Remember This Part

6. Friday Night Fights

Alex.

I spent a week and a half with my grandmother to help her recuperate, and then she urged me to go back to school, so here I am.

I made sure to do a sweep of her house and installed some handlebars and step stools with railings before I left, just to give me some peace of mind. Knowing my grandmother, she'll decide to renovate her kitchen the second I leave her alone. Sometimes I'm tempted to pack up my stuff and move back in with her. I hate leaving her by herself.

But my grandmother has come to value her independence. I mean, she grew up in a household of twelve. She likes having some space for once. Just her and Gordo. Plus, I can't leave Lyle and Cato.

I tell myself to relax. She has visitors all the time, and she's friends with all of the people in her building (well, aside from Hugh). They'll watch over her and make sure she's okay. In the meantime, I have a lot of work to catch up on. My professors were understanding of my situation, but they didn't let up on the assignments. It won't be that hard to get back on track in ASL and Forensic Science, but Developmental Psychology is already intense without the three-day setback.

And it's even harder now that I've met Thea. I find my gaze randomly straying to her seat a few rows ahead of me, in the class that I should be focusing on. Her light brown hair is hanging down in a thick ponytail, and it swishes in between her dangling green earrings. When she's not doodling in her notebook, she's deconstructing her pen and then putting it back together, over and over again. Towards the end of the class, she pulls up the Webkinz gaming site on her laptop, and I have to bite back a smile.

"Tonight, I'll leave you with one chapter of reading so you can properly study for the test on Thursday," Alma announces as all the students start to pack up our things. For most of us, this is our last class of the day. The sun is already slipping.

I slide my laptop into my bag and stand up. Admittedly, I look over at Thea's seat one last time, but she's not there. I assumed she already left the room, which is why I'm surprised to see that she's waiting behind me when I turn around.

"Hi," she greets me cheerily, giving me a smile that is bright and sympathetic at the same time. "I hope I'm not bothering you, but I spotted you before class started and I just...wanted to check in and ask about your grandmother. How's she doing?"

"She's alright," I tell her. "She's already back to yelling at the contestants on Wheel of Fortune."

She laughs and says, "It sounds like she's the picture of health, then. Oh, um..." Thea pauses to rummage around in her bag, then finds a couple sheets of paper and hands them to me. "Here. As promised, I printed off my notes from the last few days. They're kind of messy, so I'm sorry about that. And I might not have spelled everything right. I'm not the best speller. Oh, and it might be hard to read the top of the second page because I, uh, spilled Kool Aid on it yesterday. I was playing with the straw and...um, anyway. Here. I hope they help." She thrusts them toward me, and I slowly take them from her. I can't help but feel amused, and maybe even a little awestruck. I didn't realize that people this nice even existed.

"Thank you," I say. "I'm sorry about your Kool Aid."

"Oh, it was just lemon-lime," she informs me with a wave of her hand. "That's only, like, the fourth best flavor."

"Of course," I reply seriously. "At least you didn't spill your strawberry kiwi."

"Or my grape," she adds.

"Grape? For real?"

Thea just raises an eyebrow and sticks her hand out, palm up.

"Give them back," she orders. "The notes. Hand them over."