Four

I Have Done a Good Deed

I finished piling my plate with a fruit bowl and met Julia back at the benches to eat, where she was sitting and texting vigorously. When she saw me she shoved her phone into her pocket and asked, "We still going to Party City after school?"

"Yeah. Cody's coming too." My sweet sixteen was exactly three and a half days away, and it had snuck up on me way faster than I'd expected. Images of potential disasters flashed through my head; I remembered how Vanessa had said my Post-It note leaver was likely to announce everything at the blowout.

"It's going to be amazing." Julia interrupted my morbid thoughts through a mouthful of chicken. "I mean, I helped you plan it. And we all know I can throw a good party."

I bit back my smile. Julia was an amazing party planner, but she excelled in formal events that resembled Homecoming. She never went near the weekend party scene at Lincoln—it was nowhere near classy enough for her. I'd never been to one, either, and that reminded me just how much I was missing out on that I'd never get to experience when I moved away.

Julia's phone buzzed and she dug for it, the corner of her mouth lifting into a half-smile as she read the text.

"Who's that?" I asked.

Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she texted back and then set it face-down on the bench. "Nobody important."

The phone buzzed and her eyes lit up again. When she reached to grab it I snaked my hand out and snatched it from her.

"Don't try that with me," I said, flipping the phone over. My eyes widened and I squealed, "Sam? You're texting Sam McCormick?"

"It's not a big deal. We're just texting."

"You're not 'just texting,'" I said, making air quotes. "You're blushing! Your cheeks are bright pink! I can't believe you have a crush on Sam McCormick."

It was true that this was unfathomable. Julia, who had admittedly crushed on Cody before we'd started dating, had discovered he wasn't refined and proper enough for her. If she thought she'd find anything different in his best friend Sam, she was very confused.

Julia rolled her light eyes, but the small smile had broadened. "Just be glad I'm over Andrew," she said. "The second he asked you to prom I realized he was never mine and he never will be. He's yours."

"No, he's not. He's neither of ours."

"No." Now her eyes bore into mine. "He's yours. So what are you going to do about it?"

The question was loaded with ammo and she was shooting it straight at me. As she studied me in a way that was too Julia-like for me to avoid, I knew I had to make a choice. Cody, or Andrew. I couldn't have both, and with everything about to change indecisiveness would lead to be losing them both.

"I'm with Cody," I said firmly, shoving an enormous bite of strawberry into my mouth. "Andrew can deal."

Julia shrugged, but as she turned back to her phone I knew she wasn't telling me something.

Our conversation at lunch bothered me for the rest of the day. It was a beautiful afternoon and the sun was shining so brightly in burned my arms, but I couldn't be as carefree as I usually was this time or year. Normally I'd be out on the trails at our park every second I could, biking with my Collie puppy Macy bounding alongside me. I hoped there were nice parks in North Carolina.

After school Cody drove me to Party City, where I found myself standing facing an infinite number of shelves stacked to the brim with party supplies.

"This is going to be impossible," I said, squinting so I could see the party hats balancing precariously on the very top shelf.

Cody let out a long, low whistle. "What do we need to buy? Do you have a theme or anything?"

"Of course she does!" Julia appeared beside me, shoving her car keys into her messenger bag. "We're doing peacock blue and turquoise, with a few deep blue accents thrown in."

I nodded and turned back to Cody. "Evidently our theme is blue."

Julia nudged me with her shoulder. "Come on, Quinn, don't act like you forgot. You picked this theme, remember?"

"Apparently I did. I've been a little busy to worry about that though."

"Which is why I'm here!" Tucking her wavy bob behind one ear, Julia whipped out a checklist and unfolded it. "Let's get started. We mainly need a bunch of paperware and some decor. Quinn's mom is taking care of the rest."

"Paperware. That would be—"

"Aisle seven." Julia pointed at the giant overhanging sign. "Let's split up. I'll pick out some streamers and such. You and Cody need to go pick out seventy paper plates, napkins, forks...you get it, right?"

She said this in a tone that made me doubt she thought we actually were capable of this task.

"Got it," I said. "Any color preference?"

"Just stick with the theme." Grabbing a basket from the stack near the door, Julia scurried away, leaving Cody and me alone and confused.

We stood in silence for a few seconds before Cody asked, "Aisle seven, then?"

"Let's go."

We somehow managed to get lost between the entry and aisle seven, but found it after about five minutes of aimless wandering. Once we got there, however, I was quickly overwhelmed by the monstrosity before us. Not only was there an enormous palette of colors to choose from, but each color had supplies that stretched from the floor all the way up to the ceiling.

"We may need a ladder," I said as I headed for the blue section.

