He comes into the kitchen and goes straight to the fridge, like always.
“It was awful, O. Evil Joes laughed at every single one of my answers. Every. Single. One. Even if they matched.” He pulls out cheese, lunch meat, mayo, lettuce, and spicy mustard. Then he heads to the pantry for the bread. “I mean, how can they laugh when we have the same answer?” He stops what he’s doing and spins around to face me. “The same exact answer.”
“Because they’re evil?” I offer.
He waves the mustard bottle at me. “That is correct. They are evil.” And then he’s back to digging through the fridge.
“Didn’t you eat at Nonna’s?” I ask.
“No. I left as soon as we finished the questionnaire. Told them I needed to check on you. Couldn’t take the Joes a minute longer. So now I’m starving.”
I glance at the clock on the oven. “It’s just now over?” I went to find Coach and made it back home and they were still answering questions?
“It’s just now over. From this moment on, no matter what’s going on in my life, I will be out of town when it comes time to fill out the questionnaire.”
“It was weird Leo was there, right? Did you find out why he’s in town?” I ask. Maybe that came up after I left.
Charlie shrugs. “No idea. Don’t care.” While he builds his sandwich, I rack my brain on how to make it to Ellerbe Hills and back, get to the store to pick up Bailey’s gift, then get to the party by nine thirty. In. The. Morning.
Without Mom knowing what I’m doing.
Maybe I could just leave my phone. Maybe that’s the best choice. But what if it takes longer at the course than I think it will? And I know Mom will be blowing me up about what I’m wearing to the party.
A chair screeches against the floor as Charlie settles in at the table with his plate and takes a huge bite of his sandwich.
Charlie. Charlie is the answer.
“Truth or dare?” I ask him, and he freezes, his cheeks puffed out full of food.
I’ve pulled out the big guns and he knows it.
“What do you want?” he asks once he’s swallowed down his bite, completely ignoring my question.
“Truth or dare?” I hope I can get him to agree to help me regardless of the choice he makes.
Charlie puts the sandwich down and slowly wipes his mouth. This is a game we’ve played for years, and he and I take it very seriously. More seriously than Wes and Sophie, who always find ways around the dares and are happy with half-truths. Charlie and I are purists when it comes to truth or dare. You have to pick one and you have to follow through.
Please pick dare…. Please pick dare….
“You were freaking out at Nonna’s, so I know something’s up. I’m guessing whatever brought this up has something to do with that. So, since that scares the crap out of me, I’m going with truth.”
Dang. A dare would have been a sure thing. Now I’ll have to improvise.
I clear my throat, and he pushes his plate to the side even though he’s barely eaten.
“I have a problem. A big one.”
Charlie nods, giving me all the encouragement I need.
“You know how I still needed half a credit of PE at the beginning of this semester, but I also wanted to take that law studies class?”
“So you took golf off-campus. I know. What’s the problem?”
I lean back in my chair and tilt my head to look up at the ceiling. I don’t want to see his reaction when I tell him.
“Well, Coach Cantu didn’t turn in my form. I got an e-mail from Mr. Spencer today that says if I don’t turn in the completed form by next Monday, then I won’t graduate.”
Charlie starts laughing. Like, really laughing. Just like I knew he would. “I told you golf would be a disaster!”
