by Sandy Hall
“Wow.”
Cameron nodded.
“I’m not even sure I’m going to the prom, and I’m on the actual prom committee.”
“You’re not going?”
“Emma can’t come up for it. It sucks having a long-distance girlfriend.”
“I wouldn’t know about that,” Cameron said.
“I’ll get this back to you later,” Landon said, gesturing with the novel for English class.
Cameron waved and continued working on his final paper for English.
Cora
It was Jamie’s eighteenth birthday, and all he really wanted was to go to the new Japanese fusion restaurant that had just opened in town. His parents had gotten him a gift certificate and everything.
All Cora wanted to do was break up with him. But what kind of heartless bitch breaks up with a guy on his birthday?
At least they were doing something different this year. For Jamie’s past three birthdays they’d gone to Ruby Tuesday at the mall and then to the movies.
“Do you ever feel like we’re in a rut?” Cora asked after the waitress took their order.
“Us?” Jamie asked. “Aren’t we too young for that?”
“Jamie, anyone can get stuck in a rut. They’re not just for super old, bored, or married people. And we’ve been a couple longer than some super old, boring married people. It’s totally possible that we’re in a rut.”
“What kind of rut?”
A text alert pealed off from her phone.
“Just one sec,” she said, grabbing her phone from her bag. It was a text from Madison about their final bio lab of the year. She suddenly felt far more alert and she really wanted to write back. After a moment of thought she decided to save it for later. Cora could have a fun text chat with Madison when this dinner was all over as a reward. She slid her phone back in her bag after putting it on silent.
Jamie was staring at the flickering candle in the middle of the table when she looked back at him.
“Anyway,” she said to catch his attention. “My point is we’ve done the exact same thing for the past three years for your birthday.”
“But we’re doing something different this year. So it’s not a rut!” he said, sitting up straight and pounding his hand on the table to punctuate his point.
Cora shook her head. He was too cute for his own good sometimes.
“Or maybe it’s a rut,” he amended a moment later. “But even if it is, next year we’ll be in a new city with new people. That’ll force us out of our rut.”
“I worry sometimes about that.”
“About the new people? Don’t worry, Cora, I’ll be there, we can still hang out.”
“That’s what I worry about,” she muttered.
Her phone went off in her bag, even louder this time. Instead of silencing it, she must have put it on full volume.
“Sorry,” she said, not even looking at the screen, just feeling around for the silent button.
“So what do you worry about?” Jamie asked. “’Cause I worry about stuff, too.”
“I worry that we’re going to use each other as a crutch and not meet anyone. That we’re going to get stuck in a rut in Boston. Not the exact same one as here, but a different one. And we’ll never meet new people because we spend all our time together.”
Jamie thought about that for a full minute. “Well, we probably won’t be in the same dorm. There’s a whole bunch of different ones. We could even make sure we’re not in the same dorm. That would help probably. Then we can introduce each other to a lot of different people.” He wrapped up his monologue with a big smile like he had solved world peace. “I’m gonna run to the bathroom. Be right back.”
Cora swirled the straw in her glass of soda and pulled her phone out, opening up the group text she had with Josie and Teagan.
He was walking toward her and grinning from ear to ear. Cora sucked in a deep breath. Would it be horribly selfish to rip the Band-Aid off and break up with him on his birthday?
Cora responded with a string of heart emojis, but before she could slide her phone away, a call popped up from the prom venue. She stood.
“I’m sorry,” she said to Jamie. “I have to take this. I have no idea why they would be calling me.”
It turned out that the call was actually a wrong number and from a different Sheraton entirely.
Jamie had his arms crossed when she returned to the table. He handed her a Snickers bar.
“Where did this come from?” she asked. “Also it’s your birthday and I’m supposed to get you gifts.”
“It’s my birthday and you can’t even give me your full attention.”
“I said I was sorry.”
“Did you?”
“Um, yes,” Cora said. “I said it every time we were interrupted. I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t have control over who contacts me.”
“You could turn your phone off completely or put it on airplane mode or something.”
“Yes. You’re right. That’s what I’ll do right now.” She exaggeratedly put her phone in airplane mode and stuck it in her purse.
She leaned toward Jamie and smiled. “Now, please, tell me where the candy bar came from.”
He rolled his eyes but then grinned again. “Well, there was a kid out in the foyer by the host stand who wanted to sell candy in the restaurant and the manager told him they don’t allow solicitors in here. But I felt so bad for the kid that I decided to buy a candy bar for each of us. I’m pretty sure I made his whole night. He was such a scrappy kid I wanted to buy every single piece of candy he had, but I definitely didn’t have enough money for that.”
“Thank you,” Cora said, mustering up all her sincerity. “And I really am sorry.”
“You’re welcome,” Jamie said. “And I accept your apology.”
That was Jamie in a nutshell. How could Cora break up with a guy like this on his birthday? It would probably leave her with bad karma for the rest of her life.
There was no way to break up with him.
She could suck it up and stay with Jamie a little longer.
There was no reason to ruin the end of senior year.
