Chapter 11 #2
“It’s perfectly acceptable for adventuring, but it’s unacceptable to live in. The town itself is rundown.”
“Oh. You’d think people from Victoria Falls would pump money into its economy.”
I smirk. “Then they wouldn’t have somewhere to look down their noses at.”
Christie giggles behind a cupped hand. “Sounds about right.”
“What are you two talking about?” Ash asks.
“Logan’s Point,” Christie answers. “And why it’s so-called unacceptable?”
Milo huffs. “It’s so dumb. Just an excuse for people to be mean.”
Tummy flutter. Again. Ugh. Chill out, stomach.
“I have to say it again. These shakes are amazing. Gosh, I can’t believe I’ve never been here before,” Christie says with amazement. “Meghan always likes going to Village Coffee at the other end of Main Street.”
I swallow hard and fidget against the vinyl seat cushion. “Meghan? As in Meghan Fisher?”
Christie nods. “Yeah. You know her?”
A sour frown pulls at my lips. “Oh, I’m aware of her.”
“Oh.” Christie blows out a hard breath. “I always forget. She was a mean girl at Ashworth Academy before I moved here.”
“It’s fine. Let’s just blow past the subject,” I say, shaking my head.
“Hi kids,” Coach Anders says with a wave as he strolls toward the counter.
Everyone says hello back, and I can’t help but grizzle.
“What was that about?” Ash asks. “Is there a problem with Coach Anders? Because if you need me to…”
“No!” I blurt, pushing my hands out like stop signs. “Coach Anders is the greatest teacher at our school. If you do anything, push the administration to give him a raise.”
Ash smirks. “So, what was with the hostility?”
“He benched me from the soccer team.”
“That’s rough. What did you do?”
“Have sucky grades.” I frown until a shiny idea pops into my head. “Hey, wait a minute. Can you help with that?”
Ash’s eyebrows lift. “Help with what?”
“You’re like the king of the school, aren’t you? Can you make a call and get the school to stop threatening to take away my scholarship?”
Ash winces. “I don’t think so. It’ll set a dangerous precedent.”
“Dangerous?” I question. “How so? All I need is for the administration to get off my back.”
Ash shakes his head. “Ashworth Academy doesn’t want to set a lazy academic standard. Sorry, you gotta put in the work.”
“Says you,” I protest. “You barely turn up to classes.”
He smirks. “But my grades don’t suck.”
I groan and flop back in my seat.
Across from me, Christie frowns and mouths, “Sorry.”
I shrug a response.
The conversation falls back to Milo and Ash’s homework assignment. Christie leans into Ash, curling her arm around his bicep. When she dreamily rests her head on his shoulder, listening to the boys’ conversation, it almost feels like steam will come out of my ears.
I didn’t sign-up to sit across from a real life rom-com couple. They are super adorable together, especially when Ash runs his fingers across Christie’s hand as he continues to talk with Milo. But I don’t need to see any more cuteness when it comes to couples.
I excuse myself from the table, saying I need to check in with my aunt.
When I leave the table, I find Aunt Maddy talking with Coach at his table. He cups a mug of black coffee, listening intently to Maddy.
“Hawaii?” Coach says with surprise as he sits back. “Wow, what an escape.”
“I didn’t even know she needed an escape from life,” I butt in.
Coach turns to me, greeting me with a small smile. “I know it’s rough, kid. First time you two will be apart.”
My shoulders slump and I step closer to Maddy. “It’s gonna be totally weird.”
“You know, if you need anything, you can always knock on my door at school,” Coach says.
I bat my eyelashes and put on my sweetest smile. “I need to get back on the team.”
Coach frowns. “That’s not exactly what I meant.”
I lift my hands innocently. “You said anything.”
Aunt Maddy nudges me. “Stop being a troublemaker.”
“You want me to stop being me?” I joke.
“Hey, I gotta go,” Milo says, sidling up to us. “I know we haven’t done any studying yet, but I have to get home before my grandparents arrive. If you need help with anything before classes tomorrow, we could always meet up before school?”
I shake my head. “I can’t tomorrow. I have soccer practice.”
Coach leans forward. “Maddy told me Milo is tutoring you, but it looked like a lot of socializing. Why didn’t you study today?”
I shrug, guilt rising inside me as Coach stares me down. “I dunno. Christie and Ash wanted to hang out?”
“And how is that a valid excuse?” he presses. “I thought we agreed you’d prioritize your studies.”
I huff. “Yeah, and I have…”
He cuts me off. “Doesn’t look like it, kid. I think you’d better skip practice to catch up on homework.”
“What?” I gasp. “That’s not fair. You’ve already kicked me out of games. You can’t take training away, too.”
“You promised me you’d work harder when it came to your classes,” he rebuts. “And I’m already seeing you slack off.”
“Coach Anders, that’s not really fair,” Milo says in a low voice as he fidgets with the frame of his glasses. “Jamie has been working hard this week. I didn’t tell Ash or Christie we were busy, either.”
“Milo, it’s not really the same when you’re a grade-A student,” Coach replies. “But I appreciate you sticking up for Jamie.”
I grin eagerly. “So I can go to practice tomorrow?”
Coach smiles and shakes his head. “No, not tomorrow. We’ll re-evaluate it next week. You need to keep focusing on classes right now.”
I look up at the ceiling and groan.
Aunt Maddy slings an arm around me. “Toughen up, baby. You know he’s right.”
Milo waves, walking backwards. “Okay, text me where to meet up tomorrow.”
“Bye Milo,” Maddy says with a wave.
I huff and nod at him. “Yeah, okay. Bye.”
Christie and Ash leave the booth as Milo heads for the door. Ash waves, following Milo out, but Christie walks toward us.
“Excuse me, Miss West,” Christie says, joining us.
