Nathan poked at his food with a fork. Part of him found it ironic that a Chinese American family was eating Chinese takeout for dinner, but his mind wasn’t really on the food.
“Honey, what’s wrong?” his mother asked from across the table. She was frowning, but it was concern in her eyes.
Nathan’s younger brother snickered, and Nathan cast him a dark look.
“I’m just not very hungry, I guess,” he lied. He hated lying to his mother, but he really didn’t want to talk about it.
“He’s upset because he still doesn’t have a date for Valentine’s Day,” Tyler chimed in.
Nathan stabbed his beef with his fork, looking down to hide his grimace.
“Tyler, stop antagonizing your brother and eat your dinner,” their father said.
Tyler grumbled something under his breath, but didn’t respond.
Nathan silently thanked his father, but he knew that Tyler was right. He was fifteen now and still didn’t have a girlfriend. All his friends were always talking about girls, but Nathan had such a hard time getting a girl to go out with him.
Not that he hadn’t tried, of course. He’d asked out four different girls this school year already, and each one had said no. And every time they did he wished he could just disappear and never have to try again. But with Valentine’s Day coming up, he felt even worse than usual.
