Behind Her Smile

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen: Learning Spanish

"Why does the n have a unibrow?"

Sofia raises an eyebrow at him, "so you can pronounce it differently." she says with a syrupy tone that spoke of great patience.

"How does two Ls make a J sound? That doesn’t make any sense?"

"Just read the sentence!" When Ro opens his mouth again, she snaps, "Don't you dare ask another question!"

Ro snaps his mouth close.

Sofia replaces her scowl with another smile. "Now repeat after me;

Hola! Mi nombre es Roman. ¿Como te llamas?"

Ro tries to repeat it. "Hola! Me nombray es Ro...What was the second part again?"

Sofia cringes at his horrible accent.

Ro groans and bangs his head on the table. "I’m never going to learn Spanish."

"I'm inclined to agree with you." she mutters bluntly.

Ro lifts his head and glares at her. "Hey! Your not supposed to say that!"

"Why not?"

"Because your my tutor. Your painfully optimistic."

Sofia rolls her eyes, "fine then. Your doing wonderful."

"Really?"

"No, of course not."

Ro drops his head on the table with a groan.

"Ro?"

Ro looks up from the Spanish children's book he is studying. "Si, Sofia?" He pauses. "Did I say that right?"

Sofia nods and Ro gives her a relieved smile. "What’s the deal with you and Dex?"

Ro's smile drops as he tenses. "D-Deal? There is no deal. No big...or small deal. We are...neighbors. Yeah, lets go with that..."

Sofia just stares at him as he shifts awkwardly in his seat.

Behind Ro's head, Sofia could see a curious face peeking in from the library window. Sofia loses her smile. Whatever is between Dex and Ro, it is not a 'small deal'.

Sofia looks at Ro who still had his eyes averted from hers. Talking about Dex had obviously made him uncomfortable. She decides to drop the subject, she could already guess his feelings.

"How about we start with the basics?"

Ro looks at her and nods with a hesitant smile.

...................

Sofia and Ro come out of the library laughing.

Dex didn’t want to be caught spying on them, so she pretends to be busy pinning a poster up. They pass her by without even looking at her. Dex jaw drops. How could they not see her?

Despite her better judgement, she calls out to him. "Ro!" They both turn around.

As soon as Ro sees her, he pales until he as white as a sheet. "D-Dex?"

Dex doesn’t even acknowledge him. She looks at the girl Ro is with in interest. She looks familiar, but Dex couldn’t figure out from where. She couldn’t help but feel a touch of betrayal. They stop being friends for less than a month and already Ro is trying to find someone else to hang out with?