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| Teen Serial |

Upper Class: Chapter 28

I’ll give them this: my sisters make a great audience. They all gasp and sigh at all the right moments.

 

I’m not quiet, but some of my siblings are downright loud. Especially when they all gather to eat Melaveh Malkah together.

“Pass the popcorn, please,” I say to Sima.

She takes a handful of popcorn, tosses it into her mouth, and keeps right on chatting with Miri.

Oooookay.

“Can you pass the popcorn?” I say politely to Yocheved.

She leans in closer to Libby and continues her whispered conversation. Am I saying things in my head accidentally?

“CAN YOU PASS THE POPCORN!”

Everyone freezes and turns to look at me, eyes shocked, mouths hanging open.

I hate that. I hate that I’m already unfairly labeled as high-strung and dramatic based on who I was as a kid, and then whenever I’m around my siblings, I feel myself acting just like that.

“Sorry, Nomes,” Libby says contritely. “Did you ask me to pass the popcorn?”

I glare at her because how dare she be nice? “No, Libby, I did not ask you, I asked the other people around you.”

Libby nods slowly like it makes perfect sense that I’m snapping at her and no one else, and passes me the popcorn.

Yuck. Understanding big sisters.
I don’t even want the popcorn anymore. No, wait; yes, I do.

I sigh deeply and pop some buttery kernels into my mouth.

Everyone resumes their schmoozing as if I hadn’t shouted like a lunatic and I’m left feeling stupid.

As per usual.

Sima leans in and nudges me with her shoulder. “So what’s bothering you?”

I sigh and shrug. She nudges me again.

I can’t help smiling. “Stop! It’s nothing… just… did you hear what happened in Ma’s class?”

Sima shudders. “Omigosh, yes, from Tamar.”

Her sister-in-law, Tamar, is in ninth grade and is a total cutie. I love that I finally have a “younger” friend in high school.

“Did they find out whose cell phone it was?”

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