Before Jules interrupted Callie's lunch hour with a (not so subtle) "Dibs!", Callie was a quiet girl whose only priorities are good grades and better talent with playing her prized violin. Neither require having a girlfriend, especially the one who...
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Jules, to put it loosely, schools me on herself, telling me all kinds of random facts. Examples? She's pansexual, likes anime (she claims that the creators of My Neighbor Totoro are geniuses), she can hold her breath for a full minute. The trivia seems endless to the point I almost asked her if I was going to have a test later.
"Are you regretting coming here yet?" she asks, completely herself again. I make a mental note to persuade her to go to theater. I think she has some kind of talent, always changing her moods faster than, well, a teenager.
"No," I admit. "This is far more entertaining than my sister."
"You have a sister?" Jules asks, excited. "What's her name? How old is she? Is she nice? If she's not, then I don't wanna meet her."
"Who said anything about meeting Nan?"
Jules turns her head to me. "'Naan'? Like the bread?"
I shake my head, and then reconsider. "That's my nickname for her," I say. "It's short for Nancy."
"Oh." She seems disappointed. "I was hoping that your parents adopted a piece of bread as their kid. I think that would've been an awesome show-and-tell."
I pat on her shoulder. "You and me both."
Jules shifts her arms around, so she's not hugging my arm anymore. She's now squeezing the oxygen out of me. I'm not sure how those ladies in the nineteenth century could deal with wearing corsets all day. I can barely handle thirty seconds.
I'm not going to tell Jules that I compared her hug to a corset. Yet.
My phone rings, and I groan. "I have to go," I say.
"Says who?"
I pry myself off from Jules long enough to take my phone out of the pocket. "Mom."
"Oh. I guess arguing my way to get you to stay is off the table." Jules still holds on to me, even as I get off the bed. She's hanging off the bed, still holding. I look at her. "What? I said arguing's off the table, not that I'm going to make it easier for you to leave."
I roll my eyes. "Nicely put." I grab her arms and pry them off me. "But really. I'm not going to risk getting grounded. Besides, there's school tomorrow."
Jules resigns, and I'm freed. "Now I'll have to deal with my brothers," she complains. "All they do is bug me."
"How do you think I feel?" I tease. Her jaw drops, and I can't keep a serious look on my face after that.
I get out of the house, with Randy telling me that he's open for another session on Tuesday, and I tell him that I can make it. Mom's car is idling by the driveway, and I get in the passenger seat. "Did you get it done? What you claimed you needed to do?" she asks as we drive away from the neighborhood.
