From Twinkle, With Love(16)
“Sure!”
She grabbed her cell off the table. “What’s Sahil’s number?”
I’d memorized it in case I needed to call it at any point, so I gave it to her. She typed in the message, her fingers flying over the keyboard. Her phone beeped almost immediately.
Sounds good! How about 7?
I nodded and she confirmed with him and then set it aside. “Done.”
“Thanks, Maddie.” I clapped my hands together (gently, so the brush didn’t spray paint all over Maddie’s expensive dress). “This is going to be awesome. Sahil’s cool. I think I’m gonna enjoy working with him.”
She raised an eyebrow at me, teasing, and I waved her off (still being mindful of paint and silk). “Nah,” I said. “Sahil’s just Sahil.” Even if he is cute and totally gets my need to punch back at the patriarchy with excellently made movies.
“Riiiiight,” she said, arching her eyebrow even higher until it nestled into her bangs. “I forgot you’re holding out for the other Roy brother.”
“Shut up!” I said, laughing.
She’s right, though. I am holding out for Neil. I am holding out for that shiny, non-groundling future self I’d always pictured, the one people can’t just ignore. That future Twinkle Mehra? Maddie would never leave her behind.
Love,
Twinkle
Thursday, June 4
My room
Dear Valerie Faris,
I hung my toxic waste dump painting on the wall. It goes well right next to the shelf with my vintage 1950s Kodak Medallion 8 camera. (Dadi bought it for me at a flea market four years ago to remind me of “the vast unknowingness of the human experience and how you must always strive to capture it, Twinkle.”)
Oh, wait. My computer just dinged with an incoming e-mail. I love e-mail. I know most people my age are all about the texts, but as someone without a cell phone, I have to take what I can get. Brb.
OH MY GOD. YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO BELIEVE THIS.
I, Twinkle Mehra, wallfloweriest of wallflowers, have a SECRET ADMIRER.
This is not a drill.
I repeat: I have a secret admirer.
I printed out the e-mail, and I’m pasting it below:
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Hello!
Dear Twinkle,
Hi! How are you? You’re probably wondering who I am, and you will find out. Just not yet.
The first thing you should know about me: I think you’re pretty. And funny. And I like the way you wear your hair. PPC is a vast and germy pit stop on the highway of life, but you make it a little cooler. (I got your e-mail from the school directory, in case you’re wondering.)
Secondly, please don’t try to guess who I am. I’ll reveal my identity at the perfect time, but if you try to guess, I’ll have to fade away and this will be game over. :(So I hope you’ll play along!
I’ll write again soon!
Your secret admirer,
N
Do you see how he signed off? N!! And he called me pretty, just like you-know-who did at the lockers yesterday! Do you know what this means?
It’s Neil. It has to be Neil. IS IT NEIL??
I wrote back immediately. I’m stapling my response below.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: ????
Hi, N!
I know you said you don’t want to say who you are and I promise I get it (and I love surprises so it’s totally cool), but can you give me a hint?? You’re my first secret admirer and I don’t know all the protocol, but I’m hoping you’ll make an exception!
Love,
Twinkle
He hasn’t written back yet. I went and looked up Neil’s e-mail in the school directory, but there isn’t one listed. I mean, I know he’s using one he made up specifically for this purpose (if it’s even Neil), but I just hoped! AAAHHHH. I’m not gonna be able to sleep tonight.
Love,
Twinkle
FriYAY, June 5
Homeroom
Dear Nora Ephron,
N never wrote back. Grrrrr. I’ve chewed my nails to little stubs. It has to be Neil. He’s not at school, so I can’t even just go up to him and ask. I mean, not that I would. Because (a) that would be embarrassing if it isn’t him, (b) I am, after all, the Greatest Coward West of the Mississippi, and (c) I kinda like the mystery and he clearly does too, so who am I to ruin it?
You were always super good at showing the relationship between guys and women, Nora. I wish you were here to give me some advice. Because I feel like I’m in a movie and I’m the main character.
I’m used to being invisible, you know? Papa works a lot—he has since I was a baby—and Mummy’s always been … Mummy-like and distant. People at school constantly looked through me, but I didn’t care much because I had Maddie. But now she’s semi-gone and … I’m not okay with being overlooked anymore. And all of this—Neil (potentially) e-mailing me, the movie, and my new friendships with Sahil and the rest of them? It feels like my life is finally getting on track.
Besides, what girl doesn’t want to be the object of someone’s affections, secretly or otherwise?
He-he-he.
Love,