At least not yet.
Chapter 17
Jacinta
“I have a brilliant idea!” Kelsey said as she ran up to Jacinta in the hall Thursday after school.
“I am terrified.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not setting you up again. At least not really. I suppose it could kind of be called a setup, but it would maybe depend on who you asked.”
“This is not helping my fear,” Jacinta said.
“You should ask Landon!”
“Landon has a girlfriend in Canada.” Also, Jacinta added silently, it would feel like taking your castoffs, Kelsey, not to mention that she didn’t particularly like him.
“She’s in Texas actually.”
“Same difference. Texas, Canada, they’re far, but not that far.”
Kelsey paused. “I think Texas is actually farther than Canada. Like it definitely is. We could drive to Canada in like six or seven hours.”
“Yes, thank you for this geography lesson. But you know what I mean. Also there’s no way Landon would want to go with me anyway. And this situation doesn’t exactly scream ‘dream date.’ If anything, it screams ‘Jacinta Ramos: Girlfriend Placeholder.’”
“Oh, come on. I think he would be cool with it. He wants to go, but Emma can’t come from Texas to go to the prom. He doesn’t want to go alone. It would just be about having someone to hang out with, you know?”
“You didn’t already talk to him about this, did you?”
“Of course not. I had the idea and came right to you.”
Jacinta rolled the idea around in her head for a minute. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, going with Landon. It would solve a lot of Jacinta’s issues. And it wasn’t so much that she didn’t like Landon, she just had a lot of opinions about him. But he and Kelsey had broken up amicably, and he wasn’t a comple
te douchebag.
“You know what? I think I will ask him.”
“Yay!” Kelsey cried, hugging Jacinta tight.
“But I think I should run it past Emma.”
“I think that’s totally respectful of you.”
Henry was walking down the hall ahead of them. Jacinta grabbed Kelsey’s arm and pulled her to a stop. “I’m still having trouble believing he’s really going to the prom with Amelia. I heard they might be dating.”
“Maybe it’s a rumor,” Kelsey said. “I swear the gossip mill has gone into overdrive lately. I’ve heard some of the weirdest things.”
“Like what?”
“Something about Ms. Huang dating one of the other teachers.”
“I hadn’t heard,” Jacinta said with a shrug.
On her way to the final class cabinet meeting of the year, Jacinta sent Emma a Facebook message basically requesting her permission to ask Landon to the prom, even though Jacinta had never met Emma in real life. Landon and Emma had met last year at Harvard Model United Nations, and almost immediately thereafter, Emma had followed all of Landon’s friends on social media.
When the meeting was over, Jacinta checked her phone and Emma had said yes. She said she was happy that Jacinta checked with her first, though, and really appreciated her thoughtfulness and would she mind exchanging numbers in case they needed to be in contact in the future.
Jacinta rolled her eyes a bit at that. She would never understand why people took high school relationships so seriously. It was high school. There was nothing serious about it.
Since she was on her way home and would pass Landon’s house anyway, Jacinta decided to pop in and ask him face-to-face.
As soon as she rang the doorbell she knew it was a bad idea.
Not just going to his house to ask him, but asking him at all. It was a really bad, really weird idea and she hated how she felt. She was about to turn and leave since no one had answered the door, much to her relief, when a vaguely familiar figure walked out from the side of the house.
It was Landon’s stepbrother, Cameron.
“Oh, hey,” Jacinta said.
“Hey, hi, sorry, I was looking for the cat. I don’t think anyone else is home.”
He was empty handed. “Did you find the cat?”
“Yeah, but she didn’t want to go inside anyway.”
“Okay,” Jacinta said. “I forgot that you lived with Landon.”
“Or does Landon live with me?” he asked seriously.
It was like a logic puzzle that Jacinta had no idea how to answer.
“Ha,” was all she said.
Cameron seemed okay with her weak laugh and smiled at her. He moved to open the front door.
“Do you want to come in? Why are you here?” He shook his head. “Sorry, that’s kind of rude. I just meant, like, are you here to see Landon or are you selling magazine subscriptions or something?”
Jacinta couldn’t quite keep up with this kid. He was all over the map.
“Um, yes, I’m here to see Landon.”
“Like I said, he’s not here right now, but he should be home soon, if you want to wait.”
“Okay, I think I’ll wait.”
Cameron plopped down on the top step. “I’m locked out anyway. Damn cat.”
Jacinta sat down next to him. “I’ll keep you company.”
For as weird as Cameron was, there was something sort of interesting about him. She’d heard a lot of rumors about him at school, but she had no idea if any of them were true or who to believe.
“So,” Cameron said, nodding his head.
“So.”
“What do you need Landon for?”
“Well, I was thinking I might ask him to the prom? I know he has a girlfriend, but I actually already talked to Emma and she said since she couldn’t make it that it would be okay to ask him.”
“Interesting. Like some kind of reverse medieval dowry.”
“I mean, not really. I don’t think Emma is getting anything out of this…” Jacinta trailed off, trying to make sense of her life at the moment. “Are you going to the prom?”
