sad boy

i picked up my tutor kids from school today. whenever they enter the car, the girl always shares her weekly dosage of 8th grade gossip. while she gossips about her latest crush, or tells me which boy/girl is weird, her brother would make his presence known by singing really loudly or asking many random questions. it's a pretty noisy car ride home.

but today, the car ride was a bit too quiet. the girl shared her latest news but the boy was quiet and kept looking at his phone. i looked at him through the rearview mirror.

me: "hey, vincent?"
boy: "yea?"
me: "you're pretty quiet today."
boy: "yea."
girl: interrupted, "he's quiet because he doesn't like his new haircut."
boy: he turned to his sister and snapped, "no! i'm not quiet because of my haircut." a few seconds later, he whispered, "noah didn't come to school today." noah is his best friend.
me: "ah, i see." i couldn't help but smile. "did you try calling him?"
boy: "yea... he's not answering his phone."
me: "hmm, maybe he's sick."
girl: wanting to be in the conversation, she interrupted again, "yea, he was sick yesterday."
me: "ah, i see. i guess he's really sick today if he didn't come to school."
boy: "mm.." he was still looking at his phone.

cute kid. sad because his best friend didn't come to school today. hehe, for some strange reason, i find this kind of adorable :)