“So, what did you wish for?” Annie asked. “And don’t give me any of that ‘if I tell you it won’ t come true’ crap.” “I hope you didn’t wish for the bigger room at the shore house, because that’s mine,” Quinn said, dropping onto the couch. “Quinn!” her father scolded. “Just for that I should give Ally the bigger room.” “What? No! Daddy!” Quinn sat forward, whining up at him. “It’s fine. I don’t need a big room. I’m planning on getting a job and working as many hours as humanly possible.” “You go, party animal,” Annie said. I smirked. “Don’t worry. When you come down to visit I promise to party.” “Really!? I get to come visit? Yay!” She threw her arm around my neck. “So? What did you wish for?” Once she got on topic, she rarely got off until satisfied. “Nothing,” I said, lifting my shoulders. “I for got.” “Well, what were you thinking about right before?” Quinn asked as her father turned his camera on me again. “World peace? Cuz that would be nice.” Of course it would, future Miss America. I tried to conjure up a good lie, because I wasn’t about to tell her I’d been thinking about my father, but then the doorbell rang. My heart fluttered, and I looked at my mother across the room. She froze with the cake cutter half inside the cake. Did her stomach suddenly feel like it was going to drop out of her body too? “I’ll get it!” Gray announced, slapping his viewfinder closed. “No!” my mom and I blurted. But he was already at the door. I turned around slowly, holding my breath. Was my father really here? Had I somehow wished him to my doorst ep? My blood rushed so loudly in my ears I couldn’ t even hear Gray at the door. It was like trying to eavesdrop on the lifeguards from the de ep end of the country club pool—which used to be Faith’s and my favorite summertime activity . Finally, Gray returned, with our guest at his heels. For the first time since returning to Orchard Hill, I was disappointed to see Jake Graydon. “Hey,” he said.
Tears stung my eyes, and I looked down at my feet. I breathed in slowly and let it out in one, long breath. Don’t be a baby , Ally. You had to know it wasn’ t going to be him. “Sorry. Is this a bad time?” Jake asked. A bad time? Was he kidding? What the hell was he even doing here? The last time I’d spoken to him I’d taken off on my bike near tears. What about that encounter screamed, “How about you crash my birthday party?” “No! Of course not!” my mother said brightly . I wondered how she was going to explain our random outburst to Gray later. And why was she being so nice to Jake? But then, I hadn’t told her about the prom thing. I’d just acted like going with Marshall as friends was all I’d ever wanted, because the truth was too humiliating. “Come on in, Jake.” Jake’s face was all hopeful. Like, for a second he for got to act cool. And I kind of liked that. He was wearing a light blue crew-neck sweater and jeans, looking way too handsome for words. There was a small, wrapped box in his hand with a yellow bow on it. “Actually , I can’t stay,” he said. “I remembered it was your birthday, and I . . .” He looked down at the present, then thrust it at me awkwardly . “Here.” I took the gift in both hands, at a loss. “Well? Open it!” Annie said. “It’s okay if you want to wait,” Jake said. Of course that made me want to open it right away. I yanked the paper off, and inside was a maroon velvet box. Maybe he was trying to bribe me with diamond earrings. Get me to forgive him by dropping his father’s cash on jewels. He was a Crestie, after all. I pried the box open, planning all the witty, sarcastic things I would say when I shoved the contents back in his face. My jaw dropped. Nestled inside the box was my championship ring. The one I should have been awarded my freshman year. It had a burgundy stone in the middle with ORCHARD HILL HIGH SCHOOL etched in an oval around it. One side was decorated with a tiny basketball with my first name stamped above it. The other side had the year and the inscription JV CHAMPS . “Ohmigod,” I breathed. “What is it?” Quinn asked, standing on her toes to try to see. Gray was filming over my shoulder . I shrugged away from him, toward Jake. “It’ s my championship ring,” I said. “Where did you get this?”
“They still had it in the sports supply closet,” he said with a shrug. “It’s no big deal.” But his face was all blotchy , and I could tell he was trying not to smile over his job well done. I dislodged the ring from the slot and put it on. It fit perfectly . My chest filled with ten thousand different emotions. He’d remembered. That conversation we’d had all those months ago. He’d remembered, and he’d found my ring for me. “Jake, this is—” “It’s nothing,” he said. “You should have had it then. I just . . . got it to you.” He looked around at my hovering guests and ducked his head toward mine. “Can I talk to you for a sec? Alone?” My heart pounded in my ears. “Um, sure.” I looked at my mom. “I’ll be right back.” We went outside. He held the door open and everything. I was trying to figure out what I was supposed to say , when he just started talking. “I’m sorry. About the prom,” he said, looking at his feet. “I shouldn’ t have asked that girl.” “It’s okay,” I heard myself say. It wasn’t okay, but it was one of those moments where it felt like it was, because this moment was so good. “Did you . . . I mean, are you . . . with Marshall Moss?” he asked awkwardly . I scoffed, toying with my ring. “Marshall? No. W e just went as friends.” His eyebrows shot up. “Really?” “Really .” I was grinning from ear to ear . “So, then . . . you wouldn’ t want to . . . I mean, would you maybe want to, I don’ t know, go to the movies or something?” he asked. Somehow my grin widened. I knew he was thinking about that day in the car when I’d been talking about actually going out in public. “A movie would be cool.” “Yeah?” he said hopefully . Happily . His smile was huge. My heart was floating. “Yeah.” He reached out and took my hand. “Happy birthday , Ally.” “Yeah,” I said. “I think it kind of is.”
M X Q H
Okay, what the hell am I gonna get Shannen for her birthday? Doesn’t she have, like, everything? Do you think Jake Graydon is going to take Ally Ryan to the party? Wait, what? Ar e those two a thing now? Uh, yeah! Didn’ t you hear? They totally went to see the new Christian Bale on Satur day night. Unbelievable. A Norm snagged the unsnaggable Cr estie. Whatever . Ally R yan’s reascension was inevitable. Why? Because. She’ s Ally R yan.
The Monday morning after my first official date with Jake, I basically air walked into school. He’d held my hand throughout the entire movie, even when his arm went dead on the armrest. (He spent ten minutes afterward surr eptitiously trying to shake out the pins and needles.) I figured that when the movie was over he’d drive us right up to the lake again, but he didn’t. We grabbed some ice cream at Scoops and walked around town for a while, and then he’d driven me home and kissed me at the door . Which was so delicious it just made me wish we had gone up to the lake. But there was time for that. We were together now. And we both had our licenses. We could go to the lake whenever we wanted. A thrill went through my body at the very thought. Me and Jake. T ogether . I was still grinning when I came around the corner into my locker hallway , but my smile quickly died. Shannen and Chloe were waiting for me. Okay. This meant one of two things. Either they had heard about my date with Jake and were here to tell me to back off, get a life, and find a Norm boyfriend. Or they’d heard about my date with Jake and were here to surrender . I honestly didn’t know which it would be, but I lifted my chin and walked right by them, pretending not to care. “Here to invite me to another nonexistent party?” I asked, turning my back to them as I spun my lock. “Sort of,” Shannen said. “Not exactly ,” Chloe corrected. “Here.” Shannen shoved a thick square black envelope in front of my face. It was tied with a silver grosgrain bow . Intriguing. “What’s that?” I asked, popping open my locker . “It’s an invitation to my birthday party ,” she said. “It’s a party, but we promise it exists,” Chloe said, moving into my line of sight by leaning back against the locker next to mine. She plucked the envelope from Shannen’ s hand and held it out to me. “And we also promise it’s being held exactly where the invitation says it’ s being held.”