Page 12 of Lonely Hearts Day

I stood. “Yes, let me get it.” I avoided looking back at Jack and I wasn’t sure why.

Sage didn’t avoid him. She grabbed onto his hand and said, “I want to be first. Will you blindfold me?”

“Sure,” Jack said. I could hear the tightness in his voice. He was nervous. I shouldn’t have told him that Sage thought he was cute. Now he was going to close off, be awkward. He just needed to be himself and she’d fall for him.

The blindfold was on the television stand and I grabbed it and handed it to Jack, finally meeting his stare. He gave me theyou okay?look. I nodded. Why wouldn’t I be?

“These are the crowns, everyone,” I said, holding up a stack of paper crowns. “The person who places it most accurately, wins.” I pointed to the outline of a person with an oversized head I’d drawn on the chalkboard wall where we normally kept game scores.

Jack was already tying the blindfold around Sage’s eyes and then spinning her while she giggled. As I placed a paper crown in her hand and she stumbled her way forward, people shouted directions that weren’t helpful at all. She ended up sticking the crown right where the crotch would’ve been had I drawn any details.

“Wow,” Troy said. “Save that placement for the prince.”

She took off her blindfold to inspect her handiwork. “I mean, they don’t call them the crown jewels for nothing!” she said.

I smiled and got myself a slice of pizza that was now lukewarm. I threw a party and everyone was having fun.

“You proud of yourself?” Jack asked, wandering over and taking a slice of his own.

“I am.”

“You should be.”

“Weshould be,” I said. “We have to throw one every year now, right? Make it bigger and better than its rival.”

“I thought you said this wasn’t a competition. You weren’t trying to stick it to Micah. That it was just an alternate choice.”

I thought about Micah’s smug, annoying face as he told Jack that his interests weren’t good enough for him, that Jack wasn’t good enough for him. “Maybe it’s just a little competition.” And I wanted to win. Bad.

Year 2

(Sophomores)

Chapter 5

“Are you trying to replace my party?”

I stood at the back of the line for the taco truck. One of the many food trucks that lined the frontage road of our school at lunch. I looked over at the questioner.

I saw her fur-lined, white snow boots first, then my eyes traveled up her white leggings topped with a white pleated skirt. Her sweater was a Valentine’s Day soft pink, and on her head was a white beanie with a pink pompom, which helped her perfect, dark curls sit right on top of her shoulders. Cassidy Dawson, the queen herself, wasn’t much taller than me, but she was standing over me like some ethereal being.

I finally saw what she was holding: a paper invitation to my party. It was a single heart with a smiley face on it. Not two hearts, not a broken heart, but a fully functioning, happy single heart that deserved a day to celebrate. Okay, maybe I was expecting people to read into the symbolism too much, but that’s what it stood for. I’d been handing them out all week. Not to the whole school or anything, just to people I thought would want the invite. So I was surprised to see one in Cassidy’s hand. On the back was the information for the party Jack and I were throwing tonight.

“I’m not trying to replaceyourparty,” I said now. I had no problem with Cassidy aside from the fact that she was connected to Micah.

“What?” she asked.

“I’m not. We’re not even in the same market,” I told her. And I meant it. Getting back at Micah may have been one reason I wanted to throw the party, but it wasn’t the only one. And if I was being completely honest with myself, I never thought I would actually accomplish that goal anyway. I never thought he would care. Maybe he still didn’t. Maybe only Cassidy did.

“What does that mean?” she asked.

“It means that your party goers are celebrating love.”

“And what are yours?”

“Singleness. No couples allowed at my party.” The line moved forward and I moved forward with it. The taco truck had decorated for the day. The crepe hearts that had been hung, fluttered, their edges furled and mishappen from the cold, causing a macabre vision of love.

“No couples allowed?” Cassidy asked.