On Saturday afternoon, Josh called to tell me he’d be over at

7:00 to pick me up. He also said that another couple would be joining us. I was happy to hear about the other couple. Now the plans seemed less like a date and more like a group of friends going out.

That night I was too excited for dinner. My entire body felt the anticipation. Rachel seemed to understand when I took my plate to the sink while the rest of the family was still eating.

In the bathtub, I sank into deep warm water, letting my hair fan out around me. I wasn’t doing anything wrong, I told myself. Josh and I were going out as friends. And Daniel wasn’t my beau, so I wasn’t exactly betraying him. Still, the earnest look on Daniel’s face as I had unwrapped the wood carving kept slipping into my thoughts.

Later, as I was putting on the jean jacket, Rachel knocked softly on my door. “You look beautiful,” she said. “Thank you.” I tried to remember if I’d ever heard those words spoken to me. “Actually, there is one thing I need help with,” I said. “At home we always pull our hair back or wear it in braids. But here I see girls with their hair arranged all different ways.”

Rachel gave an eager kind of smile, and I found myself staring into a mirror again, this time with Rachel standing behind me. I wondered what my mother would think of all this time I’d been spending gazing at my own image. “You have such pretty hair,” Rachel said. “I think it would look nice down.” My hair was still damp from the bath. One day I hoped to learn how to use a hair dryer, but for now it would just have to dry on its own, as it always did. I felt the brush pull through the curly layers, and watched in the mirror as Rachel arranged pieces over my shoulders and down my back.

I blinked at my reflection. It felt free to have my hair untethered. “I like it,” I said. But what I was thinking in a silent, private part of me was, I’m pretty.

When the doorbell rang, the chime went right through me. I grabbed my purse and went downstairs. Sam had already answered the door, and I could see Josh’s now-familiar figure beside two other people.

Josh smiled as I stepped toward them. He was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved blue shirt that buttoned down. The first few buttons were open, exposing a white T-shirt underneath. He pointed to the boy and girl beside him, each staring at me curiously.

“This is Greg,” he said. Greg’s skin was the color of dark caramel, and his fuzzy brown hair was clipped close to his head. His clothes—faded jeans and a shirt the green of a duffel bag—hung on him in a smart way. Until now I had only seen black people from a distance in town. I tried not to stare at him. “Hey,” he said, his voice deep and mellow.

“Hey,” I answered back, feeling suddenly shy. My hand was engulfed in the firmness of his handshake, and I smiled at his friendliness.

“And this is Valerie,” Josh said.

Valerie’s hair fell over her shoulders, straight as string, a mix of yellow shades as though someone had painted it unevenly. Her eyelashes were so dark they looked like they had been coated with shoe polish. She wore a black T-shirt with a deep V-neck, tucked into a flouncy red skirt. The skirt settled above her knees, showing off her long lean legs. On her feet were strappy black sandals.

I had worked so hard to put together the outfit I was wearing, and now it looked simple and bulky next to Valerie’s sleek clothes.

“So, I hear you’re Aimish,” said Valerie.

Greg groaned. “Jeez, Val.”

“I’m sorry. Was it supposed to be a secret?”

“It’s okay, I am Amish,” I said, careful to show her the correct pronunciation. “And, no, it’s not a secret.”

“Well, you don’t look it,” said Valerie, who seemed unaware of the glances that Greg and Josh were exchanging over her head. “I mean, where’s your bonnet and your apron? You look just like the rest of us.” I wasn’t sure if this was a compliment, but I liked the idea that I fit in.

In the car, Valerie and Greg slid into the backseat, leaving the front seat for me. Valerie leaned forward into the space between

Josh and me. “So, really,” she said. “no cell phones, no Facebook?”

I turned, feeling the seat belt shift with my movements. Greg was wincing at Valerie’s questions, but he looked as though he, too, wanted to know the answers. “Hey, Val,” Josh called into the backseat. “This isn’t a reality show.” Everyone in the car laughed, so I did too.

“It’s all right,” I said. I didn’t mind the questions or this girl’s surprising boldness. Valerie was all on the surface. You didn’t have to look too far to know her, and there was something appealing about that.

