Hah!  Mann kanst zu sein, wenn Mann homeschoolen ist (Elizabeth M., please correct that one if it's wrong; it's been three years at least since I was taking German)!

Ahem.

"Mind if I sit?" he says.

"Sure," I say, pushing aside Karanah's empty dishes and stacking them in mine.  I start playing with my earlobe, one of my nervous habits.

"Did you just get your ears pierced?" he says. "I remember when my sister got hers pierced, she was scratching them all the time."

"Probably had a small infection," I say.  "No, I pierced my ears a few years ago.  I don't wear earrings much though."

"Uh huh," he says, and starts looking out the window.

I decide to try a different tack, a more direct one.  "So... who was that last girlfriend of yours?"

He goes redder than I would have thought possible and just about chokes on his toast.  "Karanah?"

"Karanah?" I say. "She was your last girlfriend?  She's a nice girl."

Now he's pale.  "You... you know her?"

"Well sure, she's in at least one of my classes.  She's pretty smart, too.  Tell me, what made you dump her?"

"How do you know she didn't dump me?"

"Because she's been sitting here, talking to me, and going to a lot of trouble to keep for herself a fascinating pair of earrings I found."

He looks angry now.

"Just wondering."

"I'll tell you then," he says.  "I liked you better.  Karanah wears makeup.  She tries to look nicer.  You're happy with the way you look.  And you dress more sensibly.  You should be flattered."

"I like you," I say honestly, cleaning my glasses.  "But I'm not in love with you."

"Well, I am with you."  His voice cracks on the "you."

"Lief.  Can we just be friends?  Good friends?  Not boyfriend and girlfriend friends?"

"Sure.  Fine.  For now."

"For now."

He leaves.   I never told him Karanah was my roommate.  Oh, well; that can wait.  I take my dishes in and go upstairs to room 16.

That'll have to do...

[[I most certainly do and will!!]]

Everyone else is asleep.  The alarm clocks didn't go off, so they didn't wake up.  I guess I'm a morning person, though; I woke up at six.

Man, am I bored.  BORED!  B-O-R-E-D!  I spell it out in my head, and trace the shapes of the letters, and spell it backward - D-E-R-O-B!!  Derob!  Sounds like a name.

Well, why do I have to lie here?  This is BORING.  B-O-R-I-N-G!  G-N-I-R-O-B!!  That's fun, F-U-N, N-U-F.  Kind of - O-F, F-O.  I've been lying here spelling words backward and forward for forty-five minutes, M-I-N-U-T-E-S, S-E-T-U-N-I-M.  Even that's boring.

Well, if no one else will wake up, I can have fun anyway!  I climb slowly out of bed and go to the bathroom to shower.  When I come back, STILL (S-T-I-L-L, L-L-I-T-S) no one is awake, A-W-A-K-E, E-K-A-W-A.  Ekawa, nice word. I dress myself in normal clothes.  Bored.  Derob.  Ekawa.  Setunim.  I like my new words!  Why don't other people spell their words backward?

I open my diary and turn to a fresh page.

Dear Amari,

Everyone else is asleep and it's seven-fifteen in the morning!  How can they do it?  The dance was last night, and LOADS of fun.  This kid in my dance class called Sam asked me, and he's a pretty good dancer.  Even my roommate Kristen who (or is it whom?) no one had asked got a date.  We're supposed to be getting the morning off, because the dance ran really late!  Yay!  It's fun here.

A new friend has recommended that I join a ballet group, since my teacher thinks I'm good at it.  What do you think?  Weren't you in a ballet group when you were here?  Which one was it?  I'd really like to join it,  I'm loving dance class.  The teacher keeps giving me pink beads to put on a string, which my friend says means I'm really good.  I have ten.  Yippee!  Ten beads, and I'm ten years old.

But the real news I have for you is about Jas!  She was the date of this guy called Jacob.  He had apparently had a girlfriend last year, though, called Elizabeth, and a few days before the dance he dumped Jas and went back to Elizabeth, and Jas saw them kissing, or something.  I suspect he wants to get back together with Jas, though.  We ran into each other in the hall... that is, I ran into him in the hall... he wanted me to bring Jas a message, but Elizabeth wouldn't let him.  But then, this other guy called Darius, who I think is Jacob's roommate, wound up asking Jas to the dance!  And Jas said yes! I'm not sure anymore if Jas wants to be back with Jacob, though I think Jacob might want to be back with Jas.  And then there are tons of other little dramas being acted out all across the school.  I'm really loving it here!

Well, since no one else is up yet, there's no point waiting for them.  I'm going for breakfast.  I'll mail you this letter on the way.

Love,

Mary-Lee

I tear the pages out of my spiral-bound diary and grab for an envelope.  My parents gave me twenty stamped envelopes before I left home, and that way I don't have to buy any.  I scribble Amari's name on it, with the address of the school at Elyni, and fold the pages... Oops, Kristen is stirring.  I guess I shouldn't have torn the pages out.  Too late.  I fold them up and put them in the envelope anyway.  She sits up, groggily, leaning on her elbows.

"Mary-Lee?"

"Good morning!"

"How long have you been up?"

"About an hour and a half," I say.

She kind of sighs and gets up.  I'll wait for her; we can have breakfast together.  It's much nicer with two.

My German tutor of old would be appalled... thanks. 

Yeah, I did the same thing!!  But I found it on a different page... don't remember which... so.

Spammy says mcmx.  Bad Roman Numerals, Spammy!  Try mmcx.