“How was the driving lesson?” Cress asked when I returned to our dorm room on Saturday morning.
I groaned and face-planted on my bed.
“That good, huh?” she said.
I groaned once more before rolling onto my back and pulling a pillow to my chest. “Not as bad as when Anna took me out, but not far off.”
“Hey!” Anna complained as she walked out of our bathroom. “I happen to think we made great progress when I took you driving.”
“Don’t pretend it wasn’t a total disaster,” I replied. “And today wasn’t much better.”
“Was the instructor hot at least?” Anna asked as she plopped herself down on the bed beside me.
“If you find a fifty-year-old man who smells like fish hot, then sure.”
Anna grimaced. “Yeah, you lost me at smelling like fish.”
“But you were cool with the fifty-year-old man part?” Cress asked.
“Well, yeah. He could look like Lucius Malfoy.” She fanned a hand against her neck. “I could definitely be with an old dude if he looked like my favorite Death Eater.”
I rolled my eyes. “This one looked more like Dumbledore than Lucius.”
“Eww.” Anna cringed again, making me laugh.
“So, was the lesson really that terrible?” Cress’s voice was soft, and I could easily hear her concern.
“It wasn’t great. I just get so nervous and overwhelmed when I get behind the wheel that I freeze up. We didn’t even get out of the parking lot.”
“You’ll get the hang of it,” Cress said in an unsuccessful attempt to cheer me up.
“Are you going to have another lesson?” Anna asked.
“I think I’m going to have to. I hate driving, but I don’t want to give up.”
“That’s the spirit.” Cress gave me a warm smile. “So, I wanted to ask, do you have any plans for today?”
“Just homework,” I said.
“You’re not spending the day playing tonsil hockey with Wes?” Anna asked.
“Tonsil hockey?” I frowned as Anna and Cress both laughed. Anna really had a way with words sometimes. “No, I’m not playing tonsil hockey with Wes. He’s off campus rowing today.”
“Oh yeah,” Anna said. “I think I remember him mentioning that. Damn, it’s a shame the regatta isn’t here. I do love me some buff boys in rowing uniforms.”
“Of course, you do.” Cress giggled.
“If it makes you feel any better, Wes told me the school’s hosting a regatta here next weekend,” I said. “You’ll be able to see plenty of rowing boys then.”
“Really?” Anna sat up, and her eyes started to sparkle with excitement. “It’s like all my Christmases come at once.”
“You have a strange idea of Christmas,” I said.
“You say that now, but just wait. It’s going to be a hot guy present fest.”
“Is the uniform really that good, Cress?”
“It can be.” She looked thoughtful as though she was remembering regattas of the past. “It’s pretty formfitting, so it depends if the guy has the body to wear it or not.”
“And Wes totally has the body.” Anna nudged me with her shoulder.
Blood rushed to my cheeks, so I ignored her and continued to focus on Cress. “So, why were you asking about my plans for today?”
Thankfully she chose to answer me rather than point out my glowing red face. “Oh, I was hoping for a favor,” she said. “The dance team is painting our booth for the Halloween carnival today, and I thought I could convince you to come give us a hand. Anna’s already agreed to help, and there will be good tunes and pizza…”
“You had me at pizza,” I replied with a smile.
She beamed in response and clapped her hands. “Thanks, Isobel. You’re the best.”
“It’s no problem at all.” It sounded way more enjoyable than being holed up in my room all day doing homework. Plus, I’d been too nervous about my driving lesson to eat breakfast this morning, so I was starved.
“Okay, so, I need to go into town to grab the pizzas, and I want to pop by the shops to get some snacks too. Do you guys want to come?”
“Definitely,” Anna said. “It’s been forever since I’ve been to the supermarket, and my deodorant has been spraying nothing but air for about a week now.”
“Huh, I thought you smelled more than normal,” Cress said.
Anna poked her tongue out.
Cress turned to me. “How about you, Isobel?”
“As long as I don’t have to drive, I’m down.”
The girls both laughed.
“No, you don’t have to drive,” Cress said as she grabbed her car keys.
The three of us headed into town and stopped at the supermarket first. Anna insisted she needed to ride in the shopping cart, and Cress and I took turns pushing her around the shop. We loaded the cart up with so many snacks that only Anna’s head and arms were poking out from under the mountain of food.
“Don’t forget my deodorant,” Anna said. “You guys are going to have to choose one for me because I’m buried.”
“You were the one who insisted on being in the cart,” Cress said.
“Yeah, because that’s where all the tasty snacks belong.”
Cress and I groaned.
“Do you think she’ll ever be less arrogant?” Cress asked.
“Probably not,” I replied.
“Guys, I’m right here!” Anna cried, making us both laugh.
