Because You're Different ✔

46. Spoiled

June

I'd never been that grateful for the existence of school. At the least, it caused me to have less time to spend on missing Nathan. I even welcomed Matt Granton slamming his locker shut when I passed by to make me startle, inviting me to taunt him with the fact he had to redo sophomore year, and that I would be one of the students tutoring him. There was a rumor going around the hallways that Amy Wang's baby was his, something I refused to believe, seeing as how Amy was a nice person and Matt Granton was not. The result, however, was that for once, he was more stared at and giggled about than me, and I certainly didn't mind that. The only thing that genuinely stung was the idea that someone would want to sleep with that asshole, while I hadn't even been kissed yet. Mad world.

I'd wanted to take Arts 854 that year, but the guidance counselor had advised against it: I'd never be a star at it with my coordination, she'd said, and it'd be wiser to pick something I had a chance to excel at. Hayley thought it was harsh; Sam told me I could draw just fine and he'd help me if needed. I only appreciated her honesty. Yeah, painting was fun. It wasn't going to ensure I'd be admitted to a decent college, though.

I ended up taking Computer Programming and Web Design, and to my surprise, it turned out I was really quick on the uptake of the material. It was a bit like writing: piece by piece, you were building something, and in the end, you either created something you could be proud of or something that fell apart the minute you began to poke at it. Most of the time, if it didn't work, you could fix it, and then when it was finally ready... Oh, that was one of the most satisfying feelings I'd ever experienced.

Soon enough, I was asked to join the after-school Computer Science club led by our teacher, something I genuinely enjoyed. Three other people participated, two boys who kept glancing at me whenever I said something as if they'd never seen a girl before — or more probable, never seen a disabled girl before. The other, a very handsome senior called Malik, was constantly trying to help me without me having asked for it, whether it was by carrying my stuff or finding the flaw in my latest website. In the beginning, I'd been patient, as he meant well. Polite, June. After a few weeks, however, I'd exploded: he'd zipped up my bag, something I easily could've done myself, and I was done with nicely explaining I was quite capable of taking care of myself.

Weirdly enough, me shouting at him in half Spanish, half English, resulted in us being friends of some sort. Hayley was jealous of me; she said she loved him and wanted to have his babies. Yeah, I didn't think she meant any of it. Sam kept on telling her he felt sorry for her future kids, as surely they wouldn't be allowed to eat anything but lettuce. I was starting to suspect deep down he longed to be the father of those poor salad-eating souls.

I wasn't the only one who was doing better: Nathan was as well. As a consequence, we had fewer and fewer opportunities to talk to each other, with the time difference, me being at school all day, and him working his ass off and spending a considerable amount of his evenings in a pub called The Albion, together with Albert. Nathan continued to swear Albert was a scary guy, but honestly, I thought he was as big a softie as Nathan himself. I'd dubbed him 'the Englishman who didn't like to speak' and had written a short story about him — Albert had loved it and had sent me such detailed feedback he could've been an editor for all I knew.

I'd never had a conversation with the man, but Nathan said that was normal and that he hadn't had one yet as well, and probably would never have one either. He really looked up to Albert; half of the things he told me involved him one way or another, and most of the time when we FaceTimed, Albert was right there next to him. Sometimes, when they'd won the pub quiz together on Friday nights —yes, pub quiz, not a joke— he'd call me up totally wasted, blabbering about the questions they'd answered correctly, probably not realizing how adorable it was when he did that. I would be doing homework with Hayley, and Sam would be walking in, take a look at our amused expressions, and say: "Jeez. Nathan shit-faced again?"