The Notebook Between Their Desks

Chapter 1The Open Corner

Suri could see the corner of Liba's notebook.

It was under the desk, open to yesterday's history notes.

Their Bais Yaakov teacher had given them a short written test. Notes were meant to stay in their bags.

Liba had reached the question about the old bridge and its two repairs.

Suri knew because Liba tapped that question with her pencil, then looked at the notebook corner.

Suri looked back at her own page.

If she didn't notice, perhaps she wouldn't have to decide what noticing required.

But she had noticed.

Chapter 2One Small Nod

Liba pushed a folded scrap toward her.

IS THE SECOND DATE EIGHTEEN FORTY?

Suri knew it was not.

A tiny shake of her head would stop her friend from writing a wrong answer.

They helped each other with dates all the time before lessons.

This was during the test.

The difference was small enough to ignore if Suri looked only at how much she liked Liba.

She left the scrap unanswered and moved it back.

Then she covered her own page with her hand.

Liba's face tightened.

Chapter 3The Teacher's Walk

Mrs. Green walked between the desks, her brown sheitel neat above her collar.

She saw the folded scrap and asked Suri to hand it over.

Suri did.

"Did you answer this?"

"No."

Mrs. Green asked Liba to close the notebook and bring it to her desk.

Then she separated their seats for the rest of the test.

Suri wanted to tell everyone that she had done nothing wrong.

Nobody had asked everyone.

She finished her own questions and waited for the bell.

Chapter 4Whose Trouble

At break, Liba wouldn't look at her.

"You could have covered the note."

"She asked for it."

"Now I have to speak to her after class."

Suri felt responsible for the coming conversation because her hand had passed over the scrap.

But the conversation was about Liba's notebook and request, not Suri refusing to supply an answer.

"I didn't want you to get in trouble," she said. "I wasn't going to answer during the test or hide the note when she asked."

Liba went toward the other girls.

Suri stayed beside the window for a minute.

The honest answer had not made her lunch break easy.

Chapter 5The Earlier Help

After class, Suri asked Mrs. Green whether she should have done something differently.

"You didn't answer the question, and you gave me the note when I asked," the teacher said. "If someone keeps asking during a test, you can raise your hand and tell me quietly."

Suri nodded.

She didn't ask what consequence Liba would receive.

That part wasn't hers to collect or discuss with the class.

Mrs. Green reminded the girls separately that they could help each other study beforehand, but tests had to show each pupil's own work.

Suri put the new date-practice sheet into her bag.

Beforehand was still a place where help belonged.

Chapter 6On the Steps

Liba came out later with her schoolbag.

"I have to do another test on Friday," she said.

Suri didn't say it served her right.

She also didn't say the teacher should forget what had happened.

"Would you like to study the bridge dates tomorrow?"

Liba looked at her.

"You'd help now?"

"Yes. Before the test."

Liba said she would think about it.

Suri went home without asking her to decide immediately whether they were still friends.

A fair limit could stand while a person felt annoyed by it.

Chapter 7The Two Repairs

The next afternoon, Liba brought her notes to the study table.

They wrote one card for each bridge repair, with a short description beneath its year.

Suri covered the dates and asked Liba to match the descriptions.

Liba got one wrong, checked it, and tried again.

"The two repairs don't need the same reason," she said.

"Right."

They took turns asking each other questions.

Suri wasn't repaying the test trouble with secret help. She was offering the kind of help they had always been allowed to give.

When Liba put away the cards, the notebook went into her bag with them.

Chapter 8Before the Bell

On Friday, Liba closed her bag before the test began.

Suri worked at her own desk.

She didn't watch every movement Liba made or appoint herself to check another girl's paper.

Their teacher was there for that.

At break, Liba asked whether Suri wanted to walk outside.

"Yes."

They talked about the class library, not the private conversation at Mrs. Green's desk.

Liba hadn't said that Suri's refusal had felt kind. Suri hadn't demanded that she say it.

They could spend one break together without changing what belonged inside a test.

The study cards waited in their bags for another afternoon.