Attitude by Robin Stevenson

Author:Robin Stevenson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV031020, JUV039060, JUV039230
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2013-09-30T16:00:00+00:00

Nine

At lunch, I head outside alone. Edie and Melissa have been ignoring me all morning, and I don’t think I’m welcome in their little group anymore. Not that I want to be. They’re being totally mean to Cam, making snotty comments about her hair, laughing behind her back. I cross the grass and find a spot to sit, alone, on a bench under the trees.

I need to think. I need to stay focused on why I am here. I close my eyes for a moment and concentrate on the feel of the sun on my face, the sound of the distant traffic, my breath going in and out. My mom went through a meditation phase a year or so ago, and I used to meditate with her, the two of us in zazen, as she called it, cross-legged in our living room, listening to some guided visualization she’d downloaded. The guy who led the meditation had a strong accent that Dad liked to imitate. Mom got annoyed at him for it, but he was just trying to make me laugh.

The memory loosens an avalanche of emotion and a homesickness so strong I’m scared I might start bawling. Focus. Focus. You’re here to dance. I grit my teeth and open my eyes.

Cam is walking toward me. I wave. “Hey.”

“You’re not with your friends today?” She stops in front of me.

“No. Well, they’re not really my friends. It’s just that I’m staying with Edie, you know? Her folks are my homestay family.”

“Ah.” She relaxes a little. “That makes sense. I wondered why you were always with them—I mean, instead of with the other homestay girls.”

“Where are you all staying?” I ask, curious.

“I’m staying with some old friends of my parents, actually. Julie and Mackenzie are staying with a family that has two young boys who do ballet. Eight-year-old twins. I think it’s pretty crazy over there.”

“And Iako?”

“She’s staying with an older couple, two women who always take students from Japan. She’s helping them learn Japanese, and they help her with her English.” She sits down on the bench beside me and opens her lunch bag. “So is it okay for you? I mean, staying with Edie?”

“Yeah. Her parents are nice. I’m just a bit homesick, I guess.” My throat closes up on the last words, and I have to look away.

“Aw. Yeah, I have it easy, staying with people I know.” She takes an apple out of her bag and crunches into it loudly. “Do you know what’s up with Edie and Melissa and their friends? I mean, I get that they don’t like me, but the stuff they were saying this morning…”

“I know. That was really mean.” I hesitate, wondering whether I should try to explain the whole stupid voting thing. I don’t want to admit that I actually took part. I remember my own hand going up to vote against Iako, as if I were nothing more than a puppet with no mind of my own. “Melissa’s very competitive,” I say.

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