Mom continued, positively beaming. “The clothes! And you wouldn’t believe the floral arrangements in the reception. It’s been too long since our trip to India. We should plan another. What do you think, Tahira? I’ll ask Preeti for recommendations where to stay.”
“Yes! I want to go to India fashion week next fall,” Tahira said. “There is this textile factory there that does custom screen prints ... The colors are spectacular.”
Thankfully, that shifted the conversation away from approaching the Kapadias for travel tips and toward my sister’s budding fashion career. It was another one of my mother’s favorite topics of discussion at dinner, so hopefully that was the end of all this talk about my ex’s family.
But no. Mom threw another grenade a few minutes later. “Will Devin be back at school with you tomorrow?” she asked me. “There was some talk on her Facebook last year about him transferring to a private school.”
“I have no idea.”
“Which universities is he applying for?”
“Mom, how would she know that?” Tahira asked. “They broke up.”
Maybe because she was still actually a teenager, my sister seemed to understand that when your long-term boyfriend dumped you publicly the last week of school, sabotaged your summer job, then took off with his family to India so he could “figure out” who he was “alone,” that meant you were no longer privy to his academic plans.
Mom gave Tahira a look. “They’re still friends, aren’t they?”
No, no, we weren’t.
Mom was still talking. “Now that Devin’s back in our time zone, you can play that dragon-tournament game together again.”
So now she was telling me Ishouldbe playing video games? I honestly didn’t understand my mother. The only way to get through her talking endlessly about Devin or his family was to let my mind wander to something else. Like practicing pi in my head. I was trying to memorize the mathematical constant to two hundred digits and so far was up to one hundred and thirty-four.
Two years ago, when Devin and I started dating, I’d thought it was so cool that our families already knew each other—casually, at least. And I’d thought it was so cool that the casual acquaintance grew to family dinners together, picnics, and even trips to Little India on Gerrard Street for sari shopping. I’d been sure that the fact that our families were friends meant my relationship with Devin would last longer than the average high school relationship. And even though our backgrounds weren’t exactly the same (my family was Indian but Ismaili Muslim, and my grandparents were from Nairobi, Kenya, while Devin’s family was Indian but Hindu and his parents were born in Mumbai, India), Ithought our cultures being so similar meant our connection was deeper. More profound. Maybe forever.
Boy was I wrong. But Mom seemed to be still holding out hope that one day an enormous, spectacular Kapadia wedding would involve our family, too. Which ... ugh. I wasseventeen. Could she please wait ten years or so before fantasizing about marrying me off?
I tried to keep my mind on theDragon Arenabattle, but my family was still talking about me, and they were hard to ignore.
“Sabina, Samaya’s focus should be on school, not reconnecting with Devin by playing video games,” Dad said.
I nodded. “Yes,that. It’s my last year of high school. Right now, my focus is only on getting into university with scholarships and finishing my volunteer hours. And starting that game-dev club, which will help with my applications.”
Well, maybe also finishing the Magic Guild questline inDragon Arenawith LostAxis.
Mom nodded. “Good girl, Samaya. Stay out of any drama this year. I know you’ll keep the respect of your classmates and teachers, so you’ll get glowing references for scholarships and awards. We’re so lucky to have two daughters we can count on. Did you hear about that Vaughan girl from down the street? She wasarrestedfor selling painkillers she took from her father. I can’t even imagine!”
And the conversation shifted to Mom bringing out all the flaws in the kids who weren’t her own, which was fine. It meant I could daydream about LostAxis and his wicked melee-spell skills.
A much better use of my brain space than thinking about Devin Kapadia.
2
The Last First Day of High School
Image: Smiling brown-skinned girl, chin-length black hair. Arm around the waist of a tall, brown-skinned boy. His wavy hair is longish and reaches the back of his collar. His expression is serious, and his head is tilted down to hear what the girl is saying.
Caption: When the school year ended last spring, Samaya Janmohammad and Devin Kapadia were the top grade-eleven students academically and all set to be Earl Jones Secondary School’s golden couple this September. In fact, some students were taking bets on which of them would be named valedictorian this year, although most agreed the head of the math, physics, and debate clubs would take it. But all bets were off last June after a shocking breakup and Devin’s unexpected relocation to India for the summer. Ears close to the ground have recently heard that Devin is back in Toronto and will be at Earl’s this year. Does this mean a reconciliation is in the works? Only time will tell what’s in store for what used to be the Earl Jones power couple.
