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61 pages 2 hours read

Lamar Giles

Fresh Ink: An Anthology

Fiction | Short Story Collection | Middle Grade | Published in 2018

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“Be Cool for Once”Chapter Summaries & Analyses

“Be Cool for Once” Summary

High school friends Shirin and Francesca are at a concert in Oakland, listening to the band Thousand Day Queens. They’re surprised when baseball player Jeffrey Tanaka, whom Shirin secretly admires, shows up despite the show’s exclusivity and the fact that it’s a school night. Shirin and Francesca have different personalities. Shirin is Muslim, considers herself a scientific observer, and wants to be a physicist, calling herself a “professional observer.” Francesca, who has a girlfriend, is an “adventurer” with wild hair and can talk to anyone.

Shirin regularly makes excuses to talk to Jeffrey in homeroom, borrowing items that she doesn’t need, but she has never had the courage to really talk to him or reveal her crush on him. During the show, he shocks her by coming up and talking to her and choosing to stand next to her. Shirin struggles with her feelings for Jeffrey, who asks questions about her, making her even more nervous. She battles her disappointment over being too distracted to enjoy the show but also her excitement over being near him.

When Shirin and Francesca sneak backstage during the show, they’re shocked when Jeffrey appears and comes face to face with Shirin. She decides that she must tell Jeffrey how she feels, mostly to rid herself of the feelings. Instead of giving him a chance to reciprocate, she tells him that she doesn’t consider herself the type for him because she would “rather see than be seen” and he’s too popular and social for her (65). When the three are interrupted by a woman asking them to leave, Shirin asks Jeffrey not to follow her. He opens his mouth, considers, and doesn’t speak but instead nods as Shirin and Francesca go.

Throughout the rest of the show, Shirin dances and tries to get lost in the music but still thinks about Jeffrey. At the end, when they go to leave, she spots Jeffrey standing at the exit, waiting for her.

He approaches Shirin and tells her that he kept buying school supplies to make sure that he had anything she asked for. He says that he likes her too and is impressed by the fact that she does things like make a PowerPoint to convince her parents to let her come to concerts. Shirin again tells him that she’s not good for him and that, given their different personalities, it would never work out. When he turns to leave, she considers how this is her last chance and how it’s not like the movies where he turns back again and tries once more. She considers and then stops him, and he turns back. They kiss, and Shirin considers how she’s proud of herself for acting without considering the consequences for once.

“Be Cool for Once” Analysis

In this story, friends Shirin and Francesca serve as foils for each other to emphasize Shirin’s insecurities and the negative qualities she attributes to herself. For example, the first description of Shirin notes that she “want[s] to be a physicist, a professional observer, a watcher. Not an explorer or a gambler” (57). In contrast, the next paragraph states that Francesca “[is] a pusher and an adventurer. The girl with the wild hair who c[an] talk literally anyone into anything” (57-58). Additionally, when Shirin considers talking to Jeffrey, she notes that she “wish[es] she could be an adventurer like Francesca” (65). This contrast emphasizes the differences between how Francesca acts (extroverted, talkative, and adventurous) and how Shirin views herself (introverted, introspective, and scientifically oriented). However, these differences are emphasized mostly in Shirin’s own mind. Because the story is told using a third-person point of view from Shirin’s perspective, only Shirin’s thoughts about herself are revealed, not how other characters view her. To Shirin’s surprise, when she finally talks to Jeffrey about how she feels, he asserts that she’s interesting and that her view of herself is wrong. He tells her that she “convinced [her] parents to let [her] go to concerts when [she] was fourteen with research and a PowerPoint,” and the fact that they’re “immigrant parents” makes it even more impressive (68). He also tells her that he likes how she doesn’t “give a damn what anyone thinks [and] always say[s] what’s on [her] mind” (68). The revelation that others’ opinions of Shirin aren’t how she sees herself shows the harm in Shirin comparing herself to Francesca. Instead of finding her own positive attributes or considering the ways that she is, in fact, “an adventurer,” she constantly thinks about what she lacks in comparison to Francesca. Consequently, she struggles to confess how she feels and, more importantly, sees herself as unworthy of Jeffrey.

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