8
M s. Kim arrived at the end of the meeting, in time to catch Ben finishing an impassioned recitation of his poem, “The Dump I Did Take.”
“The toilet seat I swear I did close, and yet the stench of my lunch arose—”
MC laughed with the students. Over the course of the meeting, she’d leaned back in her chair and crossed her ankles, relaxing.
In desperation to avoid any talk of novels, whether it was her fake one or Nora’s real one, she’d decided to have everyone introduce themselves with a writing exercise.
They were to use rhyme any way they wanted, with twenty minutes to compose something that told a story.
She knew there were kids who probably hated poetry in the room.
But she remembered how important it was to loosen up at the start of something as pretentious as a literary magazine.
When MC caught Ms. Kim’s eye, she waved, and they all clapped after Ben finished his couplets.
“Just so you know,” Ms. Kim said, uncrossing her arms and stepping into the room, “not only was MC the editor of Explorations back when that role still existed, she was also my best student.”
Unfortunately, her praise added a degree of alienation back into the room. The library teen looked especially unimpressed.
“Thanks for giving me a chance today,” MC said quickly, and jumped into winding down the meeting before Ms. Kim could say anything else.
After the students had left, the two of them rearranged the desks into rows.
“Looks like that went really well,” Ms. Kim said.
MC nodded. “It went okay.”
“Sounds like you expected it to be a disaster.”
“I just haven’t done anything like this in a long time.”
“Did you enjoy it?”
“Yeah. I did.”
Ms. Kim flashed an impish smile. “Does that mean you’ll be back?”
“I hadn’t thought about that yet. Should we play it by ear?”
“Whatever you want.”
“In case you end up finding someone on staff who can do it.”
“I’ll take what I can get, when I can get it.”
“Noted.” MC cleared her throat. “So, how’s it been? Running the school. Working with my brother.”
“Good, good.” Her lashes fluttered for a moment. “He’s intense!” She laughed. “I mean, hey, I like that about him.”
“Lucky you.”
“He told me to say hi to you, by the way. He’s still tied up with Athletics.” She took a breath before adding, “We spent a lot of time together this summer. I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but I got the sense that he misses you.”
MC knew it would be rude to laugh. “Really?”
“I think when you’re good at so many things, the one thing you’re bad at becomes extra overwhelming. If that makes sense.”
The observation felt more insightful than MC would’ve expected from someone who’d only met Conrad that summer.
But Ms. Kim had always had that way about her—a laser focus she carried so lightly it took students by surprise whenever she started unlocking layers of meaning in even the most boring assignments.
“Well,” MC said slowly, “thanks for telling me that. I felt like he was annoyed that I invaded his turf or whatever.”
“Don’t be silly.” She winked. “It’s your turf too.”
They said goodbye. MC reassured her that they’d be in touch about the possibility of her running another meeting.
When she left the building, her steps lighter from an obligation having been fulfilled and put behind her, she squinted up at the dark clouds and geared up to bike as quickly as her sore legs could manage.
She winced as she pushed off onto the street, droplets of rain beginning to speckle the asphalt. By the time she was on the main road, thunder was rumbling. If she saw lightning, she’d probably have to get off her bike and find shelter. Somewhere.
A car honked behind her. Worried she was blocking the road, despite the fact that this wasn’t physically possible, she veered farther onto the shoulder.
She got honked at again.
Then the car pulled up beside her, a window rolled down.
MC prepared to apologize, though she wasn’t sure for what, when she saw it was Nora.
“Need a ride?”
“Oh, hey!” MC sputtered. “I’m good, actually.” She felt rain streaming off her nose and chin. “Thanks for the offer, though.”
Somewhere in the ether, Joe was screaming.
Nora frowned. “You’re good?”
“Little rain never hurt anyone.”
Thunder roared.
“From a safety standpoint,” Nora said, “I think you should get in the car.”
“You know what? I think you’re right.” She looked down at the bike. “But I don’t want to get dirt all over your seats.”
“It’s fine.”
MC hitched a thumb over her shoulder. “I’ll just throw my bike in the woods.”
“What?”
“It’s a piece of junk, no one’s gonna steal it.”
“You... don’t need to do that?”
“It’s no problem, seriously.”
“MC. I really don’t care if you put it in the back.”
“I’ll get it later.” With some effort, MC shoved the bike into a bush, wiped her hands on her sodden jeans, and opened the passenger-side door. “Thanks for doing this.”
Nora shook her head. “Giving you a ride to the place I was already driving?”
MC cleared her throat. “Yeah.”
Nora pulled back into the street. MC dripped onto the upholstery.
“You can take off your helmet,” Nora said. “Unless you really like to wear it.”
MC laughed, then struggled for a long time to get the warped clasp to come undone. Awkward jokes about how this did not reflect her ability to undo clasps in general popped into her mind. As did the phrase next-level clueless .
“I’m still shocked you volunteered to be Pooh,” Nora said. Her gaze flicked over to MC for a moment. MC thought she saw a hint of nervousness there, but maybe she was just projecting.
“To be honest,” MC said, “I can’t believe it either.”
“You can change your mind.”
“And let down a nice person like Maureen?”
“She’ll get over it.”
“I’m committed now.”
“You just really want to wear a disgusting costume tomorrow morning.”
“It’s like being a mascot, right? I’ve always been curious about that.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know—seems exciting to have fans.”
It took a moment for MC to become aware of the possible double meaning. She stared out the windshield.
