36. Lexie
Lexie
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9TH
“ A re we sure we should do this? It feels mean.”
My friend Hazel is way too nice.
“No backing out now,” Ms. Longspur says. “She knows what she signed up for. And Miss Callie has a great sense of humor, don’t worry.”
Hazel doesn’t look convinced, but I know Ms. Longspur’s right.
“I can’t wait to show her, let’s go!” I throw the big garment bag over my shoulder and lead the way into Miss Callie’s classroom. It’s empty since school got out, like, ten minutes ago. I kind of wanted to do this during class, but Ms. Longspur said it would be better for a quiet reveal after everything that’s been going on.
I haven’t lived here for very long, but Tuft Swallow makes me feel like being an adult is just as much drama as being in middle school. My dad has been clingy all week, I feel like I’m his personal Squishmallow. Even Grandma got sick of him and told him to leave her alone for a few days. At least Uncle Jonah and Aunt Delilah are coming over for dinner tonight. He can be their problem, I’m hiding in my room.
Ms. Longspur steps in front of me and Hazel and knocks on the open door. “Knock, knock,” she says.
Miss Callie is cleaning something up, but smiles big when she sees us standing there. “Hey, guys! Come in!”
She seems super happy. She’s, like, the opposite of my dad.
“We come bearing gifts,” Ms. Longspur says. I hold out the garment bag and grin. Hazel’s wincing.
“Uh-oh,” Miss Callie laughs. “Is that my punishment gown?”
Hazel drops her chin to her chest in shame.
Ms. Longspur pats her shoulder but keeps talking to Miss Callie. “As penance for your unfortunate defeat at the First Annual War of the Wild Turkeys, it is our duty to present this Homecoming…um, outfit…that was carefully curated by our esteemed Coach Finnegan.”
Miss Callie laughs again. “Oh man, I’m nervous. How bad is it?”
“Not bad,” I say at the same time Hazel says, “So bad.”
“I can’t do it,” Hazel takes the garment bag from me and holds it in front of her face. “I’ll hold it, you unzip it to show her.”
Even better!
I try to make a big show out of the presentation while Ms. Longspur films it on her phone.
“Ta-da!”
“Oh my god!” Miss Callie throws her head back and laughs. “This is incredible. And so awful. It’s incred-awful.”
“Can we get an official statement for the record?” Ms. Longspur asks.
“I, uh, I wasn’t sure what I expected Finn to pick, but…I think that a giant green sweat shirt and sweat pants makes perfect sense.” She takes the outfit from me and smiles at it.
I put the empty garment bag down and grab a tiara out of my backpack. “We didn’t want to be too mean,” I told her. “So you can wear this, too, to feel pretty.”
“Aww, thank you, Lex! I love it! You’ll put some rhinestones on my cheeks to help me out a little, right?”
“Slay, queen!”
Miss Callie looks over at Hazel. “All right, come here, girls. Let’s get a picture for the paper.” She holds the sweatshirt up to her shoulders and Hazel and I stand on either side of her while Ms. Longspur snaps away on her phone.
“Oh, Lexie, will you please take a picture with my phone, real quick? I want to send it to Lily since she’ll be doing my hair.”
“Sure.”
She opens her phone and hands it to me with the camera pulled up.
“Here, Hazel,” she gives a sleeve to my friend to hold. “It’s going to be okay, I promise. You look more upset about it than I do, and I’m the one wearing it.”
I take a couple of pictures when a text message pops up.
Toshi:
That’s great! I’m sorry to hear I won’t get to see you, but I’m really happy for you. Look at us, settling down in our old age. ??
What’s this now? I look up and see that no one’s paying attention to me at all.
I mean…she wouldn’t mind if I just opened up her text messages, right?
I turn around and pretend to look for something in my backpack while I click on the text thread between Miss Callie and Toshi and read as fast as I can.
She’s staying! Like staying staying! Holy shit, that’s such good news!
Wait…
If she stays but doesn’t make up with my dad, then he’s going to be way worse than he is now.
Like, way worse.
I have to do something.
I quickly slide my thumb over the text thread to mark it as unread and hand Miss Callie her phone. “Hey Hazel, come here for a second.”
She gives me a weird look, but walks over anyway. Luckily, Miss Callie and Ms. Longspur ignore us and start talking to each other.
“Can you come over for dinner tonight?” I whisper.
“Probably, why?” she whispers back.
“I’ve got to get my dad and Miss Callie to stay together, but I can’t do it alone. And you’re like Avatar the Last Truthbender so I need your help.”
“Slay, let’s do it. I’ll text my parents now.”
Within seconds, she’s on her phone messaging them. “So lying to my dad doesn’t bother you, but giving Miss Callie a sweatsuit makes you cry?”
She shrugs as the whoosh of her sent message plays. “I’ll lie for love, but I can’t excuse the outfit that he picked for her.”
Fair.