I Still Recall the Wondrous Moment - writteninthestars02

Chapter 1 Chapter Text

I’ve always liked the first day of school. It’s the same feeling I get on January 1^st, with a whole blank slate ahead of me, every day a new page to write on. The first day of school has a similar freshness to it. On these two days every year, I made it a point to read John O’Donohue’s For A New Beginning. One stanza in particular always stood out to me.

Though your destination is not yet clear

You can trust the promise on this opening;

Unfurl yourself into the grace of the beginning

That is at one with your life’s desire.

Adam and Jordan, two of my three triplet brothers, liked to tease me about this poem, wondering how I of all people could like it (“It was written after 1950, and it doesn’t even rhyme!” Adam had said), but I had long abandoned the rigidity I had once demanded of poetry. I understood that poetry didn’t need to be boxed in by my childhood rules, especially one as trivial as a rhyme scheme, as well as the fact that “modern” didn’t mean “unworthy of appreciation.”

Byron, the third triplet, doesn’t really care about poetry the way I do, but he seemed to like the poem, the one New Year’s Day I shared it with him. Maybe that’s because he actually has some emotional depth to him, unlike the two he shared a womb with.

But, as often as I tried to keep O’Donohue at the forefront of my mind on those two days and remain optimistic about the blank pages ahead of me, the first day of my junior year seemed determined that I never even wanted to open the book, let alone write the story.

Simply put, it kinda sucked.

Oh, sure, I had at least a friend or two in every class, and a few of them had my same lunch period, so it wasn’t like I was totally alone during the day. My teachers were pretty okay so far, with the exception of my economics teacher, Mr. Burke, who couldn’t really teach and honestly shouldn’t be allowed near teenaged girls. I had even managed to avoid taking a math class this year, since I was taking ocean science (SHS only required that you take either a math or a science course every year, and I had learned my lesson about math-heavy science classes—I had taken astronomy the year before in the hope that studying the stars would inspire me. All it did was make my brain hurt from the obscene amount of numbers involved).

No, the problem was that, all summer, I had been desperately trying to romanticize my own life by writing poetry about it, and I still had absolutely no inspiration.

Vanessa Pike, the former poet of Slate Street, had run her creativity well dry.

I knew writer’s block happened. That wasn’t a new phenomenon. But it wasn’t usually this enduring. Usually, my mom’s cosmo garden or an interesting cloud formation or a cute boy on the baseball team could knock the mental dam loose. But the summer flowers were starting to wilt, the sky was clear and blue, and baseball season didn’t start until the spring, and nothing else was really grabbing my attention. God, I like Stoneybrook, but it’s so predictable, unchanging.

As I walked into my English class, my last class of the day, I tried to remember the last time I had felt truly inspired. Danielle Roberts waved to me from the back corner of the room, and I slid into the seat next to her that she had saved. Charlotte Johanssen and Haley Braddock were sitting in front of us, and Haley turned around and rested her arm on my desk.

“What’s up with you? You’ve got that look again.”

“What look?”

“That ‘tortured poet’ look you get when you’re upset about your writing. I don’t know how you can already be stressed about that. It’s the first day of school.”

“Some of us like to write for fun, Hay.” I pushed my glasses up my nose. “But it’s a little hard for inspiration to strike when everything is the same every single day. Stoneybrook is starting to get stale.”

“And to think, we’ve still got two more years of this shiny town,” she said dryly. Her constant edge of sarcasm was something else that never changed. You could never really tell if she was kidding or not, since it was always there.

Charlotte attempted to be a little more helpful. “When was the last time you felt inspired enough to write?” She asked.

I thought about it, and I had to laugh, because the answer was when I was dating Linny Papadakis. It was a short, casual thing, just a summer romance, really, but he had proved to be an extremely valuable muse. Of course, he was an easy one, too. Throw out some metaphors about the Greek gods and the six types of love and you were golden.

Sometimes I had wondered if it was too stereotypical to write about him that way, but he never seemed to mind it.

Anyway, I didn’t want to admit that to them, because then they were just going to swoon over him for the rest of the period (because, let’s face it, he is an attractive guy). So I just shrugged and mumbled something about the freshness of spring earlier this year.

“Well, the leaves will start to change here soon,” Charlotte said. “Maybe you’ll find something in there.”

“Maybe.” I didn’t think so, but I appreciated her attempt.

“Hey, who’s that?” Haley asked. I followed her gaze to a guy sitting on the other side of the room. He had to be new, because you don’t get to your junior year at Stoneybrook High School without knowing pretty much everybody.

Danielle, the resident gossip expert, leaned in. “His name is Yuri Ustinov. He moved here from Russia over the summer,” she whispered.

“Who moves to Connecticut from Russia?” Haley furrowed her eyebrows. “Do you think they had to, like, flee some kind of political unrest?”

“Don’t be dramatic,” Charlotte said. “A lot of people come to America just for new opportunities.”

“I heard his mom’s a diplomat and his dad’s a cop,” Danielle said. “But I haven’t actually talked to him.”

“He’s cute.” Charlotte giggled. “Don’t tell Nick I said that.”

I rolled my eyes, still not believing someone as pretty and as smart as Charlotte could be taken in by my brother. But I glanced over at Yuri and decided she was right. He was cute. He had dark hair and a pretty athletic build. It was hard to tell when he was sitting, but he seemed pretty tall, at least compared to Shea Rodowsky, who was sitting behind him. That was interesting, because Shea isn’t exactly a short guy, either.

The bell rang then, and Mrs. Hirst called for our attention. She took attendance, then sat on her desk to talk to us. I liked that about her, how casual she was. She actually treated us as if we were young adults rather than just students.

“So, I’m not going to lie to all of you. Junior year is tough. When I was in high school, it was the hardest of my four years. But I promise I’m going to try and make it easier on all of you.” She paused, pushing her short hair behind one ear and smoothing her blouse. Her blazer had long been shed, draped over her chair. “I’m going to pair all of you up for our writing assignments. You won’t be working on them together,” she added sternly, “but you’ll critique each other’s work. You won’t be with the same person all year; I’ll switch the partners up every so often. I’m hoping that this will help you all to explore new perspectives and learn to give and receive constructive criticism. This is an essential skill.”

Mrs. Hirst talked to us for a bit about what the year would look like. Finally, she asked if there were any questions.

“When are we getting our partners?” Danielle called, without raising her hand.

Mrs. Hirst picked up a tub on her desk that was filled with folded papers. “No time like the present, my father always says. You’re each going to draw a piece of paper and find your match. Trust me, you’ll understand.” She smiled and began bringing the tub around. “I’ll go easy on you today. I just want you all to start with talking to your partners. Get to know them, if you don’t already.”

All around us, kids drew papers and stood up to start comparing. When she got to us, I pulled out a paper and opened it. It was a smiling picture of bread with jelly spread on it.

“I’m assuming I’m looking for peanut butter,” I said.

“I think I need to find Mario,” Charlotte said, holding up a Luigi.

“I’ve got salt,” Haley said.

“Spongebob.” Danielle frowned as she looked for someone holding a Patrick. “Let’s just hope I don’t get paired with Liza.”

She didn’t. She was with Shea, which was lucky for her. Shea has to work a little harder in English, because he’s dyslexic, and it makes him a good partner. It doesn’t hurt that he’s a good guy, too. Poor Charlotte was paired with Travis Owens, a perpetual class clown. I assumed he made pretty good grades—this was honors English, after all—but I wouldn’t want to work with him. Haley was with Nina Villareal, who’s a real brain. She smiled and threw the sign for “awesome!” across the room at me.

I looked around for my peanut butter. Most kids had already found their matches, but I noticed Yuri was looking around the room, looking slightly baffled. I decided I could help him out.

“What do you have?” I asked as I approached him.

“I think...peanut butter?” His accent was thick and slightly rough. He showed me the picture, and sure enough, it was a smiling slide of peanut butter bread.

“You’re in luck. I’m jelly.” I held out my paper, and he looked at them.

“They...eat together?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty common here,” I said, although I couldn’t remember the last time I had actually eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “I’m Vanessa,” I added as we took a seat.

He had turned in his seat so he was leaning against the wall, and he folded his hands behind his head,smiling lazily. His confusion was gone, replaced with an easy confidence. This close, I could see that his eyes were gray, like the stone wall outside the cafeteria that Haley liked to sit on. “You are like babochka,” he said.

“Excuse me?”

“Butterfly.”

“Um…”

“Babochka. It means butterfly, like your name. You are pretty like butterfly.”

I was stunned into silence for a moment. “Thanks,” I finally said. I realized he hadn’t actually told me his name, and I hadn’t been listening when Mrs. Hirst took attendance. What if his name wasn’t even Yuri? “Um...and you are?”

“Yuri.” Okay, so Danielle got that right.

“Are you new to Stoneybrook?”

“We move during summer,” he said. “Mother is…” he paused, I think searching for a word. “She works for country,” he finally said.

“And your dad?”

“What called...police officer.” Danielle had gotten that right, too. I wondered briefly where she had gotten her gossip from. It’s not always correct. She’d make a terrible journalist. “Do you have brother or sister?”

“I have seven.”

He half-smiled. “Lot of people. How do you get work done?”

“You get used to the noise. Sometimes I can’t work because it’s too quiet.”

“School important?”

“Yeah, pretty much. That’s why I’m in honors English. I take AP classes, too. I’m trying to get a good college scholarship, since there are so many of us.”

He smirked just a little. “Umnyashka,” he said. I didn’t know what that meant, but I got the impression he was making fun of me, and it was kind of infuriating.

“You are…” I trailed off. I didn’t want to get into an argument with this guy on the first day of school. Mrs. Hirst hadn’t said how long we’d be partners, and I needed to be able to work with him. I took a breath and forced myself to let it go. I’m pretty good at that. In a big family, you have to learn not to let the little things needle at you. “Do you like Stoneybrook so far?”

He waved a hand airily. “You ask such shallow questions.”

My jaw dropped. “It’s no more shallow than you asking me if I have siblings!” I protested. Forget what I said fifteen seconds ago. I could not work with this guy.

He chuckled. “Umnyashka, you can ask more...more smarter questions. You are clearly smart girl. I, not so much. But yes, Stoneybrook is good.”

First he was wheedling me, now he was complimenting me. What was with this guy?

“Well, I’m glad you like it. I know it can be pretty boring. I don’t mind living here, but sometimes I feel like I want something new.”

“There is always something new. You just need find it.”

I opened my mouth to reply, but the bell rang. He calmly gathered up his stuff. “See you tomorrow, Umnyashka.” He left the room in the sea of other students rushing to get home. I just stared after him, feeling like I had lost some sort of unspoken game we had been playing.

“Vanessa, are you coming?” Charlotte called across the room, jerking me out of my thoughts. She, Danielle, and Haley were standing at the front of the room, waiting for me.

“Uh, yeah.” I grabbed my backpack and followed them out the door.

“What was he like?” Danielle asked as we made our way to the first floor. The après-school crowd was thinning out quickly, everybody eager to get out of the building.

“Arrogant. And he kept calling me…” I struggled to think of what it was. “Oomnashka?”

“What does that mean?” Haley asked. She pushed her bangs out of her eyes and stuck a piece of gum in her mouth.
“I didn’t ask. I was too busy trying not to slap him.”

“I got it.” True to Charlotte, she was already looking it up. She squinted at her phone. “I’m seeing something here about...a noodle?”

“He called you a noodle?” Danielle asked, bewildered. We stopped at her locker and she shifted her backpack from one shoulder to the other as she spun the lock. I leaned against the faded green metal of the one next to her.

“I don’t...I don’t think that was it.” It didn’t seem to fit the context.

“Wait, here. Umnyashka?” Charlotte asked.

“That was it.”

“Says here it means…” she looked at me, fighting the smile I could see forming at the corner of her mouth. “Smart girl.”

Haley and Danielle laughed. “He was making fun of me!” What a conceited prick.

“Or maybe he was flirting with you,” Haley suggested. I glowered at her.

“I’d rather not entertain him if that’s his idea of flirting.”

“He could still entertain me.” Danielle grinned and slammed her locker shut. “Anybody need a ride home?”

I rolled my eyes. “I think I’ll walk. It’s a nice day.” Actually, it was pretty hot out, but Stoneybrook is pretty walkable, even in 85-degree weather.

“Oh, Vanessa, lighten up. It’s not like he directly insulted you.” Haley snapped her gum. “I mean, so he teased you a little. So what? If that was the worst of it, it doesn’t sound like he’s any different from any of the other guys in our grade.”

“I guess.” Privately, she was probably right, but I wasn’t ready to stop being annoyed just yet. “But I’m still going to walk.”

“I’ll go with you,” Charlotte immediately volunteered. She’s such a sweetheart.

“Not me. It’s hotter than Satan’s bunghole out there,” Haley said. Nobody else needed to stop at her locker, so we exited the front doors, where Haley and Danielle peeled off to find Danielle’s car in the parking lot. Charlotte and I started off down the street. We were both quiet for a few minutes. I liked that about her, that she didn’t always need to be talking. Danielle was a champion talker, and she could wear your social battery down pretty quickly if you happen to be introverted.

“I still think I’d rather be paired with Yuri than Travis,” Charlotte said. “I don’t think Travis has ever taken anything seriously in his life.”

I laughed, some of my annoyance falling away. “He probably came out of the womb in a clown wig and nose.”

She laughed too. We approached the corner of Burnt Hill Road where we would separate. “Don’t let it bother you,” she said. “I’m sure he’s not actually trying to be mean. If you can survive the triplets’ teasing, you’ll be able to survive Yuri.”

I smiled at her. “You’re right. Thanks.” We waved and she continued down the road to Kimball Street. I turned onto Burnt Hill Road and made my way to Slate Street. I enjoyed the sun and the bushes that were planted along the road, just as they always were, but still nothing screamed “write about me!” I sighed. Stoneybrook was practically a time capsule. I’m not sure anything had even changed in the last five or so years.

I could hear the noise from my house long before I could see it, which was odd, considering the youngest of us, Claire, was now 12 and didn’t make nearly as much noise as she had when she was little. As I approached, I was puzzled to see the triplets standing in the front yard, Jordan and Adam yelling at each other and Byron just watching, exasperated. Margo and Claire were blasting music and dancing, for some reason. Our aging basset hound, Pow, wagged his tail from the porch. Nick was nowhere to be found. He was probably with James Hobart, so I wasn’t worried. Lucky him, he didn’t have to be around to witness this.

Like I said, we’ve all grown, and it’s been years since we’ve made this much noise, but I’m surprised our neighbors never used Festivus to air their grievances with us and take down our parents in a feat of strength for raising eight kids. (Don’t tell Jordan I just made a Seinfeld reference—I’ve been refusing to watch it with my brothers for years, but somehow this episode has snuck its way into my knowledge bank.)

“What are you all doing?” I asked, turning down the music. Margo and Claire glared at me, but I ignored them. Ever since Mallory had left for Riverbend nearly seven years earlier, Adam, Byron, and Jordan had liked to insist they were in charge, but they did an abysmal job of it, so I stepped up a lot.

“We were dancing, until you showed up.”

“Yeah, I was showing Margo my new dance routine,” Claire said, folding her arms. She may not throw tantrums anymore, but she’s still a world-class pouter.

“Uh-huh. And what’s going on with these two?” I pointed my thumb at Jordan and Adam. Byron rolled his eyes.

“They’re arguing over the car.”

“Again?” I returned his eye roll. “I told you guys that sharing one car between the three of you was a terrible idea.” The triplets had all gotten jobs over the summer and used their savings to buy a car together. They had owned it for a grand total of two weeks before they—‘they’ being mostly Adam and Jordan—started arguing over who got to use it when. “Why don’t you three just draw up a schedule?”

“That’s what I suggested, but nobody ever listens to Byron.” He threw up his hands and stalked inside. Claire and Margo followed, glaring at me again. I sighed. I did feel for Byron, being so different from the two he happened to share a womb with. I knew he sometimes felt a little ‘othered’ by them. He really was much more like Nick, which I think sometimes bothered him.

Furthermore, without Mallory in the house, the whole balance of energies had been thrown off. You could split the eight of us into two categories: the Loud Pikes, and the Quiet Pikes. Mallory, Byron, Nick, and I were all Quiet Pikes. We were much more introverted, soft-spoken, and introspective. Margo, Claire, Adam, and Jordan were very much the Loud Pikes, the extroverted, live-life-out-loud types. Without Mallory, the rest of us quiet ones were being assaulted by the loud ones a lot more often. Her being home over the summer had introduced some much-needed calm, but now that she had moved into her college dorm, the chaos was picking back up. I wasn’t a huge fan of playing mediator, but someone had to shut these two up.

“Alright, break it up, you two. What’s the problem here? Did one of you give the other the Bizzer Sign?”

That actually startled a laugh out of them. We hadn’t brought up the Bizzer Sign in years. It was something we Pikes had made up purely to annoy each other as kids, and it had caused an obscene amount of fights. Gradually, we all outgrew it. The day Claire declared that she was too old for it, Dad had actually unearthed a bottle of champagne that he and Mom had been saving for ten years for a ‘special occasion.’

“Absolutely nothing could be more special than this, Dee,” he had said, and they had proceeded to drink the entire bottle together.

“This chucklef*ck,” Adam started now, indicating Jordan, “said I could use the car tonight, and now he’s saying he needs it.”

“I didn’t have a date when I agreed you could use it,” Jordan shot back. “And you can walk to work, so what’s the problem?”

“The problem is that it’s my turn to use it.”

“You guys are both acting ridiculous. First, Jordan, every girl in this town already knows you, so it’s going to be pretty difficult to impress them.” He rolled his eyes at that one while Adam laughed. “Second, is this seriously such a problem that you need to yell at each other in front of our entire neighborhood, God, and the ghost of Frodo?”

They glared at each other, a battle of wills and masculinity. “I guess not,” Jordan finally admitted sheepishly.

“Good. Now, Jordan, I think we can agree that work, which is a commitment and a responsibility, trumps a date. If you ask Dad nicely and respectfully for permission, I’m sure he’d be happy to lend you his car, which would be better for a date anyway, because your guys’ car smells like McDonald’s, and girls are not excited by that. If he starts to say no, tell him you’ll be sure to fill it with gas after, your treat, and that you’ll mow the lawn for the next two weeks.” Dad hated mowing the lawn, so this exchange was sure to work in Jordan’s favor perfectly.

Jordan was silent while he considered what I had said. “Fine,” he agreed, begrudgingly.

“Good. Are we done here?”

“Yes,” Adam said.

“You guys should really listen to Byron and work out a schedule.” They rolled their eyes. I started to go inside when Jordan called my name. I turned back to them. In sync, they both put their index fingers together and went “bzzzz!”

Chapter 2 Chapter Text

The first day of school was a Tuesday. On Friday, Mrs. Hirst had us sit with our partners and analyze a poem. She handed out several different ones, and ours ended up being I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth.

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills

When all at once I saw a crowd

A host, of golden daffodils

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze

“I’ve always liked this one,” I said. It was really an olive branch on my part that I was trying to be friendly with him. Again, who knew how long I was going to be working with him?

“You read many poems?” Yuri asked, tapping his pencil on his desk. He was sitting as he had been all week, legs stretched out and leaning against the wall.

“Yeah, I like poetry a lot. I wanted to be a poet when I was younger. I even went around speaking in rhyme, like, all the time.” I smiled at the memory, knowing it had driven everybody crazy.

He half-smiled. “Cute. What is your favorite poem?”

I thought about it, but it was like asking me to pick a favorite strand of hair. There were a lot of poems I loved, and they were all part of me.

“I like Still I Rise and When Great Trees Fall, both by Maya Angelou, and Lord Byron’s She Walks in Beauty. I also like Emily Dickinson’s This World is not Conclusion, and Alexander Pushkin’s I Still Recall the Wondrous Moment.” In fact, I had once decided that one of the ways I could romanticize my own life was to count up the wondrous moments, and I still did that from time to time.

He nodded. “I like that poem, also.”

“You know that one?” He just looked at me, amusem*nt spreading over his features. Then I realized. “Oh God,” I said, hiding my face in my hands. Of course he knew that poem. Alexander Pushkin was one of the most famous Russian poets of all time. “Kindly pretend I didn’t ask that.”

I heard him chuckle. “What you like about this one?” He indicated the sheet of paper in front of us.

“Its simplicity,” I said immediately, happy to move on from embarrassing myself. “It paints a picture of a beautiful moment, and how those moments can stay with us and inspire us later.” Something I could use right about now, personally. “It doesn’t try to use big words or rely too heavily on metaphors to convey its meaning.

He nodded again. “Simple words are good for me in this language.”

“I’m sure you could understand something more complicated.”

“I not so smart in English. Not like you at least, Umnyashka.”

I rolled my eyes, mostly at the nickname but also at the idea that he wasn’t smart. I’m sure he was. If he could be in honors English despite a language barrier, he had to be intelligent. “I’m starting to think you’re just saying that so I’ll do all the work.”

He gave me that same lazy smile he had given me on the first day of school. “You are too smart to fall for that.” This was something about him that bugged me, that I could never tell if he was really making fun of me or not. The words sounded like compliments, but he always delivered them with that infuriating little smirk, so I could never be sure if he was being sarcastic.

“Well, this is a pretty simple poem. What do you think of it?”

“It very nice. I like the...how he says the flowers are like stars.”

“Yeah?”

“I like to see stars.” He shrugged. “I know the poem is not about that, but I like the…” he searched for the word.

“Metaphor?” I supplied.

“Yes. Where I live in Russia, we do not see much stars.”

“Yeah, we have a lot of light pollution here, being so close to New York and all. But on a clear night, you might be able to see a good bunch. Maybe you’ll get lucky.”

“Maybe.”

“What do you like about the stars?” I asked, knowing we should really be discussing the poem but also kind of wanting to know more about him. It’s not every day you meet someone from the other side of the world, even if they do tend to make fun of you.

“There are so many. It is...cool to think what might be outside Earth. I like to find the pictures in the stars. And we are small. It makes me think about life.” He shrugged again, looking almost embarrassed to have said it. It was almost charming.

“I know what you mean. My brother, Nick, likes to look at them, too. It really puts life into perspective, doesn’t it?”

He half-smiled again. “Perspective,” he agreed.

“I took an astronomy class last year. The stars were cool, but I didn’t do so well. I wouldn’t have passed without Nick helping me.”

“You almost fail class? Hard to believe.”

“I’m not great at math,” I admitted.

He smirked. “And I think you were Umnyashka. I was wrong?”

I was nearly offended, which was ludicrous because he had chosen that. Not me. “You were the one who started calling me that,” I argued. “I never claimed to be smart.” I was, though. Not to brag, but I was very nearly in the top ten of my entire class, and SHS is a pretty big school.

“Oh, I know you are smart girl. It almost good to know you are bad at something.”

“I’m not bad at math. I’m just not great at it.” I don’t know why I felt the need to defend myself so much here. It just didn’t seem fair of him to think I wasn’t smart just because I got a few C’s in a science class. “Are you any good at math?”

“Yes,” he said. It wasn’t a brag the way he said it, just matter-of-fact. “I like math.”

“Gross, why?”

He chuckled. “Math is always same. No rules that change like with English.”

“Your English is already good.”

“I watch many American television shows and YouTube videos. Understand is easy. Speaking, not as much.”

“I understand. English isn’t really a language. It’s more like three languages in a trenchcoat.” He laughed fully at that and I tried not to show his approval made me happy, even though it did. For some reason. I mean, it wasn’t even an original joke. I’m sure he was on the same internet that I was on.

“You are funny, Umnyashka,” he said, as the bell rang. We put our notebooks away. “I think I will like being partners with you.” He left me there deciding if I felt the same. On one hand, when he was nice, he was really nice, and even interesting. When he decided to make fun of me though...well, that was a little less fun.

Chapter 3 Chapter Text

The weekend drifted by uneventfully. I didn’t think about Yuri at all. Instead, I attempted to write, and, when that didn’t work, picked up some of my poetry books to try and garner some inspiration. No dice. When Haley called Saturday evening and asked if I wanted to come over and watch a movie, I happily abandoned my notebook. Inspiration would come eventually, I told myself.

It didn’t, at least not that weekend, and I went to English on Monday complaining to Haley about my writer’s block.

“I think you need to relax,” she said as we took our usual seats. “If you keep trying to force it, it’ll never come.”

The bell rang just then, so I didn’t get to answer. Mrs. Hirst had us sit with our partners again. I sighed, wondering what I was going to get out of Yuri today. I picked up my backpack and moved over by him.

“Hi,” I said.

“Privet, Umnyashka.” I chose to ignore that, and the way he smirked. “‘The sky was lit by the powerful splendor of the moon. So powerful, I fell to the ground.’”

I blinked. “‘Your love has made me sure I am ready to forsake this worldly life,’” I continued, without even thinking about it. “‘And surrender to the magnificence of your Bering.’”

He half-smiled. “So you do know poetry.”

