“To everyone else,” he agreed. “Now I have a question for you.”
“Shoot.”
“Haveyou ever been on a plane?”
I bit my lip. “Yeah. A bunch of times.”
“I knew it!” He snapped his fingers. “I could tell.”
“How can you tell something like that?”
He shrugged. “Dunno. Maybe you just look like you’re going places.”
It was so stupid and corny, but still, I laughed. And now, on the porch with Bailey and Trinity, I felt myself again begin to grin, remembering this, before I quickly rearranged my face into a neutral expression. This had kept happening over the last few days, my mind drifting to one exchange or another from the trip to Bly Corners even when I tried to stay focused. Stop it, I thought. Blake is the boy you’re going to Club Prom with.
Right.
Celeste squinted into her camera, a Pop Soda dangling from her other hand. “Okay. Now let’s take one of just the girls. Gordon, get in there.”
“Mom,” Bailey groaned. “I think you have enough pictures.”
“What? I’ve barely taken any,” Celeste said, gesturing for us to move in closer in front of the gardenia bush chosen as the backdrop for this documentation. “Gordon. Put downthe gorilla book and get between them.”
“It’schimpanzees,” Gordon said, getting to her feet and coming over to join us. She brought the book with her.
“Whatever.” Celeste peered at her camera again. “Now, hold on, I think I’ve been in portrait this whole time...”
“You need landscape,” said Mimi, who was off to the side with a Pop Soda, observing. “Turn it sideways.”
“Mama, I know.”
Beside me, Bailey sighed loudly. “I just want the guys to get here. Where are they?”
“It’s only seven fifteen,” I told her.
“Yeah, but we said seven.”
“You can’t smile while you’re talking!” Celeste said. “Now, everyone look here. Say cheese!”
We did, as she took several without a flash, some with, and then a few in portrait mode just to be on the safe side. “Perfect,” she said as Gordon returned to the steps, reopening her book to her marked place. “Now we just need a few with the boys and we’ll be set.”
“No,” Bailey said flatly. “We arenotdoing that.”
Celeste looked up from her camera, where she’d been examining the shots she’d taken. “What do you mean? Of course we are. It’s a formal dance, we need pictures with your dates.”
“You don’t, actually,” Bailey replied. “Because I’m sure we’ll take some once we’re there, as a group. And anyway, we’re running late. There’s no time for anything else.”
Celeste looked at Mimi, who shrugged. “Fine,” she said. “But I want to meet these boys before you leave with them. Especially the famous Colin.”
Bailey rolled her eyes. Then she pulled out her phone, quickly firing off another text. When I glanced at her screen and saw it was the fourth in a row with no response, I quickly messaged Blake, asking for an update.
Be there in ten,he wrote back immediately.Meet me outside.
“Look,” I said, showing Bailey. “Everything’s fine.”
“Why does he want you to meet him outside, though?” she asked worriedly, squinting at the message.
“You’re the one who just said they’re running late,” I pointed out. “Bailey. It’s fine.”
