It turned out Sarah was in Ms. Arena’s homeroom, too, so they all headed there together.
Ms. Arena was standing at the door to her classroom, a big tub of colorful hard candies under one arm.
“Good morning!” Ms. Arena said brightly.
“What’s with the candy?” Adam asked. Nadia elbowed him. (Not-particularly-fun-but-still-important fact: First impressions matter.)
“I’m Nadia Youssef,” she said, and held out her hand for Ms. Arena to shake. “And this is Adam Winter, and Sarah Choi.”
Ms. Arena looked a little surprised at the formal introduction but shook Nadia’s hand anyway. “Nice to meet you all.” She held up the candy. “We’re going to do an activity with these. Take as many candies as you’d like, but don’t eat them yet.”
Nadia fished around in the bowl, taking three pink candies. She hoped they were raspberry and not watermelon flavored.
Once inside, the three friends grabbed seats close together. Nadia hung her backpack on the chair and scanned the room. Bridget Mason Middle School started in fifth grade, so she already knew most of the kids. But there was one unfamiliar face at the back of the room, a boy talking to a group of popular kids. She caught Adam’s eye and cocked her head at the boy.
“Who’s that?” she mouthed.
Adam took a look and shrugged. “New kid?” he mouthed back.
Nadia stole a closer look. New Kid had shaggy sandy hair and blue eyes. He had a weird way of tossing his head when his hair fell forward, but other than that he seemed normal. Judging by the other kids’ laughter, he was pretty funny.
The bell rang a minute later. Once everyone was seated, Ms. Arena addressed the class.
“Welcome to sixth grade,” she said. “I’m thrilled to be your teacher, and I know we’ve got an exciting year ahead of us. Principal Taylor will be doing the morning announcements in about ten minutes, which gives us the perfect amount of time to do a little activity. I know most of you already know each other, but we do have a new student. Plus, I don’t know anything about any of you.” She smiled. “You all took candies when you walked into the room. I’d like you to count them. However many you took is the number of fun facts you’ll need to tell the class about yourself. We’ll take thirty seconds now so everyone can think of what to say.”
Sarah, who hated being put on the spot, turned to Nadia, a stricken look on her face. There was a fistful of candy clutched in her hand. Even Adam might have had a hard time coming up with that much to say about himself. Nadia gave Sarah a sympathetic look.
Nadia stared at the three candies on her own desk. She absolutely loved fun facts, but she was having trouble coming up with even a single one about herself. She was smart and focused. A good friend and a hard worker. Always on time (with the exception of this morning). But were any of those things fun?
“I’ll start,” said Ms. Arena. “My name is Ms. Arena. I took three candies. Number one, I have a twin sister named Jennifer. Number two, we are identical. Number three, Jennifer and I spent the summer helping build a school in Tanzania.”
That was seriously impressive. Nadia pitied whoever had to go next.
“How about you?” said Ms. Arena, pointing at Nadia, of course.
Nadia sat up straighter in her chair. “My name is Nadia. Number one, I spend my summers in Egypt. Number two, I collect facts and I win every trivia contest I’ve ever competed in. And number three …” Her mind was a complete blank. Adam turned around and gave her an encouraging look. “I have an amazing group of friends,” she finished.
“Ah, I’ve always wanted to go to Egypt!” said Ms. Arena. “Thanks for sharing, Nadia.” Then she pointed to Adam. “Would you like to go next?”
Adam had only chosen four pieces of candy, but he didn’t let that limit him. “My name is Adam. Number one, I went to England on my summer vacation. My favorite thing was the Medieval Museum of Torture. You have no idea the terrible things people did to each other. But if you’d like to know, I took lots of videos. I love videography and pretty much anything tech! Number two, I love gross things like horror movies and medieval torture museums and basically anything like that. Number three, once when I was six, I was visiting New York City with my parents and I got separated from them and instead of being scared I just rode the subway by myself for a couple of hours. When I finally got tired, I found a policeman and told him I was ready to go back to the hotel. And number four, I have my appendix in a jar in my bedroom. True story.”
