4

 

“Whatever,” Leo said, shrugging his shoulders.

“What do you mean, whatever?”

It was the next day at lunch, and I was telling him about the party invitation, the cello recital, and the fact that my dad had ruined my life.

Leo shook his head, his long curly hair flying all over the place. “So you miss the party. I don’t get what the big deal is.”

“What the big deal is? This is Cathy Billows we’re talking about here! SHE called ME. On the PHONE. And she called me ‘FUNNY’!” (Actually, she’d said “kind of funny,” but Leo didn’t need to know that.)

I sat back in my chair and took a sip of chocolate milk, reliving the memory of the phone call for approximately the 4,385th time.

“Sometimes I wish music had never been invented,” I whined.

“Music is important,” said a voice from the next table. I turned and was shocked to see it was Lucy Fleck. She was an amazing piano player who went to the same music school I did. I’d never heard her say a word outside of class before.

“Um, okay,” I said.

“More important than Cathy Billows’s party,” Lucy added.

“Uh-oh. Speak of the devil,” Leo mumbled. I looked up and saw Cathy’s bright green eyes, jet-black hair, and flawless bone structure.

“Hi, Jack!”

“Hey,” I tried to say.

Alex Mutchnik was standing right behind her, which was completely unsurprising, since he had a thing for her. Alex nodded at me, but not in a good way.

Cathy smiled, and I could swear one of her teeth actually sparkled. “So, I just wanted to make sure you were coming to my party tomorrow night!”

“Did you have to invite the whole homeroom?” Alex butted in.

I decided to stand up and take my punishment like a man. “Well, here’s the thing,” I began. “I would love to go, I completely and totally would, but as it turns out I have this major cello recital, and my parents won’t let me skip it.”

Alex reacted first by sneering, “Your parents?”

Cathy was frozen. It was like she couldn’t process the fact that someone would turn down an invitation to one of her parties. Finally, she blinked once.

“A cello recital?” she asked, as if I’d said it in Swahili.

I nodded. “Yup. I know, it’s a bummer.”

“A bummer for YOU,” offered Alex.

“Why don’t you stay out of it,” Leo said to Alex bravely.

“Why don’t YOU stay out of it,” Alex responded uncreatively.

Meanwhile, Cathy was beginning to process the fact that I would not be attending her party. Her smile faded and was replaced by a stare that was so cold it’s probably illegal in several countries.

“Fine.”

No exclamation point this time.

Then she shook her head and walked away without another word.

Alex had one word left, though.

“Loser.”