“I bet it will be,” Nick replied. “Last year, I was in this quartet, and the week before Solo and Ensemble, Lisa—our tuba player—she got the flu. But she showed up that Saturday because she said she was feeling better, so we played it anyway, and . . .”
“It sounded bad?”
“Well, we were doing okay until about halfway through,” said Nick. “Then we got to this part where Lisa had to hold out a really long note, and she kind of . . . sneezed. Into her mouthpiece.”
I struggled not to laugh. “Ew.”
“The worst part was the noise her tuba made,” Nick went on, and I could tell he was grinning. “Even the judge laughed. We had to restart in the middle of the song.”
“She must have felt horrible!” I said, even though I couldn’t help giggling. “Not that she sneezed on purpose, but still.”
“Yeah, she felt bad, but other than that we did okay,” said Nick. “And the judge still gave us a really good rating. I bet yours will, too.”
I smiled. “I hope so. So what about yesterday? How’d you do?”
“Pretty good. I—”
There was a click, and someone said: “Holly?”
Oh no.
“I’m using the phone, Chad.” I tried not to sound too panicked. “Hang up!”
“I gotta call work to check my schedule,” Chad said impatiently. “You hang up.”
“Chad—”
“It’s okay, Holly,” said Nick. “I can call back later.”
Before I could respond, Chad cut in. “Who’s this?”
“It’s my friend Nick,” I said quickly. “For the love, Chad, can you just—”
“The guy you play video games with?”
“No, he’s—”
“The guy you keep letting borrow all my DVDs?”
“No, just—”
“Geez, Holly!” Chad exclaimed. “How many boyfriends do you have?”
Oh my God.
My face burned. Before I could respond, I heard Dad yell, “Chad, leave her alone!”
“But I’ve gotta call work!” Chad yelled back.
“It’s okay, I should go anyway.” Nick sounded kind of freaked out. “Um, talk to you later, Holly.”
“Bye,” I managed to say right before he hung up. Immediately, Chad started dialing. Beep-boop-boop–
“Chad!” I cried. “What is wrong with you?”
“What?” He sounded confused. I could practically hear him squinting. “I told you, I gotta call work.”
“You . . . you just . . . ,” I sputtered. “Never mind.”
Slamming the phone down, I sprawled back on my bed and covered my face with my hands. Well, that was completely mortifying. If I ever actually did get a boyfriend, no way was he ever meeting my brother.
Mr. Dante put up the results from Solo and Ensemble on Monday during band. I crossed my fingers behind my back, held my breath, and crowded around with everyone else. My eyes went to the sheet with solo results first.
Holly Mead—I (Superior)
My breath flew out in a whoosh, and I grinned. I knew I’d played well, but still—it was pretty cool to know that Ms. Hunter had thought so, too. I scanned the other solo results. It looked like almost everyone from Millican had gotten either a Superior or an Excellent rating. Gabby and Natasha both had Superior next to their names. No surprises there. But so did Owen! Beaming, I turned and peered around everyone until I spotted him over by the cubbies. I headed over to congratulate him when someone tugged on my arm.
“Guess I didn’t mess us up too bad,” Aaron said, smiling at me.
“What? Oh!” My eyes flew back to the results, and I quickly found my name on the ensemble list.
“Triptych”—I (Superior)
Aaron Cook
Holly Mead
Liam Park
“Wow!” I couldn’t help sounding a little shocked. It looked like Nick had been right about the judge being forgiving. I would’ve called him to let him know if Chad hadn’t scared him off.
Mr. Dante appeared next to me, digging through a bag of medals. He handed two to Aaron, then two to me. One for my solo, one for “Triptych.” Stepping to the side, I stared at my medals, mentally rearranging my bulletin board to make room for them. I didn’t notice Julia next to me until she poked my arm.
“Nice job!” she said with a grin.
“Thanks!” I smiled back. “Did you get your medals yet?”
“Just one. For my ensemble.” Wrinkling her nose, Julia pointed at the results. “I didn’t do as well on my solo.”
