~ Dr. Seuss
Dammit. She shouldn’t have shown up so early. That would only serve to make her look like an old fuddy-duddy to the study group. She stared around the deserted common area, a sense of dread filling her even though there was still ten minutes left until they were supposed to arrive. But what if, after Tina invited her, the rest of the group said no way, and decided to meet somewhere else? If that were the case, they’d all avoid making eye contact with her every Tuesday and Thursday evening until the course ended. It wouldn’t just be awkward, it would be reliving her worst middle school moments all over again, only with sagging jowls this time around.
All right, calm down, she told herself.You’re early. They’ll get here.
Hitching her bag a little higher on her shoulder, Jessica walked over to the cozy seating area where she had seen the group sitting before. Armchairs flanked a large wall-mounted electric fireplace — two on each side of it, with a rectangular table in front of them and a long couch on the other side. She selected an armchair, not wanting to force one of the young people to have to share the sofa with her. Setting her bag down on the floor, she pulled out her water bottle and her lunch bag, which contained leftover curried chicken and rice from the night before. She set it neatly on the corner of the table, then pulled out her binder and textbook. Flipping to the page they had been working on last class, she pretended to be reviewing it when in actual fact she was just posing.
Lewis Wong arrived first. Jessica happened to glance up at the exact moment he spotted her and, much to her relief, he gave her an easy smile as he hurried over. On the first day of class, he’d told them his mother was a judge and his father was a pediatric surgeon, so no pressure. Everyone had laughed, including Jess, even though her heart squeezed for the young man.
His eyebrows knit together as he glanced down at the page she was on. Before he had even said hello or seated himself, he said, "Were you able to see the connection between the Harrison case and the Supreme Court's decision onCohn v. Burnett?"
Nuts. She should haveactuallybeen reading it instead of just pretending. "To be honest, I'm a little behind."
He nodded. "Don't feel bad because I just read it on the bus over here. And I can’t see the connection at all." He flopped onto the couch, letting his bag hit the floor with a loud thump, reminding her very much of Noah. Before she had time to let the pain of how much she was missing her family settle in, Tina, Belle, and Jacob walked in. They were laughing, looking very much like old friends even though they only knew each other from class. They exchanged quick hellos and got straight to work discussing the case while Jess strained her mind to keep up.
After an hour of them beating the topic to death, Tina looked at her watch. "We better eat something.”
Jess picked up her container of leftovers and made her way over to the microwave, while the others dug around in their bags for whatever they brought. When she returned, Jacob was polishing off a mint chocolate Clif Bar. He tossed the wrapper on the table, then plucked another one out of his bag.
Jessica furrowed her brow. Before she could stop herself, she said, "Please tell me that's not your entire supper."
Immediately, she regretted her words. She sounded exactly like a mother, when here she’d spent the last hour trying to come off as a cool, slightly older classmate.
Jacob smirked up at her and was about to say something, but Jess held up her hand. "You don't have to say it. I heard it myself."
The group laughed while she plunked down into her chair and shook her head at herself. She took the lid off and pushed the food around with her fork to release some of the steam.
Bella, who was drinking some sort of green liquid from a reusable water bottle, peered over it at Jessica’s meal. "That smells delicious."
Jess glanced at the bottle, but managed to refrain from expressing her horror at Bella’s supper choice.
Bella must have known what Jess was thinking because she held up the bottle and said, “I’m on a five-day detox. Juice only. Like, six times a day.”
“Wow, that must take a lot of discipline,” Jess told her.
“It sucks, is what it does,” Bella answered. “But I should lose ten pounds and have, like, a ton of energy when I’m done.”
“What day are you on?”
“Day two, so I feel pretty shitty so far.”
Unable to control herself any longer, Jess held out her container. “Why don’t you have some? You can’t survive on juice for days.”
“No thanks. As delicious as that looks, I’ve paid a fortune for these juice packets. I have to see this through.”
“Where’d you buy them?” Tina said. “I’ve been thinking about doing that too.”
“They’re from Kira’s store.”
Jess stiffened as she took note of the dark circles under Bella’s eyes. Jesus God, was Rachael right about Kira?
“How much were the packets?” Tina asked.
“Two hundred dollars, plus shipping,” Bella said. “It’s my entire food budget for the month, but it’ll be totally worth it. Apparently, you get this sense of clarity around day four, and your whole life just, like, falls into place.”
“I think that’s called hallucinating,” Jess said sarcastically.
Bella looked a little putout, but the rest of the group laughed.
