Page 8 of Queen’s Gambit

“No, I’m not,” I said, and before he could run away again, I punched him right in the middle of his stupid face.

“Ouch.” Eddie stumbled back and fell on the floor, holding his nose. I covered my mouth as blood dripped through his fingers.

“Take that,” I said, but I felt terrible and ran to the box of tissues sitting on a table. Pulling a bunch out, I handed them to him. I expected him to be angry and nibbled my bottom lip. If he told my father, I’d be grounded for sure.

He moved his hands to take the tissues, and I saw two red lines coming from his nose. Guilt took over my annoyance. I’d never punched anyone before.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have hit you.”

“It’s okay,” he said and swung his legs over the side of the stairs, holding the tissue to his nose.

Sitting down beside him, I put my hand on his arm. He glanced at me but looked away, and my stomach rolled around.

“What’s it like where you’re from?”

He lifted his shoulder. “It’s beautiful. Warm, with really blue water. We live on a vineyard, so it is always busy with people. I love it, but my home is not as nice as yours.”

I looked around the library. “It’s not that nice. No one is ever here. I wish it was busy like that. What’s a vineyard?”

“It’s where grapes are grown.”

“You grow grapes? I love grapes,” I said, smiling.

Eddie nodded and pulled the tissue away from his face. It was bright red, and his skin was stained, but his nose had stopped bleeding.

“Yeah, we grow them for wine.”

I crinkled my nose. “I don’t like wine.”

Eddie smiled. “That’s because you’ve never had good wine.”

“Yulianna?” I sucked in a deep breath as our fathers walked into the room.

“Here,” I said and stood, panic making my heart race.

Eddie stood with me, and we walked down the stairs. It felt like we were walking the plank like in the pirate stories I read.

“What happened to Edmundo,” my father asked, and I swallowed hard. I opened my mouth to answer, but Eddie jumped in.

“It’s my fault, sir. We were playing tag, and I wasn’t paying attention and ran into a wall.”

Father narrowed his eyes, but Eddie stood tall, his face not giving anything away.

“Are you sure that’s what happened? My daughter has been known to act unladylike,” Father growled, and I shook.

“No, it was all me, sir, I swear. Yulianna was nice enough to get me tissues,” he said, holding out the evidence.

“Very well. Dessert is served and maybe no more running in the house,” Father said.

Eddie’s father looked at him and then at me, one eyebrow rising. I could tell that he thought Eddie was lying, but he didn’t say anything.

As we walked out, following our fathers, I glanced at Eddie.

“Why did you do that,” I asked. “You could’ve gotten me in trouble for hitting you.”

His lip pulled up as he touched his pinky finger to mine, but he didn’t answer. Smiling, I linked our fingers together, and the little butterflies that had been fluttering around in my chest soared. He really wasn’t like any of the other boys.

Yulianna – Age 13