“Did you eat anything?” Mum asks, eyes narrowing slightly as she studies her daughter.
“I’m good actually.”
Mum groans.“You’re being unreasonable.”
Za’s jaw tightens. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Yes, but you look miserable for everyone to see. Fix your face. And your posture. Why are you?—”
“Mrs. McKingsley,” Frankie cuts in gently, already stepping closer to Mum. “Why don’t I help you put these up?”
She takes the tray from her hands before Mum can protest, smiling in that calm, diplomatic way she uses when she’s managing a crisis. As she turns, she flicks her eyes at me.
Handle it.
Right.
Frankie guides Mum toward the kitchen, chatting about the decorations, about whether the cake should come out now or later. Mum relaxes almost instantly under her tone.
And suddenly it’s just me and Za.
She crosses her arms.
“What?” I ask.
“Don’t,” she says.
“Don’t what?”
She looks past me toward the kitchen where Frankie disappeared. “Act like you care about why I’m in a mood.”
“Woah, Zee. I can’t read your mind, so just talk to me.”
She lets out a short laugh that isn’t amused. “You really don’t see it?”
“See what?”
She gestures vaguely toward the kitchen, toward the noise of Mum fussing over decorations and calling my name every five seconds. “This. All of this.”
I blink. “You’re mad that Mum threw me a party?”
“I’m mad that Mum only ever celebrates you,” she snaps.
That catches me off guard. “That’s not true.”
“It is,” she says immediately. “You know what she said to me this morning?”
I stay quiet.
“She said I should be more like you. That maybe if I put half as much energy into something ‘useful,’ people would celebrate me too.” Her voice cracks slightly at the end, and she hates that it does. I can see it in the way she tightens her jaw.
“She didn’t mean it like that,” I say, even though I know Mum has a way of saying things exactly like that.
“That’s the problem,” Za replies. “She always means it.”
There’s noise from the living room. Someone calls my name again.
Za lowers her voice. “It’s always Bari this, Bari that. Bari scored. Bari signed. Bari’s being watched by scouts. Bari this, Bari that.”
