The next day, the mail came. Dad had sent me the money to get the necklace for Ashanti and me. Since India had gotten me one already, I texted my dad and asked if it'd be okay if I used the money to buy someone else a necklace with my half of the money. I told him I wanted to get Thalia one, too. He wrote back that was a nice idea to include her.
Mom took me to the mall, and I went to the jewelry shop. The crystal butterfly pendants were in the back. I picked out one that had pink, green, and blue in it for Ashanti that would look beautiful on her, and a blue, yellow, and green one that would look pretty on Thalia. The lady behind the counter wrapped the boxes for me in blue paper with silver stars.
"Can I call Ashanti and see if I can drop it off?" I asked. I didn't want to tip Mom off that we were fighting, so I didn't want to go through the trouble of asking her if I could have a friend over and then have to explain why Ashanti wasn't coming over if she hung up on me.
"Um…yeah, I guess that's not too intrusive if you call first. But why not just wait until you have plans to hang out?"
I shrugged and texted Ashanti, saying I wanted to drop something off for school and hoping that would get Ashanti to open the door.
"Fine," was all she wrote back.
Mom pulled up, and I walked to the door. I didn't remember the pathway to Ashanti's house being so long. It was like the aisle at St. Faustina's church, maybe longer. I rang the doorbell and waited. Her dad answered.
"Hi, Landry. Come on in. Is your mom in the car? Have her come in." Then her dad stuck his head out the door and started waving for my mom to come in. Oh man, this was not going to be cool if Ashanti threw this thing in my face and told me to get out.
Mom sprinted up the path, and soon Mrs. Russell was in the hall chatting, too. She told me to go find Ashanti in her room while they talked in the living room.
I knocked on Ashanti's door. "Hey, can I come in?"
"Whatever."
I walked in, and she was sitting on the floor with a magazine on her lap. "Nice necklace," she said, raising one eyebrow.
I handed her the box.
"What's this?" she asked as she opened it.
"I told you I had been saving up to get you one, but my dad forwarded me the money."
"Is this a guilt thing?" she asked.
"Of course not. I was serious when I told you I planned on including you all along. I got Thalia one, too. India bought mine, so I had extra money for another."
"Wow, you must feel guilty. Seriously, do you know how many paperbacks and book downloads that would buy? It's at least two lip glosses, too," she said. Then she smirked.
"Are you laughing at me or with me?" I asked.
"Not sure yet." She made a face. "No, I forgive you. I saw the look on your face when you saw me hanging out with Halle, and at first I thought you felt left out. When I saw you wearing the necklace like the rest of them, I was like, is she just being weird because I saw it or what? But I know you better than that, and I should have…I don't know, tried to talk to you about it."
"I understand how you must have felt with me saying that and all, but I hope you know that what I said just didn't come out right. So…friends?"
"Yes. By the way, I am sorry Maggie was being such a jerk to you. Halle told me she thought Mags was way out of line over that Vladi thing, but Yasmin told her to do it, and she was trying to get on her good side."
Why did girls always do everything Arianna and Yasmin asked? Arianna could at least be sweet, but Yasmin wasn't even a nice person — well, unless she was talking to someone who was either a guy or met her standards of being cute, popular, and rich.
"I saw you talking to Vladi at movie night. What's up with that?" she asked.
I told her nothing got resolved because his mom showed up.
"Aren't you going to ask me what I thought of how he was looking at you and stuff?" she asked.
I shook my head. "No, Devon told me she felt left out when all I'd talk about was him. I'm done making some guy the center of my universe…not that I completely did that, but I did get a little obsessed."
"Well, he was your first crush, and not many girls get to date theirs."
"And get dumped. I never thought I'd be one of those girls who put a boy first. Did I do that?" I asked.
"I didn't think so, but Devon may see it differently because of what she was going through with Doug at the time."
My mom came to the door and said we had to get going. I gave Ashanti a hug, and we promised to text later. As I walked out of Ashanti's house, I felt better than I had in a long time.