A couple kids grimaced but Nadia smiled. She had seen the appendix and it was actually pretty cool.
“Wow, thank you, Adam!” Ms. Arena said.
When it was Sarah’s turn, she held up a lone candy. Nadia saw that she’d shoved the rest into her pocket.
“My name is Sarah and I like to surf with my dog.” Sarah then smiled and popped the candy into her mouth, looking very relieved.
As they went around the room, Nadia learned a lot about her classmates. Andrew went to Taiwan four times a year to visit his grandfather and loved to visit the night markets and try different dumplings and ices. Eva had read one hundred books over the summer. Jack had won a ballroom dancing competition.
“And how about you?” asked Ms. Arena, pointing to the new kid. “This is your first year at Bridget Mason, right?” Everyone turned around to the back of the room and stared at him.
“That’s right,” the new boy said. He waved to the class. “Hey, my name is Jason. One thing about me is that I just moved to California from outside of Chicago. Number two is that I’m looking forward to learning how to surf. And number three, when I was ten, I got picked to do a free throw from half court at a Bulls game and I sunk it. I won season tickets.”
“Ooooooooooh,” said the class. A popular boy named Aiden reached over and bumped fists with Jason. Adam turned around to stare. He looked seriously impressed, even though Nadia knew he thought sports were capital-B Boring. Weird.
“So yeah,” Jason said. “California’s not Chicago, but it seems pretty cool so far.”
“Welcome, Jason,” said Ms. Arena. “I hope that we’ll help make you feel comfortable in your new home.”
Nadia raised her hand. A fun fact had popped into her brain. She thought it would be nice to share it, to make New Kid feel welcome.
“Yes, Nadia?”
“Did you know that the Twinkie was invented in Chicago?” she asked. She smiled at Jason.
Jason stared at her for a moment. “What’s your name again?” he finally said. “Google?”
The class exploded into laughter. Nadia gave a little laugh, too. She knew Jason was making fun of her, but the joke was on him—she didn’t mind being a human search engine. All her facts came in handy during class discussions, school projects, you name it. Her classmates and even teachers always looked to her for good ideas.
Nadia raised her eyebrows at Jason as if to say, “Yeah, and?”
But before Jason could answer, the loudspeaker clicked on.
“Good morning, students. Welcome back to Bridget Mason Middle School!” the voice rang out in a tinny tone. “For all you new students, and for any old students who may have forgotten me these last few months, this is Principal Taylor speaking. I hope you all had a fruitful summer and are ready to buckle down and make this the best school year yet! I know that the teachers and staff are eager to get started, and I hope that you are, too.
“Now I have some incredible news! The Museum of American History is celebrating their hundredth anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, they’re creating a brand-new gallery.”
Nadia perked up. She’d visited the museum so many times, she had her own subcollection of bobbleheads from the gift shop.
“Ooh,” said Jason in a mock-excited voice. “A new gallery!”
Everyone laughed. Ms. Arena shushed them, but Nadia could see a little smirk tugging on the corners of her mouth, despite herself.
Principal Taylor went on. “The theme of the gallery will be ‘What Makes Am
erica, America,’ and the museum wants to know what you, the next generation, have to say about it. Which leads me to the incredible news: Students are invited to present ideas for one of the exhibits.”
“Great, more homework,” muttered a girl seated across the aisle from Nadia.
“The winning idea will be made into an actual exhibit in the museum,” said Principal Taylor. “The winning students will also get their names on the exhibit, along with the name of their school.”
Nadia’s heart skipped a beat. Getting her own exhibit would be seriously cool.
“And last but not least,” said Principal Taylor, “the winners will get one thousand dollars in prize money, provided by an anonymous donor.”
“Now you’re talking!” shouted Jason. Cheers from all the classrooms in the school reverberated down the hallways, too.
“Oh, now I’ve got your attention, do I?” said Mr. Taylor. He chuckled. “This is an amazing opportunity for our students and our school, and I hope many of you participate. But if you want to exhib-it, you’ve got to be in it, so don’t forget to fill out an entry form!” He paused for laughter at his little rhyme, but most students were still chattering about the prize money. “Your teachers will share the rest of the details with you. Let’s make Bridget Mason Middle School proud!” The loudspeaker clicked off.
