June 12, 2018

A week passed by, and slowly but surely, Véro Arkoun learned how to sail. By the weekend, she could steer the boat on her own, and by the beginning of the next week, I was considering making her the skipper. The boat only tipped over once that week, and when it did, Véro panicked, but she knew exactly what to do. We practiced every single day, but the two of us never tired of sailing.

Despite our successes on the water, Véro and I still couldn't compete together in the regular season. She wasn't in the Clearwater Lake Yacht Club, and she had no intention of joining. "Why would I join a yacht club?" Véro asked when I brought up the subject to her. "I am leaving in two years."

I tried to conceal my disappointment when I heard that. A part of me still wanted Véro to become a real part of Clearwater Lake, and that meant joining the yacht club. Besides, I had to race alone in the regular season if Véro was going to keep being stubborn about joining the yacht club. The real reason for my disappointment, however, had nothing to do with the yacht club at all. I hated the idea of Véro leaving me, as selfish as it was.

Even without Véro, I still won the race that weekend. It helped that I was one of the oldest sailors there, but I was still proud of myself when I glided across the finish line. I only wished that I could have shared that feeling with Véro. She would have enjoyed racing, but she insisted that she didn't want to join the yacht club.

On Tuesday, Véro and I went sailing again. I found her laying on her hammock that afternoon, but when I approached, she bolted up and grinned. "Sylvie, are we going sailing again?" Véro asked.

"Of course," I said. "Let's go." Véro and I both ran onto the pier and hopped into my sailboat. We then set sail, and the two of us worked together to steer the boat away from the pier and towards the center of the lake.

The boat effortlessly moved around Clearwater Lake, creating waves as it sliced through the water. I looked towards Véro as her purple hair dangled into her face and her deep brown eyes stared into the water. "What are you thinking about right now?" I asked her as I steered the boat away from shore.

"Nothing," Véro said. She paused for a moment, looking at her reflection in the water, and then asked, "Sylvie, do you want to come over to my house after this?"

"I'd love to," I said.

"Great," Véro said. She was still looking at the water, but I could see her smile slightly. Seeing that smile made my heart melt, and I resisted the urge to move over to the other side of the boat and kiss her. I still wasn't sure if Véro liked me in that way - I wasn't even sure if she liked me even as a friend - but it was moments like that one that made me wonder.

Véro and I sailed around the lake for a little bit longer, but as the sun began to set, both of us decided that we were ready to call it a day. "I'm starving," I complained.

Véro glared at me and then said, "I have been fasting all day," reminding me of how easy I had it. I may have been hungry, but at least I had eaten breakfast and lunch.

"Sorry," I said. "Maybe that was a little bit of an exaggeration."

"I forgive you, Sylvie," Véro said.

I sailed the boat towards the pier and then tied the boat to the pier while Véro took the sail down. The two of us worked together to put everything away, and once we were done, I followed Véro towards what had once been the Ogdens' house.

Véro opened the door, and a man and a woman that I assumed to be Véro's parents greeted her in French. After some conversation that I didn't understand a word of, Véro said, "Maman, Papa, this is Sylvie. She is our neighbor. Sylvie, these are my parents."

"It's very nice to meet you," I said.

"Véro, is this your new girlfriend?" Mr. Arkoun asked.

"Farid!" Mrs. Arkoun exclaimed. "Do not be so rude in front of Sylvie!"

"She is not my girlfriend, Papa," Véro quickly said. "Sylvie is just a friend."

"You should have told us that you were bringing a guest, Véro," Mrs. Arkoun said. "We would have made some extra food for her. We didn't even make any Chourba!"

"It's okay, Mrs. Arkoun," I said. "I'll just eat at home."

"Nonsense!" Mrs. Arkoun exclaimed. "You are our guest, and you will eat with us. Véro, I'm sure that you are becoming hungry. The sun has set, so let's break our fast." Mrs. Arkoun ran into the kitchen with a surprising amount of energy for a woman who had been fasting all day, and when she returned, she was carrying three plates with dates on them and three glasses of what looked like buttermilk.

When Véro got her plate, she devoured the dates and slurped down the buttermilk. "Thank you, Maman," she said. While the Arkouns broke their fast, I looked around the house. I had visited the Ogdens plenty of times, and in some ways, the house still looked the same, but the Arkouns had changed many of the decorations. The kitchen was painted in a new color, and the Thomas Kinkade reproduction, one of my favorite decorations in the old house, had been replaced by an oil painting of a Paris street at night. "I chose that painting back home," Véro said when she noticed me staring at the new painting. "I bought it for four euros from a street artist - it was the best purchase that I ever made."

"I like it," I said. There were some things that I missed, but the Arkouns had clearly brought their own flavor to their new home.

"Véro, your cousin Ali wants to know how you're liking Clearwater Lake so far," Mr. Arkoun said. "He says that he sends his love from Algiers."

"Dad, you do not have to read everything that anyone posts in the group chat," Véro said. "I will read it myself later."

"I only do it because you never check the group chat," Mr. Arkoun said.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"My family has a group chat with all of my relatives in Algeria," Véro said. "Papa thinks that I do not look at it enough."

"You don't!" Mr. Arkoun exclaimed.

"Véro, it's good to keep in touch with your family," I said.

"It's different for you," Véro said. "Your grandparents live on the other side of the lake. Mine live on the other side of the world."

I was going to respond, but Mrs. Arkoun came into the living room and said, "I quickly made some Chourba for Sylvie, but I didn't have time to make any Bourek. I hope you're okay with that."

