Page 16 of The Design of Goodbye
“But that’s”—my fingers pulled through my braid—“so much.”
“You haven’t turned in any homework since school started.” He sat down in the seat next to me and continued, “Even though math builds on itself, Mrs. Webb wants us to split up your missing assignments with any current homework so you don’t get further behind. I hope you brought your tablet.”
“I did.” I sank into my chair, hoping it’d swallow me whole. I took a long sip of coffee. I probably should’ve bought Liam one, considering he was helping me. I wondered what his favorite Buzz coffee was. “I’m never going to finish.”
“It’ll go faster than you think.”
“You’re giving me a lot of credit. Math and I are like oil and...and—”
“Water?”
“I was getting there,” I said. He pressed his lips together, and I added, “Are youlaughingat me?”
“Of course not,” he said. “Do you want to get started?”
I thought about Jules and the pictures.
“No,” I said. “I want to know your favorite color.”
“Why,” he started cautiously, “do you want to know my favorite color?”
“Don’t you think we should get to know each other a little first?”
“I guess,” he said. “It’s teal.”
My eyes widened. “Mine too.”
“It’s a good color.”
I nodded, a little too emphatically. “Favorite food?”
“Cinnamon rolls.” He grabbed a packet from the pile and then asked, “How about you?”
“Pumpkin spice lattes.”
“That doesn’t count.”
“It does!”
“Sorry, but it’s a drink,” he said. “It sounds good, though.”
I contemplated my next question.
I wanted to ask him something insightful like,
What are you afraid of?
Failing. Losing my dad.
What’s your biggest secret?
My mom abandoned me.
But those were too personal for a boy I didn’t know—and I definitely didn’t want to have to answer them. So, I went with, “If you could be an animal, which one would you be?”
I was expecting him to take time to come up with an answer, but he replied quickly, “A bird.”
I remembered his painting still in the passenger seat of my car and the half-finished chickadee. “Why?”
