Page 6 of TJ Powar Has Something to Prove
TJ twists back to the front and freezes in horror. Normally she’d welcome a sub, since it basically means they can screw around for an hour. Except the substitute teacher is Mrs. Banger, a Punjabi woman with a pixie cut in her forties. Anauntie. And not just any auntie—when she comes over for chah with TJ’s mom, TJ knows her as Rupi auntie.
TJ ducks her head, but too late. Mrs. Banger makes eye contact with her while setting her bag on the teacher’s desk. Her pencil-thin eyebrows rise, and a smile promises a conversation later. Great.
Mrs. Banger turns her attention to the rest of the room. “Bonjour, class!”
Apparently Ms. Schwab is sick, so Mrs. Banger gives them a group assignment to make a French poster about their New Year’s resolutions. They’re told to form their own groups, causing immediate chaos. Chairs scrape back, people yell at each other from across the room, and Chandani pokes TJ and Piper in the back, saying, “Turn around,” which is her way of asking.
They still need more people, but luckily, Piper is a well-liked social butterfly—it’s easy with those big blue eyes, round angelic face, and guileless smile that have gotten her out of many late penalties on assignments. In no time, they’ve corralled two of her friends and a few guys from the boys’ soccer team.
They get to work, and actually finish a decent amount ofthe poster before everyone gets derailed from their task and starts goofing off. Everyone except TJ, that is. She’s on her best behaviour, painfully aware that Big Brother is watching.
Chandani clearly notices. “So are you going out with Liam at lunch today?” she asks loudly as she cuts letters out of construction paper. TJ kicks her under the table.
“Ow!” Chandani is smirking, though. TJ casts a furtive look behind her. Luckily, Mrs. Banger is otherwise occupied across the room, talking to Simran, who’s in a group with three other loners. It’s looking pretty awkward over there. Maybe TJ should’ve invited Simran to be part of their group. Then again, Simran doesn’t know TJ’s friends, so that would be awkward, too.
TJ turns back to Chandani and finally responds in a low voice. “Yes, I am. And if you say another word about it, I’ll start loudly remembering what you got up to at Jake’s parents’ cabin last summer.”
Jake, who happens to be in their group, looks up from where he’s inputting words into Google Translate. “Nowthat’sa story.”
Piper looks between them, blue eyes widening. “Wait, what happened with you two?” She sounds anxious. TJ has it on good authority she’s been nursing a crush on Jake for months.
Chandani knows it, too. “Nothing. He was just hosting the party. You were on vacation that time, remember?”
“Oh. Well, what happened?”
Neither of them answers because Mrs. Banger has drifted over and is now within earshot. Jake, however, is oblivious. “Skinny-dipping.”
TJ winces. Mrs. Banger shifts closer. “What is ‘skinny-dipping’?” she asks.
“Hello, Auntie!” TJ says loudly. “How are you?”
Mrs. Banger glances her way with a bright smile, effectively distracted. “Tejindar! I’m good. How’s your mom?”
TJ pastes a smile on her face. “Good.”
“Congratulations on debate. Simran just told me.”
“Oh. Thanks.” She can feel her friends looking at her curiously. TJ hadn’t really mentioned the tournament to them.
“Did you win?” Piper asks while Chandani returns to sorting through markers, bored already. TJ shrugs. She’s not sure they understand how much she loves debate. Piper seems to think it’s a weird quirk. Chandani assumes TJ’s padding her résumé. Not that TJ’s given them reason to think anything else. It just feels weird to talk about with them. There are two very separate parts of TJ’s life, and she doesn’t like them overlapping.
Mrs. Banger answers instead. “They did! It’s wonderful that you and your cousin debate together. Your family must be very proud.”
Jake looks between TJ and Mrs. Banger. TJ can practically hear cogs turning in his head. “Wait. Simran’s your cousin?”
The room quiets a bit. Simran’s spine stiffens from across the room.
“Um,” TJ says. “Yeah.”
“Whoa,” Jake says, and squints across the room at Simran, who’s bent even further forward now. “I, uh, don’t see it.”
Chandani makes eye contact with TJ and smirks. She and Piper already know TJ and Simran are cousins. But it’s not common knowledge, and why would it be? TJ and Simran barely talk outside of debate. It’s not that they have a problem witheach other or anything—they just don’t have much in common.
The bell rings, saving TJ from more questions. Jake throws their half-assed poster on the teacher’s desk for marking and their group dissolves within seconds, everyone stampeding out the door.
TJ exhales as soon as she’s a safe distance down the hallway. Piper and Chandani are already chatting away about something else, so TJ takes the opportunity to crane her neck over the lunchtime crowd and search for her cousin. She spots her instantly, exiting the classroom last and heading the opposite way. Her expression is perfectly neutral. All right, so maybe that was only weird for TJ, then.
Piper nudges her. “Hey. Look who must’ve gotten out of class early.” TJ follows her gaze to spot Liam’s car, parked in the drop-off zone just through the glass doors of the school. She brightens.