I glanced at the solo list, my eyes widening a little.
Julia Gordon—II (Excellent)
“Oh!” Blinking, I turned back to Julia. “That’s still good, though! I mean, technically it’s excellent.” As soon as I said it, I winced. What a lame thing to say. But Julia laughed.
“It’s okay, I’m not upset.” She shrugged. “Honestly, I didn’t practice it as much as I probably should have. I just didn’t have the time.”
I thought about the study lockdown Julia’s parents had imposed a few weeks ago because of her grade in history, and how Natasha and I barely saw her anymore. It seemed like Seth was the only thing Julia had time for now—never mind school, band, or her friends.
But I didn’t say any of that, of course. I just patted her sympathetically on the arm and tucked my medals safely in my pocket.
The week before the band trip was nothing but essays, tests, piles of homework, and absolutely no alien carnage. Poor Owen had it even worse than I did, with baseball practices and another game on top of everything else. On the bright side, that weekend was Julia’s surprise party.
On Saturday morning, Mom and I got up early to do a little shopping. We stumbled into the kitchen at noon, weighed down with bags of decorations, groceries, and Julia’s birthday present—a giant jewelry-making kit that came with lots of colored glass beads and pendants.
By two o’clock, everyone was at my house. Natasha and I had invited Gabby, Victoria Rios, and Leah Collins. We got to work hanging streamers, blowing up balloons, and making an enormous coconut cake. Julia’s dad, who pretty much could’ve been a professional chef, lent me a bunch of tools to make frosting flowers. We kind of went overboard.
“This thing is more frosting than cake,” Gabby said cheerfully, piping out a purple tulip. I nodded in agreement. It looked like a giant basket of slightly misshapen but colorful flowers in the middle of the counter.
“We should probably stop,” Natasha murmured as she added tiny green leaves along the bottom edge of the cake.
“Yeah.” Holding the finished tulip in her palm, Gabby eyed the cake. Then she popped the tulip into her mouth. “Mmmm, frosting.” She grinned at us, revealing purple-stained teeth, and we laughed.
“It’s almost five,” I said, glancing at the clock. “We should probably order the pizza soon—Julia’s supposed to get here in an hour.”
As I was digging through a drawer of takeout menus, looking for the one from Spins, the back door flew open. Chad took a few steps and stopped, his eyes wide.
“What the . . .”
I snickered as he looked from the girls crowded around the counter to the ridiculous frosting-flower monstrosity. “Julia’s surprise party,” I said. “I told you about this yesterday.”
“Did not.”
Rolling my eyes, I pulled out the Spins menu, then swatted Chad’s hand when he tried to swipe a bit of frosting off the cake. “Gross!” I yelled. “Seriously, Chad—get out of here. Go over to Leon’s or something.”
“All right, all right,” he grumbled, heading to the living room. The phone rang just as he got to the door, and he grabbed it before I could. “Hello? . . . Yeah, hang on.” Chad held the phone out. “For you. And it’s actually not a boy this time.”
I took the
phone, then shoved Chad out of the kitchen.
“What boy is he talking about?” Gabby asked immediately.
“Ugh, I’ll tell you later,” I said before putting the phone to my ear. “Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me!”
Frantically, I waved at the others, then put my hand over the mouthpiece. “It’s Julia!” I hissed, and they fell quiet.
“Hi!” I said. “Are you on your way over?”
“Holly, you won’t believe this!” Julia exclaimed. “Guess what Seth surprised me with for my birthday?”
“What?”
“Tickets to see Infinite Crush!”
“Wow!” Way to go, Seth, I thought with a grin. Infinite Crush was one of Julia’s favorite bands.
“I know, I can’t believe it!” Julia went on breathlessly. “I’ve got to figure out what to wear, too. I’m really sorry about dinner, but do you want to come over and help me pick something out?”
I blinked a few times. “What?”
“I was thinking that green dress I got for Christmas, but I’m not sure which shoes—”
“No, wait.” Ducking through the doorway into the living room, I lowered my voice. “Julia, the concert’s tonight?”
