Naomi turned to face me, and I thought I saw a flicker of guilt in her expression. It was gone in a second.

“Hey.” I was perfectly polite. Distant. “Where are the others?”

“Balloon dart game. They should be back soon.” For once, she didn’t speak like she was hurling the words at me. 

We fell silent, standing there with this awkward thing in between us. Maggie glanced back and forth between us. 

I couldn’t take it any longer. “That was a sucky thing to say.”

Naomi’s eyes went wide, but before she could respond, Reyna called my name from somewhere behind me. I looked away from our stare down. Reyna, Danny, and Jamie were walking back from the balloon dart booth.

“Check it out.” Reyna tossed me some kind of spiky ball that grew large in the air and then folded in smaller when I caught it. “Danny won this plastic toy thing for me so now I guess I have to be with him forever.”

“We’re practically married,” Danny joked. 

“Mazel tov.” I forced myself to let go of the stiffness in my shoulders, but I couldn’t look at Jamie. It’s kind of pathetic, how she’s always hanging around. “Hey, after this, I promised the boys I’d go to the talent show to hear Bad Karma play.”

“Are you a secret groupie?” Jamie teased. 

I smiled as widely as I could manage and aimed it in his general direction. “More like the mascot.”

“Did you guys see Cory?” Maggie asked, while Naomi moved in close to whisper something to Jamie. Was it about me?

“Nah. He’s probably hiding from my wicked arm.” Danny threw a fake punch at Jamie, who pretended to be devastated by the blow. Then he said, “Hey Nomi, isn’t that your dad?”

Under any other circumstances, Naomi probably would have hit him for calling her ‘Nomi’, but at the mention of her dad she’d gone pale. I looked where Danny was pointing and saw Mr. Blum, our old history teacher. Naomi’s father. 

The memory of some drama involving Mr. Blum came to mind. He’d been fired recently, I remembered, and people had been gossipping about it. There were all sorts of wild stories, including a claim that a student had come forward and accused him of harassment. The truth had something to do with him being fired over a technicality, I thought, because he was due for a raise the school couldn’t afford. I’d heard multiple people say it was because the money had gone to one of the principal’s vanity projects instead.

Now, Mr. Blum looked miles away from the neatly groomed teacher I remembered. His hair and beard had grown too long, he wore rumpled sweatpants and a ratty old jacket, and he was stalking towards the food truck where Principal Whethers was chatting up booster club members. He looked like a man on the warpath.

“No, Dad,” Naomi breathed. I wasn’t proud of it, but for a second, I felt a surge of satisfaction. Maybe bad karma was performing in more ways than one tonight.

Then I saw the terror on Naomi’s face and I was ashamed I’d enjoyed it for even a moment. Her dad had lost his job for no reason and was clearly having a hard time. That couldn’t have been easy for her home life. Now, it looked like Mr. Blum was going to have it out with the principal in front of half the town. There was no way he could do that without causing a scene. I could already see people noticing like Danny had, and whispering to each other. 

Naomi started running towards her dad, but she clearly wasn’t going to make it in time. She wouldn’t be able to stop this.

“What’s wrong?” Reyna said when Jamie swore. He must have realized the same thing. 

Someone had to help her. Stall. Create a distraction. I waited for Jamie or Maggie to jump into action, but they just stood there. 

“Do something!” I urged Jamie. 

“Like what?” 

Useless. Luckily, between the plays I acted in and my daily quest to make my siblings realize I existed, I knew how to get attention when I wanted it. Without thinking, I ran to the ladder of the dunk tank. High ground always helped.

When I reached the top, I had seconds to come up with something to say. It had to be fascinating, something everyone would want to hear. 

I locked eyes with Jamie. Maggie and Naomi’s conversation came rushing back. Maggie’s question about “that sophomore” he’d been hanging out with. Well, if they were already talking about it, I might as well give them something to talk about.

And what was more fascinating than seeing someone publicly embarrass themselves?

“Jamie.” I practically had to shout his name to make sure everyone heard me over the noise of the fair. The high schoolers below were already staring at me, but now they started looking for him too.

Jamie frowned, obviously not sure what I was up to. I dearly hoped he would figure it out in the next two minutes.

“I know I told you I was okay with being just friends,” I said, projecting my voice as far as it would go. “I thought I could be. But I was wrong. I’m not.” 

It was incredibly hard to meet his eyes while saying this. A lump formed in my throat. It’s just a role, Lissa. You’re on a stage, and you’re playing a part. 

I clasped my hands together to keep them from shaking. “I’m in love with you, James Keller. I always have been, ever since we were eight years old. You’re the most beautiful, intelligent, talented boy I’ve ever met. I’ve watched you and loved you from a distance for so long, trying to get up the courage to tell you how I feel. I wasn’t sure I could ever do it, but in this last week of being friends with you, I started to hope you could see me as something more. I know we could be so good together.”

