Mick
Everybody’s grabbing their stuff and booting it out of class. Friday afternoon. It’s always like that. I was slow copying down the notes, so I’m the last one to leave. Ms. Hamilton spots me going out the door and waves me over.
The new girl is standing beside her, so I’ve got a pretty good idea what this is about. The history test. Please don’t tell me I did as badly as some kid who barely speaks English.
“Relax, Mick. I’m not going to bite you.” Ms. Hamilton doesn’t look up.
She’s writing something in her agenda.
“The school board frowns on that sort of thing.”
She slaps down her pen and pushes the book aside. “I have a little favor to ask. You know Dalma?”
I say yes, but I don’t really, not unless knowing her name counts. She only started here a few days ago.
“Excellent! I just got a text from my son’s babysitter. He’s been in some sort of…altercation.” She pretends to growl. I’m not sure if she’s mad at the kid or the babysitter, or if she’s even really mad at all.
“I’ve got to run. Would you mind taking Dalma to the language lab for me? She’s supposed to meet her tutor there at three forty-five.”
“Sure. No problem.” Maybe I didn’t do as bad on the test as I thought.
Ms. Hamilton is already shoving her stuff into her briefcase. I’m not sure Dalma is following what’s going on. She looks like she’s still a little worried about the teacher biting me. Ms. Hamilton nods at her and smiles. “That okay with you?”
Before Dalma can answer, Ms. Hamilton has switched off the lights and hustled us out the door. “Thanks, Mick,” she says. “You’re a peach!”
She’s halfway down the hall when she turns around. “Oh, sorry. Better tell her what that means, Mick.”
Then she’s gone. I can hear her high heels clacking down the hall. She really picks up speed when she gets out of sight. Something about that seems funny to me. I sort of chuckle. Dalma does too, although I don’t know if we’re laughing at the same thing.
“This way,” I say and point toward the east stairs. It feels really formal, like I’m showing her to her seat in a fancy restaurant. She nods. We start walking.
We’re quiet for a while, and then Dalma says, “Peach?” It takes me a second to understand what she’s talking about. She brings her hand in front of her mouth as if she’s holding a ball and pretends to take a bite.
“Oh, right,” I say. “Yeah. That’s it. Peach.”
“You are peach?” She laughs. A big loud “ha!” It surprises me. I laugh at her laugh, then try to cover it up by sounding like I’m laughing at her joke. I say, “No, that’s not what it means exactly.”
She wipes her hand across her forehead like she’s going, “Phew!” Her eyes are so brown, they’re practically black. The hall lights leave little white squares in them.
“So what it mean exactly?”
I rub the back of my neck and try to explain. “It means I’m, like, a good guy.”
“You are?”
“Well, that’s what it means. I don’t know if I am or not.”
She pretends to be shocked.
“You don’t know you are a good guy? You are maybe bad guy?”
My face is hot. “No, no. I’m good.”
“Therefore I am safe with you?”
I laugh. “Yes, you are safe with me.”
I’m just realizing she’s kind of pretty when I see Jade coming out of Mr. Panjvani’s class. I jerk like someone snapped me with an elastic band.
Dalma notices. “Something is not good?” she says.
“No, no. It’s nothing.” It’s been over a month since we broke up. Jade said she didn’t want a relationship. I can talk to another girl if I want.
“Mick, hey!” Jade scurries over. I don’t know what to do with my face. She kisses my cheek.
My forehead suddenly feels really itchy. Dalma looks back and forth between the two of us. Jade clicks her fingernails on her binder.
“Um. This is Dalma. She’s new. I’m just taking her to the language lab.” I sound guilty. I didn’t need to say where we’re going.
“Oh, hi, I’m Jade!” Big smile, handshake. She seems okay. “New? From where?”
“My country?”
“Yes.”
“Croatia.”
“Wow! Long way. I hear it’s beautiful.”
“Yes. Very beautiful.”
Jade asks about her family and how well Dalma knows the city and if she likes school and if she’s having any trouble getting around or finding places to shop. Jade should speak a little slower.
The clock in the hall reads 3:42.
“Ah, we better get going,” I say. “The tutor’s waiting.”
“Can I take her?” Jade asks. “I’m going right past the lab anyway, and it’d give me a chance to tell her about the Newcomers Club.”
I shrug. It’s not my decision.
Jade smiles at Dalma to see if it’s okay with her.
Dalma looks at me.
Jade says, “He won’t mind!” She takes Dalma’s arm and starts walking away. “You heard about the Newcomers Club? Every second Thursday in the multipurpose room, three-thirty to five. We’re here to make arriving students feel welcome.”
Jade seems to remember me at the last minute. “Oh, sorry. Bye, Mick!”
She blows me a kiss. Dalma makes this goofy face, like “What’s going on here?” I shrug again. I don’t know.
On the way home, I realize I didn’t ask about Gavin. I figure he must be doing okay. Jade seemed happy.