Chapter Nineteen #3
But she is already moving toward me, sitting on the arm of the couch. “You know, I kind of already know who you are. You’re, like, famous at my school.”
I grimace. “I am?”
“Oh yeah,” she says. “You were the Grand Supreme spelling champion three times in a row! Plus, you’re really pretty, so every time I see you, like that time in Jason’s hospital room, I remember. I like your braids. Are you popular in high school?”
I’m not sure how any of those things are related, and I shoot Marcus a look for help. “Thanks, and I guess?”
“Oh, she’s popular,” Marcus says with a twinkle in his eyes.
“Sweet,” she says. “I really need someone to…” She trails off as she squints at her phone. Then she tucks it into her pink purse and resumes the conversation. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude. I’m so glad you’re here and you’re normal because Marcus is not.”
“Here or normal?” I ask, teasing.
“I wish I wasn’t here,” he says with a half-embarrassed groan.
“I wish he was normal.” Marcus’s sister sighs deeply. “I’ve been worried because obviously I’m starting high school, like, tomorrow…”
“You are?” I say, trying to do the math. If she’s ten…
“Okay, not tomorrow, but I have to start planning, you know?” she says solemnly. “I know what happens to kids who aren’t popular. They get stuffed in lockers and their head gets flushed down a toilet.”
“How many times have I told you that movies are not real life?” Marcus says, but she ignores him.
“I obviously need to be preparing, so I asked Marcus but he said he doesn’t know what’s cool for girls to wear. If I turned up at school dressed like him, I think I would die.”
I laugh. She just might be the spunkiest ten-year-old I’ve ever met.
“Oh, absolutely.” I lean forward, enjoying playing along. “The other day he wore a beanie to school.”
“No!” she gasps. “I’d die.”
We hear the sound of a car pulling up in front of the house.
“You should give me your number so we can touch base,” Joey says.
“Touch base?” I say, trying not to laugh. I’m concerned about her cultural references.
“No,” Marcus says before either of us can move. “Nope. No exchanging numbers.”
“Why?” She sulks. “If this is about my phone bill from last month, I told Dad I was sorry, and he’s already punishing me by making me eat a banana every morning.”
“No, it’s about your incessant need to talk innocent people’s ears off.”
Joey looks chastened as she heads to the front door.
“Don’t worry. We’ll keep in touch,” I promise her before she leaves.
“Text when you get there safe,” Marcus calls out.
“It’s five minutes away!” she protests.
“Great. So I’ll expect a text in five minutes.” Joey glares at her brother. “Four minutes and fifty seconds.”
“Aaargh,” she says, then squeals as her friend runs at her. Their high-pitched excited voices drift toward us before Joey yells one last “Bye, Marcus!” and then the front door slams shut.
“Wow,” I say.
“Obviously, you don’t really have to keep in touch,” Marcus says before I have the chance to say anything else. “Thanks for seeming so into everything she was saying.”
“I was into everything she was saying. She’s feisty.”
Marcus gives me a wary look, and then he seems to relax. “She has a hard time at school because, as you can tell, she’s a little intense, and ten-year-olds are brutal.”
Marcus tells me how last year Joey would talk about nothing but horses even though she is allergic to them.
How her best friend, Stella, is a self-professed “fashion guru” and how together they’re on a mission to spread pink far and wide.
Everything about Joey sounds delightful, but especially the way Marcus’s face lights up when he talks about her.
It reminds me of the Marcus I met last July.
“Dad and I are, like, ogres. Who knows if we’re doing or saying any of the right things to her?”
I laugh, but the obvious amount of love Marcus has for his sister makes my heart melt.
“I know I just met her,” I say, even though I’m not sure it’s my place, “but she honestly seems like she’s going to be just fine to me. Which tells me that you and your dad are doing an amazing job with her.”
Marcus ducks his head. “Thanks,” he says a little shyly. “Should we go back to mind melding?”
“I actually just remembered—there’s this one bookstore I forgot to put on your list. My dad was friends with the owner.”
Marcus wanders over as I pull up the website on my phone, then draft an email to the owner.
His face is inches away from mine, his breath warm.
If I leaned just the slightest bit to the left, we would be touching.
A slightly different angle, and we would be kissing.
The idea is…not repulsive, and I immediately feel guilty.
But then the same thought I had when Joey was here hits me: I’m not anyone’s girlfriend.
But Marcus, Zadie?
He’s the worst…or so I thought.
“You smell good,” he says, voice husky, a second before I can break the spell by saying something stupid.
He’s Jason’s cousin.
My heart pirouettes in my chest.
“Thanks,” I say. “Let’s get back to business.”