You’re not so stupid in German at least.
“The refrigerator.” Frau’s warm, round voice sounds almost foreign in English instead of German.
“Der Kühlschrank,” you translate with a smile.The cold cabinet. So many German words are just two other words smooshed together into alarmingly literal descriptions. LikeKrankenwagen, orsick wagon, which is the German word forambulance.
Next to you, Mariana is smiling, too, the soft curves of her smooth lips curling up just a bit, revealing half a dimple. She got a new haircut over break. Her dark brown hair is still long, but it’s only down to her shoulders instead of her back, and it’s got a curl to it now. Or maybe waves. At this point you don’t know the difference,because some girls get upset if you call their waves curls, and some girls get upset if you call their curls waves.
Curly or wavy, it still suits her. She looks nice, really nice, and whenever you see her you get this feeling like you drank too much Sprite and can’t quite burp. It’s hard to breathe, and your stomach feels like it might fly out of your body, leaving a hole in your shirt.
Mariana looks up at Frau but catches you looking at her, and her lips curl up a tiny bit more, deepening her dimple.
Your whole face goes hot, and you look away, focusing on Frau as she continues down this week’s vocabulary list. It’s all kitchen items. Stove, oven, microwave, table, chairs, plates, cups.
When it’s done, you trade with Mariana to grade each other’s quizzes as Frau goes down the answers, and your hand brushes hers. She has really soft hands.
She smiles at you again before turning back to grade your quiz.
You hope she notices you weregut in Deutsch.
You really do.
You’re thrown for a loop when you walk into conditioning seventh hour and see Cooper.
You’ve barely spoken to him in months. Your moms still sent each other Christmas cards, though. You’re not sure if it was habit or if they hadn’t noticed you weren’t friends anymore.
Surely they noticed you didn’t have your usual Christmas party.
You manage to meet his eyes, and he gives you a little nod. But then he spots Farshid coming in behind you and actually gives him a wave and a smile.
Farshid waves back but then notices you looking and scowls.Despite it being cold enough that even Brody wore long pants, Farshid’s still in a tight T-shirt and shorts that show off his muscles. You wonder if he at least wore a coat or something, even if it’s in his locker now.
He brushes past you but doesn’t get that far since the two of you are stuck in the same row in the locker room.
You can feel his dislike rolling off him in waves, even with his back to you as he pulls off his shirt. You can’t tell if his back has gotten bigger over break or if you’re still just kind of freaked out by how muscular he is for a freshman, even more than Brody. He looks like some of the seniors on the wrestling team.
Should you be lifting weights more? Maybe more girls would notice you that way. But then again, you haven’t heard about Farshid having a girlfriend, either, so who knows. You got some new fragrance for Christmas—a sampler pack from this Italian brand you read about on Reddit but can’t actually get at Sephoras here—and a girl complimented you on the bus this morning, a junior, but then she went back to talking to her friends and acting like you didn’t exist.
Girls are confusing.
Then again, it’s not like guys are any better. Brody’s your best friend, and you don’t know what’s going through his head half the time. And Farshid’s quiet and angry for no reason as far as you can tell.
Sometimes, your dad likes to tease you and Marshall about beinghormonal teenagers. You don’t think you’re that hormonal, but maybe everyone else is.
You’re broken up into teams to start a basketball unit. You’re not a fan of basketball, but it beats bowling, which you had to doonce a week in eighth grade. You got bused to a bowling alley every Friday and then back before the bell rang, which meant you barely had time to bowl a full game.
As the whole class counts off into six teams, you luck out, because both you and Brody end up being fives. But so does Cooper, and you’re not sure whether or not that’s the worst possible luck.
Cooper is standing next to Farshid. He pats Farshid on the shoulder, while Farshid shrugs and scratches the back of his head. You watch his eyes following Cooper as he crosses the gym toward you and Brody, shoes squeaking.
You didn’t know the two of them were friendly. Or friends? When did that happen, anyway? When did all your old friends find new ones?
Does Cooper talk fragrance with Farshid? Share memes? Have inside jokes? Your stomach twists. Even though Cooper and Tyler ditched you, you can’t help missing them. A little bit. Sometimes.
Cooper was terrible at basketball in middle school, and you’re relieved to see that hasn’t changed, because you still suck, too. Brody’s pretty decent, thankfully, and even though you’re supposed to be doing three-on-threes to warm up, it’s really just Brody-on-three.
Still, you “hustle” when your coach shouts at you, the only command you really understand, because you thought you already were on “defense.” Andy, one of the guys on the other team, seems to have grown like six inches over break, so he’s got reach on you.
Finally the whistle blows for teams to switch up. You breathe hard as you follow Brody and Cooper across the gym; Cooper reaches out and fist-bumps Farshid as you pass.
