Page 115 of I Can't Even Think Straight

---

Did you guys fall out or something?” asks Jyoti.

Is she trying to get some gossip out of me?

I set my pen on top of my closed notebook.

“I just felt like some

quiet library time today,” I say.

“When I came to

meet The Author,

I remembered how much

I used to enjoy

coming to the library at lunchtimes.

I never knew you

spent lunchtimes in here, too.

I never saw you

in here in year seven and eight

when I was here almost every day.”

“It’s a recent thing for me,” says Jyoti.

“Oh yeah?” I say inanely.

“I’m entering my literary era,” says Jyoti,

pointing to the book by The Author,

which she’s clearly not been reading.

“It’s calmer in here than the lunch hall,

the art room, or the drama studio.”

“But how will you get your gossip

if you’re not out there amongst it?” I ask.

“Well, you brought the gossip to me today,” she says.

“You told me voluntarily that you’re seeing someone.”

“Yes, I guess I did. But it’s not a secret.”

“Is it someone at school?” she asks, excited.

“No, he’s not at this school.

He’s some private-school boy I met at bouldering.”

---