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No Shows
CASSIE RAN OFF TO HER room. She worked on her school assignments until she heard her dad walk in the door.
“Daddy!” she cried, joining Annette, her youngest sister, in the welcoming committee.
“There’s the birthday girl!” Mr. Jones said as she threw her arms around his waist. “Here, help bring these pizzas in.”
“Wow, so many.” Cassie took the box on top and carried it into the kitchen. “Four? Who’s going to eat all this?”
“Well, isn’t someone having a party?”
“I can eat it all,” Scott said. He was doing Cassie’s job at the dishwasher, and didn’t look too happy about it.
“What time is Riley coming, Cassie?” her mom asked. She set out party plates on the table. “We’re ready to start.”
Cassie glanced at the digital clock on the oven, surprised to notice that it was already five o’clock. “I told her five. I’m sure she’ll be here soon.” She went to the counter and opened the plastic forks. Anything to distract herself from the time. “Did you get the ice-cream?”
“Strawberry. Just like you wanted.”
Cassie rocked back and forth on her feet. “I’m going on the deck to play with Scaredy.” With the warmer weather approaching, her dog had decided he’d rather be outside than in. Their walks together got longer and longer until Cassie gave up and just let him spend his time outside.
“Sure,” her mom said. “If you see Riley’s dad’s truck coming up the road, come back in.”
“I will.”
Scaredy happily crawled into her lap, his tail thumping against her thigh. She petted his head, but her mind wasn’t on her dog. Cassie intended to stay outside until Riley arrived, but the time seemed to be moving awfully slowly. Standing up, she went back inside.
“No one yet?” she asked, even though she knew no cars had driven up. She looked at the oven time. Five-fifteen.
“Why don’t you call her?” her mom suggested. “Find out where she is. What time she’ll get here.”
Cassie didn’t want to. A sick pit formed in her stomach, but she couldn’t just walk away and forget she was having a party. She picked up the phone and dialed Riley’s number.
“Hello?” Mr. Isabel’s gruff voice came over the line.
“Hi, Mr. Isabel,” Cassie said. “It’s Cassie.”
“Hi there, Cassie!” he said, his tone warming. “Riley’s not here.”
“Well, where is she?” Cassie asked.
“I just dropped her off at Mikaela Reese’s party about fifteen minutes ago. Surprised you’re not there. She said everyone’s going.”
“Tonight’s my birthday party too,” Cassie said. Her ears were ringing and her voice didn’t sound right. “She said she was coming here.”
Silence reigned on the phone. “Well, I’m really sorry about that, Cassie,” Mr. Isabel said finally. “She didn’t tell me about that.”
Cassie blinked, and hot tears spilled down her cheeks. “Okay,” she whispered. “Bye.” She hung up, and then she couldn’t keep back the sobs. “She’s not coming. She went to Mikaela’s party.”
“Oh, honey.” Mrs. Jones went around the counter and wrapped her arms around Cassie. Cassie bawled into her shoulder. The beautiful cake behind her mother caught her eye, and it just made her cry harder. None of her friends would even see it.
