“How about these?” my dad says, holding up a crispy potato slice. “Better or worse?”
“Oh, no offense, Mom, but—” Madison gushes something about the “chef at Kappa,” wearing her new IU sweatshirt. “The sisters invite me over all the time. They’re so great.”
“How fun—your kind of sisters,” I mutter, but everyone ignores me. I stab a salty wedge with my fork, cramming the entire thing in my mouth.
“I can’t wait until rush in January. The house is—” she says, and then something about “huge windows in almost all the rooms.” Madison throws her arms out wide and dramatically. She says something about “natural light!”
“And did you know that—” Mom jumps in, totally absorbed with everything Madison has to say. “Because you know the curtains—” Something, something, something. Get me out of here.
“I know, right!” Madison exclaims.
“What do you think?” Dad asks me.
Now all three of them are staring at me, waiting for a response. “I think…that I haven’t been paying attention to anything you’re talking about.”
Mom looks irritated, while Dad is disappointed. Madison makes a face and keeps talking. “Anyway—” She turns her back toward me as she entertains our parents. “And then I will—” She continues on and on.
Even if I were trying to follow along, I would be mishearing all sorts of things. Earlier, I thought they’d gone on a tangent about “crackers” until I realized what Madison had actually said was “jackets.” Not sure how I got that fromthat. It’s hard to understand when I can only pick up the most familiar-sounding parts.
I’m about to slip away from the table when Madison acknowledges me directly. “I heard you’ve been hanging out with Jackson Messina?”
I give a side-eye stare, not liking where this is headed. Did Mom and Dad tell her that he was here? “Yeah…How do you know that?”
“I heard from my friend Ashley, who actually just got elected vice president for student government. Good for her.” Madison takes another bite of dinner. “What’s going on with you and Jackson?”
Dad nods eagerly. “We’ve met him. He was very nice.”
“You weren’t cut out for long distance with that other guy?” Madison pauses to recollect his name, never mind that I dated him for five years. “Cody, right?”
“No, I’m not dating Cody anymore.”
“And you’re going out with Jackson?” Madison presses, grinning like she’s ready to tell that Ashley girl all about it. “I can see that; he always did love a project.” Wow, she really went there.
“Madison!” Even my mom realizes this is offensive.
“No, I don’t mean it likethat,” Madison insists. “Just that he’d be all over helping out with a new student, you know?”
“Right, yeah,” I say, standing up. “It was a total charity thing.”
“Come on, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m joking around.”
“I know,” I concede. Even though her idea of a joke isn’t funny to me. “It’s not really anything anyway.”
“That’s unfortunate. I think you guys could be good together.” She nods sincerely. “I mean that. He’s cute and sweet, and you deserve someone nice.”
“He is nice,” I say, regretting how badly I screwed everything up with Jackson.
I know he said he’d be out of school for a while, but I assumed that meant a day or two, not the entire week. I’m concerned but hopethis means he’s getting everything checked out. I keep meaning to text more, but I can never find the right words to say.
As I leave the dinner table, my family resumes their easy conversation, going back to the good old days when it was only my parents and their preferred daughter at home.
Cheese trails behind me up to the bedroom I’m once again sharing with Madison for the weekend. But this time, I get to keep the good bed. “It’s you and me, buddy,” I say, scooping him up for a hug. “And soon, we’re going to be out of here.”
On Monday, Ms. Lily arranges for me to take the algebra placement test the next morning. Talk about no time to prep. But I think I do all right. By Wednesday, I’m back at her office again, waiting in the hallway with Pamela, who has caught the attention of some freshman from the ASL club and is answering their questions about how she became an interpreter. I understand that occasionally Kim needs to take some time off, but that means I get stuck with Pamela for a full day, and that’s much more than I can handle.
The student before me leaves Ms. Lily’s office. I go inside without bothering to stop Pamela’s conversation and ask her to join me.
“Hi, Ellie,” Ms. Lily says, then looks past me. “Is your interpreter here?”
