Jeremiah groans in frustration. But he doesn’t stop.

The abundance of plantas in his home quiver with his current emotion, though not wilting. Yet.

He slows down the video to try to take it in again. But quickly, the words and movements jumble into a mess in his cerebro.

“¡Dios mio!” He mutters.

His hermanita pops her head into his room, that curious glint in her eyes. “Miah? What are you doing?”

She catches a glimpse of his laptop that’s enfrente of him on the bed and can see the video that’s paused.

“My amigo nuevo can’t talk like us. I’m trying to learn,” he answers.

Coming to the side of the cama, she flops onto it, wriggling around to get comfortable. Looking up from her position, now on her back, laying on his legs, she questions, “From vídeos?”

Temporarily abandoning his task, he tickles Este’s sides. She squeals and bats his hands away.

“Well they don’t teach us at escuela, Este.”

Catching her breath, she points out, “Why not ask Liam? Or Zac?”

Just thinking about asking Zac makes him cringe inside. He doesn’t dislike Zac. Jeremiah quite le gusta him. But he can’t seem to get him to embrace him back.

Este rolls around in his bed, wrinkling the sheets as she moves. Somehow at the same time, she looks at him expectedly, waiting for a reply.

“I want to surprise Liam with some sign language. To show that he doesn’t always have to accommodate to our way of communicating,” Jeremiah finally responds.

Her nose scrunches up in a way that their mamá would coo at. “Accommodate?” She sounds out the word like it’s comida she’s never eaten before.

Sometimes, he forgets that his hermana is only siete. She siempre is so bright and wise. “Umm…so he doesn’t have to use our way of talking. We can make the effort to use his,” he explains.

“And Zac doesn’t like me very much. Right now,” he adds.

Pausing like someone used a button on a remote, she’s completely still. It’s like when she’s thinking muy hard than she has to stop any other movement. “If learning is for su hermano, he’ll do it.”

“You think?”

“Sí,” she says, confidence laden in her voice.

“You’re pretty inteligente, hermanita,” he complements, completely and utterly meaning that.

“I know,” she chirps.

Guess it’s time to ask Zac.

Wonder how that will go.

———

(One of my favorite things about Jeremiah is that he’s so unassuming, and I wanted to show how easily he cares for people, specifically Liam in this story. Next will probably be a Bell and Cross scene and then hopefully one in Liam’s perspective and his continuing struggles at school. But that Liam one might take some time because school is super busy right now.)