The Pages Between Us (17 page)

“Oh yeah. I don't know.” Note: I really didn't know. It's hard to keep track of every single person at the school. I think Piper mentioned her before, but I haven't met her. Hi, Olivia, if you're reading this!

J frowned. “I totally came because I wanted to see her.”

Right. So this was the NOT AWESOME part of the day.

But then Tessa said, “Don't bother. She's in love with Jackson.”

“Seriously?” Jordan . . . I mean, J asked. “Are you sure?”

“Positive!” I said. “So, anyway, you like tea, right?”

And then we just started to chat up a storm!! And I got so brave and painted TO JORDAN on the bottom of the coffee . . . sorry, tea mug (duh, there's no reason not to just write his name here. If he's reading this, he knows who he is ☺).

So then we were cleaning up and this girl in a super-cute A-line skirt rushed in with some old guy and Piper started crying and they were hugging and blabbering and hugging. We were supposed to go to the pizza place then, but stayed a little longer so that girl could work on her jewelry jar. Jackson went
and sat by her, and that kind of made Jordan talk to me more, so I didn't mind.

And then we went to Crown Pizza, and some kids from our school who weren't even invited showed up, so then there were over twenty of us, and we had a skeeball tournament and the boys did a basketball competition on that moving hoop game. Jordan bought me some cotton candy with his tickets too.

Seriously, best party ever. I'm so glad Piper and I are friends!

It's so late, and I still have to practice violin AND start reading
The Scarlet Letter
, since that's on the ninth grade required reading list and I already blew through the middle school reads.

Thanks for reading, peeps! Tell me in comments what YOU did this weekend.

6 COMMENTS

Tammi35:
OMG, I wish I'd gotten invited to that party! Sounds awesome!

Davedude:
Played Minecraft, watched YouTube videos of people playing Minecraft. Creepers, yo!

Danahuffhuff:
The party was so awesome. But wait. What if Jordan reads this? LOL.

Ellieheartschess:
I'm pretty sure the girl in the A-line skirt WAS Olivia. I'm glad everything worked out. Your blog is awesomesauce.

Vitaminsdirect:
Excellent post! You can find out more about my life-changing vitamins by going directly to my blog and paying $19.95. . . .

Bethanyblogs:
Spammers? Seriously? Managing this blog is like a full-time job. I need an intern.

Hello, best friend,

I did read all of your letters in here. Let's not talk about the first one. And we don't even need to talk about the Jackson one because, well, I think that worked out at my party. ☺ Also, I found the Post-It note I wrote you under a locker a few doors down from you. I went back to check if you got it, and there it was, smooshed underneath. I put it in The Notebook and I included the text conversation you had with my mom that I didn't even see! For the sake of historical accuracy.

But I'm TOTALLY getting ahead of myself.

I printed off Bethany's blog post to document my party from some different points of view. (Again. Historical accuracy. You're welcome, aliens.) I'm glad my party was such a hit, but more than anything I'm so glad
you
came. I think you're a little right—the party sort of took over my life for a while! And it wasn't about being soap opera-y (even though it was!). The party became more about (See! I'm list-ing like you. BFF.):

1. My parents doing something just for me. Which I always said didn't matter, but I think when we started writing our feelings about family stuff in this notebook, I realized it DID matter. And at my party my dad said he was glad to do something “just for me” because I'm always doing stuff for other people. And he said that's why I made friends so easily when I finally wanted to. Because I'm good at helping out. That whole conversation was almost better than the new yarn I got as a b-day gift!

2. I think that's part of why I do like having friends now. Even though it takes work and I still like being close with just a few people (and soap operas), reaching out to people was . . . well, it was fun, okay? There, I said it. Tell Bethany Livingston and you die. I love the girl, but I still have to take her exclamation points in small doses.

Olivia, when you weren't there . . . I mean, we might as well have had Disneyland all to ourselves and I wouldn't have been happy. All day Saturday I was SO SICK. I was worried I would have to cancel the party. My mom said it was nerves, but I've never had that before. I just started thinking about who I would sit by while we were painting and what we would talk about. And suddenly I almost wished
my birthday would be completely different. I even started to think it might be more fun to just do a night at a neat restaurant with you and tell my parents to save the money. Which was such a practical, non-dramatic thought (well, except for the deposit my parents would have lost), I almost got sick again. Ashley Desdemona would cry into her scarf if she ever heard such normal-person talk.

We got to the party thirty minutes early. I scoped out the different pottery choices, but nothing called to me, even the owl cookie jar I'd been longing for. Whatever I painted would go on the shelf and I would look at it and think, “That's from my twelfth birthday.” And what if my party ended up being a bust and no one came, or I mixed the colors wrong and my owl or unicorn or narwhal ended up a sad muddy brown?

So I went with a bowl. I decided I'd paint it blue. Seemed like the least dangerous option.

Bethany and Tessa got there five minutes early. Apparently, Bethany is a big believer in being punctual. Dang, they are peppy. Tessa kept flipping her hair. I thought she might knock over a vase with it. Then no one came for seventeen minutes. Yes, that's exact. It was excruciating. No one told me about that part of party planning—the waiting-for-everyone-to-get-there
angst. Can you imagine if NO ONE came after all I'd been through—after all
we
'
ve
been through?

But they did. And I think they were all having a good time—I mean, that's what Bethany's blog said. And there I was, painting my blue bowl bluer, and feeling guilty because my parents had spent all this money and time so I could finally have a party, and I wasn't even having fun.

“What's wrong?” Mom asked me when I left the table to find some indigo to swirl into the azure.

“Nothing! This party is so fun! Thanks so much, Mom!”