A few minutes later, we parked in a big lot and joined the messy line gathered outside the building. Josh and Greg reached into their back pockets for their wallets and exchanged money for tickets. When we got inside, Greg turned to Valerie. “You and Eliza can find seats while we get the popcorn.” Valerie nodded, accepting the two tickets Greg handed her. Again I followed, still dazed by the number of people and all the steps involved. Valerie led me down a carpeted hallway, past a series of doors, each posting a sign with the title of the movie that was being played behind it. I had thought there would be one theater showing one movie, but instead I found a richness of choices. I wondered how Josh had picked this movie and which other ones he had decided not to see.

Inside the theater, a slanted floor held chairs in perfectly spaced lines. Valerie seemed to know exactly where to go, marching down the sloping aisle toward a row of seats in the middle. I followed her down the row, turning sideways as she did, and watched as she pulled down a seat and flopped into it. I stopped beside her, but Valerie pushed out her hand before I could sit. “Not here,” she said. “We have to sit boy-girl-boy-girl.”

I moved one seat over and turned to face Valerie while we waited for the boys. “You’re looking at my teeth, aren’t you?” she asked. She was right: I couldn’t help myself. They were so unnaturally white.

She flung her hair back, away from her face, and stretched her lips so each tooth was in full view. “They were getting kind of yellow, so I bleached them.”

“I beg your pardon?” I thought that maybe I hadn’t heard correctly.

“It’s just these strips you put on your teeth to whiten them.”

“Well. They look very nice.”

Valerie nodded her satisfaction. “I know, right?” Valerie’s eyes were on me now. “So, how did this work? On your first day in town, Josh just breezed in?”

“He was mowing the lawn,” I said. “He knows the people I work for.” Valerie nodded, but she was still staring at me.

“Your eyelashes,” she said. “What do you use on them?”

“Excuse me?”

“They’re so dark. I’m guessing you don’t have mascara where you come from.”

I shook my head. I couldn’t tell if she was giving me a compliment or criticizing me.

“Lucky you,” she said. I still couldn’t tell.

At that moment, Josh and Greg returned, Greg sidestepping around my knees to sit in the chair between Valerie and me. Josh sat in the seat at my right, holding an enormous container of popcorn and a paper cup of Coke almost as big.

For a few minutes, Josh and I didn’t talk. We reached into the warm bucket of popcorn, our fingers bumping together, and I listened to the chatter around us. The cup of Coke sat in an opening at the end of the armrest we shared.

Then the lights dimmed gradually, the murmuring voices began to quiet, and the large screen at the front of the room glowed white. Colorful images appeared like on the television shows that the children called “cartoons.” A large popcorn box, equipped with a face, arms, and legs, waited outside of a cartoon movie theater. Bouncy music played as the box smiled and reached out his hand to a cup of Pepsi. “Is this the movie?” I whispered to Josh.

“It better not be,” he said, grinning. “It’s just something to make us buy popcorn and turn off our phones.”

The picture faded away, and another one replaced it. This time, horses filled the screen, their hooves drumming up dust on the road and flooding the theater with a thunderous rumbling. A man’s low voice spoke over the pounding hooves, telling a story about an old Western town. “Is this the movie?”

“No,” whispered Josh. “This is a preview. To get you to see the next movie.”

I took another sip of Coke and settled back in the chair and watched two more previews. Soon the screen went dark again, and there was an audible sense of settling in the theater. The fidgeting and whispering died down as the screen lit up, and the words

“The Best Bet” appeared. Music played, and the movie began.

What I couldn’t get over was how gigantic it was. Everything was spread grandly on the wall before us, hugely magnified. Music surrounded us, lacing through the background, even while the people on the screen were talking. Soon the gigantic people on the screen became part of a plot, like the elements of a novel that I could see right in front of me.

The story focused on one awkward girl who didn’t bounce around with the fluid grace of the other girls. Her clothing was baggy, her eyeglasses thick and foggy, and her hair lank. To the girl’s surprise, a suntanned boy with a swaggery step asked her out on a date. She was excited and nervous, so the graceful girls took her under their wing, replacing her shapeless clothes with clingy fabrics, styling her limp hair, adorning her face with colors, replacing her foggy glasses with tiny lenses that sat right on top of her eyes.

