Epilogue - I'll Be a Home for You

Epilogue

first day of senior year

JJ

I’m sitting next to him in our guidance counselor’s office. His thumb is tracing circles on my hand. He’s watching Stanford’s cheerleading routine on his phone.

I’m reading about Kalabari’s New Year.40 Turns out we have our own calendar, with the year beginning mid-November. I’m learning most of it from my dad and Facebook posts because, god, are Kalabari people active there. My mom wants to celebrate Polish All Saints’ Day41 on November first, and I wonder how we can honor the holidays together. They might not blend together well, but it’s worth a try. I’m in the United States of America, after all. They all mix things together, brand it fusion, and call it a day as if they haven’t just created Frankenstein’s monster.

But sometimes they arrive at something special.

My boyfriend’s hand shifts from my palm to my leg. His index finger draws hearts on my bare knee.

My skin got darker after the summer in Poland. My grandma and I went camping in Mazury, where mosquitoes bit every part of our skin and smoke from the fire seeped into our clothes. I even managed to earn some money for the gap year by teaching English to Polish kids.

Aang started volunteering, teaching math to kids at a Chinese center in Quincy, twenty minutes from Boston. He’s picking up Cantonese from chatting with them. He says it’s easier to learn when he can teach something back. The plan is for me to drive him there on weekends while I go to Boston for extra partner-stunting practices.

That reminds me …

I poke his shoulder. “Are you jealous that I have a different stunting partner on weekends?”

He smirks and leans over his chair toward me. “Extremely jealous.” His mouth brushes mine, and my heart speeds up.

“You should be. I clearly have a track record of falling in love with them.”

“Please.” He rolls his eyes. “You were in love with me before we did the partner stunt.”

“Excuse me?” My jaw drops. “Where’s all this confidence coming from?”

His eyes dance over my body, and everywhere they land, they leave my skin burning. “Dating a hot cheerleader is doing wonders for my ego.”

I’m about to pull him into a kiss when Ms. Foster enters the office. “Finally, you’re here as seniors!” She seems genuinely happy with the fact.

It doesn’t last long.

As we talk, her smile slowly disappears from her face. “You won’t be applying to colleges. You want to do a gap year. Both of you.”

We nod in agreement.

“Mr. Lau.” She points at Aang. “You scheduled three meetings in one month to go over the best SAT strategies. In freshman year. And you’re deferring?”

He nods.

“Miss Johnson.” She points at me.

“Wyróżnicka-Johnson.”

“Sorry?”

“My last name is Wyróżnicka-Johnson. Vyh-roozh-neets-kah.”

“Okay …” Ms. Foster repeats my full surname. Not very well, but oh well, she’ll learn. “You sent me an email once a week your whole sophomore year, complaining about unfair grading in World History, which prioritized style over content. And you want to do a gap year?”

I nod.

“You’ve tormented me for three years to defer now?” Her eye twitches. “I’m not getting paid enough for this.” She searches for a coffee cup, but she didn’t bring one with her. We kick ourselves out of the office before we’re witnesses to her mental breakdown.

The second the door closes, Aang wraps his hands around my waist. “Hi.”

“Hi.” I close my eyes, ready for the kiss.

“Actually …” He steps away. “Not yet.”

I stomp my foot. “You’re getting way too comfortable.” My American accent falls away. I still use it when I think it’ll be useful for me. But standing in front of him is not one of those times.

“Get used to it. I have something to show you first.” He pulls me through the corridors to where his new locker is and opens it.

Inside, there’s a photo of our send-off before the junior prom, in front of my house. It took Aang one dinner to win over my parents. I was excited to use the dishwasher because we finally had a guest, but he offered to wash the dishes by hand. Now they like him more than me. Which he claims is only fair, since his own mother prefers his girlfriend over him.

In the photo, I’m wearing a floor-length pink dress with flowers stitched onto it. I’m laughing at the camera. Aang’s wearing the Philadelphia suit. He’s smiling at me.

I hug him from behind. “That’s very cute, but I’ve seen this before.” He had it in his old locker the day after prom.

“No, no, that’s not it.” He rummages through the locker, and my hands around his stomach register every shift of his solid muscles. He conceded that going to the gym with Remy will let him do harder stunts in cheerleading.

“Found it!” He turns around as I let go of him. He shows me the flattened and dried-out pink camellia I gave him for Valentine’s Day last year and puts it in his transparent phone case. “Do you like it, 寶貝?”42

I’m smiling so much it hurts. He overheard a couple calling each other that in the Quincy Center and decided it fit me. When his parents heard the nickname, they were rolling over laughing at him for an hour. They said he sounds like an elderly Hong Kong weirdo.

But out of every single name people call me, it’s my favorite. “I love it, Peach Pie.”

He grabs my waist, spins me, and pushes me against his locker. “That nickname is growing on me. Slowly. Extremely slowly.”

“Can you kiss me already? It’s been months.”

He lets out a breathy laugh and cradles my neck. “I kissed you in your car before the meeting.”

“Exactly. Months.”

His other hand snakes under my shirt to rest on my waist. “Is this like in those American high school movies?”

“No. It’s better.”

“Good.” He smiles against my lips. “Kocham cię.”

I like the way he says it. He’s careful with every syllable, guarding them from being mispronounced. It’s like he’s promising to be just as protective with other parts of me.

“Ngóh oi néih.” I wink at him.

He groans, his fingernails digging into my waist, leaving crescent moons in my skin. “I explicitly forbade you from saying that in public.” His lips collide against mine in a hungry kiss.

Fucking finally.

There’s no one in the hallway, but we still get detention later for kissing at school. First-ever detention for both of us.

An excellent start to the senior year.

40 The end of Ngbula Ama-dé diñ

41 Wszystkich Świętych

42 bóu bui (Treasure)

The end.

Koniec.

完.

Uluku me fa dze.