Sarah Mlynowski - Monkey Business

“I waited till the end of class before I confronted them. They tried to deny it, as if I couldn’t see the evidence on their shoes. I escorted them to Sheila’s office. She suspended them for two days. They cried like two-year-olds.”

Odd that she’s chosen today to talk about cheating. If she asked me if I cheated right now, I’d admit it. Right now.

“Russ?”

Shit. “Yes?”

“I love you.”

“Me, too.”

She yawns. “I’m tired. Time to hit the hay.”

“Good night.”

“Good night. Be good.”

Too late.

I need to sleep so I don’t have to think. Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten a full night’s sleep since I got to school. Lately, I’ve been able to get more sleep during the day than at night. Maybe I’m a bat. Batman. It’s the light in the hallway that keeps me up. It stays on twenty-four hours a day and the outline of the beam through my door is like an eclipse. Maybe I should tape the light out, eh? Make it a bat cave.

Maybe Nick’s up. I think I’ll start calling him Robin.

Tuesday, November 11, 4:05 p.m.

“It’s perfect.”

“Really?” I ask.

The career counselor looks at me across her desk and points a bitten fingernail. I want to recommend my manicurist to her, but that might be insulting. “Would you mind if I kept this on file as an example for others?” she asks.

I puff up with pleasure. LWBS offers a résumé critique. Apparently, I have nothing to be critiqued. My cover letter and résumé are perfect, detailing A-plus work and nice, round 4.0’s. “Not at all. I’m flattered.”

“Great,” she says, searching through her files until she finds one labeled Examples. “I’ll start sending potential summer jobs your way.” She winks. “Who knows? Maybe a good summer job will lead to something permanent. Graduation is still more than a year away, but won’t it be nice to have your life all sewn up way in advance?”

It would. “Thanks.” I stand up and straighten my skirt.

“No,” she says, giving me a meaningful look. “Thank you. ”

I’m smiling as I skip down the stairs of the Katz building and into the sunlight. It smells like crunching leaves and fresh new clothes. I can’t wait to go home for Thanksgiving so I can exchange my fall wardrobe for a winter one. I’ve placed a few items on hold at Bendel’s, including a heavenly mid-length sheepskin coat I saw in Vogue . I miss shopping in the city. I also miss the perpetual motion, the high-speed of important people rushing to important places.

As I walk through campus to the library, I’m overwhelmed by all that I don’t miss about home-the barrenness, the concrete, the lack of natural color. Here, the red, yellow and orange leaves are a kaleidoscope of color. I’m walking through a Picasso. In the midst of it all, Jamie is leaning against a tree, reading.

As usual, seeing him makes me feel guilty about making the recommendation for the hospital merger. How awful that I’m responsible for him losing his job. I should tell him. No, I can’t.

I crouch beside him and glance at his reading material. It’s the script to Casablanca . “Hard at work?”

He smiles when he sees me. “Layla,” he sings. “I bet you get pretty sick of hearing that Eric Clapton song, huh?”

“Not if you’re singing,” I say, smiling. He doesn’t have a bad voice, actually.

“Let me guess, off to the library?”

“I have an exciting hour of Economics research, and then a group meeting.”

He stuffs his paperback into his back pocket. “I’ve made a decision. No more reading for either of us. I’m going to teach you to juggle.”

Juggle? That doesn’t sound like something that can go on my résumé. “How do you know how to juggle?”

“My parents were in the circus.”

Is he serious? “Come on.”

“Fine, I made that up. They don’t let Jews in the circus.”

I don’t know what to say about the Jews comment. He’s kidding again, right? “I bet you’re lying about juggling, too. I’ve only seen you throw one thing into the air at a time.”

He wraps his fingers around my wrist. “It’s time for a lesson. Follow me.” I laugh and let him pull me. Oddly, I remember reading something about juggling in the paper, that it enhances your brainpower. In which case, I suppose it could be beneficial.

“Where are you taking me?”

He leads me all the way to the cafeteria.

“Will we be juggling M &M’s?” I ask.

“Stella!” he says, voice booming, to the woman at the cash.

“Hi, Jamie!”

She knows his name? He knows hers? Who introduces himself to the cafeteria people?

He sets his elbows onto the counter. “Stella, my sweet, do you have any oranges today?”

“I should think so.” She rifles through a basket of fruit. “How many do you need?”

He holds up two fingers. “I think three would be a good start.”

He is too weird.

She laughs and cherry-picks the best oranges. “Are you making juice?”

“I’m teaching Layla here how to juggle. Layla, do you know Stella?”

“Hi,” I say, suddenly shy.

“Hello,” she says. “You’re the one who always has her nose in a textbook.”

“How much do I owe you?” asks Jamie.

She winks. “Don’t worry about it. It’s your reward for getting this serious one to have some fun.”

I follow him to the courtyard outside, and he stands directly beside me so our legs touch. “We’ll start with one orange,” he says, dropping the other two onto the ground. “I’m going to throw it to you, and you’re going to catch it. And then you’re going to throw it back. Got it?”

“Sounds simple enough. I should warn you that I’ll probably be good at this. I have excellent aim. Remember that season when Disneyland closed?”

“Can’t say that I do,” he says, tossing the orange from one hand to the other. “Why?”

“It was because I’d cleaned them out of all their stuffed animals.”

He laughs and then throws the orange up, up, up in the air, and it squishes when I catch it. It’s heavier than I expected and cold. I toss it back and it soars way beyond his head. A few feet beyond. “Oops.”

“The catching is easy, focus on the throwing. Make a nice easy arc.”

Nice, easy arc. Can do. He throws it again and I catch it. Then I throw it back to him, in a nice, easy arc. He catches it. Yes! We go back and forth until he tells me it’s time for the next lesson. “We’re adding an orange. Keep doing exactly what you’re doing.” He throws the first one and I catch it. Yes! Then I focus on throwing it. Unfortunately, that’s when the second orange flies through the air at me. Slam. I miss it by miles.

Am I juggling deficient? Why can’t I do this? My heart starts to flutter nervously. “What’s wrong with me?”

Jamie laughs. “Nothing. You’re new at it.”

Big deal. Doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be able to master it. “Perhaps if I saw you do it, I could learn by example. Let me see you.”

He gathers the three oranges and starts juggling. Wow. It’s just a matter of aerodynamics. I can do this. If I can stop a company from going bankrupt, I can certainly stop an orange from smacking the ground.

We try again. I wonder if Bradley Green can juggle. He certainly has a lot of brainpower. I drop the orange and it hits the ground.

“Layla,” he sings. “You’re not concentrating. What are you thinking about?”

I blush. “Sorry.”

“Sorry? You were thinking sorry? ”

We try again. My hand smells like citrus. Should I tell Jamie about Brad? Why not? Maybe I should get a man’s perspective. “No. I was thinking about some guy. A guy who doesn’t know I’m alive.”