Wolves (English)

Chapter 18

'Jesus! Did you understand it?' Amy gives me a tired look as we walk toward the math classroom. 'I really thought I was going crazy over all those stories about city rights and all the other things I heard today.'

'I thought it was interesting,' I laugh. 'History is nice. That way, you learn something about how people used to live.'

'You really are insane!' Amy twirls her finger above her head, as if I'm all over the place. 'What's the use of things that ever happened? We don't live like that now and we never will live like that again!'

'Okay, you might have a point there,' I admit. 'But you are always critical about my favorite classes. I often wonder why we should have courses like chemistry and biology.'

'In any case, that is more useful than history. In chemistry and bio you learn things that you can also use in practice.'

'Yes, if you decide to work in a lab,' I object. 'Not my dream job, so to speak.'

'No, of course you will live in this boring village for the rest of your life to investigate how the people of today live,' Amy teases.

'No way!' I give her a playful push. 'I really don't have to see how you and Jim decide to move to the other side of the country, fight there, and split up again.'

'Hey! Thanks for your trust.' Amy laughs. 'By the way, I'm not even dating with Jim yet, so watch your words a bit.'

At that moment, I see him walking in our direction with – as usual – a horde of girls chasing him. Amy will like that. No, absolutely not.

'Speaking of the Devil ...' I nod in his direction.

Amy follows my eyes. Immediately, a slight panic appears in hers. 'Oh no! Why now ?!' She whispers, but the way she pronounces the words betrays how nervous Jim's presence in the distance makes her.

I decide to encourage her a bit. 'Come on, Amy. This is your chance. Just say hi to him. That can't hurt, can it?'

'I know that myself,' she mutters. 'But haven't you seen who is all behind him? I never fit in with that, do I?'

I immediately understand what she means. Only the most popular girls in the school dare to walk so close to the muscular boy. I even see some of them making kiss gestures at him, but he doesn't seem to care. He approaches us with fast and confident steps.

Amy fiddles nervously with her pink blouse. For a moment I think she's going to ignore him, but the moment he gets close to us, her face changes to a big smile and she calls out to him: 'Hi Jim!'

I look at Jim and see that his eyes start to twinkle. His bright white teeth appear when he stops in front of us. 'Hello too, Amy! Good to see you!' Then he looks at me. 'And hello, Amy's friend. Ester, wasn't it?'

I nod. 'Good guess.'

Then he no longer pays attention to me. He keeps looking at Amy as they start chatting about school, sports, and Amy's messages on Insta. It turns out that he doesn't spend much time on his social media because he prefers to hang out with friends or go out for a workout. That's why he hasn't seen her messages. This morning, Amy would have thought that was one of the biggest problems in the world, but now she smiles shyly at him and says it is not bad at all.

Meanwhile, the popular girls behind Jim have withdrawn in silence and with a jealous look on their faces. Now that all of his attention goes to another girl, who is a lot less popular than themselves, they seem to feel uncomfortable with the whole situation.

Then I notice that one of the girls looks at me instead of Amy or Jim. She has long, curly brown hair, striking make-up, and her bright blue eyes look arrogantly out into the world, as if she thinks she is a little more than the rest. I have to blink for a few seconds before I recognize her: it's Andrea, Finn's ex. The girl who made my brother so very sad.