“Oh, um…” My spine straightened. This wasn’t the first time Daniel had peeked at my messages. “Yeah.” I said, pocketing my phone before grabbing my umbrella. “I’m going to brave the rain.”
Daniel held up his own umbrella. “I’ll brave it with you,” he offered.
No, thanks, I thought. I’m on a mission!
I also didn’t want to have lunch with Daniel. It would make things worse. “Saying yes to prom sends the wrong signal,” Pravika had pointed out. “Everyone knows he’s liked you forever, and now that you’re his date…” She shook her head. “You need to be honest about only wanting to be friends.”
“Okay, sure,” I heard myself say now. “Let’s go.”
Daniel smiled, and we set off together. But while I kicked my pace into a high-gear speed walk—I couldn’t miss this chance with Alex—Daniel moved at a casual clip. “Jesus, what’s the rush?” he asked right before we reached Ames’s front gates, just as I heard someone call my name. “Lily!”
It was Gabe, who worked in the brick guardhouse.
“Hey, Gabe,” I said, reluctantly veering away from the gates. “What’s up?”
“Major stuff.” He grinned. “The school’s finally giving me a shot in the big time.”
“The big time?” Daniel looked skeptical.
“Campo is letting me out of the isolation station,” Gabe explained, gesturing around the guardhouse. “You know Harvey is retiring, so they’re giving me his car and hiring some new guy to work this gig.” He held out his hand for a fist bump. “I’m finally joining the patrol squad.”
“Congratulations!” I exclaimed. Gabe had always wanted to be out on the “streets” with Campo. “I bet you can’t wait for next year.”
“Oh, yeah, for sure.” He nodded. “My first shift is actually the day after tomorrow. I’m gonna shadow Harvey for the rest of the term.”
I shifted from one foot to the other. Mr. Harvey wasn’t the head of Campo but definitely had seen the most action in the Ames “underworld.” He’d caught students sneaking out of their dorms, having sex on the sports fields, drunkenly serenading the moon after dances, and negotiating tennis court drug deals.
He was perhaps my biggest worry about getting involved with the Jester. Everyone was convinced that the only reason last year’s prank had gone off without a hitch was because Mr. Harvey hadn’t been on campus that night. He was at home recovering from a knee replacement.
After congratulating Gabe one more time, Daniel and I crossed into town. Provisions, with its yellow siding and dark blue-and-white awning, wasn’t too crowded.
But Alex was nowhere to be seen.
“Hello there!” the owner greeted us as I scanned the shop again, even though it was obvious Alex had picked up his food and run. My shoulders sagged. “What’ll it be?”
Daniel nudged me. “You ready?” He held up his debit card. “I’ve got this.”
I tried not to wince. I didn’t want Daniel to pay for me but worried it would be rude if I straight up said no.
Instead, I voiced a version of it. Something my mom would say: “Yeah, I’ll Venmo you.” Then I quickly rattled off my sandwich order before he could protest. Five minutes later, we were at a high-top table with turkey and roast beef sandwiches, potato chips, and tall fountain sodas. Salted caramel brownies for dessert too.
Provisions’s sandwiches were so massive that you could only eat them in silence, so there was no talking until we took a break. “I have some news,” Daniel said as I took a long sip of Pepsi.
My pulse quickened. News? What news?
“Good or bad?” I inquired.
“Well, not as awesome as Gabe’s promotion,” he deadpanned, “but I’d still say good news.” He smirked. “I swung by the yearbook office this morning, and the Almanacs have finally arrived.”
I put down my soda, eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean finally? Haven’t they been here?” Because Ames’s yearbooks were supposed to be handed out Friday after classes…two days from now.
Daniel leaned closer to me. He wasn’t on the yearbook staff, but distributing the Almanacs was one of his final duties as student council president. “No, they haven’t,” he whispered in case of eavesdroppers. “The publisher kept delaying their printing, and after that, the shipping was a total mess. It wasn’t until Swell called FedEx last week and ripped them…” He dropped off to roll his eyes. “Well, you know how he can be.”
“Mm-hmm,” I said lightly. Tag was an Edible Arrangement of many things, and when the situation called for it, “ballsy” and “unyielding” were two of them. He was only the Almanac’s assistant photo editor, but naturally he’d been the one to get the whole clusterfuck straightened out.
Daniel kept talking about the yearbooks, about how the editor in chief was so relieved and proposed they crack open a box for a preview, but Daniel said no because…
I didn’t realize I was tapping my fingers on the table until Daniel had put his hand over mine. “Hey, what are you thinking about?” he asked.
“The piano,” I answered, blinking a few times.
Daniel cocked his head. “I didn’t know you play piano.”
“A little.” I shrugged. “But not very often, and not very well.” I wriggled my hand out from under his so I could reach for my brownie. Tag had never stopped my mindless tapping. Instead, his left hand joined my right so that it looked like we were one person playing the invisible keys. “What’s the song?” he’d ask, grinning and trying to match my rhythm.
It usually ended with us slowing way down and trying to tap out “Hot Cross Buns” together. “You guys should take that on the road,” Alex would say dryly from across the lunch table. “Tickets would sell out in seconds.”
Then we’d all laugh, and I would tell Tag what was bothering me. I told him everything until last year, because what was bothering me then was him.
Him and them. All the girls who woke up one day and decided they were madly in love with Taggart Matthew Swell and would stop at nothing to get him, even though he was mine. Instead of having him, I suddenly had to compete for him.
Or that was what it had felt like, at least.
I unwrapped the brownie and inelegantly shoved half of it into my mouth. Late-night Leda-style. Daniel circled back to the Almanacs. “But Manik and I did end up opening one box and scanning the superlatives,” he admitted with a sly smile. “You won a few, FYI.”
“Really?” I asked through my brownie, curiosity piqued. “Which ones?”
“Favorite Fac Brat.”
I swallowed. “That’s because I’m the only senior fac brat. The male fac brat column is blank, right?”
Daniel nodded, then made everything so much better by saying, “Teacher’s Pet.”
“Super,” I mumbled.
“I got Teacher’s Pet too,” Daniel said, obviously thrilled about it. “You’re also Everyone’s Friend.” He chuckled. “Oh, and Best to Bring Home to Your Parents.” He gulped some soda. “Quite the roundup.”