Sleepovers, Solos, and Sheet Music

by Michelle Schusterman

  “Thish ish shhhoo gooood,” she murmured. Shaking her head, Mrs. Park took an extra-long sip of her coffee.

  After devouring the beignets (which were amazing, although extremely messy), we walked around the square. It was close to noon, and it seemed like the crowd had doubled in the last half hour. Dozens of tables lined the curb, some displaying caricatures and paintings, others with tarot card readers and fortune-tellers. I stopped not far from one booth, which featured dozens of colorful sketches of dragons and castles. Owen would love them (although to be honest, I thought his drawings were even better).

  “Those are really cool,” Gabby said, coming to stand next to me. “When I get a tattoo, it’ll be a dragon.” We giggled when Mrs. Park gave her a withering look. “What? Dragons are awesome. I want it to take up my whole back. Or maybe one like that,” Gabby added, pointing to a purple, serpent-like dragon sketch. “I could get it wrapped around my arm!”

  Mrs. Park drained her coffee and tossed it in the trash. “I’m not sure what your mother would think about that, Gabby.”

  “Oh, she already knows,” Gabby assured her. “Tattoos don’t bother her. She only gets worked up about stuff like how the cafeteria serves pizzas and burgers and not enough vegetables, or me hiding chocolate under my mattress.” She paused, making a face. “That was the worst hiding spot ever. Everything melted—it was so hard to eat.”

  I was still laughing as Mrs. Park walked over to join Natasha and Victoria at a tarot booth. Gabby turned to face me, thumbs hooked in her pockets.

  “So,” she said, eyebrow raised.

  “Um . . .” I blinked. “So what?”

  “So, Natasha’s breaking up with Aaron.” Gabby poked my arm. “That’s what. So, you know . . . he’s single again.”

  “Wait,” I said slowly. “Are you saying you think I should . . .”

  “Ask him out?” Gabby lifted a shoulder. “I mean, obviously not right away. But maybe later, like to the spring dance? . . .” That could be fun.

  I laughed. “No way.”

  “What if Natasha was okay with it, though?” she asked. “I mean, she doesn’t seem too upset about breaking up with him. And there’s still a few months till the dance. If you talked to her, I bet—”

  “No, that’s not it,” I interrupted. “I don’t want to ask Aaron out.”

  “You don’t?” Gabby squinted at me, like she was trying to read my mind. “You don’t like him anymore?”

  “I like him,” I said. “But I don’t like him.”

  The funny thing was, I hadn’t really thought about it until I said it. It was true, though. Aaron loved horror movies, and he was nice and funny and seriously disorganized. I liked being his friend. But I didn’t have a crush on him. I really was over him.

  “Well then, never mind,” Gabby said with a grin. “Hey, maybe we can go stag again! Like we did for the winter dance.”

  I was saved from responding when Natasha and Victoria ran up to us, chatting excitedly about their tarot card reading. At some point, Gabby would find out I had a date to the dance already. She’d tease me relentlessly, which didn’t bother me, but I knew she’d probably give Owen a hard time, too. I didn’t want him to feel weird. And I really didn’t want him to worry that I thought he had a crush on me, like last semester. The longer I could put off Gabby finding out that we were going to the spring dance together, the better.

  My only mission during dinner that night was to find Julia. You wouldn’t think it’d be all that hard, but I totally failed.

  Mr. Dante had reserved a bunch of tables for us at this huge restaurant with a Mardi Gras theme. It was already packed when we got there, and our tables turned out to be spread out all over the restaurant. Since Owen and I were the first ones off the bus, we ended up in a booth with Trevor, Max, and Victoria. Which, of course, meant Warlock.

  By the time the waitress set down our sodas and a basket of cheese biscuits, Trevor was already trying to convince Max he hadn’t lost his last undead-warrior card last time we played. (Which was totally a lie—I remembered him losing it to Gabe.) Max didn’t seem upset, though. More like amused. Now that I thought about it, since Max was pretty much the best Warlock player of all of us, he had to deal with most of Trevor’s griping. And he was always really patient.

