57

Amelia Forbes

"You never told me you knew ASL," I said to Dani as we sat side by side on my bed.

She only shrugged. "It never came up."

She laughed when I pushed her sideways onto the bed. "Easy, Ammy. Why so serious?"

When I didn't change my expression, she sighed. "Fine. I wanted to surprise you."

My face dissolved. "Really?"

She nodded, smiling.

Something warm filled my chest. Having people do nice things for me still felt very weird. Plus, I was really beginning to like Dani, which was scary because it meant that I was left in permanent fear of wondering if she was going to leave me, let me down, hurt me. And I didn't like that. I was meaning to talk to her about it but there was no time yet.

Inhaling deeply, I smiled at her and murmured a "thank you".

"So. . ." She began. "You think Nana likes me?"

I froze. She had called my grandma 'Nana'. Everyone else referred to her as 'your Nana' but Dani called her Nana. I figured and ho