by Coco Simon
I heard George’s voice behind me, and I turned around and looked over my seat.
“Hey, I can play basketball on Sunday,” I said.
“Cool. Three o’clock?” he asked.
“Sure,” I said, and then I turned back to Mia. She was holding up her phone. There was a group text from Alexis: URGENT! Brown-Green wedding has moved up to 6/26. We need to set a date to test flavors ASAP. Pls respond. More talk at lunch!
I laughed. “Oh boy,” I said. “We are in for it!”
Alexis wasn’t kidding around. She didn’t mention the wedding at all during gym class, but at lunchtime she slid a checklist over to me as soon as I sat down.
“I e-mailed the same checklist to your mom last night,” Alexis said. “I need you to push her for me, Katie. I need answers to these questions right away! I listed them in order of importance.”
I glanced at the list. Venue for the wedding service? Venue for the reception? Number of guests? Wedding colors? The list went on and on.
“I’m glad I’m not planning this,” I said. “I’ll talk to her tonight. Oh, I can check one thing off the list for you. I’m her maid of honor!”
Mia and Emma had joined us by that point.
“Katie, that’s so exciting!” Emma squealed.
“I will help you pick out a dress,” Mia promised.
“Thanks,” I said. “I think usually the bride picks out the dresses, but I bet Mom would be relieved to have your help. I honestly have no idea what to wear. But thankfully, Mom says I don’t have to throw her a bachelorette party or anything like that.”
“What about a bridal shower?” Emma asked. “Those are really fun.”
I felt my stomach do a little flip. “A bridal shower? I have no idea how to do that.”
“There is literally no time for a bridal shower,” Alexis said. “I think your mom knows that. But as maid of honor, it’s your responsibility to make sure everything else goes smoothly.”
“Everything else?” I asked.
“Yes,” Alexis said. She tapped the list in front of me. “Talk to your mother!”
“I will! I promise!” I said.
* * *
That night, I prepared the meal from the boxed kit that Mom had been getting lately while I waited for her to come home from work. She trusted me now to cook on my own, and the meal kits were just enough food for two people and easy to make. When she got home, I had the table set with finished plates of chicken with vegetable couscous.
“Katie, this looks delicious,” Mom said, after she’d washed up and sat down. “Thank you!”
“No problem,” I said. “I wanted to get dinner out of the way so you and I could talk about the wedding. If I don’t, I’m afraid what Alexis will do.”
Mom laughed. “Yes, I got her e-mails. Do you want to talk now?”
I took out the Alexis checklist. “Shoot.”
“Well, Jeff and I want to have the ceremony in the park, where he proposed,” she said. “Jeff’s getting the permit now, but it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“That sounds nice,” I said, and wrote “park” into the chart.
“The Women’s Club is right across the street, and they have a lovely banquet hall with a kitchen and a dance floor,” Mom continued. “We thought about having the reception in the park too, but doing it at the Women’s Club would be so much easier. And the bathrooms are a lot nicer than the park ones. And we checked and they are not booked yet on the twenty-sixth.”
I wrote “Women’s Club” on the chart. “All right, what about colors?” I asked her.
“I was thinking … pink,” Mom said.
I raised my eyebrows. “Really? But green is your favorite color.”
“I know, but … I’ve used green before,” she said, and I knew she meant at her first wedding. “Besides, you’ll look so pretty in a pink dress. And pink is such a sweet and romantic color.”
“Pink it is,” I said, thinking that the Cupcake Club would be happy to hear that.
“And that’s about all I’ve got figured out,” Mom said, spearing a piece of chicken with her fork.
“That should be enough to satisfy Alexis for a little while,” I said. “Now that we know the colors, we can narrow down the cupcake flavor.”
“Oh, that reminds me,” Mom said. “I scheduled a wedding thing for this Sunday, and I need you there. It’s at three o’clock.”
“What is it?” I asked, thinking of my basketball plans with George.