  Victoria, on the other hand, seemed ready to argue Trevor into the ground.

  “Gabe used his ice sword,” she insisted. “You don’t remember?”

  “It wasn’t an ice sword, it was a frozen dagger,” Trevor retorted. “Totally different.”

  “Even if that was true—which it’s not—the dagger gets your warrior anyway.”

  “Does not!”

  Max sat next to Victoria, shuffling through his cards. It was funny—I’d seen them together a lot, mostly playing Warlock, but I’d never thought of them as a couple. They looked really cute together, though. I wondered if Victoria had kissed him yet, for Gabby’s dare.

  Max glanced up and caught me staring at him. “What?” he asked.

  “Nothing!” I focused on my cards, trying not to smile. A second later, Victoria kicked me lightly under the table. I waited until Trevor finally conceded and it was Owen’s turn before looking up at her. Raising an eyebrow, I glanced pointedly at Max. Victoria grinned and shook her head. Not yet, she mouthed.

  When we got back to the hotel, I had to call Mom to check in—we’d only talked for a minute the first night of the trip because the reception was so bad in the gym. As soon as we hung up, I went next door to find Julia.

  “I haven’t seen her since dinner,” said Brooke. She and Leah were stretched out on the beds, watching a movie. Sophie sat on the floor, painting her toenails.

  “Where’s everybody else?” I asked.

  Sophie glanced up. “I think Gabby’s down the hall in room 1208,” she told me. “Apparently Liam’s mom bought a bunch of cupcakes. I don’t know about the others, but a few people were still in the lobby when I went down a few minutes ago.”

  “Thanks.” Grabbing my hoodie, I headed for the elevator. I figured I’d find Julia downstairs. Maybe Natasha had found her already. But when I got to the lobby, I didn’t see either of them.

  Owen was there, though, sitting on one of the sofas, sketchbook open in his lap. He smiled when I sat next to him, but flipped the page before I could see what he was working on.

  “Why’d you come down here?” I rested my feet on the edge of the coffee table, taking care not to kick any of the colored pencils spread all over the surface.

  “I wanted to work on some stuff, but there’s a bunch of people playing Warlock in my room, and it got kind of loud,” Owen replied. “What about you?”

  “Looking for Julia and Natasha.” I glanced around the lobby again. “No idea where they are. So what were you working on?”

  “Just a few different sketches,” he said, setting down a green pencil and picking up a brown one instead.

  “Oh.” I watched as he started shading in the tree trunks in the gorilla picture. “Hey, were Max and Victoria in your room?”

  He nodded. “Why?”

  “Just curious.” I glanced at him. “Did you know they’re going to the spring dance together?”

  “Um . . . no, I didn’t.”

  The elevator doors opened. I looked up hopefully, but it was just Aaron and Liam. They headed straight for the vending machines.

  “Maybe we could see if they want to have dinner before the dance,” I said. “Max and Victoria. We could all ride together or something.” When Owen didn’t respond right away, I turned to face him. He was focused on the gorilla sketch, but his pencil wasn’t moving. “Owen?”

  Blink.

  “You still want to go with me?” He sounded nervous again, like he had yesterday in the reptile house.

  I sat up straight. “Of course! What makes you think I wouldn’t?”<
br />
  Blink, blink.

  Cheeks flushed, Owen tapped the pencil on his knee. “Well, after what Natasha said yesterday, I thought maybe . . .” His gaze flickered over to the vending machines, and I realized what he meant.

  Geez, first Gabby, now Owen. I almost laughed, but he looked really anxious, so I didn’t.

  “Okay, look,” I said, glancing over at Aaron. “How awful would it be of me to ask him out after one of my best friends broke up with him? And besides, I already asked you to the dance! You don’t really think I’d just change my mind like that, do you?”

  Blink, blink, blink.

  “Well, no,” Owen said. “It’s just . . . I know you like him, so if you—”

  “I don’t,” I interrupted. “I don’t like him anymore. Just as a friend.”

  He finally looked up, gray eyes wide with surprise. “You don’t?”

  I shook my head. “Nope.”

