2

Brand-New . . . Who?

“AND THEN LANI’S BROTHERS came in,” JC was saying, eyes wide, “and Manny waved, and Kai was like, ‘JC, right?’ And I could not believe he knew my name.”

“Well, we go to the same school, and their sister just visited you over the weekend,” I pointed out, tilting the phone as I stretched out on the front room couch. The sun had gone, and headlights left smudgy streaks in the dimness as cars drove by. “It would be kind of weird for them to not know.”

“Well, I know that,” JC said, lowering her chin. “But it was still cool.”

“It is,” I said, not in the mood to argue. “It is cool. They could have waited out in the hall or something, and not even talked to you. It’s nice that they came in. They seem, um, . . . nice.”

At my agreement, JC’s smile returned, and she fiddled with the thin gold necklace she always wore. “They are! They’re super nice. Not like most seventh-grade boys.”

I didn’t really know any seventh-grade boys, so I stayed quiet. Three weeks ago, I wouldn’t have thought JC knew any seventh-grade boys either.

JC rushed on, waving her hands. “Get this—Mr. Camacho brought my parents coffee and a bag of custard doughnuts, which was amazing! I couldn’t eat anything, but Mrs. Camacho said they’d bring me something when I get an appetite. She is so sweet.”

I took a quick breath to agree and choked on a cough. I coughed and coughed some more. My voice sounded like a cement grinder with a granite mountain in it. “Sorry.”

“You sound like a dog barking,” JC said.

“I’m fine,” I gasped. “At least I’m not sneezing as much anymore.”

I’d been saying that for the last two days. I didn’t even have a fever, but Mom wouldn’t let me go back to school. So far, my coughing had interrupted the conversation three times now.

“Anyway, that’s not even the best thing,” JC said. “Dr. Cho says if all the scans look clear, I can go home on Friday!”

“Already?” My voice squeaked, and I cleared my throat to force it back down to normal levels. “That’s great!” On the upside, I wouldn’t be seeing my bestie with tubes in her nose and stuff. On the downside, I’d missed the whole hospital thing.

“I know, right? If everything stays good, they’ll let me come back to school in time for WinterFest!”

“By WinterFest? That’s amazing! It’s only three mo—” I held my breath as a tickle caught in my throat. It didn’t work. The cough exploded out of me, and this time my eyes watered, my nose dripped, and my mom came into the living room with a glass of water.

“Sorry,” I croaked to JC again. I slumped against the arm of the couch, trying to feel around for my box of tissues.

“That’s okay,” JC said, looking worried, as if the germs could get through the phone. “Listen, I should go anyway. Lani’s going to call, and we’re going to watch Modern Diva. It’s on in ten.”

“What?” I said, my voice crackling. “You watch Modern Diva? Since when?”

“Oh, I started binge-watching past episodes last week. Lani and Ginger caught me up on the story line. It’s completely addicting.”

“Oh,” I said kind of stupidly. Leilani watched Modern Diva too? I cleared my throat and gave a fake cough. “Well, I should go too. Mom’s probably going to say I should rest my voice before I keep doing practice vlogs anyway.”

“You probably should,” JC said. “Later, Gator.”

“Yeah, bye.”

I stared at the blank screen on the phone, not really seeing it.

I know my bestie. She doesn’t like trash TV. She doesn’t like talking on 2Face while she’s trying to watch something. Or, at least, she didn’t.

Who knows what JC likes now? Maybe she got more than a new kidney at the hospital. Maybe she got a new personality too.

Huh.