I blink.
It’s fine.
She’s just busy. A girl like her has way more going on than Ido.
I ease the car onto the road, trying to ignore the awkwardness already settling between us.
“So. How’s it going?” I swallow the lump in my throat. “You, uh, look great today.”
Finally, she glances at me, eyebrows raised. “I know.”
Okay.
Thatisn’t exactly the response I was expecting, but fine.
I can work with this. She’s clearly distracted by something important. School, probably.
I pull out onto the main road.
“Do anything fun over the weekend?” I ask, hoping to engage her in conversation. Literally any conversation. About anything.
“The weekend was, like, forever ago.” She sighs, shifting in her seat. “But since you asked, I hung out with some friends.” She pauses and looks over again. “You wouldn’t know them.”
Ouch.
I tighten my grip on the steering wheel. “Right. Cool, cool.”
So what if Maddie isn’t the easiest girl in the world to talk to—we all can’t be good at everything all the time! I just need to break the ice. Should I ask her something about school?
Or…prom?
Yup. That seems like a safe topic of conversation.
“Are you, um. Going to prom?”
She rolls her eyes. “Obviously. I was waiting for someone decent to ask—but that hasn’t happened, so…”
Maddie Miller doesn’t have a date to prom?!
My heart zings and I push on. It cannot be a coincidence that she asked to come take pictures of the decorating committee—and now she wants a ride to school? From me?
“Yeah,” I say. “Prom’s gonna be cool this year, with the whole knights and castle theme.”
“Castles aren’t my thing.” She looks up for a second, giving my outfit a once-over before going back to her phone. “Like. Who wants to spend their time painting cardboard knights or whatever. That’s like, so friggin’ weird.”
Okayyyy.
I mean, I thought decorating was stupid, too, at one point, but now I’m having fun. Also I can’t help but think: If Harper were here, she would be mortified by Maddie’s assessment of it.
Also. Harper would never say that.
She can be a brat, but she’s not blunt to the point of beingrude.
I bite the inside of my cheek. “It’s not all painting stuff. Some of it’s pretty cool.” I inch forward when the seat belt tightens to loosen it. “Like the photo booth I’ve seen them setting up—it’ll look like a medieval throne room.”
Maddie doesn’t even pretend to care.
She shrugs. “Sounds like something for freshmen.” She yawns. “I’ll probably take some pics for my Insta and leave. Not really my scene.” I get another once-over and am abruptly glad I’m not squeamish. There’s something about her stare that terrifies me. “Why are you trying to make small talk about the dumb dance? Stop being weird.”