  “Oh. Okay.” Owen picked up another pencil and went back to the gorilla sketch. His face was still a little pink, but he was smiling. After a second, I realized I was, too.

  “Holly!”

  We both looked up as Natasha stepped out of the elevator. She started toward us, noticed Aaron and Liam walking back from the vending machines, and veered around a sofa, her face suddenly red. Aaron followed Liam into the elevator, his eyes fixed on his shoes.

  “Well,” I said when Natasha sat next to me. “That was awkward.”

  She groaned, rubbing her eyes. “Tell me about it. Anyway, want to go talk to Julia?”

  “Do you know where she is?”

  “Yeah, there’s a courtyard by the pool,” Natasha said. “She’s there—or at least, she was a few minutes ago. I saw her out the window.”

  “Let’s go.” I nudged Owen before standing up. “Hey, this amusement park we’re going to tomorrow is supposed to have a pretty creepy funhouse.”

  “Count me out,” Natasha said immediately.

  I laughed. “Obviously. But you’re in, right?” I added, looking at Owen.

  “Yup.” His eyes widened. “Hey—alien funhouse?”

  “Of course.” I nodded emphatically. “Add it to the list.”

  Owen grinned. “Okay. See you tomorrow, Holly.”

  “See you.”

  Natasha and I headed down the hall, looking for the exit to the courtyard. “Alien funhouse?” she asked.

  “For our science fair project,” I explained. “We’re designing an alien theme park.” Natasha pressed her lips together, like she was trying not to laugh. I gave her a defiant look as we walked outside. “Hey, I don’t care if that sounds dorky. It’s actually a lot of fun.”

  But she shook her head. “That’s not what I’m . . . never mind.”

  “What, then?”

  Natasha smiled. “Nothing. Hey, is that Julia?”

  I squinted in the direction she was pointing. “Yeah.”

  Julia sat on one of the benches lining the gate to the pool. The sign on the gate said CLOSED UNTIL MAY but all the lights in the pool area were on. At first I thought Julia was texting, but as we got closer, I realized she was reading a book. Her cell phone sat on her knee.

  “Hi,” I said, and she jumped.

  “Oh!” Julia’s eyes flickered from me to Natasha. “I didn’t hear you coming. Um . . . hi.”

  She closed her book as Natasha and I sat on either side of her. Natasha chewed her thumbnail, and I took a deep breath to speak. But Julia winced, like she was bracing herself, and I hesitated.

  Maybe she felt like you guys were ganging up on her. That’s what Gabby had said on the bus. And when I thought about it, I saw her point. Julia didn’t feel like she could talk to either of us, so she’d confided in Sophie instead.

  “You go first,” I said after a second. They both looked at me funny.

  “What?” asked Julia.

  “Tell us what’s bothering you.” I tried to smile at her. “We’ll listen, I promise.”

  Julia stared down at her knees. “Okay. Um . . .” She cleared her throat. “I really am sorry about the sleepover. I couldn’t stop thinking about it the whole time I was at that concert. And what you said on the phone, that I was choosing Seth over you . . .” Swallowing, Julia glanced at me. “I felt really awful, Holly. I did.”

  My throat started aching a little bit, so I just nodded.

  “Then after band on Monday, you both just . . .” Julia took a deep breath. “It was obvious you’d been talking about it. Not just the party, but about everything—that I talk about him too much, and . . .” She wiped her eyes quickly. “I guess it just hurt my feelings, that you’d been complaining about me, but neither of you ever said anything to me, and . . . I didn’t know you felt that way.”

  “We didn’t want to tell you at first,” Natasha said. Her voice was all scratchy. “You were just excited about Seth, and we were happy for you. We should’ve—”

  “No, but you were right.” Julia smiled, even though tears were streaming down her face. “It hurt my feelings, but you were right, and I—I felt really guilty. I have been spending a lot of time with him, but I didn’t realize that meant I barely saw you guys anymore. Or that I was missing out on so much. I mean, I didn’t even know you were going to break up with Aaron.”

