My Basmati Bat Mitzvah by Paula J. Freedman

Author:Paula J. Freedman
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Amulet Books
Published: 2013-09-11T16:00:00+00:00

I was surprised when Ryan showed up for Robotics Club later that afternoon, still smelling faintly like chili.

“It’s not broken,” he said.

“What?”

“My nose.” I wouldn’t look at him, so he stuck his face close to mine and said, “Wanna try again?”

I almost smiled, but then I remembered what he said that had set me off. “You shouldn’t say stuff like you said at lunch,” I said. “You shouldn’t even think it.”

“I know,” Ryan said, getting out of my face. “I didn’t even mean it. I was just mocking Ross, at first. It was mean and stupid.”

“You should tell that to Aisha, not me.”

“I already did.”

“You did?”

“Yep.”

“What did she say?”

Ryan shrugged. “We’re besties again.”

“You were never besties.”

“I know—listen,” he said, scratching his head, “somebody said something dumb about Adam. I got mad. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you or anyone else.”

“Who? What did they say?”

Ryan shook his head. “I’m not going to repeat it.”

I glanced over at Adam and Ben-o on the opposite side of the room. Whatever it was, Adam didn’t seem overly affected by it. He and Ben-o were having an animated discussion about their robot.

“Adam’s like me,” I said. “He doesn’t look like who he is. But that doesn’t make him any less … himself.”

“I know,” said Ryan. “That’s why I got mad. And the school shrink says I lash out inappropriately when I get mad.”

“Like the Hulk?”

“No—like ADHD.”

“That explains a lot, actually,” I said.

Ryan laughed.

“I’m sorry I gave you a bloody nose,” I said.

Ryan shrugged. “Got me out of math class. I owe you one.”

“Did the nurse call your mom?”

“Yeah, but I told her it was a regular nosebleed. I used to get them all the time. I can’t have anyone know a girl beat me up. Even a girl as tough as Tara Feinstein.”

I smiled at the compliment. Still smiling, I went to the cabinet for supplies. Ben-o came up behind me.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“See any nine-volt batteries in there?”

“Bottom shelf,” I said.

Ryan came up and tapped me on the shoulder.

“Need me to draw anything?” he asked. I saw Ben-o’s back stiffen.

“No,” I said. “I thought we could start working on a prototype.”

“A what?”

“Like—test out the design.”

“Oh,” Ryan said, looking kind of lost. I felt a little sorry for him.

“Maybe you can make a ramp,” I said. “Out of a piece of cardboard.”

“I can do that!” Ryan said, heading for the pile of flattened cardboard boxes near the door.

“Made up already?” Ben-o asked, clearly annoyed. “That was fast.”

“Let it go, Ben-o—please.” I sighed. “I’m having a crappy day, if you didn’t notice.” He bent down to get the batteries, then stalked away. I’d forgotten what I went to the closet for, so I just grabbed a bunch of markers and went back to my table.

I looked over, but he and Adam had the spy shield up again, so I couldn’t see what they were doing. Deshaun and Marina were poring over an old issue of ROBO magazine. Mr. H had a couple of the sixth-graders testing batteries. Max and Joe were tinkering with a motorized wheel set.

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