Once Mr Patterson finishes, he writes questions on the board for us to complete. This translates to talking time. I open my textbook and exercise book to pretend I’m doing work. “Hey,” I say. “It’s pretending time. For TJP.”
“Okay,” Eve says as she writes her first answer.
I watch her pen write equations. “What should we talk about? We should have thought of that on Friday. Instead of watchingPride and Prejudice.”
“Don’t lie,” Eve says, not looking up from her page. “You loved it.”
“Eh,” I said on the night it was alright, and that’s the truth. Maybe I didn’t understand it. As I feared, they were talking all old-fashioned and fancy and it took me forever to get what was going on, even when Eve provided explanations.
“We should watch all of Jane Austen’s adaptions. There are miniseries as well …” Eve trails off to write an answer.
“No way,” I say. “Besides, you promised me you’d watch one of my favourite movies. That’s what we’re doing next time. As well as brainstorming topics to talk about.”
It takes a moment for Eve to answer. “Eve?” I ask.
“Huh?” she looks up at me and blinks. “Sorry, I’m distracted by the questions.”
“Didn’t I hear somewhere that women are better at multitasking than men?”
“You sure know a lot of random facts. Besides, you’re not multitasking — you’re only talking to me.”
“It’d be impossible for me to answer these questions and talk. It’d be impossible for me to answer these questions, period.”
Her brows draw together. “Do you ever answer the questions Mr Patterson sets?”
I shrug. “Occasionally.”
“Noah! No wonder you had to—” she lowers her voice “—cheat on my test. You don’t do the work.”
“Well …” I begin.
“We are doing these questions now,” Eve commands.
Before I respond withI can’t, she barrels on. “We’ll do them as fast as we can and spend the rest of the time talking. They’re basic, Noah. It’s revision from last year and applying what Mr Patterson was talking about five minutes ago. You were listening to Mr Patterson, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then let’s do it.” She pats my exercise book before returning her gaze to her work.
I suppose I have no other choice than to listen to her, and she’s right. Doing work will improve my grades. We spend ten minutes answering questions — well, Eve answers the questions. I attempt them, but some are confusing, even when I consult the examples and my notes. I could ask Eve for help, but I don’t want to annoy her or let her know I’m dumber than she already thinks. Instead, I look at the answers at the back of the textbook and try to work backwards from there.
“Now let’s talk,” I say after I write the answer to the last question.
Eve nods. She’s sitting with perfect posture and I’m leaning backwards, only two legs of my chair on the ground. This won’t look convincing at all.
“So you know how we were talking about movies before?” she says. “What movie are you going to attempt to make me watch?”
“Attempt?” I echo. “I won’tattempt. You agreed. A deal’s a deal.”
“Okay, okay.” She laughs as she raises her hands in surrender.
“Now, what movie to watch …”
“Please don’t make itTransformers.”
I snort. “I’m not five.” Although theTransformersmovies were staples of my childhood.
“Or a movie about cars—”