I nearly rolled my eyes. “What, did you think I made that up? Or did you just decide you needed to personally quiz me?”

“Not quiz. Just prove I can impress you like you impress me. But now I will find poem you do not know.”

I decided not to dignify that with a response, and not just because I couldn’t think of anything to say. Instead I redirected the conversation to the writing exercise we were assigned. We were supposed to work on it together. Mrs. Hirst had said it was meant to foster collaboration, but I’m not sure how well I could collaborate with someone who made fun of me so much.

Tuesday and Wednesday were much of the same. Mrs. Hirst would give us a short in-class assignment to do with our partners, Yuri would greet meet with a poem (Love’s Philosophy by Percy Bysshe Shelley and Konstantin Balmont’s I Entered This World to See the Sun), and then we’d go back to our assignments. The only difference was that my eye-rolls were getting harder to contain. I was trying really hard not to let him get under my skin, but somehow he knew exactly which buttons to push.

On Thursday, Mrs. Hirst told us to sit with our partners and go over the short writing exercises she had assigned the day before. Yuri came and sat next to me while I was adding to the list of words that I had started in my notebook. I did that from time to time. I would find words I liked the sound or meaning of and add them to the list,hoping to find a way to slip one of them into a poem or other piece of writing. Today, I was writing down ‘soliloquy,’ ‘proclivity,’ ‘besotted,’ and ‘anomalous.’

“Privet, Umnyashka.” I could hear the smirk in his voice and it very nearly sent my hackles up once again. He had been goading me like that all week, and it was starting to really grate on me, but I reminded myself of what Haley had said, and what Charlotte had said, and I forced myself to stay calm. I looked up and gave him a serene smile.

“Salut, Yuri. Tu vas bien?”

I was hoping the French would catch him off guard, but he just smiled that same lazy smile he had given me the first day.

“Je vais bien, merci. Et toi?”

I’m not proud of it, but my jaw dropped. He laughed. “You speak French, too?” I asked.

“Little bit.” He pulled out his notebook while I just stared. Who was this guy? How many people could speak Russian, English, and French? He caught my eye and I realized I was still staring, and I blushed.

“No poem today?” I asked, desperate to change the subject.

He smirked just the littlest bit. “Not today, or you will start to expect it.”

“Uh-huh.” Whatever that meant. “So what did you write about last night?” I asked, turning the page in my own notebook. Mrs. Hirst had given us several options, ranging from short poems to answering prompts.

“Home.”

I glanced at him. He seemed pretty serious now. “Yeah?” Was it possible this guy actually had some depth to him? “What about home?”

“Here, read.” He handed me his notebook. He had chosen the prompt asking what it meant to be home and written a piece about leaving one place and arriving in another, all the while wondering where he belonged.

Sure, there were plenty of grammatical errors, but that wasn’t really his fault, and I had to admit, it was a stunning piece.

“This is beautiful.” I handed him back the notebook.

“Thank you.”

“Do you miss Russia?”

He didn’t immediately say yes like I had expected. Instead, he looked up at the ceiling, seeming to consider my question. “It is good to leave from home,” he said slowly. “See new places. But home is always home. It is part to me.”

I nodded. I wondered what it would be like to move to the other side of the world. Then I wondered if he had made any friends in Stoneybrook yet. I didn’t see really see him outside of English class, so I didn’t know if he ever hung out with anyone.

“What do you write?”

I handed him my notebook, suddenly feeling self-conscious. I had chosen to write a poem, of course, but it had been hard-coming, and I knew it wasn’t my best work.

He read it and looked at me. “You use pretty words, but this,” he waved his hand at it, “does not say nothing.”

I bristled just a tad. “It says plenty,” I shot back, taking the notebook. “It’s about growing up. Getting older.”

“We all grow up. What else?”

“Well…” I paused. I was annoyed, but secretly, I wondered if I was annoyed because he was right. “I guess...nothing,” I admitted, begrudgingly. He smirked just a little, and God he was just so aggravating. I wanted to throw something at him.

“Umnyashka—”

“Stop calling me that.”

“—you can say many things,” he continued, ignoring me. “You know how use words. You can write more better.” He looked at me, and he didn’t actually seem to be teasing me anymore. Instead, he looked at me seriously. “I read work you write in library. In…school magazine?”

“The River?” The River was a literary magazine that SHS published every year. Anybody from Stoneybrook could submit, and students in the elective class put it together. Copies of the magazine were kept in the library, and I had had a few pieces published over the years. I was kind of delighted to know that someone was actually reading them, even if that someone was my irritating English partner.

“Yes. And I see you have much to say. You just need find it.” He smiled, a real smile, not the infuriating smirk he had been giving me all week. I hated to admit that it was...nice. He looked cute, and it was kind of distracting. I didn’t know what to say for a second.

“Thanks.” I finally said. “You’re really nice when you’re not being a prick.”

“Prick?” He furrowed his brow at that one.

I blushed again. “Oh, it means, like...jerk. Like, you’re being rude.”

He seemed amused now. “Americans say that a lot?”

“Not really. I consume a lot of British media. Television shows, I mean, like Downton Abbey and Foyle’s War. And books.”

He nodded. “You seem pretentious that way.” He smirked again, and my annoyance came rushing back.

“Wow, I’m surprised you even know that word,” I snapped, then immediately felt bad. The guy could speak three languages and here I was insulting his vocabulary. Who does that? “No, I’m sorry. That was so rude of me.” Luckily, he laughed, and it was a wonderful sound I kind of wanted to hear all the time.

“I earn that. You have fire in you, Umnyashka. Use fire to find words that say things. I like to read them.” The bell rang and he stuck his notebook in his backpack. He smiled again and left. I sat there for a few seconds, watching him go.

“Vanessa?” Danielle tapped me on the shoulder, and I jumped. She side-eyed me. “What are you smiling about?”

Was I smiling? I was. Dang it.

“Oh, nothing.” I stood up to leave. Danielle looked at the door, even though nobody was there.

“Was it because of Mr. Tall, Dark, and Russian?” She asked. Haley and Charlotte laughed.

“Danielle, oh my God.” I knew I was blushing again as we made our way out of the classroom. “He just said something nice as he left, that’s all.”

“Ooo, do you like him?” Haley asked, unwrapping a piece of gum.

“Absolutely not. He’s cute, but he’s also arrogant, and he keeps trying to purposely push my buttons. I could not think of somebody more irritating to have as a partner.”

“Oh, you so like him.” Danielle grinned.

I rolled my eyes. I knew Danielle well enough to know that denying it would only encourage her. I just had to get the focus off me. “How are your partnerships going?”

“Shea is a great partner to give you feedback,” Danielle said. “But it’s so hard to give him constructive criticism. He takes it personally, even though I try to give him a good compliment sandwich.”

“What?” Haley snorted.

“You know, a good part, a bad part, then another good part.”

“That’s how I like my criticism.”

“Travis is actually pretty good, too,” Charlotte admitted. “When he isn’t doodling in his margins, he can actually offer some really good perspectives.”

“Well, Nina is way too hard on me,” Haley complained as we made our way out the front doors. It was pouring, so we stood under the overhang while we finished our conversation. “She never seems to like anything I do, even though she has the creativity of a tree stump.”

“Maybe Mrs. Hirst won’t keep these arrangements too much longer,” Charlotte said, ever the optimist. “Danielle, can I get a ride? I don’t feel like walking home through the rain.”

“Yeah. You guys, too?” Haley and I nodded. I pulled my umbrella out of my backpack.

“Make room,” Haley said, squeezing under with me. Charlotte also had one (which is probably why Danielle often refers to us at the Girl Scouts), so she and Danielle crowded under it as we made our way across the parking lot.

“Look, there’s Mr. Tall, Dark, and Russian,” Haley said, pointing. I slapped her hand. “Ow!”
“It’s rude to point!” I was also mortified. What if he saw? But I looked out from under the umbrella. Yuri was standing ahead of us, in the middle of the parking lot, no raincoat or umbrella. He didn’t seem to even notice the rain as he chatted with Luke Martinez and Stieg Retlin. The rain made his messy dark hair fall in his eyes and his shirt cling to him, and I couldn’t help but notice how muscular he was.

I was horrified by the thought, honestly, and I quickly pushed it aside. This was absolutely not happening.

As we approached, Mel Tucker, who’s a real asshole (I don’t like to swear, but there really is not another suitable word to describe him), came at them from the other side.

“Uh-oh,” Charlotte said. But, because Haley and Danielle both live for the drama, they slowed to watch, so Charlotte and I did, too.

“What’s going on, guys?” He asked, throwing his arms around Luke and Stieg, neither of whom looked too pleased to see him. “Who’s this guy?”

Luke sighed. “Mel, this is Yuri. Yuri, Mel.” Yuri didn’t offer a handshake or anything, just nodded.

“Hello,” Yuri said.

“Damn, that accent is thick.” Mel laughed. “Where are you from?”
“Russia.”

“In Soviet Russia, vodka drink you,” Mel said, putting on a stereotypical Slavic accent. Luke and Stieg both rolled their eyes, but Mel didn’t see it. “When did you move here?”
“We move in summer.”

“Dude, you need to read some more books or something. Your English needs some work.”

I couldn’t watch this anymore. “Tell me, Mel,” I called, and they all turned to me. “How many languages do you speak?”

Mel furrowed his brow. “Just one,” he replied. “Why?”

“Just wanted to know exactly how many more languages Yuri is smarter than you in. Apparently the answer is three.” Everybody cracked up. Mel turned red and stalked off. Yuri turned to me, his gray eyes twinkling with amusem*nt.

“Thank you, Umnyashka.” Suddenly it didn’t sound like an insult anymore. It almost sounded endearing.

“Yeah, well, Mel is a real prick,” I said, and I couldn’t help but smile when he laughed.

“I will need remember that one. I see you all tomorrow.” He walked off and climbed into a car driven by a woman. I assumed she was his mom. There was also a carseat in the back. They drove away and the girls and I started back toward Danielle’s car.

“Ohhh my God, Vanessa, you like him, and he totally likes you,” Haley said, pulling open the passenger door.

“Absolutely and unequivocally false on both accounts.” I busied myself with folding my umbrella to hide my reddening face. Red certainly seemed to be my color today. “We’re just English partners, and Mel Tucker is a garbage human.”

“You can be English partners and like each other. Those are not mutually exclusive,” Danielle said, starting the car.

“You’re both ridiculous,” I said, grateful that Charlotte was staying quiet.

“You should ask him out,” Charlotte said. So much for that. “Then you can double date with Nick and me.”

“That would be stupid, seeing as I don’t like him.” I rolled my eyes, ignoring the way my thoughts kept returning to him. How serious he had been when talking about Russia, how he had smiled after I insulted Mel, his laugh...even the way he kept teasing me was starting to grow on me.

But that didn’t mean anything.

Chapter 4 Chapter Text

That night, I sat at my desk, pen in hand, determined to rewrite my poem. The problem was, I still didn’t have anything to say. I wrote down a few things, stared at them for thirty seconds, scratched them out, rinse and repeat. I wanted to add some new ideas to my poem about growing up, but nothing came. Growing up and...what else? I considered writing about how I felt like I was outgrowing Stoneybrook, but that wasn’t entirely accurate. I wanted to leave and go to college one day, sure, but for the moment I was content where I was, even if it was the most boring small town on the planet sometimes.

I tapped my notebook with my pen as I thought, starting to slip into a daydream, but I was distracted when my eyes fell on the world map above Margo’s desk. Of course I looked at Russia, and of course I started thinking about Yuri.

Why must life be so torturous?

Even worse, inspiration struck at the moment. It was outrageous that he would inspire me, and for a while, I refused to even acknowledge it. I tried instead to find inspiration in the lightbulb of my desk lamp, the rain on the windowpane, and even Claire’s dance leotard that she had left in the heap on the floor. But after a half hour of nothing, I surrendered.

Two stars floating beyond the earth

Both hoping for a new rebirth

Dull and dim and without light

Wandering through endless night

Two stars waiting for their match

Aimless drifting, unattached

What could there be for these two stars?

Just a touch could light a spark

Two stars meeting face to face

Finding each other in endless space

Could these two stars be something new?

Could I be something new with you?

I reread it, and I had to admit, it wasn’t bad. But there was absolutely no way I could show this to him. He could say all he wanted that he wasn’t that smart, but I knew he had to be, and he’d see right through this immediately. How embarrassing would that be?

I quickly scratched out another poem, knowing it still wasn’t great, but that the first one could never see the light of day.

Unfortunately, the light of day sometimes has a way of finding all of your hidden shadows, which could be really nice if that weren’t my pretentious way of saying that the poem came out. Let me explain.

I walked into English the next afternoon, happy that it was Friday. My parents had insisted we kids find our own entertainment for the evening, so we were all scattering, and I was very much looking forward to the sleepover Charlotte was having.

Mrs. Hirst handed out copies of The Great Gatsby, telling us we were starting this unit, and had asked us to show our revised pieces to our partners, so I sat next to Yuri in our usual spot. “Hi,” I greeted him, pulling out my notebook.

“Privet, Umnyashka,” he replied, as he did every day. I hated that it was growing on me.

“So I ended up completely rewriting my poem last night because, as much as I loathe to say it—” I glared at him, and he chuckled, “—you were right and my first one didn’t say anything. But I think this one does.” I started to flip to the new poem and proceeded to immediately drop the notebook. “Dang it.” He leaned down and picked it up for me. “Thanks. You can just flip to it. Where the purple paper clip is.”

He handed me his own notebook. “Will you help mine with grammar?”

“Yeah, of course.” I took his notebook and found the page. I quickly read his piece again. It really was beautiful. I found my pen and started making little notes here and there.

“I like this one,” he said.

“Oh, thanks,” I replied, looking up. “Once inspiration struck, it came easy.” I glanced down at the page and, to my absolute horror, saw it was the poem I had written about him. Oh God. Mayday! “Um…” I knew I had either blushed or gone pale, and I’m not sure which was worse. I couldn’t look at him. “Um…” I said again. “Actually, that, uh…that wasn’t it.”

“No?” He sounded slightly amused. I dared to look at him. He was just smiling his usual half-smile again, but this one was a bit different. This one felt...knowing.

“Um, no, that one was...I wrote it after watching Pretty Little Liars last night.” That had to be the absolute worst excuse I could think of, but it was all that came. “I was rewatching the episode where Caleb and Hanna meet and they kind of inspired this.” I gestured lamely at the page. He’d never buy it.

He chuckled. “So what was actual poem then?”

I flipped the notebook over to the other side, cursing myself for writing the two poems on the same fold. I couldn’t believe I had been so stupid. I could’ve at least flipped the page. He read the second one.

“This one not as good. Does not say as much.”

“Okay, well, I’ve been having a hard time finding inspiration recently and this is all that came to me last night.”

“But what about this?” He flipped the notebook back over. “This is beautiful.”

“It’s also private,” I insisted, then regretted it.

“Private poem about television couple?” He was right, of course. That had been a dumb excuse, too. He raised an eyebrow, challenging me. In that moment, I knew he knew, but I refused to admit it. I still had my pride.

“Yes.” I folded my arms and glared at him, daring him to disagree. In the back of my mind, I acknowledged how his navy shirt made his gray eyes look bluer than normal, and how cute the dark mess of his hair falling into them was, and—okay, I’ll admit it—how hot he looked when he smirked like that. But the louder part of my mind was screaming that I looked like an idiot right now, and denial was the only logical conclusion.

“Okay,” he finally agreed, amusem*nt pouring off of him. “Private.” He flipped the notebook back to the other side, and I exhaled. “But then what I tell is still true. This is not as good.” He indicated the backup poem.

I sighed. “I know it’s not.”

He raised his eyebrows as he looked at me. I think he had expected me to argue. “Writer block not easy, is it?”

I hadn’t expected seriousness. I had prepared for more teasing, and it took me a second to disarm myself. “No, it’s not. I haven’t been able to write anything for months and then this happened—” I flipped the notebook back to what I was beginning to think of as the Forbidden Poem, “—and it came so easily, but I didn’t intend to share it.”

“Why not?” The smirk was back.

I just rolled my eyes. “Some things are meant to stay hidden.”

“There is not need to hide this, Umnyashka.” I looked at him. He was still smirking, but it was softer now, his eyes just a little more serious. “Any boy you ever write about, he will be lucky.”

Oh my God. Did he mean that, or was he just making fun of me again? I searched his face, but I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “Um…” What are you supposed to say after a guy basically admits he likes you? That is what happened, right? I didn’t think I’d misinterpreted that. I couldn’t believe I still had thirty minutes of this class. I begged for a meteor.

I swear, God was on my side that day, because in that moment, the fire alarm went off. Not exactly a meteor, but it would do. Mrs. Hirst sighed. “Alright, everybody, form a line. Last one out, close the door.”

I jumped out of my seat and quickly put some distance between us. I needed a moment (or ten) to process what had just happened.

“Vanessa, are you okay?” Charlotte asked.

“Tell you outside,” I whispered. Luckily, Haley and Danielle were at the front of the line. I knew I wouldn’t get out of telling them at the sleepover, but for now I didn’t want to listen to their teasing. I refused to look Yuri’s way as we filed out. I stared straight ahead until we were outside on the front lawn.

“Vanessa?” Charlotte asked again.

“I think I need to switch schools,” I whispered to her.

“What? Why?”

Quickly and quietly, I told her what had just happened, starting with the poem, Yuri reading it, and then him practically saying he liked me (in so many words). To my annoyance, she laughed.

“Charlotte!” I glared at her.

“I’m sorry, I just...it’s so obvious he likes you, and you like him.” I opened my mouth to protest, but she kept going. “All you have to do is look at you two in English class to see it. You’re practically hanging on his every word, and he looks at you like you raised the moon itself. You just don’t notice because you refuse to see beyond his teasing.”

I was speechless. “I don’t like him,” I finally said, weakly. Charlotte just raised her eyebrows in a look that plainly said, “be so for real right now.”

“So I’m sure that poem was really about Pretty Little Liars, then.”

“Oh, shut up.” I crossed my arms and glared at her while she laughed again.

“I don’t know why you’re being so difficult about it. If he likes you and you like him, then what’s the problem? Most people would be thrilled about this.”

“It’s just…” I paused. What was the problem? “He’s just a jerk.”

“Is he?” She looked at me expectantly.

“Well...maybe he isn’t,” I admitted. I dared to glance in his direction. He was talking to Luke and Stieg again. They were all laughing. God, he just looked so cute. It wasn’t fair. American boys weren’t nearly that attractive. “Okay, fine. Maybe...maybe I like him.” I practically whispered that last part.

“You should ask him out,” Charlotte insisted.

“I’ve only known him for, like, a week and a half. What if I misinterpreted everything and he says no?”

“I seriously doubt it.”

“I don’t know how to date a Russian boy,” I said, knowing as I did that it was stupid.

“Vanessa, he’s from Russia, not Mars. It can’t be that different from dating a boy here in Stoneybrook.” A teacher near the doors gave the all-clear and the crowd started slowly filing back inside.

“Oh God, what am I supposed to say when we get back to class?” I asked her.

“Look, that took up about fifteen minutes. You can figure out what to say for fifteen more minutes. And then it’ll be the weekend and you can have two days away from him to get your head back on.”

I groaned. When we sat back down, I couldn’t look at him for a long moment. Finally, I steeled myself and turned to him, but he beat me to it.

“I want apologize,” he said.

I blinked. “Huh?”

“I think you were uncomfortable before fire drill, and it is my fault. So I am sorry.”

He was cute, funny, and considerate? I practically heard wedding bells.

“Oh, no. Don’t worry about it. Please. I wasn’t uncomfortable. Just...embarrassed.”

“Please do not be embarrassed. Your poem really is beautiful.”

“Thank you. But I am, because I didn’t mean for you to read it.”

“Why is that?” He was starting to smile.

It was all so ridiculous. I couldn’t help but laugh as I looked away. “Look, we both know you know. Please don’t make me say it.”

He smiled fully now. “You are like that movie on Disney.”

What? “Um...what? Which one?”

“The Greek one where girl refuses to talk.”

It took me a moment. “Are you talking about Meg in Hercules?”

“Yes.”

“You know that movie?”

He laughed. “I am from Russia, not Mars.” Hadn’t Charlotte said literally the same thing ten minutes ago? Okay, wait, we were getting off topic.

“And Meg was right. I mean, she said it, and she got kidnapped by the god of the underworld.”

He touched my hand, briefly, and my heart jumped. “Umnyashka, I will not drag you in underworld. Just say it.”

Oh my God. I turned back to him, and for once he looked incredibly sincere. I opened my mouth, but the words got stuck. He waited. Why was this so hard? He could very clearly tell I liked him, and I was pretty sure he liked me. This didn’t need to be difficult.

I looked away again. I inhaled. “I didn’t want you to read it because I wrote it about you,” I said quietly, thankful we were in the back corner of the classroom. If anybody else heard me, I think I would have to defenestrate myself (which is a fancy, somewhat obscure word that means ‘to throw out a window.’ I’m so glad I got a chance to use it, even if just in my personal monologue).

“Why was that hard to say?”

I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Because I can never tell if you’re being serious or not. And you keep calling me ‘umnyashka’ and I never know if you’re doing it to make fun of me.”

“I am teasing you, but it is meant for fun. And ‘umnyashka’ is word of...affection? But if you do not like them, I will stop.”

I finally found the courage to look at him again. He seemed serious now. I thought about it, and I realized I didn’t actually want it to stop. Dang it, his teasing had fully grown on me now. “No, actually, it’s okay. It’s...kind of funny. Sometimes,” I admitted. He smiled, and I did too. The bell rang then. We put our stuff back in our backpacks and stood up at the same time. He turned to me, and for the first time, he didn’t have the easy confidence he normally carried himself with. His face was a little red as he glanced at me and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

“I meant what I say first day. You are pretty, like butterfly. Maybe two stars can be something new.” I couldn’t help it. I blushed. I practically swooned, but I forced myself to be cool. He smiled, shyly this time, and left the room. Charlotte practically ran over to me.

“What did he say?”

Danielle and Haley had seen our last conversation from afar, and they appeared to be freaking out as they stared at the door Yuri had vanished through.

“I’ll tell you all tonight,” I promised.

“Noooo, Vanessa, come on,” Danielle groaned. She put her hands together in prayer position.

“Tonight,” I said firmly. I wanted to enjoy this wondrous moment by myself for a little while.

Chapter 5 Chapter Text

That night, Danielle, Haley, and I met at Charlotte’s, along with Becca Ramsey. We had specifically chosen Charlotte’s because she was the only one of us who didn’t have siblings, so we’d be sure to be undisturbed. We convened in the basem*nt, which the Johanssens had finished a few years prior. Carrot, Charlotte’s schnauzer, supervised us from the couch.

“Do you guys think I should pierce my nose?” Haley was scrolling Instagram with one hand and digging into our giant bowl of popcorn with the other.

“Gross, no,” Becca said.

“I think it would be cute on you!” Charlotte disagreed. That was kind of a surprise. Charlotte isn’t really a prude in any sense, but she tended to be a bit more on the conservative side when it came to fashion.

“Like your mom would ever let you do that,” Danielle said.

“If I just did it myself, do you think she’d make me take it out?”

“Hay, that’s the worst idea ever. It could get infected and then you’ll lose your nose,” I broke in, grabbing a handful of M&Ms.

“You’d have a hard time wearing glasses without that,” Becca teased Haley.

“I don’t even wear glasses.”

“Vanessa, does Jordan like nose piercings?”

“What?” I scrunched my eyebrows at Danielle. “I don’t know. Why?” She raised her eyebrows at Haley, who was blushing. “Wait, Haley, do you like Jordan?”

“No!” But she threw a pillow at Danielle and hid her face, so we all knew it was a lie.

“Haley, oh my God, you could do so much better than him.”

“But he’s so cute!”

“Honestly, all of the Pike boys got good genes,” Becca said.

“I’m leaving,” I said, making as if I was going to get up. Danielle grabbed my hand and pulled me back down.

“Ohhh no you aren’t. Not until you tell us what’s going on with you and Mr. Tall, Dark, and Russian.” She rolled onto her stomach on her sleeping bag and propped her head on her hands.

Becca had lifted her co*ke, but set it back down without taking a sip. “Wait, that new kid? Tall, dark hair? I didn’t know he was from Russia.”

“Have you talked to him?” Charlotte asked.

“No, just seen him around. He’s super cute,” Becca said. “Are you two, like, a thing?” she asked me.

“He definitely likes her. If it wasn’t obvious before, it definitely was after English today.” Charlotte grinned as I swatted her.

“Okay, so you know you can’t just not tell us what happened, right?” Haley seemed all too happy that the focus was no longer on her.

“Oh God, it’s so embarrassing.” They wouldn’t let up though, so I told them what had happened with the poem, and before and after the fire drill.

“Vanessa!” Haley threw a piece of popcorn at me. Carrot raised his head, shook off his sleep, and jumped off the couch to come pick it up. “What are you waiting for? Ask him out!”

