But most importantly, I had to keep Julian away from the party. After I got out of the shower, I put on jeans and my nicest sweater, the V-neck gray one that was soft and hadn’t pilled up too much on the sides. I also cleaned the dirt off my sneakers and used some of June’s hair stuff to make sure that my cowlick in the front stayed down. I even wore a bit of tinted lipgloss that tasted like watermelon. I looked nice, I had to admit. Respectable. The kind of girl who didn’t look like she had the Power of Foresight.
And then around six thirty that evening, I put the next part of my plan into action.
I sauntered upstairs to May’s room. She was wearing a black hoodie and jeans, lying on her purple bedspread with her European history text wide open, twirling her pen between her fingers. “Woe to those who enter,” she said without looking up.
“I’ll take my chances,” I told her.
“It’s your funeral.”
I ignored her and sat down on the edge of her bed. “May,” I began. “Favoritest sister ever.”
“No.” She didn’t even look up at me. “Whatever it is, no.”
“Can’t I just admire your—”
“No.”
I sighed. “Okay, I need the biggest favor in the world.”
“I never would have guessed.”
“It involves June.”
“This just keeps getting better.” May calmly turned a page in her book.
“She’s going to a party tonight with Mariah and …” I paused nervously. “I need you to follow her.”
May just looked up at me with her bluish-green eyes. She and our dad have the same color eyes. It’s kind of eerie now. “And how exactly am I supposed to—oh no.”
“May, c’mon—”
“No. No way. You want me to turn invisible and follow our little sister? That is not cool. The ethics police are gonna haul you off to jail.”
“There’s no such thing.”
“Then citizen’s arrest it is.”
“May! This is our sister we’re talking about! She could be in danger!”
“Yeah, but April, you don’t know that!” she exclaimed, tossing her book aside as she sat up. “Maybe she was getting a speeding ticket when you saw that vision!”
“She can’t even drive! May, just come on. I can’t go. You’re the only one who can watch her.”
May just laughed. “Excuse me? Excuse me?! Who here is the future predictor? Show of hands?” She looked around the room and then back at me. “Oh, thaaat’s right. You. You’re the one. Can’t you just conjure up a little vision, a sneak preview?”
“Do you think I haven’t tried? All I know is that June wears that stupid pink skirt and red heels, and Mariah is wasted.”
May snorted. “I could have predicted that.”
“Well, that’s all I’m getting.”
“So she’s probably fine.”
“But what if she’s not? What if tonight is the night where there’s an accident or something happens and—?”
“And what exactly am I, May Stephenson, a fifteen-year-old girl who lives in the freaking suburbs, going to do to stop fate?” May put her hands on her hips. “You tell me that. Do you ever see that happening?”
I paused. “No.”
“Of course you don’t. This is so wrong, April.” She flopped back onto her pillow. “I’m pretty sure this violates every single moral and ethical rule in the book.”
I pulled out my ace in the hole.
“What about when Mom and Chad went on their date?” I asked her. “I practically had to restrain you from following them. What’s so different now? This is just June, not Mom.”
May paused before asking, “And what am I supposed to tell Mom about where I’m going?”
I thought fast. “I don’t know. Tutoring with Henry? You’re so smart. You’ll think of something.”
“Don’t even flatter me.” She sighed and turned back to her book, but then back at me, looking me up and down. “Where are you going?”
Shit.
“Um, the movies.”
“With who?”
“How do you know I’m going with someone?”
“Because it’s Friday night.” May spoke like she was talking to someone especially slow. “And you never, ever go out to the movies.” And then her eyes became huge. “Shut up, tonight’s the night, isn’t it?”
“What? What are you—?”
“You’re going with Julian, aren’t you?”
I could feel myself blushing. “Yes, but that’s—”
“Is tonight the big smoocheroo?”
I took a deep breath. “No, as a matter of fact, it’s not. He is going to be very polite and courteous.”
“Well, that’s no fun.”
I waited a minute before telling her. “Look,” I said. “This is the part you don’t know. When I had that dream, that vision, when I saw June and the lights? I also saw Julian, too. He was there.”
May sat up on her bed again. “Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
I could see May adding everything up in her head, her eyes widening as the pieces came together. “So you’re going out with him for the sole purpose of making sure that he stays away from June?”
“I already made him swear he wouldn’t even look at her, but this is just extra insurance.”
May just shook her head. “April, that is so low. This is way lower than me secretly following June.”
“Hey, it’s not like I have a choice!” I bristled. “I’m trying to protect our sister, and if this is what I have to do …”
“So you’re going to lie to a guy and pretend to like him and go on a date with him—”
“He was already gonna ask me out!” I protested. “I saw us at the movies. I just … moved it forward.”
“You’re using him. And now you’re using me, too!”
“I’m not using him or you!” I cried. “It’s not that I don’t … I just …”
May raised an eyebrow. “So you like him?”
Oh God. Not May, too. June’s matchmaking mindreading was enough of a pain.
“On the list of Complicated Things,” I told her, “this is just below quantum physics and the theory of relativity. I’m just trying to make sure everything is okay.”
