Merci Suárez Plays It Cool by Meg Medina

Author:Meg Medina [Medina, Meg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781536227048
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: 2022-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Hannah is meeting with a group from coding to work on a project, so she won’t be at lunch today. Lena volunteered to help a few kids with their research for the Saint Augustine reports. And Wilson is absent, too. That means it’s going to me and Edna for lunch.

But when I get to the cafeteria, I don’t see her, not in the line and not at our table. I start to get that jumpy feeling of being by myself. Edna’s not my super favorite person, but I like her better than I like eating alone. I glance outside to see if maybe I can escape to the courtyard, where the loners around here like to eat in peace. But it rained hard this morning, and the chairs are too puddled to find refuge there.

That’s when I see an empty chair at Avery’s table. She’s with Mackenzie, of course, and Lindsey Poletti, another girl from our team. I walk over, my hands sort of sweaty, even as I tell myself that on the field we have each other’s backs.

“Hey, can I sit here today?”

The conversation doesn’t stop, but Mackenzie slides the seat toward me with her foot and then turns back to listen. Avery is telling them all about a party that happened over the Labor Day weekend, and everyone is hanging on her words. She sneaked out of her window after her parents fell asleep. She met a few kids on the Sandhill-something golf course so they could go as a group.

I unpack my sandwich as I listen, feeling as babyish as one of the sixth-graders at the tables across the room. My bed is right next to my window, but I’d be too scared to sneak out to a party. It’s not that I’m afraid of the dark, zombies and other night lurkers notwithstanding. I mean, even Tuerto looks a little bewitched and fierce when he spends the night roaming. It’s more that I’d be terrified of what Mami and Papi would do to me if they ever found out I lied to them and went roaming with high school kids. I’m sure it would be el fin.

Avery dips the last of her french fries into ketchup as she finishes her story and finally looks over at me. She licks her fingertips daintily. “Hey, Merci.” Her voice sounds friendly, like that day at the mall. She looks at the other girls at the table. “Should I ask her?” she says.

Lindsey and Mackenzie shrug. I manage a smile, but I am right here, so why is she talking about me like I can’t hear them?

“Ask me what?”

“Well, we were talking about you . . .” Avery begins.

I sit very still now. Being “talked about” usually means being made fun of. For instance, Rachel Peterson and Michael Clark are always the topic of gossip since they argue and break up at least once a week. Everybody calls their squabbles “doing the Micha-Racha.”

Avery scoots her chair close enough to mine that I can smell her coconut shampoo.

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