It's been 2 weeks since I've started at ASH. I got closer with Andrea and her gals. I made 0 progress with Willem, though. And Abby's gotten a little more comfortable around me. I facetimed Ashtyn 21 times and we're making plans to see each other in the upcoming break. Our house is getting better. We're having people come in and renovate it. Basically, things aren't as bad as they could be.
Except in Dutch class. I SUC at dutch. It's not even funny. My accent sounds like I'm speaking with a mouth full of bread rolls. Speaking of Dutch, guess what my next class is.
I unenthusiastically drag myself into Dutch. Mrs. Kooiman peers at me from above her glasses. Her old, wrinkled skin makes me kind of uncomfortable. The bags behind her eyes get magnified by those tacky cheetah print glasses, and they look like I could just jiggle them and swing them around. Maybe play a round of ping pong with those hangy old bags. Not that I'd EVER want to do that. I shudder at the thought.
"Ok, dus we gaan beginnen" she croaks. She yells about some Dutch stuff and I zone out- again.
"Wie wilt lezen?" she calls out. What does that even mean? Her sparkly eye-shadow cover eyes scan the room and land on me. She evilly smirks, "Lily"
"Wh- huh?" I stammer.
"Ga lezen" she smiles, not a friendly smile though.
"Uhh, wat?" I try Dutch.
She sighs in exasperation, "you have to read"
"Oh, ohhh..." I say, looking down at my textbook. "Okay... Here goes"
As soon as I start, I hear chuckles from the back of the room. Who's that? That's kind of rude.
"Willem, stop!" she hisses. As soon as his name spills off her tongue, my cheeks flush and I throw my head into my hands. I said one word. I'm humiliated.
"Why don't you read it instead, Willem, since you think it's so funny" she crosses her arms. He jokingly shrugs.
"Easy Miss. Remember... I'm Dutch" he chuckles. A few more kids laugh. He reads out a paragraph in that raspy voice of his and ughh... I just kinda wanna kiss him. A little bit. But no. I can't, he's clearly a jerk. Well... maybe not, I mean, all he did was laugh. Maybe it wasn't even at me.
As I leave Dutch class with Esmé, she rolls her eyes as Willem playfully punches her arm.
"Haha, Willem je bent zo grappig" she hisses, with a facial expression I can't quite read.
"Ja, weet ik" he laughs. "Je ziet er heel knap uit vandaag"
"Ga weg" she says, turning her head away. I can't understand a word of what they just said. Willem smirks and walks away. God, why does he have to be so... hot?
"Sorry about him, he's a jerk" she sighs, looking at me with sympathetic eyes.
"Oh, don't worry about me" I laugh. "Why don't you like him, though? I mean, he can't be that bad"
"Well, he's just annoying sometimes, that's all" Esmé nervously laughs as if she's hiding something, but she doesn't say another word about Willem. We head to our lunch table and I take a seat next to Abby, deciding to challenge myself today and see if she'll want to talk to me.
"Hey, Abby!" I say in my best perky, not-nervous voice I can. She smiles at me and utters a near silent "hey" back.
"So, uhh, what class did you just have?" I ask.
"Math" she answers. I'm already over these one-word answers. Thankfully, Andrea plops down next to me and I feel a wave of relief come over me.
"Hey, how's it going" she asks, whipping out a piece of bread and pouring chocolate sprinkles all over it. Yuck.
"Um, good" I speak, focusing more on her interesting choice of food.
"So, it's your third week here," Andrea wiggles her thick eyebrows. "Do you like anyone?"
Subconsciously, I glance over my shoulder to where Willem is sitting, his arms around some girl's shoulders. My mind screams his name but my mouth open and the word 'No' spills out.
"Okay, right," she scoffs. "You dig Willem don't you? You like him!". She yells the last three words and I cough a bit of my milk onto my shirt. Esmé and Abby turn to look at me from their conversation, eyebrows raised in curiosity.
"SH!" I whisper-yell. "Why would you even think that?"
"Well, it's obvious. You stare at him ALL the time and the way you say his name is so... lovey!"
"I- I don't. I barely know him"
"so then it's a physical crush," she shrugs.
"No, I just-" I give up and stop talking.
"Let's set you two up on a date!" she claps. Esmé shoots her a look, an annoyed look. Andrea raises her hands in defense before turning back to me, "or how about just a hangout?".
"I mean, okay, I guess" I laugh, pretending to sound uninterested. But my heart is racing miles a minute.
"Okay, movies Saturday. We'll watch something scary!" she exclaims. "I'll come and maybe Esmé and some others". I nod eagerly, an image of Willem and I holding hands inundates my mind and my heart starts to thump in my chest again.
I don't know about Esmé, who clearly seems pissed at the idea for some reason, but I can't wait for Saturday.
YOU ARE READING
Boys & Bikes
Dla nastolatkówLily - Your typical American from Virginia. She loves country and trap music. She would pick going the the fair over a party any day. She loves her car, her house and her friends. Willem - A Dutch boy, super attractive but also kind of a jerk... He...