Each of the characters began to encounter frustrating complications and misunderstandings. It turned out that the suntanned boy had lost a wager, which was why he had asked the shy girl out to begin with. The shy girl, basking in her new popularity, was suddenly looking more like the other girls, so the boy who had taken her out only because he had lost a bet was beginning to feel that maybe he’d won something after all.

But things began to get tangled up. One of the girls told the shy girl about the bet, causing her to burst into heartbroken tears. A friend of the boy vowed to help her make the boy jealous by dating the shy girl himself and flaunting their new relationship in front of his suntanned face. But secretly, this boy had always liked the shy girl. And though he didn’t care for all the colors on her face, or the fact that she looked so much like the other girls now, he was hoping that she’d come to see him as more than a friend.

I sat back in the velvety chair, chewing popcorn and sipping Coke, so close to Josh that our arms pressed against each other on the armrest we shared. It was amazing that I actually began to care what happened to the people on the screen. Too soon it was over, and everything was tidier than when it had begun, each character coupled with the person who was most like them. A lively song burst out as the characters faded into blackness, the lyrics of the song neatly fitting the story. Lights filled the theater, and everyone around me started getting up, the velvety seat cushions popping against the seat backs. Murmuring voices surrounded me, and I could feel Josh watching me.

“So?” he said. “What did you think?”

But there were no words to describe the way the sounds had enveloped me, and the story had twisted and turned until I felt like I was inside of it. Now they were all watching me, waiting to hear if I had liked my first movie. I smiled. “I’ve never had a better time.”

Outside, I blinked in the darkness. I realized that I had missed seeing the sun set and the day ebb away, but it was a small price to pay for such magic.

“Where to now?” asked Greg. I didn’t know that we would be doing anything else, and I waited to hear what would happen next.

“There’s a guitar player at the Bean Scene tonight. Is that okay with you, Eliza?” Josh asked.

I nodded happily. It turned out that the Bean Scene was close to Rachel’s house. I recognized the street where she had taken me to show me the library. Inside, the air was thick with the smell of coffee, and the room was filled with small wooden tables and an occasional overstuffed chair that looked like it belonged in someone’s living room. In a far corner, a man with a long brown ponytail strummed a guitar.

Valerie signaled to me with a toss of her head. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s treat.” She ordered drinks and brownies for all of us, and I gave her a bill, unsure of how much to contribute. She paid the cashier, handed me some change, and picked up the tray. I followed behind her. For the next few minutes we were all busy getting our coffees just right, with sugar and milk and great clinking stirs, before settling back in the wooden chairs.

The coffee was hot and bitter, but it spread an odd comfort through me, and I curved my fingers gratefully around the heavy mug. I was having a good time, but it was a nervous good time. I felt one minute away from doing or saying the wrong thing.

“So,” Valerie said, setting her mug on the table and studying me, “how do you like wearing regular clothes?”

I smiled, thinking that, to me, my Amish clothes were regular. I mentally scanned my new wardrobe, which had once seemed so vast, but was now inadequate. “I feel like I don’t have enough.”

“Welcome to my world,” Valerie said. Then she paused, her face brightening with an idea. “Do you want to go to the mall with me sometime? I’m always happy for an excuse to shop.”

I nodded. “I’d like that.” A warm feeling filled me. I wanted clothes like Valerie’s, and I wanted her to help me pick them out. “And maybe you can show me the fruit stand where Josh works.”

There was a second of silence, just enough time to make me feel uneasy. “Josh doesn’t work at a fruit stand,” she said.

I could feel Josh and Greg exchanging glances. I cleared my throat, knowing that I was about to make things worse. “I thought he worked at an apple store.”

Valerie erupted into snorty laughter. Heat spread across my cheeks.

Josh’s voice was gentle. “I work at a computer store,” he explained. “The name of the company is Apple.”

I took a breath, wondering if it was possible to die from awkwardness. Valerie’s laughter dissolved into breathy gulps.

