“Yep,” she called out through the thin partition. “Every word.”
Kill me now.
Saturday MACDOWELL’S FARM 3:00 P.M.
By Saturday afternoon, the temperature was brisk—the perfect weather for apple picking. The whole farm’s cornfield had been converted into a huge maze, while the barn had been outfitted with an apple-pressing station, an apple-cider-doughnut truck, a face painting stand, and a pumpkin-carving station. There was even a hayride ferrying people to different parts of the farm.
Ruth, Naomi, Amir, and I were in the orchard, dropping apples into rustic wooden baskets straight out of Ruth’s fantasies. I even wore my hair curly and had a colorful dress and leggings on. I’d been on my best behavior at school. I could take a day off.
Ruth looked like a fall princess with her sparkly eyeshadow, flouncy skirt, and big cable-knit cardigan. Naomi wore skinny jeans that hugged her tall frame and some sort of shimmery highlighter on her cheeks that made her dark skin glow gold. Even Amir had worn a nice button-down shirt and autumnal corduroy pants. We might just be the best-dressed apple pickers here.
We’d already picked a dozen apples each, though I had no idea what I was going to do with all of them. We barely ate fruits and vegetables at our house, much less fresh ones. Amir was excited, though, climbing up ladders and shaking branches that had clusters of apples as Naomi caught them in her basket.
“It’s just like picking mulberries!” he cried before scampering back up a ladder. Naomi laughed. I hadn’t really talked to her yet, so today was the perfect opportunity to make sure she was good enough for my BFF. I had forgotten that Amir and Naomi were both sophomores, and that they already knew each other. I think that made Ruth less anxious.
“Here, try one,” Naomi said, holding an apple out for Ruth. Ruth took a bite, the apple still in Naomi’s hand.
Amir raised his eyebrows at me. The moment was undeniably steamy for a “casual hang” with friends.
Oh boy.
“So, Parvin, are you in band, too?” Naomi asked as Ruth chewed her bite of sexy apple.
“Yeah, I play the bassoon.”
Naomi’s brown eyes lit up. “That’s so cool. It’s a double-reed, right?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. Dang, Naomi knew her stuff. It was nice meeting someone who’d actually heard of my instrument for once.
“Do you play an instrument?” I asked. I could feel Ruth staring at me, probably praying I wouldn’t mess this up for her.
“No way.” Naomi shook her head. “I do not have a musical bone in my body. I’m head of Astronomy Club, though.”
Ruth gasped. “So you can tell which constellation is which?”
Naomi nodded. “That’s a small part of it, but yeah. I want to be an astrophysicist,” she said proudly. “And eventually an astronaut.”
Amir gave a low whistle. “You could be the next Mae Jemison.”
“Hopefully,” she replied. I could practically see the heart eyes Ruth was beaming at her from across the orchard. I think it was safe to say Naomi was definitely good enough for Ruth, if not a bit overqualified.
“Oh yeah, we had English together, right?” Amir asked. “You wrote about wanting to work at NASA.”
“Yeah,” Naomi said. “I almost forgot.”
I smiled. See? We were all getting along great. Ruth and Naomi were having an epic first date, and Amir and I were having a good time, too. I still didn’t have anyone taking me to Homecoming, but at least I could distract myself from my dateless existence today.
“Let’s go get doughnuts,” I shouted. I had forgotten to eat lunch (not that we had anything to eat at home, anyway) and my stomach was starting to gurgle. Amir grabbed the basket we’d both been dumping apples into, and we headed over to the barn, where families carved pumpkins and drank cider.
Up ahead, Naomi held out her hand. Ruth took it.
Amir’s eyebrows surged.
“Hey,” he whispered to me. “Are they together?”
I gave a vague nod-shrug combo. “Nnnyeeah.”
“So is this, like . . . a date?” he asked.
I could feel my face go red.
“Um . . . sort of? Ruth isn’t allowed to date, so she asked me to go with her—”
“Like . . . a double date,” Amir clarified.
“I mean—” I started, feeling flustered. “I asked Fabián if he wanted to come, but he had auditions today. I thought you would like apple picking?”
Amir frowned. “Fabián Castor? Isn’t he gay?”
“He’s my friend,” I huffed. Why was I being so defensive? “I’m sorry. I should have told you Naomi and Ruth were dating. I just wanted a friend to come with me . . .” I trailed off. How had things suddenly gotten so weird?
“Oh . . . so . . . as friends,” Amir said flatly. Was he mad at me? “We’re here as friends,” he repeated.
What was I supposed to say?
“I thought we were friends . . . ,” I started uncertainly. “Are we not?”
Amir sighed, running his hands through his hair. “Yeah, we are. Sorry. Never mind.”
I must have still looked confused, because Amir gave me a sad smile.
“Let’s go get those doughnuts,” he said. He trudged ahead through the hay, and I followed him, not sure what had just happened.
■ ■ ■ BARN O’ PUMPKINS LATER
By the time we’d picked which pumpkins we wanted to carve, things were back on track. Ruth and Naomi were carving a pumpkin into a scaredy-cat. Ruth concentrated hard as she made each cut with the carving knife while Naomi provided moral support. Amir was deep into a grinning jack-o’-lantern while I sipped cider and ate doughnuts, supervising.
“Is that a smile?” I asked Amir, peering at his pumpkin carving.
“It’s a mischievous grin,” he replied defensively. It looked more like a jagged gash, but I didn’t say anything.
“I can feel you judging Mr. Jack,” Amir said to me, his hands on his hips.
“Mr. Jack?”
Amir gestured with his knife to the jack-o’-lantern. “Now you’ve upset him.”
Ruth walked over. “Abstract pumpkin carving,” she said, eyeing Amir’s pumpkin. “Nice.”
Amir sighed, exasperated. “None of you deserve my gifts.”
“Hey, it’s getting dark soon,” Naomi said. “Want to do the corn maze?”
Ruth squealed. “Oooh, yes! We can take the hayride over.”
Amir shook his head. “What are
