Free The Smartest Girl in the Room by Deborah Nam-Krane

house?"
    "Jessie! I’m going to take him back to his
house."
    "That’ll take you what? Three hours? And what
am I supposed to do at home? Watch TV?"
    "Will you please stop arguing? I have to
go."
    "Go, but I’m not going home."
    Emily twirled her hand. "I’m going to be here
for a little while, if you want to hang out with me." She looked at
Richard. "If that’s okay?"
    Jessie threw her arm around Emily’s
shoulders. "See? Emily will babysit. And I have a feeling she’s
even more square than you are."
    Richard looked at his watch. "Jessie, I mean
it. No smoking, no drinking."
    Jessie let go of Emily. "Blah, blah, blah. Do
you have to go somewhere or not?"
    "Fine." He turned to Emily. "Thank you."
    "You’re... welcome?" Emily said as he ran
out. She turned to Jessie. "What was that about?"
    "That was about Richard being a jerk who
thinks getting caught drinking is worse than being a rapist."
    "What?!?"
    "Forget it," Jessie said as she waved her
hand. "Okay, where are we going? I need to get out of here."
    "We’re not going anywhere until Zainab shows
up."
    "Is she more fun than you are?"
    Emily smirked. "Watch it, dude. Richard
probably is more fun than I am."
    "I doubt that," Jessie muttered as she
reached for the chips.
    The doorbell rang. Someone- Carlos?- left the
kitchen to buzz the door, then retreated back.
    Emily opened the door to see Zainab’s smiling
face thirty seconds later. "Sorry we’re late!" she said as she
hugged Emily.
    "My fault," Joe said as he walked in. "I kept
answering my phone when I should have been listening." He waved to
everyone in the kitchen and went in to greet everyone. "Hi, I’m
Joe! Thanks for inviting me."
    Emily cocked her head to the side as she
watched Joe work the crowd. She couldn’t hear what they were saying
too well, but within one minute he seemed to be getting everyone’s
name, what they were studying and, she was pretty sure, some
details about the solar car. Within two minutes everyone seemed to
be engaged in a lively conversation with him.
    What was it about him? Emily wondered. There
was nothing wrong with him, but there was nothing spectacular. He
was well-groomed but nothing special, average height, average hair
color, average skill. But these guys thought he was the best thing
since the invention of the cell phone.
    Jessie snorted. Emily turned around. "It’s
really easy," she said gesturing toward Joe. "All you have to do is
act like you care about what they’re saying."
    "Most of the time, he does," Zainab said.
    Emily frowned. "Zainab, Jessie. Jessie,
Zainab."
    Zainab shook Jessie’s hand. "Nice to meet
you."
    "You’re not with that guy, are you?"
    "No," Emily answered for her quickly. Zainab
raised her eyebrows at her, but she shrugged.
    "Good!" Jessie said a little too loudly. "You
can do much better."
    The doorbell rang again. This time Zainab
answered it.
    "Oh, hey Zainab!" Drew said as he walked in
thirty seconds later.
    "And so can you," Jessie said to Emily.
    "Um, thanks?" She turned to Drew. "Hi."
    He seemed to brighten. "I’m glad you made it.
Sorry I’m late. What did I miss?"
    Jessie shrugged. "Drunks and rapists, but we
made Richard leave, so now everybody’s safe."
    Zainab and Drew laughed while Emily looked at
Jessie. When she looked back, she saw Drew looking in the direction
of the kitchen. He seemed to go blank. Emily followed his gaze and
saw that he had settled on Joe. "Do you know Joe?"
    "Obviously," Jessie smirked.
    Drew looked back at Emily. "Uh, no. Sorry-
that’s why I was staring. I haven’t seen him before."
    "Zainab can introduce you," Jessie said.
Zainab scowled and Emily tried not to laugh.
    "What? No, that’s okay. I’ll just go say hi
myself." Emily watched him walk into the kitchen then shrugged.
    "He’s a jerk," Jessie said.
    "So is there anyone you do like?" Zainab
asked.
    Jessie stared at Zainab then Emily. "I like
you two," she said after a moment. "Lousy taste in guys, but
otherwise you seem okay." She put her