Who wants to be my friends ?

"Ickel, give me back my marker. Stop stealing my stuff." "You come here with nothing, I'm nice enough to lend you some. Ask nicely." "Ickel, could you please lend me my marker?" "Here. Admit it, you come here to see me." "In your dreams." "Jade," Stella said, "the transportation cost formula at day eighty-five. Can you give it to me?" "I don't understand how to calculate it." "Stella, can you explain it again, please? Slower this time." "Guess what my mother made today," Ickel said. "Thieb with chicken." "Can your mother adopt me? I want to eat her food every day." "When you're my wife, you'll eat her food every day." "No thanks, I'm on a diet." "I'm patient, you know." "Take Stella instead, if you want." "Stella, have you ever had thieb?" "Yes. And mafé, and yassa. I was in Senegal last summer, volunteering at an orphanage. It's a beautiful country. I hope to go back soon. I miss the kids so much." "I go every year. We could go together if you want." "Yes, why not." Was this a joke, or was she hitting on him? She was stealing Ickel right under my nose. The nerve. "Can I leave if I'm in the way?" Ickel gave me a satisfied smile. He'd seen I was jealous. "At least finish this exercise before you leave," Stella said. "This kind of case always comes up on the exam." "Then explain it instead of chatting with Ickel!" "Excuse me? You've been crying about your marker for 20 minutes, and I've explained the same exercise four times. You don't take notes. You haven't touched your calculator. You're wasting my time, but I don't care, because I already graduated. I do this because I promised our mothers. So which one of us is wasting the other's time?" "You're showing off because you graduated and skipped a grade?" "Showing off? You think we're in your projects? You think talking like a hood rat makes you a strong woman? Stop acting hard when you can't even find x in a simple equation. Your mother was right. You're just pretty. Everything else is worthless." "Stella, take that back right now," Nat said. "Jade, sweetheart, I'm sorry." "I don't need you to graduate. Your only luck is being born with a silver spoon up your ass—excuse my language, Your Highness. Me, I fight alone. I don't have my parents signing checks. On equal terms, I'd crush you. So yes, I'll get there slower than you, but I'll go further, because I have something you don't. I have the hunger to get out, because I grew up in the projects and I promised myself I will leave."