misunderstanding.’”
“Aw, come off it.” St. Clair looks up from a thick book about the American Revolution. He sits on my other side. It’s weird to think he knows more
American history than I do. “Isn’t that the charm? The hats and the misunderstandings?”
“So why don’t you go with her?” Rashmi asks.
“Because he’s going out with El ie,” I say.
“How do you know what I’m doing tonight?” he asks.
“Please?” I beg her. “Pretty please? You’l like it, I swear. So will Josh and Mer.”
Rashmi opens her mouth to protest just as the teacher arrives. Every week it’s someone new—sometimes administration, sometimes a professeur.
This time, I’m surprised to see Nate. I guess all staff members are forced to take a turn. He rubs his shaved head and smiles pleasantly at our class.
“How do you know what I’m doing tonight?” St. Clair repeats.
“Pleeeeease,” I say to her.
She gives a resigned grimace. “Fine. But I’m picking the next movie.”
Yippee!
Nate clears his throat, and Rashmi and St. Clair look up. That’s one thing I like about my new friends. They respect the teachers. It drives me nuts to see students talk back or ignore them, because my mom is a teacher. I wouldn’t want anyone being rude to her. “Al right, people, enough. Amanda, enough.”
In his quiet but firm way, Nate shuts her up. She flips her hair and sighs, with a glance toward St. Clair.
He ignores her. Ha.
“I have a surprise for you,” Nate says. “Since the weather is turning, and there aren’t many warm days left, I’ve arranged for you guys to spend the week outdoors.”
We’re going outside for class credit. I love Paris!
“I’ve organized a scavenger hunt.” Nate holds up a stack of papers. “There are two hundred items on this list.You’l be able to find them all in our
neighborhood, but you may have to ask the locals for help.”
Oh hel no.
“You’l be taking pictures of the items, and you’l be working in two teams.”
Phew! Someone else can talk to the locals.
“The winning team will be determined by the total number of items found, but I’l need to find photos on everyone’s phone or camera, if you expect to earn credit.”
NOOOOOOOOOOO.
“There’s a prize.” Nate smiles again, now that he final y has everyone’s attention. “The team that finds the most items by the end of Thursday’s class . . .
gets to skip class on Friday.”
Now that might be worth it. The classroom erupts in whistles and clapping. Nate picks captains based on who begs for it the loudest. Steve Carver—
the guy with the faux-surfer hair—and Amanda’s best friend, Nicole, are chosen. Rashmi and I groan in a rare moment of camaraderie. Steve pumps a fist
in the air. What a meathead.
The selecting begins, and Amanda is chosen first. Of course. And then Steve’s best friend. Of course. Rashmi elbows me. “Bet you five euros I’m
picked last.”
“I’l take that bet. Because it’s total y me.”
Amanda turns in her seat toward me and lowers her voice. “That’s a safe bet, Skunk Girl. Who’d want you on their team?”
My jaw unhinges stupidly .
“St. Clair!” Steve’s voice startles me. It figures that St. Clair would be picked early. Everyone looks at him, but he’s staring down Amanda. “Me,” he
says, in answer to her question. “I want Anna on my team, and you’d be lucky to have her.”
She flushes and quickly turns back around, but not before shooting me another dagger. What have I ever done to her?
More names are cal ed. More names that are NOT mine. St. Clair tries to get my attention, but I pretend I don’t notice. I can’t bear to look at him. I’m too humiliated. Soon the selection is down to me, Rashmi, and a skinny dude who, for whatever reason, is cal ed Cheeseburger. Cheeseburger is always
wearing this expression of surprise, like someone’s just cal ed his name, and he can’t figure out where the voice is coming from.
“Rashmi,” Nicole says without hesitation.
My heart sinks. Now it’s between me and someone named Cheeseburger. I focus my attention down on my desk, at the picture of me that Josh drew
earlier today in history. I’m dressed like a medieval peasant (we’re studying the Black Plague), and I have a fierce scowl and a dead rat dangling from
one hand.
Amanda whispers into Steve’s ear. I feel her smirking at me, and my face burns.
Steve clears his throat. “Cheeseburger.”
Chapter eleven
You owe me five bucks,” I say.
Rashmi smiles. “I’l buy your movie ticket.”
At least we’re on the same team. Nicole divided up Nate’s list, so Rashmi and I went out on our own. The week shouldn’t be too bad. Because of
Rashmi, I’l actual y earn class credit. She let me take some of the pictures—a statue of some guy named Budé and a group of kids playing footbal in the street—even though she was the one who found both items.
“I miss footbal .” Meredith pouts as we tell her our story. Even her springy curls look limp and sad tonight.
A breeze whips down the broad avenue, and we hold our jackets tight and shiver. A dusting of brown leaves crunches underneath our feet as Paris
hovers on the edge of autumn. “Isn’t there some league you can join or something?” Josh asks, putting his arm around Rashmi. She burrows into him. “I