‘Thanks,’ he shot me this weak kind of grateful smile. ‘I’m Ralph by the way.’

‘Jay,’ I gave him the name I was using for the people I worked with, including Julian.

‘Jay as in short for…?’

‘It’s not short for anything,’ I half wanted to roll my eyes, since this wasn’t the first time someone had made that assumption. ‘My name is actually Jay, spelt J A Y. I was named after my father.’

‘I see,’ his face pulled into a very telling look. ‘I didn’t realise that was an actual name.’

‘I know it’s not exactly common, but Grandma Peters always liked less common names,’ I shrugged. ‘Then again, maybe that had something to do with Nana Page naming her Flower,’ I laughed.

‘Your grandmother’s name is Flower?’ Another very telling look appeared on his face.

‘Yeah, and?’

‘Nothing, I guess,’ he held his hands up. ‘I just thought it was modern celebrities who were into all that weird name stuff. You know, like calling their kid’s Apple or whatever. I mean, what kind of parent names their kid Flower?’

‘Would you think it was so weird if she was called Rose, or Daisy, or Fleur?’ I challenged. ‘Especially since that last one is literally the same name, just in French.’

‘Okay, okay, I get your point, jeez,’ Ralph rolled his eyes. ‘You know you’re pretty sensitive.’

‘No I’m not,’ I snapped, then instantly gritted my teeth at my own behaviour. ‘I’m sorry, I’m genuinely not an overly sensitive person, but my name is kind of important to me, since my Dad… He… uh… he died before I was born. And… and maybe it’s a weird thing to get all defensive over, but…’

‘No, okay, in context it makes sense,’ he shot me an almost understanding look. ‘I guess I was probably coming off a little more insensitive than I intended,’ as he spoke we entered the staffroom. ‘I mean, I know I didn’t know what your name meant to you, but that’s no excuse for me to be flat out rude about it. Seriously, you’d think with all my sensitivity training I would remember to engage my brain before opening my mouth.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean exactly?’ I cocked an eyebrow at him.

‘It means that students with autism or learning disabilities aren’t the only ones with feelings that matter,’ this earnest smile spread across his face. ‘So, how about we start this over. Hi, I’m Ralph.’

‘Hello Ralph,’ I smirked at him a little, ‘I’m Jay.’

‘Jay, that’s an unusual name, there a story behind it?’

‘Yeah, actually, I was named after my dad,’ my smirk turned into more of a sad smile.

‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ he shot me a sympathetic look. ‘Now, I’m about ready to eat, what about you?’

Extract from LJ (What Makes Me book 3), by Ila Golden