Cress added a deodorant to the cart, and we headed to the checkout. The woman at the till had the biggest frown on her face when she saw Anna riding in our cart. Anna had absolutely no shame and grinned widely up at her before asking about her day. She chatted so much that the woman didn’t have a chance to tell us off. To be honest, I think she was simply happy to see us leave by the time we were ready to pay.
We stopped by the pizza place and picked up ten massive pizzas before heading back to school. We carried them over to the large shed that had been cleared out so students could work on their booths. There were already some girls and a couple of guys there, all of them painting the booth a bright shade of hot pink.
“I’ve got pizza,” Cress announced.
Cheers of excitement went up from the team. Everyone dropped their paintbrushes and converged on Cress. I was somewhat glad I’d snuck a piece in the car because it was like watching Cress walk into a pack of pizza-eating zombies.
My phone started ringing, and I smiled when I saw it was my mom calling.
“I’m going to take this outside,” I said to Anna, somewhat grateful to avoid the horde of hungry dancers. She was carrying some of the pizza boxes herself and looked like she was preparing for the moment when the dance team realized she also had pizza for them.
“Okay, I’ll try to save you a slice,” she said.
“Thanks.”
I went outside and answered my phone.
“Finally,” my mom gasped. “You’ve been missing my calls all week.”
“You’ve been missing mine,” I replied with a laugh. “Phone tag is the worst. How are you? How’s the café?”
“All good,” Mom said. “Frank complimented Norma on her new haircut last night, and Norma’s been blushing ever since.”
I laughed. “I wish they’d get together already.”
“These things take time. How’s school going?”
“School is good. I had my driving lesson this morning.”
“And…”
“You don’t want to know.” I pushed down a shiver at the memory. “But, in happier news, I’m spending this afternoon helping Cress paint her dance team’s booth for the Halloween carnival in two weeks.”
“That sounds like fun.”
“Yeah. We just grabbed some pizzas for everyone, and we have so many snacks I’ll probably need a trip to the dentist when I’m done. I think it’s going to be a good afternoon.”
“Well, I won’t keep you too long,” Mom said.
“No, it’s okay. I miss you.”
“I miss you too,” she replied. “Actually, that’s part of the reason I called. The café’s been quiet, so I was thinking of taking a weekend off to come visit you.”
“Really?” I could barely contain my excitement. “But you always work weekends.”
“Well, that was before you headed off to school. Norma can manage just fine without me. You and me always spend Halloween together.”
I let out a joyful squeal, making my mom laugh. These last weeks without her had been hard, and I needed a hug from her now more than ever.
“It’s a long drive over, so I’ll only be able to make it for one night.”
“One night is better than none,” I said. “And if you’re coming for Halloween, that means you’ll be here for the carnival. This is going to be so much fun. I can’t wait to see you.”
“Me too,” Mom said. “And if this goes well, hopefully I can make it up there more often.”
“I’d love that.” The thought of seeing her more frequently had my heart beating with elation.
“Do you think your father will be in town for Halloween?” Mom asked.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “He’s been stuck in New York the last few weeks. He was supposed to come this weekend, but something came up, and he had to cancel. He didn’t say when he’d be back.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Why do you ask?”
“No reason.” She responded so fast I felt like there definitely was a reason.
“Do you want to see him?” I prompted.
“I mean, it would be nice to catch up with him again after all this time,” she said. “But I’m sure we’ll cross paths at some stage.”
“I could invite him to the carnival if you like?”
“No, you don’t have to do that.” Her reply came quickly again.
“I was thinking of mentioning it to him anyway…” I hadn’t been, but it sounded like my mom wanted to see Matthew. It was understandable given they had a child together and he’d done so much for me lately.
“Oh, well, I’m sure he’d appreciate the invite.”
“Yeah, he sounds super busy at the moment though, so I doubt he’ll be able to come,” I added. I didn’t want Mom to get her hopes up.
“I’m sure he’ll do his best.” She sounded a little relieved, and I didn’t know what to make of her reaction. It seemed like she wasn’t sure if she wanted to see him again or not.
We spoke about her trip for a few more minutes before she said she had to go deal with something at the café. When I returned to the shed, I had the biggest smile on my face.
“Why do you look like you just won the lottery?” Anna asked as she handed over the slice of pizza she’d saved me.
“Because my mom is coming to visit at Halloween.”
“That’s so great,” Cress said as she joined us. “How long is she coming for?”
“Just the one night. So, we’ll have to show her a good time at the carnival.”
“I think we can do that.” Anna grinned.
“Do you think she’d like to volunteer to be on our kissing booth?” Cress asked.
I spluttered out a laugh. “What?”
“Well, there will be lots of adults at the carnival, so it might appeal to the older demographic.”
I was beginning to think she was actually serious. “I mean, I could ask her, but I don’t think that’s the best idea.”
“Why not?” Cress replied. “I’ve seen pictures of your mom. She’s a total babe.”
