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girls and her soft eyes turn to steel. “Yeah, I got it. Complicated.” She opens the door and climbs out. I lean over. I don’t know what I’m going to say to her, but she shuts the door before I can try.

CHAPTER NINE
    Trying to sing
    The bigger man blues
    Yet you want me
    Playing this ruse
    The next morning I wake up feeling like a tool. What happened last night? Pretty sure I completely overreacted. Dad has to know Amber Vaughn’s related to that guy. He knows everybody and she’s been at our house almost every Friday night since we moved here. All I’d have to tell him is I’m seeing her, not trying to see Sammy. But then there’s Sean. Why wouldn’t she like him? He doesn’t have a girlfriend. And I guess he’s attractive in that Cobain sort of way. Either way, it doesn’t matter, I need to call it off with Amber Rose. Whether the other Amber likes me or not.
    Devon pops his head through the door of our adjoining bathroom. “How was the dance?”
    â€œDidn’t go. Went and hung out at the Dash-n-Burger instead.”
    â€œDamn. First a banjo, and now you’re hanging on the strip. When are you trading in the Honda for an F-250?”
    â€œHardy-har-har.” I wing a pillow across the room at him. He botches the catch and the pillow collides with his nose before falling to the ground. He plops down in my desk chair. “How’d your night go?” Devon’s got a case of basset hound eyes.
    He shrugs. “No action. I think my gaydar is broken.”
    â€œMaybe he’s repressed?” I offer.
    â€œMaybe.” He twirls in my chair. I want to ask him about Amber Vaughn. What he knows about her and Sean. What he would think if maybe I asked her out? Would he be pissed? My stomach rumbles. Breakfast, then the dreaded Amber Rose call, then maybe I’ll work up the nerve to have a heart-to-heart with my brother.
    Mom’s up and cooking. “Pancake Saturday,” she sings. She’s wearing the colorful apron I painted for her at some day camp I went to when I was seven. “Here, this is the place I was telling you about.” She slides a pamphlet about a wilderness camp across the counter toward me. “They’ll take rising college freshmen as junior counselors. It’s the sort of thing we talked about, isn’t it? You should apply for the summer.”
    In an offhand conversation, when I’d gone to pick up my mom one day from the elementary school where she works, I’d mentioned really wanting to take my own camp experiences and turn them into something more. Her being a teacher, I think she got kind of excited about me following in her footsteps. It’s not a totally bad idea. Summers and holidays off would work for a musician, if I don’t hit a big break right off the bat. Or working permanently at a camp. Hiking for pay. Now that’d be a life I could chill with.
    â€œThanks, Mom.”
    She slides a plate of pancakes and bacon in front of me. “Oh, and before I forget, your father and I bought tickets to the chamber orchestra concert in Banner Elk for next weekend. I ran into Amber Rose and her mother yesterday afternoon at the bank and invited her for you.”
    My stomach growls but my skin grows cold. I put down my fork.
    Mom plates up pancakes for Devon as he slips in next to me at the table. “What’s the matter with you now?” He nods at my paralyzed fork.
    My mom invited the girl I’m about to break up with to a concert next weekend. While her mother was standing there. Might as well put up a billboard out on the highway that has my picture plastered to it with the caption“Colossal Douche Bag” in giant red letters.
    â€œYou know what.” I push the plate away. My brain just lost its appetite. My stomach wants to kick its ass. “I think I need to go back to bed for a while.”
    â€œAre you not feeling well, sweetie?” Mom’s