Counting Thyme (23 page)

LITTLE WING

THE NIGHT BEFORE VAL STARTED HIS THIRD ROUND OF 3F8,
I dreamed that I was back home. Shani and I were sitting in her room, but we weren't alone. Emily and Lizzie were there, too. At first, everything was okay. We were working on parols together. Then Emily and Lizzie started fighting, and when I tried to stop them, Shani got mad at me. Soon everyone was yelling, only I didn't even know what we were doing there together in the first place.

I woke up covered in sweat and extremely glad that I wasn't in Shani's room.

Then the guilt hit.

Of course I'd rather be in Shani's room. It was way better than this stupid apartment, even if I was starting to wonder when she would ever talk to me again.

In the morning, I went into the kitchen expecting to see Val in a new costume, but he was wearing Iron Man again. “You doing okay, buddy?”

He smiled. “Sara's bringing her Wii. We're staying this afternoon to play.” It was the happiest I'd seen him on a treatment morning.

“That's great.” I waited to see if he said anything else, in case he was worried or scared.

Sure enough, his brow furrowed. He held up two of his lovies. “Who should I take, Leo or Mikey?”

I tapped the stuffed Ninja Turtle. “Definitely Leo.”

Val considered. Then he tossed Leo aside. “Nah, I'm taking Mikey.”

Ten minutes later, he and Mom were out the door. Val didn't even give me a hug good-bye. Which hurt more than I would've expected. I guess I was used to those hugs, too.

At school, everyone was talking about the Valentine's dance coming up on Thursday. It was going to be held after lunch in the gymnasium. We could wear our fancy outfits to school or bring them with us to change before the dance. I didn't even know what I was going to wear.

When Mrs. Ravelli and I got to the apartment that afternoon, Val was on the couch with the tablet. He looked puffy and tired, but he smiled despite the pink hives on his skin.

“How did it go today?” I asked.

“Good.”

“Want to play Math Mysteries?”

He shook his head. “I'm playing Minecraft with Sara. She has it on her iPad, too.”

“Looks like you're off the hook,” Mom said with a smile, but that just made me feel strange. I was glad Val was doing better, but how could he not need me all of a sudden?

I went to my room to look through my clothes. Of course
I didn't have anything for a Valentine's dance. I thought about asking Mom to take me shopping . . . but would she really have time to do that?

“What should I wear to a dance?” I asked Cori when she got home.

Her owl eyes sprung wide. “Do you mean a
Valentine's
dance?”

When I didn't answer right away, she said, “Thyme! Do you have a boyfriend? Listen, I know I told Mom that Liam's just in charge of the drama club, but the truth is, we're sort of going out.” She said the last part in a whisper, but by that time, my guts were swirling so hard, I thought I might be sick. I didn't have butterflies in my stomach, I had a
tsunami
.

I sat on my bed, hard, and Cori said, “Whoa, whoa. Relax. It's just a dance.”

“Well, I've never been to one before.”

“Well, then this will be the best dance you've been to, guaranteed.” She gave me a big smile, and I managed to give her a small one back. “That's more like it. Now, let's find you something to wear.”

On Valentine's Day, I woke up early so that Cori could do my hair. She said I looked awesome, but I wasn't sure about the braids. Well, not braids, but one braid that kind of looped over the top of my head. It kept my bangs out of my eyes, and Cori said it was cool. But I just felt lame, especially when I walked into the kitchen and Mom did a double take.

“Well, look at you,” she said. “Why so fancy?”

“There's a dance at school today.”

She sighed and ran her hand through her hair. It was long enough to tuck behind her ears now. “That's right. It's Valentine's Day, isn't it? One of these days I'll be back in the real world again, and I'll remember things like that.” She smiled. “Do you need something to wear?”

“No. Cori let me borrow a dress.”

“Oh.” Mom's smile faded. I thought she would ask which one, but she just said, “Well, I guess you're all set, then. Have fun, honey.” I could've been wrong, but she seemed a little let down.

At school, I hung Cori's dress in my locker for later. Mrs. Ravelli had wrapped it up in a bag so it would stay clean. The dress was white with giant painted flowers in red and orange. They reminded me of Grandma's poppies in the middle of the summer, when the sun was so bright, the petals glowed. I wondered if Emily and Lizzie would like it. Then I saw Jake in homeroom and wondered if he would like it, too, which made me even more nervous. He'd decided to play a song at the dance, but he hadn't said which one. Would it be ‘Little Wing'? And would he want to dance with me? I still wasn't sure how I felt about that. I spent the morning trying not to think about it, but my brain kept bringing it up.