The chattering in the room picked up. Nadia tried to catch Adam’s eye to see if he wanted to work together, but he was intently staring toward the back of the room. To where Jason was sitting, Nadia realized.
“All right,” Ms. Arena said. She clapped her hands to call them back to order. “I’m glad you’re all so excited. Let’s go over the details.”
Ms. Arena rattled off the guidelines, but Nadia could barely concentrate—there were already a million ideas swirling in her brain. (Fact: She was going to win this thing.)
Nadia walked into the cafeteria swinging her lunch bag, excited to chat about the contest. She scanned the room for her friends, almost immediately spotting Vikram in a hard-to-miss red shirt with white polka dots. Nadia waved and headed over.
“Hey! Nice Eye of Horus shirt, Nadia!” Vikram cried, giving her a big hug. “I bet I can guess where you got that!”
Chloe arrived next, and she and Nadia embraced.
“I love your scrunchie!” Nadia said as they pulled away.
“Thanks,” Chloe said, touching the neon green hair tie holding her braids in a bun. “My mom picked it out. She’s always saying my dark skin and hair make bright colors appear brighter and that I shine brighter when I wear them. Cheesy, right?”
Nadia laughed. “A little cheesy … but true. It’s very Chloe.”
Adam and Sarah showed up and their group was complete. Nadia glanced around the table and smiled. The Nerd Patrol was together again, to face another school year.
“So is this contest amazing or what?” said Nadia as she pulled out her lunch. She took a deep appreciative sniff. Her mom had packed last night’s leftover koushary, a combination of rice and lentils in a tangy tomato sauce topped with chickpeas and fried onions. Deeeelicious. “The Nerd Patrol will be a team, right?” she asked her friends.
“I’m in,” said Chloe.
“Me too,” said Vikram.
“Me three,” added Sarah.
“Me four,” said Adam. He looked around at everyone sheepishly. “Man, we really are nerds, aren’t we?”
“How did they say the winner gets chosen?” asked Vikram. “I stopped listening as soon as the prize was announced.”
“Everyone has to present their exhibit idea in a creative way in the museum auditorium in two and a half weeks,” Chloe informed him. “The winner will be chosen by the board of directors.”
“Cool,” Vikram said, unwrapping his lunch.
“Now we just need to figure out an idea for an exhibit,” said Sarah. “We should meet right away—two and a half weeks is hardly any time! Too bad the special room doesn’t open until next weekend.”
Ms. Arena had told them how the museum was dedicating a behind-the-scenes workroom filled with all sorts of materials where kids could construct their projects.
Sarah turned to Nadia with a sly smile. “Hey, any chance we could meet at your house?”
Nadia’s house was everyone’s favorite place because she had a pool with a slide in her backyard. She swallowed a mouthful of koushary. “Sure, I’ll ask my parents tonight. This Saturday good for everyone?”
The Nerd Patrol nodded.
All of a sudden, Adam jumped up. “Jason! Jason!” he called. “Over here!” The new boy had walked into the cafeteria. Adam began clearing a space, nearly knocking over Nadia’s lunch bag in the process.
Jason spotted Adam and headed to their table.
“Thanks, Adam,” he said. He sat down next to Nadia and dropped his brown paper lunch bag on the table. “Hey, it’s Google Girl,” he said.
Nadia smiled but decided to nip this in the bud. “Actually, could you call me Nadia?”
Jason nodded as he pulled out a foil-wrapped sandwich.
“Hey, I have a great idea,” Adam said to Jason after Vikram, Sarah, and Chloe introduced themselves. “We were just talking about the contest. Why don’t you join our group?”
“Oh man, I just told Aiden and Mike that I would do it with them,” said Jason. “Too bad.”
Adam’s face fell. “Yeah, too bad.”
Jason pointed to Nadia’s food. “What’s that?”
“It’s my lunch,” she said. Duh.
“It smells weird,” Jason said. He took a closer look at Nadia. “Where exactly are you from, anyway?”
