Connor and I ate lunch with Zion behind the office most days now. Connor still hardly ate anything, but he took a bite from time to time. Sometimes he’d spit his food, but he always tried to aim at the brick wall. Every now and then, though, Zion and I would have to do some serious ninja blocks when a pretzel or grape flew at our heads.

I sat with the boys on the sidewalk by the office as Zion said, “I think I might audition for The Wizard of Oz.” He blushed so hard, I could see the red coloring his brown cheeks.

“Oh yeah, what part?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “I dunno.”

I thought for a moment. “You would make a good . . . lion.”

He frowned. “Because I’m so fat.”

“No, because you need to find your courage.” I nudged him with my foot. “I’m only half serious.”

He smiled. “Have you guys ever done anything like that?”

“What? Auditioned for a play?” Connor asked

“Yeah.”

Connor looked at Zion like he was crazy. “Yeah, right,” he said.

I frowned at Connor. “You’d probably be a good actor,” I said.

“The only part I could ever play,” Connor said to me, “would be the part of an annoying, yappy dog.”

I didn’t know what else to say about that, so I told them, “My school back in Kansas held this playwright contest in sixth grade. Anyone could submit their own ideas, plot, and script for a play. The winner got to have their play produced. I submitted the most awesome script of all time. Wait for it,” I said dramatically. “Down and Dirty in Kansas City.”

Zion snorted and a little of his juice box came out his nose. He wiped it away. “What was that about?”

I cleared my throat. “Down and Dirty in Kansas City is the story of a completely awesome ninja named Harold who lives in Kansas City and fights criminals with the help of his trusty pig named Jerold. So Harold and Jerold are this crime-fighting duo who stop a gang of criminals from robbing a bank. They also fall in love. Not with each other. With a beautiful vixen lady and a lady pig. The play ends in a double-wedding for Harold and Jerold and their partners.”

Connor giggled and Zion choked on a little more juice box.

“The climax of the play,” I continued, “was supposed to be when Harold and Jerold finally face off with the main villain,” I tossed my hair back, “played by me. And the exciting battle to the death ends in Harold and Jerold ripping my arms off and blood splattering everywhere while I drop dead to the floor.” I had thought we could borrow those fake arms again from Emily’s mom.

“Did you win?” Zion asked.

“I totally didn’t win. Plus we had to have a meeting with my parents. They had read my play already and thought it rocked, so they were a little confused about the whole thing. I tuned out most of the meeting, but I believe the words gruesome and horrifying may have been said.

“Anyway, this kid named Luke won the contest. His play was called Desert Moon over the Desert. I found the title redundant, but I guess the judges thought his work was spectacularly creative. What can you expect from the same people who thought Down and Dirty in Kansas City was a stinker?”

“Really,” Connor agreed. “What was his play about?”

“Desert Moon over the Desert was about a moon—seriously—that looks down over the desert—I’m not kidding—and falls in love with a coyote—I’m totally serious. And the coyote falls in love with the moon. Of course the moon and the coyote can never be together, so the coyote howls and howls and eventually befriends a cactus and everything turns out all right.”

“Were you in it?” Zion asked.

“Yeah, I played the cactus. My costume was this drab green, so I wasn’t bright enough on stage. We had to spray the whole thing down with sparkle spray paint. We had this giant paper moon on the stage with lights behind it, so I was all sparkly and shiny from the light of the moon. It was pretty cool.

“I loved being up on stage, but I had the most ridiculous lines. I still remember them.” I recited my lines just as I had done in the play. “Coyote, the moon is many miles away, but I am here on Earth with you. Coyote, my new friend, don’t prick yourself on my needles when you give me a friendly hug. Coyote, if you were ever thirsting to death, I would give my life that you may drink my treasured cactus juice.”

Zion giggled. “That’s awful.”

“I’m sure you’ll have way better lines in The Wizard of Oz,” I said.

“Gosh, I hope so.”

“No, really. You’ll love it. When the play ended and everyone clapped and cheered for us, I felt like I could do anything. I even thought maybe I could have a career as an actress.”

“Why couldn’t you?” Connor asked.

I gaped at the boys. “How many limbless movie stars do you know?”

Neither one of them said anything. I shook my head and looked at Connor. “By the way, Mom said I could come home with you after school and she’d pick me up before dinner.”

“Really?” His face brightened. “I thought you weren’t allowed to go to anyone’s house where they didn’t know the parents.”

“My mom said it’s okay since she knows you, and your mom works so much and sleeps in the evening. I guess my mom can’t really get a good chance to meet her with all that’s going on. She is going to be home after school, right?”

Connor shrugged and barked. “Yeah, she’ll be home sleeping. She worked a twelve-hour shift last night.”

“Has she ever thought about trying to get shifts during the day?” I asked.

“She has to take what she can get right now,” Connor said. “And this job pays well.” He looked at Zion. “You want to come over, too?”

Zion shook his head. “Dentist appointment.” He grimaced.

“The next support group meeting is coming up,” I told Connor.

“Support group meeting?” Zion asked.

Connor grinned. “Don’t you mean social event, Aven?”

I glared at Connor while I spoke to Zion. “It’s just a little group that meets at the hospital every month.”

“Sorry, Zion,” Connor said. “For freaks only.”

“Hey!” I cried. “No one there is a freak. Especially not you.”

Connor blinked his eyes, shrugged, and barked. “If you say so, Aven.”

I let out a loud breath. “Anyway, my mom’s already planning on taking us.”

Connor raised his eyebrows. “Such peer pressure. I guess I have to go in that case.”

“Yes, you do.”