YA fiction: An Afghan-American girl’s brother gets into a controversy when his prank goes too far

“Where do you even find watermelons in December?” Keith asks.

I don’t blame him for wondering. His family shops in the grocery store with a long deli counter, a whole aisle for sliced bread, and a floral section with orchids and bouquets of roses. We shop there too – sometimes. But mostly we get our vegetables and the ingredients for Mom’s smoothies from the Asian grocery store where there are eleven different kinds of squash but only one kind of sliced cheese.

“Easy. We grow watermelons in our backyard,” I say.

“False,” Keith replies, giving me a sceptical look.

“False,” I admit.

“And why watermelons?”

“They’re supposed to represent happiness and love,” I say, and feel my ears get hot. I could kick myself. When Keith asked if my family had any plans for winter break, I somehow stumbled into telling him about my namesake holiday, the winter solstice. I have managed to make it sound as sappy as a drugstore on Valentine’s Day. Keith probably thinks it all sounds bizarre.

At the beginning of the school year, we walked home separately. Yusuf leaves school one period early as part of his independent study and Keith was his friend, not mine. Yusuf walks home alone, picks up the used...

Read more