computer monitor as though it were the window into an alternate universe.
For him, maybe it was.
He didn’t even hear me until I was practically next to him, and only then because I made my heels clack just a bit harder than usual.
“Oh,” he said. “Hey.”
“I haven’t seen you around much.” I shifted my backpack on my shoulder, trying to be casual. “Thought I’d stop in and make sure my sweater didn’t send you to the hospital after all.”
He flushed, and I kicked myself. Maybe pointing out a guy’s weaknesses was a faux pas.
Mouth, Gillian. Watch the mouth. Nai-Nai is right. You never stop talking
.
“You don’t have it around someplace, do you?” He pretended to look behind me. “Talk about a secret weapon guaranteed to bring a man to his knees.”
“His sneeze?” Puns are the lowest form of humor, but I can’t help it. Sometimes they beg to be said.
“That, too.”
Well, this didn’t sound like a guy who’d been avoiding me on purpose for almost two weeks. He’d even skipped prayer circle last week. Maybe he was busy with his experiments and studying for the Olympiad. “What do you have there?” I nodded at the screen.
“Oh, this.” He leaned back. “Two scientists my dad introduced me to at Stanford discovered a new star. I was just reading the paper on it.”
And some people think I’m a geek for doing chemical equations during my free period. At least that’s homework. This was recreational reading.
“I’ll leave you to it, then,” I said. “I’m just on my way to Mandarin and thought I’d look in on you.”
“I’m glad you did.” He swiveled in the chair and smiled, and my heart did this strange sideways beat in my chest. “IM me or something, okay?”
“Sure.” I smiled back and reluctantly got myself out of the lab, managing not to knock anything over with my backpack on the way. Maybe it wasn’t me after all, or my deadly tunic. Maybe it was just as simple as a guy being busy with his life.
You’d think Mandarin would be a no-brainer for me, since we speak it at home with Nai-Nai. But no. Is English class easy for you? Uh-huh. With Mandarin you still have to nail down grammar and vocab and remember inflections and tones, with the added pain of learning to write characters. Gracefully. With brushes. Kind of like learning Chaucer’s Middle English and then writing it out in perfect calligraphy with a feather quill.
So, bottom line, Mandarin isn’t the easiest thing to master on the best of days, never mind when your head is filled with a guy and the what-ifs and if-onlys. If Dad and Nai-Nai knew how I was messing up on the translation exercises Dr. Leung had just handed out, they’d be ashamed of me. Was this the result of going out with someone? Your brain turned to oatmeal as thick as what they served in the dining room, and you were unable to think about anything else but him? Did it work this way for guys, too?
Somehow I doubted it.
After classes were over, and before Lissa and I went down for supper, I opened my Mac notebook and checked my mail. Another note from Mom. One from each of my three brothers. Wow. One each from Kylie Omimura, my best friend from school in New York, and my cousin Kate Fong, who went to Choate. Both of whom I adored, but who were such perfect examples of talented Asian girls making their families proud that I always felt like the rude, noisy bumpkin Nai-Nai accuses me of being when she’s annoyed.
Nai-Nai has a hair-trigger temper, which means she’s annoyed a lot. One of the reasons I’m out here instead of staying at Brearley, or even going to Choate with Kate.
Don’t tell anyone I said that, okay?
To: kate.fong©choate.edu
From: GChang©spenceracad.edu
Date: February 12, 2009
Re: Re: winter blah
Hey, cuz, thanks for the note. Things are pretty busy around here—I’m taking AP Chem, Mandarin, English, and a bunch of other stuff, along with an advanced piano
For him, maybe it was.
He didn’t even hear me until I was practically next to him, and only then because I made my heels clack just a bit harder than usual.
“Oh,” he said. “Hey.”
“I haven’t seen you around much.” I shifted my backpack on my shoulder, trying to be casual. “Thought I’d stop in and make sure my sweater didn’t send you to the hospital after all.”
He flushed, and I kicked myself. Maybe pointing out a guy’s weaknesses was a faux pas.
Mouth, Gillian. Watch the mouth. Nai-Nai is right. You never stop talking
.
“You don’t have it around someplace, do you?” He pretended to look behind me. “Talk about a secret weapon guaranteed to bring a man to his knees.”
“His sneeze?” Puns are the lowest form of humor, but I can’t help it. Sometimes they beg to be said.
“That, too.”
Well, this didn’t sound like a guy who’d been avoiding me on purpose for almost two weeks. He’d even skipped prayer circle last week. Maybe he was busy with his experiments and studying for the Olympiad. “What do you have there?” I nodded at the screen.
“Oh, this.” He leaned back. “Two scientists my dad introduced me to at Stanford discovered a new star. I was just reading the paper on it.”
And some people think I’m a geek for doing chemical equations during my free period. At least that’s homework. This was recreational reading.
“I’ll leave you to it, then,” I said. “I’m just on my way to Mandarin and thought I’d look in on you.”
“I’m glad you did.” He swiveled in the chair and smiled, and my heart did this strange sideways beat in my chest. “IM me or something, okay?”
“Sure.” I smiled back and reluctantly got myself out of the lab, managing not to knock anything over with my backpack on the way. Maybe it wasn’t me after all, or my deadly tunic. Maybe it was just as simple as a guy being busy with his life.
You’d think Mandarin would be a no-brainer for me, since we speak it at home with Nai-Nai. But no. Is English class easy for you? Uh-huh. With Mandarin you still have to nail down grammar and vocab and remember inflections and tones, with the added pain of learning to write characters. Gracefully. With brushes. Kind of like learning Chaucer’s Middle English and then writing it out in perfect calligraphy with a feather quill.
So, bottom line, Mandarin isn’t the easiest thing to master on the best of days, never mind when your head is filled with a guy and the what-ifs and if-onlys. If Dad and Nai-Nai knew how I was messing up on the translation exercises Dr. Leung had just handed out, they’d be ashamed of me. Was this the result of going out with someone? Your brain turned to oatmeal as thick as what they served in the dining room, and you were unable to think about anything else but him? Did it work this way for guys, too?
Somehow I doubted it.
After classes were over, and before Lissa and I went down for supper, I opened my Mac notebook and checked my mail. Another note from Mom. One from each of my three brothers. Wow. One each from Kylie Omimura, my best friend from school in New York, and my cousin Kate Fong, who went to Choate. Both of whom I adored, but who were such perfect examples of talented Asian girls making their families proud that I always felt like the rude, noisy bumpkin Nai-Nai accuses me of being when she’s annoyed.
Nai-Nai has a hair-trigger temper, which means she’s annoyed a lot. One of the reasons I’m out here instead of staying at Brearley, or even going to Choate with Kate.
Don’t tell anyone I said that, okay?
To: kate.fong©choate.edu
From: GChang©spenceracad.edu
Date: February 12, 2009
Re: Re: winter blah
Hey, cuz, thanks for the note. Things are pretty busy around here—I’m taking AP Chem, Mandarin, English, and a bunch of other stuff, along with an advanced piano
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