Wednesday, October 26th

37.)

Wednesday, Lin came over to play video games. We were taking turns on Splatoon 3.

"Did you ever see that trailer they did about the Octopus Girls?" Lin asked. "For Splatoon 2? The trailer looked so edgy and cool, but the expansion was pretty lackluster. I think when your initial game pitch is "kids who turn into squids who turn into kids and have paint", everything you try to add to that is going to seem less cool."

Lin was having this diatribe while dominating in her turn on the game.

"Do you think cleaning up these arenas is a hassle?" Lin asked.

"Maybe they have paint-thinner guns?" I suggested.

"That would make it more fun. Speaking of fun, how have you been?"

"Oh you know, overworked and sleep deprived." I checked my phone, but I didn't have anything new from Blossom. "I did write a new chapter of my story, so that's good."

"No more writer's block?"

"Well, I don't know about that," I shrugged. "But at the very least, I feel like I have some momentum. Guy on the left." I pointed at the screen but Lin was already on it. She shot him with her paint rifle from the other side of the map.

"Momentum is good! How are you feeling about what you're putting to paper? Is it good?"

"I guess. It's different... but different can be good." I sunk into the couch and played with my phone in my hands. "Hey, I have a question."

"Shoot," Lin said.

"What foods did you eat when you were a kid?" I was only asking because Lin was Chinese, and I wanted Academy A to have more culturally diverse foods. All baby stories have chicken nuggets or mac and cheese, but what about Indian kids like Bala, or Brazilian kids like Talita? They probably had totally different Little foods.

"Noodles." Lin answered simply, and then pouted when she got painted over by a squid with a roller named ZA WARUDO. Then she decided to elaborate. "And pocky. And dumplings. If you put anything in dumpling form, I'd eat it. But also I'd eat anything anyway or my Mom would yell at me. But it's about what you expect. Egg tarts, too. Shrimp chips. Rice crackers. Mochi! But that's like Japanese."

"Hm..." I took a few notes on my phone. I'd have to look up some other snacks too, from other countries. I couldn't rely on Lin to represent every non-white person in the world.

"There's often like multicultural street food festivals and stuff you could go to if you wanted to do some hands-on research. My family took me to one in Virginia once and it was pretty epic, and mostly accurate too. I got these little Brazilian breads there, and then these pies from Australia and they had German sausages and stuff."

"That's an idea..." Of course, I don't know who was going to throw a street fair at the end of October. Maybe a Halloween-themed one. Speaking of...

"Hey Lin, what are you doing for Halloween?" Blossom and I were already planning for another weekend together, but Halloween was the Monday following.

"I'm gonna drive through the suburbs and take artsy photos of the damage done by rowdy teens under the cover of Halloween."

Lin nodded, like this was the most logical thing in the world.

"I don't think that stuff actually happens outside of movies." Lin had a digital camera she got for her birthday. She loved taking pictures with her phone, but it was terrible for low-light photography. Halloween night would be a good time to test out her new lens.

"Well, if you wanted," I went on, "you can come back here after and do movies with my mom and me."

"I'd love that! Are we gonna do Halloweentown?"

Lin loved that movie. She'd watch it any time someone admitted they hadn't, and that meant she'd seen it about a hundred times.

"We can, if you want." Mom would want to do something spooky, like that new Scream movie. But after that, she would let me pick one. I was more into movies like Hocus Pocus or Practical Magic.

"Wanna go driving around for photos with me first?" Lin asked.

"Sure." I had nothing better to do.

"I hope we see a lot of trees covered in toilet paper and other benign mischief. Not eggs, though, that sounds awful. Can you imagine the smell when the sun comes up? Eggs stink enough as it is."

Lin trailed off as her new match began.

***

"So I learned her name," Blossom mentioned off-handedly to Becky while the two of them were looking through Becky's closet for something for her to wear on a date. Blossom and Becky had different fashion senses, but close enough that they'd always help each other out. And Blossom dressed cuter, so Becky held her opinions in high esteem.

"And no, I'm not going to tell you what it is."

"You're a tease," Becky sighed, rolling her eyes. She held up an cardigan to herself and put it on the bed. It didn't match her tones very well. "I don't know why you're still so hung up over this girl. You got her name. Mystery solved. And you missed another meeting this weekend."

"I know, I just... it's weird, alright? I know it's weird, I know I don't chase, I know everyone and their Mom wants to fuck me, but this girl who has no interest in me just... I dunno, Becky, you know? It's weird."

The word weird was starting to lose all meaning when she said it.

"If she's not interested in you, she's missing out." Becky crossed her arms. Truthfully, she was kind of annoyed at the mystery woman! Who would dare reject Blossom of all people? It seemed impossible.

"I don't think she's not interested, I think she's just interested in different things than most people." Blossom picked out a skirt and held it up to herself, then tossed it on the bed. "Try this on, it's the perfect length for you."

"Gotcha." Becky was quick to strip off her jeans, flashing Blossom her black lace underwear. It was the kind of thing someone would wear on a date if they thought they were going to get lucky.

"What do you mean, different things?" Becky asked, stepping into the skirt.

"She wants to sit and read together, or lay on the beach." That one was more Blossom's thing, but still. "Or giggle and laugh at kids' movies. I think it's pretty wholesome."

"She sounds lame." Becky rolled her eyes.

"She's definitely not! She's a writer."

"Oh cool, can I read her stuff?"

Blossom quickly shook her head no.

"A writer girl you went to high school with..." Becky was still trying to narrow down the list, but she didn't know a lot about the girls who went to Blossom's high school. Maybe if she could get more information. "Well, what does she write? Is she taking any writing classes right now?"

"Nice try," Blossom said, tossing Becky a top to go with her skirt.

"Why don't you invite her out? You, me, her? I'll bring a date!" And it would give Becky the opportunity to meet this mystery woman.

"Oh, invite her out? Sure, I can do that."

This was an easy one to dodge, because Amy would never agree to go anyway. Then it wouldn't be Blossom's fault and Becky would stop asking. Maybe there was a risk to it, but the chances seemed so astronomically low that it wasn't worth considering.

Becky was so surprised it took her a moment to respond: "Great!" She just needed to get a better read on this girl. "What about Halloween night? Drinks at the Corner are half off after eight, and they'll have a DJ." If Becky wasn't slutting it up with Blossom on Halloween, she'd probably be doing it on her own anyway.

There was no way that Amy would agree to that, so Blossom nodded her head confidently.

"I'll deffo invite her!"

Becky got ready for her date in record time, but she still had to finish her hair and makeup. On the other hand, Blossom had schoolwork to finish. She was halfway to the door when Becky interrupted her departure.

"Hey, Blossom? Are you spending your weekends with her? This girl?" It wasn't that unusual a question if it had been directed at anyone else, but Blossom wasn't the kind of person to spend more than a night with someone. If she was...

Blossom could have lied. Her spheres of isolation demanded that she did, in fact. But it was hard to keep stories straight, and Becky was her best friend, and she knew Amy was going to turn down this date invite anyway, sooo...

"Yup. We're having a blast."

"Oh..." Becky's voice trailed off for a moment before she smiled. "Well, okay. Just be safe. And maybe stop missing Friday meetings."

"I knoooow..."

Friday meetings were a big deal, Blossom knew that. But going up on Saturday instead of Friday meant really only getting one night with Amanda, and that wouldn't do. Figuring out a solution to that right now sounded insurmountable.

"This is it. This is the top. This is what you're wearing."

Blossom handedly changed the subject away from her new friend to Becky's outfit.

But it didn't make the problem go away.