Mismatch Read Free

at home?”
    So he
did
know her family was Chinese. He probably knew that Hua was a Chinese name. She wiped her hands and crumpled her sandwich wrappings. “Yeah, my mom cooks Chinese food more than any other kind. How about
your
family? What do you eat, mostly?”
    “Let’s see. . . . I guess we eat some of everything. My mom likes to try out recipes she sees on TV cooking shows. So we eat Chinese, Japanese, French, Italian—you name it.”
    Andy didn’t seem bothered at all that she was Chinese American, not Japanese American. Sue sighed, thinking about the unfairness of it all. If only things were so simple for her!
    In the next few weeks, Hero’s became a regular Monday-afternoon stop for Sue and Andy. At first, Sue was nervous about what her family would think, but her snacks with Andy remained strictly platonic: a sandwich, a conversation, some warm smiles, and goodbye. Still, Sue was glad that Mia and the others didn’t know about Hero’s. She was even more glad that Rochelle hadn’t found out.
    As they ate, they often talked about the pieces they were rehearsing. “I like music with tricky rhythm,” said Andy one Monday after they’d rehearsed a Copland piece.
    “Me too!” said Sue. “I like certain kinds of jazz, the kind with syncopation. It keeps you guessing, you know?” Andy smiled at her, and Sue’s heart did its own syncopation.
    Later Sue brought up sports and admitted, “I was always the last one chosen to join a team. I guess people can tell I don’t have the killer instinct.”
    “No team spirit, you mean,” said Andy.
    “That’s true,” admitted Sue. “I guess I’m not good at joining the crowd and playing together with others.”
    Andy grinned. “I hope you play together with the other violists, at least.”
    Sue laughed. Then she asked, “What do you think about sports? Do you play on any teams?”
    “Nope,” said Andy. “I avoid sports because I’m afraid of hurting my arm or finger. It would screw up my future as a violinist.”
    Sue noticed that Andy didn’t sound at all embarrassed when he said he was afraid of getting hurt. Most boys would rather die than admit that.
    “So you plan to be a professional musician?” she asked.
    Andy hesitated. For the first time, Sue saw him looking a little unsure of himself. “I want to, but . . . I’ve got a problem with stage fright,” he confessed. “Every time I have to play a solo, I freak out inside.”
    “You did great when you were auditioning for that solo,” Sue said, remembering how confident he had seemed.
    “I’m okay once I get started,” said Andy. “But I’m always afraid that one day I’ll be too scared to get started!”
    Sue laughed. “It’s never going to happen.” Without thinking about it, she reached over and put her hand on his arm. Then, suddenly, she felt embarrassed. Andy had never made any kind of romantic gesture toward her. She felt awkward touching him first.
    But Andy just smiled and put his hand on top of hers. “What about you? Don’t you ever get nervous when you play?”
    Sue shook her head. She seldom got really uptight about a recital. Music wasn’t her whole life, the way it was with Andy. She had other interests. “I love music, but I love other things, too. You know what fascinates me? The history of warfare. Weird, huh?”
    “Hey, my mom is a history teacher!” said Andy. “She teaches at Buchanan Middle School.”
    They talked about their families. “I have an older brother, Tom,” said Andy. “He’s a freshman at Oregon State. He’s pretty cool. We don’t talk much, though, now that he’s in school.”
    “I’m number two in my family, too,” said Sue. “My sister, Rochelle, is a senior at Lakeview.”
    “Guess I’ll be running into her,” said Andy.
    Sue looked down at her sandwich. She wasn’t sure how she felt about Andy meeting Rochelle. What if her sister learned that Andy was Japanese and told her mother? Or worse yet, what if Rochelle blinded Andy