I hardly had any energy to pull on a neutral voice. “That sounds like fun to me.”
“It soundsbogus. I should just stay home instead.”
Ivy stood patiently still while I combed her hair into a ponytail. She stared at her reflection in the mirror with a little scowl, but that little pout was quickly becoming her resting face. “Quit frowning.”
“I’m not.”
“You are. You’ll get wrinkles.”
“Maybe Iwantwrinkles.” She met my gaze in the mirror. “I’d look like you.”
I tugged on her ponytail, light enough not to hurt, but hard enough that it bobbed her head back.
Penn stuck her head into the bathroom doorway, a frown of her own cinching her eyebrows together, too. “Have you seen my necktie?”
“On top of the washer.” Sleep last night had been a far-off notion—one that hadn’t really come around until three in the morning. To keep myself busy and my thoughtsoff, I’d made sure everyone’s uniforms were ready for the next morning. Penn’s tie had been in a rumple on the table. “I ironed it last night so you wouldn’t get marked.”
“It’s the last week of school,” she muttered without a thanks, ducking out of the bathroom.
“Don’t frown, Penn!” Ivy called after her. “You’ll get wrinkles and then be old like Daisy!”
This time, I yanked her ponytail with a bit more strength. “Go get your shoes on.”
For a Monday, they seemed all pretty decent mood-wise. Even Penn. She was being her normal, grumbly, teenage self, but at least she was out of bed this morning and ninety-five percent dressed. Mom must’ve gotten them into bed early for them to navigate the morning so well-rested.
Thank God. Because my four hours felt like nothing. I was running on fumes.
We all migrated downstairs with no fuss, ending up in the entryway waiting for the bus. “How was your night last night?” I asked them, combing Theo’s hair out of his face with my fingers. The red locksfought to stick straight up. “What did you have for dinner?”
“Mom made us a cardboard pizza,” Ivy said, and I immediately thought of the frozen pizza that’d been sitting in the freezer for at least a month. I’d gotten it as a snack for a movie night, since it really wasn’t thick enough to be an actual meal, but I hadn’t gotten around to baking it. “It was good, but Theo didn’t eat very much of it.”
He crinkled his little nose. “I didn’t like it.”
“They’re not as yummy as the ones from the restaurant,” I told him with a sympathetic nod. “What did she give you instead?”
Theo shrugged his shoulders.
“You didn’t eat the pizza, and she didn’t make you anything else?”
“I made him a peanut butter and jelly,” Penn said, casting her little brother a look. “Stop making it sound like you starved.”
“You used strawberry jelly.” Theo frowned down at his shoes. “I like grape.”
Penn rolled her eyes, then returned to stare stonily through the front door window. I swallowed a sigh, continuing to brush Theo’s hair back. “Sometimes we have to compromise,” I said. “And eat the strawberry jelly even though we like grape the best.”
Like agreeing to fake date your best friend when you really want to take back your ex-boyfriend.
Junie muttered under her breath, “Or, next time, just eat the pizza.”
Theo stopped his foot. The lights in his shoes sparked. “I didn’tlikethe pizza!”
She whirled to glare at him. “Mom tried hard, and you were acting like a spoiled brat over it.”
I frowned at the sharpness in her voice. “Junie?—”
“It wasn’t like she actually cooked us anything,” Penn cut in, not looking back over. “She put a frozen pizza in the oven. Ivy could’ve done that.”
Ivy lifted her chin. “I’m not allowed to touch the stove.”
