Page 8 of Lonely Hearts Day

“Only annoying sometimes. When you have inconsistent rules.”

Now I was even more confused. Who had he written? “Oh, this is Sage, by the way. She’s in Drama Club with me.”

He turned toward her. “Hi, nice to meet you. Am I in a movie?”

She finally caught on that we were talking about our forehead people. “Yes, actually. What about me?”

“Yes, but also other forms of media.”

“Other forms? Like books? Plays? Songs?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Wait, am I Cinderella?” someone called out from the couch.

“She should’ve stayed single?” someone else asked in obvious disagreement.

“Yes!” the trio of girls by the sugar cookies said.

Jack smirked at me like he thought Cinderella didn’t fit the criteria. I just raised my eyebrows at him: With a cardboard cutout option like Prince Charming, who couldn’t even recognize her without fancy clothes on, yes, she did.

The smell of melty cheese and pepperoni hit me before my dad appeared carrying eight boxes of pizza. “Hey,” he said. “Thought you could use some real food.”

I rushed over to help him slide the boxes onto the game table. “Thanks, Dad.” Mom followed with a stack of paper plates and napkins. Our friends let out appreciative exclamations.

“You guys look nice,” I said, taking in their dressy attire. My mom wore a skirt and floral blouse. Her hair was in beachy waves and her lips were painted a rosy mauve. My dad wore some khakis and a polo. His hair was gelled and his beard was neatly trimmed.

“Thanks,” Mom said. “Also, why is my name on your forehead?”

I ripped off the sticky note and sure enough, in Jack’s scratchy handwriting was my mom’s name: Kelly Landry.

I shot Jack some narrow eyes but he wasn’t looking. “It’s just a game we’re playing,” I said to Mom.

“Guess your hero?” she asked with a wink.

“Something like that.”

“We’re heading out,” Dad said.

“You going to be okay here?” Mom asked.

I smiled. I wanted to remind her how much I did on my own. How I was basically an only child with two working parents. “Of course.”

“Good,” she said.

“Are you going to be okay out there?” I teased.

“We’ll do our best.”

“Enjoy the pizza!” Dad said to the room as they left.

The group gathered around the table, digging into the pizza boxes. I marched straight up to Jack, who was still talking to Sage by the pinball machine. I wondered what common ground they were finding. Maybe he was telling her about his favorite band. He had the animated expression on his face that always accompanied that conversation.

I held up my sticky note. “Really?”

He laughed. “It was funny.”

“My mom did not fit the criteria.”