“Come on, Val,” said Greg. “How would Eliza know?” I looked up at him gratefully. His brown eyes met mine for a moment, and I could see the kindness there.

Josh was shaking his head. “Sorry, Eliza.”

“That’s okay,” I said, eager to get the attention away from me. “I have to admit that I couldn’t picture you selling fruit.” Josh smiled at me, and I smiled back.

Then I heard a musical sound—not a song, exactly, but something like chimes with a tune.

Valerie reached into her pocket and pulled out a cell phone. “Hey,” she said, putting it to her ear. After a few seconds of silence she said, “We’re just hanging out.”

Greg and Josh were taking big bites from their brownies, not paying attention to Valerie or her conversation with an invisible party. “Not tonight, I have a curfew. ’Kay, see ya.”

Valerie snapped the phone shut and shoved it back into her pocket. “Carly wants to know if we’re partying later.” The word ‘party’ sounded ominous when it was used as a verb.

I took another sip of the cooling coffee. The guitar player continued to strum, his music filling the background of the chatter around us. I took the last bite of my brownie, feeling myself relax. I knew that while I was here I would always be on the edge of saying something silly, but I also knew that I could recover. Awkwardness wasn’t fatal, after all. Valerie was entertaining us with a lively story of why she had a curfew. Apparently she had sneaked out of the house last weekend, and when she crept back in at a small hour of the morning, her father was sitting in her room waiting for her. Valerie laughed in her snorting way as she told the story, and we all laughed with her, but I had a feeling that it hadn’t been very funny when it happened.

“Great,” Greg said. “They’ll never let me into your house again.” Then he added, “Of course, for the record, my parents think it was all Valerie’s fault.”

There was another burst of laughter, and then Valerie went silent, glancing at me in a cautious way. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” said Valerie. “You must think I’m pretty shady. A good girl like you.”

I thought I saw Josh roll his eyes at her, but I couldn’t be sure. “Not really,” I said, smiling. “I’m guessing you think I’m good because I’m Amish, but we get into trouble just like you do.” I paused and added, “We can be shady, too.”

Valerie leaned forward. “What kind of trouble?”

“We go to parties and stay out late. Sometimes we go around with people our parents don’t want us with.” I paused before adding, “There are kids with drug problems.”

There was a moment of quiet. “Really?” asked Valerie, urging me on.

“Really,” I said, suddenly feeling important. “I know one boy who spent a year in jail for dealing.” I always felt a little wistful when I thought about Thomas. He wasn’t a bad boy, really. He had just gotten caught up with a wild group.

Everyone was leaning forward now. Valerie’s voice burst out of her. “Shut up!”

I smiled and answered in a way I’d heard the children respond. “No, you shut up!”

“Actually,” Josh said, through a fresh burst of laughter, “I think we’d all better shut up if we’re going to get Valerie home before her curfew.”

We pulled up to Valerie’s house a few minutes later, and she opened her door. “Well, it was great meeting you, Eliza.” She started to get out of the car, then turned back. “What about tomorrow?” she asked.

“Tomorrow?”

“For shopping. I need some summer clothes. Do you want to go to the mall?”

“Is it open on Sunday?” I asked.

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Yes,” I said, my heart pounding in a peculiar way. “I’d love to go with you. Sunday is my day off.”

“Great! I’ll pick you up at noon.”

I watched as Valerie and Greg walked to the front door together, his arm draped over her shoulder. On the porch, Greg pulled Valerie into a tight embrace, their lips clamping together. I turned my head away and found Josh watching me.

“So, shopping with Valerie. Are you sure you’re ready for that?”

I smiled. “No, I don’t think I am.”

“Well, good luck,” he said with a grin. Then he paused before saying, “Hey, can we do this again?”

I thought for a minute. Daniel and I had agreed that we weren’t courting. He was free to be with other girls. Maybe he was even with Hannah right now.

“Yes, I’d like that.”

“So would I,” said Josh. He leaned toward me and placed his lips on mine for the briefest moment. It happened too fast. When Greg opened the door and Josh pulled back, I was disappointed that it had ended.