Ginny covered her gaping mouth with her hand. From behind it, she asked, “What’d she say?”
“She said yeah.”
Ginny giggled.
“What’s so funny?”
“The w-way y-you l-look.”
“How do I look?”
“All dreamy-eyed.” She giggled some more. “What’s her name?” she asked in a teasing kind of voice.
“Tatiana.”
Ginny giggled.
“What?”
“The way you said it.”
“How did I say it?”
“Tati-ahna.”
“Tatiana,” said Armpit, trying to sound normal.
“Tati-ahna,” said Ginny. “Is she pretty?”
“Yeah, but in a different kind of way. It’s like that Kaira DeLeon song ‘Imperfection’? You know?” He sang: “You reflect on your reflection. But you will never see. Your imperfection is your finest quality.”
Ginny laughed. He wasn’t a very good singer.
“She’s cute because of all her imperfections,” Armpit explained.
“I knew it!” said Ginny. “I smelled her p-perfume on Coo.”
Armpit remembered Tatiana had hugged Coo.
“Tati-ahna,” teased Ginny.
“I don’t even know if she really likes me,” Armpit said. “I think she’s just a big Kaira DeLeon fan.”
“She likes you,” said Ginny.
“Oh, yeah? How do you know?”
“Because. You’re a v-very thoughtful and caring p-person.”
While Ginny and Armpit were walking around the block, Tatiana was sitting on the floor of Claire’s bedroom, along with their friend Roxanne. They were sharing a bowl of popcorn and drinking diet sodas.
“Aren’t you just a little bit scared?” Roxanne asked.
“No, why should I be?”
Claire and Roxanne looked at each other knowingly.
“He is kind of dangerous,” said Claire.