“It’s a surprise,” Mom said, and her eyes were twinkling. “I think you’ll like it.”
“Well, I’m supposed to hang out with George, but if it’s a wedding thing …”
“Thanks, Katie! This means a lot to me!” Mom said.
* * *
We finished our dinner, and I texted George: Can’t do basketball Sunday. Wedding thing with Mom.
He texted back: K.
Uh-oh, I thought. The dreaded “K.” The response you gave when you weren’t happy with what the person texting you told you. It was colder than a sad face because at least a sad face showed some emotion. The “K” was just so cold and robotic.
We’ll do it soon! I texted him, and waited for a response. I didn’t get one.
Oh well. George was the least of my problems right now. I had a wedding to get ready for!
* * *
I was surprised on Sunday when Mom and I drove up to Jeff’s house and Emily ran out.
“What’s this all about?” I asked, before Emily got into the car.
“You’ll see,” Mom replied, and then Emily slid into the back seat.
“I’m so excited,” Emily said. “Do you know where we’re going, Katie? Dad wouldn’t tell me.”
“No idea,” I admitted.
“I think we’re going to get dresses,” Emily guessed. “Are we going to get dresses, Sharon?”
I winced. One thing that was hard to get used to was Emily calling my mom by her first name.
“I’m not giving away the surprise,” Mom said. “Not yet.”
This is going to be an awesome surprise, I thought, especially if Mom is going to all this trouble to keep it a secret.
She drove down the street and then got onto Harrison Road. I suddenly had a thought.
“We’re going to Stonebrook!” I said. I know because that’s where Dessert Dad’s restaurant is, and a bunch of fancy shops, and Mom takes Harrison Road when she drives me there. “I bet we are going to look at dresses.”
Mom didn’t say anything—she just smiled—and I tried to think of what else was in Stonebrook. A shoe store. A greeting card shop. An ice-cream parlor. None of those seemed really exciting.
I kept my eyes peeled out the window as we drove down the main street, past Chez Daniel, and turned a corner. Mom pulled into a parking lot of a tall white house that had been turned into a business.
Emily saw the sign before I did.
“The Moonlight Dance Studio!” she squealed. “Are we really getting dancing lessons?”
“You and Katie are, just in time for the wedding,” Mom said happily.
I heard the sound of tires screeching in my head. I am a terrible dancer. “Dancing lessons? Why do we need dancing lessons?”
“There will be a deejay at the wedding and dancing,” Mom replied. “And Emily was telling Jeff about how some of her friends took a dance class here to help them get through school dances and things like that. So we thought it would be fun for you girls to try it.”
“Oh, thank you!” Emily cried. “Ivy and Samantha both took dance classes here, and they said it was so much fun! And now Katie and I will be great dancers at the wedding.”
I will never be a great dancer, I thought, but I held in my protests because Mom and Emily looked so happy.
“So this is a one-time thing?” I asked.
Mom nodded. “This class is for social dancing, but if you wanted to learn something fancier, we could bring you back.”
“Let’s see how this goes,” I sa
id, and I started to get out of the car. Mom stayed put. “You’re not coming in?”
“Jeff and I are going for a run,” she said. “I’ll pick you up in ninety minutes.”
Ninety minutes! I thought, and I stifled a groan. Emily and I walked up to the front door (well, I walked and Emily practically skipped with joy), entered, and approached the front desk.
“Um, Katie Brown and Emily Green,” I said to the young woman with the messy top bun behind the counter.
She quickly tapped a few keys on her computer. “Ah, yes, here you are. You’re in Dancing with Donny. That’s the second door on the right.”
“I can’t believe this,” Emily whispered as we made our way to the door. “Donny is supposed to be awesome! This is going to be amazing!”
We stepped into a dance studio with a polished wooden floor. About six other people were milling around: a couple of teenagers, some kids Emily’s age, and two gray-haired ladies. Nobody was saying anything, and there was an awkward vibe in the air.