  Natasha’s mouth fell open. “Wait—I just did that, like, an hour ago. Right after dinner. How did you even hear about it?”

  “Sophie told me.”

  “I didn’t tell Sophie!” Natasha exclaimed.

  Julia wiped her eyes again. “She heard it from Liam.”

  I couldn’t help giggling through my tears. “She might be a good listener, but she’s an even better talker.”

  Natasha laughed. “I guess so.”

  “So what happened?” Julia asked. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” Natasha shrugged. “It wasn’t exactly the most fun conversation ever, but he didn’t seem all that surprised.” She smiled a little. “It would’ve been easier if he wasn’t so nice. I still really like him, you know? We just don’t have anything in common except band.”

  “Oh.” Julia was quiet for a few seconds. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “No, not about that,” Julia said, then shook her head. “I mean, I am sorry about Aaron! But I’m also sorry for, you know . . . everything.”

  “It’s okay.” I smiled at her. “I’m sorry, too.”

  “Me too!” Natasha threw her arms around Julia, and so did I. We ended up in a crying, laughing, three-person hug on the bench, followed by a good minute of hiccuping and sniffling.

  “We still want to hear about Seth, too,” I told Julia, adjusting my ponytail. “Okay?”

  She nodded. “Okay. And I want to hear about you and Owen.”

  “Okay.” I paused, my hands still on my hair. “Wait—what are you talking about?”

  “Come on, Holly,” Julia said, grinning. “Maybe we haven’t talked much in the last few weeks, but I’m not blind.”

  Natasha’s eyes were wide. “Wait, what’d I miss?”

  “I have no idea,” I said honestly.

  “I saw you guys walking around together,” Julia told me. “Yesterday, at the zoo.”

  “So?”

  Julia stared at me expectantly, but I just gave her a blank look. Sighing, she turned to Natasha.

  “They were holding hands.”

  “Aw!” Beaming, Natasha reached over and socked me lightly on the arm. “Holly, you said you’d tell us if you liked Owen!”

  “I would!” I exclaimed. My face felt warm. “That wasn’t . . . I mean, it’s not like that. It was kind of an accident.”

  “An accident?” Julia repeated.

  I nodded. “I was in a hurry when we got off the bus and I wasn’t really thinking. I just grabbed his hand for a
second so he’d walk fast, too, and then I . . . forgot.”

  Julia arched an eyebrow. “You forgot you were holding his hand?”

  “Well, for a few minutes,” I said. “But when I realized it, I figured it’d be rude if I just let go, so I . . . didn’t.”

  It sounded like a lame reason, even to me. After a few seconds of silence, Julia and Natasha burst out laughing.

  Sighing, I got to my feet. “Okay, so it’s hard to explain,” I told them. “But trust me, we’re—”

  “Just friends.” Julia stood up and linked her arm with mine. “We know, we know.”

  They teased me all the way back to our rooms. I was so relieved everything was back to normal with Julia, I didn’t even care. Although I couldn’t help feeling grateful they didn’t know about the accidental cuddling on the bus. I’d just keep that one to myself.

  “Why did I let you talk me into this?”

  I turned around to smile at Natasha. “Because you can’t say you’re afraid of roller coasters if you’ve never even been on one.”

  Our car lurched, and Natasha and Julia both shrieked. Next to me, Gabby’s arms were already sticking straight up in the air.

  “Here we go!” she yelled. Slowly, we moved backward along the track, which went from straight to vertical after a few seconds.

  “Don’t worry,” I called over my shoulder. “It’s just a hundred-foot drop or so to start with.”

  Julia groaned. “Thanks, Holly.”

  We reached the top, facing the ground, and the car was still for a few seconds.

  “That churro probably wasn’t a good idea,” I told Gabby, glancing down at my all-region T-shirt. “I don’t want you throwing up on me.”

  She grinned. “Please. I’ve never gotten sick on a—”

  Then the car dropped, and everyone (including me and Gabby) screamed. The track twisted and turned, with so many loops and corkscrews that I lost count. After half a minute, our car went straight up the end of the track again, but now we were facing the sky.