“I hardly know the guy, though. What if we don’t have anything in common?”

Danielle rolled her eyes. “That’s what a date is for. To find out.”

“But then if we don’t, it would just be weird.”

“Wait, I got it!” Charlotte was practically jumping up and down on her sleeping bag. “Ask him to the homecoming dance! Then you can double with Nick and me! Triple if Becca can work up the nerve to ask James.”

“Charlotte!” Now Becca hid her face.

“What? We all know you like him.”

“I can’t blame you there,” Haley said. “His accent is amazing.” Danielle agreed.

“Well, this isn’t about me. It’s about Vanessa.”

“Gee, thanks.” I stuck my tongue out at Becca. We were all laughing now.

“Do they even have homecoming in Russia?” Danielle wondered.

“I highly doubt it. It’s violently American,” Haley said.

“So what better way to introduce him to an American tradition than by going to the dance with a beautiful all-American girl?”

“Vanessa watches too much British TV to be considered all-American.”

“Hey, I watch plenty of American TV, and you’re all insane,” I said. “I can’t just ask him.”

“Why can’t you?” Danielle asked.

“Because...I just can’t. He could say no and then we’d still have to be English partners and it would be weird.”

“Do you honestly think he would?”

“Maybe not, but he could. He hasn’t actually said he likes me.”

“Does he actually need to say those exact words?”

“It would help.”

“He hangs around with Luke and Stieg a lot,” Haley noted. “Maybe we can get them to tell Yuri to ask you. Then you’ll know for sure.”

“Don’t you dare, oh my God!” I threw a pillow at her. “It’s times like this I wish the Schafer-Spier house hadn’t burned down and I could go hide in their secret passageway.”

“Girl, don’t be such a chicken. Most girls would kill to be in your position of knowing they like someone who likes them back.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I rolled my eyes, but secretly I kind of relished the new crush feeling. I gave Carrot a pat on the head to avoid having to look at them.

“Well, maybe every time you see him, you should ask him something about himself,” Charlotte suggested. “Like, his favorite movie, favorite kind of music, that sort of thing. Maybe you two will have something in common.”

I paused. It wasn’t a terrible plan, and it would be easier than trying to actually ask him on a date. “I mean...maybe,” I said slowly.

“Do it, or I’ll do it for you,” Danielle threatened. I knew she meant it.

“If you do that, I’ll tell your parents about the shower pool you tried to convince us to make.”

“I thought we all agreed we weren’t going to hold anything over me that I did while I was first in remission.” Danielle had had leukemia when we were younger, and when she first went into remission, she went absolutely haywire. She came up with a ton of ideas that were admittedly very fun, but a complete disaster, such as filling up the shower to create a swimming pool.

“I will completely break that promise if it means you won’t approach him on my behalf.”

Danielle made a face at me but didn’t comment further.

“And Becca, you should ask James! He’s so nice,” I said, just to get the attention off me.

“But what if he wants to go with Carolyn Arnold?”

Danielle waved a hand dismissively. “She’s a lesbian, so even if he did go with her, it’s not like she’ll date him.”

“She is?” We all looked at her.

“I heard her tell Carver Ensign.”

“Um...should you be telling us that?” Charlotte asked uncomfortably.

Danielle blinked. “Um...maybe not,” she conceded guiltily. “But you guys won’t say anything, will you?”

We all shook our heads.

“You should probably work on your gossiping,” Becca suggested gently. “Before you accidentally reveal something to someone you shouldn’t.

“Maybe.”

I hid a smile. Danielle would learn no such lesson from this.

Chapter 6 Chapter Text

I thought about Yuri all weekend. Margo had to say my name three times during dinner on Sunday before I would pass her the rolls. Luckily, I’m known as Space Cadet Pike among my siblings, due to my tendency to daydream, so this wasn’t unusual behavior from me. On Monday, I floated through all of my classes. I ran into Haley on my way to English. “Are you ready to see Mr. Tall, Dark, and Russian?” She asked, hooking an arm through mine.

“Shhh!” Luckily, nobody was listening. They were all too busy navigating the between-class rush. “I definitely am not, but I don’t have any choice, do I?” The warning bell rang. “Oh God,” I groaned.

“Yeah, I can’t think of anything worse than having to sit next to a guy you like, knowing he likes you back,” Haley said dryly. “You’ll be fine.” We stopped outside the classroom door. She studied me. “Take a deep breath,” she instructed. “You look a little pale.” I did that. She moved a couple strands of hair around for me. “I like that lip color,” she commented. “It looks good. Not too bold, but still cute. It’s perfect. Good choice.”

“Hay, I’ve been wearing this color for months. You were there when I bought it.”

She laughed. “Then I know it’s a good choice. Come on, get in there.” She practically pushed me through the door. I tried to appear breezy and confident as I took my usual seat in the back corner. Mrs. Hirst didn’t always ask us to sit with our partners, so better not to appear too eager, right? But I couldn’t keep myself from looking Yuri’s way.

We made eye contact, and he smiled. It made my heart skip. I smiled and gave him a small wave, which he returned. Small victories, but I was feeling like Pop Rocks inside now, all fizzy and explosive. How did I end up liking him this much this quickly?

A man came into the room just then. “Good afternoon, everyone. I’m Mr. Park. Mrs. Hirst is, unfortunately, feeling under the weather, so I’ll be your sub for the day. It looks like today she just wants you to meet with your partners again and discuss the reading from over the weekend. She also has worksheets for you to fill out.” He passed them out. “Feel free to sit wherever. Just kindly keep the volume to a minimum. I’ll collect your worksheets at the end.” He quickly took attendance and then let us move.

I caught Danielle’s eye and she gave me an enthusiastic thumbs up. Haley turned around and signed either “get it!” or “banana milkshake.” (Her brother is completely deaf and she speaks America sign language fluently. I’ve only picked up a handful of signs from her throughout the years.) Charlotte smiled at me encouragingly. Fueled by this, I managed to get over to Yuri and sit in the seat next to him without incident.

He smiled. “Privet, Umnyashka.”

“Hi. Did you do the reading?” We were supposed to have read the first two chapters of The Great Gatsby. I’ve already read this one several times, so I had more skimmed it.

“Yes. I like it, but Tom Buchanan is...a prick.” I laughed at that, feeling like we had a little inside joke.

“He is, isn’t he?”

We answered the questions on the worksheet pretty quickly, which left us free to chat. I do generally like school, like the nerd I am, but I love easy workdays, especially if it meant I got a chance to ask him about himself.

“So,” I asked, setting down my pencil, “what’s your guilty pleasure movie?”

“Guilty pleasure?”

“Like, a movie you love but you’re embarrassed by it.”

He thought about it. “I like move that is like Twelfth Night. She’s the Man?”

“Wait, I love that movie! You should be proud to like a cinematic masterpiece like that.”

He smiled. “It is fun to watch. Not great movie.”

“You are so wrong.”

“Do you only like…” He looked at the ceiling, trying to come up with the words. “Girl movies?”

“Chick flicks? I like a lot of them, but I also like 80s movies.”

“What your favorite 80s movie?”

“Heathers,” I replied immediately.

“I have not seen that one.”

“It has Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. They meet and start killing people at their high school.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “You do not seem like murder movie type.”

“It’s not really like that. It’s a comedy, but it’s what’s called a black comedy. You know, it’s funny, but it’s dark.”

He nodded. “I see.”

“Um...maybe we should watch it sometime,” I suggested, blushing.

He smiled again. “I would like that.”

I smiled, too. “Favorite movie ever?”

“Indiana Jones. First one.”

“Yeah, you seem like an action-adventure kinda guy.”

He smirked. “I bet you say Dead Poets’ Society.”

“It’s...in my top ten,” I admitted, because of course it was. He chuckled. “But not my favorite. That might have to be The Parent Trap. The remake, I mean.”

“Not very intellectual,” he commented. I rolled my eyes.

“It doesn’t have to be. Movies can just be for fun.”

“You are right.”

“Okay, you ask something. This can’t be all me.”

He thought. “You like music?”

“Doesn’t everybody? I listen to a lot of Bon Iver and The National and Taylor Swift.”

“My sister loves Taylor Swift also.”

“You have a sister? How old is she?”

“She is four.”

“Cute. I remember when my youngest sister was four. She was a big pain, but I think that was when she started getting really into pretend games, so she was a lot of fun.”

“She is very special for me.” God, cute, funny, considerate, and deeply loved his little sister? It’s like I made him in a lab.

“Does she go to preschool?”

“Yes. She seem to like it. She does not have much memory of Russia. Hard for her to miss.” He looked a little wistful at that.

“It seems like you miss it a lot.”

He nodded. “I miss friends there, and family, and basketball team.” He hesitated. “I left girlfriend.”

Oh, God. I fought to keep my face neutral. “That’s...too bad.” Yeah, too bad that he was obviously still hung up on this girl. I immediately started wondering what she was like. I bet she was tall, blonde, and beautiful. Maybe even a model. She was probably the Russian equivalent of valedictorian and a volleyball star to boot. Her face never broke out and she never sweat or had a bad hair day and her makeup always looked flawless.

“Umnyashka,” he said, pulling me out of my thoughts. He looked at me seriously. “You do not need be upset.”

“I’m not,” I insisted, wondering how much of my spiraling had shown on my face.

“It is past. She and I not meant to be.”

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me.” And he didn’t, really. It wasn’t his fault I was being irrational, and it’s not like we were in a committed relationship anyway. “We’ve both dated other people. It’s fine.” The difference being my past relationships had ended because they ran their course, not because I was forced to move around the world away from them, but, you know. Nuance.

“So you are not jealous?” He smirked just the littlest bit. It was maddening.

“I’m not jealous, and you’re a prick.” He laughed. I wondered how he managed to push my buttons so easily. “Anyway, we were talking about music. What kind of music do you like?”

“There is Russian bands I like. Aria and Kipelov. But of American music, I like listen to Iron Maiden and Metallica.”

“I think Iron Maiden is from England.”

“You listen to Iron Maiden?” He furrowed his eyebrows in disbelief.

“I absolutely don’t. I only know that because my brother likes that kind of music, and I’ve gotten enough lectures on the differences between thrash metal and black metal.”

“Your brother...have good taste.” He nodded approvingly.

“Agree to disagree, but I’ll introduce you two and you can talk about it with him.”

He glanced at the clock. We still had about fifteen minutes until the bell rang. “I have a question. Luke said something that I wonder. What is...homecoming?”

I smiled. “It’s an extremely American thing. Typically, a school will have a big football game and invite the alumni—people who used to go here—to come. So they’re ‘coming home.’ And there’s a homecoming court where the student body will elect a king and queen, and then usually a dance. The dance is kind of the big highlight. Some schools do events leading up to homecoming, which is what Spirit Week is.”

“Americans are...strange.” He seemed a little perplexed, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“It’s a lot of fun. The student council always comes up with some pretty great ideas for Spirit Week. Last year we had Twin Day, where you dress up just like someone, and a Color War day, where every grade got a color to wear.”

“Do we need to do that?”

“No, it’s not mandatory. But it’s a lot of fun and you definitely should.”

“We will see.” He looked a bit apprehensive at the idea. I guess I couldn’t blame him. Explaining American traditions did make them seem a bit over the top.

“Don’t worry. You have a whole month to gather your courage to participate.”

“My courage?”

“Well, I just assumed that you wouldn’t want to participate because you’re afraid to.” I don’t think he had expected me to start teasing him back. He looked momentarily surprised before a slow smile spread across his face.

“Oh, that is challenge, Umnyashka.”

“Might be. Are you up for it?”

“I cannot say no now. I have honor to protect.” We both smiled as the bell rang. He stood up and picked up his backpack. He took my worksheet. “I will give these to Mr. Park. I see you tomorrow.”

I smiled. “Yeah. Bye.” I joined Charlotte, Haley, and Danielle, who were all still packing up their stuff.

“You two looked pretty chatty,” Haley commented, arching her eyebrows at me.

“We talked a lot after we finished our worksheets,” I said casually. “I may or may not have…suggested we watch Heathers sometime.” I brushed away an invisible speck of lint, trying to act like it was no big deal, even though inside I was screaming (in the best way).

“You go, girl!” Danielle said so loudly that Mr. Park looked up from whatever notes he was writing on the desk, his eyes twinkling.

“Ladies, I appreciate your enthusiasm for cheerleading, but school has ended. Kindly exit stage left.”

“Sorry, Mr. Park,” Charlotte said, and we giggled our way out of the classroom.

“So when are you going to ask him to homecoming?” Haley asked, already chewing her end-of-day gum.

“We’ve still got over a month until the dance,” Charlotte pointed out.

“Yeah, I don’t want to ask too early.”

“So you are going to ask him?” Danielle practically yelled, and I blushed when several people turned our way.

“Shhhh. I don’t know.”

“Don’t you want to?”

“Well, I’m not sure. I mean, yes, but...I don’t know. I explained homecoming to him and he seemed to think it was strange.”

“It is strange,” Charlotte said. “American traditions are weird. Like, we pardon a turkey at Thanksgiving. But that’s part of what makes it so fun. Any anyway, a dance is, like, the most normal part of the whole thing. I’m sure he’s been to one before.”

“Well yeah, you’re probably right.” We walked outside into the sunshine. It was a beautiful day, less hot than it had been the week before but still pretty warm. Charlotte waved goodbye to us and went to join Becca, whom she had promised to hang out with this afternoon.

I turned back to Haley and Danielle. “So when do you guys think is acceptable to ask him?

“Well, let’s see. Today is the 16^th. The dance is on October 18^th. I bet homecoming proposals will start next week,” Haley said. “That’s only three weeks out. So you should ask him sometime between next Wednesday and Friday. That’s early enough that it shows you’re taking it seriously, but not so early that it looks too eager.”

Danielle nodded approvingly. “She’s right. Do you two want a ride?” She dangled her car keys.

“Yes, please,” Haley said.
“I think I’ll walk today. It’s gorgeous out. Thanks, though.” We waved and separated. I was walking down the front sidewalk when I heard someone yell my name. I turned. Luke and Stieg were walking toward me and waving, along with a very embarrassed-looking Yuri. I half-waved. I knew Luke and Stieg vaguely, because Nick sometimes hung out with them, but not well enough for them to be doing all this. But curiosity overtook me, and I slowed to let the three of them catch up.

“Hey, Vanessa,” Stieg said.

“Hi, guys.”

“We saw you walking and we didn’t think you should be walking home alone.”

“Yeah,” Luke added, “you know, being a pretty girl and all.”

“But,” Stieg continued, “we live in the opposite direction. And it turns out Yuri lives near you. So we thought he should walk you home.”

Very subtle, boys. “Did you now?” I looked at Yuri, who was rolling his eyes at them. I smiled. “Well, I can’t say no to good company like his.”

“Perfect,” Luke said. “Yuri, make sure she gets home safe.” They patted his back and walked off. Yuri shook his head.

“I am so sorry. They...think we should talk outside class.”

“Well, as long as you’re going in my direction anyway, I would love to walk with you.” My heart sped up, and I hoped I wasn’t blushing.

He smiled. “I cannot say no.” We started walking down the street. For a few steps, we didn’t talk. I felt my stomach clench just a little, but I took a breath. I reminded myself that we had basically already admitted we liked each other and I didn’t need to be nervous. Just talk to him.

“Where do you live?” I asked him.

“Elm Street.”

“Oh, hey, that’s right behind me. I live on Slate Street.”

“Stieg and Luke tell that.”

“You seem to be getting to be pretty good friends with them.”

“They are...cool guys.” I smiled. It sounded almost unnatural in his accent.

“Have you made any other friends?”

“Yes. Guys on basketball team.”

“Are you going to try out?”

“Yes.”

He didn’t seem to want to talk to me. It made my stomach turn a little. “Um…” We walked in silence for about a block. Finally I couldn’t take it. “Is there a reason you’re so quiet?” I asked as we turned onto Burnt Hill Road.

He sighed and looked at his feet. It was weird to see him without his usual air of confidence and charm. “Sorry. I…I do not know what to say to you.”

“We’ve been talking in class for a couple weeks now.”

“It feels different outside class.”

“Hey, I’m not scary.”

He half-smiled. “No, you are not,” he agreed. “But you are very pretty. Is almost the same.”

Oh my God. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. “I don’t think we need to be nervous here. We’ve already done the hard part.”

“Have we?” He looked at me.

“I mean, I thought so. In so many words.”

“Words are easy. To spend time, more hard.”

I saw what he meant. This was the most alone we’d ever been, and we weren’t even really alone. It was a little nerve-wracking. “Just pretend we’re in class. What’s your favorite candy?”

He smiled. “In Russia, we have chocolate called Strela. There is no chocolate in America like it. And Alenka bars.”

“Do you like any American candy?”

“American chocolate is too...too sweet. But I like the sour candy...the children?”

“Sour Patch Kids?”

“Yes.”

“I love those. But my favorite has to be Reese’s.”

“And your favorite color?”
“Purple.”

“Like royalty.”

I shifted my backpack to the other shoulder. “What about you?”

“Blue.”

“Like, what kind of blue? Navy? Or like the sky?”

He looked at me. “Like your eyes.”

I blushed, and he smiled. “I need you to stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Being so smooth.”

“Smooth?”

“Like...charming.”

“You think I am charming?”

“Are you not trying to be?” I turned to him, and he was smirking. “You’re one of the most charming, confident guys I know. And you’ve been like that since the first day of school.”

He waved a hand. “It is easy. But you…make me nervous.”

“Why do I make you nervous?”

He glanced at me. I smiled innocently. He chuckled a little. “We know you know.”

“That should make it easier for you to just say it.” I guess I could’ve said it, but I really wanted him to say it first.

We had reached the corner of Slate Street and Burnt Hill Road, and we stopped walking. He looked at me, seeming as nervous as I felt. He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked up at the tree we had stopped under.

“Umnyashka…” He looked at me now, his face reddening slightly. “I like you.”

My pulse tripled. “I like you, too.”

We smiled at each other, riding the waves of adrenaline that come with confessing your feelings. He reached out, tentatively, and took my hand. I think I stopped breathing for a second. We just looked at each other. For a second, I considered leaning in to kiss him, just to see what he’d do, but I dismissed it. I thought it was too early. But then he took a step toward me like he wanted to. If my heart beat any faster, I probably would’ve gone into cardiac arrest.

“Vanessa!”

I groaned and turned in the direction the voice had come from. Adam and Jordan were strolling casually down the sidewalk. Well, Jordan was trying to stroll. Adam was kind of shoving him at the same time.

“My brothers,” I said to Yuri. I turned back to them. “What could you two possibly want from me?”

“We don’t want anything from you,” Jordan said innocently as they approached. “We just happened to be walking home from school and saw you standing here.”

“Where’s Byron?”

“It was his turn with the car and he said he had somewhere to be.” Adam shrugged. “And it’s so nice, we decided to walk home.”

“Yeah, lovely day, isn’t it? Can you maybe keep walking?”

“Does Mom know you’re walking home and holding hands with a stranger?” Jordan asked, looking at Yuri. I hadn’t realized he was still holding my hand. He withdrew it, leaving me disappointed.

“He’s not a stranger. He’s my English partner.”

“Yeah, it sure looked like you two were really studying there,” Adam teased, elbowing me. “Are you going to introduce us?”

“Yuri, these are my brothers, Jordan and Adam,” I said with zero enthusiasm. “And they were just leaving.” I gave them a pointed look that they ignored, because of course they did.

“We’ve met,” Adam said, grinning. “At the first round of basketball tryouts. You’re really good, man.”

“Thank you,” Yuri said.

“Great, everybody’s friends. Will you two leave?”

“Well, we’re all going the same direction. I thought we could all walk home together,” Jordan said. He and Adam snickered.

I rolled my eyes. “If you two don’t leave right now, I’ll tell Mom which one of you put the scratch on her car last year, and how.”

“We all agreed we wouldn’t tell,” Adam insisted.

“Triplet solidarity only works among you three. I owe you nothing.”

Adam and Jordan exchanged a look, deliberating silently in the way only they can.

“Fine,” Jordan grumbled. “But this is why we don’t drive you places.” They turned onto Slate Street and walked off.

“Sorry about that,” I said to Yuri when they were far enough away. “In a big family like mine, where we’re all so close in age, everybody just teases each other nonstop.”

He smiled. “Not to worry. But I should get home. I need watch my sister.”

I was furious with Jordan and Adam for ruining what could have been another wondrous moment, but I told myself there would be plenty of others. “Yeah, no problem.”

“I will finish walk home, though.” I smiled. We set off down Slate Street. I kept my hand down, kind of hoping he’d take it but knowing the moment had passed. “Who are all your siblings?”

“I have four brothers and three sisters. Mallory is the oldest. She’s 18 and in her first year of college. Adam, Jordan, and Byron are next. They’re triplets, and they’re all 17 and seniors. Then me. After me is Nick, who’s 15, Margo, who’s 14, and Claire, who’s 12.”

“Busy house,” he commented. “How do you tell triplets apart?”

“Well, they’re a lot less identical now that they’re older and wear their hair differently. But it was easy even when they were younger, and not just because I had grown up with them. They all kind of carry themselves differently, if you look for it. Adam is big, brash, and loud, the one most likely to be horsing around down the street instead of just walking. If he does happen to just walk, he usually has an elbow in someone else’s space. Jordan carries himself tall and confidently, always sure of himself, and he tends to walk more quickly than the other two. Byron is usually an arms-crossed or hands-in-the-pockets, slow-and-dreamy stroll kind of guy. He tends to close in on himself to avoid drawing attention.”

He nodded, thinking about that.

“And here they are in all their glory. Except for Byron, I guess.” I swept my arm in the direction of my house as we approached it. Five of my siblings were waiting on the porch. “Be prepared. They’re definitely going to say something to embarrass me.”

Sure enough, as soon as we were in hearing distance, Margo yelled, “Vanessa, who’s that?”

“He’s cute!” Claire called.

“Is he your boyfriend?” That was Nick. I just rolled my eyes at Yuri. It’s harder to be embarrassed when you know it’s coming. In a way, I was thankful for the years of preparation they had given me at this point.

“Sorry about this. Just ignore them. In fact, I won’t even make you stop. If you keep walking to the end of the block, just turn right and you’ll get to Elm Street.”

He smiled again. “It really is good. I will see you tomorrow, Umnyashka.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you. Thanks for walking me home.” I smiled back at him. I stopped at the end of my driveway. He waved to me, then waved to all of my siblings. I don’t think they expected that.

“Wait, can we meet him?” Margo asked.

“Nope. He’s gotta watch his sister,” I said, coming up the driveway. “You’re all far too predictable. Try a little harder next time.”

“Maybe you should bring him around for dinner,” Nick said.

“Like I would want to invite anybody over to the Pike Asylum.”

“I bring Charlotte over all the time,” he pointed out.

“She grew up with us. She already knew what to expect.” I climbed the porch steps.

“Mom and Dad will eventually want to meet him if you keep hanging out with him,” Adam said. He and Jordan had picked up a baseball and were now tossing it back and forth.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.” I dropped my backpack in the front hall. I wanted to get a few minutes of peace in my room

Chapter 7 Chapter Text

Unfortunately, I was unable to get the peace I so desperately craved. I realized I had forgotten to swing by the public library. I needed a book for my history class, and all the copies at the school library had been checked out.

“Dang it.” I sighed and went back outside and down the porch steps.

“Now where are you going?” Jordan called.

“Library,” I called back over my shoulder without stopping.

“Suuuure you are.” He clearly didn’t believe me, but facts were facts.

Luckily, the library isn’t far. I walked through the front doors, taking in the main room. I’ve always loved the library. I waved to Mrs. Kishi at the front desk, who knew me pretty well from all the time I had spent here, and made my way to the section where they set aside the hold books. I found mine pretty easily. I was about to go check it out when I spotted Byron in the far corner. His back was to me and his head was down, reading a book, but it was definitely him. I made my way over to him.

“So is this where you come when you tell Jordan and Adam you have somewhere to be?” I asked, plopping down in a chair next to him. He jumped a little and pulled out an earbud.

“What?”

I repeated my question.

“Well...not always,” he replied with a guilty look. “Sometimes I go to Rosebud.” He smiled sheepishly. Byron loves to eat more than anybody I know. It’s a wonder he stays as thin as he is, even with all the running he does.

“Are you hiding from them?”

“Not exactly. It’s just nice to get some quiet time, you know?” He fiddled with the dust jacket of the book he was reading.

“I understand.” He seemed a little distracted, not looking at me. Instead, he was glancing around the room, like he was looking for someone. “Are you embarrassed to be seen with me or something?”

He laughed a little. “No. I’m just...are you sure Adam and Jordan didn’t follow you?”

“Are you sure you aren’t hiding?”

He sighed. “Maybe I am, a little,” he admitted. “I...well, they started talking about homecoming, and who they wanted to ask, and I just knew they were going to ask if I was going with anybody, and I wanted to get out of there before they could make fun of me for it.”

