Ask her fun, interesting questions. “How are rehearsals going? This semester’s play seems really cool.” “Do you cook or something? You always have the best lunches.” Talk about things she’s interested in. “What kind of dog do you have?” “Is math your favorite subject then? You seem really good at it.” Tease her gently. “OK, you don’t always have to get the high score, you know. You’re not making the rest of us look very good, haha.” “It’s OK, that would’ve been a perfect shot if the hoop were like, three feet to the left!” Casually change the topic when the conversation lulls. “So what’d you do last weekend?” “What are you gonna do over winter break?” Tell her a funny story. “The last time we went on vacation, my parents actually thought we’d lost my little sister and spent like an hour looking for her. Then they came back to the room and she’d just been under the covers napping the whole time. I was like, how did you not see her??” “Last history test, remember how everyone did so badly on it? So I got Mrs. Thomas to give us all three extra points because I convinced her one of the questions didn’t make sense. So I’m pretty much a hero, you know.”