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“This is really funny,” I say when I’m finished. I look up at Sean and he’s staring at me intently. “I think it’s awesome.”
“You stole my line,” he says. “Yours is great, too. It’s better than mine.”
“It is not,” I say, rolling my eyes at him. “Anyway, it’s based on a true story of a toad-sucking dog. It was on the news. The toads gave off this juice from their skin that was like a drug to the dog. He was addicted!”
“That’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard,” Sean says. “I thought you made it up.”
“No,” I say, a little embarrassed. “It would’ve been better if I did.”
“Naw,” Sean says. “Everyone finds inspiration in real life. You put your own spin on the story; it was really great.”
“Thanks, Sean,” I say.
“You’re welcome, Beth.”
Without meaning to, I flinch. Hard.
I have no idea what the Original’s name was—Mom says she never knew—but I’ve always thought of her as Beth. Beth is the name of a little girl trapped in time; it’s perfectly tragic, like Beth March in Little Women.
Sean holds up his hands.
“Whoa,” he says quietly. “I get it. No Beth.”
I shake my head, feeling stupid. He must think I’m one of those melodramatic girls. I take a deep breath and smile warmly. “Sorry.”
“No worries,” he says. “So, Queenie…”
I frown. “Seriously?”
“Fine… just Elizabeth,” he says.
“Good. And yes?”
“Do you want go to lunch tomorrow?”
The good kind of shiver shoots up my spine and down my arms. I want nothing more than to spend some time alone with Sean, getting to know him better. And yet, how can I possibly eat lunch with him? By the time I make it to school, the lunch period is more than halfway over. He’ll probably want to meet me at my locker after fifth period, but that’s just not possible… unless Ella does it.
No way.
Sean is looking at me, waiting for my response. I’m taking too long, but put on the spot like this, I just can’t figure out how to make it work.
“I’m really sorry,” I say finally, long after the moment has passed. “I’d love to, but I have plans tomorrow.”
“Oh,” Sean says, nodding at me like it’s no big deal. But I see a flicker of disappointment in his eyes.
“Twenty minutes,” Mr. Ames calls to the class.
“Guess we’d better get back to it,” Sean says.
“Guess so.”
And with that, we both look back to the papers in front of us and reread, pens in hand to make notes. Or at least, I try to. I can’t help wanting to rewind ten minutes and do it better. I could have figured something out. But now it seems like I may have lost my chance.
Later, frustrated by the feeling that there’s no way I can have a future with Sean, all I can think of is the past. How my family and I got to this point. When I stare up at my night-black ceiling, I remember when Mom came to wake me.
“Lizzie,” she whispered. “Lizzie, honey, wake up.”
