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She placed an envelope down on the table near the top of my tray and I picked it up with both hands. She’d written our names out in swirly cursive with a pink glitter pen and stuck a rhinestone star in the corner. It seemed so wrong. So incongruently optimistic.
“Oooh! Pretty!” Faith cooed, tearing into her envelope and pulling out a sparkling pink card.
“Your dad’s renting out the Hayden Planetarium?” Sha
“Yep. The theme is ‘Catch a Rising Star!’” Chloe said, spreading her fingers wide with a bright, fake smile. “Like I said, appearances.”
“Do you need any help?” Jake asked, tucking his invite away without opening it. “I mean, I know how you guys plan parties. It’s like a full-time job. And your doctor said you should be resting as much as possible….”
I looked down at my congealing macaroni and cheese and my eyes blurred. Why? Why did I suddenly feel so sad? I should say something. Offer my help too. But I felt like Chloe’s invitation had wedged itself inside my throat, preventing speech. From the corner of my eye, I saw Hammond approaching our table—something he hadn’t done once this semester. His timing couldn’t have been more awful.
“Thanks for the offer, but I had to beg on hands and knees just to be allowed to invite you,” Chloe said.
“Aren’t you grounded, anyway?” I said quietly. Jake hadn’t been able to so much as go out for a run since they’d told his parents about the baby, so I wasn’t sure how he was supposed to help out with the party of the century.
“Right,” he said reluctantly. “Forgot about that.”
“It’s okay,” Chloe assured him. “Honestly, I think the less my parents see of you right now, the better.”
“Aw! Couple of the Year having trouble?” Hammond teased, pausing just off Jake’s right shoulder. His blond hair had been cropped into a spiky ’do and he wore his varsity jacket over a white turtleneck sweater, which made him look twice his size—more shoulder, more chest, and more neck. Why did I get the feeling this was intentional?
Chloe rolled her eyes. “Hammond, please don’t start.”
“Sorry.” And he actually did look sorry. For a second. “Do you need help with something?” he asked Chloe.
“No. I’m good. Jake was just offering to help plan my birthday party,” Chloe replied. She tugged out Hammond’s invitation and handed it to him. “But my parents …”
Jake shifted in his seat. He curled his fingers around the corners of his tray.
“Oh, well, if you need someone, I’m around,” Hammond offered. “And last I checked, your parents still liked me.”
He laughed in this obnoxious way and slapped Jake on the back. Jake shrugged him off violently, which just made Hammond smile wider.
“Yeah?” Chloe said, brightening slightly. “You’d do that?”
“Maybe not, like, picking out the flowers or whatever, but if you’ve got any heavy lifting or driving or need me to pick something up …”
“Since when are you Mr. Helpful?” Sha
“Just trying to pick up the slack for my friend here,” Hammond said, kneading Jake’s shoulders now.
Actually, it was pretty clear he was just trying to get under Jake’s skin. And even clearer, by the severe clench of my boyfriend’s jaw, that it was working.
“Hammond, that’d be great,” Chloe said. “Thanks.”
“Sure. Of course. Just text me,” Hammond said. “Whatever you need.”
Jake’s glare could have stopped a runaway train. Was he jealous or something? Mad that Chloe was choosing Hammond’s help over his? Wasn’t it enough that he went to every doctor’s appointment with her now and carried her bag and made sure she always had a water bottle on her? What the hell?
Hammond turned sideways to slide behind Jake’s chair, jostling it purposely with his knees so that Jake was shoved forward, and joined the guys at the other end of the table. Again, for the first time this semester.
“That was weird with a capital W,” Faith said. “Has he even spoken to you since the big reveal?” she asked Chloe.
“Not at all,” Chloe replied. “Maybe he’s finally realizing what a jerk he’s been.”
“Like that’s possible,” Sha
Chloe lifted a shoulder as she stood. “Miracles do happen.” It was amazing how she could still be all bright-side-focused with everything that was going on. “I’m go
“I’ll get it.” Jake jumped up like he’d been launched from a slingshot. “What do you need?”
Chloe laughed and touched his arm. I couldn’t help staring at her dainty, manicured fingers on the sleeve of his blue sweater. “It’s okay. I can handle a tray.”
“I’ll come with you,” Jake said, turning up the aisle. “In case you need me to carry anything.”
Chloe rolled her eyes but realized it was pointless to argue. “Okay, fine. We’ll be right back,” she said over her shoulder. It made me cringe, the way she said “we.”
I watched as she walked away with my boyfriend, their heads bent toward each other in conversation. I watched as dozens of other people marked their progress toward the food line too. Some of them even looked back at me curiously, wondering what was going on. I caught A
Then Lincoln strolled past A
“Don’t let them get to you,” Sha
“Yeah. I know,” I replied, averting my eyes from A
Sha
ally
“You’re nervous, aren’t you?”
Lincoln stood so close to me I could smell the gummi bears on his breath.
“Me? No.”
I took a deep, calming breath, but it caught on an itch in the back of my throat. My hand slapped over my mouth as I attempted to hold back the cough, my eyes burning with tears as the spotlights bore down on me.
“Well, I’m nervous,” he said.
I held up a finger and turned around to cough my brains out. Nice. Very attractive. When I was done, I turned to him hopefully. “Really?”
He smirked. “No.”
Yeah. Should have seen that one coming. I flicked a tear from the corner of my eye and sighed.
“Okay, people! Let’s block this scene!” Mrs. Thompson clasped her hands together as she walked to the center of the auditorium. “I want Hermia and Lysander stage right. Demetrius and Helena right next to them. And the Duke should be center stage. Bottom, you stay where you are.”
We glanced over at Kevin Parsely, who was playing the part of Bottom. He’d been curled up on the stage floor for almost an hour.
“Are we go
“I know. I know. I apologize,” Mrs. Thompson said. “You’ll have pillows to fall asleep on at the next rehearsal.”
The cast cheered. I’d never realized how often the characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream passed out until I started rehearsing the play on the dusty hardwood floor. I guess that was why the word “dream” featured in the title.
“Okay, we’re going to do Demetrius’s big speech now,” Mrs. Thompson said, gesturing up at Lincoln. “And from what I understand, Mr. Carter here has gone professional on us and memorized it.”