“I think so. I didn’t realize how much it would help to have the smartest girl in the world explaining things to me.”
I knew he was being sarcastic but my cheeks went hot, anyway. Why did they keep doing that? “Second-smartest. Blaire’s the first.” I held out my hand. “Let me see your notebook, I’ll write out another way for you to solve this problem.”
He handed it over and I turned the page to get to a clean sheet, but it wasn’t clean. It had writing on it. I didn’t mean to read it, but my eyes immediately took in the words.
Seth noticed what was there just as I was about to turn another page. “Oh.” He turned the page quickly. “That’s nothing.”
“Is it a screenplay or story that you’re working on?”
“Just some random ideas.”
“It was good. Interesting.”
He shrugged. I could tell he didn’t want to talk about it so I dropped the subject and used the clean sheet of paper to explain the math concept.
He glanced over at me and I realized how close we were on this tiny two-seater table. The right side of my body was pressed against his left side, from our shoulders to our knees.
“Thank you,” he said.
“I’m happy to help.”
“That’s the line you use on all the zookeepers. I now feel like part of your service hours.”
“I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant.”
There was a sparkle in his eyes. “I’m just teasing you.”
“Oh. Yeah.” I needed to move away, my skin was on fire.
His eyes went down to his book. “I’m not a total screw-up,” he whispered.
“What? I never thought you were.”
“You’re just so smart and focused.”
“I think you mean boring.”
His eyes snapped to mine. “No. Not boring at all. Pretty amazing, actually.”
His words floated around my head, causing a buzzing sensation.
Blaire saved me by plopping my drink down next to me. “I got you decaf this time so you’re not up all night.”
“Thanks.” I used her interruption to push back from the table.
Seth looked at the Stanford packet that was still sitting in my lap. “I better go,” he said. “I told my mom an hour. It’s been two.” He held his hand out to Blaire. “Nice to meet you.”
Blaire shook his hand. “You too.”
“See you Saturday, Maddie.” He leaned down and gave me a hug that seemed to linger longer than normal (or was I just enjoying it more than normal?). Then he slung his backpack over his shoulder and was gone.
Blaire crossed her arms and tilted her head at me.
“What?”
“He’s what’s holding you back from Stanford.”
“What?”
“He’s keeping you here. You’d be all in if it wasn’t for that boy.”
“That is so not true.”
“This is why we had a pact, Maddie. A pact.”
“I know. I haven’t broken it. My hesitation has nothing to do with him and everything to do with my family.” My burning face wasn’t backing up my argument at all.
“Good. Because your family I can work with. I’m not sure I can compete with Mr. Smooth Talker.” She stared at the door he’d left through like he might come back and tell her she was right. But I knew he wouldn’t. Seth was just nice to everyone. I wasn’t anything special to him.
“Now,” Blaire said. “Let’s go over this packet point by point, okay?”
I nodded, but my eyes found their way back to the door.
At 7:00 p.m. on Friday, I stood on the pier with Blaire and Elise. They had both ended up borrowing clothes from me, and I had to admit we all looked pretty incredible. I wore a miniskirt with a blousy top and wedge booties. Blaire was in ankle boots, jeans, and a sleeveless halter. And Elise wore an emerald-green silky shirtdress and strappy sandals. I felt like we were at some yacht club photo shoot, minus the cameras.
Nobody else had shown up yet, aside from the caterer, and the captain of the yacht, of course. Visions of my birthday party were floating through my mind. All that candy on the coffee table, uneaten. This party was going to be that all over again.
The big white yacht, its rows of windows reflecting the setting sun, was anchored to the dock beside us. A metal walkway bridged the gap between the pier and the boat, and there was nobody here to cross it. Shouldn’t at least one person have arrived by now? I looked at my phone.
“We’re an hour early,” Blaire said.
“But in an hour this boat will sail out to sea for the night with or without people on it,” I said.
“They’ll come,” Blaire assured me.
Elise rubbed her arms as the wind kicked up. The water lapped at the pier and she looked at the boat. “Could we wait on the yacht?”
“Yes, we can. Let’s go make sure all the food and stuff is getting set up.” Maybe this was like the metaphorical boiling pot of water. If I watched it, nothing would happen.
The caterers were busy at work putting out all the things I’d ordered. Things I thought my peers would like: mini hot dogs, sliders, pizza bites, chips. Were there normally snacks at big parties? Why hadn’t I gone to any parties before?
Eventually the water boiled. Metaphorically, of course. People started trickling in by twos and threes. By fives and sevens. I recognized a lot of the people—Bryce from Math, Laura from Chemistry—but a lot I didn’t.
“Oh, look, there’s Colton,” Elise said, pointing at her ex-boyfriend who’d just walked down the steps into the main room. “Who invited him?”
“Who’s Colton?” Blaire asked, and Elise smiled.
The noise on the yacht rose to a happy buzz and my nerves settled.
When Trina walked in, she hugged me. She wore one of the outfits she’d bought on our shopping trip—a rose-colored, one-sleeved minidress, and a silver band that twisted around her bicep. I was surprised how dressed up everyone was. Was this normal for a party or did the word yacht up the fashion game?
“You look awesome,” Trina said.
“You too,” I said.
Trina’s friend Beth, who was standing next to her, widened her eyes. “I didn’t even recognize you.”
“Thanks?” I wondered if half the people on this boat hadn’t recognized me when they arrived. I did look different.
Trina threw her hands out to either side. “You’re kind of a genius. Your party cannot fail because nobody can leave.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know, when people come, think your party sucks, and take off? That’s the worst, ending the night at ten because you only have a handful of people left.”
“I hadn’t even thought of that.” What if my party sucked and people wanted to leave? I would have trapped them. They’d have to jump overboard if desperate.
Trina said, “Don’t worry about it. This will be awesome. I’m getting some food. You have like actual food. Not just candy.”
“Is that bad?”
She petted my arm. “Calm down. It’s good.”
When she left, Elise sighed. “How come you never introduce us to Trina?”
“What? I haven’t? I’m so sorry. I guess I … ” Thought you knew her, was how I was going to finish that sentence but that wasn’t true. I knew they didn’t know her, just like I hadn’t known her before recently. “When she comes back, I’ll introduce you.”
The owner of the yacht, a woman named Patrice, came up to me. “We’re going to be pushing off in ten minutes.”
“Okay,” I said, then gasped.
“What?” Blaire asked.
“The band. The band isn’t here yet.” At least I didn’t think they were. I stood on my tiptoes, trying to see over the heads of the people around me. I hadn’t thought to bring any backup music in case they didn’t show. “I’ll be right back. Don’t leave without me,” I told Patrice.
“We won’t leave without you.”
I pushed through the crowd and to the upper deck, then out onto the pier. I couldn’t see Leo anywhere. Had I really not gotten his number to call him? That was booking-a-band 101. Well, at least it should’ve been, if I wrote a manual about booking a band.