Cody trailed behind me, tripping on the shoelace of his sneakers. "Listen, are you up for dinner tonight? I figured we should talk, catch up a little..."

I responded by tossing him a few packs of turquoise paper plates. "Sounds great! Now get busy."

Even though my back was to him, I figured he'd stuck out his tongue or made some sort of face at me, so tossed him another few packs to keep him preoccupied.

"I'm going to go get a cart!" he called once his hands were full of plates. "I'll be right back."

While he left to make his way back to the front of the store, I grabbed some plain blue napkins and began counting off. The chevron pattern caught my eye, but I figured Julia would insist that patterns would clash with the theme. I hoped she was okay with the color being called Caribbean Blue instead of peacock blue.

Cody returned and I began throwing the napkins and plates into the cart. "I think we just have silverware and cake plates left," I said.

Simultaneously, our gazes shifted upwards until we saw the cake plates perched on a shelf above either of our reach. For a few seconds, I debated jumping to knock them into the cart, then asked, "Maybe now's the time for that ladder?"

"We'll be fine," Cody said. "Here, sit on my shoulders and you can probably reach it."

I dropped the last two packs of plates into the cart and bounced a few times on the balls of my tennis shoes to gain momentum. He positioned his hands just above his waist as footholds, and I gingerly pressed my weight onto them.

"Am I going to break your wrist?" I asked as I lifted my second foot off the floor.

"Nope." When I glanced at him I saw that the muscles in his arms were more pronounced than usual. "You're good. Just climb up onto my shoulders."

I ungracefully made my way up to his shoulders and he grabbed both my legs to steady me. For a fraction of a second we tottered precariously there; then, I pressed my hand against the shelf to get my balance.

"I still can't reach it," I called down.

"Are you sure?" he asked, angling his head so he could peer upwards.

I pushed the top of his head down so that he was staring straight ahead again flattening his curls in the process. "Focus on not dropping me. I've got the plates."

"Quinn—"

In way of response I grabbed the shelf directly above me and pulled. Then I swung one leg so that my knee was balanced on Cody's shoulder.

"Quinn, what the—"

"Hold on. I've almost got it."

I shifted my other knee onto his other shoulder and fell forwards, gripping the shelf for support. My knuckles turned white and I looked down. Suddenly, the floor seemed very far away.

"Cody..."

He balanced his hands on the back of my thigh so I didn't fall flat on my face. "Can you reach it now?" he asked.

"Almost..." I stretched my hand and my fingers brushed the plastic wrap. Gritting my teeth, I grabbed the shelf and pulled up again, so that my knees just barely grazed Cody. He tightened his grip on my legs.

"Got it!" Triumphantly, I plucked the first pack of plates off the shelf and threw it down. "Incoming!"

It landed neatly in the cart and I reached for the second pack, counting off. I needed four of them—hopefully, I'd be able to reach far enough into the shelf to get them all.

I was able to grab the second pack and was stretching my arm to reach the third, my muscles quivering, when someone below me screamed, "Quinn, get down from there!"

Cody whirled his head around and lost his grip long enough for me to scream and topple backwards, pulling the shelf with me. I reached wildly for something to grab, found nothing, and started sliding down Cody's back. Just before I hit the ground, my hands intertwined and circled around Cody's neck, choking him.

"Wow." Both of my tennis shoes were now securely on the ground and a few remnants from the shelf had fallen to the ground beside me. I reached down, picked up two more packs of plates, and set them in the cart. "That was a struggle."

When I glanced at Cody I saw that he was still gasping for breath. "I'm pretty sure you broke my neck," he managed.

"Nonsense." Julia was inspecting the cart and checking off the items we'd gotten. "If she'd broken your neck you'd be unable to talk or breathe. We just need silverware now."

As if she didn't trust us with this one simple task, she began gathering packs of silverware from the extremely reachable zone of the shelf. Once she'd gotten them all, she chirped, "Let's go pay, then!"

How she managed to stay so cheerful when Cody and I had almost died was beyond me.

It took a good ten minutes for us to check out. Once the cashier had rung up our assortment of paperware, decorations, centerpieces, and party favors, I swiped the credit card Mom had given me for the occasion.

"It goes the other way," said Julia as I swiped my card unsuccessfully.

"Oh." Flipping the card around, I tried it that way. "Did that work?"

"No, honey. The other way." The cashier looked very frustrated with me as I finally paid for my order and began gathering the bags.

As we walked out of the store, each carrying an armful of bags, Julia asked, "Should we load these in Cody's car? He's taking you home, right?"

"We're going out to dinner and then we're heading back," said Cody, hoisting a plastic bag that was about to rip at the seams a little higher in his arms.

