Diamonds

The first day of school is always expected to be the worst. Not so this year! This year a new boy waltzed into my classroom at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in the Bronx, and he was GORGEOUS. AND HE SAT RIGHT NEXT TO ME! Freaking amazing! He turns and smiles at me. Before he says anything, the first thing I notice are his eyes. They're beautiful. They're like diamonds, shinning and glistening with a fire all their own. He opens his mouth and unleashes a torrent of French, to which I respond. Maman speaks French at home all the time, nothing new. But the entire class turns around and looks at me. Apparently no one knew I'm French? I just laughed and kept talking to the beautiful boy next to me. «Comment t'appelles-tu?» "What's your name?"

«Je m'appelle Ricky! Comme le chanteur Ricky Martin!» "My name's Ricky! Like the singer Ricky Martin!"

I can't help but laugh, he's so adorable. «D'où es-tu venu?» "Where are you from?"

«Je suis de la Louisiane à l'origine, Je suis Cajun, et donc j'habitais au Côte d'Ivoire, et donc en Monaco, et donc à Marseille. C'est très, très belle là.» "I'm originally from Louisiana, I'm Cajun, and then I lived in Côte d'Ivoire, then Monaco, then in Marseille. It's really, really pretty there."

«Quelle vie! Pourquoi est-ce que tu habitais à tous des places?» "What a life! Why did you live in all those places?"

«Car mon père est bijoutier.» "Because my dad's a jeweller."

«Je vois. Qu'est-ce que tu fais à New York?» "I see. What are you doing in New York then?"

«Mon père veut ouvrir une bijouterie ici.» "My dad wants to open a store here."

I nod my head in understanding. «Est-ce que tu as la citoyenneté?» "Do you have citizenship?"

«Oui, je l'ai! Je suis né à la Louisiane. Tétine.» "Yes, I have citizenship! I was born in Louisiana. Dummy." The word he uses, tétine, tips me off. 'He's flirting with me!' Before I can say something witty and sexy, the teacher walks over to us and explains to me that Ricky doesn't speak English, 'Fucking duh', and asks me to translate the lesson for him. Well, translating the lesson wasn't that difficult, but I didn't catch a word of it because it was going in one ear and out the other. Good thing Ricky's good at math. At the end of the class, I ask to see his schedule. It was the same as mine. I remark that we have all the same classes and he smiles and says that this year was going to be loads of fun. I raise my eyebrows in question. He simply remarks that he thinks I'm a cool kid and couldn't wait to get to know me more intimately. 'This little boy knows exactly how to set me on fire.' I smile and we walk to our next class, happily chattering all the way.