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I wasn’t sure whether or not it was my imagination, but he seemed to be LAUGHING.
I’m glad SOMEONE can see something funny in all this.
Then Tina took me aside….
“Listen, Mia,” she said softly. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of the others, but I think I just figured something out. I read this romance novel once where the heroine and her evil twin were both in love with the same guy, the hero. And the evil twin kept doing all this stuff to make the heroine look bad in front of him. The hero, I mean.”
“Yeah?” What did this have to do with me? I wondered. I don’t have a twin.
“Well, you know how you kept asking Lilly to pull ‘No More Corn!’, and she wouldn’t do it, even though she knew it would hurt J.P.’s feelings, and all, if he read it?”
What was she getting at? “Yeah?”
“Well, what if the reason Lilly refused to pull your story was because she WANTED J.P. to read it. Because she knew if he read it, he’d get mad at you for writing it, and then he wouldn’t like you anymore. And then he’d be free to like HER, instead.”
At first I was like, “No way. Lilly would never do something like that to me.”
But then I remembered the last thing she said to me during last night’s limo ride home from the Plaza:
I won’t be the person hurting him. You will. I didn’t write that story.
Oh my God! Could Tina be right? Does Lilly like J.P., but thinks he likes me? Could that really be why she was being so stubborn about pulling “No More Corn!”?
No. No, that can’t be right. Because Lilly doesn’t GET all weird and possessive about boys. She just doesn’t.
“I’m not saying she was doing it CONSCIOUSLY,” Tina said, when I mentioned this. “She probably hasn’t even admitted to HERSELF that she likes J.P. But SUBCONSCIOUSLY, this could be the reason why she refused to pull your story.”
“No,” I said. “Come on, Tina. That’s crazy.”
“Is it?” Tina wanted to know. “Think about it, Mia. What HASN’T Lilly lost to you lately? First the school presidency. Then the part of Rosagunde. Now this. I’m just saying. It would explain a lot.”
Well, it would explain a lot. If it were true. But it’s not. J.P. doesn’t like me that way, and Lilly doesn’t like HIM that way.
And even if she did, she would never do something like that to me. I mean, she’s the person I love seventh best in the whole world. And I’m sure she loves me third. Or maybe fourth. On account of her not having a boyfriend, a younger sibling, a stepparent, or any pets of her own.
Wednesday, March 10, G & T
Lilly’s back. She’s looking really pale. Apparently, Principal Gupta called her parents.
Who came in to school. For a conference.
I don’t know what they talked about. At the conference, I mean. But apparently, Lilly has to run the content of the next issue of Fat Louie’s Pink Butthole past Ms. Martinez before she’s allowed to sell it. Because Lilly never showed Ms. Martinez her short stories.
Or mine.
Or the name of the magazine. Which is being changed to The Zine.
Just The Zine.
Which is, as I told Lilly, in an effort to be kind, kinda catchy.
Lilly didn’t say anything back to me, like, “Thanks” or “I’m sorry.”
And I’m not saying anything to her, like, “Want to talk?” or “I’m sorry.”
But I wish I could.
I’m just afraid of what she’ll say back.