“And so in doing that, you’ll make lovey-dovey eyes at Julian while I’m at a party, being literally invisible and watching our little sister puke up the contents of someone’s liquor cabinet. Won’t it just be romantic?” She fluttered her eyelashes before pretending to gag herself.
“June’s not gonna puke,” I said. “She doesn’t get sick. Trust me. I’ve seen that much. So you’ll do it? For June?”
May hesitated before saying, “You owe me so much.” May can look really scary—almost dangerous—when she wants to.
I grinned anyway and hugged her, even as she tugged herself away. “So much,” she repeated.
“You can have anything,” I promised, relieved I’d found a way to make sure everything was going to be all right. “My firstborn child, even.”
“What kind of crappy deal is that?” she frowned. “What am I gonna do with a baby? ‘Oh, here, May, I’m so grateful that I’m gonna give you something that screams and cries and poops.’ Yuck. Just give me money instead. Or a first-class ticket to Paris. Not your theoretical baby.”
June came bounding up the stairs then. “What baby?” she said. “Whose baby?”
“Were you reading our minds again?” I demanded. “Were you?”
She just rolled her eyes. “Whatevs, Miss Paranoid. And no, I wasn’t, I was talking to Mariah on the phone downstairs, and frankly, I’m more interested in hearing what she thinks than what you think.” June clapped her hands together like an adorable seal. “So get this. Mariah’s worried about me coming to the party tonight because she thinks I’ll look cuter than her! Hee! So whose baby are we talking about?”
May just laughed and opened her computer. I could tell she was thinking hard, keeping June out of her mi
nd.
“It was just a metaphor about when I have kids,” I told June.
June’s eyes lit up. “So you and Julian did it already?”
“Don’t you think you would know by now if I had?” I asked her. “How many choruses of ‘Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts’ do you think I can sing that would distract from those thoughts?”
June nodded thoughtfully. “Good point. I, on the other hand, need to iron my skirt.”
May waved June away, but I stopped her in the doorway. “So you’re going to that party tonight?”
“Duh. Mariah’s picking me up in twenty minutes.”
“Mariah’s picking you up for a party at her house?”
June smirked at me. “Yep. Isn’t that a nice thing to do, don’t you think?”
“I think it’s a waste of natural resources. And you’re telling Mom … ?”
“That Mariah and I are going to the movies and then for food afterwards.”
“You know you have to be home by eleven.”
“Who says I won’t be?” June smiled. “And you know Mom always falls asleep by ten, anyway.”
I looked back at May for help, but she ignored me. “She’s singing ‘Frere Jacques,’” June informed me. “She’s too busy blocking me out to talk right now.”
May just laughed to herself and clicked her computer keys with unnecessary force as we both headed out of her dimly lit room.
Fifteen minutes later June came bounding back out of her own room, wearing the pink skirt and black tights and shiny red shoes. “What do you think?” she said, twirling in the doorway to my room.
I froze. I had been thinking about Julian, wondering if maybe I should put on a necklace or something, wondering if that’s what girls were supposed to do on dates, and I couldn’t stop my thoughts fast enough.
“Shut. Up,” June squealed. “You have a date with that guy?” She giggled and covered her mouth. “Shut up, shut up, shut up! Tell me everything.”
“I can’t do both,” I pointed out.
“Stop being so literal!” Then she looked me up and down. “You’re wearing jeans on your date?”
“I always wear jeans.” I glanced in the wall mirror at my outfit. Next to June, I looked like I was going to dig up potatoes in a field. “I like my jeans. We can’t all pull off the pink-skirt look, June. It’s not for everyone.”
“I love this skirt!” she said, crowding me out of the way so she could look at her own reflection. “It puts a little hustle in my bustle, if you get what I’m saying.”
“It’s also perfect for being puked on by idiots,” May added, wandering in. I could tell she was still pissed about what I was making her do.
June just sighed. “April, is anyone gonna puke on me?”
“No. But just …” I hesitated and both my sisters looked at me. “Just be careful, okay? Don’t be stupid.”
June rolled her eyes. “Thanks, Mom, I know. So where’s your date tonight? What are you doing? Did you kiss him yet?”
“We’re going to see the new Jeunet film—”
“Nerd,” June said.
“You’re going to the new Jeunet film?!” May cried, and I winced. It was sort of salt in the wound, considering that she’s the Francophile and I was forcing her to spend the night watching people she hates get trashed. “Fuck my life,” she sighed.
“And what else are you doing?” June said. “Are you going hiking or something? You’re wearing shoes with rubber soles.”
“They’re practical.”
June shook her head. “You’re hopeless.”
“Says the girl wearing cotton candy for a skirt,” I shot back. “Look, just promise me that you’ll call me or Mom if you need a ride—”
“Duh again,” she sighed. “God, why does everyone think I’m incapable of taking care of myself?”
“No comment,” May muttered.
“Whoa, Mom thoughts approaching,” June said suddenly, and ten seconds later we could hear my mom on the stairs. “Hey, girls?” she said, then saw me and June wearing nicer-than-usual clothes. “Hey, where’s the party?” she grinned. “You two look so nice!”
