Page 77 of Until the Ribbon Breaks

He laughs. “I always liked school.”

“That’s because you’re a nerd.”

“Ouch.” He feigns being insulted, pressing his hand to his chest as if my comment truly hurt him before he opens the door and teases, “Have fun learning.”

Everyone is already situated and busy working when I walk in and check out a pencil. I then take my seat next to Sebastian. Jeremy sits in Wes’s old seat next to Max, who looks annoyed by his presence.

I actually find the unusual way his brain operates to be fascinating.

“Hey,” Sebastian whispers as I flip open my workbook. “How did it go?”

“Good,” I give him simply and he smiles for a split second before he goes back to whatever it is in his lap that’s capturing his attention.

Leaning back, I look at what he’s doing under the table. “What is that?” I ask when I see something folded in his hands.

“A turtle.”

“A turtle?”

“Yeah, look,” he says, showing me the creation made from a page out of his math book. “Jeremy’s been teaching me origami.”

Looking over at his roommate, I find him working on his own piece. “Is this how you two bond?” I joke.

Sebastian shakes his head while Jeremy keeps his down, saying, “Origami’s cool.” But before I can respond, he tilts his head to the floor and snaps, “Yes, it is.” Max huffs in irritation as he argues with the rats. “It is not dumb.”

“Gus came back this morning,” Sebastian informs me. “He’s been giving him shit all day.”

“So, you’re into origami? Don’t you think that’s kind of lame?”

Jeremy shushes Gus as Sebastian scoots his chair in closer to me. “No way. Check it out,” he says after making the last fold and holding his creation out to me.

I take it and admire the turtle. Flipping it over, I inspect the intricate work. “How did you even do this?”

He snatches it away. “I thought you said it was lame?”

I quickly take it back. “I meantyouwere lame,” I tease, trying to keep my voice down.

“Please,” he dismisses as if someone insinuating him being anything less than cool is asinine.

“Do you know how to make anything else?”

He shakes his head. “No, this is all Jeremy’s taught me.”

“It looks hard.”

“It isn’t too hard. I can show you if you want.” He then tears out another page from the back of his book and lays it on the table between us. I watch as he folds the corner down diagonally and rips off the excess paper to make a square sheet, and when he slides it over to me, he instructs on a hushed voice, “Just fold it in half and then in half again.”

Step by step, he guides me along, taking over when I get confused. After what feels like a hundred folds, the paper starts to resemble a turtle, and I smile.

“Lame, huh?”

I nudge him. “Whatever.”

He helps me with the last part, tucking the corners of the shell beneath the underbody, and then it’s done.

“See, it wasn’t too hard.”

“That’s because you did most of it.”

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