The one class Ayan had not worried about first quarter was the Shugbo class she shared with Mat. It wasn’t required, but both had registered for it because they hadn’t been learning the language for long. The first weeks, they had almost no homework. Instead, they practiced vocabulary and grammatical structures in class, using pre-written scripts. But all that changed when their teacher announced their first paper. “You’ve all made great progress,” Mr. Jordan said, “Shugbo has some remarkably difficult vowel sounds, but I think now everyone can recognize those differences without having to think too hard about it. So I think it’s time we took what we’ve been practicing to paper.”
Ayan looked to Mat for reassurance, but he didn’t look phased at all, and started to wonder if she should have requested her textbooks in Shugbo, as he had. Mr. Jordan went on. “We’ve spent the last few weeks practicing future tense. So for Wintday, I want you to write a letter to a friend telling them what you will do this weekend. Remember, the suffix for future is either -i or -u. For example, I… will sleep… late.” Mr. Jordan wrote on the board gu tundiyi shogb.
Mat leaned over to Ayan. “Shouldn’t it be gu wu tundiyi shogb?” He grinned like it was hilarious, but Ayan didn’t get the joke.
Mr. Jordan turned. “What was that, Mat?” Several other students turned to look at them. Mat froze, back stiff, staring straight ahead. He shook his head, hands in the air, as if proclaiming innocence after being accused of a crime. It wasn’t the first time Ayan had seen him do this.
Mr. Jordan responded the same way Mr. Connor had in the past, though he spoke more slowly to ensure he was understood. “I wasn’t sure I heard you correctly.”
When Mat continued not to speak, Ayan did the same thing she had in their history class. “He didn’t say anything, Mr. Jordan. I told him I thought the sentence should be gu wu tundiyi shogb.”
Mr. Jordan looked even more skeptical than Mr. Connor had, but after a moment’s scrutiny, he turned back to the board. “Ayan makes an excellent point. We haven’t really covered this yet, but we use the word wu to show something occurs regularly. So if, like me, you usually sleep in on the weekend…”
There were scattered murmurs as students reacted to this addition. Mat once again placed his hands on his desk and breathed a sigh of relief, though Ayan wasn’t sure what he needed to be relieved about.
She didn’t want to bring it up at lunch, but when she sat next to Key in seventh period, she said, “your brother is strange.”
“It took you that long to figure out?”
“I mean, he knows the answer, but he’s afraid to say it. It’s like he thinks the teacher is going to hit him for being right.” When Key didn’t respond right away, she said, “your family doesn't…”
“No. Mat’s just… new experiences stress him out.”
“But he always gets excited when he does something new.” Ayan thought of Mat going to the movies, the art museum, the bowling alley.
Key laughed. “Yeah, he’s kind of a walking contradiction that way.”
Mr. Depping walked in carrying a basket. “I know many of you are still working on the bags we started last week, but I would like you to take today to consider your mid-term project. I will return your quarter-term projects in the meantime. You all did very well.” He then set the basket down and began returning items from it. Ayan noticed he took his time to discuss each project with the student who made it. He had done the same with the placemats and curtains they had made during their first quarter.
Mr. Depping returned Ayan and Key’s projects at the same time. Each set of clothes was nicely folded with a sheet of notes pinned to it. “Miss Truuit, I have to say, I was impressed you completed a full set of clothes in such a short time.”
Key flushed. “Ayan let me use her sewing machine.”
“I meant the embroidery, which I believe you did by hand. It would have taken a lot of time, even with the simple pattern you chose.”
“Was it okay?” Key pulled the clothes toward her to read Mr. Depping’s notes.
"For a beginner, it was excellent. Do you know what you would like to do for your next project?”
Key fingered the embroidery she had sewn at the neckline of her new tunic. Ayan had never seen her look so nervous. “Actually, I kind of want to make a baby shawl for my brother.” She glanced up at their teacher and then back down again, reminding Ayan of Miriam. “He never got one, and… I thought it might make a nice Messengers Day gift.” She trailed off at the end, until Ayan could barely hear her.
“Messengers Day? That only gives you about eight weeks. Normally, a baby shawl takes eight months.”
Key continued to fiddle with the tunic she had made. “I know, I just… I kind of wanted to try.”
“I normally don’t have students work on embroidery projects, but if you would really like to, I recommend you talk to Mrs. Darling. She’s our hand sewing teacher.”
Key looked up at last. “You mean I can do it?”
“If you keep in mind that you may not finish. Especially because I’ll need it early if you’re planning to give it to your brother for the holiday.” He turned to Ayan. “And your ideas, Miss Tyeen?”
“Actually, I was hoping to work on a Messengers Day project for my brother too.”
“I see why you two sit together. What do you have in mind?”
“I want to make him a quilt. Star blocks. I know it's not magic practice, but I’ve never made a quilt before.”
“In that case, it sounds like an excellent project. And the same goes for you If you plan to gift it over the holiday, I will need it early.”
Mr. Depping not only agreed to let Ayan pursue her quilt, but he also lent her a quilting book from his library. She was perusing it on her way to physics, when she heard a familiar whistle behind her and turned to see Wince.
"Reading and walking, that's a sport I'll never be good at."
"Oh," Ayan looked at the book. "I don't usually, I was just excited about..." She stopped, not annoy Wince with sewing talk.
"Well I didn't mean to interrupt. Just wanted to remind you we're going to meet after 8th on Wintday to take the bus to Kporo High for the game."
"Okay." Considering Wince could have told her this in practice, she hoped Wince had stopped her for some other reason as well, but when he didn't say anything more, she hurried away to class.
