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bunch of people who don’t even want to be there. If I’m going to help people, I’d rather do it in a way that matters.
    “Nice earrings, by the way,” I tell her. Then I pick up my bag and head out, leaving Sadie behind.

    “I have to work late tomorrow,” Dad says. “I’ll leave money so you can order in.”
    “Okay,” I go. But of course it’s not okay. I shouldn’t be ordering in by myself again. Dad should say that he can’t work late anymore because I’m here now.
    Dad crunches into his egg roll. In the week that I’ve been here, we’ve had Chinese food, pizza, and burgers from this place called Kool Bloo for dinner. It’s fun to get takeout all the time. It’s like I’m on a trial separation from real food. We both know that Dad can’t cook and cooking isn’t something I enjoy, so homemade meals will soon become a distant memory.
    “How was school?” he asks.
    “Okay.”
    “Are the kids nice?”
    “They’re okay.” I haven’t really noticed anyone besides Scott. Which is weird since I’m the new girl. I should be freaked out about fitting in and making new friends and who I’m going to sit with at lunch. But I’m not. Because none of that stuff matters. I’m only going to be here for a year. What do I care what anyone thinks? Plus, I’m sure April and Candice will visit soon. Not that Candice has returned any of my messages. She has to talk to me eventually, though. I can’t figure out why she’s not calling me back.
    That’s not entirely true. I have a bad feeling that she’s mad because of Scott. She told me she wasn’t and I believed her. But now I’m starting to think she wasn’t being honest with me.
    I squash the bad feeling down. There’s no way I could deal with Candice being mad at me for liking Scott. That would mean I’m a bad friend and I just couldn’t live with that. Maybe she’s mad at me for ditching senior year. Or something else entirely. I just hope the bad feeling is wrong.
    If I were going to be honest with Dad, I’d tell him that my day totally sucked. Scott didn’t even talk to me in class. Usually, he says hey and we joke around a little. But today, nothing. It’s like he totally shut down. Leslie obviously said something to him. Probably about how she ran into me at Joe and I was such a bitch, walking out on her when she wasn’t done humiliating me. He probably thinks I’m some deranged stalker who likes to disrupt outdoor movies by clanging a bunch of chairs together. I can’t believe Scott told her I’m angry. I didn’t know it showed.
    It’s not like I want to be this angry. It just happened. If I knew how to not be angry anymore, I would. The stupid thing about anger is how people hurt you and then you let them keep hurting you by being angry about how they originally hurt you. It’s a vicious cycle.
    Scott just met Leslie two months ago. How serious could it be? Maybe he’s not technically her boyfriend. Maybe she thinks it’s more serious than it is. Girls are often delusional that way.
    Or maybe I’m the delusional one.
    I just have to find a way to be in Scott’s life more. It would be much easier for him to see that we belong together if he knew more about me. I should write a new note for my wish box later. Most of the notes in it are about Scott. I’m not sure where I’ll be stashing my wish box yet. For now, it’s pushed to the way back of a shelf in my closet.
    Dad glances at the news, which is on in the living room. He can see the TV from his seat at the kitchen counter. It’s like he’s here without really being here.
    I stab my chopsticks at some noodles.
    He goes, “You have everything you need for school?”
    “Yeah.”
    Then the questions stop. We just keep eating, with Dad watching the news and me stabbing at my noodles. This is how we’ve been avoiding each other. When we talk, it’s never about the things we really want to say. It’s all just superficial how-was-yourday chitchat. The kind of words people