From here, I could see that Mr. Blum had approached Principal Whethers. Naomi hadn’t caught up yet, but I still had the attention of everyone on the ground. I just had to keep talking.

“We could be such a great love story. Childhood sweethearts.” I grasped desperately for anything to say. “I know it’s hard for you to let people in. You’ve been hurt before, but I won’t hurt you. I… I can be the person you count on. I can be whatever you need me to be. It may not always be easy. But I’ll do it because I want you. I want all of you, forever, you and me, every day.”

By the end of that, I was just straight up quoting The Notebook. I barely held myself back from saying If you’re a bird, I’m a bird. I was ridiculous.

But out of the corner of my eye, I saw Naomi reach her father. She took his hand and said something to him, while Principal Whethers stood there looking ashamed. After a tense moment, Mr. Blum let Naomi lead him away. Nobody noticed.

Relief shot through me. In my excitement, I forgot that I was four feet above the ground with nothing but my feet hooked in the ladder to keep my balance. Preparing to deliver my big finish—maybe a line from Love Actually?—I flung my arms out with too much energy. My balance tipped, I screamed, and then I was tumbling into the dunk tank.    

Cold water swallowed me up. The shock of it made my whole body seize painfully. I got my feet under me and pushed up, breaking out of the water with a gasp. My hair fell over my face in a dripping curtain, so I groped around blindly for the ladder to climb out. Instead, a hand grasped mine and hauled me out onto the plastic lip of the tank. Deliciously warm fingers peeled my hair out of my eyes. 

It was Jamie. Jamie, looking at me like he’d never seen me before. I didn’t need to be embarrassed, did I? He had to know that was all for show.

I got my answer when he smiled at me.

“That was amazing,” he said, and the slight tone of awe in his voice made me feel ten feet tall.

“Thank you.” I patted his cheek. “I’m going to run away crying now, so you should probably pretend to be upset.”

And with that, I hopped down and took off, sobbing theatrically all the way to the park bathroom. I gave myself a solid 4 out of 5 stars for that performance. People would definitely be talking about it on Monday, but I didn’t mind. I made a fool out of myself on a pretty regular basis. I’d learned to let it roll off my back. 

Naomi was waiting for me when I got out of the bathroom, slightly less soaked than I had been previously.

“Why’d you do that?” she demanded. “You just completely embarrassed yourself so I could save face, and I’ve been nothing but awful to you.”

“Yep,” I agreed, to all of it. “But that didn’t mean you deserved to be humiliated.”

“And you did?”

“I’m the class clown, I’m used to it.” I waved a hand over myself. “You might even say I thrive on it.”

Naomi bit her lip. “Well… thank you.”

“You’re welcome. How’s your dad?”

“Fine.” She didn’t offer anything more.

“Good. I’m glad.”

I almost said, I hope we can be friends now, but I thought I’d gotten that point across. It didn’t need to be spelled out.

Naomi cleared her throat. “So where’s your other shoe?”

As if in answer, Jamie rounded the corner, his shirt still wet from when he pulled me out. One soggy boot dangled from his hand.

“And Prince Charming saves the day,” Naomi crooned. “Man, I wish I could’ve seen your face when she was saying all that stuff.”

“I will be grateful until my dying day that you didn’t.” Jamie offered me my boot. “Did you get that ‘forever, you and me’ line from The Notebook?”

“Hah. Yes.” I cringed, taking the boot from him. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to drag you down in shame with me. I just panicked.”

“Are you kidding? You were incredible.” He held his hand up for a high-five. Not quite as romantic as dipping me in a swoonworthy kiss, but I’d take what I could get. 

Naomi got up close to Jamie and said something quietly, clearly not wanting me to hear. I busied myself with hopping on one foot, trying to squeeze the other back into my shoe.

“See you later, Lissa.” Naomi surprised me by giving me a little wave before she walked away, leaving Jamie and I alone.

He glanced at her retreating back, then down at me. “So… you guys are good?”

“We’re excellent, Jamison,” I said brightly.

He didn’t miss a beat. “For long name?”

“It came to me in the dunk tank.”

A breeze blew over us and cut into my wet skin like a bunch of stabbing needles. Jamie saw me shivering and slid his jacket off, but I pushed it back towards him.

“The whole school just heard me declare my love for you. Don’t want to give them the wrong idea.” 

He wrapped the jacket around me anyways. As his fingers brushed my chin to button the top, I told myself the only reason he’d risk it was because he knew no one was going to actually believe we were dating. 

Prince Charming didn’t fall for the clown. That just wasn’t how the story went.