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“It’s good. I prepped today’s food last night, so I’ve had a pretty relaxing morning.” She turned to Zara with a smile. “Sorry about that. I had to duck into one of the bathrooms real quick.”
“Was your shirt also on backward?” Nicole asked, an innocent look on her face.
Raina glanced between Zara and Tehilla, realization dawning as the two shared a shy smile. Oh my gosh…were they together? Her eyes bounced back and forth, catching Zara’s sheepish grin and Tehilla’s uncertainty. When had that happened?
Zara fidgeted with her bracelets, a trio of pink, purple, and blue beads. “Raina?”
“You know I support you 100%,” Raina answered honestly. “I just wasn’t expecting this.”
“Neither was I,” Zara and Tehilla said at the same time, before looking at each other and laughing.
Raina went back to her work, writing down some keywords to research later. But as she read throughRomeo and Juliet, her mind kept drifting back to real life. If Tehilla could date someone non-Jewish, what did that mean for Raina? Tehilla’s family wasn’t as strict as Raina’s, but they belonged to similar communities. So if Tehilla and Zara…maybe Raina and—
No. She couldn’t think that way. That was done, a chapter closed. Raina couldn’t keep rereading pages; she had to move on with her own story.
ChapterEight
“Because I’m such a nice teacher, I’m going to help you with your essays,” Mr. Kingston announced as the juniors took their seats for their morning history class. Sitting in the middle of the classroom, Jesse pulled out his laptop to take notes. His teacher didn’t often discuss essay material in class, so he figured it would be a good idea to write things down. Next to him, Nicole mirrored his actions. “Can I please have a sacrifice tell me what a city-state is?”
“It’s a country that governs itself within the borders of a sole city,” a girl in the back of the room called out.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jesse saw Raina’s hand shoot up. “It’s also important to note that it’s a political system. The city rules over a specified amount of territory, and they make decisions for themselves, rather than having to go through a ruling government.”
“Very nice, but no hand necessary, Raina,” Mr. Kingston said. “Next question. What are important characteristics of the Italian city-states?”
“There was a lot of economic and trade development,” Nicole answered. “It influenced a lot of Europe.”
“Give an example?”
“Verona,” Ashlee and Jesse called out at the same time.
“Interestingly enough, in Shakespeare’s time, it was part of the Venetian Republic.” Mr. Kingston wrote the last two words on the chalkboard. “However, until 1405 it was a city-state, and inRomeo and Julietit also appears to be independent. Can someone please give me an example of another city-state?”
“Rome!”
“Athens.”
“Literally half of Italy,” was Nicole’s response.
“Excellent answers. You must have a great teacher. Moving on, what is the relevance of city states?”
“City states are important because we’re able to see how their growth influenced different areas and helped them become modern day cities. The past leads us to the present, and we can learn from it to improve the future,” Raina answered.
Mr. Kingston stopped writing on the board, turning to face Raina. Mr. Kingston was best known for being unpredictable and tossing out sarcasm like it was candy, so Jesse watched with bated breath to see what his teacher would do.
“Raina Cohen, that is a beautiful answer.” He pretended to wipe a tear from his eye, flicking it in the direction of the garbage can. “Tell me, will your history essay be up to the same caliber?”
“I hope so.”
“Can we have some class time to work on it?” the dark-skinned girl behind Raina asked. Jesse had absolutely no idea what her name was, but he liked the intricate braids in her tightly woven hair. And he was very much in favor of her idea.
“No. It’s class time, not essay time. So even though I’m being such an amazing teacher and giving you all the information you need to write your essay, you’ve got to work on it on your own time. There’s a reason it’s calledhomework, you know.”
Jesse raised his hand. “But we don’t go home. We’re here 24/7. In fact, one might argue that school is a prison, because they don’t let us go free.”
Mr. Kingston pointed a triumphant finger at him. “Exactly! Let’s build on that. What is a home? Is it merely the place you live? Can a child call their residence a home even if they have no say over anything?”
“Yes,” nearly the entire class called out.