After fourth period ended, the entire sixth grade was dismissed to the gymnasium.

I met up with Emily and Lizzie in the locker room to get changed. Lizzie put on a puffy skirt with a big music note on the front that looked like something our math teacher would
have worn—old-fashioned, but cute. Meanwhile, Emily looked as cool as ever in a shiny red dress with a black bow around the waist. The ruffles at the bottom had rhinestones that sparkled when she moved. Next to them, I felt kind of plain, but Emily gave me a thumbs-up when she saw my dress.

“It's so California,” she said. “In a good way.”

I prayed she was right and followed everyone to the gym, which had been transformed into a dance hall with giant paper hearts and glitter balls. The floor was still as squeaky as usual, but with the lights turned down, the air felt electric. There was music playing, too, but there was also a stage set up in front of the folding bleachers.

“When is Jake going on?” Lizzie asked.

“I don't know. He said they were playing regular music for a while first.”

We went to the drink tables to get some punch and met up with the other girls from the lunch table. Celia and Delia were wearing matching dresses, of course, pink ones with puffy sleeves. Rebeccah was there, too. When she saw Lizzie and Emily together, she just turned to talk to one of the other girls.

“Can you believe Mr. C is dancing with Mrs. Harris?” Emily said, pointing across the gym to where the two teachers were swaying back and forth. They were the only ones on the dance floor.

Lizzie smiled. “I think they're cute together. His bow tie matches her vest.”

We laughed and stood there talking about who was
standing with who and drinking punch until the music cut off and the lights flashed three times. The crowd started shouting and squealing, because obviously
something
was happening. Then Mrs. Smith went up to the microphone at the front of the stage.

“Happy Valentine's Day, sixth graders!” Everyone cheered until she waved for quiet. “We have a special treat for you. I'm proud to introduce Jake Reese, who is playing ‘Little Wing' by Stevie Ray Vaughan for us today.”

My heart jumped at Jake's name. He stepped onto the stage, and everyone crowded closer.

Then Mrs. Smith moved over to a standing drum, and Jake stepped in front of the microphone. He was wearing a crisp white shirt over his jeans. “This is for my dad,” he said. The crowd got quiet, and Jake started playing his guitar, the one with the swirly red wood. The notes started out slow. Then Mrs. Smith joined in, tapping out a beat on the drum that went along with Jake's playing.

“Wow,” Lizzie said. “He's really good.”

“That's his dad's guitar,” I said, feeling happy for him. Jake's playing picked up speed, and the blues sound turned into something louder and more urgent. Mrs. Smith started humming along as well, adding the same kind of notes I'd heard her sing backstage that day. They traded back and forth, Jake's guitar and Mrs. Smith's voice. When the song slowed down, I felt sad. And when it sped back up, I felt like I was flying. Then, when they were done, I could hardly hear over everyone cheering in the gym.

Jake bowed, and Mrs. Smith wished us a happy Valentine's again. The regular music came back on and some kids finally started dancing. I kept my eyes on Jake, but when he climbed off the stage, I lost him in the crowd. I wanted to tell him how amazing his song was, and what a good job he'd done. I was struck with this weird fear that he could disappear right then, and I'd never see him again.

“Thyme,” Emily said. Then she looked past me and blushed.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around. It was Jake.

“Hey.” He peeked at me from under his puff of hair.

“That was amazing!” I shouted over the music.

He grinned. Then he held out his hand. “Want to dance?”

I glanced at Emily. “It's fine. I like Davis's moves better, anyway.”

“Really?” I looked at Davis, who was jerking his knees toward his elbows like a chicken.

“Yes, really,” Emily said. Then she marched off to the dance floor and I turned back to Jake. He took my hand, and I felt like I was flying again.

When we got to the center of the dance floor, Jake stopped and pulled his earbuds out of his pocket. “I have a song for you,” he said, leaning close. “I think you'll like it.”

We each took one earbud and plugged our open ears so we could hear better.

It was a song I knew from Dad's records, one about a brown-eyed girl, and dancing and laughing in the sun. “It's perfect,” I said, and Jake grinned. We listened to the song
together, and after a while, we started moving, too, swinging our arms around and laughing to the sound of our own music. It was weird at first, dancing with Jake, but we'd been working side by side for weeks, making sound out of junk. We were friends. He started doing goofy dance moves, sticking his legs out like Davis. I made up my own moves, too, and for once I didn't feel stupid or awkward at all. I felt just right.