“Yes,” Maddy replies eagerly. “Please call me Maddy.”
Christie blushes. “Okay then. I just wanted to say, my mom is meeting with some society ladies about upcoming functions. I was wondering if you’d have a card I could pass along.”
Maddy’s eyes widen, and she hastily digs inside her apron pocket. “Yes, yes!” She plucks out a card and pen and scribbles on the back. “That’s my cell on the back. Please get them to call that literally anytime day or night.”
Christie giggles. “I’ll pass on how eager you are.”
Maddy bounces in place. “Please do.”
“Aunty,” I whisper out the side of my mouth. “Cool it.”
Christie swats a hand. “It’s totally cute.” She tucks Maddy’s card into her pocket. “Thanks so much for today. The milkshakes were beyond amazing. See you at school, Jamie.”
A weird squeak comes out instead of a proper goodbye, but I cover with an enthusiastic wave.
Christie leaves the cafe and I help Maddy clear the booth.
“Whoa,” Maddy murmurs, swiping a wad of cash. “That’s a monster tip.”
“Geez.” I gasp. “We need Milo to bring Ashworth in here more often.”
Maddy hands me the cash. “Keep this. You might need it while I’m away.”
“Are you sure? We usually split tips.”
“Christie took my card with her, so I’m on cloud nine right now.”
I pocket the cash. “Okay, if you say so.”
The afternoon went slowly, with a dwindling number of customers. Coach left with one more lecture about studying over socializing. I gave him my best eye roll. I haven’t been to the skatepark since Sunday, so I think that speaks volumes about my lack of socializing.
Kai texted back an hour after Christie and Ash left. “What! You’re hanging out with Ash? Without me!! How did this happen?”
I took way longer than usual to reply. He needed to be taught a lesson.
Just because he’s with his girlfriend doesn’t mean he should forget about his phone or the existence of his best friend.
If he’d read the text right away, maybe he could’ve joined us for milkshakes.
He should think twice about ignoring me.
It was a relief when we finally closed. The feeling didn’t last long when I found out David would meet us at home. Like, come on, they’ll spend a week away together. Won’t they see each other enough?
I can’t say any of these thoughts to Maddy, or she’ll call me jealous again. It’s just after seeing fairytale-worthy Christie and Ash, I’m just done with couples parading in front of me. At least when I watch a movie there’s a layer of distance between me and the characters.
While we eat dinner, Aunt Maddy’s phone beeps and vibrates on the kitchen counter. She gets up to look at it and her casual demeanor swiftly changes.
“Oh my gosh!” Maddy squeals at her phone. “It’s a text from Christie. Her mom said there’s an upcoming garden party that’s not finalized. We could be a contender for catering!”
“Whoa. It really is who you know,” I reply.
David gets up and cuddles up to her. “Congratulations, honey.”
“Don’t congratulate me yet,” Aunt Maddy says, staring at her phone.
“There’s a lot of work to do with the menu plan and interviewing the organizers.
It’s a different plan for whether it’s a sit-down meal, or walking horderves, or both.
” She lowers her phone with a devastated expression. “Oh my gosh.”
“What is it?” David and I chime in at once.
Aunt Maddy’s elongated face turns to David. “I can’t go to Hawaii.”
David puffs a nervous laugh. “What? Why not?”
Maddy raises her phone with urgency. “Hello? A huge catering opportunity has popped up and I need to put my best game plan together. How will it look if I’m on vacation instead of meeting with prospective clients?”
“But you don’t even have a date or numbers yet,” David replies. “There’s no need to panic.”
Aunt Maddy paces away from him, landing by the sofa. “How can you say that? This is a big break for me.” She looks at me with anxious eyes. “For us. I can’t risk this.”
“Honey,” David says softly, moving toward her.
“No,” I say, halting David. “Let me.”
I move over to Aunt Maddy, and she takes some steady breaths.
I take both her hands in mine and exhale hard. “Aunt Maddy, you should go to Hawaii.”
She grips onto me tightly and whispers, “This is the part where you get to tell me to stay.”
I frown. “I know. But if you stay, I know you’ll regret it. I don’t want you to feel like that.”
“But this job could be huge for us. I can’t risk losing it before my foot’s even in the door.”
“Aunty, we live in the digital age. You can use a video call for the meeting.”
“But I can’t virtually give them food to try.”
“No, but me, Laura, Jake, and even Kylie can work on the food. You can be the virtual charisma.”
Aunt Maddy shakes her head, eyes filled with worry. “I need to oversee what’s being plated up if they’re trying our food for the first time.”
“No, Aunty, you don’t. Trust us. If you tell us what to do, we can do it. We’ve got your back.”
“Oh my gosh,” Maddy murmurs. “Since when did you get so grown up?”
I giggle. “I guess the moment you got that text.”
Aunt Maddy wraps her arms around me, shivering as her breath patters against my shoulder. “Thanks, baby. I trust you.”
David’s antsy presence lingers beside us. “So, Hawaii is still on?”
Maddy giggles, pulling out of the hug. “Yes, Hawaii is still on.”
Oh crud. What did I agree to? Not only am I losing Maddy, but now I’m coordinating a menu plan? Oh well, at least it gives me an excuse to take time off from studying.
“I’ll have Jake and Laura take the lead on all this catering stuff,” Maddy says, swiping under her eye. “I don’t want anything taking time away from your studies.”
Ugh. Get out of my head!
I nod. “Okay. Sounds good.”
“Speaking of, finish up your dinner so you can hit the books,” Maddy says. “No movies tonight because you skipped tutoring today.”
“If I hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t have this potential catering job,” I protest.
Maddy smirks. “It’s funny how things work out, isn’t it?”
Ugh. I send my eyes into a massive roll and move back to my plate. I wonder how long I can drag out this meal.