There’s a knock on the door, and the three of us freeze. My mother pokes her head inside. “Oh, Jules!” she says. “You must be feeling better.”
“Um. So much!” Jules replies.
“Where’s Seraphima?” my mother asks.
“She left early. All the Icelandic exchange students decided to spend their last week in Canada,” I say.
My mother’s eyes move from Jules to Edgar. “Nice tights,” she says, trying not to laugh.
“Halloween!” I blurt out. “We were trying on costumes. We’re going full-on Shakespeare this year.”
Edgar and Jules smile so wide I think their faces are going to crack. “So!” Jules says, breaking the awkward silence. “I’m going to go. . . . Edgar, I’ll walk you home!” She grabs her duffel bag from the floor of my bedroom and takes Edgar’s hand. She starts pulling him toward the door.
“Great idea,” I reply. “Jules, I’ll text you after dinner so we can talk about, you know, what you missed at school.” I turn to Edgar. “I guess I’ll . . . Skype you later?”
He looks at me, baffled. “Whatever.”
“Edgar . . . ?” I say pointedly. I turn so that my mother can’t see my face and, through clenched teeth, hiss:“Kiss me.”
Edgar’s eyes dart to Jules. I raise my eyebrows and give him a tight smile. The more we can convince everyone that things are normal, the better this will go.
He rolls his eyes, leans forward, and pecks me on the cheek as if I’ve asked him to kiss a toad.
My mother laughs. “Honestly, Edgar. No need to act like a prince just because I’m here. You can give her a real kiss goodbye.”
“Awesome,” Edgar sighs. He puts his hands on my shoulders, leans forward, and presses his lips against mine.
All I can think is:He’s not Oliver.
After a moment I pull away from him. Jules is glaring daggers at me. “Shall we?” she bites out. She grabs Edgar’s arm and yanks him roughly out the door.
We hear the front door close behind them when they leave the house. My mother turns to me. “Got a lot of homework?”
“Not really,” I say.When you don’t go to class, you don’t get homework.
“Well . . . it’s just the two of us for dinner. What do you say to a main course of popcorn, and one of our favorite films?”
I swallow back tears. “That sounds perfect,” I tell her. At this moment, all I want is to get under a pile of blankets and watch a classic Disney movie with my mom. All I want is to know that there’s at least one person left here for me.
So I’m missing my Doc Martens, the text from Jules reads. Do u think there’s a lost & found for fairy tales?
I pick up my phone from my nightstand and reply:
Ask Cinderella.
, Jules writes back. And a moment later, there’s another buzz:
I can’t believe that really happened.
I told u so, I write. Welcome 2 my life.
There’s a pause.
Do u miss him? Jules asks.
Like u wouldn’t believe.
The first time Oliver saw me text someone, he grabbed the phone from my hand, trying to figure out how the small person inside was writing back.
