Flávia stands as the bus pulls up. “I’ll see you later, Nishat,” she says, and she steps away from the bus stop and toward the traffic lights with the zebra crossing.

“Wait … you’re not getting the bus?”

“Nope!” Flávia shoots me a grin. I want to ask her why she decided to stay and talk to me, but the driver is already glaring at me and I know if I don’t hop on now, he’ll close the doors and pull away.

So I step inside, swipe my card and hurry to the window. As I watch Flávia walk away, her curls bouncing in the wind behind her, I can’t help the flutter of butterflies in my stomach.

8

“WHAT’S THAT?” PRITI ASKS LATER, AFTER BARGING INTO my room when she gets home from after-school study.

“It’s a form.”

“Well, I can see that.” Priti reaches over and tries to grab the piece of paper out of my hands. “But … what’s … it … for?” She stops her attempts to frown at me. “And why won’t you let me look at it?”

“Remind me when this became your business?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.

She lets out a huffy breath and slumps back onto my bed. “Fine, don’t tell me. See if I care.”

I laugh and sidle closer to her, poking her in the ribs until she giggles. Priti is still the most ticklish person I know.

“Stop it!” she says, slapping my hands away until I’m laughing too.

“Sorry,” I say once we’ve both settled down. “I’ll tell you about the form. I need your help with this anyway.”

“Maybe I don’t want to help you.” Priti sticks her chin out at me.

“Do you want me to tickle you again?”

She shoots me a glare, but mumbles “no,” before quickly leaning toward me to read the form over my shoulder.

“Business idea?” she asks. “You’re not a business person.”

“Well, duh. But Ms. Montgomery is setting up this business competition for our class. Basically, we all set up our own businesses, and we have a few weeks to work on it and try to make a profit. The person who does the best job will win a thousand euros, but also it’s going to be a part of our Christmas exam results.”

“Oh, your first taste of Transition Year. You’re going to be an entrepreneur!” She’s only half serious so I roll my eyes. I don’t see any entrepreneurship in my future.

“I need ideas!” I say to Priti. Chaewon and Jess have been blowing up our usually dead group chat with all of their ideas. They’ve already eliminated anything related to food because that’ll be too much hassle, and Jess has started to consider how her obsession with video games can be made into a business venture.