“Yeah!”
“But . . .” I stared around the living room at all the streamers and balloons. A huge banner stretched on the wall over the couch—Natasha and Gabby had spent almost an hour writing HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JULIA with little music note stamps. “You’re supposed to come over.”
“I know, and I’m really sorry, but can’t we do dinner tomorrow?” Julia asked. “Holly, it’s Infinite Crush! The tickets are for tonight—I can’t just see them another time.”
“Yeah, but the thing is . . .” Hesitating, I glanced back in the kitchen. Everyone was still joking and laughing, piling more frosting flowers on the cake. “Well, I was kind of going to surprise you, too.”
“What?”
“It’s a surprise slumber party,” I told her. “Natasha’s here, and Gabby, and we made a cake . . .”
“Oh!” Julia was quiet for a second. “Wow, Holly, I didn’t—I mean, thank you! That’s so cool!”
I grinned, relieved. “You’re welcome! Just pretend to be surprised when you get here, okay?” When she didn’t respond, my smile faded. “Julia?”
“But, Holly . . .” Julia sounded nervous. “I can’t come. I mean . . . the concert.”
“What?”
“I’m so sorry, but it’s not like I knew!” she said quickly. “I had no idea Seth got these tickets, and I didn’t know about the party, either.”
“Right, we both surprised you.” I stared at the banner, gripping the phone a little too hard. “And you’re picking Seth.”
“Holly, come on! The concert’s only tonight—we can do a slumber party anytime.”
My mouth fell open. Because she actually sounded irritated.
“You’re right,” I snapped. “After all, we’re just your best friends. Your boyfriend is obviously way more important, so just—just go to the concert. Have fun.”
I hung up before she could respond. My hands were shaking.
Tears pricked the corners of my eyes, and I squeezed them shut. I could hear the girls giggling about something in the kitchen. What was I supposed to tell them? Sorry, guys, but Julia’s got better things to do.
Suddenly, I felt more angry than hurt. Wiping my eyes, I headed back into the kitchen and set the phone on the counter.
“Check it out!” Gabby pulled me over to the cake, pointing. The words Happy Birthday were scrawled in almost illegible script, taking up pretty much the entire mound of flowers. Crammed in beneath, a tiny yellow squiggle covered a cluster of frosting leaves.
“That says Julia, I just ran out of room,” Gabby said defensively when I squinted. Natasha and the others snickered. “Hey, it still looks good!” Gabby cried. “Julia will love it.”
“Actually,” I told her, swiping a bit of frosting and licking my finger, “Julia’s not coming. So we might as well just put more flowers on it.”
“What?”
Picking up a bag of red frosting, I started piping out an enormous rose. “Yeah, apparently Seth surprised her with tickets to see Infinite Crush tonight, so . . .” With a shrug, I plopped the rose on top of the yellow squiggle. “She’s not coming.”
I glanced up at Natasha, whose mouth was open. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah.”
Cue the awkward silence. My eyes fell on the Spins menu, and I picked it up.
“Anyway, what should I order?” Ugh, my voice sounded all perky and weird. But Gabby took the menu and flipped it open.
“Cinnamon sticks,” she announced. “Oh, and they’ve got that chocolate-cherry dessert pizza . . .”
“Dude, we already have a mountain of frosting!” Victoria pointed to our coconut cake monstrosity, and I relaxed a little bit. While she and Leah tried to talk Gabby into eating pepperoni like a normal human being, Natasha came around the counter.
“So she’s really not coming?” she asked softly.
“Yeah.” I kept my voice low. “And she was actually annoyed when I told her about the party.”
Natasha’s eyes widened. “What?”
“I mean, not about the party,” I corrected myself. “But I figured once I told her about it, she’d come, you know? And she just said we can do a slumber party anytime.”
Wrinkling her nose, Natasha poked a frosting bag. “Well, glad we went to all this trouble.”
“I know.”
“Hey, Holly—are these yours?”
I glanced up to see Victoria waving something at me. My Warlock cards.
