“Nope.” She shakes her head. “It’s not either of us.”
“What?” Now, I’m really confused. I bend down and pick up the cookies. If it's not me, and it’s not Ella…
“Taylor.”
My eyes widen, and I drop the bag again. “No.”
She presses her lips together and nods until her features become strained. Ella’s face reddens, and her chest shakes.When she covers her face with her hands, concern bubbles in my chest. Ella is strong, but Taylor taking the spot she worked so hard for the last three and a half years? It might be too much.
I take a step toward her to reassure her that everything is going to be okay. Before I get the chance, she drops her hands and bursts into a fit of giggles. My brows lower. Why is she laughing? Ella is the only other person who cares about being top of the class as much as me. Maybe she’s officially lost it.
“Ella,” I say slowly. “Are you okay?”
“Taylor Brown is going to be valedictorian,” she manages to say through her laughter.
“Technically, we won’t have a valedictorian.”
“But if we did have one, it’s her.”
I stare at her unblinking.
Her laughter slows. “Oh, come on. It’s no fun if you don’t laugh with me.”
“What’s there to laugh about?”
She points her finger back and forth between us. “All these years of going back and forth, andTaylor Brownis top of the class.”
A chuckle escapes the back of my throat. There’s some irony in someone else getting the very thing Ella and I have been battling over all throughout high school, but it’s not nearly as hilarious to warrant this reaction. “Okay.”
“What if Taylor does the graduation speech.” She lifts her brows and slowly nods her head, willing me to understand.
My mouth falls open in realization.
Taylor can’t even make it through a classroom presentation without mentioning some bizarre conspiracy she believes is true. Aliens, the Illuminati. I once overheard her saying we were all trapped in a simulation and that swallowing a piece of gum every seven years was the only way to make sure we weren't swapped out with a new body—or something like that. Honestly, I was too busy trying to stop myself from laughing that I stopped paying attention.
I can’t imagine what off-the-wall topic she’ll come up with for graduation.
Ella gestures animatedly at me. “You see it now.”
“Unfortunately.” I start laughing and rub my hands over my face. This is an absolute disaster. “We can’t let her get away with that. What are we going to do?”
Ella shrugs. “I don’t know, but I don’t have any free time between theater and tutoring to do extra credit assignments. I don’t think I can do it.”
“I can’t either. I’m working with Ava on prom stuff when I’m not busy with chess club or helping your sorry butt with set design.”
“I never asked you to help.”
“I know. It’s because I’m so altruistic and couldn't stand to watch you crash and burn. Can you imagine David up there with ugly sets?”
She lifts a brow. “So you’re saying you come here every day for David?”
There’s no insecurity or longing in her tone. This is a challenge, one I won’t let her win. “Oh, did you think I wascoming here for you?” I pick up the cookies from the ground and pop a broken piece in my mouth. “I’m just here for the snacks.”
“Is that why you kept dropping them? Clammy hands from being so excited?”
“You caught me. There’s nothing I love more than chess…” She leans forward. “...man cookies.”
She shakes her head and leaves me to grab some half gallon cans of paint. I shove a few more cookies in my mouth while she sets up. After a few instructions from Ella, we both take seats on the hard cement and start painting. She’s working on the window, only painting the green panels, while I busy myself with painting the gray base for the stone.
