Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Are you trying to replace my party?"

I stood at the back of the line for the taco truck. One of the many food trucks that lined the frontage road of our school at lunch. I looked over at the questioner.

I saw her fur-lined, white snow boots first, then my eyes traveled up her white leggings topped with a white pleated skirt. Her sweater was a Valentine's Day soft pink, and on her head was a white beanie with a pink pompom, which helped her perfect, dark curls sit right on top of her shoulders. Cassidy Dawson, the queen herself, wasn't much taller than me, but she was standing over me like some ethereal being.

I finally saw what she was holding: a paper invitation to my party. It was a single heart with a smiley face on it. Not two hearts, not a broken heart, but a fully functioning, happy single heart that deserved a day to celebrate. Okay, maybe I was expecting people to read into the symbolism too much, but that's what it stood for. I'd been handing them out all week. Not to the whole school or anything, just to people I thought would want the invite. So I was surprised to see one in Cassidy's hand. On the back was the information for the party Jack and I were throwing tonight.

"I'm not trying to replace your party," I said now. I had no problem with Cassidy aside from the fact that she was connected to Micah.

"What?" she asked.

"I'm not. We're not even in the same market," I told her. And I meant it. Getting back at Micah may have been one reason I wanted to throw the party, but it wasn't the only one. And if I was being completely honest with myself, I never thought I would actually accomplish that goal anyway. I never thought he would care. Maybe he still didn't. Maybe only Cassidy did.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"It means that your party goers are celebrating love."

"And what are yours?"

"Singleness. No couples allowed at my party." The line moved forward and I moved forward with it. The taco truck had decorated for the day. The crepe hearts that had been hung, fluttered, their edges furled and mishappen from the cold, causing a macabre vision of love.

"No couples allowed?" Cassidy asked.

"Right."

She looked at the invitation again. I wondered how she got it. "Good," she huffed. She held the heart out to me like it was a piece of garbage she no longer wanted in her possession. When I took it, she brushed her hands together with a sour expression on her face. That's when Micah joined her, seeming to slither in out of nowhere. He hardly even looked at me. His hair was full of product and his snide face looked the same as it had in sixth grade.

"I talked to her already," Cassidy said.

Micah looked at me. "Just because you've never been in love, Scar, doesn't mean you have to make fun of the people who are."

I recoiled, surprised by his statement. "I'm not making fun of you. I just want people on the other side of that equation to feel happy today too. Couples have dozens of celebrations all year round. We should get one." Then the other part of his statement hit me. "You keeping track of my love life, Micah?"

"Just an educated guess." With those words they left.

Jack was walking toward me. His gaze followed Micah and Cassidy and then he gave me his wide-eyed expression until he reached my side. "School royalty graced you with their presence? What did they want?" he asked.

Jack had changed a lot over the last year. He had grown like four inches. We'd always been about the same height before, but now I had to look up at him. His limbs, which used to look lanky, fit his frame better, but the growth spurt had made him even thinner.

"They're mad about this." I held up the invitation. "And apparently well versed in my love life."

"What love life?"

"Rude," I said even though he was very right.

He cringed. "I did not mean for it to sound like that. But..."

"Well, that's what Micah said too." He may have ditched us four years ago, but apparently he was still keeping tabs.

"How would he know that?"

"We must still be squirming around in his brain somewhere, not giving him peace."

A girl in line in front of me turned around and said, "Can I have that?"

I flipped the paper heart in my hand. "This?"

She nodded.

"Are you single?" I asked.

"Yes."

I handed it to her.

When she turned back around, Jack chuckled under his breath. "You're asking people that question?"

"Well, yeah... you're not?" I asked.

"I'm using my intuition." He paused. "I'm only asking people I know."

I shoved his shoulder and he smiled. His hair had grown out and he'd gotten new glasses, both of which somehow made his smile seem even more smiley. I couldn't explain it, but it did.

"Bob and Linda from Bob's Burgers," I said. We'd been doing this since last year. Stating our ultimate couples. They changed all the time.

"They're a good one," he responded. "Speaking of cool parents, do yours know that this year's party is going to be, uh, bigger?"

"My parents have been asking me to throw another party since last year. They thought I had finally become social or something."

"You're pretty social."

"Not party-throwing social though," I said.

"Only party-throwing-to-make-a-statement social."

"The best kind of social." I looked around. "Where's Sage?" She had been hanging out with us more over the last year, but to my surprise, neither of them had made any sort of move to get together. At one point, I'd asked Jack about it and he'd said, we don't like each other like that. I thought that was only true on one side of the equation, but whatever. Selfishly, it meant that Jack could still put on this singles party with me, not be forced to celebrate love today.

"I'm not sure," he said.

"Is she coming tonight?"

"I think so."

"Tell her to come early and help us set up."

He narrowed his eyes. "Why do I have to tell her this? You talk to her too."

I sighed. "Really? Nothing?"

"Stop trying to make that happen. You're supposed to be champion of singlehood today. Especially after this year's rose poem. They rhymed green grass with I'll pass."

"If I were in leadership, I, too, would try to make the current year's rose poem worse than last year's," I said. "I saw you hiding your head in third period while they read it."

"I couldn't help it. Secondhand embarrassment is real," he said.

We reached the front of the taco line and ordered, then walked back through the layer of snow toward the cafeteria. The whole school was bright today with the fresh powder that had blanketed town the night before.

"Charlie and Nick from Heartstoppers," Jack said.

"I like them too. Hey, they started out as best friends," I said.

He looked down at his taco, unwrapping it to take a bite. "They did."