Mom made me go to school, but I didn’t eat breakfast because I didn’t want to puke in Mrs. Carangi’s van on the way to the museum. Mom gave me a ride to school, and I prayed this would be the world’s shortest school day. Ms. Ashcroft and the other teachers were in the parking lot, and I checked in and went to Mrs. Carangi’s van. Jared, Tad, and Hakeem were already sitting in the back so I could either sit in the front seat with Jared’s mom or sit next to Tori, who would ignore me the entire trip. I got into the front seat, and Ms. Ashcroft came over and asked if we had room for one more. Not Ericka, I prayed, not Ericka.
Mrs. Carangi nodded, and Peyton got into the van. However, it’s not easy to talk to someone in the seat behind you, so I spent the trip down listing to the radio. When we got to the museum, the teachers told us to pair up with someone from our car, and Peyton grabbed my arm and said “partner,” which was great since Tori got stuck with Tad. Our guide, Antonio, walked us to the Egyptian room, and I told Peyton I’ve had a fear of mummies ever since I saw The Mummy on TV. She told me to look at the floor as we walked through the room. Peyton had to go to the bathroom, but we couldn’t find the restrooms on our map. She felt dumb asking Antonio, who was super hot, but she was about to wet her pants so I asked for her. Tori sighed loudly, like I was bothering her, and Peyton gave her a dirty look as he told us the quickest route to the bathroom.
“Go back through the Pharaoh’s room—”
“Um, is there another way? I have a thing about mummies,” Peyton said. I shot her a grateful look.
“You can go through the contemporary art section, but it’ll take longer. Meet us in Impressionists, okay?” he said.
We got lost on the way back and ended up in the lobby, and a security guard radioed Antonio and led us back to our group. We found our group, and Mrs. Carangi said we were going to break for lunch. There was a big sign for bathrooms as soon as we walked into the museum cafeteria, and we started laughing. Everyone else had already begun eating, and we sat with India and Devon as we helped ourselves to pizza and soda. India soaked up the orange oil on the top of her slice with her napkin while she told us about a painting which freaked her out in one of the galleries our group hadn’t been in yet. She wouldn’t tell us what it was, but Devon put her hands over India’s ears and said it was of some dead guy.
“Peyton, what time do you want us to come over tonight?” India asked.
“Six,” Peyton said through a mouthful of cheese.
Antonio asked us to get back into our groups to finish the tour. I was glad since I felt uncomfortable when they started talking about their plans for the weekend. I knew they didn’t mean to leave me out. I just wasn’t part of their group. It wasn’t their fault my own group didn’t want me anymore.
We went into the room with the dead guy picture, and Peyton grabbed my arm. She said if a decomposing mummy freaked me out, then I’d never sleep again if I saw the painting. She led me past it, and Antonio said we might want to skip the next room with the sculpture of another dead person.
“You guys can meet us at the gift shop. I’ll mark the map for you so you won’t get lost again,” he said. I was starting to like him until I realized the gift shop was practically around the corner. How stupid did he think we were?
Devon’s tour group came into the gift shop next, and we started looking at the jewelry. Devon decided to buy this cool woven bangle bracelet, and India and Peyton decided to get one, too. I wanted a bracelet too, but there were only three. Instead, I bought a postcard of a Monet painting to send to my dad.
When we got back to the car, Peyton asked Tori if she’d mind sitting in the front seat. Tori looked annoyed, but she got in the front and Peyton and I had fun on the ride back, which seemed a lot shorter than the ride down. I started to head to the bus line when we got to school, but Devon offered me a ride home.
“Landry, do you want to come over to my house tonight?” Peyton asked. “We’re going to watch movies.”
I wondered if she was just asking me because India had mentioned it in front of me, but I said I’d love to and then felt stupid for looking so excited. Devon’s mom said she could take me to Peyton’s tonight, and I said my mom could probably bring us home. Devon said she was going to wear her new black sweater with her new jeans tonight. I went through my closet trying to find something cute and fairly clean. Mom was happy to see I’d be off the couch for the evening, and she let me borrow her sweater.
“Who am I taking home? Tori?” she asked as she rifled through the mail.
“No, Devon,” I said.
“Is Tori going? Because I could take her home since she’s right on the way.”
“She’s not friends with these girls,” I said.
Mom asked how Tori and Ericka were, and I didn’t want her to know they weren’t talking to me. I said Tori had a bunch of soccer stuff going on and Ericka had a new babysitting job.
“We’ve been e-mailing each other,” I said.
“Uh-huh,” Mom said, reading a bill. “What time should I pick you up? Eleven-thirty?” I nodded and went to get ready.
****
Peyton led us into her family room, which had two long navy couches facing one another, a square coffee table, and cream colored bookcases covering the whole wall.
“I went out with my dad, and we got a couple of movies. We got the new Evan Reynolds one for India, the new Blake Alderson one for Devon—”
“Thank you,” Devon said as she helped herself to some potato chips.
“—and The Mummy for Landry,” she said. “Just kidding.”
I took a snack cake and two slices of pizza and settled down on the sofa next to Peyton to watch Take Back the Skies II. Devon was sitting on the couch across from me with her legs tucked up underneath her.
“Blake is so amazing,” Devon sighed.
“Isn’t he, like, way older than your dad?” Peyton asked.
“It doesn’t matter, although I hate his tattoo,” she said through a mouthful of pizza.
I said Blake looked a little bit like Peyton’s dad, and they all cracked up.
“Watch her if she leaves the room because my dad’s not safe,” Peyton said.
“Ew, what’s wrong with you people?” Devon said, laughing.
“What’s wrong with us? Um, we’re not the ones with crushes on our friend’s dad,” said India.
After the movie, Mom came to pick us up, and India joked Devon might want to stay over. Devon blushed.
“You’ll have to excuse her, she wants to be my stepmother,” Peyton said as Devon shrieked. We walked to the car, and Devon said she didn’t think she’d ever be able to look Mr. Urich in the face again.
“I wonder what the Ingénue audition will be like next weekend,” Devon said when she calmed down. “My mom’s already freaking out about the whole thing. She’s called, like, fifty times to check on things.”
I had been trying not to think about next weekend. Every time I thought about getting in front of the judges my stomach would flip over and I’d end up running to the bathroom. I had been trying to get through one day at a time. Now I could worry Mrs. Abrams would decide not to let her go and it would just be me by myself. I could just imagine me tagging along behind my mom because no one else would talk to me. Well, at least having my mom there would be better than nothing.
The next morning, my mom came into my room. She said her manager had been taken in for emergency surgery, and they needed mom to cover for her in some important meeting. Then mom dropped the bad news.
“The meeting is on Friday afternoon.”
“So I can’t go to the audition? Mo-om, this could be my big—”
Mom put up her hands to stop me. “I called Mrs. Abrams, and she said you can ride with her and Devon to Lansing. I don’t see any other way of getting you there.”
I shrugged. I guess it was better than missing the competition, but I wanted my mom to be there with me. Mom said since she already paid for our room, Devon and I could share it, and Devon’s mom would stay in the other room. I was glad Mrs. Abrams would be there because I wanted somebody’s mother to be there… even if it wasn’t my own.