Free Shingaling by R. J. Palacio

class with us!” I answered. “Very quiet? Draws sharks.”
    “He’s not exactly popular,” Summer said. “But he’s really nice. And I think he’s very cute.”
    “Ohhh!” said Ximena. “Of course I know who Reid is, duh. He’s
totally
cute!”
    “He
is,
right?” said Summer.
    “You’d make a great couple,” said Ximena.
    “Maybe someday,” answered Summer. “I don’t want to be a couple
yet.
”
    “Is that why you didn’t want to go out with Julian?” asked Ximena.
    “I didn’t want to go out with Julian because Julian’s a jerk,” Summer answered quickly.
    “But you weren’t really sick on Halloween, right?” said Ximena. “At Savanna’s party?”
    Summer shook her head. “I wasn’t sick.”
    Ximena nodded. “I thought so.”
    “Okay, I have a question,” I said to Ximena. “But it’s not from the cards.”
    “Oh!” said Ximena, raising her eyebrows and smiling. “Okay.”
    I hesitated. “Okay. When you say you’re ‘going out’ with Miles, what does that really mean? Like, what do you do?”
    “Charlotte!” said Summer, smacking my arm with the back of her hand.
    Ximena started laughing.
    “No, I just mean…,” I said.
    “I know what you mean!” said Ximena, grabbing my fingers. “All it means is that Miles meets me at my locker after school every day. And he walks me to the bus stop sometimes. We hold hands.”
    “Have you ever kissed him?” I asked.
    Ximena made a face, like she was sucking on a lemon. She wasn’t wearing her contacts now. Just big tortoise-framed glasses, as well as a retainer she was supposed to wear at night. She didn’t look at all like the Ximena Chin we were used to seeing in school. “Just once. At the Halloween party.”
    “Did you like it?” I asked.
    “I don’t know!” she answered, smiling. “It was a little like kissing your arm. Have you done that? Kiss your arms.”
    Summer and I obediently kissed our arms. And then we all started giggling.
    “Oh, Jack!” I said, making slurpy noises while I kissed myself up and down my wrist.
    “Oh, Reid!” said Summer, doing the same thing.
    “Oh, Miles!” said Ximena, kissing her wrist. “I mean, Amos!”
    We were cracking up.
    “Mija,”
Ximena’s mom said, knocking on the door. She poked her head in. “I don’t want the baby to wake up. Can you keep it down a little?”
    “Sorry,
mami,
” said Ximena.
    “Good night, girls,” she said sweetly.
    “Good night!” we whispered. “Sorry!”
    “Should we go to sleep now?” I said softly.
    “No, let’s just be much quieter,” said Ximena. “Come on, I think it’s your turn now, Summer. Truth or Dare.”
    “I have another question that’s not on the card, too,” said Summer, pointing to Ximena. “For you.”
    “Uh-oh, you guys are ganging up on me!” laughed Ximena.
    “We haven’t done any Dares yet,” I pointed out.
    “Okay, this is the Dare,” said Summer. “You have to sit at my lunch table on Monday, and you can’t tell anyone why.”
    “Oh, come on!” said Ximena. “I can’t just ditch my table without saying why.”
    “Exactly!” answered Summer. “So choose Truth.”
    “Fine,” said Ximena. “So what’s the Truth?”
    Summer looked at her. “Okay, Truth. If Savanna, Ellie, and Gretchen hadn’t gone skiing this weekend, would you still have asked Charlotte and me to a sleepover tonight?”
    Ximena rolled her eyes. “Ohhh!” She puffed her cheeks out like a fish.
    “You look like Mrs. Atanabi now,” I pointed out.
    “Come on, Truth or Dare,” Summer pressured her.
    “Okay, fine,” Ximena said finally, hiding her face behind her hands. “It’s true! I probably wouldn’t have. Sorry.” She peeked out at us from between her fingers. “I was
supposed
to go skiing with them this weekend, but then I didn’t think it was worth my possibly twisting an ankle or something right before the dance, so I canceled at the last minute, and then I invited you guys over.”
    “Aha!” said