Subject to Change by Karen Nesbitt

Author:Karen Nesbitt
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459811485
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2016-11-30T16:00:00+00:00

“Done.”

I push my chair away from the table and stretch out my legs. Leah takes the cap off her red pen. I’ve just finished my first history quiz. She said she wanted to see how much I know, where the “holes” are. I tried to convince her I wasn’t ready, but she doesn’t take no for an answer. When she thinks something should happen, it does. I’m learning it’s kind of how she sees the world.

She puts on her teacher face and reaches for my paper. I slide it toward her slowly. The red pen gets to work.

There’s nothing on the stove today, but I hear a clock ticking somewhere. Leah’s grandmother has the TV on low in the living room. It’s dusk. The chandelier over the table isn’t on yet, and it’s getting darker in here. The candlesticks on the buffet are catching the last of the light through the dining room window. I shudder at the memory they bring up and go back to following the red pen. Isn’t she done yet? My legs are jumpy from sitting for such a long time. I could use a smoke.

Check. Check. Check.

Leah stops to put her hair up in a pink elastic. She twirls it around and twists the elastic into place and voilà, like magic, there’s a loose pouf of hair on top of her head. Now I can see the little bone of her spine sticking out above the collar of her sweater; escaped curls rest on the back of her neck. Little soft ones you could put your finger through, soft like the pussy willows that grow in the ditch near my house.

Snap out of it, dickhead. “So how’s it look, teach?”

“Well, Declan.” Hearing her say my name has a surprising effect. My insides turn to mush. “Not bad. I’m just about done.” She writes something on the paper and motions for me to move my chair closer. I hesitate, shy about pulling up beside her. I bite the inside of my cheek and stare at the red marks on the page.

“Oh, get over yourself.”

I grab my chair and scoot over. I have to scrunch up my legs so our knees don’t bump. Just keep your eyes off those curls.

She gives me this long story about how I did well on some of the questions but makes me feel like an idiot about the long answers. “You have to write more than two or three words.”

I strain to see the page. Some of them have four or five.

“Did you understand this stuff?”

What does she mean, did I understand it? Why wouldn’t I? “Yeah.” I know I sound kind of huffy.

“Okay, okay. I just want to know if you get the big picture.”

I have no idea what big picture she’s talking about, but it’s no problem. She can tell by the clueless expression on my face.

“It’s okay. We’ll go over it. You’ll get questions like this on your final exam.

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