“You’ve still got a whole month to ask somebody. I’m sure you could easily find a girl to go with you.”

He leaned back in his chair. “But...I don’t...I don’t know if I want to.” He said that last part so quietly I almost didn’t hear it.

“Well, that’s fine. You could always go with some friends like you did last year. Or not go.”

“No, I mean...I want to go. I’m a senior, and it’s my last one. But…” He kept playing with the dust jacket. I’d be surprised if he didn’t rip it.

“But?”

He blushed. “Forget it,” he mumbled.

“No, what?”

He wouldn’t look at me now. “Sometimes I hate how different I am from them.” This statement didn’t seem to quite fit the conversation we had just been having. He was doing that thing he does where he gives you a vaguely-related answer to give the illusion of telling you something without having to tell you. It would have worked on Jordan, Adam, Margo, and Claire, but I saw right through it, and I knew Nick and Mallory would have, too.

“You have plenty in common with them,” I insisted, knowing it wasn’t quite true. Because they’re triplets, they do have some common interests, but like I said, he was a lot more like Nick. Byron knew this, too, and he just snorted.

“It’s not like this is news to me. They’re into hiphop and rap, and I like rock and metal. They join the baseball team, I do track. They watch scary movies, I prefer comedies. It’s always the two of them and me. Never the three of us.” He tossed his book onto the table in front of us.

“Byron, you may be triplets, but you’re still three different people. Nobody expects you all to have the exact same interests. Adam plays basketball, but Jordan likes soccer. You and Adam both love The Office, but Jordan prefers Parks and Rec. You and Jordan like platform video games, but Adam likes first-person shooters. You guys aren’t going to be clones of each other, and you shouldn’t be.”

He shrugged. “None of those things really matter though. I’m different from them in the fact that they’re both cool and popular and make friends so easily and go on a lot of dates, and I’m quiet and like to observe people and only have a handful of good friends, and I’ve never even had a girlfriend.”

“I’ve never known you to want a girlfriend,” I said carefully, suspecting this was really the heart of the matter.

“Well...that’s the thing. I...I don’t think I do.” He was avoiding my eyes so hard and turning so red that I instantly understood what he meant.

“Oh.” I looked at him, from his hair that he kept a little longer than the other two and his My Chemical Romance t-shirt, down to his ripped jeans and the Vans that he often wore on top of a skateboard. I remember once being surprised that he of all people would lean into this emo-kid skater aesthetic, but I had been on Tumblr enough to know that that kind of crowd was usually pretty welcoming. It was safe.

He shifted uncomfortably on his chair as I watched him. “Look, just forget I said anything.”

“Byron…”

“Vanessa, please.” He looked directly at me now, pleadingly. “It’s nothing.”

I debated, but ultimately decided to leave it. He could talk more when he was ready. “…Okay.” He exhaled in relief. I stood up. “I’m going to check out my book and go home. I never saw you here.”

He nodded. I turned to leave, but on impulse I leaned down and hugged him. He seemed momentarily surprised, but then he stood up and returned my hug.

“I love you,” I told him. “Don’t tell any of the others, but you’re my favorite brother.”

He chuckled. “I love you, too.”

“Umnyashka?”

I pulled away and turned to see Yuri standing five feet from us, holding the hand of a little girl. He looked suspiciously at Byron. I nearly laughed when I realized what he was thinking.

“Hi, Yuri. This is my brother, Byron.” I indicated him. “Byron, this is my English partner, Yuri.”

I was watching Yuri, who relaxed and actually smiled. “Nice to meet you.” He and Byron shook hands.

“Yeah, you too.” Byron still seemed uncomfortable, but that wasn’t surprising. He’s not great with new people.

“And who’s this?” I asked, smiling at the girl. With the same dark hair and gray eyes, she had to be his sister.

She smiled back. “My name is Nadia.” She had a trace of an accent, but I assumed being as young as she was and around English-speaking kids all day, she would pick it up faster. I wondered when Yuri had started learning.

I crouched down to her level. “Lovely to meet you, Nadia. I’m Vanessa.”

“Vanessa,” she repeated slowly. I could practically see the wheels turning in her little head. She turned to Yuri. “Is she the girl you call pretty?”

Yuri closed his eyes briefly and answered her in Russian. I just smiled.

“I love that dress you have on.” It was a glittery fairy princess dress, nearly identical to the one Claire had been obsessed with when she was four.

She twirled for me. “I am a princess!”

“You certainly are.” I stood back up. “Byron, Yuri told me earlier today that he likes Metallica and Iron Maiden. I thought you’d like to weigh in on that.”

“Yeah?” Byron looked at Yuri. “Favorite Metallica album?”

“St. Anger.” Yuri and I both laughed at the appalled look on Byron’s face, though he quickly tried to hide it. Even I knew enough to know that that album is notoriously hated among fans.

“Oh, that’s not...not one of my favorites,” Byron said diplomatically.

“Yuri chuckled. “Not mine, either. I like Master of Puppets.”

“Oh, I love that one. But it’s not better than Ride the Lightning.”

“Oh, God,” I groaned, realizing what I had just started.

Nadia started tugging at Yuri’s hand then and said something in Russian. He answered her and turned to Byron, apologetic. “I told her I would help her find book.”

“I’ll take her,” I volunteered. “Then you two can keep having this...debate.”

Yuri hesitated. “Well…” he spoke to Nadia again. She jumped up and down.

“Vanessa can take me?” She looked at me hopefully.

“I’d be happy to. I know all the best books in this library.” I held out my hand and Nadia took it.

Yuri smiled. “Thank you.” We walked off, leaving them in animated conversation. Well, I walked. Nadia skipped alongside me, all the way into the children’s room. It’s a bright, sunlit room (or, two rooms) with a lot of nooks and crannies for kids to hide away and read in. It’s very cozy. I had a lot of memories in here.

“What do you like to read, Nadia?”

“Princesses!” I should’ve guessed.

“Well, do you like ballerinas? I know a perfect series about a lovely ballerina.”

“What is it?” She looked at me, wide-eyed.

I smiled. “It’s a surprise. Let’s go find it.” I started to lead her to the shelves, but I stopped. I wondered how well she knew her English letters. “Actually, Nadia, I need your help.”

“You do?” She looked interested at the idea of helping a “big kid.”

“Can you help me find the letter H?” I pointed to a sign on the side of the nearest shelf. “This shelf is S-T. Do you know where ‘H’ might be?”

She thought about it. “A...B…” she said slowly. She tried so hard, but she couldn’t seem to get beyond ‘E.’

“I...don’t know ‘H,’” she said sadly.

“Hey, that’s okay. Let me show you something before we go find it.” I led her over to the giant alphabet poster on the wall at kid height. I crouched next to her. “When I was learning my letters, my teacher told me that ‘H’ looks like two people standing up and shaking hands. Do you see a letter that looks like that?”

She looked at the poster, examining each letter carefully. Finally, she extended a finger and pointed tentatively at the H.

“That’s right!”

She lit up. “Show me another!”

“Okay, let me think.” I thought back to when I was in preschool. “The letter ‘O’ looks like a big, round balloon.”

Nadia looked puzzled. “Balloon?”

I glanced at the poster. Sure enough, there was a balloon floating past B. I pointed to it. “This is a balloon.”

She looked at it, then immediately found the O. “This?”

“Yes!”

She grinned, and I couldn’t help but smile back at her. She was adorable. “Okay, let me give you one more. Then we should go find our books, okay?”

“Okay.”

“The letter ‘S’ looks like a slithery snake.”

She shivered just a little. “I don’t like snakes.”

“This is a friendly snake. A nice snake.”

She looked at the poster and pointed uncertainly to the C. “Not quite. You know that one. That’s ‘C.’ Our friend ‘S’ is a little more slithery than that.”

She frowned. Then she pointed to the S. “That’s it!” She squealed with excitement. Even though it’s a children’s room and you can’t expect total silence, a few people looked our way. “Shhh,” I told her, putting a finger to my mouth. “You have to be quiet in a library. People here like to have quiet to read in. Okay?”

“Okay,” she whispered.

“Are you ready to help me find those books?” I whispered back. She nodded. “Okay, let’s go find the H shelf.”

I took her hand and let her lead me down the rows of shelves. She started out pretty confident as she looked at the signs, but I could see it waver as we went further along.

“Just look for the two people shaking hands,” I reminded her. She frowned in concentration. We passed E, then F-G, and came to H-J. She stopped and gazed at it, hard. Then she pointed and looked to me for confirmation. I smiled. “Good job.” She smiled, too. We trooped down the row. I pulled out an Angelina Ballerina book and crouched down to show her. “See, this is Angelina Ballerina. She’s a mouse training to be a ballerina one day.”

Well, you would’ve thought I had just handed her the key to an ice cream store and told her to go nuts. She got so excited and wanted to check all of them out right away.

“Hold it,” I said, laughing. “Let’s start with two.”

“Will you come home and read them to me?” She asked as we made our way to the counter. I checked the big clock that hung over the counter. It was getting late.

“Well, not today. I’m sure Yuri has to get you home. But I bet if you ask nicely, he’ll read them to you. And maybe one day, I can.”

She nodded, accepting that. We checked out the books and then she practically dragged me back to the main room, where Yuri and Byron had taken a seat and were still deep in conversation.

“No way, man. Number of the Beast easily outdoes Powerslave,” I heard Byron say as I got closer. Yuri laughed and opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment, Nadia interrupted him, chattering excitedly in Russian. He listened, and whatever she said made him smile.

“Tell ‘thank you,’” he told her. She turned to me, smiling widely.

“Thank you!”

“You’re very welcome.”

Yuri turned to me, still smiling. “She said you help her learn letters and find new books.”

“I did. I taught her H, O, and S,” I told him. “And there’s going to be a lot of Angelina Ballerina in your future.”

“I look forward to it.” He said something to Nadia and stood up, and she took his hand. “We must go. It is nice to meet you, Byron. See you tomorrow, Umnyashka.”

“Bye.” My heart raced as he smiled at me again and they turned to go. Nadia let go of his hand long enough to wave excitedly at me, her other arm clutching her new books.

Byron turned to me. “‘Umnyashka’?”

“It means ‘smart girl,’” I explained, blushing a little.

He chuckled. “Weird way to show affection, but I guess it suits you. You, uh, really like him.” It wasn’t a question, and I blushed more. Leave it to Byron to pick up on that.

“Well, kind of. Yes. But he already said he likes me, too.”

“He seems like a cool guy.”

“He is.” I smiled as I thought about it.

Byron glanced at his phone. “We should probably go, too. I’ll drive you home.”

“Oh, wait. Let me check this out.” I had nearly forgotten I was holding this book for history class. I quickly checked it out and we made our way to their ancient Honda.

“This car is disgusting,” I remarked, tossing fast food wrappers into the backseat.

“I keep telling them to clean it up, but...well, you know.” Byron shrugged. “Sometimes I think I should just let them buy my third off of me and they can argue between them. I’m just as happy on my skateboard.”

“Couldn’t hurt.” I settled myself onto the bench front seat. We drove the few blocks home and pulled into the driveway. He parked but didn’t move to get out.

“Vanessa,” he said. I stopped and looked at him. “I…thanks.”

I didn’t ask for clarification. “Of course. And you can talk to me about anything. I hope you know that.”

He nodded. “I know.” I thought he might say more, but he just opened the door and climbed out.

Chapter 8 Chapter Text

The rest of the week went quickly. On Tuesday, Haley showed up to school with streaks of pink in her blonde hair.

“It looks cute,” I said.

“I got grounded for the rest of the week for it, but they didn’t make me dye it back,” she replied, grinning. “I might try the nose piercing next.”

“Don’t push your luck,” I said, laughing.

I also wanted to keep asking Yuri about himself, so I asked him his favorite snack (he said there were these cucumber-and-dill-flavored Lay’s chips in Russia that he really missed, butsince moving to America, he’s developed a major weakness for popcorn), and his favorite animal (bears).

On Wednesday, Mrs. Hirst switched our partners, which was definitely a bummer, but I ended up with Sophie McCann, whom I really like, so I guess it could’ve been worse. I still was able to walk home with him, and he asked my favorite fruit (peaches) and my favorite Disney movie (Beauty and the Beast).

On Thursday, Yuri had round two of basketball tryouts, so I went with Haley to get her nose pierced. (“I’m already grounded,” she said. “What else are they gonna do?” Believe me, I tried to talk her out of it, but she would not be dissuaded, so finally I gave up. I’m not even sure it was legal to pierce a 16-year-old without parental permission, but I had to admit, it looked cute.)

On Friday, I made an idiot of myself. After my first period science class, I was in the bathroom, and I happened to overhear Tiffany Spencer talking to Valerie Namm. (Hey, it’s not eavesdropping if you’re having the conversation in a super public place.)

“You know that new Russian kid?” Tiffany asked from her stall. That caught my attention. I took my time washing my hands, wondering what she was going to say.

Valerie answered from the stall next to her. “Oh, do you mean that tall kid with the dark hair? I haven’t talked to him. I didn’t know he was Russian. He’s cute, though.”

“Right? Well, I heard he asked Elizabeth Yates to homecoming.” My heart stopped. No way, right? She had to be mistaken.

“Elizabeth Yates? Really? Isn’t he, like, super nice? Why would he ask a real bitch like her?”

Why indeed. I pulled out my lipgloss now, pretending to touch it up.

Tiffany snorted. “No idea. But I have to think she said yes. They’re always talking during math. She flirts with him constantly.”

I had heard enough. I stuffed my lipgloss tube back in my back and hurried out, trying not to look upset, but I’ve never been too good at hiding my emotions.

I ran into Danielle on my way to history. “Vanessa, what’s the matter?” She asked, bewildered.

“Later,” I managed to get out at the warning bell rang.

I didn’t hear a word Mr. Lewis said all throughout US history. I brooded on Elizabeth Yates the entire class.

First, let me just say that I cannot stand Elizabeth, down to my core. She and Sara Hill are good friends with Kerry Bruno, who is, quite honestly, one of the worst humans I know (which I don’t understand because she used to be pretty okay, and her brothers, Logan and Hunter, are both incredibly nice guys). Elizabeth is extremely fake. She’ll act like your best friend one day, and the next she’ll go around telling everybody you were the one who clogged the toilet at Sophie McCann’s party (ask me how I know—I still have to tell people it wasn’t me). Sara is marginally better than Elizabeth, if you can get her alone, but she’s often caught up in whatever scheme Elizabeth and Kerry have concocted.

Not nice girls, is my point.

But Elizabeth was pretty, I conceded to myself. Maybe Yuri had a thing for redheads that he never mentioned. Or maybe he liked girls who wore way too much makeup (seriously, I don’t like to judge, but she looks 30 instead of 16), or girls who straight-up thought God had sent them to Earth on a silver platter.

On the other hand, he had said he liked me. Didn’t that mean anything? Why would he have asked her if he said he liked me? Did ‘like’ mean something different in Russia? I couldn’t imagine it did, but what do I know?

“Miss Pike?”

“Hmm?” I glanced up. Mr. Lewis seemed to be expecting an answer.

“Can you please remind us why the Europeans were interested in trans-Atlantic exploration?” His tone indicated that this wasn’t the first time he had asked me.

I groped through my memory, trying to recall my notes from yesterday. “Because…they wanted to find an oversea trade route to Asia.”

He frowned. “That is correct. But please, Miss Pike, try to pay attention.”

“Sorry.” He kept talking, and I tuned out again, knowing I could borrow notes from Shea later.

I ignored Mr. Lewis for the rest of class, and luckily he didn’t call on me again. I managed to hold it together all through French and photography. Finally, the bell rang, and I hurried to meet the girls for lunch.

I made my way through the lunch line, barely aware of what I got, and found our usual table. Charlotte and Haley didn’t have the same lunch period, but Danielle and Becca did, along with Lindsey DeWitt and both Arnold twins. Lindsey, Marilyn, and Carolyn didn’t always sit with us, but today they were there. Inwardly, I groaned. I like all three of them, I really do, but I didn’t want to have to talk about it in front of them. Becca and Marilyn were deep in conversation, but Becca looked up as I sat down. My distress must’ve been written all over my face, because she immediately asked me what was wrong.

“I’ll wait for Danielle.” I didn’t want to have to say it twice.

She sat down a couple minutes later. “My math teacher is so unfair,” she complained, but Becca nudged her and she looked at me. “Oh, Vanessa, are you still upset? It must’ve been pretty big.”

I took a breath. “I heard Tiffany tell Valerie that Yuri asked Elizabeth to homecoming.”

Danielle’s jaw dropped. “He what?”

Becca frowned. “Are you sure that’s true?” She asked diplomatically. “I mean, Tiffany could easily be mistaken.”

“She could, but she sounded pretty convinced to me.” I poked at my sandwich. I didn’t even like turkey that much. How did I end up with turkey?

“Wait, are you and Yuri Ustinov together?” Lindsey asked.

“Well, no, not really,” I admitted. “So I guess he’s within his rights to ask Elizabeth.”

“But he said he liked you, didn’t he?” Danielle asked.

“Yeah.”

“So he shouldn’t be pulling this,” Marilyn argued.

“Hang on, we don’t even know if he actually asked her,” Becca said.

“Give me two seconds.” Danielle stood up, scouting a target. She found it in Joseph Nicholas. “He’ll know.”

We all watched her stroll off. Danielle’s nose for gossip often fascinated me, but it was nothing compared to Joseph, who somehow just seemed to know everything about everybody. He once asked me how Byron was doing after his accident before I had even known about it. (Byron was fine—he had just broken his ankle skateboarding while the triplets were away with their friend, Tom Cates, for the day—but I never did find out how Joseph knew. It’d be creepy if he wasn’t so sincerely nice about everything.)

We watched her chat with him for a second. He frowned and shook his head, which I took as a good sign, but Danielle kept asking. Finally she turned to come back to us, her expression grim. My heart sank.

“Well, he didn’t actually confirm it for me,” she started, “but he told me they were definitely talking during math, and the words ‘homecoming’ and ‘date’ were exchanged.”

“Oh.” I pushed my sandwich aside. Suddenly I wasn’t that hungry anymore. The gross fluorescents of the cafeteria were suddenly too bright, and the noise too deafening.

“But that doesn’t necessarily mean he asked her,” Becca countered. “They could’ve just been talking about who they wanted to ask.”

Carolyn snorted. “No offense, Becca, but Elizabeth isn’t exactly the type to debate who’s a better date with her classmate. She’s the type to see a cute guy and immediately try to climb him like a tree.”

Becca couldn’t even argue, because Carolyn was absolutely right.

I sighed. “Look, it’s fine. He doesn’t owe me anything.” I bit lamely into an apple, trying to keep myself busy so I didn’t cry.

“Except an explanation, maybe,” Danielle said. “I’ll go ask him myself if you want.”

“No, don’t do that. I’ll...I’ll ask him,” I said, even though that was the last thing I wanted to do. Well, maybe second-to-last. The last thing was actually see him at homecoming with Elizabeth on his arm, beautiful even with her 35-year-old evening-glam look.

For the first time since Mrs. Hirst had moved us, I was grateful to not have Yuri as my English partner. I didn’t look his way the entire class. I didn’t know what to say to him, and frankly I didn’t really want to say anything. I had brooded on it for the rest of the day and now, instead of being upset, I was just kind of mad.

Who tells a girl he likes her and then asks someone else to a dance? A prick, that’s who.

When the bell rang, I left quickly, even before Danielle, Charlotte, and Haley could catch up to me, or before Yuri could. I was out the front door in no time. I wanted to just go straight home, but, unfortunately, Caryn Hatt stopped me to ask a question about our science homework, so I didn’t get very far before Yuri found me.

“Umnyashka, are you okay?” He asked. Since Monday, we had taken to walking home together, and I guess my running off was kind of out of character this week. I did feel a stab of pleasure that he had come after me, but it was quickly soured.

“Fine.” I tried to sound nonchalant, though I’m not sure I succeeded.

He frowned. “Are you sure?”

“Yup. Are we walking or aren’t we?” I started walking before he had time to answer. In my peripheral vision, I saw him fall into step beside me, but I refused to look at him. If I was going to ask him about this, I had to keep myself together, and I couldn’t do that if I had to face him.

We were both quiet until about halfway down Burnt Hill Road. Finally he spoke. “Umnyashka, what bothers you?”

I took a deep breath. “Why did you ask Elizabeth Yates to homecoming?”

“What?”

“I heard someone say you asked her, and if that’s true, I really want to know why. I mean, I just thought…” I trailed off, thinking “I thought you liked me” sounded...well, juvenile. (Okay, and maybe that’s how I was acting, but I’m a 16-year-old girl. We’re dramatic sometimes, okay?) “You’re telling me that you like me, but then I’m hearing from Tiffany Spencer that you and Elizabeth talk all the time in math class, and she’s always flirting with you. And if you like her, fine. I mean, she’s kind of the worst, but fine. But you didn’t need to need to act like you like me, too.” My voice caught a little. I looked away, willing myself not to cry.

We stopped under the tree at the corner, the same one we had stopped under and confessed our feelings on Monday. It had seemed romantic then, but now all I could see was that the flowers on the tree were dead and the leaves weren’t going to be around much longer. I pretended to search for something in my backpack so I could avoid his eyes.

“I did not ask Elizabeth.”
I looked at him. He looked serious. “You didn’t?”

“No.”

“Then why did Tiffany and Valerie say you did?”

He muttered something in Russian and ran his hand through his hair in exasperation. “They also say they milk chickens, Vanessa. Do you believe them?”
I stared at him, baffled. It vaguely registered that he had called me by name for the first time since I met him, but, as you can imagine, that wasn’t the part of his sentence I was stuck on.

“I...what?” I started to laugh.

He blushed. “Must be Russian one.”

“Sorry, I don’t mean to laugh,” I said, trying to stop but still smiling. “I just did not expect you to say that. What does that mean?”

Now that I had stopped accusing him, he seemed relieved, and started to laugh with me. “It means ‘do not believe all you hear.’”

I looked down at my feet, feeling ridiculous. I should’ve just asked him directly from the beginning. “I’m so sorry,” I said. “I feel like an idiot.”

“You are not,” he said. He put his hand on my chin and made me look at him. His expression was fond. I hoped he couldn’t feel my heart speed up like it did every time I looked at him. “You are smart girl. You know that.”

I smiled. “That’s what you keep telling me.”

“Elizabeth asked me to homecoming, but I say no.”

“Really?” I couldn’t help but gloat a little internally. Guys didn’t usually turn her down.

“I do not want to go with her. She is…” he paused. “Not very nice,” he finished.

“She’s not. I can’t stand her, myself.”

“I would rather go with someone nice. Like you.”

“Is that an ask?”

“No. This is. Umnyashka, will you go with me to homecoming?” I couldn’t believe he still wanted to go with me after my outburst, but I wasn’t going to complain.

“Yes, of course I will.” We both smiled now, and suddenly the tree seemed beautiful and romantic again. His hand was still on my face. Forget it being too early. I really wanted to kiss him. But, unfortunately, the universe had other plans, and I heard someone yell my name.

“I think God hates me,” I said to Yuri. Then I turned. It was Nick this time, walking hand-in-hand with a mortified Charlotte. “That’s my brother.”

“You have so many brothers.”

“I’m one of eight, remember? You’ve met the triplets. This is my last brother, Nick. Nick, this is Yuri,” I said without preamble as he wandered up.

“I’m so sorry,” Charlotte whispered to me. “I told him not to bother you.”

“This is just what having brothers is like, Miss Only Child. Surely you aren’t forgetting what Jordan, Adam, and Margo did to you two when you started dating,” I said, referring to the time Jordan had thrown open the front door while she and Nick had kissed goodnight for the first time, and Adam and Margo yelled “PDA alert!”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t remind me.”

I tuned back into the conversation Nick and Yuri had started up. From what I gathered, apparently there was a Russian version of How I Met Your Mother, which happens to be one of Nick’s favorite shows.

“Only two seasons?” Nick was saying. “You need to watch the American version. Season 9 starts in just a few days.”

“There was also Russian version of show…the one with three men in a house?”

“Full House?” Charlotte asked.

“Yes.”

“I love that show.” She beamed. “Was the Russian one any good?”

Yuri shrugged. “It is fine, but Russian humor is...different from American humor.”

“Makes sense,” Charlotte nodded. “Well, Vanessa, Nick and I were going back to your house for a little bit, if you and Yuri want to come. Wait, now I’m inviting you to your own house.” She and Nick laughed.

I smiled, but I was thinking about what she said. Was I ready to introduce Yuri to my siblings? Was he? It was bound to be nuts there. But maybe it was better to induct him early, before he got too invested. If he could handle my crazy family, I think he could handle anything about me.

“Yeah, I guess so. Want to?” I said to him. “If you’re not watching Nadia, that is.”

“No, my mother is home today. I can come.”

“It’s a madhouse,” I warned as we all started down Slate Street. “I’m assuming all my siblings are there, and my younger sisters are...a lot.”