“Oh, um, it’s weird and sort of complicated,” he said.
That sentence seemed familiar to Jacinta, but before she could figure it out, a car pulled into the driveway.
Cameron’s mom and Landon got out. Jacinta wouldn’t have recognized this woman as Cameron’s mom out on the street, but in this context she was immediately recognizable.
“Oh, hello,” she said.
Landon waved but his face held a question.
“Hi, I had a question for Landon,” Jacinta said. It felt like the trees, the lamppost, and the porch overhang were all dripping with awkward.
“Cameron, help me with the groceries and leave Landon to speak with … Jacinta, right?”
Jacinta smiled. “Yup, that’s me!”
Cameron and his mom went inside.
“So, what’s up, Jacinta?” Landon asked.
“Well, I was sort of wondering if you wanted to go to the prom. With me?”
“I’d have to check with Emma…,” Landon said, with a tone that made it pretty obvious that he wasn’t interested in going with Jacinta.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I actually already messaged her. I kind of wanted to get her okay before I even talked to you about it.”
“Oh, that was cool of you,” he said, his body language changing in an instant when he realized that Jacinta might not be an evil boyfriend stealer.
“Yeah, so, I was hoping that maybe we could go together, with Kelsey and Mike, of course, as friends. It might be fun, and I already found a dress.”
“That does sound fun. Thanks.” Landon smiled. He seemed actually pretty surprised and happy about Jacinta asking him. “I’ll see about getting a ticket tomorrow. I wasn’t sure I really wanted to go alone.”
“I understand.”
“Well, I have to study,” Landon said.
“Sure, I should get going. I haven’t even been home yet after school, but once I got this idea in my head I wanted to see what you thought first, you know?”
“Totally.”
There was a weird moment between them when Jacinta felt like maybe they were supposed to hug, but that seemed wrong.
“Well, thanks,” she said.
“Bye,” he said.
As Jacinta drove home she couldn’t stop thinking about the weird encounter she’d just experienced, with Landon’s stepbrother definitely being the weirdest of them all. She’d have to figure out what his deal was, because he was definitely a character.
But at least she had a date to prom. Even if the whole situation was a pale comparison to what she had wanted prom to be like.
She sighed at her own patheticness. Would it never end?
Henry
Henry was exhausted.
Baseball was exhausting.
Being gossiped about was exhausting.
Amelia was so exhausting.
She wasn’t even his girlfriend and her mere existence in his life was taking its toll.
But the worst part, the most terrifying part, was the gnawing guilt in his stomach every time he thought about telling her he didn’t want to go to the prom with her. That’s what was really keeping him up at night.
He knew he should be happy she wanted to go with him. That he should be grateful even. Wasn’t it every guy’s fantasy to go to the prom with the most popular girl in school?
But that didn’t stop him from not wanting to go with her.
He honestly still wasn’t sure if he wanted to go at all. He didn’t have much time to decide, though, and he’d already bought a ticket. But he could just stay home at the last minute.
On top of everything else, being the hot topic of gossip was new for Henry. He didn’t like it. He preferred living his life under the radar. That was way more his speed.
It was way more Paisley’s speed, too. He knew he was starting to get on Paisley’s nerves, which was why he made plans with
her for Thursday night. Not to mention the whole issue with the baseball team. She was totally not thrilled about that. He would need to make it up to her someday.
Paisley’s mom had her book club that night, so they could spend the evening on Paisley’s couch eating whatever they wanted without parental supervision. Or parental eavesdropping, which is what would have happened at Henry’s house.
When they sat down with a meat supreme pizza and a large bottle of generic birch beer to split between them, Henry jumped into complaining again.
“I’m pretty sure I’m giving myself an ulcer,” he said.
“I’m pretty sure you’re giving me an ulcer,” Paisley said as she handed him a slice of pizza with so much meat on it you could barely see the cheese. “I also think you really, really need to let Amelia off the hook while she still has time to find another date. What you’re doing isn’t fair to either of you.”
“But I don’t want to hurt her feelings.”
“Maybe you should have thought of that before you said yes.”
“I didn’t even know I said yes! Remember? I was in a fugue state brought on by her lips and her natural scent. She was intoxicating.”
Paisley rolled her eyes. “I don’t know that her perfume is natural. I’m pretty sure you can buy it by the bottle at any Macy’s store.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I don’t really know what you mean, but I’ll take your word for it.”
“So what should I do?”
“You need to tell her you don’t want to go with her. Plain and simple.”
“She’s going to hate me. I don’t like the idea of people hating me.”
“You could blame it on me if you want.”
“Why? So she can hate both of us?” he asked.
“The good news is that I don’t care whether Amelia Vaughn likes me or not.”
“How would I blame it on you?”
“Just tell her that”—Paisley paused to finish chewing a big bite of pizza—“you feel bad because you forgot that you told me you’d go with me a million years ago. Like sophomore year or some crap like that. And I only recently reminded you about it, and now I’m being a complete bitch.”
“You’re not a bitch.” Henry dropped his voice low on the last word.
