“That’s great! You were worried about that, right?”
P’Film hums. “It was so hard. I can’t believe I passed it, much less got an A.”
I tell him about my hardest class last term. When he doesn’t reply, I say, “P’Film?”
The deep breathing over the line tells me he’s fallen asleep. I don’t disconnect, though.
I hear from the woods what I rationally know to be a couple of flying foxes in a dispute, but a shiver runs up my back and I nearly run the rest of the way to my building.
“Everything okay?” the woman at the night desk asks when I burst in the doors.
I nod, feeling silly. Since I’m inside and P’Film is now snoring in my ear, I disconnect the call.
In my room, I don’t bother to undress, just curl up on the bed with Fuzzy and pull the covers over me. Students who went home during the mid-term break have started to return, but Jess is still gone, and at that moment it feels like I’m the only one in the world.
“Don’t be a baby,” I say out loud.
I think about calling Sud, but then I reallywouldbea baby. Besides, I talked to him that morning. He and Ten were going somewhere together.
I must drift off because I nearly jump out of bed when my phone vibrates on the table.
I snatch it up and answer in groggily without looking at the screen. “Hello?”
Sud laughs and mimics my English. “Hel-lo? Are you already in bed?”
Glancing at the clock, I say, “It’s nearly one a.m. Of course I’m in bed. What are you doing? What’s all that noise?”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize it was that late. The neighbor’s made barbeque and everyone’s sitting around outside. What did you do today?”
I told him what Bua and I did.
“That’s cool. I called because Ten really wants to talk to you.”
“Okay, put him on.”
Sud’s brother’s excited voice blasts in my ear. “P’Mee Noi! Why didn’t you come home with Sud?”
“I had to go on a school trip, Nong. Why aren’t you in bed?”
“I took a nap earlier so I could stay up. I got to shoot fireworks!”
“Sounds like a lot of fun.”
“Will you come see us soon?”
“I will. I promise.”
“Okay, well, I’m giving Sud the phone. Mae and Pah would say hi if they weren’t talking to the neighbors.”
There’s a lot of fumbling noises, and then Sud comes back on the line.
“Sorry about that. Ten dropped the phone in the bushes.”
“I didn’t mean to!” Ten yells in the background.
I chuckle. “That’s okay. It was good to talk to him. Did you go online for your exam results? They’re in as of this afternoon.”
Sud groans. “What if I failed something?”