“Two handfuls each,” Nick agreed.

“I am sure it is fine.” He casually slid his hand into mine, lacing my fingers with his, and my heart jumped into my throat. I prayed desperately that my hand wasn’t sweaty.

“Fine” included Claire performing another dance routine on the front lawn and Jordan wrestling Adam to the ground while Byron whizzed up and down the sidewalk on his skateboard. Margo was, inexplicably, on the roof. Pow lounged lazily on the porch, observing the scene.

“A normal day here at the Pike Asylum,” I said. I raised my voice. “Margo, what are you doing?”

“I threw a softball up here,” she called without looking at me.

“Don’t break your neck.”

“If you do fall, do a flip,” Adam yelled from under Jordan, where he was refusing to tap out.

Claire’s song ended and she finished her routine. “Hi, Charlotte!” She waved. “Oh, Vanessa, is this your boyfriend again?”

I rolled my eyes. “This is my friend Yuri. Yuri, that’s Claire, and the rooftop scaler is Margo.”

Chapter 9 Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The next weekend, Danielle drove Charlotte, Becca, Haley, and me out to Washington Mall so we could buy homecoming dresses. Haley’s parents had added an additional two weeks to her grounding for the piercing, but somehow she had persuaded them to let her off for a couple hours to shop. She amazes me. She should join the debate team.

At the mall, after our quick stop at Friendly’s for milkshakes, Haley insisted on looking in Zingy’s. It’s a store with a more punk aesthetic, not suitable for any of us but her. “Hay, there’s no way we’re going to find homecoming dresses in here,” Becca said as we walked in. She eyed the spike bracelets on the display next to us.

“Maybe you won’t, but I will.” She beelined for a rack of dresses and began sorting through them. “What do you think? Purple? Or pink, to match my hair?”

“Cooler colors would complement it, I think,” Danielle offered, eyeing the rack. “So I would say purple or blue.”

“Oh, what about this?” Haley held up a black and purple dress. The top was black flower details on nude mesh, and the bottom was a deep purple with more of the black flowers. The hemline was asymmetric.

“Uh…” Charlotte side-eyed me. I shrugged and sipped my milkshake.

“I kinda love it,” Danielle said. “Try it with fishnets and your Doc Martens.”

Haley smiled. “Can you hold this for me?” She handed me her cup and went to the dressing room to try it on. We followed her and waited outside.

“I don’t know where this punk aesthetic she’s got going on came from,” Charlotte said.

“I think she’s just trying to bug her parents,” Danielle answered. “But hey, it looks good on her.”

“Can one of you grab me a pair of the fishnets to try on with it?” Haley asked from inside.

“I got it,” Becca volunteered. She left and quickly returned with a couple pairs, one normal and one that had some strategic rips. She threw them over the door and turned back to us. Charlotte raised her eyebrows. Becca shrugged, smiling. “If she’s gonna go punk, might as well embrace it and go all the way.”

Haley stepped out of the dressing room, spinning. “What do you think?”

It wasn’t my style at all, but I had to admit, it worked for her. “It’s cute!” I said. Everybody else nodded in agreement.

“Your parents are going to hate it, though.” Danielle laughed.

Haley grinned. “I know. I’m definitely getting it.” She disappeared back into the dressing room. She emerged with the dress and the fishnets draped over her arm. She paid and held up her bag triumphantly. “I’m done,” she announced, taking her milkshake back.

“Great, so you can help us find our dresses,” Charlotte said. We decided to try the Nutcracker first.

The Nutcracker was full of high school girls apparently doing exactly what we were doing. It was a little hard to navigate, but we agreed to separate and meet at the dressing rooms in 15 minutes. I wandered into the section of blue dresses, thinking blue would bring out my eyes.

I sifted through the rack, pulling out a couple that caught my eye.

“Oh, I love that one,” someone said next to me. I looked up and into the face of Elizabeth Yates, with Sara Hill next to her. Elizabeth smiled, but there was nothing friendly in it. “Vanessa, I hear you’re going to homecoming with Yuri Ustinov.”

Internally I rolled my eyes, but externally I just smiled sweetly. “That’s right. He asked me last Friday while he was walking me home after school.” Now, did I need to give her all those details? No, but I wanted it rub it in that he had asked me after turning her down. I saw her blink as she put that together, but then she just laughed.

“I shouldn’t be surprised he’s into frigid bitches like you.”

“I’d rather be a frigid bitch than a skan*,” I snapped. Let me be clear, I don’t agree with slu*t-shaming, but come on. She was just asking for it. (Yes, I’m aware of the irony here. No, I don’t care.)

Her smile faded and she glared at me. “He could do so much better.” She looked me up and down. Is it any wonder I can’t stand this girl?

“I’m sure you mean you, but guess what, Elizabeth? He didn’t want you. Jealousy is ugly.” I didn’t wait for an answer. I just turned and stormed away to the dressing room. Haley was waiting there, scrolling on her phone and sipping her milkshake. She glanced at my dresses as I came over.

“Those are cute.” She looked at me. “What happened?”

“Elizabeth. I ran into her and she’s pissed that Yuri asked me to the dance.” I relayed our conversation to Haley, and her jaw dropped.

“What a jealous bitch,” she declared. I couldn’t disagree. “You might want to talk to Yuri before she tries to spread any rumors about you.”

“Ugh, she totally would, wouldn’t she?” Then I realized we had never exchanged numbers. “Oh gosh, I don’t have his number!”

“It’s fine. Just go by his house when we’re done here. Do you know where he lives?”

“Somewhere on Elm Street, but I don’t know where.”

“We’ll help you,” she promised. “For now, let’s try on these dresses. You’ll want to look beautiful for him.”

“I want to look beautiful for me, too.”

“Well yes, of course you do, but let’s get our priorities straight here.” I laughed and claimed a dressing rom. I tried on the first dress. By the time I had stepped out to show Haley, the rest of the girls had returned, loaded down with dresses.

“Oh, Vanessa, that looks so good,” Charlotte said.

“I’m not sure I love this one,” I admitted. It was a royal blue, and I loved the jewels on top, but it was one-shouldered, which didn’t thrill me.

“If you don’t like it, would you mind if I tried it on?”

“No, that’s fine. I’ll pass it over the door to you.” I shut myself back in the dressing room and hung it over the door. Charlotte pulled it away. We all tried on our dresses, showing each other and comparing notes. I briefly considered one with a deep, plunging V to prove I wasn’t a frigid bitch, but I was just uncomfortable in it, and I refused to let Elizabeth Yates, of all people, dictate how I felt about myself.

Finally, I settled on a different royal blue dress with a cute illusion neckline and an open back. The girls all agreed it was perfect. Becca decided on a blush-pink off-the-shoulder dress that made her dark skin glow. Charlotte passed on the blue one I had given her, instead choosing a red one that was fitted on top and flared out in the skirt. It was decorated with a bunch of jewels on top that tapered out down the bodice. It was truly beautiful, and I kind of wish I had found it first, but she looked gorgeous in it. Danielle’s dress was blue, too, but more of an ice blue that looked great with her red hair.

We left the Nutcracker in high spirits. I was even nearly forgotten about Elizabeth until Haley brought her up. Everybody else was outraged on my behalf. “Guys, it’s fine. I’m over it.” I finished off the last of my milkshake and tossed the empty cup in a trash can.

“Still, Haley could be right,” Charlotte said, looking worried. “You don’t want him to hear something stupid that she made up.”

“I guess not,” I said, thinking of last week when I had accused him of asking Elizabeth over a rumor. “I have a feeling he’d smarter about it, though.”

“Vanessa, we’re helping you find his house, and that’s final,” Danielle declared.

“Doesn’t Haley need to get home?” Becca asked.

She shook her head as she unwrapped a stick of gum. “I promised to be home by 3. It’s only 1:30. By the time we get back to Stoneybrook, it’ll only be 2. We already know what street he lives on, so it shouldn’t take us long.”

It was hard argue with that. We found Danielle’s car and drove back to Stoneybrook, windows down and the music blaring. She turned down her Taylor Swift CD as she pulled into my neighborhood and turned onto Elm Street.

“Okay, do we have any information?” Danielle asked, parking.

“Wait, remember that day when Mel was making fun of him in the parking lot?” Charlotte said. “His mom picked him up, because it was raining. What color was the car?” We all looked at each other blankly, especially Becca, since she hadn’t been there.

“That was, like, two weeks ago,” Haley said.

I strained my memory. “Maybe blue? Or green?”

“Guys?” Becca said, sounding amused. “I think it’s that house.” She pointed at the house two doors down from where Stacey McGill’s mom lived. We looked. There was a white, blue, and red striped flag hanging on one side of the front door. Becca quickly looked it up. “Yeah, that’s the Russian flag.”

“What if it’s not right?” I asked, my chest tightening.

“Girl.” Danielle turned around and rolled her eyes at me. “Who else would have a Russian flag hanging by their door in this entire town?” It was a fair point.

“What am I supposed to say?”

“Just say you’re in his English class and wanted to borrow his copy of Gatsby because you lost yours and the library didn’t have any more copies,” Charlotte suggested. I blinked. She’s not usually a good liar, but that one was actually pretty believable.

“Fine. But I don’t really want to do this.”

“Go!” Haley leaned over me and opened the door, practically shoving me out. I closed the door and Danielle parked across the street from the house. I took a deep breath and walked up to the front door. I knocked.

A woman answered, looking puzzled to find me on her doorstep. “Yes?” She had the same eyes Yuri did, and I relaxed a little. Before I could say anything, Nadia stuck her face out from behind the woman.

“Hi, Vanessa!” She said, and now the woman looked even more puzzled.

“Hi, Nadia.” I smiled at her, then looked at the woman. I could relax even more now that I knew for sure I had the right place. “Hi, I’m Vanessa. Is Yuri here? I’m in his English class at school and I wanted to ask if I could borrow his copy of the book we’re reading. I misplaced mine.”

I could see her thinking, but then she smiled. “I have heard about you, Vanessa,” she said, and I blushed a little. “It is nice to meet you. You can call me Ivanna. Yuri is here. He is upstairs. I can take you to his room.”

“Oh, um, okay.” I had been expecting her to call him down, but I guess this was fine. I stepped into the house, shooting a thumbs up to the girls as I did. I glanced around a little. We had stepped into a front hallway, the floors a beautiful dark wood. There was a living room to the right, and down the hall I could see a kitchen. On the wall hung pictures of Yuri and Nadia, and I smiled as I saw what had to be a young Yuri, maybe about six, smiling without his two front teeth. A fluffy gray cat appeared and wound its way around my legs, purring. I reached down and gave it a quick pet.

A staircase on the left led upstairs, and I followed Ivanna (Mrs. Ustinov? I had done a little bit of research and I knew Russian naming conventions were a bit different. Sometimes the last names became feminine on women—I’d have to look that one up) to the second floor. It had the same dark flooring as downstairs. She stopped outside one of the rooms and knocked, saying something in Russian.

There was a pause before he said something back. She rolled her eyes and spoke to him again. Finally he must’ve given permission, because she turned to me. “Go ahead in,” she said. She started back downstairs, and I tentatively turned the knob, knocking lightly as I opened the door.

It was a pretty typical teenaged boy’s room. There was a poster of the Russian national basketball team, along with several of his favorite bands. A basketball sat on the floor, and there was a guitar in one corner. That was a surprise. There were also shelves of books and what looked like basketball trophies, and a desk with a corkboard of photos above it. I think I had caught him reading, because he was tossing aside a book and standing up from his bed.

“Umnyashka,” he said, looking surprised. “What are you here for?”

“I didn’t know you play the guitar,” I said instead of answering.

“Oh, yes. A little. Um...sorry for mess.” He blushed.

“What? Oh.” I guess his room was a little messy, but he’s a 16-year-old boy and I have four brothers. If I let boy mess bother me, I would never date anybody, and anyway, Linny’s room had been far worse. “No problem. Um, I wanted to talk to you about something.” I quickly told him about running into Elizabeth at the mall, but saying it aloud made it sound stupid. I was starting to think I had overreacted, but I was in too deep to back out now. “So I just wanted you to know ahead of time that she might try to start something, and if you hear anything about me, it probably isn’t true,” I finished.

He nodded, looking slightly amused. “Girls are strange,” he commented, and I rolled my eyes, which made him chuckle.

“Yeah, yeah, being a teenaged girl is a real peach sometimes and you’re smarter than I am because you wouldn’t have believed it anyway, because you don’t believe people who say they milk chickens.” He laughed outright at that, and I smiled begrudgingly.

“Well, now I know,” he said.

“Yeah. Well, I should go. It doesn’t take this long to borrow a book, and your mom might be wondering what we’re doing.” God knows my mom would’ve.

He smiled. “I should at least give you book. Make it believable.” He picked up his backpack from next to his desk and pulled out his copy of The Great Gatsby. He handed it to me.

“Thanks.” I turned to go. “Oh, before I go, I realized earlier I didn’t have your number. I would’ve just texted you if I did. Can we maybe...exchange those?”

He looked surprised. “We have not?”

I laughed. “No! I couldn’t believe it, either.” I handed him my phone, and he quickly entered himself in my contacts. Then I sent him a text so he had mine. “All set,” I said.

He was thumbing his phone, saving my number. “I have it.” He showed me the message thread, and I saw that he had saved me as Umnyashka. I rolled my eyes again, smiling, and he laughed.

“You know what, at this point, it would’ve been weird if you hadn’t saved me as that. I’m not even surprised. I’ll bring this back to you tomorrow, okay?”

“Fine. I will walk you out. Oh, but first.”

“Yes?”

“‘I have been one acquainted with the night. I have walked out in rain—and back in rain. I have outwalked the furthest city light.’”

I smiled. “‘I have looked down the saddest city lane. I have passed by the watchman on his beat and dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.’”

He smiled. “Someday I will find poem you do not know.”

“I doubt it.”

He chuckled and we went back downstairs, where Ivanna was sitting in the living room with Nadia. His mom spoke to him in Russian, and he blushed before answering her. She laughed. I wondered what had been said. “Bye, Vanessa. It was lovely to meet you,” she said.

“You, too. Thanks again, Yuri.” I waved to Nadia and slipped out the door.

I was surprised to find the girls still waiting outside. I hopped back in the car. “So what happened?” Danielle asked, pulling away.

“Not much. I just told him what Elizabeth said and that she might try to start something. Then he said girls are weird. And I briefly met his mom, who said she had heard about me.”

“She’s heard about you? That means he’s talking about you at home!” Charlotte said.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I said, smiling. Danielle turned onto Slate Street and stopped outside the Braddocks’ house.

“Right on time. Lucky me,” Haley said, grabbing the bag with her dress and climbing out. “See you Monday.” Danielle then drove a few houses down and stopped outside of mine.

“Thanks, Danielle. See you guys later.” I went to my room, where Margo and Claire begged to see my dress. I ended up putting it back on for them. Then Mom came in and she actually got a bit teary-eyed just looking at me. It was a little embarrassing.

“Mom, this is homecoming, not my wedding. Take it down a notch.”

“I know. I just…you look so beautiful.” She smiled. “Margo, we’ll go next weekend and get your dress.”

“Can I get one?” Claire asked.

“You’re only in middle school,” Margo said. “You don’t need one.” Claire folded her arms and pouted, but she didn’t argue.

My phone buzzed then. It was Yuri.

“My parents want meet your parents before we go to homecoming)”

“Mine said the same. Frankly I’m a little afraid for them to meet my family. My parents would be fine but my siblings will 100% embarrass me. I think they hate me”

“Do not worry. My parents not too strict))”

“Can I just give your mom’s number to my mom and they can arrange it? Maybe I’ll get lucky and mine can go over there instead”

“But then they miss all the fun of your house))”

“Do you hate me too?”

“Never)))”

I smiled, wondering about all the parentheses but more focused on the fact that this family dinner really had to happen. He sent me his mom’s number, and I forwarded it to mine. I decided to just pray every day leading up it, whenever that would be.

Notes:

Fun fact, I read that in Russia, instead of emojis, they tend to use parentheses. Interesting little tidbit for you.

Chapter 10 Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

That day turned out to be a week later, the first weekend in October. Summer was feebly trying to hold on, giving us one or two more nice days before the chill of fall swept in. Mom and Dad had insisted that Yuri and his family come to our house, and I resigned myself to my fate. Hopefully Yuri had prepped them. Even Mallory was there, home on fall break from Sarah Lawrence. I was grateful for her presence. She could convince the Loud Pikes to be reasonably well-behaved for one afternoon.

But I was still incredibly nervous. “I think this was a mistake,” I said to her on the back porch, where we watched Dad wrestling with the grill and Mom cleaning off the picnic tables.

“Why?”

“Because we’re the Pikes, and we’re weird enough to other Americans, let alone people who moved across the entire world. Especially to a diplomat and a cop. Somehow I don’t think our family’s laissez-faire approach to parenting will impress them.”

“Vanessa, I think they’ll be more open to our family than you think. I’m sure in their lines of work, they’ve met all kinds of people, and I bet some of them were also pretty weird.”

“Maybe.” Part of me was grateful for Mallory’s level-headedness, but I was determined to be irrational today, so I barely heard her. “Did I tell you Elizabeth Yates started a rumor about me earlier this week?”

“She did?” Mallory made a face. She and her friends had never babysat for her, but they had sat for Sara once upon a time, so they knew Elizabeth vaguely. Most of them weren’t fans of her.

“She was upset that Yuri asked me to homecoming after he said no to her. She told everybody I had six toes on my left foot.” It was pretty weak as far as rumors go, and it was so funny I almost couldn’t deny it. I just wore sandals the entire week, and it died pretty quickly. Yuri and I had joked about it on our way home the one day he hadn’t had basketball practice (oh, yeah, he made the team—go him!), saying that I must have cut off the extra toe before people could confirm it.

Mallory snorted. “She couldn’t come up with anything better?”

“I think she was desperate. I don’t know why. There were still three weeks until homecoming. She could’ve taken a couple more days and come up with something that would’ve really gotten between us.”

“From what you’ve told me, it sounds like he’s too smart for that. Lucky you. Most teenaged boys aren’t great communicators.”

“I could take a page from his book,” I admitted. “I accused him of asking Elizabeth based on a rumor.”

“You’re a teenaged girl. You’re entitled to be irrational every once in awhile. I bet he is too, sometimes, even if you haven’t seen it yet.”

“I guess it’s possible.” I couldn’t see Yuri being irrational about anything, but I suppose everybody had the capacity. “What time is it?”

Mallory checked her watch. “11:50.”

Yuri and his family were supposed to be there at noon. “Maybe I’ll just hide out at Haley’s house until they’re gone. You can let me know what happens.”

“Relax.”

I spotted them coming up the street just then. “Too late. They’re coming. Come to the front porch with me.”

“What? Why?” But she followed me.

“Because I want to look like we’ve been having our conversation up there the whole time. I don’t want to seem like I’ve been waiting for them.”

“But you have.”

“But I don’t want to seem like it!” Honestly, I thought she was smarter than this.

We got into position just in time. I tried to appear very casual as I looked up and ‘happened to notice’ them walking down the street. I might have overdone it a little, because Mallory snorted again, and I kicked her in the foot while I lifted my hand in a wave.

“Hey,” I called. “Welcome to Casa Pike.”

Yuri smiled and waved. Nadia ran ahead and climbed the porch stairs to give me a hug. That was a bit of a surprise, since I had only met her once (once and a half, I guess, since I saw her at Yuri’s that day but didn’t really talk to her). But clearly she remembered me, and this definitely made me look good.

“Umnyashka, you have met my mother and sister. This is my father.” I was expecting a big, burly, sullen man, honestly, but I’m embarrassed to admit I think that was purely based on Russian stereotypes. This man gave me a huge smile and shook my outstretched hand enthusiastically.

“Vanessa, so lovely to meet you. We have heard much of you. You can please call me Mikhail.”

I smiled. He was a lot of fun, I could already tell. Maybe my family wouldn’t be too much after all.“Nice to meet you. This is my oldest sister, Mallory.” She offered her hand, and Mikhail enthusiastically shook that, too. She smiled.

“We can take everything around back. Our parents are already out there,” she said. “Can I take anything?”

“I have it,” Ivanna said, balancing two containers. “Just lead the way.” They followed her off the porch and around the side of the house. Yuri and I stayed behind for a moment.

“So you know, my father is small bit…” he paused. “He believes in doing things to make other things not happen?”
“Superstitious?”

“Yes. It is embarrassing.”

I smiled. “I’m sure it’s fine.”

He chuckled. “You say that now.” We went to the backyard, where Yuri’s parents had greeted mine.

“…a lovely home,” Ivanna was saying.

“Thank you,” my mother said. “Mallory, go tell everybody that our guests are here.”

She left. I took this opportunity to introduce Yuri to my parents before they could ambush us.

“Mom, Dad, this is my friend, Yuri.” He shook hands with them.

“Vanessa talks about you all the time,” Dad said. I blushed.

“Dad!” It wasn’t even true, really. I don’t think I talked about him any more than I did my other friends.

Yuri just smiled. “She was great partner to have in English,” he told. “She is very smart.”

“We’re proud of her,” Dad said, looking at me fondly.

Just then, the back door opened and my brothers and sisters descended upon us. Ivanna looked startled.

“These are all your children?” she asked my parents.

“The whole herd,” Dad said, flipping burgers.

I turned to Yuri. “You didn’t tell them I have seven siblings?”

He smiled. “I think it is more fun this way.”

“Oh, Lord.” They had had no prep in the Pikes. No schooling in the Slate Street Spiders (we used to get called that all the time, because there are eight of us. Not very clever, if you ask me). This could either be really good or really bad.

I was leaning toward bad.

But Mikhail was beaming. “Full house!” he declared. “Many people! Is this everyone?”

“Everybody but our fourth brother, Seamus,” Adam said seriously. “People think the three of us are triplets, but we’re actually quads. Our parents keep him locked up inside because he has a hunch.”

“Adam,” I groaned. “He’s just kidding,” I assured Mikhail, but he was laughing.

“I told you, Umnyashka, my parents are not strict,” Yuri said. “Actually, I think Margo should show banana trick.” He grinned at me.

“Don’t you dare!” But he just encouraged Margo to do it, and, to my horror and my mother’s, she did. Ivanna was bewildered, Mikhail was amused, and Nadia laughed so hard she fell over. My dad tried to look stern, but he was very clearly hiding a smile. My mother just shook her head.

“Excellent, excellent! It is time of toast!” Mikhail brandished a bottle of vodka and some plastic shot glasses. He set them up on the picnic table and started filling them. It was my mom’s turn to look startled.

“Oh, um, how lovely.” I could tell from the look on her face that she had no desire to let any of us take a shot.

“Mom, this is culture. You wouldn’t want to disrespect someone’s culture,” Jordan pointed out.

It was a fair point. Mom prides herself on being fairly culturally sensitive. She considered this. “16 and up only, and only one,” she finally declared. Jordan and Adam high-fived. Nick and Margo groaned. Claire folded her arms and pouted. As Mikhail handed me mine, I kind of wanted to hand it to Nick, but I wasn’t about to potentially insult anybody, and anyway, Mikhail insisted that everybody hold one, even if they didn’t drink it.

Mihkail raised his shot and began a long speech in Russian. It was kind of funny how long he toasted us. “Vashe zdorov’ye!” He concluded, and he clinked with everybody and took the shot. I couldn’t believe this guy was a cop. We all looked at each other. Jordan and Adam, having plenty of alcohol experience (you didn’t hear that from me), downed theirs pretty easily. Yuri also had no trouble, but that shouldn’t have surprised me. Mallory and Byron both sniffed it before grimacing and taking theirs. I had to give them credit. Neither of them flinched. Nick glanced at Mom and Dad, who were facing the other direction, and quickly downed his, but he immediately started coughing. Margo and Claire reluctantly handed theirs to Adam and Jordan. Mom glared at them as they took them, but they ignored her.

“Will you drink that?” Yuri asked me, smiling. I looked at mine. I’ve had sips of wine before, but I’ve never taken a shot.

“I’m not sure how to,” I admitted.

He chuckled. “You just drink. It is good Russian vodka, not like American stuff, and is cold. Makes it more smooth and easy to swallow.”

“Come on, Vanessa. You don’t need to think about it or sip. You just drink it all at once,” Adam said.

“Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots!” Jordan sang.

I took a deep breath and took it. It burned slightly, but not as much as I had expected. I couldn’t stop myself from making a face, though.

“You took that a lot better than I expected,” Jordan said, patting me on the back.

“It tastes like paint thinner,” I said without thinking. Then I blushed. Yes, Vanessa, please continue to insult a big staple of his home country. He didn’t seem offended though. He just smirked.

“Americans.”

“Hey, I took it, didn’t I?”

“Vanessa,” Mikhail broke in. “Yuri say you are going to…dance at homecoming? When is this?”

“Just a couple weeks, on the 18^th.”

“Nyet!” Mikhail actually looked alarmed.

