This Girl Is Different by J. J. Johnson Read Free Book Online Page B

boosting
equivalent of ascending a Mayan pyramid.
    “How are classes so far?” Rajas asks, nearly shouting
to be heard over the din. Our table seems to be the
epicenter of the cafeteria.
    “Okay,” I shrug. “I’m a bit whiplashed from the newness
of it all. But so far, so good.”
    Across the table, Jacinda peels her orange and leans
into our conversation. “Ohmigod, stop being so modest!”
Turning to Rajas, she says, “You should have seen
her in Global View!”
    “Not a big deal,” I say, poking at my shredded iceberg
lettuce in its Styrofoam (Styrofoam! How has that
not been banned yet?) bowl.
    “Whatever! You totally went toe-to-toe with
Brookner!” She pulls off the last bit of orange peel and
picks at the white membrane. “Raj, will you please tell
Evie The Way of The Brookner? And more specifically,
his quotes?” She sections her orange and offers me a
piece. “Raj took Global View last year.”
    Rajas’s eyes widen. “Holy crap! You discussed the
quote?”
    “Not only discussed,” Jacinda squeals, “she wrote
her response
on the board
!”
    Rajas grins. “Nice.” He shakes his head and takes a
section of orange. “Be warned that Brookner takes
those quotes seriously.”
    Jacinda nods. “They are, like, his thing.”
    Rajas says, “It’s his intellectual gauntlet. He always
starts class with a quote. He’ll swear that he wants a
discussion, but really he just wants to explain it himself
and then jump into his lecture.”
    “That’s not true!” Jacinda comes to Mr. Brookner’s
defense.
    Rajas gives her a dubious look.
    “Well,” I say, “either way, people must discuss the
quotes with him all the time.”
    Rajas and Jacinda shake their heads, their gazes
sticking on me so their eyes roll side to side while they
say no. Rajas says, “Not really. Not until today, sounds
like.”
    “Well, that’s just weird,” I say. “I can’t be held responsible
for throwing down the gauntlet if I didn’t even
know that’s what I was doing.”
    “Now you do, though. Know, I mean,” says Jacinda.
She pops another piece of orange in her mouth and
turns to Rajas. “He seemed impressed. And slightly irritated.”
She spits out a seed into her napkin. Leave it to
Jacinda to make seed spitting look polished and ladylike.
“I wish it had been me sounding so smart about
his quote,” she sighs.
    Rajas leans toward me—and I almost drop my plastic
fork because Oh God he smells so good; today it’s
cinnamon and coffee beans and oranges. He speaks
into my ear, “Jacinda gets wiggy when it comes to
Brookner. She’s been lusting after him for a year.” He
says it in a kidding-but-not-really kind of way, and his
disapproval is clear.
    “Shut up! I can tell what you’re saying!” Jacinda
scrunches up her face; her eyes dart around our table.
People keep looking at us, but it’s so loud in here that I
don’t think anyone can hear our actual conversation.
Jacinda leans closer to me and says, “Okay, maybe I
have a crush—but you cannot tell anyone.”
    “Well, he does seem pretty cool. For a teacher.”
More interesting than any other teachers I’ve encountered
this morning. “Besides, who am I going to tell?
You two are the only people I know at this school.”
    Rajas lowers his voice to say something to
Jacinda, and I manage to catch a word or two:
I mean
it…careful…sketchy.
    Jacinda pouts. “Those are just rumors and you know
it.” She reaches into her purse and pulls out her phone.
    I take a forkful of salad. They’re talking about
Brookner—they must be—but I can’t catch the exact
words. Should I ask? Would that be too nosy? I’m still
debating when my phone buzzes in my pocket. I dig it
out and flip it open. I don’t have to look at the number
to know who it is. “I’m fine, Martha.”
    “Darling! I just wanted to check in. How’s it going?
It’s pretty slow here at the Mart of Wal.”
    Typical Martha: she calls to check on me but talks
about
her
day first. Gazing out