A girl? You want to write back to her?” He brings it down to his nose and inhales. “Oh, my God. She doused it with perfume!” His face twists as he closes his eyes in a gesture that’s reserved for smelling sweaty feet. That gives me just enough leverage to jump up and grab it from his greedy little hand. He laughs. “Really, Seb? Are you really ditching me for a girl?”
“Shut up. You don’t know anything,” I grumble, as I stuff the letter safely down the pocket in the front of my jeans.
“Wow. Hung up on a girl you’ll never meet. I never thought I’d see the day my friend,” Peter says, shaking his head.
“I’m not hung up on her. I just think it’s cool to talk to her. I miss being back home. She just feels like a little piece of where I wish I was.” I plop my depressed-self back onto the bed and sigh. Peter comes to sit next to me.
“I know what you mean. I wish my dad would just get discharged already. I miss my house in the states.”
We sit in silence for a few minutes, each contemplating our unfortunate situation. It’s not that I don’t like living in Germany. The country is really nice, and I’m glad I get to see it. However, I long for the days I used to spend back home. I left a lot of good friends there, and there’s so much about it that makes me wish my dad had never been transferred. I place my hand on the front of my pants, where the letter from Julia rests. I want to write to her.
“Hey, you gotta go man. I’ll call you later, okay?”
Peter nods and stands.
“Tell her I said hi,” he says as he looks back at me.
I smile.
“No.”
He just shakes his head. “Whatever, jerk face.” He walks out, closing the door behind him.
I pull the envelope out from my pocket and unfold it. Touching it to the end of my nose, I can smell some kind of flowery scent, and it makes me smile. Yeah, just girly enough to make me uncomfortable.
Julia
Weeks have gone by, with no word from Sebastian or any other German pen pal. I’m impatient with Mrs. Kearney’s lack of enthusiasm for asking us to write back to our pen pals in a timely fashion. If it were up me, I’d have the class respond immediately, so the time in between letters is shortened. Maybe I should just ask Sebastian for his home address.
Our teacher reveals a manila envelope, but no longer lets us read our letters in class. It’s most likely because not everyone is getting mail anymore. I’m excited when she calls my name but sad when Megan’s name isn’t called. She seems okay without getting a response from Frida, but I know better.
***
As soon as I walk through the door to my house, I can hear Victoria crying. Mom is cradling her, but she just keeps up her noisy protest.
“Hi, honey. How was school today?” she asks. Her eyes look tired.
“Fine, mom. Do you want me to hold her for a while, to give you a break?”
She smiles warmly.
“No honey. You need time to unwind after your long day at school. Maybe later.”
“Okay,” I say, and run to my room to open my newest letter.
I grin broadly at the envelope. Sebastian drew a group of aliens having some sort of battle on the back of it. He used a black pen and colored it in with colored pencils. His boy-like drawings make me hug his latest correspondence. Careful not to tear it, and disturb the battle lines, I insert a letter opener and gingerly saw open the top. Upon unfolding the notebook paper, I giggle when I spy more aliens inside. He’s quite good at drawing them. My eyes scan the words.
Dear Julia,
I’m guessing, by the time I received your last letter, your baby brother or sister was born. So…what is it? I’m going to suggest some nicknames for both. That way you can have some ideas whether he is a he, or she is a she.
Suggested nicknames for Andrew:
-Andy
-Drew
-Andre
-Werdna (That’s Andrew spelled backwards.)
-Drewfus
-Jerkface
-Number two (Because he was born second, not because he’s a piece of