“Papa,” Yuri said, looking embarrassed now. “It is fine.”

“It is bad luck to do romance on the 18^th of month,” Mikhail declared.

Yuri sighed. “We will risk it.”

Thankfully, the rest of the afternoon went fairly smoothly, though that wasn’t the only bit of superstition we saw from Mikhail. He insisted on placing all the empty vodka bottles on the ground, and very nearly didn’t let anybody who was unmarried sit in the corners of the picnic tables for fear that we would never be married. Ivanna must’ve been used to this, because she patiently convinced him that it was only valid for seven years and that we were all young enough for it to not matter. He gave in, but only after insisting that Nadia, Claire, Margo, and Nick sit in the corners, just in case. Yuri just shook his head. I was trying really hard not to laugh. Adam and Jordan found it hilarious and told Mikhail about American superstitions. He was especially delighted by the four-leaf clover Adam found and showed him. Adam let him keep it.

Ivanna told my mom about her work as a diplomat. Apparently they had lived in France for a little bit when Yuri was around 13, which explained the little bit of French he could speak. Dad is a lawyer, so he and Mikhail traded stories about weird criminals they had come across in their respective lines of work. Claire started teaching Nadia how to jump rope.

Ivanna had also made two incredible desserts. They were both cakes, one by the name of chocolate spartak cake and one called a bird’s milk cake.

“This really has sour cream in it?” I asked, referring to the bird’s milk cake. It was light and creamy, almost like a mousse. It was also amazing. I could’ve eaten the whole thing, though I’d probably have to fight Byron for it. He had eaten three slices already.

“Yes,” Ivanna said, smiling.

“It’s amazing.”

“Why do they call it bird’s milk cake?” Margo asked, eyeing her slice. “I mean, birds don’t have milk. Do they?” She looked alarmed as she questioned everything she thought she knew.

Ivanna paused. “I am not sure of name. You know, Yuri?”

He shrugged. “I do not know. I never think of it.”

Margo pulled out her phone and looked it up. “Well, this says that bird’s milk is a sacred ingredient that birds-of-paradise fed to their chicks, and eligible maidens would challenge their suitors to bring it back for them. But this says that bird’s milk just refers to a Greek idiom meaning an ‘unattainable delicacy.’”

Yuri nodded. “I think second is more likely.”

“But the first is more fun, so I’m going with that one,” Margo said.

“I think I need this for my birthday instead of regular cake from now on,” I said, finishing my slice.

“When is your birthday?” Ivanna asked.

“May 14^th.”

“I will make one for you,” she promised, and I blushed. That was still seven months away. I hoped she would still have a reason to make me one by then.

Yuri and his family stayed for awhile. Around 5, they decided to leave, and I exhaled in relief that nothing had gone catastrophically wrong. Maybe I needed to give my siblings more credit.

“Heads up!” Jordan yelled, and a football landed on Mikhail’s plate, smushing the rest of his spartak cake.

Or maybe not.

Notes:

I had to look up a lot of Russian superstitions and traditions for one. I really hope I did them justice!

Chapter 11 Chapter Text

On Monday, the student council revealed the themes for Spirit Week, which was coming the next week. Monday would be Movie Day, where you dressed as your favorite movie character. Tuesday would be Ties-day Tuesday. Danielle and I quickly planned a thrift store run for the weekend. Wednesday was Decade Day, and I was particularly excited for that one. Thursday would be Nerd Day. Self-explanatory. And Friday, of course, was school spirit day.

“None of these are particularly embarrassing,” I said to Yuri on the way home that afternoon. By unspoken agreement, we were now walking together every time he didn’t have basketball practice. I wondered if that would continue when it got cold out. “You could do them. Even Charlotte participates, and you know how shy she is. I bet you’d look cute dressed as Indiana Jones.”

He smiled. “You already challenge me, and I have honor to protect. I have to do them now. But you must come to basketball games when they start.”

“I don’t think that’s an equal trade, but I’ll come anyway.”

We reached my house and he squeezed my hand. “See you tomorrow, Umyashka.”

“I’ll see you.” I smiled and waved as I walked up my driveway and into the house. For once, it was actually quiet. The only sounds I could hear were Pow’s toenails clicking lazily down the front hall as he lumbered to greet me. Dad and the triplets were all at work, and Mom had told us she was going to pick up a morning shift at the temp agency she sometimes worked for and then volunteer for the afternoon at Meals on Wheels. Nick had gone to Charlotte’s, Claire had gone to Myriah Perkins’ house to practice for their upcoming dance recital, and Margo had stayed after school for debate team practice. None of us were surprised when she decided to join that team. She’s a champion arguer.

“Hi, buddy,” I said, scratching Pow behind the ears. I let him into the backyard and decided to take advantage of the quiet by stretching out with a good book on the rec room couch. But first, a snack. I wandered into the kitchen, assessing my options before deciding on a peach. I was just grabbing a can of soda (real nice snack combination, I know) and thinking about the book I was reading when I heard footsteps behind me. I turned and jumped when I saw Byron.

“Oh, God.”

“Sorry.” He grinned.

“I thought you were working.”

“I traded shifts with someone.” I watched him while he dug into the fridge and pantry and created a massive sandwich, smiling the whole time.

“Okay, what’s up?”

“What do you mean?” He asked, taking a bite. It was a wonder he managed to do that with how tall it was.

“You’re awfully happy about something.”

“What, a guy can’t be in a good mood without reason?”

“Byron, we don’t call you ‘Broody Byron’ behind your back without reason.” I bit into my peach.

He paused, his sandwich halfway to his mouth. “You guys call me that?”

“Well, mostly Adam and Margo, but yeah. And they aren’t wrong. You spend a lot of time withdrawing deep into your own head with your earbuds in. Usually the only times I see you this happy are when Jeff comes back to town…” I trailed off, my mind starting to form connections and his blush confirming it for me. “Hang on, is this related to Jeff at all?”

“No.” But his blush grew deeper.

“Byron.”

He closed his eyes for a moment. “God, you’re too smart. Adam and Jordan never would’ve made the Jeff connection.” I was inclined to agree. They aren’t that observant. “Fine. We were talking, and he told me he’ll be in town next week for his fall break.”

“Yeah?” I prompted, sensing there was more.

“And I mentioned that we had the homecoming dance next Friday. And he asked if I was going with anybody, and I said I’d probably just go with my friends on the track team.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And then he…offered to go with me.” From his tomato complexion, I knew it wasn’t just a friendly offer, but I asked anyway.

“Like, as friends, or…?”

“No, like…as my date.” Now he wouldn’t look at me. Instead he just stared at his sandwich.

“Hey, good for you. I’m happy for you.” The news that Jeff Schafer wasn’t entirely straight was a bit of a shock, if I’m being honest, but I wasn’t at all surprised Byron had a thing for him. Heck, I’m pretty sure all my friends and I had had a thing for him at one point or another. Jeff was gorgeous, and he was sarcastic and funny and deeply loyal to his friends, and he had a certain charisma that just made people naturally gravitate to him. Every time he had come back to Stoneybrook to visit his mom and stepfamily over the years, he inevitably ended up at my house to see the triplets, and that meant all of my friends ended up at my house. Looking back, I realized that Byron had always looked at him with the same expression of awe and adoration that my friends had.

Byron looked at me carefully. “You don’t think that’s weird?”

“No. Why would I?” I cracked open my soda.

“Because we’re…well, we’re two guys, and I’m…” he trailed off, absent-mindedly ripping his poor sandwich into pieces.

“Byron, do you have something you want to tell me?” I asked gently.

He studied me for a second, his sandwich forgotten. I think it was the only time he had ever forgotten about food. “I’ve been thinking about this for awhile,” he started. He didn’t say anything else for a long moment. I just waited. “It’s taken some soul-searching, but I’m pretty sure of it now.” I nodded. He took a deep breath. “I’m…gay,” he said slowly. It might have been the first time he had ever said it out loud. I was proud of him.

I smiled and took another bite of my peach. “Was that so hard?”

He exhaled. “Yes.” My peach seemed to remind him we were snacking, and he stuck one of the pieces of the now-shredded sandwich in his mouth.

“Do Adam and Jordan know?” If anybody knew, I figured it would be them.

He swallowed. “No. Just you. And Jeff.” I looked at him, surprised. “I just don’t know how to tell them. I mean, they already get on my case about being different from them. This would just be one more thing that separates us.”

“I think they’d be more receptive to it than you think.” I meant that, too. Adam and Jordan were obnoxious, sure, but when it came down to it, they loved our family, and they did love Byron. I knew for as much as they ragged on him, they still cherished their triplet connection, and I told him so.

He sighed as he finished off his sandwich. “I know. But I’m just…I’m not ready yet. And anyway, Jeff isn’t either. We’re going to tell people we’re just going as friends.”

“Okay. Then I won’t tell anyone, either.”

He nodded, and, for the first time, I saw him stand a little straighter and push his hair out of his eyes. “Thanks.”

“Of course. But are you and Jeff…are you dating?”
He blushed. “No. It’d be hard to, since he lives so far away. But…we talk a lot, and I really like him.”

“I can’t blame you for that. He’s hot.”

Byron chuckled, relief spilling off of him. “Yeah, but you’ve got a pretty good-looking guy yourself.”

“Don’t I know it.” He smiled as I tossed my peach pit in the trash. “Thanks for telling me.”

“Thanks for…for being cool about it.”

“Byron, this whole family will support you. I hope you know that. It’s not like we have many rules here anyway, and I’m pretty sure ‘don’t be gay’ is not one of them.”

He laughed a little. “I’ll get there eventually, okay?”

“Hey, it’s your journey. You can go as quickly or as slowly as you need.”

He just nodded. “Do you, uh…I was gonna take advantage of having the TV to myself and watch a movie. Do you want to watch with me?”

I guessed that other conversation was over. I smiled. “Sure. Did you have one in mind?”

I followed him into the rec room, where he surveyed our DVD collection and pulled one out. “I was kind of in the mood for Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

“That’s Yuri’s favorite movie.”

Byron made a sound of approval. “He’s got good taste.”

“He said that about you and your music taste.” He smiled. We didn’t talk much during the movie, but it was nice to get to have another wondrous moment with my brother.

Chapter 12 Chapter Text

All week, I worked on getting Yuri to commit to Spirit Week. I think the idea still made him nervous, but he kept saying he’d participate, to an extent at least. On Saturday evening, I had him come over to watch Heathers. “Because I want to dress as Veronica for Movie Day, and you haven’t seen it yet. And what good is the costume if you don’t even get it?” I had said to him. “I’ll even put on the Russian subtitles for you.” So, amused, he agreed, and he showed up after dinner that night. I had invited Charlotte too, so Nick could watch with us.

Charlotte was standing in the hallway with me when Yuri arrived. He handed me a single rose. “For you, Umnyashka.” It was so sweet I nearly fainted.

“Wow, thank you,” I said, taking it with a smile. This guy really beat American boys by miles. “That’s so nice.” Nick came into the hall just then, smiling at Charlotte. “Nick, Yuri just showed you up by a longshot. I think you need some lessons.”

“Hey, Charlotte came to me tonight. Maybe she should’ve brought me something,” he replied, giving her a quick kiss.

I filled a vase of water for the flower and set it on the kitchen table. “I can take it to my room later,” I said to Yuri. “It’ll look nice on my desk.”

I made Nick go make the popcorn while the rest of us moved into the rec room. I stuck the movie in the DVD player while we waited for him. We talked while we waited, and I realized that, technically, this probably counted as Yuri’s and my first date. The thought almost made me nervous, but I decided not to worry about it. A movie is pretty easy, and he already liked my siblings, so what could really go wrong?Nick came back with the popcorn, and we claimed couches, Yuri and me on one and Charlotte and Nick on the other. Yuri put his arm around me casually, like it was no big deal, and I was really hoping he couldn’t feel me suddenly get warm from blushing.

If you haven’t seen Heathers, it involves a girl who accidentally kills the leader of her clique with her boyfriend, and they frame it as a suicide. She gets wrapped up in him, even though he’s clearly dangerous, and he starts making plans to blow up the school with a petition signed by everyone stating it was a mass suicide. (And, let me be honest, after seeing young Christian Slater...I get it.) It’s pretty dark, but it’s funny, too. When Veronica’s dad said, “I don’t patronize bunny rabbits,” Yuri laughed for a solid two minutes, which made us laugh.

“Sorry,” he said. “That was just a...a strange line. I did not expect it.”

“I understand,” Charlotte said. “I laughed at it for awhile, too, when I first saw this movie. His delivery is impeccable.”

After the movie, I asked him what he thought.

“It is no Indiana Jones,” he said with a smile, “but I liked it.”

“And now come tomorrow, you’ll understand my Veronica costume.”

“Aw, Yuri, you should be JD,” Charlotte said. I had to admit, it would be cute, but I was pretty sure he would end up being Indiana Jones, if he even decided to participate.

“Ae you and Nick going to match?”

“Nah, not this time,” Nick answered for her. “I’m going as Harry Potter. It’s easy. All I need is the robe and the scarf, which we already have.”

“So low-effort,” I teased. “What about you, Char?”

“I’m thinking Boo, from Monster’s Inc. Do you have any purple leggings I can borrow?”

“I might. Let’s go look.” I led her to my room, where I started digging in my drawers.

“Do you think Yuri will dress up?” Charlotte asked me.

“I’m not sure.” I opened another drawer. “He says he is, because I challenged him, but I think the idea makes him nervous. Like, I’m pretty sure they don’t have anything like this in Russia. It probably makes him feel silly.”

“It is silly,” Charlotte said. “But that’s the fun of it.”

“I can see how it wouldn’t be fun if you weren’t used to it.” I finally found a pair of purple leggings and tossed them to her. “I feel like at this point, he already knows if he’ll do it or not, so I’m not going to say anything else about it.”

We went back to the rec room, where Nick had engaged Yuri in a conversation about Linkin Park.

“I didn’t even know you liked them,” I said to Nick.

“You can’t share a room with Byron for seven years and not like them,” he said.

“Do you like them?” I asked Yuri.

“First two albums are really good. In the End was one of first songs I learn on guitar,” he said.

“I think Jordan can play it on the piano, too,” Nick said. “You two should duet.”

Yuri chuckled. “Maybe other time.”

The four of us talked for awhile, until Charlotte’s mom texted her that she had arrived. Nick got up to walk her to the door. “Bye, Char,” I said, waving. Yuri waved, too.

“Bye, guys. See you Monday.” She and Nick left the room.

“I should go, also,” Yuri said, but he didn’t move.

“Are you in a rush?” I asked, leaning a little more into him. If this was the end of our first official date, maybe I could actually get that kiss. I had been trying for awhile, here and there, but something always managed to get in the way. Bad luck and my brothers, usually.

He smiled like he knew what I was thinking. “Not too much,” he said.

I was thisclose to leaning in and going for it when the overhead light suddenly blazed. “It’s awfully dark in here,” Adam said, smirking at us. I rolled my eyes.

“The TV was still on,” I pointed out. “We weren’t doing anything illicit.”

“I know that,” he said, his expression making it clear he had no idea what ‘illicit’ meant. He really needs to read more.

“I should go anyway,” Yuri said, standing up. I wanted to kill Adam for yet again managing to ruin another perfectly good moment. At this rate, we wouldn’t have our first kiss until we got married.

I glared at Adam as I walked Yuri to the door. He just grinned. “Sorry about my brothers,” I said on the front porch. “They never know how to mind their business.”

Yuri smiled. “It is okay. I wish I had brother.”

I snorted. “You say that, but it’s a rollercoaster. Are you going to be okay walking home?” I didn’t think anybody would mess with him, and it wasn’t that far of a walk, but it was still dark, even with the streetlights. It was also pretty chilly. “You could always cut through Mrs. McGill’s backyard. She’s the one who lives directly behind us, and we know her pretty well. She wouldn’t mind. And that would cut your walk down by a few minutes.”

“I do not mind the walk, and I like the cold. I will be okay.”

“Okay.”

“Thanks for movie. I liked it. I see you Monday.” He smiled and squeezed my hand, which was nice, but I just wanted to kiss him like a normal person. He walked off into the darkness before I could try again, though. Dang it.

“Bye,” I called, waving. Then I went into the kitchen, where Adam and Jordan were constructing one of their signature snacks, ice cream sandwiches made with graham crackers and frozen yogurt.“I don’t ask for much,” I said to Adam. “I just want one chance to kiss a cute guy, and somehow you two are always getting in my way.”

Adam took a bite of his sandwich. “Excuse me if I can’t help but want to save my little sister from corruption.”

“I already know what you and Lynn Perone did at Miller’s Park, you hypocrite.” He blanched. Jordan snorted. “Just give me this one thing.”

“How did you…”

“You told me yourself, when I came to pick you three up from Jerry Haney’s party.” Adam and Jordan had both gotten fairly drunk at a barn party one of their classmates had thrown over the summer, and since I had just gotten my license, Byron had called, begging me to come drive them home. He probably could have driven, since he had only had a few drinks, but he’s careful enough not to risk it. So I had Danielle drive me out there (you’re on your own when it comes to cars in this family, and I don’t have nearly enough money saved; I’m fine walking, anyway) and I brought them home in their car, learning exactly what kind of drunks the two of them are along the way. Jordan was a happy one who laughed at everything you said. Adam was a talkative one. He had spilled a lot of his secrets that night, and I always kept them close as my own personal plus-ones. Byron’s drunk type is yet to be determined, since I’ve never actually seen him wasted.

“f*ck,” Adam said under his breath.

I grabbed some graham crackers and started making my own sandwich. “Don’t worry, you’ve got nothing to worry about. I promise I won’t tell Mom and Dad. Just let me kiss him in peace.”

Adam glared at me. “Fine.”

“Thank you.” Maybe homecoming would finally be the night. “So, do you two have dates for the dance?”

He reddened slightly and glanced at Jordan. Jordan looked back at him. I could see them talking with their eyes the way they do. Finally Jordan turned back to me, taking another bite of his sandwich. “Not yet,” he admitted.

“What? Guys, homecoming is next weekend.”

“Well I was going to ask Nicole Ficaro, but someone else asked her first,” Jordan said.

“Yeah, that happened to me with Caryn Hatt,” Adam added.

“And now it’s too late. Everybody else has dates. Even Margo has a date.”

“Oh, did she finally ask David Michael? Good for her.”

“But we’ll look like losers when everybody else had dates and we don’t.”

“There’s no shame in going with your friends.”

Adam rolled his eyes. “Come on. We’re not Byron.” I bit my lip to keep from smiling. Joke’s on them. For once, Byron had beaten them at something, even if they didn’t know it.

“Haley and Danielle are still available,” I said. I didn’t mention that the girls had been hoping to ask them. I briefly wondered why they hadn’t yet.

Adam and Jordan glanced at each other again. I could see them considering that, torn between wanting dates and not wanting to have to resort to asking my friends. I rolled my eyes.

“You’d be lucky to go with them.”

They surveyed each other a bit longer before Jordan said, “I could ask Haley. I’ve always thought she was hot. And that punk chick aesthetic she’s got going on recently makes her even hotter.”

“You’re a simple creature,” I said, shaking my head. “She’s also smart and funny, you know.”

“I’m sure she is,” Jordan acquiesced. “But she’s also hot.”

“I’ll ask Danielle,” Adam said. “She’s cute, and at least she’s a lot of fun. I remember you telling us that story about you guys sledding down her basem*nt stairs on mattresses. That’s awesome.”

“You would think that,” I said, but I knew that Haley and Danielle would be happy about this turn of events. “Better get on that quick, though. You’ve got six days.”

They were quiet after that, thinking, and I left my thoughts drift to back to Yuri as I finished my ice cream sandwich. I wondered what his Indiana Jones costume would consist of. A fedora, probably, and khakis and a button-down shirt. Maybe a leather jacket if he happened to have one. It was an easy costume, and he’d look cute like that.

But, of course, how cute would it be if he actually did come to school as JD? It would make for the cutest Instagram photo. I imagined us standing in front of a whiteboard (because SHS had long abandoned chalkboards), recreating the movie poster. Charlotte was definitely onto something. I didn’t want to hope he would, but I could dream, right?

“Earth to Vanessa!” I heard Jordan say, and I blinked.

“Huh?”

“Land that spaceship back on Earth, cadet. I only said your name three time.” Jordan rolled his eyes while Adam laughed. “I was asking how I should ask Haley to the dance.”

“Oh, well, she loves Halloween. What if we invite her over tomorrow to carve pumpkins and you carve ‘homecoming?’ into yours?”

Jordan scratched his head. “It’s a little long. I don’t know if I could get the whole word onto a pumpkin without her seeing it.”

“Maybe just ‘hoco?’ then.”

He nodded. “I like it.”

“Okay, what about me?” Adam asked.

“Danielle loves Friends. Make her a Friends sign that says ‘season 10, episode 18’ and call it ‘The One Where Adam and Danielle Go to Homecoming.’ She’ll love it.”

“You make this so easy. We should’ve asked your friends out years ago,” Adam said.

I rolled my eyes. “Every other girl could be this easy if you would just listen to them and pay attention to their interests.”

“Sounds fake,” Jordan said.

“And that’s why neither of you have girlfriends.” I left the kitchen, fully intending to pick my daydream back up where it left off.

Chapter 13 Chapter Text

The next day, Adam and Jordan made their homecoming proposals. For all their faults, my brothers actually pulled them off pretty smoothly, and both Haley and Danielle were thrilled with them.

“It’s about time you put in a good word for me,” Haley said, grinning. “I was getting anxious.”

“You could’ve asked,” I pointed out.

“I wanted him to do it.”

Of course she did.

On Monday, I got up a little early to curl my hair. Then I donned my blue skirt, lacy black tank top, black tights, and gray cardigan. (Winona doesn’t wear the cardigan on the movie poster, but it was chilly out, and anyway, I still had to be dress code compliant.) When I was done, I looked just like her. It’s not an extremely iconic costume, more of an “if you know, you know,” kinda thing, but I was pretty pleased with it.

Danielle picked me up that morning. Her car was quite a sight. She was dressed as Marty McFly from Back to the Future 2, complete with the holographic rainbow hat. Haley had debated for two weeks between Cher from Clueless and Regina George from Mean Girls before she settled on Regina and her pink cardigan outfit. Charlotte looked adorable as Boo from Monster’s Inc., and Becca had decided to be Coraline.

“You all look so cute,” I said as I slid in. “Becca, I love that hat.” She had found a military-style hat that was pretty similar to the one from the movie.

She smiled. “Thanks! You look cute, too.”

“I can’t wait to see what everybody else came up with,” Danielle said.

Our school looked like Hollywood that day. I saw an entire friend group dressed as Dorothy and her Oz companions, Holly Golightly, Chucky, both Luke and Leia Skywalker, several Disney princesses, and a fairly impressive Jack Sparrow. And that was just on the front lawn. I grinned. I love Spirit Week.

As I went through the day, I wished I had more classes with Yuri. I never got to see him until English, not even in passing. Danielle apparently did, though, because I ran into her once in the hall, and she just grinned and said, “Wait until you see him.” I figured that meant he had put together a pretty good Indiana Jones costume.

I was wrong. Unfortunately, I was late to English, so I didn’t get a chance to talk to him before class, but I walked in and immediately sought him out, even before handing Mrs. Hirst my late slip. I couldn’t help but smile when I saw he actually had dressed as JD. Okay, so it’s not a very obvious costume, just jeans and a plaid shirt under a long black coat, but I knew, and that’s what mattered. He smiled back at me, and I just about melted, right there in front of everyone.

He really was the cutest.

After class, I made him stay behind so the girls could take a picture for us. I handed Danielle my phone.

“Do we need to?” He groaned good-naturedly.

“Yes! Trust me, it’ll be so cute. Come here.” I pulled him to the whiteboard. Mrs. Hirst was watching us, her eyes twinkling.

“I’m happy to see at least one pair worked out,” she said with a smile. We both blushed.

“Guess so,” I said. “Okay, Haley, what do I need to do?” She pulled up the poster on her phone as a reference.

“Stand here,” she directed me placing me in front of him, “and Yuri, put your arms on her here and here,” she continued, moving his arms into place. When she was satisfied, I tilted my face up to his.

“Okay, and then Yuri, you look at Danielle, and we got it.”

Danielle took a few, then handed back me phone. “These are so cute! Thanks, Danielle.” We said goodbye to Mrs. Hirst and left the room. I was still looking at the pictures. “I’m putting this on Instagram,” I told him. “Do you have an account?” I couldn’t believe that hadn’t come up yet, but I went through seasons of being active on there, and I was currently fairly inactive.

“No.”

“You should make one so I can tag you.” I posted the photo with the caption “Our love is God. Let’s go get a slushie.” and showed it to him. He smiled.

“Cute,” he agreed. “Will you send me photo?”

I forwarded it to him.“Are we walking home?” We had reached the ground floor, and paused next to the stairs.

He shook his head. “Basketball practice,” he said regretfully. “But I will send you message tonight, okay?”