Suddenly, pop music started blaring, and a guy stepped through a door on the opposite side of the room. He danced toward us in sparkly silver sneakers, his wavy blond hair sliding in front of his eyes. His T-shirt read DANCE WITH DONNY.
Donny did a spin, and then he dropped into a split and held his arms out wide and smiled. Emily and the other people started clapping. Then he jumped up, took a bow, and used a little remote control to stop the music.
“Hey, everybody. I’m Donny Davis!” he said, and then he paused, so I started clapping. He smiled again. “Welcome to Dancing with Donny! Before we begin, I’d like to see where we’re all at, so when the music starts, dance!” I suddenly felt a little nervous.
He turned the music back on. The older ladies held hands and started spinning each other around. Emily did this jumping sort of thing, and I did my usual move, which is to bounce up and down on my knees without moving my feet, while snapping my fingers. After a minute, the music stopped.
“Okay then, we’ll be starting with the basics,” Donny said. “By the end of the class, you’ll learn some basic moves that will make you look smooth on the dance floor. And we all want to look smooth on the dance floor, right?”
Everyone nodded.
“Great! Now let me see you line up and stand facing me, with your feet shoulder-width apart,” Donny instructed.
We obeyed.
“I’m going to start the music again. First, close your eyes. Feel the beat,” he instructed.
The music started again. I listened for the beat.
Thump, thump, thump.
“Now open your eyes. For our first step, I want you to move your right foot to the side. Bring your left foot to meet it. Tap your left foot, and then move your left foot to the side.”
He did it slowly, and we all copied him.
“Step, tap, step,” Donny said. “Step, tap, step.”
I glanced at Emily, and she smiled at me. So far, this was easy!
“Now we’re going to mix it up a little bit,” Donny continued. “The next time you step, step back with your right foot. Then bring your left foot back to meet it. Tap. Then bring your left foot forward, making a diagonal line.”
That was a little harder for me to manage, but after a few tries, I figured it out.
Step, tap, step, I repeated in my head.
“Look at you superstars go!” Donny cheered. “All right, now we’re going to add some upper body movements.”
Donny showed us how we could swing our shoulders when we moved our feet, and bend our elbows and swing our arms across our bodies. I glanced around the room, and I had to admit that everyone looked way cooler than they had when Donny had us dance on our own in the beginning. Maybe he was onto something.
“Feel free to add some hand movements, as long as they go with the music,” Donny instructed, straightening his hands and making some karate-like jabs in the air. Next to me, Emily started winding her arms together like snakes, and we laughed.
“There you go! Now we’re having fun!” Donny cheered. “Okay, you’re on your own. Let me see you take this song through to the end.”
Step, tap, step. Step, tap, step. One of the teenage boys twirled around on one foot on the last step, and I was feeling pretty confident, so I tried it.
“Nice, Katie!” Emily called out over the music, and I smiled at her.
When the song ended, the boy who had twirled around raised his hand. “I thought we were going to learn some popular dances in this class. Like flossing.”
Flossing was this dance that went viral online, where your feet don’t move but your hips are moving, and it looks like your body is magically passing through your outstretched arms. I have never been able to do it.
“I know an even better dance,” Donny said. “You’ve heard of the Dougie? I call this one the Donny. I usually save it for my advanced classes, but I think you guys are ready.”
I looked at Emily and raised my eyebrows. Were we ready?
Donny played a hip-hop song and began by simply rocking his hips. Then he started pointing up at the sky, spinning, and hopping backward and forward.
“What do you think?” he asked. “My students say it’s their favorite.”
Everybody kind of muttered their answers, and Donny launched into teaching us in slow motion. It was kind of complicated, but Emily got it down perfectly. I went back to step, tap, step, and the teenage boy just started flossing on his own.
Then the gray-haired ladies asked about a dance called the Hustle from the 1970s, and Donny didn’t know it, but one of them remembered it, and she ended up trying to teach us. That one was so complicated! You had to roll your arms around each other, fast, in a move called the egg beater, and even flap your arms like a chicken. I got the arm moves down just fine, but I couldn’t do any of the foot movements at the same time. I think that’s my dancing problem.