My mom actually winced. “Why are you using so many exclamation points?”

“Sorry, sometimes that happens when I've been around Bethany for a while.”

Mom patted my back. “Olivia really wanted to be here.”

“How do you know?” I grumbled. Remember, we still weren't talking at this point. So I was in grumbling mode.

“She texted last night.”

I almost dropped my paint. “She what? Why are you just telling me this NOW?!”

Mom shrugged. “Honestly, I forgot. You were in bed—”

“Whatdidshesay?!”

Mom pulled out her phone and showed me the text
conversation. Then she pushed some hair away from my face. “Piper, I just want you to have a good time and be happy. I thought doing this big party would be your thing, since you have so many friends.”

“I don't have so many friends,” I said automatically. “Most of these people weren't even my friends until last month.”

Mom looked confused. “You mean, you made all these friends FOR the party?”

“Well . . . yeah. The more the merrier—well, more dramatic.”

“Oh, honey, you weren't trying to make this one of your soaps, were you?”

“No! Sort of.” Um . . . make sure my mom never finds my Casting Sheet, okay? “Not a big episode—if things got too dramatic, then all this pottery would get smashed.”

Mom sighed. “So do you know these kids?”

“Oh, totally. I mean, the church girls I already knew. But we weren't close or anything. Usually, it's just me and Olivia.”

“I bet that's hard not having her here then.” Mom patted my back. I love/hate when she does that, because it's clear I need it.

It was hard, Olivia! SO SO HARD. And I felt so stupid, because it was, like, in that moment that I realized how grateful I was to have you. There were all these fun, nice people at my party. And I'm really glad I got to know them better,
because I think I can really be friends with them all in my big ecosystem of life, yada yada.

But they aren't you. Somewhere along the way, I forgot how wonderful OUR friendship is. I mean, so you missed my party (initially) for a chess tournament. So what? There are loads of birthday parties in our future! We're having a combined fortieth birthday party someday! I'm sure we'll both have lots of friends, but that's not going to take away from what we have.

All of this is all to say . . . that's why I stopped off at your house on the way to the party. Your dad said you were busy getting ready. I wish we could've talked before your tournament, but he promised to give you the surprise I left. He even smiled.

Anyway, back to the party . . . at this point, I had somehow swirled my blue bowl into a sad brown. I asked Mom if I could do another pottery project if I did it myself, and Mom winked and said, “You're the birthday girl. Do two.”

I really do have amazing parents, and not just because they sometimes buy me stuff. They let me do mostly what I want and they're there when I need them. Just thought I should mention that.

So then the door opened, and I hoped it was you, but no. It was Danny Moss, and Andrea, who I invited because we talked about the party the last time I babysat her. And I like her and I don't care if she's nine. Tessa spotted Danny so
she got up and moved to a faraway table, which was not that mature, but whatever.

Danny scooped up his skateboard and tucked it under his arm so he wouldn't knock anything over. “Hey, Piper. Happy birthday.”

“Thanks!” Okay, so not only was he NOT being rude, but now he was being nice. I really don't know what to do about this boy, Olivia.

Andrea gave me a hug. “I'm thinking of painting a lion. Don't you think a lion would be a good addition to the deserted island storyline we're doing?”

Um. Yeah. I've kind of taught Andrea some LARP techniques with . . . uh . . . her toys. And we've maybe made some videos of it. Like, seven videos. They're pretty popular online, but don't tell anyone about it.

Andrea went off to find a good lion, and then Danny just stood there. “So, uh . . . should I pick her up at six then?”

“Yep. I bet there are some great places to skateboard around here until then.”

“Oh.” Danny shrugged. “Okay.”

Maybe I'm not as good at sarcasm as I thought, because sometimes people really miss it. “I'm kidding, Danny! Didn't you see I put your name on the invitation too?”

“For real?” Danny actually smiled. I've never see him
smile, besides his selling-stuff smile, or being-mean smile. His real-life smile was sort of nice.

I have to admit . . . you were right. I do notice things about him. This is all so weird. And if you tell anyone I will deny, deny, deny.

“Even with Tessa around?” Danny asked.

I glanced behind me. “Tessa already moved so she doesn't get your germs. Besides, you're here to help your sister. You're kind of stuck. And I don't mind a little drama at my party.” Understatement, right? You know, Danny actually reminds me of Brett McArthur, the friendly but sharp-tongued firefighter from season four of
Love and Deception
. Did I just use the word “friendly”? Oh, boy. I guess he's starting to become a friend. Again, this is all so weird.

Danny picked up a big spaghetti bowl. “It would be kind of cool if I made something for my mom for Christmas.”

Which was oddly sweet. But anyway, I don't know why I spent all these notebook lines telling you about Danny. He did help me pick out the jewelry box. One heart broken in half with “Best friends” on it! So perfect. At this point, I already knew I didn't hate you and that giving you the jewelry box would be the best way to try and make up with you when . . . (you know this part!)

YOU SHOWED UP!!!!

And that was the best present of the whole party, Olivia. Really, one of the best presents of my life. After that, my party was amazing. Not that I even cared about the party at that point, because we were just having so much fun, like we always do, and that's what matters.

Sorry your half of the best-friend heart I made you turned out a little brown. Don't think that's a metaphor or anything. I'm just a really lousy painter. Next party, we're doing LASER TAG instead. ☺

Now, we still need to cover what happened at Crown Pizza (because we agreed we need an accurate record for after all human life is over). But I think I have a really good idea how to do that.

<3,

Piper

Grateful: the color brown, Danny being nice, YOU AT MY PARTY, my parents being so awesome, and being featured in Bethany's blog. Again. Are we famous or what?