Page 23 of Better Than Revenge

“The bag,” Maxwell said, pointing to the floor of the passenger seat, where I had left it.

“Shouldn’t I leave it here until later?”

“If you leave it here, you’ll never do it!” Deja called, already several steps ahead.

“Fine.” I scooped up the plastic Target bag by the handles and shut the door.

“Did Jensen have any backlash from that message Maxwell left at his work?” Lee asked.

Theo’s house was lit up from the path carved through the lush grass to the wide porch adorned with rails and colorful potted plants.

“I’ve heard nothing,” I said. “Knowing my luck, he probably got a promotion from it.”

“How?” Lee asked.

“Who knows. He seems to have a wish granter waiting in the wings of his life.”

“I want one of those,” Maxwell said.

“We all do,” I said.

“I feel like we should knock,” Deja whispered once we made it to the porch.

“As opposed to?” I asked.

“As opposed to walking in without knocking,” she said. “Like I would’ve done if double the cars were out front.”

“It’s definitely a knocking situation,” Lee agreed.

The door was very tall, made of some dark wood with iron accents. Maxwell pounded on the door with the side of his fist. A couple minutes later, the door swung open and a well-dressed woman stood in front of us. She had smooth dark hair and red lipstick.

“Hello,” she said. “Can I help you?”

“We’re here for…um…the party?” I said it like a question. “Theo invited us.”

Her eyebrows popped up into an expression I’d seen on Theo’s face before. At first, she had looked at us with mild interest, but after my statement, she studied each of us, from the top of our heads down to our shoes. Now was not the time to look like a rave goddess or to be gripping a Target bag, like I’d just come from shopping. The expression on her face told me she agreed with my internal thoughts. She stepped back from the door anyway, opening it wider. “Come in. I’m Theo’s mother.”

She was definitely not acall me by my first nametype of mom.She was anI will run for president one day and you will not be surprisedtype of mom.

“I’m Finley.” I stepped inside first. My friends followed, introducing themselves as well.

“Should we take off our shoes?” Lee asked.

Mrs.Torres was wearing shoes, but I completely understood why he asked. It felt like we needed to take off our shoes.

“No, please,” she said, looking at our feet. I sensed we’d just been insulted, and I wasn’t sure why.

She closed the door softly and led the way through a tiled entry, which housed a table topped with a large flower arrangement and a huge piece of contemporary art on the wall. We walked down a short hall and into a massive great room. On one end was the biggest kitchen I had ever seen in my life. On the other end was a heavily-furnished-and-yet-still-had-plenty-of-space living room. In between those two spaces was a long table. And at that table was what must’ve been Theo’s entire family and extended family. That was what it seemed. There was nobody our age. Just many adults, probably aunts and uncles, even a grandparent or two, and a fewkids.

On the island was a large cake with the wordsHappy 75th Birthday, Abuelaon top. Definitely not the kind of party we were expecting.

“Theodore,” Mrs.Torres said as we all came to a stop. “Your guests are here.”

Theo glanced up from his plate of food, then did a double take, his eyes traveling over my outfit and back to my overly made-up face. He said something in Spanish I didn’t understand and the whole table laughed. A smirk played on his lips. That little punk.He had done this on purpose. Was he bored? Had he done this to entertain himself? A surge of rage pulsed through me. Like I needed more humiliation in my life right now.

“Sorry we’re late,” I said to the oldest-looking woman at the table. Because even though Jensen had claimed over the hot mic to the entire school that I didn’t have good enough quick-thinking skills to host a podcast, I thought I did. “Happy birthday.” I dug into the bag of Jensen’s stuff I held and pulled out a Harry Styles vinyl. “A gift.” I set it on the table in front of her.

The woman gave me a wide smile. “Thank you so much.”