Julia's lips formed a straight line, a sign that she was not pleased. "Don't you guys have homework?"

"There's plenty of time to do that later," I said.

Cody unlocked his car and we began piling the bags in the trunk, with Julia muttering about slackers as we loaded.

"Bye, Julia," I said pointedly as she started to walk away.

"Have fun avoiding your problems," she called back. It wasn't the first time I figured her words had more than one meaning.

We drove across the street to a corner café in silence. I glanced sideways at him while he parked and realized, not for the first time, just how lucky I was. His jaw was set as he concentrated on sliding the car perfectly between the spaces, and his hair was still messed up from our endeavor in Party City yet somehow still fell perfectly. When he turned off the car he saw me staring and smirked. "Enjoying the view?"

"Shut up," I said, but I couldn't help but smile.

As we went up to the counter to order I kept thinking about everything I was hiding from him. It was unacceptable that I hadn't told my own boyfriend some of the biggest news of my life, and he definitely deserved to know if another guy was crushing on me. After all, he and I both knew that Elisabeth liked him and that hadn't caused any problems—it would probably be the same once I told him about Andrew.

We sat down at a booth by the window and I realized, with a twist to my stomach, that this was my chance.

"So," I said, reaching for my fork and twirling it between my fingers.

He levelled his gaze, staring at me with such big brown eyes that I almost forgot what I was about to say.

"I have something to tell you."

There. It was out.

I was still studying his eyes, watching for some sign of recognition that I had spoken. Sure enough, they widened a little. "What's up?" he asked.

I took such a deep breath that I got lightheaded. "I just...think you should know. Um, you know Andrew asked me to prom? Well—"

No! my brain screamed. I realized too late that I had definitely started the wrong way.

"Actually, scratch that. Last December, at Andrew's 5k race...well, he took me aside and told me that he kind of regretted breaking up with me, and he sort of still liked me, and..."

Another deep breath.

"He asked me to prom strictly as friends, but he still definitely has feelings for me. He said so. And I—I just thought you should know."

I clamped my mouth shut, a little short of breath from talking so much and stopping so little.

Cody's expression hadn't changed at all as I'd spoken. Then, he reached up and ran his hand through his hair. "Look, if we're being totally honest here, I'm jealous of him. I said I wanted you to go to prom with him because I wanted to be a good boyfriend. You don't need a guy who's controlling and tries to tell you that you can't go to prom as friends with someone. I mean, I can't even take you. You should be able to enjoy yourself."

"Then what's the problem?" I asked quietly.

His hand fell from his hair to the table, curling into an almost indistinguishable fist. "Well now that I know he likes you...that complicates things, doesn't it? Sure, he says you're only going as friends, but do you honestly believe that?"

No. No, no, no. I don't.

"Well, I think he's really trying to respect that we're together—"

"That's great. But don't you think the more time he spends with you, the more he'll like you? And he's Andrew. Come on. You used to like him. What if there's still something there?"

"Cody," I breathed. His eyes were downcast, staring at the wood on the table as if he couldn't meet my gaze. I opened my mouth to speak but a waitress bustled up to us with a tray.

"Two paninis?" she asked, sliding our plates in front of us.

We thanked her and she hurried away, leaving us in the same awkward position we were in before. I took a careful bite of my sandwich, but it burned my tongue.

"Hey, if you don't want me to go with him then I won't," I said once I'd taken a few giant sips of lemonade to calm my scalding mouth. "I won't think you're being controlling. I'd probably do the same thing."

He really looked like he was thinking, like he was seriously contemplating saying no. For a few tense seconds I watched him: I could practically see the gears in his head spinning. Then he shut his eyes, squinted them shut for a few seconds, and said, "You can go."

"Wait, what?"

Cautiously, he creaked open one eye to look at me. "You can go?"

"You understand this is your last chance, right? I can't bounce back and forth and tell Andrew one day I'm going and the next I'm not. Speak now or forever hold your peace."

He shoved his straw in his mouth. "Just go. Seriously. It's fine."

"Are you sure?" I narrowed my eyes at him, studying him for any sign that he wasn't being completely honest. "You're one hundred percent positive?"

"Yes! I trust you Quinn, honestly. You can hold your own."

All of a sudden it was like this weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. Cody was fine with Andrew liking me. He accepted it just like I accepted how Elisabeth felt about him, and it seemed like it hadn't even put a damper on our relationship. What's more, I'd told him about The Other Thing and lived to tell the tale, which meant that whoever had been leaving me Post-It notes was no longer a threat to me. Granted, I still had to tell him about my move and that Andrew was coming, too, but that would be told in time.

What could possibly go wrong?