Page 21 of My Own Kind of Person

She sends a selfie of herself in bed, head on the pillow with her eyes closed, blanket covering her bare chest. Just slightly, she’s biting her lip.

I cross my legs and put the phone away.

“Um.” I look at the paper but all I can think of is Christy. “At a job interview. How would you speak if you were at a job interview?”

Elijah folds his paper in half and creases the fold with a fingernail. “My skills include hiding behind the counter to read, and that is the end of my skills,” he says.

I do a deep voice, a professional voice. “And what would you be reading behind the counter?”

He looks up. “Sufjan Stevens lyrics?”

I hold an extended shrug. “I don’t know who that is, but—”

“Never mind, it doesn’t—”

“But reading the lyrics shows dedication.” I drop my shoulders. “So, hired.”

He looks down but I think he smiles. “And you? How would you speak at a job interview?”

“Please give me money?”

He laughs and for a split second I see his teeth. “Hired.”

I wipe my hand across my forehead. “Phew.”

He looks back down at his paper, studying it closely. I look at mine too, but I keep rereading the same phrases.

“Uh,” I say like it’s a complete thought.

“So, I’m new.”

“I thought so, but I wasn’t sure.”

He lifts a foot up onto his chair and wraps an arm around his knee. “We moved here in July. From New Jersey.”

“Right before senior year. That’s rough.”

“I’ll never be homecoming king.” He sighs, and it takes me a second to realize he’s joking.

“There’s still time,” I say. He crosses his fingers on both hands, and I laugh.

Mazzei brings everyone’s attention to the front. “Now, the last part of the exercise. Talk with your partner using your true voice. About whatever you’d really like to talk about.”

“Like…” Steph Rooney hesitates. “Just talk?”

Mazzei nods. “As yourself.”

Steph is too polite to make a face. I love Mazzei so much.

I turn to Elijah.

“Gree-tings,” I say like a robot. “My. Name. Is. S. E. A. N-N-N.”

He laughs.

“In all seriousness,” I say, “here we go, this is my voice, hello, hello. I am Sean. Nice to be chatting with you today. Okay, your turn.”

He laughs. “Try again.”