Shiksappeal
Prologue
I pull another pair of jeans out of the box, quickly dismissing them with a sigh.
I don’t remember hating all my clothes.
And now it’s too late to buy more before the first day of school because it’s ten-forty-eight pm and the first day of school is less than ten hours away. I should have unpacked my school clothes sooner, but maybe I’m in denial about starting a new school in a new town. Maybe I didn’t want to face the fact that I know no one here and my friends back in
I grab another pair of unsuitable jeans, noticing the sudden quiver in my hands.
Not since my long forgotten days back in the Chinese orphanage had I ever been so alone.
Chapter 1
I glanced down at the paper again, for about the hundredth time that morning.
Confirmed: room 104 was to be my homeroom.
I looked up at the door, yup, 104. Taking a deep breath, I reached for the handle, just as another kid beat me to it. I stepped out of the way as I looked up at him and attempted a smile.
“Oh sorry,” the guy said. He looked embarrassed, his cheeks flushing. “I wasn’t sure if you were going in.”
I nodded. “It’s okay, I’m kind of moving in slow mo today.”
He smiled as he pulled open the door, “Yeah, first day after the summer totally sucks, huh? You’re new, right?”
I nodded again. “Yeah, we just moved into town last week.” The reality had barely hit me yet. Most of my life was still in boxes, yet this morning I had to struggle to find something decent to wear for the first day of school.
“I’m Ari,” the guy said as we walked into the room.
“Hannah,” I said, suddenly overwhelmed that my first class of my first day in this brand new high school where I knew exactly zero people had actually arrived. I looked around the room at the clean blackboard and walls devoid of decorations and then to the rows of empty desks. There was no one in the class yet, which wasn’t surprising since I had come early on purpose so I could get my bearings.
“Where you gonna sit?” Ari asked, and I wasn’t sure if he was asking out of curiosity or because if where I sat would determine where he sat. I dragged my eyes away from looking at the sea of empty desks to look at him.
He was nice looking, with shaggy brown hair, which looked like it had taken much effort to get that way, and dark rimmed glasses that looked good on him. He was kind of bookish, but in a good, Harry Potter kind of way. I had a feeling I could probably do worse for friends. I shrugged, trying to put on a friendly face. “Not sure, where are you going to sit?”
He nodded towards the window side of the room. “Aisle, midway to the back. That way you’re not lumped with the slackers at the back, but you’re not a total keener in the front. Aisle gives good access to leave the room,” he cleared his throat. “You know, should the need arise.”
He blushed again, just at the mention of me having to use the bathroom. It was pretty cute. I nodded and moved down the outside aisle. I pointed at a chair. “This one good?”
“Yeah,” Ari said, taking the seat next to me, one row in from the aisle.
“I thought you wanted the aisle?”
He dropped his bag on the floor beside him. “No, I meant you should take the aisle, because it’s a prime spot, and well…you know. I’m okay here.”
I had no idea what he meant by “prime spot, and well…you know”, but before the semester was out, I would learn that there was some sort of weird phenomenon surrounding my transfer in to Westside High School and it had everything to do with something my father called shiksappeal – that weird attraction Jewish boys have to non-Jewish girls, or shiksas.
But the weirdest part of it was that I was no shiksa.