Anything But Fine by Tobias Madden

Author:Tobias Madden [Madden, Tobias]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Page Street Publishing
Published: 2022-03-10T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Three

AS IF THE UNIVERSE is trying to tell me something, Jordan sits with me and Amina at lunch the next day. And it’s not just a five-minute visit, this time. He actually sits with us. For the whole hour.

I mean, that has to be a sign.

“Ramadan must be almost over, right?” he asks Amina, who is sitting there in a kind of stunned silence.

I wonder why she thinks Jordan is sitting with us? She’s been so distracted by her plans for world domination (aka becoming Dux of Year Eleven) that she hasn’t been paying much attention to anything that’s not inside her textbooks. And there’s no way she could know about me and Jordan, because I haven’t told a soul (not even Dad), and I know Jordan definitely wouldn’t have told anyone either.

“Today’s the last day,” I reply for her. “And then Eid.”

Amina nods silently.

“My mum always makes us a huge feast for Bon,” Jordan replies. “Well, our Tanaka-Jones version of Bon, anyway.”

“What’s Bon?” I ask. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Amina trying to form words. I’m sure she knows what it is. She knows everything.

“A Japanese festival,” Jordan replies. “It’s mainly about honoring our ancestors. My whole family visits my grandpa’s grave, and then we eat all of the food. It’s awesome.”

“We visit my mum’s grave every year on her birthday,” I say, surprised at my own words. I never talk about Mum. “No feast though.”

Jordan smiles and locks eyes with me. If we were alone, I feel like this would be some kind of moment. But sitting here on the benches between the portables with Amina right beside us doesn’t quite feel like the right time for a D&M.

“Have you been to Bon in Japan?” Amina chokes out, breaking the silence. “I’d love to see the dances. The costumes are so beautiful.”

Jordan clears his throat. “No, I’ve never been.”

“To Japan?” I ask.

“Yeah. But funny you should mention it. Mum and Dad and all my aunties and grandparents chipped in and bought me flights for my eighteenth. They’d been saving for ages.”

“That’s amazing,” Amina says. She seems to have finally pulled herself together. “I’ve always wanted to go to Japan.”

“Same,” I say, though I don’t know much about Japan, except for the fact that my favorite principal dancer from the Los Angeles Ballet Company is Japanese.

“I can’t wait,” Jordan says. “The food, the culture … Disneyland.”

I laugh. “Didn’t pick you for a Disney boy.”

“Oh,” he says seriously, “The Little Mermaid is my favorite movie of all time.”

“No way. Ariel’s so whingey and annoying. I’m all about Moana. She’s a boss.”

Jordan sighs. “You just don’t appreciate the classics.”

I smile, and Jordan smiles back at me.

Oh my god, we’re flirting out loud. I can practically feel myself turning into the monkey-covering-its-mouth emoji.

“TJ!” someone shouts from behind me. I turn on the bench to see Gibbo walking up the path from the quad.

“Hey, man,” Jordan says, with one of those upward nods he gives everyone.

“Where’ve you been?” Gibbo asks, standing right in front of us now.

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