May snorted a laugh through her nose.
“There’s no party!” June said quickly. “I’m just going out with Mariah to the movies and then maybe for food. And home by eleven, I know, I know.”
My mom looked surprised that June brought up the curfew before she did, but then she just looked to me. “And what about you?”
I sighed inwardly. “There’s this guy, Julian? And he goes to school with us, his locker is above mine, and he asked me to go to the movies tonight? If that’s okay?”
There was something dancing in my mom’s eyes that I couldn’t quite understand. “A boy asked you out?” she said. “And you’re just telling me now?”
Now both my sisters’ eyes were on me. Great.
“Well,” I said, “I sort of asked him out first?”
“You did?” June squealed, then slapped my arm. “You cougar!”
I glared at her, then looked at my mom, who was now obviously biting back a smile. “And this Julian boy, he’s nice?”
“No, he’s an ax-murderer,” May spoke up. “April’s going to rehabilitate him. It’s her volunteer project for school.”
All of us except for May rolled our eyes. “He’s nice,” I assured my mom. “Trust me.”
My mom nodded. “So I assume he’s going to pick you up so I can meet him?” It wasn’t really a question the way she said it, and I was glad I had figured this part out earlier.
“He’ll be here around seven, give or take three minutes,” I said, then cleared my throat and prayed May wouldn’t kill me for this next part. “And May has plans, too.”
May almost fell off the bed, but she recovered long enough to say robotically, “Yes, I’m going to do homework with Henry. It will be lovely and exactly how I imagined spending yet another Friday night. Oh, I’m so happy. What joy, what rapture.”
My mom just smiled. “Well, it’s good you’re finally taking an interest in schoolwork.”
June coughed to hide her giggle.
“I just can’t believe that all three of my girls are going out and doing their own things.” Now my mom’s voice was sort of wobbly. “You’re growing up so fast, it makes me so happy!”
All three of us immediately rushed over to her. “Mom, don’t cry!” June said. “If you cry, I’ll cry, and I’m wearing DiorShow mascara. It can’t run; it’s too expensive. Every tear would cost, like, five dollars.”
“Oh, for the love of God,” May muttered, then elbowed her way in to hug our mom. “Mom, do you want us to stay home tonight? Are you gonna be lonely?”
Yes! I suddenly thought. May was a genius. We could stop this whole thing if we all just stayed home and—
“No, no, that’s ridiculous,” my mom said. “Don’t worry about me. I’m just glad you girls are adjusting and moving on and making friends. You’ll see, one day you might be moms and then you’ll understand.”
I doubted that, but I just gave her a squeeze. She kissed me back and patted my hair down. “You look lovely,” she said. “I’m sure Julian will appreciate it.”
“Well, we’ll see,” I said. “Who knows what could happen?”
Our mom went into her room soon afterwards, changing out of her work clothes, and May and June went back to their rooms. I glanced again at my mirror, making sure I looked all right. Not that it mattered, though. This was a MacGyver-style mission, I reminded myself, not a date-date.
“April?” June called from her room. “Can you come here a minute?”
“What is it?” I said, following her voice.
She was standing in front of her dresser, digging through one of the drawers, but she stopped long enough to give me a withering glance. “So I’m still pissed at you,” she said, “but I just can’t let this happen.”
“Let what happen?”
She sighed “Seriously, April? Your first date and you’re wearing a sports
bra?”
I glanced down at my chest. “What?” I said. “I don’t really have anything else!”
June shook her head. “I swear to God,” she muttered, then pulled out something puffy and pink and lacy. There were tiny pink bows at the bottom of the straps and lace outlining the cups. “Here,” she said, thrusting it at me. “Put this on and thank me later.”
“Where did you get this?” I said. “This is, like, the girliest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Well, it’s a bra, so I hope so. I’m sorry, I won’t let you rock the uniboob look on a date.”
I took the bra from her. “Thanks,” I said.
“No problem.” She grinned at me. “Remember every detail for me, okay? I wanna live vicariously.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Anything,” I said, “for you.”
chapter 14
“There are few things worse than being all alone in a crowd.” may
I was going to kill my sisters.
I know I have a bad night ahead of me when I’d rather be studying European history with Henry. Hell, I would have sat through a Powerpoint lecture about Stanford rather than follow June to some stupid high school party. I know my little sister, after all. She’s seen all the movies, heard all the stories, and was probably convinced that going to a real high school party would change her life.
Ha.
I also thought April was being overcautious and freaked out. I mean, she couldn’t even predict an earthquake. How does she know that what she sees is even going to happen? It didn’t make sense, and worse, I didn’t know how to argue with her. So I said yes, I’ll go, I’ll spy on our little sister.
What a ridiculously bad mistake.
The first inkling I got that told me I had made the wrong decision was when Mariah’s boyfriend pulled up to the curb. I had pretended to leave for Henry’s five minutes earlier, but instead I just disappeared and waited in the bushes for my secret ride. I got stabbed by a few thorny branches by the time the car finally arrived, and when June came dashing out the front door, I ran after her like a total stalker and slid into the car just before the door shut.