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Finn reminded me. Which was so unnecessary, because obviously if it were just my party there wouldn’t be any vanilla in the cake.
    Not that I could even bring myself to care about that at the moment. “But you’re not even friends with them!”
    “No yelling at the table,” Dad said.
    “I’m not yelling!” I yelled. Then hearing myself, I swallowed hard and tried—unsuccessfully—to relax. Problem was, my whole throat felt tight and tears pricked the corners of my eyes. And now I was embarrassed, because I didn’t want to totally lose it in front of my family. Not over Ivy.
    I looked from my mom to my dad. “You can’t let him ruin my birthday.”
    “This is between you two,” said Dad.
    I turned to Finn, half wishing I could crawl across the table, grab him by the shoulders, and shake some sense into him. But I knew better. I could hand Finn a clue on a silver platter and he wouldn’t know what to do with it. “How did this happen?” I asked.
    Finn shrugged. “Dante was supposed to come but his parents are making him go look at leaves in Vermont instead. So that meant I could have one more person and Otto likes Eve and he asked me to invite her so I did. And she said, ‘Can I bring Ivy and Katie?’ and I said, ‘Sure.’ ”
    He spoke so quickly I knew he felt guilty. “You said, ‘Sure,’ ” I repeated.
    “She put me on the spot,” said Finn. Then he turned to our parents. “I know we were supposed to keep the guest list small and I tried—I really did—but it was impossible to say no. So if you want to ground me or something, go ahead.”
    Finn hung his head in pretend shame, and I couldn’t believe my parents bought his story. But they did.
    “Of course we’re not going to ground you,” said Dad, clapping Finn on the back all buddy-buddy. “It sounds like Eve didn’t give you any real choice, so don’t worry about it. The more the merrier.”
    Finn’s display was so pathetic I couldn’t help but yell, “Unbelievable!”
    Sighing, Mom turned to me. “I know it’s not easy, Maggie, but try to be the bigger person.”
    Whatever that meant.
    “Let’s have separate parties,” I said. “Finn can have Saturday and I’ll ask my friends to come on Sunday instead.”
    “But the party’s only two days away,” said Mom.
    “My friends won’t care.”
    “Maggie,” said Dad, “two parties isn’t going to happen. Maybe next year, but for now, no.” The finality in his tone told me to drop it. And that’s when I figured out the real issue: money. As in, a lack of it. My parents couldn’t afford two parties. Normally, no biggie. Finn’s friends are cool (for the most part) and I’m used to sharing. But with Ivy? There’s no way.
    “I’ll pay for it,” I said without thinking.
    “It’s not about the money,” said Mom.
    “And it’s not like you could pay anyway,” said Finn, giving me a meaningful look from across the table.
    He had a point. My small allowance was enough for an after-school slice of pizza or ice-cream cone (without sprinkles). A movie on a Saturday night if I saved up. It’s not like I could tell our parents about my dog-walking money.
    But still, I had to do something. I couldn’t just sit around and smile and make small talk as if Saturday wasn’t going to be the worst day of my life. “Okay, fine, but can I go to Lucy’s?” I asked.
    “It’s a school night,” said Mom.
    “I’ll be home in an hour.” I stood up and cleared my plate, thinking that if I pretended they’d already said yes, they’d think they had. And it worked.
    “You hardly ate anything,” said Dad as I made my way out.
    “Yeah, Finn kinda made me lose my appetite.”
    Not exactly the truth, but enough to get me out of there.

Chapter 6
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    I could smell the sautéed onions even before Lucy opened her front door. And once she did, the scent made my mouth water.
    “Hungry?” she asked.
    My new favorite question. “Starving,” I replied and