“Yeah, but can you imagine if we have to watch her kiss a teacher or something?” The thought made me want to throw up, and Anna and Cress shuddered.
“You’re right, that’s a terrible idea,” Cress said.
“I bet Coach August would totally line up to kiss her too,” Anna added, pretending to gag. “Yuck.”
“Okay. Not my best idea,” Cress admitted.
“Not even close,” I said before taking a bite of my pizza. It was dripping with grease and so cheesy you could barely taste the other toppings, but it was so, so good.
“Well, no one’s going to be kissing anyone if we don’t get our booth looking right,” Cress continued. “We should probably get to work.”
I quickly finished my slice before joining everyone to paint the booth. It was a fun afternoon, but most of us got covered in paint when some of the boys decided to start chasing us with their paintbrushes.
Cress, Anna, and I were laughing as we made our way back to the dorms when the booth was finally finished.
“We look like works of art,” I said, laughing at the splats of paint covering my clothes and hair. I had no doubt it was probably on my face too.
“Yeah, on reflection, I probably should have warned you guys to wear old clothes,” Cress said. “Or organized some coveralls to protect them. Sorry your outfits are ruined.”
“Are you kidding?” Anna said. “I think the pink paint adds pizzazz. I want to do this to all my outfits.” I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not, but she sounded serious. “I’m not so sure about the paint in my hair though.”
“Yeah, me neither,” I added. I was probably going to have to wash it a million times to get the pink streaks out.
We were almost at our dorm when we ran into Luther, Kaden, and Noah. They were walking toward us, and they struggled to hide their reactions when they caught sight of our paint-covered clothes. Kaden was smiling sweetly while Luther’s eyes lit up brightly. I knew he was thinking of all the different ways he could tease us. I couldn’t bring myself to look at Noah. Not after Thursday night.
“Evening, ladies,” Luther said. “You’re all looking fabulous.”
“Aren’t we?” Anna agreed. “I always thought pink was my color.”
“Indeed,” he replied. “Now, was there wrestling involved with the paint, or did you all just happily roll around in it?”
“Perhaps there was a bit of both,” Anna sassed him.
“I think it’s cute,” Kaden said. He was looking directly at Cress, and I wasn’t sure he’d meant to share his thoughts out loud because the two of them immediately started blushing and refused to make eye contact. Cress definitely had a thing for Kaden, and I think he might have a thing for her too.
As the others talked, I finally risked a glance in Noah’s direction. He was staring straight at me. He didn’t look nearly as terrible as he had the other night, and the cut on his head seemed to be healing nicely. But his expression was more reserved than normal, and it was impossible to know what he was thinking.
“Can I talk to you, Isobel?” he asked when he caught my gaze.
The others all fell silent, and I slowly started to nod. I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk to him. Especially not when I’d had such a good day. But I wasn’t sure I knew how to say no to this guy.
“We’ll catch you inside,” Cress said, as Luther and Kaden also made their excuses to leave.
Within moments, Noah and I were standing alone in the dusky evening light. I waited for him to say something, but he remained quiet as he stared at me.
“You wanted to talk?”
He blew out a breath and nodded. “I wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier this week,” he said. “I shouldn’t have made you feel bad about trying to move on in PE, and I shouldn’t have taken my frustrations out on you at the soccer field. I was out of line, and it was unfair to you, especially when you were only being kind.”
“Oh,” I murmured. “Don’t worry. It’s fine.”
“It’s not,” he said. “Not really. I haven’t been myself this week. My grandfather dragged me out of school and…” He shook his head. “Sorry, you don’t need to hear me complaining.”
“I don’t mind.”
But Noah didn’t elaborate. It didn’t stop me from wondering what was going on with his grandfather and why he’d taken Noah out of school. He’d mentioned something about his grandfather pressuring him the other night, and I wished I knew what was happening. Did it have anything to do with me or Matthew? Or perhaps it was related to the financial difficulties the Hastings’ company was going through. I knew I couldn’t ask him though. He clearly didn’t want to talk about it with me.
We were both quiet and the seconds between us dragged out. Finally, I broke the silence. “Well, I should probably go inside and get cleaned up before dinner.”
I moved to walk past him, but he reached out and lightly touched my arm. It was the smallest brush of his skin against mine, and yet my whole body buzzed from it. “I like the pink,” he said, with the softest smile. “Kaden was right. It is cute.”
I struggled to swallow as I nodded. He looked like he wanted to say more, but the sound of people walking up behind me made him tear his gaze from mine.
“Have a good night, Isobel,” he said before striding away.
I watched him leave and didn’t move until he’d disappeared from sight. I wasn’t sure what to make of my interaction with Noah, but I appreciated his apology. Maybe it was a sign we were moving in the right direction and one day this would all be behind us.
When I went to bed, my mind kept replaying the small smile he’d given me as he’d looked at the pink paint in my hair.
