DAVID

I shiver in my too big jacket as I wait for my mom to pick me up from school. At least there's no snow. It should still be warm enough to watch the meteor shower tonight. I look over to where the busses are, to see if Kati is there . I know exactly when she gets on, with her friend Mindy. A second later I see her brown coat. It's open and my shirt is showing beneath it. A small chill runs through me and I smile. Kati is wearing my shirt. Of all the times I imagined our first encounter, nothing came close to what actually happened today. I watch Kati get onto the bus, remembering how she looked when I walked into the washroom, all surprised and flushed. A car horn honks in front of me and I jump. My mom's car comes to a stop. I frown as everyone looks in our direction. My mom rolls down the window and leans over to yell at me.

"David, what shirt are you wearing?" Nothing escapes her all-seeing eyes. Gordy's shirt is long on me and hangs down past the bottom of my jacket. I open the car door and quickly get in, closing the window.

"Hi Mom."

"Where's your nice shirt I bought you for Christmas?" she asks, driving away. I don't know how to answer so I don't say anything. "This one is too big on you. Did you trade with Gordy?"

"I'm wearing Gordy's shirt," I say.

"He'll stretch your new shirt! You will go tonight and get it back from him. Do you understand?"

"Okay." I smile. Gordy and I can play video games while I'm there. Perfect.

"I don't buy you things so you can give them away!" My mom yells.

My smile disappears. "Yes, Mom."

KATI

Somehow I get home in one piece, still wearing David's t-shirt. He didn't ask for it back at school or say anything else to me after he ran away. My rash calmed down after I got rid of the sweater, but was still red when I got home.

"How could you have thrown it away?" my mom asks, rubbing the cream on my back where it is hard to reach.

"I can't wear it anyway," I say, looking at my reflection in the mirror. My cheeks look flushed and my hair wild. I usually braid it but I was running late this morning.

"Maybe if we washed it a few times first before you wore it."

"I can't even look at it, Mom!" I sigh, feeling bad that I'm not the girly-girl Mom had wanted for a daughter. "Sorry, Mom."

"Where did you get that shirt?" My dad's gruff voice drifts in from the other room. He has the ability to hear everything someone says from any room in the house, while he's sitting in his favorite chair in front of the television. And yet he can't hear me talk to him when I'm in the same room as him and he's watching his favourite TV shows. "It doesn't look like a girl's shirt."

"What about your classes?" My mom pushes the bathroom door closed with her big toe so dad won't hear us anymore.

"We didn't do anything today, just looked at what's coming up."

"I always hated homework. You know if we didn't do our homework for school the teacher would whip us then send us home with a note to our parents, so they could whip us too once we got home."

"Well this isn't communist Romania." I roll my eyes.

My mom doesn't reply so I change the subject. "Everyone thinks I did horrible things..."

"What horrible things?" My mom asks in Hungarian. It's easier for her to talk in Hungarian and easier for me to reply in English.

"Well, don't you think it's scandalous that I ended up wearing a guy's shirt?"

"I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation."

"Well, I wish everyone at school thought like you." I sigh, turning to face my mom. She's done putting the cream on my back. "It's so stupid. I was so itchy from that sweater that I ran straight for the washroom and accidentally went into the boy's washroom."

"And there was a boy in there?"

"Well no, he came in after..."

"Which boy?"

"David."

"Oh." Mom smiles. She knows everyone in my class and is always asking me dumb questions about them. She cares more about what goes on with the kids at school than I do.

I pick up David's shirt which is laying on the counter and put it back on. "Everyone at school knows I believe in God."

"So?"

"So now they're going to think I'm a hypocrite. They're going to bug me even more. If this had happened to Shawna or anyone else it wouldn't be such a big deal. They'd gossip about it, but it wouldn't be like she's being a hypocrite."

"We know you're not a hypocrite," my mom put her arm around my shoulders. My dad grumbles something from the couch, which I can still hear through the closed bathroom door. "What does Mindy think about it?"

"I don't know."

Suddenly mom laughs out loud. "Poor David! He's so shy."

"Mom, you don't even know him."

"Of course I know him. Parent teacher interviews in grade three. We were both waiting to talk to the teacher, his parents were there too. He has those two friends. The big kid and the skinny one."

"I think I'm the only person in school that believes in God."

"That can't be true."

"Mom, if you only knew what school is like."

"Maybe you should try harder to make friends. Look at Mindy. She has lots of friends. Why don't you hang out with them too? You always stay in your room."

"They're not like me. They talk about clothes and make-up all the time. Who cares about clothes or boy bands?"

"Don't you like the same music?"

The phone rings then and my mom let's go of my shoulders.

"Maybe you just need to get to know them better," she says, then leaves to go get the phone.

* * *

I go to my room to feed Charlie . He's already got his tiny hands clasped around the cage bars, standing up on two feet to greet me. He's so cute that nothing else that happened at school seems to matter anymore. I fish out his hamster ball from under my desk. In it, Charlie can roam around freely without getting into any tiny spaces.

"Did you miss me?" I say, opening the cage from the top. I reach in and scoop up Charlie's light, little fur body and go over to the bed where I can get him safely into him ball.

After getting him inside I set the ball down gently onto the carpet and he takes off across the room. As long as my door is closed I don't have to watch him and he can roam around freely.

I sit down at my computer when the doorbell rings, making me jump off my seat and race to the front door. My mom beats me to it. We never have visitors.

"Hi, is Kati home?" A boy's voice comes from outside the door and I freeze.

"Oh! Come on in!" Mom opens the door wide and David steps in.