“Great job, everyone!” Donny said when class was over. “I hope you’ll be at my next social dancing class, More Dancing with Donny!”
Emily and I got a drink from the water cooler and then waited outside for Mom and Jeff to pick us up.
“That was pretty fun,” Emily said. “Thanks for doing this with me, Katie.”
“You’re welcome,” I said, and for the first time, I felt like I might know what it was like to be a big sister. And that was pretty nice.
Emily took a deep breath. She glanced at me quickly and then looked down at her shoes.
“Were you going to say something else?” I asked.
Emily nodded. Then she looked at me again. “I’ve been getting really nervous about all the changes coming up,” she said. “And … a little jealous of you too.”
I was shocked. “Jealous of me?” I asked. “Why?”
Emily gave a little laugh. “I know it sounds silly, but I was jealous that now you are going to have my dad around all the time. And you’re so smart, and interesting and cool—”
“Cool? Me?” I blurted it out before I could even stop myself. Emily laughed and nodded.
“Yes! You’ve got the most awesome friends, and the Cupcake Club!”
“The Cupcake Club is pretty cool,” I admitted. “And I’ve been a little jealous of you, too. I was envious that you get your mom to yourself all the time, and now I have to share mine. ”
“Wow, I never thought about that,” Emily said. We were both quiet for a moment, lost in our own thoughts.
“At any rate, I feel a little better knowing you were worrying about the same things,” I finally said. “It’s easier to go through these things if you’re not alone.”
“Definitely,” Emily said. And she smiled up at me. I felt more like a big sister than ever.
CHAPTER 5 More Changes!
So, how was it?” Mom asked as Emily and I slid into the back seat of the car. Jeff was in the front seat with her, and I noticed that neither of them were dressed in running clothes, which seemed odd.
“It was fun,” I said. “But I don’t think I�
��ll be dancing the Donny at your wedding, if that’s okay.”
“You can dance however you want, as long as you’re having fun,” Jeff said. He reached over and squeezed Mom’s hand, and they smiled at each other.
“What’s for dinner?” I asked Mom. “I’m starving.”
“We placed a takeout order at Golden Palace,” Mom replied. “And we’re bringing it back to our house. I hope that’s okay.”
“That is awesome,” I said. “Did you get spring rolls?”
“Yes,” Mom replied.
“And wonton soup?” I asked.
Jeff answered this time. “Yes. And chicken with broccoli and fried rice and scallion pancakes and steamed dumplings.”
“WE SHALL FEAST!” I exclaimed too loudly. I guess I had worked up some energy during that dance lesson. Emily giggled, and Mom and Jeff smiled at each other again.
We swung by the restaurant on the way home, and Jeff ran in to get the order and came out carrying two very large bags of food. When we got home I set the table without being asked because I was so happy to be back at home, eating food that I loved. And I was happy that all the surprises for the day were over.
Or so I thought.
The whole time we slurped our soup, Mom and Jeff were staring at each other like they had a big secret to share.
“What is up with you two?” I asked.
Jeff grabbed Mom’s hand, and they each took a deep breath.
“We didn’t go running this afternoon,” Mom said. She looked at Jeff, and they said the next thing together.
“We bought a house!”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. A house?
“You mean, for us?” I asked. “I thought we were going to stay in this house, Mom. You promised! Why didn’t you tell me about this before?”
“Oh, Katie, I’m sorry,” Mom said. “It’s just that—”
I didn’t wait for her to answer. I ran out of the kitchen, into my bedroom, and slammed the door behind me. Then I started crying again, just like I had the other day.
They bought a house! That meant we were moving, just like Alexis had guessed. Leaving this house forever. The house I’d lived in since I was a baby. Wasn’t getting a whole new family a big enough change? Why did we have to move, too?
