Counting to D by Kate Scott

of my pocket. “I just need to call my mom and let her know.”
    “Can’t you just send her a text?”
    I groaned. “No, you think I can spell big words like dinner and lab report? ”
    Nate laughed. “Cute.”
    Cute. That’s it? What’s cute? Me? My inability to text? What? I wanted to interpret his comment as an admission of his undying love for me, even if that wasn’t what he really meant.
    I called my mom while Nate booted up his computer. He typed really fast. At this rate, our lab report would be done in five minutes. “Do you need any help? I can’t read or write or anything, but I did memorize the textbook.”
    He stopped typing to turn around and shot me an irresistible smile. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
    I felt my cheeks burn. “Well, not all of it. I’ve only listened through chapter eleven.”
    “Sam, you do know we’re on chapter eight right now, right?”
    “Yeah, I know. But I can’t take notes in class. So it’s easier if I know the material in the textbook before the teacher lectures about it. That way I can notice and remember topics the teacher covers that aren’t in the text.”
    He turned back to his computer. “You already told me everything I needed for the lab during class, so I think I’m good for now, but you’re definitely helping me study before our next exam.”
    “Okay.” I leaned back on Nate’s bed while he finished typing up our report, then lifted a poetry book off the bed and started flipping through it. It took an embarrassingly long time for me to figure out the poem I was trying to read wasn’t in English.
    A couple minutes later, I heard Nate’s printer churn to life. He crawled across the bed and pulled the book out of my hands. “Do you want me to read it to you?”
    “Sure.”
    “ Avete ’n vo’ li fior’ e la verdura… ” The words tumbled off his tongue. I didn’t understand what he was saying, but I didn’t care. It was beautiful. He was beautiful. I closed my eyes and absorbed his every word. “ …perché di tutte siete la migliore. ”
    I opened my eyes. “What language is that?”
    “Italian.”
    “Italian? I thought you only spoke English, French, and Spanish.”
    He blushed and looked at his hands. “Yeah, about that, I kind of speak Italian and German too.”
    “You speak five languages? Why didn’t you tell me that?”
    “When an infant math genius shows up in your Spanish for toddlers class, you don’t start bragging about knowing five languages. I didn’t want to intimidate you.”
    Infant? He thought I was a baby. I blinked away the anger and frustration. “And what, now you’ve decided it doesn’t matter?”
    “Now you admitted to memorizing our entire chemistry textbook. Forget about me intimidating you. I’m doing everything I can to stop you from thinking I’m a complete moron.”
    “Nate, you’re not a moron. I’m the one with the D, remember?”
    “You’re not a moron either.” He punched me in the arm, the universal guy sign for friendly affection. “You’re not.”
    Nate and I were alone together, in his bedroom, and he was punching me. I shouldn’t have felt sad. He was being really nice — helping me with Spanish and not making fun of me for being mentally deficient. Nate was acting like a friend, and I needed that. I needed someone I could talk to and be myself around. But knowing Nate had accepted me as one of the guys just made me miss Gabby and Arden more.
    I punched Nate back, not knowing what else to do. I didn’t want to hit him. I wanted to kiss him, but I’d never kissed a boy before. I’d never even sat on a boy’s bed before. Gabby, Arden, and I discussed the possibility of kissing boys all the time. Arden had even done it. She’d had a boyfriend for about three weeks during our freshman year. Afterward, she claimed he was boring and incapable of engaging in stimulating conversation. Really, I think she was just bummed that he wasn’t a vampire.
    I wanted a boyfriend. Of