“Oh, yeah,” I replied. “Owen gave me those. It’s this game we play at lunch.”
“Yeah, I’ve got some, too!” she said.
“Really?”
“I’ve got study hall with Max and Trevor, so we play sometimes.” Victoria headed for the door. “Actually, I think mine are in my backpack.”
After ordering the pizza (and cinnamon sticks for Gabby), I joined the others in the living room. They were sprawled in a circle on the floor, examining the Warlock cards. Victoria was trying to explain the rules, but Gabby kept yelling things like “look, a rhino-dude!” and waving her tusked-warrior card in Leah’s face. Laughing, I sat down next to Natasha and grabbed my set of cards. When Victoria started going over the types of spells and potions with the others, I leaned over to Natasha.
“We have to talk to Julia,” I said quietly. “This whole picking Seth over us thing . . . I don’t know, maybe she doesn’t realize she’s doing it.”
“Well . . .” Natasha frowned. “It’s not her fault Seth surprised her the same night as us. She probably just doesn’t get how much work we put into this, you know? I mean, if she saw everyone here right now, with all the decorations and the cake and stuff . . .”
I thought about it. “Yeah, she’d probably feel really bad. And I mean, it would be sad if she had to miss that concert.” Then I sighed. I didn’t want to fight with Julia, even if she really had hurt my feelings. “The trip’s this week, too.”
Natasha crinkled her nose. “Right. Ugh, I don’t want things to be weird with Julia—New Orleans is going to be so much fun!”
I nodded. “So let’s talk to her Monday and explain everything, okay? I’m sure she’ll understand.”
“Definitely.” Natasha squinted at one of her cards. “And Holly?”
“Yeah?”
She waved the card at me—an angry-looking and very dirty gnome climbing out of an unlit fireplace. “This game is really weird.”
“That’s a chimney gnome. They have magic brooms.”
Natasha’s eyebrow arched, and I laughed. “Just give it a chance! I’ll show you how to play.”
Teaching everyone Warlock turn
ed out to be a good distraction. The rest of the night was fun—I mean, we had pizza, a cake piled with frosting, and lots of movies (although all of my suggestions were unanimously vetoed). But every once in a while, Natasha and I would glance at each other, and I knew she was thinking about Julia, too. Wondering if she was having fun at the concert with Seth. If she cared at all that she’d hurt our feelings.
But I felt a little better the next morning. Natasha had to be right—Julia was just caught off guard with the party and the concert tickets. We could fix this. We just had to talk to her.
After a breakfast of doughnuts and orange juice, everyone’s parents came to pick them up. I cleaned up the living room, then spent the rest of the day having a horror movie marathon with Chad. It was kind of meditative, really. Maybe my best friend was being a little selfish, but hey—there were no ghosts living in my bathroom mirror, and Chad’s car wasn’t possessed by a demon.
Things could be worse.
When I saw Natasha before band on Monday, I started to think maybe I was wrong.
“Julia barely said two words to me in history this morning,” Natasha whispered while I took my horn out of its case. “It’s like she’s actually mad at us.”
I glanced around the cubbies. No Julia yet.
“Well, she probably thinks we’re mad at her,” I said. “I mean, I did sort of yell at her on the phone. I was mad. We just need to talk to her.”
“We have to do it right after band, then,” Natasha replied as we headed to our seats. “Seth will be at lunch.”
I made a face. “Yeah, that would be awkward. Okay, after band.”
When we sat down, Owen came out of Mr. Dante’s office holding something behind his back. He looked like he was trying not to smile.
“What’s that?” I asked as soon as he reached his chair.
“Nothing.” Owen glanced around, then slid over into Brooke’s empty chair next to Natasha. “Okay, our band shirts came in.”
“Oh!” Leaning closer, I watched eagerly as he unrolled the shirt.
Last semester, we’d held a band bake sale to raise money for our trip to New Orleans. Mr. Dante promised that the section who earned the most money would get to pick the design for our new band shirts. Since the brass section won, we’d decided to have Owen come up with something original.
Sleepovers, Solos, and Sheet Music Page 5