"It's fine, Mrs. Arkoun," I said.

"Dinner's almost ready," Mrs. Arkoun. "You three can sit down, and it will be done soon."

Véro, Mr. Arkoun, and I sat down at the dinner table while we waited. Véro conversed with her father in French, with the occasional interjection of words that sounded like a language that was decidedly not French. I merely stared at the newly painted wall, lost in a conversation that I could never understand.

When Véro noticed that I wasn't paying attention, she said in English, "Papa, maybe we should speak in a language that Sylvie can understand."

"Okay," Mr. Arkoun said. "Sylvie, what have you been doing today?"

"Not much," I said. "My brother hogged the TV all day, so I just read a book. The highlight of the day was when I went sailing with Véro though."

"That was the best part of my day too," Véro said.

"You two have been sailing together?" Mr. Arkoun said.

"Yes!" Véro said. "Sylvie has been teaching me how to sail. It's very fun."

"She's becoming a very good sailor," I said. "Véro's going to sail with me in the junior regatta in July."

"Oh, that's nice," Mr. Arkoun said.

All of a sudden, Mrs. Arkoun walked into the kitchen with a chicken and chickpea soup, along with five or six other plates stuffed with food. When I noted how much food there was, Véro said, "This is normal in my house. We have been fasting all day: now it is time for a feast."

I took a little bit of food from each of the plates, eager to try everything. Most of it looked unfamiliar to me, but I still wanted to sample all of it. I devoured the food once it was on my plate - some of the dishes were better than others, but all of it was delicious.

"What's new for everyone?" Mrs. Arkoun asked as she took a spoonful of chakhchoukha.

"Sylvie and Véro sailed together today," Mr. Arkoun said.

"That's very exciting," Mrs. Arkoun said. "Véro, how do you like sailing?"

"It's not that exciting, Maman," Véro said. "Sylvie has been teaching me for about a week. It's kind of fun, but I'm only sailing in the regatta."

"Véro, if you like sailing, you should continue," Mrs. Arkoun said.

"That's what I've been trying to tell her!" I exclaimed.

"I told you that I didn't want to come to America," Véro said to her parents. "If I couldn't have my way then, I will have my way now. I won't sail after the regatta, and I will come back to France after I graduate from high school."

"America is good for you, Véro," Mr. Arkoun said.

"And France isn't good too?" Véro said.

"That's not what they're trying to say, Véro," I said.

Véro didn't listen. "I know that you're okay with picking yourself up and starting over in a new country, but I'm not. Paris is my home, and it always will be." Véro shoved the last of her dinner into her mouth and stormed away from the table. "Come on, Sylvie. Let's go down to the basement."

I wasn't quite done with my dinner, so I ate as much as I could and then followed Véro into the basement. "Do you see why my parents are the worst now?" Véro said as she stared at the TV, which was playing some reality show that I didn't watch.

"Your parents seem like very nice people to me," I said.

"They just don't get it," Véro complained.

"What don't they get?" I asked.

"Everything," Véro said. "I try my best to fit in and make friends, but I just don't belong in America."

"Maybe joining the yacht club would help," I suggested.

"Why does everything go back to that damn yacht club?!" Véro shouted.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I just think that you'd make more friends if you were in the yacht club. That's how I got to know everyone here."

"You were also born here," Véro said. "I wasn't."

"That won't matter," I said.

"I've been here for three weeks, and you're still my only friend," Véro complained. "You're a good friend though."

"Thank you," I said, blushing. "You're a good friend too."

"Maybe you're right," Véro admitted. "If I joined the yacht club, I might make some more friends. I could even go to a real party!"

"We do have parties every weekend," I said. "They're pretty low key though."

"What does that mean?" Véro asked.

"Low key?" I said. "It means that the parties are pretty quiet and unexciting."

"I don't like quiet and unexciting parties," Véro said. "I will make these parties very much not low key!"

I laughed and said, "Okay, Véro. Have fun with that."

"I will!" Véro exclaimed, not understanding my sarcasm.

"So are you joining the yacht club?" I asked.

"I suppose," Véro said.

I grinned, having finally succeeded in convincing Véro to join the yacht club. Maybe she would even learn to like living in Clearwater Lake. Even if she didn't like me as much as I wanted her to, I wanted her to be happy in Clearwater Lake more than anything. It broke my heart to see Véro so lonely and homesick all the time. I wanted to help her fix that, and maybe in the process, I could find a friend, or even a girlfriend.

Véro went back to watching her TV show, and although I couldn't quite get into it, it was fun to watch Véro yell at the people on the screen. When the episode was over, Véro and I went back upstairs, where she prayed with her parents. After their prayers, the Arkouns offered me some tea, and I chatted with them until my mom texted me to ask where I was. "I should probably go home," I said. "It was very nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Arkoun."

"It was nice to meet you too, Sylvie," Mrs. Arkoun said. "Come again any time."

"See you tomorrow, Sylvie," Véro said as I left the Arkouns' house, and I felt my pulse quicken. I left as quickly as I could, hoping that I wouldn't explode in front of my gorgeous neighbor.

When I got home, Mom and Dad asked me about my day and reminded me to let them know if I was going to go over to a friend's house. I responded to their incessant questions, but I couldn't get Véro out of my head. I hardly paid any attention to Mom and Dad's lecture. When they finally let me get ready for bed, I told myself to focus on what was really important: winning the Junior Regatta. I couldn't let my feelings for Véro get in the way.