I twisted my lips, trying to come up with a reason to stop it but nothing seemed to be the right thing to say. I felt helpless, moving along with a plan they had already plotted.
Nathan got up on his knees on the floor. “I’m hungry. I’m going to go steal a sandwich, Kota.”
“There’s a couple of frozen ones in the freezer,” Kota suggested. “Heat it up in the microwave for a minute.”
Nathan pointed a finger at me. “Do you want one? I’ll bring you up one. I know you haven’t eaten yet.”
I’d forgotten about that. I glanced at Kota, unsure if I should.
“It’s perfectly fine,” Kota said.
Nathan disappeared down the stairs.
“Now,” Kota began after he left. “We should probably talk about school and your classes.”
“Classes?” Why were we talking about this? I looked at Gabriel but he was unreadable. Should we worry about this now? It did relax me though that they had seemed to move on from talking about what happened. I felt so terrible already, like I was causing them problems being around. It amazed me they were bothering. If they were willing to put up with me, I would do my best not to drag them down.
Kota nodded. “Registration is the day after tomorrow. Your parents will be taking you?”
I nodded. “My dad.”
Gabriel scooted over next to me. “Art class, right?”
I smiled at him. “If they don’t mind stick figures,” I whispered.
Kota got up to move to his desk and opened a drawer. He pulled out an envelope and brought it over. “This is the list of classes that will be available.”
He opened it to reveal several printed out pages. Some of the classes were highlighted in various colors.
“There’s the obvious,” he said. “English, geometry and a history class. Any particular interests there?”
I checked over the list. “What’s AP?”
“Applied. The more advanced classes.”
“The English one says they read novels?”
The corner of his mouth worked up into a smile. “I think it’ll be a pretty fast paced class. You’d have to read the required pages every day.”
“That’s not a problem,” I said. “Better than the text books.” I looked back at the papers he’d given me, but I could sense Gabriel and Kota exchanging looks. Was I being stupid? “Is the only Asian history class an AP class?” My voice failed with the last word, and I swallowed. Talking was taking a toll on my throat and it felt itchy. I wanted to cough but I didn’t want to worry them.
“I think that’s for seniors. There’s prerequisites before you can take it.”
“How about world history?” Gabriel asked.
“I guess so.”
Kota knelt next to me. His body was close to mine as he looked over my shoulder and I could feel his warmth and caught his spice scent. He seemed so focused that it didn’t appear to bother him. “There’s not too many class varieties, unfortunately. You’d be able to take the AP geometry without getting too bogged down.”
I smirked. “I want to take the AP geometry?”
“It’s the same numbers, they just go at slight slightly learning different speeds. Besides, you’ll share the class with Nathan or someone else most likely. I can help if you need.”
“What classes are you taking?”
He smiled. “Particle physics and the AP calculus, although I don't really need it. A refresher is always nice. They don't have anything better. I’ll probably take that AP English.”
“No advanced particle English?” I asked.
Gabriel rocked back with his hand on his chest and laughed. “If there was, he’d take it.”
“What’s so funny?” Nathan asked, coming up the stairs. He had two sandwiches in his hands wrapped in paper towels and a bottle of water under his arm. He handed me one of the sandwiches. “I hope you like chicken.”
I nodded, taking the bottle of water from him, too. He dropped himself into the window seat and opened a grilled chicken sandwich on a seeded bun.
“We’re figuring out what classes Sang wants to take,” Kota said. “We’ve got three down. We need three more.”
“There’s the gym glass we have to do,” Nathan said. He came across the room, reaching for the open bottle of water in my hand. He took a chug of water, swallowing and handing it back to me before he continued. “Might as well take it now.”
“I think they separate the boys and girls for that,” Gabriel said.
“Yeah, into groups but we’re all mixed together in that one gym at the same time. Like the boys get one half and the girls get the other.” Nathan took a bite of sandwich, chewing and then talked with food in his mouth. “I mean, if any one of us has the same class, we’re across the room.”
“Do I need to be in everyone’s same class?” I asked. The fresh water gave me a little voice back, just enough to do a notch above a stage whisper. I picked a piece of the bread off of my sandwich and eating it.
“There’s just a strong likelihood a lot of us will be paired up,” Kota said. “There’s a limited variety of classes and the number of us taking the same courses.”
I shrugged. So their goal with school was getting to as many of the same classes as possible. If that was the case, why was Kota taking separate classes? I supposed studying together would be nice. However, there was more to this. Gabriel and Nathan acted as if this was normal. This was how they functioned together. Kota took the lead and everyone worked on it. Did other students try to take all the same classes so they would most likely get paired up together?
I was going to take another bite of my sandwich when Gabriel reached over and took my wrist. He looked right at me, never wavering his gaze and then brought the sandwich to his face, with me holding it still, and took a small bite.
“Get your own sandwich,” Nathan said, tossing a crumpled up paper towel at him.
Gabriel dodged the paper. “I just wanted a taste.”
I giggled but I caught the look in Gabriel’s eye. I wondered if this was flirting. Was I supposed to say something?
Kota had a piece of paper in his hand, writing down notes. He slowly slid the glasses on his nose up by his forefinger. “That’s four classes,” Kota said. “Two more.”
“Science,” Gabriel said. “Chemistry.”
“I haven’t taken biology yet,” I said. “Last year at my old school, the class was filled. I’d need the biology since it’s a prerequisite.”
“She can take the typing class,” Nathan said.
“You make it sound like she’s going to be a secretary,” Gabriel said. “Maybe she should take a class in shorthand, too.
”
“That’s not what I meant,” Nathan said. “Don’t put words in my mouth. I was just saying it’s an easy class. Besides, there’s no homework and it’ll be an easy grade to boost her GPA early. Especially if you’re going to stick her into a couple of AP classes right off.”
“Three,” I said. “There’s an AP biology.” All of them looked at me. My cheeks heated up again. Did I say something silly? “Science is science. It’s not like the frog’s gut chart changes depending on the class you take.”
They all laughed.
The sound of a car pulling up distracted us.
“It must be Victor with the phone,” Kota said.
Victor was up the stairs in a few minutes. He held a bag in his hands. His cheeks looked a little flushed, like he had been in a hurry. He plopped down onto the floor next to me with the package. “I didn’t see a pink one,” he said. “But there was a pink case. It’ll protect the phone.”
I smiled shyly, unsure what to say. Thinking of a phone was one thing, but looking at the new bag in his hands, I felt my fingers trembling. “Thank you,” I said softly, unsure how to argue about having it now if he’s already went through the trouble to get it.
He took it out of the bag and then pulled the box apart. It was the latest iPhone, identical to the one he had.
“I thought I said just simple calling and texting,” Kota said. “What happened to inconspicuous?”
“It does text,” Victor said, his face tightening. “It also takes pictures and downloads apps. Sue me.” He handed me the phone.
The touch screen was super clean and the app dashboard was bare, except for Angry Birds.
“I filled in a few essentials on there,” Victor said. “I also put everyone’s phone number in there.’
It took me a moment to figure out which button held the phone numbers. I thumbed through the contacts page. “Including North and Luke?”
“You would have gotten those eventually, anyway,” Kota said.
“Who’s Blackbourne?”
Victor’s eyes went wide. I caught out of the corner of my eye the other boys looking directly at him and looking panicked. “Oh, sorry. Here, let me see that.”
He took the phone from me and pushed buttons until it was deleted.