“Okay. See you tomorrow, then.” He glanced at my friends and then kissed me on the cheek. They all smiled, but I had to give them credit. None of them said anything. At least, not until after he had walked away.

“You guys are adorable,” Charlotte said when he was gone. We continued our walk out the front doors and across the parking lot.

“Quite possibly my favorite couple ever,” Haley agreed.

“It’s not a big deal,” I said, blushing. “Lots of people date.”

“But you’re our best friend, so we care about you more,” Danielle said. “And when Haley and Jordan are official, they’ll be the new favorite.”

“Wow, I certainly don’t get to hold onto that crown long,” I said.

“I only had it for 7 months,” Charlotte said, her voice full of fake regret.

We slid into Danielle’s car. “Should I make this my phone wallpaper?” I asked, still looking at the photo. “Is it weird if we aren’t official?”

“Are you not?” Haley asked, turning around to look at me in surprise.

“Well, no. He hasn’t actually asked me to be his girlfriend.”

“Have you asked him to be your boyfriend?”

“No.”

“Vanessa, you are a strong, independent woman. You don’t need to wait around for him to ask you. You can ask him.”

“I know. I just…I want him to ask.”

“Maybe he’ll ask you this weekend,” Charlotte said.

I really hoped so. I didn’t hear another word said all the way home. Instead I imagined about a thousand different ways Yuri could ask me to be his girlfriend, ranging from a simple flower and ask to boldly professing his undying love for me from the homecoming stage and presenting me with a whole gross of roses. Okay, so that one was unlikely, but I could dream, right?

Chapter 14 Notes:

This chapter is super long. Whoops.

Chapter Text

He texted me that night as he had said he would. Instead of just starting our conversations with ‘hi,’ he had taken to sending me poems he liked, which I deeply appreciated. You have to love when guys make an actual effort to get to know your interests. Last week he had sent a stanza of Lord Byron’s She Walks in Beauty (he had looked it up after I mentioned it in class) and one from Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven. Tonight it was Happy Thought, by Robert Louis Stevenson.

The world is so full of a number of things

I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings

“Short and sweet. I like it,” I wrote back. “Here’s one.”

I’ve got a magic charm

That I keep up my sleeve

I can walk the ocean floor

And never have to breathe.

Life doesn’t frighten me at all

Not at all

Not at all.

There was a pause where he looked up the full poem, like he always does, and worked out its meaning. Sometimes it took him awhile, because first he had to translate it, but this one was pretty simple, so his analysis wouldn’t take long.

“She is determined not to be scared,” he finally said. “But she tries to convince us. What is truth?”

I loved that he would actually talk about them with me. Most guys would just say something like, “oh, yeah, that’s nice,” and move on, but Yuri always wanted to hear my thoughts.

“I think convincing yourself you’re not scared of something is half the battle. Bravery is a choice, and she’s choosing not to be scared,” I wrote back.

We talked about that for a few minutes, but it’s not a super deep poem, so it was a pretty quick discussion. After that died out, we started talking about homecoming.

“I thought we’d go with Charlotte and Nick. Maybe get dinner. My mom will probably have two of the triplets drive us all home. That might be easiest”

“I wish I can drive”

“It’s not that great”

“You can?”

“I have my license, but I don’t have a car, so I hardly ever drive unless it’s my mom’s car”

“At home you do not drive cars until 18. But you can drive motorcycle at 16. I almost got license for that before we move))”

“Can you ride a motorcycle?” The idea was intriguing, and pretty hot, I had to admit.

“Yes. Father taught me”

“Neat. If you get an American motorcycle license, will you take me for a ride?”

“Yes)) but I do not know if we will be in America long enough to do that”

I chose not to think about that. We just went back to making plans for Saturday.

“Don’t be surprised if my mom wants a thousand photos of us”

“Your mother or you?))”

“Both”

We talked the whole evening, long after Claire and Margo had fallen asleep, until we finally said goodnight, and that night I dreamed of us dressed as JD and Veronica, flying down a highway on a motorcycle.

The rest of the week was tons of fun. On Tuesday, nearly everybody participated in Ties-Day Tuesday, which I supposed was because it was fairly easy. Danielle and I had hit up the thrift store over the weekend and found a pair of truly horrible ties. Danielle was rocking this truly garish one of teal, red, and yellow plaid. Mine was pink cheetah print. They were awful and amazing.

Haley had decided to go full Avril Lavigne with her look, including the thick eyeliner and camo pants. It worked nicely for her. Charlotte, Becca, and Yuri had just borrowed ties from their dads. Nick’s was a big hit, since he had the ducky tie that Barney wore on How I Met Your Mother.

Wednesday was Decade Day. There were plenty of poodle skirts and neon spandex among the girls, but I decided to go 70s with a tie-dye shirt, bell bottoms, and a cute flower crown. I also broke out my round glasses, which I don’t do often, but they definitely fit the look. Yuri also dressed 70s, but that wasn’t planned, since I hadn’t told him what I was doing. His dad still had clothes from the 70s apparently, so he actually looked like he was from the decade instead of just wearing a costume.

“I love it. I hope you know this means we’re getting another picture,” I told him before class started. He rolled his eyes playfully.

“I would not expect anything else from you, Umnyashka.”

Thursday was Nerd Day, which was easy. I pulled on my plaid skirt and white blouse, and I found the suspenders I had used for a mime costume a couple years back. Then I separated my hair into two pigtails and wrapped some masking tape around my glasses. Perfect.

I was surprised. I rendered Yuri speechless with that one. “You, uh…” he looked me up and down. “You look…good.”

“Thanks,” I said, smiling brightly. “You look cute.” He had dug up a sweater vest and bowtie from somewhere, and I had lent him a pair of fake glasses. He surprised me a second time when he suggested we get a picture. When I mentioned it to Adam that evening, he practically fell on the floor laughing as he explained to me that a lot of guys are into the schoolgirl look, even if they don’t realize it.

“He’s a gentleman, Adam,” I said, blushing deeply.

“He’s also a 16-year-old boy, Vanessa. They’re a mess of hormones 24/7. You probably turned him on and he didn’t know what to do. That happened to me once. I had to stay in my seat in my math class for a good five minutes after the bell rang.”

“Oh my God,” I said, hiding my face. “That’s not what I was trying to do at all.” Secretly, though, I was a little flattered at the idea that Yuri might think about me like that.

“I’m sure you made his entire week.”

I texted the group chat about that one, and everybody found it hilarious. I wanted to be embarrassed, but it actually was kind of funny. I decided never to mention it to Yuri, though. That could stay in his thought bubble for awhile, if it were even true.

Friday was school spirit day, and even though it was extremely easy to get up and pull on my forest green and white SHS hoodie over a collared shirt, it was a little less exciting than the rest of the week. I pulled my hair up into a high ponytail and wrapped it up in a white scrunchie. As luck would have it, my green Converse matched perfectly, so I was all set.

“You made it to the end of the week,” I said to Yuri during class that afternoon. Mrs. Hirst, like most of the teachers that day, had given up trying to actually teach us anything, since everybody was buzzing about the dance that night and the game tomorrow. She had instead put on some music and was pretty much just letting us chill. “How was it?”

He smiled. “I felt silly,” he said. “But I had fun. At least today was easy.” He was wearing a simple SHS basketball team shirt.

I smiled, too. “That’s what I like to hear. I’m glad you were brave enough to participate. I know it can be a little nerve-wracking, especially when you have no idea what all this is even about.”

“I still do not get it. How do these dress-up days show school spirit?”

I paused. It was a valid question. “I don’t know,” I said finally. “I guess it’s just fun, and it puts people in a good mood. Then by the time the football game comes around, everybody’s morale is high.”

He shook his head. “Americans.”

I smiled. “We’re kind of a weird bunch, aren’t we?”

“More funner than French, at least.”

I had to laugh at that. “At least we aren’t in Texas. They go hard for homecoming. It’s almost frightening. Are you ready for tonight?”

“Yes.” He smiled. “What time will we meet again?”

“We want to aim for golden hour for photos, so I think the plan is to meet around 5:15, do all the photos we can, and then go to dinner after. Since there are so many of my siblings and me, it’s usually easiest to meet at the Arboretum. It’s kind of on the outskirts of Stoneybrook, but it’s really pretty. Most homecoming and prom photos get taken there. I’ll send you the address. I thought we might go to dinner with Nick and Charlotte, and maybe Becca Ramsey and James Hobart. Do you know them?” He shook his head. “I think you’ll like them. They’re both super nice, and James is from Australia. He understands what it’s like to move countries. And then of course, we’ll go to the dance.”

“Will you make me dance tonight?” He looked horrified at the thought.

“Yes, of course.”

“I cannot dance.”

“I can’t either. We can be terrible together.” I touched his hand briefly. “I’m happy I get to go with you.”

He smiled. “I am, too.”

“It’s gonna be fun, I promise.”

“Of course it will. I will be with you.” He got me again. I blushed, and he smiled.

“Stop doing that. I’m afraid you’re going to think this is my natural color.” I really should be used to it by now, but American boys just aren’t nearly as forward.

“But you look cute like that,” he said.

“You’re too much.” The bell rang then. I picked up my backpack. “I have to run. Danielle is driving us all back to Haley’s house so we can get ready together. But I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Of course.” He smiled again, and he was just so cute. I couldn’t help but lean in and kiss him on the cheek. This time he reddened just a little, and I smiled. Small victories.

The girls and I met Becca on the front steps, and we all walked to Danielle’s car together. They had all brought their overnight bags and dresses so we could go straight to Haley’s, except me. I left mine at home, since I lived right down the street. Danielle was going to drop me off, and I would just walk over there.

“See you guys in a few,” I said, climbing out of the car. I hurried inside and up to my room. I had left all my stuff in one place so I could just grab and go, but Margo was there, lying on her bed and looking awfully dejected. “What’s up?” I asked her.

She looked at me, a few tears falling from her eyes. “Betsy and I got into a fight and she said she didn’t want to get ready for the dance with me. She uninvited me from getting ready with her and the Arnolds and Lindsey.”

I frowned. “And your other friends were okay with that?” None of my friends would let us do that to anybody in our group.

“She just texted me. I don’t think they know, and it’s too late to make other plans.”

I sighed. “That’s too bad. You deserve to have fun tonight.” I thought about it. “Come with me. I’m getting ready with Haley, Danielle, Charlotte, and Becca.” Margo was kind of a pain sometimes, but she was still my little sister, and I wanted her first homecoming to be fun.

She sniffled and wiped her eyes. “Really?”

“Really. But hurry. We’ve got to move quickly if we’re going to get all six of us ready.”

She smiled and jumped up. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She gave me a quick hug and ran around to gather her stuff while I quickly texted the girls to let them know. We were out the door three minutes later, after Margo yelled to Mom that she was coming with me.

My friends are great. They greeted Margo like they had expected her all along and went back to doing their makeup. Haley had found along mirror in the basem*nt and propped it along the wall, so we were all able to sit and work.

Danielle had also brought her speaker, and was now loudly blasting Thrift Shop. “I’m gonna pop some tags, only got twenty dollars in my pocket,” she yelled.

“Stop making me laugh,” Charlotte said. “I can’t apply eyeliner when you’re doing that!” In response, Danielle only hammed it up more, adding in some heinously-done dance moves she had surely seen in rap music videos. Eventually Charlotte laughed so hard she cried and had to start over. “Dang it,” she said, pulling out a makeup wipe.

Finally, Danielle turned down the music a little and went to work on her own makeup. “Margo, do you have a date?” She asked while applying her eye shadow. Hozier, a fairly new artist that I was already obsessed with, crooned in the background.

Margo smiled. “I’m going with David Michael Thomas.”

“Did you finally ask him, or did he ask you?” I asked, sponging foundation on my face.

“I asked him.”

“Way to go, Margo!” Danielle said.

“And was he thrilled like I said he would be?”

“He seemed pretty happy about it.” She grinned.

I finished my foundation and opened my blush. “I could’ve guessed. Are you going to try and kiss him tonight?”

“Are you going to try and kiss Yuri?” she countered.

“Have you not?” Haley asked, turning away from the mirror and raising her perfectly-done eyebrows. She was the best and quickest at makeup of us, and she had already moved on to curling her hair.

“Not yet,” I admitted. “I keep wanting to, but something always interrupts us. Usually Jordan or Adam. I’m hoping tonight is the night.”

“It will be,” Charlotte assured me, carefully painting her eyelashes with mascara. “They’ll be too busy to interrupt you this time. And I’ll make sure Nick is distracted, too.”

“Thanks, but knowing my luck, a meteor will strike, or the school will blow up.” I studied my eyeliner and went back in to even it out.

“Maybe you just need to kiss him when you see him at the Arboretum and get it over with,” Becca suggested. “Then you’ll have already done it and it won’t matter anymore.”

I considered that for a moment before I dismissed it. “I don’t want our first kiss to be in front of our parents, though. I want it to be special.”

“Then you better make it special,” Danielle said as she plugged in her curling iron. “When you’re ready, come and get it,” she sang, almost absently.

Just as I finished up my makeup, Haley asked if I could help her with her hair. The other girls (besides Margo) only had younger brothers, and since I had played with Margo and Claire’s hair plenty over the years, I got tasked with hair duty. I helped Haley pull the front back and did an elaborate knot with the pieces, letting the rest of the curls hang loose. The result was a lovely half up, half down style that fell over her shoulders.

“Gorgeous,” Danielle said, and Haley grinned.

“I’ll help you do everybody else’s hair,” she said to me.

“We better hurry,” I said, glancing at the clock. It was already 4:15. We were all supposed to meet in an hour.

Luckily, Becca was able to do her own (I felt bad that I had no experience with textured hair, but she assured me it was fine), so I quickly helped Charlotte finish curling her hair and pulled it into a cute side-pony. She added her own jewels that matched her dress, and it was stunning. Haley did a half-up, half-down style similar to her own on Margo. Then I braided the side of Danielle’s hair and pulled it back, fastening it with the clip she had bought.

“Oh, God, it’s already 4:45,” I said, sitting down to start my own. “I’m glad none of you wanted updos. We never would’ve made it.”

“We’re all done, so I’ll help you,” Danielle said, picking her curling iron back up. “I’ll do this side, you do that one.”

We finished curling it in record time. “I think you should do a ponytail,” Haley said, looking at me in the mirror.

“A ponytail?” It didn’t seem very special.

“Yeah, you want to show off the open back of your dress. Let me show you, and then if you hate it, I’ll do something else.” She had me lean forward, and she quickly gathered it up and secured it. “Then…” she pulled a few pieces out. “There. What do you think?” I turned to look in the mirror. I had to admit, it looked pretty good.

“It looks so cute!” Margo said.

I smiled. “Alright, I’ll keep it.” It’s lucky I liked it, because we didn’t have any time to rework. It was 5:05. Quickly, we all threw on our dresses, zipping each other up, and I pulled on my silver sandals. I had decided to go with a bit of a heel since Yuri was so tall. I was hoping it’d be easier to reach his lips when I was ready to kiss him. I was also hoping they wouldn’t be killing me later on.

Then we unplugged everything and threw our bags back together. “Mom!” Haley called when the basem*nt was clean, cutting off Justin Bieber in the middle of Baby. “We’re ready!” We trooped upstairs, where her parents exclaimed over us. Even her brother, Matt, smiled.

“Pretty,” he signed. Mrs. Braddock insisted on getting a photo of Haley and Matt together (Matt goes to a special school for deaf kids, so he wasn’t going to the dance), and then we crammed into her minivan to get to the Arboretum.

We were right on time. It was pretty crowded, but it was easy to spot my brothers. Adam was horsing around with Jeff Schafer (who looked really good in his dress clothes) while Byron rolled his eyes. Jordan was talking to Nick and David Michael. The Ramseys were waiting there, too. Mrs. Braddock started up a conversation with them.

My mom, only having to herd boys, had been early, and had managed to grab the best spot in the gardens for photos.The sun was sinking toward the horizon, bathing everything in gold. It was gorgeous. She was looking through her viewfinder and adjusting her camera settings.(She’s picked up some photography skills over the past few years, so she kind of became the default photographer among my and my siblings’ groups of friends. She was being paid to do photos for the parents of all of my siblings’ dates.)Yuri wasn’t there yet, so my mom started on photos of Charlotte and Nick. He and his family arrived just as she finished up Danielle and Adam.

He looked cute in his dress pants and shirt. His tie was the same shade of blue as my dress. I waved them over. “Hi,” I said when they arrived. “You look nice. I’m glad you found it okay.”

He smiled and kissed me on the cheek. “You are beautiful.”

“Thank you.” I hoped I wasn’t blushing too badly as I greeted his parents. Nadia had come with them, too, wearing a frilly pink dress.

He leaned in to whisper in my ear. “She wanted to dress up, also, and my parents did not see reason to say no.”

“She looks cute,” I whispered back. I bent down to Nadia’s level as best as I could without flashing everybody. “You look beautiful,” I said to her. “You would fit right in at the dance.” She beamed, and I straightened back up.

I could see him studying the triplets. Then he pointed to each of them. “Jordan, Adam, and Byron?”

“Hey, you were right. Good job.” I was pleased that he was making an effort to tell them apart. It was a good sign. It meant he intended to hang around with me for awhile. I mean, I knew that, but it was reassuring to have real, tangible proof.

He smiled andput his arm around me. “‘A magic moment I remember, I raised my eyes and you were there, a fleeting vision, the quintessence, of all that’s beautiful and rare,’” he recited to me quietly.

I smiled back. God, he really was perfect. “‘Then came a moment of renaissance, I looked up — you again are there, a fleeting vision, the quintessence, of all that’s beautiful and rare,’” I replied, skipping to the last stanza.

“Of course you know that one, also. I am starting to think you really do know every poem,” he said, laughing. God, he was just so cute, and how could I resist a guy who recited poetry to me? I nearly abandoned my decision to wait to kiss him until later, but my attention was drawn away, because of course it was.

“Vanessa, your turn.” My mom was waving me over. Haley and Jordan were laughing together, probably about how many photos my mom had insisted on.

“We’re up,” I said to him. “Be prepared. After us, she’ll want to do Margo and her date, and then probably Byron and his friend, Jeff.” I indicated him. “He’s from California, but his mom lives here, and he’s here visiting her this week, so he and Byron are going as friends.” I wondered for a moment what Yuri would think if he knew Byron was gay, but I decided we could cross that bridge when we got there.

“I would only do this for you, Umnyashka,” he said, and I smiled again.

James had arrived, too, and he and Becca were posing with Nick and Charlotte for Becca’s parents. Yuri and I got into position, and Mom and Ivanna both snapped photo after photo. Finally, Mom declared she had enough of us and told Margo that it was her and David Michael’s turn. They got in front of the camera, both looking a little uncomfortable for the first time. I chuckled.

“Maybe this would be a good time for you to meet Becca and James.” I called them over and introduced them to Yuri. He and James quickly got into a conversation about what their home countries were like, as I figured they might.

We all talked for awhile. Then Mom got some of the whole group, and then a few of just me and my siblings. Finally, she decided she was done, just as it got a little too dark to continue.

“How are you all splitting up?” Mom asked us, snapping her lens cap back on. We all looked at each other. Jordan and Adam gave me a look that insisted I talk, since I was so good at convincing our parents of things.

“Well, Mom,” I began. “Obviously there are a lot of us, and we’ll need two cars. What if Adam, Jordan, and Byron, and their dates...er, and Jeff,” I added quickly, “take the triplets’ car, and if Haley’s mom would be willing to take you home, then I can drive yours. Charlotte and Becca and I had all planned to get dinner together. Then one of the triplets can drop us off at Charlotte’s after, and bring your car home.”

“What about Margo?” Mom asked.

Luckily, at that moment, Margo was pulled aside by an apologetic Betsy Sobak. I don’t know what was said, but Margo hurried back over to us, smiling. “Betsy invited David Michael and me to go to dinner with her and Jackie Rodowsky.”

“Problem solved,” I said, turning to Mom. She seemed hesitant. “Of course, if you want, you could drive us to dinner.”

That settled it. My mom has invested a lot of time into making us independent young adults. At this point, she would much rather let us do everything we can by ourselves so she can go home and relax. “Alright, you can take my car,” she conceded, handing me her keys. “But if you don’t have sleepover plans tonight, I want you home by 10:30.” She eyed the triplets sternly, who nodded.

“We swear, Mom. We’ll even leave at 10,” Adam said, holding up his right hand. She rolled her eyes.

“Have fun.” She walked over to Haley’s mom, and I turned back to my friends, dangling the keys.

“Alright, let’s go,” I said, grinning.

“Vanessa, do you…are you able to drive?” Ivanna asked.

“Oh, yes,” I assured her. “I have my license.” I pulled it out of my purse and handed it to her. She eyed it suspiciously. “I passed the test on the first try,” I added for good measure.

Yuri sighed and said something to his mom in Russian. They spoke back and forth before Ivanna finally relented. “Okay. It is fine.” She handed me back my license. “But please be careful.”

“I always am,” I said with a smile. Okay, so sometimes I tended to speed, but never too badly. Most speed limits in Stoneybrook are around 40. I very rarely went above 45. Maybe 50. I’m still a good driver.

We quickly moved our overnight bags into the trunk of my mom’s car. “See you guys later,” I said to Haley and Danielle. The rest of us piled into the SUV. “Where should we go?” I asked as I started it.

“Renwick’s!” Charlotte suggested. That sounded good to the rest of us. Renwick’s is a cute place, not super fancy, but pretty fun. All the items on the children’s menu are named after Peanuts characters. We were seated in the back corner near the small, indoor waterfall. I’ve always loved that waterfall. It had inspired several poems over the years. I watched the way the water trickled over the stone and flowed into the pool below, full of silver and copper coins. A small sign said all the money collected from the fountain this month would be donated to Stoneybrook General Hospital. The stone around the pool was covered with moss and flowers. I studied them, poetic thoughts flittering around the edges of my mind but not quite coming together. Something about the magic of water, I don’t know.

I was thinking about it so deeply that my friends had to really work to get my attention when the waitress came for my drink order.

“Space Cadet Pike has come back to Earth,” Nick said, and everybody laughed.

While we waited for the waitress to come back, I dug some coins out of my bag and handed them around.

“Make a wish,” I told everyone. I closed my eyes and wished that Yuri and I could finally have our first kiss tonight before tossing my coin in. Everyone else threw theirs in one at a time.

“What did you wish?” Yuri asked me.

I smiled. “I can’t tell you. It won’t come true.”

Dinner was fun, but I was distracted imagining what our first kiss could be like. Would it be during a slow dance? Maybe at the end of the night? I’m not sure how I managed to get through my meal. I barely remembered tasting it. I should’ve been paying attention, though, because I looked up to find Becca recording me on Snapchat as I attempted to eat my pasta as neatly as possible.

“Becca!” Everybody else burst out laughing. “How long have you been doing that?”

“I’ve been wondering how long it would take you to notice,” she said. “It took you a solid two minutes.”

“You’re all jerks,” I grumbled, trying not to laugh.

“Maybe you should pay attention to your surroundings,” James said. “I’ve never seen somebody so spacey.”

“That’s just who I am,” I argued. “You all know that. I don’t think it’s fair to hold that against me.”

“We like you that way,” Charlotte assured me.

“We just also like to use it against you,” Nick said. I rolled my eyes.

“I was nice enough to drive you all here and this is how you repay me. I could leave right now,” I said, brandishing the keys threateningly.

“But you will not do that,” Yuri said, squeezing my hand. “Because you like us.”

“I do, but I have some dignity.” I lifted my chin and tried to look tough, but I couldn’t help but laugh. “Fine. But now I feel it’s my duty to inform you all that Nick once ate a mud pie.”

His mouth dropped open. “Once!” He protested. “When I was, like, 5.”

“We should get going soon,” Charlotte interjected, checking her phone. “It’s almost 7.” We packed up and paid, and I drove us to the high school. Kids were everywhere, streaming into the building and hanging around the front lawn, waiting for other friends to show up.

I took Yuri’s hand. “Ready for your first American dance?” I asked. He smiled.

“No. But yes.”

“It’s not that bad, I promise. Actually, it might even be boring. The dance is, like, the least fun part of the evening. The photos and dinner are where the real fun happens.”

“So why even go to dance?”

“Because it’s still fun and you can’t just get all dressed up and not go anywhere.” I don’t think I convinced him, but he followed me inside anyway. On the way to the gym, I made a detour and stuck my purse in my locker. “Can you hold my phone for me?” I handed it to him. He stuck it in his pocket.

In the gym, the student council had really gone all out with the Enchanted Garden theme. They had somehow managed to string up hundreds of fairy lights from the ceiling, and greenery was interspersed between them. Bunches of baby’s breath flowers sat in jars with tea lights. They had even managed to get an almost-obscene amount of flowers in the gym to create a flower wall. It was so well-done that I almost could have believed we were in a real garden, instead of just our decrepit 1950s gymnasium.