Nadia’s jaw tightened. She didn’t like his tone, but it wasn’t the first time someone had asked her where she was from.
“I’m Egyptian,” she said brightly. “And American, too; we moved here when I was six. And this”—she held up her lunch—“is koushary. It’s one of my favorites. Would you like to try it?”
Jason raised his hand defensively as if she had just threatened to hit him with her lunch instead of offering him a bite. “No thanks,” he said.
Nadia knew when she was being blown off. But then her mind presented her with a fun fact. “Did you know,” she said slowly, “that koushary was originally an Indian dish before it was adopted by the Egyptians?”
“Koushary in the house!” said Vikram. He bumped fists with Nadia.
Jason frowned. “Well, I eat American food”—he held up his roast beef sandwich—“not desert people food.”
Adam let out a little yelp of a laugh, but Vikram and Nadia exchanged a look. Desert people food? What was that supposed to mean? Nadia felt her cheeks turn as red as the tomatoes in her koushary, which suddenly didn’t seem so appealing. What was this new kid’s problem?
As the others chatted, Nadia tried to shake the icky feeling Jason’s comment left in her stomach. It didn’t seem like he was trying to be mean. Maybe he was just really nervous, this being his first day in a new school?
As the others told Jason all the ins and outs of Bridget Mason, Nadia ate her koushary in silence. She even held back the fun fact that Principal Taylor had himself attended the school and if you pulled out the 1985 yearbook you could find him, in all his mulleted glory, voted Most Likely to Come Back to Teach at This School.
By the time they finished eating, Nadia felt mostly better. She scooped up the last of the spicy koushary sauce and licked her spoon clean. Jason balled up the foil his sandwich had been wrapped in.
“Hey, what’s the difference between roast beef and pea soup?” he suddenly asked.
The friends all looked at one another. “I don’t know,” Sarah finally said. “What is the difference between roast beef and pea soup?”
Jason grinned. “Anyone can roast beef!”
The table was quiet as everyone let the punch line sink in. Then there was a strangled sound as Adam started choking on his chocolate milk, he was laughing so hard. Nadia couldn’t help it—she let out a giggle, too, and pretty so
on everyone else joined in.
“Oh wow,” Adam said once he could talk again. “That almost came out my nose!”
* * *
“So,” said Nadia’s father that night at dinner, “what was the most exciting thing that happened today?”
Nadia smiled. Baba never asked boring questions like “How was your day?” Sometimes he asked her to tell him the funniest thing. Or the most surprising. And he and Mama usually had pretty good stories to share themselves—they were both surgeons at the same hospital. Baba was a cardiologist and Mama was a pulmonologist. They liked to joke that between them they had everything within the rib cage covered.
“They announced this amazing contest!” Nadia said. She filled them in on all the details, barely pausing to take a breath. “So can the Nerd Patrol come over on Saturday so we can figure out our idea for the contest?”
“Of course,” her mom said. “You know we love your friends.”
“Awesome!” Nadia said. She took a huge bite of her fried chicken leg and chewed as fast as she could. Mama’s cooking, whether Egyptian or American, was delicious, but Nadia didn’t have time to savor her meal—she had work to do. She’d been trying to think of a perfect idea for the contest all day, but so far, she hadn’t come up with much. The theme was so broad—there must have been a million things they could focus on.
“Can I be excused?” she asked five minutes later. “I want to keep brainstorming.”
“Have you finished all your homework?” Baba asked.
Ugh. No. That was her parents’ rule—no other activities until she’d finished her homework.
“And you haven’t cleared the table yet,” Mama added.
Nadia sighed. “Fair enough.”
“Tell you what, habibti,” Baba said, “we’ll clear the dishes while you finish your schoolwork, okay?” He winked.
(Fact: Baba was the best.)
Nadia brought her backpack over to the table while her parents started clearing the dishes, then pulled out her math notebook and got to work. The first few problems went quickly, but she got stuck on the last one. Her pencil tip broke as if it was just as frustrated as she was.
The Magical Reality of Nadia Page 2