FOUR
The next day at school, I saw Kimberley alone getting some books from her locker, so I quietly approached her and stood right behind the open locker door. When she shut the door I greeted her with a huge grin.
“Hi!”
Unfortunately, I had startled her and she jumped in surprise.
“Jesus! What is wrong with you?!”
“Well, I have a phobia of cotton wool, I can’t cook to save me life, and I bite me nails when I’m nervous.”
“What are you talking about?”
Seeing that she wasn’t getting me sense of humour, I decided to change the subject.
“So, when d'ya want to get together to work on the chemistry project?”
I was surprised to see her smile, but then I noticed it was a kind of wicked smile.
“Oh, we won’t be doing that.” She said and started walking away. I followed her.
“Why?” I asked surprised.
“Coz I’m on my way right now to Mrs. Gomez to ask her to assign us other partners.” She said with a satisfied smile.
“I wouldn’t bother, if I were you.”
“and why is that?”
“Cause she never changes her list once it’s made unless you have a really really good reason. A lot of brave souls have tried before you but none have succeeded.”
"We’ll see about that.” she smirked.
****
We had gotten to the lab and as Kimberley was about to knock on the door, Mrs. Gomez came out. She took one look at us and said firmly:
“I’m not assigning you new partners!” taking Kimberley completely by surprise.
She was a smart woman Mrs. Gomez.
“B-But we didn’t say anything yet?” said Kimberley.
“Isn’t it what you wanted to ask?”
“Yes. But…”
"There you go. And do you have a good reason?”
“Well… it’s…” stammered Kimberley.
“What about you Cheryl?” Mrs. Gomez was a very busy woman and required fast answers.
“No problem here, Mrs. Gomez.” I answered quickly.
“Then that settles it. Good day girls.” She said and started walking away.
“No, wait. I have a good reason.”
FIVE
“No, wait. I have a good reason.” Kimberley made a last desperate attempt.
Mrs. Gomez stopped, let out a sigh and turned back to us.
“Well?” she asked impatiently.
“Erm, I don’t think Cheryl would feel very, euh, comfortable working on this project with me.”
I couldn’t see where she was going with this.
“And why is that?” asked Mrs. Gomez.
“Well, erm, because of the, um, difference of opinion concerning racism??”
Mrs. Gomez looked at her wide eyed for a second, then at us and suddenly burst out laughing. And she turned and walked away still laughing pretty hard, causing a few students to look at her weirdly.
Well, I guess her reaction was quite natural since she had met my parents last year. Duh, how could I be racist when me dad was black?
Kimberley stared at her a bit stunned then shook her head and said: “This is a very weird school.”
Then she turned to us and I gave her a wide smile. She just frowned at us, rolled her eyes in annoyance and walked away. I followed her.
“So, when do you want to get started on the project?” I asked, tracing her footsteps. She sighed in exasperation.
“I don’t know, whenever.”
“How about tomorrow after school?”
“Fine, whatever.”
“Me place or yours?”
“For God’s sake!" Kimberley stopped and turned to us with anger. Her nostrils flared. Damn she looked sexy when she was mad.
“Can we decide tomorrow?”
“erm, sure.”
Just then Mrs. Gomez came round the corner of the hallway and she was with another teacher. She saw us and whispered something to the other teacher who looked at us and burst out laughing as they walked by.
Kimberley looked on stunned.
“What inappropriate behavior! How can she take such a serious matter so lightly?”
I felt pity for Kimberley. She was new and didn’t know about me parents. So I tried to explain.
“Well, you see, it’s because me dad is…” but she quickly interrupted us.
“Look, I don’t know who your dad is or what he does and I don’t care.”
“But…”
“Just because we’re doing this stupid project together doesn’t mean we’re suddenly BFFs.”
“I know that, but…”
“So,” she said more sternly, “I don’t care to know anything about your family, what your hobbies are, when you get your period or anything like that. Are we clear?”
“Crystal.”
“Good.” And with that said she turned and walked away. I just stood there and watched her go.
If she thought she was discouraging me, she was so wrong.
SIX
Next day, when school ended, I waited for her outside. She came out talking with her friends and when she saw us she rolled her eyes in annoyance as she remembered how she was spending her afternoon. She told them bye and walked over to us.
“Hi!” I greeted her with a huge grin.
“Hey.” She barely answered and kept on walking. I followed her. “So, my place or yours?” I asked.
“Definitely mine. I wouldn’t want your parents to feel uneasy around me.” Replied Kimberley cynically. Okay, I argued to get noticed, I agree, but that not only earn me a racist title, it seemed to have earned me family the same.
“Oh they won’t mind.” I assured her. Actually me mam was thrilled cause I finally tidied up me room yesterday just in case we decided on me place.
“They all say that.” Said Kimberley sarcastically. Then she stopped and turned to us. “Unless you’re not comfortable coming to my house?”
“Because we have difference in opinion? No, not at all.”
“Yeah, well, my mum’s at work so you don’t have to worry anyways. We’ll be alone and you'd have only one Walsh to put up with”
Alone with Kimberley. I didn’t know if I should’ve been excited or nervous about that. I guess I was both, and let me tell you, it is not a good combination.
