messing up things with super-cute Niles Just that little bit of encouragement made Amir’s grin grow so big his eyes got squinty A trick Let’s see it then Niles said He’d had been chat ting up Trinidad trying to make up for the colossal dunce he’d made of himself at the cinema when Amir interrupted As Niles turned to face Amir he slid closer to Trinidad Really close almost knocking elbows He hoped Amir would buzz off And that Trinidad wasn’t about to shove him away After the mess last Friday he couldn’t take another monumental embarrassment Watch closely Amir loved an audience He played up his preparations cracking his knuckles even stretching his neck to one side then the other He shook his hands loose and said Okay I’m ready He twisted his right arm with his left hand But something went terribly wrong He shouted Ouch and his wrist went limp His eyes grew so wide the whites showed all the way around his pupils The enormous crack of his wrist breaking startled several other students chatting around them His gasp of pain drew more eyes Soon everyone was staring Oh oh oh Trinidad cooed her hands going out to Amir’s wrist which was bent at a painful-looking angle Her hands hung there on either side of the injury She wanted to do something Math Test Mischief
to make it better but was deathly afraid she might do something wrong and make it worse Claudia shouted at their stunned classmates Get Nurse Travers She’ll know what to do Tears were about to overflow Trinidad’s big brown eyes Just breathe Dude Niles muttered Amir sucked in a sad little sniff like he was trying his best not to cry Dude Niles said more aggressively Amir’s bottom lip quivered Niles’s eyes narrowed and he aimed a punch at Amir’s chin pulling short just before it connected Trinidad shrieked Amir’s hands went up to protect his face Both of them And suddenly Amir’s wrist wasn’t bent at an odd angle any longer A fractured plastic cup fell out from under his armpit and hit the floor with a crack that sounded distinctly like the one Amir’s wrist had made when it broke That was complete rubbish Niles pinned an annoyed look on Amir for a moment before turning to Trinidad Her eyes were enormous They went from Amir’s wrist now clearly fine to Niles and back You scared me to death she said to Amir Math Test Mischief
Then she turned to Niles And you What if it wasn’t a prank You didn’t know it was a prank Niles’s fair skin shaded pink Trinidad took off down the hall before either boy could explain or defend himself Claudia whacked Amir on the arm Idiot Then she took off after Trinidad Amir snorted as he watched the girls storm off That was awesome Just like I practiced in the mirror They’ll be laughing about it by second period I did not need that today Niles’s tone was still irritated even more so than it had been a moment ago What Amir asked The movies didn’t go so well Amir hadn’t been invited but he’d heard about the movie plans Niles with his posh British accent had been the subject of whispers since he’d moved to Harwington last year But the rumors had really taken off last week as everyone had tried to sort out who’d been invited and who hadn’t and what it all meant in terms of who liked who Niles’s flush deepened making Amir think he’d hit a sore point What could’ve gone wrong Niles was practically Mr Perfect It went fine thank you very much Niles wasn’t about to Pranks and Problems
