“I bet it’ll be Ms. Burke, though.” Jess scrunches up her face as she says this. “Open your boooks, girls,” she adds in a high-pitched voice, imitating Ms. Burke’s country-tinged accent and causing Chaewon and me to burst out into a fit of giggles.
“Settle down.” Ms. Montgomery’s voice comes from the front of the room. The three of us manage to stifle our giggles and look up with smiles still tugging at the corners of our lips. “Good afternoon.”
“Good afternoon,” we chorus back.
Ms. Montgomery smiles and slides behind her desk.
“Well, Transition Year Business … this is the best time to put your practical skills to use.” She raises an eyebrow like she’s challenging us. “So you guys can put your books away for the moment.”
The entire class exchanges glances with one another. This suddenly feels like a Defense Against the Dark Arts class in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. All that’s left is for Ms. Montgomery to whip out a boggart.
As I’m bent down, trying to stuff my heavy Business book into my bag, I catch a glimpse of the dark brown curls that have suddenly become so familiar to me.
Flávia.
In this class.
She’s sitting quite a few rows in front of us, though. Suddenly I regret not siding with Chaewon.
“Did your head get stuck to your bag or something?” Chaewon whispers, poking me in the ribs. I sit up, feeling a blush creep up my neck once more.
“—and so,” Ms. Montgomery is mid-speech, but doesn’t seem to have noticed my lack of attention. “We’re going to spend a significant portion of this year working on a business project.” She puts more emphasis than necessary on the word project, like it’s something fancy instead of something we’ve done for pretty much every class we’re a part of.
“And we have some real businesses involved, offering prize money.”
That has everyone’s attention. There’s a palpable shift in the mood of the class. While before it was Ms. Montgomery droning on about something, now it’s Ms. Montgomery droning on about something that has prize money.
She seems to sense our increased attention, because there’s a smile tugging at her lips as she peers down at us. She pauses for a beat. A long beat. Like she’s trying to draw out the suspense.
“So we’ll be developing our very own businesses,” she says. “Groups or individuals. It’s your business, so you have to make the decision. And it will count for a large percentage of your Christmas exams.”
The class breaks out into a groan as she says this, but the ghost of a smile remains on Ms. Montgomery’s lips. Because, of course, she’s still holding back the information that we really want to know.
“The prize money … donated by the sponsors hosting this competition will be …”
We’re all holding our breath. Well, I am, at least. But I can feel the anticipation of my classmates in the air.
“A thousand euros.”
“A thousand euros is a lot of money,” Chaewon says by our lockers at the end of the school day. “Like … can you imagine winning that? You could do a lot with a thousand euros.”
“I could buy all of the video games I want,” Jess says in a half whisper, like an endless supply of video games is her idea of heaven.
“I think I’d put my money in a bank account and use it for when I really needed it, you know,” says Chaewon.
Jess and I sigh simultaneously.
“You have to be a little more creative than that. You have to treat yourself,” I say.
“Yeah, you’re not allowed to be such an adult yet. All this talk of banks and saving,” Jess adds.
“You sound like you’re forty.”
“Maybe even fifty.”
“Saving up is important,” Chaewon mumbles.
“Okay, but these are our fantasies, Chaewon. And fantasies can be anything you want them to be.”
“I guess, if I was being wild,” Chaewon begins thoughtfully.
“Really wild.” I nod encouragingly.
“Like, really, really wild,” Jess adds.
“… I would go on a holiday, maybe,” Chaewon says. “I mean, I’d want to go back to Korea. To visit, you know. But with a thousand euros … I’m not sure if that would be possible.”
“You could go on a holiday to somewhere in Europe,” Jess chirps happily, somehow unaware that a trip to Korea would be far more than a holiday. Even though Chaewon and Jess are best friends who keep no secrets from each other, Chaewon catches my eye this time. Like this is a secret we’re sharing that Jess has no inkling of. It’s only a moment.
Then Chaewon chuckles and says, “Yes, and I could bring the both of you, obviously.”
“That would be the best holiday,” Jess agrees
I’m thinking about how one grand would barely be enough for a trip to Bangladesh, too.
Priti has after-school study, which Ammu and Abbu cajoled her into doing, even though she doesn’t really need it. She studies enough at home.
But it means I get to wait at the bus stop all by myself The bright orange letters of the real-time screen announce ten minutes, eleven, then back to ten again in the space of just a few seconds. Dublin bus is as unreliable as ever.
“Where’s your sister?”
Flávia’s voice has the usual effect on me—it sends my heart into a rhythm that shouldn’t be humanly possible. What is she doing here?
If she’s at the bus stop, she’s probably also waiting for a bus home.
She slides onto the bench next to me, a question pasted onto her expression.
Right.
She asked me a question.
“My sister and I aren’t always together.” I don’t know why my voice comes out defensive—apparently Flávia does something to me that makes my mind react in the strangest ways.
“I know.” She chuckles, somehow not totally put off by my defensiveness. “Just … I feel like I haven’t seen you without her. Chyna says the two of you are joined at the hip.”
I’m not sure how to feel about that—first, that Flávia has been asking Chyna about me, and second that she might believe whatever Chyna tells her.
I cross my arms over my chest and glance at Flávia out of the corner of my eye, like that’ll tell me exactly what Chyna has been saying about me.
“So … where is she?” Flávia asks after a moment.
“After-school study. She’s doing the Junior Cert this year, so.” I shrug.
“Wow,” Flávia says, leaning back against the glass on the back of the bus stop. “She must be just like you, huh?”
“What?”
“You don’t remember? When we were in primary school, your favorite thing was sneaking off into the library when we were supposed to be in the schoolyard.” She turns to look at me with amusement flashing in her eyes, and I can feel heat rising up my cheeks.
I can’t believe she remembers that too. I’d almost forgotten.
In primary school, I was so terrified of the other girls. They already made fun of me for my slight accent, and for the fact that it took me a few tries to understand them because of their accents. They also pointed out that my food was weird, and smelled bad (though how anybody can think daal smells bad is still beyond me).