"Me car’s over there.” I pointed to the old red convertible beetle in the now practically empty parking lot.Kimberley looked at it weirdly.
“That’s your car?” she asked.
“Yup.”
“What daddy and mummy didn’t buy you a new one?” she said sardonically.
“It’s actually more like a hand me down from me older sister.”
"Does it at least run?”
“Oh yeah! Dad and I work on it almost every weekend and keep it in tip top shape.” Kimberley turned and gave us a weird look. “What?” I asked.
“I can’t believe you just said Tip Top shape.” She said with a small laugh. Well, it was more of a smirk but I found it very cute how her mouth slightly curved up. God, I had it bad.
I walked with her over to the passenger seat. She stopped in her tracks when she noticed I was following her.
“What are you doing?”
“Um.. I was just getting the door for you.”
"I can manage.”
“Yeah.. of course.. .” I said nervously. What on earth made us think I can pull that move on her. Now she probably thinks I’m weird.
“Do you prefer if I put the top up?” I asked.
“Why? Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?” she asked sarcastically.
“Well, it depends.” I answered.
“On what?!”
"Does your hair get all crazy looking at 40mph?”
She just gave us an annoyed look.
“You’re too weird, Jeezus.”
Well, no need to wonder anymore. She definitely thinks I’m weird.
A few minutes later, in front of Kimberley’s house.
“Oh my god! I can’t believe we made it in one piece!” said Kimberley as she scurried out of me car.
"Oh come on. My driving wasn’t that bad.”
“Not THAT bad?! Are you kidding me?! You almost got us killed! Twice!!”
“That first guy appeared out of nowhere.” I said in me defense.
“What about the second guy?”
“Oh he was driving like a maniac.”
“He was parked!!” shouted Kimberley.
“Well I think I’m doing quite well. I mean, I only just got me license last month.” I said proudly.
“Now you tell me?! How do you do it? You climb into your car, you point your nose to the direction you want to take and you smash your foot on the accelerator?!”
"Come on, that’s silly. I look sideways before doing that.” I joked.
Kimberley just gave us an exasperated look. I flashed her a wide smile, but she rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath:
“Why me?” and she turned and walked into her house and I followed.
SEVEN
I took a seat on one of the high stools at the kitchen counter and watched as Kimberley prepared two grilled cheese sandwiches for us. I loved watching her. She had such grace and confidence in her movements. Even now as she was merely making sandwiches, I was mesmerized by her every move. I guess she felt I was staring at her cause she suddenly turned and looked at us. It was too late for us to pretend I was looking at something else so I just smiled at her.
"You smile too much.” She commented and by the tone of her voice I could tell she didn’t mean it as a compliment.
"You don’t smile enough.” I retorted back.
"Cause I don’t smile at every stupid thing.” she snapped.
“I don’t think you’re stupid.” I muttered under me breath and gave her a huge smile when I saw that she heard it. She frowned at us but before she could answer back I pointed to the stove.
“It’s burning.” I calmly said.
“sh!t!” she cursed and hurried over to the sandwiches.
I laughed but on the inside. I didn’t want her to get mad at us more than she already was. I know I wanted her to like us, but most of the time I can’t hold me tongue back when someone’s provoking us.
We ate the semi-burnt sandwiches in silence and then went into the living room to start work on the project. Kimberley asked if it was ok if she turned on the TV and kept it on mute cause she was waiting for a certain cooking program to record for her mam. Of course I didn’t mind and we settled down and got to work. After a couple of hours I was ready to take a break. I thought I could handle it but it was nerve wrecking sitting so close to Kimberley, smelling her perfume and having her arm brush against mine from time to time.
Kimberley got up and went to the kitchen to get us some sodas. I just laid back on the couch and watched a bit of TV without bothering to raise the volume. I was used to watching TV with the sound on mute. Many were the nights when Kiara and I snuck downstairs after our parents went to sleep and watched some late night horror movie. We kept the volume down so we wouldn't get caught. An episode of Friends was airing, one of me favourite shows.
Kimberley returned, set the sodas on the table, sat down and went through the chemistry book. She stopped when she heard us laugh at one of the scenes.
"What are you laughing at?” she asked.
Still laughing, I pointed to the screen and explained, “Rachel and Ross are asking Phoebe if she wants to see a movie and she answers: No thanks, I’ve already seen one. She cracks me up.”
“Have you seen this episode before?”
"No.”
“How did you know what they’re saying then?”
“I read lips.” I casually answered. Kimberley gave us a surprised look.
“How come?”
“I thought you didn’t want to know anything about us?” I asked with a smirk.
“I don’t.”
She huffed and just gave us an indifferent look and returned her concentration to the chemistry book in her lap. Adorable.
I continued watching the rest of the episode and she kept steeling glances at us and then at the TV whenever I laughed, with a pout adorning her bee stung lips. I could feel her curiosity eating at her but she was so stubborn and so was I. We worked for another hour and then I headed home.