I’ll skip a lot of the details of the dance. It was fun, but not terribly exciting. I did manage to get Yuri to dance for afew songs. He was a pretty bad dancer, but I’m not any better, so we had a good time laughing about our complete lack of grace. Simon Beal and Lynn Perone won homecoming king and queen. We also talked to our friends (I met more guys on the basketball team that night than I have in the last two years at SHS), drank an insane amount of punch, and ate far too many of the sugar cookies.

“Vanessa, isn’t that, like, your fourth cookie?” Haley asked me when I saw her at the table later. Yuri had gone to the bathroom, and I was taking the opportunity to get another without judgment. Apparently that wasn’t working, though, because the amusem*nt pouring off her was pretty potent.

“It’s my fifth,” I admitted. “Don’t judge me. I am not in control of my sweet tooth.”

“I’m sure your dentist loves you,” she said, picking up one herself. “I’m going to get back to Jordan.”

“Are you having fun with him?”

“Tons,” she said, smiling. “I really like him.”

“Well, I’m glad,” I said, meaning it. “I’ll see you later.”

She walked off just as Yuri came back. We had had some good conversations about our favorite things throughout the night, and I wanted to continue it.

“Favorite place you’ve ever visited?” I asked him.

“Hard to say. All of Europe is so beautiful. We visit many countries while we live in France.”

“Where all did you go?”

He thought about it. “We visit Germany, Spain, and Italy that year. Also Netherlands.”

“Wait, you’ve been to all those places? Anywhere else?”

“South Africa, and Japan, and India.”

“I’m jealous. You’ve been to so many cool places,” I said. “I’d like to see the world someday.”

“Where is your favorite place you visit?”

“Well, with eight kids, we don’t take a multitude of vacations. We just go to the beach every summer.”

“I would like to go there someday.”

“Wait, you’ve never been to the beach?” I asked. How could anybody live without the sun, salt, and sand of the beach?

“Moskva is not near ocean.” He shrugged. “And we never made it when at other countries.”

“That’s truly tragic.”

“Alright, ladies and gents, we’re going to slow it down just a bit,” the DJ crooned. The first notes of Taylor Swift’s Enchanted floated over the crowd.

“Oh I love this song. We have to dance.” I took his hand and pulled him onto the dance floor. He was shaking his head and smiling.

“At least this is easy.” He held me around the waist, close to him, and I wondered if he could feel my heart racing.

“That’s not leaving room for Jesus,” Jordan said as he and Haley walked by. I rolled my eyes at him. They started to dance, and they were even closer than Yuri and I were. Hypocrite. I had to admit they were cute, though.

This night is sparklin’

Don’t you let it go

I’m wonderstruck

Blushing all the way home

I’ll spend forever wondering if you knew

I was enchanted to meet you

I looked up at Yuri, and he smiled. This would’ve been a perfect moment for our first kiss. He must’ve thought the same, because he leaned in like he wanted to, but then I thought of something.

“Wait,” I said, and he paused, looking a bit disappointed. “I have an idea. Come with me.”

Chapter 15 Chapter Text

I took his hand and led him away from the dance floor, through the gym, and out the front doors, Taylor fading away. We passed Charlotte and Nick on the way, and Charlotte smiled while Nick raised his eyebrows at me. I just smiled and waved.

We stepped out into the chilly October night. “Umnyashka, where are we going?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just trust me.” We walked away from the school, down the road. It took us about ten minutes to walk there, but he didn’t ask again. He just held my hand.

Finally, we reached the Stoneybrook Community Center, which sits right on the Long Island Sound. There are docks for boating, and a strip of sand. I led him to the edge of the sidewalk, where the sand starts. He looked around. “Where is this?”
“The beach!” I smiled at him. “Or, at least, one of the only beaches Stoneybrook has. But for this purpose, it counts. So come on.” I leaned down and took off my sandals. He just stared at me. Undeterred, I set them aside and walked across the sand to the edge of the water. The waves barely lapped at my toes, but it was cold. I shivered, but I turned to face him and took a few backward steps, the water now around my ankles.. “Come on,” I called to him. “It’s not that bad. Are you afraid?”

In the dim glow of the streetlights behind him, I saw him smile. “Of course not.” I knew that would get him. He kicked off his shoes, pulled off his socks, and rolled up his pants. He joined me in the water, seeming to not even notice how icy it was.

“Aren’t you cold?” I asked.

He smirked. “This is not cold. You Americans have thin blood. Us in Russia, not as much.” To prove his point, he walked in a little farther, the water now lapping about halfway up his shins.

“Show-off.” I followed him, but since he’s so much taller, the water was a bit farther up my legs. I shivered and he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. It didn’t really do much, considering my feet were now ice blocks, but I appreciated the gesture. I leaned into him. “When it’s a little less foggy, you can see Long Island—part of New York—right across the water there.” I pointed. “Oh, and one more thing.”

“Yes?”

“Look up.”

He did, and I heard him inhale as he caught sight of all the stars you could see out here. There were hundreds, all glowing and twinkling. He studied them for a few minutes. Finally he raised an arm and pointed. “There is Big Dipper,” he said. I looked up and found it. “And Perseus. Andromeda. And Cassiopeia. The queen.” He pointed to each of them in turn, tracing the stars.

“What about Orion?”

He shook his head. “Not visible yet. Soon.” We looked at them for a second. Then he turned to me, smiling. “It is beautiful here. Thank you for bringing me. And for my first time to beach.”

“We’ll have to get you to a real beach sometime, where you can actually swim. This hardly counts.”

“Maybe one day.” He was warm against my bare shoulders and arms, and he smelled so nice. I wanted to burrow in closer. We stared at the stars for a little bit longer. He pointed out a few more constellations. Then we were quiet.

After a bit, he started saying something in Russian. He spoke for a couple minutes. Obviously, I didn’t know what he was saying, but I just listened, marveling at how Russian didn’t sound as rough or as harsh as I had thought it might. It was beautiful the way he said it.

“What was that?” I asked when he was done.

He smiled. “A poem.”

“Which one?”

“It is one you know.” I thought about it. I don’t know too many Russian poems, except ones by Alexander Pushkin. Then I remembered the first week of school, when I had named some of the poems I liked.

I smiled. “‘I still recall the wondrous moment when you appeared before my sight, as though a brief and fleeting omen, pure phantom in enchanting light,’” I recited.

“You really are smart girl,” he said. Then he recited the last stanza again, this time in English. “‘And now, my heart, with fascination, beats rapidly and finds revived, devout faith and inspiration, and tender tears and love and life.’”

“Is that a direct translation?”
“No. It is changed little bit in English, to make rhyme. Literal translation harder to do. It is more like…” he paused, thinking about it. “‘And the heart beats in rapture, and for him they rose again, deity and inspiration, and life, and tears, and love.’ Some also say ‘the heart beats in ecstasy.’”

“That’s beautiful.” The heart beats in ecstasy. I liked that.

He smiled again. “I still recall wondrous moment I saw you in class. Beautiful, just like butterfly.”

I was glad it was dark so he couldn’t see me blush. “God, you’re so smooth. I can’t stand it.”

“No?” He raised an eyebrow at me, smirking.

“You just make me smile and I can’t think straight when you’re all sweet like that.”

“I like when you smile. It is nice.”

I laid my head against his shoulder. “Yeah, well, I like your smile, too.”

“You are shaking. We should get out.”

“I’m fine,” I insisted, but I was shivering really badly now. He probably felt it. “Actually, I don’t think I can move my feet.”

“I will help you. Come on.” He took my hand and we started to walk back, but my foot caught on something and I tripped. For a horrifying moment, I had a vision of myself falling into the water. Luckily, he caught me. Basketball reflexes, maybe.

“Oh, God. Thank you. That would’ve been so bad.”

“You are welcome.” His smile was so warm that I almost forgot I could barely feel my feet. He steadied me, with one arm around my waist, but he didn’t let go. We just looked at each other. My heart sped up. This was the moment. I just knew it.

He brushed some hair away from my face (classic) and leaned in. I nearly stopped breathing, but I told myself CPR did not count as a kissand made myself relax. I just inhaled as our lips met. He was tentative at first, which was cute, but then not so tentative as I kissed him back.

It wasn’t my first kiss, but it might as well have been. I didn’t hear the waves crashing against the shore, or the cars driving by in the distance. All I could think about was the way he kissed me. He was good, and I kind of wanted to hate every girl he had kissed in the past before reminding myself that, hey, it might’ve them before, but it was me now, and the rest of those girls were half the world away, anyway.

I don’t know how long I kissed him. It felt like awhile, but that might’ve been because my feet were now very nearly numb and growing worse with every passing second. I became all too aware of them and finally pulled back, regretfully.

“I really need to get out of the water,” I said. He just smiled and, before I could react, he had literally swept me off my feet and was carrying me back to the sand. It was pretty romantic, but in the back of my mind I was thinking, Oh God, what if he thinks I’m heavy? It seemed pretty effortless on his part, but no guy wants to admit something is hard to carry.

I tried to think light thoughts. Feathers. Balloons. Fluffy cotton balls. Then I realized that was stupid. I wrapped my arms around his neck, leaning into him. He stopped on the sand, and I kissed him again before he could put me down.

“Thanks,” I said, and we smiled at each other. He set me on the sand, and I hugged him, leaning my head on his chest. He held me, and we didn’t speak for a few minutes.

“I got my wish,” I finally said.

“I did, also.”

“I knew magic was real. This entire night has proven it to me.”

“Magic,” he said slowly. “You are right.” I smiled. “It was hard to leave from home,” he continued. “But now I am happy I did, so I can meet you.”

“I’m sorry you had to leave, but I’m happy you’re here, too.”

“I did not think I would find new girlfriend in America.”

“Girlfriend?” I looked up at him.

“Are you not?”

I smiled. “Most people here typically ask first.”

He blushed. “Sorry. I thought…that you already were.”

“That fair. We were kind of already doing the relationship thing anyway. Chalk it up to cultural differences,” I said.

He chuckled. “Umnyashka, will you be my girlfriend?”

“I’m surprised you even have to ask,” I teased, and he rolled his eyes, smiling. “Yes, of course.” He kissed me again, just quickly this time, then studied me. I was still shivering and wiggling my toes to try and return feeling to my lower extremities. He checked his phone.

“You need to dry feet. We should go home.”

“What time is it?”

“21:55.” I did the math. It was 9:55. Oh, God, Jordan and Adam were supposed to drive us all home at 10, and it was a ten-minute walk back to school. If I wasn’t there, they would definitely take the opportunity to use it for blackmail fodder. I’d have to owe them a massive favor not to tell Mom and Dad, and I did not want to be in their debt. Time to find out if we could make a ten minute walk in five.

“Alright, we need to move. Stat.” I took his hand and started pulling. We scooped up our shoes and started back toward the high school. “Can I have my phone?” He retrieved it from his pocket and handed it to me. I called Haley.

“Hey, are you with Jordan?” I asked when she picked up.

“He went to the bathroom. Why?”

“Yuri and I are on our way back to the school. If we aren’t back by ten, stall him and Adam.”

“What? On your way back? Where did you guys go?”

“Tell you later. Just cover for me. And can you get my purse out of my locker? Please?”

“Sure, no problem.”

“Thanks. See you soon.” I hung up and managed to grip my phone in the hand carrying my shoes. I took his free hand with mine. “Haley is going to stall for us but we need to go quickly.”

“Umnyashka, what is problem?” he asked, sounding bemused.

“If Jordan or Adam realize we left the dance, they’ll want to know where we went.”

“Yes? That is bad?”

“Well, technically my siblings and I aren’t supposed to go to the Sound when it’s dark, because my mom is terrified that we’ll drown or something, and if my brothers know I did that, I’ll be in their debt for ages until I do them a huge favor, and I don’t want to do that.” I was a little breathless as I explained all of this.

“They will not just keep secret?”

I snorted. “I know you were an only child for most of your life, but this is just how siblings are, especially in my family. Blackmail is our love language.” I checked my phone. 9:59. We were still a few blocks away from the school. “We aren’t going to make it.”

“Well, if already you are late…” he stopped, and since he was still holding my hand, I stopped too. I looked back at him. He pulled me to him, kissing me again. I wanted to be mad, but, oh, that was his tongue, and he was really good at that, too, and suddenly I was thinking that it didn’t matter if I had to be Jordan and Adam’s personal servant until they graduated if it meant I got to do this.

I enjoyed it for a couple minutes, finally pulling away and glaring at him but trying not to smile. He smirked. “Not cool. Come on.” We kept going, and we reached the school at 10:03.

Kids were still streaming out of the building, holding hands and chatting. I looked around the front lawn. I spotted Jordan and Haley under one of the trees. Wait, were they…?

I squinted. Yup, they were kissing. I couldn’t help but laugh. Good stall, Haley. Yuri and I went over to them, and I pretended that I had been searching for them everywhere. “There you are,” I said. They broke apart, Jordan shooting me an annoyed look. “This crowd is crazy. I’ve been looking for you guys for, like, ten minutes. Have you seen the others?”

Jordan looked around, and Haley winked at me and handed me my purse while he was distracted. I smiled at her and mouthed my thanks.

“There are Byron and Jeff,” Jordan said, pointing. They were heading toward us, hands in their pockets but walking a bit closer together than most friends would have. Jeff was talking animatedly, and Byron was grinning and gazing at him adoringly. I smiled at the sight of them. “And Adam said he and Danielle are on the other side of the lawn, and they’ll meet us here,” he added, glancing at his phone.

As Jeff and Byron got closer, I could hear what Jeff was ranting about. “American Idiot and Dookie are great albums. Nobody is denying that. I even like 21^st Century Breakdown. But Warning is criminally underrated. Castaway, Misery, and Deadbeat Holiday is the most elite three-track run in their entire discography,” he declared.

Yuri nodded next to me. “I agree.”

Jeff turned to him. “You a Green Day fan?”

“Yes, very much so.” That set the three of them off on a discussion about the albums, including the trilogy that had been released last year. I’m not sure what else. I tuned out after that.

Nick and Charlotte found us a couple minutes later, along with Margo and David Michael. “Perfect,” Byron said, scanning the group. “We’re all here.”

“Do we not count?” Adam said as he walked up, punching Byron on the shoulder.

“You’re here, aren’t you?” Adam just rolled his eyes “Anyway,” Byron continued, “let’s figure this out. Nick, since you’re spending the night with David Michael, you go with him. Adam, if you don’t want to, I can drive the girls over to Charlotte’s, and you can go with Jordan, who can drive Jeff and Margo home. Jordan can take Yuri home, too.”

Adam debated with himself for a moment. “Okay. That’s fine with me if it’s fine with all of you,” he said, and everybody agreed. Nick and David Michael waved and headed toward Mrs. Brewer-Thomas’s car, which had just pulled up to the curb, and the rest of us made our way to the parking lot.

“Vanessa, why are you barefoot?” Margo asked, and everybody looked at my feet. Too late I realized they were still covered in sand. I hoped it was dark enough that nobody would notice.

“My sandals were hurting me,” I lied.

“Uh-huh. And Yuri?” Crap, he was still barefoot too.

He just shrugged. “My feet were hot.” It was kind of a weird explanation, but Margo just snorted, and nobody questioned it. We reached the triplets’ car in the parking lot. Mom’s SUV was three cars down.

“Sorry you have to ride in their car,” I whispered to Yuri. “It’s kind of gross.” Though maybe they had thought to clean it before the dance. Unlikely, though.

He chuckled. “I am 16-year-old boy. Not much mess bothers me.”

I smiled. “I should’ve guessed. Well, goodnight. I had a great time.” I wondered if he would kiss me in front of everybody.

His eyes twinkled. “Goodnight, Umnyashka. I had fun with you.” I didn’t have to wonder long, because he leaned in and kissed me again, gently, and everybody went “oooo!”

“You all need to grow up,” I said, pulling away and rolling my eyes. I knew I was blushing. Somehow, he wasn’t. He just smiled at me as I walked away with the girls. I handed Mom’s car keys to Byron.

“Just so you know,” Byron said as he unlocked the doors, “I only offered to do this because I wanted to ask where you and Yuri went.”

“You guys left?” Danielle asked.

“How did you know?” I asked, sliding into the passenger seat. Charlotte, Haley, and Danielle climbed into the back.

“Jeff and I were outside and we saw you two walk down the road.” He started the car and backed out of the spot.

“And what were you and Jeff doing outside?”

Byron rolled his eyes. “Does it matter?”

“You can’t ask if you aren’t willing to tell.”

He was quiet for a moment as he turned out of the parking lot. “If you must know, we were making out.”
“Way to go, Byron!” Danielle clapped him on the shoulder from behind him. He blushed.

“Don’t tell anybody, please. Adam and Jordan still think it was totally platonic.”

“We won’t,” Charlotte promised.

“I realize that your situation is a little different, but I’m just saying, if I got a chance to make out with Jeff ‘Pure California God’ Schafer, I’d be telling everybody,” Haley said.

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll get there eventually. Now, what about you?” He asked me. I heard the girls all lean forward in anticipation.

“Alright, fine. He said he had never been to the beach, so I took him down to the Sound.”

“You aren’t supposed to be down there,” he said, giving me an amused side-eye.

“I know.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing. We just stood in the water and I nearly got frostbite.”

“You can’t get frostbite if it’s above freezing,” Charlotte broke in. “At worst, you would’ve gotten hypothermia.”

“Thanks, Encyclopedia Johanssen,” Danielle said. “Then what happened?”
“Then he kissed me.”

“How romantic,” Charlotte sighed.

“Way to go, Vanessa!” Danielle clapped me on the shoulder now. I laughed.

“Should I tell Mom and Dad you were down at the Sound?”

“Sure, and we can tell Adam and Jordan about you and Jeff at the same time.”

“Touché,” Byron said, but he was smiling. “Secret for a secret then.” He stopped outside of Charlotte’s house, and the girls piled out. They opened the trunk and started grabbing their bags. I made to open my own door. “Hey, wait a second,” he said to me. I paused. Haley closed the back hatch. “Thanks.”

I smiled. “Of course. And thank you.” He leaned across the seat and hugged me. That was kind of a shock, since he isn’t very touchy and doesn’t normally initiate contact. I think I could count on one hand the number of times in my life he’s initiated a hug with me. I wasn’t mad about it, though. “And thanks for driving us. Love you.”

“Love you, too.” He smiled.

“Oh, and I know Jeff is sleeping over with you guys tonight, but don’t do anything in Nick’s bed. That’s just not fair to him.” I laughed at the appalled look on his face and exited the car. I grabbed my bag from the back and ran inside. “Bye!”

Inside, I greeted Dr. and Mr. Johanssen and made my way down to the basem*nt. I was so ready to put on my pajamas. Becca had beaten us there, having been dropped off by Mrs. Hobart, and she, Haley, Charlotte, and Danielle were arranging the sleeping bags on the floor.

“Sweatpants, humanity’s peak,” I said as I pulled mine on. Haley unzipped my dress for me, and I took it off and pulled on an ancient SHS sweatshirt. I think it had once belonged to Mallory, or maybe even Mom. I placed my dress on a hanger and let Charlotte take it upstairs for me to hang in her room. She came back with a picnic basket of popcorn, chips, Oreos, sodas, and water bottles. I sat down on a sleeping bag and pulled on a thick pair of socks. We took turns pulling bobby pins out of each other’s hair, and Danielle passed around her hand mirror so we could remove our makeup.

“Too bad,” Haley commented as she wiped her makeup off. “I looked so good.”

“You’re still beautiful without it,” Becca said.

My phone buzzed then.

“Thank you again for night. I had much fun with you)))”

“I had fun with you too,” I typed. “I’m bummed that I had to take off my makeup, but my pajamas are so much comfier than my dress”

“I have never not seen you wear makeup. Can I see?))”

I considered it for a second. “Haley, take a picture of me real quick,” I said, handing her my phone. She snapped one. I made sure I looked cute before I forwarded it to him.

“Still beautiful))”

I had to smile, but luckily no one noticed. They were still trying to get their makeup off. Before I could reply, he sent me another text.

“The moon is emerging. It is going to be here soon. Now, it hangs in the air, full and stark.”

I searched my mental poem database. He had me. I didn’t know this one.

“Okay, I admit it. I don’t know this one”

“I knew I would find one)) it is Moonlit Night, by Vladimir Mayakovsky”

I looked it up, and we talked about it while the girls chattered around me. Eventually, we ran out of things to say on that poem, but I wasn’t ready to stop talking to him. I tried to convince him to go to the football game tomorrow, but he thinks American football is boring.

“So do I, but I’m still going”

“I suppose that would be enough reason))” and I knew I was smiling at my phone like an idiot now, especially when Becca said, “Vanessa?”

“What did Mr. Tall, Dark, and Russian say now?” Haley chomped on some popcorn.

“He was just telling me he had a good time with me.”

“Did anything else happen at the Sound?” Charlotte asked.

“Wait, you guys went down to the water?” Becca asked.

I quickly filled her in. “And I may have forgotten to mention that he asked me to be his girlfriend.”

The girls were so loud with excitement that Dr. Johanssen opened the basem*nt door and asked if we were alright. “We’re fine. Sorry, Mom,” Charlotte said.

“No problem.” She closed the door and we laughed.

“So exactly how many times did he kiss you, Vanessa?” Danielle asked. “I figured it had to be more than once, because I didn’t think you would let him kiss you for the first time in front of all of us.”

“Let’s see.” I paused to think. “Three down at the Sound, one on the way back to school, and then once in the parking lot. So five.”

“Is he any good?” Haley wanted to know.

“Oh, he’s a great kisser. He even knows how to use his tongue really well.”

“WHAT?!” They all yelled, and I laughed.

“Good for you, girl. Imagine if someone else had drawn the jelly on the first day of school,” Danielle said.

“Oh God, he could be calling Nina Villareal ‘Umnyashka’ right now if that had happened.” I already wasn’t a fan of that AU. “Haley, are you and Jordan a thing?” I asked, just to stop thinking about it. I grabbed a couple pieces of popcorn and popped a soda.

She smiled. “Well, he did ask me on a date next weekend.”

“I still think you could do better,” I said, but I was happy for her. “It’s weird that two of you are dating my brothers. Danielle, maybe you should make a move on Adam.”

“Nah,” she said, waving her hand. “He’s cute and fun, but I already know we’re just going to be friends.”

“Good. You could do better, too.”

We talked for hours that night, trading stories about the dance. Becca told us that James had kissed her, and, with some pestering, Charlotte admitted that she and Nick had actually snuck around to the back of the school to make out.

“And did you two do more than that?” Danielle prompted.

“It got a little handsy,” she confessed, looking at me and blushing. I made a face as everybody else cheered.

“Jordan also happens to be an excellent kisser,” Haley reported, throwing a piece of popcorn at me and smirking.

“Blechhh. I need you guys to not date my brothers next time you want to discuss your trysts,” I joked.

“Well, Vanessa, you’ll be happy to know that Adam and I did not kiss at all,” Danielle announced.

“I would have,” Haley said, and I threw a piece of popcorn back at her. “What? Jordan is cute, and they’re identical, so it only makes sense.”

“Do you think Byron is cute, too?” Charlotte asked.

“I mean, sure, if you’re into the whole skater boy thing.”

“I told you, Vanessa. All of your brothers got good genes,” Becca said.

“Ugh. What if I said your brother was cute?”

Becca squinted. “He’s 8.”

“And he’s adorable! I just wanna squeeze him!”

“You wouldn’t say that if you had to live with him,” Becca countered, rolling her eyes.

“He was a skater boy, she said ‘see you later, boy,’” Danielle sang, and we all giggled.

As we wound down, I reflected on the night, as well as the rest of the week. This week had been one of the best of my life. It truly was a series of wondrous moments, from seeing Yuri dressed as JD for me, to getting ready with my friends, to our first kiss and becoming his girlfriend. I thought back to when I met him on the first day of school, all charm and confidence, and how he had gotten under my skin so easily. Life has a funny way of surprising you, doesn’t it? I was thrilled that I could go to school on Monday with Yuri as my official boyfriend. This year’s homecoming was definitely one for the books. I wondered if he and I would be able to top it with prom in the spring. I fell asleep composing a poem in my head for him.

Two stars came across each other

Drawn by gravity to one another

Forming together a brand new light

Illuminating endless night

Two stars creating wondrous moments

Pulled together by fate so clement

A simple spark became a flame

Never would they be the same

Two stars meeting face to face

We found each other in endless space

These two stars became something new

I became something new with you

I smiled to myself in the darkness of the basem*nt and quickly typed it out in my notes app. I’d write it down and give it to him Monday.

I Still Recall the Wondrous Moment - writteninthestars02 - Baby-Sitters Club (2024)

Chapter 1

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Chapter 2

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Chapter 3

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Chapter 4

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Chapter 5

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Chapter 6

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Chapter 7

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Chapter 8

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Chapter 9

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Chapter 10

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Chapter 11

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Chapter 12

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Chapter 13

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Chapter 14

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Chapter 15

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