Page 52 of I Wish You All the Best

“Sorry, she can be a little …” Nathan considers his words carefully. “‘Abrasive’ is the nicest word that comes to mind.”

“Meleika is going to kill me.” I climb the short ladder to the stage.

“When she finds out Stephanie dragged you into this, she’ll forgive you, no worries.”

“Why are you guys waiting until the week of?” I grab the screwdriver from the toolbox on the stage and pop open the paint can, reaching for the wooden stir stick.

“We were more behind than we realized, and now we’re scrambling.” Nathan eyes the boards in front of us. “At least we won’t need these pieces until Friday.”

“Are you going to dress up the rest of the week?” I swipe the excess paint on the edge of the can and pour it slowly into a tray.

Today’s theme was simple: school pride. Everywhere I looked, there were people dressed in royal blue and gold. Nathan’s sweater is less royal than azure, but with the gold trim at the bottom I don’t think anyone’s going to challenge him on the specific shade.

“Yes, and where is your blue and gold, my friend?” he asks.

“Don’t have anything,” I say. I probably should’ve dressed up. I have a feeling I’ll need the points in English.

“You don’t want to dress up? Tacky Thursday is going to be fun.”

“Tacky Thursday?” I eye him.

“You dress up in your tackiest clothes!”

“Of course!” I try to mimic his enthusiasm.

“Where’s your school spirit?” Nathan pops the lid off his own can.

“Don’t really have any.” I roll my brush through the deep blue. “Are we just painting this whole thing?” I ask.

“Yeah, top to bottom, then we paint the gold stars.”

“Fun.” I let the brush roll onto the wood. “So how did the quiz go?”

He scoffs. “Which one?”

“You had two today?”

“Yup.”

“Oh, bless your heart,” I say. “How did Algebra go?”

Stephanie shouts something into her megaphone again. Thankfully it’s not directed at us, but it’s enough to make the two of us jump. Nathan just rolls his eyes and shakes his head.

His smile gives him away. “Passed. At least, I think I did.”

“Nice,” I say.

“The test was easier than I thought. I triple-checked everything too, and it came out the same almost the whole test!”

“I told you that you could do it.”

“Boys! You aren’t painting!” Stephanie’s voice echoes through the megaphone again.

“Yeah, yeah.” Nathan waves her off.

“So stop flirting and paint!” she yells.

I feel my face get hot and I turn forward, focusing on where exactly my brush is going. I’ve already missed a few spots anyway. “That’s great, about your test,” I say.