Nora said, “I don’t think you’ll feel too exciting as Pooh.”
“Uh, Pooh is the definition of exciting.”
MC was pleased to see a twitch at the corner of Nora’s lips. “Maureen’s glad you feel that way.”
“I just need to work on my Oh, bother .”
“You definitely don’t need to do that.”
Maybe it was the absurdity of the situation, or the intensity of the silence that yawned between them, but when MC took a deep breath, what came out was a glottal, high-pitched “Piglet.”
Nora was almost smiling now. “Jesus Christ.”
“I know. My impressions can be stunning.”
“I’m stunned.”
“I get that all the time.”
Nora managed to get her frown back in place. “Why are you here again?”
“Like, in your car?”
“No, like in Green Hills.”
“I’m visiting my brother.”
“Then why didn’t you leave school together?”
“Because he works super late.”
“You’re just... trying to spend time with him?”
Of course Nora would doubt her explanation. As Joe had reminded her, she’d written a bestselling book about their fake romance, based on their not-fake senior year, and all of a sudden MC just materialized, not simply at home, but at Nora’s work.
Twice.
She was going to need to be a little more convincing.
“No,” she admitted. “I’m actually trying to finish a novel.”
Nora’s eyebrows went up. “A novel.”
It occurred to MC that Joe’s cover for her was almost certainly inspired by Michaela Carson’s career in Girl Next Door , which MC was pretending not to know about, while talking to the author of that very book, who was already suspicious of her.
“I also just got broken up with,” she added.
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Happens to me all the time.”
“Is there a reason for that?”
“Probably.”
“But you’re not sure.”
“I have my suspicions.”
“Should you try to figure that out?”
“It’s why I decided to come home for a few days. To reflect.”
“How’s it going so far?”
“I’d say zero progress.”
Nora settled back in her seat a little. “So, what kind of novel is it?”
“Um... a bad one?”
“What?”
“A bad novel.”
“You’re being self-deprecating.”
“Kind of. I mean, I gave up on writing fiction in college, when I got the memo that I wasn’t very good at it. And it seemed like such a hard thing to do, emotionally, so I figured maybe I dodged a bullet.”
“And then you forgot the memo?”
“Breakups make you do weird things. Plus, I don’t know, maybe I finally need to get a few things off my chest.”
Nora’s expression softened. “I don’t know if this is what you mean, but... I was really sorry when I heard your dad passed. I wrote you and Conrad a card. Not that my condolences matter.”
“No, they do. Thank you.”
“He seemed very talented. Not just with the carpentry business, but his gardening, his pottery...”
MC smiled, wanting to skip over how uncomfortable the topic made her. “That’s the Calloways. Talented, I mean. The gene just skipped me or something.”
Nora gave her a serious look. “I think when you’ve perfected your Oh, bother , you’ll be singing a different tune.”
MC raised an eyebrow. “So, you admit you’re excited to see me dress up tomorrow?”
“Excited doesn’t even begin to describe it.”
And then, for whatever reason, MC felt heat rushing to her cheeks. She cleared her throat. “How come Maureen doesn’t read to the kids, by the way?”
“She does. But for special events, they make me do it.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m good at it, MC.” Nora smirked. “Is that so hard to believe?”
“No. Well, maybe a little.”
“Ouch.”
“I just mean that you seem... I don’t know what I mean.”
“I do.” A muscle leapt in Nora’s jaw. “You think I’m an asshole.”
“What? No, I don’t.”
“Everyone does. Or they used to, anyway.” She took a breath. “They’re not entirely wrong.”
“You were always really independent. That can be intimidating to some people, especially teenagers.”
“Did I intimidate you?”
“No.” MC had no idea why she was blushing. Again. “Fine, maybe a little. But I liked it.” Nora shot her a look. “I mean, I liked the things about you that were intimidating. Not the experience of being intimidated by you.”
“Really?” Nora checked her mirror and turned onto their street. “I always got the feeling you kind of enjoyed it.”
MC swallowed.
Were they flirting ?
As if Nora was having the same train of thought, she said, “Anyway, that was probably just you being nice.”
MC bristled, thinking of Girl Next Door . “I wasn’t being nice. I genuinely thought you were brave to be yourself at that age.”
“Speaking of that age,” Nora said, “how was the Explorations meeting today?”
MC was relieved to change the subject. She hadn’t realized how hurt she’d felt, deep down, about Nora’s cookie-cutter portrayal of her . “It was good,” she said. “Just like old times, actually.” Except for some of the kids fawning over the book Nora had written about them.
“I’m not surprised. You were a natural in that role.”
“So were you.”
Nora rolled her eyes. Which made MC’s heart sink even lower.
She had a memory of working on the magazine, just the two of them, a few weeks before reading night.
Nora had showed her a printed draft, and when MC saw how elegant it looked, the maturity of the design, she’d found herself saying, You do know you’re amazing, right?
And Nora had said, What corny-ass movie did you get that line from?
Nora pulled up at MC’s house. She stared down at the wheel in her hands like it had a nuclear code on it.
MC took the opportunity to study Nora’s profile a little more closely.
Full lips. Strong nose. Long lashes and intense green eyes behind a sweep of wavy black hair.
The phrase that popped into MC’s mind just then was unabashedly sexy .
“Sorry for dumping a lake in your passenger seat,” MC said.
“It’s fine.” Nora finally looked over at MC. “It’ll dry.”